What I Do And Why

Drawing. I have been drawing since I was little as an attempt to be better than my oldest brother. I still draw but its one of the things I do that I forget about the most. When I draw now its usually for a friend or when I do those Quinno & Dante Draw assignments. For me the best part is when I am done drawing and I get to ink. Inking makes everything look better and is just so much fun to do. 

Drawing I don't get as much pleasure out of it because in my head I watch my characters animated and when I draw them its just a snapshot of a piece of the action. When I draw it feels like I am chasing a ghost which is pretty much what I'm doing in an attempt to be as good as my brother was. Whenever someone tells me that they can't draw I tend to tell them its because they keep saying they can't. 

Radio. I started my Ross Radio Show and Ross Radio Quickie Shows because I was complaining about the radio too much. When I complain about something I try to do it better myself instead of contributing nothing. These shows are fun to do and I always listen to them again when I am cleaning or doing one of my hobbies. 

I play a lot of styles of music from classic rock, rap, metal, and soul. I grew up listening to a lot of styles and want to share it with others. I love when I send someone a link and they tell me that they love the songs or haven't heard one of the songs since they were younger. Not all of my friends have my taste in music so I like when someone digs a musician that I do.

TV. I make random videos and load them on Youtube or when I am in the car with my friends I'll make short little videos but my main ones are my Doom Mates series. 

I wasn't watching much TV at the time and what started as a two minute short ended up becoming an 80 plus episodic series. With characters Dante, Pretty Ricky, Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, and Death I took a goofy ass ball and ran with it. It was fun to do that series because it was pure improve. I never wrote down what was going to be said and barely had a plot. When I watched every episode when making the four season DVD (that only I own) I was shocked to find out that there was an actual plot. I accidentally made sense! There's also the fact that I played a total of 16 characters when all is said and done. I'll go and pat myself on the back now...

Perler Beads. This got started when I went to the library where my friend worked. She said I would like it because it involved ironing. I made this tiny little alien thing that was so difficult. Fast forward about a year and a half later and I am cranking out Perler bead designs and pasting them to my wall. 

I still make these but stopped for close to a year because they are very addictive. I kept challenging myself to see if I could make ones with more color as well as making even bigger ones. The problem is after I took them from my wall I stuffed them in a bag in the closet and just give them away to whoever asks for them. I have no strong attachment to them except for a few that make me happy to look at. I have recently been making mini versions of characters that are easy to do. I really like making these but they take lots of time.

Podcasts. I started with making Rosscasts which were my shows all about things in the news and my personal life. I had a few friends on and it was fun. I stopped when I reached 300 episodes. 

I start maybe one new show a year and for the most part they stick around and grow into something that I am happy with. There's Damn Discussion which I have let fall away. 

Now I have I Hate This Show which is pure nonsense. I just turn on the mic and record whatever it is that comes to mind. Songs, skits, and some of the most offensive stuff I've ever done. And I hate it. That's why I named the show what I did. I know it makes no sense to create something I hate but I hate it because I enjoy it so much. Its a guilty pleasure and something I'd never let family listen to. They already think I'm weird as it is. They have heard a few of my first show and gave me shit for it. 

Writing. This is my favorite thing to do and something I wish I'd started doing earlier in life. Because I read and write so much people think that I've been doing it since I was younger. The first actual book I'd read was The Stand when I was 11 and after that in high school. I didn't read much at home. Writing I didn't really start doing until I was in my mid-20's. 

What I like most about writing is that I can do whatever I want. I can make as little sense as I want and not answer to anyone. Writing is complete freedom for me. I have published four stories (click here for that) even though I have some friends that have no idea and tell me that I should publish. 

My friend Kiyoshi who has also published was the one that told me to send him my stuff to make. I now want to publish my own stories just to have physical copies of my own stuff. He did The Death of Death which I loved as well as Autonomously Yours himself as well as designed the covers and I was kinda mad that I hadn't done it myself. But I know me and if I really cared I would've done it already. That is something I know about myself. If I wanna do it I'l just start doing it whether I am ready to or not. If I stop and use thought or logic chances are it won't get done.

Photo Manipulation. This is the latest thing I have done. I use a program called Pixlr that has three settings and the one in the middle, Express, is my favorite. I can take images and mix them, erase backgrounds or even people, and just add whatever nonsense I feel like. 

I wish I had known about doing this years ago because I figure that I'd be even better at it. I want to start incorporating this technique into my drawings and not just my photos. I've done it with a couple of them and doing this would give me a reason to draw even more. This also taught me how to use PNG files which were nothing but a nuisance to me for years. I do one of these almost every day and it gets easier each time which means I have to come up with harder things to do.