What's Your Problem?

[alice]

i'm sure it'll be fine, ramen. mountainview ia halfway between hilo and volcano nat park, and is worth checking out from what i've heard. best of luck to you both and let me know where you end up. if i weren't so broke right now, i'd be back in the islands too.

[Wind_Borne]

Saskia, my Keeshond and the Best of All Possible Dogs, died late Monday afternoon. She was close to 13 years old. During the last few months she has had to cope with arthritis, diabetes, and other systemic problems. And during the last few days her strength began to fail her. But never did she loose that sweet disposition or charm that stole the heart of everyone that met her.

Saskia would think me remiss if I failed to mention that animals of all sorts depend on us to ensure their health and well-being. To that end, Saskia's favorite charity was the Sonoma County Humane Society.

[foamin' at the mouth]

I'm so sorry Wind Borne. Dogs are the best companions. Really they are family. Unconditional love comes from dogs.
Your dog probablly died happy being with you.

[diane o'thirst]

I'm draughting a Capricorn hobby-critter for my business and I just can't seem to get a <b>good</b> design going. Here's the log:

Designed and draughted one, turned out too big. With the horns, the bloody thing was bigger than the Dragon. So that got tossed in the roundfile.

Then there's the parameters. I'm going with an alchemical antelope look for the goat part (imagine a goat-bearded sable antelope with saw-edged horns and fangs on the lower jaw), and as we all know goats caper. A fairly dynamic pose is called for. I think I've gone through something like thirty repositions of the forelegs <i>each</i>, because I want an agile positioning but everything turns out looking either unnatural or threatening. These are toys, they're meant to be played with, but I don't want to receive a call from a distraught mother telling me that lil' Dylan took his Capricorn hobby and skewered his little sister with one of the forelegs.

So I tried designing it so that the knees are the highest thing (little blunter than a hoof or fin) on the legs, but it winds up looking like a cloven-hoofed horse with skinnier legs and ibex horns.

Okay, that's fairly settled but now we have the problem of the tail. It's not quite a fish tail, call to mind those Baroque "dolphins" you see on old maps — yes, don't really look much like real dolphins, they're somewhat serpentine with glowering bug eyes, curly beaks and oversized forehead melons — and a blowhole that looks positiively obscene — anyway, forget the head, just imagine the tail. Now here's this thing, and it can arch and twist and wrap whichever way it wants because it's long and fairly skinny and I want to convey that the sea-goat is capering throughout its body, stem to stern: that the goat front half is capering and the tail's just following through.

Nothing I can't handle. Just venting.