Carja

Final Animus IX – Part 2

 Artwork  No Responses »
Feb 062013
 

Welcome back to the Wednesday Mash-up. Today we continue with Final Fantasy IX. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

First up this week, Nektara is dressed up as the lead female protagonist, Princess Garnet Til Alexandros XVII. The sketch for this one went up on Facebook weeks ago when I started working on this theme. As I said then, I had a lot of trouble with her boots. So much so that when they turned out too big for her body, rather than try to draw them smaller, I erased the rest of her body and redrew it bigger. I also cheated on the pose. The original features Garnet in a full profile pose. I went with a three quarters view. I used a picture of a Garnet action figure to help me out.

Nektara-Garnet Nektara---Garnet

Next up, is Garnet’s loyal bodyguard, Adelbart Steiner, played here by Big Oonch. I think the armor turned out nicely. There were some intricate patterns on Steiner’s belt that I’m not really good at, so I just made up my own patterns. Oonch almost ended up as Freya because the hat she wears lends itself better to hiding the eyes, but I decided to keep the gender roles intact, so Oonch became Steiner who also has a big hat.

 Oonch---Steiner

Last up this week, is Zoë as Eiko Carol. I gave her the hair, but I left out the horn on her head, because I couldn’t get it to look right when I was drawing it. I tried to replicate the subtle smile Eiko had on her face in the original picture, which doesn’t come naturally when the mouth is drawn with a simple line. I think she’s cute.

Zoe---Eiko

There’s more FFIX to come! See you next time!

An Above Average Sunday

 Carja's Corner  No Responses »
Feb 042013
 

If you live in North America, chances are you’re aware that yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday (also referred to as Super Sunday). Heck, even if you DON’T live in North America, you might have heard about it. Well, I’m not sure about how SUPER it was, but I’ll concede that it was a better than usual Sunday.

It’s become a tradition for me and my friends Fab and Frank to get together to watch the Super Bowl. None of us are real football fans. Oddly enough, I’m the one who actually follows the sport throughout the season. I even check in on games from time to time. I do so because I have a friend at work who IS a football fan and it gives us something to talk about on our breaks on Monday.

But the Super Bowl is more than just watching football. It’s an excuse to get together with friends, eat junk food and just have a good time. This was accomplished last night.

For the first time, we had NEW people join us. People who knew next to nothing about football. I don’t think we converted them to football fan status, but they left knowing more about football than they did going in.

I didn’t have a horse in the race. My team (the Minnesota Vikings) were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. I nominally like the Baltimore Ravens (I like the name) but I also like the 49ers quarterback. I outwardly took for the 49ers, although inside I just felt like it was going to go to the Ravens (easy to say that in hindsight I know). Everybody else I was with seemed to get behind the 49ers and that only made me want to see the Ravens win, because sometimes it’s fun to go against the crowd (even if just inwardly).

I didn’t care for the Halftime Show. Beyoncé does nothing for me. To me, she has no synergy with the product of football and therefore has no business being there in the first place, but that’s MY opinion. I read an article on CBC News which stated the Halftime Show was one of the better ones in recent years, so what do I know?

The saddest part about watching the Super Bowl in Canada is that we don’t get to see all the nifty commercials. CRTC regulations make it so that an American signal must be pre-empted by the Canadian signal airing the same program at the same time. So even though we were tuned into CBS, we got CTV’s signal and it appears that Canadian advertisers don’t want to try to do anything special. So unless a company that was advertising on CBS also happened to pay for air time on CTV (a few did), we didn’t get to see the good stuff. At least we can look the best ones up on the internet.

Earlier in the day, I drew a Funnies strip and finished the last of my Final Fantasy IX mash-ups, so my day was productive. I also played the new PS3 game I bought, Ni No Kuni, which I’m enjoying (more on that another time perhaps). All this together is what leads me to reiterate that it was An Above Average Sunday.

Have a good week y’all!

Oh yeah! Before I forget, I’ve expanded my release schedule for the site to add content on weekends as well as weekdays. On Saturday you can expect SOMETHING I’ve written, either a new story or (more likely) a new entry from Ardebast’s journal. On Sunday, it’s Mash-ups Revisited, uncoloured mash-ups that you can print out for the kids (or you) to colour (yesterday it was the Ani-vengers).

Ani-vengers – Print and Colour

 BW  No Responses »
Feb 032013
 

Click on a picture to isolate it.

Barnaby-Hulk

BARNABY as THE HULK (Portrait)

Bunny-America

CYRAN as CAPTAIN AMERICA (Portrait)

Cooneye

RED RICH as HAWKEYE (Portrait)

Deema-Hill

DEEMA as AGENT HILL (Portrait)

Iron-Cat

SASS as IRON (WO)MAN (Portrait)

Nektara-Widow

NEKTARA as BLACK WIDOW (Portrait)

Mighty-Oonch

BIG OONCH as THOR (Portrait)

Zoe-Fury

ZOË as NICK(Y) FURY (Portrait)

Todrick-Loki

TODRICK as LOKI (Portrait)

Ani-vengers - Print and ColourAni-vengers - Print and ColourAni-vengers - Print and ColourAni-vengers - Print and ColourAni-vengers - Print and ColourAni-vengers - Print and Colour
This gallery contains 9 photos

Winter in Pelaria

 Pelaria  No Responses »
Feb 022013
 

From the journal of Ardebast Raconteur:

Pelaria is at its most peaceful in the winter months. The farmers have completed the harvest and huddle in their homes to relax. Most fisherfurs dock their boats and do much the same. Heavy snowfalls can block the roads, keeping furs from travelling very far and making towns more isolated. The rangers narrow their patrol routes to keep closer to their station houses. The Mouse Wing is almost completely shut down as many of their bird steeds migrate south (Verdant is almost a ghost town for much the same reason).

This isolation means that towns must be self-sufficient. Emergencies arise however, forcing furs in one town to brave the elements to reach another town for much-needed supplies.

Even activity in the capital city of Sixtus is noticeably slower in the winter months. There are massive storehouses in the city to provide for any emergency. The Order maintains strict control over these stores for if they were to run out, it would be disastrous for the city, if not the entire continent. A town in need can ask Sixtus for help. Aid from the capital comes at a cost in the form of a special tax for the following year proportional to the amount of aid provided. The tax is calculated fairly, taking into consideration that town’s ability to pay.

The Coven also maintains storehouses for the lean months, although their aid is much more costly. Immediate payment is required.

I try to time my travels to be back in Sixtus before the first snowfall. The winter months provide me with time to rest my weary bones (much wearier now than during my younger years) and assemble the notes taken during my travels throughout the year. Great stories are not written in a day after all. In truth however, this is work that could be done anywhere. The reason I prefer to do so in Sixtus is to have easy access to the great library to research all the little questions I’ve also amassed during the year.

Carja’s Notes:

When you’re building a world, questions arise. I was thinking of creating a roleplaying scenario set during the winter months and naturally the question, “What happens to these furs in winter?” came up. It seemed to me that just travelling from one place to the other would prove difficult, so I’ve reformulated the scenario to start at the onset of winter instead. The results of the roleplaying session, when I finish it and my friends and I get to playing through it, will no doubt make for a story later.

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