So because my series 7 winsor & newton brushes had been letting me down, I recently purchased some rosemary & co brushes (upon the recommendation of bybystarlight).  I received them today, and did a preliminary test in my sketchbook with them.  Keeping in mind its rough, low-quality sketchbook paper and not bristol, here’s the result, and my thoughts (so far) on the brushes. The two brushes I got were both #2 size, one in kolinsky sable the other in squirrel hair.  I had never tried a squirrel brush before (it is the one with shorter bristles) and Im not sure I like it.  It does not hold as fine of a point as the sable and does not hold as much ink either.  It is also less springy and stiff and kind of spongey.  (The chunkier areas in the scarf pattern were done with the squirrel hair, the finer areas were done with the sable).  Still worth trying out though. Also keeping in mind that my hands shake pretty bad at times, the kolinsky brush was very nice and pulled pretty even lines.  It also drybrushed fairly well and I could get very fine details from it.  There did seem to be some stray shorter bristles, but the brush still continued to keep a nice point (a problem I’ve been having with my w&n brushes recently) and had some nice spring.  I do wish there was a thicker handle, as one of the reasons I will often default to my pentel pocket brush is because of the fat handle (again, because of my shaky hands its a little easier to hold … wow, should I be admitting health problems like this at 26?) but having the ability to control the amount of ink and the nicer bristles do make me want to use real brushes (there’s probably a grip I can put on brushes, I may go look for that tomorrow.  Worst case I’ll just wrap tape around the handle.) The biggest draw about these brushes was the price, though.  I got both of these brushes AND shipping from the UK for less than it costs for a single series 7 brush (size 2).  Because the winsor and newton brushes were being so inconsistent and having so many problems, I’d much rather pay a lot less to get a brush that is comparable (if not better) in quality, even if I have to wait a few weeks to get it.   My only thought … so when are they goign to make a cat-hair brush?  I have plenty of fur lying around my house for one….
Zoom Info
So because my series 7 winsor & newton brushes had been letting me down, I recently purchased some rosemary & co brushes (upon the recommendation of bybystarlight).  I received them today, and did a preliminary test in my sketchbook with them.  Keeping in mind its rough, low-quality sketchbook paper and not bristol, here’s the result, and my thoughts (so far) on the brushes. The two brushes I got were both #2 size, one in kolinsky sable the other in squirrel hair.  I had never tried a squirrel brush before (it is the one with shorter bristles) and Im not sure I like it.  It does not hold as fine of a point as the sable and does not hold as much ink either.  It is also less springy and stiff and kind of spongey.  (The chunkier areas in the scarf pattern were done with the squirrel hair, the finer areas were done with the sable).  Still worth trying out though. Also keeping in mind that my hands shake pretty bad at times, the kolinsky brush was very nice and pulled pretty even lines.  It also drybrushed fairly well and I could get very fine details from it.  There did seem to be some stray shorter bristles, but the brush still continued to keep a nice point (a problem I’ve been having with my w&n brushes recently) and had some nice spring.  I do wish there was a thicker handle, as one of the reasons I will often default to my pentel pocket brush is because of the fat handle (again, because of my shaky hands its a little easier to hold … wow, should I be admitting health problems like this at 26?) but having the ability to control the amount of ink and the nicer bristles do make me want to use real brushes (there’s probably a grip I can put on brushes, I may go look for that tomorrow.  Worst case I’ll just wrap tape around the handle.) The biggest draw about these brushes was the price, though.  I got both of these brushes AND shipping from the UK for less than it costs for a single series 7 brush (size 2).  Because the winsor and newton brushes were being so inconsistent and having so many problems, I’d much rather pay a lot less to get a brush that is comparable (if not better) in quality, even if I have to wait a few weeks to get it.   My only thought … so when are they goign to make a cat-hair brush?  I have plenty of fur lying around my house for one….
Zoom Info
So because my series 7 winsor & newton brushes had been letting me down, I recently purchased some rosemary & co brushes (upon the recommendation of bybystarlight).  I received them today, and did a preliminary test in my sketchbook with them.  Keeping in mind its rough, low-quality sketchbook paper and not bristol, here’s the result, and my thoughts (so far) on the brushes. The two brushes I got were both #2 size, one in kolinsky sable the other in squirrel hair.  I had never tried a squirrel brush before (it is the one with shorter bristles) and Im not sure I like it.  It does not hold as fine of a point as the sable and does not hold as much ink either.  It is also less springy and stiff and kind of spongey.  (The chunkier areas in the scarf pattern were done with the squirrel hair, the finer areas were done with the sable).  Still worth trying out though. Also keeping in mind that my hands shake pretty bad at times, the kolinsky brush was very nice and pulled pretty even lines.  It also drybrushed fairly well and I could get very fine details from it.  There did seem to be some stray shorter bristles, but the brush still continued to keep a nice point (a problem I’ve been having with my w&n brushes recently) and had some nice spring.  I do wish there was a thicker handle, as one of the reasons I will often default to my pentel pocket brush is because of the fat handle (again, because of my shaky hands its a little easier to hold … wow, should I be admitting health problems like this at 26?) but having the ability to control the amount of ink and the nicer bristles do make me want to use real brushes (there’s probably a grip I can put on brushes, I may go look for that tomorrow.  Worst case I’ll just wrap tape around the handle.) The biggest draw about these brushes was the price, though.  I got both of these brushes AND shipping from the UK for less than it costs for a single series 7 brush (size 2).  Because the winsor and newton brushes were being so inconsistent and having so many problems, I’d much rather pay a lot less to get a brush that is comparable (if not better) in quality, even if I have to wait a few weeks to get it.   My only thought … so when are they goign to make a cat-hair brush?  I have plenty of fur lying around my house for one….
Zoom

So because my series 7 winsor & newton brushes had been letting me down, I recently purchased some rosemary & co brushes (upon the recommendation of bybystarlight).  I received them today, and did a preliminary test in my sketchbook with them.  Keeping in mind its rough, low-quality sketchbook paper and not bristol, here’s the result, and my thoughts (so far) on the brushes.

The two brushes I got were both #2 size, one in kolinsky sable the other in squirrel hair.  I had never tried a squirrel brush before (it is the one with shorter bristles) and Im not sure I like it.  It does not hold as fine of a point as the sable and does not hold as much ink either.  It is also less springy and stiff and kind of spongey.  (The chunkier areas in the scarf pattern were done with the squirrel hair, the finer areas were done with the sable).  Still worth trying out though.

Also keeping in mind that my hands shake pretty bad at times, the kolinsky brush was very nice and pulled pretty even lines.  It also drybrushed fairly well and I could get very fine details from it.  There did seem to be some stray shorter bristles, but the brush still continued to keep a nice point (a problem I’ve been having with my w&n brushes recently) and had some nice spring.  I do wish there was a thicker handle, as one of the reasons I will often default to my pentel pocket brush is because of the fat handle (again, because of my shaky hands its a little easier to hold … wow, should I be admitting health problems like this at 26?) but having the ability to control the amount of ink and the nicer bristles do make me want to use real brushes (there’s probably a grip I can put on brushes, I may go look for that tomorrow.  Worst case I’ll just wrap tape around the handle.)

The biggest draw about these brushes was the price, though.  I got both of these brushes AND shipping from the UK for less than it costs for a single series 7 brush (size 2).  Because the winsor and newton brushes were being so inconsistent and having so many problems, I’d much rather pay a lot less to get a brush that is comparable (if not better) in quality, even if I have to wait a few weeks to get it.  

My only thought … so when are they goign to make a cat-hair brush?  I have plenty of fur lying around my house for one….

Numbers stations are mysterious shortwave radio channels of indiscernible origin that exist in countries all across the world and have been reported since World War 1. They are identifiable by the unusual contents of their broadcasts: seemingly random sequences of numbers, words, letters, tunes, and Morse code, usually spoken by artificially generated voices of women and children. The most common theory regarding the purpose of these bizarre stations is that they’re used by governments the world over to secretly transmit encrypted commands and messages to spies. That said, even though numbers stations have been discovered all over the globe and in any number of different languages, no government has ever officially acknowledged their existence. While the espionage theory is a logical one, with no official confirmation of their purpose the jury is still out. One particularly odd station, UVB-76, has existed since the late 1970s and has broadcast a simple, repetitive buzzing tone 24 hours a day ever since. On very rare occasions, however, listeners have reported a Russian voice interrupting the buzz to read out sequences of numbers and words, always in a consistent format — this happened once in 1997, once in 2002, once in 2006, 56 times in 2010, and 14 in 2011. As with all numbers stations, its true purpose is and will probably remain unknown, but the increase in frequency of whatever it’s doing is certainly odd. You can listen to well over 100 recordings of numbers stations for free on archive.org but be forewarned that they’re all kind of, well, eerie. They feel like something you shouldn’t be listening to, which stands to reason since apparently you’re not supposed to know they exist. I really love number stations cause they’re cool as all get out, but they also really scare me.  Like, do not listen to while you are home alone, even with the lights on scare me.
Zoom

Numbers stations are mysterious shortwave radio channels of indiscernible origin that exist in countries all across the world and have been reported since World War 1. They are identifiable by the unusual contents of their broadcasts: seemingly random sequences of numbers, words, letters, tunes, and Morse code, usually spoken by artificially generated voices of women and children.

The most common theory regarding the purpose of these bizarre stations is that they’re used by governments the world over to secretly transmit encrypted commands and messages to spies. That said, even though numbers stations have been discovered all over the globe and in any number of different languages, no government has ever officially acknowledged their existence. While the espionage theory is a logical one, with no official confirmation of their purpose the jury is still out.

One particularly odd station, UVB-76, has existed since the late 1970s and has broadcast a simple, repetitive buzzing tone 24 hours a day ever since. On very rare occasions, however, listeners have reported a Russian voice interrupting the buzz to read out sequences of numbers and words, always in a consistent format — this happened once in 1997, once in 2002, once in 2006, 56 times in 2010, and 14 in 2011. As with all numbers stations, its true purpose is and will probably remain unknown, but the increase in frequency of whatever it’s doing is certainly odd.

You can listen to well over 100 recordings of numbers stations for free on archive.org but be forewarned that they’re all kind of, well, eerie. They feel like something you shouldn’t be listening to, which stands to reason since apparently you’re not supposed to know they exist.

I really love number stations cause they’re cool as all get out, but they also really scare me.  Like, do not listen to while you are home alone, even with the lights on scare me.

(Source: horrorfixxx)

SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival

nattosoup:

“Saturday, April 27 was the Sidewalk Arts Festival at Forsythe Park in Savannah, GA. The park was pretty packed, crowds gathered to see sidewalk arts, listen to the band in the Amphitheatre, eat from the various stalls and booths set up in the park, and generally enjoy a beautiful day.

 Heidi and I arrived at the park around 10:30, eager to participate in our first Sidewalk Arts Festival. Both of us were absolute novices when it came to sidewalk art, though like most kids, we’d drawn on the pavement for fun years ago…”

Becca and I did this a few weeks ago!  Check out her blog post on it!

mr. brightside.: Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johansson May NOT Return for "The Avengers 2"

thomaswh-loki:

Posted: May 8th, 2013 by WorstPreviews.com Staff

image

We just reported that Robert Downey Jr is in talks with Marvel to return for “The Avengers 2” and “The Avengers 3.” But the actor isn’t even discussing “Iron Man 4,” and we may now know why.

Downey earned somewhere between $50 million and $80 million on “The Avengers,” and has already earned over $35 million for his work on “Iron Man 3,” but his “The Avengers” co-stars aren’t making anything close to that. In fact, most of the actors are being paid around $200,000, far less than they would earn on any other movie.

Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth received only a $500,000 pay increase for returning for the “Captain America” and “Thor” sequels. And unlike Downey, the actors will earn only $500,000 more if their movies break the $500 million mark at the box office.

Despite having a contract, Hemsworth considered backing out of “Thor 2,” because he earned $5 million working on “Snow White and the Huntsman” and Marvel isn’t offering anywhere near that, despite the fact that “Thor” and “The Avengers” are massive franchises. Scarlett Johansson is also fed up and isn’t willing to take a pay-cut to return for “The Avengers 2.”

Marvel is known for low salaries and replacing any actor who doesn’t accept the company’s way of doing business. In fact, the studio has already threatened to replace Hemsworth. But Marvel doesn’t want to replace Downey at this point and it seems that the actor is using that leverage to fight for his co-stars by threatening not to return for “Iron Man4” and possibly any other Marvel film unless they all get appropriate pay raises. 

Source: Deadline

While its really cool that RDJ is standing up for his castmates, I think we’re forgetting something.  Other than Stan Lee, who now thinks he’s a movie actor (don’t get me started on my opinions on him), the people who create and draw the source material for these comics are getting paid next to nothing as well.  We all know that $500,000 is a lot of money, even though to an actor it seems like pittance.  But if you put it in perspective, the people who DRAW Thor or the Avengers get something from $50-200 a page (it depends on which part you do, and how famous a name you are).  For a 22-page issue, thats $1100-4400, and those issues come out once a month.  Now I’ve said before I think you need about $2000 to live off of per month if you are a young single adult with few bills (this means no student loans or other large financial commitments, basically just rent, food, bills, and money left over for savings and the like.)  So for the people who AREN’T very famous, they’re living under the poverty line (and working 60+ hour weeks to do it), and for the really good people, well, I hope they don’t have student bills or a family to support, because even then they’re barely making ends meet.  (It turns out to about $50,000 a year)

I know the amount of readers to the amount of movie watchers is a huge difference, and that movies cost about $10 to see, while a comic costs $3, but the difference between the BONUS that actors get and the actual living wage comic artists get is $450,000.  And thats for the LOW paying actors, and high paying artists.  The difference between what RDJ and a “lesser” artist at Marvel or DC makes is so significant, the artist might as well not be getting paid.

And without these artists, there would be no avengers or thor or iron man.

There are arguments that actors do crazy things to their bodies in order to do these roles (Chris Evans’ and Hemsworth’s crazy diets, RDJ breaking his ankle) but comic artists are notorious for having a lot of health problems as well, especially from leaning over their desks drawing all day, or carpal tunnel and other hand/wrist injuries (which will keep them from being able to work!) just because of how much they have to push themselves to meet deadlines.

So while I”m glad we’re getting all up in arms about these actors and these characters we love not getting paid enough, I think we need to remember that there are people in this creative process getting a far shorter end of the stick.

hey hey, its a MINI COMICS EXPO!

Hey everyone!  I hear you have some time tomorrow after you see those editors, or you just don’t know what to do with your saturday afternoon in savannah.  The answer is THE MINI COMICS EXPO!  The expo will be held in  the courtyard behind norris hall:

which looks like this:  (The courtyard is behind the building)

Myself and Becca Hillburn will be there representing Rascals, Rogues, and Dames (look for our lovely new banner we painted today!)

Becca and I also baked a crapton of cupcakes and cookies and other delicious things, so come fill up on our generosity!  

Also, the first seven people to come up to me and say “panda” will get a free tiny mini-comic about a red panda!  So what are you waiting for?!

P.S. SCADDIES/SAVANNAH-ITES REBLOG!

bendingwind: selenay936: fahre: gigglingkat: bechahns: ok so seriously I didn’t know that “quite” had a supposedly different meaning in America is this true?! I’d use the word “quite” to dull down how I feel about something. Yes, it’s quite true. :P We use to emphasize or strengthen things. Y’all are just sarcastic bastards. Quite. You couldn’t have put it together. Suddenly some of my interactions over here make more sense. Y’all are way more enthusiastic about stuff than I thought you were. oh my god. I’m just going to add “this is quite interesting” and let you guess which one I’m from.  
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bendingwind:

selenay936:

fahre:

gigglingkat:

bechahns:

ok so seriously I didn’t know that “quite” had a supposedly different meaning in America is this true?! I’d use the word “quite” to dull down how I feel about something.

Yes, it’s quite true. :P We use to emphasize or strengthen things. Y’all are just sarcastic bastards.

Quite.

You couldn’t have put it together. Suddenly some of my interactions over here make more sense. Y’all are way more enthusiastic about stuff than I thought you were.

oh my god.

I’m just going to add “this is quite interesting” and let you guess which one I’m from.