*does the first comment dance* wow those are some sharp choppers! i would want to get on his bad side! O.O i also like the shape of the head

Thanks, but the artist was actually me; I forgot to send that to the site. OOPS!! I'll have to remember that in the future.

Oh there are nice things in that picture! Yes, you do have talent!

I agree with Acylius, but again there are anatomy errors. The head is too big-especially length-wise, the horns are too thin, and the arms a just a little bit thin considering the size of the chest. Howver, the detail throughout is very good.

Nice angle on the head. Are you going to try scales?

That would be cool

Yes...must draw more scales *twitches*

*pokes the twitching tweak*

@tweaked: perhaps I will. I'll have to try and then send in the new and improved warrior. However, I am working on another dragon right now that I think will be my self portrait. I hope it turns out as elegant as I want it to look. Oh, and stop twitching. I'm starting to twitch just looking at you!! *begins to have terrible spasms. begins to writhe on the floor* ugh.

*holds oreo still in a water-like prison* Hold still! *puts tweaked in the same kind of prison* You too! You both look like mental cases when you do that!

*oreo stops wiggling* Sorry. I couldn't help it. *freezes tweaked in place, leaving only the head free* There.

I'm ok with most craziness but watching people twitch just bothers me.

YAY! *starts licking ice* I love ice. Well...only when it's summer. @ Oreochema: awesome...I hope it turns out great.

Me too.

I've been experiencing with a new idea - changing people's names into creatures. I wish I had enough time to try it.

Hmmm...I wonder what a Johnny critter would be... *ponders*

A fox? Or should I go for something mythological or magical? Like a griffin...*ponders with Rana*

I don't know... Maybe try the name. . . Ryan.

Ooooh! Ryan would be a cute but deadly critter!

@ Oreo: LOL...I just thought of a rhino. No offense to anyone who has that name but...HAHAHAHA! @ Rana: rhinos are cute...sometimes...I like the babies, anyway. Maybe Ryan would be a...pheonix. I don't know...lol

mmmm...I'm thinking a more majestic name for a phoenix, not something so common as Ryan.

You're right. What about a common named that's been made uncommon? The name John is often turned into Janell or something similar to that, but what about a spelling I'm sure no one but the person I know has: Johnelle?

yeah. or Ashleigh. I know someone named that.

That would be cool...hmmm. That's where I'd make up some kind of creature.

I think Ashleigh would be a mischevious little fluffy creature, no?

Ah yes. A little puffball with anime eyes, wings, a tail, and a hilarious tendency to get into trouble.

ooooh!!! You should definitely draw that, that would be so cute! ^-^

I should! If I finish it in time, I'll have it posted tomorrow.

YAY! *can't wait to see it*

Drat. The mailbox is full. Figures. Well, I could probably upload it tomorrow while stuff is being posted...provided Tempest doesn't kill me for making life difficult.

I haven't been here that long, but I know for a fact that Tempest is a pretty cool guy. Buy the way everyone, I realized only last night that Tweaked17 is my buddy I was telling you about!! She draws impossibly well with what seems to be minimal effort, starting with the eye and adding the rest in a matter of minutes.

You make me sound like an expert. *huggles Oreo* I like eyes. They can contain the coolest details that can change the entire demeanor of the character. So much fun!

I usually draw pretty simple eyes but the always turn out looking pretty cool anyway.

Yeah...they don't have to be complex - which is also really cool. I just like to mess around

I usually like drawing anime eyes, I think you get a lot more emotion and expression out of them than realistic eyes. Plus, drawing realistic eyes sometimes makes the eye look worse I think

Very true. I love anime eyes when it comes to people. They definitely have more quality when it comes to expression. It depends with realistic eyes for me, but I generally save those for my creatures.

Yeah, drawing realistic eyes for me always ends up with these stupid looking almond shapes with circles in the middle.

Which is why I try to get creative...it's a weird technique I've adopted. I start with an eye, so most of my stuff is just looking at the side of the creature. But the eye determinest the physique of the creature. I want to have a sense of consistency.

Ah. I always start with the head shape but the eye comes soon after. Often it's the head shape that determines whether I'm drawing a human or dragon, and then I go from there.

That's a good technique...it's so different with everyone. I love the variety when it comes to how people do things.

Thats because every person is different, so shouldn't their art be different too? It would suck if all art was the same!

Very true. Clone art would be bad if not creepy.

that and it would make life very boring! Imagine if all music were the same, if there was only one type of story with one plot and a set amount of pre-determined characters, or if colors and line-art could only be used in certain formats, or poems had to follow certain criteria and rythm

omg that would suck. and especially the music part. i think i would die if there was just one song or genre (unless it was rock) in the whole world.

Imagine if the one genre was country?! I think I'd rather be deaf than listen to only country music!

omg same...the only genre i remotely can handle is rock and sometimes metal and sometimes alternative (and if its at a party im okay with pop)...all the others can die T_T

Mmm...I like a lot of different genres and songs, but my favorite I think is techno, so long as it doesn't talk about sex and stuff like that.

*shudder* its kinda funny but my art teacher will have the radio on all the time to this one (really annoying) station and all it plays is the same like twenty songs over and over again, ut little does he kno that about half of those songs somehow reference sex or drugs or alcohol at some point. hes totally oblivious. he likes the songs, but has no idea what they're saying or even remotely about

Wow...that's special!

Wow...I love music, but just instrumental, mostly. Techno is good, too. I don't know about metal though...haven't decided yet.

I like instrumental too, especially movie soundtracks. Those are FUN!

OH YES! ME TOO! *levitates about a foot off the ground and spirals in circles, finally lands on floor after a few minutes* I'm so happy. None of my friends (besides Oreo) likes instrumental and movie soundtracks...they think it's booooring. I love Thomas Newman's movie soundtracks. He's the guy that did Finding Nemo, WALL-E, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. His stuff is pretty awesome cuz he incorporates a lot of random instruments that you never usually see in this hemisphere. I'm SO excited! "sticks earbuds in ears* Wanna listen?

I love instrumental. It's so awesome! I like the composers Steve Jablonsky (Tranformers(, Hans Zimmer (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Kung Fu Panda, Pirates Parts 2 and 3, and many others), and Bond (at least, that's what I know him as. I don't know the guy's real name).

My favorite movie soundtrack is Pirates of the Caribbean 1, and then Chronicles of Narnia, but those are like the only two soundtracks I have, and I haven't specifically searched out those other soundtracks (though I bet I could find them) I also like the soundtrack for the anime Tsubasa Chronicles a LOT! I'm really not sure if it was Syaoran or the soundtrack that made me like that anime more, but the music was definitely very close! I also really like techno music quite a lot, and several various lyric songs.

@ Oreo: I like all of those also. The transformers soundtrack has some of my favorite stuff. Bond is actually a group of five(ish?) women who play violins and I believe there are two chellos. I could be wrong. Tsubasa? JAPANESE! Cool! I really like the music off of Hayao Miyazaki's movie "Howl's Moving Castle." I love techno, just as long as it doesn't contain questionable lyrics.

Yes, Tsubasa chronicles is a japanese anime/manga, but of course you only get a soundtrack for the anime. And same...I truly despise songs that talk about sex and drugs and stuff like that. That's not the artist or musician creating music to be enjoyed for generations, that's just people getting sucked into the riches and popularity of today's twisted media. There is no enjoyment in such music.

I love anime...I could breathe anime. I attempt to draw it every now and then, but I fail miserably. Yeah. Today's world just focuses on one thing and one thing only. Selfishness. Music and other art (like movies) aren't worth looking at, watching, or listening to.

Well, some is, but not the stuff that continually spreads media and entertainment rather than art. I think art is expressing ones soul, however it may be expressed, and spreading it as far as it will go. I think selfishness taints that, and media does its best to taint as many souls with selfishness and pride as it can.

Agreed. If it werem't for selfishness, we'd be able to express ourselves more freely, too. Has anyone here ever noticed that our english language is being perverted by people with dirty minds? I mena, you have to be careful of every single thing you say or people accuse you of leaving your mind in the gutter!

Very true. It's...for lack of a better word...ignorant.

And demeaning to a truly wonderful language. I'm not saying English is superior in any way, but it is the language of many powerful nations, and equally the home of thousands of great books and ideas. *is loyal to me mothertongue* Besides that, I still wish I could just find the people responsible for corrupting our media and strangle them...that would give me great satisfaction I think.

Very much so...*nods*

Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion that the media is not controlled by any one group of people but rather the simple fact that what is shown on the media appeals to man's basest instinct, which is not something to be easily cured.

*nods enthusiastically* yup, yup

<.< >.> you're just agreeing with everything I say aren't you?

What you're saying is what I believe. To the letter. I lack any better way to say what you're saying, so I'm agreeing with you.

Ah, ok. I just has issues with people who agree with what anyone else says just to avoid conflict, so that's why I said that.

I don't blame you. I dislike conflict, but I will stand up for what I believe in, no matter what the other person says. Pushovers always change their minds and generally make me angry...LOL

Yeah, it's like the old saying goes, if you stand for nothing, you'll far for anything. What do you stand most strongly about you think?

I'm really protective about everything. My religion and my friends especially. When someone comes up to me and challenges my beliefs, I listen to them and then try to tell them my point of view. If they continually tell me I'm wrong, I'm not going to take it very long and I'll stop the conversation. I don't like it when people force their opinion on me, and I try not to force my opinion on them. I like to believe that everyone has a right to believe in anything they want, but if they start forcing it on others, that's when it starts to become more of a hindrance to everyone else. My religion is Christian, but it's a little different than what people are "used" to. When it comes to my friends, I'm there to listen to anything they want to say. I don't spread gossip or rumors. That is stupid. A secret is a secret and it's meant to stay that way. I hate it when people backstab just to get the juicy stuff. That's a second thing I'm really adamant about. But yeah...I really gotta think some more before I can go into more detail...

I agree about the whole gossip thing. I find that people who gossip and spread rumors and stuff are very shallow people, and I try to avoid not only them but being like them. There was one time in gym class a long time ago when we were in a line for a game we were playing, and a group of girls were behind me talking about the latest gossip from the homecoming dance, and I swear, I LAUGHED at them. I mean, it was just so funny and stupid and pointless what they were talking about, and I just burst out laughing! Gossip is so stupid. What do you mean your Christianity is different than what people are "used" to?

Yeah, it is! We worship on Saturday instead of Sunday, we don't believe in an eternal hell (we believe in a really hot place for a short amount of time when the earth is destroyed along with all the wicked people and satan himself), and we believe that Jesus is going to come to Earth himself. He won't touch the earth, but he'll be in the air and call all of his followers (dead or alive) to come with Him into heaven. The bodies of both the dead and the alive people will be made new and perfect, and they will go up and live with Jesus in heaven until the earth is cleansed (by fire) and the New Jerusalem (God's kingdom) comes down onto the new earth forever. The end. Yup. Those are some of our beliefs right there.

That's not too different. I know of several people who believe hell is only temporary. I'm not sure myself, and I don't think I'll be able to find out until I die myself. And the Saturday vs. Sunday thing isn't too strange either. What are some of your other beliefs?

Here is mostly catholic christians. One of my friends is VERY catholic, he has no problems about judaism or islam but he doesn'l like protestantism at all, especially american evangelicalism.

well...most of my school is catholic, but there are some jews and a good amount of hindu and muslim people...kinda funny since im christian, one of my friends is muslim, another is hindu, and the other is athiest...quite a nice mix...

I think variety is awesome, especially when it comes to religion. I have no problems hanging out with or discussing religion with people that have different perspectives. It's pretty interesting just to see how alike we really are. I'm not saying that there aren't any differences (and I'm sure there are millions) but when you get down to it, religions are somewhat similar in some areas. @ Rana: I'm not sure if I can go through all my beliefs, but I can start with our history. Our religion was started (among others) by a woman named Ellen White, who received visions from God. When she was a teenager, she was there for the "Great Disappointment" - a time when the Millerite movement was in full swing. Maybe I should explain this movement further in order for it to make a little more sense. The Millerites were formed by a man named William Miller who translated the texts in Daniel and Revelation to mean Jesus was going to come on October 22, 1844. All of Miller's followers sold all their belongings and got rid of all their money because of this (Jesus was coming and they're going to heaven, so what use is money?). When the date finally arrived, they waited all day and night for the Son to arrive, but He didn't. This was called The Great Disappointment, and many of the Millerites turned away from God and religion in general, but some decided to delve deeper into the Bible and see what they had misinterpreted. (Ellen White was originally a Methodist, but her and her family were disfellowshipped when they tried to explain their new beliefs in the Millerite faith.) James White, (Ellen's husband) Ellen White, Joseph Bates, and several other people found that, instead of the earthen sanctuary being cleansed in 1844, the heavenly sanctuary was cleansed. This group of people (among several others) formed a small group of believers, and that group eventually grew larger and larger. One of the members of this group was Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the coinventor of the cornflake. His brother was the man that started the Kellogg cereal company in Battle Creek, Michigan. Okay...one thing led to another, and the church eventually grew to include many other people all over the world. Ellen White had many visions, and used these to help the new church make good decisions on where they should be located, what they should believe, and how they should spread the "good news." Okay...I have no clue if you want to read all that I wrote, but if you want to see our statement of beliefs, I can give you a web address you can check out. http://www.adventist.org/beliefs/fundamental/index.html

If you want to see more of our history, that info is available on this site...*whew* I would've written way more, but I don't want to make too big of an entry...LOL

...hmm. seems theres very little difference. and im not sure what all us methodists believe...

Yeah, I've taken classes on my religion's history, and stuff like that, and I've forgotten quite a bit of it. Some of it sticks with me, but most of it I read again and it's like a lightbulb went off in my head...what's the Methodists' stand on the state of the dead? Like, what happens to people after they die?

i had to take a small class on what we believed when i was getting confirmed into my church, but all i remember from it is going on youtube and showing our pastor "Charlie the Unicorn I and II. we learned some prayer too...i forget it but im trying to find it on the internet....
*palmface* omahgod im an idiot! xDDD its the apostles creed! i cant believe i didnt remember that!
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.

I love Charley the Unicorn! A show with no point at all (besides illegal organ traffiking). That is really neat!

my pastor was laughing the whole time we were showing it to him...that had to be the best confirmation class he had ever had...

You have an awesome pastor! LOL I bet

@Zephyr: I go to a non-demoninational church, but our beliefs and your beliefs (at least the ones stated by the website) are very similar. A question though, how do your personal beliefs differ from your demoninations beliefs?

Not much...in the religious sense, I have the same fundamental beliefs as the church, but when it comes to being conservative or liberal, I tend to lean more to the liberal side. For example, after church on Sabbath, many people do different things. Some will sit and read the Bible all day and pray (conservative), while others will do basically the same thing they do every weekday, except work (liberal). I go on the internet and stuff on the Sabbath, but I try to stay away from stuff like watching movies or playing videogames. The older conservative members of the church think the youth are "falling out" of the church because they don't observe the Sabbath the traditional way. In my view, that's a bit legalistic because I don't believe you should have a set of "Do and Don't" rules for the Sabbath. Our church had that problem back in the 1970's and we lost quite a few members. Back then, if you wore a wedding band in church, you could be disfellowshipped. The idea was that jewelry was taboo because it promoted vanity. Back in the eastern states our church hasn't changed much since then, but there has been quite a bit of growth toward the liberal side in the west. People can wear jewelry in my church at home - it doesn't matter what you look like. As long as you're willing to seek God there, there's really no problem with your wardrobe. There's some liberal views for you. But if you really wanted to go to a liberal church, you'd have to look for the many tiny ones people have set up because they didn't agree with the traditional idea of my church. They are tiny, but you could find them if you really looked. I'm still very conservative compared to quite a bit of people...and I'm also very liberal compared to the older people in my church family. It's a crazy combination, but the variety is interesting. When it comes to music in my church, the conservatives like hymns and organs, while the liberals like drums, electric guitars, and rocked-out praise music. I like the in-between stuff like drums and acoustic guitars. Again, my beliefs are virtually the same as the church. I've been with my church all my life, so it's hard to really come up with anything doctrine-wise that I disagree with. Maybe if I think about it for a while, I might come up with something that I disagree with...

Alright then, I get that. Have you ever gone through a period where you questioned a lot of what the church taught you? Like, perhaps you explored other religions, or maybe just wondered what was the purpose behind it all? Or have you not reached that stage yet?

I've reached a lot of stages...the most recent stage was when I was really curious about Zen Buddhism for a while, but I didn't like the idea of meditating and not having control over my own body. I never really had questioned what my church taught...it's always kinda been fed to me since I was little, but I have questioned people and what they believe in the church. In other words, I agree with the basic fundamentals of my church, but the little stuff has been hard to figure out - like what to do on the Sabbath, blah blah blah. For a year or so I really got into the history of my church, just so I could see how a lot of it came about...reading the Bible has helped me out quite a bit too cuz when I was younger, I looked for anything that might contradict what my church teaches. So far I haven't found anything that disagrees with anything my church teaches. My church emphasizes the Bible as the best source of gospel truth. Ellen White's writings, for a time (around the early to mid 1900's), were considered better, but even she said her writings were "a lesser light" and that the Bible is the absolute source of God's wisdom and truth. I found that really helpful in my search, and so far, I've decided that I'll stay with my church. I have a few little kinks to work out with what I believe, but those questions are basically the same ones most everyone asks, like "If God is all-loving and all-powerful, why doesn't He stop innocent people from suffering or dying?" Basically questions we can't figure out ourselves.

I myself am very intruiged by Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, but I also know that man has an inherent ability to be either evil or good, and I know that no matter how much you try to be good, evil is still always there. It doesn't matter how many lifetimes, a person can never reach Nirvana.

my dad keeps threatening that hes gonna send me to some japanese buddist monastery for discipline sounds interesting tho

I know...it teaches that good and evil are polar opposites, but are perfectly natural together. In the Christian perspective, evil was never meant to exist in this world. It's a perversion to everything good.

I think that would be kidna fun actually! @Zephyr: I agree that good and evil are opposites, and that both exist in conflict in each human being. But, I also know, through personal experience, that even though I try my best to be good, I have done some pretty evil things, even with God's help. There is simply no way that a person, of their own will, can extinguish all evil inside them like Buddha suggests.

You can't go to heaven on your work alone...Someone's gotta help you out! I know it's true in my case, too...

I'm not saying heaven, Buddhism doesn't profess to a heaven. It does however profess that man can, with right thinking and attitude and action, extinguish all evil from their spirit. But ecil finds it's home too deeply in the human heart for that to be possible.

I was referring to the Christian heaven, not Buddhism....but yes, I agree that evil and good both exist in the human heart. Man is innately evil because of sin, but because we are God's creation, good exists there too. Sorry for the misinterpretation...

It is one of the crazier things about humanity, that each must be endowed with such opposing forces and left to figure it all out some way or another.

No kidding...that's pretty much what it means to be human.

What I find most interesting though is when people try to deny that humans have a tendency for evil, saying that people have only a tendency for good or neutrality, but that evil only comes from society. That just makes me laugh.

Isn't society directly related to people? I'd rate that statement as false...it makes me laugh, too.

Aye, society is directly related to people, as it is made up of people, but one simply cannot explain away the evil in one's spirit by blaming it on one's community. I know from experience, evil comes straight from deep inside, and society's got NOTHING to do with it. And no matter how bad a society gets, it's got nothing on the feral wild beast inside me.

Indeed. Zephyr may look tame and graceful, but she's everything I wish I was...which is the only thing we can really shoot for...

What do you mean? I was talking about evil inside...somehow I think you switched topics.