Mothers_Love

Martial-Arts/Super-Reflexes Scrappers are pretty Ferocious mid forties onwards...just got to watch the endurance and not make the mistake that you can spend forever in the midst of battle like a tanker.

Quite a few Av's are hard to kill without a good Radiation Defender to wear them down.

Awww hun!- noooo! , your very own party too!
Know the feeling dear, i've had real nightmares with connection problems before.
If its any consolation maybe we can team on the Anniversary of Chrisopher Reeve's death. i am teaming for one night only to salute the original 'Man of Steel'.
Be great if you could join us on Union.... threads under 'general' called Tribute.

Photography and Journalism! + you have a secret superhero identity! - you'll be resisting running into phonebooths to change into spandex next!...hehehe - Wonderful!, Wish you so much luck with the courses and will see you online some time post i8.

The return to Paragon is going to be fantastic after a break, glad you too will have the excitement return the next time MBM clocks on for her duty-shift.

See you then dear - take care.
Mother's Love......x

Standing Ovation

Indeed,... good to see you were in good hands defender-wise *winks at Miss Blue Mist.

Congratulations Aeonix, another fine lv50 added to Union

Looks very promising, regarding the left arm,i think in foreshortening the arm you have squashed the cylinders that intially you base the arms on, try rounding them up a little.
Regarding reference images....all you need is a mirror dear, you may feel silly but we all do it! - amateurs right up to the masters like Alex Ross who poses in full spandex with moody backlighting for his reference images!

Oh no!... - bye .
You not coming back for later issues?

If anybody would like 50 ComicBook tips PDF document plus a set of basic 'painter' inking pens and brushes to get you up and running with lineart if you have painter - feel free to contact me via my hotmail address.
The brushes are a WinRAR file, will need to be decompressed first via winRAR - www.rarlabs.com and put into the brushes folder

You get my hotmail address by clicking on my name btw

lovely, /em applaud

Hello Jomaro and Nakiesha,

Congratulations on a beautiful portfolio of work, you really are exceptionally talented.
I was looking at your website regarding the definitions of how the art is made and you mention digital painting.

I take it with most of your work you use old world media? ie: pencils,paper and inkpens up until you have the finished lineart, where it is then scanned in to be colourised and given the finishing touches, is that right?.
Is there any reason you don't work entirely digitally in the studio or do you feel more comfortable sketching traditionally with pencils and paper in the beginning.
Dont worry about spilling any trade secrets dear.... talent is something you can't replicate.

Congratulations again on some really beautiful work, both the quality of the drawing and the creative thought behind the concepts and setting of the characters are awe-inspiring to the would-be artist in all of us.

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So what would you gus suggest i should go for, i have no experience with these thing, but i have a talent for art, and i enjoy it, the Photoshop CS 2.0 Win + Wacom Intuos3 A4 Tablet is around £700, and if i saved untill xmas, and combined the money, i should be able to afford it, its A4 aswell, so a nice reasonable sze

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I would recommend Painter IX over Photoshop anyday of the week for original artwork you can be proud of.
It wins on sheer quality of the replication of mediums from chalk pastels to watercolours to inks to pencils to markers to artists oils to gouache to digital ink to special effects to different papers to draw on, artists canvas to marker paper to stratchboard to.....*collapses through exhaustion.
Its really rather........err,...good!

Photoshop is THE application for image manipulation of bitmap images and altering existing images, and no-one is going to take that crown away from Adobe.

They can both do the others job..if a bit poorly.
But from what you describe in your original post i feel you would get most satisfaction and results from Corels' application.

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In response to Mother;

After getting the digital bug, I will be looking into other software as soon as I can afford it. Photoshop is the first program I could get my mitts on so that's what I'm stuck with. I am intrigued about how good this painter must be (more buttons to learn!).

I had a good look at the Wacom site and I would love to get myself a nice big Intuo3 tablet but I just can't afford one at the moment - I'm stuck with a Trust 4200 - which to stick with your previous analogy is I'm sure like comparing a motorised scooter to an Aston Martin Vantage...

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Have a look at the Ryan Church site dear, there is a link to download an old freebie version of Painter i think, version 5.5 if memory serves correct.
Regarding the cost of tablets... I sympathise, I had to save for ages to afford my tablet, i think i was unemployed at the time as well. Whats important is what you have works for you!, if you are comfortable with the trust and you can translate what is in your imagination without having technical difficulties...then that is all that matters! - I'm sure any tablet/pen combo would give a better feeling for drawing onscreen than a mouse.

You don't have to go for the top of the range hunny!- besides... i don't like the model shown, i tried it at a Design Expo and i find your hand get in the way of seeing what you are trying to draw onscreen - odd though as much as it simulates drawing on a pad - I prefer having the whole screen to view at once while i'm drawing.
By the way... Wacom tablets start at around £33.65 for a Wacom Penpartner A6. - but that really is a bit of a fiddly postage stamp size to be working with, save your pennies and sweetie money for a tablet with at least an A4 drawing area....should be about £250 - £300.

Photoshop is not the best progam for simulating old-world media like watercolour. If you are serious about professional results look at Corel's Painter IX.
Comparing the results you can achieve with this application next to Photoshop is like comparing a hot-hatch to a Ferrari.
Painter is THE application for digital artwork, it mimics old world media perfectly and has cutting edge stuff like painting wih flames and fur also.
For a good site demonstrating the quality of the work you can achieve with Painter look at Ryan Churchs' work - he is one of the senior conceptual artists at Industrial Light and Magic and worked on the StarWars Episode III art team along with Eric Tiemens and Iain McCaig.
This makes 'The art of StarWars Episode III Revenge of the Sith' a treasure trove of Digital painting and a source of constant inspiration whatever you made of the film, the concepts and paintings these guys produced have to be seen to be believed! - and the majority of the work was done in Painter IX.
I would recommend the purchase of a Wacom graphics tablet if you are going to spend any length of time on the artwork, the feeling and feedback you get from a pressure sensitive pen just cannot be compared to the 'removed sensation' you get when trying to do artwork with a mouse.
Also more importantly you will find the drawing easier on your wrist saving you from acheing RSI- symptoms.
The trickiest part is being able to draw naturally on-screen straight from the start - entirely digitally and comfortably using the screen as paper and really 'Feeling the screen' - a lot of artists use a mixture of jotting down on paper first and transferring it over to digital part way through, all i can say is that it will take time and practice. It took a long, long time before i was able to 'feel the screen' and ignore the fact that i was drawing 'through the screen' to the virtual paper beyond.
Takes some practice... but after a while, i think you will find the results will blow your mind!.


www.corel.com

www.ryanchurch.com

The Marvel book is good, the artwork inside is very much Marvel of a certain age - a little dated!, but look through that to the timeless advice behind the drawings.
Also may i recommend 'Drawing Dynamic Comics' by Andy Smith and also 'The DC Comics guide to Pencilling Comics' and it's sister publication 'The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics. I'm sure these are both mentioned in the 'pointers for the Artistically challenged' thread which Blackdove mentions.
Always nice to see people stretching themselves creatively.
Whatever your ability i'm sure your drawing will come on leaps and bounds.

Oh dear, - So sorry to hear you are all going through such a tough time at the moment.
I will be pleased to see both you and your son back on in the future and will do all i can for you when i return.
Till we meet again.....x

Not quite sure how i have mine slotted from memory at the moment, but i would personally put the emphasis on just the heals and the range, seems to recharge fine as default. I would use it however as i'm sure you have read and know... as an emergency measure!,
It leaves you vunerable and unable to heal yourself with either Heal Aura or Health Inspirations!, you really dont want to be in the thick of things after using AB pain too much.
Stay on the circumference of the battle within helping distance until the negative effects have worn off for you to get back in there.
It only takes one or two lucky strikes for them to break the Empath as the weak link in such a situation and start the slow but inevitable team wipe.

Very nice dear!- bet you can't wait for i8 to give her the wings!

I have got to say i loved the music throughout, the vintage video 'Maestro Attacks' is a masterpiece! Congratulations!
One tiiiny error:'Somebody' has an 'e' in it, but i'm only mentioning it so you can correct it and it be perfect.
Imaginative, Very funny! - loved the evil maestro bits and him 'you bowdow 'ing' being used as a dramatic 'i'm pressing this button' made me laugh out loud.
Just needs that vintage static scribble noise on the vintage video for it to be timeless!.
Congratulations! - Obviously crafted with real talent,real love for the game and a great sense of humour.
I'm so jealous!

Not sure, but would love to see the 'Alcoves' like in City Hall to put them in...along with pillars and marbly reflective floors.

*whispers... i think its the pebbly one!
But lit green! - Very Clever and inventive 10/10!
...and showers? sorry....SHOWERS??? ....wha, since when have there been showers!
Do they work?....and are your sea-going naughty bits censored a'la Sims style when you use them?

Bet you haven't got Perimeter Defence Gnomes Then?
No?- Oh just me then!

You sure thats Coston?, can't quite see the youngmans face?

*snigger - only kidding dear!

Big Congratulations! - very well deserved, on all the missions i have teamed with you, you have been a fearless scrapper!.
Very impressed!.
/em, lets off party poppers!/claps frantically!/bakes a cake!...so on so forth

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I'm sad to see you go (and glad I got to kill you in Sirens tonight as a goodbye

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OMG!!! - So!....twas you!
Chuckles to herself whilst simultaneously jotting down Jacquelines name in her 'Naughty Book' with note *On my return; Lead an Army of loyal littleones to Sirens with instructions to 'UTTERLY DESTROY Jacquelines Evil Alt!.

*Blows a sweet kiss....x

I just wanted to post and say thankyou for everybodys kind words, both here and in-game.
They have made me well-up with a mixture of happiness and sorrow knowing i am leaving (if only temporarily) and reading these kind messages.
Thankyou for a week or so of continued flooding in of goodbye messages in-game that have been wonderfully touching. We truely have the greatest community going and i am so proud to serve among such fine Heroes.
And as for that impromptu Ceremony inside City Hall at Midnight... I know it was short notice - but to those who could make it - well, it meant the world to me, I was really touched... I literally had tears streaming down my face at the send-off.
Look for my Announcement on the Forums for my return in the distant future - it will be accompanyed by the artwork featuring the Heroes I have photographed on my travels in the last week on Union, and will distribute it to all as soon as i have finished the artwork and learnt how to do clicky links and re-naming clicky links

Thank you sooo much.
Mother will return at some point post i8...... till then,

Take Care for now Littleones....x