Secondlina's Panels

 

A friend of mine just adopted the cutest little white cat. Really affectionate, even with strangers... I loved having it on my legs all evening!

Aside from that, stuff is good. I don't have much to talk about since I mostly just work on Namesake all day. woe is me, for I have deadly deadlines. Wish I could go take a break to eat noodles in Chinatown. Maybe I will next week! Girl needs a few breaks after all.

So, for the past couple of days, me and Link gained Window Squirrels. To get to the balcony of our apartment, there's a door, surrounded by two windows. The windows a composed of an exterior panel you can open, a bug screen, and then an interior panel. Basically, there's space in between the two panels for something like a squirrel to reside. We left the outside panel of one of the windows open. And sure enough, the next day, Link and I notice a little squirrel sleeping there. The next day, a whole family of squirrels decided the window rocked and moved in. There was 5. 3 were sleeping, and two were climbing all over the bug screen. Of course, they were basically destroying the bug screen, so Link had to shoo them out. He stepped out to the balcony, and all the squirrels panicked and climbed to the top of the window on the screen. He basically slid the screen panel until they had to drop and run out. And the the outside panel was closed to prevent further squirreling.

But sleeping squirrels are the cutest thing ever, no joke. :D I could see the squirrels from really, really close. It was awesome.

Aside from that, I decided to work on some more fanart prints for future cons. Presenting, some idea for Avatar : The Last Airbender. I love most of the canon and fanon couples, so I decided to draw a "kataang" (Katara/Aang) and a "Zutara" (Zuko/Katara) set of pictures that would basically be companion pieces. You could get both, or just your favorite.

Both show the couples together, with lanterns, in a window. In both images, the elements of wind and fire are present. In Aang's case, I used good old sky lanterns and an Indian design for the window. In Zuko's case, we get classical Chinese paper lanterns, and a window inspired by China as well.

YES I'VE BEEN WATCHING TANGLED AND MULAN LATELY HOW COULD YOU TELL!?

Here are the sketches!





I kinda wanted both images to have the mood usually associated by fans to the couple. So one is super cuddly and happy, and the other on the angsty, soft side. Enjoy.

- Isa

 No drawing today, mostly because I can't think of something to draw to illustrate my anger.

As many of you know, I try to donate every year to a few causes. Lately, more and more, those causes have been linked to the LGBT community, and also, the rights of animals. These I things I truly want to see improve more then anything. And on days like today, one gets to see some pretty horrible news and it really just.... makes me feel vengeful.

First off, let's talk about Berger Blanc (french company name. When you translate it, it's "White Shepherd"). This is a private company that has a contract with the city of Montréal to collect lost animals. It's basically a pound, or a place like the SPA. Basically. Because it is one of the most horrible places for animals I have ever seen. Pets kept in dirty little cages, underfed, killed in an unprofessional matter in large groups. This is basically an animal concentration camp. A report on it was made by a local television show. It show live animals being thrown out to be burned with the dead, owners who cry because their animals were picked up and killed in less then 24 hours, kittens that moans and twitch as they die because the euthanasia was badly performed... There animal torture here, done in the name of profit. The business tried to defend their turf, as shown by a long letter on their website. Today, there was a manifestation in the center of town to encourage the mayor to resiliate the contract with Berger Blanc. I hope all this bad publicity works. 

The problem is of course made worse by the owner themselves. By poking around the internet, I found the message boards where people first tried to assemble to do something about Berger Blanc. A few of the complaints and stories were truly heartfelt and inspired. A few made me want to kick people in the face. Like this one guy that adopted a gorgeous Labrador Retriever. The dog cried at night which "prevented the family from sleeping", so they sent it to Berger Blanc, where it got killed quickly. The guy was whining that he "lost good money". WHAT? How about a puppy's life? Does that count? As my friend miss_maggiemay  (who's LJ as images of the manifestation) said, it's really a problem that is a part of Quebec society. People here see pets as toys that they can just put away when they don't want them anymore. She told me that most people keep their dogs for an average of two years. Dogs live 15 years. That's horrifying. 

I wish I could adopt a dog. I would be a good master. I would love it with all my heart. But I can't, because my allergies give me asthma attacks... 

Now, let's talk about Baltimore. On the internet, you can find a 3-minute video recorded within a Macdonalds in Baltimore shows two ethnic women kicking, beating and ripping the hair off a 22-year-old transgender woman victim. The video and a petition can be found here, though I discourage you to watch the video if you don't like violence, it's pretty brutal. This is clearly a hate crime. The poor woman is attacked, unfairly, from all sides. Employees are FILMING the incident, egging the attackers on, and commenting on how they can see boobs. The only person aiding the poor girl is a rather scared looking older woman. Who tries to get in between the attacker and the victim. The victim clings to her leg and the old lady get her face slapped repeatedly by a purse. Being incapable of stopping the enrage teen, she steps away, and the beating continues. I'm amazed by how cruel these people are.  

Today is Easter day, and even though i'm not religious, I do usually spend the day with my family. So whether today as a greater meaning for you, or if you just use is as a day to be with family, also use it as a day to reflect upon human kindness, and what you can do to make it more tangible. Because in some places, it almost feels like it's running out.

- Isa 

 Twinny is really into baby animals. So today, we actually spent a good while looking at baby animals. Thank you internet. Yes, an odd way to spend time, but relaxing after spending hours upon hours drawing.

We both decided baby hippos and baby owls are the cutest things ever that you don't expect to be cute. Behold, the hippo. The hippo swimming. And the owl. Yes, I don't know why all my posts are about animals right now. I just want to PET something. I guess Link will have to do. For now. I'm thinking about adoption rats if i'm allowed in my building. Rats are great pets. Really social, cute and solid. And they eat fruit and veggies, which is always easy to find and not disgusting to handle (Unlike crickets. I had a lizard that hate crickets. Never again.)

Here's a baby griffin for ichiban_victory . She's been animating and loving griffins. She deserves a baby one.



I never draw animals. Maybe it's because i'm not surrounded by them? I don't find i'm very good at. ginasketch  is awesome at it though. Especially underwater sea life. I like having a f-list full of artists. Really helps me figure out my flaws. And make them better!

Still on the subjects of animals, you guys remember when my kitchen was robbed by squirrels? Well, they came back. Twinny came over to our apartment to use the ps3 and opened to balcony door to air out. Said door leads to the kitchen. And then forgot all about it. So the squirrels nabbed a ton of bread, bananas and apples again. The chewed through boxes and bags.  Urgh. I had to chase squirrels yet again. They really like our food it seems. I told Twinny to be more careful. Those were big, fat aggressive squirrels too!

- Isa