Drawing and pic manips and some pics I took

[James Duke]

Here's some pics I've made and taken. All but one were done last year.

This is my buddy, Kiwi. He's a 2 year old Nanday Conure. I swear this little guy can hold a conversation lol. His favorite things to say are "Hello", "Yo", "Yeah", "Okay", "Why?" and "Lexas" (that's one of our dogs). I love him to death and wouldn't trade him for the world ^.^

This is a pic of my character, Gabriel (Gabry for short). Back when I had my drawing tablet (up until last month XP), I did pics like this.

This is another pic of my character, Gabry. I really like this one.

This is a pic of a wasp I took last spring in my backyard. It's sitting on a closed peony.

[James Duke]

Here's a few more I've done.

Johnny 5 from Short Circuit and Short Circuit 2 ^^

A photo manipulation I did. It's my first one actually lol. It's supposed to be a floating island above the clouds. The black dots are birds in the background.

Kiwi again ^^ He's rubbing his beak on his perch here.

A pic of Kiwi I drew. He wouldn't hold still, so he didn't make a great model for it XD

[Meadowmufn]

Kiwi is beautiful. We have budgies ourselves. Our little Jasper passed away from cancer this week. He was 8 years old.

[James Duke]

Awww I'm sorry to hear about your loss I almost lost Kiwi last month due to an unsafe toy. He's back to normal now though, which I'm very glad about.

Your budgie was very pretty. One of my iguanas I had, died from cancer. Iggy was 3 when he died. I was devastated when I lost him. As of right now, I no longer have any lizards, though when I get some extra spending money, I might get another iguana. If I can find a healthy young one.

I have two budgies, a blue and green, two cockatiels, grey and pearl, an orange winged amazon (she's a feather chewer and I'm working on trying to get her to stop), 10 chickens, a peacock and a chinese pheasent and of course Kiwi.

I love them all like they were my kids ^^ Even the chickens lol.

[Meadowmufn]

We have three budgies. One male is a regular blue, the other male is a green greywing, and the female is a blue dominant pied color. I think the female's about to start laying eggs.

[James Duke]

My blue budgie is male and roughly 6 months old. The green one is female and she's about 4 months old. Only ones laying any eggs as of right now, are the hens. Fresh eggs without all the drugs egg farmers give the hens. Imo, eggs from home taste better than store bought eggs.

[HossC]

Great work James. I used to use a graphics tablet at work, but it was for digitizing logos and typefaces. They were very handy, but you can forget XP, I was using DOS . I never had the software or the talent (or the budgies) to use it for drawing freehand - what software do you use?.

[James Duke]

Thanks Hoss Yeah, a tablet is very handy. But my brat brother broke the pen, so until I get the money, I'm back to using pencil and paper XP At first I was really bad with using the tablet, so nothing I drew came out even half way decent. But after awhile, I started to get better and tada! Some of what you saw came out lol.

The program I use is ancient. It's Photoshop Elements 2. It's not as good as the CS versions, but it's good enough to get the job done.

[James Duke]

Here are some new pictures I've been working on. I've been doing mostly space pics lately, mostly planets. They're not as easy to make as they look lol.

This was my second attempt at doing rings. I like how it came out, but the rings bug me. It's also the first attempt at multiple moons.

This is my most recent planet. It's my favorite so far. It's got only 2 moons, it's very similar to Earth, and its rings "glow", when really it's just light being reflected off the tiny dust and ice particles and water orbiting the planet. There are also larger chunks of rock and debris, most of which are small, but some can be as large as a small car. The atmosphere of the planet helps to reflect the light, which also gives the rings their blue color. It's similar to how the atmosphere here on Earth makes the sky look blue during the day. This one will likely have a bunch of facts to go with it later.

This is my third attempt at a nebula. They're a lot of fun to make. There's no end to what they can look like and what colors they can be ^^ Even if they're not realistic colors, it's still fun to do.

My second attempt at a nebula.

[James Duke]

My very first nebula. I like this one, yet I don't. The colors are great, but I think there aren't quite enough stars. I may fix it later.

My very first attempt at a ringed planet. There's definitely a lot of improvement between this one and my most recent one.

[HossC]

This was my second attempt at doing rings. I like how it came out, but the rings bug me.

You sound like me when I'm posting my Fan Art. There's always some detail about my pictures that bugs me, or I feel I didn't get quite right. Let me assure you, I think the rings look great.

This is my third attempt at a nebula. They're a lot of fun to make. There's no end to what they can look like and what colors they can be ^^ Even if they're not realistic colors, it's still fun to do.

I can see why you'd have fun doing nebulae. I wouldn't know where to start, but can relate to the way you feel doing them. I'm not sure what a realistic color would be - apparently the universe is beige overall, but a bit of color here and there doesn't go amiss .

[James Duke]

You sound like me when I'm posting my Fan Art. There's always some detail about my pictures that bugs me, or I feel I didn't get quite right. Let me assure you, I think the rings look great.

I can see why you'd have fun doing nebulae. I wouldn't know where to start, but can relate to the way you feel doing them. I'm not sure what a realistic color would be - apparently the universe is beige overall, but a bit of color here and there doesn't go amiss .

^^ Glad you like them. I'm gonna attempt my first 'on the ground' view from the double ringed planet here soon. Just gotta find a tutorial on creating realistic landscapes first xD

[RogerDuke]

These are awesome James! I've been an amateur astronomer for 16 years now. It's the only hobby I've ever had that I loved ALMOST as much as Dukes and I'm still very active in it although not quite as much as a few years ago. My telescope is a 10 inch (diameter) Dobsonian. It's about the size of three 5-gallon buckets stacked on top of each other. I've seen a lot of nebulae but the human eye doesn't see a lot of color in them.

And by the way Hoss, I'm impressed you know nebulae is the plural of nebula and not nebulas!

[James Duke]

These are awesome James! I've been an amateur astronomer for 16 years now. It's the only hobby I've ever had that I loved ALMOST as much as Dukes and I'm still very active in it although not quite as much as a few years ago. My telescope is a 10 inch (diameter) Dobsonian. It's about the size of three 5-gallon buckets stacked on top of each other. I've seen a lot of nebulae but the human eye doesn't see a lot of color in them.

And by the way Hoss, I'm impressed you know nebulae is the plural of nebula and not nebulas!

Astronomy is my favorite hobby, ranking right up there with raising birds. My telescope was a really good one. I forget the brand name it was, but it had a small motor to rotate and adjust the angle. My brother used it once and broke the lens.

But I still go out when I can and watch the sky, just to see if I can see a passing satellite or the ISS or even something I can't explain (happened a few times already). But to make up for the lack of a telescope, I like to watch this show called The Universe.

[James Duke]

These are awesome James! I've been an amateur astronomer for 16 years now. It's the only hobby I've ever had that I loved ALMOST as much as Dukes and I'm still very active in it although not quite as much as a few years ago. My telescope is a 10 inch (diameter) Dobsonian. It's about the size of three 5-gallon buckets stacked on top of each other. I've seen a lot of nebulae but the human eye doesn't see a lot of color in them.

And by the way Hoss, I'm impressed you know nebulae is the plural of nebula and not nebulas!

Astronomy is my favorite hobby, ranking right up there with raising birds. I like to watch the stars and imagine if one of them has any planets like Earth. I honestly don't think we're the only life in the universe, intelligent or not. What are the odds of there only being one planet in the entire universe with life? xD

My telescope was a really good one. I forget the brand name it was, but it had a small motor to rotate and adjust the angle. My brother used it once and broke the lens.

But I still go out when I can and watch the sky, just to see if I can see a passing satellite or the ISS or even something I can't explain (happened a few times already). But to make up for the lack of a telescope, I like to watch this show called The Universe.

[RogerDuke]

There's a website you can get on to see the ISS or space shuttle in orbit. (getting ready to launch soon). I don't remember what it is but I'm sure googling it would be easy. You have to be in the right place at the right time but the site explains all that. Of course it doesn't predict clouds and that's the biggest challenge, at least here in Pennsylvania lately.

[James Duke]

There's a website you can get on to see the ISS or space shuttle in orbit. (getting ready to launch soon). I don't remember what it is but I'm sure googling it would be easy. You have to be in the right place at the right time but the site explains all that. Of course it doesn't predict clouds and that's the biggest challenge, at least here in Pennsylvania lately.

Sounds sweet, I'll go check it out and see if I can find it =3 I was outside earlier and saw a satellite go by. I was watching this jet fly over head when I saw something else moving, so I started watching it. It didn't zigzag, stop suddenly or change direction, so I concluded it was a satellite lol.

[RogerDuke]

It didn't zigzag, stop suddenly or change direction, so I concluded it was a satellite lol.

Usually they move east to west OR west to east but not always. The biggest giveaway is if they're blinking or not. A satellite shines from reflected sunlight so never blinks. It's light will go out if it passes into the Earth's shadow. Reflected sunlight is white so if there's any color to it, it's not a satellite.....although the ISS turns temporarily orange as it's entering Earth's shadow.

[Meadowmufn]

I've seen several satellites and it's always as thrilling as the first time. It's like a tiny shooting star, only the brightness is constant and it keeps going and going. LOL.

I'm hoping I can get out to see the Perseid meteor shower this August. Haven't been able to do that in many years, but it's always enjoyable when I do.

What software do you use for your artwork?

[James Duke]

Usually they move east to west OR west to east but not always. The biggest giveaway is if they're blinking or not. A satellite shines from reflected sunlight so never blinks. It's light will go out if it passes into the Earth's shadow. Reflected sunlight is white so if there's any color to it, it's not a satellite.....although the ISS turns temporarily orange as it's entering Earth's shadow.

I'm positive now it was a satellite I saw the other night. It was a constant light that faded as it got further away. And it moved in a straight line.

But I'll never forget the first time I thought I saw a satellite passing by, but it turned into a mystery object. It was winter of 2000. I was only 10 when I saw it. It was the weekend and I was staying the night at my grandma's house. My mom, dad, brother, sister, cousins and aunt were there too because we had all eaten dinner there and my oldest cousin was staying the night with me. My dad went outside to his car for something, so I went with him. It was a clear night with a full moon and being in the middle of winter, I decided to get a look at the sky while it was still clear. My grandma lived out in the country, so the stars and all were really visible. As I watched the moon, I noticed something off to the left side, moving slowly. I started watching it and the next thing I know, it started to zig-zag and speed off and stop instantly, then go the other direction and do it over. After about 5 minutes, it went towards the moon and disappeared.

The next night, after I'd gotten back home (we used to live out in the country as well), I went outside and looked at the stars again since we had gotten lucky and had two nights of no clouds. And that's when I saw it again. It was in the same area as the night before and did exactly the same thing as before.

After that night, I never saw it again. But a person we knew at the time, said he'd seen the exact same thing in Croton (it's a small village roughly 10-15 minutes from the tiny town of Appleton, where I lived) the same night I saw it the second time.

Then there was a more recent one that occurred last winter, but that one I think might've been an optical illusion. There were a lot of clouds that night and it made it seem like stars were moving when they weren't.

I've seen several satellites and it's always as thrilling as the first time. It's like a tiny shooting star, only the brightness is constant and it keeps going and going. LOL.

I'm hoping I can get out to see the Perseid meteor shower this August. Haven't been able to do that in many years, but it's always enjoyable when I do.

What software do you use for your artwork?

I love watching meteor showers. But seems like everytime I want to see one, it's cloudy that night. Or it's too cold to stay outside more than a few minutes.

As for the software I use, I use Photoshop. With the space pics, I used a trial version of Photoshop CS3. Normally though, I use Photoshop Elements 2. I like CS3 a lot better though. More tools and options to do more stuff. When my trial ends, I plan to try out the newest one, CS5. If I had the money *cough$680cough*, I'd buy it.

I highly recommend it anyone wanting to do digital art ^^ Tablets come in very handy too, but I'm now short of one. *mumbles something about irritating little brothers*