Ednam's giraffe

Here is another digital inking I did up. This one as a lot cleaner in terms of the lines. I feel like I am gaining the confidence to do this properly. I found a new brush that I am using and I quite like. It is wonderfully consistent at the sizes I like to do. This was done in Ps CC. The image resolution is 6.5″ x 5.25″ x 300 ppi. I may be bumping that up to 600 ppi or adjusting my canvas size. I want to get the lines super smooth and preserve the brushes texture. It was created with just a mouse, I still dont have an intous or similar pen input device. The purple is the simulated color that it would have if engraved in wood. 

I have begun to work on the slow process of re-teaching myself how to draw and paint digitally. I really want to figure out graphic design and improve the work I do. With the wood working, it does help me focus knowing how to work on this in a more proper manner. Im still extremely rusty and I am operating with a mouse and keyboard versus a tablet. I do plan on getting a new one as my old one now lives in the halls of Tech Valhalla. This is something I plan on engraving into a box and is a kick off point for me. 

Here is a quick look at a pet project I came up with for the CNC machine. I had just beat God of War a week ago and I was left wanting to find a way to show off the game. I wanted to find a way to store the disc elegantly while offering full protection for it. Being a wood worker, it naturally made sense for me to find a way to do it out of wood. I actually bothered to dust off the camera and record the CNC machine in action.

In the video, I showcase how I cut the base plate that actually holds the disc. The plates are connected together with 6 neodymium magnets. I was considering using a small dowel and pinning them together in one corner, then using the magnets to hold them together. It would create a stronger bond and resist busting open if it happens to drop, it also would create a pivot in one corner. I ended up not having any .25 inch dowels around and instead went with the magnets. This project was made with Aromatic Cedar. The wood is 5.25 inches wide, and 6.5 inches tall. Each plate is .375 inches thick and when assembled the unit is .75 inches. If you are interested in something like this, please feel free to contact me! I am still learning, and I liked what I came up with.  

If you want to see more, I am also on instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/barbaric_woodcraft

And I have a shop over at etsy: 

I really have been needing to work on this, but I have been bouncing between depression, sickness, work, stress… The nicest and most honest way to put it would be to say I have been dealing with a lot of excuses for me to not post. I have been kind of split between what I have been wanting to post on.

I like the idea of this whole thing being positive and upbeat… But I am just an angry, spiteful bastard. Deep down inside my heart there is an old man sitting on his porch eating watermelon and cursing at the neighbors’ kids running onto his lawn. I need to evict that guy and have somebody else move in but its hard to get past it.

Before I throw out a “back in my day” or a “where’s my shotgun” as the old man takes over, what I have really been split on has been what to post. I want to be happy, to show off my art work and the wood working I have been doing. I also want to be a miserable old c**t and talk about how I have put on more weight or how I wasn’t really eating anymore. I want to vocalize my rage as I coo over finally finding my identity with wood working. I find myself split between them.

The divide between them is so disparate.

So f**k it. Here is the break down. I guess I should start bad and end on the good s**t.

I am up to 403 lbs. I actually probably weigh more than that but that is where my scale starts to struggle. That’s right. I put on 20 more pounds. I now weigh at least 3 if not 4 of my friends put together. I am like 8 fifth graders or the weight of 40 of my cats. That’s right 40 cats. Which is a lot. I need to drop 150 lbs, if possible by the end of the year. This f*****g sucks. I haven’t been confident in anything as far as my health has been concerned and I got worse. I just started eating more and more like shit. I need to get into the gym and use my membership, but the weather has been s**t. F**k, yet another excuse, its been tough to make myself do it.

I plan on explaining how I got even worse, but the easiest things I can explain it with would be to look at the fact that I have been eating and not eating. I would binge on bad food that was poorly prepared and then eat till it hurt. I hated doing it, but I was doing it. I also struggled to deal with cooking here. I just had so little drive. Then I would go like 2 days without eating… Which is bad. Very bad.

The other thing is I want to go to the gym and be left alone. I want to just go in when they are relatively empty and work out until I ache and then collapse when I get home. Its all I want to do. I don’t want to deal with anyone. I don’t want to make eye contact, I just want to be left alone to lose my 20 cats of fat off my body. Why does that seem so f*****g difficult for people to realize? I am fat, its why I am at the gym. Please correct me if I am doing something wrong but leave me alone otherwise.

So, the positive stuff…

I have actually had 2 meals both days prior to this and intend on eating 2 tomorrow. It sounds stupid. But that is a marked improvement. I have also cooked everything I had in those meals. I ordered in a sous vide machine and it is making a massive difference. I had some excellent steak today and a kick ass burger last night. I love having perfect soft boiled eggs with my rice in the morning. I feel a million times better just having food again in my system and to feel hunger. The feeling of a craving for food has actually been enjoyable.

That said, there has been no progress on getting to the gym. Maybe here in a few weeks. I want to lose enough to where I feel I can go in there and not feel too weak. Which is stupid… but that is my mindset on it.

And here is a quick preview of the woodworking I have been doing. One of these also contains my ideal style of making for now on too. I’m feeling excited about finding my voice and how I want to create. The future is what I am aiming for and now have ideas of how to get there. I just have to start working towards it.

Thanks to everyone who has been following me. I really appreciate you guys and will be posting more soon. I plan on talking more about this stuff and talk about what I have actually been working on. I may also talk about some of the meals I have planned because last night I made a steak that melted my brain…. It was so good. Thanks again.

Take it easy everyone.