Tag Archives: iRogan

Time to Spare

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Have you ever said you were going to do something, and then didn’t actually follow through with it? That’s me, but only when it comes to my own projects, aspirations, … and bed time.

Last week I posted the line art for my Tracer piece with the promise of colour. Which I did (see: below). At the same time I also told myself that this would be the last drawing of the year, to give my hands a break, catch up on some sleep, and charge the creative batteries.That lasted all of one day.

What I’m Drawing

After finishing Tracer I jumped right back into it with another drawing: Jinx from the game League of Legends, or more recently, Netflix’s Arcane.

I’m really please with how these two have turned out. Definitely ending the year on a high note. With Tracer I started working with line colours and adding more texture effects, such as the diamond patter on her tights. Fun experimentation. With Jinx, I was confident in my pencil layer that I didn’t even do an ink layer, just jumped right into colours. Also tried a different technique with colouring. Typically will put down base, flat colours, and then start adding the shading and lighting and rendering. This time I just painted over the whole drawing and started rendering. Different PS brushes, more painting style. Looser. And I’m really happy with the results. Also played with some sprays on the skin and clothes and grain/noise to add a more textured feel to it. Surely knocked off a few hours of processing time off the final product, eliminating Ink pass and Flats pass.

I think next I will draw Zoe Kravitz Catwoman from the upcoming Batman movie.

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What I’m Playing

Quiet week in games as we’re getting closer to Holi-daze. If I’m not drawing then I’m doing some family activity. The wife and I played our first It Takes Two session last Tuesday and the game is a lot of fun. Unfortunately we are playing through her PC, and the game plays through the EA Origin Game Pass and not Xbox, so no achievements are unlocked for this play through, so I might have to play through it again with Illestrader. The game is fun, each level introduces a new co-op mechanic that tests our capabilities of playing the game as a couple. I’ve been downloading the twitch streams after the VOD goes live with the hope of turning them into a highlights or funny moments type of video for YouTube to help her promote her stream (when I find time). Also I’ll be making her some emotes for her channel.

Speaking of Illestrader, we played some more Borderlands 3 in our co-op game night. Maybe I’ll add the two Borderlands Sirens to my drawing queue. Maya and Lilith would be fun to draw.

Played a bit more Watch Dogs 3, and Rain on Your Parade came out with a DLC and unlocked some achievements there.

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What I’m Reading

Last weeks indies finally arrived so I was able to grab those, which I’m thankful for, and then this week’s pull:

Adventureman #7
Batman the Imposter #3
BRZRKR #6
Robin & Batman #2
The Walking Dead #29
Wonder Girl #6
King Spawn #5

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I think that catches us up on the week that was. Another busy week ahead before Christmas, and some not-so-relaxing 4 days off work.

I’ll try to get my “Game Review Done Quickly” post in before the New Year, where I quickly write about every game I played in 2021. I didn’t finish mine from last year…still sitting in the Drafts folder :(.

Happy Holidays,

G309,551
iRogan

One For The Road

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How ’bout them Game Awards? Guardians of the Galaxy taking home the surprise “Best Narrative” award. And It Takes Two taking home Game of the Year. Most impressive.

The wife and I plan to play this game on her Twitch channel during our couple’s gaming nights. (Typically Tuesdays). twitch.tv/cro0kedj. We played through Morkredd last time, and I have the VOD downloaded and plan on editing that into a fun “highlights” video for Youtube.

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What I’m Drawing
Speaking of the wife… she said I’m not allowed to draw anymore Gwen Stacy. And I see her point. 15 variations is a bit much. I’ll be sure to draw more next year though 😉 .

In the meantime, I drew Tracer, from the game Overwatch, to add to my collection of those characters. So far I’ve drawn Widowmaker, Moira, Brigitte, Mercy, Sombra, D.Va and now Tracer.

Colour version coming soon.

As I continually add and reference my art, I should probably just create a dedicated section for it. With proper folders. Project for the new year.

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What I’m Playing
Played Unpacking for the achievements. 1000G in about an hour. A little bit of Dirt 5. Rain on your Parade has DLC launching next week which I’ll be playing through. Played a little bit Halo Infinite Multiplayer, but have not tried the campaign yet, now that it has released. It’s on the short list but after recently starting up GTA 3 and Watch Dogs Legion, those two are my immediate priority before starting anything new.

Watch Dog has been pretty fun. It is definitely a nice looking game, and I’m getting the hang of the team setup, where you have multiple agents to pick from. Its kind neat actually because they all just roam around the city, and act almost like fast travel points if you don’t mind swapping.

In the co-op zone we’ve started up Borderlands 3. I’ve always loved the Borderlands games. Played 1 and 2 thoroughly, including the DLC. The Pre-Sequel I didn’t quite finish. But 3 has been been pretty fun so far in co-op.

And a huge bonus: it comes with a Photo Mode. And not just any photo mode. One that plays in-real time with your online co-op buddies.

Also tried out the Matrix Awaking Unreal Engine 5 tech demo that was announced at the game awards. It’s kind neat. An impressive showcase of what the new UE5 can do. Obviously limited in scope. Its an open world city where you can walk around and drive showing off the lighting and damage body engine, but not much beyond just looking pretty. The initially opening sequent is mostly just quick-time events to show off the particle effects and visuals, but it is all on rails to hide the limitations of the demo.

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What I’m Reading

Crossover #10
Dark Knights of Steel #2
Soul Plumber #3
The Walking Dead Deluxe #28

Quieter week this week on the comics front as I actually only got 2/4 of my expected pull due to Diamond delays getting the indie books in. Hopefully they’ll arrive for next week.

Achievement of the Week
Borderlands 3: Tips Appreciated (15G)
Tipped Moxxi

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More holiday shopping on the horizon, and a few more weeks of work. A couple more snowfalls and Spider-Man: No Way Home to look forward to as well. Festive times.

Happy Holidays.

G309,401
iRogan

Dusk til Dawn

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Oh, how the hours turn into days, and days turn into weeks. Busy just livin’, but where does the time go?

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What I’m Drawing

I always like to start with this category first because it makes me feel accomplished. Everything else I do is just a time-wasting hobby, or cost a lot of money (see: What I’m Reading 😉 )

More GwenVerse additions this week. And this will be the final two of the year. I swear. We have Silk Gwen, which is just a SILK variation; not as original but I was challenged to do another drawing with her on pointe. I struggled with a few different poses for a few days but inevitably settled on this one to make it work. I may go back and try another pass at the colour to see if I can switch it up. Maybe the blue will work? And also Grifter – GwenC.A.Ts. I couldn’t come up with a witty Gwen name for Grifter that didn’t sound dumb. So instead I decided to change the team name. GwenC.A.Ts. Now I have an excuse to make more Gwen variations from that team 😉 .

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What I’m Playing

Not much in the way of gameplay over the last week. Although I did quickly try out the new Game Pass addition: Townscaper. Not really a game, more like a toy / tool box to play around in. You basically just plop down blocks that turn into houses. You can make some pretty cool, colourful cities. Either way it was a quick 1000G.

Also I’ve been playing Dirt 5. Playing through the DLC races. Really just to check it off my list/queue so that I can focus on Forza Horizons 5 instead. I don’t like have too many same-genre games on the go.

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What I’m Reading

The Department of Truth #14
Human Target #2
The Me You Love in the Dark #5
SPAWN #324
Wonder Girl #5
The Scumbag #11
Fine/Print Vol 1 (not pictured)
DIE Vol 4 (not pictured)

So I was partially right about Decorum last week. The main titled comic is ending but a sequel series is replacing it. No word on the creative team, if Hickman will continue writing? I’ll have to look it up.

Also sadly, The Me You Love in the Dark ending after #5. Just a short brief series, probably better served as a trade / graphic novel. Its been a fun series with gorgeous art.

It’s getting close to that holiday time, house lights and trees are going up. Time to sit by the fire eating cookies with milk.

Happy Holidays.

G 308,341
iRogan

Aliens, Orcs, and Zombies Oh My!

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Games:

Back 4 Blood has been the reliable venture in our latest coop game nights, but its hard to say if I like it or not. Its fun, and the card/desk system adds a needed variable to the game-play, but we haven’t made much progress really. I can say for certain that I have played through the first 4 levels of Act 1 a handful of times, and started the 2nd set, level 1. And that’s it. It seems like every time we’ve sat down to play it, we’re introducing a new team member to the party and it would be unfair to them to jump into the middle of it. But the game is also setup in a way that you can kind of jump into any level and you don’t really need much story explanation. But the levels are harder without your stacked deck building up, so its almost worth playing from the start again as a new run to see how far you can get.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite we beat. I don’t think we’ll be looking back either. The last 3 levels are probably the best but the ending is so underwhelming. Spoiler: you see the queen and you run away. The End. The game-play is fun and hectic at times, fighting off waves and waves of aliens, big and small. But after the story there’s a horde mode, and then replay the story again and again? To unlocked emotes, and cosmetics. And level up your guns. Maybe try a different class? My game time is so limited, I’d rather just uninstall and move on. Maybe there’ll be DLC expansions down the road.

Shadow of War: I’m still plugging away at Middle-Earth: Shadow of War. About half way through. Just fought off the Balrog. Its a nice change of pace from the other coop games. I am looking forward to its completion though as I’m eager to try Watch Dogs 3 – Legion next. A proper new-gen game to finally play on the Series X. Assassins Creed Valhalla is lurking in the sidelines as well.

Art:

My original plan from #drawtober was 5 completed pieces. It will actually be 3.

Magik, Supergirl, and now Wonder Woman. Just a few days ago was a Wonder Woman celebration day, so I’m posting just the line art, and then next week I’ll add the full colour/background piece.

Comic Shout-out:

CROWDED. Picked up Vol 1 and 2 of this series.

“Ten minutes in the future, the world runs on an economy of job shares and apps, including Reapr: a crowdfunding platform to fund assassinations. Charlie Ellison leads a quiet, normal life until she’s suddenly targeted by a million-dollar Reapr campaign. Hunted by all of Los Angeles, Charlie hires Vita, the lowest-rated bodyguard on the Dfend app. As the campaign picks up speed, they’ll have to figure out who wants Charlie dead before the campaign’s 30 days—or their lives—are over.” Seemed like a fun read. 🙂

Be Good.

iRogan

Back 4 Blogs

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Welcome back to the working week.

Games:

There’s a new game to play and it’s Back 4 Blood. We tried it for a bit over the weekend to get the hang of it. Made by TurtleRock as a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. It is VERY much like Left 4 Dead, but with a new card-based progression system to augment your play-through. The game’s campaign looks like a decent length and quite challenging from my initial attempt. Haven’t tried the PvP yet. I should have more impressions next week after I’ve had the chance to spend more time within the game.

Art:

Drawtober week 2. Supergirl

I missed last week but the week before was Week 2 of Drawtober and I was able to complete SuperGirl as shown above. I didn’t get any drawing down last week but hopefully will have something for this Friday. I don’t know if I’ll have the energy/motivation to continue my original plan of fully rendered drawings. Maybe one more before the month-end, but I think I’ll focus on something less time consuming and draining. Which brings me to Pouchtober.

Such a funny concept. May try to get a few of these out before the end of the month. Summon my inner Leifeld. Simpler, quick pieces. Lots of pouches. No feet. Pencil or ink. Minor shading. B&w either way.

Comics:

What I’m reading: The Fall by Jared Muralt. “After just losing his wife, one father will have to face a world in freefall; shaken to its core by an economic, social, political and health crisis without precedent. Facing seemingly unreal and very unexpected dangers, he will do whatever it takes to protect his loved ones in a country on the brink of collapse. In this internationally acclaimed series, Jared Muralt not only tells the story of one family struggling to survive, but also questions the very reasons that brought mankind to this apocalypse.”

It’s a pretty dark book. Dire circumstances. Basically take Covid scenarios at their worst and turn them apocalyptic. But he started writing it and working on it in 2016 having no idea what 2020 had in store.

Achievement of the Week:

Be good.

IROGAN