ma-malai

Hey, deviantArt, what's up? As you've probably noticed I don't really come here anymore ... I've pretty much moved on to tumblr and tegaki e for all my art needs and only pop over here every now and again to clear out my notifications. Anyway, over on tumblr you can find me at MyMaMalai (my main tumblr) or GirlsLoveCapesToo (my comics-centric tumblr). At tegaki e I'm Ma-Malai.

As of last month I am gainfully employed! How's that for a real life update? I'm working with the 2010 census as a data entry person - pretty much when the census forms are mailed back they get opened and scanned and anything the computer can't read (bad handwriting, scribbles, scratched out stuff) comes to my department. I really like it and it feels awesome to have a job again and be getting a regular paycheck

I just need to re-work my schedule to include drawing and such - I work first shift and I am beat by the time I get home XD

I've decided to up my art game - I've been practicing with shading and some different techniques with laying down linework and all that jazz Surprisingly, deviantArt has been a great help with this! I've found a number of helpful tutorials here and I've already picked up some neat tricks for PhotoShop I wasn't aware of before. Very nice! So, hopefully, you'll all see an improvement in what I do


And to give credit where credit is due, here's a list of the tutorials I've been checking out:
aeterne.deviantart.com/art/Dig…
chira-chira.deviantart.com/art…
pichu4850.deviantart.com/art/h…
rueme.deviantart.com/art/Hair-…
what-i-do-is-secret.deviantart…

Happy new year everyone! I hope '10 is a good one for everyone because God knows '09 was a lousy year all around. 2010 is off to a mixed bag start for me: On the plus side I'm seeing an increase in my creative output and I saw the Holmes movie (which was amazing!) but on the down side I *still* haven't heard back about a potential job and I'm going to be moving back in with my parents in March :/ But then on the plus side again a friend is coming out to visit in February and moving back in with my folks will be better for me in the long run. But still.

So I guess I just need to wait and see. I mean, I guess it would be unfair to judge an entire year on its first week XD

So since posting here last time I was briefly employed only to become unemployed again after about a month. As much as that sucked (and trust me, it did) things are starting to look up. I'm noticing more "Hiring Now" signs out and about. Also, it looks like I'll be going to Dragon*Con this year thanks to the generosity of my friends <3

As far as art stuff ... Well, stress regarding real life stuff put the ki-bash on that for awhile but I'm starting to get back into the swing of things. Nothing well and truly finished but I've been going back to paper and pencil which is nice (for me at least) (:

And last but not least my birthday is in 2 weeks