*thud*

Very indulgent day; B hauled me on into a string of heroics in WoW just about as soon as I was awake (and as an aside, I am appalled by how much easier it is to heal ordinary five-man groups as a shaman than as a paladin--especially when everyone else is a melee class!).

Went out for dinner in celebration of a household holiday, marking the ninth anniversary of my mother and I leaving home posthaste. Freedom is a good thing. Wondering who I might have turned out to be in such an environment does little but give me a little suffocating shudder of distaste.

Pondering the fact that the sun was still up at nearly nine, I found myself with a particular Strawbs song in my head on the way home, so that'll be my musical overindulgence for the day.

Since Winter reminded me earlier of the ever-amusing practice of putting one's characters through the dreaded Purity Test, and also because I was bored, I did so.

Sadly enough, the tief is still sitting above eighty percent, and that's after Faenori got her claws into him, and allowing for the fact that he considers laudanum to be a perfectly sensible choice of painkiller. Slightly more startling was finding that Mikala has yet to fall below sixty (berk needs to expand his horizons. Hey Winter, is your sociopathic mage busy? *snerk*).

Sidhe's got too much time on her hands...

...and I don't seem to have enough. Where the hell is this year going?

Continuing with my wee set of portraits, here's a cropped version of the sketch for the next one, which will likely remove all doubt as to what they're really meant to show (although the last one will probably make no sense without the others).


I don't think I added enough visual references to the Heretic games. Every incarnation of this character has always been as a surviving member of an elven race that had the living shit kicked out of it by demons and the undead (rolling her as a blood elf in WoW was so apropos that it wasn't even funny). Might explain why she's grumpy all the time...

*clunk*

Let's see...

I picked up a new headset the other day. Momentarily considered a wireless one (because the only reason I *ever* have to replace them is because I have an unfortunate habit of getting the cord hooked on things and accidentally yanking it about) but then remembered that it would actually have to charge up, and it is not uncommon for me to be wearing the things for fourteen hours at a stretch.

The eldest of the furry bastards went and sprained his leg. He is presently limping about and receiving a ridiculous number of ear rubs.

I either need to do a lot more lineart, or a lot less. Presently colouring some that I did for a commission, and I never feel so ham-fisted as I do when inking--even though it's digital. Somehow, painting is much easier. Maybe it's just an issue of practice.

And now I leave you with this atrocity of fashion, spotted in Orgrimmar several months ago:

My hand!

My thumb has decided that I have apparently wronged it. I wouldn't really care, but it's the drawing hand and I just started in on a commission. Not that it's going to stop me--it couldn't keep me from drawing druidic dragon girls if it was packing a knife--but it is going to whine while I work. Bastard.

I was colouring some more lineart of Z's to entertain myself earlier, but I'm not quite sure if I like how it looks in colour.

It would really be nice to have a hobby that didn't require the intensive use of my hands. My headset finally gave up the ghost this morning, so I'm stuck typing instead of yapping until I snag another.

And on a totally unrelated note, I become more infatuated with Fuchsia with every comic in this particular arc of Sinfest.

Dreaming Ilythiiri, part the fourth

Moving right along...


Must paint as much as I can before the WoW servers come back online!

Dreaming Ilythiiri, part the third

Rudimentary shading on Miss Nori begins...


Really not looking forward to the sky, but it can wait.

Dreaming Ilythiiri, part the second

Bleh. Bleh I tell you, bleh.

I was thinking of something more dreamlike and deep woods-ish for the background, something to bring out the viny constriction feel, and this lakeside bullshit is happening instead.


Urgh.

The great irony in this is that I was trying to paint a lake for a depiction of Lady Kos' homeland last week and it wasn't working. >:|

Your mount is invalid; my toon is a bird

*cough* Sorry. My druid alt in WoW made it to 72 the other day and I decided to pony up for her stormcrow form, so she can crap on the statue of king Wrynn in style. I also returned to Karazhan with a few friends who wanted the achievement, so she picked up some lovely antlers after we had some harsh words with the Prince about what he did to my shaman a few days prior.

I also finished the commission I was working on.

It's odd. I know a lot of people get hit with a total block as soon as they have to work on a picture for payment, because it Must Be Done. It has the opposite effect on me. I can sit down and open up Photoshop and immediately know what I'm going to be working on--whereas now that I'm done, I'm staring at a folder full of my own sketches and half-finished paintings like an idiot, hemming and hawing over what to fiddle with next.

Possibly I just need sleep.

Some things are universal...

...and the look on a bloke's face when he catches some leatherhead staring at his lady friend is one of them.


Lines were by Jess. I'd forgotten how much I liked colouring lineart (which, prior to my owning a tablet, was the only kind of digital art I did). Kind of tempted to try rendering satin like that in a painting, but I don't know how well it would hold up without the lines.

More socks!

Went out for a delicious dinner with both mothers and my grandmother (which reminds me... the remaining half of my curried chicken wrap is cowering in the fridge, awaiting my wrath). Cake was obliterated. And apparently my grandmother takes an interest in the occult. I guess it really does run in the family.

Spent the rest of the evening mucking about with Mother Two's camera. It may be proof that I have some small shred of a photographer's soul, because as soon as the cats were milling around the yard, I was flat on my face, slithering commando-style through the dirt to get better pictures of them. I'm not doing the butt-in-the-air flower photo thing*, though. I refuse.

But hey, here's the other pair of socks I got a little while ago. And RJ, again.

Yes, I'm wearing a wool coat in May. Bite me.


*Why do people do this, anyway? Crouching is superior on all counts unless one's knees are plotting their untimely demise.

The End of the Path, part the second

I need to make the top half of the spear longer, I've realised. And perhaps trade in the ears for something more fin-like. And draw him some more clothes. Later.

It is sort of tempting to warp his features into something more draconic; I'm just not sure what exactly I'd do.

I finished my painting for Z, too--the one I was trying to make when I ended up drawing Bernie instead. And now, back to working on the commission du jour...

Bored 80s: The Tragic Untold Story

B and I have a great fondness for attempting to two-man things in WoW that should never be done (one of my personal favourites being Blackfathom Deeps with a rogue and a paladin tank in a robe, circa level 24). Last night, after visiting Onyxia to try and get my druid her stupid Bullwinkle hat, we decided to go to Karazhan.

Attumen we've done before, so it didn't occur to me to snap a picture.

Moroes... we knew it could be done by a fury warrior and a paladin, but a 79 prot warrior and a resto shaman in rather mediocre gear?

Yep!


The Maiden of Virtue wasn't much trouble, as I had ze precious grounding totem around to soak up most of what she threw at me. Apparently I forgot to take pictures of her, too. >:|

En route to the opera house, B takes a moment to make me kick myself for having turned in that damn furbolg quest.


I was not doing this fight sober.


I only managed to get crappy pictures of Eris as Little Red Riding Hood, mostly since I was trying to Not Die (didn't work; he ate me midway through), but I did get one of her dancing in the hideous pants that the boss had stuck in his teeth. I'm just glad we didn't get the star-crossed lovers.


Eris pushed her luck when we reached the Curator...


...a little bit too far.


Having decided that we were through messing around, B hauled in his paladin and the space goat got out her bashing implements and tanked. Being a bit of a bonehead, she forgot to imbue her weapons until later, but ah well.


Chess was something of an annoyance until we figured out a working strategy; he babysat the king while I moved out the pawns and then went about killing everything with the mage, and finally switched to the healer to patch him up.

Aran was a cakewalk for me but drove B up the wall with all the running around he had to do. And as I learned, spirit wolves break the slowing spell he uses just prior to the arcane explosion. Whee!


After that... let's just say that Prince Malchezaar is still picking our ribs out of his teeth.

Dreaming Ilythiiri

Not really work-safe, though there's not really much to see in that department.

I've had this concept in mind for a while, and earlier this evening I found the ideal pose in one of Marcus Ranum's stock photographs.


I'll be adding some stargazer lilies soon enough. *eyeroll* Not just yet, though, as I've got a wee commission to work on in the morning.

The End of the Path

Extra-girly Mikala in progress. I know dragon disciples are supposed to take on elongated, draconic features in the end, but bite me. I wanted teh pretty.



Leaning on his staffspear or blowing a kiss and pole-dancing? You decide.

Eye candy sugar rush!

I so love rediscovering artists I used to enjoy and finding that they've become even better in the interim. Exceptionally enamoured of this one because her art is essentially what I was aiming for in terms of style before I more or less stopped doing lineart altogether. It's hard to explain how nice it is to see a concrete version of what you wanted to do before you went down a different path. Win-win!

Plus it's full of brain candy for those of us who love pretty androgynes--this, in particular, has me itching to try drawing Mikala further into his apotheosis. And in some unashamedly fancy clothes.

...and an apparently feminist wemic

Quick sketch because I tripped over the phrase on her t-shirt earlier this evening and it reminded me of something...

I mean, would you tell her to shave her legs?

(Sorry, Myn. *snerk*)

Went a little nuts with her hair, but it was fun.

And a sulk...

Because if drawing freckled, moping planars doesn't improve my mood, I don't know what will.

(I draw him wearing his glasses all the time, but honestly, he takes them off frequently; he's farsighted, so they're only a necessity for seeing things within a few feet.)

An Ungentle Embrace

Last night, I finished the picture that was supposed to be the pink monstrosity I mentioned earlier. It ended up going wine red and black, and being of someone else.

Today... ugh. There's nothing for it but NSFW self-indulgence, I'm afraid. I've had this one around for some time, but it needed some alterations. And his hand still seems much too big...

Urgg...

Working on a trade with Jess. There is so much dusty rose floating around this painting that I actually threw up earlier due to an overdose of teh pink.

It may also have been because of dinner, but I'm banking on the painting.

I'm in utter colour system shock, going from a nice, muted brown/navy/gold piece to pink, purple, and turquoise. I'm not sure if I can see this through without some serious re-tinting.

I may just have to start over with a new sketch, though. This painting, it turns out, wants to be someone else. Wah!