Scampiart

Current sketches

2009-07-12T20:04:00.003+01:00

Recently I've been working on some planning sketches for a potential piece to sit in the living room. My lovely hubby to be has suggested I draw and ink two geisha girls to sit in the alcove over our television. I really want to focus on their outfits so I'm trying to learn more about fabric and drapery.

Luckily I have loads of bridal mags lying around so I have lots of reference material.

Books, glorious books!

2009-05-29T13:44:00.005+01:00

I've added a good read widget to the side of the blog. It seems I just can't get enough of these widgets. Please feel free to recommend titles to me. I plan on blitzing the local library next week as I come to the end of the current title that I'm reading.

GDC Diary Day 4

2009-04-22T13:40:00.023+01:00

Due to time restraints and because the last two days of GDC were much the same, this is my last GDC diary entry. I had a fabulous time and want to remember every single detail. However days 5 and 6 were the days I was most hung over so I think it best to sweep my groggy recollections under the carpet. One thing that I do have to mention about my last day at GDC was Giant robot. This was a shop that sold everything I could ever want. It is also where we attended an amazing art exhibition about game art. The photos at the bottom of this post contain some of the snaps from that exhibition and other misc photos from San Francisco. (scroll down!)

Day 4 was both the first day at the booth and the day of the IGF awards. I got up bright and early, applied my war paint, dried my hair and was out of the door, fashioning my Cletus Clay t-shirt as I went.

Heading on to the Expo floor my jaw dropped. I've never attended an event like this before so really didn't know what to expect. The night before the whole massive room had been filled with bits of metal, chairs, timber and a whole lot of crumpled paper. Today a behemoth of stands had arisen from the chaos. There was a stand constructed completely out of wood, skimpy ladies wearing lycra floating around a very plastic looking ngage stand and some athletic people sprinkled in little lights, dancing about for the motion capture stands and that was just a small selection of what you could see.

The IGF section of the hall was right at the back so once I'd taken in all the stands around me I was able to sit and focus on our little nook. Armed with stickers and a banner Andy and I finished jazzing up the Cletus stand. Before I knew it the room filled with industry people, milling about like pigeons looking for a crumb.The Dyson guys were in the booth next to ours and had a bit of a problem with their monitor. Luckily one of the yellow t-shirt clad heroes that were our designated helpers for the event managed to score them a new one just before the crowds got silly. And boy did the crowds get silly. Toilet breaks were a near impossibility for parts of the day because of the people wading that would entail. We got some great feedback about Cletus and how the game actually plays. One guy played through the one level we had playable 3 times in a row on the last day of GDC! We think that is because he enjoyed it and not that he didn't realise that it was the same level over and over again. He didn't speak much english so we can't know for sure.

After a mad dash to the nearest pharmacy for some deoderant (I'll be damned if I smell bad at the first awards ceremony I've ever attended) and a quick change in the little girls room and it was time to head for the red carpet and into the IGF awards ceremony. Free booze and mini hamburgers awaited us buffet style. We were sat at table 13 (unlucky for some) with the Digital Eel team who were up for an audio award. Everyone was looking very daper. We got some friendly advice to stock up on the free beer as they whip it away once the ceremony starts. Andy and I waddled back to our seats with multiple brewski's in tow moments later.

We sat down just in time, the lights dimmed and everyone was hushed as the award ceremony began. Alas we did not win the award we were nominated for. However the game that did win the art award, Machinairium, deserved the title.

After a couple of amazing videos by Mega64 that had us peeing ourselves a little with laughter it was time to get smashed. We hadn't won anything, but that was okay. I tugged the sleeves of the Dyson guys and mentioned that booze was what was needed. They agreed and we set out and on to the streets of San Francisco to find our first watering hole.

A few pubs later and we were all sufficiently sozzled. Brain, the musician from Dyson, and I had a fantastic conversation about comic books and everybody bonded over expensive American booze. I hadn't realised, but in America they don't use shot measures like here in the UK. The guy at the guy just pours straight from the bottle of alcohol delights into your glass. Very willy nilly.

It was long past my bed time by the time we got back to the apartment and a couple of litres of water later and a paracetemol and I was dead to the world.

GDC Diary Day 3

2009-04-20T12:45:00.008+01:00

Luckily I'd remembered to put my half a pizza in the fridge before I slumped into my bed the previous night. Cold pizza for breakfast is brilliant when you are feeling a little worse for wear.

Alex and Anthony had been up most of the night trying to get our Cletus demo sorted and so I think everyone was pretty tired. We arrived at the Moscone centre to begin the last day of talks before we had to set up for our IGF stand, me cradling my bottle of water and desperate for coffee to ease my pounding head.

The indie game makers rant was something I was determined not to miss and it didn't fail to impress me, even through the fog in my brain. Kyle Gabler and Phil Fish also gave an excellent
presentation on the art of promoting indie games. This was very helpful to me and I made sure to make substantial notes. Sadly I brought the worlds most pathetic handbag to San Francisco and as soon as I placed my notes in my bag they fell out. This is where twitter came to my rescue which I'll explain in a bit.

We were setting up our IGF stand that evening so I was sent on a mission to locate some clay. Anthony and I were going to demonstrate how we created some of the assets in the game on our stand and required a particular kind of clay called Van Aken . I make the worst decisions when I'm hung over and deciding to wander off into San Francisco without a map, not really knowing my way round and with only sheer determination to find an art shop was one of those bad decisions. 2 hours later I was hot, bothered and about ready to give up. Luckily I must have been sending out 'I'm lost' vibes and a friendly guy walked me to within spitting distance of an art shop that had the correct kind of clay. I gave him a badge to say thank you but would have happily given him a lung or a kidney at the time.

Armed with my bag of clay I headed back to the venue to sort out expo passes for Anthony's girlfriend Michaela and a sneaky pass for Dan Paladin. Alex and I got the bare minimum set up for the next day and met Andy for some Tai food. This is where twitter saved me. Just before bed the Cletus Clay twitter account got a direct message from Scott Macmillan at Macguffin Games. He had located my note book and was willing to bring it to our stand the next day. Twitter is AWESOME.

Anthony and Alex were once again up until crazy o clock getting a playable demo for Cletus sorted. At one point the internet in our apartment went down and Alex and Anthony resorted to skulking the streets sapping wifi from whatever house had failed to password restrict their connection. They were the wifi ninja's.

GDC Diary Day 2

2009-04-14T11:17:00.013+01:00

Emerging from our warm duvets and having been fuelled with caffeine it was time to embark to the Moscone centre to get our passes for the week and start attending some talks.

Due to a bit of a balls up with our weeks passes we missed the first event of the independent gaming seminar and had to squeeze into the back for the next talk.

Every talk was really informative. I'd never attended GDC before so really didn't know what to expect and was pleasantly surprised. There are some fantastic write ups and most speakers have put their presentations online which I highly recommend checking out. Indie gamer has a list of online copies of the talks given.

Two of the most inspiring talks were made by Cactus, the man who churns out a game a minute and Petri Purho who created Crayon Physics Deluxe and runs Klooni Games. Cactus should get a prize for the most entertaining presentation, armed with Graphics and sound effects like I'd never seen before, he gave great insight into his thought process and the way he works. Petri on the other hand gave a very honest talk about his work on Crayon Physics and the problems he faced and how winning the previous years IGF grand prize had affected him. I left both talks very inspired and itching to create something exciting.

Feeling a hundred times more human than I had the day before I finally managed to chat coherently with some fellow indie developers during the coffee breaks. Erik Svedang, the creator of Blueberry Garden turned out to have the best hair I've seen adopted by a game developer and Jens Bergensten, the programmer behind Harvest Massive encounter, became a firm friend and helpfully introduced me to a lot of people I wasn't brave enough to approach at first.

Alex May and Rudolf Kremer's were also internet friends whom I'd never actually met. The interview I conducted with them a while back was all done over msn messenger. Just as I was about to leave I bumped into Rudolf and instantly it was agreed that alcohol should be consumed and the Cletus Clay and Dyson teams should meet properly. Alex and Anthony had returned to the apartment so that they could work on getting our Cletus Clay demo all set for Wednesday so I went to find Andy and a good pub.

Deciding that food would be a good idea before beer consumption Andy and I found a pizza place and indulged in some lovely cheesy pizza. The concept of getting something 'boxed to go' is still a bit alien to me but having only managed half my pizza I loved the fact they could wack it in a box and I could tuck it in my handbag for snacking on later.

Flagging down a cab we then made our way to a bar called Brick which was right next to where Brian, the musician from Dyson, was staying. A couple of beers later and we were all wittering away like we'd known each other for years. Eventually it was time to head home so Andy and I started wandering the streets looking for a handy taxi. Whilst hunting for our lift home we came across what seemed to be a pretty authentic all-American bar and decided one more beer wouldn't hurt.

This was a mistake.

Andy and I still aren't entirely sure what dirty dealings were going down in that bar but we have a feeling that the older lady playing pool wasn't slipping the young gentlemen next to her money for beer. This is when we decided to call it quits and make a hasty exit.

GDC Diary Day 1

2009-04-06T14:58:00.005+01:00

Bleary eyed, I stepped out of San Francisco airport the day before the Game Developers Conference 09 kicked off and was given my first taste of America. After a mere moment I was quickly bundled into a yellow taxi and I felt like I'd entered into the land of television. My first sighting of a cop car on route to our apartment led to squeaks of glee followed by disappointment when it didn't explode and flip over aka every cop car chase I'd seen on my television screen.

Arriving at the apartment where the entire Cletus Clay team was staying (student style) I finally met Anthony. Severely jet lagged I dread to think what his initial impression of me was. Having been working with him for over a year, to groggily grunt a hello was not exactly the first impression I had intended. Still, it was a very exciting moment and it was fantastic to put a human face and character to an online friend and colleague.

With introductions out of the way it was time to ingest some beers and enjoy some grub at the indie developer gathering. That evening was a bit of a blur for me. I do remember staggering up to a lot of people whom I really admired and pulling strange facial expressions and garbling my sentences whilst trying to explain that it was really cool to be in their presence and I hoped to see them around during GDC. I accidentally ate half a chilli thinking it was a pepper and the fire in my mouth gave me the energy to start chatting with David Hellman who was sat next to me. I loved his artwork in Braid and have been following his blog for a little while now so was a little in awe of him but after a brief chat about the differences in the UK and the USA I realised that he was a great guy and that sometimes meeting your hero is a good thing .

Sadly I was too tired to brave the indie pub crawl that occurred after the meal and headed back with Alex for some much needed sleep. Anthony, Andy and Michaela however were dirty stop outs and crawled into the apartment sometime in the early hours. This led to a bit of a slow start to day 2.

Watchmen - The other white meat

2009-03-08T20:44:00.006Z

Before my weekend of drunken frivolity Tom and I braved Cineworld and embarked on an adventure to watch Watchmen. Having only managed to read about 2 thirds of the original comic I wasn't really sure what to expect. I loved V for Vendetta as a comic and thoughaly enjoyed the movie adaptation so had hopes for a good show.

The experience was slightly marred from the beginning due to the toss pot behind getting a bit arsey when I shhusshhed him. Unable to locate the source of the shuussh he spent the first 10 minutes of the film angrily asking who shhusshed him. Unwilling to get either shouted at or beaten up I sunk low in my seat and kept a low profile and eventually he gave up the hunt.

The film itself was quite captivating. My memory of the comic is foggy at best but I do recall finding the character of the night owl really really weak. However Patrick Wilson brings a whole new dimension to the character instead of the flacid nobody that the comic portrayed him as. The comedian was pefectly cast and being a massive fan of Billy Crudup I was very excited by the prospect of seeing him in all his blue glory.

The story itself was told well and it was an entertaining evening. I wouldn't say I was blown away but having not really enjoyed the comic I went to see this film expecting a mediocre event. By the end of the film I was pleasently surprise by the depiction of the characters which saved this film from the possible 'ok' status I was going to give it and instead made me lean towards a 'pretty good'.

That brings me finally to the nakedness. I don't really regard myself a prude but every time I saw Dr Manhattan's man stick I did find myself stifling a school girl giggle and I am sure that I am not alone. However from the experience I can safely say I don't get to see enough naked beautiful men in the films I watch and am in favour of more blue knobly bits on screen.

Book Finito!

2009-03-04T16:49:00.004Z

I've now finished The Tower of Ravens which was the brilliant book I had been reading for the last few weeks. Normally I polish off a book like that in a matter of days but the last month it has been read in little snatches when I have time.

Will write up a proper run down of the book when I have a free moment. I'm attending an event called Media Minx's and Art Tarts tonight so it probably won't be until tomorrow when I can make myself some cocoa and snuggle up in front of my PC in my Pj's. It should be illegal to write a book review unless you are in your pajamas.

(just remembered that I have yet to return it to the library..and it is now overdue...DOH!)

The Tower of Ravens - OMG this book is fab.

2009-02-15T18:40:00.007Z

I'm currently ploughing my way through 'The Tower of Raven's by Kate Forsyth. It is obviously a book written for girls who dreamt of finding a unicorn in the forest or piggy backing a wandering pegasus when there were ickle. The attention given to the horses in what I have read so far would leave most self respecting males either baffled or placing the book firmly back down on the coffee table in disgust. It is the sort of book that I probably usually wouldn't freely admit I was reading except for the fact that it has a fantastic saving grace; if you get over the obvious horse focus, this is actually a pretty gritty book. There is a section within the first chapter that left me somewhat stunned with the graphic nature of it. Death, Sex, bodily fluids are freely talked about in a very matter of fact fashion which is really refreshing. The characters are well fleshed out, and as a fantasy novel, it has what seems to be a unique world of magic that you can truly get lost in.

It is a book that I've been struggling to put down, which is always a great feeling, and have even found myself looking forward to an early night with a hot cup of milk n' honey and a hot water bottle. I'm sure I sound very PG movie but sometimes it feels good to be a stereotypical girly girl when it comes to reading books. All that is missing are the cookies.

I will most certainly talk more about this book when I have actually finished it but I've been enjoying it so much that I had to give it a quick mention now. Just goes to show that a trip to your local library is not a waste of time, even if the only Volume 1 book you can find seems to look like a real stinker when you look at the cover. I'm sure there is some saying about that......

Blog Overhaul

2009-02-12T14:35:00.008Z

(Hah, look at me go. I'm even editing this post so that it reads better...this is an improvement already!)

As you can see I'm currently working on a pretty major overhaul for this blog. I've added the Grooveshark widget, my twitter feed and now I'm recolouring and replacing the blog header. I'm trying to make this a blog that I get excited about updating instead of it being a bit of a chore.

I'm a lot more comfortable with the blogger software now which means adjusting things isn't as painful as it once was. I'm still struggling a bit to make this a graphical masterpiece so if anyone out there is an htm genius and knows how I can replace my background colour with a background image I'll send you a cyber hug and a cuppa tea if you can let me know your secrets. The image I'm using as a header is a placeholder for now as I have recently pur-chased a new Dell PC and need to install some graphics programmes before I get busy with the art.

A big inspiration for this blog is Felica Day's blog http://feliciaday.com/blog . I love her style and was watching the Guild, a series she has penned and also stars in, whist fiddling with this colour scheme. For those that recognise her but aren't sure where from, she was Vi in the last series of Buffy and is also from Dr Horribles Sing A Long Blog.
I've also decided that in order to write better blog posts I need to read more. At the library yesterday I wandered into the Fantasy book section and attempted to pick up some good ole fashioned Orky/Dragony stories. Actually I ended up getting the only 3 books that were Vol 1 of any of the trilogy's that they had on the shelves. It was amasing how many Volume 2's and 7's they had, but to someone who is starting to read again after a really long reading hiatus, I needed to begin at the beginning.

I also wanted to pick up a copy of the Watchmen to brush up on the story before the film comes out. Alas it was not to be. They seemed to have every manga comic under the sun but I was dissapointed with the old school western comic section they had. Don't get me wrong, I love manga (particularly Chobits and The Tarot Cafe) but sometimes I crave the beefy looking men from superhero or gritty-er comics which manga usually fails to provide. ;-)

So, expect a big change in the next couple of months. This blog has acted as a good practice ground for my writing and I've had some nice comments but it is time to step it up a gear, get a bit more focus and create something to be proud of. I want to write more about what I'm interested in, perhaps mention some of the comics that I really like as well as games and books I enjoy. Basically I want this to become the place where I can completely GEEK OUT. I try and get my fill of geeking out via the numerous web forums I belong to but sadly discussions often get lost in the ether so here is where I can annotate the geeky/arty/awesomeness that I find both online an offline and keep it as a permenant record.

Time for a humungous cup of coffee.

Rain drops ting-a-ling-a-ling

2009-02-10T14:01:00.004Z

Snow is still loitering around the house but traveling to work is no longer wracked with danger. Life, it seems, is returning to normal.

Twitter is my most recent web discovery. We are in fact tweeting all about the development of Cletus Clay here
http://twitter.com/CletusClay
Things are getting all serious on the Cletus front. I'm busy model making which is great and some of the models I've made in the last couple of weeks are my absolute favourite out of all the strange things I've created over the last year. Now that Tuna actually owns Cletus I can even start to leak a few photos out so people can see what I'm up to (see above).

Whilst playing with the interweb I also discovered groove shark so now you can all enjoy the bizzare music concoction that I abuse my ear drums with.

Snow Ranting

2009-02-04T09:39:00.003Z

I love snow. Yes I do. I love the fact that everything looks clean and soft. I love the fact I can leave distinctive foot prints in the now. I especially love the fact that my cat hates snow because the entertainment value of watching her try and make it to her favourite peeing spot on the lawn is priceless.

What I do not like are little shitty children throwing snowballs at me that contain not only snow, but rocks. I mean for god sake, throwing snowballs at your friends it totally fine. I love having snow ball fights. If that is what you want to do with your friends then please do. Hell, shove a whole snow drift down the back of their jumper for all I care, but leave perfect strangers the fuck alone.

If you had not already guessed, yesterday I was walking home from the shop when a bunch of nasty, grotty little 12 year olds started pelting me. Thankfully the little shits were a bad aim so most of them missed. However I still arrived back at my house dripping wet and very very annoyed. I know I should have completely ignored them but I couldn't help myself..I turned around and gave one the finger.

The leason I learned from all this? Children piss me off.

Fable 2

2009-02-02T14:42:00.003Z

Well, I've been playing fable 2 since Christmas and I STILL haven't finished it yet. I keep meaning to give over hours of my time to this game as I have been enjoying it immensely.
My dog is beautiful and golden and I walk around the game world with a permanent halo. I rock.
When I do get round to completing the game in 'good' mode I am going to boot up again and this time unleash the horns! Lay pillage to all cities and cause general mayhem.

2009-01-30T14:57:00.004Z

Well, just over a week ago I had my first sketch meet. Alas only one person showed up. Still we had fun. I taught our one member how to draw human faces (not faeces) whist sat with a nice cuppa tea. It was all very gentile.

Went out on the town later that day with said member and friends from work which was a lot of fun. Still not sure about the club Plug in sheffield. I don't know whether I just keep having bad luck when I go but I'm still not impressed with the music there.

Just about managed to avoid a hangover the next day so twas a great weekend all round!

2009 Already??

2009-01-05T14:05:00.003Z

Jeez last year went fast. I swear that it wasn't that long ago that I was complaining about the heat. Now there is snow and ice and general brrrrness. Happy Christmas and New year to those I failed to reach during the festive season. Have started up a sketch group in my hometown so I have a feeling this year is going to be all about the art.

Fruity num nums

2008-10-15T13:48:00.003+01:00

My little brother and I have a birthday tradition. Each year, we get each other presents that are completely random. Most recently, having turned 23, my brother posted me 2 DVD's that he found. He bought them for me because he thought the titles were amusing.

Last night my partner and I sat down and tucked into the first of these DVD's; Fruits basket. Hell, we thought, it surly can't be as bad as the novels he bought me from an earlier birthday, the 300lb gorilla was abysmal.
Anyway, it turns out that Fruits basket, although terribly cheesey, makes for good lighthearted mushy tv. It is obviously aimed at a younger audience than I am but it did take me back to when I thought shoes with multicoloured wedges were cool and when I actually did spend hours wondering if that certain boy in English actually did like me. As pay back for this delightful birthday gift I sent my brother a 'Cheeky Monkey poof chair' for his 21st. Happy belated 21st Bro!

Going back to my roots.

2008-08-27T16:33:00.002+01:00

Recently, and quite randomly, I seem to be revisiting all the sites and watching all the shows that I absolutely adored whilst in my teenage years. It was a real blast from the past to watch episode 1 of Buffy. I remember how my friends and I used to assign each other characters. Willow was my avatar for quite a while. Bubblegum Crisis 2040 is an anime that I collected on VHS that I've recently been rewatching via the wonders of youtube. I've even started drinking copious amounts of diet coke again.

Soon I'll be replaying all my old Final Fantasy Games and forgetting to wash for days at a time.
Perhaps that is an area of puberty I'll try to avoid revisiting.

Wedding bells are a ringin'

2008-08-05T13:03:00.001+01:00

Yup yup yup, my partner in crime and I have finally set a date for our wedding. We tie the knot near christmas 2009! Now the date is set, the fun part begins. Wheeeee for honeymoons!

Kitteh!

2008-07-22T18:21:00.002+01:00

Here is some more vector art fun.
Kitteh!

Sex Change Munny

2008-07-21T12:28:00.005+01:00

Over the weekend the gender of my Munny changed. Thankfully the procedure of changing man munny into lady munny was relatively painless.

I'm not sure if she is finished yet. I'm at the stage where I don't want to over work the design but am not entirely sure if its missing something??

The name 'Piffle' has been suggested and I find it rather fitting. So folks, meet Piffle, the possibly half finished she-beast!

Name Ma MUNNY!

2008-07-16T13:41:00.002+01:00

Yup, he's fresh out the box and before I even think about what design to paint him, he needs a name. I've decided that he is a he, not a she. If he were real, I have a feeling he would like cookies, milk and jazz music. All suggestions on a postcard please....or in the comments section.

Lil Critter

2008-07-15T18:12:00.003+01:00

For some reason over the last couple of weeks I've been obsessed with creating little creatures in fireworks. Vector art is the shitz.
This is my newest little dude. Perhaps I'll put together a whole collection of them.
Whatcha think?

Imogen Heap

2008-07-15T16:25:00.005+01:00

Being a fan of Frou Frou, its surprising that I've only just discovered the voice behind that short lived indie band.
I'm slightly ashamed to admit it but I originally thought that it was a man that provided the somewhat androgynous vocals. In fact those vocals are voiced by a lady known as Imogen Heap.

Imogen Heap keeps a video blog which makes for pleasant watching. Her sense of style is definitely individual and she occasionally lets you hear what she is working on. Discovering how tracks are thought through and how certain sound affects and vocal arrangements are created is something most artists like to keep under their hats. It's refreshing having that insight with Imogen and her music. Her fireplace is also damn nice (you can tell I'm trying to do up my house at the moment).

Sometimes she rambles a bit in her video entries and a few of her tracks really aren't my bag. I am however, known to be seriously picky about what I listen to so for an artist to only have a couple of tracks that I don't like is very unusual. Regardless, I like her approach to her fan base and most of the time her sound is right on the money.

InfamEEY!

2008-07-13T22:01:00.002+01:00

A Munny I painted a couple of months ago is FAMOUS!
Look at the little chap, isn't he shiney?
I look at his weird little expression and pokemon eyes and feel a touch of warm fuzzy pride.

My vinyl toy fascination is a relatively new thing, although I've always collected 'figurines'...I just didn't know they were called vinyl/designer/urban toys. Now I know that its acceptable to still have toys at 22 years of age I'm going to flaunt them.

If some small angry woman comes up to you waving small plastic toys in your face, you now know that it is because she has had a vinyl toy epiphany.

Attack of the mucus.

2008-07-13T20:52:00.004+01:00

If there is one thing I hate more than anything else, its having a cold. I'm one of those people who seems to always get 2 colds a year. Once in the summer and once in the winter. My biological clock seems set on flagellating itself twice a year.

Right now I'm typing this whilst watching the Matrix, for some reason this film always cheers me up when I'm full of mucus. There is an impressive mound of used tissue to my left and a slightly irritated looking cat to my right. I've sneezed on her a couple of times today. Apparently that doesn't go down well in cat decorum.

My lovely hubby-to-be has been spoon feeding me ribena and honey for most of the day which has also helped immensely with the mucus situation. Hopefully a good nights rest is all I need.....and lots and lots of drugs.

2008-07-11T16:32:00.001+01:00

Yes, finally I have done it. The thing I have been meaning to do for YEARS.
Thats right, I bought my own scanner. Now I can subject the interweb to every godforsaken doodle that I choose to commit to paper. You lucky people.

Its due on either Monday or Tuesday next week. I hope it comes with all the cables and stuff. The reason I hate PC world so much is because they sell you the monitor/tower/webcam/grandma but with none of the cables you need to actually get it set up. Then they charge you a fortune to get the cables. Fingers crossed that amazon have got their shit together.

2008-02-29T15:59:00.002Z

Well, it has once again been a while. Things have been zipping along nicely with my new job and I'm hopefully picking up some handy skills for the future.

I've been doing a lot of traditional painting over the last few weeks. As soon as I get the goddamn internet at home (at the moment it doesn't function....never get Sky broad band, it sucks monkey balls) I'll post some pictures just for you...my pretend audience.

2008-01-07T10:52:00.001Z

I completed Dirge of Cerberus at last! Today is a day where the grin cannot leave my lips.
Despite really preparing myself for the bucket of shite that I expected this game to be, I actually really enjoyed it. As a rule I suck at FPS, particularly if they are on a console and I wasn't great at this game but I managed to pootle through it and the story line made me happy!

Only a few quibbles. Bad lip sinc PISSES me off. It gives the big old middle finger to the English speaking people by Square Enix. You can tell that they literally just got the voice actors to dub over the FMV's and this may work in Anime but it really DOESN'T work in FMV's.

Also, the end boss fights are a bit pathetic compared to some of the battles earlier in the game. To be fair, this is the smallest quibble I had because at that point I really just wanted the storyline to keep moving and I think a lengthly end battle would have stalled it a bit.

Anyway, I'm off to go and complete the extra quests to unlock me some extra features.
If you never hear from me again then I have probably wasted away in front of my ps2 and gnawed my fingers off in despair.

2007-11-16T17:06:00.001Z

Well, I've now settled in well to my new jobski.
I now feel like I'm amongst 'my kind'. People don't look at me odd anymore. Okay, thats not strictly true, but now they look at me oddly as if in acceptance, not as if I've just peed on the fax machine.

I've started working on a new digital painting during a few free minutes. As you can see it still needs work, but I'm happy with it :D

I've recently been immersing myself within the indie games world via the WWW.
Its amazing how much stuff is out there! There is also quite an overlap of issues from the art world. Game developers have the same problem with people ripping off their ideas, they have the same problem with stupidly designed competitions that make them work for free with the possibility of no reward, it sucks rectally!

I'll whitter a bit more about this when I have time.
For now, please do comment on the above picture. I'm sorta waving my digital pen about in the dark with this one as I have no real established technique.

Counting down

2007-09-21T15:19:00.000+01:00

There are exactly 30 days left until I start my new job. This means my current employer should theoretically be still giving me lots of work to do. However, for the last 3 months, for those in the know, you will be aware that I've basically been sat at my desk doing a very good imitation of a brain dead potatoe. This hasn't changed and if anything, has gotten worse since I handed my notice in.

I have spent most of the day doodling a huge fairy on my 'Barristers note book'. Yes people, Barristers get their own brand of notebook.

I tried sticking orange segments in my mouth and squeaking to see if this would get my superiors attention and perhaps inspire her to give me work. This did not work.

I then reinacted hamlet using a piece of blue tack that I had moulded in to the form of a scull and a staple remover. This again, did not work.

At this point I have given up hope. If anyone would like to drop me suggestions on what on earth I can do during my day at work with limited internet access (this is one of the few sites that isn't banned) and nothing but a biro for company, please dear god, DO!

2007-09-18T22:21:00.001+01:00

I GOT THE JOB! *bounces about*
Yup, I am now working in the world of computer games. I am a gamer girl.
I wander if they will mind if I have blue hair?

Cream crackers

2007-09-18T12:39:00.000+01:00

The only thing that drives me cream crackers is waiting for stuff. It's not that I'm an impatient person, it’s just that I want stuff...now. I'm currently waiting to hear back from a job interview I had last week. I don't think I got it (lets just say I don't excel in interviews), but the pain of not knowing is UNBARABLE! I've been promised ice-cream no matter the result so I guess I kinda just want to know soon so that I can have the creamy goodness showered upon me ASAP.

Neways, back to topic, I'm currently completing some recent commissions so haven't really had time to work on some of my own digital stuff. Its weird, I now do pretty much all of my art work digitally. I think this is a good thing. I don't feel like I'm losing my power of the pencil. Its certainly a lot easier to send stuff to clients when its already in email-able form.

Newest WIP

2007-08-31T21:47:00.002+01:00

Some kinda fire angel thing that I'm now working on.

She be fire - ie. Would like any kind of feedback if you have any!

Finally cracked it

2007-07-12T22:43:00.001+01:00

Yup, I think I finally cracked how to use this darn wacom tablet.

What you see here is my latest painting which was done solely in photoshop, hope you like!

Yorkshire Pudding

2007-07-07T18:11:00.000+01:00

Thats right, I'm now up here in bonny yorkshire land

I've been hard at work over the last couple of months. I've got a mural going up in the Dove and Rainbow pub in Sheffield. Should be good.

I've also been doing some freelance concept design for a games company.

Here are my latest examples of photoshop work using my tablet. As you can see I haven't improved much. Hopefully more will be appearing soon.

Happy New YAR!

2007-01-02T14:41:00.000Z

Yes, it is now 2007! Expect a lot more stuff to appear up here as I will be purchasing an A3 scanner as soon as I can afford one! Only 3 more weeks and I'll be living in sheffield, taking in the sights and smells. I cannie wait. Hope you all had a good one.

I like the fact there are very few people in the office for my last week of working here. Makes me happy. All quiet and relaxed.

I is not a happy little bunny

2006-11-28T08:53:00.000Z

Our home PC is completely fooked! Well, not completely, but very nearly. Me and Tom have our own PC, but its not connected to the internet because my dumbass birth givers decided to go wireless. We live in an old house, with big thick walls and floors. The wireless system just can't cope and so the main computer has pas de internet.

As the only PC thats hooked up to the scanner is suffering from this 'wireless fever' it means I have a load of drawings to put up...but no way of getting them online at this moment. I'm hoping that when Tom gets back from his crusade I can use his lil memory stick thing, otherwise I'm gonna cry.

Recent Works

2006-11-06T12:45:00.001Z

I've been on holiday for the past week so felt that now would be a good time to put up some of my more recent work. Again, apologies for the delay in posting on here, it really has been manic. I've got a new commission coming in for some illustrations for a guide book to Bath. Fingers crossed I get the gig (Interview is on Saturday).

My last commission was a big success, apparently bringing a tear to the eye of the lucky lady who recieved it as a gift for a 1 year anniversary. Brought a tear to my eye hearing that!

I've been a baaad little girl

2006-10-19T11:58:00.000+01:00

I'm so sorry if you actually read this blog. I've been utter bum fodder about updating recently. I've got a portrait commission due in next week and a strip due in not long after. I will scan in both before I send them off to the relevant people and let ya have a look see, promise.

Cheers

Playing with a pen

2006-09-13T16:28:00.000+01:00

Yup, I've been playing with my japanease brush pen. This is the result. Let me know what you think! It was originally a portrait of my boyfriend..but I used some artistic license.
Yes, he is that cute..no he is not blonde, nor does he wear leather trousers.
*sigh*

Danger..of the mouse

2006-09-02T13:42:00.001+01:00

Some of you might know that me, Apathy and the guy from dark side of the spoon have this little competition thing going. This is my preliminary submission (If I get time I might try for a more dynamic pose). If you want details of the competition just check out Dark Sides linky on the right!

Woooot

2006-08-31T09:23:00.001+01:00

Having just moved house I have reverted back to lazy mode. Guess I'm gonna have to post some pictures to keep myself motivated to keeping this place updated. This is all recent stuff so I'm actually proud to post it up.
Lemme know what you think, I always dig the constructive crits.

The boob

2006-08-22T21:31:00.000+01:00

The boob....is still too saggy.

2006-08-22T21:19:00.001+01:00

Okie dokie. On to the next part of my new tablet drawing thingy. This time I've amended one of the boobs (one was WAY too big) and flipped the drawing round. This is mainly to check the anatomy, I do the same with my regular sketches to check for mistakes.

I quite like it at this angle, I may keep it this way...although I'm not sure.

I've put her hair at the length it needs to be for Silver's hairdo and started to smarten up the lines. Because this picture is so big (A3) photoshop can be a bit slow and so its taking longer than anticipated to sort out the mess of lines that are on this piece of art.

Fingers crossed it gets easier from here. I'm debating whether to go the whole hog and colour this one or whether to leave it black and white. Watch this space!

Mmmmm...druggie goodness

2006-08-16T12:23:00.000+01:00

I've discovered I really like the taste of Ibuprophen. Num num num, sugary on the outside....pain relief on the inside.

1st attempt at detail

2006-08-15T20:25:00.001+01:00

And now on to the next bit of the planning stage. This is when I tend to add a background theme and start working on the costume and expression. Its still all scribbly but you can start to see what the end result is sorta maybe perhaps gonna be like. This is one of my characters from a web comic I have just started work on. Its about a girl called Silver and her brother Shadow. They have just come from a place known as the dark lands and are trying to get to grips with life on our plane. However, untarnished from actually being born on this planet they see things we don't. Shadow has what he thinks is a spirit, well for want of a better word, shadowing him and is therefore really struggling to 'fit in'.

Silver on the other hand is taking it all in her stride, even the weird stuff she sees. Having scored a relatively decent job and started to make friends, she tries to get her brother to join in.

etc..etc. I have only just started writing and thus far only a few pages have been drawn. This piece I'm working on with the tablet..if its any good, may well become the intro image or some such other thingy.

2006-08-15T20:22:00.001+01:00

Okay, here goes nothing. This is the first stage of my drawing. Its about on par with the planning drawings I usually do in pencil. This is encouraging. Perhaps I can do this tablet thingy.

2006-08-14T14:32:00.000+01:00

WTF? It won't upload? Gah. Typical. Well, I've scribbled at the planning stage a little more. I'll try and upload again when I get home. Stupid fucking site, if it were personified I would be bitch slapping it right now.

Planning stage via the tablet

2006-08-13T13:24:00.000+01:00

Here it is. Remember, this is the stage before I put any detail down or anything!!

New Linkies

2006-08-11T14:51:00.000+01:00

As you may have noticed I have changed the links that blogspot provided to ones that just reek of cool. I know I have already talked about Criag and Mike's links, but seen as I am slowing getting more and more links, I figured I should dedicate a whole post to their sites. Apathy in the Uk is an awesome new webcomic by the genius Craig Turl. Taking its inspiration from megatokyo and the like its bound for success. Flames of Feenix is where mike goes to offload his brain in a true fanboy like fashion ;-p.
The last, Dark side of the spoon, is the most recent link. A guy who has created the cutest lil robot ant type thingy. I don't even know his name, that is how good his 'dark, tortured, angsty artist' mystique is working.

Rock on dudes.

Work day blues

2006-08-08T12:17:00.000+01:00

I am currently sat here at work, sipping tea and dreaming of the day when I can just draw for a living and not have to rely on the recesses of public school education in my brain to amend spread sheets.

I'm starting to get the hang of sketching with the tablet. I haven't created a masterpiece yet but I've got the planning stages to the same level as my planning stages on paper. I'll post it up when I get home. Oh, btw, check out my new links! Apathy in the uk is an up and coming web comic by my good friend craig, the other is an online blog by Mike of Xbox 360 fame, who is yet another good friend.

2006-08-07T20:29:00.001+01:00

To give you a bit of an idea of what I CAN do when using a pencil, here are some quite old sketches that I did last year. They may be old but they still tower over the crud that I'm currently kicking out using this tablet.

2006-08-07T20:08:00.001+01:00

Words fail me. My second attempt......the shame has made me feel dirty....so dirty.

An introduction of the finest calibar

2006-08-07T19:57:00.000+01:00

Well here it is, my blog. This blog is dedicated to my digitalisation of my artwork. Yes, thats right, at the ripe old age of 20 I am finally going digital.

I have bought myself a wacom tablet, opened up photoshop and brewed me a cuppa. However, as you will see from my first attempt at painting with the little pen thingy on my tablet, it looks like a very ill monkey trying to pose for a porn shoot. This is a new low, even for me.

This is not going to be as easy as I thought. I have already chewed down to the cuticle of my right middle finger in sheer frustration. Not even my large cup of earl grey can appease me right now. Its angst enducing to go from being capable of drawing to not even being able to produce something that would take you 10 minutes with a pen and paper without sending your wrist in to spasms.