What a difference a year (and 3 months) can make

Yesterday I marked up the last page of my cheap 70pg sketchbook from Target.  It's a picture of Renegade!F!Shepard from Mass Effect 2.

As I was drawing it, I realized I had done a similar picture about a year ago... and I was pretty sure I had posted it on here.  So I went through my "archives" (lolz) and found it - the influx of studies, Dragon Age fanart, ME fanart, and other assorted stuff (the post is here).

The picture I was thinking of was this one:

The styles are pretty different (although I'd recognize my heavy lines no matter what), but it occurred to me that I was going for more realism in both pictures when I drew them.  It's amazing what a year+ of practice can do. 

(also, I'm pretty sure that the one from my moleskin too me longer to draw than the one I drew yesterday)

I'm not sure which one is "better" - they both have their strengths and weaknesses.  The important thing is that I'm making some progress, even if it looks like I'm taking steps back sometimes, instead of just resting on my laurels.

Blowing the dust off for two shakes

Yeah, so much for updating on a daily/weekly/monthly basis.  Between apartment hunting, moving, setting everything up, and playing video games (why hello there Red Dead Redemption, Alpha Protocol [stay away from that buggy PoS!], Yakuza 3, etc etc etc), drawing in general has been pretty low on my totem pole.  I have been doing at least a few studies per week, though, which I hope to get scanned in this week.

Since I have nothing to show, I'll dive into some quick video game reviews:

Red Dead Redemption: LOVE IT. It's a gorgeous game with a decent story and memorable characters (some of them make me so MAD I wish I could just kill them on the spot).  I like the combat, and I'm even doing okay on Expert :D  If you don't want to buy it, you should at least rent it.  It makes me like Westerns, and I normally am not a fan of those (to say the least).

Alpha Protocol: I WOULD HAVE loved it, except that it's buggy.  So buggy, in fact, that it froze my game in one particular spot about 15 to 20 hours in.  Couldn't get past the freezing at all, no matter what I did (I even set up a fan behind my Xbox 360 unit to keep it cooler).  RDR worked just fine, but Alpha Protocol came to a stuttering halt every time in those ruins in Rome.  It's a shame, too, because I actually liked it as a game.  The plot is decent, the characters are memorable, the combat is a less polished version of Mass Effect 2, with more of an RPG level up system, and the conversation system is a combo of Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age, but TIMED.

Yakuza 3: not very far into it, but Kaz is a great uncle :D

The wonders of Omegle.com, or "Wow, you're a geek..!"

Okay, this has nothing to do with art, and everything with me being a geek.

There's a site called Omegle, where you chat with a random stranger, until one of you ends the conversation.

This is one such conversation I had with a gentleman via Omegle.  I tried using the shortest, and yet technically complete D&D adventure (per Monte Cook), and it just snowballed into this...

---

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!
Stranger: im a guy btw
You: Hello, new player!
You: You are in a 10ft by 10ft room.
Stranger: oh, game time?
You: You see an orc with a pie.
Stranger: oh shit i want that pie
Stranger: apple?
You: The orc is looking at you warily.
You: Yes, it appears to be an apple pie.
Stranger: warily? ima gonna charge him
You: Ok, roll initiative!
Stranger: that pie is mine
Stranger: ROLL!
You: /roll
Stranger: /roll?
You: The orc has rolled a 13 out of 20.
You: You have a chance to beat him!
Stranger: ok, dam
Stranger: what if i upgrade my stuff
Stranger: i can roll to 30 now
Stranger: /roll
Stranger: i ole 22
Stranger: rol*
You: Ok, you go first!
Stranger: i win
You: Ok, roll to hit
Stranger: pie is mine!
You: It looks like his armor class isn't very good
Stranger: dam, i thought the pie was mine?
You: You can probably take him
You: No, you just rolled to see who went first
Stranger: god damit .... well
Stranger: i use my fuckin bow and arrow
Stranger: HEAD SHOT!
You: You successfully head-shotted the orc!
Stranger: thats a 5% chance btw
Stranger: oh yeah bitchs
You: The pie drops to the ground.
Stranger: i pick it up!
You: You pick it up. The pie seems to have a bit of red on it.
You: It's also covered with whipped cream.
Stranger: i dont care, gonna eat it
Stranger: oh yeah, red, whipped cream, sounds like my weekend
You: You eat the pie.
You: It tastes delicious!
Stranger: oh yeah, 10+ all states!
Stranger: know ima gonna /roll to see if i can get moe pie
You: Somewhere, there is a bakery making more delicious pies.
Stranger: oh god yes! pie is good
Stranger: oh wait
Stranger: are we using pie as a metaphor for women?
Stranger: if not, thats cool
Stranger: mmmm pie
You: Either or. Orcs are knows for devouring humans, as well as apples.
You: Do you wish to exit the room and search for any bakeries that employ other orcs?
Stranger: oh yeah, so i want it EVEN if its not a pie, but a chic
Stranger: with whipped cream
Stranger: oh yes
Stranger: i ount my flying zoo-bat
Stranger: mount*
You: Ok, you exit the 10ft x 10ft room, and mount your flying zoo-bat!
You: Roll me a perception check!
Stranger: NO, I MOUNT IT in THE 10FT BY 10FT ROOM
You: !!
Stranger: o god, not again
You: Ok, you mount the zoo-bat in the 10ft by 10ft room.
Stranger: rolling?! i want too mount my zoo-bat NOW
Stranger: oh yeah, now ima gonna ride that zoo-bat to the bakery
You: No, rolling perception was to see if you could track down orc-run bakeries.
Stranger: /roll perception check
Stranger: 9/30
Stranger: dam
You: Hmm.
You: Ok, you don't see anything. However, your zoo-bat rolled a 22/30.
Stranger: oh yes! i love it when my zoo-bat wins at this!
Stranger: he smells the pie
You: Your zoo-bat starts flying to the outskirts of the town, following a trail of apple and/or women pie!
Stranger: oh yes whipped cream here i come
Stranger: he dives!
Stranger: *gasp*
Stranger: i jump off him and land on the roof of a house
Stranger: fall thro
Stranger: and BAM there pie
Stranger: but theres also 10 orcs
Stranger: all with there weapons out
You: One of them is an elite War Orc!
Stranger: i use WHIRLWIND!
Stranger: it has a 10% chance to stun
You: Level 80 warrior, empowered with apple pie, stuns 8 out of the 10 normal orcs!
Stranger: oh yeah!
You: The war orc is still conscious and moving!
Stranger: wait, 80? what is this shit
Stranger: im like lvl - mr T
Stranger: Mr T schools ALL bitchs
You: You examine the War Orc, and realize that he too is a level Mr T.
Stranger: oh god
Stranger: well, im a CHARGIN MY LAZER!
Stranger: DOCTOROCTOGONPUS BLAAAAH!
You: Laser is charging
You: Laser is charging
You: Laser is charging
Stranger: triple finish!
Stranger: its super effective
You: The laser blast dispiates harmlessly after the War Orc's "I don't have time for this jibberjabber" shield!
Stranger: oh god!
You: War Orc is now charin his lazer!!11
Stranger: Mr T quote means i die
Stranger: welll, ROUND HOUSE KICK PLZ>!?!?!?!!!
Stranger: face shot
You: His lazer fails, as he misspelled "chargin"!
Stranger: oh yeah
Stranger: =)
You: You successfully round house kick him! The power of Chuck Norris compels you!
Stranger: oh yeah, it creates a new big bang
Stranger: but then the war ork wins
Stranger: cause we all know that chuck norris is weak
Stranger: war ork eats pie/ women
Stranger: and then explodes
Stranger: cause that pie/ women had a bomb on its chest
You: The War Orc goes "Om nom nom," and devours the women and pies.
You: And he explodes!
Stranger: those implants werent real?!
You: Mr T pities the fool orc who makes it to his level~!
Stranger: they were a bomb
Stranger: oooooohhhhhh yeeeaaaaaahhhh
Stranger: dam, know i own the bakery
Stranger: that bakery is my bitch
You: The bakery was destroyed in the new big bang, unfortunately.
Stranger: oh
You: However, you see 100k gold laying in the spot of the former bakery
Stranger: well, oh
Stranger: oh YEAH!
You: Would you like to rebuild the bakery and make more delicious pies? Y/N?
Stranger: coll-aid wins
Stranger: N
Stranger: ima gonna get me some hoes
Stranger: and build a playboy house
Stranger: happily ever after
You: The end! I hope you enjoyed this adventure, and remember - Cleanse spells are good for removing disease after sleeping with a ho!
You: Hookers and blow for the win!

---

And then the conversation ended, I joined Facebook, and we went on Omegle and regaled people with War Orc, courtesy of Nick Markey.

The end!

Happy Belated New Year's and whatnot!

Yeah, I'm totally late to the party, but still - I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve!  I know I did, even if I don't remember certain parts of it :3

I have a bunch of studies I need to scan and post, but I have been slacking off to play World of Warcrack and more Dragon Age: Origins.  I hope to get them scanned, cleaned up, and posted by this Sunday... and then I hope to maybe start working on an actual piece, instead of just a bunch of studies.  We'll see what I get done!

I also have oil paints calling out to me, but I want to make sure I know how to dispose of them properly before I start mucking around with them.

Later!

RIP Nintendo Wii - I hardly knew ye. Too much waggle.

I have a ton of geometric head structure studies from last night and my lunch break today - probably about 3hrs worth from last night - but I'm so not in the mood to scan them.  My Nintendo Wii - or the disc drive, at least - died today.

I'm pissed because I bought my mom the Wii Fit Plus so she could use it for her hip rehabilitation exercises, and of course the Wii decides to crap out NOW.  It's not like I played it very much (didn't have many games that I liked, or the ones that I did like were destroyed later on), so I don't know why the fuck it stopped reading discs.  I can go on the internet, check out the Wii channels, but I can't play a fucking game disc.  I mean, wtf - it was able to play games after it survived the sewer back-up a year and a half ago.  Lame.

So Mom and I are going to buy a new Wii tomorrow - we're gonna go halfsies on it.  That way if she's still playing it when I move out, it's hers, but if she's done with it by then, I'll take it with me.

In the meantime, I'm going to play video games to try and calm down.  I'll scan and post the studies tomorrow.

Oh hai winter!

Yep, our first real snowstorm of the year decided to make an appearance.  We ended up with about 3 inches of a snow/slush mix, which supposedly equated to about 3/4th of an inch of RAIN.  It was super fun to shovel, and is probably frozen solid in certain parts of the county, I'm sure.

I made it to work safely (and on time wtf?!), and just finished up my lunch break.  I did a few more anatomy studies, but I don't know if I should post them or not... I probably should, because this blog is intended more for my daily sketches than anything else.  I'll have to scan them, and take pics of the studies I did last night, when I get home.

Well, not much to add for now.  Back to the daily grind!

The bad thing about doing studies on cheap paper...

... is that sometimes the graphite smears all over the place a few days later, if you keep your sketchbook in your backpack with you.

I have some fairly recent stuff I'd like to scan, but it's smudged to Hell and back, due to soft lead, my heavy cave-man grip, cheap sketchbook paper, and carting said sketchbook all over the place.

On the other hand, it's cheap paper, so I don't feel like I'm "wasting" resources with studies. It's a ridiculous hang-up, I know, but still :/

I'll try to scan my daily lunch break sketch/study and post it before I punch out for the day.