“Do you want to see the scars I got from the fight? I can give you a matching set.”

I typically do not color like this. In fact, I might change the whole color scheme next weekend in case I get the itch. I used layers with Multiply/20% for the shadows and while it’s a neat trick to get basic shadows/highlights done, it doesn’t work here. I prefer to choose my own shadow/highlight tones instead of relying on Multiply/Burn effects.

I’m also quite tired.

This was inspired by this tale of lizard hunting. If you browse the photos you’ll see the gator claw I used for the drawing. 

Brace yourselves, Diablo III is coming.

There goes half of my contacts list.

This is what a 15 year old necromancer trainee girl looks like.

… Aaand, that’s her basset hound skeleton happily following her.

Cute Monster Design Challenge: Little Sea Monster by ~RoseCG

Voteformeplz >:

I’m just an ordinary citizen. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to get to work, which certainly does not involve becoming part of your army.

Entry for the Romantically Apocalyptic contest. Deviantart link.

I drew a ⑨.

Enough of chibis. Now that I brought Sketchbook for iPad, I can work on more elaborated drawings.

Here’s a bigger wallpaper.

Despite not being that active as a Reddit community member, there’s one event which is now part of my traditional Christmas: the Reddit Secret Santa Exchange. It’s a simple premise: you sign in, receive a match from over 30,000 participants, you stalk your new victim and send him/her a gift until the end of the deadline. And you receive something too. 

Last year I sent a couple of Portuguese literature books to a bookworm/musician (you may have heard her songs at Reddit Radio), and I received a souvenir package of awesomeness from Arkansas. 

This year I have yet to receive anything. I know my Santa has shipped the gift, but the fellow has been very quiet. I may or not receive during this week. (EDIT: Turns out my Santa’s gift was sent back to the sender. I should receive it by the end of this week (6th January)). 

But my santee just got hers so now I can post the whole story here.

My victim for this year was coolhandmarie. So far, so good, I checked her “likes” list, she wanted something she couldn’t get in her homeland, asking for local pastries, wine or even something related with other soccer clubs (she’s a Portland Timbers fan). Then I checked her profile.

She’s the girl who received a box of dirt last year. My prankster side had this smile of delight when I noticed this coincidence. Because if you know me well, then you know I wouldn’t let an opportunity like this slide.

Which is why coolhandmarie received this image during the first days after the matching process:

Meanwhile, I was debating on what to send to her. Porto’s wine was a logical option since she did suggest to send her wine or beer from other locations. However, the USA’s regulation towards shipped goods is very strict and alcohol is out of question. But they had nothing against pastries.

I had managed to send a box of ovos moles to Canada years ago. They took one week to get there (in exchange I got a small bottle of maple syrup). So ovos moles was in, along with the typical wooden barrel of sweetness. She also suggested something related to the local sports club. Now, the local club of Aveiro is Beira-Mar, but my soul belongs to S.L. Benfica, so I got a red scarf (it’s an old edition, but it was the prettiest I could find in short notice). 

While I kept lurking around and buying other stuff to send during my work breaks, I initiated a conversation with her using the anonymous message system from the redditgifts’ website. 

I choose the 12th December (the deadline for everyone to ship their gifts) for a reason: Ovos moles have an expiration date estimated to be 15 days. I wanted her to get these pastries closer to Christmas, and preferably in the shortest time possible. Which is why I choose the CTT’s Azul PRIME International shipping with a tracking number and everything. “5 week days”, they said.

“5 week days” which turned into two weeks.

By the 19th, I was worried coolhandmarie would not only not receive her gift on time for Christmas, but the contents could go bad depending on the conditions where the package was at the moment. This made me feel upset, considering coolhandmarie had been shafted before (term used for those who didn’t receive anything at all).

Plan B was in action. I grabbed my tablet and worked on something special to deliver to her by the end of the week, right before Christmas.

I had found something really interesting back when I stalked her posts on Reddit which gave me an idea back then, but I had never put it in motion. When it was finished, I worked on a little presentation to post in Imgur.

And this was the result.

coolhandmarie loved it (yay!), and this week she finally received my gift. Everything went better than expected, the pastries are still edible, the post offices have been saved from my wrath (temporarily) and she has posted photos.

I’m glad you enjoyed your gifts, Marie!

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie.

Rumia from the Touhou series. Done with the Sketchbook Pro for iPad.

I would have shaded the drawing, but the demo version of the Sketchbook only allows three layers, and it’s quite a simple drawing anyway.