Hooray! Success!!!

Well, I am excited, as you can see... 2 posts in the same day!! WOOT!! So I'm working at 6 Flags Great America, and let me tell you...I LOVE MY JOB!! Two times now I've followed the impetus of getting a job in the 'real world' and I'll tell you what... The real world can have their stupid jobs. I work at 6 Flags Great America, and I think it's the best job on the planet, bar none. Do they have their issues? Of course. Do people act stupid sometimes? Oh yeah. But you know what? There is no other job that I've ever had where your individual presence can be DRASTICALLY responsible for how people around you feel. Now, I'm gonna say this and get it out of the way, I'm a people idiot. What does that mean? I'm glad you asked. It means that I am one of those guys who will make a complete idiot out of himself just to get you to smile, or laugh, or at the very least, to realize that life is not all that bad. You're encouraged to be yourself, and the more genuine you are, the better off you'll be. I've worked a few different departments, and I've found this to be the case in every one. Working at Six Flags is like being at summer camp. It really is. I love my job. Anyway, having said all that, to say that when I got home from work today, I decided to play around with Adobe Photoshop and I'm learning the 'Pen Tool'... which for those of you who don't know, can be quite a daunting task to say the least. But once you get it, you GOT it. So anyway, I did a few practices on some sketches that I did, and I've posted them below. The neat thing about the pen tool is that it creates a work path (I know, way too much information...but stick with me, I'm almost there...) that allows you to modify the individual paths you've created. Adobe Photoshop is probably the MOST powerful illustration tool I've been exposed to yet, and I continue discovering new things every time I use it. You come up against a situation where you need to do something that your current knowledge base does not cover, and you simply try something new. If you have a hard time I've found the help and index to be an insurmountable force against any problem, and simply experimenting will train you in anything you need to know. So without further adieu, here is my original sketches with their 'pen tool' equivalents...
This is the original sketch...









This is the original sketch traced with the pen tool, and the work path (which is the pen tool tracing) has been stroked with a black paint brush...








This is the same original sketch, but the paths that were created with the pen tool have been stroked with different colors. It was as simple as selecting the path you wanted to work with, selecting the color, and viola, a colorful ANGEL ME is rendered for the general public viewing.








Another example, a sketch I did based on a web comic that I read by Senay Dragon, whose Manga style is just incredible. I tried to contact her without success to find out what she's been up to since her last update, but unfortunately I never heard from her. I enjoy the Manga (Japanese Style) because it emphasizes and exaggerates the emotions that the characters are feeling, and quite often the end result is that you laugh yourself silly reading it.




















So that's all I have time for tonight to update. I hope that this entry has been informative and fun to read, I'm off to bed. Working open to close tomorrow! WOOT!!!

Kuragari

And we're ready to roll...

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, I've finally had it out with my scanner... a battle long fought and evidently victorious, and I can begin the process of posting images that I have been working on. I can only say that I had not intended for it to take this long, but God in His infinite wisdom has not only provided me with work, but advanced my position already to another department which will provide me the ability to support my Mom, whom I love with all my heart, and this first posting is dedicated to her because in all that this past winter has been (trials and tribulations alike), she never faltered to believe in me, my abilities, but mostly to communicate God's undisputed divine providence in our lives and His ability to make all things work to the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purposes.

When I was 18, my Dad went home to be with the Lord after an agonizing battle with lymph node cancer, and as the eldest son, it is my honor to provide and support my Mom in his stead. The concept that God made me half of a set of twins for this undisputed purpose astounds me. Even as my twin has been married for a good many years now, and is expecting his first child near the end of the summer, I have never doubted God's calling in my life; and while I've found it to be a roller coaster of my ability to follow His leading, God has always given me complete peace about my purpose, and His Grace has been sufficient for the times where I doubted myself.

This first posting is of Mom and our beloved Tobi, who went home to be with the Lord at the beginning of this month. When we lived in Beach Park, IL., she had let Tobi outside to get his ball before the thunderstorm arrived. Tobi was always scared by the louder claps of thunder, and often times his ball was a source of comfort while this Golden Retriever / Collie mix thought he was a lap dog. She got all her rain gear on and went out to help him find his ball. As I sat upstairs and watched, she found his ball and once he got it, she chased him around and around as he led her, which was his normal method of playing. Eventually the two of them ended up sitting on the patio as she hugged her sopping wet friend who reminded her of why God gave us rain... to play in.

Ugh... It's been a long road...

For those of you who don't know, I am currently working at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee, in the Landscaping Department. Now while this doesn't sound all glorious, I will tell you that it is. I spend all day outdoors, for the most part, and it's incredibly hard work...that is it's manual labor. For you to truly appreciate this, you should know that most of my working career has been centered around office work, being in a cubicle and doing technical telephone support. So what does that mean? It means that this pasty white collar office boy has a tan, and is losing weight. Is that a good thing? You bet. But it comes with a price. Most days I come home, grab some grub, hit the tub and off to bed I go. I was hired in during overtime, which meant 6 day weeks, 10 hour days. Basically my body is in shock. Going from unemployed for 6 months, basically sitting on my rear end, to being on my feet for 10 hours straight... yeah, my doggies are barkin something fierce. I'm not near as sore as I was the first week of work, but my feet continue to be sore.

On another note, the crew that we have this year is absolutely incredible. I've always been a people idiot, and the people that I work with lead rich and interesting lives outside of their Six Flags work. We have hard workers and people who are willing to do the job to get it done. The last time I worked at 6 Flags, our crew was, well, less than productive. Most of them would wander off and be gone for hours at a time, and while we have a couple people who do that this year, it's not nearly as bad as it was. I enjoy working with them and find that when I am not there, I am thinking about them and what they are doing.

So I've been sick yesterday and today. One of the benefits of working outside is that you have the opportunity to work in the rain. With my body trying to compensate for the physical endurance it had to go through, it's no suprise to me that my defenses were down. I'm going in tomorrow, come hell or high water. If I don't, I'll need a doctors note to go back and I don't have that kind of money. I think I've gotten enough rest to get my system back on line, I just hope it's enough.

Kuragari

Woe unto them...

First, allow me to apologize for the 2 month gap in this blog. I wouldn't insult your intelligence to say that I've been so busy that I could not maintain it, quite to the contrary, I just haven't. In an effort to correct that inaccuracy, I am making a post. ^_^

Secondly, I've had some questions about my name. Kuragari is the Japanese word for Darkness. The reason that I chose this metaphor is two fold actually. The original reason being that each of us has a dark side, whether we wish to acknowledge it or not, and I don't ever want to be afraid to let that side show. Humans are born this way and it is not something to be ashamed of, HOWEVER, it is something that we need to be aware of, and keep control of. The dual reason for the metaphor is a little more complicated than all that. Since many years ago I have been aware of... well. What's the best way to say this without coming off as some psycho new-age atmospherium smoking weirdo? Well, I shall just put this forward and you can decide for yourself. Darkness is a clown. A very wicked, evil clown that has hunted me most of my life. I dared to draw him once many years ago and captured the essence of what he was at that time. Since then, he's changed, matured, metamorphed into something so much darker. Even as a child I never liked clowns, and Darkness gave me every reason to be steadfast to that prejudice into adulthood. There are times when I can sense he is near, moreso than other times... unfortunately I've come to the realization that he is always around... waiting. I can't claim that I have a sixth sense, though I do believe that God in His infinite wisdom has given man the ability to use more than 10% of our brains, and I am not so closed minded to believe that man is so intelligent as to have discovered everything the human mind can do. That being said, I also have cause to understand the primary indications of such things. Have you ever stood in the shower and KNOWN without a doubt that there was someone on the otherside looking right at you through the shower curtain? I started becoming aware of this presence... at first I thought that they were just fanciful imaginations of an already overly imaginitve mind, however, one morning that changed. (Story time with Kuragari... o_O )

Once upon a time... I lived in a house in Beach Park, Illinois. I was 28 at the time, a young man living in a two floor house on Greenbay Road that a friend was renting to me. Upon waking, I had dressed and read my devotional for the morning and headed downstairs. It was a beautiful sunny day and the birds were chirping vehemently. The house had two bathrooms, one upstairs which consisted of a toilet and a sink (and about a foot between them) and a downstairs full bathroom. The upstairs bathroom was primarily used for mid-night relief as the 3 bedrooms were the only other rooms on that floor. Everything else was conducted in the lower floor. (Anyway, I digress...) My two roomates at the time had jobs that started at some indecent hour in the morning, while mine afforded me the luxury of sleeping in, so I was home alone at the time. As I decended the staircase I felt it. It wasn't subtle like times when you 'think' you're being followed or that someone is watching you, it was abrupt and definitive. I was aware I was being observed. So much so that I looked around to find out which roomate had overslept or skipped work. I saw no one. I dismissed it as a random oddity and while I couldn't get over the awareness that I had about it, I had not seen anyone. I made my way to the bathroom quietly contemplating why I would feel like I was on display as I've never been the paranoid type and I certainly didn't care when people looked at, or watched me. But this was different. I brushed my hair and started brushing my teeth when I was OVERWHELMED with the awareness that I was being observed. At VERY close proximity. It was unnerving as suddenly every molecule in my body knew. Without hesitation I looked right down it. Sitting in the threshold of one of the two bathroom doors and it reacted to being seen. It was not physical, I did not see it with my physical eyes, but it was as if my awareness of it, allowed me the ability to see it. I saw clearer and just as real as everything else in the room. Now, I know this sounds like a fantastical account of an off day, which I would be entirely happy to agree with you, however, it reacted. It had been suprised that I saw it. I won't go so far as to speculate what it was or to insult your intelligence as to declare what I saw... all I know is that I saw it. It doesn't matter if anyone believes me, or what they think of it, or me. Demon? Ghost? Visitor from another plane or dimension? I don't presume to know. Ever since that moment I have been aware of many things that are there that I just can't see in the physical plane.

It's haunting really... to know that the darkness is not always empty.

Do not be afraid of the dark, be afraid of what's IN the dark.

Kuragari

Trouble in Paradise...

Greetings fellow blog readers. I'd like to take the time to thank you for reading my blog. I apologize that things are not going as well as I originally intended, and I appreciate your patience. Most times a blog will forget that it will be nothing more than a digital journal if it wasn't for the readers that attend to it on a daily, or weekly, basis. So anyway, Thank You...

My scanner is not communicating with my pc for some dreadful reason. The twain dll file is having an issue. I don't know. I tried updating the drivers and what not from the manufacturer, which normally takes care of any issues, but it didn't. The scanner is a CANNON LiDE 60 (so it's not like it's a no-name brand scanner...) . Any input would be greatly appreciated... I will continue to update as the situation develops. At the time that I actually post a first comic on the website, I will post a link to the comic site.

Kuragari

When Dream and Reality Merge...

The Illustrated Thought is proud to announce that "Once Upon A Journey...An Adventure Broke Out" has found a home on the net and is live, the first comic posting will be this coming week. I am excited to be seeing the realization of this dream and I hope that it will bring people everywhere some sense of the lunacy that is life. To be perfectly honest, I've listed some concerns here so that they may be noted for future reference:

1st Concern:
That this blog and the comic will be an EPIC FAIL.
This concern is based in reality and the understanding that most people will not understand or comprehend the very small world that I draw experience from, or will not share my unique perspective on humor. At the very base of this concern is that no one will care about my life and experiences enough to warrant keeping up with a blog or a web comic. The reality is that there are MILLIONS of webcomics and BILLIONS of blogs on the net... that mine would receive international fanfare is at best... a dream.

2nd Concern:
That this blog and the comic will be an EPIC SUCCESS.
This concern is based primarily in the 'leaving the comfort zone' area and the fear that I will be unable to keep up with the demands of daily blogging and comic updating. With the research that I've done thus far, it is recommended that you update your blog daily ( a few moments of thought at least...) and update your comic once a week to start. The reason this is suggested is that when you are beginning anything, there are ALWAYS bumps in the road. Those whose dreams are large enough and solid enough to endure bumps and set backs are the ones who succeed.

I will be posting links to the comic once the first issue is up, again I am hoping that this will be tomorrow. It is not my intention to appear arrogant or assume that I will be an over night success, but at the same time I do not wish to make a chore out of a gift that God Himself has given me. So without further adieu, I will close this posting and begin working on this weeks illustration.

Kuragari >_<

Realization of a Dream

There's really no way to describe the impending feeling that you have when you wake up in the morning and realize that life is ... different. Some catalyst has projected you into the next journey in your life and before you understand the scope and meaning of it, you've already signed on for the adventure. Well, this is the story of such a day...

A few days ago, I was provided a great gift by a friend, the World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack. Now I've not been avidly seeking out this expansion since it's release in October because I've only been playing since April 2008, and quite honestly still had probably 75% of the content of the first expansion pack The Burning Crusades to experience, as well as the original content of the game itself. However... when one receives a gift like this, it is taken graciously and courteously... and then ripped open like the most expected present on Christmas Morning.

Without further adieu...

The Illustrated Thought
presents

Lost in translation....

Well alright then... here it is. My first blog.

What? No thunderous applause?
Good grief. I'll take that METRIC TON of SUCK to go please...

Seriously, this is a ginormous step for me, and with my background in computers it is REDONKULOUS that I have not stepped out into this virtual reality before. I dedicate this blog to the one who gave me the push into the great cyber-realm that I needed, my brother the ROCK, who inspired me to be a better man than I am, and gave me the good insight to begin a journey the likes of which I have yet to fathom.

To Matthew

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