thank you too

proper good real work.
there is a big problem for you though.
I suggest that since you've been doing work and improving (naturally ) since ...don't stop ever.
It'll feel like you've amputated a body part if you do (even if it's for a short stint) ...it's seriously like some important part is missing.
As well if you stop...your ability...it is like a muscle...it will weaken...so keep your ability honed and sharp.
If it helps any...I noticed you mention pastel.
your sketch ability is good...if you can keep it light and not get caught in the detail too soon...I imagine how you are accomplishing your work is the initial sketch also ends up being your finished work.
Before you get too tight into laying depth and alotta graphite down...a rough sketch and then straight oil pastel on top ...you can use your hand edge, finger-smudging...finger-nails (great for emulating texture) , proper knife or brush ...fan brushes are the best for blending...so...easy-peasy ..you can lay down solid bands or grades of colour or monochrome white-pale grey-mid grey- dark grey -black (as example) side-by side ...pull out your fan brushes...don't use turps. (turpentine) ..it thins ..but it is FAR too muddy for my liking...use VARSOL ...it isn't yellow like turps. it's clear....wet your clean fan brush with varsol and brush it into the oil pastels...right over each solid transition division over colour or tone...and ...POW...INSTA-perfect dimensional blended oil painting. It dries quick too.
Wipe fan- brush of paint and repeat wherever needed.

Just don't mistake it for a glass of water on your table.
Oil pastels are way stupid cheap compared to pastel pencils or oil paints or acrylic paints or watercolour paints..which are great...pricey ..but great...especially for fine fine work..but which lack ....something...I can't put my finger on it.
Anywho ...... drop the fancy expensive pencils water colour pencils..pastel pencils.......In university we used to rib the new kids for buying that stuff....you don't need them.
All you need is a few varied H's and B's that you personally gravitate to. Anything fancier and then you enter the realm of the expensive prop....art stores sell ...to milk the unknowing of their coin.
You are good.
Plenty good.
Step up the game man.
More beautiful than the last.
More complex than the last.
More simple than the last.
More refined...
More primitive....
More and more.
Better than the last .
I know you got the bug man
I see it in the work.
Hehe I know the bug.
Most important thing now is...Just don't stop ever.

For a reply to that, I don't use any blending tools like my fingers, stumps or anything. I only use the provided white pencil to blend, but I won't move to oil pastel or anything. I rarely use graphite, I use charcoal instead. But I usually use Derwent Pastel pencils, though now I use Prismacolor premier pencils (THEY'RE SICK!). So I will come back with much more realistic drawings. I won't stop, ever, but I'll never make drawing my main thing

If the pencils work for you..and you don't find them lacking or restricting...yeah...sure keep using them.

And yah ...
you are probably right...
making art your main thing/ career/ job/ life choice or whatever isn't a good idea.
Worked out for me pretty good...
but the odds when you start out aren't good... it's just like my prof's said..."almost all of my class wouldn't continue"...
checkin up on my classmates a couple years ago...
only 2 others made a career out of their work....
out of more than 50 students...
so yeah ...of course many factors at work...ones an artist can control and tons you can't.
so yeah...frankly...the more sure odds....the better odds would be at the casino or horsetrack.

Anyway gotta go unpack...
good luck to you AMD...

Actually ...hold on a sec.
Amazing how quickly a soul can eat crow ...
I may just change my view on how limiting pencil crayons and their spinoffs are...

AMD...before you go ordering anymore Prismacolors ...you may want to spend your coin on this...it seems their kickstarter got 3x what they figured they would need ....more than enough for full out production..which will be available soon....

http://singularityhub.com/2014/08/12...n-kickstarter/

16 000 000 colour pen....
yup that's 16 million colours in 1 pen.
Every shade and hue of every colour that exists on this planet is possible with this sucker...
It's the individually seperated colour pen/pencil/marker killer
1 stylus-pen does all.

RGB Color sensor
1-2 Seconds color capture time
Very ACCURATE color reproduction
Compatible with PHOTOSHOP
Advanced Ink management system
1GB internal memory
ARM Processor
Micro USB charging
Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Bluetooth Smart (Bluetooth 4.0)
Lightfast long lasting Ink
Capacitive rubber nib & Harder finer tips for the STYLUS
Nib set for the INK pen: Our nib set offers you a fantastic range of stroke weights. Choose from fine to heavy depending on your mood! We offer 6 tip sizes, 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 1.0mm, 1.5mm, 2.5mm and 3.71mm
Supports iPhone and Android OS.
Supports PC and MAC
Program your own custom colors: Program your own dream colors via our Mobile App. You can add and draw without worrying about what is captured in the Pen sensor.

Hmm there's also an sdk for it...
I wonder how tough it would be to get the sucker compat with our Nxx0's....that would be way-fun...

Frankly I wouldn't mind having one
Going to keep my eye on this when they start selling them.

Hahaha ...their promo video has a guy who is using Prismacolors...and picks this thing up instead. rich.

Hmm.
It appears they have two models...
1 is a pen model....so the sucker can take colours from real objects via it's eraser end and then like a scanner - printer you can draw with that colour...and it's memory can hold a 100 000 colours easily accessed.
the other model is a stylus for touch screen enabled computing for convertible tablet pc's, pc's and tablets. And it does all the same functions without using actual ink.

I'm definitely going to get the stylus version since I do most of my design work on tablet with stylus anyway...I find it limits the wastage when I want to do a finished pen and ink or painting with so much lost and wasted supplies along the way to the finished product....so the stylus is perfect for me...
Got notifications set up for when it starts selling.

Amd... Check out My image. I swear I did IT Myself in paint in less Than 10 sec.

It’s happening #GoatSimulator is coming to #iOS, #Android and #Xbox

Hahaha
Oh man ...
Dave!
You are the best man.

I contacted the Scribble team last night and asked if their device will support Linux ..
I found a remarkably prompt reply this morning in my email.

"Hi Paul,

If we reach our stretch goal, we'll add support for Linux"

beautiful words to my ears.

Skynet might not be far off. Im starting to build My own terminator tomorrow..

http://www.wired.com/2014/08/nsa-mon...-cyberwarfare/

Countdown to judgement day starts in...

3
2
1

Interesting article.
I don't even see it as ominous, troubling or disturbing anymore.
Throughout history...the blunt of it has always been about...power...and control. Power and control over things and people. Information and it's dispersion and dispensation or lack of it ....is nothing different.
Though the www is seemingly free...of course ...
"The Powers" wish to control and cage it in blocks.
Thereby making innovation, communication, and creativity amoungst every person on this planet ...essentially strangled.
I don't believe it supposition or a theory...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFMMXRoSxnA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUJtMlEwd6Q

Stallman chatting with media ...most have watched this I'm sure...
The 1st interviewer is quite a piece of work ...hahaha

What in essence always starts out as "watching over everyone for their safety" usually ends up with "for everyone's safety...communications and content needs to be monitored...then restricted...then forbidden..."

The church did that with literacy after the fall of Rome...it was called the Dark Ages for a reason.

I'm hardly surprised at the militarization of the web.
I feel it was a foregone and am frankly surprised it didn't come about far sooner...since our predilection for taking inventions and applying the most harmful applications to them 1st instead of ones which benignly benefit.
(ie. Splitting the atom didn't result in Einstein's hope for unlimited power to heat homes and help our lives...instead of microwave ovens being built ...it was "the Bomb" ...Day One.)

...mind I don't say any of this with any dark or negative feeling...
I'm just watching what unfolds and simply wish to see the dominoes ....
That way when the real bad crap finally hits the fan....
instead of being like a deer caught in the headlights ...
screaming "why me?" or rather... "why us?" ..
I may not know the direct cause of possible Final calamity for us all...
But I'll have the full cognizance of knowing that it was one (or multiple) of our inventions coupled with our own innate behaviour to (sometimes) not get along well...that inevitably will bring things to a head...
Whether as a species we survive is another matter.

And Dave...you may want to scrap the idea of building your own terminator...hehe...that will more than likely not end well.

For everyone who is interested it is a long but good read...
Boy I waited along time to get my hands on it.
.
My Unc. was a prof. and he's been the dean of medicine for the last 20-25 yrs at a university here in Canada...he's chatted up all kinds of interesting scientists...loves the new frontiers of science and medicine...bio-ethics...etc.
It was my Uncle who turned me on to Barrat a while ago...and I've been waiting for this book for a long time...and thankfully ...he didn't disappoint.
Very well done..very pragmatic...very unbiased. Overall ...a good read.
I've read his peers...and pretty much they paint a lala wonderland version of the future without any complications merely wonderous benefits...
Barrat talks with all the leading scientific minds who have worked or are working on A.G.I. (artificial general intelligence) and subsequently the inevitability from there of A.S.I. (artificial super intelligence)...and we are far closer than many would guess at ...
the culmination of the Singularity.
Barrat gives the honest perspective...pros and cons...the good and the bad ...doesn't get anymore unbiased and real than this book/audiobook...
and I do believe him correct in the postulation that the topic of A.S.I. is indeed the topic of conversation as a species we need to have.

Our Final Invention: Artificial Intelligence and the End of the Human Era - by James Barrat

also found the audiobook ...easier than the tome....shoulda listened before I strained my eyeballs
9 hours long....meh...engrossing...didn't notice the time.

most torrent providers have it ...Kickass Torrents....etc..