Sunbathing
Here's something you probably didn't know: I don't usually color my own stuff. I'm pretty content with just coloring other people's characters (for whatever reason) but a few months back I did this pretty good drawing of a girl taking a sunbath. I wasn't even finished with it before I said to myself: "I need to put color on this," so I did.
I knew beforehand that I wanted the background elements to be flat and that the girl herself would be more fully rendered. What I couldn't predict was just how much more thought was involved in deciding what colors to use on what. Without any ground rules laid before me, I suddenly found myself questioning and going back and forth on simple choices I'd previously taken for granted such as hair color.
I already have the drawings for my next three coloring piece scanned and ready to be taken into Photoshop and all of them are based on existing character but this is something I definitely want to try again in the future. It was kind of fun to be in complete control like that. I just need to wait for the right drawing to come along.
Revisiting Chrono Trigger
I've long considered Chrono Trigger to be the pinnacle of JRPGs but it's been quite a while since I last played the game (via emulator) in high school. A few months back, I got an itch to play the game so I got the DS version and I've been completely floored once again. Not only is the game just flawless in terms of presentation but it's also way ahead of its time in terms of gameplay (which amuses me being how time-centric the story is). No random battles, swap characters anywhere without experience penalties, being able to move during most dialogue sequences, status effects removed at the end of battle, and so forth. Everything about it serves to make the experience as streamlined, nimble and enjoyable as it can be as opposed to most other JRPGs where playing can almost feel like a chore.
The Ocarina of Time has long been my favorite game ever but revisiting Chrono Trigger after all this time makes me wonder if it's not time for a change up.
Sketchbook Update: Graveyard Shift Edition
It was no more than two months ago that I looked at how many blank pages were left in my sketchbook thinking how I'd never be able to complete it all by year's end. Fast forward to now and I'm wondering just how many months ahead of time I'll have it all filled in. Ah, the wonders of working the graveyard shift.
It's a terrible shift actually and if I'll be shocked if I don't end up pulling my hair out in 3 months time.
But I do get to draw a lot so that's a plus.
Below is the new stuff and here is the whole shebang.
Read more...A “Final Fantasy IX” review.
Wait, what? Why am I reviewing a 10 year old game?
Well, because I recently played through it for the first time courtesy of the PSN. Simple, right? Actually, I'm only on the fourth and final disc so I haven't actually beaten it and I won't be doing an all-encompassing review of the title. Instead, I'll focus on a few specific points that managed to catch my attention over the course of my playthrough, so this is more of a look at FFIX through the prism of ten years of advancement in game development.
Read more...Influence Map
I found this neat little thing that's going on over at deviantART. It was started by fox-orian and well, just take a look at it, it's pretty self-explanatory.
This is actually the second version of my Influence Map. What happened is that I picked mostly from comics and a couple illustrators in my first version, neglecting every other medium out there. I was OK with that until I glanced at The Complete Collection of Calvin and Hobbes on my shelf and realized I had made a terrible mistake. So I redid the whole thing, including Calvin and Hobbes, and decided to expand into films, video games and animation. The first one (which I've posted below) was about right in terms of which artists inspire me directly as an illustrator but the second one is much broader.
And, of course, a month from now I could feel very differently about any of these choices and I'm sure I must've forgotten at least one hugely influential thing.
Still, it was a cool little thing to pass the time with.
UPDATE: For completely blowing my feeble little mind when I first saw Dragonball Z as a kid, his unique take on character designs and for leaving an imprint in my work that still creeps out every now and then, I'm replacing Contra III with Akira Toriyama. I won't touch this map ever again, I swear.
Read more...Paul Robertson Awesomeness
More so than the source material or the Anamanaguchi soundtrack or the old school beat 'em up influence, it's Paul Robertson's sprite work that made getting "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game" a no-brainer. The exclusion of online play is deplorable but look at those sprites!
It's not "Pirate Baby's Cabana Battle Street Fight 2006: The Game" but it's probably the next best thing.
Big fan of Paul Robertson here.
B4B – Episode 012: Catching Up
It's been a while since our last episode and Mark and I have been playing a number of titles so, instead of the usual list or review, this will be a quick catch up episode where we lay down some quick impressions. There's Alan Wake, Red Dead Redemption, Limbo, BlazBlue and Final Fantasy XIII among others. We have a better recording setup now but it seems we didn't test it thoroughly so apologies if the audio quality is not on par with that of previous episodes.
Listen to the episode below and subscribe to our feeds here: 
On Wonder Woman’s new costume
Let's talk about comic book costumes again.
DC has set the internet ablaze once again, this time by drastically altering the look of one of its most iconic characters: Wonder Woman. There's always going to be opposition against change in comics, even more so with a long standing character such as Diana, so I feel I have to at least commend DC for truly going all the way with such a bold move. The question (and raison d'être of this post) is whether this is a step in the right direction or not.
Click on the image above to see a beautiful Alex Ross rendition of the classic costume and click below for the new Jim Lee version.
Read more...Another oldie: Optimus Prime
This is another old piece that I uploaded to the site early on but one I never dedicated an actual post to. It's a piece that holds up rather well despite being many years old though why I gave dear old Prime such a tiny, tiny head still escapes me. The background, or lack thereof, is just plain embarassing also.
I'm posting this in lieu of a new piece because, well, I have had zero time to get some Photoshop work done at home. I have at least 3 drawings of stuff that I really, really want to get colored before I throw them on here, not to mention 3 other ideas for illustrations I want to get done but alas, zero time to do them.
Have a progress animation of Prime in the meantime.
Read more...Arkham City! Whoo-hoo!
The sequel to Arkham Asylum is finally named!
With Arkham Asylum being one of the best games last year and definitely one of the biggest game-related surprises in a long time, there is little I can say to describe just how much I want this game. The fact that the only thing on my request list is "better boss battles" speaks volumes of just how good I think it was.
It's gonna be a long wait until fall 2011.
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