HOME | DD

Description
I'm fairly happy with how this came out. I still feel like something's missing in it, not sure what but it oddly feels complete all the same. I'll most likely go back in, do a little bit of touching up here and there though I'll probably just be nitpicking from here on out.

I've wanted to do this piece for a long time, but as other pieces mentioned before, I was never quite confident or 'skilled' enough to try. With attempts handled before, they failed miserably and I'm very proud of myself to have pulled this off in, if not closest, a damn well try at the execution.

It's time like this I wish I got into animating... I've already the imagination to WANT to do it, but breaking into that craft is another set of pain and hardship I'm not sure I'm prepared to deal with haha!

As always, if it's got Juju in the scene, there HAS to be a story involved:

=====
"You don't even know the half of what I was like when I was your age, son." Juju said.

"Yeah? Why don't you enlighten me then, dad... mom sure as hell won't tell me."

"It's because I withhold most, if not all that information." Juju replied.

"What?"

"Son, let's just keep this as a moment between a father and son. But off the record? I had my share of adventures in my time." Juju continued.

"Like, what?"

"Oh long before I met your mother, looong before that, I was something sort of a troublemaker." Juju went on, "I broke hearts, broke faces but more over, made enough friends to last me several lifetimes over. Some have passed, some I keep distant ties with even today, as far as they may be."

"You make this out to sound like some sort movie..."

Juju chuckled, patting his son's shoulder and then scruffing his son's lengthy hair.

"Adding to why I don't talk about my past all that much. Most people tend to disbelieve when I tell them." Juju responded.

"So what about all that craziness you used to do when you were my age?"

Juju paused, sighing faintly, gazing indirectly off in some direction to conjure the memories of events half a lifetime it seemed and smiled, "Was years ago... but there was this girl I used to know. Ehhh, Mei-Ling her name I believe it was."

Juju's son pulled up a chair, sat before his father who began the tale and leaned forward with interest.

"Well, I was visiting her family with her because she'd asked me to come along and her dad thought I was something of a push over. Finds out, he was a fellow student to a past dojo our very same grandmaster attended and he tested me by saying something like, 'rove yourself worthy. Challenge me, defeat me, and maybe I'll allow your company with my daughter.'" Juju started.

"That sounds a bit drastic for a welcoming..."

"Like I said," Juju chuckled, "not many people believe this to how it went down but I'd seen how Mei-Ling's father treated her while I was there. Shunning her, disrespecting... maybe it was because he was a traditionalist Chinese man, and that Mei-Ling was the oldest, but above all, a daughter and not a son. Whatever the case. I was fed up with his disrespect and thought this to be the only way to knock some sense into him. Literally!"

"So what happened?"

"Well..." Juju smiled, chuckling again in his excited mannerism, giddy to expel one of his memorable fashions of the past, "At the time, I had this ritual where before I got into a fight of any sort or some kind of challenge that tested me out, I had these yellow ribbons which I wrapped around each of my fingers to my right hand."

"Why your right hand?" Juju's son asked.

"For fights, to catch attention really... bright colors, phasing your opponent out, that sort of thing. Aesthetically, I liked it. When it came down to it really, there was no reason for it at all except showmanship. Theatrics."

"That's pretty Shakespearean of you..."

"I live for the moment..." Juju replied, both of them laughing at the pathetic joke.

"Right, so just as Mei-Ling's father was starting out, I call him out saying, 'Time Out!' which shocked him, that someone was ordering him around instead of him giving the orders. This was in front of Mei-Ling, most of her family, and her father's entire dojo student body watching in. Pretty much waiting for me to get my ass beat while I took my sweet time binding my hand up."

"Oh my god, dad."

Juju laughed out suddenly again, "Arrogance! But it's so who I was then."

"Well, did you win?"

Juju just grinned, leaned forward and pushed his middle and index finger at his son's forehead, pushing his head back in the gentle force of the push.

"Your mother'll be here any minute now... if she overheard us talking now, she'd only lecture me about lazing about, wasting time and that we should be doing something." Juju remarked.

"Dad?!"

"Another time son, another time..." Juju said, patting both hands onto his son's shoulders as he stood up from his seat across his son's and ventured off to take care of other worldly duties.

Though moments before disappearing, his mind wandered back to the trace of a step in time, the image of how he must have looked, seconds before diving into the fray.

"Boy, do I miss them days."
=====

Description
I'm fairly happy with how this came out. I still feel like something's missing in it, not sure what but it oddly feels complete all the same. I'll most likely go back in, do a little bit of touching up here and there though I'll probably just be nitpicking from here on out.

I've wanted to do this piece for a long time, but as other pieces mentioned before, I was never quite confident or 'skilled' enough to try. With attempts handled before, they failed miserably and I'm very proud of myself to have pulled this off in, if not closest, a damn well try at the execution.

It's time like this I wish I got into animating... I've already the imagination to WANT to do it, but breaking into that craft is another set of pain and hardship I'm not sure I'm prepared to deal with haha!

As always, if it's got Juju in the scene, there HAS to be a story involved:

=====
"You don't even know the half of what I was like when I was your age, son." Juju said.

"Yeah? Why don't you enlighten me then, dad... mom sure as hell won't tell me."

"It's because I withhold most, if not all that information." Juju replied.

"What?"

"Son, let's just keep this as a moment between a father and son. But off the record? I had my share of adventures in my time." Juju continued.

"Like, what?"

"Oh long before I met your mother, looong before that, I was something sort of a troublemaker." Juju went on, "I broke hearts, broke faces but more over, made enough friends to last me several lifetimes over. Some have passed, some I keep distant ties with even today, as far as they may be."

"You make this out to sound like some sort movie..."

Juju chuckled, patting his son's shoulder and then scruffing his son's lengthy hair.

"Adding to why I don't talk about my past all that much. Most people tend to disbelieve when I tell them." Juju responded.

"So what about all that craziness you used to do when you were my age?"

Juju paused, sighing faintly, gazing indirectly off in some direction to conjure the memories of events half a lifetime it seemed and smiled, "Was years ago... but there was this girl I used to know. Ehhh, Mei-Ling her name I believe it was."

Juju's son pulled up a chair, sat before his father who began the tale and leaned forward with interest.

"Well, I was visiting her family with her because she'd asked me to come along and her dad thought I was something of a push over. Finds out, he was a fellow student to a past dojo our very same grandmaster attended and he tested me by saying something like, 'rove yourself worthy. Challenge me, defeat me, and maybe I'll allow your company with my daughter.'" Juju started.

"That sounds a bit drastic for a welcoming..."

"Like I said," Juju chuckled, "not many people believe this to how it went down but I'd seen how Mei-Ling's father treated her while I was there. Shunning her, disrespecting... maybe it was because he was a traditionalist Chinese man, and that Mei-Ling was the oldest, but above all, a daughter and not a son. Whatever the case. I was fed up with his disrespect and thought this to be the only way to knock some sense into him. Literally!"

"So what happened?"

"Well..." Juju smiled, chuckling again in his excited mannerism, giddy to expel one of his memorable fashions of the past, "At the time, I had this ritual where before I got into a fight of any sort or some kind of challenge that tested me out, I had these yellow ribbons which I wrapped around each of my fingers to my right hand."

"Why your right hand?" Juju's son asked.

"For fights, to catch attention really... bright colors, phasing your opponent out, that sort of thing. Aesthetically, I liked it. When it came down to it really, there was no reason for it at all except showmanship. Theatrics."

"That's pretty Shakespearean of you..."

"I live for the moment..." Juju replied, both of them laughing at the pathetic joke.

"Right, so just as Mei-Ling's father was starting out, I call him out saying, 'Time Out!' which shocked him, that someone was ordering him around instead of him giving the orders. This was in front of Mei-Ling, most of her family, and her father's entire dojo student body watching in. Pretty much waiting for me to get my ass beat while I took my sweet time binding my hand up."

"Oh my god, dad."

Juju laughed out suddenly again, "Arrogance! But it's so who I was then."

"Well, did you win?"

Juju just grinned, leaned forward and pushed his middle and index finger at his son's forehead, pushing his head back in the gentle force of the push.

"Your mother'll be here any minute now... if she overheard us talking now, she'd only lecture me about lazing about, wasting time and that we should be doing something." Juju remarked.

"Dad?!"

"Another time son, another time..." Juju said, patting both hands onto his son's shoulders as he stood up from his seat across his son's and ventured off to take care of other worldly duties.

Though moments before disappearing, his mind wandered back to the trace of a step in time, the image of how he must have looked, seconds before diving into the fray.

"Boy, do I miss them days."
=====