So I finally folded and got a Twitter. Besides using it to keep up with the development of Riven X and the thoughts and musings of several fascinating individuals, I think mankind in general has moved off from it being an annoying "trendy" internet thing to tell someone about the great sandwich you just ate. Now that its been adapted by more sapient beings that aren't fashion victims and 12 year old girls, I can now recognize it as a development in microblogging, a way to share little snippets of thought and observations to whoever may care to listen. It's a very tight and sharp communication tool, and provides a unique new way to express yourself (and not express how you're at the movies, LOL).

If you want to follow me, I'd be more than glad to hear from you. My address is [link] Hope to hear from you soon!

Who'd think I'd be so excited for a movie about a goldfish? Go figure.

July is hurtling towards us at a breakneck pace, and what does that mean? Sweltering heat? Getting a tan? Exotic travels?

For me, it means another excuse to write a rousing new story! This is the month for July Novel Writing Month, where I'll write a 50,000 word novel in 31 days (that one day's probably gonna be a lifesaver), and I've come up with an absolutely killer idea that I want to do!

It's a story called "The Great Mistakes". It's about a race of faerie-like beings that all live in a grand forest, but they're not all you may expect them to be. They're enormous, measuring between 6 and 8 feet high, they can live to be thousands of years old if they can survive past 20 minutes, they eat like piranhas, devouring a whole elk in a matter of seconds, they can be born with amazing but ultimately useless powers (i.e. being able to change the colour of anything, or making things float, but not make them stop floating), and they fly with these peculiar wings that look just like dandelion seeds emerging from their back. These are the Mistakes.

A Mistake is born every time someone makes a mistake in the world. A mistake is the disruption of normality. There's no such thing as fate, but there is such a thing as the normal course of things. When it gets bent out of shape, no matter how innocuous it may seem, the repercussions of it run deep. Any mistake is an utterly unique quirk that can change the way the universe goes. It's so powerful, in fact, that in the Forest of Eror, it creates life.

"The Great Mistakes" is centered around one Mistake in particular, a woman named Trool (created from a corruption of "Troll"). The story is told from her perspective as she goes about the Forest of Eror, seeing all there is to see, and meeting other great Mistakes along the way. She sees many odd things, like a young Mistake's rite of passage that consists of throwing her off a cliff, an anti-book that can suck the words out of normal books and change them into an indistinct black slurry, or a strange orchard with vines soaring high over her, in which pods containing the newborn Mistakes grow. She does many odd things, like make dresses out of flowers, outwit a trickster Mistake that lives in the lake, or listen to the tall tales of Mistake explorers, setting out into the vast wilds of the Forest.

And I'll keep you in touch with it every step of the way. Let's go make some mistakes!

In the spirit of social growth, I will feature the first 14 Deviants who post a comment and show them my three favourite pieces of theirs here. But I'll also do a bit more than that: I'll also post an artistic commentary of the image and why it's my favourite, so you get to know why you're so awesome! Also, if I feature you, part of the game is that you'll do a journal entry similar to this, with me as your first pick. That's how we grow and make friends!

1. *Ninjaco




• [link]
  This is one of Jaco's original characters that has particularly intrigued me. His body exhibits such powerful personality. Looking at his long, tense limbs and his slim yet strong build, you can tell he's a creature built for speed. He's also just cool to look at; a Pokémon influence is obvious in his design, but it has a far more unique and appealing character just on its own.


• [link]
  It's fun watching Jaco be a little silly, like seeing this character here, who's seen throughout his gallery doing incredibly gruesome things, being suspicious about "morning wood". I also like the stylish anatomy (no, not THAT anatomy) of the character, and the way he's drawn in profile.


• [link]
  One of the few times Jaco has worked in a traditional medium, and I'd say it turned out beautifully. It's interesting to see the way that he depicted imagination as a set of fragmented images, and I just love the way his character's standing there, stunned and pigeon-toed. He looks overwhelmed by it all.




2. ~zacheejee-30




• [link]
  Zacheejee's gallery is primarily composed of photography, from pictures of his little mannequin to landscape shots, like this one. I recognize the Sony Tower (the brown one with the sun on its front) and the Plaza Hotel, so this must be Central Park. I admire the candidness of this shot, and I like the composition of the shot, much more so than his other shots, such as how it's framed by the lamppost.


• [link]
  This is a cute pose for the mannequin; he looks so genial and glad to see me. The lighting is also interesting. Characteristic posing is very difficult to achieve, and yet extremely important to communicate personality in a still image.


• [link]
  This piece is particularly amusing to me, the way that the pencil is lit and points away from the camera. The pencil, in my opinion, represents an important symbol of artistic expression; one of a more casual, fun sort than the classical symbol of the paintbrush suggests. The way pencil is lit and composed in the shot, with the point going off into the darkness and its sense of small yet intimidating scale, gives it kind of an impression of direction and grandeur.




3. ~TheDeathOfHell




• [link]
  TheDeathOfHell's gallery doesn't have a whole lot to it, but I'll give a nod to what's there. First up is this slick little Windows theme he put together called "Tyro". Glossy black with simple, geometric white icons is very clean and sharp, and that dock there with stylized white icons looks sweet. I also like the window navigation where the buttons are shown as "negative space", where the gaps in the header graphic are the buttons, like the Back or Top buttons.


• [link]
  A simple, very intriguing little piece, with brightly coloured curves of light moving gently around each other in the blackness. The faint blue glow the "streaks" give off catch the eye, and the way the streaks coil around each other give them a unique sense of depth and placement. The piece is also nicely composed, the way that most of it is black gives the streaks a sense of natural importance. The way they light up the watermark also looks interesting.


• [link]
  Another "Light Streaks" picture, this one is considerably different, especially in the way that the streaks stretch out across the whole picture plane. It makes the streaks seem more discordant. It's not as nicely composed, but that just gives the piece a different aesthetic.




4. ~RenegadeClock




• [link]
  I'll be quite honest here, picking just three pieces out of RenegadeClock's astounding gallery is a task approaching impossibility. Here's a place for us to start, though. It's a fascinatingly detailed photograph of a dead bee. The bee is a much more beautiful creature than many people might initially imagine, from the unique shape of its large eyes, and the interesting shape of its head and body. The title of this piece, "The Work is Done", is an appreciably sombre view of life. The bee has always been a symbol of tireless work ethic, and this might be the only time it would get to rest.


• [link]
  Another nature piece, one of a considerably more optimistic, joyous sort. This photograph has a rich layering of compositions, from the round framing that the central petals of the rose create, to the way that it's slightly off-center, creating an overall more appealing placement. This piece has an overall comforting softness to it, letting myself sink deep into tracing the contours of the gentle petals of the flower, silently awed by the complexity of life.


• [link]
  However, RenegadeClock is not one to dwell on the positive. This is one piece in his "Waste" series, which calls to attention just what people casually discard, and demand that they give it a bit more thought. Here's probably something that made a child very happy at one point, but who knows how long it's been sitting there? Now it's a filthy plastic knot that could quickly becoming a choking hazard to some bird, and will probably never go away on its own. People need to be more aware of their "waste".




5. ~TheHarlequinHatter




• [link]
  TheHarlequinHatter is still a bit of an amateur as far as art goes, but his work at least has a lot of creative spark. We open with this one, a graphical representation of a certain comic book romance that I'm sure many of us find endearing. The heart at the center of the piece really speaks volumes about its whole idea; the unusual, erratic design on it is indicative of the merry-andrew peculiarities of the characters it represents. I think even if you didn't know who Joker or Harley Quinn were, this piece wouldn't be lost on you.


• [link]
  Get it together, get it together, get it together... It's an admirably authentic yet distinct rendition of a great comic character, even despite some small anatomical goofs. The cherry tree over there is quite well-done, too.


• [link]
  I wish more of us believed like you do, Hatter.




6. ~NAMKCOR




• [link]
  Now, normally I just find Sweeney Todd to be pretty grating, but this drawing displays the more interesting parts of the character with a unique view. I'll admit it here and now; I have quite a thing for anthro art, and it's provided an appreciably amusing view of the Sweeney Todd character. Much of what NAMKCOR likes about this drawing I sympathize with; the unique position of the hands, the expressive post, and the character's heavily stylized expression of madness. His costume is also interesting, and though it's a simple piece of pencil work, I think it adds to the piece. I like Sweeney Todd best when he's not so overproduced.


• [link]
  You know, most people are content with the classical view of the Angel of Death; big spooky skeleton in a black hood with a scythe, all that Sunday School stuff. Not NAMKCOR. His contemporary view of the Reaper is irresistible to me. So cool and collected, in his slick suit and smart hat, with a clever little smirk and the darkly aloof sentiment that he's "just doing his job". The colouring with coloured pencils mingling with ink pens is also intriguing; NAMKCOR seems to have this thing about making the most out of so-called "limited" mediums.


• [link]
  I've often tried to make forms out of simple, minimalist shapes, often with little success, but NAMKCOR seems to have pulled it off very well here. The subtle use of black triangles and curves here are used to such effect as to give the whole creature a unique and very well-realized sense of volume, and a very nice pose. I often think more of simple art than complex art, because it's easy to make something look interesting if you really break your back over pulling it off and leave little to the imagination, but when you're trying to keep simple, you actually have more to work against; a lot of the work is done by the viewer, which makes it a more successful piece if I also get it from my end.




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You jerks, I'm interested in what you think.