It's not a pasta

Hello and moving notice!

2011-08-02T11:48:00.001-07:00

It's certainly been awhile, hasn't it? I've actually moved over to tumblr so I can feel somewhat like an Internet hipster while hiding the fact that I post so seldomly.

If you're interested, you can follow me here: http://binkari.tumblr.com

2010-08-06T10:42:00.001-07:00

So apparently spammers have really dug their talons into this blog! I think I'm going to have to move over to Wordpress sometime in the near future when I'm not so lazy.

And what good would a post be without some art? Here's a little diddy I've been working on and off between less-productive things like eating and sleeping:

Fwoo~

2010-06-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Finally got my B.S. in Genetics. Now to get the PhD!

I haven't had much time to draw beyond some very basic doodles to keep my fingers working. My summer has been relegated to a lab rotation on campus that, while it involves a lot of computer work, doesn't afford me a lot of time to draw!

Since I'd feel bad about posting without having anything to show for it, here are some of the pixel icon commissions I've worked on over the past few weeks. They only take a few hours to complete and, because they're so small, I can fuss over literally every single pixel until I get something (close to) right.

2010-03-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

One more quarter of college left-- then off to grad school!

2010-02-02T01:04:00.001-08:00

^o^

Same girl as the one before but this is probably the closest I've gotten to how I actually envisioned her in my mind.

But what I mean to say is that she's just the perfect excuse to draw big boobs in a skimpy leather bodysuit.

2010-01-27T23:35:00.001-08:00

Hope everyone's been doing well! I've been swamped with portrait/icon commissions in addition to getting lazy at school, so I haven't really had time to work on personal things. Needless to say, it's really nice to be able to work on your own ideas without worrying about mangling someone else's vision in the process.

2010-01-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

Commission for some guy's RP character. Hoping the transparency doesn't get completely futzed up on this one!

Happy (very belated) New Year to everyone! Classes have been hectic with a lot of last-minute changes and registrar snafoos, but hopefully I'll be falling into old rhythms by the end of this week.

Tina and I are planning to not only post more, but with themes to help inspire us. We were going to try the 100 Things to Draw challenge, but after looking through some of the available lists, concluded that some of these were a little too "emo" for our liking.

Now we're going to need inspiration for words to inspire us to draw said words. What have we gotten ourselves into?!

2009-12-22T22:22:00.001-08:00

This dryad brought to you by the letter "Z."

Actually, I saw a picture of a cherry tree that looked a lot like a high-heeled shoe in the bathroom of a Japanese restaurant. I guess the rest of her just grew out of it.

2009-12-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

Recent drawings in no particular order. I'm cutting it really close on the Christmas cards (was hoping to send them out last week!), but hopefully the image makes it through the approval process and I'll get them tomorrow.

2009-11-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

Potential Christmas card for friends and family this year. Lots of details to add, but I think I've at least got the gist of the picture down!

Video!

2009-11-10T17:22:00.000-08:00

Tried my hand at making a video of me painting a quick portrait. The whole thing is sped up about 8x, and there's no voiceover (because I'm shy) or music (because I'm a failure at video editing).

Now that I know roughly how CamStudio works though, I can probably make more videos later down the line!

Dryad? Tree lady? Dante's fourth level of Hell?

2009-11-06T09:23:00.000-08:00

From a class! Wish I were cool like Abby and painted things in my free time. <3

2009-11-05T21:15:00.001-08:00

I imagined a really, really dark-skinned African woman with cool skin tones, but the lack of reference pictures and my bad habit of color balancing changed all that!

2009-11-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Much to my chagrin, I keep listening to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance." LAHV LAHV LAHV.

2009-10-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

Long time no post!

I'm done with GREs, so now I just have personal statements for graduate school left to do. I'm not sure how much admissions boards would appreciate a picture of a southern California surfer girl, but who knows!

And-- OH DANG, HALLOWEEN'S IN 2 DAYS.

2009-09-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

I have no patience...so this guy's armor may never be finished!

2009-09-04T22:32:00.000-07:00

One more before I disappear for GRE studying!

There's a trend among Furcadian portrait artists where female characters possess extremely perky breasts that sit up extremely high up on the chest-- just for the sake of making the portrait sexier or more obviously female. My guess is that it's pretty hard to fit any appreciable amount of boob into a square canvas without some bending and twsting about, or making the figure too small.

Normally I try not to give in to the temptation to force cleavage into a portrait, but in this case, the character seemed to call for it, so I had to!

2009-09-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

Two recent commissions. The paintings were shrunk down to 95x95 icons-- which is surprisingly good practice because I needed to ante up the color and contrast so the picture would still read at something like 20% the original size.

2009-08-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Haven't really had the motivation to paint on the computer--I've been filling up a sketchbook and scribbling out some things during downtime at work, but nothing substantial. Plus I don't have a scanner, which is a total bummer!

2009-07-12T18:14:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, hasn't it? Haven't had much time to draw because the summer's kept me really busy. I'm currently interning full-time at Novartis, a biopharmaceutical company, in Emeryville...but I've yet to get enough time and muster enough courage to check out Pixar's campus nearby!

My lack of drawing stems mainly from the fact that I managed to forget my stylus at school (twice) and didn't bring a scanner to my new place either. Hence, the first few weeks I was stuck sketching on scratch paper here and there. But now I'm packing a fancy Intuos4 medium after using a Graphire2 for some 7 odd years and I have to say that my wrist is much happier for it!

2009-06-06T20:46:00.001-07:00

Power thighs.

2009-05-26T19:05:00.001-07:00

Warcraft Dryad

2009-05-15T23:06:00.001-07:00

2009-05-12T08:43:00.001-07:00

2009-05-04T23:04:00.001-07:00

Gotta get back to studying.

2009-05-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

Alchemy is just total fun in the digital sun. Some quick doodles to try it out.

2009-04-19T23:58:00.000-07:00

I'll try to draw a little every night, no matter how badly the stuff turns out.

2009-04-15T09:04:00.000-07:00

Had to use the Crayola markers sometime!

2009-04-12T17:18:00.001-07:00

Fiddle fiddle practice practice. Maybe progress.

2009-04-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

About an hour of fiddling around in Photoshop. Rock candy mountain!

2009-04-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Wedding card for a friend. The rings in the center were done with gold foil and then I dusted the entire card with some PearlEx. I originally wanted to use gold leafing for the rings, but didn't really know how to use the stuff--so Funky Film it was!

2009-03-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

I probably should have told the person that commissioned this that I have never painted people with skin darker than Courtney Love's.

2009-03-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

Something cute and whimsical. ...Or small and deadly!

2009-03-17T23:07:00.000-07:00

Quick practice while taking a study break. Hopefully I'll be able to work on this when spring break rolls around.

2009-03-09T23:03:00.001-07:00

Last two weeks of a school quarter are always hell. I feel like my March is being stolen from me!

2009-02-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

I don't know what's up with the face on the bottom. It just felt appropriate.

2009-02-19T20:08:00.000-08:00

Quick portraits of (anthro) RP characters. Need to find time to do something more substantial!

2009-02-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

Character design of the Warlock class from RAGNAROK Online. I like the fact that, for once, a female caster is wearing pants instead of a dress or loincloth or something.

As an aside: I spent my entire weekend watching Legend of the Seeker. Perhaps it's better that I haven't read the Sword of Truth series, because the show seems driven by a character that's so damned good and headstrong that his infallible trust in total strangers drives the main story (along with numerous other subplots). It's sort of like that one dumb decision that kicks off all the terrible events in a horror movie--only this is a little more entertaining.

2009-02-01T16:58:00.000-08:00

Finally done with the first round of exams. Time for doodles!

2009-01-27T22:34:00.000-08:00

Quick sketch. I haven't worked with color in so long. :(

2009-01-22T17:31:00.000-08:00

Oh, hi!

Been pretty busy lately, so I haven't had much time to even doodle. There's a small sketch dump in the junkyard. Hopefully once the first round of exams are done, I'll be able to actually work with color again.

Also: According to Facebook ads, Dell's new computers are run by Intel chips and electronics. I'm thinking I should update my machine, seeing as to how it's only running on an Intel chip and last week's meatloaf (eco-friendly, kinda smelly).

2009-01-04T23:44:00.000-08:00

Original sketch in Colors, then touched up (or maybe completely redone) in Photoshop. I think it stands as a testament to the paucity of my life when I get excited about making a new, "2009" folder for my sketch directory.

2008-12-31T23:43:00.000-08:00

Quickie before 2009! Seems like most of the world is already ahead of me, however.

There was a news article stating that 2008 is actually 1 second longer than 2007 because the world is slowing down. That is, the Earth's revolution isn't what it used to be. The last time official timekeepers had to add in a leap second was in 2005. At this rate, we'll be enjoying 52-hour work days in a few millenia. I knew investing in 26-hour clocks would pay off.

o

2008-12-24T23:15:00.001-08:00

Happy holidays, everyone!

My desktop at home has decided to crash and burn, joining the ranks with my scanner among pretty-but-nonfunctional-hardware.

2008-12-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Finals are done and fall quarter is over with. Of course, the first thing on my list was to hit level 80 on WoW before doing other, less-important things like celebrating with friends or showering (not really).

Just some doodles done during some raid downtime. It seems voluptuous women who hate pants are the first thing I tend to draw out. Strange...

2008-12-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

One day I'll draw on something besides index cards--they're just so handy!

2008-11-29T19:00:00.000-08:00

Some concepts for something to do with PIRATES. Who ambush people. From an awesome island. Sketches for final group project for Environment Design.

Annnd a concept/color paintover on a 3d model of some modular pieces of a fortress/compound type thing. Freestanding structure, corner piece, transitional wall piece, gate piece. I played with the colors a little but decided on the one at the top. Some changes were made, but I had this as a jpg!

Ilu Abby. When winter rolls around I'll post ALL THE TIME, I swear. Like, once a day. Twice a day. Every hour! No, that was a lie.

2008-11-24T17:14:00.000-08:00

More index card sketches. Some guy getting nagged by a snake. One of my boyfriend's (troll!) Death Knight and my shaman on WoW. Also a random woman in an attempt to make this the breast post ever.

I wish I had more time to actually paint.

Also: Blogspot's richtext editor is really getting on my nerves with its inconsistent formatting and picture resizing. If this keeps up, I might switch to Wordpress!

2008-11-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

Doodles done on index cards. There are times where you feel like you're working against a medium, and that just sucks all the fun out of drawing/painting (flaky sketch paper or a badly primed canvas come to mind).

For some reason, my pencil ran very nicely over these cards--I wish the campus bookstore had an entire sketchbook made entirely of (larger) index cards!

2008-11-16T19:45:00.000-08:00

Haven't had much time to draw lately. Attempting to not fall behind on school work has been a failure for the most part, but the good part is that I've (finally) managed to earn a lab research internship in evolutionary genetics with a professor who's really passionate about his work. It's nice to be able to get away from school work and have some more "hands-on" experience.

"What did you do at work today?"
"I sorted fruit flies and then tore their wings off!"
"...Oh. Well, just remember to put that on your resume."

Actually, pulling the wings off frozen fruit flies without mangling them takes much more dexterity than I had anticipated. I can probably do hand exercises (like microscale origami: the smallest paper cranes you ever did see...or not!) to improve.

2008-11-10T20:17:00.000-08:00

Recycling old worksheets.

I'm always eager to take old papers from my friends-- but only if one side is blank. Otherwise, I just tell them to throw away their own trash (though a little more tactfully). However, I never show them what I do with their discarded math problem sets, mainly because many of them break down into a fit of giggles if they see a naked body. And they're not even really naked.

2008-11-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

More fiddling around with the DS. I really need to work on portraits (among other things!)

Stampede!

2008-11-04T21:22:00.000-08:00

This is an ongoing project I started on the iRO Wiki fanart boards: the Ragnarok Online Stampede! It's still growing, but I figured that, since I have no decent work to show as of late, I might as well leech off the work of others!

Basically, each participant adds to the growing herd of characters running towards some mysterious goal (phat lewt? Gourmet desserts? The latest album from the Beach Boys?). Needless to say, I and the other 20+ artists arehaving a lot of fun with it--it's always exciting to see what people will add!

As a side note, my character is the leggy girl getting upskirted second from the left.

Late Happy Halloween?

2008-11-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Halloween-themed assignment for a class of mine.
Two thumbnails and one more "finished" piece.

:D I posted something!

2008-10-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

I felt compelled to throw something together for Halloween since I'm not going trick-or-treating [for alcohol] like other classmates. My plan is to hit up the supermarket at midnight to snag all the half-off Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Trick or treat indeed.

My friend asked me if I had any qualms about working for certain companies--for example, a top secret government project involving biological warfare that uses unethical research methods, Resident Evil style. It just so happens that I'm allergic to top secrets and research, but I concluded that if working for such a company increases my chances of meeting stoic, heroic heartthrobs like Leon S. Kennedy or Chris Redfield, I'd go for it. Even if it means I have to be an inconvenient obstacle (In RE4, I should have left Ashley in the dumpster and never looked back)

Blogspot doesn't seem to be resizing pictures at all, which is sort of annoying since it's cropping off the right-side of pictures.

Beepbeep

2008-10-28T18:19:00.001-07:00

Something quick and silly.

I don't play Ragnarok Online anymore, but some of the things in the game still amuse me-- like a headband that makes you run faster. I wish I had one for high school gym class.

DS Errors and strife

2008-10-27T21:31:00.001-07:00

Playing around with the DS. Then we switched places and the DS played around with me. Search up "1 girl 2picturesmangled" on YouTube. You probably won't find anything, but if you do, please link it.

I haven't had much time to draw or doodle with all my classes causing a 3-exam pileup on my schedule. The bad news is that I didn't set the curve. The good news is that everyone else did worse than me. Relativity rules!

2008-10-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Much to my dismay, placing a textbook against my head does not cause the information to diffuse into my skull, even if I press super hard.

Friends have told me that information does transfer into the brain via reading, but that would require the use of my eyes--which are too busy being closed or watching old episodes of Firefly.

RO fanart

2008-10-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

Ragnarok Online fanart. The character designs are just too neat to pass up.

I haven't gotten much time to draw lately with exams coming up--which is fine, since I accidentally shipped my R4 DS to the wrong address anyways. I told my parents it was "much-needed hardware" for my computer, so they'll be none the wiser.

2008-10-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

Just some pixel work from the past few months. Personal portraits done for characters in Furcadia, an old roleplay community I used to frequent when I was a tweenager. It took me a few years to realize my drawing abilities were better than my writing ones.

Every portrait is limited to 95x95 pixels and 256 colors. I used to sit and draw these pixel by pixel. However, since spending 6 hours on a total of 9,025 pixels doesn't really get me all giddy-like, I do a larger painting and just shrink the whole thing down and touch it up from there. Actually, the hardest part of making these is coming up with a portrait that fits into a square and still manages to display cleavage.

2008-10-12T20:07:00.001-07:00

One day I'll actually draw a figure in an environment. Not today, though.

My mother found my sketchbook the other day-- a moment I've been dreading since I stopped drawing ponies. Needless to say, she asked me (in a concerned voice) if I was depressed because she mistook my inability to properly render smiling people for some emotional distress. I simply answered "no" and told her, truthfully, that my drawings generally don't reflect my emotional state.

Maybe when she finds my sketchbook full of human hair and fingernail clippings, she'll have more reason to worry.

I did it, Abby!

2008-10-11T23:05:00.001-07:00

I felt pretty guilty when Abby broke the 20 post mark and I still hadn't posted anything.
Here's some stuff I'm working on for school...?

This one is a quick color thumbnail. Going to bring it to full illustration level of completion by next Saturday. Ignore the fact that I couldn't decide if the background was supposed to be trees or sky. I assume I'll figure it out before Saturday.

This is a "Beast of Burden" for a world I'm developing in a concept class. He transports things! Clearly unfinished.

2008-10-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

Much to my surprise, UC Davis doesn't have an official figure drawing class. Fortunately, there's a small band of grad students that host a weekly 3-hour "figure drawing club" where anyone is welcome to come in and draw. Because it's only 3 hours, there aren't any poses longer than 20 minutes--which is fine. My attention span for a single pose is about 30 minutes, at which point I start drawing things that aren't there...like tentacles, or various body parts. Hey, I think an extra left arm would look great on your forehead!

Sketch Dump

2008-10-09T20:51:00.001-07:00

I wish my scanner was just an inch bigger. That, or I need to get a smaller sketchbook.

Ignore my plant bio notes. :(

In retrospect...

2008-10-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

Google may not have designed a real time machine, but their 2001 index puts you close enough. I find it impressive that they actually have the old site descriptions indexed as well.

http://www.google.com/search2001.html

Look up World of Warcraft or YouTube (okay, maybe this one isn't as exciting). Maybe even Blogger!

Napping substitute

2008-10-07T19:51:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about napping the entire time I was doing this. In the end, I feel like this is a little more impressive than a groggy girl.

Tina: I pre-ordered Wrath of the Lich King! Let's go slay undead armies together! It will be like a romantic date, but instead of a violin, the clash of swords and cheers of victory over evil shall serenade us!

2008-10-06T20:28:00.001-07:00

Afro tree

2008-10-02T23:58:00.000-07:00

Geese are evil.

I won't say I hate geese because they taste great with a little hoisin sauce, but they are evil. My father used to take me to a local shopping plaza that had a giant artificial lake, complete with ducks and hellgeese. At this point in time, park authorities hadn't gotten around to putting up "do not feed waterfowl" signs yet, but sometimes, deep in my heart, I wish they did. Perhaps then I wouldn't harbor such a deep-seated dislike for geese.

Ducks are docile and geese are greedy. It's a principle that I learned at the tender age of 5 after I was chased onto a bench by a particularly belligerent waterfowl. I should have known something was amiss when all the ducks and pigeons dispersed upon the arrival of the geese, but instead, I fed it. Did you know that a goose can break a man's leg with its wing? No? Well, they're also very good at chasing little kids around. What resulted was me, standing on a bench, with a goose honking for my bread (or flesh, I wasn't very good at demonic tongue/goose at 5-years-old) while my father stood by and laughed at the entire situation (a slight I've yet to forgive).

The moral of the story: don't feed a goose, but if you must feed one, make sure there's a bench nearby.

Other sketches: http://www.binkerville.com/yard/2008/?M=D

2008-10-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Quite possibly the worst headache in the world.

2008-09-30T21:38:00.000-07:00

I also had a giant "metabolic pathways roadmap" drawn up, but decided that it wouldn't be too interesting.

2008-09-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

Marco Bucci's demo was really helpful and I decided to give the whole "I have no idea where this is going" technique a whirl.

Every fight in Devil May Cry 4 should include a Gyro-Blade for added excitement! Who needs style points? The only thing Nero needs is an umbrella to shield himself from the rain of red orbs that is bound to follow when you fire one of those things down a hallway.

WTB perspective filter

2008-09-25T16:40:00.001-07:00

Quick one

2008-09-24T16:08:00.000-07:00

2008-09-23T17:03:00.000-07:00

Probably the last big thing I do this summer. Just played around a lot with Photoshop.

Pale ladies

2008-09-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

About an hour of fooling around on Photoshop. Hoping to work on this over the week.

I need to buy textbooks for the new quarter. :(

Forget you, titles!

2008-09-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

What's that, Tina? Environments involving a large machine? Why yes, I'd love to join you on the adventure!

Reference used. Note to self: consider what those things hanging off the main building are instead of just drawing lines and hoping they work out in the end.

2008-09-18T16:21:00.000-07:00

...Yeah.

Epic failED

2008-09-18T09:56:00.001-07:00

Photoshop CS3. No reference but plenty of inspiration.

I wanted to get a more epic feel for this, but I think the proximity of the cliff to the cave sort of kills it. Now I've completely ruined the picture for myself because I can't help but think naughty things about it.

Swamp

2008-09-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

Photoshop CS3 with a quick run of varnish in Painter 7. For some reason, doing that raises the brightness of the entire picture by ~15% and I can't figure out why. :(

RAGNAROK Online High Wizard

2008-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

I really should suck it up and add some texture to the background.

In other news: I managed to dig up my old drafting pencil and a few pieces of lead (it isn't as hobo-ish as it sounds) and I couldn't be happier. It's so much easier getting shadows in when you aren't working with just a 0.5mm mechanical pencil!

RO cheesecake lololz :(

2008-09-12T00:12:00.001-07:00

Now in different flavors!

Pink pumps

Blue

Purple

Sketch Dump

2008-09-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

It's not a pasta

Hello and moving notice!

Fwoo~

Video!

Dryad? Tree lady? Dante's fourth level of Hell?

*o*

Stampede!

Late Happy Halloween?

Beepbeep

DS Errors and strife

RO fanart

I did it, Abby!

Sketch Dump

In retrospect...

Napping substitute

Afro tree

WTB perspective filter

Quick one

Pale ladies

Forget you, titles!

Epic failED

Swamp

RAGNAROK Online High Wizard

RO cheesecake lololz :(

Sketch Dump

o