Make It Go Round

Happy Mother’s Day, space lord, mother mother.

May Sketch Some Days
What I’m Playing
Reading is fundamental
On the screen

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Finally got the ol’ computer turned on to do some drawing. It started with the latest Flash movie trailer showcasing Supergirl, and I should never turn down an opportunity. So that’s how the ball started rolling:

Then May hit. Last year I tried my best to take part in the “May Sketch a Day” challenge and made it nearly 20 days through uninterrupted. This year I wasn’t going to honestly try but I knew I wanted to participate in some form, so I called it “May Sketch Some Days”. But honestly they’re not even sketches. Just proper drawings:

So we have Cortana to start, which I was really happy with. Darth Talon, missing some colour. And then I have a Red Sonja work-in-progress. Last year I had set out to complete the full month as I was limiting myself to 1hr drawings to prevent burnout. Since I only completed 20, this year I basically picked up from where my last year’s list ended, and just kept going. Plus added a few Star Wars characters for May 4th. We’ll see how many I get through this month. Also eager to do more colour work as I promised myself I would a few months ago.

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So far this month I’ve completed Hi-Fi Rush and Ravenlok.

Ravenlok was a quick playthrough, wrapping up in 5 hours. It’s basically a twisted Alice In Wonderland. Straightforward puzzles, combat and some RPG quests. Neat pixel-texture art-style. Easy 1000G completion too.

Hi-Fi Rush as I mentioned last month is an attack-on-the-beat style action game with platforming elements. It has funny dialogue and an enjoyable story that’s PG enough for my son to watch me play. It’s also very colourful. There are some collectible achievements that I wont be going back for, and the difficulties achievements don’t stack, which is lame.

The game is like Devil May Cry, in that every level is graded based on your completion time, score, continues, and timing. I’m not great at beat timing so I’m always performing poorly in that category, but the game luckily allows you to brute-force your way through, mostly un-impeded. But it seems unfair that I’m getting A’s on every stage, but then the final score is C! The math doesn’t check out. I understand its because my timing score and deaths hurt the final score, but still! I made a meme because I was so mad!

Still love the art style.

Still slowly progressing through Gotham Knights as well in co-op, but now that I’ve wrapped a few games, I might need to invest more in The Witcher III. But I also have Biomutant, Atomic Heart, and the new Star Wars Jedi game in my immediate queue.

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So a few books have completed their run over these past few weeks:

  • Clear
  • Batman and the Joker: The Deadly Duo
  • Hulk (Ottley/Cates run)

My plan is to slowly widdle down my weekly book titles, as my last count was around 36. Granted some are mini and maxi series, but I should try to get a little bit more choosey with new titles, and know when to stop with the on-going series.

I’ve also started reading Bleach through the VIZ app, and watching the manga concurrently as I found that they had added all 26 seasons to Disney+.

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And on the screen, big and small:

  • The Witcher S2
  • Ted Lasso S3
  • Bleach
  • AIR
  • You People
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

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See you again before the end of the month with more drawings (fingers crossed)
iRogan

A Knight to Remember

What I’m Drawing

Earlier in the month I had some time off work. It was supposed to be a family vacation that vanished into nothingness, but I didn’t feel like cancelling my time off, so I used it to my advantage. A full-blown colour piece. It was initially supposed to be just a quick one-night pin-up. No perfect ink or colour. But after finishing that, I found I wasn’t satisfied. The piece wasn’t strong enough to post or share, but the concept was strong enough to warrant a do-over, and so I did. Roughly 4 hours a day spread out over the 7 days off. And the result I am very happy with. Got it turned into one of my annual posters for the wall rotation too.

Aloy, from Horizon series. Below is the Ink, some details, and the final.

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What I’m Reading

In an attempt to improve, I recently got some new art books, focused on composition, and figure drawing. As I mentioned in a post earlier this month, my goals for 2023 are to do more colour and scene pieces, less straight up pin-up left at the outline stage. I want to add more to the inked piece, with shadow and rendering, and then add more background or scene elements, lighting, etc.

Also just finished reading another auto-bio-graphic-novel It’s Lonely at the Centre of the Earth by Zoe Thorogood. Like Ducks, which I read earlier this year, it’s a journaling of the writer’s life and career over a 6-month period, about her story, her art, her mental health struggles, etc. That’s a disservice of an explanation, but the book is very good, and deals with some heavy material, so not recommended for anyone that might not be in the best head space themselves. But one might find it relatable. I dunno.

  • Less: A Novel
  • The Wheel of Time Book 10

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What I’m Playing

Finally jumped back into The Witcher III after a brief trip that was Immortals Fenyx Rising. I had started The Witcher first, but it had a slow start and I was craving something a little more action-y. But now that I’m done with Fenyx, back to the Witcher. And happy to report that I’m fully invested again. The story has really picked up, and the combat gameplay, I’m starting to learn, has many strategic layers.

In the co-op space, after finishing Far Cry 6, we’ve moved onto Gotham Knights. A very pretty multiplayer Batman universe game. You can play as Batgirl, Red Hood, Nightwing, or Robin. It’s a very strong presentation, but maybe not quite at the level that the Arkham series left us expecting. It’s very pretty, as I mentioned, but the combat is not as nuanced. There’s also gear scores which are lame. But we’re still early on, so more thoughts on it later.

  • Recently Completed: AER

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What I’m Watching

  • The Last of Us
  • Andor
  • Babylon
  • The Witcher S2
  • Ted Lasso S3

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Lastly, I haven’t shared these in a while, last posted here was Episode 4 I believe?… but I’m up to Episode 9 of my Halo Minute: Co-op Misadventure Halo Infinite video series:

Take care,
iRogan
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