Man, if I've got a blog I really need to use it more often.
Erm anyway, recently I bought the long awaited game Diablo 3. Fun as it is there's a really intersting feature I might try to take advantage of.

Diablo 3 contains an auction house. Here you can put up all the goodies you have collected and as you would expect from an auction, other people can bid to acquire it. At the time of writing, you bid using the money you gather in the game. However soon Blizzard will activate the feature where you can deal with real money.

This is both intriguing and scary. I like the idea as it might be a way for me to make some money (although I don't know how much people are willing to pay when it involves real money and I'm sure EVERYONE would be doing the same thing as me), but it's a little worrying that computer games have reached this level of exploitation.

Still, time will tell. I'll continue to play Diablo 3 and amass a stockpile of sweet loot ready for sale.

As a final note, in the EULA, it states that any money earned is classified as income for tax purposes. I figured that would be the case before I bought the game. What I'm curious about though, if you make money off the game, can you declare the purchase of ther game itself as a business expense? 

Dogs Of War - volume 1

Finished!
It took a while, but I've finally completed my graphic novel. Still a few tiny tweaks to make, but overall it's DONE.
Of course, finishing it was one thing. The next is to find a publisher willing to take it on. Bugger knows where I should start, I know nothing about the publising world.

Carrots are... good for you?

Carrots!

No, not the vegetable variety - the proverbial on-the-end-of-a-stick variety.
EB Games have recently released a loyalty card. The idea is that as you buy games/place pre-orders/trade games etc, you earn points (which EB refer to as the aforementioned 'carrots'). Sounds pretty much like every other loyalty card out there but here's the hook - you start at level 1 membership and as you earn enough points you get upgraded to level 2 and so forth (up to level 4).
They have fiendishly tapped into the video gamer's psyche of the desire to level up and get access to better perks like with many RPGs. Extremely cunning and clever in my opinion, just a shame that I'm becoming less and less interested by the games themselves as the years roll on. I'm still a bit iffy about buying Diablo III, but that's for another blog post.

Break's over, back to the war!

Well, I've finished my studies at TAFE for the year, so I figured it's high time I got stuck into my graphic novel again. Things are going well and I've almost finished. In the meantime, here's a snapshot of one of the panels.

Anji

Went to the movies to see Kung Fu Panda 2 the other day, after which I drew this pic of one of my characters. Like Tigress from Kung Fu Panda, she is also a powerful arse kicking tiger warrior.

Dogs Of War - what a novel concept

I'm still slaving away on my graphic novel, progress is coming along ok but I'm yet to decide on the style to adopt. This is one of the pages, rendered in three possible ways I'm considering - this is where I'll need your advice on which is the best to follow.

The first one is simply straight up black and white. This would give me the quickest turnaround time in developing my novels, should some nice person be willing to publish it.

Next is greyscale. This sample is a bit darker than what I'm after but you get the idea. This way allows for a bit of texture and depth than B&W and the greyscaliness might make it a bit more 'artsy' and mature than colour. I don't know.

This is the way I'd prefer to have it, but it takes the longest time to complete as opposed to the others. Also, I'm using the CMYK colour scheme and there are times when I just can't get the right shade.

Dogs Of War - the graphic novel

I've decided to work on a graphic novel, based on my dog characters and the cartoon series I wish to make out of them. I still want the cartoon made, but for now a graphic novel might be an easier way to create awareness of my ideas (which ultimately is what I want). Here are the roughs of a couple of pages from the first issue (or 'episode' as I'll probably call them).
Sorry if you can't read the text but to give you an idea on what is happening here, Stylene (the girl) is telling her dad that she wants to fight the enemy of the story. Her dad then eagerly begins to get her organised