Sudden Thought

A thought has occurred......

Is it possible to save the world through cute cat pictures?

Dust to Steam

Dust: An Elysium Tail is coming to Steam. Can't wait (Did I mention I love this game?).

Designing Zargooran

As a part of my on going challenge to bring many of my characters to a more permanent visual form, I've been trying to get rough sketches done of what they would look like. The first is from the same name which I have gone by on the internet, Zargooran. He's been one of my long time characters. Once a creature of flesh and blood of villainous intent, he was finally killed off only for the forces of darkness to restore his essence in the form of a Dark Entity. Despite his continuing battles, Zargooran felt something was not right. It was through one of his own creations that he learned the truth of his destiny and since then has worked hard to redeem himself, going from destroyer to savior (you know, that old story).

The only visual piece of this character is titled 'Zargooran Amongst Rage'. The description of Zargooran is that he is a form of black space, with stars and faint nebula's seen within him (note: No planets, as that would imply life within him, which there is not). The only thing standing out is his glowing red eyes, the only stability in a sea of madness.

 

 'Zargooran Amongst Rage'

The problem? How do you draw a creature who is a shape shifter with a body that looks like a universe that's trapped within it....with only two (or more) eyes to distinguish that it is a living thing? Each time I sketch a head shape or design, I get the feeling it's somehow a copy of some other character and that's a real pain. He's stance is best described as tall, dominating and menacing (not in an evil sense, but the way he is in comparison to the room around him)in appearance when standing over someone. He still has a dark, evil shape to him, despite no longer being evil and can have as many eyes as he wants, but simply chooses to have two so as to reduce his 'scare' factor when dealing with others. Started with some early sketches:

Felt like the designs was a copy of something else, but couldn't place my finger on what it was (dark energy creatures all tend to look somewhat similar). That said, I did decided on one which felt more appropriate for the character:

 

I'm still not sure if the four spike-like things protruding from his head are horns or ears, but they do give him that more menacing look. His body is also has a sort of organic/liquid like flow to it, with various ends to his 'robe' like body looking (and acting) like tentacles. This would give him a more floating look as he moves across surfaces (well, when he's not moving around like a mist cloud at least). While the eyes stand out from the rest of his body, features like arms only appear when he needs them. The shape of his head here....

....would not show up given the nature of his form (as stated earlier, 'Black space with stars and faint nebula's). Perhaps I can make an exception for the head and give a faint dark grey outline just to distinguish the head from a sort of side angle. As for any arms he might produce, it depends on the angle and how they look (e.g. if it looks terrible from a certain angle, then perhaps a similar faint dark grey outline may work - possibly blood red given his energy glows and acts 'blood-like' in nature).

He does summon energy (if you can call it that) and use energy based attacks, though they use the colour red and seem to look more organic like blood then actual energy (as I mentioned above). This represents his connections to the Bloodclaws as well as his own history of genetic manipulation and evolution. In combat he tends to lash out in rapid, fluid motion with incredible speed. His body tends to form sharp clawed hands, deadly sword/spear like tentacles and other claw/scythed armed appendages. Against a singular powerful foe he would focus on testing his opponents weaknesses up close,but against an army he would kill enough of the enemy to use their bio-matter to forge new monstrous creations from it to continue the fight. This would be through his power, allowing him to create all sorts of killer beasts within less then a minute (he possesses vast amounts of genetic knowledge, so he already knows what to create before he's even started).

Another thought occurred while coming up with his design, a sort of strange comic that I felt I had to draw (Why?):

How does he talk if he possesses no mouth? It isn't done telepathically and truth be told, I never thought about it until now.......he just does.

Thoughts on comics today

Have watched a lot of videos by Linkara recently and it's got me thinking about today's standard of comics.  

People pay to read these comics and given their current pricing, it ain't cheap. So if you pay for something, you expect it to be atleast on the level of good. My point? Why do we pay for comics that struggle to be good, when you can find so many better ones online for free (With decent stories or jokes that are actually funny)? That's right, web comics are proving to be both popular and better done then those that you spend $5 on. Not only that, but some of them are out more often then once a month. Go out and find some today.

.......just saying....

(when a bad fanfic is more entertaining then a paid comic, you know the industry has a problem)

Wizards WiP

An update on the wizards.

Jade here has finished being converted (robe gap will be done once other side is glued on) and has just been based painted so you can see how he'll look. I have an owl familiar which, when painted, will be placed on the top of his staff.

The grey wizard still has his misty smoke to be done (as you can slightly see thanks to the crap quality of this photo). Obviously, this one is still going to take some more time to finish.

Eggs and Arms

Got back from more Easter shopping (got to get them before the rush actually kicks in). Products just seem to get more and more expensive each year....despite the products never getting bigger. Anyway.....

Finally managed to get to my local GW store for more advice on the Inquisitor model. Two things came from this. The first is that it isn't so much blending, but actual scraping the green stuff off the model as some parts have already enough on it to simply scrape and file blend. The Second, is that he arms a set out to be larger then they already are...

Apparently, given the shape of the model, his arms are too far out, giving him a bulky look, which I never had intended. While the sword arm is fine (givin that the sword covers this up well enough), the gun arm is...well...obvious. This means I have to remove the arm and somehow try another way to keep a similar pose, but keep the arm more under and inline with the shoulder then it already is. Back to the surgeons table for this guy.

Missing Mist

The two Empire wizards are going well so far, with the Jade near finish converting (including base). My problem now lies with the Grey Wizard. I've sculpted his mask and hood, with his staff top still WiP. My problem is that I planned a sort of smokey mist effect to be coming off/moving behind him and despite much searching, there are very little (if any) models with this effect.

I now look for artworks with which show a similar effect as reference for when I begin sculpting, though so far I have only found one such picture. I will have to paint the interior of the robes before sculpting, given that I need to sculpt over the lower robes and that means he'd need to be glues together (he already looks as if he's covering up and it'd be difficult to paint him once he's been glued together).

Slight Site Update

I do plan to get more of my characters done along with other things. That said, the menu bar isn't long enough for everything and so I will probably have to merge the Skaven and Warhammer Sections together, thus freeing up more room for another project bar. I also plan to do some test voices and possibly place them in my 'Other Works' section, but that may come later on.

Project updates for March

Project update time again....

Inquisitor and Warband:

Still need to work on the green stuff some more, but this is my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. Being a psyker he needed a force sword and the Grey Knight one looked great. The Needle Pistol is converted from parts of an Empire pistol, needle from a Dark Eldar Cronos Parasite Engine leftovers (can't remember the other name off my head) and the scope is from one of the extras of the Empire Celestial Hurricanum. The Inquisitor himself is a convert of Chaos Cultist leader and Empire Duelist. I like how he looks, though his head does look down a bit too much.

My Deathcult Assassins using Dark Eldar Wyches. I named these two after the twin moon goddesses I created for a group that used Chaos Space Marine rules years ago. Twin Elven Goddesses, one of dreams (dark skin with white hair) and one of nightmares (pale skin with black hair), both of which had units named after various moon names and moon related figures. Am now working on plans for the groups Psyker.

Empire Wizards:

Early work of my planned Jade Wizard. More of him to come later, along with a Grey Wizard I also have planned.

Xzark Soulsplitter:

Early WiP pics of one of my more written characters. Still having a lot of trouble with his conversion, mostly because I hate sculpting with green stuff. This project is broken into three parts: His body and head, his mount and finally his imp familiar:

Tzeek:

Despite Xzark being a Chaos Lord and not a Sorcerer, Tzeek has been with him since I first created him. Game wise, he's just for show, but he has a bigger role story wise. Just need to do some tiding and sculpt some arms and he should be done.

Season 3

There has been a lot of talk about Season 3 of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It seems that this season has really divided the fandom, but I admit that I struggled to watch and enjoy it. Perhaps the fun I had has worn off and it's time to move on, or perhaps the writing has begun to focus in the wrong direction.

The one that really divides fans is the episode where Discord (Lord of Chaos) is redeemed from being a villain to one of the good guys. The episode is good, everyone agrees, but it's Discord being good that splits fans. Discord is a complicated character in that he just loves Chaos (that which is not bound by law). Technically it doesn't make him evil, just more child like that he can do just about anything. Only through evil acts (like turning the main six against each other) is he classed as a villain. Him being good is just as easy to justify that with friends he can become a better individual, but in both cases it's law that justifies his stance as a Good or Bad individual.

There was much potential for him as a villain, but given that the show is based for a younger audience, that potential is limited (such power as his can become both dangerous and misused by any writer). I also don't think he was made good because the writers liked him being shipped with Princess Celestia (Although I do like that idea. After all, love is a very powerful emotion).

Edit: Yes, forgot to mention they did remove Ditzy Doo/Derpy Hooves from the show. This is a serious peeve of mine as there was nothing wrong with the character and thanks to many fans out there (this one I just love), the character is considered to be just as popular (if not more popular) then the main cast. Just because the character is cross eyed and slightly clumsy (hell, Sailor Moon was just as clumsy in her early years on her T.V show), doesn't mean the characters mentally challenged. I've met people who are and they live normal lives just like everyone else. For a show about love and tolerance, they have a very negative way for dealing with social problems.

Yes the ending of the season with Twilight becoming an Alicorn (I thought the term Alicorn was a variant of a Unicorns horn.....have to double check that one) wasn't the best idea and the mixed emotions of some over the 'Wonderbolt's Academy' episode seems to me that this season was the downward turn of the series. I'm not even sure if I'm part of it anymore, but even if I do give it up, both my characters of Storm Spear, Sparky and Lord Corrupticus Fellwing have already been integrated into other stories of my own creative universe, so it really doesn't matter now.

Also, the Bronies documentary arrived along with the shirt....there I am:

I was one of many who help fund this project, my reasons being to help people understand Bronies and to promote things like tolorence and understanding. Society is a vicious evil these days and if people learned more positive attitudes then we could make this world a better place to live (seriously people, just chill a little and learn to enjoy life. So much anger, so much hate).

Recent Games - Quick Reviews

I have learned that through my reflection on some of my fav classic games (Part 1), I have now concluded that as technology has advanced and we get more advanced games, the gameplay and addiction has gone downhill. What do I mean? Well, how often do you play a game repeatedly or go back to play it again later on (NOT counting MMO's)? Nuff said,

Aliens: Colonial Marines:
What more can be said that most reviewers haven't already said. Sadly mine was the Xbox version. My only advice to the makers is go play the Marine campaign form the old Alien vs Predator 2 game, cause that still had some humans (well, synthetics but close enough) and even a Predator fight or two and stll you fought more Aliens and Alien scenarios then in this latest release.

Dead Space 3:
It must just be me, but was anyone else disappointed by this game. So, to clarify, these are the reasons I find this disappointing. First is Plasma Cutter and Nodes, given that after two games they now remove Nodes from existence and the Plasma Cutter (after being the one and only weapon you needed to beat the previous games) becomes completely useless. I got the limited edition and the rifle with shotgun attachment DLC gun was all I needed to beat the game. What was the point? When you take your games main icons and remove or ignore them, you risk ruining the product.

Finally, the scare factor. This game was NOT scary at all. I felt it was highly frustrating at times, but it was nowhere near scary compared to the previous two games. Even the Necromorphs didn't look that human, thus they didn't seem as terrifying as previous ones (and the guys with axes were just plain annoying and didn't make as much sense). At least human enemies were a bit more limited compared to that Aliens game.

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm:
Just completed the campaign and I must say that story wise, I was happy with the overall result. It does flesh out Kerrigan more as a person ruled by emotion, and the tragedy that surrounds her life. I did see someone complain that they found the kiss scene between Raynor and Kerrigan annoying and just wanted combat action, but screw them. There are various parts to the overall story of the Starcraft universe and the relationship between James Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan is one major part of it. It's both beautiful and tragic at the same time and just when you think this will get better, the situation goes to hell.

In truth, I really have only a few complains (apart from a few voice bugs and game crashes) and they are missions and evolution. Somehow this expansion just feels short compared the Terran campaign, but I guess that's because each planet has three missions where as the Terran one had single missions so you had to travel more. Then there is the 'Evolution' part of the game. In truth, there was very little of it compared to what we were told when they first announced it. For me, I am a major fan of the ever evolving alien race, so I really felt disappointed with the results. Perhaps it's just me, but the evolution thing is perhaps my only major gripe with this game. Still, music was great and I enjoyed this one out of the three I mentioned here.

Overdue

Wow, was February a major disappointment. Let's just say it was a very bad time and hopefully the next few months will pick up. I'll get more into this later, but right now just felt to have some sort of update.

Edit 13/3/13 - Will be a little delayed with update, something called 'Heart Of The Swarm' has lead to an infestation of enjoyment and has blinded my sense of reality..........thank goodness for that.

Edit 16/3/13 - Oh boy, here comes the updates....