I can already see where I went wrong:
- should’ve used a bigger canvas (this is about 80%) of what I used
- my sketch wasn’t quite right (the bottom should’ve been flatter)
- maybe the color choices should’ve been bolder? the dark red should’ve been darker, etc…
- not enough details of the apple surface, dots, lines?

Could really use some helpful criticism and tips, or I just know I’ll repeat the same mistakes in my next sketch.

I know, a lot of people think that Wacom is the only way to go, but the Wacom tablet was twice the price, and, you know, what if I’m no good at it? To spend that much money on a tablet… But this one feels really nice. It’s pressure sensitive, and there’s a lot of helpful tutorials and forums which I’ve been consuming instead of doing any useful work while at home. And I just finished my first sketch, using The Vase photo as a reference.

First, I thought it should be used as  a regular pencil, so I didn’t explore so much brush dynamics, and it was really hard to shade – I depended mostly on brush transparency. But a thread at the ConceptArt forums, and a tutorial at Keetee.com explain it completely differently. I ended up using both the “natural” pencil technique, and trying out the “digital” one. You can see my laziness on the vase body, and the excessive detailing on the flower.

All in all, I love it. And will be doing a LOT more practicing. If I can afford it, of course. There are still too many exams to study for… But Buffy time now. I swear, she’ll be the first real live person I paint.

PS. Added one new affiliate a couple of days ago (moved from Enfolio.org) – I-Illustrate by Aileen, and two new link exchanges: Divine Designs and Mime Fire.

So, last week I went to the In music festival here in Zagreb, on the lake Jarun. And it was so amazing… So many wonderful musicians, so many people at one place. Some of the bands playing there were Billy Idol, Flaming Lips, Massive attack, Broken Social Scene, Morcheeba, Rise against (those were my favorites). I adore Billy, he is so awesome, cool and fun, even being over 50 (?). He sounds and looks sooo great. Massive attack put up a wonderful show, with gorgeous, ambient lights, beautiful sounds, it was so dream like… And I fell in love with Rise against all over again. A few years ago I was so hooked, and listened to them so intensely, The Good Left Undone being my favorite. Check them out if you like the “heavier” stuff :)

But, I wanted to talk about Morcheeba. I’ve been in love with the band ever since I first heard Let me see in 1997… I saw them live once before, right after they published their greatest hits album (Parts of the Process). But then Skye left the band, and things just weren’t the same without her.

They inspired so much of my art, I used to listen to them for hours and fall in a strange art-driven trance, hehe. I remember making this drawing while listening to their songs on repeat. The colors, the theme, I have no idea where it came from. But I felt something different in Morcheeba’s music, something I never heard before. I tried looking for other similar bands, but no one sounded even close to them. I remember, at that time I didn’t even dare to fantasize about singing or having a band… But I thought to myself, if I’d ever have a band and make music, it would be something like Morcheeba. I just didn’t realize how hard it would be to create something like that. But I’ll never give up singing, doing my best, expressing all of the inspiration all of those artists gave me through the years.

Recently I discovered a song I never really noticed before, and I love it. At the festival, on Tuesday, Skye danced to it in her self-made gorgeous red checkered dress. It’s called Friction, and it’s one of the most wonderful things I ever heard. It’s so amazing – to me, the band has a happy, joyful sound, but a lot of people find them melancholic and depressing. I guess it’s my kind of melancholy :)

Time to vocalize now… Here are some (blurry) photos I took at the festival…

Morcheeba:

Billy Idol:

Rise against:

Broken Social Scene:

Massive attack:

I so need a better camera… :(

Yes, that’s 57 for Lost. And I think the show really deserves it. Some people aren’t too happy with the outcome of the season and the series, but I, in general, liked it. Couldn’t stop thinking about it, that’s for sure. And Rebelle really gives the show justice with her gorgeous graphics, doesn’t she?

I added 7 photos to the photography section of my portfolio. Those of you that watch me on deviantART have probably already seen them, but this site hasn’t.

Also, preparing to add a batch of my Supernatural picspam in the next blog post, so keep your eyes open for that.

PS. Thanks for the comments on the last post Heather, Yui, and Ali :)

I’m sure there’s plenty left to fix, work out, change, update… But right now, I just wanted to finally publish it, before going to bed.

Will write more soon. And I promise you an update with some content.

To all of my Enfolio.org affiliates – I promise to be contacting you shortly. Please be patient.

The new design (and the new site in general) will feature this color scheme:

It’s called Leap of faith, snagged it from Kuler, from a user called kcdalanon.

I’ll post more news on my Twitter account, so follow me there!

Edit. Forgot to mention this, but what finally moved me into work is the new Skyefairy.net, so go give her a visit everyone!

My plan is to make it more personal,  combine my graphic site, portfolio, and journal into one. When will this happen, I can’t tell for sure, but I’m sure things will move a lot faster now that I’ve finally decided what to do.

In the meantime, consider the site to be on hiatus. And to all of my affiliates, if the future site is no longer something you want in an affiliate, I’ll understand. Also, if you’re unwilling to wait for the “re-vamp”, removing me is completely understandable.

Thanks for being here through all these years… The site made me insanely happy and I’m sorry to watch it… grow up.

Also, I updated my portfolio with nine new custom designs, go see!

For a more personalized info, follow me on Twitter!

Edit. Some of you might already know this, but I’ve lost an affiliate – Maggie of Relentless Designs closed her site. But she’s still into web design, so visit Antihype.org

Apart from the new Starlight theme, I added 23 new icons featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Roswell, and Supernatural.

New premade layout is finished, coded, just have to write the instructions, so expect to see it soon.

Just a side note, there’s a long weekend ahead of us -4 days, so, beware, new additions are definitely on the way.

As promised, you can see the preview on my LiveJournal.

In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter, or check out my LiveJournal account for some picspam (Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, How I met your mother, etc). I allow for my pics to be used for icons and/or wallpapers, as long as you properly credit.

Names are hard to come up with.
Since I have to delay changes I planned for the site, I’ll just add a new premade called (very originally) Decoder to the layouts. I’m quite happy with it, and I plan to add more to it, so check in for updates!

I’ll leave the poll up for you to vote and (more importantly) give your suggestions. For now, photography has almost as much votes as fantasy / anime / manga. Also, I got a few suggestions I find inspirational: Supernatural and Twilight -I believe these will be my next premade-making steps. Along with that Pushing Daisies layout I still haven’t finished.

Also, I added two new link exchanges:
10000 promises, and one who is also a co-worker: 50lipa.com

Edit. Also, I completely missed EL-s fourth birthday on February17th! What an old site, it definitely needs a make-over hehe.

Also, I’m planning some major changes for this site. And when I say major, I mean gigantic. But don’t worry, everything will still be here, more or less.

I’d just like to add how much Lost rocks. And Supernatural. And old school rock. Take care.

Hope everyone enjoyed their New Years’ Eve!

I just had to post Rebelle’s new mixed fandom wallpaper, because it’s my birthday present, and it’s looking awesome :)

Edit. Two new link exchanges were added: Tetra-Colored and Ebullient.

- Torchwood (17)
- House M.D. (3)
- Roswell (5)
- Christian Bale (4)
- Lost (9)
- Supernatural (1)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (13)
- Pushing Daisies (25)

And there were more, this is just my “rough” selection. Aren’t they something?

Just for fun, I listed my oldest layouts, concentrating on those less good ones – and there are a lot of them, over 30. So, if you’re interested, head down to my Livejournal and check them out.

Edit. One new link exchange – The Dream Box. I cleaned out the list, deleting those that have been offline for the past year or so. I also refreshed the offline list with sites that are, well, offline.

Edit. Please welcome Spinkybean of Neosiz.Net as our new affiliate. Be sure to check out her work – she’s making some very classy premades, and some stunning digital paintings.

Also, I added 11 new icons, featuring Buffy (3), Dr. Horrible (5), Coldplay (1), and Torchwood (2). I have to say, Rebelle’s icons leave me feeling so humble about my own. But I still get those couple of days in a month when I feel like making them.

For the end, I have to let you know one of my affiliates has decided to move on. Best of luck to Shadow, and his beautiful Empires X.

Edit. I decided to make this layout bigger.  For a while, I thought about keeping those 800×600 resolutions in mind when designing, but space really became a problem around here. I like it much better this way. My next step, new color theme.

She added two Lost wallpapers, one featuring Kate, and the other featuring Ben.

Also, Rebelle made a total of 27 new icons, featuring Lost (15), The Dark Knight (2), Christian Bale (7), and Buffy (3).

Hopefully our next update will come a little sooner…