update: Slots filled for now, thank you! and slight delays due to unforeseen time when I won't have access to my computer.
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Being shorter than usual on money isn't strange these days but we all still want to indulge ourselves sometimes no? Well, I need to desperately pay my bills just as anyone so here's an affordable opportunity for the summer vacation. Decent minimum wage for me and something cool for you!

SUMMER SALE!
big Summer Sale on character commissions!

Non-commercial commissions. Any of the styles represented below,
no real background: at a set prize. Originals, fan art, pin-ups, w/e! ( Read more... )

Last week and the week before that has been booked. From visits by dear friends, to trying to make bills and whisked away on surprise road trips. Ah yes and commissions. In retrospect I suppose the latter was bad timing but, in my defence, I didn't learn of the road trip until later. One day back home and I am still attempting to regain my bearings. I'm finding it's a little like rowing the flood upstream. The Internet waits for none. I hope everyone's doing okay and I look forward to talk again soon.


Long story short, it was good to see anla again before she leaves for her adventures. It rained most of the time but we had a picnic and took a swim anyway. Cold as hell; but fuck it is summer and then you go swimming. Viking mentality go go! Watched films, drank lots of tea and discussed future obstacles and hopes; or lack thereof. She lent me her old computer screen, which without doubt is leagues better than my 5-something-years old one. This leaves ol' Mack upgraded with borrowed spare parts from two friends now~ Stay strong my man, stay strong.

Next stop, a twelve hour car ride north to visit family I hadn't seen in years. Population-wise Sweden is a pretty small country with only just above nine million inhabitants or so. It is deceivingly easy to forget it's the third largest country in the European Union in terms of area. Most of which consists of forest, forest and some more forest. All in all the trip went well. As an additional bonus I got to meet my uncle's adopted cat -a refined older gentleman who eats by the table without ever getting on it, and has his own doorbell.





Once home again I had to spend the next day out running to get rid of feeling folded up after all those hours in the car. Got caught in a summer rain and had to hide under a large tree to spare my headphones. Allergies dislikes me getting wet but the smell of rain in the summer is something alright.

Picked up an upgrade in desktop computer on our way back down south. Not as good as a spanking new laptop one would be but, buying it used was cheap enough for an increase of muscle over my current ol' boy that it ought to be worth a try. I suspect I will have to live on noodles for quite a while none the less but what else is new. Noodles versus newer version of PhotoShopCS? Mmm yes. I am contemplating what t name it. Shall it survive well enough I am thinking Cactus Jack. Goes well with Ol' Mack and his jack knife.

No time to play with new hardware though--deadlines looms near! commissions, bills and work. Not to mention a whole slew of mail and Internet things. And people. Goodness I miss people. And drawing.

In addition, last night had had a dream that included Gabrielle (Xena: Warrior Princess) out on adventure with Zeus, who curiously enough looked like an old design of mine I had forgotten about. I cannot even begin to figure out where the heck that came from. Also, kriatyrr! I have in fact not forgotten your return gift picture. It will be done sooner or later believe me. Later, most likely -but nevertheless!

Now. It is time for a a small excursion to restock on tea before work.

Typing on a mini laptop is a special kind of headache adventure, let me tell you. And no, keeping up with all that happens on lj is impossible. Give me a shout if something important goes down, yeah?

In other news it is raining and today I ate breakfast at a normal hour for a working day. Almost a bit nostalgic as it were.

It never fails to amaze me how much of Sweden is actually nothing but forest. Living on ye olde southern plains makes it easy to forget.

Due to unforeseen events and family time I'm loosing regular access to the Internet and my own computer for a few days. Work and all correspondence (email, comments etc) will be delayed. Will BRB/BBL!

Went on short road trip. Picnic in the car. Bathed while it rained. Pretty cool, damn nice.. but a bit cold.

Still won't be online in regular fashion until perhaps Tuesday. Also learned I might be kidnapped for long trip over next weekend. So much for hoping to get several commissions done by then psch.

deviantArt Portfolios: Open beta testing
If this works as planned colour me impressed.

I love TED; Riveting talks by remarkable people is something that I just can't help find interesting and inspiring -regardless if I agree or not. Mm, intellectual discourse.

Here's pimping and sharing some things I thought could (for various reasons) be of interest to some friends. Perhaps it can be of interest to others as well.

Today I was informed of the browse icons button. Apparently this is one of the Paid Users perks on livejournal. I had no idea. Never mind the likelihood I have had this feature since it was implemented. Oh self, you never fail to... yes.

Time for fan art and gifts. As of late I have had little motivation to work on my own projects. No good when the skills start to rust; practice, practice, practice is where it's at! Always. The pictures below show that making things with others in mind is indeed something extra somehow. I had great fun doing these two tonight and I hope the people whom they are dedicated to will enjoy them. Thank you for the smiles! ♥

Both images are simple b/w with light grey-scale. The second has one texture slapped on for extra bling. All digital based on pencil sketch; done in PhotoShop CS w/ Wacom Intuos, as usual.



The Cheerleader: Claire from HEROES (TV series). Playing Wolverine with two knives and a spork, rawr! Dedicated to a nice girl named Brandi. haven't known this young lady for very long but she surprised me y doing what a lot of people don't -take time to reach outside of their usual cliques and act as if it was the most normal thing to do. It certainly should. Thanks for the good times!




Resident Devil (Speak Low): Dante from Devil May Cry and Ada Wong from Resident Evil. A mind-blowing crossover team if I might say so myself haha~ Dedicated to a creative and hard-working girl named Kelley.

Oda, what. Oh my god.

BON-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!

From me, to myself. First ever (yea actually no lie) picture of the man, the myth, the concept: Devil May Cry's Dante himself, just as is. ♥ I'm finding myself in another cannot-colour-to-save-my-life phase and why fight it if I don't have to? Might as well practice other things for a little while.




Line art, black and light grey even though it does work decent without the grey. Simple is best as they say. Rough first sketch was seen earlier on Twitter. Fear Dante's mighty man-cleavage of awesomeness! And yes, me and my thing for drawing people bare feet. I still don't know, man. :|a

In other news, got a larger illustration commission to look forward to and I must say it's actually a bit exciting to do something different. Also have other minor plans head but as usual, the daily grind has a nasty habit of taking priority these days. Go teeam, go!

The other day I just noticed (after having had it installed for days) that Miranda IM v0.8.0 had been released. Now they're back with Multiple account support, AIM Group Chats, and for whatever reason the new default AIM Away-message for 'Invisible' is now set as I'm hiding from the mafia. Installed a plug-in for the first time and that was ridiculously easy too; copy-paste a .dll file huh.

As much as I love Trillian (it's so shiny ♥) I just can't get over that Miranda loads in less than one second flat. Dammit Trillian. :'(

The apartment is clean, I picked fresh flowers and invested in liquor. Cheers!

I planned to link The Big Picture's articles earlier during the week but I was to upset and angry with personal crap that I didn't trust my typing. Amending this now. Even though this is a well-circulated issue by now I believe some things bears repeating. There are so many places in the world that needs attention but, perhaps, we need to start somewhere and keep going.

If you are not aware of the situation regarding the Iran election, please look. If you're already aware; let's keep looking.


Iran's Disputed Election

( Following up from Iran's Presidential Election, Tehran and other cities have seen the largest street protests and rioting since the 1979 Iranian Revolution... )



( Links/further information... )

Why do people succeed? Is it because they're smart? Or are they just lucky? Neither. Analyst Richard St. John condenses years of interviews into an unmissable 3-minute slideshow on the real secrets of success.

This video takes three minutes of your life. If you haven't seen it I suggest you do. In fact, even if you already have seen it why not look again. I'm thinking this kind of video might be something to view each day for breakfast with your morning tea. Some things in life bears repeating; such as good ideas.



I do try to confront life by several of these rules even if sometimes it's difficult to grasp that elusive passion. But who said things worth fighting for should be easy, yeah? Fight team, fight!

I love TED.

To snooze and loose yourself in dreams is a deceivingly dangerous activity.

Like a labyrinth it draws you in with the promise of untold secrets; and like a forest at daybreak it seems safe to wander off. It is okay, morning is almost here and the night is over you won't get lost. You don't even have to go very far, the labyrinth can't be too big; the deceiving night is gone and you can see clearly now. Just look around another corner and maybe you will find the answers and the conclusions you're looking for. Then you can head back content and free.

But it never ends.

Today around lunch my mother called me and wondered, wouldn't I love to come along for a nature walk and a cup of tea in the sun? I rubbed my face and asked myself whether it'd be a good idea to inform her I'd barely slept five-six hours. Nah, doesn't matter does it? Off we went. Being a family of three has it's ups and it's downs but one of the ups is no doubt a nice tradition of not minding doing things together.

A ride to the local nature reserve is not a bad thing when summer's finally come around. Wild orchids and old churches. Gosh bless the freedom to roam law. There's something special about nature trails that go through age-old grazing grounds and over old stone fences. Not to mention sitting on one of said stone fences with a thermos of tea.

Dauym, I appreciate them legs there sir. Very nice.