Forest Notebook Doodles

I haven't posted on my blog in a long time, so, as is my custom, here are some doodles I drew in my notebook to prove that I'm still alive.

We were talking about John Keats's poem "Ode to Psyche" in class, so I doodle Psyche and Cupid frolicking by a snowy forest.

I don't usually doodle in that class. I was having a hard time focusing that day and was trying to occupy the daydreamy part of my brain so that the other part of my brain could focus on what the professor was saying.

At the end of the class, he voiced his displeasure at the lack of focus in our class that day. I hope he wasn't personally mad at me. I was trying so hard to pay attention.

I have to write a 15 page paper for that class and I'm trying to figure out what to write it about, so I was going through my notes, and that's when I found the doodle. I'm particularly proud of the trees.

NaNoWriMo is limping along. I'm up to 5806 words. I think it'll probably be put mostly on hold until after this paper is done. Thanksgiving break... if only I could fast-forward through the paper-writing process so I can get to Thanksgiving.

But not fast-forward through all the other stuff I'm doing. This semester has gone by really, really quickly. I'm a little shocked.

Brace Yourself

National Novel Writing Month is held in November.

October is almost over.

Snuck up on me again, didn't ya, NaNoWriMo?

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to write 50,000 words between November 1 and November 30. Afterward (ideally), you have the rough draft of a novel to work with.

I've technically participated for the past three years, although I think only the last two count. I've never won. Could this be my year? Could 2014 be the year I make it to 50,000 words?

Eh. I don't have high hopes. November is the busiest month of my fall semester. There's all kinds of papers and stuff going on this month. But I'm going to try very hard to beat last year's score.

Last year, I started a semi-Victorian, semi-steampunk, semi-romantic, very adventure-y novel that I called "The Night Rider." I got up to 12,360 words.

I'm going to work on a different novel this year. Night Rider is still very near and dear to my heart, and I hope to finish it sometime, but it's no longer the most prominent idea buzzing around in my mind. Also, the NaNoWriMo rules say that you have to write all new words, so I figure I'll just start over with a new idea.

That said, I'm having a hard time picking between two story ideas. They're both fantasy stories, although one has a bit more supernatural stuff and the other is actually a bit more scientific. One idea is fairly recent in my head- I think the grandfather of the idea popped into my head over the summer and gradually developed into the awesome thing it is right now. 

The other idea is one I've been working on since roughly last Spring Break (although it has nothing to do with Spring Break, I swear). I'd like to say this one's a bit more developed than the other one is, but I'm actually not sure about that anymore.

A major factor in the decision will probably be the fact that I actually have names for most of the characters in the newer idea. I have the hardest idea coming up with names. But I've been writing up chunks of the story for creative writing assignments, just to sort of test drive the characters, and I managed to come up with some names for them. They felt weird at first, but after a three-hour writing session on Monday night, I can officially say they've grown on me. 

So that's my dilemma. That's the update. I'll make a decision about it by Nov. 1.

I'm definitely supposed to be reading workshop pieces for creative writing. I'm definitely procrastinating. Back to work!

A New Page on the Blog!

Hey, everybody!

Quick! Look at my blog! Do you see something different? Something that wasn't here the last time you looked at this page?

There's now a tab next to the "Home" and "Digital Portfolio" tabs that's labeled "Intern Blog."

If you click on that tab, you will be taken to the Intern Blog page of the Alabama Heritage website.

Alabama Heritage is the magazine I'm working with as an editorial intern this semester. The magazine office is in Northport, Alabama, just across the Black Warrior River from where I live and attend classes at the University of Alabama. Alabama Heritage is a quarterly magazine that focuses on Alabama history. I do a great deal of fact checking and copy editing for the magazine, but I'm also responsible for writing a blog post every two weeks. My work is featured on the Intern Blog alongside that of current and past AH interns. Take a look!

And here's the link again, just because:

http://www.alabamaheritage.com/intern-blog

Hand Czech

I diddled a doodle. And then I practiced drawing hands. And there's a Czech proverb for no extra charge.

I'm trying to get in the habit of writing or drawing for 15 minutes a day. Ideally, I'd do both for longer periods of time, but I get awfully busy during the week, so this is a good start.

Git Along, Little Ostrich

My sister has taken a sudden interest in ostriches.

So I did this for her.

Minecraft Walkthrough Creative Writing Assignment

Hey, y'all! So I'm taking this creative writing class about games (athletic games, video games, card games, probably mind games, too). One of the topics for our next workshop session is games as walkthroughs or something to that effect. I decided to write out a Let's Play video of a guy playing Minecraft.

I think it's kinda fun. There was a lot of heavier, more emotional, more thoughtful stuff in our last workshop, so I wanted to change things up a little bit with some humor. I thought it sounded just like the kind of thing I like to post on my blog, so here you go! Enjoy!

Hey, everybody! Welcome to another episode of Tony Plays Minecraft! Be There or Be Cubed! Hahaha!

Thanks to everyone who shared, liked, and commented on the last episode. You guys are the best! Except everyone who said my Eiffel Tower looks like an emo Christmas tree. You guys are officially the worst.

So since we wrapped up the Eiffel Tower last time (and by “we,” I mean “I,” since technically I’m the only one who worked on it), I need to head on down to my mineshaft and find some more diamond because my pickaxe is going to break soon. Not cool.

So here we go, out of my Beverly Hills mansion (because I know you guys love it when I say that), aaaaand the dog is stuck behind the door again. Get over here, Roger. I still hate that name, in case you were wondering. Thank you, subscribers, for picking the name Roger for my vicious hound. I still love you, though.

Bee-tee-dubs, if you haven’t subscribed yet, there’s still room in my heart for you! Just click the magic button.

All righty, then! If you’re tuning in for the first time, this is my world: EsTonya. Get it? It’s funny because my name is Tony.

We’re gonna double-tap the forward key here to sprint because creepers like to hang out around here and I just can’t get rid of them. You guys, I’ve been blown up by too many mother-fracking creepers this week…

And here we are at the mineshaft! Anybody else find that word kinda awkward to say? No? Just me? Okay, then, Tony’s brain is stuck in the gutter.

Oh, there’s Roger. Took you long enough, you idiot dog.

                                                                    

Sorry, I forgot you guys don’t like it when I bully him.

Anyway, here we are, spelunking like a pro, climbing down the mineshaft at the speed of light as we look for the elusive blue gem that will let me—

What? How’d a cow get down here? I keep the door to this mineshaft shut! You, sir, are a trespasser. And do you know what I do to trespassers?

I FEED THEM TO MY DOG! NYAHHH!

Yep, that’s right. Nothing stands a chance against my diamond sword. Booyah! No, wait, that was last month’s catchphrase. This month’s one was… Uhhhhh…

I’ll think of it sooner or later. Anyway. Yeah. Here, Roger. Have some cow carcass. Eat it and dream of a better name. Like Zombie Gnawer. Or Twilight Link. Seriously, you guys, how could you not vote for Twilight Link?

Anyway. Going along. Gonna take this tunnel to the left since I’ve never been down this way before and everyone keeps telling me to go this way. Are you happy now?

Torch here, torch there, torch here, torch for you, two torches over here, four for you, Glen Coco… If you’re new to this beautiful, cubey world of Minecraft, we have to be sure to light up all the dark places so monsters can’t spawn in them. I mean, I’m not afraid of monsters or anything, but I just—OH GOD WAS THAT A—nope. Nope, I’m okay. Juuuust kidding.

Constant vigilance is the key when playing Minecraft. Just like Mad-Eye Moody says in Harry Potter. Those were awesome books. Harry and Hermione should’ve gotten together. Go ahead, start a war in the comments. I’ll be looking for it.

So… yeah. I guess I’ll just pick a random spot in this wall and start mining my way through. Hopefully I’ll run into some diamonds before my pickaxe WHAT. WHERE DID THE GROUND GO?

Okay, everybody, we’ve just found a brand new lake of lava. I’m going to attempt to build a bridge across it because it looks like there’s some stable ground on the other side. I’m going to use cobblestone since I happen to have some, and I’m going to hold down the shift key as I lean out over the edge so I don’t fall into that pit of lava-y death. That would suck.

Doot, doot, doot. Simple, easy, just placing some cobblestone one after another and WHOA. STOP. ROGER. STOP IT, ROGER. THERE ISN’T ENOUGH ROOM FOR BOTH—

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! NOT THE LAVA NOT THE LAVA NO I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE AAAAGH I’M ON FIRE!

Land! Found land. Gotta put out the fire… Where’s my water bucket? What the hell, man! Uh… Uh…  Maybe I’ll try running around… Uhhh, I’ll try building a box of stone around myself? Uhhhh, nothing’s working and I’m still on fire, and-- You know what? Screw it. Screw all of this.

There. Yeah, I know, you guys think it’s totally lame when I switch to the “peaceful” difficulty when my health gets too low, but you know what? Shut up.

Okay. All healed up, switching back to hard. Did Roger burn up in the lava? Good. Oh, wait, no, there he is. Stupid dog. I should kill you right now.

All right. Guess I’ll wander around down here for a while. Not like I really know how to get back up.

OOOH! Ooooh, you guys! Look! It’s diamond! I finally found some! It took my dog pushing me into a pit of lava, but it was totally worth it! Ladies, if you’re looking for a new best friend, might I suggest you stop by my place tonight and let me set you up with a diamond? Yeah, just kidding, I’m using all of these to make a new pickaxe and armor.

Hey! Stupid spider, that hurt! Yeah, that’s right, you get that spider, Roger! It’s the least you could do after shoving me into the lava. Stupid mutt.

HEY. Don’t you hurt my dog, you stupid spider! Hey! Hey! Stop! No! Roger! Noooooo!

You killed my dog! You killed Roger! I’m gonna kill you, you stupid, oversized bug! You die now! Aaaaaaaaaagh!

And now I’m alone down here in this cave. Just me. And the monsters. And all of you watching this video. No offense, but this is depressing.

Might as well mine this diamond. Let’s see—one, two, three, four-five, six… Six diamond blocks! Not bad. Guess I should go find my crafting box before anything OH GOD CREEPER NO!

NOOOOO CREEPER STAY AWAY FROM ME AAAAAHHH I’LL NEVER FIND MY WAY BACK DOWN HERE IF I DIIIIEEEE okay, okay, I think I’ve lost it OH GOD THERE’S ANOTHER—

NOOOOOO!

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! GAH—JEEZ—FRACK—AAAUUGHHH.

Well. I died. All my stuff is lying at the bottom of that mineshaft, somewhere in the vicinity of the lava lake. And I’m pretty sure I’ll never find it before it all de-spawns.

I think that’s all for today.

Don’t forget to subscribe.

Toon Link Drawing Practice

Unless this is your first time visiting my blog, you probably know that I like to draw. I'm not great at it, but I'm always trying to improve. One day I'd love to write stories and provide fun little illustrations or side-cartoons for the readers either in the book itself or on a website dedicated to it.

So what do I need? Practice!

I had some free time today between classes, so I decided I'd try to just draw something with a pen, without going through the penciling process first. I don't honestly think that's a good way to practice drawing, but it's what I felt like doing, so I did. Because I can.

Link seems to be the subject of the week, so I thought I'd try drawing Toon Link, the star of multiple titles in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise, the most famous of which is probably The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (which I've never actually played... unless a ten-minute demo at Target counts). 

Here's the picture I used as a reference:

So I looked at that image and tried very hard to draw what I saw, using different parts of the picture to measure and determine where each line had to go. It kind of reminds me of marching band, where we have to make pictures based off of where everyone else is standing.

Considering I didn't start with pencil, it didn't turn out too badly. I got a few new ideas on how to draw things and I also have some ideas on what not to do next time. Like, that sword's really messed up. But I have ideas on how to improve, and that's really the point, right?

Because I was pretty pleased with how it had turned out and I still had some time before band practice, I decided to color it in.

I experimented with some shading. Some of it you can see. Some of it you can't. Like, I actually used two different shades of yellow to do the hair. But you can't tell. I think the coloring process mostly just consisted of me smearing black ink around with my yellow and peach colored pencils and getting mad.

But there's Link, ready to go off on an adventure, defeat Ganondorf, find the Triforce, save Zelda-- all that stuff that heroes do!

And he kind of looks like he's pushing my grocery list away and telling me to do fun stuff instead.