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Thanks! I hope you are having a good week too.

v(T▽T) that was so funny!
Snow is pretty common in all of the northern United States (and Canada, of course). You would have to travel in winter. December to January would be your best bet if you are looking for snow, depending on where you go. The further north you go, the earlier the snow falls, generally. I have been to most of the eastern states and some of the central and northwestern ones. I prefer the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern US. They are the gentler sloped type of mountains with trees all the way to the top. If you want the full mountain climber experience, you should go to the Rocky Mountains in the western US. They are majestic and beautiful to behold, but I wouldn't want to climb them (>_<) I have never been to Oregon or Washington state, so I don't know if those are different than the Rockies in Montana. I went there on a ski trip and did NOT ski (that is for crazy people). And if you just want to see snow without mountains, anywhere in the northern part of the US will have some in winter, on the mountains and in the flatlands. The eastern coast is generally flat, so places like New York, Boston and Philadelphia are all places you could see snow without having to climb a mountain. I believe the same is true of the west coast, though I have never been there. I have some friends in Canada and as far as I can tell, it snows about 8-9 months of the year there. He said it was snowing in May this year and in June last year! So Canada would be a good, snowy place for all of the year except in June through early September.

I think any season in Japan would be fine with me. There are festivals all year round and there are places to see in every season. In winter there is the snow festival, in spring there are planting festivals, in summer there are firefly festivals and in autumn there are harvest festivals. All through the year there seems to be something going on. If I can go, I will go, no matter which season it is.

Onwards is the only way!

It's easy to get caught up in your character and forget to listen to what is going on with the other players, but it really is important to the narrative to know what is going on. If you have a good group, they will be patient. I think everyone is a little nervous when they first start rping, so the first few times of any campaign are going to be a little choppy. As for your English, if you are playing D&D, you could always play someone who is from a country other than the one you are in and make it part of your character that you have to ask what people mean or to slow down and explain certain things or get them to help you find the right word for what you are trying to say. If you make it part of the character, it might add depth and realism to the character and might also help you to polish your English (´∀`)b

I draw for fun. I don't really want it to seem like work. I have my games, my music, my anime and my art. Those are the fun things. I don't really feel a burning need to share them with the world. Just a small group of people is plenty. Social media is for social people. I'm not really one of those.

I have not created my own character skin for minecraft. You never really see your character when you play, so I just leave it on the default skin. I know there are a lot of people who make their own or pay for unique skins. When I want to play, I want to play, not make a skin. I find digital art to be tedious to make. I have tried and tried to like it, but I have failed so far. Give me a pencil, paint, pastels...a burnt piece of stick even, and I can have fun drawing a picture. Once you add a computer into the mix, I am the worst grouch in the world.
I do not pay for anything in Genshin. I am a free-to-play player and so I have to work really hard at it to get even half of the content available. I doubt that even if I could afford to pay for things that I would. As nice as the graphics are, I'd rather spend my money on other things.
Yeah, that is the nice thing about games. I find Civ to be especially relaxing. I don't think about anything except the game while I am playing it and I have a lot of fun doing that.

Hahaha! I know what you mean! Sometimes the pointless grind of silly games is the best thing in the world to do.

I am glad you think so. I don't know if I could stand up in front of a classroom and even speak though. Still, nerdgirl senpai has a nice feel to it...

Until next time (^-^)v

Hello! It's been a busy weekend, but a good one. I hope yours is going well too :)

You don't actually have to climb all the way up the mountains to see snow! Of course, getting in better shape is always a good idea. It's good to have priorities, I suppose.

I don't really have favorites for that sort of thing. It would depend on where I go. There are shrines and temples all over the place, so I think I will probably find some. Ginkaku-ji in Kyoto or Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka would be nice to visit and Omoto Shrine as well. These are just ones I found online. I would really prefer to go to some of the smaller places instead of the large famous ones. I am not sure about the Imperial Palace. It would be wonderful to see, but I am sure it is very busy and full of people. After all, it's in Tokyo and I can't think of a busier place.

You seem to have a really good attitude about that. I am glad that you can reach out to those people whether or not they respond and can continue to think of them positively :)

It sounds like you will have a lot fun when you do get into an RP game. If you like to make characters and play them it is the best thing. I am not sure if I have any rping skills. I just like to play. It is an active creation of a story and when people are into it, there is nothing like it. It can be very inspiring. I have loads of sketches of my characters, since even though we are not playing, they still remain people in my mind. I don't really know when we will play again, but I can hope that we'll get together again. I am in between homes at the moment, so a lot of things are just not available to me.

I remember! You should draw them if you are still interested in doing so. I can tell that you really love the characters and the games and that is the best thing for drawing.
I play Minecraft, Genshin Impact and Civilizations on PC. I have played others, but those are the ones I keep coming back to. Minecraft is my favorite game since I can create things there. I have hundreds of worlds and probably thousands of builds. Genshin Impact has a beautiful world build, really nice art and interesting characters. I play it everyday since it has daily tasks and I have made a promise to not miss a day if I can help it. Civilizations is just really challenging for someone like me. I find myself playing it far longer than I thought I would. Usually it is tomorrow before I quit the game ┐(´～｀)┌

I would love to be called Nergirl Senpai! That would be so great (･∀･) , but I doubt that I could actually teach art there. It is much more likely that I would be nerdgirl kohai there. The Japanese artists have a seriousness and ambition which I lack and I have a lot to learn.

Thank you for the comics, they were fun :D
I will keep looking onwards, no worries. I hope you will do the same.

Rambling...

It has it's pros and cons, for sure.

Snow is beautiful. You should definitely try to go somewhere where you can experience it. Just be sure to find a warm place to stay and get some warm clothing. People from warm climates tend to freeze in the cold. I first saw Tsukimi referenced in an anime (I don't remember which one). There are a lot of festivals featured in anime. I imagine they are fantasized a little, but I am sure that I would enjoy seeing them. My best friend and I have made a pact to go see it all together. Once I get my life sorted out, I will start saving money again and then I will be on my way ୧☉□☉୨

I don't really know. It seems like there are intolerant people of all ages. It's a sad and stupid way for the world to be in my opinion.

Yes, the tea houses are definitely on my list of places to see in Japan. Like I said, I want to see it all. It will take me a long time to save up enough money to do it, but I think it will be worth the effort. Japan has a unique culture and I find it fascinating.

I'm glad you find them interesting! They are very fun to play. Sometimes it is easier to play a character who does and says things you would never allow yourself to do and say. When you play a character that is too much like yourself, it can get a little personal which isn't always the best thing. What sort of character do you think you would play?

It's good that you can get along with people all over the world and I imagine that if you are still friends with those people, they didn't mind so much when you were less than kind. It's easier to be kind and optimistic when your life is working out in a way that makes you happy. It's much harder to do that when you are having a rough life. If you have friends who can understand that, you should keep them!

I don't know of any D&D sites. I play with a small group of friends who are hard to get together, so I only get to play once in a while. I draw my characters to make sure that I don't forget what they are supposed to be like and because I like to (^^)

Thank you for all the compliments! I will keep on working at it. Hopefully there will be some funny moments in my life soon. It's been a real downer for a while now, so I could use a laugh. Hopefully, I will remember to draw it...

I honestly am not in the right frame of mind to be looking back. Onwards is the only way for me (´∀`)b

I looked up the game and I have to say that I prefer the art you sent to the 3-D modeled version. I only play PC games, so I am not familiar with the ones you have mentioned here.

They say that Japanese is one of the hardest. There are not really pronouns and a lot of the content of what is said or written is contextual, so it's difficult to know exactly what anything that is said is about. And the counters! It will take forever to unravel all the sense of it, but Japan is where I want to go, so that is the language I am trying to learn. I was trying to go for just the reading and writing first, but I think I may have gotten it backwards. It is very confusing and it will take me a very long time to learn it. Even if I can speak and write the language, I still may not get all of the jokes. I am sure a lot of them are about the culture too...

Hahaha...I see now. I don't mind a little rambling. I am sort of a rambler myself.

Some days are better than others, but I think I can dig my way out from under all of this eventually. All the garbage that I am going through is the only thing that my family and friends want to talk to me about, so I can say in all honesty, it is the last thing I want to talk or even think about. Sometimes you have to let a situation run it's course. The waiting is hard though. Luckily, there are lots of distractions in this world (￣▼￣)

I really don't know how many festivals there are in Japan. Google says there are 200,000 every year! I have seen pictures of the Sapporo Snow Festival. They have giant snow sculptures, some of them actual structures that you can go into and explore. I would love to see that (☆□☆) They also have a moon-viewing festival called Tsukimi that I would like to take part in. They have all sorts of festivals with many different activities and events, so it would take years to actually go to them all, but I can think of worse ways to spend my time...

I can see how the tourist thing would be a problem. There are many prejudices in the world and it is hard to work around them sometimes. It's sad though. If I went to another country, I would want to talk to the people who live there. They know where all the best places to go are. It's good that you get to speak the languages you have learned. I think it is the best way to do it.
Ha! I can't imagine you being a Grinch...you seem like a kind and generous person. Those Belgians must be really nice!

1. My favorite character to play is Kit Silverfox (really nerdgirl in costume). She is a wood-elf and a thief (rogue). She is also crabby and sarcastic and very much fun to play (¬‿¬)
2. Nagitsune Maki is a kitsune sorcerer. She is nervous, shy, scatter-brained and obsessed with food. She is also fun to play, but a lot harder than Kit.
3. Toni Withani is an assassin (rogue). She is a changeling who can shapeshift into any form she likes. She is a fun-loving, laid back professional who drinks, smokes and swears and generally has a good time.
4. Coco Madaerin is a furbolg druid. She is grumpy, sloppy and kind of weird. She dislikes humans intensely and I get a lot of fun out of picking on the human characters in the party.
It is really fun to play them all. A friend introduced me to D&D and invited me into his small group. We have a lot of fun when we can all get together, but they are all students, so our games get put on hold regularly. If you have some good friends to play with it can be a really great time :D

Hehehe....yes, she is very punk.

They are not actually the same character. I just used nerdgirl as the model for Kyuu. When I made that character, I was trying to get nerdgirl consistent so I drew her for everything and doing everything that I could think of. Putting her in the manga was just part of that.
I don't know that it's really the muscles. It's more that I am just more familiar with the female form. Curves are more fun to draw though, you are right about that.

I'm really glad to hear that the emotions are coming across in my sketches and that you think I am doing a good job with the angles. It's hard to look at your own work and be able to tell what other people see. Usually I concentrate on what is wrong with the sketch.
I would love to be able to do single panel comics, but writing them is extremely difficult for me. I would want it to be funny and clever. Funny and clever is HARD!

I was born in the year of the monkey. I really like the art! Did you make it?

Lmao! Chinese is supposed to be one of the hardest languages to learn. I wouldn't feel too bad about it.

Hello (´∀｀)
Hahaha...I don't think you have ever ranted. That takes some sense of anger and you seem pretty happy these days. As far as my problems go, it's nothing other people haven't gone through. I guess it's just my turn to have a difficult life. It will get better and I am not so far down that I can't pick myself up and start again.

Yes! Japan seems to be packed with creativity and I would love to go and immerse myself in it. It would also be nice to be where I can look for manga in a store and see all of the anime instead of just what is picked up by the streaming platforms. I want to try all the food, watch live bands in small places, go to the festivals and walk the samurai road.

Do you mean Tanabata? I haven't seen that episode of Ranma yet, but I would love to go to Tanabata. Of course, I would like to go to all the festivals. They have so many and they look like a lot of fun.

You are welcome (´∪`d)
If you like those bands, there are a lot more!

Wow! That's a lot of languages. Do you actually get to converse with people and use them?

Ah! I went to the right place, I just couldn't figure out how to look at the art there the first time. It would help if I wasn't trying to do three other things at the same time. It looks like the people there are having a lot of fun. Maybe I will lurk for a while (¬‿¬)

HA! That is fun fun fun! I love your profile pic. It makes me laugh every time I see it (^^)
I have a lot of other OCs. Nerdgirl is just my main girl.

You are definitely not ranty, no worries. I am just not ready to showcase anything anywhere. As far as the sketches in my blog go, I like a good challenge for sure. Sometimes it is nice to have a reason to draw instead of sitting there wondering what I should put on the paper. I like to see if I can actually express emotion and motion in my sketches, so that is one of the things I try to work on. I would like to get to a more manga-type style, but I don't feel like I have gotten there yet. I also tried to draw her in different styles and genres to see if I can always make her look like herself. It is difficult to draw the same character over and over again and have them look the same, but I will need to be able to do that if I am ever to relate her story through art. And yes, I like to draw all sorts of things. I am also into fantasy and D&D, so I draw a lot of fantasy creatures as well.

That is an interesting question and hard to answer, so this may take up a little space. For the drawings that are just expressions of emotion, they are definitely how I was feeling when I drew them. It is nearly impossible for me to draw a happy person when I am depressed. I will say that my laughing fox is a deceptive one, because I was in a sarcastic, screw the world kind of mood when I drew it and it is an evil laugh, but it comes off as really happy I think. For a lot of the fantasy drawings, they are things that happened in a D&D game. I draw a lot of things that I would really like to do. And I draw things that I dream about sometimes. Occassionally, people will say something that strikes me as interesting or funny and I try to draw that. And sometimes I draw things to make other people laugh or smile. The sketches of the couple are from a manga I was trying to write, but it's still on the drawing board because I don't feel like the characters are consistent enough yet and real life often interferes. Also, drawing manga takes more work and organization than what I am up for at the moment. In all of my drawings, I use my real life experience to portray the expressions on their faces. You have to know how something would feel in order to draw it well, I think.

Thank you (^人^) I am glad you are enjoying looking at my sketches. The couple, Kyuu and Yuuta are from the manga I was trying to write. It is still in the very rough stages. I have a friend who was brainstorming the story with me, but we have both been side tracked by real life issues. I am hoping to get back to writing it soon, but I have to be in the right mood for it. I am very happy that you could see that it is almost a story even though I did not post the sketches in plot order and there is nothing to string them together except the characters themselves. I do challenge myself to draw men often, because it is much harder for me than drawing females. Yuuta is the main male character that I post here, but there are others. Some are from D&D games and some are just random ideas. I usually look at pictures online to get the male form if I can't imagine it.

Hello!

Thank you for that! 人´∀｀)
It's hard right now, but I think better days are coming soon. I'm hanging in here with lots of anime and some manga, music and art as well. Hellos from the big wide world help a lot, strange as that may seem.

Yes! I think Rumiko is one of the best for making characters and places that you love. I don't know if you have seen InuYasha or not, but it also has some of the best characters out there. I think she is a genius with comedy as well. She is one of my favorite writers.

I'm glad you agree. I love the Japanese culture despite the problems it has. I don't think that there is a culture that doesn't have it's problems. Japan's are just different than the ones I am familiar with. I have to wonder if all that creativity of expression is a sort of rebellion against the repressiveness of the culture.

As soon as I heard Haruka Kanata, I had to find every other thing that AKG has recorded. They have so much great music and Sol-Fa is one of my very favorite albums. I love every song. I'm glad you are enjoying them! Good music needs to be listened to (￣ー￣)

That is awesome! The more punk fans there are, the more music the bands will make. I've never heard of the addicts, but I have listened to dead kennedies and the misfits, though they are not quite the sound that I am looking for. There are a lot of good bands, though all of my favorites are Japanese. You might want to try Ellegarden, One Ok Rock, the pillows or LiSA. They are all a bit older, but they are the classic Japanese punk sound and all different from each other.
I don't think I would truly fit into the subculture since I am not interested in dressing the part or anything, but as far as attitude goes, I can say that I am punk all the way.
It would be very nice to be somewhere to go for some music culture, but the place I am living at the moment has nothing like that. I hope you go and find some good music :D

It's great that you are wanting to draw again. It's not really something that should be left behind. It sounds like you have been having a pretty interesting life, so you should have lots or material and possibly some inspiration.

I am sure I will find some other way of communicating with the world when I get my troubles taken care of. The Japanese boards sound like a good idea, but a little scary since I am a bit shy. I have tried out some kid's anime, but I watch so much that is not for children that it doesn't seem to help much. I was thinking that if I found a good kid's show that I like enough to keep watching, it would be a good way to learn. I will have to keep looking.
Your English writing is excellent. I forget that it is not your native language when I am reading your messages. How many languages do you know?

Disney songs! Hahaha...that is a great idea.

I am fairly disorganized in most things and organizing people sounds like a nightmare! It's great that you are comfortable doing that sort of thing.

I will definitely learn Japanese, sooner or later. With all the things going on in my life, I find my concentration is not the greatest. I would like give my language studies my full attention when I get serious about it. Making some Japanese friends would be great though. And finding out more about where they live would be very interesting.

I would really like to go on a tour of the whole country. Japan is pretty small and they have trains that go everywhere. I want to see it all; the shrines, the ramen shops, the tiny farming villages, the hot springs...everything. I like the countryside better than cities, so I would probably avoid most of them. I would go to Kyoto and maybe a day trip into Tokyo just to see Akihabara. If I could arrange to go when I could attend Comiket, then that is what I would do. I don't know how much money I would have for all of that, so I am still in the dreaming stage. As for the rest of Asia...I don't really know. I have only been out of the US once and that was to drive through Canada. When I get to Japan, then I will decide where else I might want to go, I think. For now, Japan is my dream place. If I like it well enough, I might just stay there o(^^o)

Yeah, I checked it out and it looks like it's some sort of game and I have enough of those right now. I may check into it in the future.

I'm glad. It's nice to have someone to talk to here. I don't have a Deviantart or Instagram account at the moment. This is the only place I show my art, unless you count Imgur (where I store my sketches that I post here). I will probably get something going in the future, but for now I am doing my art for me. I am happy that people enjoy seeing it, but this place is enough for me at this moment in time. When I am ready to join other places, I will let you know. Hopefully you will do the same.

BTW, why Diane Black?

Don't worry about being late. It's always good to hear from faraway friends. I'm having a rough year myself, so I am not here as often as I was, but I check in at least once a day.

You're welcome.

I am still watching Ranma. Since it is a comedy, I take it in small doses, but yes, I love it. The dojo and the peaceful Japanese environment are great. The comedy in it is so unique that I can't help but laugh even if a lot of it is pretty juvenile. I love the writing and I can't help but love the characters. I don't generally crush on any particular one, but if I could go live in that dojo, I would.

Yeah, that is one of my favorite songs by the pillows, for sure!

As far as I know, most people have never even heard of the Japanese bands unless they are hardcore Japanophiles or are actually Japanese. It's their loss really. There is some great music coming from Japan. I love how they blend different genres and ideas into what almost seems like a new sound.

Yes, I am a punk rock fan. I like all sorts of music, but when I hear a good punk song, it gets me going like nothing else. Those are some old bands you're listening to! Classic punk and whatever genre it is that the Smiths fall into...I'm not sure. Good stuff though!

Drawing is for fun, so don't stress about it. It is a skill that will be there when you need it...well, after you shake the dust off and get your fingers limbered anyway. I still draw every day, though nowhere near as much as I was the last time I talked to you. Inspiration comes and goes, you know? Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things eventually.

Yeah, Japanese is hard. I haven't been keeping up with it as well as I should, but I am still plugging away at it. I am just waiting for the day that the words they say in the anime all of a sudden make sense. I was hoping that listening to the Japanese bands would help, but since I like mostly punk, they sing too fast and there is a lot of slang. So, technically, I am no closer to Japan than I was a year ago, but life has been a little complicated lately. I still practice my kanji and eventually I will get where I need to be. It sounds like you have been pretty busy with your language studies. Organizing events sounds like a lot of work! You must be really enjoying it to do all that :)

This is really my only social platform for talking to the rest of the world for now. I will let you know if I decide I want to talk to people on discord. Right now, writing email and this sort of platform is about all that I can do. I am using duolingo for my Japanese studies, but I am thinking of taking a class when I move and I am not really in a hurry. It will be a long while before I can go to Japan at this rate... but I will go!

I have never even heard of Gaiaonline. It sounds interesting. I will have to check it out!

I'm glad to hear your RL is working out for you now. There should always be time for manga and music (´∀｀)...and art too!

Hello ( ＾◡＾)っ

Your drawings are really cute! I don't recognize the character, but that cat eating ramens is adorable. There is a big community doing fanart for all types of anime (and other things) out there if you prefer working with established characters. I have been trying to do some myself, but I only have a couple. I'm still working on it.

If you would like to learn how to use the code on this site, I recommend joining Shishio's Custom Lists & Profiles. It's where I found out how to post images and all sorts of other things. I'm not very tech-savvy, but the bbcode is fairly simple to use once you see how it works. The club has a lot of super tech guys doing really nice stuff, but they still have the nice, simple tutorials for people like me. If I can use the code here, then anyone can do it. I am tech skill=zero. I did join imgur (free image sharing platform to host your images) to make it all easier...
mostly so I could post things like this nice picture of Ranma & Ryoga


The pillows did the entire soundtrack for FLCL. That was when I found out that punk is alive and kicking in Japan. All of the bands in my blog are Japanese bands. If you really like the pillows, I highly recommend Asian Kung Fu Generation. Those guys are awesome. I have been listening to Japanese pop-punk almost exclusively for a couple of years now. I will have to look up the bands you mentioned here, because the only one I've ever heard of is They Might Be Giants (I really like them, though I only know a few songs). I do like a lot of bands that are not Japanese, I just figured I would post the Japanese guys in my blog since this is an anime site and it's more likely that the people here would be interested in these bands (since most of the people I know are not interested at all, silly really). I'm looking forward to seeing your album covers though :)

That sounds fun. I've never lived in a city that had a Chinatown, so I have only seen the parades and stuff on TV. I'm actually trying to learn Japanese (slowly) because I want to go there. I was trying to get it together to do just that and then pandemic happened. I will get there someday. o(^^o)

I'll talk to you next time and thanks for sharing your art :D

Hello! It's good to hear from you :)

I'm glad to hear you haven't given up on your art. It may get frustrating, but I think in the end it's worth the effort. Of course, if I don't like what I am drawing, I just turn the page and start something else. For me, it's best if I don't get too attached to an idea of what I want to draw. That way, I can leave it and start something new and sometimes, I can go back and it's clear to me how to make it all work. I've actually been trying to do a Pokemon drawing, but it is defeating me. A friend challenged me to take one of my characters and draw them as a Pokemon trainer with their Pokemon. I stand defeated. I can draw the Pokemon, but fitting my characters with them seems to be impossible. Maybe next week... :D

Drawing album covers would be a blast...

I've mostly gotten over being nervous about showing my art here, partially because of the many really nice people that I have met that encouraged me, so thank you. It is exactly that personal aspect of drawing why I didn't want to show my work. It's exposing yourself in some ways and I had a hard time with that. Now, I try to post at least 3 sketches a week. I had so many that I had to take some out because the blog was getting to long to easily post things in. I'll look forward to seeing your art sometime too ;)

And thanks! I like the idea of Chinese new year, so I make cards for that holiday rather than the western version. I don't really celebrate either of them, except to wish people happiness in the new year. I am very interested in Asian cultures, but the new year's celebration is something I can't really celebrate without a proper Chinese family to go with it. Mostly, I just like having the animals to draw :)

I'm doing fine here and I hope you are as well!

~Talk to you next time...

Thank you for being nice enough to encourage me. I hope all is going well for you. By the way, I started watching Ranma because of you and it is hilarious. Thanks!

Thank you, that is really nice of you to say all of that. You made my day! It's nerve racking putting something up on a public forum like this, even if most people don't look at the blogs or know they exist.

I really can't draw any character I want in any position, but thank you for believing that I can (maybe someday). The anime helps with the angles, but I don't seem to be able to get the extreme perspectives and lighting that they use in the anime and manga. I spend a lot of time watching anime (because I love it) and I sketch a lot while I am watching it even if I am not drawing what I am watching. I have only tried drawing minecraft images as far as games go, and that defeated me. I can't think in cubes, apparently. I think the best way to draw is to draw what you like and not think of it as something you should do, but rather a way to better enjoy the other things that you do.

I would love to see your art if you feel like posting it. But only if you'd like to show it off. Maybe you are a more confident person and can handle the terror of exposure to all these people better than I can. I don't know how people handle it, honestly. It was my act of bravery for the week to put those pictures there. We shall see how long it lasts.

If you enjoy drawing you shouldn't worry about how much of it you do. Draw what you want when you want and you will love it more. If you try to force it all your going to get is a blank page. At least, that's how it is for me. Take care and keep the stress at bay in whatever way you can. And thank you again for all your kind words.

Hi! I posted some sketches here. Hope you are having fun!

The study of anime is a good way to look at the use of shadow and depth while still keeping the style simple and clean. I tend towards an illustration style which is more heavily dependent on the use of lines in shadowing which really screws me up when I am trying to make a color image. That's why nerdgirl is black and white. I can tell myself that it's manga style (yeah! manga style), but really I haven't gotten that far yet.

Yeah, I just spent 3 days of 6 hour shifts trying to work digitally. The only thing I am getting out of it is a headache, a need for a drink and a more in depth appreciation for my pencils. If I hadn't been given this equipment by someone with high hopes, I think I'd can it altogether and leave it for the people who are good at it. I like being able to draw what's in my head and this machine is inhibiting my ability to do so, so yes, it is powerful and I'm being blocked by my own ignorance. That said, I am definitely quitting for a while.

Anime that inspires me...good question. Most of it does in one way or another, but I find the shounen anime to be the most inspiring. Not only are they filled with great animation and art, most of them have content geared towards motivating you to do your best, to keep trying in the face of adversity and to remember the things that are truly important. I am a sucker for stories of that nature and I find they infiltrate my dreams and inspire me to draw. When I first started watching anime, I didn't do any art at all (huge slump) and then I watched Naruto. That anime threw me back into my art so fast and deep I don't think I will ever stop again (even if I give up on the digital).

I'm not familiar with most games. I recognize some of the names and occassionally some of the art or music, but I have only played a few (I have some friends who are game enthusiasts). You should draw those scenes. That's what the pause button is for.

Technically speaking nerdgirl there is not really a very detailed drawing. She's just a sketch. Unfortunately what I can do wth a pencil doesn't seem to carry over to a stylus. I'm hoping it gets better over time. I tend to give it a try for 8 hours and then quit for a week because it pisses me off that I can't get a feel for it. Like I said, I keep trying. So long as there is anime for me to watch, I will be on the computer anyway, so I may as well use it. I find anime inspiring, so it's all part of my art process.

Thanks for that! I'll let you know if I post anything, though it will probably be in my MALblog. I have some pictures of pencil sketches, because the stuff I can do with the computer is, honestly embarrassing. Always good to see a fellow artist's work, so if you post anything, give me a head's up.

Yes, that's my nerdgirl drawing. I use a sketch and layer over with a painting program. I am a traditional artist, so converting to digital is proving challenging because it's really not the same. Other people don't seem to have a problem, but I am learning how to use a computer so that I can convert my art to a digital format and everyting at once seems to be quite the load right now. I'm just going to keep practicing and see what happens.