dragonimp

Between work, my back acting up again (nowhere near as bad as before, but enough to be an annoyance), and RL just generally getting in the way, yesterday was the first time I was able to get back to painting. It was aggravating, because all I had left to paint was Hughes' uniform. Of course, as soon as that was done, I realized the background was far too light. Thankfully easily fixed, though, so it's finished and up at the various art sites. I'm really happy with the way this turned out, it comes very close to what I was picturing.

Paper Demon is now fully updated - including a new Roy/Ed piece over in the Red Curtain. (I'm no longer posting art to LJ unless it's attached to a fic. Any new art - including fanart - will be posted to Paper Demon, and to devART and y!gal when appropriate. But there won't be any art posts here or at impishclawmarks.)

When I start working on something, I like to burrow in and get totally absorbed and not come out for hours. Which is a problem when I really shouldn't draw for more than 45 minutes or so at a time. And when I say "at a time," I don't mean "take a 15 minute break and come back to it." I mean, "put it away and maybe - maybe - take it back out tomorrow, provided you haven't done anything else to fuck your wrists." That would be the ideal, anyway. Except that I'm obsessive, and have a hard time letting things be.

Not much to do except deal as best I can. (Maybe I'm not allowed to draw anymore. I can only paint. Somehow without any underdrawing.)

I'd almost forgotten how nice it is to have an undo key. I'm so incredibly out of practice, but it turned out all right anyway.

But more than that. I can draw again. My wrist and hand are a little touchy this morning, but nowhere near how bad they were after the last time.

I really can't express how much of a relief this is. Obviously I still need to be careful, but - I have my art back. Seeing art supplies doesn't make me want to curl into a ball or burst into tears anymore. I'm even seriously considering ordering Painter X.

I'm still holding out hope that some day I'll be able to use colored pencils again, but for now, I'll take what I can have.

I have this picture on my Elfwood gallery of a werewolf halfway between wolf and human. It's something close to 8 years old now and creaking a bit with age, but the description clearly says that that's what it is.

I just got a comment on it that says: "werebabboon?"

Can I flick someone over the internet?

The two pictures that killed my wrists the most are the ones with the most +favs. Figures. In the case of the more recent one (also the one with the most +favs) it really is disproportionate with the amount of time and effort put into it. I feel like I should put a notice in my gallery: Sorry, I'm not likely to do any more like these. When I do submit, it'll likely be more of the crap no one comments on.

I just read over that and it sounds really snarky. That's not how I mean it. I just find it ironic. (Okay, the last sentence was more than a little cynical, I'll admit that.)

I sold a painting!!!

The fair called me today to let me know that Beach Cove sold! This is the first piece of artwork I've ever sold! It's also a bit weird, because, well, I've never sold a piece of artwork before. But I'm totally sqee'ing!

You may have seen This article from Animation World Magazine talking about an "orphan works" bill that was supposedly being put to congress. The gist of the claims in the article are, creative works will no longer be born copyrighted, and if artists don't pay register their work with private registries with faulty search functions, or if they're registered but the search function fails to locate them, then the works are "orphaned," and basically become de facto public domain. Sounds pretty bad, right?

Well - it's not. From the look of it, this guy is being more than a little alarmist. This is the US Copyright Office's page on orphan works. It defines orphan works as "copyrighted works whose owners may be impossible to identify and locate." That page has several other links, including the full text of the report. Nowhere does it say anything about overturning the current copyright laws. You would still own the copyright of your work for your life +70 years. One of the administrators on y-gallery posted a journal entry about this that does a pretty good job of breaking down the alarmist arguments in the AWM editorial, complete with links.

Basically, it doesn't look like this is a case of the government being evil and trying to take the livelihood away from artists. More like misinformation and somebody trying to get everyone's panties in a twist over nothing.

Edit: Here's another rebuttal to the article. Very clear and well-written.

Basically, the original article is bull.

I need a good reference or two for drawing Al's armor! Preferably seated - and from the side - but at this point, I'd take any good pic that shows detail.

Been feeling rather... pissy lately. My head isn't a pleasant place to be much of the time anyway, but I've been notably prone to irritation for the last few weeks.

But I'm sure nobody wants to hear about that.

Went ahead and entered the Artist's Magazine competition. Sent in four works. I really don't think I have a chance, but I figured I might as well enter. I downloaded the entry form for the local county fair, too. Although their Web site is horrendous, and is lacking some information. And for some reason you can only submit works that have been done in the last two years. Why, I really don't know.