Thursday, June 30, 2022

#Drewly: What’s it all about?

#Drewly: What’s it all about?

Here is a quick shareable run down of the rules:
I wanted to find a reason to post a bunch of art from my finished but not posted pile and I came up with Drewly. 

Drewly is a month-long art challenge where you post art that you have already made instead of making new art based on a theme or prompt. You get the chance to participate in an art challenge without the stress of making new art on a deadline.

You can post as often or as little as you’d like. I will be posting daily to clear out a backlog of art so I can be thinking about what to draw next.

Drewly is all about celebrating what you have been able to accomplish. Take the month to pat yourself on the back.

Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph 

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Wind Waker: A magical leaf

A magical leaf

Deku Leaf: This is one of the Great Deku Tree’s own leaves, given to Link as a gift to help him on his adventures. Link can use the leaf as a magical fan or as a glider. The fan directs forceful wind powerful enough to knock down enemies, push objects, or clear dust and debris. As a glider, Link can safely descend from tall jumps and cross wide gaps. The leaf relies on Link’s magical energy to be effective. If Link is out of magic, the leaf appears wilted and will not function.


The splits in monstera leaves are formally called fenestrations, which means windows in lay speech. The monstera that grew this frond is a vast sprawling thing sitting deep in a swamp that marks the confluence of multiple lines of power. Every fenestration in its leaves are little windows that open to places all over the multiverse.

----------

I haven’t really talked about it much because of various reasons, but the gun violence epidemic in the United States of America is horrifying. I wake up regularly to new instances of harm and death because America can’t get its shit figured out on restricting access to weapons of personal destruction.

Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph


Sunday, June 19, 2022

Wind Waker: An abominable hook from Wind Waker.

An abominable hook from Wind Waker.

Hookshot: The hookshot is the main dungeon item in Wind Waker’s Wind Temple. It is primarily used to pull Link to an otherwise unreachable location, but it can also be used to flip switches, grab items, and stun enemies. In addition to these traditional uses of the hookshot, the hookshot has an additional synergy with the iron boots. If Link is wearing the iron boots when using the hookshot he becomes too heavy to be pulled and instead pulls whatever the hookshot strikes towards him. This is especially helpful when you want to pull down heavy stones blocking your path.

Never ask a pirate about their past. Especially when that pirate appears to be the corpses of a few different pirates sewn together and reanimated through the unholy union of forbidden magic and as yet unheard of science. One of this pirate’s three arms ends in a sharp hook that they use as a grapple to reel in the unsuspecting using the chain connected to the hook’s base.

----------

Neither Pudge nor Stitches, from DotA and Heroes of the Storm respectively, have a pirate skin which I think is a missed opportunity. A Frankenstein’s monster/zombie pirate with a wicked hook and cutlass seems pretty fun.

If I was one of those really crunchy homebrewers, I might go make this monster, but I would just give whatever monster a ranged hook attack that can pull victims near to it. Since it would be that monster's one special thing, I wouldn’t put too much effort into keeping it balanced.

Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, June 12, 2022

Wind Waker: My favorite zelda boomerang from Wind Waker.

My favorite Zelda boomerang from Wind Waker.

Boomerang: This boldly yellow boomerang is the main dungeon item in the Forbidden Forest, a forest island entirely inside the stump of a once titanic tree. Link can use the boomerang to flip switches, grab items, and stun enemies. While targeting, Link can select up to five targets that the boomerang will fly through before returning to his hand.

This boomerang was gifted to a young hero after they rescued a storm spirit that had been tricked into bondage. The spirit took the shackles that once bound it and reforged them into this bright boomerang. The elemental powers bound within this boomerang allow the thrower to guide the path of the boomerang. 


----------

The cartoony visual of this boomerang is the perfect representation of the evocative visual style that Wind Waker brought to the franchise. It doesn’t need the gritty realism of Twilight Princess to have a compelling story. The story is no less epic for having a delightful and wacky visual style.

Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph

Sunday, June 5, 2022

Wind Waker: A far ranging rifle.

A far-ranging rifle.

Bonus Sniper: This sniper rifle has a longer range than any firearm forged by mortal means and it is whisper quiet when fired. Those two factors should make this the ideal tool for an assassin specializing in long-distance hits. The problem is the rifle shines with an incredible light when fired, revealing any hidden position. One clever assassin has figured out that the rising sun effectively masks this idiosyncrasy, earning them the nickname, Last Sunrise.


----------

This item is just a scope on the rifle representing the light arrow last week. I think it is a useful enough difference to make an additional rifle mini-set.

That is the last post of lots of technically different firearms for a while. Next week we’ll get back in the swing of Zelda items with the best boomerang ever.

Be excellent to everyone.
-Ceph