The FXN Final Fantasy XIII Podcast is back with episode 7, but…there’s absolutely no news! An epic misadventure ensues as news-hungry maniacs chase down the newly formed four person crew for their fix of FFXIII crac–I mean, info.

This was a blast to work on. I just had to draw something for this week’s episode after listening to the kickass intro sequence that Kyle cooked up. It’s the best one so far, in my opinion. Anyway, got a couple of easter eggs in this piece! The car chase is based off of Burnout Paradise’s “Marked Man” event and David’s got a Zat from Stargate.

It’s a lot more cartoony than my usual works too and I think I’m getting better at noses. However, I noticed that I haven’t been that great with hair. I guess it’s time to start doing more studies again, I haven’t done any in a while. There’s a couple of perspective issues too, I guess I should’ve used a vanishing point, haha.

By the way, I’ll probably be doing some tinkering around with the CSS in the next few days, so if you notice anything wonky with the colours and layout, don’t fret! It’s just me.

Procrastination is not a good thing…Anyway, I finally managed to finish this before the deadline. I totally forgot about it, good thing I opened my sticky app this morning.

This is my submission to dA’s Okami contest. I loved this game on the PS2, such a beautiful piece of art and the story was just so engaging. The funny thing is, out of the entire game, my favourite part has to be when I’m doing nothing and Ammy just plops herself down to rest and all sorts of pretty flora begins to grow around her. I gave this the same title as one of the music tracks since I was listening to it pretty much the entire time I was working on this. That’s another thing I love about this game, the music. It’s brilliantly epic.

You can either click the thumbnail to view the larger version here or check it out in the Portfolio page.

Finally, as you can see, I’ve done it once again! Don’t you just hate love me? Anyway, if you’re oblivious as to what I’m speaking of, I’ve made yet another layout for unartifex.com. The layout space is significantly wider–just like I’ll be if I don’t start exercising. Other changes include the addition of an archives page, which I’ve named BYGONES, just so it doesn’t get confused with the blog’s archive. The info page that somehow magically went missing during the last layout change has also made a return! Now with just as much boring information as before.

I have also reorganized my portfolio. For the moment, only selected pieces will be showcased in it, everything else has and will go into the bygones. Visit the blog for works in progress, sketches and the usual unimportant ramblings of a conscripted fool. If you haven’t already noticed, I’ve also given the comics section its own page. Why, you ask? Simply because the thumbnails would have looked rather funny compared to the rest of the art in the portfolio.

One of the biggest changes to the site is that everything is now powered by Wordpress! In the previous layout, I had seperate sets of images and CSS for the main site and blog; however, now not only does unartifex have a single set of images and CSS, but I’ve learned how to pull posts from my blog to be displayed on the index page too. Hooray, neat stuff I’m learning here.

Anyway, there’s a bunch of new art in both the portfolio and bygones, so feel free to check those out!

Ugh, EB Games, I despise you so much right now.

So I’m incredibly excited for the MGS4 presell program, which includes a Bonus DVD(Metal Gear Saga 2.0) and access to the Metal Gear Online beta in mid April. I’ve had my sister preorder it for me, since, well I’m in Singapore and she’s in Canada Anyway, unfortunately, the idiots working at our local EB games seem to know nothing about it. I’ve phoned them a couple of times, and each time I’m met with “it only comes with the special edition…”

…

THE HELL IT DOES! There isn’t even a freaking special edition, just limited and regular <_< and the bonus DVD comes with both. Okay, maybe he isn't game savvy...ironic considering he works in a game store. So I phone up Bestbuy instead, even worse, the guy says they won't start taking preorders until a month or so before the game's release. Doesn't make sense, the presell program started this month and the online beta starts on the 17th and ends in the first week of May...

So here's the deal so far, several branches of EB, including my local one, and Bestbuy, are oblivious to these bonus DVDs. I'm really frustrated now. Anyway, I phone up the EB at Metro and guess what! THEY ACTUALLY KNOW ABOUT IT! Success! Except I can't pick up my preorder there...The girl said that all the branches have the same information and that they will call customers that have preordered once the shipment arrives. However, considering the situation at the local EB, will they even do that? They don't even know about the damn things, how will they know that they should be calling customers?

I phoned them again today, this time I'm met with a girl who simply says 'Hi'...I had to ask her if it was EB that I called and not a wrong number. I ask her about the DVDs, she says they haven't received it yet. So I guess at least one person knows about them.

I've also left a comment on Blog.Playstation, hopefully I can get some answers there. Does anyone of you know anything about this?

This is the most anticipated game for me this year, next would probably be LittleBigPlanet and Resistance 2…It would totally suck if I can’t get my hands on MGS 2.0 and the online beta

PS. I need a haircut…

I’m working on another piece featuring Natsumi Tsujimoto from You’re Under Arrest. I did finish the previous painting, not the best, but it was just for fun.

So instead of mindlessly lurking the intarwebz and being unproductive, here’s a WIP of a portrait of Natsumi from You’re Under Arrest.

I drew some faces!

Hm, so after I dropped off my form for renewing my passport, I thought I’d just take a stroll to Suntec City. Went into HMV, but not before gawking at Sony’s new 11″ OEL TV. Now right next to it was Sony’s new 70″ Bravia X HDTV but I found it really amusing that everything looked amazingly better on the OEL TV. It was just sharper, there was far more detail and then there’s the insane million to one contrast ratio. Anyway, I digress. Picked up Utada Hikaru’s latest album, Heart Station, at HMV. She looks so different compared to when I first started listening to her music. I’m totally in love with the track Beautiful World.

Update: I just listened to Boku wa Kuma(I’m a Bear), and wow, that’s the cutest song I’ve heard from Hikaru, ever!

Anyway, here’s a facebook graffiti I drew for a friend (Lauren/Oathy from KHInsider.com). She played Selphie in episode 5 of Team Johnnycake’s Kingdom Hearts spoof. It was hilariously epic!

Just finished replaying Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty. This came to mind when Rose confronted Raiden about his room and also when Raiden later recalls why he had sleeping problems.

I had originally planned to photoshop this, but decided I should probably play around with some traditional media instead. So, this was done entirely with a nib, a flat brush (it’s all I had access to, all my brushes are in Canada!) and a bottle of India Ink. I have a feeling I’m losing my control over brushes, guess I should use them more often.

Well I haven’t updated for a couple of weeks, thought I should probably put something up.