Hey. It's me again.

I might have said something about this, I really don't do DA Journals that much these days. I really don't find much purpose in them, but I guess I'll give it another go. Consider this as kind of a "road map" of what I'm going to do in the next 12 months or so.

Updates on Maddie Mckenszsie

Book sales are not going as well as planned. I am offering a free download only on iBooks to drum up interest. I'm not deterred by the fact that the book is doing poorly. This is a marathon, not a sprint. I will never give up. I'm looking to have a cheaper paperback version in the not too distant future for sale. I'm looking into getting the cover re-designed. Not annoying enough. There are THREE books planned. A sequel is currently in the sketching/manuscript stages. I'm hoping it comes out this summer if artblock doesn't set in.

Webcomic?

Princess has a backstory and such, some ideas about characters written down. I don't expect this to come out 'til 2014 the earliest. Need to figure out a game plan to make my work flow efficient and not make it suck at the same time.

Fanart

I have a HUGE master list that I want to tackle. I WILL EVENTUALLY MAKE A RETURN to doing pony art. Focus is on Mane 6 and CMC, possibly other favorites. It gets boring just drawing Pinkie Pie and Twist.

Cons.

Big Apple Ponycon, Connecticon and Bronycon are a go. Attende only (could not get a table in time for Connecticon, anyone willing to share?) Possibly thinking about attending Otakon Fri or Sat ONLY. I was thinking about getting a table for BAP, but I don't have a lot of pony art done. (That's why I'm focusing on Mane 6 and CMC). There is 1 con that I will have more info about in the future, just not ready to announce it yet. (HINT: It involves a table.)

I've been incognito artwise for the past month or so. If you follow me on Twitter (and you REALLY should do so) I started to make cryptic tweets about something called #projectsprinkles. I began a project around early July and finally put the finishing touches on it not long ago. It's a project that I hold near and dear to me. A project that more than 3 years ago I would never DREAM of doing. Intuition and determination set me through. I spent many days and nights, writing, sketching drawing, re-writing, fine tuning and finally I feel the time is ready. As the late Steve Jobs once said "Real artists ship." so that's why I held off on announcing  anything that was incomplete.

Maddie Mckenszie: The Most ANNOYING Little Sister EVER!

I've been getting a few notes about doing requests in the past few months. I'll say this in the most polite way possible. It takes time to create my artwork. Working a full-time job tends to get in the way of completing the artwork at times. I also (so far) don't get paid for any of it. It's a hobby for me. When I'm expected to do this for others, I feel compensation is needed for my time.

I'm certainly not against the idea of commissions, but that is something I may do one day.

So before you ask, I don't do ANY requests.

This is the code name of the "project" I'm working on. My updates will be sporadic from time to time, but once it's finished, I will be so damn proud of myself.

HINT: It does NOT involve My Little Pony at all. Sorry Bronies, I draw more than just pony.

You might have noticed that I didn't make my usual Saturday artwork post yesterday on June 9th. Recently, I declared I don't want to stay stagnant. That means doing the same thing over and over. Not to say that Princess and Friends, MLP and various fan art aren't fun to do...but I have to put a little more effort in it. It may take a little longer to put some things out, but the quality will speak for itself.

I don't have any artist alley presence this year since I'm not ready for that, but I am working on little personal project for Bronycon.

It's a secret!

I'm working on a personal project. Is is still in the planning stages. Once those plans are finalized, I'll begin to be public with it. Lets say I have no ideal what the hell will happen with this.

This summer, I currently plan to attend the following conventions:

Bronycon (Secaucus, NJ) June 30-July 1.
Otakon July 27-29.

No, I'm not doing artist alley. Not ready for that, maybe in the future.

I'm not sure about Connecticon. I'll have to see what my finances are like. The Marriott in Hartford is a nice hotel but would make my budget soar as it already is.

(Originally posted on my Tumblr page. [link]

Let's get some things out of the way. I like Derpy Hooves. She is the symbol of the brony movement. A beautiful mistake that made our ways into the hearts and minds of all in the fandom.

If you haven't heard, iTunes a few weeks ago removed Season 2 episode 14 "The Last Roundup". Apparently, there were complaints that the character Derpy, who spoke for the first time, was offensive to developmentally-abled people. Shortly after the release of this episode on iTunes, it was removed. At the time of this writing, the episode has yet to re-air on The Hub. Speculation says that Apple may have bowed down to pressure from complaints of the Derpy character or Hasbro itself got complaints as well. Welovefine, a pop-culture apparel retailer changed the descriptions of all merchandise featuring Derpy's name (but did not stop selling the actual shirts that have Derpy's name on it). Rumor has it that all merchandise featuring her were about to be removed, but for now that does not seem to be the case.

As a result of these changes, the "Save Derpy" movement was born. A hash tag on twitter, many fanart and worthless petitions were created to save this character from the axe of Political Correctness. Eventually the episode returned to iTunes…with some changes.

Originally, the character Rainbow Dash said "Careful Derpy" pleading her to avoid damaging city hall, she now says "Uggh Careful". Derpy, originally voiced by Tabitha St. Germain in a boy-like voice now sounds high-pitched and more "girl" like. The animation of her eyes which looked wall eyed, are now "corrected", much like a standard pony would look like on the show.

[link]

Then this is where the shit hits the fan.

Equestria Daily reported on this issue and confirmed that both the Standard and High Definition versions of "The Last Roundup" have returned and have been altered in this way.

[link]

Naturally, discussion about this has spread through other avenues such as reddit, deviantart, ponychan, 4chan's /mlp, etc. While it's ok to be disappointed with changes, it's not cool to give death threats, make absolutely pointless petitions (Because we all know online petitions work right?) and make baseless claims that Apple is somehow edited the episode all on their own.

CHILL. THE. FUCK. OUT.

Derpy ain't going anywhere. She's still in the series and won't be going anywhere if you follow the word of Animator Kreoss [link]

Keep it civil and sane and good things will come out in the end. I should finger wag towards Hasbro for NOT fully explaining WHY they are doing this and not have random animators, storyboard artists or anonymous persons speak on their behalf. So far, they are LUCKY this hasn't hit the mainstream news or they would have quite a handful to deal with.

Follow me on the following sites:

twitter (most active here) [link]
tumblr (I sometimes post sketches here) [link]
google+ [link]
reddit [link]
Facebook is stupid. No one should be using it.

I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I don't consider myself to be a brony artist. From time to time, you may see pony artwork here, but don't expect it. I tend to stick to my favorites (that means Pinkie Pie and Twist). I really want to do all mane 6 one day and maybe the CMC, but my original artwork is the main feature here.

Fan art is cool and all, but all original artwork needs exposure.

I normally stick to words in 140 characters or less, but with a heavy heart, I must write this.

My first exposure to Apple products were back in grade school. In the computer lab, I used educational software on the Apple IIe and eventually the Mac. I loved using the mac so much, I convinced my family to purchase a Mac for use in the home. We got a Performa 550. Pretty clunky performance with a 33 MEGAHERTZ 68k processor and a VERY pokey 2400 baud modem. In modern standards, it wouldn't even hold a candle to even the 1st gen iPhone, but it was a very influential product for me. This was the Mac that I used during the rise of the information age in the 1990's. I learned to use Photoshop and learned HTML on the Mac as well.

The 1990's were dark times for Apple and Mac fans. I was often ridiculed for using a Mac when my other peers in school were using PCs. "You're using a dinosaur", they said, "No one makes software for Macs", they said. The price of Apple stock was less than two large pizzas back then. Sadly, demands of the world and my family forced me into the world of Windows. I became the other side of the "rest of us" for a few years. I won't say it was THAT of a bad experience, but it involved a lot of Blue Screens of Death. I really learned the ins and outs of PCs, eventually learning to install Windows and eventually built my own computer in my college years.

During my darkest time when I had a life-threatening illness, the iPod that was given to me as a gift gave me songs that got me through the recovery. Eventually, I fully recovered and resumed my studies at school.

I started working at a computer store during the final years of college and was exposed to Mac OS X for the first time. Many of my co-workers were Mac users and gushed with glee over the experience. I was already an iPod fan, so going back to the Mac was a no-brainer. My first modern Mac and my first ever laptop was the first MacBook Pro in 2006. Damn, it was an incredible experience turning it on for the first time with the welcome video.

The iPhone release was one of the most memorable geeky moments of recent memory for me. I waited 12 hours on line with MacBookPro in hand of course to get mine, paying the $600 + tax for it. I still have the special bag they gave me somewhere stored. I would wait for it again in 2008, 2009 and 2010, even paying FULL PRICE for the iPhone 4 since shitty AT&T wouldn't give me a discount. I would wait it for the iPad 1 as well, but I just got the iPad 2 recently months after it came out.

Today, every computer that I own is Mac. My iPad and me are one when I go out. My iPhone is my "3rd arm" or "2nd Brain". My Apple TV entertains me. My MacBook Pro is the hub of my life. My Mac Mini brings my artwork to life. I owe a lot of what I do in my life to Steve Jobs vision and his team. Could I do it with a Windows machine? Can I do it with an Android? Yeah. I can, but the user experience, integration, cohesiveness pales in comparison to Mac OS and iOS. You may not use or own a Mac or iPhone or iPad, but Steve Jobs pushed the envelope that others followed, progressing technology further. We would still be using RAZRs and Treos if it weren't for Apple.

You may never see another person like Steve Jobs do so much to an industry in your life ever again. You may never see a person talked in the same vein as Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Walt Disney. You may never experience a person like Steve change the way we listen to music and watch TV, movies and games.

Remember that.

-Ronald Hennessy

I declided to start my own livestream channel. I started streaming yesterday. If you want to see me draw live, check me out [link]

I will mostly do livestreaming on the weekends during the afternoon or night. I mostly draw late weekday nights (I work late), so I don't expect to stream during that time since most of the country is asleep.

It's been one year since I started drawing again on a regular basis. (My DA profile says I've been around for 6 years, but most of those years were to lurk and fav art).Though I still have much more to learn. When I look back on my older pictures, I look at them in a unflattering way. I really want to start improving my older works. Having every master saved on my hard drive, that is not very difficult to do. References is something I starting to use more, but at times I don't find a perfect "fit" for my characters. Recently, I made a sketch of Maddie riding a bike. It involved looking at several dozen bike images 'til I found one that suited my needs. Still, I don't want to use it as a crutch, just a tool.

Fall is my 3rd favorite season of the year. Why 3rd? Because the hours get shorter and the leaves start falling. Also you have to start changing your wardrobe.  No longer I can roll out of the house in short sleeves. Don't forget that coat! A reminder that the WORST is yet to come...WINTER. It may have awesome holidays, but there is NOTHING COOL about Winter.

On 9/24, I attended BroNYCon, a mini-con devoted exclusively to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Normally, its a gathering of Bronies who watch episodes, play video games and eat Pizza, but this one was truly special. This time, they brought out the big guns. Bringing out Supervising Director Jayson Thiessen and Sephisto from Equestria Daily fame. The Venue was a little loud and humid at times, but there was something special and magical when 300+ bronies watched the "Return of Harmony Part 2" along with the director. I got a nice commish from of Twist. That is going up on my mantle...wait a minute, I don't have a mantle. Well, it will certainly be featured in amongst the commission swag I obtained.

New York Comic-Con is just around the corner and I will be attending at least Friday and Saturday...unless Apple decides to release the iPhone 5 on that weekend. That will make things complicated.

This was my 7th Otakon. It's getting to the point in which I can tell some things certainly aren't running right. At an unofficial account of 31,000 attendees, this convention is soon going to need to be ran in a professional manor or people will begin to consider other options in the region. I know the Otakon staff doesn't want to do it, but for a size of a convention like Otakon, you need to have some sort of premium pass. Boo-Who to all the whiners to say "It's unfair!". So is life. Some cons are already doing this. Considering the vacation time and the amount of money spent on travel and lodging, waiting on lines and getting shut out of panels is the most frustrating experience of all.

On brighter news, at least they wised up and finally got an app for that. I can't begin to fathom how convenient the Guidebook App has been. Every convention should use this app.

For the first time, I did a commission. I got a Twist commiss (the name escapes me) and I got nice drawing done by of Maddie. I will need to see if it's ok to post, I only post my own stuff on DA that I made.

As expected, Bronies were present. There were about 2 cosplay meets and 3 general meetups. The Saturday one had about 160+ Bronies spreading Friendship and Magic throughout the BCC. "Strawberry Spice" the coordinator of the meetups wants a panel next year. Do you really think that will happen? Come on, this is the same panel ops that keeps approving crap like Gaia and Anime Parliament EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. Maybe they'll have an Anime/Manga slant towards it...it kinda needs to it or it will be rejected.

Anyways. I regularly take photos at the con of cosplayers. If you want to see those pictures, check the following [link] :

July 29-31st in Baltimore, MD. Leaving the 28th. To be honest, the only Anime I have been watching as of late was Madoka and Evangelion 2.2.2. Once again, I'll catch up on a few shows before so I don't get caught in the loop. If you're a Brony, there will be meetups for us and the cosplayers [link] [link]. This will be my 7th consecutive year going to this convention. While I strong opinions about how the staff treats us attendees, this is probably one of the few times of the year where I actually love being in the company of "my people" (a.k.a. Nerds). Consider it "Weaboo Thanksgiving".

Me in artists alley? HAHAHAHAHA...no. Not yet, maybe one day.

In November, I bought a 2-year membership for the price of 1. Now it's May and I feel cheated. Oh yeah, it's cool to be a beta tester, but unless you like to customize your page to your hearts content, it doesn't really help you be a better artist. The critique feature, at least for me is useless. I click the feature on when I submit art and no one says anything Considering that I'm a little-known artist currently, maybe I'm whining a bit. Maybe I'm not drawing a lot of fan art or CWC/Chasehedgehog-level work. Maybe I don't stick to Anime/Manga work.

ConceptArt is looking a lot more attractive to me by the day. Comments are cool and I do truly appreciate it, but constructive criticism is what people need in order to improve.

That is my motto right now. Please watch "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"...no RUN to your nearest TV, watch it on the HUB or download them off the internet/YouTube it. This is probably one of the best animated shows in the last 5 years. Period. Not since the days of Haruhi I have never seen so much awesome and win. Yes, it's a "little girls show", but is a GOOD little girls show. That is the difference.

Yes. I'm quite obsessed w/ Charlie Sheen these days with the adonis DNA and tiger blood. I'm mostly sticking to drawing in my sketchbook. I'm going to eventually scan them. Haven't figured out what my next "featured" art will be.

I HATE New Years Resolutions. I really, really do. If I say I should do something and stick to it from the start of the year, I'm setting myself up for a big disappointment. All of those people that hit the gym in January, be honest, how many of those will stick around come next month, March or even April? Not very many. No one should stick to a start line to begin something that will better themselves.

What does this have to do with drawing? Not much, but I feel much more pressured to start drawing more on a regular basis. Most importantly to draw from LIFE. What I have done so far have primarily come out of my mind, a few studies of hands and feet here and there, not much focus on anatomy and perspective. If feels cliche to recommend "Drawing on the RIght Side of The Brain" and Andrew Loomis books (but really, if you're learning to draw, it is highly recommended d00d) now, but I learned a lot from reading "Figure Drawing For Dummies". A lot of what they explain is very fundamental and lots of drawing examples as well. Please pick it up, I highly recommend it.

My cartoony drawings won't come to an end, but phase 1 of my self taught drawing is almost to an end. Time to start focusing on the real stuff.