The Destruction of LaRee

Nothing pretty to show you today, sorry. But I'll try to have a picture of my version of a "Synthetic" from the brainstorm session with Laz a few days ago in a few days. Knowing me, it'll take forever to create such a masterpiece. :p
I start my first day of work today. You can't imagine how nervous I am, because I don't want anything to go wrong. *oops! My virgo is showing!* lol. So now I have that terrible butterfly feeling, where the butterflies pick up corners of your guts and then have fun twisting and pulling them until I throw up. Maybe it's because this is part of me becoming a part of society.
Well, whatever it is, I'm nervous.

Question of the Day: What is your version of a "perfect" human?
My Answer: Perfection is only attainable through imperfection. I'm perfect, and you're perfect, but only because neither of us are perfect. Make sense?

Had loads of fun with Photoshop yesterday. I was so completely bored, and was having a blast with a brainstorming session with Laz for our "Imperfects vs. Synthetics" concept. All the while, I was playing with my little camera, which has served me well for the past year and a half. Here's what i got out of yesterday.

This is my Nikon N55, a film SLR. Chance got it for me while he was out of town a few months ago. I don't get film for it very often, but when I do, I LOVE IT. I love the way my photos turn out. Sometimes, I wish I had the means to get some more lenses for it, but it doesn't look too promising right now. I'm still wanting the tablet and markers.

Anyways, I'm offering commissioned retouching right now. One high quality image is $10. As soon as I get permission from the photographer, I'll have sample up here for you to see.

Question of the Day: What's your favorite gift that you've received?
My Answer: My gramma made me a quilt for my 12th birthday, and my mum quilted it.

Went shopping with Chels today. We found the perfect dress. Unfortunately, it was $93, which was way outta my budget. Funny how all the perfect clothes are so expensive. Good thing the perfect people are priceless! And here's a little doodle I worked on. I need markers so that I can make my works pretty and colorful on paper. Maybe as a birthday present lol. Me getting markers is inevitable. The Beautiful Machine. Question of the Day: What are your favorite markers?
My answer: I don't even know yet, because I've been using those cheap little kid markers all my life, but I'm pining for prismacolors because Copics are waaaay too expensive.

Last night, my mum messaged me on facebook with a photo of Edward Scissorhands saying that she always secretly wanted hair like him. Of course, I took the hint and flew away to my trusty copy of photoshop and promptly gave my mum the mop top of a lifetime. This, in turn, made me look through the Edward Scissorhands fan art section of DeviantArt, which in turn inspired me to draw the little guy. So here's the cutest little Ed you ever did see!
Question of the Day: Who is your favorite movie character and why?
My Answer: I love Victor from "Corpse Bride". He's quiet, thoughtful, and has a love for beauty and Victoria like no other. And he's got Johnny Depp's heart melting accent. Also, the style of this stop action movie is exquisite. So Victor's character even looked like a stylized version of the younger Johnny Depp, and who doesn't like that? Tim Burton, you are a genius.

Boredom before I actually start working has finally kicked in. Nate came into my room yesterday just as bored as I was. We ended up staying up until 1:30am putting blonde hair on ourselves, and 'black' hair on chance, since he's already somewhat blonde. And since Kirstie is somewhere inbetween... I gave her emo hair! And yes, I used pictures that i found off of google images. If that's a problem, then please tell me.
Question of the Day: What do you do when you're bored?
My Answer: You can already see what i do when I'm bored haha. That, and I usually make lists of whatever I can find. Sometimes this means taking inventory of my CDs or books. And that's a lot. Or sometimes I'll just copy down pages in a book or flier. I just have those urges to write.

Short post today. Here are a couple of self portraits that I edited. I personally like the first because it's so colorful!



GOOD NEWS!!! I just got hired today by Pizza Hut! This is my first job (since I wasn't really allowed to work until I turned 17, and then it took me 11 months to actually get a job). I'll be what is known as a Customer Service Representative, or CSR. And I'll be taking your calls, cutting pizzas, making wings, and putting those happy little coupons on the pizza boxes! Hopefully this will pay my for my living expenses while I'm off at college. I've heard a lot of stereotypes about the people who work at pizza joints, and let me tell you, the people that I know personally who have worked at them are all CLEAN and don't drink and drive. I will be one of those people. :D

Question of the Day: What was your first job? And what was it like working there?

The following is just a little something that I posted on facebook as a discussion thread started. So far, it has worked.

WARNING: The following post contains nude images and ideas. Most of the pictures should be fine to look at, but if you are in a public place (library etc...) or around your family, chances are there will be a “nude-shock” if you click on them. I don’t suggest you click on anything if there is any chance of someone having a lesser opinion of you by looking at them. Then again, who am I to say? “culture shock” may be what we need.

Also, don’t google ‘art nudes’. There is a misinterpretation of the term, and you will get results on the front page that you REALLY don’t want.

Bottom Line: I have decided to do art nudes this upcoming semester, and model for a painter at UNT.
The problem: I have some friends (and when my parents find out, I’m guessing, them too) that are upset with the idea of my nude modeling. They think that they body is either overtly sexual or disgusting. And that is why I’m writing today: to show that art nudes are not porn. I will not be modeling to be sexually explicit, but to show that my body is a work of art meant to create art. I will be modeling for the sake of art and art alone. If you still think I'm icky because I will be doing this sort of modeling, then so be it. Art is my passion.

Words of post: raw, emotion, form

Let me refer you to a couple of links:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=129006&page=
http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=236482&page=
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudity_and_sexuality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_(art)



Photos (there are 7):
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4a492a3d1787c&date=2009-06-29%2013:55:25&id=1222112&pid=13034780&the_count=1&group_id=&ua=
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4a3e6c012ba79&date=2009-06-21%2010:21:05&id=91253&pid=12908276&the_count=53&group_id=&ua=
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=466705db032b0&date=2007-06-06%2015:07:07&id=11311&pid=3115915
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4851d90f2f1bc&date=2008-06-12%2022:18:58&id=125719&pid=7121556
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4924a00d1f921&date=2008-11-19%2018:23:59&id=357794&pid=9349899
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=4a3bd86d74de5&date=2009-06-19%2011:26:53&id=1178726&pid=12885372
http://www.modelmayhem.com/pic.php?pic_id=47514f7f7a270&date=2007-12-01%2007:11:50&id=45851&pid=4853275

If you clicked on any of the photos, please let me know if ANY of them offended you. Personally, I see them as works of art. Each model has chosen to show their body as a beautiful being that has a form and movement. ‘Art nudes’, as the industry calls it, are raw emotion.

I also commend Bethany Hodge for her outstanding work with elbeast. Your photos are amazing and you are beautiful inside and out.


Nude modeling has been around for centuries. Nude models are also especially helpful to artists learning human anatomy and form. Nude models are also not necessarily ‘naked’. In this case, they aren’t showcasing clothing, but emotion. Nude models can also be adorned by body paint, hair accessories, jewelry, sheets, etc…

Posing is a huge issue in nude modeling as well. This is probably why some people think that nude modeling is such an inappropriate thing for people that they know well, someone that they know to be a good-hearted person who wouldn’t be sexually explicit. There are models who pose explicitly in the industry. These poses and photos will probably haunt them through finding a job, gaining respect and close friends, and through old age. Like tattoos, these photos aren’t probably something that model will want lying around. This isn’t a set definition, but that is my opinion on it.

Art nude modeling is something completely different. This is where movement and raw emotion comes into play. You can see the muscles working as a dancer flies through the air. You can see the intensity in a boxer’s eyes as he scales his opponent. You can study body language; you can admire the curves of someone’s body. All the while, you don’t have to feel ashamed at what you are looking at. It’s not a sexual thing. In the case of the dancer, for example, think of it as an x-ray. You can see what the dancer is doing without the fancy outfit. All of her/his muscles are working together in a symphony to create a beautiful form and design within space. I admire that, and that is what I want to do. I want to convey a raw emotion and form.

So what does this have to do with you?
Nothing.
Unless you want to do some art nude modeling. Which, if you are completely comfortable with your body, I encourage you to give it a try. Implied nudes are also a genre of modeling where you are not completely nude, but it is implied in the image that you are. This doesn’t necessarily change the type of modeling that you can do.

I leave you with one line:
Let the discussion begin.

Thought I'd show a WIP today, along with the final piece. It's a little rough, but it was the last thing I did with a tablet. I borrowed the tablet from Sarah, until she asked for it back. And so I'm tabletless again..


For this piece, I used textures that I found online for the jeans, shirt, and shoes. In the first WIP scnsht, I had already sketched out the outline and roughly painted in the skin and shaded it with the burn tool. Of course, me being a beginner at this stuff, I have a lot to learn. I personally like how the hair turned out though. :)

Ahh... The wonderful smells of the day after Independence Day! Leftover ribs, leftover strawberry shortcake muffins. All in good taste, my friends! Of course, all that eating and playing an intense round of monopoly (in which I actually tied with Jon!) meant that I didn't really get around to any drawing. But! I did get to edit a couple of photos.Chance, Grampa and I went out to a wildlife reserve to take photos, and we stopped by a herd of cows. They were so sweet! Chance was trying to take pictures of me petting them on the nose, but there was only one that was brave enough to let me touch him. He seemed kind of young. I guess this would be the appropriate time to tell you about my former obsession with cows. I used to talk about them, draw them, dream of owning a cow farm. I think I had a predecessor who actually had a cow farm, but he didn't slaughter them. He sold them. So I'm told... >__> Anyways, I still collect cows. And I love my collectibles very much! I took this photo as Chance scared them by mooing at them. Just because you can moo doesn't mean you can speak cow. :)
These were the flowers by the reserve's visitor center. I remember it was soooo windy and I was having a lot of trouble getting an in-focus image. This one ended up being one of my favorite flower images.

Question of the Day: Who has influenced your taste in music the most?
My answer: My best friend Kirstie and a certain friend known as Sean 'round these parts. :) Kirstie first got me into the rock persuasion by introducing me to Good Charlotte when I was 12 with their album The Young and The Hopeless. I was captivated by their lyrics, expecially through a hard time in my life. Sean is known here for his eccentric taste in music (think Beirut and MGMT, but also folky Fleet Foxes and Joshua Radin). He introduced me to each of these artists in a beautiful way. ("You need stereo headphones, sit down here and enjoy the journey," he would say when he first had me listen to MGMT). I learned to actually live in the music I listened to, not just to feel it.

Happy Sunday!

Hello all! Decided my last blog was a bust, so I'm starting over new here. Seems fitting as I'm starting a new chapter in my life by starting college at the University of North Texas. Anyways, so here's my first WIP and finished (with a bit of tweaking in the future) that I did a couple days ago.WIP of "statue". I was going to add wings, but wasn't really feeling up to it, so I drew some crazy hair. I really need to work on drawing profiles and faces in general. *fails* But I like the way her body turned out. :) Sorry, I don't have a scanner right now, so I've been taking pictures with FailCamera and doing what I can with those.

And here's what I could do with that photo. I lost my tablet pen almost a year ago, and I've been suffering without it because of the lack of funds to get a replacement pen. I know... it's only $20 for the pen i need, but I've got other things to fund right now. Peh. Maybe I'll get one for my birthday?! Anways, so the lighting is off here, and I really despise the hair. I basically just scribbled withe mouse after I just gave up. I really can't stand it, so that'll be the first thing I fix once I get that replacement pen.

The idea is for me to have something new to post every day, or at least every other day. It's been kinda crazy getting ready to start university in less than two months and I'm still slaving away trying to find a job and make money so that I can pay for supplies and my phone. *sigh* It's going to be tough year. Wish me luck!

Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans! And Happy 4th of July to all of my other friends!

Question of the Day: What's your favorite soda and why?
My answer: Dr Pepper! It has 23 flavors of complete win, and no matter how many more flavors you add, you can still taste the tastebud ecstasy known as Dr Pepper. :) But unfortunately, I'm trying to tone down my usage of sodas, so now I'm living off of apple juice, milk, and water. yum yum yum, milk is so delicious. I don't understand why *you people* don't like it.