Nothing to report . . . .

Just a quick update. Nothing exciting. Just doing more sketches. SecondLife doesn't like my computer or internet connection so I can't really do stuff at home. I don't know why though, Hamish (my computer) kicks freaking ass. Maybe it doesn't like sharing with my brother.

*shakes fist at the sky*

I should be all set for class when I get back though.

Happy Holidays!!

A swing and a miss . . . .

Here is my first attempt at making arm bandages.



They need more shading and I have to make the seams match up. Otherwise I think for my first go they are pretty wicked. Only took an hour to make.

Happy much?

The first of many . . . .

Hooray for scanners!!

Here are my two first sketches. They are part of my "bandage girls" series. The first is "Nicolette". Yes the woman from my story. The second is "Flee". The only thing I've changed in photoshop was the brightness and contrast.



Please let me know what you think and whether or not I'm on the right track.

Love.

Bandage girls . . . .

So I spent allot of time over the weekend designing clothing. It's just for girls so far. I'm not too good at the male form. The first set are called my "bandage girls". You can imagine what they look like. They have SARS masks and bandages. Hopefully I'm moving in the right direction.

I would show you them but because I'm a moron I forgot to bring my sketch book into class so I could scan them in.

I'll do it tomorrow I'm sure.

Love.

500 you say . . . .

Okay we had to have a story done for todays class. I was lame and forgot mine, not to worry though because Dale said that as long as I have it posted before the day is through it still counts as being handing in on time. God bless the internet. So here it is. It's isn't much, it's not supposed to be much. Just read it and enjoy.

P.S It should be noted that I'm not a writer and therefore should not be held accountable for my crappy writing skills. Enjoy!

Nicolette awoke, the heavy breathing of Jarvis in her ear, his arm stretched across her chest. She lay on her back for a moment and considered her environment. The rancid smell of burning rubbish and industrial waste mingling with the familiar and comforting smell of Jarvis’ body odour. She loved the way he smelt, a mixture of dirt, sweat and blood. Familiar sounds echoed in her ears. The decaying water and sewage pipes that hung above her head, the constant whirr of machinery and the never ending sounds that came from the rest of her species as they went about their daily business. The sounds of Melbourne 2051, a hellish pit of crime and disease.

Slowly Nicolette opened her eyes and waited for them to adjust to the dim light that flooded the room. Carefully she slid herself from underneath her lovers arm and watched him for the most fleeting of moments as he slept. He looked so gentle and calm, not the savage anarchist that roamed the streets at night plotting to overthrow the powers that be. Not the brutal thief. Not the hellish rider. Most of all, not the killer of men. Nicolette smiled to herself as he tossed in his sleep. His hair all shaggy and tousled as it fell upon his face. This was how she loved him.

She sighed to herself and pulled on a pair of rough cut black shorts, grabbed a bra and singlet and threw them on too. Her usual mesh top couldn’t be found in the mess upon the floor so a substitute of arm bandages would have to suffice. She slung her long black hair up into two messy pigtails and slid her goggles onto the top of her head. She sat next to what was sometimes referred to as the dining table and laced up her boots. She paused and sighed once more, another glance over to Jarvis. Last but not least she stood up and slid her gas mask over her mouth. She looked about her home and wondered what had become of Melbourne. Her small flat resembled something more like a rusted tin box that had been thrown away rather than a place where humans lived. A small one room box with a bathroom attached. Everywhere she looked she saw rust. The only new metal in the place was the security lock on the door.

Nicolette pushed aside her disgust for her surroundings and gathered her courage. It was time for her to go out into the city. She was meeting with a group of like minded people who were sick of the revolting way of life that had become the everyday norm. The dirty water, the rotting food, the riots, the looting, the rapes, beatings and murders. Today they were going to stand up for what they thought was right. Today they were going to make a change for the better, they were sure of it and so was Nicolette. Enough was enough and Nicolette was ready.

So, was it what you were expecting? Probably not as it was not what I was. Until next time folks I bid you adieu.

Dont forget about SARS . . . .

Does everyone remember those masks that everyone was wearing when there was that SARS scare a few years ago? Well I was thinking about them and how I could use them too. I'm sure gas masks are everyones cup of tea. I'm also going to include some medical masks too.

Here are some deviantart.com links to images of those masks.

SARS

Virus by `RockstarVanity
shut me up by ~HowIDisappear
Zoe Mask by ~mortalum
Heart broken by *EViL-KiTTeeh

Medical

Jenn - Portrait of a Nightmare by ~bleedingvisuals
Dirty Doktor 1 by ~otiose
Doctor by ~CX-Kun
Doctor Ang by ~mystikwrytr
The Doctor..is in by ~Akumu-Hime

It's a breathing thing . . . .

Here are some information on gasmasks that I have stumbled across during my travels on the web. Enjoy.

Taken from Wikipedia

Gas Masks

A gas mask is a mask worn on the face/head to protect the body from airborne pollutants and toxic materials. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word gas mask is often used to refer to military equipment (e.g. Field Protective Mask, etc.).

Airborne toxic materials may be gaseous (for example the chlorine gas used in World War I or particulate (such as many biological agents developed for weapons such as bacteria, viruses and toxins). Many gas masks include protection from both types.

Gas masks used in World War I were made as a result of poison gas attacks that took the Allies in the trenches on the Western Front by surprise. Early gas masks were crude as would be expected as no one had thought that poison gas would ever be used in warfare as the mere thought seemed too shocking

Principles of construction

Unlike other breathing devices, gas masks do not require the user to carry an air supply as in the use of scuba gear. However, this means that the wearer depends on the air in the atmosphere, the same medium of the toxic materials. Thus, the mask must remove them and relay clean air to the wearer. There are three main ways of achieving this: filtration, absorption and adsorption, and reaction and exchange.

Absorption is the process of being drawn into a (usually larger) body, or substrate, and adsorption is the process of deposition upon a surface. This can be used to remove both particulate and gaseous hazards. Although some form of reaction may take place, it is not necessary; the method may work by attractive charges (for example, if the target particles are positively charged, use a negatively charged substrate). Examples of substrates include activated carbon, and zeolites. This effect can be very simple and highly effective, for example using a damp cloth to cover the mouth and nose whilst escaping a fire. While this method can be effective at trapping particulates produced by combustion, it does not filter out harmful gases which may be toxic or which displace the oxygen required for survival.

History and development of the gas mask

A primitive respirator to be used by miners was introduced by Alexander von Humboldt already in 1799, when he worked as a mining engineer in Prussia.

In the early days of World War I, the Canadian Army made field expedient gas masks to protect themselves from the deadly chlorine gas used by the German Army. They would urinate on rags and hold them to their faces.

One such design began as a "Safety Hood and Smoke Protector" invented by African American inventor, Garrett A. Morgan in 1912, and patented in 1914. It was a simple device, consisting of a cotton hood with two hoses which hung down to the floor, allowing the wearer to breathe the safer air found there. In addition, moist sponges were inserted at the end of the hoses in order to better filter the air. Morgan won acclaim for his device when in 1916 he, his brother, and two other volunteers used his device to rescue numerous men from the gas and smoke-filled tunnels beneath Lake Erie in the Cleveland Waterworks.

Due to the run on raw materials during the war, businesses were in increasing competition to find alternates to any material needed for military use. In this case the cotton used in the gas masks, one such solution was the forerunner of Kleenex, called Cellucotton.

Dr. Cluny MacPherson of The Royal Newfoundland Regiment, while serving in Gallipoli in 1915, where he acted as an advisor on poisonous gas, used a helmet taken from a captured prisoner to fashion a canvas hood with transparent eyepieces that was treated with chlorine-absorbing chemicals. The MacPherson respirator gas mask was the first general issue gas countermeasure to be used by the British Army.

The British PH helmet was issued in 1915 and the first box respirator in 1916

But the inventor of the first effective coal gas mask was Russian scientist Nikolay Dimitrievich Zelinskiy in World War I (in 1915) against German gas attacks. In 1916 his gas masks were accepted on arms of the countries of Triple Entente. Zelinskiy gas mask is most popular in the world.

The British had developed and put into use the canister gas mask by the end of the war. This had a mask connected to a tin can containing the absorbent materials by a hose.

Gas masks development since has mirrored the development of chemical agents in warfare, filling the need to protect against ever more deadly threats, biological weapons, and radioactive dust in the nuclear era. However, where agents that cause harm through contact or penetration of the skin occurs, such as blister agent or nerve agent, a gas mask alone is not sufficient protection, and full protective clothing must be worn in addition, to protect contact from the atmosphere. For reasons of civil defense and personal protection, individuals often purchase gas masks in the belief that they prevent against the harmful effects of an attack with nuclear, biological, or chemical (NBC) agents; this is not the case, as gas masks protect only against respiratory absorption. Whilst most military gas masks are designed to be capable of protection against spectrum of NBC agents, they can be coupled with filter canisters that are proof against those agents (heavier) or just against riot control agents and smoke (lighter, and often used for training purposes); likewise there are lightweight masks solely for use in riot control agents and not for NBC situations.

Although thorough training and the availability of gas masks and other protective equipment can render the casualty-causing effects of an attack by chemical agents nullified, troops who are forced to operate in full protective gear are less efficient in completing their given tasks, tire easily, and may be affected psychologically by the threat of attack by these weapons. During the Cold War era, it was seen as inevitable that there would be a constant NBC threat on the battlefield, and thus troops needed protection in which they could remain fully functional; thus protective gear, and especially gas masks have evolved to incorporate welcomed innovations in terms of increasing user-comfort, and in compatibility with other equipment (from drinking devices to artificial respiration tubes, to communications systems etc). The gas mask has thus now arrived at a 'fourth generation' of development.

Here are some other websites that I have found that specialise in gas masks

Le Masque a Gaz

Who invented the gas mask?

What you should know about gas masks

How gas masks work

Last but not least here are some images for your viewing pleasure. Images taken from photobucket.com

Where is my muse . . . .

Okay so today we are looking for research/reference material to help us develop what we are creating for our Second Life project.

I am making clothing and the like so off to deviantart.com I flew.

Here are the links to the images that I thought were useful. I can't post them here because of copyright. Please feel free to check them out.

As a primary I am looking and researching gasmasks, but if I find other images I'll post links to thoses too.

Gas masks

Survivor by ~f4shi0nabl3
a breath of fresh air by ~goth-gal
Gas mask by ~Krteczek
Gas mask by ~skarlo
Gas Mask Preview by ~Panic-Balcony
Gas Mask by ~NicoleDolly
gas mask by ~gAkb1tCh
red- shot 3 by ~maladjust
aPOcalypSE by *HerrBuchta
Apocalyptica by ~cattiecattie

Building and landscapes (just to help me get the mood right)

Room by ~Keisinger
Apocalyptic by ~t0y-x
Fallout part 1 by ~Old-Melody
Eliza apocalyptic syren 4-30 by ~woodeye
Wasteland by *Herr-Flick
post apocalyptic::t:b:f by =mkIndustrial
2012: The Shopping Cart by ~Anthonym
bombardement by ~heldenriff
Apocalypse by ~Malakprod
Charred Charnel Chair by *BeauEromantica (contains nudity)


Clothing and the like

Gasmask by ~plastik-star
Soonia1 by ~eccehomo
From your point of view by ~silverman
More Point Seven by `lady-atropos
Gas Mask 01 by ~PleasurableObsession
Shelter by ~doggery
Machinist . . . I by ~Askhati
Apocalypse by ~beata-beatrix
Apocalypse. This is mushroom. by *photoport
My Apocalypse by *poisongirl112