Summer '11: A Quick Look Back

~click for larger version~

Summer is almost over, and for some, it's back to school!  But before you dive in to your textbooks and studies, why not take a moment to remember the fun times you had this summer?  Did you get to go swimming?

I am not a big sports guy, I'll just be honest.  But if there's any sport I'd have to choose, it would be swimming. Neither am I a competitive type; and swimming, in my mind, is a very relaxing yet taxing past-time.  You're using all your muscles, but your mind is at ease because you're floating in water, swaying with the waves.  It's quite calming.  At least, that's how I feel.  

As a child I used to swim fanatically, but for a long time I did not invest myself to keep it up, mainly because of my devotion to school and studies.  Now that I've graduated college and have more freedom to manage my time, with the encouragement of several individuals I have just this year gotten back into it on a weekly basis.  Currently, I swim at one of our local parks twice a week after work.  It's a great way to cool off after a hard day at the office while also getting a workout.  I couldn't be happier that I've found the drive to resume a healthy sport on a regular basis, and something I loved dearly to do at that.  It's like returning to a fond memory and making it part of you again.  Speaking of which.......

In addition, this summer I did something I have not done for, I kid you not, 11 or 12 years - I went to the beach!  My close friends and I packed up together into a beach house down on Emerald Isle and had a lovely time revisiting our rambunctious college days.  Well, most of them did.  I actually had to leave after one day (due to family business) - but it was still an enjoyable time that I had with them, and a nice revisit to a venue I had not seen since my days as a child.  Just about any location can be fun if you go with friends.  Enjoying drinks, cracking jokes, talking about the old days, making food together, throwing frisbees and taking long walks on the beach.......well, if you do things like that with your friends, you might have even more fun. :)

So how about you?  What kind of things did you do this summer?


About the Picture:

Group shots, for me, have always been a grueling challenge.  I'm terrible when it comes to planning exact placement of a character on a page, and group shots practically demand that attention to detail.  As a beginner in group shot expertise, I used an effect of perspective to position each character such that neither were at the same 3-d coordinates, not only creating depth for the image but making it easier to give each character their own space, so I wouldn't have to overlap them.  Another challenge was figuring out how to draw Seikun's hair when wet without it looking incredibly stupid AND without it looking so different that he appeared to be a different character.  The above is what I settled on.  Doesn't that beach ball look more like a disco ball?  They ought to be dancing!