http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:emperial&section=today deviantART RSS for by:emperial en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:59:44 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/23016867/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/23016867/ Thu, 05 Feb 2009 08:45:06 PST
One of my mice also got injured and I had some personal drama, but eh, I don't want to go into that, who cares! It is over and done with. Well, except the mouse injury, but apparently there's nothing really I can do about that. ;_;

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/22707041/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/22707041/ Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:08:01 PST
If you read this, you won't think it's you that I'm speaking to, but I am.

Sincerely,
The Coward

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/22057386/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/22057386/ Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:24:36 PST
I am entering a few Gaia contests very quickly (as they have great prizes and immediate deadlines) but I am still working on commissions and all holiday commissions will be done by the end of January, guaranteed. Just a wee bit of patience, please. This is partly due to my holiday travel plans getting extended due to an overbooked flight.

--------

Holiday commissions are a serious thing on dA. I know because the past... two years at least I've been among the buyers.

Well, this year I have the somewhat dubious honor of being unemployed, which means I have too much time on my hands, could really use the extra cash, and can offer holiday commissions instead of buying them!


-- QUICK RUNDOWN --

+ Full Color
+ Painter or Photoshop

+ PORTRAIT -- $15
+ WAISTUP -- $20
+ FULLBODY -- $30

+ Paypal
+ I'll accept money orders or checks if your order is more than $50, but Paypal is preferred!


I will take five orders at a time. Price is subject to change, but once your order is accepted your price is set. One image per slot!


Please fill out this form and send it to me in a NOTE~

----
Character:
Reference Images:
(if you don't have images, I will do my best to work from text decription)
Image Type: Portrait/Waistup/Fullbody
Background Color/Scheme:
Medium: Photoshop/Painter/Either
E-mail: (so I can send you a nice, high-quality copy of the image!)
----

I will note you back if you got one of the slots. I will not begin work until payment is sent. Let me know in advance if you need to pay with check or money order so I can give you the address!

As for the difference between Photoshop and Painter... Photoshop stuff looks a bit more cartoony/comicky, Painter a bit more natural. If you leave it up to me, I'll just use whichever program I feel like at the moment. :3


-- ROUND ONE --
1. ~spiderflower -- waistup special -- painter -- [link]
2. *Warse-no-Miko -- waistup -- painter -- coloring 15%
3. ~LilElda -- portrait -- TBD
4. *AkiAmeko -- waistup -- Photoshop -- unpaid


----


Because I know not everyone can afford to buy art commissions at the holidays, I will also pick someone who comments on this journal for a free picture! Just comment letting me know why you deserve to be picked.

+ You may only receive one picture.
+ You cannot buy a commission -- this is for people who can't afford to buy commissions!
+ I pick whether it's a portrait/waistup/fullbody and whether it's Photoshop/Painter.
+ I may pick more than one person, depending on how busy I am, but I can't promise it!

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/21899508/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/21899508/ Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:21:33 PST
]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/20323887/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/20323887/ Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:58:02 PDT


]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19344648/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19344648/ Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:51:17 PDT


More overflow from the contest account!



SO, you're probably looking at the art contest going, "HOMG, I can't decide D:!" I'm here to help! Post here, tell me what kind of characters you like to draw or don't like to draw, and I'll give you a recommendation! Want to draw a mobster? A sorceress? A quiet person? Someone who wears giant, poofy dresses? A pretty boy? A Western gunslinger? A computer hacker? Someone in the nude? An older character? A dancer? Male? Female? Geek? Cool guy? Athlete? Criminal? Supergenius? Superhero? Average Joe? Harpoonist? Harp player? Singer? Fighter? Soldier? Android? Mouse? Dog? Cat? Bird?

I prettymuch have EVERY SORT OF CHARACTER you can think of. So go ahead, request away. Tell me if there's some type of character you like to draw, or even an emotion you'd like to convey. Be as specific and weird in your request as you like! If I can't find some character or scene that matches what you'd like to draw, I'll... Well, I don't think there's any reasonable character or image request I can't fill. Seriously.

So go ahead and use me as a resource to find the character you'll fall in love with drawing. <3

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19307187/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19307187/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:19:01 PDT


We take a break from our art contest stuff () to lament the loss of the greatest webcomic ever, Minus.

[link]

It just... ended. I didn't even notice it ended, I don't always read the comments below the comic. It's finished, done, caput.

Dear Minus, I loved you, and may your adventures continue on forever in the imaginations of your readers. You were the best. The very best.



ALSO. BBC got ahold of all the Top Gear episodes that someone had uploaded to Youtube -- and I mean this person had uploaded the ENTIRE SERIES from the launch of the new format!

Dear BBC,
Until you release NORTH AMERICAN TOP GEAR SEASON BOX SETS, you can STFU and BLOODY WELL FECK OFF you bastards! Want your show to stop being the most pirated on the Internet? RELEASE SOMETHING WE CAN BUY THAT WORKS IN OUR REGION. Seriously! And why don't you find a way to bloody run new episodes stateside while you're at it? Stream them over the Net worldwide for a fee! I don't care! I LOVE TOP GEAR. DOWN WITH VERSIONING. VERSIONING NO LONGER MAKE SENSE IN THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY. WE DEMAND GLOBAL TELEVISION. FAILING THAT, JUST GIVE US TOP GEAR.
P. S. A shoddy American copy of the original series just doesn't cut it. Top Gear is what it is because of Clarkson, May, and Hammond.

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19272100/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19272100/ Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:12:14 PDT


Obligatory art contest screaming/yelling:



That said, anyone have ideas for good places to advertise on the cheap? I'm going to try and advertise on tegaki, I considered adCast but because that would go out to all the areas on the site, it didn't make good financial sense to me. I'm aiming for places a bit more targeted to artists.

(I also considered Project Wonderful, but, how many webcomic readers are artists? Probably not so many.)

So, anyone have any recommendations? (Or should I do adCast? Would it really be effective in this situation?)

I just want to let every artist possible know about the contest, ridiculous as that may be!

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19245414/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19245414/ Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:07:52 PDT [link]

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19243349/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19243349/ Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:17:14 PDT


WELL now I think devART is done flipping out...

RULES & INFORMATION


The character database is located at *themanyworlds!
It's still under construction, but it's there!

If you have questions or comments about the contest, please make them on the rules deviation, NOT my journal! Thanks!

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19204042/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/19204042/ Fri, 04 Jul 2008 14:18:51 PDT


Well, I've been working away, and I'm pleased to announce that the contest is going LIVE this Sunday, and that I'm looking at an end date of September 15th or thereabouts!

Remember, it's over $750 in prizes with a top prize of $250, and the basic prize breakdown is here: [link]

SO, here we go folks! Get those pencils and pens and tablets and watercolors ready! IT'S COMING!

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18955504/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18955504/ Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:53:02 PDT


I got a really nice, big payday, so I'm pleased to announce that my art contest is ON! It'll take me a bit to finish getting all the character infos up and stuff, but yeah. I can at least give you a sneak peek of the prizes!


First Prize: $250
Best Dream Image/Scene: $75
Technical Excellence: $75
Dream/Scene Runner-Up: $50
Technical Runner-Up: $50

Distinguished Character Accuracy: $50
Distinguished Creativity/Design: $50
Best Group Image: $50

Honorable Mentions: $15 x 4

Plus more prizes for random entrants and referrals! (You can win just be telling people about the contest!) Over $750 in prizes total!

And if you don't have Paypal, prize money is also available as deviantART services, Gaia Online Cash, or Amazon.com gift cards! So, no matter where you are in the world, you can win something!

If you'd like to be kept updated on my progress, and receive special information ahead of the contest's opening, please comment here! Also, I'm more than happy to answer any and all questions.

Well, there you go! Art contest is coming! See you there!

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18842082/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18842082/ Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:25:25 PDT


That was, without a doubt, RTD's finest episode to date.


I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. So very, very sorry. I don't think words can express how truly sorry I am. For all of us.

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18827916/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18827916/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 20:29:42 PDT


GALACTICA


GALACTICA NOW


NOWWWWWWWWW


D:








i miss romo lampkin

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18511620/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18511620/ Mon, 26 May 2008 15:08:58 PDT


KIRIBAN: If you get 25,000 comment here, I will draw you a little tegaki! Please include link(s) of the character you'd like drawn. ^^


Ganked from =alexds1

.:Rules:.
1. Choose a few of your own characters. Five at the most
2. Make them answer the following questions
3. Then tag three people. (If you want to do it, just do it)


.:Questions:.
1) How Old Are You?
Rusak: Thirty-eight.
Daub: I don't know, to be quite honest, I seem to have lost count during my time as a regulator, and I suppose it must be around thirty-three, mustn't it? Or is that a little too high in the estimate?
Emma: Twenn-tyy--- ... Wait, I know this.
Boston: Do you now.
Emma: Husssh! Don't help me Boston! I can get this! I'm-- I'm--
Boston: She's twenty-six, I'm forty-four. Got a problem with that?
Daub: Has anyone got a spacetime measurement converter?

2) Height?
Rusak: 181 cm.
Daub: Uhm, I am afraid, that would require, a measuring stick. I haven't got one. I have got a liverwurst sandwich and a can of pop.
Emma: Five-foot-two!
Boston: Five-foot-one if she's and inch. I'm five-eleven.
Emma: He's five-ten.
Boston: You're lucky I love you.

3) You got any bad habits??
Rusak: ...
Daub: Well, I've been told I can talk too much, and come on a bit strong, and I have a habit of forgetting things, and sometimes I lose track of what's gonig on, and...
Emma: The one standing next to me.
Boston: Emma bites her nails and picks her scabs--
Emma: BOS-TON!
Boston: --I, on the other hand, am impeccable.
Emma: All your habits are too dirty to mention.

4) You a virgin?
Rusak: Of course not.
Daub: No, no, not since I was thirteen. *titter*
Emma: Yes!
Boston: No.

5) Who's your Mate/Spouse?
Rusak: ...
Daub: I haven't got one, not at the moment, but I am looking, so if you know someone, someone charmgni and intelligent, with a love of learning?
Boston: This one here.
Emma: That one there.

6) Have Any Kids?
Rusak: No.
Daub: I've a daughter, of sorts, though you might say she's adopted me rather than the reverse. The light of my life.
Emma: Not yet! But we're adopting. Papers're almost through.

7) Favorite Food?
Rusak: *goes to run tactical simulations*
Daub: Liverwurst and red onion sandwiches! I always keep one in my pocket.
Emma: Egg noodles! Sushi! Coconut popsicles! Bean burritos!
Boston: Scrambled eggs.

8) Favorite Ice Cream flavor?
Daub: Oh, uhm, it's been a while since I've had any. Vanilla?
Emma: Moose Trax!
Boston: Canteloupe.

9) Killed anyone?
Rusak: Yes.
Daub: Oh, dear me, I... That is, I've never intended to, it just...
Emma: Gosh, no.
Boston: What kind of a question is that?

10) Hate anyone?
Rusak: *growl*
Daub: No, no, most certainly not!
Emma: No one comes to mind. Well, there were these two people, who should not be named, who should suffer terribly. I hate them. And there's this other person, she's a horrid frog-faced woman, and I hate her. And as well these other people who should not be named and desrve scorn unto eternity...
Boston: Do you want me to start with the investors or the antitrust lawyers at the United States Department of Justice? I'll list them all. But I won't tell you where they're buried, harr harr.
(For the record, Boston is kidding.)

11) Any Secrets?
Rusak: ...
Daub: None I can remember!
Emma: From my husband? None.
Boston: Depends who's asking.

12) Love Anyone?
Rusak: Yes.
Daub: With all my heart, and I miss them both terribly.
Emma: This one here!
Boston: That one there. *grin*

13) Tacos?
Rusak: ...
Daub: They're not bad, I suppose.
Emma: Bean, hard shell.
Boston: Only the genuine article.

14) Ever slept in all day?
Rusak: ...
Daub: A few times, I suppose.
Emma: Sure!
Boston: She never gets up before eleven.
Emma: Not true... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18047509/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/18047509/ Sun, 27 Apr 2008 01:24:19 PDT


Yay, I finished a commission! That only took months and most of my sanity. I'm reasonably pleased with how it came out.

They put me back to full-time at work, unfortunately. I might be able to go back to part-time, somehow.

I still haven't fixed my computer. Go me!

I updated my devious information (which I rarely do)! I've changed my (sole) interest to British television, finally updated my OS from 2k to XP, and in more fun notes, my favorite game is now Ender's, my favorite gaming platform is a diving board, my skin of choice is human, and the tools of my trade are armies of rats and mice. (After some debate, I have decided my favorite shell remains oyster.)

On a vaguely related note, I once again have rodents in my life. I now have two mice named HAL 9000 and Dave, both of which are females. Hal is dark grey (I think silver blue) and Dave is light grey (silver). Add to that the two grey cats we have and it's beginning to look like our family has a thing for grey animals. Admittedly, grey is my favorite color, though I hadn't been intending on a pair of grey mice. I just wanted a pair that were self. They're really lovely so far, especially Dave, who seems to be a bit of a nutso. Hal's a total scaredy cat, but sweet, and likes to sniff at my hand, whereas Dave doesn't care anything about my hand. Dave's a bit hard to explain, actually. I wouldn't say she's friendlier, but she doesn't care if I pick her up, so I've gotten to spend a bit more time socializing with her. She's apathetic, maybe? The two of them like to run on the wheel together, and rearrange their box into a cave under piles of bedding. They also enjoy wondering why the strange human keeps messing with the cage.

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17447368/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17447368/ Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:18:41 PDT


Okay! Last journal update for a little bit! I can resist the temptation! I am not a journal whore! XD

As you may know, I entered *clayscence's OC art contest. One of the prizes involves a public vote. You do not have to vote for my entry! But, if you would like to, my entry is #287.

You can post votes here: [link]

Just post your vote as a comment on the journal. Please also do take a look at all the other fantastic entries if you have the chance! ^^

I wouldn't exactly want to troll for votes, but obviously if I don't say anything, the chance of my getting any votes decreases significantly. For those of you that may not have seen my entry, it can be viewed here:



And again, you don't have to vote for my entry, but if you like it, please feel free! ^^ I don't really expect to win (public voting is generally a popularity contest, and I'm not exactly in that stratosphere) but it'd be nice to get a few votes!

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17422172/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17422172/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:36:51 PDT


Well, normally I think March is the month of the gods. It's my birth month, for one thing. But this March? Not so much. Let's recap.

I got a hairline fracture in my foot or something and could barely walk for two weeks.

My car got a flat tire.

My beloved computer Severus, who had run for seven years without so much as a blip of an error, finally crashed. It looks like it's the motherboard. He's out of commission until I get it replaced. (And for the record, he's the computer I use[d] for my art.)

Arthur C. Clarke died.

I have come down with some sort of sore throat/flu thing that makes my mouth taste like a bus station and leaves me hacking and sneezing and stuffy and sometimes feverish. And my nose is running like a faucet.

For my birthday, someone decided to give me grief instead of a present. Charming.

My foot was finally not hurting any more, and then the computer crashed and I had to move the computer desk to get it out, and now my foot hurts again.

The computer crashed right when I was in the middle of working on commissions/clayscence's contest entry, and as a result I had to cram on the contest entry so it'd be done on time and for various reasons, the piece almost didn't get posted online at all. x_x (But big thanks to those folk who helped me more or less fix the problems.)

The trip to DC I'd been looking forward to for two months didn't happen because my mother was sick.

And even more "fun" stuff I can't remember right now!


I tell you this not for your pity, but to provide proof that I survived this stupid month, and to swear that April is going to be much better. House! Battlestar Galactica! Doctor Who! Let us forget the month of March, 2008, ever happened.

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17387128/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17387128/ Mon, 17 Mar 2008 21:03:36 PDT


I went through a cleaned up my friendslist, and by "clean up" I mean wiped clean and then attempted to go down the list of x-hundred names and readd my friends. Let me know if I missed you? I'm now taking better care of my list and unchecking the friends box when I first add people I'm watching instead of letting a bunch of talented strangers pile up on my friends list who, while they are very talented and worth watching, are not in fact my friends.

Also, if you read no other portion of my NaNo, you should read "Blocked!" See Em deal with writer's block! Hilarity ensues. I'm gonna post some art up next, don't worry! Stay tuned!

~~~~

Friends & Lovers
(list under construction)

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17284836/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17284836/ Tue, 11 Mar 2008 11:09:19 PDT


I didn't have candles, I didn't have cake,
instead I worked for eighteen hours straight!
I didn't have dinner or open my gifts,
the answering machine took every well-wish.

And now that I'm twenty-four years and a day,
it's totally worth it to sit here and say:
I spent all of my birthday with people I care for,
whom I love and adore and always am there for.

They're not always perfect, neither am I,
but they owe me their lives and I owe them mine.
With them here, there's nothing that I cannot do,
so I'm dedicating my twenty-fourth year to you.

Happy birthday, guys.

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17052388/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/17052388/ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:56:32 PST


Em... needs to do something... she double triple promises to work on things she is SUPPOSED to be doing as soon as it is done! But it's very time-sensitive, this things she needs to do, so she needs to do it now rather than later.

On the bright side, she already sketched out everything she's supposed to be doing, so after she finishes the thing she is doing instead, all the other things are ready to go! (Don't ask for scans or previews, though, 'cause they are not on this computer.)

Please do not get too mad at Em when she shows you the thing she is doing. I promise it won't be a very long wait.

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/16292062/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/16292062/ Sun, 06 Jan 2008 19:12:38 PST


Ganking from

1. Choose a few of your own characters. Five at the most.
2. Make them answer the following questions.
3. Then tag three people.

Characters Chosen:
Daerinnid De Soto, Daerinnid Chronicles
Rikard Prowley, Daerinnid Chronicles
n'Barit Kinmera [link]
Third Hhalak Atreipie [link]
Dr. M [link]

1) How old are you?
Daerinnid: Forty-one.
Rikard: It's my 29th birthday this month! Again! No, seriously, I'm thirty-eight, thirty-nine in a few days. Not that I look it. Daerinnid, now, he's looked like a dinosaur since he was twenty...
n'Barit: Thirty-two rotations. I think.
Third: I was born three years ago, but physically I'm about nine, so that's what I tell my friends. I'm in third grade.
Dr. M: I believe in October of last year I turned thirty.

2) Height?
Daerinnid: Six-foot-one.
Rikard: Five-nine.
n'Barit: I don't know.
Third: I'm about 130 cm.
Dr. M: 151 cm.

3) You got any bad habits?
Daerinnid: ...
Rikard: Oh, you bet! Bad habits are the best kind.
n'Barit: None.
Third: Yes, but I'm working on them!
Dr. M: Oh, a few.

4) You a virgin?
Daerinnid: I have two full-grown children, what do you think?
Rikard: Not since I was, like, eight!
n'Barit: Of course!
Third: Yes. I'm still a kid!
Dr. M: I prefer not to say.

5) Who's your mate/spouse?
Daerinnid: ... Alonriel...
Rikard: Torvwyn!
n'Barit: My culture doesn't believe in this.
Third: I don't have one, yet!
Dr. M: I am alone.

6) Have any kids?
Daerinnid: Two.
Rikard: One adopted! That I know of, if you catch my drift.
n'Barit: No. I'm MALE.
Third: No!
Dr. M: No. I'm not capable.

7) Favorite food?
Daerinnid: Pheasant or quail.
Rikard: Beeeeeeeeeeer! With dried wasabi peas as a side.
n'Barit: Bread.
Third: I don't know, I like lots of things. I don't really have a favorite yet.
Dr. M: I don't eat very often...

8) Favorite ice cream flavor?
Daerinnid: ... What?
Rikard: Ooh, tough one. I like mint, and chocolate, and cookie dough, and cherry, and... what was that flavor called... caramel! And almond, and...
n'Barit: ... Vanilla.
Third: Moose Tracks. It's got chocolate ribbon and peanut butter cups.
Dr. M: I am partial to coffee...

9) Killed anyone?
Daerinnid: When necessary.
Rikard: Oh, you bet. In my younger days, the streets ran red with blood!
n'Barit: Yes.
Third: No...
Dr. M: Yes, several people.

10) Hate anyone?
Daerinnid: Yes.
Rikard: GRRR. GRRRRRRRRRR.
n'Barit: Everyone.
Third: No, not really. I think it's important to learn forgiveness.
Dr. M: Yes, my brother, L.

11) Any secrets?
Daerinnid: Of course.
Rikard: My life is an open book! An open, pornographic book!
n'Barit: None.
Third: I have to keep some thing from my friends...
Dr. M: Yes. No, I will not tell them.

12) Love anyone?
Daerinnid: With all my heart.
Rikard: Absolutely. Tory, Daerinnid, and Teliu.
n'Barit: Yes, I do.
Third: Of course! My mom and my sisters.
Dr. M: Yes.

13) TACOS?
Daerinnid: What?
Rikard: Crunchy shell. Extra tomatoes.
n'Barit: No.
Third: We make them sometimes for dinner!
Dr. M: No, thank you.

14) Ever slept in all day?
Daerinnid: I have.
Rikard: You mean some people actually WAKE UP during the daytime?
n'Barit: No.
Third: So... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/14834754/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/14834754/ Fri, 28 Sep 2007 23:54:27 PDT


-- to say that people waiting for art from me, I have not forgotten, and I -will- have some stuff up this weekend! One or two things, depending on how long the bigger item takes me (but I got some good practice in with Rusak Talietzin to speed myeslf up) so we'll see. But stuff is coming!

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/14495214/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/14495214/ Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:44:32 PDT


Totally ganking from by way of (GO VISIT THEM THEY'RE INCREDIBLE). Can you guess my favorite characters? If you guess correctly, I'll link you as the winner! ^^

Yes, I'm doing some by franchise because otherwise it would be far, far too easy. And I had to throw in a few third favorites because those particular characters must be mentioned or I would cry. And one fourth favorite who rocks my socks.


1. Law & Order franchise
- Favourite: Det. Robert Goren (=rileylaurent)
- Second Favourite: Det. John Munch (=rileylaurent)

2. CSI franchise
- Favourite: David Hodges (*kreugan ... who only listed almost every character in Vegas to get it XD)
- Second Favourite: Det. Danny Messer (*kreugan)
- Third Favourite: Tim Speedle (dedicated to ~miaow for trying so hard!)
- Fourth Favourite: Doc Robbins

3. Battlestar Galactica
- Favourite: Romo Lampkin
- Second Favourite: Gaius Baltar (VIVA EL PRESIDENTE) (=HoboRiss)

4. Doctor Who
- Favourite: THE MASTER (*kreugan)
- Second Favourite: The Doctor! (*kreugan)
- Third Favourite: Donna

5. Stargate franchise
- Favourite: Dr. Rodney McKay (*kreugan)
- Second Favourite: Martouf
- Third Favourite: Jonas

6. Star Wars
- Favourite: Admiral Piett (*kreugan)
- Second Favourite: General Veers
- Third Favourite: Jango & Boba Fett

7. Star Trek: The Original Series
- Favourite: Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (=HoboRiss)
- Second Favourite: Pavel A. Chekov (=HoboRiss)

8. Star Trek: Voyager
- Favourite: The Doctor (~miaow)
- Second Favourite: Tom Paris (=HoboRiss)
- Third Favourite: Kes

9. Lord of the Rings
- Favourite: Boromir (~shimoyo)
- Second Favourite: Merry

10. Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
- Favourite: Mr. Herriman (~avis-grave-nil)
- Second Favourite: Coco

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/14110998/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/14110998/ Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:23:49 PDT


So, we all know art theft happens. I've had art of mine stolen -- though admittedly not very often, I don't usually draw stuff worth stealing for various reasons -- but... but this is just a whole 'nother thing altogether.

Someone has taken my icon. My precious icon, which I spent hours on, which always garners such great compliments, has been stolen.

I admit I thought it might get stolen eventually, but I didn't think I'd feel this... torn up about it. It's my devIDENTITY, you know? You see this icon, you think Emperial! It's very smashing and unusual! At least, I don't think I've ever seen anyone else with a maze that fills up. devART is a big place! I'm sure someone out there has had the same idea.

Just not the same exact maze as me. Mine's based on my old icon, for starters:


I may as well tell you a bit about my icon, so many people say so many things about it. Yes, to start, I did indeed make it entirely myself. You might think it probably took just a few minutes, but I tell you it took me hours. Here's why.

The first draft of the icon, I made the maze. Making it wasn't all that easy. I had to find ways to send the little paths that didn't end up with a lot of spots where two black pixel sat next to each other and made the maze walls look thicker. (In the end I was never able to eliminate one of these spots. It's at the end of one of the dead-ends.)

I then painstakingly animated in one-pixel increments the flow of white into the maze. I realized about halfway through that because of a long straightaway, one section of the maze filled up and reached the exit far too quickly, and I wanted more... mystery about which maze path actually led to the "exit." So, I changed the maze layout and re-animated it. Again in one-pixel increments.

When I saved out the gif, I then discovered that because the maze had like a hundred frames, it was FAR FAR FAR too big for dA. (I naively thought the fact it was only three colors would keep the filesize down.) So I deleted every other frame and then each frame the maze went forward the white flow jumped two pixels. Again, the file was still too big. I kept at this, changing the number of frames and how far the flow jumped each frame, until I arrived finally with something small enough.

This whole thing took several hours -- it was a lot of trial and error. But in the end, I had an icon, and I was so happy with it and not willing to do the process again that I've never changed the thing. Ergo, on dA, I equate this icon with myself. I mean, I've had it since I first opened this account some years ago! It's just so... me.

So imagine my crushing upset to find that, yes, someone has stolen my icon here on dA. For shame. It takes two minutes to slap a piece of art into a program and make yourself an icon. I know, I know, my icon is much neater than that. BUT THAT'S BECAUSE I SPENT SEVERAL HOURS MAKING IT. Dear gods. If you have not invested the time, you do not deserve the coolness.

In conclusion, one theft of my icon has been reported to me, please do tell me if you spat more so I can ask them (politely) to stop using my devIDENTITY. And if you're using an icon you ganked from someone else, please change it. You can even make icons in Paint -- or if you simply must have one animated, I used Jasc Animation Shop (I couldn't tell you what version, this was years ago), which I believe at the time was free. (Or a free trial?) If you want a cool icon, go out and make it!

Em out.


P.S. Big thanks to the awesome for spotting my icon and telling me about it.

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/13327271/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/13327271/ Wed, 13 Jun 2007 09:10:03 PDT


So, this is something that hopefully one day will be of note, and I decided to start it now. This shall be a list of all my dream pictures. Not images from my dreams (gods that would be fantastically ridiculous, all my dreams are these epic stories of people and places and events that last for hours) but images of my characters I wish I had.

I may periodically chip away at this list with commissions or trades or drawing stuff myself. Otherwise consider it wishful thinking.

I'll edit in all the missing profile links as they get put up.

1 - Dr. M [link] (white costume) standing next to a missile and grinning. One hand leaning against the missile, which towers a good foot or two over him. White/no background.

2 - N'Barit [link] vs. Jaden Amn - a tricked out battle scene with energy blasts and effects. N'Barit on the lower left side making shields, Jaden in the upper right making energy blasts, looks of battle fury on both. N'Barit with a growl/grimace, Jaden yelling. Shiny battle effects background. N'arit in some crazy flying backwards stance with one bent leg, Jaden leaping from above.

3 - A human-form version of Constant design.

4 - A human-form version of Constant and Rusak Petrovich [link] , waist-up of them gazing into one another's eyes, Rusak looking grim (us usual) and Constant loving and filled with hope and strength (but not smiling). Both in profile. Rusak holding Constant's hand. Some form of background, doesn't have to be fancy, could just be splotchy colors or something more polished. Nothing too dramatic for the lighting, the idea here is not "look at this awesome shiny art" but "look at the love between these two characters."

5 - Careli braiding Zevulon's [link] hair. Zev sitting, maybe reading, Careli behind him, focused on her work. Background could be indistinct or polished, but the image should geneally look bright and daytime-ish. Maybe at a park or inside Careli's bedroom if the background is scenery.

6 - Daub [link] laying with his head in Spork's lap, laughing. Spork grinning or smiling or also laughing. Picture looking down on them from above, so the view is on Daub directly. Daub's hands folded over his chest, fingers interlocking. Some sort of background. A park, or the roof of a building, or the floorboards of an inn. (Nothing too modern, though.)

7 - A family portrait of Em [link] , Third [link] , and Pavel [link] . Just like a typical studio portrait, Could have one of those picture backgrounds or just a colored/effect one. If a picture background, woods would be nice.

8 - A portrait of Daub [link] in Jack Skellington [link] makeup and costume, smiling and looking to the right of the image, possibly looking at the viewer with head turned slightly. The makeup should be obviously stage makeup, not a "cosplay pic" in the traditional sense. (The story behind it is that Daub stars in a musical production of the Nightmare Before Christmas.) Some sort of rich dark brown abstract background, maybe with purple or other rich colors thrown in. Jack's costume could be modified/embellished a bit, maybe a dark brown pinstripe instead of the black? Daub's hair should still be reddish/ruddy brown.

9 - Same as above, Daub [link] in Jack Skellington costume, but running/sliding through Christmastown set. Maybe swinging around a streetlamp. Maybe just doing a slide step down a bit of hill. Obviously with Christmastown background. XD

10 - Kenyon and Philaes, one on each si... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/12910169/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/12910169/ Thu, 10 May 2007 12:02:39 PDT
I will have a page up of things for sale soon, too! If you're not interested in a commission, I'm selling doujinshi and comic books and various things, including anime/manga goodies and all sorts of other stuff. Please keep an eye open. ^^

This is a special situation. I am offering to do services beyond what I normally do. Because I must have this cash in the next two weeks, I'm going to have to ask for payment up front. It may take me a few months to finish stuff, but you have the Emperial Guarantee: like Nashya, everything -will- get done. Your wait will depend on the number of commissions I get and complexity of requests. I will work on the highest-paying commissions first.

. L i n e a r t s . [link]
These linearts are vector PSDs, so you can blow 'em up big and change stroke size and stuff.
1/2 body - $10
3/4 body - $15

. C G . A r t .
3/4 body - $35 [link] [link] [link]
2 character halfbody - $40 [link] ~but nicer, that's an older sample
Bust - $20 [link]

Special multi-char picture
I don't exactly know how these will turn out, but they will be less complex than my usual CG art (in terms of coloring and lineart), and you can have up to seven characters. The characters will range from halfbodies to less, or maybe more, depending on layout. So, it's a group of characters arranged at my discretion.
1st character $24, each character after $12
So, $24/36/48/60/72/84/96

Multi-char lineart
Same as above, group of chars arranged at my discretion, but as a polished lineart. The linearts will be nice and detailed, vector PSDs.
1st char $15, each additional character $10
$15/25/35/45/55/65/75

Cabbage Patch Kids (Gaia Breedable) - $60 [link]
Includes baby, child, kid, teen, adult stages, certed and official, with a journal. You will be held accountable to all the usual shop rules, but please note that shop policy ensures you will always be the owner of your child.
I am willing to do twins, they'd be $120.

Character outfit sheets
$12 for base figure (one outfit), $5 for each additional outfit (simple-moderate), $8 for a complex outfit
Recolors are free, unless you want like a dozen, in which case $3.
Simple-moderate outfits: [link] [link] [link]
Recolors: [link]

PLEASE NOTE if you have a character with large wings, especially large feathered wings, I may ask for an additional fee. (Or the wings can be left out, whichever you prefer.) I can also add small animals for a modest fee, depending on what you want.

And I am willing to do anthro, but be forewarned it's not my specialty! I will do fanart, I will do Gaia avatars, OCs, MMORPG chars, armor, and small weapons. I will work from text descriptions. If there's anything you'd like me to do that's not listed here, please just ask and we'll negotiate!

I can accept payment via Paypal. Please note me or post here asap if you're interested!


Status:
Smerdle Patch kid ($70) - sketching
zige Patch kid ($60) - sketching
FaluuVaud 3/4 body ($30) - sketched
Sarabi chibi (3-month sub) - sketched

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/11496951/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/11496951/ Fri, 19 Jan 2007 17:45:43 PST


All right, since my previous journal failed to attract any attention, I'm going to add another incentive!

THE BASICS:
A roleplay I'm involved in on Gaia Online is having an art contest. There are 70 million in prizes, including miniwings!
CONTEST LINK: [link]
DEADLINE: April 1st, 2007

THE CHARACTERS:
I am looking for people to draw entries with THIRD and/or CONSTANT. You can draw them alone or with any other characters in the contest. You can also draw them with any of my characters listed on their character info page.
INFO PAGE: [link]
IMAGE IDEAS: [link]

THE PRIZES:
Your image will be eligible to win dozens of prizes on Gaia. I am also offering up to THREE 3-month deviantART subscriptions. They will be randomly awarded among the eligible entrants. You may enter multiple times, but you may only win one subscription. Prizes are subject to increase if there are a lot of entrants.

HOW TO ENTER:
1) Draw an image featuring Third and/or Constant.
2) Post it in the official contest thread using the official entry form. (You will need a Gaia online account.) Put "EmperialTeal" down for the referral. YOU MUST CREDIT ME WITH THE REFERRAL.
3) Post a comment on this journal. Tell me what page your entry is on. YOU MUST COMMENT HERE.

ENTRY INFO:
You may enter as many images as you like into the contest, but only images featuring Third and/or Constant are eligible for the dA subscription giveaway. If you draw Third/Constant and list me as the referral for your FIRST entry into the contest, you will get an additional entry into the subscription raffle.

ENTRIES SO FAR:
None!

That's it! Go forth and draw mightily!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

&&&&&& ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10560945/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10560945/ Mon, 30 Oct 2006 15:20:03 PST


HEAR YE HEAR YE

The Forgotten Documents and Legend of the Tale Breedables shops are having an art contest! With over 34 MILLION IN PRIZES. MINIS, SCARVES, AND MUCH, MUCH MORE.

Here is my plea to you! PLEASE DRAW MY BOY, THIRD!

Third's Reference Page: [link]

There is a special category with 225k worth of pure gold in prizes for drawing Third with one of his friends or family, but ALL entries of Third are welcome! And are eligible to win tons of great prizes!

Enter today! And draw Third and Constant! Or even just Third will make me happy. ^^

~~~~~~~~~~~~

We'll return to this laters! ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10247283/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10247283/ Sun, 01 Oct 2006 11:34:49 PDT


Vegas was something else. I ended up not doing any gambling because, frankly, the slot machines and casinos were creepy and depressing. I did see Cirque du Soleil's Love, and went to the Star Trek Experience, and worked two days at Interbike.

For those of you unfamiliar (I'll guess all of you) Interbike is a huginormous bike industry conference. Thousands of people, thousands of booths, everything from bike manufacturers to POS software (basically cash register/inventory software) -- everything you could possibly need or want for a bike store.

This includes my favorite vendors: the food folk! Such as Powerbar and Clif Bar, the two biggest food vendors in the bike industry.

Power Bar is by far my favorite. They always give out powerbars in their new flavors! I had one I really liked this year, I think it was honey roasted nut? Mmm, delicious! I remember many years ago at the last Interbike I was at they were releasing banana, which is still my favorite. However, in addition to the usual bars, they had some liquid rehydration stuff this year, and some new sort of granola energy bars. I didn't like the granola-type ones very much at all -- regular power bars taste better! -- but the drink was pretty good, the perfect sort of thing for right after a workout. Not that I workout. But if I did, that would hit the spot!

Clif Bar has these new energy chews, kind of like gummies, and the fruit ones are okay, but, man, seems like they went "okay, what others flavors can we make?" and the margarita ones? Like biting into a block of salt. BLECCH. I get that they're supposed to be salt-restoring energy chews, but do they have to taste so bad? However, I loved the new chocolately flavor bars they had.

I also got to stop by Lunabar, it's this totally raw, non-processed, non-gluten, non-dairy, non-five million other things all-natural vegan bar. It wasn't bad. Actually, I wouldn't mind having some again. If you're into all natural raw vegan stuff I'd say give them a sample. It wasn't the greatest thing ever, but it was definitely good for that sort of thing.

But my most favorite vendor experience had to be this booth over at the edge I stumbled into... They had these sort of triangular tablets which were wheatgrass and cocoa.

You know how you put a Listerine strip in you rmouth and it's like, WHAM? This was like that. Holy mackerel crap, it just exploded with power in my mouth! It was so much fun! I would have totally taken more of the things but I didn't want to use up more of their samples. I liked it. Tasty, too. In a kind of chocolatey wheatgrass explosion sort of way.

One of the bike manufacturers had ASIAN CANDIES at their booth. I got to try some sort of jelly candy i'd never seen before, it was green and mild, I think maybe it was honeydew? So much fun!

So, I did have fun in Vegas, but I wouldn't ever go there for the casinos. They're so smelly and dark and creepy. Shows and conventions: totally there!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are a LOT of K folk on my watchlist, so that one letter gives us all of this feature! I think I'm going to try and do these biweekly in the interests of reducing my watchlist, so hopefully have the next one on Wednesday.

http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10168031/ Sun, 24 Sep 2006 01:42:10 PDT


So, I'll be in Vegas for a week which means expect even less art from me than usual. XD

I don't know what it is about me. It's like art is a phase, I have an art phase and then it ends and some weeks/months later it returns. Weird. I guess that explains why I'm not a really good artist (DO NOT ARGUE WITH ME) because all the really good artists I know... draw. All the time. And there are times when I'm like that, but times when I'm not. Right now is kind of in-between. I've working on a couple things but I'm not really into it.

I tried to do my livejournal again for a while but got very quickly bored when there was some long argument about the Internet that I didn't feel like responding to. Oh well! The Internet allows a lot of people to STAGNATE. Not all of them. But a lot of them. Because the Internet is too accepting, people need some criticism and rejection to grow.

Anyway, I love City of Villains. I kick so much ass. I've only been playing, what, three weeks? and not the entire three weeks, but I have a level 24 brute and a bunch of other characters ranging 3-15. I'm on Virtue, Guardian, and Infinity mostly. Tell me if you play there, we can go smash some heads together.

And that's it! Can't wait to see Vegas, it'll be my first time! My mom just send me all these creepy rules about going (I'm helping out at a trade show) and now I'm creeped out, but still! Vegas baby! And I have a layover in San Fran on the way back, so that'll be my first time in California, too.

I've been thinking about getting back into doing art trades, now that I'm almost completely off Gaia (though I will finish my commissions and things). Maybe. We'll see. I definitely need to get back into the commission swing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today's feature brought to you by the letters F, G, H! Let's see if the F/G/H/I folk can shame the D and E people? HO HO HO ALPHABET BATTLE.


I've really been looking forward to F because it allows me to share the work of my hands-down favorite photographer on dA for figure work. *fb101 is simply amazing. The way he captures the human body, the way he captures motion, personality, and emotion -- he's incredible. These are some of his more recent works from my watchlist, but stop by his gallery, there are even more incredible photos to be found!


I instantly got the Alice in Wonderland vibe -- how can a person not? -- while at the same time not losing the sense that this was something original. ~fongmingyun displays her usual amazing command of the pencil. I only wish the image were bigger so we could see the detail even mor... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10081681/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/10081681/ Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:01:03 PDT


So, I've got this short film I made from my film program and I needed to do more editing but some stuff happened and I never got the chance. I was going to go to the screening and prevent them from showing it, but I had a feeling Aaron would do or say something to change my mind. I figured if I just went down there and grabbed any copy of the film before he could, I would be able to get away with not having my film screened.

Only Aaron called last night, so... I guess I'm showing it after all.

If you want to come down and see a few student films, some of them actually quite good, feel free to join us tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

D and E are great letters, aren't they? E, if you can't guess, holds a particular place in my heart. Please enjoy this brief selection of some fine, overlooked works from my watch list. Visit them, visit their creators.


Faceless yet very expressive, ~demonsisera's creations have a real sense of enchantment. The little details she adds are always for the better. I am especially enamored of the color scheme of Teen Hawks Eye, with the lovely fading hair color. Unfortunately, I can't comment directly on it, so I wanted to comment here.


If you want a character portrait with style, talent, and humor, you can look no further than the undeniable talents of *enerjak who is without a doubt one of my most favorite artists of all time. She has such style and skill and produces such a staggering quantity of good work, you really must visit her and spend some time looking through the vast array of personable portraits she's done. Enerjak, I love you. Universe, I demand you love her, too.


Beaaaautiful exquisite lighting. *emoxic rocks my world for a lot of reasons, and you should get to her gallery and see why.


Fur + feathers, a spin on the unipeg/pegacorn. The second commenter has it completely right: it's one of those things that, once you see it, you wonder why it didn't occur to you sooner.


And for more fur+feathers, :devexclamationpnt: is your girl. Her style is wonderfully painterly, and no one can do feathered wings quite like her. Given how much feather... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/9753027/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/9753027/ Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:19:42 PDT


Okay, so! Hit a bit of an art block, not to mention was busy with school, and thus did not actually draw anything for a few weeks. Seem to have conquered the art block now, and finished school (more or less) so back to the drawing board! Literally! Or the drawing tablet, anyway.

I need to revamp my commissions, I'm going to change up my services and my pricing. No need to worry, I will not be hiking up prices significantly! Just probably a little bit. I still aim to provide the most affordable commissions I can, but I do have things I need to pay for! Since I'm going ot be catching up on Gaia stuff, commissions are not yet open/revamped, please give me a few weeks. On the bright side, I think my art's improved again. Yay! Now just to get it improved enough to attract lots of note and get lots of visitors and favorites and comments and then take over deviantart... 8D

I WILL RULE TEH INTARWEB!

On the school issue... I completed my course, I finished my student film, though I do need to go in and get another hour of editing in based on some suggestions. There will be a screening September... 16th? I'll probably post more details later, in case you live in Vancouver or the surrounding area and would like to come see my little film (warning: it's not very good, and sadly I'm not being humble) and the films of my fellow students (which are quite good, honestly!) and meet me in person, and if anyone wants to go to a real movie afterwards or something I'd totally be up to that. I'm like, down with anything. So I'll have screening details in my next journal.

On to new issues... Gaia! Gaia has gotten kinda boring or late, Gdrama has probably layed a part in this. The whole site just feels very stale and tired. On the bright side, the new daily chance they introduced is kinda neat. Though it takes an annoying amount of time to go and do it for multiple accounts. Me, I'm more into Zantarni. Gods, I love Zantarni! It's like how I was hoping Gaia would be! Fantasy clothes! <3 <3 I mean, I remember how Gaia was back when it first began and there was all this hoping and dreaming and "online anime RPG community" stuff and when I think RPGs, I think... scifi, fantasy, werewolves, vampires... Gaia has a little bit of some of those. But not nearly enough. Instead of being an RPG community, it's turned into a giant teen chat hangout forum. Which works for a lot of people -- certainly the Gaia folks, who got something like 4 or 8 MILLION dollars invested in them for that precious advertising demographic -- but not for me. The RPG aspects are so downplayed, all of the dress-up items are just... clothing! Not cool fantasy outfits! With a few exceptions, but I really don't care about dressing my avatar in the sort of pants, shirts, and other clothes that you can already buy in any department store or boutique.

And the whole angel/demon thing. So overused. I wish they'd quit it with the damn angelic and demonic donation items, period, because I'm just so tired of it. Why can't we get cool Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire items? (There are some fire and ice items, but not in as great a variety as the angel/demon stuff.) While I'm pleased that Gaia has implemented almost everything I suggested in the past four years, they haven't added the one thing I wanted most, which was more fantasy clothes (and some Arabian-styled garments!) so I'm kinda disappointed.

And then I see Zantarni and not only are the avatars nicer (YAY for no stupid chibi anime heads! no offense) it's 99% fantasy clothes! The site is still in massive beta so there isn't much to do, but if they keep adding more great fantasy outfits, I will definitely be sticking around. X3 and if you want to join me...

[link]

On to the art feature!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today is brought to you by... the letters B and C! Remember, I only feature nice images that have been generally overlooked and were submitted recently enough to show up on my devwatch.

http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/9559230/ Mon, 31 Jul 2006 21:04:46 PDT


Wow, I've been soooo busy, but somehow, still keeping up with a lot of the stuff I have to do. I'm editing stuff for school right now, which is great because I'm on my own schedule and have time in the evenings to work on art. Which reminds me, if your'e expecting art from me, don't think I've forgotten. It's just been crazy busy!

I've been trying to do a bunch of Gaian art contests to combat the fact I've got very little Gaia fundage left. Oof. I'm also going to be starting a new series of commissions similar to my contest works. I'm hoping to hold a real-money art contest next year, so I want to raise lots of money for that. And I'm going to be changing how I price my Gaia commissions and stuff. So much to do!

Also working on a few pitch ideas, including a TV series and a movie. But mostly I just want to find work on a set in Vancouver, preferably Scifi. Work = happy Emperial! Work = love! Just need to find some...

Hum, what else... A Scanner Darkly is an incredible movie. Hoping to work on Daerinnid Chronicles some more. So much to do right now, I'm just having tons of fun! Thanks everyone for your continued patience with everything. ^^

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm changing up my artist feature! instead of featuring one artist at a time, I will go through my devwatch and feature artists by letter of the alphabet! I'll be slecting a few of the pieces from my watchlist that I think have not gotten the attention they deserve, or things I think should not be missed. Give artists comments!

Today is brought to you by... the letter A! (And the number 3. ^^)


Incredible soft, delicate pencilwork definitely fits the subject in the first piece. The next two: not only is the art fantastic, these two pieces have must-read descriptions. Fascinating, inspiring concept work, it's so easy to picture a story.


Take a look at the artistic process, see how an image goes from nothing to something. Imagine the steps that might have come in-between. It's so interesting to see how different artists work, some from very loose sketches and some from detailed, refined sketches.


Arafel's D-Corp children are based on all sorts of animals, and every single one is adorable and well-drawn! Arafel has a lovely, clean style, and she incorporates unusual animals with humanoids that you wouldn't... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/9304884/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/9304884/ Fri, 07 Jul 2006 18:18:40 PDT


Do you live in Vancouver? Do you know anyone who does?

I am in DESPERATE NEED of a dead animal fur, preferable a rabbit, but any small mammal would be fine, for a short film. I need it on Sunday. If you know of anyone in the Vancouver area, please ask them if anyone in their family might have an animal pelt, or if they know someone who does.

Alternately, if you know someone with a fake dead rabbit, that would be even better, but all I really need is an animal pelt (preferably brown!) to fake a dead rabbit/small mammal.

The pelt will not be harmed in any way and will be returned asap.

Please, anyone in the Vancouver area, give me a dead animal skin to use!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huzzah, new artist feature! Today I am spotlighting...



He has an incredible grasp of color, awesome painting skills, and has gotten a lot of comments but gives twice as many as he gets! I hope you'll give him a well-deserved pageview and also check out this brief selection of some of his awesome work:

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8549997/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8549997/ Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:54:48 PDT


I've decided to open up my feien fairies project a little in an effort to get more feien grown in a timely fashion, particularly since I'm about to enter a major time crunch when I won't be able to work on much art. The details are as follows:

- All art styles welcome.
- Decent grasp of anatomy and proportion required.
- Characters are already designed and have image references.

- No clothes to draw! This is basically just a figure drawing with wings attached.
- The image doesn't have to be bigger than web size.
- The image doesn't have to be detailed -- all of the character designs are fairly simple.
- I do need a copy of the image which is either transparent or has a background I can easily remove. You can add a background to display in your own gallery, but I need a clean copy.

- 3/4 or full-body
- color - the coloring doesn't have to be fancy, but I prefer more than cel-shading
- Any pose you want! Be wild and crazy! Feien can fly, so you can position them any way you can imagine. Feel free to use existing pose sketches or reuse a pose you have drawn previously. (Just don't steal another artist's pose, your original work only, please!) You can also look at this as an opportunity to draw a pose you might have been wanting to try and make $10 doing it.

Because the image I'm requiring is not very big or detailed, and this is really just a glorified figure drawing, and I have only limited funds, I hope you will consider my offer as a quick way to earn $10 drawing anatomy (fun!) and playing with poses. I know I'm not offering a lot of money, but I'm also not asking or expecting anything humongous. Just a simple image is fine! Please, do not spend ten hours drawing a $10 picture. x_x You can if you really want, but I'm not asking for anything more than a web-size image.

Legally, you retain the right to display, print, or sell prints of the image, but you cannot reuse the character(s) in other projects (I own the character designs) and you may not resell the image on Gaia in any form. You're free to display it on Gaia, just not sell it for gold or items. I'm an agreeable person, and if you want to do something not mentioned, just ask.

The following are examples of existing feien fairies:

If you would rather not draw feather wings, prefer to draw males or females, that's fine! Any feien I can get drawn by someone else is one less feien I have to draw myself.

If you're interested, please reply to thi... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8438722/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8438722/ Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:55:12 PDT


So I was going to make a new journal entry with a new spotlight and my deviants list seems to be broken... I can't get it to load...

I'm working on pictures and stuff for my friends, at least that was the plan this month, and as you can see I finished three of them but because I'm house-sitting for my neighbors I'm not much at my computer so don't expect many more until this coming weekend.

I got 9,000 pageviews, fun!

Eh, I need to go to the bank, why am I so lazy?

I'm going back to the neighbors' now to finish reading. I sit around all day there and read books. I love books! I'm reading a crime novel right now, it won an Edgar. And then I have a bunch of scifi paperbacks to read. Reading is love!

I have to do more commenting and stuff soon, will try to work on that after the house-sitting. And, um, see everyone more this weekend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

New artist feature soon. My deviants list is broken. x_x ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8369622/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8369622/ Wed, 05 Apr 2006 01:35:10 PDT


So, it's been a long time since I actually journaled, besides my little birthday pat I made so everyone would know to come by and say happy birthday. This is because while I had a lot to journal, I didn't really feel like going over it.

Let's start by going back to January 20th. This was the last time I made any semblence of a real journal entry. On January 26th, while crossing the street, I was hit by a car. I was a pedestrian at a four-way stop in a pedestrian crosswalk. It was an hour or so before sunset, so it wasn't like it was dark or anything. There was plenty of light to see me and the sun was not in the driver's eyes.

I arrived at the stop sign, looked both ways, and started to cross. After I stepped into the road, maybe three or four steps in, a guy in a blue car (Jaguar? Mustang? I think Jaguar, it was one of the two.) stops at the stop sign. I see him because I'm walking in that direction. I, of course, seeing him stop, just think "oh, guy at stop sign" and continue on my merry little way.

About three or four steps later I realize something: he is moving. More than that, he is turning left. And I am in the middle of the road where he is turning. Just a little bit past the middle, actually. In complete shock, I stop short and my mouth falls open. This is a classic what the Hell moment. But I have enough time to remember the one thing I have always known about car accidents:

In a car accident involving a drunk driver hitting another car, the people in the other vehicle tend to be very badly injured and often die while the drunk staggers out unhurt. This is because when you consume alcohol, it makes you sluggish and relaxed. When you are sluggish and relaxed and you are hit, you tend not to tense up like the non-drunk folk in the other car do. This changes how your body absorbs the force. The tensed-up, sober people are like glass plates, whereas the drunk person is like a plastic frisbee and bends instead of breaking.

I don't know why I've committed this knowledge to memory. It's just stuck with me. I have enough time to do one thing that probably saved me from more serious injuries. Instead of standing there and bouncing off the car, I ease up and rolllll with it. Literally. My hip hits the hood of the car pretty hard, but the rest of me is like the grass in the wind. (It's not my fault my hip isn't made of rubber.) And I rollll off to the side of the car and not under the tires. That was pretty helpful of me.

This all happens pretty fast, like in the span of two seconds. Those police jerks, they're all like, "well why didn't you get out of the way?" Well, smartasses, by the time I realized the car was turning towards me and not going straight, it was all of, oh, three feet away, four tops, and moving, and I had at least half a second to stand there in total shock before I started my "grass in the wind" motion.

By the way, there are some really strange things about the accident. I was a bit more than halfway across the street when I was hit, which meant I had already crossed into the opposite lane. If the guy had been making a regular turn he should have been turning into the lane I had already crossed. If he had been doing that, I would have been hit by the driver's side of the car.

I wasn't. I was hit by the passenger side because this moron was turning into the wrong lane. This is Strange Thing Number One. My theory on ST#1 is that the guy lied to the police when he said he didn't see me and was in fact trying to make his turn -in front of me-. Had he just tried to turn behind me into the lane he was SUPPOSED to be turning into, he wouldn't have hit me.

Immediately after he hit me, his car was still moving. I, afraid I was about to be the victim of a hit-and-run, tried to lift my head up to see his license plate. My vision was covered in dark spots, though, and I couldn't see anything. But damn if I didn't try. He did stop a few feet later, thank the gods. So the fact that I could barely lift my head and couldn't make out any letters or numbers turned out not to be a terrible thing.

Thankfully, since he'd stopped at the stop sign (but not looked both way... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8119089/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/8119089/ Fri, 10 Mar 2006 07:16:04 PST


Happy birthday to me, you smell like a tree, I look like a monkey, and I drink lots of tea!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

New artist feature soon. ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/7657773/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/7657773/ Fri, 20 Jan 2006 13:17:37 PST


It's well after the holidays but I'm keeping the tracker around to keep you appraised of all the wonderfully affordable artists you can commission! Be amazed at the prices!

I have two conditions for my adding you to the list of artists: you must be offering a clearly defined service (e.g. CG bust image, waist-up color pencil) and it must cost $25 or less. Part of the idea, after all, is not just to raise money for those artists who need it, but also to give their fans a chance to own some art at a price even those less fortunate can afford.

UPDATED: 1/10 18:30 EST
VERY SORRY for the lack of updates. I have no excuse, it's inexcusable of me. But here's a nice big update for you.
New commissions posted by: =tiggerfactory, =healdria, =emperial, =frozenlilacs
New slots: *Neolucky

Artist------Cost-----Completed-----List-----STATUS
*enerjak-----$15------17/17-----[link] -----OPEN
*Nashya-----$20------10/88-----[link] -----OPEN
=frozenlilacs-----$15------4/45-----[link] -----CLOSED
=healdria------$15/30-----7/8-----[link] -----OPEN
*preciousflame----$25-----6/10-----[link] ----CLOSED
=sayda--------$15--------6/40------[link] -----CLOSED
~aeryis--------$15-------2/4-------[link] -----OPEN
*heartofglitter----$15------1/9-----[link] -----CLOSED... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/7407360/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/7407360/ Tue, 10 Jan 2006 05:20:01 PST


There are so many artists doing holiday commissions I decided to create a one-stop guide for all tracking artists' progress and keeping you appraised of who's accepting commissions and the like.

I have two conditions for my adding you to the list of artists: you must be offering a clearly defined service (e.g. CG bust image, waist-up color pencil) and it must cost $25 or less. Part of the idea, after all, is not just to raise money for those artists who need it, but also to give their fans a chance to own some art at a price even those less fortunate can afford.

UPDATED: 1/10 18:30 EST
New commissions from =Titanix-Avalon, =OchreJelly, and *tojisuzuhara!

Artist------Cost-----Completed-----List-----STATUS
*enerjak-----$15------17/17-----[link] -----OPEN
*Nashya-----$20------10/88-----[link] -----OPEN
=frozenlilacs-----$15------3/45-----[link] -----CLOSED
=healdria------$15/30-----7/8-----[link] -----OPEN
*preciousflame----$25-----6/10-----[link] ----CLOSED
=sayda--------$15--------6/40------[link] -----CLOSED
~aeryis--------$15-------2/4-------[link] -----OPEN
*heartofglitter----$15------1/9-----[link] -----OPEN http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/7093867/ Sun, 20 Nov 2005 04:36:47 PST


Why is it that some people never have flying dreams?

Why is it that some people never dream in color?

When I dream, I am usually flying and the dreams are always in full color, as my dream was last night.

My dreams are stories most of the time, not just random conglomerations of scenes that don't make any sense. When I go to sleep I enter a plot line, sometimes a plot line I've been in before, sometimes a new one. But the plot lines always make some sort of a sense, they are linear and don't jump around unless I'm forcing it.

I can control my dreams most of the time. I am not merely a passive observer or a figure stuck going through preprogrammed motions, I am an active participant whose decisions affect the outcome. Furthermore, often in my dreams I can steer them in a certain way that I want, and when I don't like how something has turned out sometimes I can rewind it and try again.

My dreams are vivid, living, and while I am never quite able to fully explain them in a sensible way to others I always feel as if my dreams have a reality.

My dreams are like going to other dimensions, to other worlds, so is it any wonder I have trouble waking up?

Sometimes when I dream I end up doing a lot of activities and when I wake I am just as tired as when I started. Not necessarily because I've been moving around -- I usually don't move too much else I'd fall off the couch -- but because when I dream that I've been running around my brain doesn't know the difference. My muscles are rested, my brain is not.

I've died in my dreams, three times, twice that I can easily recall. When you die in your dreams, you do not die in real life, else I promise you I'd be dead. It wasn't as if I died and woke up suddenly, as if maybe I just woke up the moment before death. One time I dreamed I died and I didn't wake up, not for a while, but when I did it was the singlemost devastating moment of my life. Being dead is like nothing else, even if it was only a dream. It wasn't bright lights and angels, it was just nothing to a terrifying degree. I only know I stayed dead for a while because there was a record of the passage of time in my internal biological clock (which I have fine-tuned into a tool for measuring commercial breaks perfectly).

But mostly when I dream I fly, I fly like no one and nothing before, up and around twisting and turning. Sometimes I fly with other creatures, most memorably with a dragon and an elf. There's no one single method of flying that defines me, sometimes I do it one way and sometimes another. I know a few techniques. I can also do various types of floating if I feel like it. The flying is the best thing, though.

Sometimes, a lot of the time, I am not actually myself in my dreams. I am somebody completely different and it's not a matter of me being there realizing I'm supposed to be playing a part, it's as if I am somebody different and that person has nothing to do with me.

I'm very glad for my dreams because in my dreams I can see so well. No strange eye static and photosensitivity. I can see the sunlight through the trees and it doesn't hurt. I can see the stars in the night sky. I can see all the colors exactly as they are and not vaguely eclipsed by television-static spots like in reality.

As I write this now I am going to go sleep, and who knows where my dreams will take me? Perhaps this time I'll go there, and stay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Visit the following artist, who is (as usual) both more talented and younger than me!

With a beautiful painting style, compelling character designs, great detail, and awesome oekaki skills, this is one deviant you should definitely look at.

Selected works:
http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6944811/ Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:09:34 PST


Tagged by ~valisis! Who is so awesome and cool she is totally my next artist spotlight!

Here are 20 interesting things about me.


1. I am obsessed with the number 126. It follows me around. I see it everywhere. Many, many numbers can be connected to it. It's a vast conspiracy. If only I knew what it meant!!!

2. I once ran around Guilford College wearing nothing but a comforter and boots. (There was snow outside.) Yes, I was with a group of people also doing the same.

3. I was voted Most Artistic in high school, a distinction I shared with my awesome friend ~rupix.

4. My mother is constantly convinced that by having very short hair like a boy's I will be mistaken for a lesbian. Every time I say I need a hair cut and maybe this time let's go even shorter she brings up the lesbian point. I don't care because a) I'm confident enough in myself to not care if people think I'm a lesbian and b) I really, really, really hate having hair around my face. It drives me NUTS.

5. People tell me I look like Harry Potter. Complete strangers come up to me in the grocery store and go, "You know, you look like that Harry Potter!" So I dress up as Harry Potter every time they release a book or movie and go make the little children at Barnes & Noble and the movie theatre very happy.

6. Apparently, Harry Potter has an ample bosom, because I do. (Actually, most people go, "it's not that you look liks a boy, just that you look like Harry Potter" so they can still tell I'm female.)

7. I want to have six children, who will all be genetically engineered and birthed by cows. ('Cause aint no way I'm giving birth to six kids!)

8. I collect EVERYTHING. Movie ticket stubs, bits of string, Time magazine, TV Guide, action figures, things from movie sets, books, clothing tags, rubber bands, pens and pencils... I collect anything I can get my hands on!

9. People think I'm crazy but I'm not. People think I'm not crazy but I am.

10. My dream job is to work on the set of a Scifi television show.

11. I WROTE SNAPEXDOBBY FANFIC! It was for a challenge, and I thought, what could possibly be more challenging than that?? OMG IT SUCKED. But go ahead and tell me if you've read it. XD

12. I've attended three different colleges (one during high school) and graduated from none.

13. I prefer living in a place that is messy to one that is clean. I feel safer and more secure surrounded by my clutter.

14. My landlady keeps asking when I want her to take the hurricane shutter off and every time I tell her not to worry about it because the truth is, I like having the hurricane shutter up. The window in my apartment is big and I have a phobia of large windows. I prefer to be enclosed in my apartment without any sunlight seeping through. It makes it much easier to sleep whenever I feel like it, too.

15. I adore British comedies! I can't get enough of the classics like Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served and newer shows like Coupling, My Family, and the Mighty Boosh (I LOVE YOU HOWARD MOON!). I also knew who Hugh Laurie was BEFORE he was in House.

16. I don't wear jeans. I generally really don't like them and how they chafe my knees. The one exception is a pair of jeans I got from my grandmother, which I wear on occasion. But the vast majority of jeans I hate.

17. I hate extremely sensitive skin. ;_; I dislike this fact. Carmex is my friend. It's supposed to be for cold sores and chapped lips but I've found it works great on all sorts of skin irritations. I <3 the makers of Carm... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6899816/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6899816/ Sat, 29 Oct 2005 17:35:48 PDT


This is just to let everyone know I was affected by Hurricane Wilma -- I have been without power for a week now. (I'm at an Internet cafe right now.) Hope to see everyone again soon and upload new art!

Big apologies to my pending trades at the moment -- I have no computer and can do no work besides sketches.

Also big apologies to Feien and GMFC owners -- again, I can't do any art without my precious computer!

Love you all, hope to have power again soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: idea stage
Big digital painting: 20% complete - stalled
Next feien juveniles/blooms: 8?/?? done
Random character portrait for EM: 75% done and looking FANTASTIC but stalled!
Fanart: 1/4 done (I'm counting the pic I did for Neith as fanart, )
Long-haired characters: 1/4 done (Bronwyn has long hair 8D)

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
feien adults

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri - 1 done! ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6808901/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6808901/ Wed, 19 Oct 2005 11:42:21 PDT


Apparently, while I was updating my deviants recently, my network hiccuped or something and ate most of the checkboxes on my deviants list. Everyone I watch is still on there, but a bunch of the checkboxes for who I'm watching? Unchecked!

SO! If you're one of my friends and you don't see your lovely icon on my friends list, this would be a great time to tell me because we can both blame it on the fact that my deviants list got eaten. I've got... like... a hunnert and something deviants I watch if not more, so while I have repaired a lot of the damage, I don't remember completely which screenname belongs to who and all that. I apologize profusely if I 've missed you. If I have, just leave a comment here so I can correct it! In the meantime, I'm probably going to be stuck going up and down the list repeatedly, trying to remember which checkboxes should be checked.

Alas!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: idea stage
Big digital painting: 20% complete - stalled
Next feien juveniles/blooms: 8?/?? done
Random character portrait for EM: 75% done and looking FANTASTIC but stalled!
Fanart: 1/4 done (I'm counting the pic I did for Neith as fanart, )
Long-haired characters: 1/4 done (Bronwyn has long hair 8D)

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
feien adults

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri - 1 done! ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6648258/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6648258/ Sat, 01 Oct 2005 05:17:48 PDT


So yesterday I watched this really strange movie from 1967 called The Day the Fish Came Out. That is one STRANGE movie. They really used a lot of drugs in the 60s, didn't they? But something close to 40% of the movie is Tom Courtenay running around in his underwear looking for food. His tiny underwear.

I'm so watching it when it comes on again. He was the cutest little skinny thing!

And last night I watched The Robinsons on BBCA. It stars the guy who played Arthur Dent in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie. That was good too. He's also adorable, but he's not running around in his underwear, which is major points off. (Ha, just kidding, I'll be watchign again next week.)

And this past week I watched the entire first season of Lost on DVD and the first episode of the second season (but not the second yet). That show is awesome. Sayyid is very hot. And Rousseau is really something.

Let me thing now... with my Net being gone all week, what have I done besides watch TV?

.......

Nothing. But the TV has been very good to me.

What else? I watched NUMB3RS last night and was rather disappointed. The first season was so much better. The episode last night was way too gimmicky with the math demonstrations, the pitcher and the water... not enough focus on the actual story. Even if Charlie did finally go out on a date. It was just... off. Though maybe once I've watched the first episode of this season I'll feel better about it. I missed that one, so the new characters are there and I'm kinda going, "WTF?"

I pray my network will keep working for a few days. I find it very artistically inspiring to be stuck offline for a few days -- once I get back I tear off a bunch of images -- but for the days I'm offline it's horrible. I can't concentrate on my art at all and I end up just spending six hours sitting at my computer going "whyyyyy?" and playing Spider Solitaire and trying to reconnect to the Net. I deserve a better Net connection than this. Looks like we need to buy a signal booster. If that doesn't work, I swear I'll move out because the Net is bad. Dammit.

Oh! Oh! Other news! ~superspacemonkey finished my commission! Hopefully she'll go put it up in her main gallery soon... hint hint, nudge nudge!

Have absolutely no more money for commissions now. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

2. *Overweight-Cat x2 - paid, details sent, waiting for pics
3. ~reapersun x2 - unpaid, details sent, waiting for pics
4. *janaschi - unpaid, prelim details sent, waiting for pic
6. ~superspacemonkey - paid, pic received, waiting for final modification
7. *brilcrist - unpaid, can't remember if I sent details yet, think I did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: none! ;_;
Big digital painting: 20% complete - stalled
Next feien juveniles/blooms: 0/?? done
Random character portrait for EM: 75% done and looking FANTASTIC but stalled!
Fanart: 1/4 done (I'm counting the pic I did for Neith as fanart, )
Long-haired characters: 0/4 done

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
feien adults

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri - 1 done! ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6630921/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6630921/ Thu, 29 Sep 2005 03:28:01 PDT


This is a useful list of resources I use for stuff! Whee!

Stock Photography | Russia | Naming Resources | The Sims 2 | Miscellany

Stock Photography
*auralis-stock
*Cobweb-stock
*Dove-Stock
*jademacalla - Best action stuff ever!
=lockstock
~Morf-stock
~shooting-people
*vampurity-stock


Russia
Soviet Army [link]
Dictionary of Period Russian Names [link]
Russian Names & Nicknames [link]
More Russian Name info [link]


Naming Resources
Biblical Names [link]
Czech Surnames & Meanings [link]
Czech Surnames & Origins [link]


The Sims 2
All About Style [link]
The SIms Connection [link]


Miscellany
Chinese Propaganda Posters [link]
House, MD Transcripts [link]
Hubble Space Telescope Images [link]

~~~~~~~~~~~~

(some footer goes here) ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6551092/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6551092/ Tue, 20 Sep 2005 00:23:02 PDT


With my Net being so bad recently I've had plenty of offline time to work on Sims 2 stuff and I just completed my very first career! It's a Sorcery career for those of you with a more fantasy bent to your Sims. Even if you don't have any fantasy-themed Sims, I would greatly appreciate it if you tried it out in your game and tell me how it works!

The Sorcery career does not overwrite any of the original careers and has 10 levels with full chance cards. Adults only. It should work with EP1 but since I only have the original and not EP1, I can't be sure. It's also English-only and uses the Athletics icons. Maybe I'll add custom icons later.

You can download the career from ModTheSims2: [link]

Please give it a try! Now if you'll excuse me, I have another hurricane to attend to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: none! ;_;
Big digital painting: 20% complete - stalled
Next feien juveniles/blooms: 0/?? done
Random character portrait for EM: 75% done and looking FANTASTIC but stalled!
Fanart: 0/4 done
Long-haired characters: 0/4 done

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
feien adults

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri - 1 done! ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6516236/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6516236/ Thu, 15 Sep 2005 22:06:11 PDT


I am having network problems, I can't connect reliably, and the connection is very, very, VERY spotty when it works and I can't really get anythign done.

So short hiatus until this is all sorted out. No comments, no submissions, jamsu, sorry for not gettin gback to you abotu the trade as soon as my Net is working right again we'll get that going, mmkay? ;D

For my general tracking, my commissions of others:

1. =Gold-Seven - COMPLETE [link]
2. *Overweight-Cat x2 - paid, details sent, waiting for pics
3. ~reapersun x2 - unpaid, details sent, waiting for pics
4. *janaschi - unpaid, prelim details sent, waiting for pic
5. bunnystick x4? - paid, waiting for confirmation payment was received (sent payment a week ago!) so I can send details, waiting for pics
6. ~superspacemonkey - paid, details sent, waiting for pic
7. *brilcrist - waiting to hear if there's space

So... a lot of waiting for me. reapersun and Janaschi, it's just waiting for my turn to come around. Overweight-Cat and superspacemonkey, it's just waiting for the images to show up because I've paid and all. Bunnystick... I'm just starting to wonder. Sent another message to her to find out what's up. Admittedly I'm getting worried. It wasn't a trifling amount of money to me.

If you have any compassion for my checkbook do consider doing an art trade with me. I'm probably not going to be able to afford any more commissions until after Christmas unless they give me a lot more hours at work. (And there are two more people I want to commission before I call my little list quits.) And this means no trips to the movies for me or eating out at Lan like I like to do... I'll be having rice noodles and ramen and watching MASH reruns for a while at this rate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: none! ;_;
Big digital painting: 20% complete - stalled
Next feien juveniles/blooms: 0/?? done
Random character portrait for EM: 75% done and looking FANTASTIC but stalled!
Fanart: 0/4 done
Long-haired characters: 0/4 done

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
feien adults

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri - 1 done!
Sosi's art contest - pretty sure I missed this too!
Kia's art contest - and this! ha ha! ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6463897/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6463897/ Sun, 11 Sep 2005 07:27:17 PDT


Today I made my 500th deviation comment. It's actually my 570th comment total on this account, including deviant comments and news comments and forum posts or something. My gallery stats say I've commented 570 times anyway. Or maybe this just means that 70 of my comments were on deviations that have been removed?

Regardless, I feel this is a milestone for contemplation. I give two comments for every one I receive. My most popular piece if Portrait Girl Practice [link] and I won't pretend I completely understand why that is. Certainly I've got better pieces of art on my account.

Every month I try to set a new goal for myself on dA. In July it was to submit more deviations than before. Surely if I submitted more I would be more popular! Well, it was a more successful month than previous months in terms of gallery views, but aside from that I'm not completely sure.

August I took a break and didn't set any goals. I barely uploaded anything.

Something strange happened. August got more gallery views than any previous months by far and for the life of me I don't understand it. I didn't upload anything during August, really. I got more pageviews than ever for doing absolutely nothing.

So come September, this month, and my goal is to submit only pieces which look more complete and polished. Backgrounds, even just graphical element backgrounds, more attention to detail, that sort of thing. After all, the artists that get a lot of watchers and pageviews and comments and faves are the ones that really submit more polished work. So I'm trying to do that, be more polished, but so far these have been my least popular deviations ever. Barely viewed, not a single comment on the most recent three. I thought they were looking much better, what with the backgrounds (fully-rendered in some cases) and my making a real effort to keep the standard fairly high. Sure, they're not as spectacular as many of the artists on dA, but they're a step forward, right?

Or maybe I'm blind and they're actually worse somehow?

The one category on devART where I've had consistently the most success is the Fanart category, but the people who watch me say they prefer my original work. I dunno, if fanart will get more people looking at my page, maybe I should sell my soul to the devil.

And then I also consider the fact that Jenny Dolfen, when I noted that her portrait of my Daer got way less faves than the others she did, said she'd noticed people tend to give more favorites for long-haired guys.

Ouch. I've always known I'm not the typical fangirl in that I just don't go for long-haired bishounen the way everyone else seems to. I also don't have many long-haired OCs.

I LIKE MEN WITH SHORT HAIR.

There. I said it. But therein lies the problem. In summary:

- I like to draw my OCs.
- My OCs mostly (I don't know, 95% or more) have short hair.
- People like fanart.
- People like guys with long hair.
Ergo: I cannot expect to be popular drawing short-haired OCs. I should stop thinking that this might happen.

So while I'm going to continue with my quality goal for September, I'm going to put in additional goal for the rest of the year.

Draw 4 pieces of fanart between now and December 31st.
Draw 4 pieces of long-haired characters between now and December 31st.
Long-haired fanart counts for either fanart or long hair, not both. I must draw a total of 8 pictures to pander to the masses.
At least two of the pictures must have actual rendered backgrounds.

I'll still draw my short-haired OCs because I love them. But I am determined to become a person who gets at least as much as she gives. I'll play with the devil to do it. I'll court the masses. And by the end of this year, I want to have 6500 pageviews. Wish me luck!

----
And in related news: I have successfully managed my devwatch down to under 1400 and it's actually steadily lowering every day. I will get through it. For September, I'd like to try and get it under 1250. I think I can definit... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6186360/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6186360/ Wed, 10 Aug 2005 08:54:40 PDT
Four bloody hours later...

I don't get it. I got it down to 1500 deviations left and no matter how many I remove and comment on and everything, the number won't go down x_x

If I didn't get around to commenting on your new stuff, please have patience! I just got rid of three hundred deviations from my backlog, but there are 1500 more... I tried to start leaving comments for everyone but I'm not done by far. I have not forgotten, I always try to leave some comments for my friends even if I don't comment on everything. I will get to you eventually.

I'm hoping to join Ellen Million's portrait adoption program [link] and I'm currently working on a digital painting for it that looks just superb! I hope they let me join. I still have to fill out and mail the paperwork... I'll try to do that today even if I have to go to Kinko's to print. I did a series of like 15 sketches for more digital painting portraits towards that end. I hope I manage ot finish a lot of them and that they sell! The one I'm working on currently is so wonderful that I'm hoping it'll sell for $125 8D We'll see? From someone who's only ever sold prints for $5... and done comic page commissions for $35... that would be a major leap forward. But I think this piece is so awesome that I'll pull it off.

And because I know there's been some jark backlash... I submitted a small jark deviation because I wanted to say that at that historic moment in dA history I at least raised my hand to commemorate jark. I haven't yet completely decided if I support any side to exclusion of the other, but I don't think based on the info that's come out that Angelo has played completely fair. Beyond that, I'm not drawing any conclusion. I hope I didn't offend any of you by submitting something small in support of jark, I really didn't have time for more. I didn't do it to be fake or to get faves, I just did it to say "I'm here and I'm paying attention." I do believe in putting my money where my mouth is... with only 13 days left in my subscription it seems silly to cancel since I don't think I'd get a refund or anything. I haven't yet decided if I'm going to renew, though. I'm not a poser, I'm just not completely decided and not militant. But I raised my hand and I don't regret that, even if there are people who are mad or upset at me for it. I took a small stand and participated in something greater, that's all. I hope there isn't any lingering anger over it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: none! ;_;
Big digital painting: 20% complete - stalled
Next feien juveniles/blooms: 0/?? done
Random character potrait for EM: 75% done and looking FANTASTIC

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
Feien raffle art
feien adults

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri
Kamiki & Sabin's art contest - missed the deadline, thought it was next month x_x wish I'd been paying attention because looking at the entries I really think I might have had a chance. I shoudl still do more art for them.
Sosi's art contest
Kia's art contest
Assuming I haven't missed the deadlines for those, too @_@ ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6026754/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/6026754/ Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:09:35 PDT
Antipov - [link]
Okay, my opinion might be clouded by the fact that Antipov is currently my personal -hero-, my proverbial knight in shining armor, but I think that despite the fact he looks about twenty years too young the pic did him decent justice. Certainly he has the sort of no-nonsense-or-he'll-bite-your-head-off look that is so crucial to Antipov's demeanor.

Dr. Death - [link]
I don't know why no one else really seems to like this picture beside me, but I love it to death. I think it has that perfect look of emotional disturbance for M, and he actually does look that old, and I love the painting job on his coat. He also looks so delightfully creepy! So creepy in fact that apparently everyone else is too scared to love him... but I know Dr. M's just a scared little man who needs a hug. <3

Ransom toddler - [link]
This is one of those pics that just went -right- for me, I think. I love Ransom's face and how the image looks sort of indistinct. Those sock feet could stand to be different and his left leg could have been better painted to give it more of a sense of a knee, but I think the pic is charming in that it makes it all look rather easy. I think the one big problem area for me on the pic besides the socks is the neck. I'm almost tempted to go in and fix it up some but meh, no time, gotta think of what's next!

Daerinnid repaint - [link]
Okay, it's got some issues, but it's a decent likeness and most interesting to me is the fact that it's a semirealism repaint of a Disneyesque-styled piece! Just look at the original piece [link] and tell me that the transformation isn't interesting. Maybe later I'll give the portrait a third go-over.

Facilis Decensis Averno - [link]
Okay, that arm is too long, but Averno is -sex- with wings. I think the coloring on her skin is perfection, particularly with regards to her stomach and ribs. Just enough, not too much.

Casting a spell - [link]
I had such high hopes for this piece. I thought it was one that people would really take note of! While it got many views, comments and favorites it did not earn... but I love the way the piece looks like smeared paint. The hands and the sleeves in particular I like. And her face with those eyes! But what I find most amazing is that this is an oekaki.

Mizukori - [link]
Okay it hasn't got the best matching color scheme and the person who I drew it for hates it but I like this piece a ton. The highlights are spiffy and the character has this wonderful exuberance about her. So, in conclusion, Mizukori can bite me. I think the piece is great. Sorry she didn't like it 'cause it would have been nice to get something for all the effort I made and I haven't entered a Gaia art contest since... but whatever. It's nice art.

Alfredo - [link]
Beautiful lovely understated look at those folds!

Annnd that's it. Those are the pieces in my gallery that I still really like a lot. I probably won't do this again because it's too depressing to go through my gallery and decide that so many of the things in it are crap. x_x They're not bad... they all have something good to them. But I don't like them! with the following exceptions:

Rambaldi [link] , Tuthau quickie [link] , Hadrian [link] , Kendal and Raven toddlers [link] , Heinrich quickie portrait [link] , Yanvir [link] , Zevulon kid [link] , An Unpleasant Fellow [link] , Aquaphina [link] , Fleet Uniform Primer [link] , Damien teen [link]

Those I like but didn't think were good enough to feature. Everything else is crap... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/5947713/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/5947713/ Sat, 16 Jul 2005 02:08:27 PDT
AND I WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!

And for the first time that I can remember in nearly forever, it felt like my gift of foreknowledge was a gift and not a burden or a curse! I feel elated! I was right and everyone will see in book seven how I was right!

ALSO, I GOT A PIECE ACCEPTED ON EPILOGUE!!! [link]



~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: need info again
Next feien raffle art: 0% complete
Big digital painting: 20% complete

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
Feien raffle art
feien adults
GMFC pics

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri
Kamiki & Sabin's art contest
Sosi's art contest
Kia's art contest ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/5825852/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/5825852/ Sun, 03 Jul 2005 01:19:43 PDT
And all for no reason. One day perhaps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: need info again
Next feien raffle art: 0% complete
Big digital painting: 20% complete

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
Feien raffle art
feien adults
GMFC pics

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri
Kamiki & Sabin's art contest
Sosi's art contest
Kia's art contest ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/5033159/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/5033159/ Fri, 08 Apr 2005 10:10:57 PDT
You know, I really always do try to be optimistic about people, but then they betray you without fault, what's there to be optimistic about?

Humans are the filth of the universe. Charity and goodwill and compassion disappear once there is no threat of danger. Sure, there are nice people, but is that very, very small part of the population worth saving the rest of the lot? Is one good heart worth risking the safety of the universe?

Humans destroy. It is what they were built to do. But unlike the natural process of destruction, when a human recreates from what it has destroyed it creates something tainted, a poison that seeps into the world and twists everything around it to death.

I'm not sure if he's right any more, that humanity is more good than evil. I think it is more evil than good. The question then becomes: is it salvaged by its better parts? Do the benefits outweigh the risks? Is life something sacred so that taking it away would be the greater crime?

Or is this all that humanity will ever amount to, this poisoning, this cruelty.

Humanity will destroy itself if it does not learn. Do we allow humans the chance to try and learn or does that tiny risk that humans will survive without learning justify humanity's preconceived destruction?

Is this the crux of the thing, the breaking point? Or is that yet to come? If everyone believes the world is coming to an end, will it really do so? If no one believes the world will end does it end anyway? Does belief truly affect the outcome?

There will be no great salvation. All of humanity will be left behind. Because it's sink or swim, folks. A few people do not get to climb atop the raft to safety based on good behavior. But people want to believe that, it's a comfort if the world is in fact doomed.

But the future is not written yet. Humanity may yet survive. Am I willing to accept the ramifications of that outcome or should I vote for humanity's destruction just to prevent the possibility of a plague? You can't spray this kind of weed killer without destroying the whole garden.

And then there's the question: do I let my personal experiences with humanity outweigh my sense of compassion? Or are these experiences the truth of what humanity is?

Either way there will be creation. 1) The universe continues to be created with humanity in it, continuing the way things are. 2) Humanity is destroyed and something new is born from the ashes.

But something new could be worse.

The devil you know?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Art Projects:
Next feien adult: sketched
Next GMFC: 40% painted
Daydream image: 50% painted
SosiJhiri pets: 50% (of all the forms) sketched, need to restart painting after Painter ate my files
Next feien raffle art: 40% complete

Still to do:
Sabin's commissions
Kellion commissions
Feien raffle art
feien adults
GMFC pics

Optional but recommended:
Pictures for Sajhiri
Kamiki & Sabin's art contest
Sosi's art contest
Kia's art contest

Maybe this list isn't so terrible after all. Surely I'm forgetting something. ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4711947/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4711947/ Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:02:55 PDT
A few ground rules:
- You MUST have accurate image references for your character(s). I will not design new costumes or hairstyles, etc. I may embellish or make minor at my discretion, but for the most part, I will draw what you provide me.
- Sorry, I do not do anthro/furry. Ears and tails are fine, fur and shouts are not.
- While I'm willing to try mecha (provided you have reference pics), be forewarned it is not my forte.
- I will do fanart on a case by case basis.
- I will do Gaian avatars and RO characters. I also take Gaia commissions, visit Kellion: [link]
- I will NOT do hentai or sex, but will do artistic nudity on a case-by-case basis.

$8 Painter Classic Headshots - Max size ~1200px


$12 Painter Classic Waist-up - Max size ~1400px

Couple: $18

$9 Photoshop headshots - Max size ~1600px


$5 Bust sketch
Nice, shaded... ]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4608116/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4608116/ Thu, 17 Feb 2005 16:26:13 PST
* THANKS! We have accepted your new material to Elfwood. Your ticket has been processed and changes will soon appear on your page!
Although 'riktoryplan.jpg' has been published, it is somewhat borderline. Please ensure all future submissions clearly show sci-fi/ fantasy elements.

Oh, look! It got accepted! But wait! They think it's not really a fantasy image! Now, why don't we all take a look at the image in question?

[link]

IT'S A PICTURE OF TWO CHARACTERS WITH FANTASY NAMES IN FANTASY CLOTHING IN A FREAKING CASTLE FOR GODS SAKES. And I noted that they were in a castle in the description! And their jobs!

JUST BECAUSE THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT ELVES DOES NOT MEAN THEY ARE NOT FANTASY, and anyway, ACCORDING TO ELFWOOD'S RULES, characters in a medieval setting are perfectly fine for fantasy.

>>Fantasy: For high fantasy artwork like images depicting the sword & sorcery genre. This includes but is not limited to wizards, dragons, unicorns, centaurs, faeries, swords, Minotaurs, castles, furries, goblins, orcs or warriors in a medieval or fantasy setting. We also accept artwork based on mythology, legend, folklore, vampires, mystical, angels and demons as long as it is kept in a medieval or fantasy setting.<<

SEE? My picture falls nicely into the overall definition for fantasy Elfwood uses! And it fits all the mod's dictionary rules, too. I know. I went over them.

So, in conclusion...

1. It takes way too long to get anything approved in Elfwood.

2. The definitions of things are confusing, inane, and contradictory. Even the mods don't seem to be able to understand them.

3. It's becoming more and more exclusive with each passing day. Now if they don't think your art is of a good enough quality they can reject it. If they think it's not quite fantasy enough they can reject it. Appeals and correspondence takes too long: they're micromanaging when the site is too big to handle it.

4. A mod internally identified as "ausbass" called a clearly fantasy piece of mine borderline. WTF? If you know who ausbass is, you can tell him/her I think s/he is a FUCKING IDIOT. I used to be an Elfwood mod. I know what the definition of fantasy is, and that piece was one of my more clearly fantasy ones, what with the CASTLE and the NAMES and the OUTFITS and all. This mod should be re-tested, or reprimanded, or reviewed, or SOMETHING, because "ausbass" clearly wouldn't know fantasy if it bit him/her on the ass.

5. When I became a mod, for kicks I looked at my own internal profile and discovered I had been nominated for a Mod's Choice at one point, but then it was rescinded before I was ever featured. This was several months before I became a mod. No reason was given. Damnit, I spent so much time trying to upload my best pieces in the hopes of getting Mod's Choice and to find it was given to me and taken away?

In short, I refuse to care about Elfwood any longer. I used to love Elfwood, I really did, but I've been hurt and insulted by those bastards too many times. I'm through with it.


EDIT: Or, at least, I -WOULD- leave Elfwood but the Leave Elfwood page DOES NOT WORK. I HATE YOU ELFWOOD BASTARDS SO MUCH.

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4601423/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4601423/ Wed, 16 Feb 2005 19:21:22 PST


The brushes used in my journal graphics are by ~vampurity-stock. Find them here!

Name: Emperial! No, really!
DOB: March 10, 1984
Likes:
Dislikes:
Pets: Alderaan, an adorably sweet and loving grey tabby. Her full name is Alderaan Talos Gandalf Greyhawk Vicky Naboo Ford-Patrickson.
Favorite TV Shows: Stargate: SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis, Law & Order: SVU, The 4400, The Dead Zone, Battlestar Galactica, The Venture Bros., Family Guy, Farscape
Favorite Movies: 2001: A Space Oddysey, Lord of the Rings trilogy, Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, My Fair Lady, Closely-Watched Trains
Favorite Books: Harry Potter series, Deep Secret (Diana Wynne Jones), Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), The Gods Themselves (Asimov), Asimov's Robot and Foundation series (as a whole; I once did a book report on the entire cycle), Tyrants and Kings series (John Marco)
Worst Movies Ever Seen: Battlefield Earth (saw part on TV, couldn't stand to watch all of it!), Phantom of the Opera (saw in the theatre, WANT MY MONEY BACK!)
Worst Book Read: The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton (didn't finish it it was so awful)
Favorite Foods: sushi, natto, Taco Bell's bean burritos, mint ice cream, cookie dough, Bisquick
Hated Foods: red meat, bell peppers
Passionate About (in favor): the Democratic Party, stem cell research, cloning, the space program, Palestine, environmental conservation, alternative fuel sources
Passionate About (against): nuclear arms proliferation, tobacco industry
Favorite Games: Neverwinter Nights, the Sims 2, Freecell, Minesweeper, Insaniquarium
Heroes:
Favorite Characters (own): Talos, Daerinnid, Rikard, Tanaka, Marsius
Favorite Characters (other): Rodney McKay (Stargate: Atlantis), Severus Snape (Harry Potter), Admiral Piett (Star Wars), Makoto Hyuga (Evangelion)
Favorite Webcomic: Chronicles of a Drow Sorceress
Favorite Anime: Vision of Escaflowne TV, Princess Tutu
Hated Anime: Neon Genesis Evangelion (DIEDIEDIE)
How to Befriend Me: Chat with me in my journal and devwatch me!
How to lose my friendship: Flame me, take me off your friends list.


Got something you want me to add? Comment!

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4556344/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4556344/ Fri, 11 Feb 2005 17:41:25 PST
Wow! I'm a subscriber now! $8 for 3 months and let me tell you, it's like using a totally new deviantART! It's amazing! There's so much awesome stuff! And for $8, it's affordable, too! I was able to use the search to go dig up pictures of my characters by othe people I'd been looking for for months! This is too much fun X3

]]> ~emperial http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4323569/ http://emperial.deviantart.com/journal/4323569/ Sat, 15 Jan 2005 01:03:25 PST ~emperial