Sunbird

When someone leaves their extremely loud, obnoxious cell phone ringer on during a book signing after the bookstore staff specifically told everyone to silence their phones, and it goes off twice in the middle of the author's presentation. I mean, c'mon, lady, couldn't you have shut it up after it started blaring the first time??

Assuming we end up meeting in the JFSB but not in the atrium, here is some info that might be helpful: The JFSB (Joseph F Smith Building) is directly west of the Harold B Lee Library. It's almost perfectly square in shape and has a big open courtyard in the middle with fountains. If we're not in the atrium, we'll likely be on one of the upper floors (it has 4, plus a basement). Floors 2-4 are basically just hallways lined with offices, with the occasional alcove with comfy chairs and a smallish table. We would be in one of those alcoves, and finding the right one shouldn't be hard if we're all clear about which floor we're on and which side of the building we're in. (The east side faces the library.) I highlighted the relevant buildings on this campus map: ... I just realized how condescending this post might sound. Please believe me when I say I'm not trying to be condescending, just as helpful as possible.

Art by Sunbird, Part 3! This post will contain my finished art from 2012 to my latest work as of January 22, 2017. Unfortunately, I haven't had time to draw recently, so "my latest work" is almost a year old at this point. From January 13, 2012, Orlando Bloom as Will Turner from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. If I had to pick one of my drawings that I think is my absolute best, it would probably be this one of Loki. I finished it June 4, 2012, after The Avengers was released in American theaters. I did another Avengers portrait later that summer: Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, completed on August 26, 2012. Last Avengers fanart for this post, I promise. XD Robert Downey Jr as everybody's favorite billionaire playboy philanthropist inventor, Tony Stark. (Not Iron Man, though, because I didn't draw him in the armor. ) I finished this one April 6, 2013. Most people here probably won't recognize this next character, although you might know the actor: vampire PI Mick St John from the one-season TV show Moonlight, played by Alex O'Loughlin. (Mr O'Loughlin has also been in the TV shows Three Rivers and Hawaii Five-0 (the 2010 reboot), as well as the movie August Rush.) Funny story about the history behind this drawing: I started working on it in like early/mid 2013, but it got buried and forgotten in the chaos of my move to Utah for college. It wasn't until Christmas break 2015 that I finally found it again and resumed work, finishing December 21, 2015. My last three portraits are the drawings that I have also posted to the official Shard fanart gallery. After I finished reading Calamity, I just kinda got an itch to do Reckoners fanart and neglected homework and sleep to work on these. XD Drawing book characters for which I had no photos was in some ways easier and in some ways harder than drawing movie/TV characters from reference photos. It was easier because I didn't have to make my people resemble anyone specific, but it was harder because I had to figure out the lighting and clothing pretty much just from my brain. First, my imagining of Obliteration, completed Feb 20, 2016: Of course, no collection of Reckoners fanart is complete without Prof! Completed Feb 21, 2016. (I think I may have matched my personal speed record with this drawing--one day from start to finish, same as Spike.) My last Reckoners fanart and the most recent drawing I've finished is Mizzy. After I finished Prof, I looked back at my collection and realized it was sadly lacking in female characters, and I hadn't drawn a single person of color. I felt bad and picked Mizzy as my next subject, completing her portrait Feb 27, 2016. So that's pretty much all my stuff that I consider good enough to share on the Internet. Comments, questions, suggestions, limericks...? I'd love to hear all your thoughts.

Art by Sunbird, Part 2! During the summer of 2011, I started trying my hand at people portraits--usually of my favorite movie or TV characters. Thankfully I have definite dates for most of these drawings, unlike the ones in my first post. I started with Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor, completed Aug 28, 2011. And the very next day I redid Matt Smith in Corel Painter with a "blunt chalk" brush, adding in a spacey background. Once during an assembly in the gym at my high school (September 2011), I brought a sketch pad and pencil and did a quick contour drawing of a guy sitting a little ways in front of me. This was the result: More Doctor Who fanart! David Tennant this time. Original colored-pencil version completed Sept 18, 2011, with the Corel Painter version almost a month later on Oct 16. In between the colored-pencil and digital versions of David Tennant, I drew this graphite sketch of a Barn Owl in a barn for my art class. Completed October 13, 2011. I decided I didn't have enough villains in my superhero collection, so I did one of Mystique. (Fear not; she's wearing clothes, unlike in the X-Men movies.) Completed December 3, 2011. Just two more for this post, I think--both characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I set a personal speed record with Spike--I started early in the morning before school with the contours and had finished adding full color by dinnertime. I did this December 5, 2011, but it's still one of my favorites. Ok, last drawing for this post: Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, completed sometime in the days leading up to Christmas 2011.

So I've already posted a few Sanderson fanarts in the official gallery, but I figured since I have a bunch of other drawings that aren't Sanderson-related, it would be a good idea to start a topic here for them. =) I think I'll go generally in chronological order from oldest to newest to show how I've evolved as an artist. My favorite medium is colored pencils, but I also sometimes enjoy scanning the pencil drawing into the computer and creating a digital version of it. So far I've only used Corel Painter X for that. I used to draw a lot of full-body shots of superheroes, including a few characters I created myself. The first one I ever finished (at least, of the ones I have saved on my computer) was Spider-Man, with the help of a "How to Draw Spider-Man" book. I'm not sure of the exact date that I finished this one, but I'm fairly sure it was in the first half of 2009. I would have been 14 at the time. Next up: Carol Danvers as Ms Marvel from Marvel comics. I copied this pose from an image of Rachel Summers as Phoenix in an X-Men Encyclopedia. I'm even less sure of the finish date for this drawing, but it was sometime between 2009, when I finished Spider-Man, and summer 2010, when I uploaded it to my album of art on Facebook. One of my favorite X-Men is Gambit, so he got the fanart treatment too. Same possible date range (2009-2010) as Ms Marvel. This is the full-body superhero (well, supervillain) drawing I'm proudest of: Mister Sinister, the bad guy behind the Morlock Massacre in the X-Men comics. I'm fairly certain I drew this sometime between summer 2009 and summer 2010. The X-Man Nightcrawler is the reason I chose to learn German instead of some other foreign language in school. Same possible date range as Mister Sinister. This is one of my OCs, created to be a member of the X-Men. He doesn't have a name so far, except for Phillip. Another superhero OC that I call Velocity. (No prizes for guessing what her superpower is! XD) This was the first time I created a background for any of these drawings. (Spider-Man doesn't count because his background is just a boring brick wall that required zero creativity.) So all the art I've posted thus far was completed before July 2010. I'll make another post with more recent projects so this one doesn't get too image-heavy.

@PeterAhlstrom can you help with this?

@TwiLyghtSansSparkles Ugh. I can imagine. Retail pharmacy employees get a lot of that crem too. (My mom used to be a pharmacy tech.) What was the unreasonable request, if I may be so nosy?

@mattig89ch no answers yet. It's not like I have time for another TV show anyway; I was just curious.

I've now become a Surgebinder

As someone who was in marching band 3 out of 4 years in high school, I've heard of DCI and the prestige associated with it and the incredibly rigorous... well, everything required of its players, but from your post I can tell you know a lot more about it than I do. The only other thing I can really say is that I love watching marching bands and drum corps perform and will bite anyone who says it's not a sport.

I am not as versed in comics and webcomics as y'all, but I love Darths and Droids, as well as Order of the Stick. Both ongoing with hundreds of strips already published.

Awesome!

I saw a Golden Eagle today! Lots of other birds too, but it's late and that was the coolest. More details tomorrow if y'all want. Also @Erunion I'm super glad that you got treatment for your neck and it's feeling so much better!

I think it's Rotting Chasmfiend Corpse, although I'm not sure how many downvotes that requires. There's a thread about it somewhere...

Thanks, @Slowswift! It's been a pretty fantastic day.

When one of your college classmates recognizes you from a Sanderson signing and asks if you're a member of the Shard.

Re: lost library books, my university library has TWICE lost books after I'd returned them, and then blamed me for it. The first time, I told them I'd already given it back and they eventually located it and stopped trying to charge me fees. The second time, however, they couldn't find the missing book after a few searches and made me pay 2.5 times the price of a new unused copy on Amazon to replace the book that THEY lost. I've sworn off checking out any more hardcopies from those jerks.

I agree; non-atrium locations in the JFSB are my favorite.

Even if you never get an art job, making art is worthwhile for the sole reason that it's art. It doesn't need to be "useful" or serve a "purpose"; its purpose is to please people who experience it. You get to build your skills--and believe me, continued practice contributes far more to art quality than "natural talent"--and flex your creativity and make something that's all YOU. Even if you yourself don't appreciate your art, WE do. Even if you don't value yourself, WE value you. Never forget that you are loved, Kestrel.

When you get into a discussion of the emotional/happiness benefits of having faith in other people and you start thinking about Vin's increase in happiness when she learns to trust Kelsier's crew.

Honestly, probably Friday because it means I don't have to worry about homework due the next day.

This week is also not great for me. Next week I might be able to swing Tues, Weds, Thurs, or Friday.

@Exalted Dungeon Master No sorcery, my memory is just bad. I must have given my mom Calamity when I visited last May.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. @Erunion I've actually managed to avoid taking out any student loans so far thanks to cheaper-than-average tuition combined with a half-tuition scholarship, help from my parents, and not having to pay rent to live with my grandparents the past few years. For right now, I can't really be a full-time student and earn enough at my part-time job to be able to afford ~$180/month in car payments, $300-400/month in rent (depending on what I can find in the area), and stuff that's not as easy to predict like gas, food, car repairs/maintenance, and whatever nasty surprises life might throw at me. Once this semester is over, I'll only be taking one last class, though, and ought to have significantly more time to work. There's an internship I've got my eye on that sounds right up my alley, but I don't know yet how much it pays, if at all. So...yeah. I kinda don't know what to do with my life. I'm sorry to hear about your re-aggravated neck too. Judging from how painful it sounds, I'd recommend visiting a chiropractor. Pain that severe is usually a sign of something seriously wrong, and your neck is kinda important, seeing how your spinal cord runs through it. In the meantime, maybe try icing it?

Related: when you visit your parents over Christmas break and see Calamity sitting on the same exact table where it was last Christmas and get disappointed because you know your mom has still not read it after a year.