More Sketches

Another round of dirty sketches


A dark elf in bone and tendon armour.


Two super speedsters I've created for a super hero rpg which have also found their way into my writtings. The guy with the upper hand is Velociraptor and the other one is called Jet. I was reading Jurrasic Park when I created Velociraptor.


Another RPG character creation named Lady B. She's a cyborg with insect powers.


I don't know what to say about this one other than it's my younger sister's favorite.


This is power bear. A mutant polar bear that can mimic the powers of other super humans. He's currently immitating the powers of Velociraptor and Velociraptor's fellow members of Predator's Inc.


This I call "witch ridding an angel". This was inspired by Baba Yaga who according to some sources rides a mortar guided by a pestle. I also wanted to make a witch with a different method of transportation. She's not ridding an actual angel but in fact an animated statue of an angel.


This is the Urban Shaman. I put a cropped version of this picture originally in my profile instead of my own face.

I was working on this post when my mother and sister came for a visit. I now know where the Old Navy sweater I got for Christmas went. My sister took it. But that's not important to anyone but me. So the reason I mention the visit is because my sister pointed out that my current sketches lack the realism of my old sketches. As she put it, "Now your sketches are cartoony." I prefer to call them stylized. Either way it's true. The dark elf and the urban shaman and also the Chinese dragon from my earlier posting are examples of my more realistic style while the rest are from my "stylized collection". I also used to take time to craft better backgrounds. I used to sketch a variety of "scapes" although you can't tell even from my Chinese dragon background.

I should note that I believe myself a story teller not a visual artist. I've let my visual art skills fall by the way side because I use them more to draw my attention to the nuances of things instead of as my primary means of expression. Now that I look for the nuances all the time I no longer feel the need to sketch constantly and hence the "devolution" into "stylized" art. Having said that another reason I devolved into stylized art was because you can often convey more emotion and flow with it than with realism. I find that the realistic depiction of some actions seem unappealing where as the stylized version can better capture the imagination of it's audience.

Enjoy.

Yep. Life is good that way.

After adding the addendum to my last posting this feeling came over me. I thought for a second, "What is this feeling?" Then it dawned on me, "Hey! Inner peace!" Yep I've noticed as much as I hate my life right now, my big plans for this year have fallen through. Damn me for not making back up plans! I was going "road building" as in in life I couldn't follow the roads others have walked so I had to make my own. I was going to embark on another life adventure but the job I had lined up to fund it is no longer mine to have. I'm still going to embark on this adventure now I just need to find another job to fund it:) So as I was saying as much as I hate my life right now I have a deep sense of inner peace. It's been hovering there at the periphery for the last few years ever since I decided to accept myself for who I am despite its consequences.

As for who I am. I am a wandering philosopher who has life adventures that I then share with others in hopes they draw benefit from them. The consequences of which is often going from crappy job to crappy job but not always but it's the majority and going from deep meaningful relationship to deep meaningful relationship. My typical lament in all of this is often (aside from little money and instability) is that I meet great and wonderful people only to have them fall away from my life because at some point I have to move on. I really do have a hard time staying in one place for too long. This saddens me a great deal because I keep wondering if the last person I let fall from my life is going to be the last wonderful person I'll ever meet. It hasn't been that way yet. The world is filled with great and wonderful people:) but still I have left behind some great people.

I don't know if that's a satisfying explanation. Its hard to describe the roller coaster ride of my wanderings and how good it feels to have inner peace despite it.

Thanks for taking the time to read this^_^

ARRRGHHHH!!!!!! Here's where I'm an asshole.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."

Don't mind me. I've been reading too many blogs from people who I first find interesting then as I read on I discover they are too fond of using "we are all" or "they are all" with impunity and speaking down on subject matters I know from their comments they know little about except to regurgitate someone else's pronouncements. Before I continue. If I've gushed praise on you, you're not included in this. If I've gushed it's because I've seen traits in you that makes me believe that even if I don't agree with you I trust you've made a serious effort in formulating your opinion even if It's different from mine:). My problem is with the people who follow the trappings of intelligence but do none of the leg work to discover for themselves what it means to be intelligent.

Now on with the ranting. I've paid a high price to be myself. The funny thing about it is no one has said anything to me. None of the people who author these blogs or books or interviews or whatever is included know me. I'm just mad at the reminder that people of similar mentality have made my life a living hell. Sadly it's not even that people have done it with ill intent it was just because in the past I've had to suffer because they've lacked the...capacity...the desire...the ability to find out what they were doing that was causing my suffering. I'm not blameless in the whole mess. I'm pretty passionate and have torn into people with enough ferocity for them to be too scared to do what it takes to set things right. What is most vexing of all is that I have done it to others. I have caused others to suffer for the very same reasons. Yep I'm a big jerk too;)

Well I feel better now and once again don't mind me;) Oh and feel free to correct me on anything I've said.

IMPORTANT ADDENDUM

The most important thing about being who you are and expecting to be accepted for who you are is to return the courtesy to others. I find that people will generally accept your differences if you allow them to be themselves in return:)

Good ideas should be perpetuated

I went to the blog "The Queen Bee Sees..." and I see the Queen Bee has a really cool idea. In her posting "Blog-a-thon" she offers to interview the next three people who ask. I like that. I'm disappointed to note that she already has her three people. But I like the idea so I'm going to offer the same only without the limit of three but with the same rules.

Here they are for those who may not check out her blog and also with my own variations.

1. Leave me (Urban Shaman) a comment saying "interview me."

2. I will respond by asking you five questions here.

3. You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions. Don't forget to leave me with a link to your blog/site so people can be redirected form here to see the answers.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

It's all about exposure.

Red Roses For The Blue Lady

Okay I know the song title is actually "Red Roses For A Blue Lady" but I'm trying to be clever:)

I have been lucky this year to have crossed paths with two VERY interesting people. This is about one of them. She blogs under the name The Blue Lady. Her blog is titled "Error 404 - Not Found".

I came across her blog while I was looking at profiles of people who also list the Necroscope on their list of favorite books. I decided to read her blog because of its title the ever frustrating "Error 404 - Not Found" (I'm a sucker for an interesting title). Something that usually signifies a dead end was in this case a call to a great thoughtful read. Mind you I'm not done reading through it yet but still so far I have not been disappointed. She writes a great deal and I read slowly. You have to go to the blog to see what I'm talking about. It's worth the time. She offers up her interpretation of the Patriot Act, the Child On line Protection Act and the troubles of Google, freedom of choice, product marketing and a whole lot more.

I posted this because I believe in encouraging good things and I believe her blog is a good thing worth mentioning:)

Ciao for now!

I knew I liked Neitzsche for a reason!

"I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more to be than a good dancer."

Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, section 381

I can't believe someone actually said that! I can only go by me but I think if someone knew the deepest darkest thoughts of philosophers this is one of them.

I was born with a club foot which comes with muscular entropy in the affected area. This means for me that my left foot can't keep up with my right foot. So I have a bad habit of losing my rhythm just when I get a good groove going:( I like dancing because it is the best and most satisfying method of expressing emotions especially joy. It's really good for seduction too;) It's also more fun than doing jumping jacks for keeping in shape.

When you're a philosopher (not necessarily just by profession) your mind is filled with thoughts and emotions that always threaten to overwhelm you. You need a means of working those out. Dancing is the best way as far as I'm concerned. I don't know why the physical and mental are thought of as so divided. As kids we dance at the drop of a hat. What could be better proof of it as the best method of expression than that?

Blogger's blah!

My apologies to the Bee Gees or Faith No More if you are more familiar with their version.

I started a joke, which started the whole world crying,
But I didn’t see that the joke was on me, oh no.

I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing,
Oh, if I’d only seen that the joke was on me.

I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes,
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I’d said.

Til I finally died, which started the whole world living,
Oh, if I’d only seen that the joke was on me.

I looked at the skies, running my hands over my eyes,
And I fell out of bed, hurting my head from things that I’d said.

’til I finally died, which started the whole world living,
Oh, if I’d only seen that the joke was one me.

You may not interpret the song as I do but I figured I wanted to emphasize that I wanted to start a blog that made people think and from there ideas would be exchanged and I could satisfy my insatiable need for conversations both deep and meaningful and shallow but witty and the world might be a better place;) I tend to "tax" those who would enjoy these conversations with me or there's just not enough time. The downside of adulthood. My nomadic ways don't help either.

Having said that, I have started to explore the "blogosphere" and found a lot of blogs I like and some I didn't but they all gave me a lot to think about. I've noticed a lot goes into blogs. I see bloggers posting a lot of links to references then giving a description for those to lazy to follow the links;) I'm really impressed and a lot intimidated. I want to be a luminary in a "sea of blazing beacons" but my normal learning priorities are getting in the way. I figure learn the ideas first and if you have time remember who said it and when. Now I have a wealth of information to share but no way to reference where I got it from so you the reader can have their own interpretations of what I've read. I'll figure it out and make my best efforts.

Or maybe I'm making too much of it. Anyway I just wanted to share.

A few sketches to start off with

I thought I 'd offer up a few sketches I've made to give you an idea of what goes on in my head;) As you may have noticed my sketches are messy. In some future postings I may offer up works that are cleaner but like I said in the first sentence I'm giving you an idea of what goes on in my head. It's messy there too:)

This first one is the Thing from the Fantastic Four. My favorite super hero character of all time. A down to earth guy turned into a monster of great power and yet ultimately he is a hero. He's reminded at every turn how different he has become from every one else but he still tries to do good anyway. I heard personality wise he's based on Jack Kirby (moment of reverent silence for the "King").



The next two are half of a team of female super villains I used in a short story. Black Wing is the first one and Zephyr is the other.




This is a sketch of Death Machine a Mexican federal agent turned cyborg super soldier. I originally created him for a super hero rpg game but have later incorporated him into my writings.

This dragon comes from a description I read of a Chinese dragon (it's not a royal dragon it only has four fingered claws). It's my favorite dragon picture ever let me know what you think.

This is another character that started its life from a super hero rpg later to be absorbed into my writings. Her name is Wind Hunter.

A mandatory vampire pic. I have yet to use her for anything. In case you're wondering the bat wings are a manifestation of her power of levitation. As you may have noticed my backgrounds need a lot of work.



That's it for now.