Yesterday I started a drawing a minor character from my novel; my main character's grandmother, Grandma Li, or Popo as her youngest grandchildren call her. I based the drawing on a demonstration in the how-to-draw-manga book I bought the other day. I showed Dad my drawing and he said that my version looked more realistic, and less "twee" than the one in the book. I thought that the illustration in the book looked very nice, given the style of drawing. But then my tastes and my Dad's often differ, despite that I inherited my artistic talents from him.
Some minor information about Grandma Li; she's 80+ years old; has black eyes that always seem to sparkle; and her black hair has turned to silver, which she has cut short. She is usually seen wearing a traditional cheong-sam (qipao) jacket and trousers; and is very rarely seen without her walking stick. Unlike most Chinese, her skin is white, rather than a yellowy tan.
I'd originally written it so that Grandma Li still has her black hair, but when I started drawing her I just imagined her with grey hair for some reason; so I will be changing my description of her in my book. I've scanned my drawing into my iPad and I've started painting it in Sketchbook Pro. I've also download traditional Chinese pattern that I'm layering onto Grandma Li's jacket. I think it's going to turn out very nice.
Mum is taking me back to my flat tomorrow. I'm looking forward to going back, despite that I'll mostly be writing.
I really need to finish my dissertation. I hope I can finish it by the end of next week, and then edit and submit it before the deadline. I have to admit I'm starting to get worried if I'll finish it in time. Good news, though; I've almost finished that chapter that's been driving me nuts. I just have to finish a couple more and then I'll just have to edit it.
iPod Idolatry
I have all kinds of music on my iPod, mostly rock and pop songs but I have lots of songs from other genres. I buy a lot of singular songs because I don't see the point of buying a whole album just for the sake of one song, or there are only one or two songs by an artist I don't like. A lot of the songs I buy are from films and television; sometimes I'll hear part of a song on a sequence, I'll run it on Soundhound, find the song on YouTube and if I decide I really do like the whole song I automatically download it. My favourites right now are Dreams by The Cranberries, Ari no Mama de (Japanese version of Let It Go), I Want To Spend My Lifetime Loving You by Marc Anthony and Tina Arena (from the Mask of Zorrow soundtrack).
I have lots of playlists; most are for my longer stories, kind of like a soundtrack; others are when I'm in particular moods or when I need a pick-me-up. For example, my Feel Good playlist includes Richard Anthony's version of Itsy Bitsy Petit Bikini which always makes me laugh or smile.
