Death in a Red Dress

I try to keep the spirit of Halloween in my heart the whole year round so it's nice to have the season here again for real.

Sketch Trade with Jordan

There's an explanation here, but I don't want to get into it. Thanks Jordan!

Sketch Trade with Virginia

Another trade with another great artist. Virginia Critchfield gave me one of her trademark pencil sketches of Tonberry (a Final Fantasy monster) and I gave her some creepy wall-eyed dude in brush pen and marker. Thanks Virginia! Good luck in Texas.

Ol' Jack Burton Always Says...

The topic on the Avalanche blog is "Childhood Re-Drawings" where we're taking stuff we loved and would draw as kids and rendering them now with our more developed artistic skills. I was obsessed with the movie Big Trouble in Little China as a child. When asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I would answer "a truck driver who fights monsters," which is how I interpreted the occupation of Jack Burton from the film. So I decided to paint him, my childhood hero.

Details, Details

I don't like to post huge images on here (though I try to make them of admirable size) so I occasionally feel that the painstaking love I put into certain areas of an image get lost. So I thought I'd take an opportunity to post some details of previously posted images which I feel deserve a closer look.

Drag me to Hell!

I finally watched this a few weeks ago. I've wanted to see it since it came out but it released the same weekend as Up and I saw that instead. I'm not sure I made the right choice. This is the best horror movie of the year, possibly the decade. Modern it may be but it had, in part, the tone of a great classic horror film (so I felt compelled to do a fan-art movie poster carrying that mood). Sam Raimi's storytelling style is very conspicuous which is why I think he excells with pulpy subject matter. As a fan of such material he's one of my favorite directors and Drag me to Hell is one of my new favorite movies.

Sketch Trade with Dillon

A bunch of the artists here at Avalanche have been trading art for art and my good friend Dillon and I decided to trade. I got a cool acrylic painted space man and he got a ball-point pen and marker cowboy sketch. Thanks Dillon!

5

It has been far too long since I did one of my video game posts and part of the reason is because of Resident Evil 5. I've played it start to finish about 5 times, at least once on each difficulty, and earned the Platinum Trophy. Yes, I'm awesome. The game is great, though not as good as RE4 (but, really, what is?). The new additions to the series are great (co-op, Sheva), and the old stuff is still entertaining (cheesy-cool storyline, shooting zombies). The horror element has been even further diluted and I, for one, am happy to see them trying new things. The game focuses almost exclusively on combat and Chris (whose phisique I've only slightly exagerrated) and Sheva (the main characters) are super strong zombie killing machines. The new Silent Hill game (called Shattered Memories) puts you in the shoes of the most average of individuals removing combat completely, making monsters something you can only run or hide from. What makes me happy is that two of my favorite Survival-Horror franchises, which started out with similar gameplay, are both going in such different directions.

Currently Playing:

Final Fantasy VII (again) - I just downloaded it from the PSN and copied it to my PSP. I forgot how great this game is! It's reputation is well deserved, one of the best ever.

Patapon - Fun.

Recently Finished:
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - loved it. It was been especially fun to go straight from this into FFVII. I plan on continuing my FFVII marathon by watching my Blu-Ray Advent Children after I'm through with FFVII and even playing the poorly reviewed Dirge of Cerberus after that...Epic.

Ghostbusters: the Game - Better than I expected. Nothing great but a solid experience overall.

Fallout 3 - I didn't finish the game (It's huge!) but it kept me engaged about as long as Oblivion did. I love the environment, the V.A.T.S. system, and the sense of discovery. Ultimately, however, the lack of a compelling narrative and mundane/repititious missions killed my interest.

God of War I and II (again) - Gamers seem to be leaning in preference more and more towards the procedural, sandbox experience (like Fallout 3). I still far prefer a straight, focused game. The God of War games are about as linear as they come but the experience is relentlessly captivating in every way. I can't wait for GOW III.

Killzone 2 - I'm not a big FPS fan, but I got this one mostly to admire the tech on display (and there is A LOT to admire). I ended up really enjoying the game as well.

Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride - I don't know what it is about Dragon Quest games, they're so simple and essentially all the same, but I just can't get enough.

Anything else good out there?

Delila

Portrait of my niece, Delila. I did it for her birthday...and so she would get my brother to let me borrow his PSP during my vacation next week. Thanks Rich! Hope you like it Katie.

Sinister Skalliwag

'Nother pirate.

Creepy Pirate

This is a quick painting of a pirate based on a homeless guy I saw in downtown Salt Lake City.

Miss White prefers Merryfeather

I've been wanting to paint some of Disney's leading ladies in a retro style and thought it might be a fun fit to place them in old magazine ads. Snow White is first since she's my favorite. Hopefully I can find the time to do more.

Pirate Sketches

I won't bore you with the details of my long absence. I will only tell you it involved an ancient curse, a mad scientist, and high speed car chases...or I've just been working crazy overtime at work leaving me no time to draw or paint. Either way, hopefully I can now begin updating regularly again.

Xanax and Allegra, Conquerors of Zyban!

I've always found an amusing similarity in the names in fantasy novels and the names of prescription drugs, thus the title.

The Pig People of Padulang, Utah

Valkyria Chronicles

Yes, it's been a while. I've been busy, give me a break. Anyway, it's 2009! What better way to start a year of blogging than with the most important issue of the previous (or any) year: video games. One of those games (which I got for Christmas - thanks Heather) is called Valkyria Chronicles.

The game takes place in a fictional version of 1930's Europe with situations resembling those in second world war. You play a squad leader for the small country of Gallia, desperately struggling to fend off "the Empire" which is fighting to gain control of their land and it's ample supply of Ragnite (their main source of energy).It's a tactical RPG which you play both from a bird's eye view of the battlefield (selecting which unit to move) and from a third person view (within which you actually move the unit, playing like any 3rd person shooter). It also uses a clever turn-based combat system and a distinctive art style. An ad for the game has already played off another popular war poster featuring Uncle Sam (itself based on an earlier poster from Britain featuring Lord Kitchener).I like this image so much I wanted to do something similar and since one of the characters in the game is named Rosie I thought Rosie the Riveter would be appropriate.

Back to the games of 2008: Game of the year? Metal Gear Solid 4, followed by Valkyria Chronicles and Little Big Planet.

Right now I'm playing:

Valkyria Chronicles - If you can't tell I love this game. A lot.

I've recently finished:

Mirror's Edge - The concept feels fresh and the graphics are phenominal. When it's working it's wonderful, but unfortunately it becomes too frustrating too frequently in the latter part of the game. Still, definitely worth a look.

Gears of War 2 - I played this after hearing people go on and on about it on the gaming blogs and podcasts. Due in part to these lofty expectations I came away from it feeling it was only marginally better than average and certainly nothing special.

Prince of Persia - I ended up really liking this game. It's fun to play and nice to look at. It did feel a little repetitive by the end, but it's a great new direction for one of my favorite franchises.

Dead Space - A competant blend of Bioshock and Resident Evil 4 with a bit of it's own identity mixed in. I hoped the game would be more frightening but enemies are thrown at you so relentlessly that the tension never has a chance to build.

Anyway, what are you playing? What was your favorite game last year?

Is that you Santa Claus?

Merry Christmas!

The Archer

The new Avalanche blog topic is Zodiac and I'm a Sagittarius.

Ana Lucia Cortez

In getting back to my LOST caricatures I'm following up my favorite character (Mr. Eko) with my least favorite. I can't stand her, I cheered when she died.

BOLT!

BOLT the movie opens in theaters today and the video game came out a few days ago. These are a few screenshots from the two areas I worked most on, the cave and the helicopter battle in the Yucatan jungle. I'm quite happy with the finished product so go out and play it!