HOME | DD

KatsBrain In reply to Shadow-Monger [2014-08-09 12:03:49 +0000 UTC]

Thank you very much - I really enjoyed drawing it C:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

KatsBrain In reply to Meihlo [2010-11-22 17:30:32 +0000 UTC]

Teeheehee x3 I'll take that as a compliment :3

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-04-13 23:59:19 +0000 UTC]

I need to like, Actually Plan it first. >3> At the moment it's just a bunch of concepts floating around in my brain, plus an old page, a finished page, a flat colour page, a lined page and three sketched pages. It's less than it sounds, and they're all abominable. But thanks!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-04-16 23:33:25 +0000 UTC]

So, you do intend to develop it at some point, right? I certainly bloody hope so! :3
Any chance of you uploading these awful early attempts at some point, just for the lulz? ^^

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-04-20 23:01:12 +0000 UTC]

Pshyer, I hope to. But it is only one of many of the dreaded Unstarted Webcomics. xD So it may or may not actually get done. It's in...gradual, background development though.

I used to have one of the old pages up, actually. O.o Before I took it down out of sheer crippling shame. And like, the god character(s). Those were from about 2004 xD After that there was a giant gap and then suddenly it reawoke in early 2008 and I made the new pages over the giant summer holiday before the first year of uni. And then it died again and then I started drawing the characters in uni. And then it died again and reawoke again in the second year. xD So there's about 4 ages it's gone through so far and the first three are quite shameful. I actually have an image I made up of the latest drawings of the pantheon (I challenged myself to design all of them on two pages) compared with the first drawings I did of them and it...well, it's lulzworthy for one, heartening for another. xD I may put it up somewhere sometime if I put up more art of it generally.

I JUST WROTE YOU AN ESSAY I AM SORRY~

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-04-23 02:34:49 +0000 UTC]

So... just how many fictions do you have? xD It'd be cool if you did start one sometime. I thought Skywheels sounded great, but I haven't heard anything more on that in a while. Maze even changed the subject of one of our art trades from something Skywheels-related to Captain Kilroy, which doesn't seem like a good sign. :< It'd be cool if you guys got around to developing more of it, sometime. A webcomic about Egyptian mythology would interest me a lot more, though. :3

So when did you first come up with the idea? I started planning The Yggdrasil Cycle as a kid, in my Juniors' School at Year 5, and back then it was about destroying dark crystals, or some such rubbish. xD I only started working on it properly again when I met Maze and became deeply jealous of her art skills, and wanted to show off some designs I thought were cool. o-o It's pretty much the only fiction I've ever had besides Glimmer, though. And of course, I've not started either of them. Dx Have you ever started a webcomic before? I mean, besides the few pages of the failed attempt you've already mentioned?
I'd be interested to see this comparison. You should totally upload it here sometime. It's always fun to see how people have improved. ^^ I wish I could find some of my old stuff to put up. ;-;

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-05-03 02:38:41 +0000 UTC]

Like, a bazillion. D: It's bonkers. And the old ones don't go to the Great Concept Graveyard In The Sky, they hide until they're unsuspectingly resurrected and twisted around and inserted into something new. One of the earliest concepts I can remember was something to do with unicorn outriders. After that/at the same time there was Dragon Lord, which has been largely taken apart for scrap these days. xD After that came some horribly plagiarised Warhammer 40k universe, and at the same time I was dicking around in fandoms with Unreal Tournament and Treasure Planet, and had some sort of random fantasy universe that was meant to tie up with those two and the 40k stuff in some sort of horribly thought out giant war. >3> Out of all that has emerged a bunch of ice drakes who seem to stick together as a concept despite my continued disbelief that they can endure my brain this long, the ex-lord of the underworld and his were-horse, a bunch of creepy cyberwolves employed variously as Library keepers and border guards, and lots of Miscellaneous Rebel Factions. At some point there was a fallen angel or two and a boarding school where mountains were nonliterally made from molehills, and throughout a lot of this the elmari species has emo'd its way around. More recently there are slightly more evolved lions who are ambassadors for countries and named after cities, ice-breaking polar bears, a couple of commercial pilots with not enough to do, dragons who embody airports, other dimensions accessed by death and containing Cool Stuff, a bunch of military mine clearance divers who love to dick about, a deer who befriends a tiger, a deserting Teutonic Knight, a Prussian who loves a Dane, anthropomorphised stars, a fiction I have with another friend, and with Maze there are Skywheels and something h'awesome to do with Revelations. And possibly something else I've forgotten in the wake of going OH MY GOD there's a lot I just wrote there. That's not even all of them (not counting the Egyptian thing), just the ones I can remember or find art of right now. O.o

I think Skywheels isn't our top priority at the moment. xD It needs a lot of work, and neither of us really have the time or inclination at the moment. It may get done, just not any time soon. Our Revelations gig is more likely, I think. I mean, the direction's pretty much already sorted for us.

The Egyptian thing will be a while coming because I need to actually give it a proper plot, and I'm not hot on that sort of thing, or actually stopping procrastinating. xDD I will probably upload more of the related stuff though, particularly the pantheon drawings. The main characters were always Anubis and Horus,so there's way more art of them, and there's a fair bit of cropping up by Set, Upuaut and Thoth, but I've only drawn Set more.

How far do you reckon you are to starting the Yggdrasil Cycle or Glimmer? Year 5 was a long time ago these days. xDD

Nah, never started another webcomic. I did a lot of Trying To Write A Novel, which is just as stereotypical, but I was 12 at the time and it was awful (Dragon Lord). xDDDDDD There's a lot of concepts that I haven't mentioned here that I'll probably make into animatics, because they're too small for a project and too big for a single image. Yah, I'll dig it out and spruce up the more recent thumbnails for comparison (1 page turned into about 6). Never get rid of your old art, I find. Old concepts are often still valid, and if absolutely nothing else, it's good for a laugh. x3

< /gigantic essay>

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-05-03 18:23:07 +0000 UTC]

Holy freakin' hell! O_o; That's... that's a lot of ideas.
I'm not surprised you forget about some of them, there must be so much swimming around inside your head! xD I don't really let myself think of too much that wouldn't fit into The Yggdrasil Cycle somehow. xD
Do you have artwork for any of these things?

That's a shame, I was looking forward to Skywheels. D: I hope you guys do eventually return to it. I've not actually heard anything about this Revelations idea, 'cause you've only just mentioned it and Maze doesn't tell me much these days. What have you got planned so far?

So, will the Egyptian thing retell much of the existing mythology? With The Yggdrasil Cycle, I'm blending the stories of Norse mythology with my own, and kinda twisting things around a bit, but most of them are still in there. I hope you do get around to writing for it sometime, though I like the art you're making for it for the time being. Are Anubis and Horus similar to how they're usually depicted? It'd be cool to see your designs for those two, especially Anubis. ^^

Well, I'm constantly writing, rewriting and planning little bits of both comics, but I have no idea when I'll get around to starting either. If you like, I could send you the plan for the first three chapters of The Yggdrasil Cycle, sometime?
As for Glimmer, I only came up with that late last year. I just really wanted to do a love story. :3 I'm not even sure I can, but I'm giving it a shot. xD
I do have a genuine intention of actually doing both, and I guarantee that they'll happen eventually, I just don't know when I'll get the time. I may possibly start Glimmer over the summer holidays. Hey, you maybe wanna cameo in Glimmer? :3 I'm turning a bunch of friends into moles, and having them pop up in there. Mookie is the one I'm designing first, since she's actually part of an art trade, then I'm doing mole Bryony and mole Sen (*thezombievirus ).

Well, I would hope that you do eventually do something to share your ideas. Otherwise they would seem kinda wasted if they just remained in your head, and most of them sound pretty cool. :3 Anyways, I look forward to seeing the art comparison. From what I've already seen of your old Dragon Lord art, it should be interesting. x)
I wish I had some of my old TYC artwork around. I'll see if I can find some of it out next time I head home. Most of it is pretty damn awful. xD

Y'know, I think that's the longest response I've ever had on dA. xD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-05-18 21:26:02 +0000 UTC]

I have artwork for most if not all of my fictions; I've always been a draw-er, even if back in the day they were all horrible and deformed. xDD A lot of it is either in my bundles of Old Crap at home, or loitering in my scanned images folder marked "Old". Good on you for having such focus - the reason a lot of my ideas go west is because I think of something else cooler, then look back and think "god, that was shit" and then not "what could I do to make it not shit" but "eh, feth it". xDDD

Revelations is based on precisely that bit of the bible. We knew there was awesome imagery in the bible, but recently we both looked through Revelations and DAYUM some of that shit is freaky cool. There's already sketches loitering around (Wormwood, the star/angel that falls from the sky and poisons a third part of the waters; one of the living beings bearing 6 wings and "all full of eyes within"; and the seven eyed, seven horned lamb with the appearance of having just been slaughtered), but we're not kidding ourselves that we have a plot (apart from the obvious) yet. It's just cool at the mo. xD Skywheels...may or may not. It's difficult to look beyond our workload at the moment. >.>

The egyptian thing isn't a retelling at all - though obviously bits get mentioned and it's very much based on the original mythology, it's always been more of an "ancient egyptian gods in the present time adapt to it with varying degrees of success and lulz ensue" kind of thing. That's the setting, not the plot, but yah. Egyptian mythology is all over the place anyway, when you get down to it. I've already had to "choose" a pantheon from the myriad combinations in the canon; making a proper storyline would be...complicated. xD Anubis and Horus still have their proper animal/animal-headed forms, but since in the actual paintings all humans look the bloody same, I gave them a slightly more contemporary image. I made a lot of ponytails as I recall. >3>

Sure, send it, I'd like to see what you have planned. I'm not an expert on Norse mythology at all, but I like what I do know. xD And Glimmer sounds cute. x3 And fab, if you're up for making me into a mole I'd love a cameo. xDD Does Glimmer have much of a plot yet?

Yannow, I should just do a gigantic comparison image with a bunch of my old characters. >3> Save spamming everyone, and it'd be fun. I cleaned up all the new pantheon drawings the other day and lol'd to myself at the old ones. xDDD Agh, actually, I still have an old Dragon Lord Improvement that I hadn't finished up. I should do that, too. Ohmygod, I should redraw Alex, that's been a while 8D Tchtch, you should totally do a comparison image, they're a blast.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-06-11 15:50:53 +0000 UTC]

Well, it’s good that you archive these things, even if they are just stuffed into a folder labelled ‘Old’. xD
I kinda understand that, completely giving up on old ideas. However, I’ve worked on The Yggdrasil Cycle for so long that there is nothing that can make me abandon it now. Even if I did leave it, I’d still want to do a comic on Norse mythology, and I’m really happy with how it’s going now, anyways.

Cool! I really do hope this Revelations idea will materialise at some point. You guys got any artwork for it that you’d be willing to upload to dA? I realise that since you’ve not yet created anything of your own for it, you’d just be illustrating the Bible, but that stuff you’ve mentioned sounds awesome. xD Maybe now that your workload is gone, you might wanna kick back, relax, and draw some demonic lambs? :3

Huh, so would you be dealing with the gods as though, rather than having existed constantly up until the present day, they’re suddenly brought to it, or just that some would never have gotten used to times changing? That’d be interesting either way. Maze lent me American Gods, and I quite liked the way that handled ancient gods in the modern world. I squeed like a little girl when I noticed the little references to Norse mythology in that. ^^
The Egyptian pantheon might make for a complicated story, but that’d be fun to write, I think. I’m weaving so many of the Norse stories through TYC, and it’s a lot of fun to tie things together in unexpected ways. The American serial drama LOST is a huge inspiration there. I’ve reason to believe that you don’t watch that (I imagine that if you did, Maze might be a bit more interested in giving it a look), but it has massively influenced the way I’m structuring the story.
I still wanna see these designs for Anubis and Horus. :3 Ponytails? I’m now imagining them as a bunch of yuppies with animal heads. xD

I’m changing it a bit now, but I’ll send you the latest plan soon. x) Norse mythology is worth looking into. It has some beautiful imagery, and some interesting concepts, and also a hilarious creation myth. There’s a primeval cow involved.
Cool. ^^ Could I maybe get reference for your face at some point? If you have a photo from the front, and another from the side, that’d be really helpful. I can never clearly picture people’s faces in my mind’s eye, and it’s hard enough making these cameos actually look like the people they’re meant to be. I give mole Mookie a wide-eyed stare most of the time, which seems to work for her. xD
Nah, Glimmer doesn’t have much of a plot right now. It’s just a bunch of cute and/or romantic ideas at the moment. I’ll probably start it at some point over the summer. I've chosen to withdraw from the course and I’m taking a year out, so I’ll have plenty of time to make a start. :3

You totally should do an epic comparison piece, that’d be awesome! I really hope you upload some of the Egyptian gods soon, at any rate. Dragon Lord has been a good laugh thus far, so that’s bound to be good for the lulz no matter what it is you’ve yet to upload. xD
I’ll try to find some of my old artwork out. One piece I really want to find is an old Skoll design, and if I can find it out, I’ll do a Skoll improvement piece. I recently uploaded a more realistic Skoll to dA, and if you compare that to the 2009 piece I did, you can imagine how bad he must have looked about four years ago, when I'd just started dabbling in digital art. x)

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-06-23 17:43:44 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, my parents always tell me to keep all of my old art. xD It is actually kinda handy; there's a certain naive quality to older work that is difficult to get back if you need it for something later and haven't kept old stuff. But it's good to see you're so committed to TYC; I'm sure you'll be able to make something awesome of it. c:

Yeah, I can't recall if Maze has anything specific, but I have, as I said, some lamb sketches and a doodle of Wormwood the star/angel looking gloriously creepy. The lamb has some colour on it, but I'll do more before I upload it, and I think wormwood needs considerably more mood to him (right now he has a self-mocking caption scrawled in the blank space next to him xD). I shall put them up at some point.

At the moment, the concept is that they came into being as the Ancient Egyptians started believing in them, and they've existed ever since. But each god has taken the rise and fall of Ancient Egypt in different ways, being more or less integrated with the people. So some of them are pretty cool with the changed world because hey, it's still essentially people, and some of them are wondering where their sacrifices have gone.
(I keep meaning to read American Gods, one of my home friends keeps waving it at me. xD)
The problem with the complexity of the Egyptian pantheon stories is that they're all necessarily contradictory. It's not a case of "oh no, loads of detail", it's more "oh crap, was this guy the son of this one or this one or the brother of this one or the uncle of the same...argh". xDD There are gods that only exist with certain combinations, gods that get combined with others (and not always the same ones in different areas), and it goes on. Bonkers.
I will upload them xD Probably in a big pantheon post. But I'd quite like to colour them all first. (Ponytails isn't that bad. It could be worse, it could be ancient-egyptian-identical-hat-hair.)

I still wanna see this plan. :3 Primeval cows sound fabulous xD Less disgusting than one of the many egyptian versions involving phlegm.
Yah, sure, I'll dig one out of facebook or something. >.> Caricaturising people is difficult and scary; you have my awe. :3
Yeah, I heard that you'd buggered off off the course. Illustration you're going for now, is it? What happened? What're you planning for the year out?

I really should, now I'm at home and have access to all the horrible, horrible old art that lurks here. Pleeeease do find some of your old art. >3>

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-06-25 17:12:11 +0000 UTC]

I guess that makes sense. My parents tell me to keep mine, too, but I didn’t really bother archiving stuff until a few years ago. I have, however, found some of my old artwork hidden in the deepest, darkest corners of my room, and I shall be uploading them to dA later today. ^^

Cool, I look forward to seeing Wormwood’s design! I hope you upload it soon. :3 It’d kinda be nice to see anything you have for this idea, though, really. x)

Awesome! That sounds like a really fun concept. It would be nice to see you do some of this soon. You think maybe you’ll work on it again at some point in the near future?
The mythology certainly sounds quite complex. You get that sort of dispute in Norse mythology, too, but not much. I’m interested to learn about the Egyptian pantheon, but also quite intimidated by the whole thing. xD
Anyways, I eagerly await your pantheon post. :3

Ah yes, the plan for volume one. I forgot about that. xD I shall send it soon, after I make a few alterations to the Fenrisulfr-centric chapter. Unless you’d like me to send it chapter by chapter? There are only three chapters to volume one.
Primeval cows certainly are awesome, though there’ll be none of that in The Yggdrasil Cycle. Audhumla will still be noted, but as an unidentified beast, rather than a cow. xD
Cool, thanks. If you like, I could send you the latest design for the mole version of Mookie, when I send the plan for TYC?
I have withdrawn from the course, yeah. I’ve decided that computer animation isn’t for me. It’s fairly enjoyable, and I’m okay at it, but I’m not sure I want to go in that particular direction. So yeah, illustration.
Anyways, how did you do, this year? D’you get your results any time soon? Everyone in the first year is getting theirs about now, I think.
I’m gonna spend the year out organising another course, working on a decent portfolio, looking for work (signing on for JSA at the moment) and working on both Glimmer and TYC. I’m gonna start Glimmer over the summer, definitely. :3
What do you have planned for summer?

I look forward to seeing what you find. :3 Like I say, I’ve managed to find quite a lot of my old artwork since I’ve been home, so I’ll bundle it together and put it up on dA later. There’s some fantastic stuff in here. xD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-09-24 00:32:22 +0000 UTC]

I must get to commenting on that (like everything else...), it looked very interesting. x3

I'm absolutely intimidated by the Egyptian pantheon too. xDD God, I'd forgotten about that image entirely over the summer. I checked in the folder and I nearly had a heart attack discovering that I'd actually started colouring it. o.o Near future working on the story...probably not beyond poking the plot with a sharp stick. It's not exactly one of my main drives in life at the moment. >3>

Did you forget about sending the plan, too xP Or not finished the alterations?

The problem with cows is that, unless you happen to stumble across a large angry male one in a field, they're not a "cool" animal. It's difficult to talk about "primeval cows" with awe. Oh good god I still need to send you a photoref, don't I. D: How's the year out going? Sounds like you've got a good plan ahead of you.

I did fine, scraped a 1st by minus half a percent xD A first is a first is a first, but I'm gonna try and buck my game up a bit the coming year and give myself a bit of leeway.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-09-24 18:59:49 +0000 UTC]

At least you already have some knowledge of Egyptian mythology. I'm not sure where to start. xD I've ordered The Book of the Dead through Amazon, though, which should be interesting. :3
Ah, so the pantheon image is actually in the works? That's good to hear.
I was just wondering if you planned to return to the story sometime soon, I didn't assume you'd devote yourself to it. xD

Actually, I did forget about sending the plan. I shall send it soon! x)

I'm sure the Vikings considered their primeval cow pretty cool. The reason I think it's great is simply because it's such an absurd idea. xD
Yeah, a photo reference would be helpful, if you wouldn't mind. :3 There's no rush, though, because I've decided to do the first volume of The Yggdrasil Cycle before I start Glimmer.
Things are going okay so far, I guess. Looking for work in Gosport is a bitch, though. I'm still looking into various illustration courses. You wouldn't happen to know of any good ones, wouldya?

Hey, congratulations! Even if it was a close call, you still got it, and if you've done it once, you can do it again. I'm looking forward to seeing your Mouse Guard animation! :3 Maze sent me that concept art you did with the owl, but I'm not sure if she forwarded my praise. I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of the brushes you used?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-11-22 12:53:06 +0000 UTC]

Hurk, this is late, sorry o.o Again. xD

You ordered the Book of the Dead from amazon? That's fething awesome. Goddamnit, now I want one. xD "Penguin Classics" doesn't really do any justice to how classic it actually is, does it. As for Actually In The Works, this can mean anything with my WIPs. There are things in my WIPs folder that are over 4 years old. @_@ I will probably return to it at some point, and give it a proper story and plot and all those things that, yannow, a story needs. >3>

I've got it now, and I shall read it soon! :3

I'll get a photo to you soon. I dislike most photos of me, mostly because I have a habit of making the most retarded faces in them, but I'll send you the one I actually like. How's work finding going? I'm afraid I don't know any illustration courses off the top of my head, but when I did animation scouting, Glamorgan and Newport seemed to have good graphics departments as well. But don't quote me on that xD

Thanks, hopefully it'll turn out well - we have contingency plans for if it's too much x) Noo, she didn't tell me what you thought of it. About the fire brush - just got your note - Maze only has it because we're doing texturing in the same project. I won't give you the file, but I can tell you how to make one. It is photoshop only, or at least Graphics Package With Dual Brush Capability -only.

I started with an organic brush - I think mine is a watercolour - something with pretty much complete coverage of the brush circle but not too dense. Then I put in a grungy dual brush, something rocky and highly textured - default mode for the dual brush being Colour Burn - and put Other Dynamics onto pen controlling flow. So you end up with something nice and crackly.
Basically, I adore the Dual Brush thing in photoshop. It allows you to get really nice texturing effects that vary way more than just a normal brush. Dick about with the settings and see what works; that's what I did. xD You may end up with something way better than mine, have a blast. :3

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-11-24 03:27:28 +0000 UTC]

Penguin Classics has a tonne of stuff like that, huh? The Prose Edda, the Book of the Dead... The Book of One Thousand and One Nights is being released in volumes, too, which I wanna get when I have some money (damn Christmas eating all my cash).
If your WIP folder is really that bad, are the things inside really WIPs? I mean, surely they're things you're not really going to bother with? I hope the pantheon piece manages to stay afloat!

If it's too much bother, I could just use one on Facebook. :3
Well, I've found no work at the JobCentre, but I've spoken to a guy my Dad knows about illustration work, and he's gonna be subcontracting some to me. Just small cartoony drawings for newsletters and things, mainly. He often gets people asking him for that sort of thing, but he just does logos and stuff, so until now he's turned it down. So that's pretty cool. ^^ What about you, how's the course going this year?

I really look forward to seeing how your Mouse Guard animation turns out! The stuff I've seen so far looks absolutely adorable! I don't remember exactly what I said about the owl piece, but I threw a lot of praise her way for it, before she clarified that it was you who had drawn it. xD

Ah, thanks! It's fair enough, they're your brushes. I appreciate the guidance, though. Cheers!

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-11-25 01:16:51 +0000 UTC]

Christ on a bike, the whole 1001 nights. I want that. |: Actually, Dad might have it somewhere, I should ask him. xDD You're entirely right, my WIPs folder gets out of hand gradually. I just sorted some of it out today and took out about 20 things that would definitely have to be entirely redone (or have now at least been relegated to sketch level), so I'm only left with...70 odd. O.o Goddamn. Right, I've just put the pantheon in my main WIPs folder, where I won't forget about it. xD It's currently sitting next to some scantily-clad ladies.

Pff, not my profile picture of me grinning winningly at a cardboard woman, please. xP Have now sent you some of the hilarity that is my face.

Heyy, that sounds like a pretty good legup Good luck with that! When do you start?

Yeah, the course is going well. It's weird, only about 8 hours a week, 3 projects and 2 exams this year, but it's pretty intensive in a "you have to put your VERY SOUL into this" kinda way. xDD But yeah, we have Adam Twycross and Steve Harper for project tutorials, and they are both very helpful and entirely nuts, which is nice. Hopefully the final will actually look as adorable and pretty as all the various concepts and storyboards and stuff xD It's a lot of work already.

No problem, sorry it's pretty photoshop-centric; I gather you use the gimp.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-11-27 05:12:03 +0000 UTC]

Me too! It seems to be up to volume three so far, but I don't know what those three books contain.
Holy hell, that is a lot of unfinished art! I like how you said "my main WIPs folder". You have several, then? xD Also, also... scantily-clad ladies, you say?

Cool, thanks for the photos, I've put them in my reference folder. Glimmer is currently on hold while I work on a short story for TYC, but I'll get around to it after that. :3

Well, I technically started when I showed him my portfolio and we shook hands on it. x) It'll be whenever he gets that kind of work requested, so I don't know exactly when. But yeah, whoo! ^^

Ah, so it's less learning this year, really? Well, your storyboards and animatic are fantastic, so I'm fully expecting your final animation to be very pretty, not to mention heart-meltingly adorable. xD How far are you with it?

I'm gonna try using Photoshop on my Windows partition at some point, mainly because it's a lot easier to do some of the things I'm working on that require a lot of layer effects (damn planets), but I do indeed use the GIMP.
...Typing that using lower-case letters like you just did makes it sound a bit dodgy. When I told that guy I met about the illustration work that I created art using the GIMP, there was a small silence afterwards and I had to explain what I meant. xD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-12-04 01:57:20 +0000 UTC]

It is a bit insane, I know. xD Recently got it down to 66, though. It's not even a full page of large thumbnails on my monitor, it's ridiculous. xD

Ooh, what TYC short story are you working on?

Well, that's really good. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, but either way it'll look good on the ol' eternal CV. x3

Pff, hopefully xD We're in modelling at the moment. The mouse is done apart from fur clumps, and the owl is coming along. The environment is mostly done and rigging for the mouse is about to commence. But Steve and Adam keep BLOODY CHANGING OUR STORYBOARDS GODDAMNIT. I mean, it's really helpful and it's way better for it, but THEY COULD HAVE SAID EARLIER. 8|

BAHAHAHyeah, I will stop writing it lower case riiiight now. xDD The GIMP is very good for a free program, but it is limited by that. Photoshop is wildly overpriced even for how good it is, but it is good. And it's handily industry standard, so a lot of things are written specifically for it. It would be nice if they did a mahoosive reduced student price like microsoft did for windows 7, though. *Dreams*

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-12-09 04:53:21 +0000 UTC]

I guess that's a bit more workable. Good luck! xD

The short story I'm working on is subtitled 'Cabin Fever', and is about two people stuck in a small ship which is caught in a planet's doldrums. There's no story as such, but it's basically about them ending up in the doldrums emotionally and drawing similarities between their lives and their situation. The bunk scenes from the first two series of Red Dwarf were an inspiration. x) The whole thing is really just a test.

The mouse model looks pretty cute! Are you gonna put the other stuff up on your blog soon? I'd especially love to see how the environments are coming along. :3 They're still changing your storyboards after you've already made an animatic? o-o;
When's your final deadline for the project?

Yeah, the GIMP certainly has its flaws. Photoshop is currently about £600 isn't it? ...I hate being broke. :<

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-12-29 18:22:32 +0000 UTC]

Thanks xD I'll need it: I keep sketching things digitally rather than traditionally and adding to the pile.

Ooh, that sounds like it could be really interesting. o3o (ALSO RED DWARF REFERENCE FTW 8D) A test run is a really good idea. Any idea of the length the short story's gonna be?

Yeeeeeah, things are still changing. The animatics...we're up to storyboard version 7, and Steve keeps going THE TIMING IS ALL WRONG ON THIS BIT and WHAT IS HAPPENING I AM NOT PRIVY TO THIS INFORMATION and EVERYTHING NEEDS A REASON TELL ME NAO and it's getting a liiiiittle old when he was fine with it for the first 3 meetings or so. Final deadline is...the usual for projects, I think. But then there's other projects. OH GOD I DON'T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT Dx Yeah, I should stick some more stuff up, but recent things have been UVs, which are entirely unexciting. xD Textures and owl next, though, which should be better.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-12-29 20:19:47 +0000 UTC]

Dammit, Kat! It's only gonna get worse, restrain yourself! xD

Thanks. I plan on having them show up in the proper TYC story later on, too. :3 Cabin Fever would take place during the first chapter of TYC, just three planets away. x) I've also planned a navigation computer character, and I'm trying hard not to imagine it with Norman Lovett's voice. xD The story would be about the length of one chapter of TYC.

Eep. Is there nobody who can give you a second opinion, or is Steve the one you have to please? o-o;
Yeah, I've heard about your showreels and such. How's all that going? xD Ah, I'm very much interested in seeing your owl model, too. :3

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-12-29 22:51:54 +0000 UTC]

Nooooo, I need to draw xD Huh, 10 of the 68 things are unrefined Sketchbook Express sketches. >3> I should...do something. Like archive the little buggers in the scans directory.

...You realise now that when you post this thing, I am going to imagine it with Norman Lovett's voice. xDD "All right, dudes?" One chapter, eh? How many pages do you reckon? Or is it not finalised quite yet :3

Well yeeeeah, we could get other people's opinions, but Steve is our project tutor and we don't want him still whinging about the story at a later stage. x( Ack, showreels. I'll have one once we've done our three projects; before that, nada. xDD Hopefully they'll look good enough to compensate for not having many projects on the reel. The owl model shall be posted when I've tweaked the lil' bugger. x3 This will take some 5+ oranges.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2010-12-30 01:36:35 +0000 UTC]

Sketchbook Express? That's probably a good idea, unless your scans directory is equally stuffed. x)

Yeah, I realise that's gonna be unavoidable. The navigation computer will have an IQ far higher than six, though, and it's never going to ask the other characters what's going down in groove town. xD I imagine Cabin Fever will be about thirty pages long.

Ah, right. But surely if it's detrimental to your work, you should get someone else's opinion, and see if it's okay to go on with things the way they are? I mean, Steve's changes could go on indefinitely, couldn't they? o-o
Well, best of luck. xD Do you have any ideas for the showreel yet, though?

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2011-01-16 16:04:00 +0000 UTC]

I stuck them in an archive directory to keep them separate. x3 My scans directory has 717 files. ._. Unfortunately, 268 of these are from before uni (and thus a bit shittay), and a lot of them are from like, 1st year and generally times where I'd have to do a lot of editing to get them up to my current standard. So lots of it won't get done, but I don't like throwing art away even if I'll never do anything with it - and some of the concepts aren't bad. xD Sketchbook Express is a little program that came as a free software option with my wacom tablet - it's nice for just sketching, no layers or anything, and takes up bugger all memory. I've got oC, too, but I prefer Sketchbook's workflow for scribbling.

Butbutbut Holly was smart o3o (God, I love the Queeg episode.) 30 pages seems nicely manageable. How is that going, anyway?

The problem with his bitching was that he knows what he's talking about xD Thankfully we've finally come out with an animatic that he likes. D: We're going to show it to Phil Allen and Steve Hubbard, possibly do some of the things they say, then have done with it because JESUS WE'RE TIRED OF THAT SHIT.

Showreels? LALALALALALALALALALALALALALALALA.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2011-03-15 02:18:50 +0000 UTC]

Right, but are you ever gonna go through them all again to remind yourself of those concepts, or are they just gonna sit there taking up space? I guess it's nice simply to have all of your art archived somewhere. I see little point in keeping my art around when it's old and ugly. xD
Ah, I see. Sketchbook Express sounds neat. I just get rough sketches down on paper, though. x)

Yeah, I love Queeg, too. xD It was smart of Holly to come up with that stuff, but that was a rare occasion, and he still lacks common sense. Actually, now Cabin Fever is on-hold, too. I'm working on something else, and I'm using the new project as the test comic. It doesn't have a title right now, but I've planned the first few pages, and have the story vaguely set out. This is the main character (excuse the awful drawing): [link]

Hey, how's your Mouse Guard animation coming along now? You guys must be insanely busy. :3

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2011-03-24 00:31:42 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, I go through them every few weeks, actually xDD Just on a leaf-through. I have plenty of things to draw, though, so they're not at the top of the list or anything unless I get massive inspiration. Same with the old scans. I figure even if something's old and ugly, there was a spark of something that made it - and if it's not being used in that drawing, I can put it to work somewhere else. Yeah, I sketch on paper too, but sometimes - particularly if I'm going to need to chop and change and dick about a lot - it's easier digitally.

Pff, who needs common sense when you're a supercomputer. >3> Oohooo, what's the new project? Aksdfhdskjfh I need to comment your recent stuff, it's been really pretty. o3o I'm really sorry I haven't, I've just been a bit dead in general.

Yeah, insanely busy is a good term for it xD But now that innovations and masterclass are behind us it's gonna be nice to have pretty much only one project to concentrate on.

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2011-08-09 01:33:09 +0000 UTC]

Gawds, I just found this at the bottom of my epic reply stack. Sorry! ;A; So how's art going at the moment? You've not uploaded anything in a long time! D:

My new project (if you're still interested to know) is a story called 'The Cost of Living', which is basically about zombies. The dead are being forced to reanimate, and the protagonist is a young woman travelling across the American mid-west, who seems to be going out of her way to kill anything undead. x)

Well, all over now. xD So, how'd it go, did you do okay? What grade did you get? :3

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2011-09-18 17:10:46 +0000 UTC]

*Derp* replied in the wrong place.

Wooo! This is like, our ongoing saga or something, that we keep coming back to. xD Usually really late on my part, thus.

Art is going okay :3 Been drawing ponies a lot, joined a group for that - there's been normal stuff behind the scenes too, but I've been feeling so guilty for not being online here that I haven't submitted anything. xD I must get back to this, but I have such a backlog of deviations again. ;A;

Oooh, The Cost of Living sounds like a lot of fun! How's it going? And how's your art and life in general? :3

I got a first! 8D I was pretty pleased with that. Been hardcore relaxing - or trying to, but had to stress about house cleaning until September, and do showreel work and other things throughout...there're a lot of fun things I wanted to do this summer that I still haven't done. xD

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2011-10-06 01:11:04 +0000 UTC]

Whoo!
...Usually late on my part, too, though. I tend to take a while to reply to dA messages these days.

Ah yeah, I've seen your horsey account, and Robin's too. I've yet to comment on any of the gorgeous arts within either, but I will, 'cause it's pretty damn awesome. (...Is it just me, or is the world going pony-mad?)
Well, submitting art here is the best way to make up for that absence. ...Gotta do some of that myself, especially since I'm always lurking here.
Jeez, how many message and deviation stacks have you accumulated this time? xD Well, however many you have, the sooner you start to go through them the better, right? You can do it, I believe in you! Never give up! Trust your instincts!

The Cost of Living is on hold while I juggle Glimmer and Cabin Fever. I'm gonna stick with Cabin Fever for now, though. There'll be no more constant switching, or I'll never get anything started. I've actually started drawing the first page for Cabin Fever, and I'm now redrawing it after asking Robin for a critique. xP I don't suppose you have any news on your projects? :3
Meh, life isn't particularly great right now. I really need a job and I'm living in a place where there are none, and none of my friends are anywhere nearby. ;A; What about you, how's things? :3

Neato, congrats on the first! So, are you up to much now you've finished university, or is it just gonna be hardcore relaxing until the graduation? xD

(...Holy hell, I just clicked the preview button and noticed how many emotes I've used in this reply.)

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

KatsBrain In reply to Fyrisvellir [2011-10-10 12:21:19 +0000 UTC]

Ohohoho, you found us, eh? xD Did she link you to hers? I know she's studiously kept them separate. I've personally only got a tiny link in my journal on this account, and all but trumpets on the other account announcing that YES I DO OTHER ART TOO. (The world is not going pony-mad, I'm afraid; there's simply a large faction of it that already is, and the pony-mad parts of us seem to have...joined forces with them. Slightly tongue-in-cheek, but enjoying it nevertheless.)

Ach, I'm up to about...400 devs. xD I keep the faves clear, and I get minimal comments on my daft hiatuses - mostly on the stamps and suchlike. Amusingly, they're self-cleaning because they disappear after a year or something these days. *Sob*

Christ on a bike, boy xD You switching between all these fictions is hilarious. You know, you are allowed to develop them in parallel if you have ideas for all of them - there's nothing wrong with not focusing on one project 100% of the time, and it might even be better for keeping you fresh. xP But still! Looking forward to seeing these pages :3 How's all the planning for it? (You've done an absolutely stunning job on the lettering for Perigold, by the way. Seriously lovely work.)

My own projects have been mostly taking a breather at the moment as well, actually. xD All except for the old military fiction which used to be a massive great warhammer 40k ripoff and is now being stripped down and rebuilt from the ground up. It's fun going through old characters going "oh godddddddddd WHAT" and rebuilding them without the emo. xDDDD

Danke sehr! I'm up to rooting out possible jobs in London, but...relaxedly. xD Not particularly looking forward to having to live there, but if I have jobluck, I will have to. :/

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

Fyrisvellir In reply to KatsBrain [2011-10-16 22:49:01 +0000 UTC]

Yep. There's some neat stuff in there. I saw yours a while ago through the link in your journal, and I'm sorry I've still not commented on anything individually. It's all damn pretty, though!
Huh, I guess it's mainly all this My Little Pony stuff that confuses me. It's everywhere now, and people are infesting my favourite franchises with it. I don't really get what's so great about it, but I've never watched the show. Robin assures me it's nothing ironic.

Really? Is that just deviations, or is it comments and replies too? Well, in your case, I think it's kind of a good thing that it's self-cleaning.

Well, I kind of am developing my projects in parallel - that's why I never get anything started. I mean, I try to focus on one so that I actually get something done, and then I find myself writing or planning for one of the others because of some sudden inspiration. It's a horrible cycle. Plus I keep redesigning things because my art still isn't anywhere near good enough to do anything proper. I'd give anything to be able to create art as pretty as yours! Dx
Ah, thanks! I'm not sure my lettering is anything particularly wonderful, but Robin seems very happy with it.

Ah cool, how's that going? And what exactly is that fiction for? Are you redesigning old characters just for art, or do you intend to tell a story? Heh, yeah, I like rebuilding my old characters, too. You shoulda seen my old Harrow designs - she had pink hair and pointless but ornate ribbons all over her costume. xD So, if you're redesigning stuff, does that mean you're gonna do any old-versus-new design comparisons? I loved seeing those old designs the last time. x)

Ah, good luck with your job search! What sort of places are you looking into?

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

KatsBrain In reply to frogmastr1 [2010-04-04 15:12:21 +0000 UTC]

Thanks very much! :3 Obviously all colouring praise to *kangetsu123 , but thank you! Polycephaly, bringing you cool creepy stuff since forever. x3

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Fyrisvellir In reply to QuiltedPanda [2010-04-07 00:49:34 +0000 UTC]

Beautiful colouring, Mookie! :3

👍: 0 ⏩: 1

QuiltedPanda In reply to Fyrisvellir [2010-04-07 02:04:57 +0000 UTC]

D'aw, thankies! XD Though it's Kat with all the real talent in this picture.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0