One more sketch...Red Sonja

I figured I try for one more sketch today while the kids were sleeping. This one is for Lobo of the CGS forums. He wanted either Vampirella or Red Sonja.

I really didn't think I could draw a full body of a female character. Heck, I probalby should try a full body at all yet. So I did another head shot. It actually came easier to me than my first one, but I still have a LONG way to go.

Can you draw? Because I sure can't...

...but I want to do something about that.

You see, I love comics. There's some great storytelling there as well as some beautiful artwork you'll ever see. I've always admired those who can create. It doesn't matter if it's music, photography, a video game, or drawn artwork like comics or paintings.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to draw. The piece of advice I always hear when discussing drawing is practice, practice, pracice. You'll draw a ton of crap before you get to the anything good.

So that's what I'm going to do. I even have a variety of subject matter available to me. Over on Comic Geek Speak forums there is a running thread called the Birthday Sketch Thread. Basically you ask what you want during your birthday month, and the other participating members draw it.

This year I'm going to participate. I've even drawn my first sketch. The Joker. I'm going to store them on the Comic Sketch Gallery, and I'll post them here as a kind of sketch blog.

Here's my first one. The Joker done for GreenSkeletonII on the CGS forum.



I hope you won't be too offended my my crap work.

What D & D Character are you?

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (5th Level)


Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-12

Constitution-11

Intelligence-15

Wisdom-14

Charisma-12


Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.


Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.


Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is his spells, everything else is secondary. He learns new spells as he experiments and grows in experience, and he can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate his spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves him. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.


Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

How was your Christmas...

...or, did you get everything you wanted?

I for one had a very good Christmas. Possibly because this year I really didn't want anything but to be sure my kids, wife and the rest of the family had a good time. Probably because I made my wife cry again...in a good way.

Looking for a good gift to give someone anytime of year? Restore and reprint an old photograph (or several). My wife gave me an old picture of her grandparents from when they were in New York City years ago. Like, when they were our age, or younger. The picture was torn, creased, corners missing. You get the idea.

Well, Photoshop is your friend. Crop off as little as possible of the torn areas, a little work with the rubber stamp tool to cover up the creases and blemishes, add some color correction and voila; your newly restored picture awaits.

I printed 2 8x10s at the Kodak machine in Walmart, got 2 frames and gave one to my wife on Christmas morning. She was so surprised, she bust into tears. I told her I made a second one for her to give to whoever she wanted. She gave it to her mother, who also burst into tears. Only her grandmother is still with us, but very sick, and my wife never knew her grandfather. I hope this newly restored photo will help them remember the happy times.

Everyone has pictures like that. Give them some new life and pass them around. If the people in the photos are still with us, ask them about the pictures. I'd love to know the stories that went with the picture I restored.

Happy Holidays

Hmmm, when I started my blog I had intended to post at least once a day. Well, just a few days into it, that didn't happen. Blame it on working in retail during the busiest time of the year. Blame it on nothing to say. Blame it on I just didn't do it.

Whatever the case, I just wanted to pass on a Happy Holidays from my and my family to you and yours, whoever you are.

I'm off to enjoy the next 39 hours off.

It's official - we have our own URL

Last night I registered www.loganmacleod.com.

After a year of toying with MSN Spaces, MySpace and Facebook trying to find a blog I liked, all I found were social networks more concerned with taking the latest nonsense quiz, selling me something, or just getting some.

What I really wanted was a way to diary my day, my world, and my thoughts in a way that anyone who was interested would be able to find them.  Blogger seems to give me that.  I can post from anywhere; I can customize my page with Twitter or my Gamer Card; and now I even have my own domain.

So point your way to www.loganmacleod.com.  You can even e-mail now to mail@loganmacleod.com.

Oh, and did I mention all the services are free?  Other than the domain registration for $10, the blog, email and other Google apps are all free!

Windows Live Writer

To anyone who knows me, it's no secret that I've drunk the Microsoft Cool-Aid.  So many of Microsoft's products have enhanced my life, including my PCs, mobile communications, and gaming.

One criticism I've often heard is MS wants to keep everything enclosed and not let you do anything outside their little world.  I've always thought that was true of their main competitor, but that's for a different blog entry.

Microsoft has recently launched their Windows Live suite of tools.  These are a series of applications for Vista or Windows XP including Messenger, Mail, Photo Gallery, and Windows Live Writer, which I'm using now.

What makes these interesting is they will work with just about anything.  As I type this in Windows Live Writer, the program will post it for me into Blogger, a Google app.  Think about that for a second.  Microsoft is making it easier for me to work with a Google product.  If there was a competitor aiming at Microsoft more than Apple, then it's Google, and Windows Live is playing nice with them.

Check out Windows Live for yourself.  I'll post my thoughts on the other apps as I use them.  A great introduction is in the Windows Weekly podcast episode 42, hosted by Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte.  They have an interview with Dave Fortin, GM, Windows Live Marketing.

Presenting, The Game Room

Everyone needs a place to go. A place to unwind, relax after a hard days work or just get away from whatever else is going in your life.

I once had such a room. My game room was all mine. A bar, DVDs, video games, HDTV, etc. It was mine and I loved it. Then my daughter got older, got more toys, some some things found their way down to my room. First just in the far corner. Then the toy box was opened, and now you never know when you might step on a toy, doll, or whatever.

Below are some pictures of how my game room once looked. It's still like that, for the most part. This is how I want to remember it.

Click to see more:

www.flickr.com

Windows Vista SP1 - RC1 is available

I've been running Windows Vista for most of 2007. It's been fine, but I really didn't need to upgrade to Vista.

I've been considering going back to XP, but now I hear Service Pack 1 is being released. It seems to be nothing more than a roll up of the various updates over the last year. Well, I have them all.

Should I apply SP1, drop back to XP, or do nothing an continue as is? I'm not sure.

Paul Thurrott has some info on SP1 on the Windows SuperSite, in case your interested.

W007! First Post

Ok, now that's out of the way.

This is my first post on my new blog, Logan MacLeod * Connected *

I've been on MySpace (too many kids) and Facebook (Really, really messy) and MSN Spaces (or Live Spaces, or hotmail, or whatever they are) and never really found a home.

My good friend Daytona24 just started his own Blogger page, so I figured I'd give it a try too. I was going to just get my own domain and start a site from scratch, but here's a free way do decide if a regular blog is right for me.

I'll post if something cool happens, I read a good book (a comic usually), get a new toy, whatever. If you like it, comment on it.

Send mail at loganmacleod@comcast.net I'd love to hear from you!