I've always liked the month of December. After years of an annual Christmas play and handbell choir in grade school and junior high, I've got a strong affinity for Christmas songs. Granted, I'm not one of those people who wants Jingle Bells blasting in the car from November to New Years, but I love them enough to devote an entire lens to My Favorite Christmas Songs. I also get to set up the family Dickens' Village, and the Christmas tree goes up around Thanksgiving so we can enjoy it all through December. All we really need now is snow.
This year has been pretty devoid of snow in my area. Scratch that - completely devoid of snow. I don't think we've had so much as a threat of the fluffy white stuff this year. Still, I was in the mood to do something cute and snow-related for about a month now, so I finally sat down and did it:
Yep. The Kitsune Snow Day. I occasionally do cute things like this - mostly when I have younger cousins sitting right next to me and demanding I show them how to draw something. Or just quietly sitting and watching my every move, which makes me acutely aware that they are under 10 years old and drawing hot guys is not appropriate. That would be how the animals for the Pink Ballerina Box came about.
The Kitsune Snow Day, however, was all for me. I had the image of two cute little foxes building a snowfox, and hey, I like foxes, so went ahead and indulged my "Awwwww so KYOOT!" side. Besides, doing more than one style is good for you, I hear.
This one was done entirely in Photoshop. No preliminary sketches this time!
Showing posts with label lenses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lenses. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
D'oh!
Alright, so I was looking through my Squidoo lenses, as I often do in the quest to keep them updated and their lens rankings below 100K. Good thing I did, too. Apparently, last time I'd updated my Urban Fantasy lens, I'd suffered an epic brain fart or been distracted by something suitably shiny, because I had a whole brand new section I didn't remember publishing: What Makes a Great Urban Fantasy Series, According to the Personal Preferences of Kit.
That would be all well and good. In fact, it was something I'd planned on for awhile. There was just one problem... All it said was, "There is a lot of urban fantasy out there. Some of it's good, some's not so good, and some earns a spot on the shelf by my bed where I can easily read and reread it over and over again. What makes those chosen few series stand out among the masses?"
... Yeah. That was it. So, Kit, what DOES make a series stand out among the masses? HA! Not telling! Take that!
*headdesk*
Hopefully, it wasn't like that for too terribly long, but it has now been fixed. So what makes a series stand out to me?
Basically, I like a gripping plot with a main character that I actually LIKE and a good sense of humor to balance out the "omg HOW WILL THEY EVER MAKE IT?!" of the tension. (For a more in-depth explanation, read the lens.)
This pretty much spreads to all the genres I read. At some point, I'll have to go through my personal pet peeves, but that's a topic for another post. The lesson here is for all the little Squidooers out there: Make sure to actually READ your lens once in awhile, and not in the workshop - the actual lens. It'll help you catch little things like unfinished modules that have been making your readers wonder what malfunction's going on in your brain.
That would be all well and good. In fact, it was something I'd planned on for awhile. There was just one problem... All it said was, "There is a lot of urban fantasy out there. Some of it's good, some's not so good, and some earns a spot on the shelf by my bed where I can easily read and reread it over and over again. What makes those chosen few series stand out among the masses?"
... Yeah. That was it. So, Kit, what DOES make a series stand out among the masses? HA! Not telling! Take that!
*headdesk*
Hopefully, it wasn't like that for too terribly long, but it has now been fixed. So what makes a series stand out to me?
Basically, I like a gripping plot with a main character that I actually LIKE and a good sense of humor to balance out the "omg HOW WILL THEY EVER MAKE IT?!" of the tension. (For a more in-depth explanation, read the lens.)
This pretty much spreads to all the genres I read. At some point, I'll have to go through my personal pet peeves, but that's a topic for another post. The lesson here is for all the little Squidooers out there: Make sure to actually READ your lens once in awhile, and not in the workshop - the actual lens. It'll help you catch little things like unfinished modules that have been making your readers wonder what malfunction's going on in your brain.
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