tl:dr new blog is up!
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Whelp, you knew this was coming, aside from the occasional update you could almost see the tumble weeds rolling past. It would seem like I’m no longer the moe-happy guy I was 2007, therefore the name of this blog has started to feel embarrassingly distant. I could just change it, but I felt I wanted a fresh start. I intend to let this blog remain here for archiving purposes but know that you most probably won’t see much action around here.

Still, it has been quite fun being a part of the animeblogging community, most of the peeps I was inspired by still seem to be going strong, or are at least occasionally updating. That said, I’m not exactly “leaving” the community either. I love anime and manga, I can’t shut up about it and I still intent to follow my favorite bloggers, just, you know, not here.

See you around!

Also, late Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas/Seasons Greetings while I’m at it :p
My gift to you this lovely (but cold and snowy) evening is this:

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It was supposed to be finished in time for Christmas but I really started a week too late and the fact that I just completed it makes that statement pretty accurate. (I’ve been working this week though so I haven’t been able to work on this all the time though.)

The hardest part to draw (and color) was probably the car. I spent a whole day just trying to draw it in different angles (and failed badly). I believe I succeeded in the end though.
Here’s the lineart if anyone’s interested in having a look…

Lineart

Let’s talk a little about this car, shall we?
I actually forgot this car existed until it appeared in one of Top Gear’s challenges from last season. It’s a 1990s Lotus Elan, a front engined, front wheel drive British sports car. I really like the look of this particular Elan and in my opinion, it manages to be a tad cooler than other similar cars, like the Mazda MX-5 (1st gen, mind you) and MG F.
I used to play a Lotus game when I was a kid, most probably Lotus III: The Ultimate Challenge and I remember being able to race with the Elan as well as the Esprit. And I remembering almost always choosing the Esprit… :p
Anyway, I’m off to enjoy some games before 2011 is upon us but for those who want to see more of the Lotus Elan, here’s some old Top Gear:

Happy New Year!

*dusts off*

Breaking the silence here since I actually felt like talking about something for a change
Even though many might disagree with me, I want to bring up something about all those visual novels/dating games/galge-games which bugs me and take a guess at why the genre, in my eyes, have been stagnating pretty badly over the years. As per usual, I lack much of the knowledge needed to actually write an in-depth article about the subject so it turned out a long rant instead and it’s all going to go downhill from here so let’s get cracking!

I just thought I’d give a little heads up and tell you about an interesting TV show NHK is currently airing: “あなたもアーティスト　誰でも描ける背景スケッチ” or “You too can be an artist – Scenery sketches that anyone can draw”, starring Masuya Osamu, who worked as a background artist for Howl’s Moving Castle and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (just so you know he knows his stuff). In this show he teaches two pupils (which seem to be some kind of celebrities, I haven’t really bothered reading their bios on the homepage), but more importantly, you some simple but effective techniques for drawing the scenery around us.
There’s also an offical textbook for sale but I have no idea if that’s worth finding a way to import. . .

At the moment there’s only two episodes uploaded on Nico Nico Douga* but hopefully some kind soul will upload the next one soon. Not only because that’s how I watch the show but also because the next episode focuses on painting trees and that sounds genuinely interesting.

(Oh and there’s a thread over @ Futaba Channel where users talk about the show and posts their related artwork).

For those of you who instead prefer watching movies of people drawing people (and there’s a ton of them on Nico), look for the “yatte mita” (やってみた) category on the main page and then proceed to the sub category called “kaite mita” (描いてみた).

Aaaand that’s all I had to say.

*Both episodes seems to have been deleted : / Youtube doesn’t have it either. I hope that the 3rd episode will be uploaded but I wouldn’t count on it actually happening. . .

It’s that time again where I dump some of me art here. . .

First up is two finished pieces:

And to finish it up a doodle:

Aaaand that’s it for this time. Descriptions etc over @ DA.

A week or so ago I finally got my first Sega Saturn game; Tokimeki Memorial – Forever with You. Shipped with it was also Tokimeki Memorial Drama vol. 1 – Nijiiro no Seishun (but I haven’t really played it yet), which was a pleasant surprise since I hadn’t ordered it. So, thank you guys over at Rising Stuff!

I’ve played a few visual novel-style games in the past, with varying degrees of actual gameplay elements. Surprisingly enough, Tokimemo doesn’t really play like any of them.