There's nothing quite like family gatherings

[exatron]

Today, my family got together to celebrate my sister's birthday. It was the usual mess of pointless yelling, entirely too many conversations happening at once, and petty nitpicking.

My grandmother now has it in her head that I need a girlfriend, despite me telling her that I don't want any sort of romantic relationship. I wish I could tell her the truth and say that I don't want a girlfriend, but I've heard enough of her rants to know that she is the last person who should know why.

At least I made my sister squirm when I told her best friend, who is studying to become a lawyer, that I didn't get a chance to tell any lawyer jokes.

On a more positive note,
First, I'm still refining my model sheet of Dan (It's nice to have a first name for a character). I still need to add some definition to his forearms and make sure that the muscles are laid out correctly before I start adding the spots. It would probably be a good idea to add a few breaks in the lines to indicate fur as well.

Second, I've decided to give him a hobby and a bit of characterization. He plays hockey, but isn't particularly fond of basketball or track and field. Telling him that he should love basketball because of his height (6'7"- close to the average height of an NBA player) or track because of his species is a quick way to get under his skin.

To celebrate this bit of characterization, and actually draw him doing something, I started a drawing of Dan playing street hockey. I'd have gone with ice hockey, but it's still summer, hockey season hasn't even started yet, and for now I don't want to cover up his torso with a jersey.

Comments

[exatron.livejournal.com]

I have doubts that real families ever have Kodak moments. (Strangely, there was only one person taking pictures on this occasion.) The closest my family ever gets to them usually involves things that most people would consider odd and unwholesome- lying, cheating, pranks, jokes, and other mischievous things.

The first name is settled, and I should probably find a last name for him (I'm thinking something Norwegian since those names are always fun to say). I'll have to try moving his delts in a bit more. I'm assuming you mostly mean his raised arm, but it wouldn't hurt to see what I can adjust elsewhere. Good reference images are hard to find since most humans don't have cheetah-like proportions.

Fur breaks seemed necessary to me since it won't lie flat everywhere, and you need something to indicate that a character is more than just an animal's head stuck on a human body.

That and it should help me learn if I try drawing things in motion. And of course no jersey. If you have a torso like that, especially the way you drew it, why cover it up unless absolutely necessary?

I almost forgot to mention that you would have liked what I encountered at the Michigan Renaissance Festival on Saturday. A lot of guys, particularly festival workers, were showing off their torsos. It made me wish I owned a camera so I could share what I saw.

[kylet.livejournal.com]

Well...the rest of my family is just boring. But I do know a few warm and fuzzy friends' families. They're so rare they're almost scary :-)

Photomanipulation! ;-)

Ditto. Although I honestly just have a weakness for fluff ^.^

EXACTLY. If you want to put clothing on, spend that effort on someone with a zero-definition body ;-)

You're kidding. A RENFAIRE? I thought that would be a completely overdressed venue. Maybe I should start attending them with my roomie...

[exatron.livejournal.com]

A boring relative would be a welcome change from evil or crazy (often both). One of these days, I'm going to have to change the names around and write down the more amusing stories about them.

But photomanipulations are cheating, and it's more fun to search for images of that one in a googolplex guy with the right proportions.

I figured that was one of your weaknesses since you mentioned it before and you seem to enjoy unnerving your characters until they go fuzzy.

I'm not kidding, but chances are it was a fluke that the guys were showing some skin. The first guy I noticed was a worker who looked like he chose his costume so he could walk around shirtless and show off his great abs. The other two guys that I remember most clearly were attendees who wore shirts, but were very large bodybuilder types (one of them had a face that resemble Doug's, right down to the glasses). There were some others, but those three were the most memorable.