Someday. Maybe. I'm putting all my hopes in Nordic Games. They better not disappoint me.

Anyway, I've finally gotten around to finishing the first Darksiders a couple days ago. Skyrim kinda got in the way of that happening a bit earlier.
Now, I REALLY love the first one too. Sure, it was a crapload shorter than the sequel and it doesn't even have half as many awesome customization and level up options and the music isn't really that impressive (nicely atmospheric but not very memorable) but it still has the same addictive factor as II. And they surely did an amazing job improving things with the second game.
Once again tough, the final boss could have been a bit tougher, took me only one try on Normal. Same as with Absalom but I did prefer him visually. Abaddon's demon form looked kinda like an oversized doggy wanting to play with War and Ruin. But alright, I'll replay it on Apocalyptic at one point, maybe that'll be a bit more challenging. Also since steam was a bit of a bitch and didn't count half of my achievements. Not that I give a shit about achievements in general but I sure was confused about having finished the game and not getting some of the most obvious story related achievements that you literally cannot complete the game without.

In the meantime I am even well into my NG+ on Apocalyptic in II and if in any way possible I love the game even more. I swear, it gets better and better the more you play it. One of my favourite parts of the game sure are the possessed weapons and being able to customize them. Health steal ftw! I am so ridiculously overpowered by now.
I sure hope they will include that system again if there ever will be a sequel. Maybe even possessed armour?

My hubby has also bought me Assassin's Creed III a few days ago since it was half off. Only played one mission but it looks pretty interesting. Just hoping that later on the game will grant you a bit more freedom.

The first slot has been taken but I might be opening another one in a little while.

---

Alright. I'm poor. And there's some things I'd really really like to get such as some new headphones since my old ones have been broken since...so long I don't even remember.
Besides that our sugar gliders really need a new cage and the materials to build something that fits those little buggers isn't exactly cheap.
So after a REALLY long time I am re-opening scenery commissions. For the time being just ONE slot though since I want to see how well this will go. This will be paypal only since I am not willing to loose the 20% fee that dA takes with higher prices.

Options

Simple Scenery

   

- 60USD (47EUR)

Highly Detailed Scenery

- 70USD (55EUR)

Scenery incl. Character(s)

 

- 60USD + 10USD (8EUR) per character
or
- 70USD + 10USD (8EUR) per character
^{depending on amount of detail in bg}

<sub>- Characters will only be drawn small and not as main focus of the piece.
- Character style will be realism/semi realism; I will NOT draw anything anime style.</sub>

---

- I will NOT draw anything architectural, the most I am willing to do is what you see in the examples (shrines, maybe some ruins, rune stones etc or buildings in the far distance).
- Indoor scenes are negotiable but don't expect me to accept.

- I reserve the right to decline any commission without having to give a reason!

- A good piece of scenery art takes time not only for painting but also planning so please take into account that you might have to wait up to 1 month, depending on complexity maybe more.

- Payment ONLY VIA PAYPAL and ALWAYS IN ADVANCE.
- If you live in the EU, please let me know and we can settle payment in EUROs. I'd even highly appreciate that. :)

- Note me if you are interested.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH goshdamnit, I reached the (currently) last page of Homestuck!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOO, I can't wait for several months to have this continued! /throws a tantrum worth of an evil Cheru8
I read the whole freakin' thing in a month, THAT's how awesome that sh*t is and I wanna continue! ;n; /sniffles
Okay, okay, sure I want AH to work on the game cause f*ck I want that game but still! So much epic stuff I was still expecting. And then...all of a sudden...it snuck up on me...that page without an arrow. No next page.

Imma go huggle my Future Dave shirt now that arrived yesterday. And rewatch all of the epic animations. AAAALL of them. 8B
Expect some Dave genderbend halfassed cosplay sh*t coming up in a few days or so.

Oh and check out this awesome piece that ~Temmy-kun drew for me:




Give her some love for that!

A series of articles featuring outstanding yet under-appreciated scenery and background art on a regular basis.



Paintings & Drawings





Photography





3-Dimensional

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_{Previous Issues:
I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII}

So whenever I think about my favourite (fictional) characters I notice again and again that they all follow a certain pattern; are connected by specific character traits or background stories. I guess it's obvious that one is attracted (and I don't mean that just sexually now) to a particular type more than to others.

What I most recently realized was that even though I am attracted (yes, this time I mean sexually) to both men and women, most of my favourite chars are men. I also came to the conclusion that that's not so weird after all since the type of character I usually like simply is mostly represented by male characters. At least in the stories I have read/played/watched/etc. Characters I prefer are usually...well...assholes. In one way or the other. For a long time the only female characters I liked enough to count them among my top fave characters were Millenia from Grandia II and Nynaeve from WoT. And now that I think about it, they do both have rather unpleasant character traits to put it mildly. Homestuck has recently doubled that number and added Terezi Pyrope and Vriska Serket and let's face it with very few exceptions the trolls are all jerks.

Besides liking my fave chars to be douchebags I also have a thing for those who betray their alignements in one way or the other. That simply means good guys working for the bad side, bad guys helping the good side. Or at least giving them questionable motivations that leave you wondering for most of the story if you can or cannot trust them. Millenia actually fits in both this and the above mentioned category. Yay, I can double love her! 8D

The only one of my fave characters that absolutely does not seem to fit any of those types is Judeau from Berserk. That guy is simply like the sweetest, most loyal and perfect guy ever. Still love him. He's allowed to not be an ass and still stay on my list.

Okay, but enough about me, what about you guys? Do you prefer a specific type of character? Or is your taste all over the place?

I'm feeling journaly. Shh, that's totally a word.
So what am I gonna bore you with today? Some ramblings about fandoms, fan art and why I prefer it over other kinds of art. Sit back and enjoy. Or lean forward if you're shortsighted.

A whole bunch of people seem to be quite biased towards fan art because ya know it's all unoriginal and blah blah blah. Okay sure, I won't deny that creating not only a piece but also the setting, universe, characters or whatever from scratch is more work and does involve probably a good bit more of creativity. Or does it? To be honest, I think it can be even more of a challenge to grab something existing and put a new twist on it, look at it from a different perspective, in particular if it's been done a crapload of times already. Not that easy to find a new way to portray a character that's been literally drawn to death. Or a scenery. An object. You pick.

So we've got that special kind of challenge. That's one good reason. One on somewhat of an artistic level. Let's hop to a more emotional plane.
I don't read my mangas, my books, my comics. I don't watch my movies, my series. I don't play my games. I LIVE them. If any kind of media can't touch me on SOME kind of emotional level then I probably won't like it. It can make me laugh, it can make me cry, it can make me intrigued, just anything. Without that, I'll loose interest faster than you can say Sburb. See, what I just did there? Totally proofed that a good fandom will literally make me obsessed. To the point where I can't stop thinking, talking, sometimes even dreaming about it if I am currently involved with it. My fiancé could certify this quite well. Not too long ago our apartment was resonating with the unceasing echos of 'Death is sooo hoooot and so totally the shit!!! OMG I love that dude so much! How can one character be so awsum! And OMG the whole game is killing me!!' and a bit later that week 'I DENYYYY THIS ENDINGGG!!!! THIS DID NOT HAPPEEEN!!! HOW CAN THEY DO THAAATTTT???!!!! /goes fetal on couch'. How he puts up with that still beats me. We're currently at me going all nutsy about everything either of the Strider bros (and by now also Karkat) do, with half squeed comments drifting in his direction every few minutes, HS music being on loop 24/7 and me bugging him to start reading it too.
And a few months ago I went emo for a few days straight because I still couldn't handle my fave character in Berserk dying as well as this giant anger wave for Griffith spouting. Even after having already read it once. That's what good fandoms do to me. They get strong reactions out of me. Intense feels. Good or bad. Doesn't matter. Sometimes those feels are so strong that I need an outlet (other than annoying my fiancé) and I simply cannot imagine anything more effective than producing a piece of fan art related to whatever I am currently obsessed with and share it with some like-minded peeps. Then we can go all fangirly together. Or the male equivalent. Feels good.

So that's the emotional outlet.
But sometimes a piece of fan art is also simply a declaration of love to a specific fandom. No immediate urge because of any current feels. Just an outright declaration of love for something awesome.


Now what about you guys? What's your opinion on fan art? If you do it yourself, what are YOUR reasons?

/sneaks off

Yes. It has happened. A couple days ago that number next to my Watchers tag went up. Totally surpassed 3000. Three freakin' thousand.

That means a lot of stuff has to happen now. Because you people are all totally phantasmagorically epic.

First, thank yous.
To a few particular people. Some of you who have stuck with me for ages, some almost since the very beginning and you are still here. Still commenting. Still faving. Still offering all the awesometastic support you have always given me. And that deserves a special shout out. Because sticking with me for that long either makes you totally kick-ass or completely crazy. Both is cool.
No name dropping because you people know who you are anyway. I love you guys. <3

But some people who only recently decided to follow my antics deserve this as well. There's a few who have literally been bombarding me with awesome comments. I love YOU guys too.

And everybody in general. Because even if you're a silent watcher. You're still there. Still watching. Hopefully appreciating. And I love you guys too. I really do.


But thank yous aren't enough. Not in words at least. You deserve more. So much more.
I could draw you something. But I don't know what to draw to make you all happy at once. So we'll scrap that.
If I were rich I'd totally buy each and every single one of you a pm. But I'm not.
I DO have a few spare points lying around though. Enough for a pm or two. Maybe a cake badge or three. So I'll give you the chance to win those. While having some fun. Hopefully.

Remember my chatroom? That one here:
The Library of Tar Valon
You're all invited to drop in.
On SATURDAY, 13th of April 2013, at 10 pm CEST
(you can check your local time here)

Everybody is invited to join. You should be a watcher in order to win stuff though. After all you're the ones I'd like to celebrate then.

Again: THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU ALL!

Scroll down for update. Cause apparently people are extra awesome lately.

So you seriously need to go give lots of love to this awesome girl here, who drew me like the most amazing art trade piece ever. And that after we agreed on the trade this morning. And she said she'd be slow. OTL For real, shower this piece and *Pippanaffie herself with all the love you got. 'Cause she's an amazing artist. And just totally epic in general.




So now my fiancé randomly, like really totally randomly has drawn me a Dave too.
Okay, people stop all this epicness or I'll feel way too special and pedophile.
Give him love too.

I'd like to thank everybody who has left kind words on the DD I received yesterday, as well as everybody who faved and/or watched me. It really means a whole lot to me to get some positive feedback on my paintings, which are still the works that are most important to me.
Hopefully you'll all be satisfied with the artsy stuff I'll be throwing at you henceforth.

I don't wanna be all mysterious but in a little while I got a small surprise for you guys.

Oh and for those who care: I decided to give twitter a try so follow me if you feel like it:
ValaSedai on Twitter

First let me apologize to those still waiting on art from me, that being mostly icons; what with having been sick my desire to create art hasn't been that high or rather my physical condition didn't allow me to sit down and use my drawing equipment for more than a few minutes without getting a darn headache. BUT I am feeling better and having been able to create a whole personal piece I feel up to getting to some of the stuff I owe you again. So no worries, you're not forgotten.

Last night I started reading Homestuck. I don't even know why. Random urge to find out what all the fuzz is about? Well wtf. Weirdest sh*t ever. And strangely addictive.
Might be doing some fan arts at one point. Might. Too much other stuff I've got floating around in my head. Seriously, how can some people not know what to draw and be lacking inspiration, I constantly spawn so many new ideas that I have no chance of ever keeping up with it. Yes, my problems are totally world-shaking.