Onatu

So I haven't updated this in a while, but that's because I've been really busy.  Second year engineering really knocks you down with the constant work.  I'm dealing with it well though, so that's the bright side of things.  I have been able to work on some sketches in the meantime, but I don't know when anything will find its way onto here.

I've been doing Skylanders drawings for almost a year, drawing each of the Skylanders as a means of my own practice/improvement as well as a continuing gift for my younger brothers.  I believe I'm at #23 at this point, working on Gill Grunt next.  Saving the dragons for the final eight, with Spyro of course being the final Skylander of the first series to be completed.  Hopefully I'll complete them all within the next three weeks, because one of my brothers has his...8th(?) birthday coming up just after Thanksgiving, so I need to get cracking to finish them so he can enjoy his gift.  It's rough work seeing as I'm trying to put my best effort into these while improving my own artistic abilities.  Nonetheless, it is rewarding in its own right.

As soon as all of the original Skylanders are complete, I'll likely scan them and work on them on and off digitally, adding color and whatnot, hopefully managing to figure out how to really make them pop for once.  While I do that, I'll also be working on the newest sixteen Skylanders from the sequel, Giants.  So that means eight more normal and eight giants, and those will likely be given to my brothers in the end as well.

Besides that project, not much else to say.  I'm doodling on and off, but I am not sure where my next works will come from.  I suppose that will be figured out in due time!

Summer has been a fun time.  Well, whenever I get to feel like it's summer.  I've been busy, hence the lack of art.  Busy as in working on an internship for most of the day, and then working on a C++ Data Structures class and its related homework during my nights/weekends.  I have free time on weekend evenings, but that's usually taken by friends and life in general, you know?  Nonetheless, I should have time to get to some drawings here in the coming days as I head back to college.

I never thought I would say that I had more time for fun when I was at school, rather than when I'm at home on summer vacation.  Crazy how life can throw those curveballs, huh?

Nonetheless, I'm going to try evolving my art style once again and trying some new things.  A buddy of mine set me straight, so I'll try again with my work soon.  Not sure what I'll do first, but I've got a few on my list:  Skylanders (both finishing old and beginning a new set), Fakemon (Revamping everything and starting anew), some real Pokemon art, and a few originals.

Look forward to it!

So a bit has happened.  I just finished spring break and am getting back into the groove of school with earnest.  Less than two months to the semester and there is still much to do!  I cannot wait to get it done, but I am enjoying it as things move along.

For a week in February, I went to Dubai.  Yeah, that Dubai, the one in the United Arab Emirates.
How to describe it?  Massive.  So many skyscrapers, and besides that the city is just sprawling with buildings.  The people were some of the nicest I have ever met (whether or not that is because they just get a ton of money thanks to the tourism is unknown, although I am somewhat curious).  Seriously though, they were always friendly towards me and willing to help if I ever needed it during my stay.  I went with my dad, who was there on business to work a booth at the annual Gulfood show.  Basically every day consisted of him leaving before I woke up, me getting up and out, left to my own devices until 7 that night, and then us meeting back up and getting dinner.  And then sleep.

I did a ton while I was there.  Desert safari was the first, which was 45 minute sand dune ride in an SUV (retrofitted with a rollcage), followed by camel rides, Arabian barbeque, and a belly dancing show.  That was awesome in and of itself.

I took a day long tour of the city, using a tour bus to see the sights.  Checked out some of the souks, museums, and other cool spots (the palm island!) on the trip, and all of it was worth seeing.  I still have trouble believing I was actually there.

I checked out all of the crazy huge malls in Dubai, because let's face it, there's some neat stuff.  The Dubai mall had an aquarium, movie theater, amusement park, and ice rink, among countless shops.  The amusement park was a Sega theme park actually, called "Sega Republic."  Neat place, designed kind of like a Chuckie Cheese's, only cleaner and with a large number of rides and worthwhile arcade games (Sonic and Sega All-Stars Racing arcade machine, anyone?) to balance out the kiddie fare.  There was even a Sonic-themed roller coaster, the "SpinGear."  All of that was fun to check out at the very least.

Went to other malls, such as the one which let's you ski.  And yes, I did go skiing.  I mean hey, for approximately 40 bucks for 2 hours of skiing, that's a deal!  Definitely a deal when you consider it is Dubai, it is the largest indoor ski slope, and they provide you with everything you need except for a hat and gloves (which are not necessary in the least, at least if you have better circulation/higher blood pressure than my nonexistent one).  So worth skiing though, especially seeing as I have not been skiing in five years.  It was fun, and while it was a simple curved slope, it provided more than enough fun for the two hours I was there.

The highlight of the trip was my journey out to Abu Dhabi to check out Ferrari World.  I went with only one true intention in mind:  ride Formula Rossa, the world's fastest roller coaster.  I got there and made a beeline for the coaster.  Got on forty minutes later and was handed goggles.  When the coaster launched, I was taken aback by its speed.  I mean, halfway through the launch I thought, 'okay, have we reached the max speed - no...no, we are still speeding up.'  It was insane.  When the ride ended, my mouth was completely dry from the speed of the ride and the dry desert air.  So worth it, even for the major whiplash and headache I felt later that night.
Did most everything else at Ferrari World as well, and learned a lot about Ferrari history (which I sadly knew little about until then).  Worth the experience though, both for the fun of the visit and the educational experience.

Truthfully, the same could be said about my trip to Dubai as a whole.  It was different, but it was a good experience for me.  I had never been outside of the United States until then, so it was certainly a culture shock, one which took some adjusting.  I'll even admit, I was nervous around all of the natives for the first few days.  Sad as it is to admit, in spite of my acceptance of all people and cultures, the brainwashing the media has done to me in portraying Middle Easterners as "bad people" has infected my mind, so I did feel a little on edge at first.  I'm happy to say I let go of those inhibitions and met a great deal of wonderful people there, both from the UAE and from the world over (because let's face it, Dubai is an international hub.  As my dad and I agreed, the U.S. may be called "the melting pot," but it has NOTHING on Dubai).


Besides that trip, not too much has been going on.  I'll likely have something to put up in the coming weeks, especially in early April after things calm down a bit.  Not sure what I'll be doing next, but we'll see.  I am still working on my mass Skylanders pictures, and am about halfway through, if not more.  Those should be all done by the end of May, but we'll wait and see how future events pan out for me, y'know?

Until next time, later dudes.

So the new yeah has passed and now we find ourselves in 2012.  Yay.  I never cared about the new year much anyways, more so just an excuse to stay out and hang with friends all night.

I did have a good Christmas though.  My parents apparently thought I was freezing up at the U of I, so I got a bunch of stuff to keep me warm.  Wool socks, a throw blanket, gloves, the works.  Got a few nice little things like the final Michael Crichton book, Micro (fantastic, although I will say perhaps the cheesiest of his works) and a box containing 30 lbs of waffle mix (when your father is held with high regard in the food industry, you get some nice bonuses).  Now I won't freeze or starve with all of this crazy winter weather interrupting everything up here!

My brothers got a bunch of Lego sets and three Wii games (Sonic Colors, Spider-Man:  Shattered Dimensions, and Skylanders:  Spyro's Adventure), all of which I felt excitement equal to theirs.  Beat Sonic Colors before I came back to college.  Fun game, I will say.  I haven't played a Sonic game since Sonic Heroes, so this was a nice breath of fresh air.  Haven't played Spider-Man though, so I'll give that one a shot when I come back home for spring break.

Now Skylanders...that's something else.  When it was first revealed, I was cautious.  I didn't know what to think.  I despised Spyro's design and thought they had finally nailed in his coffin.  But over the months it grew on me, as did the characters (many of whom I could have cared less about from the start).  When it came out, Youtube videos convinced me it was actually a good game worthy of Spyro's name (even if it wasn't quite a Spyro game).  So I let up and became quite optimistic.  I did my best to convince my parents to have Santa get the game for my younger brothers, seeing as they were far more excited than I was (they were sold from the start, because they love Spyro and this looked great to them).  Sure enough, they got the game for Christmas and all of us have had a blast since.

My brothers bought a triple pack only a few days after, this one having the characters Stealth Elf, Sonic Boom, and Wrecking Ball.  Combine those with the three the game comes with (Spyro, Gill Grunt, and Trigger Happy) and that game was a blast to play, especially co-op.  My friends and I have had a blast playing through the campaign (we're not quite finished.  That will be for when I return) as well as going nuts through the multiplayer mode.  Overall, it's a great game that has exceeded my expectations.  The dialogue is funny, albeit cheesy and times, but you must remember it is a kids' game.  That doesn't stop it from some genuinely witty moments (Gosh I love everything Patrick Warburton's characters says.  That man is one of the best actors in the industry).

In my down time at college, I have now taken up to drawing every Skylander.  All 32.  As of typing this, I have drawn eight of them and am working on the ninth.  They are currently only lineart, but will eventually be colored up on the computer.  I will likely post up the lineart once all are complete, and then get to work on the color.  I'll post up the colored versions later on once those are done as well.  This is a big project, and I am already having a blast drawing some of these guys (some are admittedly boring, like Stump Smash).  I would expect them all to be done by March, and coloring done by some time in the summer.


As I had mentioned, I am back in college for my second semester of college.  Tougher semester this time around, with Engineering Physics I, Calculus II, Electrical/Computer Engineering 101, Macroeconomics, and Honors Ethics.  It shouldn't be too bad overall, but Ethics has got to be the most DULL class I have ever been forced to partake in.  My professor is ridiculous.  All she does is go on about the philosopher and whatever we were reading from them, and then asks open-ended questions for us to answer (fair enough.  That's alright with me, you know?).
But then she only accepts a single opinion.  She only wants interpretations of the philosophical readings that fit within her vision.  What that is is a direct translation of whatever Plato or Kant or whomever was talking about.  She won't take alternate views or challenges to the philosophy.  She only wants us to know what they were advocating and how they were constantly challenged in their ideas.

Riddle me this:  why then can I not challenge their ideas?  No one else in the class has spoken about it, but I have mentioned flaws in their teachings numerous times, and all she tells me in return is "that doesn't work."  If I ask why, she says that it's just because.  No reason.  Just simply that I cannot possibly challenge such a great person and have my own opinion about their philosophy.  Isn't that the point of philosophy?  Question everything and try to explain things?  Can't I question what they say?

Nonetheless, I can deal with it.  I swear everyone else in the course is enraptured by the professor's ramblings while I am half-asleep (can't blame me, I have three classes in a row before it on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).  Oh well, I'll live.

Other than that, things are fantastic.  Life is looking good, my dad is visiting my college in early February to give a lecture to the food science department, and two weeks after that the both of us are leaving to go to Dubai for a week.  I can't wait.

Hey guys, it's December!  And that means let the Christmas music commence, as well as all merriment associated with the season!  No really, enjoy the season guys because it's awesome!

So I've been doing alright, college has been fine this semester.  Nothing major to say, but I suppose that overall, things have been great.  Living in a fraternity has been a fantastic decision for me and allowed me to grow within these last few months.  I guess college does that to you, huh?


Finals are coming up next week, so I will be busy getting ready for them.  Once that is done, I'm unfortunately stuck at my university for two extra days because my parents are buying a Christmas ham from the University, and they won't sell it until the 15th (My third and last final is basically one week from now).  Oh well, that gives me time to go Christmas shopping for my parents and four brothers.  I'll tell you, that's a ridiculously difficult thing to do.  Well, my Dad is easy because I either have something random I've made/bought that will either be a great gift for him or be an awesome troll (He's going to love what I do this year...).

A few things are planned for me this coming winter break.  Besides the usual awesome things I'll be doing in my life (It shall be great to see everyone I know once again but for longer and with more people than at Thanksgiving), I'm going to be picking up where my C++ class has failed.  So I'm going to learn a lot more  about C++ and start into Java and OpenGL.  If I can get a game or something beginning to develop, you guys will be the first to hear about it.  On other projects of mine, I'm planning on being to write this winter.  Turns out an uncle of mine is a semi-accomplished author (I've known the guy for years but never knew about this) and my mother has connections in Random House, Inc.  I have numerous ideas for stories so I hope I might get a jump-start there.  Hey guys, you might just know an author before he publishes!

And of course with the winter break, I'll probably be doing some art pieces.  I have a few ideas that I've been meaning to sketch out, maybe do a few random fan art things as well.  Whatever they may be, they'll be up in a few weeks!

Until then, later!