Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

TumblrDeviantArt

Merry Christmas! FREE Kindle edition of my book!

External Image

Hey guys! Many of you know I released my first book about a month ago. As a little Christmas gift, the Kindle edition is available for free, now through December 27th! You can grab a copy of it on Amazon. Enjoy! I'd love to hear what you think of it!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas!
-theLostSindar

Secret Santa 2016 Wishlist

If you haven’t signed up yet, check out this year’s Secret Santa page! Many thanks to toyotami kun and Kaerlyn for hosting ^^

Here are a bunch of ideas for me, some individual characters and some couples in various categories.

My Original Characters:
Vekter
Elysia
Zenia
Dathan
Saiyel
Vekter x Elysia

Fire Emblem:
Seth (FE8)
Hector (FE7)
Jakob (FE14)
Dwyer (FE14)
Geoffrey x Elincia (FE9/10)
Seth x Eirika (FE8)

Legend of Zelda:
Link (Adult form, doesn’t matter which game)
Link x Zelda

Anime:
Kija (aka Gija) (Akatsuki no Yona)
Shin-Ah (no mask!) (Akatsuki no Yona)
Hak x Yona (Akatsuki no Yona)
Naru (aka Kazuya Shibuya)(Ghost Hunt)
Naru x Mai (Ghost Hunt)
Lin (Ghost Hunt)
Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!)
Genos (One-Punch Man)
Hei (Darker than Black)

Miraculous Ladybug:
Chat Noir
Chat Noir x Ladybug
(Or any variation of the "love square", lol)

Choose whatever you wish, and have fun with it!
(Just a note, please don’t draw anything sexy or suggestive. Thanks!)

Survey Time

Stolen by request from silvershriek XD

Name: Shannen
Birthdate: December 4th
Birthplace: Upstate NY
Current Location: Elsewhere in Upstate NY (a little over an hour from where I was born)
Eye Color: Dark blue
Hair Color: Blonde
Righty or Lefty: Righty
Male or Female: Female

-----------------DESCRIBE------------------
The shoes you wore today: Sandals
Your fears: Losing loved ones, making mistakes

-----------------WHAT IS------------------
Your most overused phrase: Don’t think I really have one.
Your thoughts first waking up: Already? XD
The first feature you notice in the opposite sex: Hm…I guess I’ve never really payed attention ^^; Their overall stature/build maybe?
Your best physical feature: I have no idea XD
Your bedtime: Around 11
Your most missed memory: Family vacations :)

-----------------YOU PREFER------------------
Pepsi or Coke: Pepsi
McDonald's or Burger King: Burger King
Single or group dates: Single
Adidas or Nike: Neither really
Chocolate or vanilla: Both XD But I usually prefer chocolate…depends what it is.
Cappuccino or coffee: Neither XP

-------------DO YOU------------------
Smoke: Nope
Cuss: Nope
Take a shower everyday: Yep
Have a crush: Even better - I have a husband X) Lol!
Do you think you've been in love?: Yep!
Want to go to college: Checked that box already
Like(ed) high school: Yep, for the most part
Want to get married: Already am!
Type with your fingers on the right keys: Sometimes…maybe…I just kind of let me fingers do what they want so they probably aren’t technically in the right place very often ^^;
Believe in yourself: Not particularly, but as I was discussing with Silver I really don’t think of that as a bad thing. I believe in God, and to me that makes a whole lot more sense than believing in little me. Apart from Him, I can do nothing.
Get motion sickness: Sometimes on long car rides or on winding roads
Think you're attractive: Eh, to an extent. Sometimes I’m more positive than others ^^;
Think you're a health freak: No. Somewhat health-conscious, but not a health freak.
Get along with your parents: Yes, I get along with my dad very well, and I wish I could’ve had more time with my mom in my post-high school life so we could have developed a better relationship too :(
Like thunderstorms: I LOVE them!
Play an instrument: Guitar

------------IN THE PAST MONTH DID:/:HAVE YOU-------------
Gone to the mall: Yep
Eaten sushi: Nope. I have no intention of trying it either >.<
Been on stage: No
Been dumped: No
Gone skating: No, not in a few years. I miss ice skating!
Made homemade cookies: Hm, nope. Not in the last month.
Been in love: Yeesss
Dyed your hair: No
Stolen anything: No

-------------HAVE YOU EVER------------------
Flown on a plane: Yep, a bunch of times.
Missed school because it was raining?: Nope.
Told a guy/girl that you liked them?: Not before knowing it was mutual. I’m shyyyy.
Cried during a Movie?: Ahah, yes. Lots of times ^^;
Ever thought an animated character was hot?: If we’re being honest…yes XD
Had an imaginary friend: I think so, when I was younger.
Cut your own hair: No
Had crush on a teacher: No
Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: No – no alcohol for me!
Gotten beaten up: No, thank goodness O_o
Been in a fight: Only if you count fighting with my sister when we were growing up, haha.
Shoplifted: No

----------------THE FUTURE------------------
Age you hope to be married: Already am! I was married at 21.
Numbers and Names of Children: Oh boy. I never thought I would ever want to have children but…something very strange has been happening lately XD I guess marriage and getting older do some funny things to you, lol! I wouldn’t want more than 1 or 2 kids. Names…Elysia (Ellie) and Alexander? Maybe?
How do you want to die?: Well ideally the Rapture would happen before then :D But if not, I would just hope it isn’t painful.
What do you want to be when you grow up?: Pretty sure 25 qualifies as grown-up XD But I still can’t say I have a lot of aspirations…maybe an illustrator.
What country would you most like to visit?: Probably the UK. Sweden, Italy, or Ireland would be cool too. I’ve already been to Japan, but I wouldn’t mind going back again :D Although I’m not really the traveling sort so probably none of those will happen ^^;

-----------------Opp. Sex------------------
Best eye color: Any color can be really nice, but maybe green?
Best hair color: Black or dark brown.
Short or long hair: Shortish
Best height: Tall XD
Best weight: Average
Best first date location: Hm…I like the zoo :3

-----------------NUMBER OF-----------------
Number of people you could trust with your life: *shrugs*
Number of CDs that I own: I guess I’ve collected quite a few over the years.
Number of piercings: One in each ear
Number of tattoos: None
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: Just a few I think.
Number of scars on my body: I don’t know, not a lot XD The only sizable one is on my knee (bike accident ^^;)
Number of things in my past that I regret: Yeah, I’d rather not start counting through those, or I’ll end up depressed ^^;

---------FAVORITES------------------
Shampoo: Pantene I guess?
Fav Color(s): Teal I think. Also really like blues, purples, and greens.
Day/Night: Hm, too many good things about both.
Summer/Winter: Summer, though Fall and Spring are my first choices.
Fave Cartoon Character: I’m never quite sure what qualifies as a cartoon…
Fave Food: Chicken parmesan
Fave Movies: Lord of the Rings trilogy, Harry Potter series
Fave sport: Hockey

----------------RIGHT NOW------------------
Wearing: A black shirt with a vampire smiley-face on it that my husband bought me (lol XD) and capris.
Drinking: Nothing
Thinking about: This question ^^;
Listening to: I unfortunately have a hard time thinking/typing while listening to music ^^;

---------------IN THE LAST 24 HRS------------------
Cried: Nope
Worn jeans: Um…do denim capris count?
Met someone new online: No
Done laundry: No
Drove a car: Nope
Talked on the phone: No

---------------DO YOU BELIEVE IN--------------
Yourself: I think we’ve covered that one XD
Your friends: Yeah
Santa Claus: No, but I did when I was little.
Tooth Fairy: Same
Destiny/Fate: Kinda
Angels: Yes
Ghosts: Sort of…spirits and demons and such, yes, but not really what people typically mean by “ghosts”. I do enjoy watching Ghost Hunters though XD
UFO's: I suppose not, but it’s fun to think about XD
God: Yes!

--------FRIENDS AND LIFE------------------
Do you ever wish you had another name?: I did when I was younger. I guess I’ve accepted it now ^^;
Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend?: Like I said - husband XD
Do you like anyone?: See above :3
Which one of your friends acts the most like you?: Hm, not really sure.
Are you close to any family member?: I’m pretty close to my dad and sister.
Who do you hang around the most?: My husband
What's the best feeling in the world?: Ohh, I don’t know. I’m running out of answers, lol XD
Worst Feeling?: Guilt or regret
What time is it now?: 6:54 pm

Sketch Process

Hello again!

My buddy LucCalar mentioned that he would like to see some of the process that I go through for my digital artwork, so I thought I’d put an entry together showing some of my sketches vs. the finished product.

1 – “Respite”
This is probably my best example as I happened to scan a version of it early on before I had detailed anything but the faces. This is also very typical of the process I go through.

External Image

I almost always start with a pencil drawing, starting with a rough sketch with some skeletal elements (kind of light here, sorry), then building on top of that and erasing to get a more complete pencil drawing. Then I use my tablet and Photoshop CS5 to draw the digital lineart over top of my pencil drawing (on a different layer, of course). Lastly here I added base colors. Then lots of shading later we have…

External Image

The finished picture! Note this is an older one so the lines are a bit thicker than I usually make them now. Also most of the background was just added as I went along.

2 – “Dance with Me”
This one is similar to the first one, but I wanted to show it because it’s a case where I started with a much rougher pencil sketch and filled in most of the details digitally.

External Image

Here’s my original sketch and then a modification of Rennac’s arm I added in Photoshop because I didn’t like the original placement.

External Image

And then the final!

3 – “Because I Love Owls”
I don’t believe this one ever made it to TheO...it was just a quick picture I made for an ID on DeviantArt a while back. But it’s a rare case where I did everything digitally, no pencil involved, so I thought I’d show it. I usually avoid this method because I’ve found that I have a harder time getting anatomy right for some reason when I draw straight through my tablet, but this one turned out alright.

External Image

As you can see, my tablet sketching is VERY messy!

4 – “Dark Link”
Lastly I wanted to show a piece where I just colored directly underneath one of my pencil drawings in Photoshop. This is the same sort of thing I did for the drawings of Felix, Arcanus, Midna, Rath, and Seth in my portfolio.

External Image

Here’s my original pencil drawing and then the finished picture. I set the pencil layer to “multiply” and then painted underneath it. In this case, I also duplicated the pencil layer to make it darker.

And that’s it! Thanks for reading, and I hope this was enjoyable. Feel free to ask questions if you have any ^-^

End