There's no shame...

Yeah, I watched the new My Little Pony cartoon. And yeah, I liked it.
I was a little worried about myself for a bit. Then I found this. More proof that C.S. Lewis is the greatest writer (and possibly mortal man) that ever lived.

“Critics who treat ‘adult’ as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because he is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

- C.S. Lewis

"Bitter"

Sometimes, I like it when limitations are placed on a piece. It helps me to think outside of the box when I have writer's block. A friend of mine gave me an idea and suggested I write about it in 100 words or less. So here it is!

"Bitter"
Aaron M. Smith- July 20th 2011

I wanted to tell her I was sorry.

She’d never believe me. Not after how I acted. I was a jerk. Or had been, anyway.

She glanced over at me, saw I was looking at her. She threw me a dirty glance and turned back to her date. I wanted so badly to apologize it felt like my heart was going to burst.

But it wasn’t about what I wanted. That had been my problem all along. What she needed was to not see me the rest of the night.

I could do that. Heck, it was a dance.

Once you start...

This is, without question, the longest I've spent working on a cartoon in a long, long time. I spent more than 12 hours putting this thing together (from inception to reality). Granted, a lot of that time was spent trying out new techniques. I'm trying to figure out the best way to get pencil drawings from paper to computer. My sketches tend to be full of scribbles and extra lines, so cleaning them up is always time consuming. If anyone knows of any techniques that could help speed the process, I'd love to hear about them. And your reward: MORE cartoons, MORE often!

"Perfect"

When I'm feeling low on inspiration and have gone a long while without creating some new content, I can usually turn on Sinatra for a little motivation. However (and unfortunately if you're not into it) Sinatra tends only inspire romance. I finished this piece while listening to "all I really need is the girl".

Maybe next time I'll turn on some Nine Inch Nails and see what turns out!

"Perfect"
Aaron M. Smith- July 2nd 2011

“How is it?” I asked.

“It’s great!” She said behind her napkin. Abby had more table manners than any two people I knew put together. “I’m so glad we came here tonight.”

“Well, we’ve been talking about going to L'Escargot de Délicieux for months. I figured why not tonight?”

“Well, it’s just so…” she glanced sidelong at the wine list.

“Don’t worry about it,” I choked out between bites of salmon, and I hoped she thought I was nervous about the price. My stomach was doing flips, but it wasn’t because of the bill.

You don’t have to do it tonight, a voice in the back of my head whispered. Just put it off. Wait for the perfect time.

I’m spending my bonus on this dinner; it’ll be months before I can afford it again, a different voice argued.

The first voice was right; I didn’t have to do it tonight. I compulsively touched the lump in my pocket for the millionth time that night; I was going to rub a hole in my pants at this rate.

I could wait. We could see how my job turned out. I might be getting that promotion next month, after all. It’d be nice to know.

She’ll know about her scholarship information in May, too. And that was only two months away. We’d know if she was going to have to take out more loans.

But then, my lease expired in June. It’d make sense for us to look for a place together, since she basically lived at my apartment as it was. I could save it for a housewarming.

And then there’s the vacation we’re planning on taking in July. Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before. It’d be a lot more romantic on the open sea than eating snails, that was for sure.

“Jeremy?” She said, snapping me back to reality. I realized I’d been holding a forkful of food to my mouth the whole time I’d been daydreaming. The server was standing next to her with a menu. I grinned stupidly and stuck the fork in my mouth.

“Save any room for dessert?” The tuxedoed man said, his faux-French accent making him sound like a drunk Pepe Le Pew. Abby looked at me. She was waiting on me to make a decision.

“Tiramisu, please?” The words leapt out of my mouth before my tongue gave them clearance. Abby’s face lit up; it was her favorite, and I knew it.

As the waiter drifted off, Abby reached across the table for my hand. I took it with the hand that wasn’t reaching into my pants pocket. The square velveteen box was warm.

“Jeremy, this is so perfect,” She whispered.

“Yeah, I think so too,” I said, sliding the box from my pocket.

(P.S. The working title of this story was "balls", but I thought that it sort of ruined the romance.)