More requests!

So my infamy has become somewhat spread around has it? Or perhaps people getting a bit jealous of my Display Pictures on MSN?

Anyway, a good friend has been bugging me to draw him (again) but this time in colour. I challenged him to give me something sketch-and-colour-worthy (seeing as I'd much prefer pretty girls). I got... well... something acceptable and he HAS been raving about this Metal Gear Solid (yes... MGS is Metal Gear Solid, not Methodist Girls' School) game for his PSP (auto-aim is for losers, pal) so I obliged. Makes for a pretty nice DP apparently.

So after I flexed my long unused colouring muscles, I decided to pop out another meganemoe pic for my own benefit. This time I tried to use some pretty sneaky methods like more organised shading, clouds and glass effects. Not to mention that it was originally sketched by pencil and not inked as I usually do for my coloured pictures. Had to play around with contrasts and brightness a lot. Hey, I've got bad fashion (and colour) taste! I also made a mistake in the shading but I won't draw too much attention to that.

As to the previous political sketch I did... well... my friend is colouring it. Hopefully he'll be able to show of HIS colouring skills (it's a real nightmare to colour, I can assure you) and if I like it I'll plonk it here for you to see.

Reading a LOT of fantastic webcomics lately. Jealous of some who make it to having their own stalls at conventions. Then again... I wonder if I can stomach drawing yaoi and yuri pictures all day long and missing out on the screenings. Hmmm... Yuri, maybe... but I'd need to see some action IN PERSON before I can really draw it realistically.

Okay, I'm signing off. I shouldn't be up this late.

First Official (sorta) Commission

Ha, so since I didn't really put up many pictures in the last few weeks, here's one that my good mate at Uni has requested me to produce for his somewhat political-satire site. Hopefully it's to his liking, because it took a fair amount of research and time to produce it. See if you can spot the major (Australian) political figures (and icon).

I REALLY hope the freedom of speech thing is well and alive because the last thing I would want is some Gestapo organisation breathing down my neck.

Happy Birthday to ME!

Surgeon General's Warning: Alien symbiotes may cause severe bouts of emo and loss of dancing skills.

Alright, let's start this way: I'm 26 now. Many thanks to those who sent early and timely greetings and presents. I truly feel happy so many people remembered, especially some who were recently down with germs or preoccupied with sales in preparation for long trips.

Good celebration, too. I went out to a good steak dinner last night after a very nice job interview. Apparently my conduct during my Masters years as a tutor has alotted me a fair amount of good karma. I don't think I should go further.

As to the picture... well, I saw Spiderman 3 earlier in the week. Very nice, highly enjoyable although there's some inconsistencies with characters and plots. Still, turn off the mind a bit and you'll have a good laugh or two (I swear Stan Lee's senile!). Apparently Emo = Evil now. Anyway, the pic's supposed to be a birthday present to someone else on this day.

Once again, many thanks to you all.

Jump Ultimate Stars Madness!

Ohoho, my duckies! It's been a bit long hasn't it?

Well I've got my reasons. Lots of them, really. First of all, a big THANK YOU to the number of people who have facilitated the arrival of Jump Ultimate Stars to my doorstep. You know who you are. Let me say that of all the games I've gotten for my DS, this is probably the MOST fun one I've ever played (despite it being entirely in JAPANESE) and have immersed myself thoroughly for the past week. I mean... Bankai Ichigo versus Kyuubi Naruto? C'mon! I'm so thrilled I wrote thought up a proper comic for it, too! I thought up a few more funny ones but once I started drawing I realised I'm not used to drawing small panels (hard to fit) and just decided to do them individually and ignore the size ratios. Then I kinda didn't want to use inks because I'm severly out of practice so I just used pencils. Then it kinda scanned weird. So I stopped at one. Might reserve the other ideas for later if I write them down.

That alone didn't take ALL my time (it took a lot, though). I've had to do rush job interviews here and there and one involved a very hasty trip to Canberra. Very, very hard interview with very, very hard questions. Scary. Got a few more to do in the coming weeks. Sigh. But the good news is that I got my residency and can now stick around Australia for a bit. Yeeha! Anyway these things took up a fair amount of time and effort, so I'll leave out most of the generalities.

On a side note, turning 26 soon. Thank you very much for the early present, Ying. I like it heaps. That's a hint for other gift givers to take note. Will probably be seeing Spiderman 3 before that comes along though. Hmmm....

Oh well, that's it for this time. Might do some more sketches later in the week.

300 Makes Straight Men GAR!

No that's not misspelled. It's GAR. I suggest you go look it up on google while cross-referencing it to internet memes or perhaps Fate/Stay Night. It is pretty appropriate in this context. Anyway, yes... I FINALLY managed to see 300 and I've got to say that asides from the sappy bits here and there and some fairly awkward CGI monsters... the movie's pretty much a masterpiece of art and action (and especially masculanity). Seriously... the dramatic and intense fighting scenes with the drawn out action and panned view... absolutely stunning. Choreography is par none. Blows Matrix out in that sense. I'm truly glad I didn't miss this on the big screen.

Yet Spiderman 3 is out! Agh! Gotta find time to go for that too!

Anyway, some good news. I'm off for an intervew for potential work soon. I shan't divulge where and when but I will say it's been something I've been hoping for. If I do get it I'll let you all know of my new position provided I'm not required to keep it classified.

So alright... the sketches. First one, obviously, King Leonidas in 300. I was kind of hardpressed to think of anything to come up with (particularly anything original) so I thought I'd do a tribute to the movie, seeing how much I liked it. The third sketch (and inked) one is based on a class in Guild Wars called the Paragon. It was my contribution to a commission request but obviously I wasn't chosen so I didn't go on to colouring it. The picture was supposed to be derived off the first pic (of 300) putting the Paragon in Leonidas's pose... but I messed around with the pose and weapons.

The second sketch is inspired by this fantastic toy I've seen in the comic shops of Gabranth from Final Fantasy XII. I thought that if I gave a poor sketch of it I could slowly get a better understanding of how to draw and come up with armour parts for any future characters. Seriously, though... it's about the coolest model I've ever seen. A pity the swords are too hard to include.

The fourth is something I was pondering over the past week. It came to me one day that I should do a tribute to megane-moe, i.e. the strange draw of spectacled characters. It's something I came upon while searching for the term 'moe' (pronounced Moe-Eh). I wanted to do a study of different expressions and fashions... so something like summer and winter... sorta. Well, I tried... honest. It just... kinda... fizzled. Lacked a lot of character, severly lacked charm so I gave up and just tried to do a simple winter meganemoe. Sigh...

Finally, the fifth is a study pic on the nature of this young girl's pout. Now... I COULD have included her mother and her disapproving glare to ward off you young punks out there... but I ran out of space. Maybe another time. Still, I would like to thank her for getting me Jump Ultimate Stars, which I am eagerly awaiting to arrive. Oh, man... Hollow Ichigo vs Kyuubi Naruto!

Anyway that's it. I'll leave you punks and punkettes for now as I go back to some preparations.