Scribbles and Such

2010-06-10T23:35:00.002-04:00

Holy crap! an update!

well not really.. this is a note to check out my new blog at http://salmahussain.blogspot.com .. i update twice a week! i deserve cake just for that :D

i'm not dead

2008-02-20T21:19:00.003-05:00

So yeah... I know it's been like 9 months since i last posted, if anyone is even still coming here, i totally intend to start posting again. work has been nutso. although instead of drawing i may pay my taxes. jesus i suck.

2007-05-30T13:27:00.000-04:00

this was Gene's doodle for the week, a quickie done in flash. i don't think i've drawn this way in a long time, or maybe i have and don't remember. i don't know. you know what i do now? tamagotchis are fucking addictive.

2007-05-11T14:48:00.000-04:00

I was going to email this one to a buddy as part of our on-going and one-sided doodle exchange, but I should give him a chance to catch up on the drawings he already has before I give him some more, no?

I'm not even going to apologize for the gap between uploads. If you know me at all you know that this is to be expected :P. Aside from that though, nothing much goin' on.. just work and life and work and work and work. I'm worried about my future, but I guess everyone does when they're starting out, yeah? We'll see what I end up deciding soon enough.

2007-04-04T16:42:00.000-04:00

i don't really draw for real anymore, but once in a while i doodle [instead of working]... there's a pinup girl thing goin on at the studio right now, so pinup ladies are all that's on my mind this week.

and i'm aware that those are not the actual lyrics :P

2007-03-02T11:25:00.000-05:00

dissatisfied with the array of emoticons msn makes available, i choose to express myself in doodles while chatting. here, i am clearly stating that i am very hungry. so hungry, in fact, that i am willing to eat a baby sandwich.

yum.

2007-01-04T14:58:00.000-05:00

hello! scribble break and i liked the colours.

on another note, happy new year! as well as a belated merry christmas, happy chanukka, joyful kwanzaa and of course a big fat eid mubarak to everyone. hope 2006 was good to you kids. it was a meh year for me, big stuff happened but big stuff went down too. i've got a fantastic feeling about 2007 though.

the fatkats have moved into the new studio, and it is fabulous. lots of space, natural light and a scrolling light up information thing that constantly reminds my fatass to stop drinking pop [it adds 15 lbs a year ya know]. 2007 is the first year of not having anythign academic going on, and it's strange. a part of me wants to start doing some long distance classes [get some credits i didn't get in high school in case i ever DO decide to pursue a B.Sc.], but we'll see. do some calc and chem might be a good break from symbols and actionscripts.

although i do love actionscripts.

i'm not even kidding.

my new years goals are to stop dressing like a hobo, lose 15 lbs [i could just stop drinking pop i guess] and complete my 3D reel [read: trash that reel i have and start over because man... i can do better].

we'll see how that all goes ;)

2006-11-29T15:07:00.000-05:00

even chubby girls get annoyed and disgusted.

2006-11-29T11:24:00.000-05:00

pink and blue. chubby girls get distracted from their cell conversations too ya know.

2006-11-22T15:41:00.000-05:00

this is what i was paid to draw today.

i love my job.

2006-11-15T15:55:00.000-05:00

apparently erika agrees with me.

2006-11-03T13:34:00.000-05:00

quickie done on break for Illustration Friday. the topic is Smoke. every week i want to do something for IF but i always end up losing time one way or another.. so hey if i can't put up a proper illo i'll put up a quickie.. which is basically all i post these days anyway ;)

also.. i wasn't lying when i said i love red. i really really do.

le rouge

2006-11-02T11:45:00.000-05:00

i luvs me some red.

ma nah ma nah

2006-10-18T19:05:00.000-04:00

i'm not dead. just very very busy. as is the norm. the last couple of weeks have just been moving, settling and working. this town is mind-bogglingly boring but i LOVE the studio i'm at. let's hear it for Fatkat! when i'mnot lazy, i'll link it. this is a quickie to get my mind going again after staring at the same scene for nigh 12 hours. i have all these little doodles taped next to my desk and i'm dying DYING to turn one of them out in illustrator. hopefully the craziness will die down soon and i can start getting back to it. hell, does anyone even visit this anymore? :D

2006-09-12T00:35:00.000-04:00

oh! and also, if anyone is looking for a portable wooden tabletop animation desk with a massive disc and a pegbar, in the GTA, let me know. i'm selling mine. Iit's a kickass desk. and the disc is huge. asking price is exactly what i paid for the whole shebang: $260

2006-09-12T00:02:00.000-04:00

so yes, i've been M.I.A. for pretty much a month now.. and i've STILL to catch up on a lot of emails [i'm so so so so so SO sorry jackie] but i have been insanely busy lately, and will be for at least another three weeks or so. it's kinda sick. it looks like i'm moving out east, and will be out of here in two weeks. i'm hesitant to put that in the concrete affirmative, but that's probably my remarkably paranoid nature kicking in. i don't think i'll officially say i've moved until i've been out there for 6 months. what can i say, i'm cautious.

i haven't done any new work [aside from portfolio stuff] in a damn long time, but i've got some ideas swimming around the old brain. have you checked out the new Vogue? the giant style one? i fear for fashion's immediate future. i'm all for leggings, skinny jeans and headbands but come on, those weird industrial gothish moon boot THINGS they've come out with are hideous. HIDEOUS. and i know a bunch of goth kids are pissed about it, just like the grunge kids were when plaid hit the runways in 93 and 94. PLUS, bob haircuts? are you serious? anyway the point is that the new Vogue has given me a lot of ideas. I'm sorry for the tangent :P

This is from my flash design throwaway, i call him the Shirt Ninja. You remember when that shirt ninja crap swept the internet don't you? you don't? well then i'm a bigger geek than you.

edit: guess who forgot cmyk makes everything insane and neon? fixed now

2006-08-16T13:51:00.000-04:00

special thanks to Justin Evans [he's in my links!] for the revamping of my blog. i'm a lucky birthday girl :D

2006-08-11T14:45:00.000-04:00

another character from my flash portfolio... whom i've named miss galaxy. i watch A&E way too much and i'm always sitting in front of the tv when they do those little girl beauty pageant specials. i think i watch it mostly because they always end up looking like trailer trash.

i do draw guys, i swear. i'll post one eventually.

i know you love my ability to keep up with once a week :)

2006-07-29T17:22:00.000-04:00

busy as usual, but on the side i'm throwing together some quick flash work so that i can stop freelancing and get a studio gig. this is the character i'm using... when i sat down to put her together this morning she was supposed to be this really uppity, yuppie snob kind of deal.. but then she ultimately went gap punk. it's fun how the stuff you do is rarely the stuff you plan :)

can you tell i love redheads?

2006-07-05T18:54:00.000-04:00

i'm back! again! as of today i'm going to try for my original goal of one post [at least] a week... let's see if i can keep up with it this time. this is the first thing i've drawn for the sake of drawing since that bikini girl a couple of posts below. this was just to relax me.

it's no secret that i'm a huge fan of margeurite sauvage, or any fashion illustrator really. check her stuff out in my links. she, specifically, influences me a lot. as i was doing this one [and watching Tokyo Godfathers for the bajillionth time] it dawned on me how i can pick out every influence in this image. ready for this? margeurite sauvage, an old fairy tale book i have with some kickass illustrations [the kind you just don't see anymore], the upcoming fall fashion line [i'm quite excited about the dress emphasis and the return of the pencil skirt], gossip blogs [how sad am i all of a sudden] and some courtroom drawings i saw earlier today on A&E. it's a weird thing when you're watching a show about a woman who claimed to be raped but then recanted and all you can think is "wow that dude did some really nice illos, go him!"

also, i graduated on thursday! four people [out of 16] from of my class [the post grads] showed up! where was the DAN representation huh? i'm looking at you, shek.

i added some links. check em.

have fun kids.

2006-06-27T09:46:00.000-04:00

nothing to show right now, but a few points of note.

•this is the funniest thing ever. this is what next gen should be all about. best part comes in at the 40 second mark.

•i absolutely hate this sudden rise in overly dramatic advertising. yeah i imagine gingivitis is unpleasant but christ it's not AIDS. and all those appliance ads with the water/fire/wind goddesses.. come on. figure out a way to get baseball tees clean without having the sleeves bleed into the rest of the shirt and i'll be impressed.

•old white men need to stop writing young black characters in animation. amazingly, not every black male ever ends every sentence with "homey", "yo" or "bling". the only character that works with is from billy&mandy.

•paris hilton is the fault of everyone reading this. i hope you're all happy.

and finally

•at one point during my fitness test the trainer thought the equipment i was using to measure the strength in my arms wasn't working correctly since i could barely squeeze, so he took it from me and "fixed" it. the look on his face when he gave it back to me and i still couldn't squeeze it was priceless. people need to listen to me when i tell them i'm weak as hell. i laughed so hard i thought i was going to die.

2006-06-16T11:05:00.000-04:00

hi!

crazy stuff has been happening this last month or so.. i've been busy with projects, my nephew was born and i've been meeting new folks left and right. i got up super early today since i had an appointment but that got pushed back so instead of y'know... sleep.. i doodled. this is a rough design for storyboards i want to do for my portfolio; my take on the donkey skin princess, christabel. i'm not feeling her as a redhead, and i think i'm gonna refine the style a bit more.. something much more classic.

i have a fitness test in two hours.. i'm going to die. my last semester was totally spent sitting on my bum, i'm so out of shape it's not even funny. the dude at the gym is going to end my life. if you never hear from me again it's because i died on a treadmill.

have fun kids!

2006-05-08T23:10:00.000-04:00

since school finished, i wanted to just do some cheesecake fluff illo just to clear my head and let new things come to me... which i did. enjoy her! i'm not all that happy with it, i was super gung-ho when i started it last week but i took nearly 9 days off this drawing. i decided to finish it tonight but my head just wasn't into it. i doubt i'll go back and fix it though... i don't hate it, i still had fun with it, but y'know... y'know.

i'm itching to get my personal work done. it's killing me inside. i need to finish what i've got on my plate before i do it though. how dorky am i? i reward myself for getting work done with more work. ahhhhhhhh i love it.

have fun kids!

2006-05-02T00:29:00.001-04:00

i'm baaaaaaaack
here are some dogs. woof. i like the little fluff in the top left corner.

i used to run a paper route when i was like... 11 or so. on my route there was always this one dog.. this little yappy fluffy THING that drove me crazy.. but he was always tethered or something so he didn't really come near me. one day, however, the owner decided the little jerk would be let loose... so as i'm coming up the driveway with a huge stack of sears catalogues that weigh a billion pounds each, the rat comes barrelling at me yipping all the way.

"but salma! how did you avoid his sharp little teeth of death and destruction?!"

well i'll tell you. i whipped out one of my catalogues and held it precariously over his fuzzy head. he stopped in his tracks, not sure of what to do, and as long as i held that catalogue he left me alone.

once the catalogue was on the front stoop, however, it was all about running. running really fast.

i rarely draw animals.. but i had fun with these guys. i should do more animals.

2006-04-09T13:17:00.000-04:00

i will eventually update this.

2006-04-03T21:30:00.000-04:00

my take on a character by the one and only Jeff.y... and i'd like to point out, the character is asking a valid question, dude. you guys out there in internet land... you don't even know; she is rocking some serious thong. SERIOUS thong. we're talking chafing from hell.

when did i start talking like a suburban-ghetto retard?

also, i love that i seem to have a default pose for everything i draw that i don't plan. it's not something that worries me, i just think it's neat.

i have a ton of rendering and dynamics homework to do, but i'd so much rather watch the original The Hills Have Eyes. i mean really, wouldn't you?

2006-03-26T22:29:00.000-05:00

the little girl from the last post gave me an idea for a character i've wanted to do since i was 16... it's for another short i've wanted to do forever, and i like this little girl.

i watch a lot of movies. a lot. i finally saw The Warriors. i've wanted to see it forever, and the release of the game reminded me of that. there's a special place in my heart for cheesy cult and b-films. and zombie films. looking at my dvds right now the first three i see are Shaun of the Dead, Rock&Rule and Heavy Traffic. I am truly, truly a nerd.

2006-03-24T01:23:00.000-05:00

the apology.

Up listening to Radiohead's "The Bends" album = emo looking children resolving a fight. also.. i drew a boy!

i'm so heavy handed when i draw, my life drawing instructors have all hated me for this.

2006-03-20T23:17:00.000-05:00

so there's still no real end in sight for this stupid strike. i'm stuck with my rigging reel though, i need answers to questions i keep getting the more i try to teach myself and i've got no access to teachers to help me. although i have taught myself quite a bit, through trial and error as well as books but still..

i have a habit of drawing myself. my sketchbooks are full of me, narcissistic dork that i am :)

2006-03-20T16:05:00.000-05:00

i was up watching Nosferatu and started thinking about the flash short i want to do when i have some time. it's about two emo kids breaking up at an emo show. i'm going to call it Emo. and i don't care if it looks like i'm jumping on the emo bashing bandwagon, i been making fun of those kids since before even the Emogame was born. these are quick doodles of the girl i'm going to use. forgive my 2 in the morning anatomy :D

if you ever get a chance, check out Nosferatu with the french soundtrack added on. it's really creepy right up until they start introducing vocals, then it gets weird european art-house avant-garde.

2006-03-18T16:27:00.000-05:00

this has nothing to do with anything, but i occasionally like to read my spam email because well.. it's generally awesome. the best ones come from a company called spermamax, check your junk mail for them. here's one from somebody selling bootleg software.. i only gathered that through the subject line. the message itself is anyones' guess:

"fire is similar. is force wife find here? social window immediate slow.
similar sugar make mischievous, arms mischievous back teach, filled how edge social.
fly reading light. leader promised disappoint make sandwich bad.
teach human tying. we suddenly sandwich wife.
appearance fly somewhere wife different. supposedto happened corner suddenly, money beautiful find,"

2006-03-18T01:35:00.000-05:00

just wasting time.. i finished my model for my reel a while back and have just been spending the last couple of weeks tweaking it as well as familiarizing myself with various rigging techniques before i go right at it... plus i've been sidetracked by a project a friend and i are working on. it's a fun idea, i hope someday we can share it with the world.

speaking of the world, do you ever think about how different your life would be if you'd not made certain decisions? like.. how would i have turned out had my parents opted to stay in saudi arabia? or even, how would i have turned out had my parents opted to stay in california? better yet, what would i be like today if i had, in fact, gone after a bachelor of science [whether that would have lead to medical illustration or set me on the path to a doctorate i'm not too sure]?

i need to draw more.

2006-03-09T02:45:00.000-05:00

i like to just tool around in Illustrator and Photoshop. i never really try to produce anything, and i never ever plan ahead. i don't know what this would've turned into, but she looks sneaky, like a spy who's about to escape. thus, i've decided she's a spy about to escape.

i have further beefs with War of the Worlds. aside from the pick and choose destruction, why would the aliens be so primitive looking? they have these spaceships.. technology beyond anything any of us could hope to create.. yet they look really really primitive. now i can't say that they don't actually look like that, but at least cinematically and y'know... for the sake of our own logic wouldn't the people in charge of the film make the aliens fit what we think they can do? at least fit what our brains would imagine a being that could master so much would look like. really, it's just a continuity issue.

when all is said and done though.. tom cruise is a dork.

2006-03-06T22:41:00.000-05:00

just taking a break from my model.. should be done soon.. and also watching war of the worlds, the crazy tom version. i've only seen the beginning and the end of it, now i'm watching the actual parts in between. there's a lot of stuff that doesn't make sense already. seriously. like... why is it that when the giant roboalienkillmachine shoots cars, buildings, trees, etc., they just get DESTROYED.. but if they shoot people, the pants and shirt go flying off with nary a singe? are you telling me that these beings have mastered intergalactic space travel but can't rip a cotton tee? i call shenanigans!

you might've seen these before

2006-02-28T22:28:00.000-05:00

okay.. so.. i haven't had a chance to really do anything for a while now. which really sucks because i've got some fun ideas i'd like to give a go.. but what can you do, right? priorities! so instead i'm gonna put up two old illustrator fluffs i did like.. a year ago. if you know me, you've probably seen em before.

i still like this one. at Tri's suggestion it goes up.

this was a two-tier dealie. one, it was a gift for my good friend sandra. two, i was trying to make it AS barbietastic as i could. by barbietastic i mean as vacant, and devoid of personality as possible while still being prett. basically, like a barbie illustration. i succeeded in spades, i think. in fact, it was so successful that after a while i just couldn't look at it anymore.

2006-02-14T01:07:00.000-05:00

i like this render. lighting isn't my forte at all, but i totally dig this one anyway. it's amazing how difficult it is to simulate day and night time in maya. i miss being little, whipping out the sky blue and sun orange crayons and that was pretty much all i needed. i never ate my crayons though, i think i missed out.

if i'm drawing for myself, i'm drawing fluff. fluff is good times. also, i enjoy the ballet so it's only natural.

2006-02-12T00:29:00.000-05:00

i should be modeling my character for my reel, but y'know.. i'm really into wasting time. so when it comes down to it, i'm gonna pick watching Mythbusters and drawing nonsense over actual work. i predict that i will eventually be very, very poor ;)

Rascalz 4 life

2006-02-01T23:47:00.000-05:00

i'm trying to come up with a character to rig for my demo reel, but i can't think of anything. all i know is it's gotta be a mod. i don't know why, i just want a mod. so i'm mindlessly scribbling a mod girl, which as you can tell the mod ends right at the sideswept bangs, when i get some good ol' canadian hip hop stuck in my head.

how can you fight it? you just can't.

all i wanna do lately is study anatomy. and deep sea aquatic life. because that is some freaky shit.

i have no life.

2006-01-25T16:53:00.000-05:00

okay.. i swear that i will put something up soon.. but we've got this nightmare assignment from beyond hell to plod through and then HOPEFULLY by then i'll have time to have some sketchbook and illustrator fun. i've got a ton of ideas kicking around in my head but like.. i'm either animating or asleep [more the former]. but soon!

i don't even watch tv anymore.. somebody tell me what's going on with Desperate Housewives. please.

Aaliyah

2006-01-05T22:42:00.000-05:00

this is what being bored gets ya; doodles of bored looking middle eastern girls.

And go!

2006-01-05T13:45:00.000-05:00

This is my first post. I hope that I will actually USE this blog as a sketch blog. Feel free to periodically leave me messages telling me to post something. I wholeheartedly encourage it.