I'm A Failure

For my safety he told me to find a life for myself, get some work, and keep my head low for awhile.... But look at me, I'm a failure!” Ashton sobs, “A slacker... an idiot..! I always mess up, and..and..”

Above is a sneak peek of LoL chapter 5 "From City to Sundown".  This is an emotional scene that takes place on Ashton's behalf; but the clip of dialogue from this chapter is all the more I will spill.

Art details: I used scrapbook paper to pull off that cracked desert dirt look, placed down a fire wood prop with spinner from a candy toy set, added an electric tea candle surrounded with red tissue paper, and hung a Barbie camping pot on the stick (Guess what's cooking?), I placed down a G.I. Joe blanket, posed my characters, and took my pictures. Final touch ups were adding stars and stone cliffs digitally to form a backdrop, adjusting levels, and adding eye glow.

I Can Help You Feel Again

"I can help you feel again"; yet another fan based image inspired from the RP I'm in This image actually takes place before imagery of "Ahkmou Negotiates" (I'm just making them out of sink).

This scene takes place very soon after Pearllight's crash landing on this alternate's Naho Bay. Immediately her situation leads to her meeting new friends, and all unravels in the Ga Wahi chat.

The image above specifically relates to Pearllight warming up to Tokuta. He had brought her to a cave behind the waterfall of Ga-Koro so she could heal her leg. Pearllight discovered that Tokuta had mechanical hands he was unable to feel through, and in her pity shared a gift with him. The following dialogue is what inspired the scene.

Pearllight: Pearllight nods, "A little story that might make you laugh. Your buddy Ion isn't the first Toa..or whatever he is to fall in love. I visit a world where Toa are married, and have children. It's a beautiful place, but it has it's dangers"

 

Tokuta: (tokuta steps up next to her) "I know he isn't the first to fall in love"

 

 Pearllight: Pearllight twitches as his shadow casts down on her.

 

 Tokuta: (Tokuta sits on the ground legs hanging over the edge of the stairs)

 

Pearllight:  Pearllight slowly sits down a few steps away, and looks out at the sunset. "Tokuta... if you could feel through your hands again..would you be happy?"

 

Tokuta: "I would but............. hands are meant to be held"

 

Pearllight: Pearllight puts her hand out for him to touch, "Would you like to feel the water?"

 

Tokuta: "Yes I would."

 

Pearllight:  Pearllight nods, "Take my hand.. and you will"

 

Tokuta: (Tokuta stretches out his hand and slides it into hers)

 

Pearllight: Pearllight then sticks her hand in the water and says, "Now put your other hand in the water."

 

Tokuta:  (Tokuta does so) "I don't see how"

 

Pearllight: Pearllight sends a vibration through her hand that touches his, and suddenly the cool water can be felt by them both.

 

Tokuta: (Tokuta looks up at her) "You are amazing"

 

Pearllight: Pearllight smiles, "As I said, I hold many secrets... But you have to keep them secret too..otherwise I could get in trouble"

Art details:  Note I made Pearllight more accurate to size in comparison to a Toa. She's only about six foot in suit, and structurally smaller compared to a Toa; making it all the more fitting to show Pearllight's entire hand can only grasp two of Tokuta's fingers comfortably.

Tokuta's form is a stylized version in my own style, based off the actual MOC. I used this image http://biojoe46.deviantart.com/art/Stills-005-396022685 for reference. Mask came out a tad bit different, but I wasn't in the mood to mess with it too much.

It was an overall fun pic to make, and I love the emotion expressed. Enjoy and hope you drop by again. ^.~

Ahkmou Negotiates

 Oh such a fun scene! So what's this from? You may wonder. This is the very first set of fan based photography inspired off a scene from the RP I'm in It takes place in Le-Koro at the "Lazy Leaf Inn" (like that name? Credit goes to the guy who plays Tokuta for coming up with it on the fly).

The scene takes place at the bar of the inn, where Ahkmou gets evaluated by Pearllight while trying to make a deal with her and convince her to help him on a quest for the staff of fusion. She of course isn't buying, but has some tricks of her own. 

The following dialogue from the Le-Wahi chat room at a certain part of the conversation is the inspiration for this scene. I based the body language off these exact sentences (which are my favorite of the entire sequence).

Ahkmou: No, it's quite alright, I'm sure a chronicler has better things to do.. Say.. I know this might be a bit too bold to say, but I bet that you would know somebody who could help, eh? 

Pearllight: Pearllight rubs her finger along the counter, her thoughts calculating. She glances at Ahkmou,"Maybe I do...but even so...call me rude, I don't make deals with shady businessmen. You seem to understand business, you should know that naturally making deals with someone who says they're on a quest, but doesn't specify what kind and for what reason is a bad idea; I don't feel the investment would benefit me in any way, so... I can't really help you. However... you've been sweet, I thank you for the coins." Pearllight pauses in thought, "Call me silly.... but I'm from out of town...and it's always been a fantasy of mine to hug a Po Matoran..You fellas have always struck me as hardy huggers,would you mind if I... embraced you as a friend?" 

Ahkmou:Ahkmou looked at her like she was crazy while she said the last bit. Look-, I'm sure if I was to explain the details you might re-consider! He pleaded. 

Above is a close up shot of the two talking (but I think showing more of the bar helps set the mood).

Details: Story detail- Why was Pearllight asking to hug Ahkmou? In her distrust and sly moves, she was looking for room to stick a tracking devise on him without his knowledge. 

Behind the scenery- I used common objects to create something close enough to being a bar. The final set up wasn't at all how I dreamed in my head, but I settled with what I could do with what I had. Using foam blocks from packaging, chocolate packaging, a mirror and Barbie prop, a napkin, mini Christmas lights, doll stands and medicine bottle caps, dollhouse and Barbie accessories, and an old lantern with additional cardboard walls and a wood block for the floor; I created this small bar.

Funny flaws and perfect accidents- I'm settling with the larger bar view as my main image; unfortunately there are a few things which make it feel funny. Notice the Barbi and Hot wheels signs in the back? (Though out of place, they do have a funny match up to the scene. Barbie means stranger, and it happens to be on Ahkmous side of the scene. Hot Wheels is amusing for Pearllight because she has what are like wheels on her MOC feet.) Guess I'll just pretend those signs are bar advertisements, nothing like a bar scene with the name "Bar"bie. I'll also note my tripod can be slightly seen in the mirror.. Besides those hick ups, notice the lighting. It unintentionally ended up perfect; red light casts on Ahkmou who is an evil traitor, while blue light casts on Pearllight who stands for good. Character placement with appropriate lighting. :P

Mata Nui RP community

Hello fellow watchers and enthusiasts! I'm doing a slightly different post than usual, one about my recent endeavors that will explain why my art pace has been a little laggy.

Back on the 11'th I was asked if I wanted to be part of an RP Bionicle community on G+. I found this interesting, overall intriguing, yet confusing. For about a week I refrained from getting involved with the story due to both technical complications, and trying to understand the rules.

Veneras Toran, the owner of this community, was the one to ask me if I'd like to join. After a week of not being able to figure out why I couldn't find all the Wahi hangouts, my problems were solved.  Also to get my character pass the rules, I was voted in as a staff character (watching that unfold was amusing and amazing to me). Once all was settled, and I was ready, I made my first move and got my character involved, that is after I posted her profile on the community page.

On the 18'th of this month I jumped in, made up a story as I went and caused Pearllight to crash on this alternate Mata Nui in the sands of Naho Bay. In only four days time it's been an amazing and overall enjoyable community to be part of.

Here's how it works, each Wahi is a chat room that you carry out acting in; when you want to go to another Wahi, you say (so and so to some Wahi)  and then go to the chat room labeled as that Wahi.

This RP has a good amount of thought involved, and is complex for an RP, being that there are regions and multiple characters being acted by multiple people. It's quite fun with all the possibilities, and acting is even more interesting when you have multiple players.

The most amusing part of all, upon landing, Pearllight meets a character named Tokuta..who amusingly has an instant crush at the sight of her. This play has carried out for the past four days, and the other players of the community appear to be just as amused by it as I am. One of the players and admins, S A Cal, made me laugh the hardest when she created and shared the very first Pearllight based meme in existence (see below).

 Her meme pertained to the situation happening between Tokuta and Pearllight obviously. My response to the meme, "Got that right sista." :P

I then asked how the meme was made, and S A Cal made yet another. This one made me shake my head and smirk, especially when it boils down to ideas where Pearllight lifts a brow to the statement and looks at the audience like they're crazy.

So far it's been one odd and interesting adventure in this RP community, and already in only four days, I've been artistically inspired by scenes that have unraveled involving my character's interaction with others. This means you should be seeing some fan based RP art soon. ^.~

Pearllight's Birthday 2014 postcards

 I figured it was time to have some fun and make some updated birthday cards of Pearllight. Yes, today is that day once more, and Pearllight has certainly grown in character just as I have. My very first specialty birthday shots of Pearllight were created back in 2011, then later blogged about in 2012; see the post Happy Birthday Pearllight for previous postcards and details.

The above panel is an overall display of the comical postcard collection. Details on each piece are listed below.

"Birthday Girl" was a shot to show off the outfit I gave Pearllight this year. Overall her structure has become more feminine, and I added some classy bling to mark her slight maturity. The cake was sticky tacked to her hand, and the jewelry was draped or tied to her form.

"All the Cakes" is just goofy. No other title came to mind, and I wanted to make this birthday seem big, so lots of cake on the table seemed fitting.

 "Pearllight Cuts the Cake" is my favorite of the collection. My character is definitely one to state something witty and out of place during a moment when the narrator says Pearllight cuts the cake, and she adds, "Better than cutting the cheese."

"First Slice" is an echo image of the 2011 birthday set, only this time it's slightly more interesting.

Things I did differently this year was take pictures of my character in sunlight, and on plain white. I used the basic things as last time, only this time added more cake and a set of candles. Obviously I went for a different fashion design, something that kind of says silly birthday diva. The rest of my work was done in PSE, cleaning up the scene, adjusting the levels and crispness, adding a border of matching digital confetti, and writing quirky titles with vintage Pacifico font.

Yay for another birthday! ^_^

Be Reasonable Vakama

 You know that scene from Web of Shadows where Roodaka speaks to a captured Hordika Vakama? I loved that scene of the movie for some reason, so much that for several months I've had the biggest urge to duplicate the scene in photography form using the canon sets. 

In my eyes the images came out beautifully, the above panel is a final display of a distant, and then close up shot of Roodaka lifting Vakama's chin.

 Above image is to display Roodaka saying her classic lines, "Be reasonable Vakama." 

The the image below works as a close up with her final words of the scene, "What Harm could come from listening?"

A few artistic pointers. To get these scenes, I obviously can't replicate the photos exact to the film..especially not with the proper dust effects. However, to get something close to it, I used a black foam backdrop, had to use black cloth for the floor since I'm short on a second foam board. Then I searched around the house for just the right prop to serve as the object Vakama was tied to. At first I thought about using a plant pot, but didn't have one clean; so I resorted to borrowing the stone mortar, which was the only object that matched almost exact to the shrine in the film. Last I tied Vakama to the mortar using green army twine, to mimic the Vizorak webs that held him, and set up final touches of Roodaka interacting, and a few light sources. The rest was all behind the scenes work and tweaking done in PSE for crisper edges and color.

Zist- Aquatic Biobutterfly nymph

This is a bit of an odd sketch; I made it last night while experimenting for the first time with Corel Painter Lite, one of the new programs that came with my Intuose tablet. This odd image is officially my first drawing to be made in CPL, which is why everything is so sketchy.

I used water brushes, artistic brushes, and an acid splotch effect. This resulted in some kind of Bionicle character whom I named Zist. The name seemed cool, and then I got an idea for her element and personality based off the name. Zist is now a concept character I'll probably keep as an anonymous figure for one of my fan fictions/mini episodes.

Zist is a nymph of fantasy mentioned in Matoran stories now and then. She's like a Toa, but much smaller, more at the size of a Matoran, and therefore called a nymph Toa, or elemental spirit sprite. She's feared for her power of poisoned waters; her abilities can be both healing or toxic. Zist is a water dweller, and has four green fins on her back that are shaped like butterfly wings; this trait allows her to literally fly through water with ease. Many say Zist is an evil nymph who enjoys poisoning the thirsty traveler, but are sorely mistaken. Though moody, Zist is gentle in most cases, and quite innocent in nature. She's mostly calm, attacking only if another innocent being or creature is in danger. She seldom uses her poisonous attributes, but if afraid may accidentally release a small amount of putrid smelling poison into the water, enough to ward off threats with its smell, but not harsh enough to kill inhabitants of the water.

More details on Zist, and possibly future imagery of her form will be revealed; as mentioned, she's a concept that came to be just last night, so enjoy. ^.~

Pearllight's Poetic Point Outs- something stinks

This spoofed poetic comic is based off a day dream which originally took place as an anonymous scene in Life of Lewa, when Pearllight was telling poetry to Lewa's family, and then he comes in and she makes them laugh by directing the last part at Lewa. Gali and Tahu weren't originally present in the day dream, but it made sense for me to add them later as part of Pearllight's poetic play.

It's a running joke in Life of Lewa that Lewa has never been able to sneak up on Pearllight because she has a super good sense of smell, and Lewa doesn't bathe enough because his hatred of water. In this comic, Pearllight is playfully stating poetry associated with colors to Tahu and Gali, then changes up the last part when Lewa comes around, and points out he stinks. (Aftermath probably results with Gali insisting Lewa to take a bath.) :P