I Blame Spring

Normally I’m not into that whole “outdoors” thing, but it’s been a very nice Spring this year. I haven’t done any of the hiking/camping kind of stuff, but the yard is looking nicer and the dog has been getting more playtime. And I think I’m starting to get a real tan.. I haven’t had a real tan since.. 1986?

I need to knuckle down and finish the picture I’ve been working on for, what seems, forever now. I’ve completely restarted it once already as I noticed when I upgraded to PS4 that everything I did from there out had a different feel from everything I’d done before the upgrade. Maybe it was all in my mind but it bothered me and I couldn’t get over it.

Testing a new thing here

Wonder how this is going to work…

Erm...

... about that "easily distracted" thing. More Fallout 3 and Rockband 2 but I also recently went back to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Vanguard is as beautiful as ever, and, despite the fact that its been left with a very small team supporting it, many improvements have been made to it.

My main computer had a meltdown a few weeks ago. Failed boots and bluescreen after bluescreen. Limped along until the new one arrived a week and a half ago.

I can't believe how much more powerful this new system is over my old one.. or how tiny it is. Still getting used to Vista but all in all I'm liking it.

Have Adobe PS CS 4 Extended installed... that was an exercise in frustration. I have the upgrade version, and while Adobe allows you to upgrade from several different versions of Photoshop, the installation software only recognizes one of them. If you're upgrading from any other of the accepted pieces of software you have to call their customer service to get an override code. I guess they figure that since they're outsourcing their tech support it doesn't matter how much extra work they create for them.

Also have installed ZBrush 3. That was actually pretty simple once I figured out to give ZBrush admin rights so it could authenticate. And ZBrush 4 has been announced for August of this year. I can't wait to see what it will be like.

My Land Raider has been put on hold but I hope to get back to it early next month. The new work area ended up having lighting issues and I've yet to figure out a solution for it, though it's becoming a high priority for me.

So that...

...didn't quite happen the way I had planned.

Just file me under 'easily distracted.'

Between Rockband 2, Spore, WAR, FO3 and Left 4 Dead, I've spent way more time gaming than I should have. And I have to say that, while not perfect, FO3 quickly made it's way to my personal 'Top 5 games of all time' list.
I've already finished it once and I'm going back through to try and explore every location on the map. I had planned on doing this with Oblivion but I just couldn't find the motivation since most of their interior locations just had this feeling of sameness to them.
I think the difference is that in Oblivion you were, in essence, exploring Ayleid Ruin #13 or Natural Cavern #27 - while in FO3 you're exploring Springvale Elementary School or The Museum of Natural History. In FO3 you understand immediately that the locations are different and each have their own history. So even though realistically the places are very similar, in your mind you see them as two very different places. You don't have to go searching for differences to make them stand out.

Now getting back to the subject of the Land Raider. I now finally have my new work area set up and the model pieces have been dusted off and laid out on it. I will have an updated picture of the Land Raider out by the end of next week.

I've also started studying a series of videos called The Structure of Man. For any aspiring artist who is having trouble nailing the human form, this series is a must. Now, I'll warn you, I've heard the speakers voice described as 'nails on chalkboard'... While I personally don't feel it's that bad at all, he is certainly very hesitant and rambles a bit. That said, it's still one of the best learning tools out there. He doesn't just give you the rules for drawing the human form - he teaches you how to learn and apply them.

And finally, I did the NaNoWriMo challenge again this past November. I failed this time, but I have only myself to blame. I kept putting off my writing time to play more FO3. That said, in the last 5 days of NaNo, I managed to crank out almost 20k words. For me this is phenomenal. Additionally I feel that overall my writing improved. I'm determined to win the next one.

Moving Right Along

It looks like I might be back on track for finishing things up around here and getting back to the Land Raider again early next week. Soon I should be getting things up on Grimscale Studios again. I have several pieces that I think are almost ready to go up on it. If things go well I should be offering prints for sale in a few weeks.

Assuming I can pry myself away from WAR.

Best Laid Plans

My other projects are still taking longer than expected in spite of my revised plan of attack. this is partly due to things beyond my control, but mostly because of my tendency to get sidetracked.

Still I hope to have everything finished by the end of this weekend and hopefully get back to painting.

Here we go again...

Been a while since my last entry. I haven't done anything further on the model since the space I use to work on it has been taken over by other projects. I had hoped to have those projects done by now but they're taking longer than I expected. With luck, though, I'll have them finished up in the next two weeks and be able to get back to the Land Raider

I've also spent some time recently beta testing Warhammer: Age of Reckoning by Mythic. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that this game was much more fun and casual-friendly than I had expected it to be. In less than two weeks of testing I've gone from being indifferent about it to being anxious for it to launch.

Slowly but Surely

Still working on that Land Raider...

I'll put up more pictures when I've gotten to a later stage, but right now I'm still just basecoating the rest of the pieces. I should probably just sit down and finish the stage I'm on. I've just been knocking out a few pieces every day or so as I take a break from doing other things, which is why it's been going so slow. I'd like to start adding some details soon, though.

Space Marines Land Raider Mk III - 1st Stage

After a week or so of working on this off and on, I've just about finished the basecoat. I'm still out of practice and it's a bit more sloppy than I would like.

This is the inside back panel. I really should have filed off those circles up near the corners. I was being lazy and hoping they wouldn't be so noticable. Once the thing is assembled they probably won't be, since it will be difficult to see inside very well. Also, I'm still making a bad habit of thinning out the paints too much, which is why I've got all those streaks:



This is the inside left of the tank. It's actually much larger than the back panel. In fact the back panel will fit into that vertical slot just left of all the seats:


Right now the inside is more purple than it will be in the end. The final color I plan on making it will be a much more reddish purple than it is now. The final blues will be a brighter one for the main color and a pale one for some of the trim. I tried out the color scheme using the Army Painter in the Dawn of War RTS and thought it looked quite nice.

Apache Pika Pictures

Wrestled with my FTP site yesterday until it finally begged 'mercy' and let me into it. I can't believe what an absolute pain it was to access it.

Anyway, I snapped a picture of the Apache:


and the Pikathulu:



Should get some pictures of the Land Raider up soon. Tried one of the Foundation paints on it today and I really like it. Goes on smooth and covers quite well. I still need some practice adding the right amount of water as I've been getting it a little too thin.

Two down

Well, the Apache and giant Pikathulu are finished.

The Apache came out reasonably well all things considered. Seems as if the worst of the stuff not fitting was pretty much behind me. I decided not to paint it. With the excessive amounts of plastic glue I had to use to get some of the pieces to fit.. and the places where I never could get the two parts to come together correctly.. I decided painting it would just add to the frustration.. and mess. The two largest pieces (the left and right halves of the entire main body) didn't fit together properly and even with multiple gluings, clamps and rubber bands.. there is still a substantial gap right in the nose of the helicopter. I know I could have achieved better results if I had put some real time and effort into it, but I didn't really want to spend a lot of time on this particular model.

The giant Pikathulu turned out really well. I used some interference blue on the eyes (wish I'd had red, I think it would have looked even better) and some iridescent/pearlescent medium on the tentacles. That, combined with a gloss coat varnish gave it a nice slimey appearance.

I'm working on a Space Marines Land Raider by Games Workshop. It's primed and I've checked the fitting for all the pieces of step 1. The fit has been pretty good so far. And I'm very pleased with the quality of the kit. Very little flash. I did have to slightly bend and sand down one piece to get a good fit with it, but now it slides right into place. I just started basecoating the parts for the first step. I'm using regular Chaos Black for some areas, but the bulk of it will be basecoated with some of their new Foundation paints. I also picked up a Chaos Soul Grinder which I'm really looking forward to working on.

I'm also working on the smaller mini's that came with the giant Pikathulu. They're all primed already and one of them has been basecoated.

I'll start posting pictures soon if I can stop being too lazy...

Holy Cow

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I've done a blog entry... time flies I guess.

I haven't done a whole lot in the way of MMO Gaming lately. When I've played it's been mostly back to EQ2 and PlanetSide. I did play Pirates of the Burning Sea when it came out, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I especially liked the tactical ship-to-ship combat. It ended up being a little too PvP oriented for me to take it up as my "main game", but I still like to go back and play it occasionally. I can be a nice change of pace.

I went to an eye doctor a few weeks ago after.. well.. years of problems with my right eye. Nothing major, just excessive tearing which was making my vision blurry. Turned out I was suffering from dry eye. Go figure. She had me get a bunch of over-the-counter eye stuff and gave me a prescription for eye drops to help with the inflammation. After just one day my symptoms cleared up enough for me to start working on miniatures again. Before that, the constant tearing and blurry vision had made working on them frustrating to impossible. Guess I should have taken care of it years ago...

So my first two projects since the eye doctor visit have been... painting a friend's Pikathulu (I kid you not) and I've been working on an old Revell-Monogram AH-64 Apache Helicopter model kit that I got years ago and never finished.

Painting the Pikathulu has been pretty fun so far. It's a big, low detail mini which makes it a pretty relaxing project to work on.

The Apache, on the other hand, has been a complete pain in the neck. Almost nothing fits together correctly and the instructions are pretty vague in certain areas. It didn't take long after starting this project up again to remember why I quit it the first time. I'm going to finish it this time, though, because I need the practice before I attempt my new Tamiya F-15 "Strike Eagle". That is going to be a sweet model to work on.

Did the NaNoWriMo event this past November and... I made my goal! Finished day 30 with over 52k words. I'm doing another novel challenge right now... and I'm way behind. Guess I should go work on that....

Blargh

Hardware failure at my webhost a few weeks back. Need to re-upload the pictures but I've been lazy. Which is also why I haven't updated this thing in months.

ZBrush 3 released last week. As amazing as I thought ZBrush 2 was.. ZBrush 3 is that much more amazing. Lots to learn but the basic sculpting has an incredibly natural feel to it now. Having loads of fun with it.

Can't believe it's been a month

Time sure flies. I keep telling myself to update this more frequently, but it never seems to happen.

I've been beta testing Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. This game is absolutely amazing. Visually stunning with lots and lots of complexity and depth. I've pre-ordered it and I've already joined a guild for it.

I won't lie - it still has quite a few annoying bugs an some of the features it's *supposed* to have aren't implimented yet. But even so, I've found it to be a highly enjoyable game.

Okay, screenshot time:


Vulmane Warrior in some sweet looking gear.


Another angle


Half Elf monk


Those are all screenshots I took from character select. The first two images were from the old character select screen, the last one from the new screen. They've both been cropped and resized, and I believe the video settings are maxed for all three. (Not 100% positive about the first two, but I know they are for the last one.)

Click this to see a fullscreen unaltered screenshot of some landscape. This was taken in the mountains just north of the wolf city. Again, all settings were maxed. And in all honestly I was surprised at the performance I was getting that way. Much much better than I would have expected.

Well now that...

over a month has passed since my last entry I guess I should give an update. I didn't reach my 50k word goal. Hit around 35k. I think next time I try this I will move my computer to another room. There's just too many distractions where I've been trying to write. It was hard to stay focused.

I did discover that it was easier for me to write more late at night then early in the day. I think my inner editor goes to sleep before the rest of me does.

The other big stumbling block I hit was that the plot I came up with didn't offer much opportunity for dialogue early on. And conversations is where the word-count usually really takes off for me.

So while I didn't reach my goal I did learn alot from the experience. Even more than I did the first time. I'm pretty confident now that next time I will hit 50k.

Near Mid NaNo

Almsot halfway through the month of NaNoWriMo and I'm behind. Really, really, really behind. I'm not worried yet, though. There's still plenty of time left in the month and I'm coming up to a part where I think I can make up quite a bit of word ground.

In some ways writing is kind of scary. When you think about it, it's really you putting your thoughts out there for anyone to look at. There's always that fear that someone is going to see it and go O_O on you. Worse, they could go O.o even. They say you eventually get over that, and I think they might be right. I feel a little more comfortable this time around than I did the first time.

Now if I could just stop playing FFXII (incredibly beautiful game, btw) and a half dozen other games my word count might just go up....

Still...

Getting things organized for next month's writing frenzy. I read over some tips and tricks that a veteran Nano'er put together a few years back. I think I came away with some good ideas of how to keep things rolling. Still struggling with character names... that always seems to be the hardest part for me...

More NaNo

Another day and still no plot. But the world and the main character are really starting to take shape in my mind. I'm starting to figure out some of the secondary characters as well. So I guess it's all coming along pretty well.

In my first attempt at a novel I didn't have anything planned in advance, really. I kind of had an idea for a story and I had a name and physical description for the two main characters. Beyond that I had nothing. And the story never did quite go the direction I had planned, but it seemed to be gearing up to head that way, at least.

I actually read over the whole thing today and realized it wasn't half bad. Certainly it wasn't exactly 'good' but I think it's workable and I'm actually considering finishing it in the next few months. Not next month, of course, I have another book to worry about then....

I Think...

I may have figured out at least what the setting for my novel will be. And I'm starting to figure out the main character. I still don't have a plot figured out yet, though. On the one hand I'm trying to avoid anything too cliche... but on the other hand, when you really take a good hard look at all your favorite books/movies - it's all cliche.

Oh well....

The other day I did a ZBrush experiment using someting that has been dubbed the "Zeeble". As near as I can tell, a Zeeble is when you take a standard primitive object (box, sphere, pyramid, cylinder, etc.) apply a simple texture to the object, turn the texture into a mask and then deform the object. Here is my first attempt...

NaNoWriMo

Well, next month is National Novel Writing Month. I plan to give it a shot and signed up at the official NaNoWriMo website.

I first heard about NaNoWriMo after last year's offical challenge and attempted the "Novel in a Month" thing earlier this year. I only made it halfway to the goal by the end of the month, but I did learn quite a bit in the process. One of the most interesting discoveries I made is that it's actually harder to meet the goal when you have nothing else to do.

The whole reason the novel in a month thing works is that you're (theoretically) so pressed for time that you just write and leave editing for later. But when you aren't pressed for time (like me) you end up going over passages again and again trying to make sure you get the scenes just right until you eventually end up at a point where you realize there is just no way you can finish in time. Even though I still don't have a busy schedule, I hope just recognizing this will help me succeed this time around.

NaNoWriMo - Don't get it right... Get it written!