While I'm here...

Since I called by recently to address the lack of images on some posts, pending my fixing them of course, I figure I may as well update anyone interested in what I've been up to.

That forgotten project? Still forgotten.

That Sculpey I received? Still unused.

I've been through a lot in my personal life and it interferes. I'm always going through a lot. Being a person doesn't come easy to me; when I feel like I've got a handle on the whole thing, someone else throws a spanner into the works.
It's easy for the motivational posts on Facebook to insist that we are the architects of our own lives, but life feels more like a group project and as social animals we rely on other people. And quite frankly, we're not very reliable animals for the most part.

I have goals and targets. I have things I want to achieve in my lifetime. It's not a very concise bucket list. It's flexible and that can be a problem I guess. Why would that be a problem? Well, I'm not a creature of habit. I'm struggle to get into a flow when it comes to personal projects. I find my self jumping into things on a whim and slowly but surely drift away, sometimes as a result of outside interference. I'm very easily distracted. Other times, I just find myself drifting on to the next personal project without finishing whatever I was previously doing.

It's all very frustrating. I rarely get anything finished.

What currently has my attention? It's a difficult question to answer. If I put it down into words then when I inevitably come back after failing to see it to completion, I'm left with another stain on my character for all to see. I'm aware of my shortcoming, so I don't need another reminder. If I vaguely confess to being enrolled on several (many many) online courses that should lead to... something, I guess that's... something? Right? Tackle my goals in smaller steps. Gain some useful skill and work on my commitment to my aspirations. Seems easy enough.

Maybe I'll be back soon celebrating a small victory?

Or maybe I'll be back in a few years to eat these words after forgetting this blog even exists yet again?

Image issues

It's probably strange that I'm even addressing this. I clearly don't keep this place up to date or in good order. The content is sparse and inconsistent. I rarely post at all. In fact the last time I made a post here was literally years ago.
But anyone dredging up the past or lurking through the dusty parts of the internet are going to come across missing images here. Not missing because they're gone or deleted. They missing because Photobucket, an image hosting service that had been the home to many of my images online for many years, has changed it's business model. I don't blame them, I really don't, because I have no idea how they made money before this.
For many people online that frequented message boards with awkward image hosting through attachments or bloggers with limited storage or for any number of other users using the service, Photobucket was a brilliant host for images that not only allowed external linking but seemingly encouraged it. Upon uploading an image to your account you were greeted with copy and paste code for various platforms for you to show off your image. So we did.

Recently, I called in on a message board that I used to frequent. It was previously a very active community with hundreds of posts daily. The main page still boasts that the most number of users online at one time was a whopping 5,865. It's still there and it still gets some attention from some of the more dedicated users, but it's certainly seen better days. As the members grew older, many have moved on with their lives by starting families, others have progressed in their careers to a point that they don't really have the time, the rising popularity of other social media services popping up seems to have damaged message board communities somewhat too, and then there are members that have sadly literally passed on. As I type this and look over to that message board there is only one other member currently there. I don't recognise the name.

I've gone on a tangent.

Recently, I called in on a message board that I used to frequent to see if anyone was still sharing artworks they had created. One of my favourite places was always the sketchbook section, and although activity has drastically slowed down on this old message board all of the old threads are still there. So I decided to check out some of my favourites. And that's when I first noticed it, Photobucket had withdrawn it's external hosting in favour of a premium model. Like I've already said, I think it's fair for them to charge. I guess. But the old threads are left full of holes. I went to google for an answer. Everywhere was hit, hit hard and seemingly out of the blue. Many active blogs and websites found themselves with a lot of work to do if they didn't want to start paying Photobucket. Members can still log in and access their images, they can be downloaded and moved if you don't want to pay. But that can mean a lot of work.
I've felt it myself. I was late to discover what had happened but my sketchbook thread was in ruins and since checking back here I've discovered that some of my posts contain images hosted at Photobucket.

I'm mostly making this post to address the situation and let anyone lurking around this old neglected blog know that I'm aware of it. I'm aware that there are missing images. And I may one day get to fixing it. But that day isn't today.
I currently have goals and targets and cleaning up my old intermittent blog feels like it would be procrastinating more than anything.

Especially since I don't actually think anyone ever comes here.

Meanwhile... (Part 2)

Let's jump into the past for a moment and take a look at some of the stuff that I managed to get done after I began to neglect my web presence.

The sketch exchange over on Polykarbonbbs continued, though with some delays that were pretty much all my fault. The other participants were Professor Az and jeco, and we were concentrating on portraits from reference.
Here are my efforts for the rest of that unfortunately short-lived exchange (without the reference images because I can't be bothered to find them).

The third image was of a toddler and was chosen by jeco.

The fourth image was of Eva Mendes and was chosen by Professor Az.

The fifth image was of Jeff Bridges and was chosen by myself.

The sixth image was of Kelsey Grammer as X-Men's Beast and was chosen by jeco.

I managed to put in some major delays between posting these images. From getting the Eva Mendes reference image up until posting my finished piece, 9 months passed. Jeff Bridges only took me 3 hours, which surprised me. And then they had to wait 8 month before they got my effort at Beast.
Professor Az posted the next reference after I finally posted Beast, but I think I can take full responsibility for the entire thread dying at that point before anyone even attempted the latest reference.

Hello (again) internet

Prior to the previous post, which is a blurb about me that's vague and not entirely useful to anyone, I've noticed that I vomited a lot of words that really offer no insight to whatever cockamamie thoughts I was having ~ while my fingers danced their merry dance all over the keyboard. Seriously, what the stuff was I talking about in that last post?

Something about committing to a project? Personal growth? Getting a ball rolling?

Yeah, okay, I admit it. I kind of know what I was saying. But I wish I hadn't said it. Besides not being very coherent and a bit repetitive, it shows a major character flaw that I have. Or had. I'm not really sure right now.

The post is about how I was going to get something done, I was going to make a start on a project and try to see it through. Unfortunately, I failed. And now that post has became sort of an ironic stain on this blog. I'm not planning on removing it though, the four year gap is a nice stark reminder of just how long I'm leaving things. Hopefully it will remind me not to procrastinate so much.

All that said though, I don't actually intend to pick up where I left off just yet. I got given some Super Sculpey for father's day and I really want to play with it before I go on to do anything else.

About Stephen

STEPHEN MACDONALD is the artist behind more than several bits of art, all of them seemingly leading to something that's just out of reach. A Jack of all trades but master of none, Stephen frequently bounces from one style (and even material) to another with great enthusiasm. Among his most recent are digital paintings of Beast (from X-Men), Jeff Bridges, A robot of some sort, and various other bits of junk. Untitled (for lack of a better title right now) is a long form sequential that first started growing in his mind way back in 2001, he's dabbled with art and story for it since and he hopes to produce something from it before he gets too old to remember the ins and outs of it all. He lives in Hartlepool, England, with his family.

Know Thyself...

Whilst crawling around tumblr I happened to stumble upon this.

To me this rings a little too true. Usually it's only important to me and if -I'm lucky- my personal growth. This project will benefit me greatly should I succeed. For one, I just need to feel like I can actually accomplish things if I put my mind to them and are only important to me. And if I can't complete a project that is supposed to be a hobby for me then how am I supposed to achieve anything in a professional capacity?

More food for thought directed at myself. It'll probably do nothing to hinder my failure, that's all down to me and not any pep talk or revelations I pull out of my ass as far as motivation goes. As soon as the ball is rolling I think I'll have a hard time stopping it. Fingers crossed anyway.

v2.0

It was a while back when I initially decided to revisit my robot character and he underwent a transformation back then. You'll notice that I made him seem a bit more flexible and somewhat more dynamic in his gestures and poses. I also made his head rounder to enhance a 'cuteness' in his character. To give him access to facial expressions to convey emotion I decided that his bulkier parts are encased in a flexile alloy, in my head I had decided that this would be as strong as most other metals and pliable only to the inner workings of the then still named #5.

The inner workings are also of a strange material and technology that I'm not going to go into.

I should change the appearance of 5 in relation to #5 again but I doubt the change will be significant beyond maybe some stylisation. Mostly because I quite like how he looks at v2.0.

Know Thy Enemy...

To help me write my comic book I need to establish a chapter length that should probably remain consistent and mirror the usual average length of a single issue comic book. I have done a few page counts in the past using a variety of comic books I had found, I had tried to not limit myself to one publisher. I think I used Hulk and Spider-Man comics as well as a few other random titles such as Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I think that at the time I found the average to be typically 22 pages. I could have probably found this out with a google search but I guess counting for myself was more satisfying. Next I guess I should figure out how many chapters to aim for so that I can spread my main story arc accordingly.
It would probably be best to aim for a mini series but 3-6 issues/chapters does seem long enough. I think I'm going to check out some of the books I have that compile a decent sized story and work from there.
Being that I've never really concentrated on writing ever that I can remember, I should learn more about the rules of 'peaks and valleys' in order to keep the read an interesting one.

Meanwhile...

As well as this self appointed comic project I've also got a few other things I'm currently involved in. Ranking highly in my to do list are some sketch exchanges I've been neglecting. Some for such a long time that my partners must think I've given up completely.

Here are two images from a sketch exchange over on Polykarbonbbs with Professor Az and jeco. I should let them know I'm not dead since that's an active sketch exchange at the moment.

This particular exchange focuses on working from reference and we've mostly been sticking to portraiture for now.

The first image is Cindy Crawford as chosen by Professor Az.

reference

The second image is Sarah Chalke as chosen by myself.

reference

The next image is of a toddler and was chosen by jeco to mix things up so we don't just end up painting pretty ladies.

My other exchanges that I plan on working on over the next few days include a sketch of a girl on a bench for an exchange with erq which I will probably call a day after finally responding almost a year late, and some Pokémon fan art that I've been planning on doing for a while now that I'll use for my exchange with rayvon87 for him to respond to.

Wish me luck.

Origins and Beginnings...

The origins of my idea go back a few years to a Fight Club on Polykarbonbbs that I was involved in.

My pages alone somehow manage to remain almost coherent without the inclusion of the other participants pages. If you look hard enough you may find the original thread on PKbbs but I highly doubt that the images are intact.

Anyway for now I'll post my pages that birthed the original incarnation of the character that I'll be using as a central point in my story.

These pages were completely put together in Adobe Photoshop using a mouse with no real planning. I purposely used setting that would force some pixelation and colour loss during the saving process because I liked the effect it gave. Enjoy.

And that's that I guess, the origin of 5 as a character. The fight never concluded due to the other participants dropping out and even though I volunteered to wrap it up, lethargy got the better of me without any pressure on me. Once everyone else had dropped out I felt like I wouldn't be letting anyone down if I didn't finish.

This project MUST be different! I MUST SEE IT THROUGH!

If I don't then I really doubt I ever will see out a personal project from start to finish.