http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:VirtuousDarkness&section=today deviantART RSS for by:VirtuousDarkness en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:23:28 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/28896933/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/28896933/ Sat, 12 Dec 2009 06:53:42 PST
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/28440203/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/28440203/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:32:09 PST
So, this is just me saying "Don't worry. I'm still here." Take it as reassurance or a threat, depending on your perspective.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/27398451/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/27398451/ Thu, 24 Sep 2009 18:46:51 PDT
First category is music. One thing I cannot do is create something in silence. I have to have music. And if it's tied into what I'm working on, it makes it all the better. So, here's a little sampling of some of the things I listen to:

Faithless, Nine Inch Nails, VAST, Dead Can Dance, Skinny Puppy, KMFDM/MDFMK, Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Die Warzau, Leæther Strip, Velvet Acid Christ, Geomatic, Shpongle, Dieselboy, Concord Dawn, Black Sun Empire, Pendulum, Johnny Cash, Meshuggah, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Doctor Steel, Abney Park, Oingo Boingo, Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, Lamb of God, The Slants, Combichrist, Godhead, VNV Nation, Laika, Front Line Assembly, The Prodigy, Prince, P.M Dawn, Blind Guardian, Nightwish, Apocalyptica....yeah, that should be good enough for now.

Next category is movies. I like a wide variety of movies depending on my mood. Most of the time, though, I prefer a good thought provoker. A few movies that have inspired me are as follows:

The City of Lost Children, The Crow, Dark City, Cube, Twelve Monkeys, Fight Club, Alien/Aliens/etc., Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth, Mirrormask, Immortal, Nightwatch/Daywatch, Frontier(s), Uzumaki, The Ring, The Audition, Time Bandits, Event Horizon, 9, Tron, most Zombie flicks.

Well folks, I'm gonna have to cut this short. I'll write part 2 later this week. For now, I have to head to bed.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/26347020/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/26347020/ Sun, 02 Aug 2009 21:20:54 PDT
While these items currently have nothing in common, I have this feeling that it won't be the case here over the next month.

First off, Dragoncon. I've been getting a good idea of what I want to bring with me to the show. While I'll only have 7 pieces hanging in the gallery proper, I will have a whole bunch of stuff at my bazaar table. Hopefully, I'll have a lot of new buttons and prints along with the possibilities of bumper stickers and magnets. The list of stuff that's gotta be done is really big. But now that I'm out of school, I'll have more time to do it.

And speaking of school, I have unofficially officially graduated! I got the grades back: A in Surveys of Research Methodologies, A- in Biology, and an A- in Game Art Senior Project. This would give me a 3.788 cumulative GPA, which means the Deans List for me. Now I say unofficially officially because while I have the grades to reflect graduation, I still don't have the diploma in my dark, massive hands.

Now for the headaches, and they aren't metaphorical either. For the past month or so, I've been having these off and on headaches that were pretty nasty. One episode actually had me heaving. Now, these headaches were also accompanied by sinus problems. So, I thought it was a sinus infection and I'd just ride it out in hopes that it'll go away...sometimes I can be a damn idiot. Well, this past Friday, I got a doozy of a headache and I finally threw in the towel and went to the emergency room. Deep down in the labyrinthine corridors of the hospital, I found the emergency room and signed in. I sat down and no sooner did I place my head in my hands, the devil child made its presence known. There was an infant somewhere in the room that had its lungs made by Black and Decker because its shrieks of discontent proceeded to carve and drill right through my skull. A little girl walked by with her father and asked, "Do you hear the little baby, daddy?" I muttered a curse and said (to myself), "I think the whole county can."

Anyway, I digress. I get called back to the area where they take people in groups and check temperatures, blood pressure, ask the usual questions and essentially prep you for a doctor. Well, after they finished with me, they sent me back to the waiting area with the other patients awaiting a doctor. Not a minute later, a nurse comes by and said that because of my blood pressure, they needed to take care of that before they could do anything else. This had me a little concerned. So, I go back with her to one of the small in-patient rooms where they put me on a gurney and put a needle in my arm and the blood pressure arm cuff. From here, it was six hours of checking my blood pressure, injecting stuff to get my blood pressure to go down, and ignoring me the rest of the time. So, what set off the alarms? 210/115 For those who don't know medicalese, it translates into JOSH SHOULD BE FUCKING DEAD!

Ahem...anyway. So, I find out that it's my high blood pressure that's giving me my headaches. So, what caused my blood pressure to skyrocket like a NASA launch? Let's follow this chain of logic. When you get a headache, what do you do? Right, you take a pain reliever. When you get head congestion symptoms, what do you do? Right, you take cold/flu/allergy medicine. Now, here's the fun part. Both of those products cause spikes in blood pressure. See the vicious circle? So, now I'm on blood pressure medication. And I'm gonna need it with this upcoming month of preparations for DragonCon.

And I've run out of steam, so I'm going to bed. Later folks!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/25188630/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/25188630/ Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:23:45 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/25166159/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/25166159/ Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:52:14 PDT
I'm also looking to go backward and work on the basics (IE: perspective and human shapes). I find that these two areas are my weakest points; sometimes working in unison as well.

Anyway, I did manage to post up a completed work from one of my WIP's. I have posted the final version of Bird on a Wire 2009. I'll be making prints of it for future shows.

And speaking of future shows, I will be at Metrocon in Tampa on an official capacity.

Well, that's all for now. Catch ya later!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/24509985/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/24509985/ Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:54:43 PDT
I'll start with the bad news first. I will not be going to ACEN. First off, I'm a bit leary of trying to rush school work in order to go. That happened last year and it cost me big time. Secondly, with this whole swine flu thing going around, the last thing I need to be doing is flying into a major metropolitan area, attending a convention with thousands of kids. My track record of getting sick after a convention hasn't been all that pretty. So, no ACEN this year.

Now for the good news. I GOT ACCEPTED INTO THE DRAGONCON ART GALLERY! WOOOHOO! Now comes the big rush to get everything ready to go. : |

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/24133476/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/24133476/ Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:56:52 PDT
MTAC was a resounding success for me. Although I didn't break even, it's the most I've made at any convention, so I'm getting better at this thing. I received many different tips from fellow artists and attendees, such as buying my own button maker instead of having someone else build my buttons for me.

Now, something big happened for me at MTAC. My baby's gone. Yep, my First Munny sold! A lovely woman by the name of Kat decided to take the cute little abomination home with her. It left me with a mixture of encouragement and heartache. I'm gonna miss the little guy, but at the same time, it's a sign that my work is well received!

Before I go, I want to give thanks to EVERYONE who came by my table and showed your support! It meant a lot to me and does nothing but encourage me to keep cranking out the crazee!

Well, I'm off. The Ghetto Green Faerie, Ny'quil, is calling me.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23780981/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23780981/ Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:00:06 PDT
Breaking Point
Strange Faerie
Finding A Way To Speak
Cocoon
The Collector
Spider Head Sam
Deer John

Next year's DragonCon, I'll have to keep Spider Head Sam, Deer John, and Strange Faerie off the list because they will be over two years old and that's one of the requirements for jury submission. But, by then, I should have some pretty damn good work to take their places.

So, in the meantime, keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll know by the end of April if I'm in or not.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23773217/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23773217/ Thu, 19 Mar 2009 00:02:10 PDT
The second piece is one that I've been bantering around for quite a while since I'm still a little iffy on copyright laws and whatnot. But, after some research, I feel confident in producing a piece centered around everyone's favorite Elder God from the deep: Cthulhu!

So, keep an eye out within the next week for either or both of these pieces.

I also have new button ideas planned out. All I have to do is paint them up and send them to Mod Buttons to get pressed.

Well, I'm off!

~Joshua

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23720089/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23720089/ Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:45:43 PDT
But...before I do that...

THANK YOU!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Thank you to all the people who came by the table and showed their support for my work! It means so much to me to see that I'm not doing this for nothing (which I do feel like at times). I appreciate all of you who came by to visit me!

Special thanks, though, have to go out to my Artist Alley neighbors, Michael and Harper of Grapevine Fires, for keeping an eye on my booth when nature called or when I needed to get a quick bite to eat. You two were fantastic!

Three other things to mention before I drift off into oblivion:

1) I have been confirmed for the Artist Alley at AWA.

2) DragonCon Art Gallery just opened its jury submission processes. Cross your fingers for me!

and

3) My next show will be at MTAC in Tennessee. Come out and see me and support a fantastic convention!

Ok folks, I'm outties.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23644451/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23644451/ Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:25:47 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23606564/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/23606564/ Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:58:09 PDT
This coming up weekend is Momocon. I'll have my own AA spot so if you're in the Atlanta area, come on by and say hi. It's a free convention and a good one too!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/22997084/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/22997084/ Wed, 04 Feb 2009 06:21:09 PST
And speaking of conventions, here is what my schedule is looking like for the year:

Megacon (support for Mad Queens Studio/future AA scouting)
Momocon (confirmed for the Artist Alley)
MTAC (Trying for the Artist Alley)
FXI (Future AA scouting)
ACEN (Support for StubbyChubby.com/on the waiting list for AA)
Metrocon (Support for StubbyChubby.com/on the waiting list for AA)
DragonCon (Trying for the Art Gallery)
AWA (Trying for the Artist Alley)

I'll also be looking to fill in the holes at the back end of the year.

I'll be posting up photos of a couple of completed projects as well as the progress pics of a new project that I'm working on.

Well, I'm off for now.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/21163905/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/21163905/ Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:51:13 PDT
The good parts of the convention revolved around the time spent with friends both old and new. Of course, Sonnie, Jeremy, Lauren and Simon were there next to me, along with Joe and Stefanie of Otakumals. There was also Delaney, who I met in Chicago at ACEN, and her roomies, Heather and Andrea. While I didn't get much of a chance to speak with Andrea, Heather and I chatted up a proverbial storm over all sorts of topics involving books, movies, TV shows, and we even traded a few reading tips. That part of the convention was most awesome!

So, what's new? Well, I've picked up a new kind of art recently. I've started working with a Munny. Google the name; I'm sure you'll find the company. ;D

Anyway, I've posted up my very first creation. I also have a few ideas lined up for more of them. I just have to muster the cash to order some more.

Well, I'm off to bed. Later!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/20632309/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/20632309/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:52:54 PDT
Thursday was a big ball of all sorts of wrong. You ever have that point in your life where you drastically underestimate the task ahead of you and it totally tidal waves on you? Yeah, that was Thursday. I'm not going into details, mostly because I can't remember much of it since it was all a blur. All I can say is that I wanted to leave home around 4pm but didn't manage to leave until around 9:30pm, which put me in Atlanta too late to set anything up in the AA market. So, I went to get my room in order to crash. What's that? My reservation was cancelled? Ummm...well, I guess I have no choice but to get the room again. This will, of course, make buying things next to impossible. By "things", I mean "food, water, gas". Thankfully, I managed to keep everything cheap through the weekend, but I digress.

Friday, I get in and get everything set up by the time the dealers room doors opened. Well, I got everything up front set up. I still had a lot of stuff going on behind the table that needed attending to, but at least the facing of the display was ready to go. I was part of an interesting and fun collective of people this time around. Well, most of my AA experiences involve interesting and fun people, but again, I digress. Within our corner was:

StubbyChubby.com (with Sonnie, Jeremy and Lauren)
The Slants (well...not entirely, it was just their bassist Simon, but he was there to represent their massively awesome band)
MTAC (One of my favorite out-of-state conventions!)
Otakumals (Joe and Stephanie are new friends of mine with their own batch of stuffed animal goodies)

Despite all the folks, it was actually pretty comfortable in that set up.

Friday was really, really slow. Our guess is that it had a lot to do with the gas prices and gas shortages in Atlanta. I only made a couple of sales with the new buttons, but it was enough to get my lunch, so all was good.

Saturday was busier and I made a few big sales. The second of three prints of Breaking Point sold, along with the first of five prints of The Collector. The matted print of The Monster Without sold. I also sold quite a few buttons, a couple of bookmarks, and a couple of loose prints. Overall, I broke the $100 mark for the weekend, which is a personal record.

Sunday was a short day, and it was slow, so no sales. I packed everything up around 4pm, said my goodbyes to everyone and moved my way on home.

My next show will be EXP in St. Augustine, Florida...hopefully. I'm still trying to acquire a table.

Before I wrap this up, I just want to say something to anyone and everyone who came by the table this weekend and left words of encouragement, bought a print/button/bookmark, and/or hung out and chatted. Thank you! Thank you a thousand times over! I always appreciate your support! It helps me more than you'll ever know!

Well, it's back to work! Hopefully, I'll have some new stuff posted by the end of the week!

~Joshua

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/20446332/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/20446332/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:39:28 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/20084842/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/20084842/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 19:42:16 PDT
Anyway, I posted up a couple of new pieces and a couple of updated pieces.

The two new pieces are "Breaking Point" and "The Collector".

The two updated pieces are "Cocoon" and "Quiet".

This weekend is going to be a serious nose to the grindstone kind of weekend. I may not be able to get all 33 pieces done, but it won't be for lack of trying.

Catch ya later!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/19691196/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/19691196/ Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:05:43 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/19559716/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/19559716/ Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:28:31 PDT
It'll be a challenge but hopefully everything will pan out and all 33 will make their showing.

I just finished piece number 9 this morning and I have 24 left to go in various states of being incomplete. I'll be tackling the next one tonight after I get out of work. My goal is to complete a phase of a piece a day (IE: drawing, painting, touch up).

Wish me luck!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/19363636/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/19363636/ Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:07:40 PDT
As it stands right now, I have four 4'x4' display panels to work with and a total of 30 pieces to hang. I did all the math...ugh...and I will have plenty of room to work with.

Once the control sheets are done, the real work can begin. This time I will not fail. This time it will all be done right.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18739366/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18739366/ Sun, 08 Jun 2008 22:22:35 PDT
But, when I did it, I got into the rut of "damn, I need different models." So, I have an idea. If any of you out there want to donate a picture of yourself to be darkened up some, send it my way. I prefer large pictures in the ball park of 300 dpi. Just send it to the email listed below. Oh, and please keep it clean.

Well, I'm off to go lead my happy little tribe to victory! PON PON PATA PON!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18654420/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18654420/ Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:11:29 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18651673/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18651673/ Tue, 03 Jun 2008 19:27:40 PDT
Then came Pyramid Head; my first piece of fanart since the late 80's when I was doodling crappy Robotech pictures. I look at the picture and think to myself, "This isn't right. This isn't me." And I have to agree with my thoughts, in a way. Do I like the piece? Yes. Am I ashamed of it? No. I'm only ashamed of some of the reasoning for doing the piece. I reasoned with myself that if I do fanart for sale, it's going to be something I am a fan of, myself. I felt that it wouldn't be so bad to do that. Well, now that I look at things, I think I was just kidding myself. I look at the picture and now see it as only half an accomplishment. The painting and drawing was mine, but the core idea was not. It wasn't me.

So, here I am; on the fence again. But, I can't stay there forever. I'm going to have to move past this and it's going to be on one side of the fence or the other. So, if I err, I'm going to err on the side of originality. From this point forth, if I choose to make fanart, it will be for personal reasons and not for public purchase. If it's not 100% me, I won't sell it.

The new axiom is: "Artists are only as good as their ideas."

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18298450/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18298450/ Tue, 13 May 2008 00:11:46 PDT
But, fear not. I do have a decent little morsel of work in the form of a WIP called The Shame of Falling. It's currently in pencil format and is awaiting the digital painting treatment.

I'm also working on updated, modern versions of a couple of older pieces that I did a long time ago.

Well, it's time to get that precious little bit of sleep.

Ciao!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18079847/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18079847/ Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:22:14 PDT
This year, I was in the Artist Alley. And, for the first time in my entire four years of attending AA at various conventions, I actually sold stuff! I was baffled by these events! Not only did I sell stuff, but I think I actually picked up a couple full blown fans (Thanks Andrew and Jenova!).

My two big sellers were the "Pyramid Head" prints and the "Going Home..." bookmarks. Speaking of which, I need to post up the new color version of "Going Home..."

Well, I know it's not much of a con report, but I'm feeling kinda pooped after driving for 6 hours and working for 9.

So, for those that came by and grabbed a business card out of curiosity, for those that came by and looked through my stuff with envigored interest, for those that supported me via kind words and/or buying something, I truly appreciate everything you've done! It's helped to bolster confidence in what I do.

Thank you, again!

PS: I'll be at Anime Central in Chicago next with StubbyChubby.com. Come by and say hi!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18068713/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/18068713/ Mon, 28 Apr 2008 10:28:10 PDT
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]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14993511/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14993511/ Wed, 10 Oct 2007 00:00:32 PDT
I can't wait!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14907463/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14907463/ Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:18:06 PDT
Yep. It's Pyramid Head. Yep. He's in all his dirty glory.

Yep...I wanna go to bed now.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14864346/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14864346/ Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:19:36 PDT
Anyway, I went over the gallery and changed out old versions of certain pictures for the final versions, moved some pictures to scraps and got rid of a few others that had no real relevance.

My next convention stop will be Janicon in Jacksonville, Florida. It's my brothers duty location with the Navy, so I'll get to see him, my sister-in-law, and my neice. I'll also get to hit up Buca Di Beppo's, which is by far one of the best Italian restaurants I've ever eaten at.

After that, my con season for this year will be over. Next year, I'm lining up MomoCon, MTAC, DragonCon, AWA, and Janicon (if it makes it to second year...here's hoping). I may even gun for ACEN for shits and giggles.

Well, I'm outties. Time for bed.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14682060/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14682060/ Tue, 18 Sep 2007 01:31:06 PDT
Anyway, they had a contest for the art gallery artists. Three weeks before DragonCon, they announced that the first 20 people to email the director would be enrolled in this contest. The contest is that when we arrived to check our stuff into the gallery, we would receive a small 4"x6"x4" treasure chest. We had until Saturday evening at 6pm to do something...anything with it. We were told that it was best to stick to a pirate theme. So, I bulked up my chest some around the borders with heavy banding and skulls as nail heads, and various other things (one of which included gluing the lid shut for structural integrity purposes...this will come into play later). I arrived Saturday evening with my chest just in the nick of time. Later that evening, I found out that I won third place. Placing meant that I would not have to worry about jury submission next year (hence the second chance). The sad thing is that on Sunday morning, I showed up at the gallery and saw that a fair sized chunk of my chest was broken off, one of the skulls was missing and there were cracks all over the chest. It turns out that some fucktard decided to ignore my big message stating that the chest DOES NOT OPEN (the letters were much bigger than this). Thankfully, it sold at auction with proceeds going to Diabetes Research. Hopefully, whoever received it can fix it up and make it look nice once more. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I couldn't take a picture of it.

This whole experience has given me a new idea, though. Instead of trying to get prints made by perfect strangers, I've decided to invest in a good quality photo printer. That way, I KNOW that the paper is archival quality and I KNOW that the ink is archival quality and I'll be able to do my own test prints for color adjustment purposes.

Ok....no more steam in me....I have to crash.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14019673/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/14019673/ Sat, 04 Aug 2007 19:32:46 PDT
I did some calling around to find out prices and turn around times on framing. Well, prices didn't matter too much to me. But, the turn around times? It averaged out to about a week for non-custom framing per picture to be framed. I don't have that kind of time, so yesterday, I went out and bought most of the frames for all pieces. Yeah, I'm gonna give framing a go on my own. Wish me luck on that!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13934507/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13934507/ Sun, 29 Jul 2007 23:44:56 PDT
I also did a remake of Strange Faerie which I'm pretty happy with, as well.

This leaves Miscreation and Sun and Moon left.

Then I get to get it all printed and then I'll try my hand at framing.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13816041/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13816041/ Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:09:34 PDT
The other one I finished is an updated version of The Monster Without. After giving it some thought, I just wasn't feeling one of the pieces I was going to submit to the DragonCon art gallery, so I decided to substitute it with The Monster Without.

I am also going for a photomanipulation version of Pneumatic Nightmare.

Time to compile the pictures and head to bed.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13802980/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13802980/ Fri, 20 Jul 2007 01:58:16 PDT
Ok....my brain can't take it anymore. Must sleep now.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13789175/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13789175/ Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:30:40 PDT
Anyway, I surfed through some tutorials that might help me in some of my other works and stumbled across a couple of photo manipulation tutorials for dark art. So, I decided to give it a go and see what I could come up with. Take a look in the gallery.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13702072/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13702072/ Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:24:17 PDT
I'm excited. I'm nervous. 20,000 people will be seeing my work at DragonCon. I had to pause again at seeing that number. I'm still having a hard time wrapping my head around the concept.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13597337/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13597337/ Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:41:41 PDT
Anyway...I am about to contact a friend of a friend to handle all the printing/framing of each piece I plan to display at DragonCon.

Some of the pieces I will be displaying will include: Spiderhead Sam, Deer John, Radiation, Zaggog the Brain-Eater, Baron Samedi, and Pneumatic Nightmare.

On top of those, I will have 8 brand-spankin' new pieces to display! I'll post them as they are completed.

Until then, wish me luck! ]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13571990/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13571990/ Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:30:52 PDT
Bad News...all of my work is pretty much unprintable due to color set up issues. Some of the colors that I used turned out to be out of gamut for printing.

Nice...I finally get somewhere with my art....only to sabotage myself in the process.

In other news, I am a complete dumbass who has no business in the art world. ]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13339876/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13339876/ Thu, 14 Jun 2007 08:19:18 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13327537/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13327537/ Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:37:33 PDT
Hell, one of the two is a completely new piece I've been toying with off and on for the past couple of weeks. It's called "Without me..." which is inspired from a line from a Faith No More song, "Midlife Crisis". The line that inspired the piece goes "Without me, you're only you."

I'll post it as soon as it's done, which should be before midnight tommorow night. As for now, I've posted up the revisions of the Baron and Radiation. I have to say that I really like the new versions.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13324185/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13324185/ Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:33:35 PDT
Now....must sleep.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13297400/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13297400/ Mon, 11 Jun 2007 00:20:31 PDT
Ok...whatever. Anyway, I've finished with Deer Johns revision. This brings the total to 2 out of 7. And I have until midnight Thursday to get the other 5 done. Plus work. Plus school. Mommie....

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13222481/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13222481/ Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:10:31 PDT
Now, it's time for bed.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13139217/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13139217/ Tue, 29 May 2007 14:20:42 PDT
Spiderhead Sam, Baron Samedi, Deer John, Radiation, Pneumatic Nightmare, and Zaggog: The Brain Eater are definitely going to be a part of those submissions as well as in the gallery if I get selected.

I may or may not include Last Laugh, Absence of Mirth, and Benson Crowe.

I'm going to try and create another critter or two for submission.

At any rate, I'm going to go back to the original photoshop files and either spruce the pictures up some, or redo the painting entirely.

Wish me luck, folks. This could get interesting.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13119002/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13119002/ Sun, 27 May 2007 23:02:39 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13070566/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13070566/ Thu, 24 May 2007 00:45:19 PDT
I used to be able to find at least one person that stayed up till the wee hours of the morning. We used to stay up till the sun came up, drinking tea and talking about any subject the world could offer. I so dearly miss those days.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13045845/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/13045845/ Tue, 22 May 2007 01:39:22 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12905967/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12905967/ Wed, 09 May 2007 23:17:56 PDT
I have a rough sketch of Emily (the little girl in the mini sketch book) and of Simons boss, who I still haven't named. I'm trying to get some thumbnails and rough sketches so I can get a turn around for the characters and some finished work.

I've been batting this idea back and forth between either doing it as a comic or doing it as an illustrated book.

More later...

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12809477/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12809477/ Tue, 01 May 2007 21:59:46 PDT
And that's the beginning. I have to figure out a lot of things before I could press on, such as where I want to go with this, as well as character names.

So, what do you think?

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12797044/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12797044/ Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:43:36 PDT
Sorry about that.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12783413/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12783413/ Sun, 29 Apr 2007 20:51:03 PDT
Two more things before I head out. First, as you may have noticed, I posted a picture of myself. It was taken back in 1996 on Halloween. Sorry for the quality of the picture, but it was just a regular disposable camera picture and nothing of any real quality. And there's a hair in the scan of the picture. I can be such a newb at times.

And tommorow is my one month anniversary! Woot!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12737956/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12737956/ Thu, 26 Apr 2007 01:47:02 PDT
]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12727917/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12727917/ Wed, 25 Apr 2007 08:56:33 PDT
[link]

And that's where my latest two deviations were developed from. It was easy to do and I was bored and sometimes I'm really easily amused. I might try creating starfields that actually have something of an underlying image (like Draco turned out to be).

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12715681/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12715681/ Tue, 24 Apr 2007 09:43:09 PDT
Convention Schedule:

Dragoncon in Atlanta, GA - This is pretty much my "I get to have fun without having to spend all my time in the artist alley" convention. If you're going and want to meet up, lemme know.

Anime Weekend Atlanta - I'm trying for an Artist Alley spot with them. If I get it, I'll be there with my own stuff. If I don't, I'll be with StubbyChubby.com as a helper.

Janicon in Jacksonville, FL - Sonnie of StubbyChubby.com talked me into this one. Plans have yet to be ironed out for this one, so there's no telling what I'll be doing down there. I do know that I'll be visiting my brother, his wife, and my neice while in town.

And there you have it. Hopefully, I'll have some new stuff to post within the next couple of weeks.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12661966/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12661966/ Thu, 19 Apr 2007 23:31:12 PDT
As for art, I've just finished uploading a mixture of old and new and incomplete. The incomplete stuff will be reposted when it's finished.

Enjoy, kiddies!

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12513128/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12513128/ Sun, 08 Apr 2007 16:32:41 PDT
And One was a rather quirky group. Their lead singer reminded me a lot of a somewhat more upbeat David Gahan from Depeche Mode. This will come into play later. Their style of music was very electro-pop with a hint of swing thrown in. The hint of swing was accentuated by their frontman's swagger. He definitely showed off a complete air of class and his vocal talents were on par with Sinatra. One song, which for the life of me I can't remember what it's called, had an oddly familiar sound to it. And, in the middle of the song, I began singing to myself and realized that it was Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus" which the lead immediately began singing. I'm definitely buying their stuff. They put on a top notch act with a good sound.

VNV Nation came on next and put on a show that I couldn't help but consider a religious experience. They played all of my favorites (IE: Darkangel, Beloved, Perpetual, Chrome, Honor) as well as their "hymn" and their "anthem", which is Solitary. The new stuff didn't really latch onto me, except for 'Nemesis' with its line of "Judgement day's not coming soon enough." I think that's a rather strong statement to make; one that I can understand and empathize with.

The last VNV show I went to was on a Wednesday, so there was no way I was hanging around for the afterparty when I had to be up at 6am and had to contend with a 2+ hour drive home. This show, on the other hand, was on a Saturday. So, I hung around a bit and checked out the sites. Sure enough, Ronan and Mark came out and mingled and I got to chat with them a bit and got my copy of Judgement signed.

So, all in all, it was a fantastic night.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12445445/ http://VirtuousDarkness.deviantart.com/journal/12445445/ Tue, 03 Apr 2007 14:38:45 PDT
I'm going to try out other things with it to see what I can come up with.

]]> *VirtuousDarkness