Ground Level aka Where I Start

Posted on by

I spent a good chunk of yesterday watching YouTube tutorial videos – Draw with Jazza – and he was sketching these examples while he talked, showing what to do, and it was incredible. His rough ‘first attempts’ (which he apologized for) were coming out much better than anything I’ve ever drawn. I tried to follow along and mimic what he was doing, comparing my attempt with his was laughable.

Now at this point it would be easy to get discouraged BUT it’s Day One. This guy has been drawing for twenty years, it’s his job, obviously I’m not going to produce anything like what he can anytime soon. The point isn’t to compare my work with his, we’re different people for a start and so will naturally have different styles – there is no comparison. The point is to compare my work against my previous work. See how far I’ve come and then see where I want to go next.

In this post I’ll be looking at the art I’ve drawn over the past year, talking about the techniques I used, and then at the end say what the plan is for the next week or two. Let’s get started!

Continue reading →

Reflections, Revelations and The Future

Posted on by

Knowing and feeling are two different things. I think I’ve said that before but it bears repeating. In this post I’m going to talk about some realisations I’ve had but that doesn’t mean I won’t backslide. Sometimes lessons have to be learned more than once before they stick. I might ‘know‘ some things now but whether I have truly accepted them is still something of a question mark.

I’ve spoken before about “blogging resolutions”, and how I wanted to blog at least once a week, and feeling bad about it when I failed those resolutions. There are a lot of reasons why I didn’t stick to blogging more but the one I want to talk about today is that I simply didn’t care enough. My head had made it a priority as “something I was going to do” but deep down I just didn’t view it as important.

Continue reading →

Posted on by

rowofstars:

still-searching47:

Happy Birthday @rowofstars! Several months ago you answered a fic meme question about what fanart you’d like best. This is my attempt at the “cuddling to keep warm” scene from your fic Chapter Nine of As My Lady Commands. Hope you like it and I hope you have a great day! *hugs*

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW????

THIS IS STUNNING, SAM. I HAVE NO WORDS. This is one of my favorite scenes from the early part of the story, two dorks on the run, snuggling in the forest. I love what you did with Rumple’s doublet, it’s gorgeous and Belle looks so warm and cozy. Rumple’s face is like half terrified half confused because OMG THE PRINCESS IS SNUGGLING ME HELP. I love this and I love you. Thank you so much!!! You are amazing.

I’m so glad you like it! Hope you’ve had a fantastic birthday 🙂

I resubbed to Warcraft

Posted on by

Two and a half years ago, or thereabouts, I wrote a post called “Why I unsubbed to Warcraft?” In it I was reasonably certain that I would never play again. Indeed while I thought about the game a few times in the intervening years, I didn’t feel much of a pull to play. However, last month I got nostalgic. I don’t know why I had a sudden surge but I did and I guess it caught me at a weak moment. I decided to resub for a month and see how it went. I didn’t immediately buy the new expansion because I wasn’t putting more money than I had to into the game unless I was enjoying it.

That resolve lasted for about a week *cough* because well power talks. I knew if my main was max level it would make grinding in Warlords a lot easier. I admit it, I’m lazy, and I saw some 110 players one-shotting things in Tanaan and was jealous. Anyway, I just got my notification that the sub has been paid for the next month and it hit me that I’d been playing again for a month.

When I started I wasn’t sure if I was just visiting, or if I would continue to play. Out of interest I went and found my last blog post on the game “Why I unsubbed to Warcraft” posted April 2015 to see what I’d put and that sparked some thoughts, and I figured I’d write a blog post. After all I’m still playing after a month so something must have gone right.

Continue reading →

The End of the Beginning

Posted on by

What an episode. I had hope that everything would turn out ok but I wasn’t sure. It was hope, not certainty and my gut was kinda churning, I didn’t know what kind of firestorm would be happening. However, holding out for a Rumbelle happy ending was right – they got their happy ending or rather a happy beginning.

I typed up notes while I was watching as if it were a regular episode but it’s not really is it? Yes there’s a season seven (and wow do I have all the questions) but this felt very much like an ending. It could very well have been the end of the show and it was finished off well. If they hadn’t got picked up they would have exorcised the scenes with Lucy to remove the teasers for season seven, and that would have been that.

Spoilers for 6.21/6.22 The Final Battle under the cut.

Continue reading →

Sing-off Bro, You and Me

Posted on by

I have two schools of thought on this episode and basically my conclusion is that I’m really sad that they made it canon. I wish that they hadn’t done it as episode 20 because so much is happening, there wasn’t time for a diversion like this, they needed to concentrate on the plot. I wanted to enjoy it for what it was but I couldn’t because – canon.

Spoilers for 6.20 The Song in Your Heart under the cut.

Continue reading →

The Two Saviors

Posted on by

Wow I think I ended up quoting half the episode in my notes. I knew I loved The Black Fairy and now I know why, I’m hoping we’re going to get a lot of parallel gifsets because they weren’t shy about drawing attention to how similar Rumple and his mother were in their choices. They both started with the best of intentions and then it all went downhill from there.

Spoilers for 6.19 The Black Fairy under the cut.

Continue reading →

Time for a group-hug

Posted on by

I honestly thought when I saw the promo it was going to be time travel. I’m so relieved that it was just a flashback because time travel is a headache. Anyway, there were some not so great moments in this episode but as I try and be positive, I’m just going to ignore those and celebrate the good.

Spoilers under the cut for 6.17 Awake.

Continue reading →

Hope you aren’t afraid of spiders

Posted on by

I was afraid when I first saw this title that the Black Fairy was going to get Rumple’s dagger and turn him into her ‘helper’. With the sheer number of people that have got their hands on Rumple’s dagger lately, that didn’t seem impossible and I’ve never been more glad to be wrong. Anyway, onward to the actual review!

Spoilers for 6.16 Mother’s Little Helper under the cut.

Continue reading →