Every year a friend of ours throws a swanky "dress to the nines" sort of soirre. As usual I took a ton of photos, but a zillion photos of people you probably don't know isn't nearly as exciting as a couple of photos of people you DO happen to know.

Nothing like a friend who will dress up in costume with you and pose for goofy photos at the office.

Happy Halloween!

(Does anyone know why my Blog posts don't show up on the main page anymore?)

Anyway, here are a couple that I figured you wouldn't mind seeing here...

I'll be posting these in my LJ, since I don't have access to any other boards that aren't completely and absolutely open to the public.

Cheers!

Yesterday my "Lateral Promotion" was finalized. As in, my new title was posted on our website and it was mentioned to me that I'm now the "Print Graphics Specialist." Snu? Well, apparently the reward for good work is craploads of more work, all of them with the deadline of "ASAP." No, I don't get a raise. Yes, I apparently have inherited a lot more things to get yelled at for. I also get additional graphics jobs to do in addition to the normal bookwork. At least they did tell me that they were hiring on a new graphics person. Still not sure how I feel about the whole thing, but there ya go.

I have over a hundred photos of the 'con-- most will probably get someone in trouble, but hey...

T's Dragon*Con Photos: 2007

Here are a couple of the highlights:

The sketchbook entry was done when I was happy to be speaking with Shieldhaven on the phone, post-GenCon-- it is something of a smoke screen for what's going on in my head right now.

Essentially, whenever the baser and worst in people comes out despite my hopes to the contrary, it gets me pretty down. The short version of the story is that I got cheated, called a liar, and am now stuck with an item that I don't want-- and of course I don't feel like dragging this through Paypal mediation. Anyway, if any of you know of someone who'd like a Slytherin robe (NOT made by me) never worn, from a non-smoking home-- drop me a line. At least maybe someone will derive some enjoyment out of the thing. (It was simply too big. I tried to return it, was called a cheat and a liar, and am now stuck with it.) The lesson I've learned? When in doubt, don't try to cut corners. Don't think that throwing money at a problem will solve it. Don't expect people to be decent human beings when there's money involved. Meh. Sometimes people suck.

As for me and my own costuming: I recognize now that I should just stick to making my own, and have done so at this point. On the vaguely good side: I found out that a custom BSG Duty Blues uniform (which I've gotten pretty good at making, having made a total of 3 complete from last year and working on three more for this year) sell for upwards of $400.00 USD. Maybe I should quit my day job.

Slowly but surely I'm pulling together costuming for D*C. This year will be the year of BSG as well as the year of the Hogwarts.

I am a Slytherin, and proud of it! So absolutely I will be there in my Hogwarts school uniform, complete with 3-and-a-half-inch-heel Mary Janes. (I'm in Slytherin. What?)

Of course there'll be photos.

It's time for the "Tiassa random blog entry of the month!" This time, it's photos of Eclipse, another LARP but one set in the Sci-fi genre. (Yes, we're in a dance club). There was a "pit fight," complete with techno fight-music and somebody who'd yell "FIGHT!" before every match.

Be warned, there are A LOT of photos. A bit more than a hundred, if you must know. But just in case you're not completely bored at work, here's one of the best:

Clearly, the Imperium is going to conquer the galaxy if for no other reason than the shaggin' outfits.

A lull in the workday meant I had time to poke at some recent and not-so-recent screenshots. I work for Photobooks, a company that specializes in pictorial online and print directories. So I figured... why not?

So here are a few SCARABs, photobook-style: (Click on a thumbnail for a larger screenshot)

The weekend was pretty full with a friend's Housewarming/St. Patrick's Day bash, sewing, and a visit from Shieldhaven. No WoW to speak of at all, beyond a little quick sketching late yesterday. Not much, but I figure I'd post it since it's Scarab-related.

In an effort to actually FINISH some paintings, I figure I'd post progress reports in my various blogs. Kind of like those "support me as I get in shape" (which I need to do, actually) things; except for art. So, without further ado:

The Knight is one of the companion pieces to the Princess of Wands. Originally I wanted to do at least four of them-- the Knight of Swords, the Queen of Disks, the Prince of Cups, and the Princess of Wands. While I don't know if I can do all three of the remaining images this year (they take a while, since they're all watercolor on grounded paper) I want to finish the Knight.

Really overdue update, so this one is long and a touch on the rambling side…

I turned down another job offer in Irvine, CA. Some of you can probably guess what it was, but I’ll leave the details purposefully vague. Mostly it was out of a sense of not wanting to be so distant from friends and relatives here on the east coast. S’ok… I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy, and knowing that I actually am good enough to make it in the arena of professional illustration and such is a valuable treasure. It’ll certainly keep me going when I’m slogging away on a Bar Association book.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_ryNJVreiY

Really more of a quick sketch-study. I'm currently on a Masterstudy kick... prepping for another major sketch. Most people recognize these very famous hands. Not Rodin's Hand of God or anything, but still famous. Though not as famous as her smile.

While gaming, I tend to sketch (I bet you're shocked).

Avarael Priestess of Pelor (Old-School Grayhawk)

Been pretty quiet, but here's a quick update:

So, this past Saturday there was a holiday party... Shieldhaven couldn't be there, so I got a stand-in date (well, sorta). Here's another of Mikasha and Miri and our friend Todd who's going away to the great white north to get his Master's Degree in some kind of Viral destruction.

Last Sunday was my birthday (I am officially 21-plus), and going home for the holidays was wonderful.

For the Guild History, as well as for general purpose Tiassa-randomness:

Thus far, here are a few of the screenshots I've collected-- some are in the process of becoming Art and possible sigs-- so if you want to be in on things (and appear in the History!) drop me a line!

Human Fire-spec'd mage.
(Edit: Darnit, why on earth does an edit always delete the original post? Gr!)

Human Fire-spec'd mage.

This weekend I'll be part of the panel that reviews Portfolios for RISD (my alma mater). As part of my preparations, I've been going over lots of artwork-- on Deviantart, professional work, comics, anything I could get my hands on to evaluate. When I saw the latest Blizzard art contest winners I thought: I can so pwn that contest. So this is me, challenging myself to pull together work for this thing. The artwork/sig stuff will be much-needed practice, so to everyone who has sent me stuff-- thanks. And to those who haven't-- SEND STUFF. Seriously. I need subject material, and who better than fellow guildies?

My Hallow's Eve festivities were cut a bit short due to the fact that I had to attend a wedding, and sadly BSG attire wasn't appropriate (though I got major props for having my uniform out in the car). I work in a fairly relaxed office anyway, so yesterday wasn't all that different from the usual except some people were wearing obvious costumes (instead of garb or LARPwear or pyjamas or... whatever). During the day I wandered around in off-duty-wear, since it's comfortable.

Inked yesterday's sketch. Let me start by saying that Sharpie sucks as an inking tool, but sadly it was that and a Pilot G-2 pen, as it's all I can find around my office desk. If I have another huge printing run, I'll be able to get to coloring and tinting sometime this evening...

Well... because the host kept losing the connection (IP conflicts) and things were moving slowly (he had WAY too many programs open in his tray at once) things were.... difficult.

These are my notes.

As you can see, I don't think that we'll solve the transparency/flattening/vector/duotone issue any time soon between multiple platforms (Quark and Adobe). But I got down a few good ideas for a new project, which I'll post progress on, especially if we have more seminars.

I've been on a creative kick lately-- too much naval-gazing I suppose. In any case, what this means for you guys is the possibility of some original artwork (most likely) in the form of a signature file.

I recall some of the Leadership musing over such a thing as a prize or what have you for some sort of Guild-related activity... so I'm open to ideas for how best to throw this out there.

Essentially, what you'd be getting (Act Now! Operators are standing by!) is some sort of original artwork, by me, related to your character. Main, Alt, in Gear that You Can't Possibly Own Yet... I don't care... it'd be your choice. Granted, I get to pick everything else, but I think you would probably like what I come up with.