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tripsis

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Blog Entries posted by tripsis

  1. tripsis
    I've always LOVED books. But more than that, I love to own and collect books. As the years go by, I'm getting more and more interested in collecting signed/first edition books. I was having a little fun indexing some of my collection and thought I'd post here :P
     
    A Game of Thrones - Advanced Reading Copy
     
    Advanced reading copies are uncorrected proofs that are printed and privately released before the final book is published. They are for promotional purposes and often get sent to bookstores/newspapers/journalists/bloggers/etc. so the books can be reviewed and promoted by the time the final book is released. These are not intended to be sold and as such they're usually very scarce in numbers and usually have a very different style/layout/cover than the final published book, which makes them fun to collect :)
     
    They also usually contain a few extra pages (or notes on the back) with interesting information about the promotional plans and publishing plans (such as how many books they intend to publish in the first printing, etc.).
     
    [hide=Photo][/hide]
     
    It's actually a funny story how I came across this book. I went to buy a used copy of A Game of Thrones on Amazon.com. I clicked on the listing for the latest hardback edition (latest being about a year and a half ago) and bought a used one for $12. Instead, I received this edition, which was valued at about $100 at the time. One recently went for almost $500 on eBay :)
     
    I did go see George R.R. Martin do a speaking/signing after I bought this book, but I didn't get this particular one signed (I did get A Dance with Dragons signed though!). Still kicking myself for that. I'll be trying to go to another one of his signings until I can get this signed!
     
    A Clash of Kings - Advanced Reading Copy
     
    [Photo coming soon]
     
    After getting excited about the Game of Thrones ARC, I decided to scour eBay for another. That's how I came to get this one :) It's at my house in California though so I'll upload a photo next week when I fly back.
     
    A Storm of Swords - First Edition (US)
     
    [hide=Images]
     

     
    The number line indicates that it is the first printing (since the lowest number is "1").[/hide]
     
    A Feast For Crows - First Edition (UK), Signed
     
    [hide=Images]
     
    [/hide]
     
    A Dance With Dragons - First Edition, Signed
     
    [hide=Images]
     

     

     
    See "First Edition" text and number line indicating that it is the first printing.[/hide]
     
    The Lord of the Rings - 50th Anniversary Edition
     
    Not my photo. I'll have to upload my own next week. But it shows the exact edition that I have.
     
    [hide=Image][/hide]
     
    Northern Lights - Signed Limited/Numbered Edition
     
    3000 copies were made of this limited edition of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. Each copy has been signed by the author.
     
    [Photo coming soon]
     
    The Subtle Knife - Advanced Reading Copy
     
    This is an uncorrected proof for the second book in the His Dark Materials series. I only just ordered this book but it hasn't been delivered yet, so for now I'll post a photo I found online of the cover :)
     
    [hide=Image][/hide]
     
    The Subtle Knife - First Edition (UK), 1st or 2nd Impression
     
    Now this one is very interesting.. and that's actually one of the reasons why I bought it :mrgreen: There was a misprint on the number line, which makes it impossible to be sure whether it is a first impression (printing) or second. The number line reads:
     
     
    Normally how it works is that number lines start at 1 and go up to 10. For each new printing, the first number is removed. So a first impression would be:
     
     
    [hide=See Note]These numbers can be displayed in a variety of orders.. left to right (as shown above), right to left, or outside to inside (2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1).[/hide]
     
    Then for the second impression you would take away the 1 so it would be:
     
     
    Long story short - the lowest number shows you what print cycle number it is.
     
    But going back to this particular book, you'll notice that the number order is 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. So it starts with 1 but there is no 2 whatsoever. So there is some debate as to whether or not this is the first impression or the second impression. Funky stuff. Either way, it's still pretty difficult to find earlier printings of Northern Lights and The Subtle Knife (UK editions), so I'm happy to have it :) Plus I find misprints to be kind of cool! As I said, that's one of the reasons why I specifically bought this book!
     
    The book is currently sitting at my boyfriend's house, so once again, this isn't my photo. But it is a photo of the same edition.
     
    [hide=Image][/hide]
     
    The Art of God of War 3 - Limited Folio Edition
     
    Okay it's probably silly of me to include this but I'm just so darn proud of it :P The reason it's silly for me to include it is because these editions haven't even sold out yet. Only 300 copies were made but they're still for sale. I guess that makes them less valuable. But they still have a really high price tag and it's an amazingly gorgeous book. So there you go.
     
    This thing is like a bible.
     
    [hide=Images]
     

     
    [/hide]
     
    More Coming Soon!
     
    I have a lot more books at my house in California to sort though. I'm in the processing of indexing all my first editions and signed books so I'll definitely have a lot to add to this list. I just included the ones that I have with me in the UK, had photos of, or were more recently purchased.
  2. tripsis
    So I was in the UK for a few weeks and when I got back to California I had an AMAZING stack of books waiting for me:
     

     
    Is that not the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen? I love them all and I'm so excited to read each and every one. I'll show off just a few of them :)
     
    My friend works at a publishing company and sent me a copy of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn as a gift!
     

     
    From Bethany Griffin, author of Masque of the Red Death, I got a bookmark and a signed bookplate:
     

     
    Now here are some awesome signed books! There were a lot of author signings in California while I was in the UK. I didn't get to attend any of the events, which I'm SUPER bummed about, but I sent my amazing mom off to snag signed copies for me :D
     
    [hide=Lots of Pictures]
     

     

     

     

    [/hide]
     
    Also, while I was in the UK I bought a set of British Harry Potter books! They were just sitting in a charity shop and were super cheap. The set was missing The Goblet of Fire but I bought a copy separately on eBay (not in the picture).
     

  3. tripsis
    Mmmmm I love new books. They excite me! It's like I get this incredible rush when I open a package containing a new book. You should have seen me shrieking and screaming as I ran towards the unopened packages :mrgreen:
     
    Now for the awesome new titles!
     

     

     
    At first I really wanted to read The Scorpio Races first.. and I still do.. because supposedly it's like "the new Hunger Games" or something. Plus it sounds awesome and it involves horses. Like what could be better?? But I think I'm going to force myself to read Shiver first because that was the author's first book. It just seems to make more sense to read that first. But on the other hand, Shiver is a trilogy o_O So if I love Shiver maybe I'll want to immediately read the next two books rather than going from Shiver > The Scorpio Races > back to the Shiver trilogy.
     
    Decisions, decisions! We'll see.
     
    Next up, we have:
     

     
    "In the arenas of Ancient Rome, the ultimate female warrior is born."
     
    Hello, awesome? It sounds like Spartacus/Gladiator for girls. Definitely psyched about this series!
     
    And in related news, I decided to start a book blog. I figured I'd combine my love for reading with my love for making websites :P So I did. http://booknook.me/
  4. tripsis
    So... here's my latest stack of books in my "to be read" pile. I'm slowly making my way through them:
     

     
    And this isn't even counting ebooks!
     
    Just for fun, because my cat is adorable
     

  5. tripsis
    Books, how I love thee. Here's the loot from this week:
     

     
    You can ignore the first two. I know I posted them in my last blog entry but I took this photo for something else and couldn't be bothered taking a second one.
     
    However, I did actually finish Shiver and The Scorpio Races. The Scorpio Races really, really disappointed me, unfortunately :( If you want to see my reviews of them, you can check them out here: Shiver, The Scorpio Races.
     
    So moving right along.
     
    DIVERGENT!!!!
     
    Holy crap this book is freakin' amazing. And it's written by a 23 year old - how crazy is that? Here's a plot summary:
     
     
    Honestly, I first read the plot summary and thought "meh," and skipped over it. But then I kept hearing about it over and over again so I thought it must be better than it sounds. So I finally decided to buy it and I'm SO GLAD I DID! I literally finished it in one sitting. I read straight through the day, only to take a 10 minute break to eat. It's absolutely AMAZING. I don't even know what else to say :XD: You can read my whole review here if you want: http://booknook.me/divergent-by-veronica-roth/
     
    There is a second book coming out May 1st, called Insurgent. I've already preordered it :)
     

     
    Grave Mercy
     
    This is what I'm reading right now. I had really, really high hopes for it. So far I like it, but I don't love it. I'm hoping it will get better though and cross over into "love it" territory.
     

     
    Lord of the Silver Bow
     
    This is an interesting book about Troy and the Trojan war and all that jazz. Sounds interesting, but it will have to wait a bit since I have several other books further up in my queue! (like Gladiatrix, which I mentioned in my last blog entry)
     
    The Selection (not shown - preordered)
     
    I have this book preordered. I've heard nothing but AMAZING things about it! The book isn't even released yet and they're already talking about turning it into a TV show. Awesome! Here's a plot summary from Amazon.com:
     
     
    So yeah, I've heard it's amazing and I wish I already had this book in my hands. I'm so insane that I actually ordered two copies -- one to be sent to my house in California and one to be sent to my boyfriend's house in the UK (which is where I'll be when the book is released).
     
    It's almost like The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games.. So it has the whole caste system thing and there's a big competition, but it's fighting for a guy rather than actually slitting your fellow kids' throats. Totally psyched!
     

     
    Bitterblue (not shown - preordered)
     
    I'm hoping this book will be good, but I do have my doubts. It's the third book in the Graceling Realm series. I read the first book - Graceling - and LOVED LOVED LOVED it! But then the second book - Fire - was written as more of a prequel and had completely different characters (well it elaborated on the lives of minor characters from Graceling). But I loved Graceling because the main character was awesome. Then she just wasn't in Fire at all so it didn't really interest me. Bitterblue is a similar case. It takes a minor character from Graceling and elaborates on her story. I don't think I'll love it, but hopefully I'll enjoy it more than Fire.
     
    Throne of Glass (not shown - preordered)
     
    This isn't released until August (so no cover art yet :() but it sounds awesome so I've already preordered it!
     
     
    My Wishlist
     
    These are the books that I've heard are awesome and sound interesting to me, but I can't justify buying them just yet :lol: Considering I've been on a major book binge lately... but hopefully I'll be able to slowly buy them over the next few weeks.
     

    Between the Lines
    Clockwork Angel
    Hunting Kat
    ExtraNormal
    The Lost Code
    Revived
    I.O.U. Sex
    Half-Blood
    Spider's Bite
  6. tripsis
    ===The Oldies===
     
    Not necessarily first editions or even valuable books, but just old books. Old books are awesome :P


     
    Pride & Prejudice
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     
    The Iliad
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     
    Count of Monte Cristo (in 3 volumes)
     
    These are probably the most fragile books I have. The pages practically crumble in my hands.
     
    [hide=Photos]
     

     
    [/hide]
     
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     

    ===First Editions===
     
    First edition AND first printing of the book.


     
    The Sight (First American Edition)
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     
    Firesong (First American Edition)
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     
    Fire
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     
    Brisingr
     
    [hide=Photos]
     
    [/hide]
     

    ===Misc.===
     
    I didn't bother photographing these.. I guess because these are the ones I either don't care about or I'm just not that proud of.


     

    The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (First Edition, First Printing)
    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (First American Edition, First Printing)
    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling (First American Edition, First Printing)
    Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (First American Edition, First Printing)
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (First American Edition, First Printing)
    Luthiel's Song by Robert Marston Fannéy (Signed)
    Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (First Edition, First Printing, no cover jacket) - I have no idea why I have this.. I found it hidden away in the back of my bookshelf, saw it was a first edition, went wtf. Then cried inside because I don't have the cover jacket. With the cover jacket it'd be worth at least a few hundred USD.
    The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich (First Edition, First Printing)
    Still more I have yet to look through!
  7. tripsis

    Sci-Fi Art!

    By tripsis,

    Well I finally (kind of) finished this picture! I started the sketch months ago but then I raged because I couldn't get the ship to work out right (and I still can't, more on that in a second) and I was having trouble coming up with an armour design. Eventually I ditched it and figured I'd come back to it when I had a how-to-draw-sci-fi-stuff epiphany or when I became motivated enough to give it another shot. An assignment for my Computer Art class actually provided the kick I needed to return to this picture!
     
    As for the ship.. it bloody sucks and I know that but despite hours of screaming and raging, I still couldn't get it to work. I didn't want it too detailed because it is in the background and I didn't want to distract from the main subject.. but.. ugh. Basically I slapped something crappy together and rage quit. Right now I really feel like its poor quality detracts from the overall picture, but that's life I suppose. I didn't want to cut it out all together because I felt that would unbalance the picture.. Meh. So for now it sucks but hopefully one day I'll be hit with a stroke of talent and be able to fix it.
     
    Looking at the overall image, I wanted to create like a silent moment in the midst of chaos. Kind of a "death is only the beginning" idea combined with the acceptance of what is coming, but also a refusal to surrender. Just imagine her saying something like "Do it, I dare you" :D
     
    [hide=WIP Screenshots]
     

     

     

     

     

     
    [/hide]
  8. tripsis

    Vengeance

    By tripsis,

    Moar RuneScape fan art! This time it's of a Bandos-wearing, dragon claw-wielding, female warrior casting the Vengeance spell. The claws were kind of weird to draw since I couldn't figure out how they're wielded in the game. So I decided to turn them into dragon gloves and the claws kind of attach on the top of the glove near where the knuckles would be. This piece was loads of fun :thumbup: :)
     
    Enjoy.
     

     
    [hide=WIP Screenshots]
     

     

     

     

     

     
    [/hide]
  9. tripsis

    More RuneScape Art

    By tripsis,

    Been a while since I've done a blog entry :) I have two new pieces to show off! One of them was a request from Barihawk, which he is currently using in his signature!
     

     
    This next one was just a personal piece. I had a lot of fun doing it!
     

     
    [hide=WIP Screenshots]
     

     

     

     
    [/hide]
  10. tripsis
    Well I knew I wanted to do a digital painting version of the pixel piece I was working on but I ended up changing it quite a bit :P The girl is pretty much the same but everything else is different. I was inspired by the Falador Massacre (the background will be the crumbly wall thing in Falador) but I guess this could be 2.0 since the Dragon Helm/Platebody didn't exist back then? :XD: Anyway this is still very much a rough sketch (especially the background).
     

     
     
     
    I still haven't finished my pixel drawing but I will sooner or later. I just need some time away from it for a while.. it's not very fun :P
     
    In other news, I'm going home tomorrow! That means I'll be able to work on my Saradomin and Guthix books! By the way, I'm having a hard time finding a clear reference for the Icon of Guthix to use on the cover of my book... is this more or less what it looks like? D:
     

  11. tripsis
    In my last two paintings, I took a lot of creative liberties. Although they were loosely based on RuneScape (more so the first than the second), neither of them really screamed RuneScape fan art.. this one, however, does! :lol:
     

     
    Same stuff as usual -
     
    Original file size: 3750x3000 pixels
    Time taken: ~12 hours
    Tools: PhotoShop CS2 + Intuos4
     
    I'm finally done with my ~40 hour art assignment! I FEEL LIKE I CAN BREATHE AGAIN!
  12. tripsis

    Shaz Made Me Do It

    By tripsis,

    Shazarabbit told me I should make a blog for my graphics.. so I decided to do it :lol: I'll just occasionally post my new digital paintings or photographs. I don't know if I'll even keep this up, but hey, I'll give it a go.
     
    To start off, I guess I'll share a little bit about the tools I use. For all of my digital paintings I use PhotoShop CS2 and a few months ago I bought my first tablet: a Wacom Intuos 4. The time it takes for me to complete each picture varies greatly. I have spent 5-10 hours on each of my 'best' pictures. I've been drawing my whole life but only started taking it seriously the past year or two.
     
    As for photography, again, I've always loved taking pictures but for most of my life I used a cheaper point and shoot so my pictures were never that great. In November of 2008 I finally got my first DSLR camera, a Canon XSi. With that, I got the kit lens (EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) and I bought a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens as well. Since then, I have bought a few other goodies (like a flash, filters, etc.). Winter is my favourite time to take pictures because I have an obsession with water drops.
     
    Recent Digital Paintings
     
    This is a digital painting of my Lore-Master on Lord of the Rings Online. Lore-Masters can summon various pets so I included my character's Raven. Very unoriginal background and hopefully I'll get around to replacing it with something better some day... =/
     
    Time spent: ~6 hours.
    29 June 2009

     
    ------------------------
     
    This is actually "version 2" and what you see here is probably ~25% of the original image size. Maybe even a bit less.. Version one was drawn with a mouse and took about 10 hours. When I decided to retouch the image, I redrew the sky, made the sand a bit more detailed, redid the head of the horse as well as the mane and tail and added more detail to the ocean.
     
    Total time spent: ~13-15 hours
    28 May 2009 (for version 1. Version 2 was sometime in June or July)

     
    Recent Photography
     
    This macro photograph was actually taken for a contest in the Tip.it Gallery forum. This is probably my favourite photograph of mine like this (water drop) beceause I love the reflection in the drop.
    19 June 2009

     
    ------------------------
     
    Taken in Alaska.
    14 June 2009

     
    ------------------------
     
    Water splashes are equally as fun to photograph as water drops! Though they do get a bit boring after you've taken several hundred... Anyway the colours in this photograph have NOT been manipulated. I had two different bowls of water: one with yellow food colouring and one with red food colouring. The yellow bowl of water was placed on the ground and the bowl of red water was the water I used to fill up a cooking baster. I then held up the cooking baster a few feet in the air, squeezed it and the red water fell into the yellow water, creating this splash. The red water stayed red for the splash, which is why you can see that red drop of water. Pretty cool ;)
    31 January 2009
     

     
    ------------------------
     
    Not all of these are terribly recent. All of the digital paintings and photos I post from now on will be brand new. If you want to see more of my artwork or photography, you can visit my deviantART gallery. I am currently working on a new digital painting which is almost done but I won't be posting it until November.
  14. tripsis

    The Scorpion King W.I.P.

    By tripsis,

    If you've seen The Mummy Returns, you'll know who this is :P
     

     

     

     
    The above images are all still sketches. The Scorpion King Army Standard will be much more refined and just... better XD Most of the drawings are pretty crappy.
     
    [hide=W.I.P. #1][/hide]
     
    This is just a sketch and me blocking in the colours to get the mood/lighting right. Hopefully I'll actually finish this >_
  15. tripsis
    So I've never done pixel art before and tonight I decided to give it a go. It's not finished, obviously, but it's 1:30am and 1:30am = movie time. From this experience I have learned that pixel drawing is so incredibly devastatingly boring. Digital painting pwns it :P I will probably do a digital painting of this same subject once I finish this pixel piece (if I finish it :XD:). The composition would be slightly different though. I wanted this pixel piece to be signature size so I had to screw with the composition.. I don't like this as much as how I see it in my head XD
     
    Also, I fail at muscles and anatomy and all that jazz.. I wanted this guy to be ridiculously muscular but in a weird rocky way so I tried to grab a bunch of reference images from Google but I still failed and every muscle in his body is probably [bleep]ed up lol.
     
    Anyway go easy on me because I've never done this before D:
     

  16. tripsis

    LotR Collage

    By tripsis,

    Ever since I got my new PC I had been wanting to create a massive digital painting to use as a background across both my monitors. I finally made it happen! :P
     
    I used references for basically everything.. The following screenshots are all at 16.7% zoom. The original file is massive :P
     

     
    [hide=WIP Screenshots]
     

     

     

     

     
    [/hide]
     
    [hide=Details @ 50% Zoom]
     

     

     
    [/hide]
  17. tripsis
    ..well mostly ;)
     
    Tip.it is FINALLY back up and running so I can actually post the update that should have been posted last night!! The cover is essentially completed. The cover is not yet attached to the actual pages because I have yet to pick out and prepare some end sheets (pages for the inside covers). That being said, let's look at some photos!
     
    Naked cover this time!
     

     
    And after the leather was put on (I stuck the pages inside the cover to make it look like they're attached, but they're actually not):
     

     
    Some things of note:
     
    The corner decorations are not glued down. I wanted to get the approval of my readers first! They're nice right? If not, other suggestions? Also, the cord that you see in the photos was one I was thinking of using for the bookmark (it's not attached) but I changed my mind as I don't want it to warp the pages. So I'm still hunting for a good, FLAT bookmark material. What are your thoughts on this? I could use some black suede, a ribbon of sorts (if so, what colour?), etc.
     
    As for the end sheets, I just had an idea. I'm thinking of creating my own marbled paper. I would first dye the pages like I dyed the pages of the book and then I would "marble it" (is that a phrase?) so it's black and red. Good idea?
     
    I'm also still thinking of adding closures but I can't decide. I'm honestly terrified of making it look bad LOL!
     
    The fact that this project is nearing its end is having me wanting to continue and make Saradomin and Guthix books!
  18. tripsis
    More books! Well as I mentioned a few entries ago, I wanted to make a practice leather-bound book before binding my Book of Zamorak. There were a few things that I wanted to try out. For starters, until now, all of my books had been bound in fabric; I had never used leather before. I thought it was important to practice with leather before working on a big project since leather is much thicker than fabric. Second of all, I wanted to experiment with a beveled spine (not sure if that's the proper term, but that's what I call it!). It was certainly a learning experience but I think it went alright! The book is not completely finished yet. You can't really tell in the photos, but the pages aren't actually in the book yet because the leather/cover/spine is still drying. There's a bit of wet glue and I don't want to get the pages stuck in areas they're not supposed to :P Also, the metal pieces on the corners aren't actually glued down yet because I can't decide if I like them or not D:
     

     

  19. tripsis

    Muse... Be My Muse

    By tripsis,

    Bleeeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhh. This (unfinished and may never be finished) drawing looked so much better in my head:
     

     
    It started with Starlight by Muse:
     
     
    From that, I got this idea of two hands touching and 'electrifying' each other in some romantic way, like having the spark between the two hands take the form of a heart or a butterfly. Then I started working off of this whole "opposites attract" theme with the canvas being divided into two different colours (of course, the typical male = blue; female = pink). Then I tried shading the hands (not shown) and my motivation disappeared when I realized how it was turning out (terribly).
     
    Anyway, used a reference for the top right hand, and mostly used my own hand as a reference for the bottom left.
     
    ---------------------------
     
    Random note, but does anyone else keep track of books that they've read? I started doing that August 2008. I just thought it'd be cool to see how many books I read :XD: Here's my list if anyone is interested. At first I wasn't going to keep track of rereads but I changed my mind half way through.. so I read a few of these books multiple times :oops:
     
    [hide=Books Read August 2008 to November 2009](August 2008)
    1. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
    2. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
    3. Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
    4. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
    5. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
    6. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
    7. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
    8. The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
    9. The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
    10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
    11. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
    12. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
    13. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
    14. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
    15. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
    16. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
    17. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
    18. Eldest by Christopher Paolini
    19. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini
    20. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
    21. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
    22. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
    23. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
    24. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
    25. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
    26. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
    27. All The Little Live Things by Wallace Stegner
    28. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
    29. Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
    30. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
    31. The Giver by Lois Lowry
    32. Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton
    33. The Tapestry: The Hound of Rowan by Henry H. Neff
    34. Evernight by Claudia Gray
    35. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
    36. The Companion's Quartet, Book One: Secret of the Sirens by Julia Golding
    37. The Companion's Quartet, Book Two: The Gorgon's Gaze by Julia Golding
    38. The Companion's Quartet, Book Three: Mines of the Minotaur by Julia Golding
    39. The Tapestry: The Second Siege by Henry H. Neff
    40. The Lost World by Michael Crichton
    41. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown
    42. The Companion's Quartet, Book Four: The Chimera's Curse by Julia Golding
    43. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Fifth: The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket
    44. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Sixth: The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket
    45. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book the Seventh: The Vile Village by Lemony Snicket
    46. Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book One: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
    47. Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book Two: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
    48. Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book Three: The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
    49. Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book Four: The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
    50. Percy Jackson & The Olympians, Book Five: The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
    51. A Bend In The Road by Nicholas Sparks
    52. A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks
    53. Message In A Bottle by Nicholas Sparks
    54. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
    55. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
    56. The Translator by Daoud Hari
    57. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
    58. When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip
    59. Lipstick Jihad by Azadeh Moaveni (currently reading)[/hide]
  20. tripsis
    So it's been a few days (nearly a week actually) since I've posted an update on my RL Book of Zamorak. I did manage to dye *most* of the pages that I had cut out. I ended up skipping some because it got late and I was tired, but the book will still be pretty thick, which is good. Still over 200 pages, I think. Unfortunately the pages are STILL drying. Since I had to take them to university, I don't have enough space to lay them out to dry one at a time, so I had to stack them in three separate piles which GREATLY increases the time it takes to dry D: I guess it's not a big deal though since I'm still waiting for some supplies that's on order. I had a hard time finding corner protectors that were big enough so I bought an array of decorative corners that I will have to spray paint black. Also, I decided to make my own bookmark charm. Originally I wanted to craft the Zamorak Unholy Symbol out of Precious Metal Clay but that would require me to spend $50 on supplies (for the clay and a torch/kiln to fire it). So I decided to settle for second best: Polymer Clay. It's a bit cheaper and can be baked in a regular oven so there's no need to splurge on a torch. Hopefully this will work.. I've never been very good at working with clay XD But if all goes well, I will make a Zamorak Unholy Symbol charm, paint it black, attach it to a leather cord and use it as a bookmark for the book. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to start working on the signature block by Sunday (if the paper dries by then) so keep your fingers crossed for me! And just a side note, the paper looks great! It truly looks like paper that washed up to shore :D
     
    Also, I'm going to create at least one practice book before binding the Book of Zamorak. There are a few things I want to do that I haven't done before and I want to make sure I do them right :) So once the cover boards (basically extra sturdy cardboard) I ordered arrive, I will work on my practice book.
     
    MATERIALS LIST
    [x] = Obtained
    [ ] = On order
     
    [x] Paper
    [x] Closures
    [x] Corners
    [x] Bookbinding thread
    [ ] Leather
    [ ] Cover board
    [ ] Sculpey (Polymer) Clay
     
    BOOKBINDING STEPS
    [x] = Completed
    [ ] = Uncompleted
     
    [x] Paper cut
    [x] Paper dyed
    (above two steps took 9 1/2 hours)
    [ ] Signatures sewn into block & endpages attached
    [ ] Cover boards and spine cut and design/spine bands pasted on
    [ ] Unholy charm made & baked
    [ ] Bookmark attached
    [ ] Leather glued on & signature block attached
    [ ] Corners and closures attached
    [ ] Title page written (and possibly other pages of the book)
     
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     
    In other news, I have been working on my next assignment for my art class. The topic this week was "texture" so I've been working on a leather carving :) It's not done yet, but here's what I have so far. It's a peacock if you couldn't tell :P
     

  21. tripsis

    Fathers' Day

    By tripsis,

    I'm working on a portrait of my dad as a gift to him on Fathers' Day. Here's are screenshots of my progress at 25% zoom:
     

     

     
    I don't have as much experience drawing males as I do females so this is good experience for me :P Obviously I'm not done so.. stay tuned :)
     
    EDIT:
     

  22. tripsis

    A Naked Book

    By tripsis,

    My dearest Book of Zamorak followers:
     
    Progress has been slow. I am overwhelmed with a huge art assignment that has greatly cut into the time that I have been able to spend on this book. But last night I spent like 2 hours finishing sewing the pages together!
     

     
    Hopefully I'll get the cover on this weekend, but no promises!
     
    Also, here's progress on my second piece for my art assignment:
     

     
    My second snow scene ever >_
     
    EDIT: Painting #2 done -
     

  23. tripsis

    Three Paintings 1

    By tripsis,

    My art professor is insane. For our fourth and final assignment in this class, we have to create THREE pictures >_
     
    I'm currently working on digital painting #1. I have ideas for the other two and basically I'm going to be featuring warriors! These warriors are loosely based off of RuneScape, which is fun! Right now I'm thinking of doing a melee character (painting #1), a mage and a ranger. Now onto the first painting!
     
    This picture is based off a scene from the RuneScape wilderness. It can be one of the many areas in the wild with a lava river, but I based it off of this one near the Chaos Temple:
     

     
    The armour is also based on RuneScape armour but I took some creative liberties. There's also no dual wielding in RuneScape but I thought it would look cooler if I made that possible! Anyway.. here are screenshots of the paintings. They are listed in order of creation (so the first WIP up until the current image). The screenshots are only 25% of the original document size, as always. The original size is like 3750x3000 if I remember correctly. Also, it's not done yet, if that wasn't already obvious.
     
    [hide=Work In Progress Screenshots]I started off with a basic sketch of the character and scene.
     

     
    I then began colouring the background.
     

     
    About three hours in, I decided that I didn't like it.. I realized I was relying too much on the screenshot I took, using similar colours and a similar atmosphere.. but I didn't like the mood that it created. So having the initial sketch down, I pushed the screenshot completely out of my mind and worked from my imagination. I also began laying down the base colours for the warrior.
     

     
    A lot of progress has been made and the background may even be done. I haven't decided yet.. In my original sketch I had a few trees and I may decide to readd those. I feel like the land with the pile of skulls either needs more things on the ground or the skulls should be removed completely as they look random and almost out of place (same with the main land with the warrior on it). I finished laying down the base colours of the warrior.
     
    [/hide]
     
    I have been working on this for about 6 or 7 hours so far. I'm hoping to finish this piece by tomorrow and start working on #2 so stay tuned!
  24. tripsis

    Queen of Hearts WIP

    By tripsis,

    I haven't made a new blog entry in what has felt like ages so I thought I'd post what I've been working on.. I've been working on this picture off and on for like a week or two now. I actually have an even more recent version than the latest one posted here, but the screenshot I took while I was working on it had a nasty word in it that I have to get rid of for posting on Tip.it and I'm too lazy to fix that now :D
     

     

     

     
    The background design and floor textures are from CGTextures. The ground, at least, will eventually be removed and then redrawn by me. Just trying to get a feel for how I want it to look. And as you can see in the second two images, these screenshots are taken at 25%.
  25. tripsis

    Avatar Art

    By tripsis,

    If you're reading this, hopefully you've seen Avatar (and in 3D), but if not, then I command you to go see it! I decided to jump on the Avatar fan art bandwagon and have a go at drawing Neytiri. Here's what I have so far and you can see the earlier WIP screenshots below that ;)
     

     
    Here's the eye at 100% zoom, because I have an eye fetish:
     

     
    [hide=WIP Screenshots]
     

     
    [/hide]
     
    Drawing braids is TERRIBLE but hopefully I will get the hair done tomorrow D:
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