Seeing as though I've been on one hell of a roll lately, I'll post some more studies. I was going to post this blog earlier but I wanted to wait until my last blog was booted off the recent activity list.

I haven't felt I've sucked at arms until recently, so I decided it was time to crack down and learn the muscle structure so I can basically draw them in any pose with ease.

These were draw from reference using DAZ Studio 4.5


These were drawn from memory after reference study


I have a lot more to show, but they were done in my sketchbook, and will have to be scanned in another blog.

These are what I'll call 'illustrative studies', because I just freehand drew these while looking at a pic.



And for those that missed them edited into my previous blog



Did this in the Livestream that lasted almost 3 damn hours. INSANITY.

I've been doing a lot of practices and stuff since yesterday. My Ex got me this for my birthday.

As some of you may or may not know-- I fucking -LOVE- Spawn and Todd McFarlane's works. He was a big early influence on me as a kid, and this dvd set helped me gain back that motivational boost I needed after I watched an interview on the bonus disc. It just all made so much sense.

It also helps because I'm working on a short comic pretty soon. So here are a bunch of random drawings from reference.









----
About the blog title? That's just how I've been feeling lately. I feel like I've taken a hit of something bad and I'm now stuck where I stand, and the only thing left to do is wait things out until they get better-- but in the meantime, I have my art.

ANYWAY. Till next time.


EDIT: New studies/sketches/whatever

Can anyone tell me who these strangers are?

I said I'd post some of my graphic design work if I ever got the chance, so here's a bit.

It's not much, because I really haven't cared about a lot of it, soooo... most pieces are in a million different places around the house, and some even completely lost, woops.

This is my monogram I had to make in Type I. My first name starts with an M, and my last name starts with an M. So yea.


Wine labels we had to re-design for any Colorado winery. I chose Spero.


This was my Type I final. We had to take lyrics from any quote or song and fit them in a certain box dimension in a creative way or whatever.
The quote is from the song 'Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Battery' by Every Time I Die.


We had to do a concert poster for a classical composer/musician that lived during a certain time period. I did Franz Schubert, some Austrian composer or something. I forgot all that shit. Anyways, the whole poster is the Austrian flag.

And here is one of the other ideas I had but threw away in the end. There was one other, but I lost it.


Had to pick a graphic designer and try and imitate their style but make my own work at the same time. I chose April Greiman. Look up her work and you'll see a bit how I came up with this, lol.
That is also my face used in the lower-right corner, ha.


We had to take a company once more, and re-design a logo. I chose the skate shoe company Vox.
I have a pair, they're alright, but not skateable, lol. They do have a cool logo though.


This is my most recent project. We had to choose an opera or something, and design a poster for it. So I chose Don Giovanni, cause I just love dark stuff like that. The Commendatore, fuck yea.

And these are just previous ideas before the final.



Enjoy. Until next time when I'm not a lazy ass.

I don't like posting if I have no new content to show, and lately, it's just been me blabbing on about life and material objects I've magically obtained due to how many dead faces I've come across.

And really, I'd like to stay away from that, so instead of posting a blog every couple of weeks about random stuff, I've decided to just not post any blog at all unless I have an amount of work to show that I feel is sizable enough.

Since the beginning of 2013, I've been in a long and drawn out art block, albeit a mild one, but a block nonetheless. I've been out of ideas, and I did this to myself during the end weeks of December 2012. But I've been trying to pull through it.

But yea, since my last blog back in February, I've been doing little else but cruising through school, eating junk food, and playing games. The same thing, day in and day out with a doodle here or there.

So yea, shit sucks, but since I'm blogging now, I must have -something- to show, and indeed I do.
Enjoy. I struggled to find the imagination to pull any of these off.








I figured I'd get around to showing off some of my graphic design pieces, so I'll make a blog with all of those after this one has died, haha.

Part I.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So it's been almost a month now since my last blog, or maybe a little longer? Hell I don't know, I'm horrible at numbers, I'm damned good at using them up, but horrible at keeping them, making more of them, and half good at monitoring them.

ANYWAY.

Long story short? Anybody remember in a previous blob from yesteryear when I made the metaphor of inspiration being like mana in an RPG or something? (You more than likely don't) I've used up all my mana, and it's taking a fucking -long- time to recharge, and that's simply because I spammed the art button so much.

-Fuck-.

So guess what? I don't really have any art to show! I do have this painting that I did in my Painting I class earlier in the month that somehow got a lot of praise. So here it is; my still-life skull: acrylic on canvas using complimentary colors orange and blue, mixed into one 'neutral gray'.
There are indeed anatomical mistakes that are quite obvious, such as the sockets being anime-sized, holy shit.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(For those of you wondering why it looks like there is color, and why there seem to be two different colors, it's because it's a 'NEUTRAL' gray, if you will. Mixing complimentary colors neutralizes both colors, therefore you end up with either a cool or a warm tinted 'gray' based on the amount of which color you used. You can also end up with a completely different tint depending on the brand of the paint you use; that being said, I used two different brands of prime blue, which got me two different neutral tints.)



Part II
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What else have I been up to? Well I got myself some cheap ass airsoft guns, though the Marine pack is quite good. I LOVE the close quarters rifle with the folding stock. The only problem with that is that the stock folds right over the cartridge release button, so if the stock is fully locked in, you can't release the cartridge to check rounds. UGH.


I also got this significantly cheaper, Chinese-made M4, but it came with a fore-grip and flashlight, so I just slapped that on my Marine rifle. It does pack a punch though for how flimsy it is. The mag also takes some muscle to take out and put back in, and when I say 'muscle', I mean you gotta basically RIP that shit out, for no reason should a mag be that hard to take out, lol.


This was a piece of shit that broke after a few days. It was completely inaccurate. It was just SHIT. IT SUCKED. And it was of my favorite pistol, the 1911 :c


This one was my other pistol that came with my Marines pack. It's badass, sturdy, shoots up to about 350 fps, and is just great and accurate. Problem is it can take a bit to cock the thing.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I mean all of these are spring-powered, so you have to cock them after every shot, but christ, this pistol feels like there's six stocky midgets on the rear of the gun pushing against you. It is satisfying to shoot though.




Part III.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GAMES, HOLY FL;ewalewjfa. I swear I've bought more games and shit that I don't need (but really wanted) this month than any other month of the past -decade-. I've just pure loaded up, like some freaking Y2KX apocalypse is looming, and I've chosen to stock up on GAMES of all things!

I'll list out what I've gotten in the past 3 weeks. in order of purchase.

-Dead Space 3: Limited Edition (Xbox)
-Red Dead Redemption (Xbox)
-Fallout 3: GoTY Edition (PS3)
-Crysis 3: Hunter Edition (PC)
-DmC (Xbox)
-Max Payne 3 (PC)
-Prototype 2 (Xbox)
-Forza 4 (Xbox)
-(And another new game pending)
-XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Now that's a lot. And you know what? They were all well worth it. Okay, maybe except Fallout 3, because I rarely touch my PS3 anymore, I just play it for the occasional round of Starhawk, but mostly SSX online. I did used to play a lot of Killzone 3, but PSN made sure I couldn't enjoy it as often as I wanted.

At this point I'm probably less of a gamer and more of a collector. I got hundreds, spanning across 3 systems, half of which I don't play anymore (hell, some of them I have -never- played), half of which I have never/ will never beat. And I will continue to obtain MORE!

There's something wrong with me.

ANYWAY. Yea. School, gaming, drinking, arguing with my ex, spending the majority of my days talking to my ex, and doing the same thing over and over every single day is what I've been up to.

At this point I'm probably less of a gamer and more of a collector. I got hundreds, half of which I don't play anymore.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So yknow what, I think to make use of all of the crap I got, I think I'll do a game review or overview or WHATEVERview tonight

TL;DR, enjoy or not, it's up to the peeps. It's about 4am and I need something to do before I sleep.



PART IV.

Max Payne 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I managed to get my hands on Max Payne 3 FINALLY, after months of being on edge whether to get it or not, and my reason being the bullshit line " I don't like games that play themselves for me," yet I have Asura's Wrath, beat it, and loved it. That game is nothing but QTE's and button mashing, literally NOTHING but that! So I asked myself as I launched up Max Payne 3 for the first time 'wth was I thinking'?

It took an Amazon sale, and JID's preaching about the game for me to finally cave and give it a chance. And I found out -very soon- how freaking stupid I was for not picking this up earlier, though I probably appreciate it more now than I would have if I got it earlier.

Gameplay:

There are a metric ton of cutscenes, no, not MGS4 style, but nice cutscenes that aren't hours long and are a nice, sweet, length. They add to the flow of the game, acting as transitions from one part to the next. It's just one big movie (a GOOD movie) that you can play. No like, there is actually good freaking TPS gameplay, holy crap. Bullet time hasn't felt this good since the F.E.A.R. series. It's like candy FOR MY SOUL.

The weapons feel great, and there are a lot. Some of them I never actually got to use in the single player campaign, and I haven't played multiplayer, so I don't know if I missed them or not. Anyway, they feel good. You can carry up to two handguns, and a heavy weapon (shotgun, AR, or SMG), and you'll often find yourself switching out for others, though you'll eventually find some more preferable than others. Some guns can be found with modifications such as flashlights, lasers, or scopes. They're all good and dandy, though the laser equipped weapons are more of a hastle than it's worth; they get rid of the static dot in the middle of the screen which helps a lot with placing accurate shots. Instead you now have to control the laser which sways with the weapon, making it significantly harder to place a good shot from a distance.

Now difficulty... Well the game is hard, I mean, I didn't play on a higher difficulty than normal,and thank the gods I didn't. You will DIE. YOU. WILL. DIE. And no amount of bullet time can save your ass.
Actually it can. There's a sort of 'last stand' feature in this game, very similar to what is seen in Borderlands and Borderlands 2 where you're given the chance to kill your potential killer in order to be given a second chance (only if you have pills). It regenerates a bit of your health too, which is awesome, because this feature will be your best friend the majority of the game.

The one BAD thing about this feature, is that Max seems to have a hard time shooting while he's standing up... Actually, he just plain out CAN'T shoot while he's standing up, which takes a good second or two. That leaves you a sitting duck for any other oncoming enemies to just unload lead into you and finish you off before you're even able to aim again. So basically, choose your course of action, or you'll end up in a bad place.


Graphics:

The visuals, particularly on the PC version look just fantastic, Rockstar did a hell of a job with the visuals, and on top of that, it is really really optimized. I was able to run this maxed out with high AA, very high tessellation, and at my native resolution of 1600x900 with very minimal drops in fps. And when it did drop, it wasn't very noticeable. Textures are great, characters models are GREAT, the freaking wrinkles on Max's shirt when he moves are just fLFkw, why don't more games do this!? It even has (what looks like) realtime local reflections on those really shiny floors. I mean all the little details just make this game come to life.

Now there were a few times that the game had a few... hiccups. Particularly with animation. The game is animated awesomely, Max is just so flexible in how he moves, enemies react to where they are hit, when they are hit, and it feels very believable. But sometimes Max and others just likes to break out in yoga exercises. This is most noticeable when you're in cover, and you get sent into that Down But Not Out mode. Your arm will seek out your potential killer like it's possessed, no matter what position you're in. If that means your arm has to clip completely through your body in order to get that shot, so be it, it's going through your damn head. If an enemy dies and his leg happens to crumble under his body, it'll find a way out by defying physics, and glitch-dancing its way out.

But really, overall, it looks freaking just. UGH, YES.


Story:

I shouldn't be talking about this at all, but I'll keep it short. I've never played a Max Payne game before this one, but the narrative structure of the game makes sure you know that whoever Max was in the previous games is NOT the man he is now. In Max Payne 3, you're playing the broken shell of an ex-cop turned hired gun who seems to turn everything he touches into shit, and then makes a valiant attempt to clean it all up. There isn't much character development, everyone is really straight forward. Max is Max, good guys are good guys, bad guys are bad guys, shady guys are... shady, and characters you expect to get killed? They get killed.
The dude narrates the whooooole game, and it's really engaging actually. It reminds me of what Bastion did with its narrative structure, it makes you feel like the character is 'thinking', and it's all seamless.

Blahblahblah, It's a damn good story for a damn good game. The ending is a bit like "Well guys, that was an awesome ride, wasn't it? The game is over now, byeee :3!" And leaves me wanting.

Overall:

Get this shit. This was the best damn story-oriented TPS game I've played since Spec Ops: The Line, only falling behind in the powerful ending that Spec Ops had, but rising FAR above in terms of gameplay and mechanics. It makes you feel helpless all while making sure you know you're a complete badass; you are the Max-fuckin' Payne, bullets are NOTHING to you!

Oh also it's a good length going about 14 different levels condensed into 3 chapters.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So yea, that was my review shit. If it's any bit amusing or insightful, I may keep doing them. If not, I probably wasted a BIG ASS CHUNK OF TIME on a TL;DR, which is understandable xD.

Annnyway. Until next time... I may fill my meter and like, actually draw stuff. I don't know.

"...dope and booze - don't help to hide
They're used to mask - a weakling's hurt
It's just like painting - over dirt"
~~~
Guys, I have noticed an influx of depression blogs. STAHP IT, find your calling, and move the hell on and have a good life for goodness sakes. It's too short to spend grovelling over what you can't control.
I've been there, been all there. I've wanted to destroy myself numerous times over, and even attempted a few times over the years; met with failure.
Life is a game you are the main character in. Are you playing to die, over and over. Or playing to win, so that you can enjoy the incredibly long credits?
~~~
*Disclaimer: These couple of sentences were written on a large glass bottle of Smirnoff Triple Black, two Old Foresters, and four cinnamon Bourbon shots while listening to Marilyn Manson- Personal Jesus; OH THE IRONY!

Now as for this blog, I say nay to depression blogs I've done in the past! And instead, I greet thy small audience with an equally small amount of art- why? I just haven't been drawing as much lately. I have no damn clue why, but I got sick on New Years, and it fucked up my flow something serious ever since. But I have done a few pieces (lol, sketches) as of recent.



Let me begin with a moment of silence for my Gears of War 3 inspired deck of yester-year.

I've recently acquired a nice bit of cash, and finally retired my good friend. I didn't break it, thank goodness. It was a very solid board, may it rest in peace among the other legends.

Welcome my newest companion in concrete/asphalt induced pain.



It is a Krooked deck (distrubutor Deluxe aka DLX) riding in at 8.06 inches, and sexy as ever. These are pics taken before I applied the grip to the top. I've heard great things about these, and I think it'll live up to my previous deck just fine.


Now, as for art. I've done a few doodles here and there. Just like splerge em out in an hour or so, WHATEVER. Not to sound cocky. I've just been doing art for the past 15 years give or take. If any of you want a tutorial, I'd be glad to make one.
Here are the fruits of my lazy ass labor post-2012.


- NOT DONE IN PHOTOSHOP

- NOT DONE IN PHOTOSHOP (This was hard as fuq, just sayin')


-Photoshop
I got a lot of criticism for this one, due to the fact that I love just fucking around with gun designs, yknow? My designs are only at most grounded 10% in real-life weaponry design. The other 90% is totally sci-fi and whatever I choose to make it.
But people where like BAWWWW NOT FUNCTIONAL. I was like, 'bitch, plz'.... not really, but I'm only saying this now because I'm buzzed as fuck. Anyways, here they were. Leave feedback where needed, aye? Aye.



EDIT:
Stealth Bomber deck


Until next time.

It's a new damn year, and I'm bringing it in with an explosion of double kick.
I also love this album, gets me pumped.

ANYWAYS, so in the days since my last blog, here's what's gone down.

- Got offered a $20/hr concept artist position which I didn't get due to the guy looking for a 'certain style', though he loved my portfolio apparently.

- Gamed. A LOT. Almost immediately after beating Darksiders, I got Darksiders II, and it's just everything I want in an adventure-ish game. EVERYTHING.

- Halo 4 almost gave me a damn heart attack with how bullshit it's multiplayer is. I played for hours, and most of the time was spent yelling at the screen because of bs kill cams and just UGH. But it's so addictive, essentially turning it into a so-so fun drug. Eventually I started getting mad palpitations and just stopped. I started playing Reach afterwards and it went away and I calmed down, because what Halo4 doesn't have is -balance- and -fairness-. Gimme Halo CE back where you're given a damn MA5B, magnum, shield, and health, and if you want a certain damn weapon- GO FIND IT, OR KILL SOMEONE WHO HAS IT. /rant

- On the topic of gaming still, I've been trying to beat Resistance: Fall of Man for a while now, and Christ is the checkpoint system fucked up. I make it a good quarter through the level and die. All the sudden I'm back at the very beginning of the level. It doesn't encourage -playing- the game, it encourages speeding through, because nobody wants to play the same parts from the very beginning over and over.

- Got hooked on pistachios. Cause... pistachios. C'mon.

- And my passion for skating has returned in full, not like I ever lost it, I just didn't skate as much when I should have been during the summer. But now I find myself really wanting to skate, and unable to because it's hella cold, and there's snow and wet areas. Bleh.

- Been trying to get myself out in the open. That being said I've reactivated myself on Newgrounds today, after a year and a half of total absence. Signed up on CGhub, started posting more at CGfeedback, and joined another group on DA. I haven't gone back to CA.org yet, but I plan on it. It's been almost two years.

- Art. Here is art.


FIRST OF 2013- HERE IT IS
Also on DA, MT, and NG, lol.

I did this for a good friend of mine, otherwise known as my ex >_> <_<
Finished it exactly at 12am, but then I edited it a bit more for another 30mins, lol


Then there's these. I've slowed down production a bit because the stress wasn't helping me.





Enjoy, and Happy NY and stuff.
If anyone wants to commission me with some bucks, PM me or some shit. I -AM- open now, all depression is out of the way for the timebeing :I
So yknow... I'm operational.

Guys, I have presents for you all in the form of eye candy.

For the sake of content, here's some words:

I have been working my ass off relentlessly once more, non-stop, every day, there has been something drawn. I haven't felt this much purpose since 2008 when I first started getting into concept art, and it feels fucking GREAT; that feeling of progress and improvement. I actually like my art again and feel I can actually have a place in the professional world.

This is my career here, I can't see myself doing anything else, and if the saying "work hard and you will succeed" rings true, then fuckyea, because I WANT this, art is my LIFE, I WILL make my way in. I just... I have to keep busting through those roadblocks that I know will come and try to stop me again.

But I feel motivated this time, and I give you guys thanks for giving me the coal to keep this train going, baby- WHOO!!



Now for art.

"Perfect hair, to the second power of forever
Ask him do he need it? Hells yeah, now or never."

Srsly, listen to that fly ass beat. Eargasm. Anyways, blogtiem.


Well I've been practicing like a madman lately, unlocking hidden skill after hidden skill. It's fun, taxing, and sometimes horrible, but fun. I miss practicing/drawing like this.

Here is some new stuff.




And I did these this morning, maybe taking 30 mins or less each. Real quick.





EDIT:
Just finished another scenery practice. Blegh.

EDIT EDIT:
One... Last... One... I promise...


And that's pretty much it for now besides those hidden pics you'll never see cause they just suck.

"watch my SUB-Zero finish 'em!"

I had another one of those depressive periods a few days ago, but this time I didn't let it put me in a headlock and pull me into another art block.

Instead I fought back and said 'yea? I can do even better, you'll see!'
Which turned out to be a really good idea.

I needed to make myself more presentable in an 'i'm a professional' kind of way, as I didn't feel I belonged with my silhouette style. I either felt unique, or out of place.

---FIRST OFF---
I just updated my online portfolio. If any of you guys have the time to look it over and tell me what you think about it, that'd be awesome.

http://gunzet.daportfolio.com/



----NOW FOR ARTS----
As you can see, I've changed my style quite drastically once again. I don't think I've spent less than two hours on any of these, and it's a total pain.

So like, I've just been going through the motions recently. Same as always.
I'm done with this semester of class, thank the fucking GODS. Art history assignments and finals practically raped me, raped me real gud. But I'm alive.

Anything else interesting? No. Not really.
I managed to beat three more games in my massive library: Asura's Wrath, Bayonetta, and Uncharted 3.
All great games, though the ending to Uncharted 3 felt kinda lackluster, so did Asura's Wrath. Bayonetta's was perfect.

I also promised art with my last blog, so here be art.

----Excuse the horrible quality. I don't have a good camera, and they are all too big to scan in----


"Post-processing"
Mixed-media (india ink, acrylic, marker)
Notes: Piece was inspired by a scene I saw while I was in Scotland and wandering around the country-side. Lots of trees cut down, my ex said there used to be whole forests of trees there. Only the stumps were left as proof. Real glum scene.



"Untitled"
Acrylic on canvas
Notes: I really love crows.



"All as One"
India ink and marker
Notes: Somewhere in this piece is what was left of my sanity.



Also these little doodles that I forgot I did.

Please, please, take a seat, it's story time.
No, I don't have any art to show at the moment. It's finals week after all. I just wanna chill and talk about random stuff.

No, not depressing stuff.
So let's begin.

GAMES:
Most of the month has been spent playing Halo4. I stopped for a while to get into Arkham City which I played for about a week non-stop, beating the game in a few days, and completing all of the side missions with 95% of the riddles and Riddler trophies found. I plan on getting a 100% eventually.

But then something happened on the 20th. PlanetSide 2 came out. I've been playing that religiously for just over a week.

Managed to scrounge up a magical bit of cash to get a game or two over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.
I got Intrusion 2 off Steam
And Syndicate off Amazon

A word I wanna say about Syndicate.

-BLOOM-. But it's such a good game, gameplay-wise that I gave it a pass and suffered through the bloom. Now I quite enjoy it, though the gamma is turned all the way down.

Yesterday my little brother gave me Assassins Creed III for free, just outta nowhere, and it's practically new. Actually I think it is.


Now for the story of the day...




-Wake up at 5:30a
-Snooze both alarms until 7a
-Get myself ready to go at 7:30a
-I don't get out until 7:40a

-Plan is to test my time management skills and know-how of a process to make it to the art store and pick up my materials, head to the school to get my project printed, then head home and mount it on the board, then head back to class in time.
-Not really that set up, but it sounded good. Truth is, I'm just lazy, and do everything at the last minute.

-I get to the art store at around 8:35a.
-It opens at 8:30a.
-I ask for a 15x20 piece of white foam-core mounting board.
-The guy says there's only two left, so he'll give me the last one for free. Sweet.

-I leave, skating on my trick board all the way because the wheels are closer to the ground, and it uses better bearings, therefore I can move faster and accelerate easier.
-I get on the second free mallride on the 16th Street Mall, missing the first. No biggie.
-I get off at my stop, cross the street, and get on the 2nd lightrail heading to Auroria Campus, missing the first. No biggie.

-I make my way to the school library to get my project printed out. Then I head home.

-I get home and set up my materials to mount at exactly 9a.
-Class starts at 9:30a. I have 30 minutes to cut the white border off my project with no ruler, using an xacto knife, apply liquid cement to both the paper and the mounting board, and let it dry, mount the project, then cut the foam board borders around my project off. Once again with no ruler, because I lost it.

-It's now 9:25a, and I haven't cut off the bottom border around my project, demanding accuracy. But I can't accept being late. I'm never late to -anything-. Time management is my schtick, and I haven't been late since highschool.
-I muster up all the strength and precision I have and manage to get the border cut off in less than a minute. Everything's mounted and good to go, and it looks good to boot.
-It's now 9:26a. I'm accepting defeat, but it's okay.

-It's not okay! I'm never late, fuck this.

-I grab all my stuff I know I need. Zip my hoodie up, grab my iPod I was using to manage my time real-time, put on my favorite playlist when I need to move fucking fast; Job for A Cowboy. Pick up my project, grab my board, and head out.
-I have less than four minutes to get to class on time.
-It usually takes 10 minutes to get there.

-I'm halfway there.
-9:28. Two minutes.

-I walk through the door, my finished project in hand, nothing forgotten or missing, and ready to go.
-9:30.



I'll have arts next tiem. I prawmis ;a;