Kevin used Pencil!

(click.)
Those are my sketches I called "The Valiant", reason being I like the word "valiant". It's just an "over the shoulder peak into Kevin's artistic endeavors" kind of thing, complete with added captions. They're all reference drawings (I didn't just make them up) I drew a few months ago from Flickr.com. Actually, you can find most of the stuff I draw in my green sketchbook from my Flickr account where you can see what I've already drawn and what I will post in the fuuUUuuture.

I was gonna write more in this post, but it's late and I am sleepier than that Pokemon Drowsy, and lemme tell ya, that guy is sleepy all day every day. That must be depressing, don't you think? Living your life, never really being fully awake. I'm pretty sure that's already some kind of disease. It sucks even more because it looks like some unattractive bipedal anteater in poop shorts. I would probably kill myself if I were Drowsy.

So yup, gotta go sleep before I die. Sort of ironic? Maybe. Good night.


P.S. Both Blogspot and Photobucket wouldn't let me upload the pic at its original resolution. Imageshack to save the day!!

Animay Expo

Note, not anime.

First tiny convention! It sure was a lot smaller than the mega madness that is San Diego Comic-Con, but that was sorta expected. What wasn't expected? The amazingness of Fry's. But more on that later.

Me and Whitney (CSUF Whitney, not Whitney Whitney) entered the CTN Animation Expo, got our wristbands, and stood in line. We assumed that line was for going inside the exhibit hall, since our passes only gave us access for that. BUTT, it turns out the line was for a panel thing and we snuck (snook?) inside for free because the guys at the door were, as you say, "noobs" and didn't recognize that our bracelet colors technically shouldn't have been allowed to let us in!

!!!, right!?

So the very first thing we did was watch a free panel of this guy talking about him working on Shrek 4 (DID YOU KNOW there was gonna be a Shrek 4?! Way to milk that franchise to an empty utter, Dreamworks. Please don't sequelize Kung Fu Panda, twas good by itself. And I haven't seen Monsters VS Aliens but I want to!) and he animated a stick-block figure running off screen. Twas pretty good, especially cuz it was FREE!

It was about 15 minutes of him talking and 30 minutes of this. If you weren't interested in animation, you'd probably be bored to tears (which actually sounds very painful), but luckily I found this quite interesting! Mmmm yes, yes indeed mmmm...

After an hour of that, we walked around the exhibit floor. To put it into perspective, I'd say the floor was about the size of 1.5 average gyms (but not as tall), assuming your perception of an "average gym" matches mine.

This picture captures about a quarter of the floor. !!!, right?! That's like the size of one big booth at SD Comic-Con, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Just an "oh hey that's smaller" kinda thing.

There were a plethora of (expensive) books on sale, one of them being this one about what appears to be stoned cats and their hallucinations.

Wacom was having some kind of drawing competition. DUDE I totally sampled a Cintiq for the first time! It was pretty awesome and more slippery than I imagined. It's not on the top of my wishlist, but I still want one. Goal: To obtain a Cintiq within 10 years (assuming I'll be doing a lot more digital work in the future).

Speaking of digital work. Check THIS break dancing out!

There were a WHOLE bunch business cards with art like this on them at the Imaginism Studios booth (I got 20 cards HAHA). That one called "Big Bad Bunny Eater" by Bobby Chiu was my favorite.

COSPLAYER IN SIGHTS! I was happy to see one at the convention. (Sorry I got his back, I'm not good at taking sneaky photos.) (And when I say "got his back", I mean got a PICTURE of his back. Although if he were to get into a scuffle, there is a small possibility that I'd help him out. So I guess it works both ways.)

In fact, cosplayers should be at EVERY single CONVENTION! Even at actual cosplay conventions, there should be someone dressed up as someone who's dressed up as someone. As scary as it sounds, that has probably happened before. Cosplayers - the epitomic blend of passion, geekiness, and insanity.

Dude dude, guess who else other than that Deviant Art guy I saw there!

YUP THAT'S RIGHT! Laura Faust and Craig McCracken! THE CREATORS OF FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS! (And Powerpuff Girls.) Previously I had only seen them at the Comic-Con 2008 panel, but THERE THEY WERE at their own little booth! Just a few feet away from my feet!

I got to talk to Laura a little, but Craig was busy looking at some stuff. It's funny how nervous I can get when meeting artists I've revered so happily. (See, Comic-Con 09 Half Pixel) Best of all, I had them sign my Blooregard Q. Kazoo keychain!!

YEAH! But now I can't use it. And if you were curious, Craig's working on a graphic novel and Laura's selling dolls, both of them hoping to turn their works into a TV series. And... it'll probably happen.

For lunch I went to Fry's Electronics for my first time! (Other than happening on the same day and being nearby, COMPLETELY unrelated to the expo.)

It had the crazy theme 1950's sci-fi horror movie which, of course, was amazing. There were 50's diners, martians, an octopus, spaceships, and even a 50 foot long gigantic ant that would make any Taylor Tso squeal from giddiness.

After lunch at Fry's, we went back to the expo, looked around a little more, then left for home. In the end I was pleasantly surprised at how much good illustration there was at the convention. Makes me wanna draw on the computer more. Fun times, good day.

As it turns out, we got to see the whole show floor in about 2 hours that morning. So if YOU ever go to the CTN Animation Expo, make sure you get a one day complete pass so you can sit in on the panels and participate in the "connections" mixer thing. Also, bring lotsa money. Those dang artists charge appendages for silly drawings.

Thy Coloring

BAM final piece first. I spent almost all day coloring this baby! (Note: Character in image is not actually a baby.)

His tentative name is Elliot and he is a Line Walker. duh duh DUH! "What! What is a 'Line Walker'? What Kevin? What what? Confused soul I hath assumed, doth my mind aspire yonder, for thy groves worn of settlement??" is more or less what you're probably thinking. Well, impressive!, and time shall tell who this Elliot character is...

But right now! Ze process!!

Skipping the penciling part... here's the line art. Looks like he's surfing.

Then I put in the base colors. Is that the right term? "Base" colors?

Darks. Lights. Yeah the whites didn't do much, maybe I should've made the initials darker...

Background bases! If I gave you those colors, then... all my base are belong to you. (NO KEVIN.)

Finalmente, background embellishments.


After that, I covered the piece with a sepia-ish hue, and voila! The picture at the beginning of the post is born!! (Note: Contrary to diction, character in image is still not a baby.)

Now you might be saying "hey I like all those colors better than the final product. Why'd you sepia it..?". I've thought that a few times before looking at other peoples' works (so I assumed you'd think that too), and my answer is: I do it for the mood. It's just personal preference.

"Wait wait, why didn't your BASE colors just use the sepia-ish colors? All that initial coloring went to waste since you just changed it up at the end!". I too have thought this (and so have you)! I wouldn't KNOW what the sepia-ish version of red looks like without first putting the red down, so I color everything without any effects, and then add cool stuff later.

Yup! A little tip to the toes, SMUDGE TOOL WORKS WONDERS. I just discovered it in Photoshop and it's incredibly useful for blending. There's this entry's pro-tip! Although if you never use Photoshop, then you have completely wasted your time reading this paragraph. Gjob, loser. (To the soft-hearted: Just kidding!)

And that's my show! Hope you liked my drawing as much as I did making it! Gnight!!


(Dang. I might be more proud of that Shakespeare-like sentence I made up there.)

Kinder the Garts

Quiz time! Lookathis. Which is better?


These are two different pieces by two different people. One was drawn and ink-washed by a person who has been taking art class for ONE year, the other piece by a person who has been taking art for THREE years. Who drew which one?

A) Left: 1 year artist, Right: 3 year artist
B) Left: 3 year artist, Right: 1 year artist
C) Left: 1 year artist, Right: unmentioned 4 year artist
D) Left: 3 year artist, Right: Kindergartner

Whoa, "kindergartner" is a pretty bizarre word. Is it just me or does it sound pretty badass... like someone who likes to kindergart just for the heck of it.

"He kindergarts!?"

"Yup. He's a kindergartner."

"Dag, yo, I'll be sure to not mess with him..."

Or possibly a "gart" is something to "kinder". That, too, could make sense, although "kinder" doesn't have the alligator toughness that "kindergart" has, so I'm guessing "gart" holds all the balls.

And back to the quiz.

The answer? E) None of the above. (Hopefully you've read this blog long enough to know I'd pull the "none of the above" somethin-somethin like that on you. Cmon. If not, then, well, read more posts ya nimrod.) (HAHA) It's none of the above! Because I made BOTH pieces, of course!

Turns out I'm pretty mediocre when it comes to drawing faces from the front, but pretty good at profile views (or any angle that isn't just straight forward). I also found out how incredibly easy it is to positions pupils just SLIGHTLY off center to make the person look all kinds of psychotic.

This (the art, not the psychotics) brings me to my next point: I want to be a superhero. Not in a traditional sense, clad in skin tight spandex and hidden behind fruit roll-up masks. No, my OTHER definition of a superhero: to have so much knowledge in a particular field that awesomeness radiates from various pours of the hero's body. Something like that. I totally wrote about this in another post (found... HERE!), but I recently realized two things, one being that I'd like to label such a status as "superhero". (I name it superhero because when I see someone doing complicated stuff as if it were nothing, my mind immediately thinks "whoa... _____'s like a superhero..".)

The second thing I epiphanized was that one day, I will be a superhero in art. I'm gonna know "jargon of the pencil" that would make you scratch your head more furiously than a rabbit (except you wouldn't scratch with your foot [or maybe you might, don't wanna rule out possibilities]). Sooner or later I shall proudly say, "Yeah. I'm not an artist in training. Just an artist". And I think I'm 50% there.

Among other things, that's what makes life exciting, dontchaknow? (Haha I went Canadian on you.) You're not exactly sure how or what you'll be doing in the future, whether it be in 10 years or even tomorrow. But you keep moving forward. Because if you don't, then you're not making any more progress than a dead man.

Let's end this post with a beautiful analogy!
Life like climbing a cloudy mountain; you can't really see the peak, but you just keep making your way up there because you know you'll probably stumble across a nice river to bathe in because your pits are drenched in hoards of disgusting.

Fundane Activities

I went to an art store.

and that's the BORING version of the story! Today's errand could have been seen as nothing special, but oh, it sorta was! So much so that I'm makin' an entry about it. Snappidy doo dah.

My mission was to go down to the Art Supply Warehouse, so I took Beach Boulevard all the way south to Westminster. And I saw the coolest things.

Chapter 1: Rally's
I totally saw a Rally's. It's a burger joint, if you didn't know. I've NEVER seen one before and I was going crazy because I didn't realize the commercial for Rally's was so ingrained into my head! It had a little tune that I hear in my cranium once in a while that goes like (Kevin's version because he doesn't really know the words):

"When it's in your eyes
There's no surprise,
You've got a thing...
For Rally's.
Gotta eat - ain't nothing like this
Gotta eat - ain't nothing like this."

So this Rally's down Beach Blvd. was a myth becoming true. Much like Sonic's, I was always befuddled as to WHERE this restaurant was, much less if it actually EXISTED. Well today I found out it does exist.

Chapter 2: Hookers and Cowboys
After driving passed Medieval Times and RALLY'S, I felt there was a sense of mystery on this street. I glanced to my right and there was a group of people walking down the street - maybe around 7 of 'em. One of the ladies was blond with a super short pants, so (I apologize now in advance), my first thought was "DAYTIME HOOKER?!". Methinks I watched a little too much My Name Is Earl.

I looked again in curiosity, not interest, to find out that it was just a regular group of people. "Aw thas not as exciting" I thought, but then I noticed that two of the four guys had cowboy hats. I don't know about you, but I've never seen someone wear a cowboy hat as standard attire, at least not in real life. Maybe I should try Texas?

Chapter 3: Robin Hood
From 1900's to 1400's. I didn't actually see a guy dressed up as Robin Hood, but I saw some mama-papa motel covered in pink that looked like it hadn't been renovated since the 1960's. In the front it had a big sign of a Robin Hood figure who was making a "Shh... be quiet" gesture with his finger, which was tied into the name of the motel somehow. I don't remember the name, so I'll assume it was something like "Ye Old Inn" or something awesome to that degree. Or POSSIBLY, it still held on to archaic terms that don't translate well to modern day lingo, such as "Inn the Hood". Regardless, the sight was both intriguing and horrifying.

Chapter 4: Mini-car
Still driving down this street, I see a tiny convertible car pop out of a neighborhood along the sidewalk. It was about the size of queen size bed. By now I should have EXPECTEDto see such an oddity, but my reaction was still "WHAT da eff was that!?". With closer inspection, I found out it wasn't a CAR car, I think it was more like some kind of cart used to transport stuff, but it was still as random as helium.

See? "Helium" makes no sense in that sentence. Too random.

Chapter 5: Art Supply Warehouse
Alas, I arrived at the X on the map (see, title of chapter). I imagined it being a Costco version of Tall Mouse, what with the word "Warehouse" in the name, that's not a noun you should abuse with exaggeration. I thought the place was gonna be huge. But it wasn't. It was average size. At least from the outside..!

Undeterred by the underwhelming size, I entered and was met with copious amounts of bodies. Many other people (not surprisingly) heard about the store's 25% off everything deal too. As routine when encountered with a bunch of strangers, I moved quickly in search of my destination (the paints, if you were curious), careful not to bump into anyone or wave my sniffer through a volume of floating body odor. "Just keep moving..."

Once I had all my paints in my basket, I granted myself leisure time to just explore the store. And lemme tell you guys, IT WAS SO MAGICAL! The place was actually a decent size! Every nook and cranny was filled with wall-to-wall supplies for any artistic endeavors of my choosing. I had never seen anything like it! DID YOU KNOW HIGGINS INDIA INKS COME IN A RAINBOW SELECTION OF COLORS?! (Don't answer that.)

It was like the first time I went to the huge Amazing Comics book store. Except this was COOLER! Because it sold materials for me to MAKE art, not just enthrall in the final product, and all the nerdy, middle-aged men were replaced with odorless introverts! That's gnarly if I've ever defined gnarly.


After an hour of browsing (hey they even sell BOOKS there!!!) and a free gift for buying supplies (a little monkey cut-out thing), I set off on the journey back home. Like the end of every adventure, nothing really happens on the way back home. And nothing did. (I took the freeway.)

But lesson learned, my friends! Fascinating sights are everywhere! You just gotta take notice.


Also, this was a result of impulse shopping while waiting in line to pay:

It's candy. (Blooberry flavor.)

Graphic design - sorta fun!

Whilst working on the layout for my new website blog conglomeration, I needed to fill up one corner of the page. At first I was gonna put a nice lil sketch of myself, but I'm not sure it'll work with the current design.

Soes, I decided to work on a kind of logo thing. Those up there are all the possible "klogos". Tell me whatchoo think! ...although I already kinda chose which one I'm gonna use.

Notey note note, 7 and 12 are pretty much the same, just different size of the "kl".

Ten Gents

Today's entry theme: Ten gents walk into a bar. One guy says "Word play." 8 of them don't say a thing because they don't get it. The other 1 doesn't say a thing because he gets it.


First to bat, MY NAIL FINALLY FELL OFF!!!!!!!! Last Friday. If you don't know why it fell off, then read my earlier Kanga posts. Contrary to popular belief, parts of my body do not dismantle often. Here's a picture of when Blacky was still attached:

Not a close up for your satisfaction.
THEN!

THEN! I actually got a picture of it as it was falling off! AMAZING, RIGHT?!

My nail FLYING OFF MY FINGER!
I had too much fun with that.

I also have awweeesomely gruesome pictures of my finger (the "awe" kind of awesome, not the awesome kind of awesome, nor the "aww" kind of awesome) that I decided to centaur censor from your fragile consternation. But if you are an exception with toughness like a dozer of bulls and WANT to see my ante-naked, gross finger (in different stages), just send me a message with the subject of "Eh? Des Borus!?". I'd be honored.

(It it just me or was that last paragraph sorta confusing to read? Mmm probably just me.) (Also, "Des Borus" has no meaning whatsoever. Made it up. "Eh", however is a word commonly found in Canada.)

OH I forgot to tell the story of how it came off:

I was opening a car door and it got caught on something and fell off. Didn't hurt. Then uh... I ran... over to my desk and took a picture of it as it was still in the air.

WOWOW ironically, when I was around 5yizo, I slammed a car door on my thumb and a couples weeks later that nail came off! (P.S. A thumb is a finger. We have 10 fingers. Get over it.)

Twas also funny cuz this nail fell off on my first day of work!

Work?

Yeah!

I work as a "Student Production Assistant", and if you were following me on Twitter WHICH I KNOW YOU WERE YOU GOOD PERSON, you'd have known my first day was last Friday!

Company: CSUF Distance Education... something like that. They're in charge of the online classes on the Fullerton website.

Job Description: Convert VHS's into DVDs, upload DVDs onto a computer, edit some movies with Adobe Premiere, help film some videos (documentation stuff, not really movies), work on some Adobe Flash projects.

Not Job Description: Help little kids with homework. MUAHAHAHHA YAAAAY!

This job is SO choice, especially since it's right next to CSUFullerton! I also get to play around with almost every single Adobe program on my down time! Isn't this job RIGHT ON THE MONEY for me?! Oh, hah, literally.

I mean it when I say I feel really lucky to have this job.

I also mean it when I say that Obama does not deserve a Nobel Piece Prize for showing "good effort and incredible promise..!". Sorry for coming out of nowhere with this, but I'm just SAYIN. He didn't do jack diddly squat! Well okay, he did a couple things, such as not look gross without a shirt, but I just wanted to use "jack diddly squat" in a sentence.

Don't read me wrong, I have nothing against the Obamers as a person. I actually don't have a lot of stuff against people (other than my body up against yours WHAOSPONTANEOUSPICKUPLINEBUTNOTREALLY?!), maybe I just avoid certain people before I get to know how awful they really are. I'm looking at you, Bruce Banner. But I don't wanna talk about meeting people right now! No! I want to uh-... oh wait. Yeah actually I sorta do.

I enjoy meeting people, ...or rather knowing people. People at school, specifically. I think the reason I like going to Fullerton now is because I know people. Not a lot, just a few, but that's all I need. In a swarm of unfamiliar faces, it's so nice to recognize a friend. I thought of this a couple weeks ago when I was walking around with my art class to draw parts of the campus. I saw someone I had met earlier, and I felt immediately comforted. I waved "hi" and talked a little bit.

The second, incredibly ironic thing is that her name was Whitney. Wow, didn't realize that until just now! How cool. So many small things to just keep me going! For example, one of the little things I enjoy about college is walking up and down stairs. Especially the basementy kind. It's sort of hard to explain why I like it, especially since it's all kinds of tiring when my class is on the 5th floor, but I do, I enjoy it. Right now, anyway.

It's these minor *happenings* that make all the difference for me. A few weeks ago I had to fill up a few pages of my sketchbook for class. I decided to go draw something I liked on Flickr (a first) and I came out with this.

And by-golly-sons-of-George, I was so proud of it! I was surprised at how... GOOD it turned out! It was supposed to be an insignificant drawing to fill up these pages, like all the faces I drew back in the Whitney days which always looked like some webble katch on acid. HAHA obscure reference. (But not really, there's not such thing as a "webble katch" because I made it up. That's how bad my drawings were, though. They were unreal bad.) But this, THIS, looked like the girl in the picture. It looked like a real person.

After that sketch, I couldn't draw on the page anymore as to not ruin my graphite baby. (Yes, using "graphite baby" in a sentence automatically makes you an artsy geek.)

Earlier, I didn't understand why my previous sketchbooks were filled with ambiguous shapes ranging from stick figures to turds. I thought I was just a blahblah drawer who was only decent at cartoons. And then this happened. THIS single drawing has turned my mentality around. It inspires me to draw more. That's a first - inspiring myself.

Now I look forward to drawing from Flickr almost every day (as long as I'm not lazy and or tired). Now YOU should look forward to when I'm gonna post all my other sketches! It shall be nice, and you shall like it.

Ah...

Art is great.

Yeah.

This blog is great.

Also, I am grateful for my job.

Another gear grinding issue, why is "greatful" not a word? Can Webster PLEASE just synonymize it with "grateful"!? Do you realize how many essays teachers will have to recall for false grammatical errors?? But I do have to applaud the English language for housing "synonymize" as a real word (despite blogspot's redline naysay). Good move. If language were playing chess, I believe that would result in a "check". Legalize "grateful" to make it a "checkmate" now.

DINGAHINGADARGA another confusing paragraph.

Ah well. You should go sleep. You're probably reading this in the middle of the night. If not, go take a nap. Catch up on your beauty sleep. You deserve it.

Something of Everything

(This message brought to you by MS Paint.)

Today's post has a little bit of everything for anyone! Unless you're a dog. Can't do much for the canines.

Something Sweet
Today was my last day of work YAY! SWEET, RIGHT?! Okay that wasn't the "sweet" part of this story. The sweet part is... coming up!


There's this one 5th grade girl in my class (I teach at Quest if you didn't know), and she's one of my better students, always does her work even though she doesn't really enjoy drawing. Her name is Tiffany. She's not the typical quiet little girls, and she's not incredibly friendly or easy going, but she's a nice kid. She always says "I'm boorred", and I would reply "You always say that!", and she would laugh, and I would laugh.

Last week was her last week at Quest. When I was in the room with all the kids running around, Tiffany quickly scurried up to me. Without giving eye contact in a almost bashful manner, she said "Today's my last day, I'll miss you", and then she ran away. It took me a while to realize what just happened and how sweet that was. What makes it so special was that she was totally shy about it! She's not an overenthusiastic girl that says she loves everything. She's a simple, softly spoken kid.

That's why I teach! To have moments of the kind.

Also, because there were no other jobs available.

Something Exciting
A few days ago I was driving. Yup, in my car. I was going West on South street (is that ironic?) when I found myself behind this car with its left turn signal blinking away. Inside the car was this black dude, and he certainly had no intentions of turning left. "Oh here's a smarty..."

About a block later, Phillip (I named the black guy Phillip) switched his left turn signal to the right and merged into the right lane. He waited at the intersection for the red light until the perpendicular traffic(?) was clear. Meanwhile, I look in my left mirror and see two cops in a cop car.

Yes, this story has cops and a black guy.

Phillip finally made his right turn and sped north up Norwalk (NORTHWALK!!!). I looked at the two cops again in my mirror. The passenger seated cop was looking aggressively through some papers while the driver was keeping his eye on something to the right of me. "Wait a minute... 2 cops? Looking for something..? It couldn't be [Phillip], could it..?"

Just then the cops took off, turning right from the left turn lane with the car lights-a-flashin. They were totally chasing Phillip! DUH NUH NUH NUH!



I followed the police. I was curious. When I caught up, Phillip was pulled over and the two cops were stepping out of their car. I parked in a nearby parking lot to observe. Suddenly, the black man bolted out of the car and started running! He had a big rifle in his hands! Both cops started after him and one radio'd something in his radio. Phillip was flailing his arms like he had some sorta quirk while the two others huffed and puffed to stay close behind. They disappeared behind some building. "WHAT da eff was that?!" A few seconds later the chase emerged from an alley literally 10 meters in front of me. I saw Phillip, as scared as a fox in a shooting gallery, run straight across my windshield, followed by two policemen, as determined as three Jehovah's witnesses trying to sell me some God. That's right, they're worth three people. Anyway, one cop sprang forward and latched onto Phillip! They fell to the ground while the other came up from behind and sat on the apparent violator's face. "YA LIKE THAT, SCUM?!" he said as he farted in his face. "I will not steal cotton balls again I won't!" the guilty man cried. Once again, the day was saved, thanks to... the COPS!

Just kidding yay!

That actually never happened. Well, that whole long paragraph part never happened, everything before was true... but it would've been lame if I stopped at the "duh nuh nuh" part, right?! That's probably what happened anyway. His name was probably Phillip too.

Something Tragic
I helped my dad build my new desk/shelf! My delf shesk! That's not the tragic part.

Once built, I was carrying my lava lamp when... FLIP OUT! DROP! CATCH! SMAAAASH! I sandwiched the tip of my index finger between the edge of the new desk and the 5+pound lava lamp. "owowowowowoowow..." I quickly placed the lamp down and ran to the bathroom to run my finger under some cold water.



And let me tell you guys, I have not felt such EXCRUCIATING pain such a long time. It was bad. Really bad. After the water I put some ice on my finger. The pain never went away that day. Yknow how they say physical pain is better than emotional pain because you can heal from it? Well I was starting to reconsider.

My nail (and the area around it) is blackish purple now.

Yeah because like, like, what if you got a physical injury, like your nose got chopped off? That would hurt. AND, when the doctors find out they can't put your honker back on, you'll be noseless! Do you realize how many people will make fun of you? They'd be calling you Voldamort left and right, especially if your name is Valerie or Mort. They'd cleverly call you "Val"damort, or UNcleverly call you Volda"mort"! Do you KNOW how much emotional pain you'll get from that physical pain??? Oh I nose. A lot.

anybody 'EYY OOHHHHH?!?!?

To this day my finger still hurts once in a while. I can't bend my index finger much, nonetheless use it, and it gets annoying when doing mundane things like PICKING UP MY CAMERA... The good part is that I use my left arm/hand a lot more. Ambidextrous here I come! I just hopes it heals soon so I can get back to drawing regularly.

Something Inspirational
After 2 months of work... hours of late nights(?)... thousands of frames... dozens of drawings... I finally finished... MY FUHFUHFUHLAAAAAASH MOOOOOVAY (translation: Flash Movie)!!!


I made a movie called "Spacefood" for a Fresh Brain contest. My bad index finger may have given me hand cramps all night and made it difficult to use the mouse, BUT I PREVAILED! I finished my movie just in time for the contest. Because Kevin succeeds.

You can see the BAD quality version here: (https://freshbrain.org/activity/submission/spacefood). If you wanna see the awesome quality version, I can email you the swf file.

But guys! This is gooood news! I consider this my first official animated short film!! It has colors and backgrounds and EVERYTHING! When I become John Lasseter famous, I'll be like "Yeah, my first animated film was called Spacefood. Oh man I don't like the title I gave it though. If I could rename it, it would be called 'Space-F'. That is so much awesomer." Then they'd hand me my award.

YAY!

I'm just glad I'm done with my summer project because now I can write this post!!

Something Conclusive
Sometimes I spend too much time on these posts.

Are you shoe about that

Happy 100 Kanga posts!

It's somewhere around there, I can't really tell seeing how I have a few drafts that I never published (what ever happened at the end of senior year? DID RETREAT HAPPEN?! KANGA NO SAY! KEVIN NO SE!!!). But this would be post 110, so I probably hit 100 some time ago.

To celebrate my sexiness (and 100 posts), I have a, uh... picture!


I permanent-marker'd those today (thanks for the sharpies, Kristina!). The face part is pretty much done, just gotta do the sides and the back and I'll be done with my ENTIRE SHOES! YAY! Wait "entire shoes" sounds wrong. Does "entire" only work with singular nouns? Hey "Entire" is a cool word. Sounds like the name of a book about magical cars.

Ehm, can you tell what they're doing on my shoes? (HAHA that question reminds me of my 1st grade journals where I'd draw a picture and ask some random question about it to take up space.)

Today I also realized how much I improvised in my art pieces. Example, I wasn't even planning to add those yellow and orange streaks on my shoes. It just happened. And it looks cool. But that's how most of my art projects go, but I should stop doing that because it usually doesn't end well...

SO MANY TANGENTS TODAY!

And sorry about using the word "sexiness". I'll try my best to use it sparingly.

Mustard.

Hm.

I am conflicted.

Today I drew this picture in math class:

It's a picture of our math teacher. Not gonna say any names, so let's just call her "Ms. Skinny". The reason I drew this is because pretty much everyday, she wears the SAME yellow sweatshirt to class, and we students think it's kinda funny. A friend of mine commented that it's mustard yellow, so BAM! Picture idea!

But here's my confliction: Is this mean?

It COULD be mean, because I could be making fun of how she has a mustard-yellow sweatshirt and that she once colored it with actual mustard. And since we often say something about the sweater, there's a small guilty feeling whenever we discuss it.

However, it could NOT be mean because... well it's just not mean. It's a picture of her putting mustard on her shirt to make it a certain color. That's all. Oh das all. If someone did see it as mean, isn't this just a satire? Why is it okay that we laugh at SNL's mocking imitations of Sarah Palin, but not okay that I draw an imitation of my math teacher? Hm? WHAT SAY YOU?!

But yeah. This drawing got me a-thinking.

Ms. Skinny, if you ever see this... I'm sorry if it offends you. I can burn it up if you want. But if it doesn't offend you, pardon me while I say... HAHAHA.

To Answer "Whatsup?":

I should've updated my Kanga earlier. BUT I DIDN'T! Oh no! Not only did I not really feel like it, and not only did I have to work on scholarship stuff, and not only was I not in Kanga moods, but I just liked my last post so much that I didn't wanna move it down from the top! Is that weird? No, you're weird, so stop it.

But now I must spill my thoughts! Onto your shirt! And then you'll get angry! But I don't care! Because I'll have another Kanga post done! Alright...


ME AND XC ARE BACK IN BUSINESS! It charges 80% interest.

Monday - My first Monday practice. Finally. I felt awesomely good on this run! Man, I was running so well, I was on such a roll. More so than a Fruit Roll-Up in an egg roll in a giant snowball rolling down a mountain that's reading lines for its role in a new movie. So that's a pretty good roll! I was in front like a quarter of the time! THAT NEVER HAPPENS! Oh, and then near the end I got a really bad cramp.

Tuesday - Another long run... The Mardquardt 7... my legs got so mega mundo tired from the day before. I wasn't on a roll. Imagine the Fruit Roll-Up flattened out in the half eaten egg roll in a puddle of water that got fired from its new role in the new movie. That was me.

Wednesday - Another good day like Monday! We went to Fullerton and ran circuits around some hilly place with a bunch of rabbits. It was a rabbitat. And then afterward! Rite Aid! Love it!

If you were wondering, AND I KNOW YOU WERE, I had to dish out all my XC news before the meet tomorrow! GAHR TWO MILER ROUND TWO! Be there or be a fatty.



And in other news, I went to Hannah's art show the other day. My favorite piece was the one with cheese and crackers! Actually that wasn't an art piece. That was just the free cheese and crackers I ate. They were delicious...

But good job, Hannah! This is me proud of you and your art!: [Picture of me really proud] You and your now greater peripheral vision eyes should have so gotten first place. Oh well! Guitar Heroes and Mac Books are fun.


THE END! Sorry no pictures. I should put more pictures. If you want more too, I say just imagine these patterns of letters and words as one giant awesome picture!.. that you can read! Yeah... do that...

Art thou finished?

I am happy. Do you know why? Because I am...

Done done done done done WITH ART CLASS!

[rejoice!]

Don't get me wrong, I love my art, I love my graphites and inks and charcoals and matte sprays in dozens of non-drugular ways. But this art class at Cerritos College - Mon-Thur 5:45pm-10:00pm - really sucked up a lot of my time. It was incredibly energy draining, AND, I had to miss so many cross country practices! Why would I spend 4 hours sitting in one spot when I could spend 2 hours running around everywhere? Random guy: "I don't know!". Yeah, well me neither.

But I am done! And I am elated! No more Lee's Sandwiches 4 nights a week.

Yesterday was my last day, and I have to say it was the BEST art class day ever! Why? All I did was sit and eat. POTLUCK WITH ART STUDENTS YEAH! I literally ate some of everything and the girl behind me didn't eat anything! CRAZY.

Whenever I go to potlucks, there's always that one person who brings their awesome "Homemade whathaveyou!", and that's usually the best stuff. But honestly, all the food was delicious. Rice stuff, tamale stuff, potato wedge stuff, date stuff, cookie and chip stuff... I tried really hard not to snicker when I saw the only haram whip out a bucket of fried chicken. HEE...

But I digress.

Now if there was anything I learned from that class, I learned how to look like one badass artist. For my younger viewers, I'll replace that word with "hardcore". GET READY TO LEARN.

How To Look Like One Hardcore Artist (while you're drawing and people are watching you):

1 - Wear a hat.
First and foremost, you will receive a very mysterious look with a hat. What's under that hat? Why is he wearing one? Is he trying to conceal his brain power? What does his hair look like? Wearing hats also let you display your uniquosity. Whether it be a sombrero or a beret, people will look at you and say "Oh suhnap. This person has one more piece of clothing than I do; AND IT'S ON HIS HEAD! He must be good at art." Note to you, if you wear a cap, don't wear it backwards, wear it normally. Backwards caps for are for punks who grew up in the 90's, but forward caps shadow the face.

2 - Have a water bottle.
Who usually has water bottles? Hardcore athletes, that's who. If you have a water bottle while you're drawing, you're pretty much saying that your art is so intense that if a referee were here, he'd be calling fouls left and right. You sweat, you cringe, you grow so physically tired from producing masterpieces that it is necessary to have a water bottle at hand to soothe any extreme challenges. A good time to drink the actual water is when you want to take a break and pause to look at the composition of your piece. However, be sure to keep your eyes on your paper when you tilt your head to loudly gulp that energy liquid. It will look like your breaks aren't even break, they're just speed bumps that don't affect your monster truck brain.

3 - Use an electric... anything.
Honestly, to separate a pro from a noob, get some electric equipment. Don't over do it though, maybe like an electric eraser and electric mini vacuum (to clean up the electrified eraser lint) at the most. This would show that you are not the average consumer, you are not some silly nilly who gets all his pencils from the ground at school. No, it shows you go to some hidden (probably illegal) store to purchase an obscure eraser for fifty bones, custom made to fit your hand and encrusted with 2 ounces of pure emerald. This may not be true, but that's what an electrical utensil will do to people. It will make people believe you are one hardcore artist. Besides, if Wikipedia serves me right, I believe Leonardo da Vinci once used a steam powered ruler.

4 - Stand when there's a chair.
There is a table. There is a chair. You are about to begin your piece. Do you sit down? NO. That's what they expect you to do. People will always have expectations as to what is going to happen. If you keep them guessing what the heck your next action is, well then they'd just be constantly flabbergasted! "Oh, he's gonna start... now he's just gonna sit dow- WHAT?! HIS BUTT NEEDS NO CUSHION?! That was not on the agenda! This guy is hardcore. I am intrigued..." If your legs get tired, unfortunately you just have to suck it up to retain your hardcore image.


YUP! So now you know how to look awesome. Now the second part of actually BEING a hardcore artist is to have breathtaking pieces... but there are not really any instructions for that. At least you know how to look like one! So go ahead and draw weird airplanes that accidentally look like penguins, people will initially be taken back by your hat, water bottle, electricity, and chair-lacking, and the first impression is all that matters!

Yay no more art class.

The Plans Of Summer, 2008 Edition!

This is a do-something summer. I will not spend every day sitting on my butt playing Mario Kart Wii, watching children's shows such as Ni Hao, Kai-lan, and or looking at Youtube videos of guys floating in helium jeans. I will be productive, constructive, and maybe even a little seductive. My plans for the next two months are to actually HAVE plans.

So, as seen in my AIM profile, here's what I got so far! More lists. Oh boy.

Work on...
Art ante - If your name is not Kevin Lam, then there is a slight possibility that you did not know my career goal: to become an animator! Of some sort. Just something related to the entertainment business is fine with me, except not the XXX kind of entertainment. But I am young and I do need the money... HAR HAR okay I hope that wasn't awkward BUT ANYWAY. For me to shuffle closer to being a pro animator, I'm gonna work on art pieces to add to my portfolio! Hah... yeah I'll be lucky to churn out just one piece by the end of summer. I SHALL TRY MY BEST!

Comiclub stuff - What's the best kind of club? A COMICLUB! Well, a PREPARED COMICLUB! Therefore, I shall devote a fraction of my time to planning out next year's activities and events and stuff. Oh man, get ready for superhero costumes.

FLASH MOVIE! - AAHHH GUYS! Guys, as in Caroline Darren Kristina! WE HAVETA WORK ON THIS... Our Flash movie about our class... first we should rewrite our script. I dunno how we're gonna finish on time. Actually, I really wanna make a flash movie about Batman! I told Batman about my idea of me making a movie about him, and this is what he had to say:

REALLY? ME, IN MY OWN ANIMATED MOVIE? I AM VERY EXCITED. WILL THERE BE BATS IN MY MOVIE? WAIT A MINUTE. WHAT AM I SAYING. OF COURSE THERE WILL BE BATS IN MY MOVIE. NO BATS IN A BATMAN MOVIE IS LIKE NO FISH IN AN AQUAMAN MOVIE. WAIT A MINUTE. AQUAMAN NEVER HAD HIS OWN MOVIE. MAYBE IF HE HAD BATS, HE WOULD HAVE HIS OWN MOVIE. THE BATS COULD WEAR LITTLE SNORKELS OVER THEIR TINY HEADS. HEY, AND I CAN USE MY BATFLIPPERS TO SWIM AROUND. CAN MY MOVIE BE ABOUT ME AND MY BATS BATTLING THE FORCES OF THE OCEAN? I ALREADY THOUGHT OF THE TITLE: BATMAN AND BATS: THE UNDERWATER EXPERIENCE. I'M NOT SURE HOW AQUAMAN WOULD FIT IN. MAYBE IF HE WERE A BAT, HE COULD BE IN MY MOVIE. HE COULD BE BATAQUAMAN. MAKE SURE YOU WRITE MY IDEAS DOWN.

I hate it when Batman replies to my emails.

SAT - More like SAD. I'm planning on taking the test in October (or November at the latest), so I better start-a-studying! And after I take it and the ACT, I SHOULD BE DONE WITH MY TESTING! woots.

Computer building? - Sooo a few weeks ago my dad convinced me to build my own computer this summer. He's really pushing me into becoming technologically adept, which I guess is a good thing. OH DUDE I should make my computer look like Wall-E! Haha, I wouldn't mind DESIGNING a snazzy lil computer, but making the insides of one is a much different challenge.

Go to...
Body World - What is Body World, you ask? It's a thingy at the California Science Center that shows a bunch of exhibits of the human body. Like, yknow, a thingy of a body without the skin so it's just like all muscles. Something like that. There's also this one place called the Nice Body World. It has one exhibit which is conveniently right where I am sitting. Ladies...

A theme park!! - Any one is fine. Disneyland? Six Flags? Universal Studios? ALL OF THOSE?! Just not Knott's Berry Farm. If I go there, it wouldn't feel special enough. No o'fence Mr. Farm, you have a berry nice place and all, but I'm just knott feeling it. BUHZING!

And uh...
Run! - Yknow, I've become one of those running freaks. When I was a freshman I used to look at all the running seniors and they were like "Oh I love running! Lalala! 3 mile love!" and I would be like "Okays guys yous ares weirds" (but not to their faces). They were running freaks. And what am I saying now as a senior? "Oh I love running! Lalala! Rubber track love!". Never thought that would happen. So to keep up with my running freak of nature image, I'm gonna run in the morning until August when I will join my fellow runners at afternoon XC practice. VIVA LA... running!

Jobjobjob - If you go back in time (or scroll the page down), you can read the post about how I got my teaching job! 4 HOURS A WEEK! Teaching kids how to draw comics. The "teaching" I am excited for. The "kids" I am scared to death for.

Art classes at CCC - Everything should be rated PG at these classes, but Dear God, please don't make me draw a naked person. Actually, I'll probably have to get used to drawing the nude, huh... Well, if I get a barebody visual slap across my virgin eyes, I will try to position myself at an angle where the only revealing part is the aft end.

Here's to hoping I am in successful in everything I just listed! This sure is a nice list. I can tell you my love for it will still be strong, after the plans of summer have gone.