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Nov. 8th, 2019 08:10 amArt & Drawing - I wanted to share an incredibly useful link I found - I'd never heard of the Etherington Brothers until a few weeks ago, somehow, but they put out loads of art and comics tutorials. Free. Here's about 200 of 'em. They also recently did Kickstarters for physical copies of these, which I missed out on. I'm keeping an eye on Amazon and eBay for used copies, but I also started stalking them on social media in case there's another KS that will let me get my filthy claws on these books. Online tutorials are awesome, and people who give them away for free are doing the world a great service. As they say in their own intro to their "How to Think When You Draw" series, with everything moving behind paywalls or to a subscription model, it's important that there be high quality, free information on how to draw. But I'm also old-school and I like actual books.
I started yesterday on a new short comic, "The Cat's Inheritance," and I'm currently working on a "splash" page or poster type drawing for it. It started as a personal piece to help me visualize the scene, where everyone is located and how they'll move around, but it's turning out kind of nice, so I'm going to add title and artist stuff and maybe use it to promote the story when it's done. I'm also working on an Iktober prompt, "Overgrown," which has me illustrating a community in Muna where people have built their houses in trees. So literal treehouse dwellers. It's now starting to cook up a story about a hermit who lives in one of the outermost trees and would prefer to be left alone to work, study, and meditate, but unfortunately he's got a reputation as a Wise Old Sage and people keep seeking him out for advice. What's a hermit to do?
Running - Oh man I really did a number on myself. Well, maybe not. My IT band (hip) and calf muscles are still a little achey and stiff, but once I get moving around they limber up. I've done two recovery jogs - slower pace, shorter distance, and I feel okay. But I need to start piling up miles soon, because it's about 60 days until the Dopey Challenge, and I need to be ready for that beast. Now that is a series of races where I really do not aim to PR - the goal there is finish in an upright position, smile optional. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather so I can get outside and run. I suspect some of my hip issues are from coddling myself on the treadmill all year, and that I need to resistance and challenge of outdoor running to strengthen those areas. The treadmill's been great for working on my speed, and it's good to have when it's raining, or you're not feeling too hot but want to get a run in anyway. But I can see that I'll need to balance it with road running.
Gardening - I left my experimental compost pile dormant for the week, of course. So yesterday I went to dump more stuff on it and saw several new "volunteers." Two pepper plants, and a couple of as-yet unknowns. Possibly an avocado (!!!) but also could be ... I dunno, squash? I used to have a really cool plant ID app on my phone that compared a snapshot to its database and then gave you a list of potential matches. I should get that app again, it was dead useful.
I'm considering planting Seminole Pumpkins. They're a local variety that happily tolerates Florida's climate and they're said to be very good pie pumpkins. There's the possibility of having WAY more than we can eat, freeze, or can, but I will address that if and when it happens. There's a guy down the road who runs a small farm stand, selling peppers, berries, and honey who might take my excess, or I could set up a small honor system stand myself at the top of the road. Or just go around giving random people pumpkins. Hi, nice day, like you shoes, here have a pumpkin.
I've also spent a couple of growing seasons trying to get Sheep Sorrel to grow in pots on the deck. I like sorrel in salads and on sandwiches, but for some reason my pots never produced viable plants. Until I started wondering what all those "dandelions" are growing in the side yard. They're everywhere - paddle-shaped leaves, spreading, no flowers to speak of. Then I started looking more closely and realized I've apparently started "wild" sorrel every-freakin-where in my yard. So for whatever reason it won't grow in pots or in the garden but it happy to grow in the Floridian Hellscape that is the yard. Oh well - at least I have sorrel now.
I started yesterday on a new short comic, "The Cat's Inheritance," and I'm currently working on a "splash" page or poster type drawing for it. It started as a personal piece to help me visualize the scene, where everyone is located and how they'll move around, but it's turning out kind of nice, so I'm going to add title and artist stuff and maybe use it to promote the story when it's done. I'm also working on an Iktober prompt, "Overgrown," which has me illustrating a community in Muna where people have built their houses in trees. So literal treehouse dwellers. It's now starting to cook up a story about a hermit who lives in one of the outermost trees and would prefer to be left alone to work, study, and meditate, but unfortunately he's got a reputation as a Wise Old Sage and people keep seeking him out for advice. What's a hermit to do?
Running - Oh man I really did a number on myself. Well, maybe not. My IT band (hip) and calf muscles are still a little achey and stiff, but once I get moving around they limber up. I've done two recovery jogs - slower pace, shorter distance, and I feel okay. But I need to start piling up miles soon, because it's about 60 days until the Dopey Challenge, and I need to be ready for that beast. Now that is a series of races where I really do not aim to PR - the goal there is finish in an upright position, smile optional. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather so I can get outside and run. I suspect some of my hip issues are from coddling myself on the treadmill all year, and that I need to resistance and challenge of outdoor running to strengthen those areas. The treadmill's been great for working on my speed, and it's good to have when it's raining, or you're not feeling too hot but want to get a run in anyway. But I can see that I'll need to balance it with road running.
Gardening - I left my experimental compost pile dormant for the week, of course. So yesterday I went to dump more stuff on it and saw several new "volunteers." Two pepper plants, and a couple of as-yet unknowns. Possibly an avocado (!!!) but also could be ... I dunno, squash? I used to have a really cool plant ID app on my phone that compared a snapshot to its database and then gave you a list of potential matches. I should get that app again, it was dead useful.
I'm considering planting Seminole Pumpkins. They're a local variety that happily tolerates Florida's climate and they're said to be very good pie pumpkins. There's the possibility of having WAY more than we can eat, freeze, or can, but I will address that if and when it happens. There's a guy down the road who runs a small farm stand, selling peppers, berries, and honey who might take my excess, or I could set up a small honor system stand myself at the top of the road. Or just go around giving random people pumpkins. Hi, nice day, like you shoes, here have a pumpkin.
I've also spent a couple of growing seasons trying to get Sheep Sorrel to grow in pots on the deck. I like sorrel in salads and on sandwiches, but for some reason my pots never produced viable plants. Until I started wondering what all those "dandelions" are growing in the side yard. They're everywhere - paddle-shaped leaves, spreading, no flowers to speak of. Then I started looking more closely and realized I've apparently started "wild" sorrel every-freakin-where in my yard. So for whatever reason it won't grow in pots or in the garden but it happy to grow in the Floridian Hellscape that is the yard. Oh well - at least I have sorrel now.
