FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!

Having finally accepted that it's unlikely, in this life, that anyone's going to pay me to paint whatever the Hell I feel like painting...

...I can freely paint whatever the Hell I feel like painting! Woohoo! XD

I know, I know, I should have realised this years ago. What can I say? Nuggets have low (no!) brain content!

And maybe it's better this way, anyway. I never loved print design, and I'm glad I don't do that anymore. But there are aspects of web design work, especially the bits that deal with poking and prodding humans into doing things, without them *realising* they're being poked and prodded, that really appeal to me.

Still... it'll be good to get Inanna, my current sole-completed-piece-for-this-year completed. -_- I miss my weekly free sketches, but I'm too lazy to do them while this project is there staring at me. Yes. One completed piece a year seems to be all I can do. And we won't count those 3 years that WoW ate. Prolific, that's me!



Ze Weekly Nuggetsketch

Alas, for the best laid plans of mice and nuggets!

I seem to have spent most of the weekend frolicking and sleeping. -_- Didn't do as much as I hoped.

Was supposed to finish jewellery and wings this weekend. Hah! >.> And no, the jewellery isn't done. Necklace, bracer (or is that bracelet) and her hooked rod thingies still need proper detailing - all I did was put in the highlights.

Alas for lazy nugfaces! >.< Must work moar... moar! :( Need to finish by 15th August.

Ze Weekly Nuggetsketch

I'm experimenting with a slightly different way of rendering, and I think I like the results so far.

Unfortunately, it also seems to change how I hold my pen, with the result that I'm getting a blister on the first joint of my pinkie. I've tried holding the pen differently, but it doesn't give me the results I want when I do. >.> Apparently I need to grow new callouses in order to use this technique.

The great thing about this 'early digital' art time we're living in (and considering it's only the last what - 20-30 years? that's pretty early, if you consider history in general)... anyways, the great thing is there's lots to discover for yourself in terms of techniques. The basic principles of stuff still hold true, but the *how* of doing things with a different medium has lots of stuff to explore.

Back to blisters. >.<

Going to have to do this in shorter sittings over the week, I think, rather than one long sitting and, 'YAY I FEENEESH her today'... cause looking at my hand, I think that might be a Bad Idea. But at least it's moving!

SQUEE!

(Yes, it's flipped around. I tend to flip my work back and forth a lot while working, so it's not only flipped now, but is going to continue to do so! Zoom! ZOMP! Zoom!)

Ze Weekly Nuggetsketch

>.> Ok so this is a cheat. I blame ArenaNet! :(

I didn't work on the piece last weekend cause I was doing BLA nonstop. XD

And then this weekend I'm wishywashying around, unable to decide which style I want to use. If I use a paintypainty style (my normal) it's going to take a lot longer... and I need to be done by 15th August to enter the contest.

If I do a more graphic style, like this one, then it'll be faster... but... I don't like that style as much.

AUUUUGH! *brain splodes*

On the bright side, I think this colour scheme has much more oomph than the original one.

Heroes of Three Kingdoms

Sooo, I've been poking around Heroes of Three Kingdoms, which is supposedly in its closed beta.

Supposedly, because:
1) There's no easy way to report bugs, even though I've found them
2) They basically sent the invitation to everyone and anyone who ever played a PWE game
3) There's no NDAs, no nothing... not that I noticed anyway. ;)

It fulfills my expectations of a PWE game. I.E. the gameplay seems to be the same old non-existent thing married to endless grind, the cash shop will doubtless be a vampire, and I already see bits of the casino system showing itself.

As long as you're fore-warned that that *is* what PWE games are, Heroes of Three Kingdoms delivers.

1) The quest text is interesting (at least, if you like Wuxia or historical Chinese stuff)
2) The world is beautiful
3) HoTK is emphatically historical - that means there are history nuggets hidden all over, and you get to meet 'legendary' heroes like Zhang Fei, Liu Bei, etc. (Or at least, I assume you will, from the way things have been going over my puny 15 levels!)
4) The music is nice. But only nice. Jade Dynasty's music is *gorgeous*. HoTK's soundtrack can get a bit repetitive.
5) Fashion (read, cosmetic cashshop items) promises to be as pretty as in all PWE games
6) Day and night cycles - gorgeous solar flares when riding into sunset, sunrise. It's such a little thing, but it matters.

SooOoOooo check it out. Despite the flaws in the gameplay itself, HoTK is very, very pretty. One could even say that PWE simply has a different focus from Western MMOs, and that gameplay isn't the core of the game at all. Just... be careful with your wallet.

Oh yes. And that's my newbie Charmer, Zhiruo (fan dancing/fighting healer archetype thingie) in her newbie clothes in Hebei, what I assume is a nooblet area. =) The city shots are of a city (duh) named Chang'an.