Not dead yet, have some art.

Just busy and lacking time and motivation to ramble into my empty corner of the internet. Got a few things knocking around in the noggin, such as a GURPS conversion from Dark Heresy/WH40k in general (other people have done it sort of, but the Did It Wrong in places), along with eleventy bajillion things of saved and forgotten tech tuesday links, and a few more entries on the Diary of a Va'Kree Spacer.

GURPS Metro finally got going mostly in earnest, and I'm spending a lot of time trying to build really fancy detailed maps for everything with the crappy tokens and backgrounds Roll20 has available for free, and starting to draw up my own monsters and things because their selection is so poor (even among potentially purchasable things). In a related matter, if ever you require character portraits, monster drawings or whathaveyou, you need only wave a buck or two and a description at me and I'll be happy to oblige, particularly if I'm permitted to torment my players with said monsters.

Meet a character I whipped up for an upcoming Dark Heresy game, veteran NCO Sergeant Titus, of the Forge World Fabryka. Loyal member of the Imperial Cult, he translates his zeal into very useful pragmatism, because dead men can't serve the Omnissiah. His laspistol does most of the work, but he's quite handy with that sword; he's also quite capable with issuing orders, and more than happy to simply lob grenades into emplacements or blow open walls rather than try to lead glorious charges against the enemy. He also has a fear of open spaces after being forced to lead a charge across open ground to break an advancing enemy formation, losing nearly all of his men and almost being killed himself in the process.

Foreshortening and angle on the legs are a bit off, but I like how this turned out. Drew it up in the northwoods with no internet or refs, so I'd say it didn't turn out too badly.

Motor Monday: Japanese Custom

Turns out, Japan has a thriving custom car/bike culture. Hints of it show through in various media, such as the famous Akira, and several other animes (Initial D comes to mind as well, although those aren't so much flash as they are just street racers).

Motor Monday: RPG edition

Most RPG characters start with a theme. I was invited to take part in a Shadowrun campaign not long after completing my motorcycle course, and the capability and low price for performance of a motorcycle just seemed right. Top that off with a real identity that needed hiding (something few shadowrunners have!), and a tendency to be in trouble, and the idea of a motorcycle riding gunslinger wearing heavy biker armor and a helmet was a natural one.

Meet Biker, better known as Norman Schultz, retired Combat Biker, motorcycle racer, and now mechanic, specializing in vehicle modifications for metahumans who have difficulty fitting normal vehicles (He's a dwarf, because they're my preferred standard fantasy race). With color changing and morphing armor to allow him to live his double life, his signature style and blinding speed both on and off his bike have earned him a reputation in his short time taking jobs. But what would a man known as "biker" be without his bike?

The Yamaha Rapier, an affordable street bike, built for performance and handling without breaking the bank. Norman's is a nice bright orange normally, and switches to a blood red when he's out on business as Biker. Let's do some digging, shall we? Just about everything in Shadowrun is extrapolated from current products, such as the Beretta 201T he's wielding, which is simply a Beretta 93R, futurized. No doubt we can find at least some inspiration from one of the various maker's, most likely back in the 80s when Shadowrun was kicked off.

Ding ding ding, I believe we have a winner. Long, angled seat, minimalist sides, and fixed front fairing? Our first contender for "what did they base this on?" is the Yamaha Seca Turbo. To be fair, the body shape wasn't too unusual for 80s bikes in my brief research.

I'll have more details on the character and a picture of his custom bike when I have time to draw it all up.

Audio Projects

So, I got a Launchpad S for my birthday, which was recently. I'm starting to figure out how to program my new instrument, I'll probably post things for you once I figure out how to actually use it. I kind of want to start doing character themes and stuff, for those who want something a bit more personal than "find some music that works".

I also have decided, after my trip to Kennedy Space Center, to do more with the Moon Marines. This includes finding voice actors and trying out at least one episode of an old fashioned Radio Drama, except as a podcast kinda thing. There will be probably serious dieselpunk space stories, with intermissions of the Misadventures of Ruck Bodgers of the 31st Century!

I got nothin'

Spent about 12 hours of the past weekend doing free speed doodles for people to get my art to happen faster than a geological timescale, did a bit of work, and slept a lot. Also lifting things.

Art related, you have a character you want drawn, I'll totally do that because I enjoy drawing RPG characters and stuff. Send me a character sheet and a brief description and I'll see what I can do. An example of my 5e test session Dwarven fighter, who rolled up max Str, Max Height, Min Weight, and wielded a combat sledgehammer. He wore scale mail, and had a handaxe instead of a dagger/knife, a belt pouch for carrying miscellaneous things, and his trusty tankard.

 I'll post up some more examples once I've drawn up my entire crew for GURPS Metro.

Lines and pencil shading are available digital or traditional
$2 gets you a 1 hour speedsketch, another buck gets it sketchshaded
$4 gets actual high quality lines, another $2 gets it shaded (pencil or airbrushed (digital only)), and $2 gets color.