Reality Shock

I post a video of myself and so many people are surprised to find that I’m a guy, not a girl. I’ve gotten so many messages about this hahaha. My icon is of my OC, Maia, which tips everyone off to me being a girl. Despite the fact that on my DA profile, I have “Male” listed, and my name is Matthew Laskowski, also listed right on my page and a good number of my artworks.

Ehhhhhh?? Observational skills, people! (I’m not mad or anything) I just find this really funny. Well, at least no one has made a big deal about it, cuz’ then I’d get annoyed because really — why would you hahah.

Edit: Oh believe me, I judge people subconsciously by their user pictures all the time. But then again, Alexds1 taught me well not to trust or care about those details. It’s just funny to be on the other end of it unintentionally XD

I’m posting a youtube video! AND ITS MINE!

I wanted to start using my youtube account more lately so I thought I’d… well, start makin’ some videos about stuff I like to talk about. Alexds1 had a pretty good suggestion for a first video that I knew I’d be able to make quickly since it was stuff I knew how to readily talk about, and required very little for demoing.

Elsewhere, Eesh! I’ve NEVER recorded myself before, either video or audio. This is a huge first for me hahah. (Hell I even hardly have any photos of myself.)

The original video was about 29 minutes long before I started making lots of cuts. (Now I see why people jump-cut so much! It’s easy to ramble without realizing it, so you gotta cut the fat out.) But it was still pretty long after that. So I used time compression to speed up the on-screen demo parts by about 23%. It sounded fine to me, but I realize now it may be a tad TOO fast for some of you. Sorry about that  … I’ll ease up on that sort of thing on the next video.

Not that this video is very heavy on learnin’ content, anyway. It’s pretty basic stuff, but hey, check it out anyway — no need to watch the whole thing if you know all this stuff already.

I’ll start making some real on-screen demo stuff soon, based on other suggestions I received on DA.

POLLEN!!! I leave the apartment alone for a few hours and it gets COVERED IN YELLOW DUST. Hyyyuuurrr!
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POLLEN!!!

I leave the apartment alone for a few hours and it gets COVERED IN YELLOW DUST. Hyyyuuurrr!

SIDE-B

Just a little reminder in case some of my newer followers have missed that I have a reverse-side to this blog. I post reblogs and off-beat things there that not everyone might care about (also just to keep my main blog cleaner.) It’s still a bit recent, but be sure to follow SIDE-B if you like reblogs and (shorter) rants about them.

Q:Hi, Orian! First I wanna say I love your art and thank you for the amazing tutorials you make. They've really helped me. : ) My question is do you draw on paper first then scan and color in PS? Or just work straight into PS?

Anonymous

Thanks very much :D To answer that, I draw exclusively on my computer(s). I tend to draw in Paint Tool SAI, though, I much prefer it for line drawing than Photoshop. I do most of my work on my Cintiq 21UX, but also own an intuos4 Large, a medium Wireless edition, a broken wired Medium I got off someone for free that I’m in the process of fixing, and an oolllld Cintiq 12WX which I’m letting someone borrow

I actually feel kinda bad about that. Because I should really embrace drawing on paper more to practice. But whenever I do, I have this unstoppable yearning to go to my Cintiq. It’s a habbit. Hhhurrr…

Hey guys, here’s an explorable PSD file of this picture I did a little while ago. This PSD isn’t of the very final version, but it’s close enough. All the layers here are left intact before I started merging everything for space and memory sake. (The file has been reduced by a good 60% or so to 1200px height.) I figure it just might be fun / insightful for some of you to dissect an image like this. Enjoy! Click the image to download!Or, click here: [download] 
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Hey guys, here’s an explorable PSD file of this picture I did a little while ago. This PSD isn’t of the very final version, but it’s close enough. All the layers here are left intact before I started merging everything for space and memory sake. (The file has been reduced by a good 60% or so to 1200px height.) I figure it just might be fun / insightful for some of you to dissect an image like this. Enjoy!

Click the image to download!
Or, click here: [download] 

More views from the windows in front of my desk. I’ve been waiting for the trees to turn green because, well, I love green trees in Boston.

Q:Hi, I've been following you from DA and I really admire your blog. You're a talented artist with a good head on his shoulders, and you're very charitable. Most artists get annoyed with what seems like trivial questions when it comes to people asking about art and careers. You offer a lot of insight and advice from real life experience. I follow a lot of other talented artists on DA, and I've sent them notes to their accounts or emails with no response. Thank you, I feel heard.

Anonymous

Thanks very much! Although I must admit, I myself have left many notes without response as well. (I do get many, and a lot of the time they are questions I’ve answered many times in the past, which I sometimes answer in a public post.) I assume that just like myself, many other artists out there do read your inquiries, but may not always have the time or motivation to respond. I like to believe that (again) just like myself, all of us are always happy to receive comments / questions and always read every one. I at least know that questions I don’t answer stay in the back of my mind to be addressed at some point in the future. Thanks again! :) (Oh and you’re welcome!)

(ps you may have noticed a lot of questions being answered on my tumblr over the last day or two. This is me going through my back log hahahah. Guilty.)

UltimeciaFFB’s Essential Photoshop Swatches

Alright I got quite a few notes sent about that custom swatch kit I have, so I figure I might as well let you guys in on it. I’m not making this a huge release or anything, mostly because I have NO idea where these swatches came from — and I’ve failed finding them in the past — but I know they belong to SOMEONE out there. EDIT: Oh hey! Thanks to JellyFishFlan for finding the original! (Why couldn’t I find them so easily??) Anyway, these were originally created by UltimeciaFFB and can be found right here. The ones you’ll be able to download here have been modified for my needs, so they are partially original. But not by much.

[ CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SWATCHES ]
(or the image — your pick.)

!-IMPORTANT-!
Just like my brush set, you’ll have to resize your swatches window horizontally in order to have this set make sense visually. Make SURE you hit “Replace Swatches” when you use this set. Do not append to an existing set! That said, make sure you backup your existing set and feel free to truncate it to the end of this one if you like.

Enjoy!

Me and Jess took Bunny to the park the other day. (I have a pet rabbit. Yes, it’s named bunny.)

Bunny went to the park, explored the playground, and made some new friends. Then he went home to eat, go to the bathroom, and rest for another fun filled day.

(I only had my phone with me, so I had to make do with it.)

Edit: The the cool thing about a domesticated rabbit is that they’re very much like small dogs. They won’t run away on you or anything. They’ll usually run alongside you or something, or at least explore the nearby area, but come back to you whenever you want them to.