Time to Spare

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.

//

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.

//

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

//

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

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.

//

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.

//

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.

//

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

//

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