Okay, this is going to sound really weird, but I promise, it's going to be fun!
Let me begin by explaining a little bit about where I'm coming from...

See, I have this desk area where my two computers are (which is basically where I live), and I'm surrounded by two walls. One wall has a lil' door cut into it that leads to my attic (lovely), and it's white. White. Very plain. And, I didn't want to plaster all of my own arts on it, but I wanted to put some of YOURS there! So, here's what I'm going for:
Just comment on this journal IF you want me to put your art on my little white door OR if you want to leave a "shout out" of a sort... or both. So, link to the ONE piece of artwork that you want me to feature the most and/or your quote, shout out, whatever words you want to share.

If this is just ridiculous, well, sorry I guess. Ha ha. It sounds like fun to me, and I love ALL of you so much that I want something in my room that reminds me of you all. ^^

I will be taking pictures once I've gotten all of the features on the little door for you guys to see.

Yeah, I planned on spending my evening drawing real PRACTICE pictures for Yu-Gi-Oh! studies, but no. I had to spend the past two hours working on a senseless, busy-work project for my sister. (It had to do with drawing a roller coaster, so GUESS WHO WAS NOMINATED. Uh huh.)

Okay, because I've been releasing "teaser" journals with all this "I PROMISE I'M WORKING ON ARTZ" mess, (which I really am) here's something for you all to ponder about. Here are all the titles of my current WIPs: (wanna take a whack at what characters/theme they feature?)

¹ "This is Why"
² "Handmade"
³ "Laundry"
⁴ "What Are You Going To Do?
⁵ "Please Stay"
⁶ "Amadeus"
⁷ "Do You Remember Me?"
⁸ "What Marik and Bakura Think of Yaoi" (I know, this is the toughest one to figure out.)

Yes, I'm drawing another version of the "Yaoi" comic, except, this time, we get to see into the minds of Marik Ishtar and Psycho Bakura! WIN, right? Yes. I think so, too.

Welcome to "Becuz Soranu Said So!", the official data bank on the subject of, well, me. Soranu. Loyal folks, be prepared to read your eyeballs out! >D

According to a recent poll, basically none of you can say that you know very much about me at all. (And, it's not your fault, either. I just don't talk about myself much, and I rarely get the chance to talk with each of you one-on-one. D: ) So, with that said, I release unto thee this primer on the subject of Soranu!
<sup>(Information is likely to be added in over time. In that case, an edited version of this journal will be released.)

^.<</sup> B A S I C • I N F O R M A T I O N ^{^.~}

Favorite food: octopus salad
Least favorite food: tomatoes
Favorite drink: bubble tea
Least favorite drink: buttermilk
Favorite genre of music: film and game score
Least favorite genre of music: rap
Favorite album: I can't choose... National Treasure OST, Deep Blue, Yu-Gi-Oh! Sound Duel, Transformers: The Score, Kingdom Hearts II OST...
Favorite movie: Once again, I can't pick... Monsters Inc., Cats Don't Dance, National Treasure, Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie, Transformers...
Favorite thing to spend money on: Japanese snack foods
Favorite season: Spring
Favorite day of the week: Friday
Favorite animal: Arabian horse
Favorite gaming console: my PS2, NDS, and GBA SP systems are all very special to me <3
Favorite class: Humanities (essentially, it's an English/History hybrid class)
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Zodiac: Horse
Spirituality: Nondenominational Christian
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Earthly hero(s): both Yuugi Mutou and Yami Yuugi
Sweet or salty: definitely sweet 98.99% of the time
Creamy or crunchy peanut butter: crunchy
Morning, midday, afternoon, evening, or night: morning and night


^{^.<} A R T • R E L A T E D ^{^.~}

What I use for what purpose...
• Adobe Photoshop CS2 (graphic editing software)
• Adobe ImageReady CS2 (simple animations software)
• a Wacom Intuous3 6” x 8” tablet (click [link] for more info on tablets)
• a 2006 MacBook laptop that runs OSX Tiger (self explanatory)
• a mint green 3rd Generation iPod Nano named “Niikai” (inspiration)
• Bose Tripod On-Ear headphones (diving into the desired atmosphere)
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List of F.A.Q.s
^{(Some of which have already been answered above)}

What programs do you use?
For my graphic editing and CGing, I use Adobe Photoshop CS2. For any animated images like avatars and whatnots, I use Photoshop’s complementary program, ImageReady. (I think it’s called Adobe ImageReady CS2, as well.) And, for any HTML and CSS coding, I either use Notepad or Coda. (Coda’s only for Macs I think.)

What hardware do you use?
I use a Wacom Intuous 3, 6” x 8” tablet. My computer is a little white 13” MacBook that I got back in ’06 that runs OS X Tiger. My own head is also some serious hardware.

What helps you draw?
To be honest, I’ve found that inspiration is the #1 most important thing. Without that, my efforts are futile, really. (Because, it’s kind of hard to draw something that you can’t even see in your own mind. xD)
For me, music is integral to the drawing process, too. Well, most of the time, anyway. Not just any music, though; I tend to match up what I’m listening to with the feelings depicted in what I’m drawing. (What kind of music? I’d recommend thumbing through some film score albums, since that’s what I tend to gravitate towards while sketching. Music with lyrics is good, too, though.)
Love for the subject that I’m drawing. There’s really not much to say about that one, except that, as everyone knows, when you really are passionate about something, you tend to do a better job. (So, for me, those would be subjects like Arabian horses, Yuugiou, Kingdom Hearts, and other such things.)

How did you learn how to draw?
I’ve been sketching, doodling, drawing since I found me some good inspiration. (Which was the movie “Cats Don’t Dance” that came out back in ’97, I believe. I’ve also always had a love for horses since a very young age.) So, for most of my memorable life, I’ve been “subconsciously” practicing. And, as time passed, I got more of a hang of how things are supposed to look, you could say.

No, no, I mean your Yuugiou stuff... how’d you learn to draw that?
If I could count all the screenshots of all the various characters I’ve studied for over four years now, you wouldn’t believe it.
I learned how to draw Yuugi and the gang by simply using references. After a while, I could kind of “take flight” and not have to use them anymore, and draw from memory instead.
References are great. Using them in the beginning stages of your study will help you to memorize all of the quirky angles, eye shapes, and hair styles surprisingly quickly. (And, take my word for it, the Yuugiou style is far from the norm. If you have trouble with it, don’t worry. 99.9999999% of the artistic community have no idea how to even think about going about it. xD It’s very different. I mean, really. It’s taken me four years to get to the halfway mark of truly understanding it! WHY I’ve invested all this time in studying an art style that has a limited chance of enhancing my life, I DO NOT KNOW. It’s just fun, I guess.)

I didn’t need to know all that... Will YOU teach me how to draw?
On any subject that you’d consider me qualified to give you advice about, I’d be happy to tell you what I know and how I think I could help you. Otherwise, I can’t magically turn you into the artist you’ve always wanted to be, because that part’s in your hands.
But, yeah, I’d definitely be willing to help you out on your quest... just note me with a request for my time in advance so I can prepare advice. xD

Using references is cheating!
And now you’ve automatically cheated on every test you’ve ever taken in your life, because, if you even had a hope of passing, you would’ve used references of some kind or another in order to prepare for it at some point.
Tracing is cheating, young kumquat. Don’t let anyone ever convince you that using references is bad. We all learn from them in every aspect of life, ultimately. :3

You didn’t answer my questshun.
Well, that’s not a question. It demands no answer.
<sup>But, if there’s something you wanted to know and I didn’t say nuthin’ about it, just NOTE me! :3


^.<</sup> F U N • S T U F F ^{^.~}

Various, interesting facts...
¹ I think raptors are cool.
² I like avocado.
³ I want to be either a storyboard artist, visual effects artist, or concept artist when I'm growned all up. :B
⁴ I make some mean onigiri. :3
⁵ I collect cute, miniature notebooks and memo pads.
⁶ I hate reading for the most part.
⁷ I think I’m a Japanese girl in an American girl’s body. xD
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Favorite Bubble Tea flavors...
^{(I LOVE bubble tea! Click [link] to read more ‘bout it.)
All of these flavors have bubbles in them! :9}
• Classic milk tea
• Passion fruit green tea (it tastes like pure sunshine! )
• Strawberry black tea (reminds me of summer)
• Chocolate & banana smoothie (yes, I like bubbles in my smoothies)
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Chronological Order of Obsessions...
^{(Most of which are still alive... xD)
1} Horses in general
² Art
³ Online horse simulation games
⁴ Arabian horses
⁵ Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
⁶ Kingdom Hearts
⁷ Yu-Gi-Oh!, then Yuugiou (if that makes any sense, lol)
⁸ Straight Egyptian Arabian horses
⁹ Kingdom Hearts II (currently untapped for the most part)

... and now I really regret trading in my Nintendogs game for some DS game I never play. I'm sad. I miss my little pups. (Of course there names were Yuugi, Atemu, and Jounouchi! What else could they possibly be??)

Alas! I think my sister still has her Nintendogs game... I bet she doesn't play it anymore, so I doubt she'll care if I take it. >3

Went to see Vantage Point today. I will say that it was very interesting, very intense, and definitely sobering. It's one of those movies that you don't pop in your DVD player because you're bored... you kind of need to have a good reason to want to watch it. BUT! It was AWESOME.
(Still, I cried about three times, thinking, "Oh God. It's really this bad, and worse, isn't it?" It's beyond words to describe how twisted people can be, killing so many other people. It breaks my heart...)
I will say that you guys should go and see it. Bring popcorn. You will be munching.

NINTENDOGS. *sob*

I swear... I don't know why I keep on doing this, but I'm COLLECTING more and more WIPs rather than FINISHING any of the ones I already have. It's like, I get to the completed sketch and then start on the lineart, and THEEEEEN I get a new idea for a new picture entirely.

AAAUUUUGGGH.

So, I HOPE that I'll have something posted soon. If not, y'all are going to be BLOWN A-WAAAYY with this massive number of submissions.

Oh! And my subbie runs out in, like, what? 4 days? Yeah. Wonderful. (I'm gonna by myself another subbie, but, jeez, that's a lot of money to blow. :/ )

My sister has a beauty pageant today (the same one I was forced to do last year), so I must go and support her. (I'm not doing the pageant this year... but blast it, because of my extremely competitive nature, I entered MYSELF into an even BIGGER pageant. To make it even better, it's a state-wide pageant where you have to actually DO stuff instead of just stand there and look pretty. So, there. I get to go and lose 15-20 lbs and get ripped by the end of May. Whoo!!)

Now I'm off to finish my school crudlies of the day and to continue work on my current 10 WIPs before I have to leave for that pageant...

I think I deserve a good laugh.