For months, now, I have been very busy in trying to develop and create characters for CGI animations. The thing is that there is only me doing all the work! Trying to complete a very detailed and complex character to animate is daunting for one person to do.
Movie studios who work with animation (Pixar, Dreamworks, Illumination Entertainment and BlueSky) have several different artists and animators working to complete one charater. Each doing a different part of the same character. Some will do the creation and drawings for the character, another will do a sculpture, another will do the modeling, another the textures, and another with the rigging, etc. So, as I am struggling to do all the work of 3-D character creation, and it's a very very slow process. Added to the fact that I do not have as powerful of a computer as I would like to have to do this work, as well. And on top of that, my 40 hour full-time job (which I am so grateful that I have one, unlike a lot of other people through out the U.S.).
So it is slow moving for me. All I can do is keep plugging away at it. Hopefully, I will be able to do a small short of my own. It's a dream, at least.

Have not been on-line as much as I should be.
My 40-Hour job has been taking a lot of time from me that it is hard to do much of anything. Too tired after work and have to hit the sack early to catch the bus back to work the next day.
During the weekends I've been getting rid of a lot of dry weeds and yard-work. Need to get all the weeds cut and tossed or else the whole neighborhood goes up in flames. It's been too dry due to the long drought, here in AZ!
Also, have been busy working on characters that I've been creating, modeling and rigging with Blender 3-D version 2.63a. Now I know why it takes so long and so much money to create an animated CGI movie. Not an easy task to do.

Jeff Ringtail

I have not been posting for a very long time. I have had severe depression and strife due to T-Mobile phone services ramping up my bill with things I did not want and rarely use.
So, I've been fighting this for 2 and a half months and it has worn me down. =(
I'm still fighting them! So, I've been in a financial bind ever since and will try to get things resolved!

Jeff Ringtail

I've been off line for a very long time. I've had internet problems due to my provider's being down constantly! Of course, life had a hand in this, also. I've been doing a bit of overtime at my job and been trying to get things straightened out at home. So, it's just been a very busy and frustrating time for me. =(

I'm slow at putting up old artwork and new. Sorry!

At the moment, I'm busy creating new artwork. On top of that, I don't want to run out of my old stuff off the bat, neither. I have very few old stuff that are on disks. A lot of my old art were on floppies. As you all know, floppies don't last very long. All my floppies are inaccessible because they are all bad. So, most of my really old art scans are gone.
I have a problem scanner, as well. It's actually one of those "all-in-one" jobbies that, for some strange reason, the manufacturer (Hewlett Packard) had to put the scanning glass within an 1/8" rectangular recess. This creates creases in the original artwork and really dark shading on the edges of the scan. It, also, makes scanning large pieces of artwork, over 8.5x11" unlikely.
I would like to get a new flatbed scanner, like my old Umax was. I had that scanner for almost 12 years and ran smoothly in all the OS's that came out. It burned out about a couple of years ago when I tried to use it again. I bought this HP all-in-one printer scanner fax machine to replace the Umax. It's not a bad little printer, it's just that the scanner is meant for more regular business/home type of scans or for office and photo scanning. It's not very good for real artist scans of big artworks. Also, the inks, like all HP inks, are not water proof.
I do have a huge Epson printer that creates prints up to 13x19" and it's inks are totally water-proof! But, unfortunately, it is totally out of ink cartridges. To replace them would cost over $120. As I've mentioned, I'm short of funds as it is. Right now the Epson is just gathering dust!

Anyways, to get back on the subject, I'm going to be putting up some old artwork very slowly as I find more on my CD's and DVD's that I have. And, as soon as I finish my commissions, placing them up, also.

Thanks to all those who've put me on their "Watch" listing and for putting my artworks as "Favorites". I know I don't always respond when someone favs or watches, sorry about that. But I really appreciate the shouts, comments, favs and watches because they really give me a lot of encouragement, incentive and initiative to keep doing my art and try to improve it.

God Bless!

I'm really trying to get a few commissions done. This is going to take some time. I don't like to be rushed in doing artwork, especially when I want to do artwork that looks very good!

So, I will be very busy and will be periodically posting commission works in progress from time to time.

Since I've been busy with a bunch of stuff, I'de figured I would put up a few of my old artworks.

Been just busy with learning and working with all forms of programs and projects. Then there is my regular 40 hr a week job that takes a lot out of me. It's not easy trying to do a whole bunch of projects with a short amount of time.

Not been On-Line as much this past week. Been back into learning how to program DirectX. I've always wanted to program an RPG game. I have an idea for one, but life has a way of interfering with your best, laid out, plans!
I figured I would buckle down and go back to relearning C/C++ and get back to creating a game. Just so that I could say, "Hey, I created a Game! Is that cool or what?" X))
Yea, DirectX can be a pain. I've heard that OpenGL is suppose to be more simpler to program, but I don't want to re-relearn how to do game programming all over again. Besides, most games are done in DirectX anyways.

As the New Year came about, I refused to do resolutions. Reason is that New Years Resolutions are, too often, with unobtainable goals or never fully carried out and usually, forgotten. So, I never make New Years resolutions!

I do have some ambitions and desires, for this year. I want, so much, to start to do acrylic artwork again. I always loved to do canvas art and would like to come back to it. The problem, as usual, is expense! My acrylic brand name of choice has been Liquitex. Yet, all these types of paints are expensive! With all the bills and mortgage that I have to pay, my funds are very low. Just enough to keep me fed, at least. =(

Another desire is to go to a convention, sometime soon! FC, this year, is out. In fact, I don't plan on any type of travel to any conventions, this year due to monetary infeasibility. I do hope to go, maybe, next year to FC. I really wished Zonie Con had not gone down the tube, as it did! =/

Anyways, I do feel that things will turn around and bound to change, soon! I just put faith in Christ Jesus and keep on living my life the best I can. Look to the positive and don't look back at the negative! =)

There has been a couple of artist's pens that have caught my attention for sometime. The are expensive and so are the refill inks.
I have heard of two, Copic and Tria.
I wonder if they are worth the excess cost. Last time I looked, Tria was around $75 for a pack of 12. And the refill inks were around from $8 to $10 a bottle. But that was a few years ago and the cost possibly had risen over time.

Have they really been worth it? Are there less costly ones out there?

Just giving everyone a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I know that there are many artists, here, who had certain individual preferences with printing their artwork. I have been thinking the same for mine. I have a few artworks that I want to have prints done to sell. Normally, I have seen in conventions artists selling their works in only tablet size prints (8.5" x 11".) Only a couple I have seen print and sell their works in sizes larger than that.
Now, I have been twirling about the idea of selling large-format prints in the art auctions at certain conventions. I want to print them with my Epson R 1800 with high quality artist printing sheets. Meanwhile, sell more of the cheaper prints coming from Fed-Ex/Kinko's printing shops. But, I can, also, print them on my HP photo printer.

I just would like some experiences and other possibilities in printing and art print selling. Also, since I am on DA, as well. I would like to know how their printing quality is for artwork? Anything that any artists have had what best worked for getting prints done, and especially how I can go about advertising myself. Of course, at the least amount of expense.

Any advise and thoughts will be very much appreciated!
Thank you! =)

I am finished with this artwork. I decided to leave out the silhouette and just keep the artwork as is. I don't think it needs anything else.

I've been back and continued to work on "Seeing Beyond The Stars". I've been working on the coloring and some additional effects. The effects that is seen in the work may not be the same on the finished work, since these are mostly temporary.
I've submitted the colored piece in place of the later submission, but was unable to change the thumbnail. Maybe the thumbnail will be changed in the next day, or so.

This project is more complex than I thought it would be. But if it comes out well, all the work will be worth it.

I will be out for a couple of days. Blizzard will be chained up to the porch to keep prowlers and thieves away ... good to have a Dragon Wolf as a protector, eh? =)
I'll be up in Phoenix visiting family for Thanksgiving!
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! =)

I've been centered on getting "Seeing Beyond The Stars" done. It's been a lot of hard work! Jumping between Gimp, Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop to get certain parts of the image's layers done has been hectic and mentally intense. The Celtic art is done and all the line work and the spots. Now, I'm working on the coloring.
I've been trying to get the starry night time backdrop done. Not easy, also.
Just hoping it turns out well.

Seems like it happens to me everytime!

When I have absolutely no money on me, I see all sorts of artists calling for commissions.

When I have money on me to pay for a great commission, every single artist I want a commission from are not taking commissions for a while.

Man, I am bummed! =/

Having a limited amount of time, tools and money does not help your artwork. Some of my projects... well the major majority of my projects, are computer generated. I've been working with Blender to try to create 3-D models and learning it's rigging and animation system. Now the Blender programmers have come out with the newest version of their beta. I am hoping they finally get the full Blender finalized and put out for use.
In addition, I have art that needs to be colored and finished that I've been working on in Gimp. Computer generated artwork takes time to do. I use Inkscape for outlines, now since my old version of Paint Shop Pro is not functioning correctly, anymore. It's very slow doing those lines nice and smoothly! I've got this tiny little Wacom Graphix pad that I work with and it is hard to keep your lines steady with it. I would love to get a Wacom Cirque pad, but I do not have $1000 for the small sized one.
Adding to that, I need a large-format scanner. The scanner that I have is a HP all-in-one jobbie. It's OK, but large artwork is a pain to scan with it. My old UMAX scanner burnt out on me a couple of years back and have not had to funds to buy a new one.
The problem is time. Working 40 hrs. a week takes a lot out of you, especially when the work is very mental. After I get home from work, I only have three hours left. Because I am so exhausted, I just go on-line, have a supper, shave, shower and go to bed. Weekends, I tend to get out of the house for a while, or else, sleep the morning away. Plus, I have church, Sunday. Then doing laundry, dishes, preparing food for my week lunches. Afterwords, shave, shower hit the sack early to go to work on Monday and start the whole process again. Not thrilling, but I have a mortgage and bills to pay and doing artwork doesn't pay the bills, unfortunately.
Which comes to the other problem, money!
Due to the economy, which still sucks! Commissions for all artists have been down, whether you're an amateur or a professional. There has been a trend where companies are doing "Artist Contests" for logos or promotional art with small cash winnings. That's great for kids or young artists starting out. Unfortunately, it's not a great way for Artists to live on! And the winnings are so meager! The graphics art field is so easily filled by part-time students or youngsters where professionals cannot compete in because their skill supersede the requirements.
So, we have to work at jobs that take the time away to do art. Hopefully we can get some weekends off to do our artwork, if our company doesn't have us working overtime. Then our hard-earned money gets taken by utilities, phones, house or rental payments, water, sewage, internet, cable ... etc. Of course, the almighty Government has to take a portion for their abuse!
So, we get to live off of what little we can, and hope we can survive another week without cash!
I know, this kind of ended up a unintentional rant. But, that's the way real life works! And we can only make the best of it!

Well, this is my first time on FA. I've heard both good and bad about this place. But, I'd thought I would give it a shot!

Jeff Ringtail