venomai

IMO tablets are worth it. Wacom is all I've tried and I'm very happy with their tablets. Their Graphire tablet is the cheapest, and I think you can get it wireless. An Intuos is slightly more expensive but comes with a few neat features such as extra buttons and a more comfortable pen (also a nicer look). I'd suggest getting a very small size. Previously I used a small old Graphire, now I'm using a much larger Intuos. I think Intuos is a bit smoother but I wish I had gotten a smaller size. As for programs, two popular ones specific for digipainting are OpenCanvas and ArtRage. Both are pretty neat and I think they offer decent trials (some limited functionality but enough for good results). I generally use Photoshop, any version works but I like CS+ because you can nest folders. In reply to #5: After time your tablet control will surpass your mouse control. But there's always the bonus of pressure & tilt with tablets, something really helpful for painting.

Grand. Here are some pics. http://www.riotacts.com/theturn.html

Modern cruise ships usually have enough lifeboats to hold all the passengers. :| Oh god it really wouldn't... I got back from a cruise a while ago. A week after I got back, literally the trip right after mine, the ship almost capsized. As it tilted, glass was sent down the halls. TV's in your room and bunk beds would come tumbling down fast. Water from the pools spilled out and started flooding the area. It managed to right itself after a few minutes, but in that time there were over 25 people injured. Turns out it was because an old man was having a heart attack, so the captain decided to make a very tight turn to get back to land. The tight turn to save one man's life risked hundreds more and caused massive amounts of damage to the ship. I'm glad I wasn't on the ship.

Very nice work vlad! You've definitely got my vote atm.

1. 2. 3. Hmm not happy with the last one. I'll try to fix it up before it's too late... EDIT: Sorry I think I'm only entering the middle one.

A lot of these could never pass as "minimalistic" pieces. Hehe your current sig is a perfect example of minimalism. ;)

Thanks for the suggestions. :) @Sir_Erderik: Nice idea! I could definitely add a few subtle lines to suggest a brick wall, I'll see what I can do about that. @tripsis: Hmm imo the border adds to the contrast of the piece. Thanks though. @mitsubishi64: Yep, drawing a door would probably fix this too. @DarkKnightRider: Ah yes sorry about that. @rik: That's more graffiti. I guess it looks like a flower because it's so faded. :?:

Here's a sig/banner I've got going at rsc. Designed in Photoshop CS2 with stocks & brushes. Tell me what you think. Critiques would be nice.

Hard to see. A lot of the shading is gradient style (hopefully that was pixeled by hand).

How ironic. :P It seems biased, though.

I'm saying the mainstream news is regulated by the corporation itself for maximum revenue. To regulate is to "control or direct according to rule, principle or law" (dict). I'd say the principle of staying in business applies in this case. As for the future of oil, one article states: Another article states: Scary thoughts if they are accurate! :shock:

Hm please elaborate. I don't see what this has to do with anything. Why would you say the belief of the afterlife is cowardice and worthless? It brings many people hope. And, who knows, it could be true. It definitely has more going for it than most of the ideas discussed in this thread. :lol: I think it should be the other way around. I'd imagine most atheists would simply accept the fact that they were wrong and continue living life as they normally do (ie: not serving God, even if one exists). On the other hand, imagine how difficult it would be to know that your prayers and servings to your faith were all futile. Imagine all the money, effort, and time you put into religion, just to find out that it's all a big hoax. Just imagine how painful it would be when you find that your "sacred" text was the work of a few average men from thousands of years ago. Ouch!

Haha, the meida is more regulated than you can imagine. :) The media is a business. They choose which news to play based on how much revenue the piece will make. Bits like saving the environment tend to be less exciting and therefore don't make the news as much as, say, violence and terrorism.

By this logic some point of singularity would have also had to "start" or "create" a God. But what if the cycle of the universe is infinite, in the same belief that God is infinite? In this sense, neither was ever created nor started; they are always existing and will never die. :) EDIT: heh, Nad beat me to it.

Of course! The law doesn't tell us what's morally correct, it simply tells us what we can and can not legally do in our lives. Law changes for a reason. As new generations emerge, laws must adapt to the change in society. An example is homosexuality, which was once a sin by the law. Now it's accepted in many places, due to the changes in law. I don't know much about astro-physics, but planets moving in different directions is a simple matter of Newtonian physics. Newton's law of universal gravitation explains why bodies like the Moon can orbit around the Earth, even though the Earth is "spinning" a different way (orbiting around the Sun). Not a good point if you ask me, as it can go either way. See my reply to Serephurus: This causes another problem. If God triggered the Big Bang, what created God? I've recently become interested in the Cyclic Universe Model, the idea that the universe has always existed in an endless cycle of expansion and rebirth. This model solves a few of the Big Bang's quirks, such as:

goldphishies: Welcome to a religious debate. A debate is a "discussion involving opposing points" (dict). None of us are taking hope away from the homeless... :-k Sorry, I disagree. The only thing that should tell us what's wrong and right is the law. Whether you choose to abide by the law is your own choice. God's words? Do you mean the words written by people inspired by God. Refer to my previous post on that matter. PS: Buddhism is truly fascinating. :)

This causes another problem. If God triggered the Big Bang, what created God? I've recently become interested in the Cyclic Universe Model, the idea that the universe has always existed in an endless cycle of expansion and rebirth. This model solves a few of the Big Bang's quirks, such as: Yep, very true. That's why religious debates don't really get anywhere. What you believe in is strongly based on your childhood experiences and the society you grew up in.

I'll start by saying that I believe God is a synonym for the universe. It has no emotion, no thought, no intelligence. It is a space which contains matter. It has no control over our daily lives. With an estimated 200 million life-bearing planets in this universe, Earth is not a special planet. This brings up a few questions: - How can we be certain that God actually inspired these writers? - Take a look at the sacred texts from other religions. Those writers also claim that God inspired them to write what they did. Why are there so many variations ultimately written by the same God? - Why would you say God is a he? Here's a possible solution: The image of God varies from person to person. One may think of it as a male, others may think of it as an inanimate object, and others make think of it as a collection of superior beings. Inspiration from God is a figment of our imagination. This explains why one may be "inspired by God" to spread love, while another may be "inspired by God" to spread hate. So, what exactly is God? In my opinion, it's no more than an excuse to believe a certain way. "God told me to do it." Just my two cents. :)

Jesus is a man who's image has been skewed and stretched by fictional writings over the years. I'm not very religious. I don't believe that Jesus is a God. To me, he's a man who lives and dies like the rest of us. Dave, 17

Earth is not unique; it's highly likely that other life-bearing planets do exist in the universe. This writer estimated that the nearest life-bearing planet is approximately 600 million million miles away. The SR-71 Blackbird is one of the fastest manned aircrafts ever made. It's absolute record speed was 3,529 km/h. Compare that to the speed of light, 1,079,252,848 km/h. Reaching aliens is completely theoretical at this point, and probably will be for many centuries to come. See the below articles for more information: http://www.krysstal.com/extrlife.html (quoted above, includes lots of great information) http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/resea ... /warp.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faster-than-light Alien Life and UFOs are just another control mechanism by the government, much like communism, terrorism, and drugs.

No, it's actually quite witty and amusing. I wouldn't say witty, but it's definitely amusing. Here are some good april fools jokes: http://thegeekhouse.com/ (great prank, try it on other browsers) http://www.thinkgeek.com/ http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/more.html http://www.google.com/tisp/index.html

I don't think some chatspeak would attract more viewers. Less, if anything... Forum censors are always a simple joke for April Fools. =D>

I take it this is an April Fool's joke? The replacements could have been a bit more creative. :( like - like some - some please - please the - the

Dithering is just a sprite art trick to blend colours without actually using any extra tones. This was useful back in the day where GIFs had to use minimal amounts of colour. Up to you to decide which you'd rather, it's mostly personal choice. Some find one easier or nicer than the other. I personally like the look of dithering. Here's one of my favourite pixels that heavily relies on dithering. http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/pixels.asp?img=415

The wages can vary greatly depending on a lot of factors: - Your Country - Whether you use traditional or digial mediums - Whether you are a 2D or 3D animator - Whether you are animating for video, internet, games, etc. - Your experience on projects, and also in years - Your art & design education Certain video game animators -- mostly 3D animation -- can make a lot of money. Here's a snippet from an article on Video Game Salaries back in 2004. Traditional animators tend to make around the same per year. source , source , source