syrusbLiz

Ahh, it's interesting you use a mostly subtractive-method for rendering value; that is, cutting out areas you want brighter than adding shadows.

In regard to step 2, I inked with a mouse twice before I got a tablet and holy cow.. what a time consuming, mind-numbing experience. After that I went back to inking with a real pen and scanning the linework until I could afford a tablet.

I tried the route you use, of using the pen tool to get vectored lines, but really I've found the best solution is just to ink with a tablet. (I don't know if you have one.)

If you feel Photoshop's lines aren't crisp enough you can either use the sharpen filter (I suggest fading that effect by about 50%), the Sharpen tool (usually R shortcut on the keyboard), or inking at 2 to 3 the size that you want the image to be then shrinking down. (I know several artists who use the final technique effectively.)

I prefer Painter for inking, because I tend to get crisper, more expressive lines there than in Photoshop. Really, I think you deserve some kind of masochist badge for inking with a mouse.

Actually, the top one is an original character adapted to the City of 'universe' (as it were), who is based on Angela (Demona's daughter) from Gargoyles.

The commissioner is also a big Gargoyles fan.

And I've been out all weekend, so I haven't gone further with this piece yet or have any new completed work that I can show here.

Yes, I had tons of fun coming up with the pile'o'ninja, there.

Here's where I am now, with the forms rendered out in grey. Some of the colors are kinda mucky because of that, but my next step is to switch out the grey for proper hues.

One I'm working on for a friend of his level 50s, as chibis.



I'm actually a bit farther on in this, but usually don't like showing awkward in-between stages. Usually my inks and flats are nothing great, but they're pretty nice with this one.

I'm actually kinda old-school as far as the fan art section goes. I've just always been lurkey and quiet. Many of my City of commissions end up being posted here or in the Scoop, so I try to save personal postings for... well personal pieces. :]

Here's one I finished a few months ago but didn't post until now:
http://syrusb.deviantart.com/art/I-C...tion-137530022

I just haven't had the time or real motivation to do City art lately. But here's something a friend of mine drew that I colored:

http://syrusb.deviantart.com/art/What-now-137455136

The Power Suppression room in the AE buildings don't seem to be suppressing powers anymore.

Hi all, I'm Liz, artist and LURKER EXTREME!

Plus I often forget to even check the boards.

Alright, I gotta know. How do people get the rotating picture? You know, where each time you refresh/load a page, the image is different. (I guess they're all coming from the same directory and it's a simple script rotator?) I've seen it around on the forums for a while, confined to avatars until the new boards came out.

I wanna have one, too!

And I dunno how this forum got kicked off; I was a very light browser when I started playing. I kinda gleaned some names of the big shots but didn't really know anything. I mostly did my own thing and it was over a year after I joined before I even signed up for a forum account. Even then it was still quite a while before I posted. (In a thread about markers.)

Except that a lot of the game's management's attitude toward fanart was very hush-hush. The artists didn't get much support or recognition... it was kinda like we were the black sheep of the game.

Hey, that's 54months badge [censored] to you, sir.

I've never had trouble holding aggro on either of my high level tanks, both without taunt. But I tend to be fairly aggressive; I hit things hard and switch targets often. I don't mind jumping around occasionally, and I have a couple ranged attacks to snag runners if need be.

If you have problems with mobs only attacking from range, go to them or break line of sight. Breaking Line of Sight is especially nice, as it gets groups to clump around you for tasty AoE death.

Taunt is not the end-all-be-all of the definition of Tanker. I knew a WP/DB Tank with Taunt AND Provoke who had trouble maintaining aggro. The issue was their lack of attacks or attacking, in thinking that firing off the two AoE taunt powers would guarantee a group's attention. This is not so.

Also, it should be known that the taunt duration that comes off Rise to the Challenge is woefully small (a bit over a second, base) and generally not worth slotting taunt enhancements in there. Rise continually renews itself by you being in melee, but you have to supplement it with attacking.

Generally Frankenslotting means to slot pieces from assorted sets into powers to attain maximum enhancement benefit. In this, you're not going for set bonuses. And it's not necessarily just the tri- and quadmods, but whatever pieces you need to get the biggest enhancement numbers all around.

It's even easier if you have a power that takes several different sets.

DM/WP is awesomesauce in a can. I paired this with a Fire/Kin Controller and had to take Provoke so I could grab all the aggro off his squishy butt.

You don't need Stamina at all. Personally, I took Health to add to the already impressive Regen. I regularly ended up tanking with this Scrapper combo. Really, it leaves nothing in lacking once it gets rolling. (And I really like having Hurdle anyway.)

Just don't do what I did; don't skip Shadow Maul for Siphon Life early on. Boy does your attack chain suffer. (Don't use SM as a single target attack either, tho'.)

If you plan on soloing Posi a lot, I would recommend a specialty low level dual build for it. I wouldn't take travel powers; I would rely on temp powers and Sprint. Especially if you're 40+, you have an infinitely renewable jet pack from the Shard available.

As others mentioned, there are also several teleport powers you can pick up to help you get zone to zone faster.

I soloed Posi recently with a travel powerless Arch/Dev Blaster and it only took about two hours. I was easily able to stealth non defeat alls with a stealth IO in Sprint; the few times I got too close I quickly lost aggro as long as I just kept running. Watch out for Clockwork when they see you tho'; they're ridiculously tenacious.

You can also consider using Base Empowerment buffs to augment yourself. There are a great many of useful ones to consider using just for Posi: Grant Invisibility, Resist Slow, Resist Toxic, +Recovery, Resist Negative, +travel speeds, etc.

I took it on my Energy/Elec Blapper and never looked back. But I built that toon to be a Blapper; I am almost never fighting at range. As for aggro, I learned to deal with it by proactively using Power Sink and knockback. I also took Aid Self, for the heal as much as the stun protection, and fire that off shortly before heading into a group with several stunners.

It contributes significantly to your DPS; you'll find (especially if you use something like Herostats) it easily contributes a third or more of your overall damage output over time.

I've seen many arguments for and against damage auras on Blasters, so in the end I feel it's largely a question of taste whether you take it or not. Unless you plan on slotting for set bonuses only, and don't bother much with melee, it's probably not worth the bother. But if you plan on being melee most of the time, I think you'll find it a great boon.

LJ's always staring at teh bewbs. I wonder if this leads to problems in the homeplace....

[ QUOTE ]
yeah, DA's administration is filled with fail when it comes to supposedly enforcing it's rules.

[/ QUOTE ]

Being part of an Art Theft community, you have NO idea.

And Screenshots are allowed now, according to DA's rules, but I believe you're required to put them in the Scraps section.

This is true. Damage taken only counts from the base value HP of your AT. So set bonuses, accolades, and even primary/secondary powers that boost HP do not count toward damage taken badges. You have to devise ways to get past them first.

If you can work on damage taken badges before you earn any HP accolades, it makes things easier. If you have many +HP set bonuses, do a dual build with nothing in it while working on your damage taken badges. Etc.

Most who want Born in Battle end up farming damage badges by Resting in front of a mob or two and taking damage. If you can find a mob that does a great amount of damage without killing you, you'll regen back the HP in time to take another series of hits. Generally the best strategy is to leave your toon doing this while you sleep. Personally I prefer Circle of Thorns Guides.

Good luck.

If you really want to, they can be nice. I would advocate Health more than Stamina, to give that extra Regen boost.

But neither is needed, as WP comes with its own Regen and Recovery tools already.

But LR and Thunderstrike both afford you great mitigation by knocking your foes down, and keeping them on their butts.

I understand what it is you're after, but I think you're still going about it the wrong way. You would do better to slot LR and Thunderstrike with damage sets, drop Steadfast KB IOs into your two shields, take all those slots out of Kick, and not use KB sets in your attacks at all.

I don't understand why you're willing to buy 5pc sets of the two most expensive Purple sets, but you're not willing to invest in KB IOs and save up for Gambler Globals to cover whatever extra recharge you feel you really need. Personally I would skip the Purples and use other sets anyway.

Excellent critique, Bayani. You voiced pretty much all my thoughts, and relayed some that bothered me which I couldn't put to words.

As to the piece, it is a beautiful piece, and I admire the detail and dynamic lighting/shadows nearest the point of swords' clash.