tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25064826021081607232024-03-19T06:03:42.150+01:00. . .The blog of a slightly confused Swedish comic artist.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-72233905186720722522014-07-07T21:09:00.000+02:002014-07-08T02:20:33.195+02:00Whoo... been a long time...Suffice to say, this spring got pretty busy. I think the lack of updates was a pretty big hint.<br />
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The Troglobyte team and I finished four games (space shooter <i><a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/neon-trigger">Neon Trigger</a></i>, real time strategy <i><a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/illgresi">Illgresi</a></i>, first person shooter <i><a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/illumina">Illumina</a></i>, and beat-'em-up <i><a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/cadence">Cadence</a></i>). They were all pirated, Cadence within less than 24 hours, which we're quite proud of. Since they're free games it just means that more people play them. Additionally, we found that there were actual honest to god reviews for them, 2-300 words long even! We were super proud. However, there was also a portfolio that had to be done, applying for internship, volunteering at the Nordic Game Conference, etc. There never seemed to be enough time for much of anything, truth be told.<br />
I've signed the necessary papers for my internship now, and I'll be moving "back home". That is to say, to the north of Sweden where I was born. When I was a child, my cousin and I were most upset that we had to move to the south of Sweden and both wanted to stay. So, we started the club "we who are going to move back to the snow when we've grown up" and were very cranky. A little over two decades later, we still live in the south. I'm of half a mind to suggest he moves up with me now that I'm moving.<br />
I just need to find an apartment now...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRTwXRZru-TaHQN5AHxQh3DG2NHMoL41QRFNSjCrkHIZLj9RgNyU4uMR8ZUsGxEVVXFGm0Mmx4ubvXUjV2d35bS5kxao9acmEuoE0wqnjr9zVwZBEvkVY24NUw20LLDKSWEPfC3LIzyk/s1600/grisarpresentationsbild.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZRTwXRZru-TaHQN5AHxQh3DG2NHMoL41QRFNSjCrkHIZLj9RgNyU4uMR8ZUsGxEVVXFGm0Mmx4ubvXUjV2d35bS5kxao9acmEuoE0wqnjr9zVwZBEvkVY24NUw20LLDKSWEPfC3LIzyk/s1600/grisarpresentationsbild.jpg" height="284" width="320" /></a></div>
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The pigs, finished!</div>
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Amanda and I held our <i>The Good, the Bad, the Babbler</i> presentation, about character creation, development and representation at Kodachi-Con. The second time we did that lecture, first being at I Seriernas Värld 2013. Got some nice responses and feedback, which we are definitely going to use to update and improve the presentation.<br />
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In other news, <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/">Champions and Heroes</a> turned three, it is running steadily on <a href="http://championsandheroes.tumblr.com/">tumblr </a>now as well. We've decided to give Project Wonderful a go, and see what happens. Touch wood and all of that.<br />
The plan is to make multiple fanzines for next year's SPX/SIS, together and with Think Ink. Since I have to move for my internship things involving any kind of printing and conventions are a little bit uncertain, but the comic is definitely going to keep going.<br />
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I also finished <i>Aquae Sulis </i>for Think Ink's 9th fanzine <i>Mysterious Tales</i>, and lived in a dazed state of confusion when I had spare time after handing it in. I think I spent November to April with practically no time to myself due to the comic, my studies and the portoflio, and absolutely none that was guilt free. On the plus side, I still kinda like the comic, despite having worked on it for so long.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvxTT1O1WlWEoff8U__ftrltAT3VE9EafITeeyXXaXBIeJSnwb2yXxNCoVMzK7tGEe2MZphosCgiTecr_b2YYmeFQ44LSRgx2GYfqcPJfVso6mtBvad7V6xUU4PZ0p6CLzfjtmcTKG-8/s1600/AquaeSulis09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirvxTT1O1WlWEoff8U__ftrltAT3VE9EafITeeyXXaXBIeJSnwb2yXxNCoVMzK7tGEe2MZphosCgiTecr_b2YYmeFQ44LSRgx2GYfqcPJfVso6mtBvad7V6xUU4PZ0p6CLzfjtmcTKG-8/s1600/AquaeSulis09.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></a></div>
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Additionally, SF-bokhandeln is turning 30, and they're hosting a ball in Stockholm in late August. The plan is to go as an imperial officer, but that's provided I find the time to make the outfit. Otherwise I suppose it's going to be one of the old cosplays.<br />
Aaaaand there's going to be some <a href="http://campnanowrimo.org/">camp NaNoWriMo</a> this month too. I've already started, fallen behind, and caught up. One of my main characters finally decided on a plan, so now I know where she's at least going to try to go (hooray!) but there's a lot of incoherent rambling going on (boo!), but that's NaNo I guess.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-20900644546513745312014-01-16T18:16:00.000+01:002014-01-16T18:16:15.521+01:00A bit of progress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've wanted to do a pig with big floppy ears in 3d for a year now. I finally sat down and did. And then continued to make a boar while I was at it. Still some tweaking to do, obviously, but... piggy!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7WO454zAuLg3v2RuhLbo9BQtz8b7shZo5rtVQDEatAOi-WHvB00LNrbQ7toEuPCKOA22pJOXRaB-QiHjPk4fdCb8XFKWVcDDS_tUvxTfguAIZ-AE9BMzC-K945PzE8D9ZkkoNgJC3aQ/s1600/piggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW7WO454zAuLg3v2RuhLbo9BQtz8b7shZo5rtVQDEatAOi-WHvB00LNrbQ7toEuPCKOA22pJOXRaB-QiHjPk4fdCb8XFKWVcDDS_tUvxTfguAIZ-AE9BMzC-K945PzE8D9ZkkoNgJC3aQ/s1600/piggy.jpg" height="185" width="320" /></a></div>
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And since it's early in the year, I'm slaving away on a comic during what little spare time I have. It's a comic that I've wanted to do for two years, set in Bath, England, for Think Ink's mythology and fantasy themed fanzine this year. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the backgrounds are killing me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_V9of1rcGgqHP0qUMuFxxF3ozd_P_D9QA9MopOlbjRoC9o2DlBIgEjtP4OHFs8gxDxXHGD1l9LpK8VLFwLrpOrpVryE-q3XXAi6GmuNz9ZkhhfNPrnH1Q2W5y7dvt8dqNiXE0pWNbDuU/s1600/AS1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_V9of1rcGgqHP0qUMuFxxF3ozd_P_D9QA9MopOlbjRoC9o2DlBIgEjtP4OHFs8gxDxXHGD1l9LpK8VLFwLrpOrpVryE-q3XXAi6GmuNz9ZkhhfNPrnH1Q2W5y7dvt8dqNiXE0pWNbDuU/s1600/AS1.jpg" height="175" width="320" /></a></div>
And it's going to be 14 pages and I'm beginning to question my sanity.<br />
At the same time, I'm going to have to set up a homepage for my portfolio as the time of applying for internship approaches, as well as putting together a portfolio. Ho hum. Let's just say that the stress level is quite high.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-31948040990037975542013-12-04T19:50:00.000+01:002013-12-04T19:50:04.427+01:00After a long silenceI have returned. I have been way too swamped these past months, which I suppose I should have expected for my second year at <a href="http://www.thegameassembly.com/">the Game Assembly</a>. By now my fellow second years and I have been divided into three teams of 22, and finished our first game. I've been bad at updating or this would already have been known. On the other hand I can direct you to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TroglobyteStudios">Troglobyte's facebook page</a>, with various videos ranging from team building to in-progress trailers, and <a href="http://www.indiedb.com/company/troglobyte">our Indie DB page</a> where you can play <a href="http://www.indiedb.com/games/neon-trigger">Neon Trigger</a>, our first game!<br />
Neon Trigger is a space shooter, and the story of dr Fox, a man of many talents and a lot of anger. It's got an 80s feel to it, and you fight space bikers. Neon, spikes, asteroids, what more could you possibly need? Reviews are much appreciated to help us grow and improve. It was made under a period of 10 weeks, but at half-time as we had studies demanding our attention as well.<br />
The Troglobyte team has just started working on our second game, so far unnamed, which is going to be a real time strategy. We're all very excited over it even as we're starting to hammer out the basics of it. One and a half week done, eight and a half to go.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIySNBDnvJiuMLkCvnXLt9qE1YsXcHmm4i_KmN9POEnjZ-uBRjAGHWocnXP6Mgul4TmUwnEjMv9KGvVAIZFYwpoHMCCBDcQomFHZCdzDtNIZRM0zIsky3XMFYvLTDGaQOTzYT_Bx8Cs34/s1600/troglobyte2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIySNBDnvJiuMLkCvnXLt9qE1YsXcHmm4i_KmN9POEnjZ-uBRjAGHWocnXP6Mgul4TmUwnEjMv9KGvVAIZFYwpoHMCCBDcQomFHZCdzDtNIZRM0zIsky3XMFYvLTDGaQOTzYT_Bx8Cs34/s320/troglobyte2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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An early version of our logo, which has since been simplified.</div>
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I've also done my 12th year of <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a>. I've cheated, once again, and continued on the same story. This year was probably one of the most even years I've ever had. It was not that inspiration flowed like a wild river or anything like that, but that together with school I nearly had no spare time so it was a battle every day. It evened out and stopped being a pain to force out those words. They started coming at a reasonable pace, I found my inspiration probably because I was too tired to chase after it. It was a strange and somehow yet rewarding experience. And I finally got to introduce Fyren, who is one of my old characters who's still around, which was very exciting for me.<br />
And speaking of which...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WSq18yl4LqWCs445WSoTrmiDhIoWVUIecdgR_q46x7P7pH26HD80sRbo-m1kw3GQP1OjP9YxzE_qWf70sncD5frUH67L9DYqjjnHMqLNPLdTklDUAL0Fxs2iAZg1OI5zumq4o_9e7KI/s1600/ZillahZivFyren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WSq18yl4LqWCs445WSoTrmiDhIoWVUIecdgR_q46x7P7pH26HD80sRbo-m1kw3GQP1OjP9YxzE_qWf70sncD5frUH67L9DYqjjnHMqLNPLdTklDUAL0Fxs2iAZg1OI5zumq4o_9e7KI/s320/ZillahZivFyren.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I drew him a while back, together with Zillah and Ziv who are both important to the story's history.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDnHHmSg2wS8uugG9YqPBNHVnS09yPirz4-eYFJK_TYf4gH6gg-cKUPVVeM6FzFz3k8dV984FlLHdbb9C2vSJkTzd77PLC1H2zS47QkyvaqUgMMmwvPmewCqzQLcHU8HEW8QkgFi4fLM/s1600/FirrinCabalValderamin1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRDnHHmSg2wS8uugG9YqPBNHVnS09yPirz4-eYFJK_TYf4gH6gg-cKUPVVeM6FzFz3k8dV984FlLHdbb9C2vSJkTzd77PLC1H2zS47QkyvaqUgMMmwvPmewCqzQLcHU8HEW8QkgFi4fLM/s320/FirrinCabalValderamin1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And then these three as well. I've got two half-finished trios waiting for a third party, and neither time nor inspiration for them at the moment. In part because it's now time to start working on this year's <a href="http://thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/">Think Ink</a> comic. This year's comic is something I've wanted to do since 2011 when I visited Bath. I got super inspired at the roman baths there, and that's where the focus is going to be. This year the plan is to print in Japan, as <a href="http://fannymbystedt.blogspot.se/">Fanny </a>is there for her studies and it would be a shame to waste such an opportunity!Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-30864547682075251742013-09-03T20:15:00.000+02:002013-09-03T20:15:47.774+02:00Back to schoolWe started school off with an introduction to dynamics and... I'm honestly really excited. It's fun when things go right and, well, ok so maybe I spent way too much time trying to get that box-falling-out-of-cart to work but it came together in the end. <br />
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Speaking of <a href="http://www.thegameassembly.com/">the Game Assembly</a>, I was going to post the cutscene pictures from the third game. I was kind of hoping that they'd get around to put it up on the homepage first, but that seems to be uh... a potential 'never' at this point. Only the top three text adventures (the first game we did) of my year are up, out of four finished games :(<br />
So, with that said, here are cutscenes from our shoot 'em up:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqp3E77Yvr4ZczySGX7NBv7F_kO8-gjbRjqIncNjDR9PJOjlfMgFNow3g0JSk6HkYOFfRR7A_PMbtF33Q5Z3zBZTzdWk2QVLNPXbX-Px1VlxdptYl6ktNgaHfhV4ANwnY9jGVrLOHL3Jk/s1600/Cutscene2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqp3E77Yvr4ZczySGX7NBv7F_kO8-gjbRjqIncNjDR9PJOjlfMgFNow3g0JSk6HkYOFfRR7A_PMbtF33Q5Z3zBZTzdWk2QVLNPXbX-Px1VlxdptYl6ktNgaHfhV4ANwnY9jGVrLOHL3Jk/s320/Cutscene2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljyI7MFjp9UB8-8o7BKVRw2NA5qmC9Dbte6FgPDmJBKe7me7bIHKfFoM1L6G-Uyh6YHeJJy8sBvtymOOwoX-DeDq4JWBn-t2WNPYpjC5JquqZjojjFCmaruYM80_QAZE4ekFpPkvFO_k/s1600/Cutscene3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjljyI7MFjp9UB8-8o7BKVRw2NA5qmC9Dbte6FgPDmJBKe7me7bIHKfFoM1L6G-Uyh6YHeJJy8sBvtymOOwoX-DeDq4JWBn-t2WNPYpjC5JquqZjojjFCmaruYM80_QAZE4ekFpPkvFO_k/s320/Cutscene3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGzl2GXZH9sTeBccqhZo_IXq-Eua8DqLNq-QtQVk0Hvin3CFItrKLeK02gC_7P9zd_ae0TG3Cx9FZqx1fTJA09nGf7WIdV1VfBohplQW-Mo_Q5in5HckrA40C24XisNA7ynJ43gSIbqE/s1600/Cutscene4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihGzl2GXZH9sTeBccqhZo_IXq-Eua8DqLNq-QtQVk0Hvin3CFItrKLeK02gC_7P9zd_ae0TG3Cx9FZqx1fTJA09nGf7WIdV1VfBohplQW-Mo_Q5in5HckrA40C24XisNA7ynJ43gSIbqE/s320/Cutscene4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy7rFKjf_O3l3jy92FfZpDoUcIhyFo_hGyK6SWpxB03UTYhCsAbNGA1Pwy1plprwv0hn0wkYXSyvZq3CHZjt6qWR-Z9djk61pA8dxx-3_nDbY96dkwUVq3uLEPzjJVpYNhE1l3ect6OEQ/s1600/Cutscene5crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy7rFKjf_O3l3jy92FfZpDoUcIhyFo_hGyK6SWpxB03UTYhCsAbNGA1Pwy1plprwv0hn0wkYXSyvZq3CHZjt6qWR-Z9djk61pA8dxx-3_nDbY96dkwUVq3uLEPzjJVpYNhE1l3ect6OEQ/s320/Cutscene5crop.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The final one is the cropped version, because I have successfully managed to misplace the complete version. And by misplace I mean 'I can't find it on neither laptop nor external harddrive, and the school computers were wiped during summer so it's only existence at this point is in game'. Hooray, or something. <br />
Oh well.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-14589861221178297422013-06-29T19:04:00.000+02:002013-06-29T19:04:17.959+02:00A little restFinally moved out of my old apartment and into the new. Still got a lot to sort out, but at least the vast majority is where it should be. Today I won't be running back and forth to clean at least, so that's a relief. <br />
I have instead finished the basics on my Strong Female Pose picture, aka the butt picture, aka Dragon Age featuring Escher Girls and Hawkeye Initiative. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25miWkmenOf_BwOJGBZMe2tgz7T0FMAvP6qz-8FchlkxQxGM4PXKNQQ5CzHU6omZBa3QndNX0fVEfqqExxLwKkEfaCzKmYIbGycRa20JbVz_qtVMwoiqzLNesaCUTjmspf27ckLY4RgU/s1600/StrongFemalePose150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25miWkmenOf_BwOJGBZMe2tgz7T0FMAvP6qz-8FchlkxQxGM4PXKNQQ5CzHU6omZBa3QndNX0fVEfqqExxLwKkEfaCzKmYIbGycRa20JbVz_qtVMwoiqzLNesaCUTjmspf27ckLY4RgU/s320/StrongFemalePose150.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I've worked on it on and off since... late autumn during breaks at the <a href="http://www.thegameassembly.com/">Game Assembly</a>. I didn't touch it for most of spring though. I'm still going to do some basic shading and add magic shine and whatnot but... yeah. Something presentable! Sorta. There are so many broken spines and snapped limbs I don't even know... The poses (all but Hawke) are based on 'female' poses of other works that are meant to be sexy I suppose. Well. It was great fun doing, and I might muster the energy to do a Mass Effect version in the (probably far off) future.<br />
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Speaking of the Game Assembly. The second game that I worked on, <a href="http://gameawards.se/competition_entries/911">The Tomte</a>, was nominated for Best Scenario at the <a href="http://gameawards.se/">Swedish Game Awards 2013</a>. Which was all kinds of awesome, even if we didn't win. Hopefully it will be up at the Game Assembly's homepage soon, free to play.<br />
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Now that I've had a proper amount of sleep for a couple of days, it's clearly time to start <a href="http://campnanowrimo.org/">camp NaNoWriMo</a>. Plans are to continue that No Coffin Needed story.<br />
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I also continued doing those scribbly trio character pictures for the story. I've three other characters that have been finished, but no matching trio sets so... eh. Soon. Sooooon.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-75515848681093857452013-05-31T10:25:00.000+02:002013-05-31T10:27:33.869+02:00A busy monthThree weeks left before the summer holiday arrives for us at <a href="http://www.thegameassembly.com/">the Game Assembly</a>. The rest of Sweden's students tend to end about... two weeks before that. On one hand, a bit jealous, on the other... we've got a lot of stuff to do and a lot of it is fun, and I know what I need to practice on during the summer.<br />
We're currently working on our fourth game - a turn based strategy this time. It makes three weeks left seem short :O<br />
I've also been a volunteer at <a href="http://nordicgame.com/">Nordic Game</a> (fun!), visited <a href="http://www.seriefestivalen.se/">SPX/SIS</a> together with <a href="http://thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/">Think Ink</a> and sold comics and had fun with old friends and new, and been part of a<a href="http://wasdmuseet.blogspot.se/"> game art exhibition</a>. Additionally, <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.se/">Amanda</a> and I have passed the 150 comics benchmark on<a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/"> Champions and Heroes</a> (!!) and are preparing for one but possibly up to three new fanzines for next year, in addition to Think Ink's yearly new fanzine. <br />
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In other words, I've been quite busy and had a lot of fun, though I think I'll appreciate a breather when the summer break finally arrives. As much of a break as it will be.<br />
Meanwhile, I've started experimenting with a new scribbly style. My comic teachers always told me I needed to stop fiddling with details (sorry, not quite there yet XD) and let go of my careful lines and add more black spaces. Well! I've been drawing some of my (huge horde of) characters from my <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> novel that I keep working on, doing just that. And it's fun! And faster than my usual pace. <br />
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Evidently I can't decide on what to write about them, but on the plus side, characters who I've only had work names for before now have proper names. So that's... what I've been doing with essentially all my time this past month.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-62650644857880134462013-04-24T21:48:00.000+02:002013-04-24T21:48:25.550+02:00SPX/SIS coming upAnd my team and I are finishing up game three at <a href="http://www.thegameassembly.com/">the Game Assembly</a>. This time it's a shoot 'em up, and it's been fun despite it not being my genre of choice. I finished cutscenes and convo pictures earlier this week, and we got working on what little dialogue we have today. I might show the cutscenes off later, but for now know that I'm working on rim lights. ALL the rim lights. <br />
We also finished the concept art course, during which I made these two:<br />
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We were to take the Grimm Brothers's story <em>The Skillful Huntsman</em>, and do a take on one of the characters. I had great fun doing thumbnails (a total of 87 before I realized that perhaps it was time to continue to the next stage XD) and ended up with enough time to do two. <br />
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And now I'm going to go and pack my bag, because I'll be way too tired tomorrow. If you're in the Stockholm area this weekend, <a href="http://www.seriefestivalen.se/">be sure to come by</a>. <a href="http://thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/">Think Ink</a> is releasing our first printed book <em>The Art of Fika</em>, and we'll be selling some old pieces and some individual new pieces as well :)Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-21032937095552828942013-03-26T09:38:00.001+01:002013-03-26T09:38:12.608+01:002 month updateOkay... long time no update, again. I've been crazy busy, to the point where I've gotten sick because of it, but it's been calming down now that the work for the <a href="http://thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/">Think Ink</a> anthology is done. Now I've actually got spare time when I'm done with the school work (for what feels like the first time in six months). Not that that has stopped me from getting a cold, but hey...<br />
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This is page 1 of <em>Forest born</em>, the skogsrå comic I've been working on for what seems like forever. Finally done! :D It will be part of Think Ink's<em> The Art of Fika</em> anthology, which will be released at <a href="http://kulturhuset.stockholm.se/Undersidor/Stockholms-internationella-seriefestival1/">SPX/SIS</a> this year, and four out of five Think Inkers will be there, yours truly included :)<br />
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As far as <a href="http://www.thegameassembly.com/">school</a> goes we've started our third game - a shoot 'em up - and we're at the same time doing a course about concept art. First time doing photobashes, and I have to admit that I find it a bit difficult, though I can certainly tell that it speeds things up considerably. <br />
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We were supposed to do a form of mechanical transport or vehicle of some kind. I chose to do some kind of steampunky roman chariot with built in horse thing, though I ran out of time and didn't have time to fix the wheels and the legs which are off . Still, it was fun. <br />
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And then we did some landscape depth practice. I've tried this before, with the Shmil picture, and I quite like it, but I chickened out and went with a cave rather than buildings. Still, I got to try to draw saiga - possibly the world's ugliest antelope. So ugly they're cute XD<br />
We're working on character designs for the Grimm brother's story <em>The Skillful Huntsman</em> at the moment, and I made 87 thumbnails before I realized that maybe it was time to stop and go on to the next step. Ahem. It's great fun though :D<br />
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Other than that, <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/">Champions and Heroes</a> is turning 2 years at the end of the month. <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.se/">Amanda</a> and I are both sick, but planning on a joint little birthday comic to celebrate. Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-6322176604366779142013-01-10T21:01:00.001+01:002013-01-10T21:01:44.245+01:00Time fliesI have been oh so very busy since... oh... October, I'd say. Squeezing in the time to manage a cosplay before the Bioware dinner, going to the Bioware dinner, NaNoWriMo, trying to catch up on my studies as the cosplay ate too much of my time and I had to sleep too, and learning the basics of 3d in Maya. It ended up with me being sick as a dog the last days before the holidays, but I'm recovered and back in the Game Assembly as the new term began. We've started working on our third 3d project, and our second game. So far so good, but I could certainly do with a few extra hours in the day. And then some in the night. <br />
But, so far we have a lowpoly fjord horse. <br />
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I am really happy with this, even though I would have liked to give it more detailed legs and a fringe, but we were only allowed to use 500 triangles. I'm not sure where they all went to be honest. I checked inside so many times, expecting to see a tiny horse or something in there, explaining where all the triangles went XD</div>
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The second 3d project was the vampire hunter's crossbow.</div>
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I wish I had had the energy to do more on it, texturing and working on adding more details on the normal map for all of the crossbow. Alas, I was sick half of the week, and it got worse towards the end of it. It is named both as a bad pun, and as a Supernatural reference, courtesy of my friend Jonas. </div>
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And then I've been doing some character designs for the game. We are basing the story around old Swedish myths, and where they would be now. Evidently I chose the huldra/skogsrå/lady of the forest to design. She is a favorite of mine after all. Personally, I like the idea of a crown made of raven wings, but the dark skinned version is my favorite. Whether or not she, and Näcken (a nude violin player who drowns people) who I am currently working on, will have clothes in the game depends entirely on the outcome of our meeting with the teachers tomorrow. Personally I'm all for nudity as long as it's not treated with the 'male gaze', but I provided a clothing alternative all the same, just in case. Viking inspired, but altered to reveal her hollow back :)</div>
Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-39030438363516815922012-11-28T13:42:00.000+01:002012-11-28T13:42:31.479+01:00NaNoWriMo 2012… 51k and done. Unless I get a fit later, before the month is out, and press on. Could reasonably happen, truth be told, because Nri is in a good place and I know where to take him, Solique is opening up, and Shmil is moving too.<br />
Not a single word was written about Catlas, Ghysantrine, Nasreen, Dinatus, or Yselle. Which… well, I miss them a bit but Nri was on a roll. He makes up approximately 2/3 of those 51k. And there’s still more happening, just around the corner for him.<br />
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But for now… a little rest and a lot of learning Maya. Despite the book being the worst educational book I have ever had. Ugh. <br />
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But! Today the <a href="http://www.thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/2012/11/utstallning-exhibition.html">Think Ink exhibition</a> starts! So that's something to look forward to at least :DNathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-22340321873357654822012-11-19T20:06:00.000+01:002012-11-19T20:06:00.355+01:00Such a headacheIt's been lasting for... oh about 3-4 hours now. The pills haven't kicked in and I just want it to stop so I can get back to work. So, while I wait for that to happen, an update. <br />
Amanda and I finished and updated the admittedly not beautiful <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1618357/dinner-with-bioware-a-review/">comic review of the Bioware dinner</a> last week. <br />
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Think Ink has an exhibition coming up on the 28th (more about that <a href="http://www.thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/2012/11/utstallning-exhibition.html">here</a>, Swedish only though) and so I sat down and finished that Shmil piece in a hurry, before sending it off to the printers and... it's possibly the source of my headache. But it's done! With a background!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBv5YTA46zGBSXBq9cPBEe4pp2hYv65pnKrPpiTejdOJ3h37dlsCw8L4PIA4Wqr4wKD-VsfiOOqLkfPMp6zTgnhmGAlw4pWL3YhdScrdVUshYrDecwfHwZyzzusSVap0AHwS2QysVjWAU/s1600/Shmil72dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBv5YTA46zGBSXBq9cPBEe4pp2hYv65pnKrPpiTejdOJ3h37dlsCw8L4PIA4Wqr4wKD-VsfiOOqLkfPMp6zTgnhmGAlw4pWL3YhdScrdVUshYrDecwfHwZyzzusSVap0AHwS2QysVjWAU/s320/Shmil72dpi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Now... I should probably cook something. Maybe that will help.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-12085353454113537642012-11-04T21:32:00.001+01:002012-11-04T21:32:08.307+01:00Bioware dinner and Gamex 2012It's no secret that I'm a huge Bioware fan. Baldur's Gate was the first game I really loved and it sent me headfirst into fantasy and Viconia and the trip into the Underdark in the sequel made me fall in love with drow for what seems to be for life. Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age, Mass Effect and Star Wars the Old Republic have eaten large chunks of my life (I regret nothing). <br />
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Three weeks ago <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.se/">Amanda</a> and I got invited to a Bioware fan dinner by Lion Martinez. I reacted like the mature adult I am (read: got silly excited, climbed walls and ran to the cloth store for cosplay materials) and tickets were ordered and preparations started. So, despite both of us studying full time and having such a short deadline we sat down and made Mass Effect costumes. I once swore I would never do a cosplay on short notice ever again. Well. Let's not go into the stress level any further than that. <br />
Amanda went as a random scientist and I went as Shepard in her dress blues because I absolutely adore that design. Granted, I love it somewhat less after making it. Easily the most complicated piece of clothing I've done due to the two different cloths and the folding overs and the gold bands and... yes, yes, carry on. I will say this though: it is probably the most comfortable cosplay I have made in a very long time. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUc9GFXQxH8j3nD3m-4suI_X4EKfmq1LE9Y_1Mv7hDgKGXf3dSqZ6mWy1HkMNdr91RvmbhR1NASyIeCH6Ggz-5X0mUeD3ckmeGV6iHwcqF9SBEligsrraHjiHLquIadhemjHCwnHojqw/s1600/sheparddressblues.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLUc9GFXQxH8j3nD3m-4suI_X4EKfmq1LE9Y_1Mv7hDgKGXf3dSqZ6mWy1HkMNdr91RvmbhR1NASyIeCH6Ggz-5X0mUeD3ckmeGV6iHwcqF9SBEligsrraHjiHLquIadhemjHCwnHojqw/s320/sheparddressblues.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And comfortable clothes that look nice are awesome. I wish to extend my 'thank you's and 'good job' to the artists here. I'm not certain about how easy it would be to mass produce though. Still. I've cosplayed Orochimaru. Any cosplay that doesn't cause me pain and prevent me from moving brings me joy XD<br />
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Having been so focused on getting the cosplays ready in time, we were completely oblivious to the fact that SM in cosplay was taking place at Gamex and ended up getting dragged in while utterly bewildered. Either way, lots of fantastic costumes! It was wonderful to see such a high standard wander about the building. Sadly no pictures, because I didn't bring my camera. <br />
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We also met up with the rest of <a href="http://www.svampriket.se/">Svampriket</a> (at long last!) and made some videos with them which are up on the site now. <br />
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As for the dinner itself we were lucky indeed. The Skype connection was unfortunately not the best and Amanda and I ended up being the last who managed to get a reply to our questions to David Gaider and Mike Laidlaw. The connection with Mark Meer was better, and by then the speakers were working well enough that we could hear most if not all even in the back of the room. Not going to deny that I smiled a bit extra, hearing his preference for dressing as villains and history of D&D playing XD<br />
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The locale (Sjätte tunnan) was oozing with charm, but sadly was not the best for such a large crowd to have conversations in. Throats were sore at the end of the night, but plenty of game discussions - mainly Dragon Age and Mass Effect - were had, from whether or not the genophage really needed curing to tips on how to beat Loghain in a duel (with added pleading from me that they at least consider sparing his life). <br />
We got the request that we'd draw something while at the event, and we were only too happy to agree. A comic diary of the day will be up... maybe next Monday if all goes well (I need a scanner that works with my laptop. Garrus the ever calibrating scanner is too old and incompatible with anything younger than ME1). Until then I just want to add a thank you to the lovely people we got to meet, the people who surprised us by being familiar with the <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/">Champions and Heroes comic</a>, Lion who invited us, Jessica Merizan and Chris Priestly for coming, and the Skype guests too :D I would definitely do this again, and I hope that this sort of thing is something that Bioware continues to do - it was great and I saw nothing but smiles. <br />
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We came home from Stockholm again last night, having had a wonderful time and having met a lot of wonderful people. I think we've earned some extra sleep, but I've got catching up on Maya to do and NaNoWriMo has started without me for the first time since... 2001. This will not do. <br />
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But yes, as earlier stated, no pictures of the actual event - sorry. Have some strong female Dragon Age poses.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOT7B70OYL7-6TH1rWOsY9TkpZi7zxJpxxxUHGF5Lh8_S2HaUhuM3LExsT9epTSHkPpx8klWAdyofONBwhFG66ZGWdHLfCXmFlbBTra1QApG6EbxveuDFp4PR6_hyAlxC9lNn0oKlnBA/s1600/StrongFemalePose+Cullen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYOT7B70OYL7-6TH1rWOsY9TkpZi7zxJpxxxUHGF5Lh8_S2HaUhuM3LExsT9epTSHkPpx8klWAdyofONBwhFG66ZGWdHLfCXmFlbBTra1QApG6EbxveuDFp4PR6_hyAlxC9lNn0oKlnBA/s320/StrongFemalePose+Cullen.jpg" width="247" /></a></div>
It's part of a bigger picture where I abuse the spines of male Dragon Age characters. I lovingly refer to it as 'the butt picture'. More of that in the future.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-81145104749920185102012-10-01T18:32:00.000+02:002012-10-01T18:32:13.608+02:00One month inAnd the Game Assembly is... so much work. Rewarding work, but so much work all the same. I am so very, very tired when I get back home and just want to go to sleep. Suffice to say, I can think of very little to say, other than, here is a completed former WIP and some new WIPs.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7MALRoNtiDmFgD62mGLPuPAzrvb5WOzsdd43XNvC15TGzQ0AvH_UqeQ5T5y_ob8ovccdPHiNqkDPAxXdgI_oYJ3f71gTwcUhDC6lNyjQoT4yObLx573HIfZKRVRI9L0hpACBlXBdsf8/s1600/DandT60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7MALRoNtiDmFgD62mGLPuPAzrvb5WOzsdd43XNvC15TGzQ0AvH_UqeQ5T5y_ob8ovccdPHiNqkDPAxXdgI_oYJ3f71gTwcUhDC6lNyjQoT4yObLx573HIfZKRVRI9L0hpACBlXBdsf8/s320/DandT60.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
Dasin and Thendys Noori, all done. All cheesy. But all done, just before the course started I think. Something like that. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvgLoIGKu6_4ZgL5k2wsqRL3VCeTRU8N1-hbGSoshLXOtgH23q1Ntik-qJBj8TAoiekIWqdoI4jXxt_XM6h3UytF1SqtEFFh9P5DXK0K8xD8vqsS7-nY0IMoKxZ6bYaV2iJffwWF2EeFE/s1600/Orianne60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvgLoIGKu6_4ZgL5k2wsqRL3VCeTRU8N1-hbGSoshLXOtgH23q1Ntik-qJBj8TAoiekIWqdoI4jXxt_XM6h3UytF1SqtEFFh9P5DXK0K8xD8vqsS7-nY0IMoKxZ6bYaV2iJffwWF2EeFE/s320/Orianne60.jpg" width="138" /></a></div>
Then we have Orianne, a roleplaying character in a Vampire: Dark Ages game, just the quick sketch of the base. The hand got fixed pretty quick XD But it's the first time I've actually liked a quick digital sketch I've made, so! Here it is! I've gotten further on this but... it still needs a lot of work. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh606bOhHtyw4BKa8Lfx7C4rjRY0oJLy7mqfPSPH93hWKYWn-R4FEBm8ctMfmX7aP-RyI6wEuOfm4A0wak85jKja2tP3oO7QGEV2yXw9d5RMv7pIqQM2iecPobpqxsTS2X9hdkjTZeQ0NA/s1600/ShmilWIP60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh606bOhHtyw4BKa8Lfx7C4rjRY0oJLy7mqfPSPH93hWKYWn-R4FEBm8ctMfmX7aP-RyI6wEuOfm4A0wak85jKja2tP3oO7QGEV2yXw9d5RMv7pIqQM2iecPobpqxsTS2X9hdkjTZeQ0NA/s320/ShmilWIP60.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And finally we have a Shmil WIP. Shmil who is a character in my continuing NaNo fantasy story. He'll get hair, I promise. And a body too. Maybe even a background (gasp!). I only just started on him last night though, and managed to sneak in some fur and seams work during breaks today, but I'm liking his angular face. And I'm looking forward to November and NaNo, because he's finally going to be a point of view character, bumbling around the Heartlands being socially awkward and eating babies. As you do. Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-2390213513999198872012-08-11T21:30:00.000+02:002012-08-11T21:30:44.705+02:00New tablet and other thingsAs I've gotten accepted to the Game Assembly (hooray!) I've been left with no choice but to buy a new tablet. Cdon was awfully efficient, having it arrive less than 24 hours after I ordered it, forcing me to leave the apartment when all I wanted was to slouch about. Oh well XD<br />
So, evidently I'll be spending the rest of august getting to know the new tablet. As it is, it's... huge. And not as smooth as my old tablet, which sadly seemed to get screwed over by the installation of the new one. Your tablet is old indeed when Wacom doesn't even have a picture of it on their site... That mess got sorted out though, and now it's up and running again (it's small and light and I'm considerably less afraid of damaging it, so it comes along for trips while the new one gets to stay shiny at home). <br />
So! Some WIPs are in order, I believe. <br />
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Dasin and Thendys Noori, an npc in <em>Star Wars the Old Republic</em> who I really liked and had high hopes for. In cheesy pose. Originally meant to be little more than a sketch but it's escalated and... yes.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKl4qZ2_e_M0wekZqd4YIaZS2jXEjM4bgmY9b68vBY9T93lnVbvrgdtTbESA9rqJNUESCs5VMnLa_7rfKFy1i-5mYimAwlszmwcx2i_oBwMN1sgvIE_Pp-9yFglCKUp2xvjaPXHXrm3U/s1600/DasinThendysWIP60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKl4qZ2_e_M0wekZqd4YIaZS2jXEjM4bgmY9b68vBY9T93lnVbvrgdtTbESA9rqJNUESCs5VMnLa_7rfKFy1i-5mYimAwlszmwcx2i_oBwMN1sgvIE_Pp-9yFglCKUp2xvjaPXHXrm3U/s320/DasinThendysWIP60.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>
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Her gear took forever, but I recon it's his that's going to be a nightmare once I get into the shading and detailing stage.</div>
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And then there was this <em>Mass Effect 3</em> comic thing that I started to work with before going to Scotland (which is absolutely beautiful, and with temperatures and a sun that even my pale skin could handle. Hooray!). 8 pages, trying a new 'sketch all pictures separately traditionally, piece together, ink and shade digitally' way of working and I'm liking it. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwnOtBvhfyaBnV5BddmH51-cFVYDzgeiW4ag8FSMeWIl2Rear22YDrHUzhI_9xNKfXwNI0Oc3V-v1Cv3qV4MbBE3P-x7V3eBTiLeoUNACetRb7LsLTv40y1FeyIDz5NW6IEHLpngM6JkE/s1600/MEcomicpage1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwnOtBvhfyaBnV5BddmH51-cFVYDzgeiW4ag8FSMeWIl2Rear22YDrHUzhI_9xNKfXwNI0Oc3V-v1Cv3qV4MbBE3P-x7V3eBTiLeoUNACetRb7LsLTv40y1FeyIDz5NW6IEHLpngM6JkE/s320/MEcomicpage1.jpg" width="229" /></a></div>
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And those of you who have played Mass Effect but haven't heard <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57lOZmGDZK4&feature=related">Reignite by Maluka</a>, well. I suggest you do something about that, because it is a beautiful song.</div>
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</div>Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-57072136472391955042012-07-10T10:52:00.000+02:002012-07-10T10:54:14.162+02:00NaNo and swtorJune disappeared far too quickly, while at the same time seeming to drag out forever. Let's just say that writing NaNo in a month that was not November was more difficult than I would have guessed. The fact that camp NaNo divied you into groups of six or so, rather than letting you see how everyone were progressing didn't help. I compete when I NaNo-write, and when I have no competition... well, my progress slows down. I managed to reach 50k, though the good writing only came the last 3k or so when I completely gave up and handed things over to my oldest character. At least he knows what's going on here...<br />
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I also updated my Star Wars: the Old Republic account, because I missed Sha, my chiss agent, waaaaaay too much to be healthy. I mean, way too much. Like, I spammed art with her and <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.se/">Amanda's</a> Sullivan like no tomorrow for a moment there. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbIn3x_ChgZ_4eJ1bxVh4VGcEK5G50cVMOflLNx0OYij5NpggodjfA6aCB7I29W_ZucU3glO4chge821HB1pu6wcFydwt_nQQB7eCkSrbOYVQHaEIj9Yd6VTG39SxiktQE-N734bJkAw/s1600/Agents80dpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWbIn3x_ChgZ_4eJ1bxVh4VGcEK5G50cVMOflLNx0OYij5NpggodjfA6aCB7I29W_ZucU3glO4chge821HB1pu6wcFydwt_nQQB7eCkSrbOYVQHaEIj9Yd6VTG39SxiktQE-N734bJkAw/s320/Agents80dpi.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
I had previously gotten stuck at the final battle for the agent's story, which I am now past with a little help (the game is not kind to snipers, let me tell you, everything is more difficult than it should be). I have since then made a chiss bounty hunter (the chiss are more commonly referred to as 'my people'), Dasin, who is set as the brother of Sha. The game has a 15 character limitation on the name of your character, which doesn't seem like a big deal until you research chiss names and realize that they are typically at least 17 characters. So, Prard'asi'nuruodo is now a mangled mess of letters with nothing to hold them apart, and spoken of as his corename Dasin. I absolutely love the name system of the chiss and how different it is. <br />
The bounty hunter's story is not as engaging as the agent's I must say. The male voice is so over the top butch and action hero-like that it clashes horribly with Dasin's cuddle-foo, über-lightside nature. ALL the flirting options are painful to watch, either because they are so awkward or because they are wandering into sleezebag territory, but luckily most women react with that genuine "uh, no, ew" to them. As they should. Only sith seem to be ok with this, but since they are sith I suppose they get a freepass or something XD<br />
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For the Empire! <span style="font-size: x-small;">(but really, for the Ascendancy!)</span>Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-43495910279867641952012-05-31T13:57:00.003+02:002012-05-31T13:57:36.702+02:00Camp NaNoWriMoSpeaking of original characters... 10 hours to go until <a href="http://campnanowrimo.org/">Camp NaNoWriMo 2012</a> starts!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEFwOwBHcQ-tWftgcj3DtcZ5duao2w5193civNMERcIUtwoDoYT6l-NtlNliEdjO5ctKWTQTPkuCjg_46hLHBl5fEFsI3vhr-CkImPvRJTa3QgMoXtCp3gyVS99zX4NJj7BKPaCw-rg4/s1600/cn_participant180x180.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMEFwOwBHcQ-tWftgcj3DtcZ5duao2w5193civNMERcIUtwoDoYT6l-NtlNliEdjO5ctKWTQTPkuCjg_46hLHBl5fEFsI3vhr-CkImPvRJTa3QgMoXtCp3gyVS99zX4NJj7BKPaCw-rg4/s1600/cn_participant180x180.png" /></a></div>
First time writing NaNo outside of November (people who know me: I am sorry for disappearing/becoming too involved in a world you find confusing again), but my eternal fellow NaNo-er Bre dragged me into this. Obviously my response was not only agreeing to do it, but to drag others with me. Duh. Misery loves company. So does wordcount competitions. <br />
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I am going to continue the novel from NaNo 2011 rather than start something completely new (big old cheater, yes, whatever) because I need to continue it (of course, it is a continuation of 2010's <em>No Coffin Needed</em>, and uses 2001 and 2002's NaNo novels as a background, but shhhh). I need to continue and eventually finish it. It still doesn't have a proper title, though the working title has changed from <em>Pieces of the Empire</em> to <em>A Murder of Swans</em>. <br />
Now, I do believe there is some plot I need to sort out before all of this gets moving.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-84449024480937510972012-05-29T19:59:00.001+02:002012-05-29T19:59:31.214+02:00Working digitallySo, yeah, I've been doing some digital coloring lately, and primarily using original characters for practice. Because they need love too. <br />
So here's Vadoma from the Vampire the Masquerade roleplaying game I'm running:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhui-vRIaM-Ub6jzfeJ4Qq4UrZoLBGKgIl_alYEyJ77e2o2QDzNAq4TxZ1CX7Z3jR_Ko43BeToL2MUc03uemdEW0d-7L7qiZNstdkP6R9RLw-QQbeiUngMXbGVWnTCojNPdh9jYV4BeZng/s1600/Vadoma1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhui-vRIaM-Ub6jzfeJ4Qq4UrZoLBGKgIl_alYEyJ77e2o2QDzNAq4TxZ1CX7Z3jR_Ko43BeToL2MUc03uemdEW0d-7L7qiZNstdkP6R9RLw-QQbeiUngMXbGVWnTCojNPdh9jYV4BeZng/s320/Vadoma1.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
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I mainly colored her for the dark skin-grey eyes combo, so I did get a bit lazy on the hair and clothes... if you can even call it clothes XD</div>
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I've also done my <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo</a> novel character Nasreen, after a description of her traveling clothes in the novel that I worked on last November. I then did some variations on that, and... I think I'll be doing some regular clothes too for her (and others) this way. It gives me a better idea of what I'm writing, if nothing else.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qK0wKj-cyNlURx_5v-DwnvFOh5gN_J6jyuXjpdcjEcZSlF7_Ps8C6pe9RyEIonJ6oTNhouSFSu6oFBedFvIh-GVfYHYBbYtJIiQlijnKnWbiHwR5bQYN-Wg7RA86SfB-mnThucsNAPU/s1600/Nasreen+jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_qK0wKj-cyNlURx_5v-DwnvFOh5gN_J6jyuXjpdcjEcZSlF7_Ps8C6pe9RyEIonJ6oTNhouSFSu6oFBedFvIh-GVfYHYBbYtJIiQlijnKnWbiHwR5bQYN-Wg7RA86SfB-mnThucsNAPU/s320/Nasreen+jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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</div>Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-73843639518602738332012-04-30T20:33:00.000+02:002012-04-30T20:33:20.745+02:00After SPX 2012Ok... the layout of blogspot has gone through some drastic changes and I'm... completely lost. I am not a fan of change in my technology.
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Regardless, the SPX in Stockholm has come and gone and I have returned home after all the exitement, and I'm looking forward to a few days of doing nothing useful whatsoever. Four out of six members of Think Ink were there and we had a blast.
We sold our fanzines, among them the latest <em>Think 6</em>.<br />
<a href="http://fannymbystedt.blogspot.se/">Fanny</a> sold her books and post cards and made adorable bookmarks. She had also remade a My Little Pony, and we had a 'name the pony' competition! <a href="http://omegadreams.blogspot.se/">Diana</a> pimped her online-comic-in-print and a short story called Sägner (rough translation, 'folktales') which you should keep an eye out for. <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.se/">Amanda </a>sold her sketch fanzines, and the two of us also sold<em> Champions and Heroes</em> fanzines for the first time. <br />
May I just say that it was so much fun to meet <em><a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1155552/this-is-hawke/">Champions and Heroes</a></em> readers, old and new?
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And a huge thanks to the awesome cook <a href="http://vikinggib.deviantart.com/">Gilbert</a> who came by our table with delicious cookes! (also, go check out his stuff - lots of curvy ladies in there ;))
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And... Think Ink now has a joined blog which you can find right <a href="http://thinkinksweden.blogspot.se/">here</a>. At long last!Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-23507212627181310342012-04-13T23:23:00.005+02:002012-04-13T23:29:31.686+02:00Dragon Age fanzineGot home at ten past ten... having spent the entire day printing this:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbnItvvA_sH48gFJO7Egele9oLGxRB62mXo0Vl-Y_eCxP8aqlIBz3WxHWecdkRriRLmgi98RWtsjZrlZiDJtRKQ6S6z-pigcxrDA_5CbNnoSOlGnjjcxDn3SFXqPG_FRqZfhESbEzBvI/s1600/DAcover1+40.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 228px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijbnItvvA_sH48gFJO7Egele9oLGxRB62mXo0Vl-Y_eCxP8aqlIBz3WxHWecdkRriRLmgi98RWtsjZrlZiDJtRKQ6S6z-pigcxrDA_5CbNnoSOlGnjjcxDn3SFXqPG_FRqZfhESbEzBvI/s320/DAcover1+40.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5730999787088282770" /></a><br />Half color, half greyscale, all Dragon Age. It's some 40 pages, and has a younger sibling that we sorted out at the same time. They'll be ready for SPX at the end of the month :D<br /><br />And now... I am going to tend to my headache, drink some tea, watch some Supernatural, maybe read some fanfic and generally take it easy for the rest of the night. Back to work tomorrow.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-23102372838619581542012-03-29T13:17:00.006+02:002012-03-29T13:48:48.864+02:00One year of dragonsI just realized today that on Saturday <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.se/">Amanda</a> and I have been running the <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1155552/this-is-hawke/">Champions and Heroes</a> comic for a full year. The updates have varied between once a week to twice a week, depending on how much time and inspiration we've had, but even so it has kept updating regular as clockwork. Neither of us were sure we would be able to keep it up for so long in the beginning, but by the look of things it will keep going for quite some time still. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGkFPGJQvUwl6IVNZQZpVyWX5_kedQPQp5zN53SU6GioyzbAbEKxU-tmJnoTpnlpS3qPY8fvm2digW-drMLZ0DNPPnoFHVQlvZhlwW5pwOIB8P6rneQFlAyhS-1wnJL93mHADPl8nvZY/s1600/Morecomics.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGkFPGJQvUwl6IVNZQZpVyWX5_kedQPQp5zN53SU6GioyzbAbEKxU-tmJnoTpnlpS3qPY8fvm2digW-drMLZ0DNPPnoFHVQlvZhlwW5pwOIB8P6rneQFlAyhS-1wnJL93mHADPl8nvZY/s320/Morecomics.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725282630550100002" /></a><br /><br />That being said, there's going to be a bit of Mass Effect in the next couple of updates from me at least, due to the release of ME3. It was a lovely game, up until... you know... everything past Marauder Shields and the three Husketeers. Which was essentially the last ten minutes of a lovely series that made multiple gameplays feel pointless and added plotholes for no good reason. Which is a damn shame, because I was halfway through ME2 with a male paragon Shepard, hoping to see how different that experience would be.<br /><br />In other news, I'm working on a fairy comic (another collaboration with Amanda) at the moment, which is looking to end up somewhere between 12 and 15 pages. I still need to finish the layout, but I much rather just get right to the drawing XD<br />To do this, I've chosen to start to upload <a href="http://redplanetcomic.com">the Red Planet </a>alternative universe/potential future comic <em>Substitute</em>, which was published in <em>Swedish Comic Sin 2</em>, rather than making new comic pages for the Red Planet. That will run until the end of June, at which point I should be done with the fairy comic (well, this part of it). So, more updates to follow :)<br /><br />And in a completely unrelated note: Game of Thrones season two is coming! Whooo!Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-25333514940289757552012-03-01T12:58:00.007+01:002012-03-01T15:00:10.646+01:00And now for something completely different: Fable 3I like games. The Dragon Age comic <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics/1155552/this-is-hawke/">Champions and Heroes </a>that I do with <a href="http://amarearts.blogspot.com/">Amanda </a>has been running for almost a full year now, so that is a pretty big hint. And I feel that it's time for an update here...<br /><br />So... I played <strong>Fable 3</strong> a while back. I haven't played the first two games, but it is very friendly to people unfamiliar with the series. <br />It starts out with your older brother, king Logan of Albion, being an asshat. Now, Logan looks like this:<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IZKcODxFm5MEbOOw8N7CGMYhXCzcFJ9YzGqu6kMEpuw9cXdoynlr2mnNu-muKEcOjG_9xHTs3DwinbfXVhqz7bVkWTcRbBavdQSduY6IAfD3sN_nVaqJICCA2BYTLPFCmtiw8VJRobk/s1600/Logan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 298px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7IZKcODxFm5MEbOOw8N7CGMYhXCzcFJ9YzGqu6kMEpuw9cXdoynlr2mnNu-muKEcOjG_9xHTs3DwinbfXVhqz7bVkWTcRbBavdQSduY6IAfD3sN_nVaqJICCA2BYTLPFCmtiw8VJRobk/s320/Logan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5714901857247598850" /></a><br />So, black hair? Check. Backslick? Check. Sallow skin? Check. Villainous beard? Check. Grumpy McGrumpypants expression almost constantly? Check. Position of authority? Check. <br />So, evidently, he's the villain. And, evidently, he's my favorite character. It doesn't hurt that his hair strongly reminds me of Rui from Eyeshield 21, who was one of my favorite characters. <br /><br />King Logan gives you an offer of killing either your friend/boy- or girlfriend or a bunch of rebel leaders. You have to pick either, or he insists that he'll kill both of them. In other words, a lesson in how you can't save everyone and how to make hard choices, the asshat way. You make your choice, and someone ends up dead. Jolly good. At this point your main character decides that this is unacceptable and s/he has to flee and lead a rebellion against Logan. Cue adventures. <br /><br />Now, there are some serious <strong>issues </strong>with this game. <br />- To even get to play the game that you've paid for, you have to jump through hoops, because it really, really wants you to take part of Windows Live. Regardless if you want to do so. I was on the brink of just saying 'screw this' by the time I managed to get everything sorted out. <strong>Unacceptable</strong>.<br />- It's buggy, and I ended up abandoning my first character and started all over again because I suddenly couldn't interact with anyone. <br />- Interacting with people is awkward, to say the least. You act like a buffoon, but that is the only way to make friends, apparently. It is also so time demanding that it's not really worth it. <br />- Interacting with major characters is 100% scripted. You can marry random npcs, or several at the same time if you house them in separate cities, but they have no personalities worth mentioning. There is no way of actually getting to know any character, and everything is kept as superficial as possible.<br />- One should not be able to save the world by playing the lute well. Really.<br />- No real replay value, because: <br />- The script railroads you, and it's not even shy about it.<br />- The game calls itself an RPG, but it is <strong>not</strong>. <br /><br />Roleplaying actually involves making choices for your character and determining his/her personality. This game is so determined to railroad you that it refuses to let you do anything of the sort. <br />While the prince/ss is outraged and believes his/her brother to be a monster, I the player can't help but to feel that all of this could be solved if the protagonist and Logan just sat down and had a long talk. As the game goes on, you learn things which put your brother in a more favorable light, yet the protagonist seems determined to paint Logan the darkest black. <br /><br />Some attempt at convincing you that your brother truly is as evil as he is designed are made, but they all fall flat. The main offender is a magical vision that a blind seer, Teresa, gives you. We are supposed to accept it as the truth, but it is a magical vision. It could easily be made up, or simply taken out of context. But no, the main character trusts this Teresa blindly, despite never having met her before, and condemns his/her brother instantly, despite having grown up under his guardianship and evidently lived a comfortable, sheltered life. <br /><br />Now, in my eyes Logan has the best design and is the most interesting character in the game, and I would like the princess to simply marry him in true Targaryen fashion and rule Albion as king and queen. I even adopted a child and named him Logan II, hoping that the game would take a hint. It did not. <br />However, only half of the game is about the rebellion, the other half is about actually ruling the country. Which was the selling point of this game to me, because so many games are about taking the throne, but practically no games care about what happens afterwards. The scene where you finally confront Logan was absolutely lovely, except for the fact that I wanted to smack my main character silly. Because, again, there is no roleplaying happening here. Your character has decided how this will go, and you are just there to observe, apparently.<br /><br />On the other hand, it's got some <strong>good things </strong>going for it:<br />+ It has beautiful clothing designs. Clearly borrowing heavily from 1700s and 1800s, they are really, really inspiring. The clothing designs is actually one of the most appealing aspects of the game for me. <br />+ The loading screens have pretty and funny posters, which I must say I really enjoyed. Probably the best loading screens I've encountered. <br />+ The quest 'The Game'. It didn't really fit the game, but since I giggled right through it I am more than happy to forgive it for that. I fear, however, that as a game master I am Jim.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Characters of note</strong>:<br /><em>Logan </em>- Easily the best character in the game. Best design, best writing, best development. Shitty ending.<br /><em>Teresa </em>- The blind seer that appears in visions and guides you. I strongly suspect her to be the main villain in the series, and I don't trust her one bit. Voiced by Zoë Wanamaker though, which is a total plus. <br /><em>Reaver </em>- Probably the funniest character in the game, in that 'necessary evil' kind of way. Also, Stephen Fry. Can't go wrong with Stephen Fry.<br /><em>The Crawler </em>- Yes. Yes, yes, yes. The oozing black goo - a thousand times yes. But it's still a very 2D villain.<br /><br /><br />When I really like a game, I make fanart, search for fanfic, and back in the day I'd also write fanfic. There's a period during which I am involved with the fandom, which may stretch on for years. Fable 3? I was pretty over it after a week. <br /><br />5/10. Would have been a little higher, but I cannot forgive Windows Live.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-9038059874956185612012-02-07T11:42:00.005+01:002012-02-07T11:51:03.291+01:00Finishing up old stuffSo in the middle of the night inspiration struck, and I HAD TO finish <a href="http://lokine.deviantart.com/art/TV-TROPES-MEME-BLANK-196413288">this meme</a>. I haven't colored digitally in a long while, and though it's not the best I can do I still like it. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMGAOB1OrzDJoLfasSRL97FeI3uWPRRqccIzc7_Ggv_-CG0uJ8LpWBcTtaQhCLyBrbY4-gdcFSKwZ_IlFj0qzjuXdWOttXYoQgCSQBN4FcCkbGPmnyFZZdAZ4TKM4PnRH8B13OJpKN9g/s1600/TVtropesBirmingham.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyMGAOB1OrzDJoLfasSRL97FeI3uWPRRqccIzc7_Ggv_-CG0uJ8LpWBcTtaQhCLyBrbY4-gdcFSKwZ_IlFj0qzjuXdWOttXYoQgCSQBN4FcCkbGPmnyFZZdAZ4TKM4PnRH8B13OJpKN9g/s320/TVtropesBirmingham.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5706342596882029490" /></a><br />Of course, the problem with doing anything related to <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage">TV tropes </a>is that it eats your life. So it took me a day, with plenty of reading. Sigh... time to do something useful today, me thinks. <br />So yeah, characters from the Vampire the Masquerade game I've been running since... 2007. Dear lord.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-79942909364394528352012-01-31T10:02:00.005+01:002012-02-04T12:08:45.657+01:00Back from AngoulemeI returned home this Sunday from Angouleme, France, and its <a href="http://www.bdangouleme.com/index.php?langue=en">comic festival</a>, but I've been far too tired to do anything useful up until now. So many people, all there for comics! It was quite amazing.
<br />I went there with <a href="http://www.amarearts.blogspot.com/">Amanda</a>, <a href="http://fannymbystedt.blogspot.com/">Fanny</a> and <a href="http://boashi.blogspot.com/">Anders</a> and we were lucky to be able to stay with a lovely French-German family <3 We helped out a bit with the <a href="http://bdangouleme.com/english/swedish-comics/">Swedish exhibition</a>, but mostly Amanda and I walked around and took everything in.
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAbUTdKOCRj-TSEYYYrS33g930KUiIncLJTdxwqi0kVgfrL7VIS6UGZY5pZTTeOYkAdysyB3pltzq2sdQE7fYx_HL-aQgXBezImo0CXFa6VN2zyCHeHB41krjfQSfRrTpdB6gxnTroCgU/s1600/Angouleme1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 164px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAbUTdKOCRj-TSEYYYrS33g930KUiIncLJTdxwqi0kVgfrL7VIS6UGZY5pZTTeOYkAdysyB3pltzq2sdQE7fYx_HL-aQgXBezImo0CXFa6VN2zyCHeHB41krjfQSfRrTpdB6gxnTroCgU/s320/Angouleme1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703724962936937714" /></a>
<br />There are a lot of these in Angouleme, but this one is my favorite mainly because it's Lucky Luke. My grandfather used to read Lucky Luke to me when I was a child, and the Dalton brothers were my favorites. I've always preferred the villains, it seems XD
<br />Still, most of my photographs are more like this one
<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0U6Wku0BoJThO_R9XSgSIk_LK2CNrFbSISIXq5Ag9zrFTBX66sI1jcjIpianf3R7EthZdlI6OakY_zMxW6T5Z4-q_NIFnfG4neS_ZaDDm1Y881eYzI1Numik-WPuyB2p-qgPDVxvmjE/s1600/Angouleme2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju0U6Wku0BoJThO_R9XSgSIk_LK2CNrFbSISIXq5Ag9zrFTBX66sI1jcjIpianf3R7EthZdlI6OakY_zMxW6T5Z4-q_NIFnfG4neS_ZaDDm1Y881eYzI1Numik-WPuyB2p-qgPDVxvmjE/s320/Angouleme2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5703725805187303074" /></a>
<br />Gargoyles! Old buildings! They really have some beautiful old buildings in Angouleme, and I'm a sucker for those. Amanda and I also ended up going to a museum for the sake of an exhibition but ended up spending more time in the actual museum ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the old paintings and objects.
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<br />I did get some drawing done too, and tried out a new pen which is going to force me to learn to think when I ink. I like the feel of it, but it dries really slowly. One of the pictures turned into a smudgefest, but I can still clean it up digitally so all is well I suppose. Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-67228605124631098562012-01-03T01:30:00.004+01:002012-01-03T01:40:18.891+01:00And... an attentive new year?A happy surprise awaited <a href="http://clueedo.deviantart.com/">Amanda </a>and I today when we looked at the stats for today's update. And a lot of confusion. It's not every day we get 30k+ visitors, is what we're saying. After a bit of unsuccessful googling I got a sneaking suspicion and went to check my facebook updates. <br />As it turns out, our comic <a href="http://championsandheroes.smackjeeves.com/comics">Champions and Heroes </a>got linked on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/dragonage#!/photo.php?fbid=10150493741564367&set=a.302584369366.143286.8101714366&type=1&theater">Dragon Age's facebook </a>page. Whoo! Completely random, but awesome :DNathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2506482602108160723.post-36382210807113116072011-12-12T12:58:00.007+01:002011-12-12T13:18:31.437+01:00November is overSo, November over and NaNoWriMo finished (which this year is going to continue, but a little break is in order) my mother and I went to England for a couple of days, and it was glorious. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7B6U_5_Z7dfNvLFnC1AGrdToPhgH_ELfnCEN1Oc45B0B000LWZP1HzorL3r2KwHDISg4tYvL9shvbMgQEhOISuMR10MFTrZyFDx5tvea3fJKayCLT7bJ-8-3GpLYfdAmvh4qmI87PXM/s1600/stonehenge.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk7B6U_5_Z7dfNvLFnC1AGrdToPhgH_ELfnCEN1Oc45B0B000LWZP1HzorL3r2KwHDISg4tYvL9shvbMgQEhOISuMR10MFTrZyFDx5tvea3fJKayCLT7bJ-8-3GpLYfdAmvh4qmI87PXM/s320/stonehenge.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685210303000688418" /></a><br />Stonehenge at dawn, during the best possible weather - frost in the grass, clear blue sky, and thick fog that made it look truly magical. That was followed by a trip to Bath and the roman bath there. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsyS2tJRN_V9CCUZSoNU9rhKPnf-OGRpaa3RMrBDbEnU3nVuWyOso5DhVfLRQ4k54an0PrkK6EvYQ2QM6VCpUJo2ngTzirAp3Q7LAhEp181Gh18kPGwL1L87q1lwrXmke_2fydvKL-Ys/s1600/romanbaths.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSsyS2tJRN_V9CCUZSoNU9rhKPnf-OGRpaa3RMrBDbEnU3nVuWyOso5DhVfLRQ4k54an0PrkK6EvYQ2QM6VCpUJo2ngTzirAp3Q7LAhEp181Gh18kPGwL1L87q1lwrXmke_2fydvKL-Ys/s320/romanbaths.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685211608148308386" /></a><br />And I am so inspired! As we wandered around there I got an idea and it grew clearer and clearer and... I really have to do it. A sidestory connected to the fairy comic <a href="http://clueedo.deviantart.com/">Amanda </a>and I are working on, set here. <br />We also visited the British Museum (and promptly lost each other) and I was surprised to see all the old horse bits. They haven't changed one bit (hur hur) since the time of the Celts and the Romans! The smithing has become better and the shapes softer, but the design is the same. Astonishing. <br /><br />And in preparation of the end of the year I have been finishing old pictures. I couldn't for the life of me find the original of this, but I had scanned it and so I erased one part and redid it on the printed copy and inked it and so on and so forth. Done! With several flaws I would have changed if I did it all over again, but that's not important. It's waited a year and a half to be completed and now it is. <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSp5Wxh7JLd6aBtjwpckN9aimKh1PaojGoQZQSDYI-aCb-OA2lX-fDQ4lGj2TUMpFbFGh0mMHjcVCSjyq2fJSg-mzawrJeRiT5XqFH_l_Esy47h5njuWBu-WFT3gyeQhTXFb0cdpAb_uI/s1600/BarryRosariocolor.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 303px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSp5Wxh7JLd6aBtjwpckN9aimKh1PaojGoQZQSDYI-aCb-OA2lX-fDQ4lGj2TUMpFbFGh0mMHjcVCSjyq2fJSg-mzawrJeRiT5XqFH_l_Esy47h5njuWBu-WFT3gyeQhTXFb0cdpAb_uI/s320/BarryRosariocolor.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5685213253157051026" /></a><br />Barry and Rosario, two of my characters in a Vampire: the Masquerade roleplaying game I'm running, thus the symbols in the background.Nathaliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11254090724533558235noreply@blogger.com0