30 Day Challenge!

In an effort to get myself drawing more, I am going to do a 30 day drawing challenge! So, here's day one, a self portrait. After I scanned it and flipped it, it looks so off :/ It's somewhat accurate to the picture I was referencing, but there's differences in angles and the perspective is a little off. The side of the face and the nose position are the most off.

I'm referencing two different 30 day challenges and picking which topic is more interesting for me to draw. This one and this one. Will I be able to keep up? Will I add a new blog post daily? (Doubt it, but I'll upload all of the challenges)

But this is to get me into the habit of at least sketching daily. I'll improve that way. It has been quite a long time since I have seriously drawn. I've been working on colouring that REALLY old image of Rydia as well.

In terms of what I've been playing recently, I've been going between Majora's Mask (bought on my Wii :B) and Pokemon White.  I also bought The Legendary Starfy, but I've only played that a little so far.

I have a confession: I've never beaten a Zelda game. I could not get past Queen Gohma on Ocarina. But I'm gonna beat MM. It's not as hard as I remembered as a kid. The puzzles are quite simple so far, though I've only beaten up to Showhead Temple. I've also preordered Ocarina for my 3DS, so I better get past the first level this time!

I should post a few images I've taken using AR on my 3DS. I do have to wait for the internet browser since my computer can't read new SD cards.

Peanut Butter Truffles

Poor, neglected blog. I made these tasty buggers over the holidays, way back in December. Chocolate-Peanut Butter ganache dipped in even more chocolate. Very rich. I used a 70% cocoa dark chocolate in the ganache, which I found to fight too much with the flavour of the peanut butter, I would recommend using a semi-sweet chocolate instead for a milder chocolate flavour.

I didn't count how many truffles this recipe yielded,  though the smaller you make the truffles, the more you get! Ganache is adapted from here.

Ganache

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/2 cup heavy/whipping cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coating

• 8 ounces dark, high quality chocolate, chopped
• Chopped peanuts, for topping (Optional)

-Place the peanut butter and chocolate into a heat proof bowl.

-Heat the whipping cream and vanilla until simmering. Pour over chocolate and peanut butter and let sit until chocolate is mostly melted.

-Stir until chocolate is completely melted.

-Place ganache into fridge for 30 minutes until set and cool, but still easy enough to work with.

-Roll ganache into balls, less than an inch in diameter.

-Put the truffles into the fridge for a couple of hours. The cooler they are when dipping, the better they stay together. A bit of ganache melted into the chocolate you are dipping into will ruin your chocolate.

-Melt the rest of the chocolate over a double broiler, making sure the water in the bottom of the double broiler does not touch the bowl with the chocolate. Stir very often, chocolate is very delicate to work with.

-Let the chocolate cool as to not melt the ganache. Around room temperature works, though the cooler the chocolate gets, the more solid it becomes, so work fast.

-Dip ganache balls, shaking off excess chocolate.

-Top with chopped peanuts while truffles are still malleable.

-Leave in fridge again for another few hours to set, then store at room temperature.

Painting

I finished something, hurray!

The colour layers took away a lot of the value. Totes got lazy on the wings, but wings are awful. FFFF the skin was so beautiful in greyscale D: D: D: Besides the legs, I do really like the drawing. Need to work on flowy, lovely hair though.

This blog needs more man. Mostly naked, probably. Mmmmm, Muscle study. Lean muscles. Ahahah.

I've been playing my DS lately. Pokemon Diamond. It's a pain to level in that version. Only one more evolution and my dex is complete, lol. I tried to play more Kirby's Epic Yarn, but a power outage ruined my efforts before I even completed a stage. I have pre-ordered Golden Sun 3. FFFF Excited. Seven(?) years since the last one, haven't actually finished Lost Age though. I finished the game to see the ending but I refused to save clear data until the Dullahan was dead.

Cake Balls

Cake balls. From Bakerella. To be honest, I don't like them. Melting wafers are pretty gross (Not even remotely chocolate flavoured!). Angel food cake isn't so hot either. Next time I'm getting chocolate, I don't care if it melts. In fact, I threw out the cracked open one so I wouldn't have to eat it. At least they look decent. (Like truffles, but truffles are like 100x better. I'll have to whip some mint ones up during the holidays, I think)

But, everyone at work liked them. The ones I brought in were all eaten. I'm ruining their diets apparently. The family likes them too. I don't bake for just myself, since I could never eat it all, and I really don't have the motivation if it's just for me.

I'll have to make Hello Kitty ones next time, but with white chocolate.

In art news, I really have to cross-browser test websites before I decide the coding is pretty much done. Internet Explorer should learn to stop sucking, seriously. Now I have to throw in fixes. I'll have to make a point of putting Best Viewed in Firefox on the main page. Since it is.

Progress and Kirby

More Rydia progress. Not looking forward to painting all of the patters on her clothes. Though, I should probably just make a brush or a stamp to make it much, much easier. Her other boot and cape are the big parts left to paint on her, and also the background. I have some complex lighting planned, so I hope that goes over well. Colouring will be simple, after all it will just be overlays then rendering.

I recently bought Kirby's Epic Yarn. So adorable, and I am certainly not disappointed. The graphics are really unique, every texture is fabric and plush, some platforms even squish as Kirby walks on them. The difficulty is pretty decent, I've had to replay a couple levels to get gold medals and all of the treasures, and I know it'll just keep getting more difficult. Not since Kirby 64 have I been this pleased with a Kirby game, the handheld games after Nightmare in Dreamland were far too easy, though I really did enjoy Amazing Mirror. Canvas Curse, not so much.

Friday is my work Halloween party. I don't have a costume, since all of my pieces are in storage, but I am going to be making cake balls. I've had the ingredients for them sitting around for a couple of months, and no reason to make them, so now I do. I hope they taste good, since melting wafers are not the tastiest things in the world but chocolate melts far too easily.

Life Drawing

Did some life drawing yesterday. It's been about a year since I last did some. The model was great. It was quite fun, though I was the youngest there by far. I think I need to pick up some non-old person hobbies/a job with people closer to my age.

I've put a couple more drawings after the jump, since one contains artistic nudity.

First Post!

A painting I am working on of Rydia of FF4. A cross between her DS art and her After Years art.

I am currently playing Rydia's Tale, FF4: The After Years. It's a very nice throwback to the earlier games, though, it would have been better if I could buy all the chapters at once, instead of each on separately. I also just bought Final Fantasy The Four Heroes of Light, also a nostalgic style game. Very cute character designs. I don't like not picking targets. But the crown system is neat, they all have different hats. But I definitely do not like how spell books take up space in the very limited inventory. I am always juggling what I have in there.