The Art of Tim

Daily sketching… now there’s a practice I really should get back into after my vacation…

So I set a goal for myself for April to paint four models. One Warcaster and three solos. I finished, just. I did get a bit of work in on my wracks though. I really need to get/build a photo light tent so I can take better pictures. More pictures after the break.

As of today I’m on vacation. I’ve been working like crazy for more than a week to get ahead on comic strips. Last weekend I penciled all of the comics between April 21 and May 11, then spent the week coloring and assembling them. And now I’m on vacation for two weeks, just as planned.

GTA4 arrives this afternoon, and for the next week I have no other obligations than to wreak havoc in Liberty City, save for a trip to see Iron Man this weekend. And probably some miniature painting when I need a break from gaming.

Then Britanny was able to get some time off, so we’re going to fly down to Orlando for a few days and relax, hit some theme parks and get some sun.

After my vacation it will be about time to pick a new project to work on. It might be Volume Four, but I may also put that off until later this year. Can’t push it too far though, or it runs right into when we start planning Digital Overload 2009, and Winter-een-mas 2009.

I’m also thinking of throwing together a quick video-capture PC to capture footage of games I’m playing. Especially with GTA4 (since it lacks a replay system a la Halo 3) so much shit happens when you’re playing that you wish you could save it and show your friends.

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I haven’t been doing a lot of sketching recently (the last 6 months). Most of my free art time is being invested in getting my Warmachine army painted up. I’ve still got to build or purchase a light tent so I can take some decent photographs, but here’s a quick shot of one of my Warjacks and my first unit, my choir, which I finished yesterday. I painted some other models in the more traditional Menoth scheme, but these are the start of the army in my own personal color scheme.

I’m getting a little better and faster with each mini I paint, but the shading/highlighting is still pretty time consuming. I might be able to have a fully painted army by the end of the year.

Then I can start on my Trollbloods. Doh.

Most of you who read this journal are probably aware that a year or two ago I got into painting Warhammer 40K stuff. I think I may have posted my first painted miniature here. I painted Necrons for a while, but last fall I made the switch over to Warmachine, whose models and style of play I found to be far more appealing. I also much prefer painting metal miniatures, and Warmachine/Hordes doesn’t have a single plastic model. Anyway, I painted up my battlebox (basically the starter kit for a faction) for some practice. By the time I was done I had a ton of models assembled (but unpainted), and was playing the game pretty regularly. I wanted to put some terrain together, and I really wanted a war-torn city. I wanted something that was very modular, so I could run a different map every game, and I found this stuff, which was not only modular and unpainted, but also would allow me to build upon the tiles with different types of terrain.

So I put my army on hold for a bit to knock out some scenery. I have to admit, it took a lot longer that I really expected it to, and it’s still not completely done. But it is at least to the point where I can leave it alone and go back to my army for a while.

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It’s a little after 4am. I was legitimately trying to get to sleep, but for some reason, in the middle of the night, I decided I needed an omelet. Which is interesting in and of itself because I don’t think I’ve ever made an omelet in my entire life, and the number of times I’ve even eaten them could probably be counted on one hand.

I do make and consume scrambled eggs (the only way I’ll eat eggs) fairly often, so I figured “how hard could it be to just put some extra stuff in there?”

Oh man

I made… something. It tastes good, don’t get me wrong, I mean all of the omelet ingredients are there. The eggs, of course. Some cheeses, and some ham (which is what I think sparked the omelet adventure… I don’t usually keep ham in the house). It just… I don’t know what to tell you it is though, dear reader. I guess… imagine if an omelet could be a heroin addict? And that it had abused the drug for some four to five years, but recently decided to try and get it’s life together, and quit cold turkey. This omelet is on the third day of withdrawal. Past the shaking and the vomiting, but now completely drained and wiped out. This thing is haggard.

I think it all started to go wrong when I scrambled up five eggs, the usual when I make breakfast. It was too much egg. Once packed with extra ingredients, it just became too unruly for a novice such as myself to handle. It was the Jabba the Hutt of omelets. I couldn’t get it to flip, or fold in half, and I started to panic. I don’t remember much of what happened after that, but I must have become very very angry at the omelet for mocking me so. When I came to my senses, I was clutching the spatula and there were bits and chunks of omelet all over the stove.

A crime of passion or not, I’m sure this is illegal in some state. So I’m eating the evidence before anyone finds out the horrible things I’ve done.

Britanny and I exchanged gifts tonight because I’m heading up to Cape Cod tomorrow for Christmas with my family. She gave me a bunch of great stuff, but this necklace is just too awesome.

It would be a cool gift if she had bought it, but she made it, which to me makes it a priceless gift. She had to take a few general classes this semester to finish up her credits to graduate, and one of them was a jewelry (jeweling?) class, where she made the necklace for me. She inscribed “Save the World” on the back, with her initials.

Anyway, I just though it was really great, and wanted to show it off.

Now I just need some super powers…

Waiting for some laundry to get finish in the dryer before I go to bed, decided to scribble some arts. If you squint, it kind of looks like a guy.

Also I never got around to posting any pictures of our trip to Vegas a couple of months ago… so I’m gonna do that after the break thingy.

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[21:32] Tim: If you’re making Mac and Cheese and you realize your milk is 20 days past the expiration date… do you think it’s still ok to use it as long as you substitute a bit more butter in place of some milk?
[21:33] Brian: Oh my god.

I probably should have been getting comics done for Thanksgiving, but I guess I can just work a bit extra tomorrow. I wish I had more time to spend on the statue, it’s a little rough. Just had one day and some sculpey I’ve had since high school, heh. I’ll be making a proper post soon, with pictures of the house and the trip to Vegas and all that stuff. Just been real busy lately.