Sweater Weather Tag (I'm home!!)

I'm home! I'll be doing a post on the trip very soon. For now I'll say, it was a huge blessing and I had a wonderful time and I'm so thankful I was able to go!

Alright, Angelina Zoe @ http://atouchofrandomness.blogspot.com/ has tagged me in the Sweater Weather Tag. Now, I'm super bad at these things, but I gave it a whirl. 

1. Favorite candle scent-Oh dear, this is hard already. Are we speaking of fall scents?? I'm not so into candles... maybe apple? I'd say probably for a fall scent that's what I'd pick.

2. Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate- Well, I like tea because I sing and tea is good for the voice. However flavor-wise, I like coco, although I find it rarely meets my expectations. And this week I tried REAL Italian espresso, prepared by an Italian(more on that in my next post), and although it was strong as in SUPER strong, I really liked it. To be perfectly honest though I'm often too lazy to wait for water to boil and have a hot drink. It's something I need to start taking the time to pointedly do.

3. What’s the best fall memory you have- Ugh IDK. My church often has a fall family fun bonfire but I'm not sure that's my favorite... I have a hard time with remembering memories on demand.

4. Best fragrance for fall- As in perfume? I just wear the same as I always do! But the smell of the first few fires, the woody smoke wafting through the colorful leaves on air that is brisk and cool- ah that makes me happy.

5. Favorite Thanksgiving food- Hm probably pie and sweet potato/turnips(those two are a tie)

6. What is autumn weather like where you live- nice and crisp and then it eventually gets rainy and cold as winter comes near.

7. Most worn sweater-  I have no idea. I love all my sweaters, who discriminates between sweaters??? Really. I'm sure there is one I wear more than the others, actually... 

8. Football games or jumping in leaf piles- Ew football. And ew leaf piles full of nasty horrid slugs.(I'm so scared of those deplorable things.) I like to rake leaves but my little siblings can jump in them! Soccer comes in early fall though and I love that.

9. Skinny jeans or leggings-Well, jeans, since I really only wear leggings around the house. They are more comfy though, and hanging around the house is always nice.... but for wearing out and about, skinny jeans.

10. Combat boots or Uggs- Uggs. Comfortttt. They don't necessarily match my style but oh well. I tend to wear them more in the winter though.

11. Is pumpkin spice worth the hype- I've... never tried it. But it's doubtful;)

12. Favorite fall TV show- Um...? I don't really watch TV.

13. What song really gets you into the fall spirit- Um again. Fall means Christmas music is coming, obviously. So you could say that fall gets me into the Christmas music spirit. Then again who is ever 100% out of that spirit? 

14. What do you want to be for Halloween- I don't do Halloween, but if I could do any costume- good grief what a question. I can't answer that. An authentic mid-1800s prairie style dress including underpinnings, in which to pretend I was Princess Lidi from 'The Rope Trick' would be nice. But there are sooo many others too.

15. Hats or Scarves- I wear scarfs more, but I love both.

16. What’s your #1 favorite thing about fall- Just that it's fall! I love the season overall. And, our church has special revival type meetings in the fall(which are currently happening) so although that can always be a little scary, it's a banner point of the year.

My tags:
Hmm.. how about

Anna @ http://somethingsplendidstudios.blogspot.com/

I can't think of anyone else right now!!!

I'm still super tired from the trip so I'll wrap this up.
Bye!

just to let you know...

I'm going to be gone for a week, so I'm not sure what will be going on as far as blogging endeavors.
Probably nothing.
But I would appreciate your prayers as my mom and I travel. We're going on a college tour to BJU, and I also would love prayers that God would use the trip to show me His will. Or at least 'nudge' me in that direction.('Nudge' is my moms word:)

So anyways. That's it. Thanks!

(p.s. also, my little sister was just watching Bambi and something struck me-

Twitter-bird sounds

Pated- headed, your pate is your head.

Twitterpated= birdbrained.

Like addlepated. 

Except fluttery.)

news

All right the time has come.

What time?

Time to tell you that.... dadada...

I've started a second blog!!

http://ponderousthoughtsairiefeelings.blogspot.com/

I post to both, don't worry. This blog will remain for my random art and writing ventures, while the new blog is for more personal, introspective writings on my faith and my own thoughts on life. 

So don't expect anything very like what I post here, other than that it will still be me writing:) There are two sides of me really and the two blogs reflect that. Ponderous Thoughts is just that- the serious and sometimes slightly darker currents that flow under the surface of my brain.

There are already a few posts over there, since I've had it for a little while, to get a feel for it, decide if I was really up for it etc. etc.

So if you check it out, let me know:)

Thank you guys for reading, as always!

May God bless your day!(It's a beautiful one here where I am!)

//tragic + a song translation 'Il Canto' Italian to English//

*** this sort of is a spoiler for a book that will be finished someday. But not too bad. I mean if you're reading this blog you probably already know about it.***

I call this a tragic. It's like a comic- but not comical.

I'm not sure how many hours it took, but I've been working on it since yesterday. I took probably 4ish hours yesterday, maybe more, and probably around the same today. So I'd say between 6 and 9 hours. And it could be refined quite a bit. O-o But I'm proud of it. I worked from a variety of reference material- why don't I more often? It turned out so much better than normal. But now I'm really tired.

Drawing should not be as exhausting as it is.

And, since the text is in Italian, I will now translate.

'Il Canto'- Italian to English translation

Copyright:

Writer(s): Raffaele Riefoli, Luca Barbarossa, Alfredo Rapetti, Romano Musumarra
Copyright: S.I.A.E. Direzione Generale

La notte qui non torna piu                      The night doesn't come here anymore

dal giorno che sei andata via                   Since the day that you went away

Ed il cielo smesso di giocare                  And the heavens have ceased to play

con le stelle e con la luna                        With the stars and with the moon

E le nuvole sono ferme qui                     And the clouds are still here

Come lacrime che non cadono                Like tears that cannot fall(or, that I cannot cry)

Vedi, come il tempo                               You see, as the time

Perde anche il ricordi                             Wastes even the memories

Resta solo il canto                                  Only the song remains

di un amore che non muore                    Of a love that cannot die

Prendi la mia mano                                 Take my hand

Danza con il vento                                  Dance with the wind

Apri la mie ali                                         My wings open

 Posso solo amarti cosi                           I can only love you this way

Vieni, vieni via con me                          Come, come away with me   

That's my translation, with help from google translate and Ryn. It has a repeat but it doesn't fit into the tragic and so I didn't include it. I'd like to attempt a rhymed version sometime. Is it not sad? Is it not beautiful??

If you have a chance to listen to it, you should. Il Volo's version with Placido Domingo is what inspired this, but I know Luciano Pavarotti does it, I believe Maestro Domingo does it solo, Paul Potts and Katherine Jenkins also do it I think. I haven't personally listened to any of them, but I'm sure any version would be lovely. If you try any of them let me know!!

Have a great rest of your day(if the tragic didn't... tragicize you*evil smile* and yes I see that isn't a word but it's in the Nina dictionary so there.

            

comic dump + a couple random sketches

Hello!! I really am trying to be more faithful to my blog and since I a. Have been on an indefinite major break from Pinterest and b. am including it as part of school, it's been much easier to get around to posting.
Anyways.
So today I have some comics, all new ones never before seen;)

        Gio- "How's the food?" Romeo- "Terrible, worst thing I've ever eaten."            Violetta-"How's the food?" Romeo-"Wonderful! Best thing I've ever eaten!"

also I was told that Eva in the second frame down looks just like me. I'm... not sure how to feel about that but I guess it's good?

 If you can't read some of it due to photo quality or someones bad hand writing, let me know. Also note I do not approve of this song, I think the lyrics are awful and not at all God-honoring, so don't think I listen to it! That chorus is just really, really, really, really catchy;)

And some random sketches, idk.

And that's it for today!!!!
Oh and if you ever have a suggestion for a comic, tell me!!! Please! I'm always looking for ideas for them:)
Bye!!

30 day OC challenge- Romeo Conti

found on Pinterest

So. I've attempted to do a 30 day drawing challenge at least once before. However, due to varying factors(such as- my lack of drawing ability at the time, my lack of any sort of deadline keeping ability at the time and a terrible horrible very bad webcam,) it was a major fail. I don't remember how far I got, but.... I also have attempted a couple of those Pinterest ones where you pin your favorite things from a given fandom, or post an outfit a day,but-blah. Failed those too. Besides how on earth are you supposed to pick-for example-your favorite Disney hero? I mean if I had to I'd probably go with Rodger Radcliffe as he is pretty perfect, but still. But that's only because Wall-E probably doesn't count, in which case they would tie. 

ANYWAYS enough rambling. The point is that, as of yesterday(which was 3 days late since I was trying for the month of August but oh well)-

I FINISHED A 30-DAY DRAWING CHALLENGE!!!!!

So without further ado-

Romeo Conti- age 19(ish), Male, Sicilian. Lives in Chiaro, Sicily(which by the way is a fictional place.). His cousins come from America to visit him and his family, and the rest is history.

Day 1- Bio sketch. You probably can't read the notes, so I guess I'll type them.

Despite how he looks, he's extremely intelligent. If only he'd use it...

Bright Glasses, signature spiky black hairstyle, talented singer, muscular physique(a great pride), his fashion sense is basically non existent, at least to onlookers. But he actually is fairly fussy about his messy(on purpose) appearance. He loves flashy shoes. Well, actually flashy everything.

Day 2-color portrait

Day 3-eating his favorite food-sushi. He has a lot of food allergies which limits what he can eat.

Day 4-cosplaying my favorite character-I had to go with Marius Pontmercy from Les Miz... He's not necessarily my favorite but then I don't really have favorites. He just seemed like a good choice.

Day 5- a 15 min. sketch, I did it from reference.*see note at bottom of post marked with asterisk

Day 6- In evening wear

Day 7-sleeping(that ones really awful:/)

Day 8-Playing a sport, tennis.

Day 9-street style, His typical hair and bright glasses, bright plaid shirt, big watch, distressed jeans and favorite sneakers, of course.

Day 10- favorite animal. I thought about it for a while, because I knew it had to be something weird. Then I hit upon a duck-billed platypus! They are so smashed together and cute and also very unique. It was very fun to draw and I think it turned out adorable:3

Day 11- at the beach. 

Day 12- In Kigurumi- I had to search this one. I had a vague idea it was dressing up as an animal, but these huge sleeper things are awesome! And very him-ish. I did the flying squirrel because it was JUST SO CUTE. My mom said "He looks like a little boy." and he does. Also his legs are too short even for himself.(He's very short.)

Day 13- Favorite season which is summer.

Day 14- with a weapon. He looks amusingly like my dad when he was younger. My mom agrees, Of course Romeo looks a lot like my dad anyways...

Day 15-on a bike. In the notes I put that I'm not being very faithful to the daily idea, and I wasn't. I kind of did these in bursts. But I did them all and that's what counts. Next time I will try to be more daily, and the time after that better still, so eventually I might succeed fully.

Day 16-without glasses. :3 I just used a total ref. for this, I wanted it to be good and anyways.

Day 17- Angry, but he really looks more disgusted.

Day 18- Happy. Looks sheepish.

Day 19- Scared. I don't even know. He looks more appalled.

Day 20-Sad. And I think at this point he's just disgusted with me  at the other 3 horrible attempts. He's saying, "Seriously, Nina? You can't even draw me sad? And I'm cuter than that when I smile, too..." Me- O-O "Sorry..."

Day 21- Daily activity, playing the piano. He's very very VERY good at it.

Day 22- running. I actually used a photo of captain america I found online for pose ref haha. 

day 23- in a school uniform(Japanese style). Romeo:" I have no idea why I'm wearing this. But I'm rocking it, of course."

Day 24-with a pet, his girlfriend/wife, Violetta. She's reallllllly annoying and I don't know why he likes her other than that she's a model in looks.

Day 25- what he does best- singing(at church) I pretty much copied a ref. for this and added the background.

Day 26-reading. Ref. and thanks to Ryn for posing for the hands and arms lol.

Day 27- playing a video game. From ref. and thanks to my younger bro for informing me on the fact I originally had the hands too far apart. I never play video games and actually neither does he but what and ever.

Day 28- listening to music.

Day 29(mistakenly mark 28 again)- with me <3 used ref here too, I guess I was getting a little lazy. I mean I used ref. for most of them but here I was basically relying on it.

And Day 30- my choice. I did him doing a funny/kissy/goodbye face and peace sign for no reason.

SO THERE YOU HAVE IT!

I'm pleased with it. I can see the faces improving as I go along, whether that's from using more ref. down the line or not, I don't know.

*Where I used ref. it was found online, either Pinterest, google or Twitter. Also, a singer by the name of Piero Barone, of the band Il Volo, is Romeo's inspiration and face. Although, in character he has deviated quite largely and in various ways, so if you ever read/see this Piero don't be... too offended by the undeniable oddness(but inimitable awesomeness!) of the character you (at least mainly) inspired XD

Tell me what you think! Critique is as always welcome. And if you've ever done one of these challenges, I'd love to hear about it!!!

\I have a few more posts planned in the near future, such as some short stories I'm working on, some more art ones and who knows what else. I'm working on an online college class this semester, but it shouldn't cause the posting to be any more far between than normal!

As always thank you so much for reading. I do hope you enjoy what I post even if it is quite random.

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

Nina