Djehkaujaa OC Motion Graphics LoFi Video Art

 

 [SCROLL DOWN TO BOTTOM OF BLOG FOR THE VIDEOS]

I've been feeling my OC's (Original Character) a lot lately in the past 2-3 months. She's actually a dragon, but her humanoid form looks like this, and her eyes can change colors. 

I usually depict Djehkäujaa in mid 1990s European Raver clothing, or in a variety of clothing typical of Mongolian tribes, usually with pants. However, I've recently found myself drawn to depicting her in a blend of tribal inspired clothing from the Asian Steppes, including everything from Russian to Mongolian, to Kazakh, but also Turkmen, Turkoman, Sakha, Yakutia, Siberian, and several others. These cultures always fill me with a strong, strange feeling of Déjà vu, but even further beyond that. So, I've meditated on it a lot since I was 18. In fact, that's exactly around the time when I came up with Djehkäujaa when I was a teenager. 

I've also bee drawing a lot of inspiration various old novels lately, and Clip Studio Paint.   

My newest work which features Djehkäujaa is inspired by the cover artwork by "Brom" on the novel "The Unicorn" from "Legend of The Five Rings". 

I feel pretty happy with my growth & progress in implementing "design layout" which is so much better than 5 years ago, let alone 10. I'm glad I decided to stop being so narrow-minded about it, and I feel I've improved a lot. 

I actually hadn't intended to start this one yet, even tho I prepped for it since December. I used a mixture of different Software for this project including: Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, FlamePainter, and Rebelle 3. 

You can find FlamePainter & Rebelle at Escape Motions' website. 

I also HIGHLY recommend Clip Studio Paint! If you own a WACOM tablet or CINTIQ but you don't have Clip Studio Paint yet, if you login to the WACOM site in your account, they often give out a free 1 year license code that you can redeem. I personally bought a permanent during a Black Friday/Cyber Monday deal in 2020.Some thing with Escape Motion, I bought software bundles from them during those Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals. 

Clip Studio Paint is not 100% perfect, and even with an expensive video card (like I have) it will frequently crash. However, the up-sides of this software keep me hooked! It's 1 of my FAVORITE software to actually hand paint with on my CINTIQ. I like the feeling of it. 

If you like experimentation art, I also recommend Rebelle by Escape Motions, but I also recommend Krita, WHICH IS FREE. I like Krita for fine details and its also intuitive with your strokes on a tablet, even if the drivers are an outdated tablet with pressure sensitive functions don't work anymore.

This piece was a reworked version of a Clip Studio Paint "Asset" which you can get HERE. 

Believe it, or not, the fur on the final versions in these uses brushes from FlamePainter, and Clip Studio Paint. I customized the settings to colors I wanted, painted them on layers, then exported them to Photoshop where I did my clean-up editing. 

Also, if you haven't noticed, I have an obsession with Chinese Chengyun which is hard to explain in English and takes forever, ironically. It's sort of like a language arts/poetry style, sometimes its translated as an "idiom" which I disagree with as a translation. Chengyun is just 1 of this style of poetic language arts, and is probably THE MOST clever of all language arts in all of humanity, potentially even older than "ancient" but in fact prehistoric... maybe. The human beings whom came up with this were incredibly clever. There were even people whom could talk like this. 

It's like jive in some ways, but metaphors often within metaphors. In just a few words you can communicate things that are massive ideas. Not that Ancient Greek or Latin couldn't do this, but the Chinese way of doing this uses the writing system, and it involves a complex usage of more parts of the human brain that Western languages lack, or is totally void. So, it's very difficult for me. But, I enjoy messing with it. 

It's called Wen Yan, Gu Wen, or Wen Yan Wen. It's nearly impossible to effectively even translate what this is in English. The closest one could get to it is a lengthy explanation or lecture. From my perspective, I view it as a kind of advanced Poetry language Art. Making art with words, ideas, concepts, and feelings, but it relies heavily on structure, and numbers, or numerology. In a Chengyun, there's only 4 words, but this same style could also be applied to other numbers, including a persons name, or names. There are, however, other languages in the far East that have a functional understanding & appreciation of this even tho' they don't speak Chinese, but incorporate it into their own. But, its just something in the West that we will have no concept of. 

So, I often enjoy messing with these ideas myself. It's meant to be light-hearted on my end, since I'm an outsider.... like a small monkey that broke into a garage, messing with tools, trying to build something. 

If you notice a group of 4 Chinese characters in my work, those are Chengyun, or faux Chengyun (meaning I made them up based on either the structure, or I messed with a word play of a real one.) Chinese has a unique kind of grammar, so I can mess with it within a a certain margin even tho it's not my native tongue. I also can't help but incorporate so much Chinese substance into my work because my life is heavily Chinese even tho I am not Chinese. Even in my interests in Philosophy frequently return me to Chinese "thought" or "philosophers", especially Dao De Jing (Tao Te Ching).

Djehkäujaa, in her humanoid form is generally meat to be depicted in PURPLE, which is a major plot point in her story, and back story. Djehkäujaa is very UNLIKE my other OC, Lively. 

I don't know why Djehkäujaa has shown up so frequently in my drawings in the past few months, but she has.

The LoFi Videos:

 The Short Versions:

The Full Length Versions:

I do have another composition I will also be doing a VFX/Motion Graphics Edit/LoFi/Relaxation peice as well:

I'm hoping, eventually, to record some of my own Jaw Harp music. But, I'm still learning. I got this one from Siberia in Russia:

My new #JawHarp #Mouth Harp from #Siberia #Russia!!!!
I've been practicing for a few weeks now! #music #musicalinstrument @BlackUniGryphon #HandMade 😁 pic.twitter.com/pvyrqdgMQj

— Black UniGryphon Arts 烏獨角獸 (@GryphonUni) January 23, 2022

Eastern Ambient Night Chill - 10 Min LoFi Mix

 Some links to the Music I used in a LoFi Mix I created:

 

Black UniGryphon · Eastern Ambient Night Chill [10 Min LoFi Mix]

Download Available on NewGrounds

 

Source Music List:

 

By noelein

* Mystic chinese guzheng HERE

* blossom valley in paradise HERE 

 

By rucisko

* Cambodian music 03 HERE

 

By CarlosCarty

* ZEN GUZHENG CHINESE LOGO IDENT HERE

* GUZHENG CUSTOMIZE YOUR LOOP 01 G 112 BPM HERE

 

Audio By xserra:

* GuZheng HERE

* Guqin-3 HERE

WIP: "Balcony" Decor; My New Bistro Table Set & 'Garden'

Work-In-Progress: 
"Balcony" Decor; My New Bistro Table Set & Garden

I generally say: My so-called "balcony" (in quotes) because my property documents call it that.... but.... I'm on the first floor... }:-/

I've been wishing & wanting to actually comfortably use this space, but there's a number of issues with it, besides being stuck living in Boston.... which is cold... and this specific angle means I only get sunlight at the summer solstice period from about mid June to mid July... add on top of that the bushes that grow, and the rude upper neighbors that dump litter on me frequently, the condominium office personnel, the squirrels,  and.... I'm broke. All of those are very long complicated stories... and I'd RATHER NOT think about it, or I'll be in a not-good mood....

So, I'll just focus on the positive side (and suppress the bad... far-far-far, and deep-deep-deep within for some therapist to MAYBE dig out someday... or perhaps in nightmares, or meditative trances gone wrong... but I digress).

Where to start.... hmmm.....


Oh yes:

I used to have a charcoal grill, and some really old lawn furniture... but, due to a stupid story of some idiot in a different town that's NOT mine whom burned down the side of a poorly built apartment building, the following year some idiots in my town forced through some idiotic legislation about no fire grills with charcoal or gas at all EVER.... also, I used to have some old lawn furniture... but they were always dirty, and my spouse wouldn't allow me to clean them in the shower, because his imagination would be aware the outside dirt had once passed through the tub/shower even tho' it was washed & cleaned away, but the ideas bothered his imagination of his ego, ergo I was NEVER allowed to wash them... and also hoses DO NOT EXIST IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD.
So, you also cannot hose them down, and spray cleaners also couldn't get the dirt off either... and if I sat on them using a towel, my spouses' imagination would be bothered again, even if the towels were washed, and he would throw away the towels, and we'd have no more towels, and couldn't afford to constantly buy new ones... so, about the time when we were legally forced against our will and without due process to throw away our high end grill, those chairs went with them... }:-(

So, around 2012... our store closed down, and we had some left-over stuff... and since then, the only thing I had to sit on was a Taoist Porcelain  Chinese Stool.

Also.... trying to get anything to grow out there was quite a challenge... and then I stumbled onto permaculture... so, I've been experimenting and learning since then...

By summer 2013, I used to sit outside with my tiny somewhat pathetic piddly "garden" (just some pots with barely anything growing in them, and my wind-chimes and listen to philosophy or zen stuff, like by the late Alan Watts, or music, or out in the rain... contemplating my situation, or journalling, or playing music, or drinking hot tea whilest it rained, and rained, and rained some more...

And, In the winter, I started to notice balcony decor & Boho decor popularity on Pinterest, so I actually have my own Pinboard there now. So.... I started wishing for my own style, or something to happen... I dunno... *shrugs*

Anyways, I actually DID get stuff to grow. ^_^ Permaculture FTW! W00t! :D



Greens, Blueberries, lentils.... the only problem was pests: squirrels, thieving neighbors, aphids, and slugs.  But, I'm making major progress! The aloe did better than expected!


I assumed for sure the chives would grow easily... Nope! Totally wrong!















My Greens: Mustard Spinach









I spent about 2 weeks in New Jersey this month (August 2014), and when I came back, my so-called "balcony" got power-washed by pricks. Making it covered in debris, and busting up one of my wind-chimes, which I JUST refurbished. Check the other blog HERE of that.

And, they FINALLY trimmed up the bush... but it's TOO LATE, because all the good sunlight is past the correct angles... but... somehow, the parsley managed to burst into some kinda major growth!

Gonna have to make a salad with those parslys this week!
And, I dunno what kinda crazy growth happened with those celery stalks. I might have to just pluck them out in the fall.

Anyways.... My step-mother, Libby, bought me a LOVELY wooden Bistro Table set, that folds up, so I can take it back inside in the winter, or if it rains! ^_^


Here's the view from my favorite spot sitting at my new bistro table, where I can drink my tea or coffee, and journal, check my smartphone news, twitter, do knitting, eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner, meditate, pontificate, sketch, or do whatever the heck I want! Drink rum or wine! Whatever!

 The herb pot was also a gift from Libby, which I will try to transfer my herbs into WHENEVER I CAN GET A BAG OF ORGANIC POTTING SOIL. In these shots, it has freshly cut Sunflowers from New Jersey, also a gift from Libby, that were drying outside...
However, the infamous squirrels discovered the sunflowers when I moved them onto those chairs in the corner (that Libby found) and made a big mess all over the place!
The sunflowers have since then, been moved indoors....

If you'd like to see what these sunflowers looked like BEFORE they got cut down check out my album from My Flickr Gallery (which is STILL in the process of being updated daily, since I took lots of photos.)

 Those chairs have also been mended, and ALSO moved indoors...

And, here's my lil' Boho Party Spot at My Father's Pig Roast Picnic a few weeks ago where I parties & got rather drunk with my friends, including my buddy Pirate Pebbs.You can see THIS table set up there, with some other bohemian stuffs... I figured Boho-chic was the other end of the spectrum of yuppy fads... sorta faux Hippie-ish.

It was my lil' mini haven under a tree from the the yuppies that got all into the recent trendy fad of pretending to be a faux hick or redneck and blast so-called "Country Music". I wonder what the next NJ fad will be! Fear not! I'll surely bee there with my camera! ^_^

I was near the giant water-slide, so my daughter could find me.

 The chairs are mingling!
Well... as of now... as I stated earlier, these chairs are inside the house... but the Chinese one is still out there... 

Wow!!!! Is that it? 
Yay!!!! I think I'm done! 
Typing this entry too FOREVER! 

I'll see if I can add an update to my so-called "balcony" decor... because it's changed, yet again...
And, let's hope that NO MORE S.N.A.F.U.s, nor random problems, just up & occur! OK?