[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLXXII - CLXXIII].

My little brother turned 21 yesterday.  I think he celebrated by going to the gym and having some Chinese food in the evening.  I'm pretty certain that that's not all he did, but I haven't asked him much more.

A borrowed figure (plus a couple of arms) for the purpose of thinking through another character design for one of my projects.  I was pretty happy with the quick, line drawing back next to it.  It was a template for the drawing below - a different location for the hourglass marks.

And here's the idea for the other location.

A quick gas mask study.  Because it's the first obvious choice for quick drawn studies.

A LARPer.  Or my experience of one.  Minus the hair, yes, but everything else is included.  I believe that's lightning in his right hand.

One of my friend from the course has created a blog - 2hourchallenge.blogspot.com - so go and have a look-see!  This groups of doodles was from the challenge to draw a video game character in a way that the character hasn't been drawn before.

The challenge rules are simple - 1/2 hour prep time - gathering sources and ideas and inspiration, etc and then 2 hours drawing time.  It doesn't have to be one two hour stint, but the total time taken to draw out your final idea shouldn't be more than 2 hours.  Than you email it to him and he posts it on the blog.

It's a fantastic idea and it's something that I will be trying to contribute to as much as I can.

For this challenge, I took Pyro - the greatest character in TF/TF2 - and tried to see what I could do.  These are my thumbnails to see where I would take it; and I included them in my 1/2 hour thought-gathering process.

Then I thought it'd be cool to see what Link would look like in one of the thumbs I'd drawn, so there's why he's in the bottom one here.  After that, I went off on one and figured the Pyro may never have been drawn as a Native American before - so that ended up with the top thumbnail here.  Instead of a flamethrower, I gave him a torch and instead of a Firemans' axe, I gave him a tomahawk.

So that led to another pose of the Native American Pyro (with the opposite view of Link fromt he thumbs above)...

And another...

And that's when I thought "This is going well; I think I'll draw Link again a few more times."

And here's the final image.  Of sorts.  I figured I'd taken the challenge off course, so I decided to see it through to at least a good drawing of Link.  Bow and arrow option here, with little Navi up to the right, there.  Once Photoshop gets a-goin' I'll throw some colours on this.

Speaking of colours (seamless), my wifey and I stopped off at the side of a pub to watch this guy do his thang for a while.  It was really nice to watch.  He said he tried to so a new one every week - weather permitting.

I'm going to wrap it up here.  I've got a bit to say about the footy - as most Englishmen will - but it's not too important to lose sleep over.  There was another thing, too, but it's slipped my mind.  Maybe it'll make it's way back in there by tomorrow.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLXI - CLXXI].

Well this Roman Numeral thing worked for longer than I thought it would.  I've sorted it out now, but I'm not sure how accurate the past few weeks have been.

For today:

Lovely little spider protecting his babies.  Caught it while I was cutting the grass the other day and figured I'd try and get a few good shots of it.

And then this beaut.  Rana temporaria - the common frog.  Nice to see it now that I'm back on UK shores.  Took my time appreciating it and getting a few nice shots of it.  Lovely stuff!

I've been getting back on the drawing wagon after a short hiatus.  It's enjoyable again!  I went to the degree show of the Games Design course at university on Friday night and then again this afternoon with my wifey.  Really nice to see some of the work that's up.

Can't wait to start up again in the studios in September!

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLX].

Started working again at Nando's today.  To those of you in the UK who haven't been to Nando's before; go.  Go now.  It's amazing and I have missed it a lot.

It's been nice getting back into the swing of it - I did a bit of everything today.  A nice way of breaking back in.

For today, I've got a photo that one of my friends from America sent to me.

It's one of the last dolls I made while we were over there and it's a design that I love!  The material I used for it was really great, too, and combined with using one colour for the inside of the arms and legs and another colour for the rest, it's a doll that is a joy to make.  And yes.  Nice to sell...

And here's a photo from me.  My mum made us a wonderful Anniversary card!  I thought it was a photo when we first opened it  :D

I'm working again tomorrow and a couple of other days before going on a team build day!  Nice timing!

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLIX].

Clicks.  I like these Roman numerals.  They make a word.

Not a photo from today, but it can be the photo for today:

This is the Olympic torch getting carried through our little town!  I like the shot I got of this runner.  I was wanting to stand on the roundabout so I could get a shot from straight down the road but the roundabout was covered with signs instructing people to not be on there.  Signs which no-one read, obviously, but signs that put me off standing on the roundabout nonetheless.

Still.  I like this shot.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLVIII].

I figured I'd make another post so I can more clearly see what number day it'll be tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, my wifey and I are moving up to Preston for a while.  It's not far away from the internet, so I'll still be able to post things, but it will be a long day.  And then I've got three days of work!  I can't wait!  I've not worked for a good while - standing up, walking round, working hard.  I did a bit of construction work in November last year, but other than that it's been nice work like making dolls and painting murals  Time for some on-my-feet-for-10-hours-type work.  Lovely.

Also for the end of the day:

A couple of logo bits for a series at church.  Not a whole lot to go on - a Dark Knight-esque 'S' for the series' title 'Superness'.

I like the first one the best but I'm finding all the 'S's to be a bit curvy to make dark-looking.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CLIV - CLVIII].

I'm having to learn how to use Roman numerals again.  I knew them in primary school because one of our teachers gave us various nicknames and ways of answering the register.  I was VII.  I don't know the numerals that well because there weren't a whole lot of us.  It didn't reach thirty, if I remember correctly.

But that's enough of that.

I've been absent once again from this photo-a-day thing.  I do have a bit of a better excuse for today, however.  And the past few days.

As you may well be aware, the Olympics are being hosted in London this year.  Huzzah.  If you are not aware, then consider yourself now aware.

The logo for the Olympics has been one of those love it/hate it conversation points since it was first unveiled in 2008.  I don't think it's all that great, really.  I think it's a bit clunky and a not all that pleasing to the eye.  I also think that it cost far too much.  Apparently, the cost of this logo was around the $400,000 mark.  Four hundred thousand pounds.

This, on the other hand, is the logo for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.  If you're not aware of this, then I guess it's a bit more acceptable than not being aware of the Olympics, but it's still a pretty big deal.

For the second time in England's history, the Queen has been on the throne for 60 years.  Since coming to the throne in 1952, there have been 11 presidents.  The Queen met 10 of these, but she also met one before she was Queen and a former president while she was on the throne.

For this huge occasion, what fantastic logo should be selected but this one above.  Stellar.

As I suspected, it was a Blue Peter competition (Blue Peter is a kids' TV show that's been going here for 54 years), but what surprised me was that the artist was 10.  I guessed 7.

Now I realise that the Olympics probably won't be back in England in our lifetimes, but to have a Monarch on the throne for 60 years isn't going to happen any time soon either.  Why we spent $400,000 on one logo and opened the other up to a kids' competition I'll never know.  The occasions are arguably as important as each other  - I'd say the Jubilee is more important - so why not proudly display a scrawlings of a primary schooler for the world to see at the Olympics?  It would have saved us a bit of money.

Finally, we have Euro 2012.  It's like the World Cup but only for Europe.  Thrilling.  For the American reader, picture the World Series being played ever 4 years and with actual teams from across the world being involved.  Hard to do, right?  So then if you have an All-American series every 4 years, off-set so that you can watch a big championship every two years, then you get an idea, albeit watered down, badly thought through and not really that similar.

England are in the competition again.  We normally are.  We get really patriotic and a little bit violent until we're out of the competition.  Than we just take all that patriotism that could have been and a select few turn that into even more anger and violence.

I love my country, really.

We play some good football until either the second half of the game or the second half of the compet

But the most important reason I haven't been on here for the past few days is that my wifey and I have been celebrating our second anniversary!

It's been an incredible two years and I can't believe how blessed we are.  Well, I can, because I know that God is good and He takes care of His kids.  But also, I can't, because we're just so blessed it's silly.

If 'blessed' is not a word that you're familiar with, it just means fortunate, but - essentially - God-given fortune.

We've been fortunate enough to have had the chance to go to Amsterdam, Germany, Iceland and America - including living in Arkansas and visiting Missouri, Georgia, Ohio and New York - traveling through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and a couple of other States.

We've also been fortunate enough to have had the chance to live in the UK and America.  And to also have seen wonderful things - the hills and views of Arkansas and Germany, the canals and buildings of Amsterdam, the roads and countryside of America, Niagara Falls and the births and engagements of almost twenty of our friends and family.

Visas have plagued our marriage, as one sadly expects in this age of (seemingly) 'only those who stay illegally can stay', but we know that God is good and we know that He provides us with everything we need.

We have the money for my wifey's visa to the penny - a gift that we received from a person at church in America.  We also have a nice, big bag of winter clothes for my wifey - made possible for us to bring home by someone else at church paying for that bag!  And now that we're looking for a house in Preston, while we get jobs sorted in order to save money for a house in Preston, we have some more friends from church who have offered us three rooms to stay in while we save up enough for a deposit! God is amazing.  When Christians live like Christians should live, it glorifies God and shows His love to everyone around.

This past two years has been amazing.  Words cannot describe how much I love my wifey and how stoked I am for spending the rest of our lives together.  There are only 26 characters in the Roman alphabet.  Not near enough to use with the effect I'd want.

Here's another photo for today, actually.  My mum has an Etsy page!

My wifey and I were getting her sorted and ready to sell.  I was in charge of creating the banner for my mum's page and this is the photo I took the strip from.  Lovely stuff.

In other news, my mum taught me how to crochet, so there's a thing.

I've made two small squares and a tiny scarf.

Peace.

[Project:ThreeSixFive] Day [CXLIV - CLIII].

Day something something.  Let's write off May as 'in transit'.

Today saw patriotism so tangible I had to swim through it to get to town this afternoon.  Not only does this weekend see the start of the Jubilee, with our dear Queen celebrating her 60th year on the throne, but today we had the Olympic Torch make it's way through the town.  My wifey and I and my mum and dad got a good look as the guy carrying it ran past with a surprisingly conspicuous and blend-in-able looking entourage.  Most peoples' views were somewhat obscured by a select few who gathered reasonably tightly around as the flame was passed.  I didn't even realised it had happened until I saw that the spritely young man who had passed us moments before had now been switched out with a slightly more frail lady.  A lady who obviously treasured the opportunity to carry the torch, twirling as she got to the top of the bridge she set off from.

Waiting for the torch to pass was a nice experience.  It was a similar to chatting at home, but instead, we were stood at the corner of a street.

A few squads of police bikes made their way past, followed by a couple of buses and cars advertising various products and companies.  At one point, a bus went by and I saw a lady in it holding her torch.  I thought that was it until half an hour later when the actual runner went by.  Following them pretty closely was a car advertising a bookies, which I'm pretty sure wasn't representing a real sponsor of the Olympics. And then it was regular traffic.

And that was it.  The crowd dispersed and went on their way.  People looked at their Union Flags with bewilderment as the realisation set upon them that - really - they don't need them.  And they could have done something better with whatever amount it was that they paid for them.

Upon starting this post, I realised that the memory card with all of today's photos on is currently at a friend's house after she was kind enough to shoot my wifey and I for our anniversary.  The camera has been shooting all day - at least 600 photos.  Which is ridiculous.

So here's a picture I took the other day.  My mum has got a rose bush in the garden an it produces really great orange roses.  It's blurry because one of the lenses on the fisheye attachment had a smudge on it from when we played the eye game - a game where you put the fisheye lens over your eye and try to walk across a room to high-five someone.  I've been the high-five..ee more often than not and have been hit in the face twice.

In other news I found another bug in Skyrim.

"Another?"  I hear you cry in utter disbelief.  "Surely that means you'd have had to have found at least one before this?!"

Well this one is a little more irritating.  I say a little.  It was pretty frustrating when I found myself walking through a wall and falling out of a city limit, before hovering over a grey expanse for a while until I decided to get somewhere else.

But this was the sort of bug that doesn't go away when you come back to it.  I can go back to that city and it'll be fine - all the walls intact.  But this?  No.

I was on my merry way to kill a zombie dragon, following a girl by the name of Delphine.  I knew where we were going, but I thought it may be character-building to walk the whole way with her - instead of fast-traveling (teleporting) there only to find out she got there just as quick.  A short while into our journey, we came upon a fellow casting a spell of some sort and behaving in a way that was less that health-building to our characters.  So I got out my bow and made sure he wasn't a problem any more.  Or his little fire creature that he was hanging round with.

No sooner had the problem been dealt with, I turn around to find Delphine running at me with a couple of swords!  Unsure as to what to do - seeing as I sort of needed her to be alive for the mission - I ran until she was off the radar.  As soon as that happened, I fast-traveled to the place we were meant to meet.  Sure enough, she was already there.  But because the AI had me as an enemy, she just attacked me straight away.  I fought back until she should have expired, but she just knelt down and regained her strength.  Thinking it was a test and that after a few times of doing this, she'd get up and say words to the effect of "This was a test and you've passed," I carried on.

But it wasn't a test.  It was AI gone awry and there was no stopping it.

At one point, while she was subdued, I went to the place that we were meant to be going and a huge zombie dragon jumped out of the ground and started shouting at me.  And breathing fire at me, but the shouting annoyed me more.

At this point in the game, Delphine is meant to come and help me out, but with the stellar AI, she just started hitting me.  So I was fighting a huge zombie dragon and this crazy chick with sharp things!

Once the dragon was dead I figured I'd leave it at that and call it a day, but the mission is not going to be complete without finally talking to Delphine.  Who tries to kill me every time I'm however close I need to be for her to fire arrows my way.

Load game.  Start the mission again.

Life, hey?

Peace.