Firefly 'Review' and Doodles

I was just playing around on my Wacom for the first time in ages. I haven't done much drawing recently I'm ashamed to say, and it felt good to get back to it for a bit. This could probably be better, but I'm a bit rusty, and I was experimenting a bit with colour value and contrast.









I've been watching Firefly and it's a good show. The last time I watched it I was completely enamored with it. But this time round I began to nitpick a little bit. For a start, the Alliance is meant to be this massive authority and you get the feeling that they don't really have much control as many planets don't actually have any Alliance presence whatsoever. In the context of the show, the crew of Serenity avoid the Alliance like the plague, deliberately going to these places but the fact that there are hardly any government or federal types around at all after about episode 4 gives the impression that they hardly exist at all.

Same with the Reavers actually, but I reckon I'd have got a lot more annoyed if it was all Reavers all the time.

This includes the main characters. You get to know them as people but many of the main cast don't get a fully fleshed out backstory. Most get a blurb in regards to their history, and some a massive question mark. River's time spent at the Alliance academy, while getting attention, is never revealed. Sheperd's links with the Alliance military is also a massive blank. But the other character's with their more 'mundane' lives don't get a look in. How come Kayleigh knows so much about Space Ships and engineering? Where is Wash from and who taught him to fly said space ships. And why the hell is Jayne such a badass?

To be fair, this is stuff that would have been fleshed out further should they have been allowed to complete the first season and perhaps move onto another. So I guess the conclusion to this ramble is 'good but need more'. Which is about as good you could get.

Oh, and I want to know about the 10th character. How did she end up in that junk yard and who the hell owned her before Mal?

Why I Can't Get Design Work

I found this job posting online this morning. I wish I'd made it all up. The worst part is that people actually applied to this guy.

Description:

I need humble graphic design artist that can draw the characters and color them I need two guys standing side by side of each other with there arms crossed and they need to be drawin in the type of style as the characters in the picture I got attach atleast like the one with french braids have bandana around his mouth and nose and the one with the red and white hat on him this will be on the t-shirt if you can draw them better then be my guess make it look cool it will be full body shot of both of the characters... The character with the hat is gonna have red,white,yellow hat turned backward its gonna be fitted Old atlanta hawks hat with the Atlanta basketball jersey the colors is gonna be red,white,and yellow with just the atlanta hawks logo red and white on the front of the jersey with know band on his arm... his shoes red,white and yellow pants white and pants white with red and yellow line going down the side... he have know scraf on his head either last but not least his t-shirt under his jersey gonna be white look at the atlanta hawk picture I attach will help you match the colors with the hat but I dont want the man dribbling the basketball sinble there I want you to put the atlanta hawk sinble so you can see it when his hat in backawrds in the same colors as the sinble on the front of the hat The character with the braids blue hooded sweater with dark green pants and his boots gonna be black... bandana around his mouth and nose will be blue and white looking like a real bandana and his t-shirt under his hooded sweat shirt white THIS IS T-SHIRT DESIGN AND CHARACTERS WILL BE USE FOR CARTOON MOVIE I would like some words around them or under them to make it look urban and you can send me your samaples as well of what you come up with characters will look realistic as possible The characters you will be designing must be a little bit bigger then the characters on the picture thats attach to this post we would like someone with good prices not real high in prices but good a real good job that can work with me and also humble Yes the characters race are two black males on the picture them the ones you will be drawing They pants can be sagging also can even even have they hands in they pocket Be creative but it has to be catchy I guess is more of the thug type of look as some of you might say Please dont put know Pink clothes on them You must be able to work with us on yours prices we aint rich at all or know where near

Employer questions:

(1) What can you bring to this project ? What Programs You Use ? (2) Why you apply to this project ? Are you humble person ? (3) Why should I hire you for this project ? How long you been doing this for ?'

TShirts part 2

Apparently I ballsed up the links on the last one. So here they are again. Hopefully you can actually SEE them this time.

Illustration Friday - Flawed

Didn't think a whole lot about this one. I just wanted to draw something.

I like the lighting from the windows (?) on the left and from the glowing balls of spell flame.

The demon himself perhaps not so much.

T'Shirts

Herro. Here are some shirts I did as partway application for a job. Didn't get it so here they are. Mostly using other people's fonts' and design elements. I just arranged them this way. (only thing that's truly mine is the camo wave).

click to enlarge

IF: Opinion

Haven't done Illustration Friday for a while now. Haven't done much of anything around here for a while now so here's a comic just for you. (click to fullsize this baby)



































It's inspired by Warcraft a little. Everyone has an opinion about what you should be doing with your points and gear.

This was a bit of an experiment to see if I could colour a whole comic in Adobe Illustrator. It's not too bad even if I haven't got the hang of things like 'shading' yet. Could be worse.

I Return

Sorry I've been away so long. Well I'm not that sorry, but you understand. I was working and it got on top of me.

I've not been doing any drawing (lame I know) but here is a comic I was working on over the summer. I only did 7 pages and I am contemplating starting over as I don't really think it's particularly well written (or drawn but that's another matter).

I'll leave it up to you to judge
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Illustration Friday - String

Just a sketch this week really. Been really busy with my new gig at Thorpe Park. It's only until the end of the season (early November), but it should be a nice sum of money. Although that time does overlap slightly with the release of Fallout 3 so I'm going to be fucking knackered for that last week or so. :)

Anyway, this is inspired by my time there. Honestly this week's IF theme hardly set my creative buds alight. 'String'? What the hell am I supposed to do with that?






















Also, for those of you watching Heroes, I hope you took my advice and watched the Wire because two of The Wire's actors are in it now. Big Bad Marlo Stanfield playing Big Bad Knox and the Amiable and Oppressed Crack Addict Bubbles playing Amiable and Oppressed Vortex Maker...erm what was his name?

The Trials and Tribulations of Enrik part 1

Sorry for the wall of text here. I was experimenting with some writing for a change. I had been working on some Illustrations to go with this but they weren't really coming together. This is just some ideas I've had floating around in my head for a bit. I think it's ok. The ending seems a bit abrupt to me, but try to read it and leave a comment. Thanks.

The magical island civilisation of Ulterion was hidden from the rest of the world. Ever since the Emperor had died heirless centuries ago and the five Houses had become paranoid, bickering nations each claiming the throne was theirs. Since then, students wishing to finish their studies at the Academy and become full fledged mages and order members were required to undertake a pilgrimage into the world and bring back something of value. Be it a weapon, a tool, a magical artifact, a book or merely just some tidbit of knowledge and information or news. Whilst powerful mages could cast spells to observe the other nations, the pilgrimage remained the Ulterion's primary method of obtaining information about the outside world, and to aid their own nation's progress.
Enrik had always thought that the Industrial nation of Rubat was of great personal interest and he had headed straight for it. The one facet of Rubatian society that fascinated the trainee mage the most was how magic was no longer practiced here. In fact many of their citizens held the 'realistic' view that magic was no more than a child's fantasy, and that the other nations' use of it was mere rumour and hear say.
He had found this startling back home in Ulterion but when he was finally in Rubat's port capital of Ilstry he could see why. The city was bleak. The streets were narrow with buildings leaning, nay, imposing over head. Smoke billowing out in such volume as to hide the very sun from the land. There was no magic here.
Finally here though, he knew he had no time to sight see and learn all of Ilstry's mysteries for he only needed to know one, and bring it back before one of his classmates had. Officially it made little difference who did make it back first, but to return much later than someone else who had offered the same gift as you was considered shameful.
So he set to work thinking of something he could grab and bring back. Something easy, yet also unobvious. Glancing at the nearby taverns he briefly considered a keg of Rubatian brew. Too crude he thought. Also, Rubatian ale (which he had had the dubious honour of sampling in Rubatian border towns) had a rough aftertaste not to his sophisticated tongue. The gift was sub-par.
Looking at Ilstry's cloudy skyline, he considered infiltrating the buildings that poured the dense smoke from their vertical tunnels.
Lost in his train of thought he hadn't spotted the guards walking up behind.
"Oy, lady boy, shove off, you're blocking the streets." The traditional grey initiate's robes had caught their attention. It was exoctic to them. Different. Didn't come in about fifty pieces and assembled on a person one at a time like Rubatian dress.
Enrik cursed himself, he should have seen this coming and prepared for it, but did as they said whilst apologising to the best of his diplomatic ability. "I am sorry sire. I was not looking where I was going."
"Too damn right you weren't" sputtered the one at the back pointing a wooden staff laced with metal in his direction whilst the other grabbed the one strapped to his shoulder. 'Wait' Enrik thought, why are the Rubatian guards carrying staffs?
"Excuse my curiosity sires, but where did you acquire that staff?"
"Staff?" laughed the front man. "This looney's just wandered out of medieval times this one." A few people passing that were watching this altercation laughed at that.
"I did not mean offence. I was intrigued is all"
"Fucking talks like it an' all" derided the back guard to howls of laughter. Enrik could tell this wasn't going well.
"Look, I was just wondering what the staffs were like. I have never seen any of it's design or operation."
"Never seen a gun?" patronised the front guard, pointing a hollow end at Enrik's shoulder. "Where the hell have you been hiding then?"
"I think he wants to see it's operation, guv." encouraged the other.
"Too right he does" and with an evil grin on his face, the first guard activated it. Fire poured out and landed in Enrik's shoulder, shooting pain all through his body. Blood dropped down his robes and onto the cobbles around his feet.
The mage was surprised. Not by the pain. He'd get over that in no time at all, but by what had happened. A magical device that required no magical knowledge to operate! Even better. A magical device he knew nothing about.
He had found his gift.

Illustration Friday - Sugary

I did another one! Finally!
(click to enlarge plaz)