Projects Progress

A recent post outlined the many creative projects I'm working on over the summer.  Here is what is left on the list and what is left to do.


1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 30
I'm running behind so I revised the goal date.  I finished the first draft and have some ideas for refining it in the second.

1 Undersea critter art card for a swap. Goal is June 30
I haven't figured out what I'm doing on this one yet.

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing.  Goal is July 1
With the pages ready to go all I need to do is come up with a theme for it.

Kid Power Role Playing Game.  Goal is July 7.
I have been in a writing frenzy on this one and have the skeleton draft of the book almost done.  A skeleton draft means that the skills and powers are listed with brief descriptions, for example, but the actual meat of the rules haven't been applied yet.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - Goal is July 31
I have a story in mind.  I just need to outline it.

4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  Goal is July 25.  
I haven't gotten to this one yet.  After Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman Draft #1

I've been working on Wonder Woman for a couple of hours this evening and have reached the point I need to set it aside for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.  This is the first of probably 3 or 4 drafts.  If you have any constructive critique, let me know.  I'm trying to make it as good as my talent allows.

I decided to use the Justice League cartoon costume because it is a bit simpler and since this is being transferred onto a quilt I wanted the detail to remain.  I had no idea until today there there have been so many variations on the costume.

There is a lot of line tightening to do, I'll be doing a proper face, and probably adjusting the pose a bit.  Your thoughts?

This is one of the few times you will see a work in progress from me so consider yourself privileged.  :-p  The final work will be 5x7 inches.

Project Updates

A recent post outlined the many creative projects I'm working on over the summer.  Here is an update, mostly for my own joy at getting something done.

1 Male Nude art card for a swap.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 26.
I'm a little late on this but it will be ready to mail before I go to bed tonight.  Edit:  Completed!

1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 28
I'm on track to have this finished tomorrow.  I picked up a new Bristol pad yesterday to make sure it gone done right.

1 Female superhero art card for a swap.  Goal is June 30
I decided that I'm going to draw Harley Quinn.  That is a little progress.
  Edit:  Completed!

1 Undersea critter art card for a swap. Goal is June 30
I haven't figured out what I'm doing on this one yet.

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing.  Goal is July 1
I actually got a lot of work done on this today.  Per the rules of the event I can't actually start the project until July 1.  However, since I'm drawing the zine rather than using collage or something I figured I had better get prepared so I wouldn't waste time on the 1st.  I am using 1/4 page sized pages (approx. 4 x 5 inches) so I drew out the borders of 6 panels per page of Bristol paper on 4 pages.  This will allow me to draw them all together and then assemble them on the computer for printing.  I also un-buried my drawing table, which is going to be essential.

Kid Power Role Playing Game.  Goal is July 7.
I have been in a writing frenzy on this one and have the skeleton draft of the book almost done.  A skeleton draft means that the skills and powers are listed with brief descriptions, for example, but the actual meat of the rules haven't been applied yet.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - Goal is July 31
I haven't thought about it yet.

4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  Goal is July 25.  
I haven't gotten to this one yet.  After Wonder Woman.

Come Join My Art Card Swaps

I am hosting a couple of Artist Trading Card swaps at atcsforall.com.  If you are interested in joining one of them, let me know.  

Super Women – - HandDrawn/HandPainted - Due August 22

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Swap Due Date – August 22
Signup/withdraw date - August 15
Number of Cards - 3 for 3
Number of participants - Unlimited
Medium- Hand drawn/painted

Super Women! The comic books and cartoons are full of them! Wonder Woman, Rogue, Catwoman, She Hulk, Harley Quinn, the Powerpuff Girls, Hit Girl, Black Widow, Raven! If she dresses in a snazzy costume and fights for the good or the bad they are open game for this thread. No original characters please.

All skill levels are welcome to join but please put in your best effort and do not copy or trace another artist's work. Be creative.

Back to the Sea – - HandDrawn/HandPainted - Due August 22

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Swap Due Date – August 22
Signup/withdraw date - August 15
Contact me by the withdraw date if you must withdraw or you will receive a neutral iTrader.
Number of Cards - 3 for 3
Number of participants - Unlimited
Medium- Hand drawn/painted

This swap is for realistic representations of whales, dolphins, crabs, sea lions, fish, plants, and anything else that lives in the sea. It is not for cartoons, sorry.

All skill levels are welcome to join but please put in your best effort. 

Both Swaps Information

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If you have questions, just ask.  This is my normal info.  Local players can hand deliver cards and don't need the SASE.

PLEASE READ THESE DETAILS:
--cards must be standard ATC size, 2.5x3.5in
--include your username, real name, and location on the back of each card.
--hand drawn or painted only, please. Do your best work: Something you would be proud to give and to receive.
--US players: include a self addressed business sized stamped envelope with enough postage to get your cards back to you OR loose postage and a large address label.
--Internationals: Please send a self addressed business sized envelope OR large address label. I will cover the postage cost for all international traders. I collect postage stamps though so if you want to include a loose stamp from your country for my collection, that would be awesome.
--ALL PLAYERS write your user name on the back of your return envelope and put cards in plastic sleeves.
--when your returns arrive, remember to leave iTrader for me and rep points for those whose cards you received. Part of the fun of the trade is finding out where in the world our cards ended up.
--if you need to drop the swap you must communicate with me or you will receive a neutral iTrader rating.

--If I have multiple swaps ending on the same day and you want to play in more than one you may give me one SASE with enough postage to cover everything if you prefer.

--When your cards are finished and ready to send, please PM me for address information.

--Host cards are not necessary but always treasured.

Creating or Over Committing?

Well, the next month or so is going to be interesting.  I have a LOT of creative work to do.  I usually do this once a year and get a lot done.  Normally it isn't quite this much but I think I can handle it.

June

1 Male Nude art card for a swap.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 26.
1 Wonder Woman drawing for my sister-in-law, Kathy.  Initial posing is started.  Goal is June 28
1 Female superhero art card for a swap.  Goal is June 30
1 Undersea critter art card for a swap. Goal is June 30

July

24 page zine for the 24 Hour Zine Thing. I am cheating a bit because I must have a plan in place before I start or I will be starting off the month behind and that isn't acceptable.  This will likely be either a series of kid craft tutorials or a 24 page comic.  I'm not sure yet.  Goal is July 1

Kid Power:  I need to get my kid friendly role playing game into playtest condition.  I'm about 1/4 of the way done adapting it from a home brew Star Wars game we played last summer and Citizen Squad, a kid friendly zombie apocalypse table top miniatures game I've been tooling around with for years.  With my luck I'll get done and someone will say, "Oh, that is exactly the rule system they use in THIS game!"  Goal is July 6.  If I got off my butt I could use this for the 24 hour zine.  Hmm.  I could get the writing done in advance and then add art and formatting and cool stuff to make the zine.  So many choices.

50,000 words:  Camp Nanowrimo - The summer version of National Novel Writing Month.  The idea of writing a novel while dodging holidays is just too daunting to do again.  I've completed Nanowrimo 3 times but none of the novels are really readable.  This one probably won't be either and that is okay.  I know I'm not really a novelist.  I haven't settled on a story yet, but it might be set in the Kid Power RPG universe.

4 Favorite Flora/Fauna art cards for a swap.  The cards need to be in San Francisco on August 1 so my goal is July 25.  I may try to get them done in June just to get them off my plate.

It has been a while since I updated the blog with my art.  Here are some recent art cards I made.  They are for a swap that entailed mixing Star Trek with a favorite cartoon.  Here are Captain Lisa Janeway, Captain Raphael Picard, General Daffy Chang, and Hello Nurse Chapel!  I used thinner paper than my normal Bristol (need to buy more tomorrow!) and the scanner picked up on a few colors and shades that aren't in the original cards.  Oh well.

If you link to my art please credit Michael Sean Dyer and link back to this page.  Thank you.

Scouting Fallout and the Future

I am a Cub Scout Den Leader.  The following are my opinions and do not necessarily reflect those of Pack 31, the Knights of Columbus (our Charter Organization), or the Boy Scouts of America.

So Boy Scouts of America has decided that gay youth may be permitted to join but not adults yet.  The result of this that some churches are withdrawing their sponsorship of the BSA.

For those not in the know, the BSA doesn't actually own each individual troop and pack.  They are sponsored by Charter Organizations: churches, businesses, and civic groups that help provide space and resources so the Scouts can succeed.  Many of them are religious.  The Mormon and Catholic churches are the largest religious Charter Organizations.  They have agreed to the new inclusive rules.

I believe that in the next 4 months there will be an exodus (pun!) of churches from the BSA.  The media will portray this as a crisis.  Come September, when most troops and packs start their year, a large bunch of non-religious groups will step up and replace the departing churches.  By the end of the year the churches will have diminished in power within the BSA.

It is my opinion that the BSA knew this would happen.  They also knew they had to  do the changeover slowly so the organization didn't fall apart in the process.  That is why I think they chose not to endorse gay adults.  If the LDS church pulled its sponsorship it would be a critical blow to the organization.  So they start with the youth and let the fallout come as it will.  Then there will be a secular rebuilding for a couple of years.  Then they will vote in gay adults as well.  They will have systems in place to protect them at that point should the LDS church decide to withdraw.

All of this is adult politics at its best.  But let us not forget that children are affected by this.  Last night a dad came to me before the den meeting and thanked me for helping run an amazing organization.  He then told me the policy was against his religious beliefs and he was pulling his son from Scouts.  His son was very upset by this because he LOVES Cub Scouts.  The den was upset because one of their friends suddenly was made to quit without any explanation.  I left it to the parents to explain what is going on.  I'm not dumb enough to approach that subject with the kids.

Camping, Cooking, Cottonwood, Catching Up

Camping

Last weekend I went camping with the Cub Scouts.  It was 3 days and 2 nights of fun and excitement that Caleb will long remember.  He caught his first, second and third fish; rainbow trout in Lake Challenge.  We hiked up to Crystal Falls and perilously crossed streams trying to keep our feet dry.

To say that it rained a lot would be an understatement.  The first day was fantastic.  The second day the kids happily allowed themselves to be soaked to the skin as they ran and played all day.  Conflict was low and I think everyone had a great time.

Cooking

I used a dutch oven for the first time.  I made a bbq bean chili the first night.  It got rave reviews, although I only got one bite.  10 people arrived right before dinner bringing the total for that meal to 66.  There was plenty of other food but I will make a bit more next time.  One of the Scout parents is a chef and prepared a dozen and a half trout.

My next meal was actually dessert on the last night.  It was an orange pineapple cobbler surprise.  Wow!  It was fantastic!  I enjoyed cooking and learned lots of time saving tips and cooking techniques.

We were picked up from camp on Monday and headed right down to Buckley to decorate the Bagnall family graves, an annual tradition.  By the time we got home I was beat.  Caleb was too.

Cottonwood

We arrived to the cottonwood trees in full blossom.  The air has been thick with while fluff all week.  I grew up with terrible, even debilitating sinus infections caused by pollen and pollution.  I outgrew much of it and for several years my 4 seasonal colds per year disappeared.  Then we moved to Mill Creek where we are surrounded by cottonwood trees.  They have kicked my butt.  I have prescription meds which help with most of the symptoms but the headaches are terrible and my eyes both itch and ache.  I've been staying off the computer as much as possible.

Catching Up

As a result of that I am playing catch up.  I got a lot done today and will finish tomorrow.  I owe Cub Scouts several emails and need to finish my ATC swap.