Tag Archives: books

Tools of the Trade

Posted on by
Reply

Another 5 months have passed. Let’s see if I can even recall what’s happened this year. It’s all a blur.

//

In Art, after Drawtober, I told myself I would take a break. Drawing 31 days straight was a test of endurance, and I did finish the month. But needed a break, and told myself I would, for the remainder of the year. That lasted till December 29th. With Jinx.

I also added two more X-Men blocks for my wall to wrap up 2024 Rogue and Gambit. I have one more completed, with Jean Grey, and I think I’ll need to do one for Cyclops to offset. And then maybe the next two will be Majok and Colossus?

I drew Erica Slaughter from James Tynion’s: Something is Killing the Children book, from BOOM. This book was just announced that it would be expected to go to (at least) 100 issues. Which is quite the achievement.

In January I started noticing some of the Marvel Rivals skins, Sue Storm specifically, and thought it would be fun to draw. I had no idea she had an evil side. With spikes and all. This has inspired more Marvel Rival drawings. Currently I’m working on Luna Snow, and might do Emma Frost and Squirrel Girl.

Spider-Gwen was my grand finale for Drawtober 2024. Although I knew it wasn’t complete at the time, I needed a break. After a few months off and some warm-up pieces to kick off the year, I felt ready to revisit and finish this piece.

Feeling in the colouring mood, I decided to tackle another drawing from a few years back that I had left in the Ink phase. This happens from time to time, where I like the drawing enough to ink it, but colouring is a completely different beast, and I can go months without touching that toolset. But after Gwen and Malice, I felt the time was now. One day I’ll get around to finish colouring my Hawkgirl.

Absolute Wonder Woman is one of the best comics I’m reading right now. And drawing Wonder Woman is fun.

A quick Lady Thor. I forget why I was inspired.

More Magik because the Darkchild is always fun to draw.

Another favourite to draw, Psylocke.

Heading into May now with a collection. Angela from Spawn. Red Sonja. Blood and Thunder character Akeldama (a new and fun comic), and Hellgirl (gender swapped Hellboy).

Wrapping up the Summer with Rasputin IV, and the current piece I’ve been working on: Savage Land Rogue. Rogue might be a 2 piece as I want to add another section to the right, showing more of the savage land, with dinosaurs and some more X-Men. I think it would create a veery cool 2-poster visual on my wall.

//

In game news, I guess this has been where most of my time has been dedicated, as I’ve been working my way through sequels-a-plenty.

  • The year of sequels:
  • The Last of Us II
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
  • Horizon: Forbidden West
  • Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2
  • Jurassic World Evolution 2
  • God of War: Ragnarok
  • Spider-Man 2 (in progress)
  • Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
  • Mafia II: DE
  • A Plague Tale: Requiem
  • Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II
  • Doom Eternal (in progress)

In March I finished Horizon: Forbidden West. 40/80 achievements and 151 in-game photos. I needed to wrap it up as Last of Us II was releasing on PC and I needed to jump on that before the show’s season 2. I will create a separate folder for some of the amazing captures, but here are some of my favourites. The game is truly gorgeous.

In May I finished The Last of Us II Remastered. I wanted to play it and finish it before the second season of the show started on HBO. 14/45 achievements, 23 hours and 138 screenshots. I will create a separate folder for some of the amazing captures, but here are some of my favourites. The game definitely takes an emotional toll – but is a masterpiece.

Non-sequel (but does have a 2 in the title) I also finished Cyberpunk 2077 and the Phantom Liberty expansion. 70 Hrs and 240 screenshots. I could easily spend another 20 hours driving the streets of Night City and Dogtown, totally immersed in their stories. But the sequels won’t play themselves, so alas I must move on.

Also in co-op, Illestrader and I played through Warhammer 40K Space Marines 2 after we finished Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand. Warhammer was a bloody good time, and I’ve been playing the recently remastered release of the first Space Marines game.

Now we have transitioned into Skull and Bones for some pirate fun.

Making slow progress in Doom Eternal, and I have now started up Spider-Man 2 before I head on vacation. After vacation I’ll have to make some decisions, as obviously the sequels are there, but there’s some newer games that have released that I would also like to try, like the much talked about Clair Obscur Expedition 33, and Stellar Blade is also on my wishlist, and is on PC now. Two games with styles are not typically in my wheelhouse, but I’m willing to try new things. Especially considering that Clair Obscur is looking like a very real Game of the Year contender. And in August, Metal Gear Solid 3 Delta will also be released.

I think that catches everyone up with the latest. I hope to return to the normal monthly wrap ups, as 5 months is just too much. Next month, as I wont have much new art to share, I’ll share more about my recent comic books I’ve been buying and reading, and a recap of my annual collection stats. We’ll also have the #faceyourart annual collage to see all the faces I’ve drawn over the past 12 months. Should be a fun visual.

’till then.

Rogan

The Side Job

Posted on by
Reply

Hello everyone, and welcome back to another monthly wrap-up. After last month’s lengthily post, I have a somewhat shorter installment, as I didn’t really get up to all that much throughout last month, April. In the month of May I accomplished a bit more, but April was very much a rest month.

//

As always, let’s start with the games.

I beat Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. 125 hours. 1020/2110 Gamerscore. This includes the main storyline quests and the Order assassinations, and most of the side stuff, like the Orlog games and Flyting, and the Alpha animals. I didn’t do the other completionist stuff like collectibles or completing each territory. But I did get Thor’s full gear. I also did the Ireland DLC, a bit of the Ragnarök DLC. Kind of got burnt out on the game near the end, and didn’t try the France DLC.

Still playing Final Fantasy VII: Remake on the PC. Its a slow burn, where I play maybe an hour or so a week. I think I’m on Chapter 9 now.

And also playing Saint’s Row (2022 Reboot) with Illestrader, in co-op. As I mentioned in my last post, the quality of the game isn’t a huge step forward over the past iteration. There’s some fun missions, and the game doesn’t take itself too seriously. Fun in co-op at least.

Now that I’ve wrapped up Assassin’s Creed, my next Xbox story game will probably be A Plague Tale: Requiem. Something smaller and shorter, while I take a breather from open-world games. I also have Hellblade 2 that recently released, Brothers Remake, and Valiant Hearts – Coming Home. Some shorter artistic style games, to cleanse the palette. Maybe I’ll give Prince of Persia The Lost Crown and real try as well.

//

On to some drawings, which again, as I mentioned, April was very much a rest month. But I was able to draw a few things this month, including Rogue (on paper and digital), a cyber witch from the book Hexware, slowly plugging away at a Jinx drawing, and Scarlett, from G.I. Joe.

With Rogue, I originally drew it fully digital, and coloured. But I wasn’t happy with the face. Easy enough to fix in digital – but – I had recently purchased some Posca Paint Marker Pens. I figured because I hardly draw on paper anymore, I might be rusty. So I printed off the line art for Rogue, and light-boxed it onto a comic board in pencil, fixing the things I didn’t like a long the way, and then inked it. Just as an experiment to warm up my hands and test how steady they are. I have the tools, just not really the time or proper space. I do want to test out the markers on a canvas though, so I’m thinking, throughout the summer, as I don’t really like sitting at my computer on hot summer nights, I might do more traditional art.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I’ve been reading and writing about the graphic novels that I consume every week. Comics and art – two huge passions, that I won’t shut up about and need to share. Well, one graphic novel a week is my set homework – to help overcome my ever-growing backlog. And so I thought, to help add some variety to my art, I might try to do more fan art, of the books I’m actively reading. First was a book by Tim Seely called Hexware (week 19), and the main character, Witch-Ware. Loose and quick. Kind of messy. But a fun warm up. I didn’t want this side job to my writing to take up to much time.

Link below to the Substack column on Hexware – also where you can check out all 20 books I’ve read to date: https://andrewrogan.substack.com/p/week-book-19-hexware?r=2glri

Jinx has been a work in progress as I noodle for about 30 mins – 1 hour in the ink, and then step away.

And finally, just finished tonight, Scarlett, from G.I Joe.

Skybound recently started publishing the G.I Joe comic and I’ve been reading it for the first time. It’s now part of the Energon Universe with Transformers, and they’ve been publishing a lot of spin-off books as well, focusing on Duke, and Cobra Commander, and Scarlett.

In its current interpretation, G.I Joe has been around for 40+ years, and I’m now getting to learn about these characters for the first time.

//

I think that wraps up April and most of May. I think I’ll do more G.I Joe characters before the month is out – Baroness for sure.

Alright, that’s all for now.
Rogan
G404,683