Presents The Bardlet’s RL Birthday!
First thing first :D This is the StarOnion’s 500th post :D! As always, thanks for your continuous support :D knowing that people still come keeps me writing XD (Although most of you are too shy to comment :D)
Etain’s RL Present! Card + Drawing on 24″ x 36″
Etain [1]and I stretch quite back [2] (well, this is the point where it was documented, but yea it was even way back :D), history wise! Quite a lot of QQ’s Pew Pew’s and Emos along the way, but then we’d also share a lot of laughter and fun together [3].
We always knew each other in game.. but stuff didn’t really come together until we blog about each other [4] :) that’s when we kinda start playing a lot together, spending countless hours in Lagsave’s Salvage [5]. We’d emo in tells even if we were in different zones / different group. But yea, more emo’s inside our tells if we do Salvage together. It really made Salvage a lot more entertaining than the “Salvage” itself.
Sometimes I’d wake up and feel like I’m a Salvage doctor :D because Etain miss her drops or NO DROPS [6]!. But hehe, its these little waves and bumps that makes the game interesting :D. PS: Lets just say everyone emo-ed before due to Salvage shitty drop rates.
Etain and Maiev trying to save the AC from being stolen!
Anyway, so this year I’ve decided to mail her some surprises for her Birthday. There’s a card (just imagine the Christmas Card but in Epic verison :D [7]) and there’s the drawing. I’ve always treated people like they were my real friends. I never really took people behind keyboards like aliens. They are humans behind the keyboard, and deserve the same respect as if they were your real friends :) This includes my special e-friend E-tain. Although I still didn’t keep her playing FFXI in the end (maybe I extended her FFXI stay for 2 years XDXD [8]), but I guess we at least were able to still have shits and giggles over AIM. And yea :) Everyone who reads this are also Mai friend :3 but then most of you guys are just TROLLS so I can’t help it ;D so we’ll be just E-friend until you show your FACE :D.
I’ll leave the rest to Etain if she wanna share, but no its a special present for her so (hehe hope its not the embarrassing part :D). I just hope she liked it and yea, today IS the day so you can drop her a message on her blog. I guess just randomly selecting a post and comment is ok! :D I had 2 version of the poster. One with her blog name on it, one didn’t! It seemed like it looked great with her blog name on it, so I gave her the one with the name, and I kept the one without :D.
Well if Etain reads this :) I hope you have a Happy Birthday “+1” XD Here’s Etain’s Blog [1] if you wanna drop her a message.
Drawing by priestessofpie & Mai Critique
Etain and Maiev on a quiet Windurst hill posing!
Not everyone can be good artists (me included), but good artists can come from anywhere, including those that’s only got 5k in their DeviantArt clicks. Well, priestessofpie [9]was one of those people that I discovered.
I trusted her artwork because a few of her artwork demonstrated a tremendous amount of detail. This only tells me that she can draw pretty good, but most of the time its probably slacking or just wanna slap on the color and finish the work.
On the right was her drawing. Sorry it’s a little JPEG-ed, but I don’t want people to use it for avatars :D. Her real artwork was of course not JPEG-ed up. However, you can view the high-res version on her DeviantArt. [10]. She name this art “Mai Buddy” :) The name can’t be any better XD
A quick look will be like WTF, LONG taru legs? Well those are her style, and what I wanted. The long legs were an expression to show how long both Etain and I have been playing FFXI, that even our Taru have grown. I don’t think having bigger breasts or bigger head was a better expression than long legs :) It looks like “Teenager” of the Taru no? :)
The mandragora was not only a mascot for FFXI, but I know Etain loves reading Mai blog, one of the long-term readers and supporter :), so yea, there’s her little Taru hugging it (or maybe she just camps TTTO a lot). Both of us are in our “town clothes” lol ‘.’ and yea the staff is just what we spent most of our time on, being a mage :D.
Mai staff got a little keychain with a little Taru on it. That is actually priestessofpie’s Taru character Lyali on Titan. This puts a little personalization for the artist itself :)
This was priestessofpie’s first commission, so yea I didn’t expect like Daggy-grade perfect artwork, but her coloring was also what I look for. It’s so COLORFUL that it looks amazing on poster.
The end product was WAY BEYOND what I commission for. Lets put it that way, the quality of the work in the end was completely what I never expected – for a first commission. It felt like I ripped her off but then again in commission, you are “donating” to the artist to subsidize their capital investment in tablets, their expensive pencil and paper, as well as their time. No, it was never meant to “completely pay for” their expense in drawing, but hay, you are giving them an opportunity to improve, and they are making a little cash doing you a favor, so its a fair trade between both parties.
Closer look at the Details of her Drawing!
Taking into account her experience in commission, I’d give this 101%. The detail in the drawing is amazing. As you see on the right, the garments and cloth texture was very well done. The lining was not rushed. Shadows from the Manteel was very well drawn. The coloring was very solid and the choice of color was accurate as well as vivid.
She expressed the feminine of Etain’s taru clearly. Well since I play as a Female Taru but really, a dude behind the KB, so she was able to express a little bit more “male” feel on the artwork.
Her artwork was submitted with the correct criteria. I requested PSD and in most layers, and yes it was there! This makes customizing or personalizing forums and website the ideal choice. (I mean hay, lets say I want it to use it as a blog banner, well at least it’s there). Artwork was on time, and the best part was effective communication, which I find a lot of artist lack. Not only effective communication cuts down errors and time, but it ensures the end product is what the commissioner look for. I mean yea, commission is their fun time hobby and not job, but then I’m just expecting a few words on emails, not essays and stuff. Well that’s also just me.
Another Silly Drawing by priestessofpie
So for a paying customer, I was pretty satisfied. I’d say priestessofpie’s strength is drawing Taru’s. She spends a lot of time drawing Taru’s in close-ups. If you want sexy Mithra, huge boobs then yea, Daggy is definitely the expert in that – Female Anatomy. But as always, I’m always around DA giving out commissions :D well of course.. to style that I like.
So yea, if you want a good piece of art drawn, then you can definitely trust priestessofpie, for a good try. She enjoys drawings, loves to draw and best of all, can draw something pretty good :) You should commission her :D she’s currently working towards her degree towards 3d game design :o so once she gets it… you’d probably won’t see her drawing as much so :D better catch these deals while it lasts.
About priestessofpie
Priestessofpie [9] (Lyali of Titan [11]) is a Fantasy Artist on DeviantArt. Even though she is pretty shy, but she definitely got the skills and heart to draw a good piece of artwork. She enjoys drawing fantasy art, both for fun and (I guess now for commission). She currently plays as Lyali on Titan, runs a linkshell, enjoys FFXI, plays often, enjoys ACP (lol) and is a fan of TaruTarus.
You can contact her via “note” her on DA [9] or I can email you her email if you leave a comment below (I don’t want to post emails so bot can pick it up and email her junks)
PS: This writeup was not a request nor a favor from her. It was purely voluntary from Maiev reviewing her artwork and giving an honest critique. I wrote it because I was way too satisfied with her work. No =P I don’t get a cut when a someone goes to her for commission nor I get free stuff XD.