On the 23rd it was Jo's and I's 5th anniversary, and this coming weekend, we are going to make a wonderful heart shaped pizza together with 5 candles on it to commemorate our 5 years together.

And also, I've been inspired by other artists, especially Joana, to make a speed paint video which is available on youtube and Vimeo, and this was the artwork I chose to use for my video:



This is not only for me to feel confident about my artwork, but for other people to feel inspired, like I felt by other artists.

If you are interested on the making of this artwork, please visit this [link] .
Please comment about what you think

The London Anime Expo is fast approaching! Seeing as I have recently got into Klonoa, I thought 'why not make a Klonoa hat?' Well I can tell you it didn't stop there XD!

I have so far created his hat, half way through the ears (fashioned as a scarf), half way through the ring (right now its just a sonic ring) and I've got yellow gloves, red trainers. I'd just need a blue shirt and I will use blue jeans since it will be wet im sure.

I won't be attempting to BE Klonoa, since he is a furry dude and I think I'd look more stupid than anything. Seeing as he has a recognisable outfit, theres no need I think to make myself look stupid.

Cosplay Items for sale! (Working my way out of a uni related debt as I look for work x.x)

Klonoa Hat - £16
Sonic Ring - £5 (is 14cm in diameter, thats from your A key to your L key)

A thousand thanks to Shadowhog who purchased a Klonoa hat for his friend! Gonna make him a Sonic ring as a special thanks for his purchase + donation.

Now I'm a Sonic fan - let's get that in everyones head first. I have been since 1991 and since 2002 my patience has began to wear thin with Sonic titles with glitches, bugs, embarrassing dialogue and the entourage of characters since 1998 which Sonic Team seem to think will make up for a lack of imaginative plot.

I suppose the final straw was discovering that Sonic Unleashed on the Wii is only 60% of the game that it's supposed to be, apparently with various running stages removed. I decided to pick up a game I had been skeptical about for a while - Klonoa for the Wii. At £21.99 it was better priced than Sonic Unleashed, and as part of a sale making it £12.99 I just decided to take advantage of this offer.

Now I'm sure you've all heard of Klonoa even if you haven't played it. The cute, black and white, big eared cat with a Pac Man baseball cap. Now I thought this could be another 90s mascot reject along the likes of Crash Bandicoot and Ty the Tasmanian Tiger but Klonoa is actually very surprising! Sonic Unleashed boasts this 2.5D side scrolling game play, which Klonoa first fronted back in 1997 which just makes the game play so retro and lovable with no camera placement issues at all.

The voices aren't embarrassing whether you choose English or Phantomile (the fictional in-world language) and the storyline keeps you wondering what will happen and even when you finish the game, it leaves you asking questions. Not so many that you're all 'wha?' but just enough to leave you wanting more.

The game play feels fast and smooth as Klonoa is able to quickly pick up items MUCH quicker than Mario and the levels consist of using the enemies to get through the levels which are puzzles, so the game is never straight forward A to B, it requires some intellect, some forward thinking and some going back on yourself a little. Also, I have not tired of Klonoa saying 'Wahoo!' each time he jumps.

It's unfair on Namco to sit and compare Klonoa to Sonic. I know they have their similarities and you will find tons of fanart with the pair together, but they are in different leagues. Sonic is now this household name that with his latest outings on consoles does leave you thinking ''why is he still around?'' and Klonoa is a rather hidden gem that was perhaps unfairly neglected when we realised how bad Spyro and Ty were on the Playstation 1, 2 and XBox.

Now Sonic isn't bad, no no no, it's just Sonic Teams recent attempts to get higher than a 6/10 from Gamespot (and failing for the most part) but hopefully their new Project Needlemouse will rejuvenate the series (which I seriously hope so)

So in conclusion.

If you love small cute anthropomorphic mascot characters in fictional worlds and Sonic isn't satisfying your appetite, go for Klonoa. Whether you buy Klonoa 2 for PS2/PS3 or Klonoa (remake of 1997 original) on the Wii, it's a game you won't regret buying!

Wahoo!

The working title for the comic I've mentioned recently that I'd be working on. After meeting and , I've been greatly inspired to take up this illustrative project. The story is still in work, and is evolving constantly although the skeleton of the story is down now. Characters involved will be Sonic (duh), Tails, Knuckles as well as my own personal creations Myphrill and Enyo (you'll find out more about the latter as the pages are uploaded here!)

As each page is uploaded if anyone would like to leave critique on the character art, page layout or even the plotline - it would be most welcomed!

Summer of Sonic

Right, I've managed to huddle up some cash together through commissions, work and selling Halo PC, a Game Boy Advance and Mario Kart Advance which should be enough to cover trains up to London and Underground for the Summer of Sonic. Now Jo and I do NOT have tickets, as they closed the ticket office the very day we decided we would probably be financially able to go >.< We'll both try to get in anyway as best we can, and if worst comes to worst we'll just have a good day out in London, but heres hoping we won't be abandoned at the doors ;;!


Current Artwork

You may have noticed that recently I've recreated Myphrill and Joana in Sonic style, and more recently Tempest the Hedgehog. I'm actually now thinking of creating more characters than just the original 5 I had in mind, and I'll be drawing, inking and painting to some of my newest and closest friends!

Finished

Joana the Hedgehog (belongs to pinkmindedme)
Myphrill Angel Acura (belongs to moi)
Tempest the Hedgehog (belongs to syaming-li)

To Finish Still

Zachary Moonlight - Inked (belongs to zachary-moonlight)
Kitty - Inked (belongs to vixenkitty)

I'm not gonna say who I've got in mind yet, I'm gonna get closer to finishing the original 5 before committing myself to more!

DEAREST FRIENDS (In no particular order!!! XD - Except for the girl in hearts x3!)

Yes I'm sure you've read a similar journal somewhere else, but this is my space!

and myself were one of the 10 that ended going to Pizza Express at the end of the day, and what a day it was! This was our first SoS, so we weren't sure what to expect, whether it'd be a Super Sonic cool day or we'd be surrounded by nerds but no it was pretty cool! Bentley Jones (aka Lee Brotherton) was up on stage singing live in both English and Japanese and even doing signings. I took up some prints of my art to sign, with which he seemed rather impressed by (yay!)

After lining up for 30mins in that line, I just went straight to the artists queue where I gained some invaluable advice from STC artist Nigel Dobbyn! We were really stretching ourselves and our bank account to just even go to SoS so buying a print was unfortunately just out of my reach. ;; Woulda loved one, but there will be more opportunities!!!

I spent much of the day drawing, but unfortunately I just wasn't on form and couldn't get my art right, I think Darkspeeds was having a similar experience when Joana and I visited him over at the far side of the hall. Most of the time was spent around our table drawing, Joana and Ali were off singing I think, later joined by Kirsten . All I kept hearing was ''whats the first line!?'' lol.

We met many people such as ,, , and so on, as well as people we already knew which included Dean

I couldn't take my camera since its now an old age pensioner with arthritis and a dodgy bladder, so I may put a couple photos that other people took if they dont mind! Heading out now so this journal is cut short, sorry bye!