Coeur de Feu

So I got up absurdly early for a Saturday and ran around doing some errands with the husband today.  One of our stops was to a Hobby Lobby where I bought myself some new art erasers (and a pencil sharpener).  Schwing!  It sounds kind of silly to be excited about some erasers, but these are really the first true art supplies I’ve bought in years.  Sure, I may buy a sketchpad here or there, but that doesn’t seem to count for some reason.  Plus, I’m just happy I have a new kneaded rubber eraser again!  Yaycaeks!  Yes, it’s enough to merit a picture too!  Read more

Finished a new fanart piece this week – Inspector Howard Link from the manga D.Gray-Man.   This one is my Sakura and Hinata pieces; I used a photo reference for the basic lines and changed them to match the character.

It’s a really good idea, actually.  Seeing how it works in action now, the whole concept is well thought out and can give newer players a huge boost to catch up with long-time existing players.   And the benefit isn’t just one way, as I mentioned in my other post.  Just grouping means each of us gets 200% experience bonus.  Now, on top of the double experience from having vitality, I’m thinking that works out to something like 300% XP total without using potions.  Read more

So EQ2 has this pretty cool idea going on – Refer a Friend program/promotion, which means that if you get a friend to sign up and subscribe (not just do the trial), both of you benefit. By linking your game accounts together (for this purpose only, I’m sure), anytime you and your friend(s) are grouped and you’ve mentored down, you both get an XP bonus. It’s designed to help get your friend up to speed fast, especially if you have a max level character and they are just starting out.

Well, it works. Read more

Wow, I’m on a roll this month! Two pieces done within a few days of each other. This time around it’s Everquest II fanart of my Arasai fury, SoulRider. As with my Bleach page, I’ve been poking around with this one for several months now, since August 2008. The layout has changed a bit, the techniques I’ve used to paint with have changed, but all-in-all, I think it turned out pretty well. It’s also uploaded to my DeviantArt account as well.

Finished a manga page coloring of Gin Ichimaru from Bleach chapter 213, page 18. I wanted to do this without the lineart showing and after dinking around with it for ages (I apparently started it back in April 2008!) I’m finally done.

Seriously.  It’s bitter right now and will be for the next few days, sadly enough.  Makes me ever so glad I work from home now (and have for over a year).  We got snow again last night and after it was done this morning, I decided to go out and clear the driveway so the husband wouldn’t have to when he got home.  Talk about wanting to reconsider!

No problems starting the blower or anything like that, and I had my fleece coat on with a scarf over my face as well as my polarfleece lined gloves.  I’ve worn the gloves every other time I’ve done the driveway or been outside for extended periods, but today it wasn’t good enough.  By halfway through the driveway, my fingers were starting to ache so bad I wanted to stop.  I thought about running inside to grab my heavier mittens to wear instead, but figured that I was halfway done already and I didn’t feel like restarting the blower just so I could run inside quick.  So I soldiered on as I was.

Several hours later, and my fingers still ache – a lot.  I hate the cold.