a star wars christmas // pen // notebook sketch // SMALL SPOILER HIDDEN INSIDE ON RED

Merry Christmas, everyone!

   I hope you're having a great Christmas Eve.

   I just finished some Star Wars fanart for you... I've been in the Star Wars mood for a while now., though I've only seen the movie twice so far, but hopefully I'll go to see it again soon.

   Willow and I had some favorite surprise characters, as we are pictured with below.

   She really loved the little perky droid, BB-8, and is getting one for Christmas. She's super excited, he's a voice activated droid. And because she loves him so much, I thought I'd draw her under the mistletoe with 'her guy' :)

   I drew inspiration from DrawingWiffWaffles, who likes to put a square of color behind the character to add focus where she wants it, and to make it pop out more. I did that here, though I'm not super happy with the lighter green around the mistletoe... but, overall, I like it pretty well anyways.

   Right, here's the part where I explain myself... this would happen after Kylo Ren (eventually..?) turns good and brings presents to the Christmas party. I did the red because it's Christmas colored, not just because of the darksidieness. He was a surprising character, which lands him on my 'highly favored' list. But dude, his face is super hard to draw... what's up with that tiny chin, man?!

Well, I hope you liked them, and that you have a great Christmas/Eve!

Merry Christmas,

Darrion

un-happy 4th // nobody listens to you when you're a teenager // UPDATED HAPPILY

Ugh. The 4th of July.

   The day that everyone forgets what's suppose to be celebrated and, instead, does one or more of the following: drinks, lights of explosives, gets bit by blood-sucking bugs, freaks out little dogs who are afraid of loud noises, forcing them pills to calm them down, or get hit by fireworks.

   I am the last of these.

   Seriously, I don't know if I have some sort of mutant-gene that attracts the blasted things, but it seems to happen to me more often than I'm comfortable with.

   For instance...

   We (Willow and friends) were nestled beneath the play-set, keeping inside of our sleeping bags for both comfort and warmth. I was wearing protective glasses (yeah, I'm a little bit paranoid about fireworks, so what?), and they were all smudged. Some of the bigger fireworks were going to be set off by my older brother (who loves them, he makes a whole show of it), so I ducked under my bag to wipe off the glasses.

   There was a flash of pink, and a moment later I peaked my head over the covers. "What?" I asked my gaping friends as they stared at me with horror.

   "That firework went right over you're head! It would have hit your face!"

   Other than fireworks falling over, my brothers 'modified' firework (a combination of taped together pieces) fell and went right for my legs. Of course, I moved enough that it didn't hit me, but I was really shaken up and ran inside for a good cry.

   And there was the time my brother (he's quite notorious for this sort of thing) threw a little explosive at my feet.

   Paranoid, me?

   More like experienced.

   I can just picture the obituary: Darrion, tragically killed by a colored flaming ball of explosives (also known as a firework) to the face. Service on Friday at 11. Please bring cookies for afterwards.

   Those little incidents have all lead up to this, the most dreaded holiday of the year, at least in my case.

   Also, a bunch of people in our neighborhood light off fireworks a whole month before July even starts. Which freaks out my little dog, and makes it hard to sleep for both him and me. It's been a really warm (which also means dry!) few months in our state, which isn't usual. i.e. fire hazard.

   The local fire-station is asking the town not to use fireworks, but to just go see big shows or watch it on TV.

   Well, that's just dandy. A sign of what's to come, I'll wager.

   I am also the one saying in way to the store, "Are you sure we need more beer, while lighting fireworks off and all?"

   But guess what?

   Nobody listens to you when you're a kid.

   That makes scenes, you don't have much experience, you are just a kid. But when you're a teenager?

   What do you think, I'm a hormonal mess who can't think about situations logically? Apparently, I have enough foresight so see that alcohol and explosives do not go hand-in-hand.

   Seriously. Who would trust themselves to light of a grenade after they've had a couple of drinks?

   But, in reality, I love Independence Day. Everything that it stands for; the signing of the Declaration of Independence, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are all great things. I'm a third generation immigrant, I'm an American. I love all of these things, I love this country. I'd love to celebrate it.

   But no one seems to. They don't care what it's about, just so that they can blow things up.

   What ever happened to reading the Declaration? What happened to dressing up in Colonial fashions? Com'on, have a tea party or something!

   I don't have anything against people lighting off fireworks. They're pretty to look at. But preferably not up close.

   In other words, I just don't want to get hit by them. Let's see what happens this year...

Sincerely,

Darrion

 UPDATE

   Well, that wasn't so bad. I didn't get my head blown off.

   We had a smaller celebration this year, and my brother's wife's family were over. We had good food (though I did spend half of the day making potato-salad for Grandma) and good talk.

   The fireworks were on all horizons, a lot of people in our neighborhood and town were setting them off anyway.

   After the show was over, we (Willow and I) stayed up watching Thor: the Dark World that was on TV. We had been watching Captain America: the Winter Soldier when the little dog was freaking out. The loud TV helps drown out the firework bangs.

   Anyway, it all ended up okay. I guess I am kind of paranoid ;) But hey, I wouldn't be so cautious if they hadn't nearly hit me.

   I hope you all ended up with a safe and happy 4th like I did! Thanks for reading my rant :)

Sincerely,

Darrion

Fili and Kili - I'll be home for Christmas pencil drawing

Ho, ho, ho, Merry (almost) Christmas!

   Okay, this time of year has been a bit less Christmasy than usual, seeing that the Hobbit's tearful ending happened just a week before Christmas Day.

   But other than that, I have been thinking that these two things (Hobbits and Holidays) should not be apart as they are. Other than people saying "it's the most wonderful time of the year" with the cover of the Hobbit on it, I haven't seen so much Christmas cheer in the fandom these days.

   Though there's not much to be cheerful about. I mean, salty tears in the air do not induce cheer.

   And to add to those mixed Christmas feelings, I've done a drawing for you. It's suppose to be from the Battle of the Five Armies. Yes, I do know that in the movie this is not how it all rolled out, but for a moment let's forget about that and use our imaginations.

   I've got another "in memory of" pencil drawing for Fili I'm working on now, so keep an eye out for that.

   The medium I used was pencil, though I think maybe someday I'll re-do it in charcoal.

I'll be home for Christmas

if only in my dreams

   This song has always been sad for me. And now, it's even sadder. Kili promised his mum he'd be home for Christmas. But they were home, for the last time, they were home.

Merry Christmas,

Darrion

The Christmas Update

Hey guys!

Super long time, no posts!

    So, quick update, I've been writing my book series, The Watchmen Files for the last I don't even know how long. Right now, I just finished chapter ten and am working on chapter eleven.

   But, enough of that. Back to the update.

   Christmas! I hope you all had a good one. I sure did! Let's do a recap...

Oh, and a quick note: Willow and I shared the expense and bought a Cannon camera. So a bunch of these pictures are taken from the new camera.

This is our tree! And the gifts, of course.

And here are a couple of things I got...

This is a pen that looks like a sword (Bilbo's sword) from The Hobbit called Sting, and a Bilbo bookmark.

Sorry about the fuzzy picture, but this is a T.A.R.D.I.S. necklace (it's a Doctor Who thing) from a store called Hot Topic.

The Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver. I just love this one :)

Oh, I will :)

And Ammelia (she's a also on Blogger and writes on our (Willow shares it with me) blog The Call) made these gloves for me (minus the flower). They're so warm and fuzzy :)

And The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Art & Design book (hardcover)! Not as good as the Unexpected Journey art book, but still good :)

And another Hobbit gift, Thorin's key (the key to Erebor) necklace. I wear it proudly!

One of my favorite things about Christmas is going to Grandma's Christmas Eve and opening some presents there (oh, and did I mention the awesomely delicious food?). This is her (perfectly color coordinated) tree. She also has a very tidy house.

This is an ornament on her tree. It says God Jul, which, in Danish, means Merry Christmas.

Grandma has a good friend who is an awesome painter, and she does Christmas ornaments for her. This is one of them. Grandma really likes humming birds :)

She painted this one too...

... and these four are too (this is now our tree, btw)...

 Back to Grandma's white tree again

 

Merry Christmas in Danish (again).

I've had this elephant ornament for quite a long time, since I was a little kid. It has survived one or two tree fallings.

And so, these are some of the photography shots I got this Christmas...

 My dad works with ships (blueprint designing, etc.) so this is his ornament

 Nice shots of the Christmas lights on our mantel over the fireplace

These are my Grandma's.

Quick note about our Pinterest, we have a few new boards, if you'd like to check them out. One about music/dancing called Let Us Dance to the Music,  Allons-y! (Doctor Who), ~The Desolation of Smaug~, Of Elves, and a Modern Story Characters board.

Well, I'd say that that's all I have to say... but please, don't send these pictures around the internet. No stealing or pinning, please :)

A Merry Christmas to all, and a happy, happy, happy New Year!

Sincerely,

Darrion

P.S,

Remember the true meaning :)