Day 2 of my new regimen to impove my art skills. This one went much better than my previous effort (part of which I attribute to choosing a simpler picture to copy).

Today's foray is Tsukasa, again from Lucky Star. Although the show is filled with super cute characters, Tsukasa takes the cake as being the cutest.

Download the full size image for a nice, widescreen desktop background.

I got pissed off the other day and decided that I was no longer going to be a mediocre artist. That in mind, I decided that I'd do an hour or so of drawing a day, attempting to copy pictures that I thought were good. The idea is that when I get good enough at that, I'll branch off and begin making my own characters, poses, etc.

The first subject to be brutalized by my attempts at improving my drawing is Konata Izumi from Lucky Star. I can point out a dozen or so things wrong with this, but I suppose it's not bad for my first attempt. Maybe by year's end I'll be much better at this stuff.

Tools used: Pencil and paper Illustrator CS4 (for inking) Photoshop CS4 (colors)

I find myself at the end of my college life, living back in good ol' Oklahoma and completely bored out of my skull. Of course, there is on the near horizon the promise of employment, which should take up the next forty years of my natural life. I should relish these moments as I will not have a moment like this in some time... especially if a wife and kids are part of my ultimate master plan. But, I suppose itemization is in order.

Nearly a month ago, I completed my college education and graduated from Full Sail University with a bachelor of science in Digital Arts and Design. The ceremony was all very pomp with much circumstance. During my particular ceremony, there were some two hundred people graduating (all of the bachelor kids, not just my class). I marched along the line of my old instructors shaking their hands (and getting hugs from one). It felt kind of ethereal and even now I'll stop suddenly and realize... it's over. Everything that had sucked up my very being for the last twenty-one months is finished.

So, that's all done and now I'm back home with my family. Not a bad place to be, I suppose. The plan was to take a hiatus after the near non-stop barrage of school. It's been nice, no doubt about that, but now I feel restless. I want to do something and I don't have anything that needs to be done. So, that would suggest to me that it's time to return to the working forces, a new and more educated man.

Actually, a couple weeks back I applied at ConocoPhillips (the family workplace) for an opening they had for an ASP.NET developer. I've yet to hear anything, but my application is supposedly under "secondary review" same as it has been since the offer closed on the seventeenth. The waiting is killing me and never have I been so eager to receive a phone call. I suppose if this falls through (as it's kind of looking like, but I'll give it a bit more time) there's another place in town that I'm going to apply at. It's a design group that I more than qualify for (HTML/PHP type stuffs), so maybe I'll have some more luck there.

Hopefully, I'll be able to find a job soon. I suppose if I don't, I'll have more time to update this blog. Hooray for you.

Welcome, one and all, to the brand new and totally spiffy dxprog.com! I'm sure I say it every time I do this, but this iteration is by far the most advanced version of the site to date. I can pretty much wrap up all the updates in a nutshell by saying I've had a lot of fun throwing in all sorts of jQuery and Ajaxy stuff, but I'll itemize.

The front page, for starters, shows the latest and greatest projects and blog posts on the site in the featured pane. The gallery has undergone a huge overhaul and is much more intuitive than it was before. I've also uploaded quite a lot of new content to the gallery page, so go take a gander at that to see what awesome stuff I've been up to. And finally, even the contact is looking spiffier with a picture of yours truly and a link to all the social media outlets I'm currently signed up for.

With the new design out of the way, I'll shift focus to the new {mh}labs; section of the website, where you'll be able to find all sorts of little pojects that have never been released to the general public (and some that have).

The future is bright at dxprog.com, so be sure to bookmark us and return often for all sorts of goody goodness.

It seems that ignoring the blog is the fashionable thing for me to do, as of late. It's not entirely intentional, there's just really nothing to talk about. Sometimes, while I'm attempting to force myself into a state of unconsciousness, I'll think of these things I'd love to post ranting about this, that, or the other. However, rarely do I actually act upon these impulses and the dust continues to gather.

The one thing that has happened since I last blogged is the passage of time. And with that passage I draw ever nearer to my graduation date. Currently, I sit at less than a month till I walk with my fellow classmates and receive the piece of paper for which I have worked so hard to achieve. It's hard to believe that not two years ago I was making preparations to come here the thought of actual completion not even in my head. But, here we are.

I've achieved much in my short twenty-one months at Full Sail, both from an academic and personal standpoint. I've improved my design skills, learned the technical art of motion graphics, and added to my repertoire of marketable programming skills through ActionScript. I know better how things in the industry work and have finally been able to get the professional critique that I so longed for as a hobbyist working out of his parents' house.

I've made a lot of memories at this school, both good and bad. It'll be sad to have leave all the friends I've made, but everyone tells me I have a bright future ahead of me. As for what I think of that, I'm not entirely sure. I know I have marketable skills, but there are some things that I know will hold me back. For example, I would like to live close to my family. That alone throws out almost any motion graphics or film job that I could have. I suppose it boils down to what's more important to me: my family and friends or my career. Even at that, I don't really know what career path I'd like to do. i enjoy and am proficient at many things (both inside and outside my degree).

I suppose I'll stop there before I completely depress myself. The next few months are going to have a crucial part in shaping my future. I'd better make damn sure I get it right.