- Tom and I went to see "Watchmen" Monday evening. It was good, but not OMFGMOSTAMAZINGMOVIEEVAHH!1!!1! like we'd been made to believe. Wonderfully believable characters, in real situations and relationships. Way too much info to fit into a movie, so while the depth of the characters was great, it all felt incredibly thick. (I would like to read the actual graphic novel now.) Soundtrack: Tom did well to say they were trying to make it "stylized", like the movie, like comic books. This worked for the opening credits. It did NOT work to play "Sound of Silence" during a funeral scene. omfg I wanted to beat someone.

- While at the mall to catch the movie, I made a pit-stop at Teavana, and bought more tea. <333 I have a growing suspicion that it is indeed Japanese-style green tea that Tom and I like more than the Chinese-style, but I'm not 100% on that yet. Herbal tea really is *way* weaker than other types, I'm definitely going to have to use more - well, not really leaves, mine is mostly fruit bits - in than the suggested amount per pot. Tonight I mixed some of the strawberry-slightchocolate-bit'o'cayenne herbal tea with some of the Japanese green tea, and it's quite yummy.

- Prior to said trip, Tom and I met up with our Media Arts buddy Graham, who's working on a really cool thesis project for grad school. I can't wait to see the end result. My pulse rate was abnormally high, probably because I was thinking about it. (Also, I'd just been over a hot stove in the kitchen, making a fantabulously delicious dinner of soba + shittakes. Which, I would like to reiterate, was freaking DELICIOUS.)

- The company The Paper Factory gets its piñatas from raised its prices, so to help beat the new price into everyone's head (and for customers, who prior to this always had to ask, since our piñatas live hanging from ceiling pipes), Ann asked me to make up a sign. She specifically said I could be "creative". I honestly literally giggled for five minutes straight when I printed out the result. I have no idea if I'll still like it in the morning, in fact I'm rather worried about it. It is very silly looking, but bright and fun, so we shall see. (I have a tangible copy on me, but not a jpg. One of these days.)

- I also got to make an old Western "WANTED" poster for, my favorite people, Basil's. (They're the car dealership whose ads with 5pt font were my responsibility at the Penny Saver. They also don't pay their bills, and ask for annoying things, and drive everybody bonkers.) BUT, I *love* making things look old. Five minutes in Photoshop, I had some awesome looking torn-edged parchment-y paper. Five minutes later, there were nails stuck through the corners. Probably ten minutes later, I was done with a freaking awesome design. Chad complimented me on it! The guy at Basil's was not in his office today, so I have no idea what they'll think.

- Chad also complimented me on the (first of the season wooo) graduation banners I did up the other day. Chad compliments are pretty rare things. I was a very happy little thing this afternoon. (Though I am still a lil nervous about the piñata sign.)

- Tom has been marking an "x" on the calender every day that I am "sick" this month. He feels that "sick" is my normal state of being. I continue to point out that randomly feeling like I'm going to throw up for five minutes out of the entire day does not count as being "sick" that day. I do feel tired a lot, but I'm pretty sure a good chunk of that is, y'know, winter. I do get headachy, or feel bleary a lot, but that's largely in the mornings, or when I do something stupid like spend half the day in front of a glowing screen. I mention these things to Tom in exactly the same way everyone comments on, say, the weather: "It's cloudy today." "I have a bit of a headache this morning." Or, I mention it by way of suggestion: "My stomach's feeling off, could you please OH GOD SLOW DOWN WHEN YOU TURN OR I WILL PUKE ALL OVER YOUR CAR."

- When Graham asked for a souvenir from each of us for his project (just whatever random thing we had laying around that we could part with, which I think will be interesting enough to see the results of), I gave him the green pen Tom had been using to mark the calendar.

- I actually finished something in Photoshop. I was listening obsessively to the new U2 album, and I forget what brought Mackie to mind, but lots of things always do. My drawing goal in Photoshop is to have it *not* look like computer-artwork, I don't want everything airbrushy. I want things to feel tangible, to have that depth and variation that comes from natural materials. (But Photoshop lets me change my mind halfway through and edit things - like make them look old and stained - without actually spoiling them. <3) I've been thinking while looking at other art lately, and realized that you can leave things looking sketchy in places, you don't have to overwork every last pixel of a thing, and it can still look finished - and even have a bit more life to it because of that. This is not something that I find easy to do, and I've realized that half the reason I don't make more art is because I fear my own attention to detail. I don't start a drawing because I know that I'd have to spend like six hours straight, and then another six hours the next day, before I was anywhere near happy with it. And I really don't have that kind of attention span, at least not predictably.

- So! With this drawing, I kept all this in the forefront of my mind. I wanted a slightly rough look to it. I wanted a finished sketch. I also wanted a more painterly look, so I did something I very rarely do, and the first few layers had the shadows drawn in red, middle ground in orange, and highlights in yellow. Not like reddish skin tone, but like, RED. That was toned down as the layers built up, but I wanted to keep a slightly unreal palette to the thing. Yes it's a very cliched palette, but this is Mackie, he loves the overly-dramatic. <3

- Mackie, drawn a little large, followed by a desktop-sized version (with a touch of one of the AMAZING stock patterns I picked up around Deviant Art the other day).

   


- I finally broke down and cleaned out my Photoshop brushes. The list was literally covering my screen, and I had more I wanted to get, and knew if I did, I'd have to start scrolling. I do not want to go that far. So I cleared out all the silly little tiny things (grunge-y texture that's like 300 pixels? uh, no. I am spoiled now, the interwebs are full of 2000x3000 ones thx), and the cheesy ones I never use, and the ones I'd always meant to delete but always forgot to...

- ...I of course followed this up with a brush download binge. But I only added maybe six or so, and got rid of like 40! 0:)