Holy Crap.

It's been two months since I posted something in here. Goes to show you how much school can drive you nuts and keep you busy. Here's what I've been up to on the internet.

A very disoriented and poorly made version of my website is up right now - CasketStudios.com is where I'm hosting one of my online portfolios along with my schoolwork for two of my classes: IM 285 (Intro to Video Production) and IM 365 (Designing for the WWW). I'm retooling the CSS on a semi-regular basis in my nonexistant spare time.

That's right boys and girls, I finally broke down and got a twitter account. It's actually been somewhat useful to have, considering over half the instructors in my major (and the head of the major, and the college itself) all have accounts.

I still have the deviantART account (about the only thing I update regularly), and the dA funded Portfolio, of course. I've also applied to be a Gallery Moderator on deviantART. I think it'd be a cool attempt at being a Psuedo-Intern. And something else to add to my overflooded schedule.

But that's not why I posted. I wanted to plug some really wicked animation and stuff that's going on in the world lately. I wasn't a big fan of the series, but damn the Astro Boy movie looks like it's going to be a cool one. I think I've been watching too many movies with the same actors, because I caught Nicolas Cage's voice within three seconds of voice track. I know it's also about a year or so late, but I've just started playing Xbox360 (a loan from my folks because I need to be more familiar with the video game industry since that's my intended job area) and my first game that I opened was Devil May Cry 4. I know the series has both good and bad mojo going for it, but I'm enjoying it thoroughly so far, even despite the fact that the voice actor for the main character (Nero) is the same voice actor for at least half of the popular anime series on TV in the US right now (and a few that aren't - remember Keneda from Akira? That's the one.). I just need an Ethernet cable to set up Xbox live and I'm all set.

Well, that's it for now...better get back to work....

Headdesk

While working the other day, I came to the realization that I haven't made a colored version of Nightblade since this one about two and half years ago. I've scribbled him in various different places (a few in chibi form), but of late I've been trying to hammer down designs for each of the characters for an attempt at a comic. Possibly. It wouldn't be put together till ACen 2011, but I've got ideas for how I'd put it together. The first book would be purely an "origin" book, showing the beginnings of Nightblade, Raven, and possibly Bloodspire if I decide to revamp her character to that extent. The stories won't change too terribly much from what's up in my gallery, but different things will be added in (including the actual origin story for Nightblade that sets off the whole friggin thing...) I've been using the whole thing as an excuse to do character concept sheets. Because I know I'm going to be doing a TON of those once I get a job "in the biz."  

I was working on colors for Nightblade's cursed form as a warm-up today and ended up spending the whole day on it after one of the peeps that had commissioned me for stuff decided against the whole deal. I am REALLY liking how one of the faces turned out: I drew two shots, one of his "normal" state and one of him in "full demon" mode. Basically, the full demon mode is for when he uses magic, gets really pissed off, and....well, you'll have to wait for the comic for the rest of it. He has about three other forms throughout the storyline aside from that version. I'm kinda looking forward to drawing the full demon form. I haven't done much with the humanoid-monstrous forms yet. I also realize after working on this that I REALLY need to work on my hands and feet. At least I've got head/hair shading down pretty well. Just need to get it down to something quicker. Without further ado, here's one of the heads from my Nightblade Cursed Character Sheet: I like the idea of the hair flaring up as he gets pissed. Kinda like those lizards that have the ability to make themselves look bigger when they're scared.

and on another completely random note: Photobucket's image hosting is bugged. It forgets to add a < /img > tag in its "HTML Code" ability. Never noticed that.

Blast from the Past

I've been sick all day, so I haven't been able to do jack but read manga on the internet. I forgot that not all anime sucks because of the editing that they do in order to get it on TV. I'd go into a rant about how horrible censorship gets at times, but now's not really the time for that. 

I dug around in my photobucket account and found a picture from around the time I did this pic. It was based on an old photo of a friend of mine, Amanda, when she did a photoshoot for a small-time clothing designer in Canada: 

 I was attempting to put together a female character design for my story Requiem that I started putting together in high school. At the point that I put this drawing together, her name was Toki, and I believe she was supposed to be some sort aof angel. I was trying to go with the classics in the story: demons, angels, vampires, werewolves, and the like. However, I was also trying to come up with a way to incorporate multiple religions and try to organize them into a group that coexisted and cooperated with one another harmoniously. However, the traditional (or stereotypical) angel-type found in the judeo-christian background wouldn't tolerate working in hand with my two main characters (a demon and a vampire) however good their intentions may be to the angel. So, she got put on hold while I looked up different versions of angels. I had a really nice character design for her too. She was very punk. You can *kinda* see it from the drawing.

About two weeks or so ago I went and hung out with a friend who has to move back to her folks' place. She allowed me to take a couple of shots of her beautiful asian ball-jointed dolls, Soo Lae and Fuuyuki. I apologize for the large sizeness of the pictures. 

 There's one more shot that worked out on my deviantART account as well.

More stuff in the works when I'm feeling better. Stay tuned faithful reader(s)!

Commission Information

All prices are for the types of art listed. If you would like to commission me for something else entirely, please send me an email at kaidentogosa@yahoo.com and we  will work something out. 

Payment Method:
 I take subscriptions or PayPal - kaidentogosa@yahoo.com

What's For Sale:
Illustration (Digital or Traditional)
Portraits
 Fan Art
Original Characters
Character Design ie "The Reference Sheet Style" (Digital)
Tattoo Design (Digital)

Prices:

Illustration (digital)
Portrait (Note: Portraits are stand alone images, no discerning background - can do single color backgrounds on request)
B&W Half Body - $5
B&W Full Body - $7
Color Half Body - $7-$14
Color Full Body - $14-$21
Fan Art
B&W Half Body - $5-$10
B&W Full Body - $7-$12
Color Half Body - $7-$14
Color Full Body - $14-$21
Original Characters (For these, please provide at least a short description of the character itself, or a link to a bio/previous image)
B&W Half Body - $5-$10
B&W Full Body - $7-$14
Color Half Body - $7-$14
Color Full Body - $14-$21

Illustration (Traditional)
Portrait
Line Art - $3
Ink/Shaded - $7
Colored - $14
Fan Art
Line Art - $5
Ink/Shaded - $7
Colored - $14 
Original Characters
Line Art - $5
Ink/Shaded - $7
Colored - $14

Extras
Detailed Background (traditional): + $3
Detailed Background (digital): + $5

Character Design
Reference Sheets (These can be done on a solid color background.)
Basic Full Body, Face (without Character Stats): $15
Basic Full Body, Face (with Character Stats): $20
Advanced Profile: $25

Tattoo Design
Tattoos are as extensive and as vibrant as the people who get them. As such, the creation of the art can be a time-consuming process. For a flat rate, I charge $20, then add onto it depending on the amount of complexity of the tattoo. I can do the design in greyscale, or in color (which will cost more.) 

How This Works:
You contact me (either thru dA or email) with your email, address (if it's traditional art), what you want, and any reference photos or notes if necessary. 
Unless otherwise agreed upon, Art is for PERSONAL USE ONLY. 
If you are interested in larger than single-page projects, or different designs (tarot cards, books, etc.), send me an email and we'll work something out. 
If necessary, I'll send you a low-res sketch of what you want, then we will proceed with the real thing once we agree on it. 
payment will be needed after we've agreed on the rough sketch. 

Communication:
Note me on dA: raithe.deviantart.com
Email: kaidentogosa@yahoo.com

Sushi and Bristol Ren Faire

Slightly preoccupied while writing this - I found an old stand-up routine of Dennis Leary while I was working, and it's funnier than hell. I love the insane screaming rant comedians. 

Updating and working solidly on artwork, but I did have a couple opportunities lately to put together some photos. One was a sort of "staged" photo shoot, the other one was me taking my Canon Rebel SLR to the annual Bristol Ren Faire on the border of Wisconsin and Illinois and managing to snap off some sweet shots. I also walked away from that one with some insane amount of ideas for costuming. I seriously need to buy a sewing machine and put this stuff together. Between the initial design for an outfit for a couple of friends' getting married and that event......I could be busy with sewing for months from now. I seriously could. 

Anyway. There's some new stuff in the general gallery, including some new portfolio drawings. I redid a drawing I did back in 2006. I was sick and tired of it, so I decided to update it. Also some fun stuff from the old abandoned SF comic that I was going to do. Le Sigh. Someday. 

Commissions are open as well! Check here for the price list. 

Here's the Sushi Gallery.

And Here's the Bristol Ren Faire Shots. 

Catch you guys on the flip side. 

Commissions are Open!

Head on over to my dA page to check out what's for sale in the single-page art realm. 

Tinkering with CSS

So today I sat down and decided to try my hand at messing around with cascading style sheets @ dA. I had a journal that I absolutely liked the style of from another member, but didn't quite like the  colors that were put together. I messed around a bit in Adobe Dreamweaver and came up with a very quick style change for the journal. It's installable, and about the only thing I did today aside from finally getting the electric bill in my name here at the Apt/Studio. 

Here is the link to the installable journal CSS (deviantARTists only)

Here's a link to a sample blog with 2 of the 3 extra styles added. 

Going to look around about starting up commissions and the like. I have poor health on a semi-regular basis, so I'm going to try to find the easiest way to start making money off designing logos, websites and the like. I will post FAQ in one of my many sites, I swear. 

That's all for now!