Here's some questions that people often ask me, things you should know, or just stuff I really don't feel like answering personally. It would be a good idea to read through this page before asking me anything. If there's something that you'd like to know that isn't here, please ask me! Jump to a section -Website Questions- -Artwork questions- -Message Board Questions- -Stupid Questions- -Ninja Questions- Website Questions Can I use your pictures on my website/web journal/message board? No you may not. The images on this website are original and only meant to be viewed on this website. This includes both the original artwork AND any other images from the articles section, including, but not limited to, movie, anime, and video game screen shots, photographs, and any scans. You are highly encouraged to share what you find on this site with other people via the Internet, but you are to do so by posting a link to the page so that it can be viewed in its entire context, not by linking only to an image or several images. I want people to visit my website, and I've worked very hard to fill it with content. Please respect that and don't exploit it by stealing my hard work. If you have any questions or concerns about this policy, contact me and I'll hear you out. I'm sorry if you can't find any other pictures to use, but I can't allow for my work to be used like that, so maybe you're better off making your own pictures instead of taking from someone else. When are you going to update next? Whenever I have the time and/or feel like updating. You can follow my blog on the main page or follow me on Twitter to see exactly when new stuff is added. In the meantime, check out the message board. I used to have a newsletter, but that is no longer necessary. Why don't you add more new stuff? I should add more but sometimes I'm too busy or not motivated. Other times I might be putting more effort into the behind the scenes aspects of the site instead of new content. I hope to get better at adding more new stuff somewhat more consistently. You can talk to me and let me know what you'd like to see, and maybe I'll get inspired. If I click my right mouse button over an image, copyright information pops up. Why? That is a deterrent to stop people from stealing. I do not want people taking my graphics or pictures without permission. It is something I severally frown upon, and all those who do this will be destroyed. I worked too hard on my artwork just to let some jerk rip it off. Even the pictures and other graphics took significant time and effort. This has become a big problem, so I am afraid that I can't just go and let anyone take anything they want from my site. Some may say that's too harsh, or it's a useless feature. I say that I'm just doing the best I can to protect what's rightfully mine. I hope you understand. Why do you bother with writing articles? I thought this was an art site. It lets me add more content and variety to the site, and it's fun. It's another way of expressing who I am and what I'm about. I wish I had enough time to write even more. If you like what I do and have got some ideas for other subjects you'd like me to tackle, let me know. Can you link to my website? Probably. Tell me your website address and I'll take a look at it. I can't say that it'll happen fore sure, or if I'll get to it right away, but I'll at least give it a glance. What would make me even happier, though, would be if you were to add a link to SykoGrafix on your site. Can I link to SykoGrafix on my site? Yes you can! No need to ask, just go ahead and link me. Let me know and I will check your site out. How can I link to SykoGrafix on my site? Do you have a button or something? Just click here. There's a few different sized buttons and banners to choose from, and I add new ones every once and awhile. Just save them to your own webspace and link back to http://www.sykografix.com. That's it. Artwork questions Are you available for commissions/jobs/etc? YES! I am totally interested in any offers you may have in regards to me drawing, colouring, or whatever. Contact me for more info and we can work things out. Don't be afraid to ask! What are your rates? I don't have any "rates" as such. But I'm probably pretty cheap. Everything is done on a case by case basis. I can even work for merchandise instead of money if you have something I'd want. Please just tell me what you're looking for and make an offer. We'll go from there. What kind of art can I commission you to do? I mostly do drawings, digital paintings, and watercolor + colored pencil illustrations. That can include a number of things, including, but not limited to, character designs, redesigns, portraits, action scenes, and so on. Anything else you might have in mind is always worth enquiring with me. I have done commissions before and left clients satisfied, so you can trust that I can do the job. Do you take requests? Maybe, but you'll have better luck commissioning me if you really want it to happen. Not to be rude, but if there's no money involved, then I'd rather spend my time drawing my own stuff. You should have put *so and so* in the Anime Justice League! No, I most certainly should not have used any other characters but the ones I wound up picking. I put all the characters that should have been there, and clearly explained why I used each character I chose to fill the 7 slots I had to work with. Sorry if I left out your favorite character, but let's face it, those 7 characters were the most appropriate and the most deserving to be a part of the concept I had in mind. Will you draw a new anime crossover with *so and so*? Only if you pay me. Seriously. If you want me to draw your favorite characters on a team or whatever, commission me and I'll do it. Will you ever draw The Anime Avengers? Maybe. I don't know. Please stop asking me this. So many people have already brought up. How did you get to be a teacher? Long story short, I was involved in drawing classes, first as a student, then as an assistant and teacher. There was a demand for a series of anime classes, and, well, someone had to do it. I got elected for the job, and years later, I'm still teaching and have worked for a number of different companies with students of all ages. Must mean that I've been doing something right. What kinds of things do you teach? I've taught a number of different programs for several different companies in the Toronto area, but for the most part I teach drawing programs related to comic books, animation, cartooning, and Japanese anime for kids. I like to think that I teach the cool side of the art world. Some of these students are pretty young so it's not always about getting professional results right away, it's more about introducing them to concepts, giving them good drawing habits, helping their creativity, and getting them motivated and excited about drawing. The rest comes with time and practice. How long have you been drawing? All my freakin' life, but more seriously since around 1996 or so. I wish I started learning much earlier in my life. How do you color on the computer? Well, just a fair bit of practice, I guess. I've been doing stuff like this for ages now, dating back to when I'd just scribble with a mouse on Microsoft Paint. Now I use a digital tablet and more sophisticated software, but these are just tools. Unless there was a huge demand, I probably won't be doing any kind of tutorial here on the page. There's lots of other places out there that already have good information on that. You can start by checking my links page. However, I will leave this as a piece of advice. If your sights are completely set on doing artwork strictly with a computer, then you'll never be as good as a real artist. Practice drawing and colouring the real way as well, at least a little bit. What programs do you use? I mostly use Photoshop. If you're looking to get into the same kind of thing, then get Photoshop. I also use Manga Studio. Most of the artwork pages should have a brief description on exactly what tools I use. As far as coding the web page goes, I use a simple text editor. Nothing too fancy. Is any of your artwork for sale? Yes, much of this artwork is for sale if you want it. This is on a case by case basis though, as some of the original image files have been lost. If there is something that you'd like to buy a copy of, please ask to see if it is available. I would be happy to print out posters of my artwork. Prints will be of high quality and free of the watermarks you see here on this webpage. I am also willing to modify something or even create something original. Please contact me and we'll talk. Can I e-mail you some of my own art for you to look at? No. Do not send me any image files via e-mail without asking me first. Instead, send me a link to your web site or online gallery and I'll look at your art there. If you don't have anything like that, then get one! Better yet, register for the message board and put it up there in the Art Gallery! I'm happy to look at artwork, but I don't want my e-mail to get clogged up with pictures I didn't ask for. Who are the girls? Cyan, Amber, and Magenta are my own character designs, and I sometimes give them a few jobs around the site to give it some colour. Cute, aren't they? Perhaps they will be famous some day. Can I draw Cyan, Amber, and/or Magenta? Yes! Several people, besides myself, have drawn my character designs. Do your best to capture the essence of their individual personalities. And make sure that you post your work on the message board! Message Board Questions How do I sign up/post at the message board? There is a different FAQ especially for the board that'll tell you everything you need to know about signing up and posting. Please read through both it and the rules page as well. They are linked on the top right hand corner of every board page. I have high hopes for that board, so let's do our best to create an amazing community! Why should I sign up to the message board? Why not? It's fun. You get to talk to me and possibly other people too. Isn't that a lot more interesting than this one-sided conversation we're having right now? If someone were to tell me what they thought of my site, I am much more inclined to listen to someone who is a member on my message board than anyone else. So, sign up. What have you got to lose? What am I supposed to talk about on the message board? Well, anything you want, really. Talk about what you've seen here on the webpage, stuff that you like, stuff that you hate, your art, my art, or whatever else is on your mind. Certainly you must be able to come up with something worth talking about? I tried to sign up but I'm not a member yet? What happened? You have to make sure you are signing up using a valid e-mail address. This is simply so the board can confirm that you are a real person. If you think there has been a problem please contact me ad I'll look into it. Stupid Questions You suck at drawing. Why don't you just quit? I might suck, but quitting is boring. I'm going to keep drawing no matter what anybody says. If you have constructive feedback on my recent work, I'd love to read it. If you've got nothing but a bunch of poorly thought-out insults with bad spelling and grammar, well, actually I'd love to read that too. Just understand it's not going to make a single bit of difference and I might call you out on it. How can you be a teacher if you suck at drawing? I've just got to stay one lesson ahead of the kid! Hey, I don't happen to share the same opinion about things as you do. What gives? Yes, I know. I hate a lot of things people like and like a lot of things people hate. You're entitled to yours and I'm entitled to mine. In fact, often times I'll just proclaim how much I like something just because so many other people, especially on the Internet, have such an inane hatred for it. You have two choices on how to solve this problem. Number one, you can deal with it, or number two, you can choke on it, fanboy. My website is better than yours! That's probably true. But unless you're looking to help, I probably don't care very much. I can draw better than you! Hey, good for you. You can go ahead and prove that if you want. But unless you're looking to help, I probably don't care very much. I've seen better drawings on the Internet than yours! Me too. I don't care. I hate anime and you like anime so I hate you. Well, I could explain how anime is simply a medium of expression like books or film and is thus impossible to outright hate, but honestly I don't care. I watch different stuff and draw different stuff and while anime is a big part of my life, it's nothing to get all worked up over. Besides, there are so many better reasons to hate me anyway. Why waste your time responding to people who hate you? Because it's hilarious. It doesn't take a long time, and it's not like it's anyone else's concern what I choose to spend my time doing regardless. I keep to myself and do nothing to provoke them. They come to me, and thus they get what they deserve. Its a two way street. Why do make fun of spelling mistakes when people insult you? Look, nobody's perfect and mistakes happen, but when someone insults me and can't even be bothered to try to spell correctly, as is this case 99% of the time, why on Earth should I be bothered to take anything they say seriously? To say nothing to the fact that people are supposed to go to school and learn about this stuff, we now live in an age where computers can actually do a decent job of checking your spelling for you! So with that in mind, pointing out the pathetic usage of spelling and grammar proves that these people are idiots. They came to me with their hate, and I simply point their idiocy back toward them. It's not like these morons ever have anything important to say anyway. Ninja Questions. Why do you think you're a ninja? When the shoe fits, wear it. I'm kind of a mysterious and stealthy guy. Pretty ninja-like in general. To call myself a ninja is only natural. Most everyone who knows me would agree. I believe in the ninja way. Besides, ninjas are awesome and so am I. Why do you wear bandanas? Because I'm a ninja! I mean, obviously. What are you, some kind of freak? Yes. As a matter of fact, I am. But I'm comfortable with that. Do you like pie? Yes. I like pie. I like it very much. Very, very much.