May 11th:

Can't sleep so I started working on this. Insomnia gets so bad sometimes. I did the sketch for this on my sketch pad, then I scanned it and printed it on marker paper. Came out alright so I copic-ed away.

Anyway, this was fun to work on, since I didn't care if I stayed within the lines (remember kindergarten and your teacher telling you, "Color within the line, children!" Well, I chucked that) and I kind if just experimented.

Half an hour of continuously blending circles with the colorless blender and I started feeling claustrophobic -_- I'm sure the dancing gnomes would have come a little while later had I not taken a break and gulped some alcohol-free air. Here I am 2 hours later and I'm still feeling the after-effects of too much marker smell.

I do love mermaids. In fact, I've loved mermaids even before I saw the Filipino movie "Dyesebel" with Alice Dixon. I don't recall exactly how I knew about the mer-people; I'm sure someone must have told a story. I had a little imaginary mermaid friend, even, who lived inside the faucet in the bath tub. She came out to play when we turned the tap on to fill it up. I remember she was tiny and fit in my palm. Hmm, wonder what happened to her...

"The Little Mermaid" was my very first Disney movie, and I didn't see that till I was about eight or nine. That first sequence after they show Prince Eric and it cuts to the fish who escaped the boat, I was so filled with wonder at my first sight of the mer folks. I remember it had given me goose bumps. What ever happened to cartoons like that? Oh the joy that had once been Disney O_o

Before I go to bed, here's a close-up of my mermaid:
   Even though this was just practice, I really do see that I have a lot to work on still. I'm not comfortable yet with my light source: I find myself forgetting sometimes to establish shadows in the right areas and that's bad bad bad. Also, I must really like pointilism since I find myself poking dots 80% of the time without realizing exactly why I chose dotting. I haven't added high lights yet, by the way. I'll do it tomorrow and post an update, but for now my head aches so darned badly from the blender marker. Let this be a lesson unto ye: use it only in a ventilated area.

G'Night!