stellarvisions

So, anyone who's been watching my Deviations over the past few months has noticed that I've started on a bit of a Homestuck kick. I started reading it last summer, and have found myself inspired by the series as a whole. Since I've never been the traditional fanart type, I've decided to do abstract landscape art of all the planets that appear in the series.  Obviously, I've got a fair amount of work ahead of me, both because there are still 14 I have to do, and the fact that we don't see much of most of the troll's planets. Still, I think it'll be an interesting challenge over the next year or two, depending on how inspired I get.

So, I decided to cash in on a deal I heard about on the news. If you have a valid college e-mail account, you can buy the Windows 7 upgrade for $29.99. Thing is, it's a download from a 3rd party called "DigitalRiver".

So, last night I made the purchase, did the download, and ultimately? It didn't work. I've re-done it 3 times since then, and it STILL doesn't work.

They don't offer a refund for their non-functional software. This pisses me off.

I ended up buying the software for full price directly from Microsoft. This time, I'm getting a physical disc, so there's no risk of a fucked-up download.

Seems like every time I go to DA's main page, I see a recolored and "edited" screencap. Like, they'll take a screencap of their favorite anime character, and color over it in MSPaint to make it "original".

I'm pretty forgiving, when it comes to fanart and things of that nature, but when the amount of effort you put into your "art" amounts to editing a screencap in MS Paint? Yeah, you're just ASKING for flames.

*fumes*

So, I've been thinking about things. Specifically, I've been thinking about my art.

When I started painting, 3 years ago, I'd sit down, and do 3 or 4 paintings in a night. After that, I wouldn't paint anything for 3 or 4 months. Currently, I'm coming out of a dry spell that's lasted over a year.

I've decided two things, in terms of the course my art will take;

1. I'm only going to do 1 or 2 paintings a month, max.

2. I'm not going to "just let it come to me" as I used to, where I'd end up painting random colors and objects, and naming it based on what I saw. Now, I'm going to start every painting with a concrete idea, or theme in mind.

I hope, that with these two changes, I'll become a better painter, and hopefully won't burn out like4 I have in the past.

Suggestions, anyone? I don't really know what I'm doing, and I would LOVE to hear the opinions of those who actually do, lulz

Thanks,

Dirk

Yes, I realize I haven't updated my gallery or my journal in a long time. Shut up D:.

Anyway, I'll be uploading some more stuff soon. More paintings, and another set of projects I've been working on for a while now.

Also? I'll be going to AnimeIowa in a few days, and I have plan to work on some kind of something while I'm there.

Ciao!