Sunday, November 6, 2011 3:46:26 AM
My forum signature image on Gamigo's Fiesta Online forum was getting a bit out of date, so it's time for a new one. Rather than editing the previous signature to change "Archer 6x" to "Archer 7x", I decided to go for something completely new.
Normally I draw one of my main characters and use that as the base image for the signature, but this time, I decided to take on the challenge of drawing both my archer and cleric in the same image.
1. Rough sketchBefore I would do this in pencil, then scan or take a photo of it to fiddle with on the computer. Now that I have an awesome drawing tablet, I decided to try sketching directly into Photoshop. To make it easier to trace over the sketch for the solid lines in the next step, I used blue to do the sketch, and later set the opacity to 40%. I'm terrible at drawing two characters together as I often get the size/scale/position wrong. To get around that weakness, I drew the characters in separate lay sets and moved them to where I wanted.
2. Solid linesOn a new later, I went over the sketch in black lines. I used to do this slowly using the polygonal lasso tool and several hundreds and thousands of mouse clicks. I'm still not used to using a tablet to draw, so it took a lot of Ctrl+Z'ing and clearing to get the lines how I wanted them.
3. Base colourThis is the easiest step. I used the mouse to create layers and masks where I wanted certain areas of colour. It also gives me a quick overview of how the various colours fit together.
4. Final detailsThis is my favourite part: putting in the various little details, light and shadows that make the picture come alive. I tend to have a habit of picking colours that don't contrast enough, so I often tweak with the brightness/contrast settings.
In the end, I'm generally happy with how it turned out, although the cleric shield could've used more detail. In total, it took 8 to 10 hours to finish. Next step is to use the final image in a forum signature... after I take a little break (~'-')~
Thank you Igor for the drawing tablet. Volim te <3
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 5:34:13 AM
I bought a bag of candy bananas today. I love candy bananas, but before today, I did not buy any since Keatsy flew away several months ago.
Keatsy, with it's sweet-tooth (or should I say "sweet-beak"), also loved candy bananas. Whenever Keatsy saw me with a candy banana, it would fly right over and land on my shoulder, then make it's way down my arm toward the candy banana in my hand. Sometimes it would try to snatch it right out of my mouth.
Probably not the most healthy treat for a Rainbow Lorikeet. Too many candy bananas would make Keatsy's poop turn a bright yellow colour. I usually only gave Keatsy a small piece of a candy banana, but on occasion I would toss a whole candy banana into Keatsy's cage.
I wonder where Keatsy is now...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
Today is my last day at grandma's house. My mum, sisters and I will be going to Chiang Mai today, but only my mum and one of my sisters will be returning, as my other sister and I need to return to Perth to go to class which starts on 31 January 2011. Our flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok (then Bangkok to Singapore to Perth) actually departs at around 8am on 24 January 2011. We're going to stay in Chiang Mai with my aunt as her house is relatively close to Chiang Mai Airport.
Anyway, for breakfast, my mum made some black sticky rice sweetened with coconut. After breakfast, I spent the rest of the morning orgnaising my photos to be uploaded when I get an Internet connection (most likely at the airport or at the hotel in Singapore). Then I started to pack all my stuff in preparation for leaving my grandma's house. As my sister and I will most likely not see grandma for several years until our next trip to Thailand, she tied a cotton string around our wrists as a good luck charm. My grandma has kept this tradition every time we visit. I usually wear the string around my wrist for a few weeks before finally removing it and hanging it up on my cupboard.
Finally, it was time to leave, my uncle put our luggage onto a trolley to help us take it to the main road where we waited for a taxi-ute to pass by. Apparently we had just missed the taxi-ute, so my mum bought beef noodles for lunch for my sisters and I. Just as my sisters and I finished eating, my uncle said he saw a taxi-ute approaching. We quickly finished off our drinks and ran across the street, but the taxi-ute didn't stop as it was already full of passengers. The next one didn't stop either because the driver was on his way home, the next was also full, and the next also not in service.
Eventually the owner of the noodle stand offered to give us a ride to the nearby bus station as we had been waiting for over and hour for a taxi-ute. The noodle stand owner told her son to drive us to the bus station. However, once there, we were told that the buses to Chiang Mai were fully booked and the next available one was for 6pm (4 hours later). As we couldn't wait, my mum went to see if any of the taxi-utes stopped nearby could take us. Turns out that one of the taxi-utes that passed us by previously now had room as he had dropped off some passengers. And so began the long and uncomfortable trip through the mountains in a taxi-ute crammed with people.
When we finally arrived in Chiang Mai, my cousin and uncle were there to pick us up. As there wasn't any room in my cousin's car for our luggage, my uncle put our luggage in the back of his ute and headed off to pick up his students. My uncle from Lampang is an English teacher and has taken a few of his students down to Chiang Mai to compete in a Crosswords (Scrabble) competition in Chiang Mai. He, his family, and his students will also be staying at my aunt's house, it's going to be quite a full house.
Before going to my aunt's house, we stopped off at a large supermarket to buy ingredients for dinner. As there will be a lot of mouths to feed, we bought a lot of food. For dinner, we all had sukiyaki. My aunt had set up the pot outside as there wasn't enough room inside for everyone to sit. I had boiled salmon, prawns and fishballs. After dinner, my uncle's students practiced playing Crosswords in preparation for tomorrow's competition. My mum, sisters and I will go to the Airport Central Plaza again where my uncle's students will be competing to cheer them on and do some shopping.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 3:59:00 PM
holiday
I had initially planned to go to the Jurong Bird Park during my stay in Singapore, but since my dad always said "don't go to the bird park" at least once or twice whenever I talked to him over Skype, I decided not to, even though I really really really really wanted to go to the bird park. So instead, I planned to spend the day wandering around and shopping.
You can't go shopping without money, so first stop of the day was to exchange currency. My sister and I left the hotel around 9am and walked over to the shopping centres next to the Chinatown MRT station to find a money changer. I had also planned to wander around the shopping centre there, but barely any shops were open. Most shops seem to open at 10 or 10:30am. Luckily there was a few money changers open for business. While I was exchanging Australian dollars for Singaporean dollars, my sister bought breakfast at a nearby food stall. I later bought a coconut roll for breakfast.
As very few shops in Chinatown were open, I decided to head to Orchard Road, at least the MRT ride would allow us to kill some time before shops opened at 10:30am. My sister wanted to visit a particular shop at the Wisma Atria shopping centre at Orchard Road, and since it's located right next to the Orchard Road MRT station (connected to the station even), we headed there first. It was a little before 10:30am when we arrived, so several shops were still closed.
After waiting for a few minutes, the shops all started to come to life. I followed my sister as she went from one fashion/shoe store to another. Later I went to Kinokuniya, a large book store where I bought some manga. I would've liked to buy more as it was cheaper than Australia, but it's not going to be cheaper if I have to pay excess luggage fees.
For lunch, we went to the Food Republic on the 4th floor of the Wisma Atria. As it was the busy lunch period, it was very crowded so we decided to eat at one of the small restaurants. My sister wasn't very hungry so she ordered the rice porridge, while I ordered the fried wontons and lemon prawns with rice. Unfortunately, the pictures in the menu had misled us into thinking that the portions will be small, but in reality it was relatively large. We couldn't finish our food as we were too full. I don't like wasting food so I asked to take the leftovers with me.
Next, I decided to head to Sunshine Plaza near Bugis to check out two anime/manga stores. By afternoon, it had started to rain in Singapore and I was tired from walking around all day, so we headed back to the hotel to take a break. We got soaked from all the running around in the rain. Later in the evening, we went out to browse the Chinatown Street Market. We were both still full from lunch, so we didn't have dinner. I did finish of some of the wontons I brought back as leftovers.
Back at the hotel, I spoke to my dad over Skype, then spent the rest of the night browsing the Internet and watching TV. I watched a movie called "The Haunting in Connecticut" which was a horror movie loosely based on a true story. I must be insane for watching a horror movie late at night before going to sleep. I don't really like horror movies, but like a train wreck in progress, I couldn't stop watching, although I did spend a lot of time with my head turned away during some of the scenes. After the movie, my curiosity got the better of me and I spent an hour or so looking up information about the movie and the true story it was based on. Although it was around 2am, I was still too spooked to sleep, so I calmed myself down by reading the manga I bought, Aria makes a good antidote to horror movies.
Monday, January 24, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
As our flight leaves at around 8am, my mum, sister and I woke up early to head to Chiang Mai Airport. My other sister, whom will be staying in Thailand with my mum, was still asleep, so she didn't come with us to the airport. At the airport, my sister bought something to eat, but despite being hungry, I didn't have anything to eat because I was still feeling a little unwell. After saying goodbye to my mum, aunt and her husband, my sister and I headed into the domestic departure lounge. While waiting for our flight, I bought hot tea to drink, a newspaper to read, and browsed the Internet on the aiport's free wifi.
The flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok went without any problems. However, the ear-popping that you sometimes get during take-off/landing was a little more severe than the flight from Perth. My sister wanted to buy a certain ball dress that she saw at the MBK Centre in Bangkok, so after storing our luggage at the airport, we had a few hours before our next flight to take the train from the airport to the city centre. Initially I thought we would have plenty of time to spare, but after a few hiccups, time was running low and I was afraid we might even miss our flight. Thankfully, we managed to find that dress and head back to the airport with some time to spare.
For the flight from Bangkok to Singapore, we flew with Tiger Airways. Upon arrival at Singapore, we took the shuttle bus from Budget Terminal to Terminal 2 because I wanted to buy the MRT Tourist Pass. At the Changi Airport MRT station, I was told that as it was 7pm, they were no longer selling the pass and that I would need to purchase it another time. So my sister and I took a taxi to The Saff hotel in Chinatown.
After picking up the access card for the room I reserved at the front counter, we dragged our luggage to our room (there was no staff to show us to our room or help us with luggage). I set up my laptop and connected to the hotel's free wifi to use Skype to talk to my dad. I let my dad know that we had arrived safely in Singapore and gave him my mum's mobile phone number in Thailand. Shortly after, my sister and I headed off to have dinner and wander around nearby.
Chinese New Year is on 3 February 2011, so with just a week or so to go, Chinatown had several streetside stalls selling various things, primarily Chinese New Year decorations and items. But before we explored the night street markets, my sister and I had dinner at a small food court. My sister ordered the laksa while I had roast duck with rice. After dinner, we walked around the various stalls set up on the street, then headed back to the hotel.
Sunday, January 23, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
I was woken early in the morning by a horrible feeling in my stomach, I think I had one too many under-cooked prawns last night. Later I had a little sticky rice with chicken for breakfast, but by then I was feeling like I needed to throw up. My aunt (my mum's sister who lives in Chiang Rai) asked my mum to buy a sewing machine part for her in Chiang Mai, so our first stop in the morning was the markets in Chiang Mai.
After my mum bought the sewing machine part and wandering around the markets a bit, we headed to the Aiport Central Plaza where my uncle and his students were competing in a Crosswords (Scrabble) competition. After sitting down to rest a bit, I was feeling a little better and decided to have lunch. We all went to the food court on the top floor. I ordered the yellow chicken curry with rice, then washed it down with watermelon juice. But after eating, I was starting to feel sick again.
My uncle's students came 2nd in the Crosswords competition. My sister and I said goodbye to my uncle who will be returning to Lampang with his students today, while we will be flying off to Singapore tomorrow (my mum and other sister will return to Perth in February). Before leaving, my uncle asked my sister (whom will be staying with my mum in Thailand a little longer) if she wanted to stay with him in Lampang for a few days and accompany him to the high school where he teaches English. My sister agreed and I guess she will go sometime next week.
Late afternoon, we had one more stop for the day, the International Gardens. By then, I was feeling really tired and had quite a headache. The International Gardens is a large area featuring gardens from around the world plus other horticultural related attractions. I really would have liked to explore it some more, but I just felt awful and needed a good sleep. So when we finally headed back to my aunt's place, I put on my pyjamas and went straight to bed as I didn't want to be feeling like crap when I fly off tomorrow.
Friday, January 21, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
Didn't have anything planned for today, so I decided to sleep in a bit. For breakfast, I had muesli with milk. My mum had brought the muesli from Austrlia. It had fruit in it, which I picked out and gave to the puppy (neighbour said the puppy's name is "Loong"). I decided to go for a bike ride, take some photos, and see if I could reach the temple on the mountain, or at least get closer to it.
As I was about to set off on my bike, my mum said the puppy wanted to go too and put it in the basket on the front of my bike. As I had my water bottle in the basket and didn't want the puppy getting all over it, or having the bottle roll around and hit the puppy, I had to leave my water bottle behind. This meant that I couldn't go very far. I did take my camera, but while I was riding, the puppy kept standing up in the basket, I had to keep my eye on it in case it jumped out of the basket. So I didn't end up using my camera. I did take a picture of the puppy when I returned to my grandma's house.
I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon watching the English movie channel. They were showing "Alien vs Hunter" which looked like some cheap horror movie. I'm not really into horror movies, but it was in English and I had nothing better to do. Next was a movie called "Silver City", I didn't quite understand what was going on because the volume was low and I couldn't really hear, some sort of muder-mystery movie.
As I was completely lost on what was going on in the movie, my mum took me and my sister to a noodle stand just on the main road for lunch. We both had beef noodle soup, my mum had already had lunch. After lunch, I caught the ending of "Silver City", which had turned out to be about a conspiracy to cover up toxic waste being dumped in a cave.
My mum, sisters and I then went to the hairdresser. My sisters and I rode our bikes while my mum rode on the back of the motorcycle with my uncle. At the hairdresser, my mum gave instructions on what we wanted to have done (a trim and wash for my sister, and just a wash for my other sister and I), then she headed to the market with my uncle to buy fish for dinner. After shopping, my uncle dropped my mum back at the hairdresser then went home himself. Once we were done at the hairdresser, we all rode home with my mum riding on the back of my bike.
Back at my grandma's place, I went upstairs to see what movie was on. I don't know what the movie was called, but it was quite interesting, although somewhat gruesome at times. It was focused on a guy who decides to commit a crime to get money to support his family. He works with another man and a woman to blackmail a Reverend who had been accessing pornographic websites. Despite having a simple plan on how to get the money, things go from bad to worse. Going to try and look up the name of the movie when I get Internet access again.
After the movie, I went downstairs to have dinner (sticky rice with fish), then went back upstairs to see what movie is playing next. There was a movie called "Deadly Complications" which started off confusing, but I think it was supposed to be a thriller movie about a woman who sets out to ruin a couple's life by spreading lies. As the following movies after that were repeats, I brushed my teeth and went to bed.
Thursday, January 20, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
Today was quite a long day, after having a bit of bamboo sticky rice for breakfast, I packed my things as we were going to head back to my grandma's house without returning to uncle's house after sightseeing. After I packed my stuff, I wandered around to take a few photos while I waited for my sisters to have breakfast and pack their things.
As my uncle's wife required the car to go to work, that left nine of us in total to squeeze into my uncle's ute where the back was already loaded with our things plus some stuff my grandma wanted to take with her. One of the things my grandma wanted to take was two bags full of flower petals. Not only did the bags contain flower petals, it also contained large red ants which have quite a painful bite. The red ants had started to crawl out of the bags and around the ute. I had to be careful where I sat as I didn't want to get bitten by a red ant.
Our first stop was the Chaesorng National Park to see the hot springs and waterfall. We had actually visited before on our previous trip to Thailand a few years ago. This time, my sister and I took a dip in the hot spring while my mum and other sister had a massage. After a break for lunch, we headed for the waterfall.
In the afternoon, we headed back towards my grandma's house, but before heading home, we made a stop at a temple in the hills. At the temple, they had on display a gold Buddha statue which they uncovered duing nearby road construction. Next we headed to a lake where my uncle bought some fish food and we fed the fish. There were several large fish and we even saw large catfish.
Finally it was time to head home, my mum bought a few things at the convinience store, then bought dinner at a local market as it was already 6pm and she didn't feel like cooking. I had rice with fried beefballs for dinner. My uncle and his in-laws also joined us for dinner before making the long trip back to his house in Lampang.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
My uncle had taken a few days off work to take us to various places. After breakfast (rice with fish) and an hour of waiting for my sisters to get ready, we all headed to the Lignite Mine at Lampang (or outside of Lampang, I'm not sure as it was quite a long trip). We didn't visit the actual mine, we visited the museum and gardens next to the mine.
There was noone around the museum at the time we visited as it was around noon and all the staff had taken a break to go to lunch. Nevertheless, the museum doors were unlocked, so we just walked right in. The museum had exhibits and information about the geological history of the area and the lignite mine. It explained that Thailand used to rely on wood for fuel, but as energy needs grew, they turned to alternative sources of fuel such as lignite.
After looking around the museum, we wandered around the gardens next to the museum. There was a steep grassy hill which the locals would use something like cardboard to slide down the grass. My uncle showed us how it was done, then persuaded my sisters to slide down the hill too. I didn't do it because I didn't want to end up with sand and grass in my hair. After taking in the panoramic views of the surrounding gardens and nearby open pit lignite minel, we all went to have noodles for lunch.
Next we went to my uncle's in-laws' house to wait while my uncle attended to some official business, according to my mum, he needed to attend an election at a school. After my uncle returned, we headed to a market area to buy food for dinner. At the market, there were all sorts of things for sale, from unusual looking fruits and vegetables that I have never seen before to live eels in plastic bags and large dead frogs. My mum bought fruit and vegetables, chicken meat, and sticky rice.
Back at my uncle's house, it was starting to get dark and mosquitoes were already biting at me, so I retreated to the room we were staying in which is protected by mosquito nets.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011 3:59:00 PM
Thailand, holiday
My mum added a foam mattress in addition to the rock-hard one we were using before, which made for a much more pleasant sleep. Plus I'm finally getting over that cold. I had some sticky rice cooked in bamboo for breakfast, then spent the morning wandering around and watching the chickens. My uncle had caged one of the roosters because it had been a little too aggressive towards the other chickens.
We were going to stay with my other uncle in Lampang for a few days, so I packed some clothes and things to take with me. My mum and sisters were still packing their things when I finished with my packing. While I waited, I played with a puppy that had been hanging around my grandma's house. My sister had given the puppy a bath, so it was cold and curled up in my lap to sleep.
Finally, a little after noon, we headed off for the bus stop. As we walked from my grandma's house to the main road, the puppy had followed us unaware that there were other dogs around the other houses. One dog ran up to the puppy and nipped at it, while a few other dogs came running and barking. The scared puppy hid in a drain. We couldn't leave it there, so I coaxed it out and passed the puppy to my uncle who took it back to it's own territory.
Back at the bus stop, it took a while before the bus for Lampang arrive. During the trip, I played FreeCell on my laptop, so I wasn't really aware of how long the trip took. My other uncle was at the bus stop in Lampang to take us to his house which was still another 30 km away according to my mum. My uncle's house is almost in the middle of nowhere. The surrounding area is mostly trees and farmland. Unlike my grandma's house which has several homes built relatively close together, where my uncle lives, there are few houses spread out over a large area.
My uncle's wife's parents are also staying at my uncle's house, so at the moment, there are eleven people staying here. My sisters both have colds (just as I'm about over mine), so they went to bed right away and didn't have dinner. Meanwhile, the rest of us had rice with various side dishes (I had fish, broccoli and pork) for dinner. After dinner, everyone sat around outside to talk. Since I don't understand a word, I went upstairs to look around and fiddle with my laptop.
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