Pointy particle

You know when you're just breathing, minding your own business when !BAM! You breath in some invisible pointy particle, then you cough like crazy, your eyes tear up, & you're ready to drink scalding water to make it stop...

I hate that.

Double-scaled Dragon

'Rubix' is a double scaled dragon, prized for their near indestructible hide for use as armor. The young girl, nicknamed 'Diesel' has bonded with the dangerous beast and decides to flee her home to save her friends life. Accompanied by her albino Raven 'Blossom', they will travel far across the tundra to new lands.

This is re-visit to an old sketch from 07/2010, which is now complete, 8 years later :0!!!!!
Here's a look at how it was left before I finished it -

  Hope you like it : )

Multi-eyed sea beast - It's still safe to swim

I love monsters in general, and sea monsters in particular <3
This guy is really harmless, more like a whale than a shark, he uses rows of gyrating teeth to plough through kelp forests to fill his multiple bellies.

'Wizard' character design

I was in class last week when I got the urge to come up with a character design for a wizard. Style-wise I was aiming for something like Adventure Time, I wanted to add lots of details, but also not go overboard with too many colours.

Here is the initial sketch -

This is the final version -

'Ghost hug'

I've recently started recording my ideas in a little note book, I'm doing my best to record new ideas right away so I don't forget them; this is one from that list.

The concept is a young woman who is granted a brief opportunity to say a final goodbye to a lost lover.

I may still revisit this & make some changes, if I do I will update this post.
I am also considering doing a painterly version in future too.

Hope you all enjoy it~

Tea-Rex

We all love tea, and in my household there are no shortages of tea options, my collection is modest, but my housemates have shelves filled with fancy varieties and flavors.
It was this tea collection which sparked the request for this drawing, something to go on the wall by the tea shelf.

Hope you enjoy it too~

5 upcoming PC games I'm way looking forward to...

Hey everybody~ Time to talk about some games that could be truly amazing, I'm looking forward to trying these out! These will all be available on Steam, so if you like any, add them to your wish-list.
In no particular order, they are...

1. Ooblets
Looks like a casual Pokemon meets Animal crossing with Harvest moon elements type of game, sounds perfect to me. I really love the cute and quirky art style of Ooblets, that's something that always really stands out to me, and I'm psyched to see more and more developers experimenting with different styles. I'm super excited for this game :D

Ooblets trailer:

2. Mineko's Night Market
'A whimsical adventure/simulation game' set on a Japanese island overrun with cats, sounds too amazing to be real, but it's happening you guys. More beautiful art to be seen, and the promise of some unique and memorable adventures exploring the island and attending the weekly night market.

Mineko's Night Market Trailer:

3. Wytchwood
Play as the old (and adorable) witch of the woods in this beautiful crafting adventure game, collecting ingredients to brew spells in a land of fairytales and fables. Enjoy even more beautiful art and exploration as a witch with magic abilities. 2018 is shaping up to be the best year ever for cool games. :0...

Wytchwood Trailer:

4. Knights on Bikes
A HAND PAINTED ACTION ADVETURE GAME, 2 TOUGH GIRLS ON BIKES SOLVING MYSTERIES AND COLLECTING TREASURE. Amazing. Set on an English island in the 1980's, this game looks and sound incredible to me, and I cannot wait to play.

Knights on Bikes Trailer:

Lastly, but not leastly,
5. Tunic
Explore, discover ruins, fight ancient monsters, all as a little adorable fox, need I say more. Well I will also say that this game is visually beautiful, it has great atmosphere, maybe the only downside is the wait, this one isn't expected until 2019 :< but that's ok, because we will have quite a few others to play in the mean time. : )

Tunic Trailer:

There's actually 2 more games I have to add here, they're a bit different from the 5 above, but they look too good not to mention.
The first is called 'The Last Night', let me just say, cinematic pixel sci-fi thriller in a post-cyberpunk world. Yep.

The Last Night Trailer:

The second is 'Crossing Souls', a group of friends crossing between realms, fighting and solving puzzles. With more sweet pixel graphics, and based the year I was born (1986), you really can't go wrong.

Crossing Souls Trailer:

That's my list guys, drop a comment here with any upcoming games you feel are worthy of a top 5 list.

Japanese style soup RECIPE

Hi everyone! toady I'm sharing this easy and delicious soup with Japanese inspired flavours.The soup is lovely served alongside fresh steamed rice, or it makes a lovely side-dish or entree to accompany a main meal.

Ingredients:
(stock)
- 6 Dried mushrooms (any will do, I used Shiitake) - Broken into 6 pieces
- 8-12 strips of Dried Kombu Seaweed - Snipped into short pieces
- 1/2 an Onion - Peeled, Cut in half then cut into 6 chunks
- 1 clove of Garlic - Roughly chopped into chunks
- Approx 6 TBS GF Tamari or Soy sauce
- Approx 8 TBS GF Mirin
- 1 TBS Cooking Sake
- 1 TBS Vegan 'Fish sauce' (Can be found at some Asian Grocery stores)
- 1 TBS Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp of Salt
- 1 tsp of Pepper
- 3-4 Cups of Boiling Water
 (Body)
- 4 large Carrots - Peeled & chopped into large chunks
- 1 block of Tofu (medium or firm) - Chopped into chunks
- 6 fresh Mushrooms - Cut into quarters 
- A handful of fresh Green Beans - Slice of the tips & cut in half
- A handful of Dried Wakame Seaweed (Available at most Asian Grocery stores)

Method:
1. Combine all the stock ingredients into a medium pot, cover, and set aside to steep for at least 15 mins.
2. Start prepping the other ingredients, after the stock ingredients have steeped, bring them to the boild & simmer for 10 mins.
3. Add all the other ingredients to the broth *(except for the wakame seaweed). If you would like more broth, add a little extra boiling water. Check the flavour of the broth & adjust accordingly.
4. Simmer partly covered for about 15 mins, or until veggies are tender.
5. Turn off the heat & stir through the wakame, it will soften very quickly.

YOU'RE DONE!

Eat & enjoy! This soup is even really nice the next day, I had leftovers for breakfast one morning with some fresh steamed rice, & icy matcha soy milk, it was amazing.

Raw Brownie Balls Recipe

Hey guys, I've been refining this simple recipe lately, they are quick to make, you will need a blender or food processor, but there's no cooking involved. The ingredients are pretty basic, and they have nice sweetness and good energy thanks to the dates.


Ingredients:
- 12 Medjool Dates - Pitted & Cut into quarters
- 1/2 Cup Desiccated Coconut
- 3 TBS Coco powder
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla paste or 1-2 drops Vanilla essence
- Pinch of Himalayan Salt
- 4 Fresh Walnuts - Shelled & Shredded to a fine crumb
- 2 TBS extra desiccated coconut + Pinch of Himalayan salt to coat the finished balls

Method:
1. Add the shelled walnuts to your blender or food processor & blitz on low speed to a fine crumb, then set aside in a small bowl.
2. Add the pitted, quartered dates into a small bowl along withe the coconut, coco powder, vanilla paste, and pinch of salt. Mix to combine.
3. Add the mix to a blender or food processor & blend on low speed until the mixture is finely minced, and forms together like a smooth dough.
4. Place the dough back into the small mixing bowl & kneed in the walnut crumbs. Then form the dough into small balls and set aside.
5. Finally in a small bowl mix together the extra coconut and pinch of Himalayan salt to form the coating for the balls. Roll each ball in the mix, then place into a bowl or container, you can eat them right away, but they are extra good after chilling in the freezer.


I hope you all enjoy these; they are my new favorite snack to take and share as a quick energy boost.

Almost raw - Zoodles with creamy cashew dill sauce

Hello everyone!

As I've mentioned in previous posts I am refining my diet to include much more raw food; I struggle being strictly 100% raw, so I'm looking for a balance that works best to keep me healthy and happy.

Currently I am eating almost entirely raw, but I plan to introduce some steamed/blanched veggies back into my diet in the coming weeks.

I find that I crave savory food more than sweet food, even when I eat sweet things I like to mix it in with savory, like I will eat onion with almost anything.

So for lunch today I quickly made myself this zoodle (raw zucchini noodle) salad dish with a really delicious creamy sauce.

RECIPE~

Bowl-
1 large Zucchini - Spiralized into noodles
1 Lebanese Cucumber - diced
2 small Pickles - Diced
1/2 a small White Onion - Finely diced
1 Spring onion - Finely sliced

Sauce-
1 Cup Orange Juice
Juice of 1 Lime
1 Cup Cashews (or Macadamia)
6 Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 medium Red Capsicum - Cut into a few rough chunks
Handful of Fresh Dill (approx 1/2 Cup)

Top-
Tomato - Cut into chunks
Fresh Chives - Finely chopped

Steps:
1. In a small bowl add the orange juice, lime juice, cashews, & sun dried tomatoes, set aside & allow to soak for 20-30 mins.
2. In the mean time process & assemble the bowl ingredients into a medium bowl, mix them around a little if you like. Prep the top items, & set aside.
3. Now add all the sauce ingredients into the blender, blend on high speed for about 1 minute, or until completely smooth. The sauce should be quite thick, add a few extra cashews to thicken, or a splash of OJ or lime juice if too thick. Test the flavour & adjust lime/dill/etc if necessary.
4. Pour your desired amount of sauce over the mix in the bowl & add the tomato chunks & chives on top to finish.

All done! Go eat it!

I decided to go for it and ate my zoodles with chopsticks, it's a bit tricky, but at least it slowed me down so I didn't eat so fast...

Enjoy everyone, more recipes coming soon.

A couple of Raw Vegan playlists to binge on...

Hi guys~ Given my plan to reform my diet to be mostly raw, I have been browsing YouTube for some recipes, and I found a couple of channels with some good content (& decent hosts).

(Neto, The Raw Boy)

The first channel is The Raw Boy, hosted by Neto. The playlist is his 100 day raw vegan challenge, which shares some great ideas and recipes. I've found the videos to be really enthusiastic, genuine, and honest, with nothing over the top or off-putting.

Go ahead and check out >THE RAW BOY<

(Chris Kendall, The Raw Advantage)

The 2nd playlist is a compilation of recipes by raw vegan chef Chris Kendall. The channel is called The Raw Advantage and there are so many amazing recipes, ranging from super simple all the way through to ultra gourmet. The style is very energetic, and a bit zany, but still easy to watch.

Go ahead and check out >THE RAW ADVANTAGE<


I'll be aiming for a kind of hybrid diet which is mostly raw, with some gently cooked elements added sometimes for lunch &/or dinner, no more 100% cooked meals. I feel like this could be the way to achieve the best balance and maintain my health, I will post with updates as things progress.

That's it guys, enjoy!

Paint Tool SAI version 2

Hi again!
 
Over the years I've struggled to find the right drawing program, I've tried so many, but none of them suit me just right.
Yesterday I decided to give Paint Tool SAI another go, & I discovered that the version I have is missing lots of features, I have no idea why, and I was unable to find a solution.

Luckily whilst looking for answers I discovered that there's a version 2 of Paint Tool SAI. I've only had a quick look so far, but it seem to have all the features, and it's a bit more refined and polished.

I didn't find a version to buy, but I found a download here >>> PAINT TOOL SAI VER2

I'm optimistic about this one, let's see how it works out!

UPDATE: As it turns out newer versions of SAI don't come with all the settings, this baffles my mind, but hopefully it won't matter now that I have version2.

Another awesome (& totally free) drawing program which I really clicked with is FireAlpaca, grab it here >>> FIREALPACA

Enjoy drawing everyone~

Updates!

Hey there everyone!

Doesn't time go by too quickly... it's been a while since I was properly active here, so I figure I'll share some recent happenings, as well as plans for upcoming posts.

2017 has been a turbulent one for me health-wise, I recently hit a point that I felt so awful I decided to do a short water fast, and re-evaluate my diet. I'm currently breaking my 6 day fast (thank goodness), and I'm feeling well at the moment.

From here on I must stay in control of what, and where I eat, no more eating out! it's just no good for me. I have also decided to stick to mostly raw food, I don't want to be so restrictive that I fall back into old habits, but I must set some boundaries for myself.
Foods I will avoid are oil, heavily processed products, grains, most canned food, baked or deep-fried foods, overly dry foods. I'll stick to things that are fresh and gently cooked (boiled, steamed or blanched).

Given my dietary refinement I plan to share some new recipes in the coming weeks, I also have plans for a large post about caring for dogs, simply because I feel too many people do not understand how to fully meet all the needs of their canine friends. Of course there will be more art posts coming too, I'm working hard to improve in every aspect of drawing, so I hope it shows.

That's the most of it for now guys, I really hope everyone is feeling happy and healthy, keep an eye out for upcoming posts ; )

Artwork requests.

I have recently started taking requests on DeviantArt, if you are interested click HERE.
These are the ones I have finished so far...

 This is an OC called Electric Bomber.

 

A pony design, this is White Thorn.

 A request for a chicken! I chose a fancy one.

Francis X Bushlad from the TAZ-mania series.

Lion OC's Aliana & Meryon.

These were all completed using a FREE drawing software called Fire Alpaca, which you can check out HERE, it's available for Win & Mac, & I really enjoy using it.

Enjoy~

Recent Pokemon pics -

 A taste of your own medicine ey Drifloon.

Paint Tool SAI.

 Fancy icy drinks in Summer are the best!

Photoshop.

 I want a pinata...

Fire Alpaca.

Trick or treating : )

Fire Alpaca.

If you're interested in Fire Alpaca it's FREE, you can find it HERE.

Enjoy~