Sunday Funday

I have no clue what that titles supposed to mean.
But alas!  Another Sunday, another blog post.  I think since school is starting up again I'll stick to a single post a week schedule.  But who knows, I might feel more generous or inspired along the line and post more.  As long as I keep the schedule splurging to a strictly positive displacement, it's all good with me.

Guess what, these oodles are finally getting some personal doodles! 

If you already know me, then you already know of my chronic obsession with drawing chubby Pikachu.  Here is but the first of many to come.  Went for the nostalgic red toned coloring scheme for this one.

I've always been awed by how comic and anime artists can visualize shade and tone in the way they do!  Here's my ham fisted attempt.  In a way this is an homage to Captain Osaka's brilliant style - I recently ordered his volume of Double K and am SO excited to get it.  Anyways, this was the first digital drawing I've done in awhile and was an exercise in drawing clean lineart, using a character for a fan Webcomic I plan on launching!  I'm proud of how it came out.  Hopefully I can pull off this style without having to rely on reference someday!

That's it for now!  Isn't it odd how many songs talk about Sunday Mornings?  Gotta go get ready for a Manic Monday...


Toodles~ <3

Random thoughts at the end of the week

Boy, this stream-of-conscious approach must be getting old, huh guys?  I need to plan out these blogs better.  Well not because I need to, but I want to.  Keeping the form has been good habit building, though!

Speaking of, habit building has been the reason for this (summer) season!  So let's root today's meditation on that. 

It's surprising how mindless we can be throughout the day.  We go through the motions during the day seeking anything instantly gratifying.  We've been conditioned to flip out our phones at every moment of silence or typing in facebook as soon as you click on the web browser.  I'd rather all my motions be intentional, thank you very much!

Most of my focus has been refreshing my health habits - regarding what I eat and how much I used to exercise (hint: none).  I remember a few months ago a friend said I had a striking resemblance to Bruce Lee.  I was immensely flattered, considering how the Brucester is my all time idol, but later that day before I showered the shirtless slab of flab that peered back at me in the mirror was far from a striking resemblance!  I've since gotten serious of building a better me: physically, mentally, and spiritually.  Discipline, determination, and drive - define what I aim for.  I suppose that anecdote comes to mind because yesterday - during a pleasant evening with my friends - a racist hobo had called me Bruce Lee.  Probably wrong that I was flattered, but this time I was fully aware how off the mark it was.  Though I'm proud to say that since last time I've gone down a couple notches on the belt!  Hard work truly does pay off.  Though it must be intentional - and never instant.  In fact you probably won't even notice until a hobo makes you take a step back and take a closer look in the mirror.   Bettering yourself is truly something you need to devote your entire life to.  No way can I afford to rest, especially with school coming up!  My last semester...I used to joke how school is a nice way to put off living in the "real world."   I know now is the best time to start, as I've already been living!  Alas, I'm still nowhere where I want to be but I'll keep walking forward.  Next on the list - planning out blogs!

Toodles <3

Dat anime

So this summer I've taken the chance to explore means of refining myself, and a big part of that was reconnection - not only with family but with my influences.  I've attempted to inspire my work through seeking works of other artists whom I admire and engaging in meticulous analysis.  However, I've since come to realize how backwards I've been!  One gets trapped within the awe of what can be achieved instead of focusing on what can be improved.  The goal is not to emulate a style but to recognize what appeals to me in order to strengthen my sensibilities.

Thus I've taken the moment to step back and to remember the cumulative experiences that define me until this day - to have a clear sense of where I am, so that I may focus on going forward from there.  In today's topic we'll explore one of my biggest influences: Anime.  In fact, characters like Rock Lee,  Goku, Edward Elric have all definitely influenced my ethos as a whole. (I certainly still eat like Goku)

I used to consume anime on a daily basis - fanboying on forums and learning ninja seals - I haven't followed a series in years!  I tend to joke that Gurren Lagann, my favorite completed series, "broke" anime for me.  Having set an impossible standard of epicness that makes all others pale in comparison.  And for the most part that's true.  It's hard to follow the feel-good, man tear inducing, story of the triumphant human spirit, with battles on the scale of Galaxy sized shuriken.  Everything else since then had generic art styles with dragged out monologues and hastily animated stills of extreme close ups.  It's as if what anime became to Japan as soap operas are to America!  I had gradually come to prefer the pacing of manga and eventually fell off the anime wagon - so to speak.  It didn't help that their seemed to be a stigma against it amongst my professors.

But this season things changed.  I had felt nostalgic with how enamored I used to be with the medium so I took the leap and buffered Attack on Titan.

Boy was that ever one of my greatest choices in life. Though the storytelling is thematically the complete opposite of Gurren Lagann, I absolutely love it.  It took my opinion of Japanese animation on it's head.  Now it still takes some typical shortcuts, the texture and atmosphere of the artwork was phenomenal.  That 3-D Maneuver action is amazing (step up yo' game Spider-Man cartoons)!  The characters are pretty compelling despite being pretty one note, probably because the world they live in is twisted and terrifying.  Plus, the thrill of the mystery kept me on the edge.  Real talk though: what's in that damn basement?!  I've never been one to jump on any band wagon but...

Watch it.

Make love to it.

Found myself spending the day catching up on the manga after the anime ran out of episodes, haha.  It will make you sweat profusely in awe of its intensity.  I'm gushing more than explaining right now so I'll cut the chatter here.

But seriously go watch it.

toodles <3 

Baby steps

Oh hey, what's this?

A successive post as planned??  That's new.  You better bet that there will be a whole bunch of new stuff happening. 

To be totally honest, I wanted to post something specific today.  Wanted to actually get a doodle up here.  But alas I let time get away from me as I chose to focus my attention elsewhere.  Normally that would stop me from posting altogether.  But today, I'm going to adapt so that I may keep my word.  Today, I'm trying something different.  Trying to something better.

Perhaps the word "trying" is the wrong word.  In the immortal words of Master Jedi Yoda: there is only, "[d]o, or do not.  No try."

I admit that I've always had the ambition and the passion to pursue so many ideas - too many, in fact.  Have you ever endeavored to do too many things at once?  It gets overwhelming and eventually you lose focus, ultimately falling short of everything in a failed juggling act.  This problem plagues me to this day, but I've girded my loins and am combating it with  clarity, discipline, and acceptance.

With clarity, I will clearly line out my goals.  No vague ninja riddles.  Instead of "I'm going to make blog posts more often," it will be, "I'm going to make blog posts every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday!"

With discipline I will block out all distractions and excuses.  We humans can be incredibly talented at many things and rationalization happens to be one of them.  It's way too easy to say, "I'll just do it when I'm better motivated," or "I'll just have one bite, this time", but a goal is a goal is a goal!  So I'll be following through as a grown ass-man.

With acceptance, I'll be less hard on myself.  One easily falls into the trap of perfectionism.  That's one of the main reasons I've shied away from posting many things.  You feel embarrassed because you think you could have done so much more.  Hell to tell you the truth I have half a mind to not post this at all!  Because - blah - let's face it, I sound like a overactive high school kid who just discovered his first self-help book.  Haha.

So there you have it.  Behold this shameless rushed mess of a blog post.  This may be the worst thing I've ever published!  And that's awesome.  Because I'm actually DOing.  From the worst it can only get better.

incoherently yours <3,
Stephan

Take care 'till Thursday!

Classic Stephan

Oh hai.  Back again my lovelies~

Let's not avoid the elephant in the room.  A post or two ago I might have promised a more rigorous weekly publishing schedule...and as you may have noticed it's been well over a week.  Months even. Though odds are I'm the only one reading this.  So that's a relief, tee hee.  Except no.  Get you're shit together, me!

So no more empty and naively ambitious promises from me.  You're just going to see me do it! 

To encourage the habit it would be appropriate to meditate on why I've always wanted to keep a blog.  Truth be told, for a long time I've had the feeling that my real life friends and acquaintances have gotten too comfortable in assuming who I am (God bless them, nonetheless), as if they've type-casted me as their happy-go-lucky good guy friendo.  Isn't it especially frustrating when those whom you hold closest merely assume things of you?  It goes something like this: "Oh here comes Stephan!  What kind of whacky thing will he say today?!"  "Guys, I think I'm bleeding.  Help."  "Hah.  Classic Stephan."

Naturally, I've yearned for an outlet for people to get a true and more wholesome picture of me.  Instead of streamlining their expectations, like some sort of static TV character. 

Don't lie.  You know you can only see this suave gentleman as nerdy Steve Urkel.

This is not a point of self pity because it's not just me - it seems everybody does this to everybody!  After all, it's much easier to rely on an assumption of somebody instead of taking the time to understand a situation wholly.  You cross the street to avoid running into a shady hooded figure, or you go to your helpful and studious friend for advice on work without considering that they're having a stressful day, or you neglect to notice a friend is feeling down because they're usually so playful.  It's like we've lost a deeper sense of connection.  After awhile, you start to lose yourself amongst all this generalization.

This leads to a sad revelation that it's entirely too easy to not be truthful to your self,  especially when living in this fast paced culture where people tend to streamline their impressions of others through stereotypes.  It goes like this: "I want people to start taking me seriously so I'm going to wear suits and punch more babies!" Or it could even cause you to sabotage yourself: "People always say I'm quiet.  I shouldn't even bother trying to be heard."  Either way, you start telling yourself what you should be, or how you should look, or how you should act; projecting yourself not as a living human being but as a manufactured human image.

Thus using blogger as an online journal (read: diary) has always appealed to me as a medium to record honest expressions of myself, for myself.  With the anonymity of the internet there's no real filter of someone's judgment to distract you from calling it as you see it!  

There's also no real filter of common decency.  Guess you gotta take the good with the bad, eh? :P

So what's stopped me until now?  Well I got to way too held up on what I wanted this blog to be, or look like.  Too many ideas and series aspirations gets to be overwhelming and ironically had kept me from posting in this sanctuary of honest expression.  Silly me.  

Ha.  Classic Stephan.

Alas, until I get a good grasp on this whole blogging thing, the posts will be splashes from my stream of consciousness.  In other words - it'll be coming from whatever my whims desire to express, in no particular, form, structure, tone, length, logic, or promise of grammatical professionalism.  Who knows, maybe I'll find a pattern to the madness and branch off into specifics from there.  Whatever the case, if I should ever lose sight of myself I can always refer to this special place to talk myself out of it and inspire introspection.  There's also the exciting possibility of striking a connection with like minded individuals who stumble upon this space!  So anyone who joins me on the ride, I truly hope you are entertained in some way.  Please chime in and maybe I can get to know you, too.  Enjoy the randomness!

Because that's what's in now, amirite.

Seriously.  This random show about the adventures of a talking Sponge and his magic dog using Kung Fu to save the Mushroom Kingdom from the Fire Nation has been popular for years.  

Well that's my two cents.  Penny for your thoughts?

Take care 'till Tuesday.