New Holiday Wallpaper

The new holiday wallpaper in the fantasy series is now up. Check out the Fighter wallpaper in the Holiday section!

New Icons/Avatars

I just put up some new holiday icons and avatars based off of the Mechapumpkin and Sorceress wallpapers. You can head over to the Holiday Icons page to look at and download them.

Later this week, I will also post some nice snowflake icons/avatars and wallpapers, as well as the next themed wallpaper on the Holiday Fantasy Wallpapers series, so either subscribe to this blog or keep checking back.

Enjoy!

New Wallpaper - Holiday Sorceress

I've just posted a new wallpaper for Dec. 1st, a holiday-themed fantasy wallpaper in the Fantasy section:


Click here to check it out! I hope you enjoy it. It's a continuation of the holiday Fantasy series from last year (if you'll recall the holiday-themed elven wizard) and there'll be more all through this month and January, a wallpaper for each traditional fantasy class. I hope you enjoy them!

New Wallpaper

I finally finished the last Halloween wallpaper. It's only a month late, right? Well, I spent a lot of October moving up north - and then had some problems with the computer overheating, eventually solved by removing a large furball from my CPU fan. I can't be angry with Bunbun, though... shedding all over everything is just her way of expressing love.

Anyway, so here it is, the Mecha Pumpkin Cat-girl halloween wallpaper:

Head over to the Holiday Wallpapers section to download it. It's also available in cell-phone-friendly resolutions!

The next few wallpapers will be winter holiday wallpapers, along with a few greeting cards, so I hope you're looking forward to December as much as I am.

Update

My computer finally arrived (I had to ship it) but I won't have an internet connection on that PC until my router arrives.

It should be today or tomorrow, but this is an older DSL setup so I'm not sure how easy it will be to configure. I guess we'll see!

Back.

I dissappeared for a while and haven't been able to post the Halloween wallpaper I did. That's because I've moved to Chicago and didn't have access to my computer while it was being shipped - between packing up and shipping, I didn't have time to finish and post the wallpaper. So - here I am, on a borrowed computer. I've had my computer shipped up here, but won't have access to it until tomorrow. I guess you're getting the Halloween wallpaper a bit late.

Little Witch

New Halloween wallpaper up - yes, another 'cute' one.



It's over in the Holiday section - go check it out.

There'll be a few more up over the next few weeks, and I promise that not all of them will be so 'cute'.

OM NOM NOM

As you recall, I posted the kitten wallpaper a while ago -- yesterday, anyway. Well, I think it was.

Anyway, somebody has helpfully contributed this:



As a friend commented: it feels like 1999 all over again!

Thanks, Mike.

Prints

A friend referred me to a potentially better online venue, especially for prints. I've converted the "Tropical Dragons" wallpaper to a print available for purchase at Zazzle:

Tropical Dragons by deathbycute
Get Poster printing Done at www.Zazzle.com

"Halloween Kittens and a Punkin'" is also available as a print:

Halloween Kittens and a Punkin'
by

deathbycute

Large format Poster printing From zazzle.com

It seems like I can only do them in ginormous "portfolio" size, which I suppose is o.k. - after all, the prints only cost $9.95 each, and they're fairly large (15"x 11" in the case of the kittens).

I haven't fully explored the gallery possibilities, but it seems as if there are some potentially powerful tools - like the RSS feed and a few other things.

Kitten Mug

I love coffee and my mother collects coffee-mugs, so I know there are probably other coffee-mug collectors out there.

To that end, I've plastered the latest Halloween image on a coffee mug, which you can find here in the Deathbycute.com online store.

It will only be up until the end of October, when it will get switched out for either a Thanksgiving mug (I'm not so gung-ho on Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure) or a Christmas mug. I'd keep them all up at once but I doubt that a Halloween mug will sell very well in January, and a free Cafepress store can only have one of each type of product up at a time.

There's been at least one request for a dragon-themed something, but the dragon images I have right now require a little editing before they'll be available. I may make some prints available later on.

Still thinking about a photo section - not sure if it's really worthwhile, since it runs against the theme of this site, unless I manage to take some really interesting photographs.

More Halloween wallpapers to come in the upcoming weeks.

Kittens & 'Punkins

I'm getting started on these early this year. There's a new Halloween wallpaper available in the Holiday Wallpapers section (yes, it works now):


Check it out!

New Wallpaper

New wallpaper up in the "Cute" section - Piles of Stars:

Check it out.

Yeah, I've realized that the Fantasy section has started taking over a little bit. I'm working on a series of holiday wallpapers, but the majority of the Halloween ones will not be Fantasy.

Party Games

This is sort of a continuation of the last post - "things that make Hana happy".

I talk about video games a lot. Ever since I moved, I haven't been around my old friends and haven't socialized much. This is sad. However, I was thinking about when Crystel and I used to throw "game parties", which are essentially parties where you play video games. It made me miss throwing game parties, which I wish I could do but isn't feasible where I currently live for various reasons.

Obviously, a large part of a game party is... the party games. Granted, your game selection shouldn't be the only thing that determines how much fun your party-goers have, but it can have a big impact. I always try to have a little bit of something for everybody - the people who like shooters, the strategists, the button-mashers, the trivia-fiends, and the people who aren't necessarily "hard-core" gamers (or really gamers at all), or just like silly random party games.

I've seen lists of party games online and I don't know if I agree with them all, but here are a few that tend to go down really well at parties I throw:

Console Games:
Mario Party - Any iterations of this game are going to go over well at most parties. Mario Party 8 is the newest... this is a series that consistently gets good reviews, and few people hate it (unlike Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart, which some people do harbor a hatred for), so it's a pretty safe party selection.
Super Smash Bros. - Another party staple.
Mario Kart - Ditto.
HALO - You'll see this at most college parties. Mixing up regular matches with variant rules like Zombie Halo can be really fun.
Dance Dance Revolution - pretty fun, but only two people can play at once.
Guitar Hero - ditto.
Buzz! Trivia games - Some of my friends are trivia fiends, so a good party trivia game is a must-have for any game party. Buzz! The Mega Quiz is for PS2, and I believe that Buzz! TV is being released later this month for PS3 as well. Both have gotten good reviews. You can play a little online flash version here.

Computer Games:
Unreal Tournament III, Warcraft and Starcraft - Classic LAN party games. Warcraft III is one of my favorite games of all time.

Rats!

More antics in my household, things are interesting. Haven't been updating much due to a few bizarre occurrences:
- More viruses, which has been a problem since we've moved and I don't understand why.
- All of the toilets in the house backed up into the bathtubs. It was taken care of by our landlord within a day.
- We have a small furry resident that we didn't know about, and other members of the household are completely freaked out by him. Unfortunately, this is just part of living in Florida. I keep reminding them that it's a rat, not the Terminator, and he isn't going to kill them in their sleep or leap from the shadows to shank them in the back. We got a rat zapper to kill the little buggers - I say buggers, because where there's one, there's always more. Mom is incredibly enthusiastic about the
(alright, say this in the awesome echoey TV superhero voice):

"RAT... ZAPPER... ULTRA!!!"


...that we ordered, and anxiously awaits its shipment. She checked them all out and it was the best one. I just think it looks really cool. Of course, it would look cooler with a dead rat in it, so it stops peeing all over the place.

For the "omg that's horrible" people, this isn't a cuddly pet rat. I'd like to state that I love pet rats, they're fuzzy and cute and very intelligent. I knew some people had two pet rats named Nourishing and Dangerous Bean, and they were awesome pets.

To clarify, this is a cuddly baby pet rat.

And this is a roof rat, found in Florida - more specifically, in my bathroom.

This thing, after having seen it personally, is not fuzzy and cute. It eats garbage. It gnawed through a bag of nasty, noxious garbage that smelled like Bigfoot's underwear and consumed part of the contents. It also pees all over my bathroom.

Something Interesting For Once

Sorry for the lack of updates. A relative's computer came down with the worst strain of Vundo that I've dealt with before, I've been trying to clean it up because she doesn't want to reformat. Needless to say, it was a nightmare.

Nonetheless, a combination of root-kit trojan removers, Avast's pre-boot scanner, the judicious use of a registry editor, about ten pots of coffee and a six-pack of beer have obliterated all traces of it from her computer system. Let's hope it stays that way.

Forget about that, though - that's depressing.

I realize that I never talk about much that's interesting in this blog and it's bound to drive people away. So I'll talk about things I'm excited about.

Obviously, games. Wrath of the Lich King will be coming out soon and everybody is going nuts over it. I've seen the trailers and I admit that I'm excited, too. I stopped playing World of Warcraft a while back, partly due to the cost and partly because it eats up so much time - but I may start when WotLC comes out. I just started playing Warcraft III again earlier this summer and it reminded me exactly how much I loved World of Warcraft. I know why I quit (after all, you're here at this website, which only exists and is updated because I gave up my WoW habit...) From what I've gathered - rumors about the beta and such - it is likely to be "ZOMG amazing".

On the other hand, I really miss playing with my brother, my friends, and my old guild mates (I miss you guys...). Sometimes WoW is the closest you can come to hanging out in-person with distant friends. I usually wind up dropping the game once I get to max level simply because end-game raids don't interest me all that much. Call me a n00b if you will, but I really prefer questing and the sense of accomplishment that comes with leveling up. It means I end up with alt-itus (a zillion different alternate characters on various servers). Gear doesn't fascinate me all that much, beyond the fact that it makes things easier to kill. WotLC will mean that, once again, I get to level up by questing.

Thinking about all of that good stuff has put me in a much better mood. Hope it brightened up your day, too. Here's wishing everyone a few months of anticipation and sweet dreams of sugarplums and undead armies.

Creepy Cat Wants You

...for breakfast.



Now available in the horror section.

Impending Updates

I've got some new wallpapers, but they don't really fit in any existing section. I'll be updating the wallpapers section to include a 'photos' section.

New Wallpaper

There's a fierce new wallpaper available in the Fantasy section. Go check it out!

New Tutorials

Two new tutorials up!

For those of you who'd like to emulate a cell-shaded effect (all the rage on the Internet these days), head over to the Mock Cell-Shading Digital Paint Tutorial. It focuses on using GIMP, but the techniques are still perfectly applicable to Photoshop.

There's a much simpler tutorial on using the Scissors (magnetic lasso) tool and Paths tool to create selections in GIMP here.

New Dragon Icons

If you head over here, you'll discover some new fantasy dragon icons I've created from the new wallpaper posted yesterday. Available in all of the usual resolutions, and 50x50 unwatermarked for Yahoo! Answers users. Enjoy!

New Wallpaper

Sorry for the delay.

The power surge that knocked out the power source on another computer must have also gotten to my monitor. The monitor already had issues, they just became worse and worse over the past few days. I had to stop working on the wallpaper and basically go out and buy a new monitor. I've switched from a CRT to an LCD, so far so good.

Here's the new wallpaper, click the thumbnail to view the full sized (1440x900) image. Other resolutions will be available and the new wallpaper will go up in the Fantasy section as soon as I've finished resizing and watermarking the images.

The subject matter - dragons, waterfall, flowers... three things I like. I hope you like them, too.

Fuzzy Goggles

I created these at James' (from badideasonline.net) request:







Unfortunately, aside from being fuzzy, the goggles do nothing.
The idea wasn't so much a 'request' as an ill-fated off-hand remark -- however, now that I've created them (and am mailing them), I fully expect him to wear them. I also have superglue and a thin layer of fake fur all over my hands, the feeling is bizarre.

Alright, I'm a little behind on the latest wallpaper update, because my computer has been chugging on the Photoshop file. I've been working at a higher resolution than I normally do, for various reasons, and the computer does not appreciate it.
I've taken to playing quick games of Solitaire while I wait for the image to load, a layer to be created, layers to be merged, et cetera. Incidentally, I've discovered that I suck at Solitaire.

In any case, I'm nearly done with it. Here's a small preview:



As long as my computer cooperates and I continue to suck at Solitaire, it'll probably be finished tonight/tomorrow, I'll post an update.

Another Tutorial - How to Prepare for a High School Portfolio Review

I have written up another tutorial in response to something that somebody asked on Yahoo! Answers. My answer didn't fit in the answer field, so I've typed it up here.

I would like to stress that I am NOT a teacher, and I'm not trying to stand in for one. I'm just trying to provide a bit of advice to a high school kid who's concerned about how to prepare for her impending portfolio review.

This tutorial was originally posted in this blog entry, but then I realized how incredibly LONG it was. Wall o' text, indeed. I chopped it up for easy digestion, and placed it in my tutorials section - you can read it here.

Unrelated to anything

This thing is awesome. Just look at that thing. Imagine... you narrowly escape from a pack of wolves. You think you're safe, then suddenly...

CRABS DESCEND FROM THE TREES.

I know that's not how it works, but it was still awesome in my mind.

Sculpture

Krystal sent me some photographs of the finished, full-size version of the Piano Monster sculpture I designed a little bit over a year ago. It was part of a student project during my senior year, and one of two student sculptures to actually get built. I didn't sculpt it myself, and I'm currently double-checking with Krystal about whom I should to give credit to for the actual sculpture. I wasn't involved in the sculpting process itself, as I was in another city - out of necessity. I'm thrilled with how it turned out, though. The silver sculpture in the background of the third picture, "Birth of Rock", was designed by another student involved in the project. Both sculptures are located in the Heavy Metal Graveyard at the Hard Rock Theme Park in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Moving

Almost done moving from crappy old apt. to a nicer house. Yeah, a house. I'll have a lot more work-space, and an actual bed, rather than sleeping on the couch/floor. A vast improvement!

I've got some more content to put up, but the hard drives, chips, and disks containing it are in the new house. We're trying to get the internet hooked up right now.

Unfortunately, I have yet to see any photographs of the sculpture that I designed. This is pretty dissappointing. I may have to drive up to South Carolina soon and take photographs, myself. The main thing stopping me has been finances - it's not a cheap trip, but the cost of airfare is about equal to the cost of gas, and if I drive then I don't have to deal with the TSA. My brother is "randomly" pulled out of line at the airport EVERY SINGLE TIME we fly, and it's a huge hassle. It's not his fault that he looks so suspiciously "Eastern European" - it's just our ancestry.

I recently quit my job working graveyard shift at a local store because of the increasing crime rate in the area. It's not that Venice itself isn't incredibly safe, so much as that the surrounding cities lately are getting to be sort of... not. It means I'll be working on art full-time and piecing together an income from several different art-related sources - however, lately, it's been more and more feasible for me to actually DO that. The new house also has a tiled area in the garage where I can put down a drop-cloth and easel - so I will actually be able to paint.

The comic series I've been plugging away at is nearing completion, and starting to resemble something like an actual comic-book rather than a pile of scribbles. I'll be printing it in the conventional manner - however, I may also offer it digitally, mainly because I know that if it gains any sort of readership somebody is just going to scan it and put up a torrent anyway. Issue 1 won't be available for a month or two, as I've still got some issues to work out with the FontForge software and its immense hatred of Windows. FontForge wasn't originally meant to run on Windows, so this is understandable. It requires me to use Cygwin and do some command-line mumbo jumbo, which drives me up the wall, so I may cave and just letter the comic on my Linux machine, saving myself a bit of grief. I may capitalize on the situation and do a tutorial on using FontForge in Windows, but this all depends on whether or not I toss the computer out the window first.

Change of Location

In case you hadn't noticed, I've switched from posting on my own webspace to hosting this blog on Blogger.

Since 80% of the time, Blogger seems absolutely incapable of posting anything via FTP to my server space, I've moved over here. I've gotten tired of waiting for two hours for a post to "take". At least this way, I know that when I update the blog, I won't have to sit and fight with it in order to get it to post.

Developments

There's something awesome I'd like to post on here, but I can't until I can get ahold of the people involved. It involves a project I worked on while still in college. More about that later, assuming I can get ahold of anyone.

I've also recently posted a Provider Profile on iFreelance.com. Go and check it out, if you're curious.

Updates

Converted several existing wallpapers to cell-phone and psp resolutions. You'll find them mostly in the Girls and Horror sections. No completely new stuff up this week, unfortunately.

T-Shirts

I added a new wallpaper to the Fantasy section, as well as a new Fantasy icon. The Online Store is also up and running, for the most part.

I will do additional tweaks to the website (it still needs them) and continue working on a cell/PDA portal, but for the most part the focus will be converting existing wallpapers to cell phone/PDA resolutions, and putting up new content.

Revamp 99% Complete

I hope you like the new look of the site.

It took surprisingly little time to put together. The superficial improvements are part of it, but I've changed quite a few nuts and bolts as well.

You'll see more small edits over the next few weeks, and maybe some rearrangements. Some of the Wallpaper/Icon sections may be combined, and a new category added; I may re-add the "Skins" section as a subcategory of Templates. Quizzes and Books will eventually be added, as well.

However, the bulk of what will be going on in the immediate future is a cell/portable mirror, which I will be adding around the middle of next week (probably Tuesday). It may not be pretty at first, as I do not have a TON of experience with designing something "pretty" for portable/hand-held devices. I have designed working websites for hand-held devices (none of which are currently up on the 'net) but making something that looks nice without choking your phone or driving your phone bill up into the stratosphere is another thing.

Cell phone wallpapers will still become available over the next week or so, whether or not the site gets launched before the middle of next week. There will also be a few new icons and wallpapers going up. I know there isn't enough content on the site, and I'm trying to rectify that matter.

The "merchandise" section currently goes to an "UNDER CONSTRUCTION" page, but hopefully, within the next month, it will lead to an online store.

Enjoy, everyone... and stay cheerful.

Impending Updates

Over the course of the next week or so, the website may have intermittent periods of downtime as I work on an overhaul. I'm still debating how much to change the physical appearance, but I will be doing a lot of work on the back end - optimizing code, and the like. I will also be adding mirrors for people using PDAs, cell phones, and other portable devices, as well as adding wallpapers in smaller resolutions for people using such devices.

I'll also be finishing up a few images/quizzes that have been languishing on my hard drive, and possibly setting up an online store for T-shirts and such. This section will be added on in the revamp, although there may not be much up at first.

I've also finished the third rough draft of the comic I'm working on and plan on releasing the first issue some time around July or August. It will probably be done in a Print on Demand format. I'll post more about that as the project nears completion.

Impending

Not Dead Yet

Mike and I didn't finish the Holiday quiz, because unfortunately holidays happened. However, we're still working on it, and plan on posting it in July. Christmas in July, har har. Actually, most of it is done, I just need to finish the illustrations which are unfortunately on a hard drive that I can't access at the moment.

I'm currently researching publishers for the comic I've been working on, hoping to print it - it's not the webcomic (which went nowhere, precisely because the one I am currently working on captured my interest so completely). It's a horror comic about a vampire hunter, and I've been aiming for a sort of Kill Bill-meets-Interview With the Vampire feel, while maybe channeling a bit of Highlander.

Problem is, weighing the options - proposals to established publishers, self-publishing, Publish on Demand, etc. - is tricky. There are a lot of review sites out there. Some of the reviews seem reputable, some of them... not so much.
I'm on draft #3, which is essentially a readable (but nearly final) rough draft, which I've been floating by people who, to me, represent different kinds of readers. What I have left to do is essentially a few edits (based on feedback from the readers and the other writer) before I polish the pencils and start inking and lettering.