My main work station is down. :( :( :(
But not for long.

I've fixed it once again. Hoorray!
But I still have to re-install everything, programs, Photoshop, Cs6 master collection,  Corel Painter  60gb of (pictures/art/references) in dropbox and years of updates to catch up on.
Alas it feels like a new computer for now. ;)

This next month or so in June I have some exciting topics to talk about

-Copic Markers An informal tutorial...If I'm on point a video perhaps???
-Basic repair. How to fix your computer. Diagnostics (It is not that hard)
-Stress Relief
-E3!!! is coming soon.
&?????? and more ????

So I've been working on
#HowdoYouCopic?
this week hence the silence & lack of participation.
I don't think my submission will be in time. But at least I have some ideas for a cool video.

 My guilty bad habit/addiction is drinking teas/coffee/espresso/generally sweet drinks. I've cut down on the candy because someone I know was recently diagnosed with Type II diabetes so I'm more aware of sugar intake of how much sugar is in something. It is astounding how much Americans have processed sugar in a lot of foods and drinks.  Generally I've been weaning myself off the teas, energy drinks but I still have a weakness for coffee.

 Got to fuel the creative machine!! I need to stay up! I'm so useless in the daytime. =__=''

I partied too much with friends last week so I having a massive party. I reap havoc by myself.

Figure Drawings I did a few weeks ago. I really wanted to show although the colors are scribled lines they wrap around the form! I was a little bummed that my box of nupastels didn't have red in it. It was in another box I left at home. So I had to make due with pink and orange for some parts. M she had fresh red flowers she arranged for her hair that day. I was sad not to capture that and since red is a primary color I couldn't just mix it. These were done in less that a half hour!

I played with the effects of some colors look different when they are beside certain colors. I've experimented of putting green on as a skin tone without making it look gnarly. 

I'm also working on some sketches to render in illustration markers. Which I'll talk and show later this week or next week.

 "Best Friends"

One number #1 complaint of artists is drawing hands.

Or to draw hands from imagination is.....Unspeakable.
OK let's not talk about it.
Or we'll make every character that is drawn with hands behind the back or pockets. Or make them disappear from the page. They don't exist!

 An app one can get on a mobile device that has a hand manikin 

and one can manipulate the pose and lighting. 

Hey I've been guilty of it in the past. Just not drawing hands.
They are too hard to draw!
It's not that bad or difficult as one makes it seem to be at times.
I'll give you a hand.

It is a break down in shapes.
Simply deconstruct separate shapes and pieces in your mind.
One fat squarish shape and little cylinders.


If you want to level yourself up and your library get these two books.

One Hundred Hands by George Bridgman

and

Vilpu Drawing Hands and Feet by Glenn Vilppu

Now these are not a magic remedy to draw hands better. Just suggestions and guides to better understand the form and approach when drawing hands and such.

With everything one cannot just practice this once and just get it or give up on it. It is repeated practice. Repetition. Circle circle a swoop here a swoop there. Arc it da da dah na na naw.

Bridgman

Vilppu

100 Hands is one of my favorite books to work on. I've drawn about 1/3 of Bridgman's book of 100 hands.  I've started stopped stared over from before page one. I haven't went and sketched every hand in the book. But I've been attempting on and off for years.

Maybe see if you can beat my high score?

A sample of Drawing Hands and Feet by Glenn Vilppu 

Some of my studies from a book of A Hundred Hands. There is definitely more

than a hundred hands in that book!

Hope this handful of information helps in your journey of drawing hands!

This made my day when I saw this. :)

This 10 minute video reminded me of how every time I'm in town in SF. One of my best friends and I always go eat at some of the best bakeries, eateries and of course coffee joints.
At the end of it all we went to the movies and we were so stuffed with sweets, coffee, and ice cream We didn't even crave popcorn. Or another time we ate really rich cheesecake it was difficult to walk up stairs.

 Best part of one of is I don't remember the name of the cafe but it was in the mission district in Sf. Where they hand grind the espresso beans to order and also the ingredients! Like if you wanted mint they would get it fresh off the plant. I had the Ambrosia mix. Which you know its going to be good if your coffee is named Ambrosia. 

Or when you go to some of these cafe's you go in and ask for a macchiato and not a starbucks style macchiato. Which for some reason in popular American culture it simply a glorified latte. I want my couple shots of espresso not a overdose in whipped cream and a mocha with caramel in it. 

I'm feeling alive again. I missed the beginning of this month being sick and asleep for like a week or two!!! Yikes but alas back to drawing. :)

 I take my little mackbook out and sketch in photoshop with a live model.

 Was messing around and having fun at first.

 After drinking my morning coffee..Things got serious. Time to put the glasses on...Serious Mode.

                                 I then took the sketch to corel 2015 because I like custom brushes there. Some success some fail. It was a experiment. Less than 2 hours of work? Ran out of time and coffee, model had to leave early.


I have some cool drawings I did from the another model on 14th. I'll upload them sometime this weekend. My usual photo cheap tricks don't do the color I invested in these charcoal and pastel drawings justice. I have to wait till daylight to photograph them.

Shame shame I haven't shown any sketches for awhile. Despite filling up a beat up sketchbook that I've been lugging around for a bit.

Thrown around concepts I had for awhile more refined. I've been juggling these illustrations together so stay in tuned for more progress.

Sorry for the lack of consistent updates. I've been sick with a bad sinus infection I'm still battling for the last couple of weeks. I finally went to a doctor. I've had this fear of going, I havent seen a doctor since I went back to live in the States... Like almost 10 years ago??? ish It wasn't bad like how most people dread going to the dentist I have dreaded going to the doctor.

Conquer your fears!

Or maybe not..

Except Gephyrophobia sorry I tried but theres no need for reform on that subject. Avoidance is the best method.

So in the take change and mean it. I intend to start posting more sketches on a weekly basis when I feel better. Instead of dumping it on and forgetting where or which sketches I have.

Some of these have titles but I'm not gonna tell yet~ it'll be somewhat of a surprise. 

 Groupies??? I called the file that and it said I sketched this Feburary 19th? I don't remember drawing this or where this was going.

 Comatose was the unusual word of the day, when I heard it. The backwards text is "barbed wire" I make notes at times so I try not to lose the initial idea, thought or feeling when making a concept. But in this case it was when I flipped the canvas to check the proportions and mindlessy noted. I mean I had the thought of wouldn't it be cool if part of her weapon utilized barbed wire? Just because it might look cool and intimidating to a charter fighting her in a game because of its unpredictableness?

 Sample of a video-game character that I've made in the past. There is more to come from this series.

It is the second annual May Day and once again we will talk about some exciting game releases that will be terribly distracting.

Also next month on June 11-13 is E3 the Electronic Entertainment Expo!!
Yes!

If you do not know what E3 and the significance of it is essentially Christmas in June for Gamers and the like when new hardware, new games in development are revealed, game trailers, teasers and gameplay is jam packed in a 3 day expo.  Along with numerous game companies. The Big 3 Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have press conferences.

This festival is so massive at times when one is watching the live conferences the servers for game sites like Gamespot, IGN, Game Informer, GT (Game trailers) will be down because so many people go on to see it that it overloads the server at times. Its amazing videos uploaded within minutes have thousands of views already.

Speaking of which the other day I was intrigued by Square Enix's display of their new game Agni's Philosophy.

It is a tech demo so the long version can seem a bit boring if you are not into like omg polygons. For me it wasn''t as exciting as all the media outlets lead me to believe.

 Here is the short version. Which is more straight on point.

Longer demonstration which features more playing with filters and turn-arounds for a couple of characters.

Original reveal trailer from like 3 years ago.


I personally have mixed feelings about Square Enix's new games they have been developing in recent years. I do have a soft spot for their games because I grew up with them. My preferences and tastes for game have changed. I haven't played Final Fantasy 13 or any of its installments of 13 the series. The new 14-15 I lose track of the numbers looks like it will be a soppy love story with two opposing sides and as one of my friends said looks like a whole bunch of bishis on a road trip.

It's one of those things a game can look visually pleasing and have lots of eye candy but if the gameplay is terrible and overall does not work mechanically that isn't fun to play all of this tech mumbo jumbo is all in vain. Who cares if you can change the camera angle or filter lights when you want if there is a boss fight and the camera fishes to a un-desirable point and makes you lose...people are gonna be angry.

Unless you are die-hard FF fan nobody will buy the games as much or giving it raving good reviews.

--


I grew out of my habit of Brand loyalty with a game about 4 years ago. I don't have to necessarily have to finish all the games in a series to feel like a completionist. My gamer tag indicates I generally average and finish about 43% to 51% of game. I don't do all the side missions as much anymore in a game unless I really like it. I don't Platinum Trophy every game I play. I don't have time nor the patience to play through games that I do not like or are terrible anymore.

Like for example Assasin's Creed although it is a historical series it sup Sci-Fi elements and has the most shocking cliff hangers at the end of the game.

ACII had a shocking ending and ACIII had a even more wilder ending. Although it was like totally unexpected I still haven't picked up the game AC:Black Flag to see what happens next.

Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition.

In March Devil May cry 4 was remastered and  has included new playable characters such as Vergil! Who was missing in action except for Yamamoto his katana. I fangirled out when I heard, "I need more power!" I hope they fill some of the numerous plot holes in this game. Also too bad it's on PS4 and I only have a 3.

Probably my favorite part of this game is the beginning unfortunately the first fight against Dante the protaganist from the series and also the well choreographed one armed fight that Nero handles well.

The end of the other cut scene alludes to the first game. Honestly this was one of the grossest scenes I've seen in a game. Beware it is a M-rated game so if you are below 17 you shouldn't watch or play these types of games. It isn't good for you.

Shocking Moment in A video game: Resident Evil 4 -which is M for Mature 

While we are on the topic of gross my most shocking moment in a video game. I got corned in a room in a house after the infested villager peasants run after you along with Dr. Salvador a.k.a Chainsaw guy.

So the Dr. gets close and then next thing you know since I was playing this on the PS2 the screen all of a sudden it turns red and then I literally saw Leon's head get lopped off and roll in slow motion before the saying You are Dead slowly appears on the screen. I remember when that happened I sat there for like awhile with my mouth open with dis-belief trying to wrap my head around the subject. (pun intended)

Last Guardian??????

Is this game even being made or will it ever be released? It tugs on the feel strings.

One anticipated game I'm waiting for is the Phantom Pain 

I love suspense and psychological thrillers as movies and for it to be well implemented in a game is pretty sweet which I don't see often. I usually can't guess the ending or predict the movie with this genre.

On a side note I used to annoy my old roommate by predicting movie scenes, plots and even saying what the actor would say seconds in advance. We didn't really like the same movies so the feeling was mutual. 

The initial reveal trainer did not mention it was actually Metal Gear Solid V. So it was exciting that many people had guessed it was part of MGS before the big reveal almost a year later.

But despite its strong thriller feel at first I feel like it might be like MGS 4 where there is too much story in the game where the cut scenes are longer than the actual game play of the game. And after the Phantom Pain was revealed to be MGS the trailers and gameplay trailer seem boring and way too long.

The Division 

I went on for awhile about Japanese games but Ubisoft still makes some interesting games besides AC. This looks fun to play!! Single or Multiplayer mode. 

Uncharted 4

U3 was a bit disappointing after the greatness of Uncharted 2. U3's multiplayer is still fun and play it from time to time. This trailer is like OMG. But also the series writer and Creative Director Amy Henning is not part of the project and left Naughty Dog. I have mixed feelings about this.

Games I'm playing right now----

The Last of Us
I finally decided to play it and for now the story is a bit touching. And for now I'm not as patient a gamer to play survival games when resources are limited. It's frustrating at times. The game seems a bit slow for my touch but maybe I am not on the interesting part yet? Also I'm not all that interested in Survival Horror as a genre and Zombies as well that much anymore.

Currently I am playing GOW: Origins
-Some of my friends I didn't know they were gamers lent a copy of the first game to another game. Recently we had talked about the series and how great it was. Also kind of like old games were one is well the A attack is better than B attack because it is quicker and more efficient. So I never played the origins on the psp so I picked up the remastered one. It is a bit easy but the levels are not too long to play for a short play-time.