Time for Some Experimenting

Finally finished.

This picture is the first image I have painted using Corel Painter X.5. The magazine I read every month - ImagineFX - had some amazing concept pieces in it this last month, and they were all done using Painter. I figured that, since I had a copy, I should give it a go.

Am pretty pleased with this as a first attempt. :)

~Dema

The Taste of Rubber Gloves...

Well, I phoned the dentist at 8:30 this morning and got an appointment for 9:15am. Got a taxi over to Morecambe, filled in some forms, and was ushered through to the dentist at about 9:45am.

4 jabs of anaesthetic later, the dentist took out a shiny pair of blue pliers, clamped them to the offending tooth, and tore it out with some twisting and turning along the way. It hurt a little bit, but mostly through the pressure that he was applying rather than actual pain.

So anyways, its now 12:17pm and the drugs haven't quite worn off. Mouth just feels a bit swollen. I don't mind though, as long as I'm not in agony in any more.

Only cost me £15.50 so bit of a bargain really.

Job sorted.

~Dema

Oh The Pain!!!

It has been an awfully long time since I have visited a dentist. I was struck off the NHS dentist's list back home in the Midlands because I did not attend an appointment that I didn't know about - which I found rather unfair to be honest. I have not been able to find an NHS dentist since, and private dentistry costs a small fortune.

Unfortunately today I have been struck down with toothache, and have spent much of the last six hours rolling around in agony clutching my jaw and drinking neat Southern Comfort to numb the pain which, fortunately, it has done for the moment.

The nearest emergency dentist is in Morecambe, but it doesn't open until 8:30am. The pain has not subsided enough that I can sleep, and I daren't have any more Southern Comfort 'cos undoubtedly I will have to have some kind of anaesthetic when I get there, and drugs + alcohol = Bad!

Thus I am trawling the internet to take my mind off things, and to write this cheerful blog to ensure that you realise your life is possibly slightly better than mine at the moment.

~Dema

PS. The colour version of that hero pic has been started. Coming soon.

Bit of Art / And Kingdom Hearts

First things first, I promised some artwork. For a change it is simple line art today. I've done a 'lot' of full-colour work recently, some of which really hasn't worked due to me either not concentrating hard enough, or wanting to experiment in the first place. As I recall mentioning in the previous entry, these two b&w pieces are outfit designs to go with the two lead characters in my novel. If you've checked out my gallery before, you should recognise the pair of them. One of these days I might do an evolution blog, just to see how they've changed in the 3 years I've been slowly piecing this project together.

First up we have the hero of the novel. Anyone who knows me may spot some similarities in fashion choices (o.O)b

1st Rule of Character Design: stick with things you know!

Ok, I just made that up, but it sounds true enough!!



Next up its one of the heroines of the series. She appears in book 2 of the trilogy and is integral to the plot. I wanted her outfit to be quite contemporary and just a little bit flash, which will be reflected in the colour choices. As you can probably tell from the ears, she isn't human.



Kingdom Hearts II
Ok, it seems KH2 arrived as early as Amazon said it might. Got it yesterday and almost immediately leapt into the adventure. I had read in a review somewhere that the game opened up with a section that seemed like a 3hr tutorial to get you into the game. I kinda wondered what they could be on about - normally I skip tutorials and jump right in. But no, the opening section to the game is a bit like a 3hr tutorial.... though actually it took me closer to 4 1/2 hours 'cos I was exploring everywhere and getting used to the controls, which have changed subtly since KH1 (for the better I may add!) Fortunately, the 4.5hrs was also pretty relevant plot-wise I'm thinking, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Anyways, after playing as the rather miserable Roxas for 4.5hs I finally got back to playing Sora in his rather amusingly shrunk dungarees...seems he's grown a bit while in stasis for a year. Well, a lot actually. After a bit of exploring, a few tutorials, and some amusing cutscenes with Donald and Goofy (most of which seem to be centred around people taking the piss outta Donald, which is good, cos I wasn't his biggest fan in the first game!) we're leaving the spooky Twilight Town for lands anew.

First stop, the Tower of the mighty Yen Sid, a wizard of massive power and tutor to King Mickey (oh, look at his name backwards btw... some people still don't notice that one) who tells us a lot of plot-related stuff from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, the rather iffy GBA card-based rpg which to be honest I really didn't like all that much. Plot was good; battle system was bad! After plot stuff its time to get some new duds. And yes, Sora finally looks COOL in KH2 rather than the REALLY dorky outfit from KH1.

After a chat with El Sid (hoho!) its off into Gummi Space (or whatever its actually called) in the all-new Gummi ship... well... same old Gummi ship actually, but the actual shoot-em-up bits are thankfully much better, and they've fixed the god-awful targetting issues with the first game's similar bits.

And that's all I have time for at the moment. Enjoy the artwork. More updates on KH2 when I play again.

Am off to Lancaster University today to register for my Masters course. Hope there are no problems/issues.

Ta taaaaa
~Dema

It's OCTOBER Dema: What are you playing at?!?!

Yes ok, I know this is supposed to be my personal art site and stuff, but I really haven't been in the mood for much art lately.

Well I have and I haven't. I HAVE produced some stuff, but a lot of it is not so good as I have been experimenting, and some of it has not turned out well at all. But I have been learning, so that is good.

I actually do have a couple of b&w concept scans to put up very shortly, but at the moment, wiring my scanner up to my pc is a daunting challenge due to the scanner being on the other side of the room and there is a lot of crap on the floor inbetween. Yes, I really should tidy up My Pit™.

Anyways, so I have two b&w scans coming soon (and probably colour versions of them shortly after) which happen to cooincide with what I have been spending my time doing - writing.

As mentioned previously, I am starting (this week in fact) a Masters in Creative Writing at Lancaster University, England. For the last three years (whilst teaching...bluergh) I have been trying to write a trilogy of novels, which hasn't really worked out through lack of real planning time. All my research for the trilogy is done now, but I needed time to work on the plots. So recently I sat down and just battered out a very rough framework for the first 2 of the 3 novels. And I tell you what, it feels GOOD to have got that out. Its not great or anything - its a ROUGH plot with capital letters for R.O.U.G.and H, but its mine. It hasn't been done before, and its unlikely to be done again either...

As well as hammering out this rough plot, and doing a little bit of actual writing to go with it, I have been playing games - as always. I have cut down on FFXI quite a bit for the moment, and instead have been playing two action games: LEGO Star Wars II and Kingdom Hearts.

LEGO Star Wars II is weird. It has some very good bits and some very bad bits. The good bits fortunately outweigh the bad - it is very funny, looks pretty cool, and has a wide variety of unlockables to find. But the whole thing is marred by what is probably one of the WORST jumping mechanics in 3D platforming history. It was SO frustrating, because there are bits where you jump from platform to platform and if you fall you die and lose all the LEGO studs you have been collecting. Since I want to COLLECT studs to get bonuses, it becomes very annoying when you KNOW you pressed the jump key as you moved off the ledge, but the character didn't jump! GRRRR!!!! Anyways, I have completed the game, and had a jolly old time doing so!

Kingdom Hearts is also weird. An action/rpg hybrid from Square-Enix, KH plays more like a Zelda game than Final Fantasy X, which was in production at around the same time. It has real time action, with RPG elements to it, and is populated - as my housemate put it - by annoying Disney characters, as well as some FF staples like Moogles and Cid.

I actually only started playing KH again because KH2 is finally out in Europe (almost 1yr after the US release I think ~_~;)! I wanted to get KH1 finished before playing the sequel. Since I have ordered KH2 on Amazon cos it was cheap, I still have a couple of days to tie up the bits in KH1 that I haven't finally been able to complete: namely the Sephiroth fight and getting Donald and Goofy's ultimate weapons... which I ain't lookin' forwards to.

I actually bought KH1 ages ago, back when it came out, but I didn't get very far with it because I found it irritating and too hard if I recall correctly. I must have got better at games since then, as the irritation was gone.

Anyways, I'm rambling really. New art coming as soon as I've tidied my room! See you all soon!

~Dema