Saturday, March 30, 2013

Hello! I have been quiet for a few days. Between Playing Bioshock here and there (after work, around drawing and designing my game, when ever there is time) So far the story is brilliant, it has political commentary just as biting as Bioshock I, and I love the game.
The autosave feature does continue to be my one and only gripe of the game.
I am working on so many things right now its hard to even know where to begin. I am always drawing trying to get a deep reservoir of material for both simple tattooing of my own designs (not simple designs mind you but a reserve of images ready to go) and also enough designs to create a flash book. I am focused on monsters, macabre, horror, skulls, magical symbols, etc.
I have quite a few already and I am always looking to get more stowed away, Occassionally I go through these and redeisgn and redraw them to keep them in step with the style I am currently drawing with, or just to improve that which now seems outdated.
Well I know that was exciting.
Here is a facebook link to my Tattooing page if you are interested please feel free to Join my page and please share with others if you could.

cheers!
R

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Bioshock infinite

So far I love this game. great graphics, interesting story-line, a villain I cannot wait to smash in the face. I will update it soon, though I will say the auto-save only option, is irritating. Let me just save when I want/need to. Please.
*edit*
Bioshock infinite exceeds my expectations by leaps and bounds, Graphically (though I am only playing it on the Xbox 360) it is amazing as I have come to expect from this series, the writing is superb and is Genre twisting, craziness. The surprises are just that a surprise. That, for me is a quiet but nice change. The gaming industry is too often plagued by cliche and redundancy.
I can't say anything about the story without ruining it, but I will say a few things about the setting: It is not all it appears to be, it is creepy when the proverbial "shit hits the fan",and listen very carefully to the songs that are being sung/played by phonograph/etc you will be surprised (it made me laugh)
One of the plot devices is actually one of my least favorite however, here it works, and the writers and game designers actually succeeded where so many have failed, using said device.
Next blog will be about Worlds of Ether my larp (live action role playing system) and the new ruleset for my tabletop roleplaying game I am working on!

Monday, March 25, 2013

2012 Year of the Nerd part 1

So 2012 was a nerdy nerdy year with: Avengers,
Abraham Lincoln Vampire hunter,
Brave,
The Amazing Spiderman,
The Dark Knight Rises,
Paranorman,
The Hobbit,
cabin in the woods
All coming out in theaters, so much nerdiness was on display. Joss Weadon is the writer/co writer AND director to two of the movies on the list.
Avengers was a great movie, allowing people not into comics to be brought in to the Marvel universe. I, as many nerds have stated, have some problems with the movie (errors and story elements that were odd- for example Thor who is exiled/seperated from earth in his own film is now suddenly without very much explanation sent to earth in a "oops I forgot there is a way to get there moment in which Odin sends him back (off stage) without any real explanation as to why he hadn't 'allowed" Thor to come back to his "lost" love... etc) never the less I thought the movie over all was pretty great.
Abe Lincoln was not thought provoking, but it was funny. I do think the mini movie they made for the book release was more interesting, and the book I hear was vastly superior in every way to the movie.
Brave was awesome. See it. Favorite 3 seconds is the first time you are told the back ground of the villian and they show a brief shot of his "form" neat.
The amazing spiderman. I loved it and thought it was superior in many ways to the drivel of the last series. Doc Connors!?! Kick ass. I think the series may take a beating critically with the next installment with Jamie Fox playing Electro. Argh. Could be abyssmal.
Dark Knight Rises. Yes Bane is a little hard to understand the first viewing. I don't care. Yes there is a huge part of the movie unexplained.(ie. how Bruce gets back to Gotham)Yes the final moments of the bomb make no sense. Nut this is a movie about a guy that flies around in a costume dressed as a bat, fighting other mental degenerates dressed as weirdos in an imaginary verison of the world were superheroes exists. Suspend your disbelief. Awesome movie
Paranorman, a movie based on Salem ma. Literally. They couldnt get permission to say salem so they based the movie there and changed the name. Cool animated movie.
Cabin in the woods is not what you think it is If you ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer show, and I know some of you did, this movie is so much like Buffy I thought there may be a cameo.
The Hobbit. 'Nuff said.
Comics:
Hawkeye
Daredevil
Batman-
Young Avengers "Children's crusade"
Batwoman
NPC
Masks & Mobsters
Avengers vs Xmen
Hawkeye is great and new, and fun.
Daredevil is rumored to be the second best this past year sadly I missed it and I plan to read it asap.
Batman Court of The Owl was amazing. The Joker storyline is brutal.
Young Avenger's graphic novel Childrens crusade is amazing. Artwork and writing are perfect.
Batwoman the first arc writing and artwork are top notch
Npc. Only read one issue and desperate for the indy comic's writer/artist to put out another. Sleeper hit with only 1 ish.
Masks and mobsters. Early crime fighting rad!
Avengers vs. Xmen. Holy crap, did you see that? Oh my god did you see that? He did what!?! Oh my god! Yep this one is a must
As a side note: I discovered an article that makes me realize the story I was working on for my comic has too many similarities to a already-in-print-so-you-waited-too-long-Ray comic called -"Manhattan Projects"
Comics coming out in 2013 that already look amazing... Brian Wood's New all female XMEN! New Sandman Holy shit Amanda convinced Neil to write new SM stuff!
Age of Ultron- looks like it coulc be totally amazing ( I love ULTRON)
Multiversity (Grant Morris has been promising this for some time...I know what it is like to keep on track Grant, Keep it up)
Hellblazer is ending! Holy shit NO! well hopefully there is a huge... um.... blaze of glory!
Keep posted guys!

New year.New projects.New modivation

Hello, this journal has been silent as it has beena rough year. I moved back from New Orleans (the most dangerous place I have ever lived. Ever.) I made and lost some new friends; healed old wounds, earned some new scars. I have had one of the most eventful years of my entire life. And with all of this I have found new motivation. I have decided to stop procrastinating on so many things and run full force at projects I have been putting off for literally years. Maybe it was a sense of worry, perhaps it was a fear of failure/success, perhaps it was a manufactured vision that I simply do not have the time to complete everything I want to get don in or on any sort of manageable time frame or by a deadline. I have entered a contest (and won) a spot in the Wizards of the coast contest posted 2 months ago. The contest was to rework a classic piece of art from a list of moduales. Once reworked (and if my art was chosen) my art was to be included in an updated new hardcover edition collection of the Moduals. Well in July or August it goes to print! I am included this is the artwork below: I have started reworking Worlds of Ether, my larp system that I have already ran for a few seasons, but I felt it needed reworking. I have a good friend working on the project with me and we have already begun to streamline the system while allowing for more player options as well. The final project will be nearing completion in the early fall I am expecting and will be getting a playtest at that time. I plan of saving money and running a series of games next year (perhaps a entire season if possible) I have begun working on a new tabletop RPG (ie. pen, miniatures, Paper, snacks, friends, dice) which I am already making progress on , and I expect that I will have the game nearly complete by summer's end as well. I am planning several rounds of play-testing as well as a big Kickstarter campaign in most likely September!Keep posted for further details. The features of the game will be a fast yet robust combat system, magic, a dozen unusual races, an all inclusive hard cover book with artwork and everything you need to play the game included (except for dice... maybe that will be one of the Kickstarter awards...) My comic has had some progress but every once in a while I am reminded the price of procrastination and some one had a very similar concept to mine AGAIN, so I have made new changes and soldier on, I am looking forward to working on the comic as a back burner at a slightly less breakneck speed to the writing projects. Assorted art projects, commissions and the like round out my upcoming projects.