It's a Mock-up.

I'm doing another Game Jam thing - no more of it, because there's a decent chance I won't make it in time. In any case, I was doing some mock-ups, mainly to determine the style of palette to use.
I kind of like the one here, since it has this, sort of Commodore 64 vibe to it.

The strong orange-yellowish colors remind me of the first Castlevania, though.

The palette in the top-left corner is my initial one, trying to figure out the color harmonies. I ended up with this one after a bit of tweaking, increasing contrast and reducing lightness.

The original palette was kind of pastel-y.

I painted this mostly using the rectangle tool. It's kind of fun.
As you can see, I did poke around with some filters and adjustments.
This is about the correct size - I'm targeting 800x480, and going for the main character sprite to be around 64x96 pixels.

Worst case, this is all I'll have to show for it, but... mmh.

As for designing the characters, I want to think of them as designing toys. Part of the idea is trying to shut down my inner critic.

Mm... Locations, moving parts... Should be interesting.

Part 2:

Movement cycles

So, I was in need of a jogging cycle. I have done one before, but that one was really stiff-backed. I intended to go for 8 frames, but for some reason, I drew one with 6 frames - it's at the bottom.

I ended up inserting them in the computer, it looked strange without them. Oh, and I used this paper earlier while pondering other animation thingies.

What I had to do was:
1. Scan this sheet.
2. cut every frame into  individual png:s,
3. Import pngs as layers in gimp. Make canvas size equidistant
4. Open the images in graphicsgale, tweak around, add missing frames
5. Export as strip for further painting.

The biggest strenght of Graphicsgale is it's ability to port to and from spritestrips and spritesheets, in my opinion. You can paint on a spritestrip with anything, and if it's created properly - IE, all frames are the correct width - you can pull it back in to GG.

For actual animation, I still think Plastic Animation Paper is great, but it's one of those where you need to learn the keyboard shortcuts by heart.

My RSI is acting up something fierce - I have decent wrist support, but my keyboard is an extra-cheap Logitech one, and I could really use something nicer. While I'm indoctrinated into the Keyboard Cult, and drool after mechanical switches, I'm currently lookin at Microsoft's comfort offerings, mainly due to their christmas rebate deal.

Part 3:

Indeed, I didn't make it in time. Ludum Dare 28 is next weekend, though, and I've pre-committed to doing that.

Anyway, Runcycles.
Here's an old one I did wayback, with PAP.

I HAVE SUCH A CRAMP IN MY BACK

And here's the new one in it's current incarnation.

The master file is way way bigger, this one is 80x64, which is decent, but System 3's Myth: History in the Making on Commodore 64 had this really great looking character that was, I believe, 16x20 pixels.

Side note: This game is gorgeous. In my opinion it looks better than it's Amiga port, even.

The new one is much more relaxed, but it seems a bit glitchy, as if it's limping or something.
The master file is almost 500 pixels tall, and has a separate layer for each limb as well as torso. I want to have something I can tweak and paint over when creating different characters, I think.

Oh, Aseprite is quite cool. I haven't poked around with it enough as of yet to be certain whether I prefer it to GraphicsGale or not.

And this is me fiddling around in Asesprite.

Dissatisfaction//Something

Was doodling. I'm not happy with the pose, in retrospect - I needed a human target, and this angle didn't work as I wanted. Some of the shading is working the way I wanted, not all of it, though.

Done with Ludum Dare 27, not quite done with the game I made. The engine can do all sorts of neato stuff.
I really should switch the project at this point, though, just because.

Here's a link to the postmortem.

Here's a link to the thing. I should probably stop working on it for a while; it is sort of complete, although graphics are all placeholders :

I've been thinking I may want to try out RubyGame.
Ruby seems interesting, I've just never gotten into it.

Either that, or check what one can do with Lua and Panda3D.
I'm pretty happy with XNA and MonoGame too, though.

There's also HaxePunk.

Come to think of it, Adventure Game Studio is interesting, too.

Feel like animating, more or less, now. That, or figuring out shadow mapping. Or drawing something... or something completely different.

Short Ludum Dare break.

Got some stuff done, so I can move to other stuff that needs doing. But first, mmh.

Slapped some color on these. In retrospect not that happy with 'em, but they're not entirely worthless. Could have pushed the contrast even further. Eh.

Anyway, busy with Ludum Dare #27. Am I going to I make it?

Doodling Takes Time

Okay, these drawings are... probably close to four, five hours of doodling. Two TV show episodes and one eighties movie passed. It's possible to figure out which one, from the hints in this sheet.

They -- the doodles -- don't have much going on with them. I started wanting to do some interesting silhouettes, and couldn't. It was just, impossible. My favourite is the armor/cyborg thing and the hat.
Still, it's something to post, at least. Something.

In other news, I'll try to participate in Ludum Dare 27. Wish me endurance. I've stocked up on pizza and energy drinks. Also, bananas and oranges.

Looking at Things at an Angle.

Is that the correct title casing? I never know...

Anyway, since I'm loathe to waste paper, I made use of the earlier sheet, proving again that if you can draw cubes you can draw anything.

Since I'm loathe to waste screen space, I crammed all the drawings into the smallest possible space.
I'm still not sure which way I want to go, design-wise, but I'm enjoying myself, mostly.

Also, just magic wand + delete gave some interesting visual results, so I took them and ran. The portrait series up-left is meant to be a Doom - type thing, with neutral/getting hit/attacking/quad damage modes, so to speak.

Eating My Own Dog Food.

What a colourful expression. 

No, not the picture.
Remember the paint app from wayback? I tweaked it. Also threw it on github, since Gitorious doesn't seem to want to recognize my credentials.

Anyhoo, now it can actually create new canvases, has keyboard shortcuts and an adjustable pen tool size. also some odd bugs.

I've also been monkeying around in youtube, testing timelapse and screen capture things using CamStudio, which isn't that great, but is free, so  the price is right.

Creatures

What's this, then?

Would be kind of premature to tell, since I don't know if this is the direction I'm going, I think. Maybe. I have an alternate idea which may be more interesting, perhaps.

Hand-to-hand studies

Hi-yah!

No reference outside my, I guess you could call it kinesthetic sense. Not satisfied with the middle kick thingy.

Kinda like the amount of suggested musculature in the bottom scribbles.

It needn't be said, this isn't at all what I intended to do when I started doodling. I actually wanted to do some character designs, but that's clearly not where it went.

I'm not very social; That's why I mostly prefer shouting into the void through my blog, instead of participating in forums or in chat or somesuch. I've had a great time at forums, mind you - Since forums are very theme-focused, they're a great place to find people in the same, or right mindset as you.

Well, it's panic o'clock, so I gotta go.

To Watch or Not To Watch

Man of Steel is in theaters here too, right now.
From the comments I've heard, it's... not horrible, but not that good either. Decent amount of action, which was something of a flaw in the Brandon Routh movie.

Anyway, I intended to see this in theaters, but now I'm iffy. I kind of want to, but....

On the drawing: It's something of an adaptation of the formal wear costume. Also, legs are kind of large; I could fix that digitally, since I think the pose and shape are otherwise okay, but eh.
Not terribly accurate, I wasn't really going for that; For a proper drawing I'd really want to double-check the anatomy and work on  the shield design a bit more.

I had a pretty good Superman build for DnD, using Ardent from CPsi.

Elan
Monk 1/Ardent 19

Guardian Mantle as primary. pick Physical Power, Freedom, Law, Fate, Time later on. 

Feats:
1st: Overchannel
3rd: Practiced Manifester
6th: Psionic Meditation
9th: Extend Power: Saves on flight a lot - you'll only spend 33 PP on flying all day long.
12th: Quicken Power
15th: Mind over Body
18th: Expanded Knowledge: Psionic True Seeing. (sorta open)

Why this is Superman?

• You fly along all day long
• You have super-speed, thanks to Hustle, Freedom mantle, Temporal Acceleration and Teleport, Greater.
• You can see and hear through walls and long distances thanks to Clairvoyant Sense
• You can survive both in deep space and the bottom of the ocean, thanks to Iron Body. With Mind Over Energy,
  you can even withstand swimming in lava, or the heart of a star, technically.
• You can put yourself in the line of fire, thanks to Anticipatory Strike & Greater Teleport.
• You can survive any hit, thanks to Anticipatory Strike + Timeless Body. Even the 1d2 crusader punch, or Pun-pun smite.
• You can, albeit for a short while only, grapple Colossal critters reliably. 
• You can stop an oncoming train, thanks to Immovability
• You can SAVE PEOPLE thanks to Guardian mantle's power.

Am I Feeling Blue, Again?

Mmdunno. I just wanted to paint in a single tone. I did start out trying some pose sketches, but ... So, Yeah.
I actually used some layers when working here... one of the issues right now is, even if I become accustomed painting with Graphire, I still need to reaquaint myself with all the other tools available with digital work - layers, various modes, effects, filters, tools and such.

I kind of like some of the shades happening there. I'll likely do some more monochromatic sketches in (wait for it...)
THE FUTURE!

...Um.

I need to sleep.

Foreshortening sketch

Mm... I did some sketches using this practice tool, noticing I'm kind of slow - 30 seconds is not quite enough for me.

When I finished, I drew this pic. Inspired, I presume, by the various extreme angle shots among the model pictures.

It has some potentia, if I had an idea of where to take it. I guess. I've been, actually, kinda-sorta, studying.
Also got some writing done yesterday. But, all in all, I haven't really done that much. I want to get more done each day.

Sketchbook Again. Blue Ballpoint Pen.

Watching painting in Youtube, doodled with a basic ballpoint.

The key here, is the chin-mouth-nose thing in the top middle picture, really. Everything else is incidental.
The lines looked and felt better live, they're kind of dead in here.

Mostly all wrist movement. I want to move my elbow and shoulder more, really. I have some rather interesting doodles in another page, too... I really wasn't thinking while doing these. Just doodling while watching videos.

I like the feeling of drawing with a ballpoint pen fine. Still... Mm... I feel I'm missing something. Maybe it's just, it's getting kind of late and I'm sleepy or... maybe it's something... I don't know. I'm losing coherence. Coherense?

Uh, I Have a Sketchbook.

I'm trying to stick to the funny title capitalization scheme.

So.... Sketchbooks!

I have one active sketchbook - not a showcase sketchbook, just the one with all sorts of strange scribbles. I haven't scanned anything from it before this, I think.

This is a character. I'm not sure what, but sort of a... post-apocalyptic steampunk thingy. Three-four sketches I've done over the years, this one I chose to scan, just because.

So... and such. On a whim, I purposefully left the spine in.

The blade is some sort of a monster/mecha slaying taser thingy. The character is eithe carrying some sort of a  generator/battery, or have a specialized organ producing the electricity.

Definitely in a drawing mood right now. So, I'll do at least some of that, then.

I want moar sketchbooks. A couple for different purposes.
I'm kinda feeling like wanting to do art for a living right now. I'm sure the feeling will pass.

Blue.... Swimmer?

Insert Smurf Joke Here.

Very doodly. but, I had fun, so that counts. Limbs are kind of long on purpose. Anatomy is correct only accidentally.  Hands are sketchy, feet are... not there, actually.

So... painting in OpenCanvas. Still fun. I had some trouble with the too-thick outline. Also, some things are just problems arising from the fact I was just doodling on a single layer instead of doing something  reasonable. No reference, obviously. It would look better if there were. Also, the composition is crap.
It's essentially an exploratory digipainting, figuring out the textures one gets using different tools in oC.

I may do some sort of a painting timelapse thing at some point, I think that might be interesting.

Rant:
One of the things I'm noticing --- no, what I'm being reminded of, when I look at the pros doing their thing, is that I'm really really lazy. Also, a bit impatient. All  that hand-crafted detail... Well, it might actually be entertaining to do at the time, but I just don't have the patience for it, when I'm trying to get an idea out. Sure, I'll make use of happy accidents, may suggest some detail, but it's all really incidental. Possibly coincidental.
End Rant.

Next... Animation, Pencil or more OpenCanvas. Hm.

This is really random - except it ties into my YouTube watching, but....
Good animation spotted in:

• Bounen No Xam'd
• Soul Eater
• Darker Than Black
• FMA: Brotherhood
• Full Metal Panic

Aaand quite a few other shows. Thing is, though, there's also a lot of bad animation about. 

---ing ---ing ---ing

Yeah, so I'm in a weird head-space right now.

I became fascinated with the Pen tool. in oC, and ended up just doodling in large part. I think the bottom right image has close to the correct arm fold I was looking for.

In upper left, I just wanted to draw thicker arms for some reason, and... when the drawing was otherwise done, I didn't like the background, so I drew a bunch of lines there.

I was somewhat interested in the top-right, bottom-left poses, although I don't think they're all that interesting, but... mm, yeah, poses. something interesting in the armor down-left.

Huh, I think both top characters could be something Burroughsy.

So, the pen thing - or possibly a chiaroscuro thing. I like the, um, strength in using strong black and white. It can, obviously, get rather tricky at spots, but when it works... well, I like it. Frank Miller was doing Sin City when I was at an impressionable age, I guess.

What's next? Maybe something more paint-y. Or maybe it's animation time.

Oh, and this video on youtube was, um, rather badass.

Nnng Posin'

So yeah. 

Mm... Never got this to quite work. I don't think it's tightened enough to count as nude, either. I would have drawn in some gear, if I'd ever gotten it to work the way I wanted to.
Arg.

Anyway, this was bad enough I switched to tinier gesture poses. The, um, rule of the thumb, just the silhouette should be interesting in and as itself. You can see some of that in the earlier GD sequence thumbnails.

1/4th of A5, at 150DPI or so.

I'm watching some of  Sycra's Art Videos on YouTube. Mmdunno. Getting my feet wet with oC + Tablet combo.

Keep Posin'

Man, watching all this drawing and animation makes me want to re-read Bakuman. My brother bought the first few books when he was visiting, too.

This is an actiony pose. Not that interesting either, but not.. um, there's proportions and everything.

Animation: Shoo Fly was also one of my favourites at newgrounds - it has that indie/flash charm to it -- I mean, without a doubt, there are better animators about, but I'm mentally more cognizant of the effort put into it.

I'm putting in some work with my tablet - an endeavor which is sure to be of use at some point. Even if, my graphire is apparently even worse than the new-fangled cheapo Bamboo tablets. Oh well, I can always go for scanning traditional media...

Studying my failures: Pose

So... I wanted to draw a boring pose on purpose, since besides the Uncanny Valley, pose is a large part of the problem in this image. I ended up having fun, though, and while there are failures, there are also fun lines in this picture. Plus, I haven't posted anything in a while, so...

Oh! I recently ran into some very interesting youtube videos, including pencil tests animated by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Or this clip of Masakazu Katsura drawing Zetman. Also, these pencils from DieBuster.

All in all, way too many to link. Still, wonderfully inspiring.

Giving Up Today, On Purpose

Yeah. Today is not a good day. I will start from zero, tomorrow.

It's All My Brother's Fault

He's a great distraction. I'm not saying that just because he's taller than me. Although it adds to the amusement factor.

Um, so. My brother has three entrance exams around here - I moved to Tuusula, which is near Helsinki, a bit over a year ago. He's been living with me for a week. It's felt expensive, although I'm not sure if that's factually true. I've bought him some food, and there's been a few extra trips made to Helsinki, and it all adds up.

If my monetary situation was a bit different, I wouldn't really care, but... things changed for me a while back. I'm in a bad place mentally, slipping slightly towards depression. That being said, even when I've failed in my blogging or writing, I have managed to go to the gym or the pool every day.

So, a bunch of bad news. I'm not completely apathetic yet, though.

Thinking Positive

...On the upside, I've found out the limits of my endurance, as they currently stand.
I wrote two pages today, sketched a little, so in a way I'm only behind by one page in writing... but that's not the same. I didn't really write anything for two days, and I didn't really draw anything yesteday. I did draw and write today, but nothing bloggable .Yet.

This will not do. But it must.

Good news, I'm expermenting and learning as much as I can, in regards to drawing.
Bad news, some days, it feels like a chore.

Today's drawing was most likely inspired by my brother watching Tiger and Bunny, or...Mm, not sure. I do like something about the whole high contrast rough look thing. Also, Matei's drawings in this video.

That being said, I still feel Sargent's paintings are gorgeous too. I'm also quite fond of Niklas Janssen's style - as well as a fan of his tutorials.

There's something of a pattern, alternating with digital and pencil. I think it may be a good idea. Maybe I should also drop animation clips there every x days? Hm.

I failed in writing yesterday. I write extra today, but it's not the same thing.

So, my brother is visiting. He's gotten through Tenchi, Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari, and is just starting on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Hm. I feel like designing more characters, suddenly.

I Fight On! // This is definitely something I don't even

Uh.

So, I was out and about all of today, so getting something drawn got... a mite challenging. So...
Okay, drawing this was easy enough, but the end result is too workmanlike for my taste. Still, it's something. I have no idea what's going on in there, though. Some sort of a crossing guide for tentacle insect things?

I still have today's writing to do. I didn't transcribe it today, either. I've averaged about one page per day, so that's... okay. Yes.

A Tiny Pointless Animation.

There are two parts to an animation: The motion, and the image. This is just the motion, clearly. Toolchain was PAP - Export individual frames - Paint.Net with GIF plugin.

A total of 37 frames, which is about 3 seconds in twos. One of my bigger problems is doing consistency and camera pans. My timings are far from perfect, but I can do them, if necessary.

If this doesn't work, I'll have to go and put it up in Youtube, I guess. Or try Blogger's embedded video thingy. AVI created with Virtualdub, although from the GIF. My toolchain is not all the way there, yet.

Youtube has some interesting things, naturally, such as Animator's Survival Kit clips, as well as plenty of Glen Keane clips.

Zero no Tsukaima has god-awful animation, by the way. The character designs are fine and such, but I really noticed the low quality when watching Princess no Rondo.

John Singer Sargent and OpenCanvas.

John Singer Sargent is one of my favourites. I'm also very out of touch with OpenCanvas. Tragically, I started painting with a resolution that was way too low, so this ended up being pretty much pixel painting later on.

I initially wanted to study Sargent's pencils, but this turned up, and since I did intend to do it with OpenCanvas, I though I'd try just painting it.

It... didn't end up being that good a practice, due to the too low resolution.

The source was a painting called "Louise Burckhardt aka Lady With a Rose". Is it just me, or does she totally look like someone who could be the Doctor's companion?

I was happy with today's writing; I will need to start transcribing  the initial drafts to computer. The writing itself is completely horrible, but that's what editing is for, right.

Today failed, scheduling-wise, really.

Worm Fanart: Skitter

Cue Mook Horror Show.

Meet Skitter. 

She can control every single arthropod within half a mile radius, perfectly. 

She can make wasps sting your eyes, spiders crawl into your lungs, and spin webs. 

She can see and hear through the insect eyes, and sense what they touch. 

She breeds black widows, 

She made her costume out of Darwin's bark spider's silk, which is the toughest biological material ever studied, making her somewhat bulletproof. Even when she's not hit in the armor. 

She's the protagonist. 

I wasn't quite satisfied with the fan art I've seen of Skitter - none of it displays how terrifying she can be from an objective point of view. 

The skirt and mantle were originally an improvised costume made out of scraps of spider silk, but since it offers an extra layer of protection, it seem she's taken to wearing them into potentially dangerous situations.

Overqall, Im satisfied. Still messy, but I have some interesting things going material-wise. Shoes are just thrown in there, though.

Also: Hey, I'm on time! It's still two and a half hours to midnight!

Early to sleep. Also, I like writing in cafés.

I gotta get to bed early, and I was somewhat satisfied with this, so this is what I'm posting. Um.

I've found out that I can get much more written with a pencil, in a notebook, preferrably in a café somewhere. The output is very first-drafty, but I have to transcribe it to a computer at some point anywhere, so I get a minor edit step at that point. I'm not writing a whole lot, yet - I think I average about a page per day - but it's still something more-or-less consistent.

I have one story idea.
Wait, I lie. I have, um, five-ish, I think, at this point, but there's one in particular that I think has a beginning and an end.

I want to get it written down - it'll be about, ten-ish pages when done, I think. Less than twenty, in any case. Point is getting something done relatively fast - I'll do at least a couple of edit cycles on it, too. Still, it's not my favourite idea. I'll start working on something full-length after I'm done. I'm not entirely sure yet, what... but I'll make it painfully honest. It's the only way an inept writer such as myself can create something compelling.

I was thinking about the parallels between drawing and writing, or the lack thereof... but there is one - an that is coming up with stuff. While writing, you think of an item, character quirk, name, something you want to use. Similarily you come up with things while drawing - outfit, accessory, shape.

So, basically, coming up with story elements has similarities with concept art. So... story concepts to concept art parallels?

Shikkari, Shikkari. Also, a Punch Line, of Sorts.

I was looking at "On Writing" and this popped up from the early parts:

     But there is a simple rule of thumb to help you decide that. Viewpoints belong to the characters who are the most deeply, emotionally involved in whatever is at stake in the scene. When you're wondering which character should have the viewpoint in any given scene, all you have to do is to pick the character who has the most to lose. THAT person is the one who is going to have the strongest goal, and his pursuit of the goal will be fertile ground for the best conflic

I ended up playing Diablo III during the afternoon, and then I went to the gym, so that took a lot of my time and energy for today - that is,
yesterday. 

I really need to get a grip here. Meaning, get my commitment for drawing & writing done daily, as well as physical exercise. Apparently my cholesterol is wildly high. Thus, gym.

So, let's talk about today's drawing.

It's clearly some sort of a fighting.... person, wearing a clothy type vest and fistguards. The hair shine is too glaring, I do like the picture-right side shoulder, though. Body is too messy, needs flattening.

I also need some reference for drawing toned bodies. Something of a issue, as right now I'm choosing to draw in a location away from my computer. Well, except when working with OpenCanvas, naturally... but I don't really have anything to show for that, yet.

The head was interesting - the current version is HUGE compared to what I initially pencilled down, but it's looking much better than what I had there initially. I'm not sure if the angle reads properly, though.
...
Maybe I should draw some still situations from some sort of a fighting match, if I want to put some more work into this specific theme.

My all around goal right now is improving and regaining my skills.

No inspiration today.

well, not exactly true. This drawing was basically random lines, which I followed to make forms and trying to end up with something not nonsensical.
Also, I sometimes draw really skinny bodies for characters.

This is pretty much junk, but there IS something I like about this drawing, otherwise I wouldn't have posted it. It has... some  energy and a bit of three-dimensionality which I find somewhat compelling. The silhouette isn't all that strong,though.

I played a bit of Diablo III and then ended up chatting afterwards, so I didn't have much time to draw or write today. I did give OpenCanvas a spin, but that produced nothing I could approve of. I did consider posting some of my old Oekakis, but the point isn't in posting something - It's in working my skills.

So, um. I guess I'm trying to write 'sufficiently' here, too. However, blogging or chatting is very different from storycrafting.

I have this whole big thing about the Silver Millennium I've -- I've actually written, but into a notebook, with a pencil. I do intend to post it at some point. Well, probably.

I may have to rely on drawing some fan arts. In the off chance that I get more than one image done per day, I'll create a backlog so that the images come out in sequential days. I'm trying to use the Seinfield method here. In this blog. Now.

Maharis, The Witch in the Tower [3.x]

Whether it was something in her blood, or the circumstances of her power awakening, Maharis was bound to Death ever since she climbed out of the plague burial pit. 

As her arcane powers grew, her lifeforce waned, replaced by an unnatural vitality. Yet, she remained alive. Seeing an inevitable doom approaching, when all of her lifeforce would be gone, she desperately sought ancient lore to combat the grip of unlife. Whichever realm of death had made a claim for her, she had no desire to enter.

Her doom couldnt' be stopped. Seeking knowledge, she became more powerful, and more able to see uses for the unnatural energy within her. 

For a time, she despaired. 

She widened her search, learning everything and anything of her condition. If she could not remain alive, at the very least, she could anchor herself to the world, forever escaping wherever the fell force was trying to drag her.

Eventually, she found a way to cling to a semblance of life by fashioning a locket, which she made nigh-indestructible, layering magics upon magics unto it. Within, she hid her soul. 

Eventually, what little life remained in her body was lost. Yet, she didn't stop. Her soul safely hidden within a phylactery, within a locket, the reaper did not come for her. 

Her arcane might ever growing, she now resides in a tomb of her own making - a spire of black stone; A cyclopean needle within the city of Necropolis. 

Maharis
Female Lich Dread Necromancer 20/Mage of the Arcane Order 7 (CR 27)
LE Medium Undead (human)
Init 9; Senses darkvision 60 ft., See Invisibility, Detect Magic, Arcane Sight ;
Listen
Languages whatevr
AC 41, touch 24, flat-footed 34
(+7 Dex, +7 Armor, +10 natural, +5 deflection, +2 Foresight)
hp 290 (27 HD); DR 15/Bludgeoning and Magic Half Damage(shielded)
Immune poison, cold, electricity, sonic, polymorph, mind, sleep, stun, paralysis, critical hits, disease, death, nonlethal, ability drain, energy drain, breathe, eat, sleep
Resist fire 30; Foresight
Fort 10, Ref 24, Will 18 (+1 from luckstone)
Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee Touch +13, 1d8+5 + Paralysis(DC 32)
Ranged +21 for spells
Space 5ft., Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk 13, Grapple 13
Atk Options Charnel Touch, Scabrous Touch, Enervating Touch(swift, Fear Aura vs. panic. Will for shaken, Metamagic(empower, quicken)
Special Actions: Contingency, Draw from Spellpool, Multispell X2
Combat Gear: Belt of Battle, Bracers of Arcane Freedom
Dread Necromancer Spells Known (CL 28th):

Base DC: 22, 23 Necromancy
9th(5/day)—Energy Drain, Imprison Soul, Mass Harm, Plague of Undead, Wail of the Banshee
8th(7/day)—Create greater undead, Horrid wilting, Mass inflict critical wounds, Symbol of death, Blackfire
7th(8/day)—Avasculate, Control Undead, Destruction, Finger of Death, Greater harm, Mass inflict serious wounds, Song of discord, Vile Death
6th(6/day)—Acid fog, circle of death, create undead, eyebite, geas/quest, Harm, mass inflict moderate wounds, planar binding, waves of exhaustion, Aura of terror
5th(7/day)—Blight, Cloudkill, Fire in the Blood, Greater dispel magic, Insect plague, Lesser planar binding, Magic jar, Mass inflict light wounds, Nightmare, Oath of blood, Slay living, Summon undead V, Undeath to death, Unhallow, Waves of fatigue,
4th(8/day)—Consumptive Field, Animate dead, bestow curse, contagion, death ward, dispel magic, enervation, Evard's black tentacles, fear, giant vermin, inflict critical wounds, phantasmal killer, poison, summon undead IV
3th(8/day)—Crushing despair, death ward, halt undead, inflict serious wounds, ray of exhaustion, speak with dead, summon undead III, Vampiric touch
2th(9/day)—Blindness/deafness, command undead, darkness, death knell, false life, gentle repose, ghoul touch, inflict moderate wounds, scare, spectral hand, summon swarm, summon undead II
1th(9/day)—bane, bestow wound, cause fear, chill touch, detect magic, detect undead, doom, hide from undead, inflict light wounds, ray of enfeeblement, summon undead I, undetectable alignment, chill of the grave

Abilities Str 10, Dex 24, Con -, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 34
Special Qualities undead traits, , familiar, scry on familiar,
share spells
Feats 2x Multispell, Corpsecrafter(+4 str, +2HP/HD undead), Rapid Metamagic, Empower, Quicken, Cooperative, SF:Necromancy, Undead Leadership, Eschew Materials, Ignore Material Components, Destruction Retribution(undead explode 1d6/1d6per2HD 10ft burst, Ref 15 half)
Skills (roughly 53/390 points) Concentration +42, knowledge(arcana) +33,
knowledge(religion) +33, spellcraft +33, Hide +45
Possessions Combat Gear plus +5 tome, +5 manual (read), Haversack, Luckstone, Ioun Stone, Orange Prism, +5 Anchoring Leather Armor of easy travel, improved agility, masking and fire resistance, greater, Belt of Battle, Bracers of Arcane Freedom, +5 Ring of Protection, Amulet of nat. armor +5, Broom of flying roughly 70K GP
Advancement by class levels; Favored Class Dread Necromancer
Death Throes: 28d8 burst, 30ft,
Spellcasting Short Range 165 ft. Medium Range 380 ft. Long Range 1520 ft.
Daily Spells Death Throes, Energy Immunity(Sonic, Acid), Foresight, Death Ward on Imp
Contingency If HP drops below 100, Ghostform

Permanency Arcane Sight, Detect Magic, See Invisibility, Tongues, Read Magic

Belt of Battle: +2 init, 3 charges renewed at dawn

Activation: Swift

1 charge = 1 Move action

2 charges = 1 Standard Action

3 charges = 1 Full-round action

Bracers of Arcane Freedom Activation: Swift. 2/day automatic still spell

Tactics: Hang back, nuke. Blackfire on self and undead allies. Avasculate, Exhaustion, Acid Fog.Phylactery: Hidden within the Amulet of Natural Armor. A kernel of Hardened Adamantite, with permanent Nondetection and a fake Magic Aura on it.


Cohort: Shield Other:
Human Vampire Cleric 5/Crusader 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 7

Hair Today. Also, Eyes.

Elder Venus, Incognita and, uh, some random character.

My post titles are annoyingly apropos.
I'm getting some of my skill back, but I've found that I want to learn some specific techniques, when it comes to depicting materials, textures and such. I may do some studies next, perhaps.

One interesting thing I've noticed - especially with pencil - is to use somewhat cartoony level of realism, but to draw details such as reflections and texures very realistically, albeit with rough enough style that you can see the pencil strokes.

So, on my drawing craft queue:

• Fan arts
• Animating a bit
• Learning new techniques.

I'm also looking for a RPG gaming group locally. It's been a year since the last time I had a chance to play, more or less.

I'm, uh, also trying my hand at writing fiction. I'm not completely awful, but I am pretty bad. It's another thing I just kind of want to take a stab at, at this point. There are strong parallels between designing roleplaying adventurers and writing - the storytelling is very similar, but writing has the actual writecraft aspect to it, as well as the fact that in roleplaying games, other peoples are playing the part of characters, while the GM just has to prepare the setting, play the supporting characters, design plots.... Come to think of it, that's already quite a lot of work. Still, it's essentially similar to the prep-work one might do for a longer story - making notes of appearing characters, preparing locations, making sure things are kept consistent. That sort of a thing.

Hmm. Parallel between Elder Gods and Elder Senshi.... 

Draw! Draw like the WIND!

Okay, so... It's a bit past midnight here, but I still wanted to do something for yesterday. I spent the last hours of yesterday trying to play QWOP. You can Google it, if you're interested.

So... folds suck. Still, practice good.

My initial gesture of the face was good, but I ruined it, A left-side distortion too, but there's some stuff that I very nearly like. No idea who the character is. Maybe she'll grow into someone.

I read some Empowered today. Adam Warren's pencil skills are completely mindblowing. The story is also kind of interesting, although it progresses at a nice, very very slow pace.

I want to draw Skitter, I have an idea, even if I'm not entirely sure how I'll pull it off, yet.

I thought up a fantasy race today.

Basically, imagine a hirsute, rugged race who are curious and inquisitive, who build very rough yet perfectly functional items and buildings.
This race grows to full adulthood in two years, and an individual rarely lives older than twelve. They're a bit clumsy, but strong. Typical birth is twins or triplets.

Basically, I began imagining a race, that would be to humans as humans typically compare to elves. They breed terrifyingly fast, and they don't really build to last, from a human's perspective - after all, something that lasts 5-6 years is half of an individual's lifetime.

I just wanted to get that out of my brain, so there you have it.

Galactic Destroyer Beast Landing Sequence Continued

 I'm especially liking the first two frames here

and...

I couldn't leave it entirely unfinished, now could I?

I had some scanner issues, the last image should use the correct settings, now. I think I drew this out to satisfy my animation bug - I do relapse every now and then. It might a sequence I might actually have some success in animating. I've done walk cycles, attacks, idle animations and such, but not much in the way of successful sequences. If I do, I'll probably go for Graphire + Plastic Animation Paper 4, which is free these days.

Also, Onepunch-Man's  - specifically the version drawn by Murata Yuusuke - decompressed sequences are somewhere in my head, too. So there.

There's another sequence in the image used in this post, although it's not quite as decompressed, in addition to being almost indecipherable.

On the Subject of the Galactic Destroyer Beast.

First, drawing is HARD. especially when one hasn't done it in a while. 

Second, while it's almost never true that I don't have time to draw, it is often true that I don't have the time to ENJOY drawing. There's a difference. 

I've never gotten all the way through to explaining my concept of the Beast. visually it draws heavily on a lot of memetic things, but did  you know, for an example, that all of the head spikes can move independently? Or that the teeth can retract? 

Basically, the Beast form is a mobile transorbital assault platform. In the above picture, the eyespikes flare out and teeth retract as the body configures itself into firing mode - I would presume that majority of the energy gathers within the chest cavity before being released.

The secondary arms - Wings, if you like - have multiple configurations - they can spread a huge shadowy 'parachute' effect - which can also act as a solar sail, or they can fold out of the way to a minimal configuration - they also do duty as energy gathering/manipulation apparatus when they start glowing. 

The claws are primarily a weapon - not that useful for grasping, except for stabilizing the creature for firing. Same with the feet, which are also built for executing powerful leaps. I would presume escaping the gravity well requires energy manipulation form - wings, even with infinite energy are of limited use, especially when there's no guarantee the assaulted planetoid has an atmosphere. 

Mechanically, the back of the beast is somewhat vulnerable. It is, however, covered with potentially mobile spikes, not to mention that  the wings bend towards the back, and can probably emit enough energy to fry any potential assault. So it's more of a trap, as much as anything. 

As for size - it's kind of hard to estimate, but I would suspect that it's current combat form is only about half the size of an Evangelion unit, tops. Even this form has quite a few, what are essentially artificial limitations. During it's nine billion year long assault against the universe, the GD began enjoying combat, and even without Queen Serenity, was turning from a true omnicidal maniac into more of a blood knight. 

Of course, the GD also enjoys fireworks, so it probably would eventually blow up  the solar system it's attacking, but it might very well take several millenia of fighting before getting that far, especially if there's decent opposition to go around. Something of a best-case scenario, admittedly. 

The above is a decompressed GD landing sequence, in thumbnails. It probably doesn't make that much sense without my brain to interpret it, but there you go, anyway.

Question: Can someone explain to me the weird title capitalization syntax used in English language?

I usually keep my rpg stuff away from here....

But I'm sleepy and I have a TRULY SCIENTIFIC fluff/crunch magic system I thought of,
and I don't want to forget it.

Basically it began with thinking, 'how would an abductee from our world to a fantasy one be
able to use local magic?'

Midichlorians were thought of at one point.

Now, of course, this might also work as a magic system for a story of some sort. It also combines nicely with Scifi elements, as 'magic' of this type might only exist on a single planet.

PREMISE:
Okay, basically, in our scientific fantasy world, there is a thing called magic.
It's physical representation are floating glowy things, called 'motes', 'mana' or 'spirits'
Wizards draw magic to themselves, craft spells, and do things like blasting, farseeing, levitation, and so forth.

Through practice, wizards can turn a certain amount of magic into spells. they can cast these very fast, and they can be taught.

Magic can even be passed forward in family.
Basically, a very standard world with magic.

Technobabble:
What is going on is this:

The glowy things are creatures, of sort. They can do pretty advanced things with electromagnetism and Van  Der Waals forces.
They live and breed in trees, as a rule, but may inhabit a living human, too. (this can be somewhat harmful, and thus we can get 'frail' magicians )

Most 'magic' things are done by commanding these creatures. The typical list of commands taught are:
Draw, repel, emit, observe, move, mimic, grab.

Each mote can learn one thing, but multiple motes can form composite creatures.
standard, 'light' magic: motes vary from translucent to bright glowy light, emit a small amount of light and heat typically.
'dark' magic : variant creatures, who absorb light much more efficiently. absorbing  IR light absorbtion makes the areas colder, and they default from lightly dark to black, typically. even when they emit, it's typically shades of red or purple.

Motes can naturally grab each other, but they can be taught to grab other things.
Spells are formed by, say, connecting a mote taught to move to a mote taught to emit an EM radiation burst.

A typical use of magic would be to draw in magic, teach the magic one to three commands and using a combination of these commands to create effect. a combination of observer, mover and grabber, can observe hand signals from the mage, move quickly, and grab onto objects.

Flocks of these creatures would naturally form larger symbiotic entities analogous to 'faeries' and other mythic creatures.

Magic-users use props as hosts for these creatures - it's necessary to form some sort of symbiosis with Magic to be able to control it, but you don't want a bunch of EM emitting creatures livin inside you, as a rule. However, a nice chunk of wood might well contain an entire colony of domesticated motes.

A skilled mage might be able to replace a removed limb with a magic copy (probably using some sort of crafted part as a base), but chances are, it would slowly corrode and replace the host body from the contact surface upwards.

Magnets might interact in a rather interesting fashion in such a setting.

Cory Doctorow

Is a published writer. He also puts his books online, under the Creative Commons license.

The books are mostly 20 minutes into the future Scifi.

I started reading the full-length novels, from "DOWN and OUT in the Magic Kingdom" onwards, and, well, basically, the first book I liked thus far, was 'Little Brother'.

All the books present some ideas integrated throughout a story, and sometimes things work, oftentimes not.

The ideas are always quite neat, but the viewpoint characters are often a touch too unlikeable, in my opinion.
I'm currently reading 'For the Win', which has thus far jumped from a viewport to the next, which seems to have stalled my enthusiasm. 'Makers' was basically okay, but there was a longer chunk following a single viewpoint in the start, so when it changed, I was already deep into the story.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.x Character Classes

Since it seems the forums I wrote these for, originally, have gone *poof*, I thought I'd link these here:

Base classes, more or less complete:
Esper
Healer, based on the JRPG 'Staff Chick' concept.

Pathfinder
Psionic Sorcerer Bloodline

in progress:

Hero, A very generic, versatile, and if necessary, simple to play, class.
Martial Monk, based more on actual chinese monastic monks of myth and fact.

Rules Modules:

Combo System, specifically designed to make warriors more awesome.
Musings on a Magic System, also contains notes on vancian magic and incarnum.

I'd be interested to hear your experiences, if you happen to use any of these.

Something for 2013

You know, I don't think there was anything in 2012.
Doodlydoodly. Playing with textures, I guess.