Just a heads up that I will be doing a cleanout of my gallery/scraps later this year. I'll be getting rid of mostly old/out-of-date stuff, so if you like it, please save it.

I hope you all had a great Christmas/Holiday/New Year's, or whatever you celebrated. I got PaintShop Pro 2018 for Christmas, and am currently learning the ropes. Overall it seems pretty intuitive and works well.

I want 2018 to be my 'Getting It Done' year- I've had a bunch of ideas for artwork, characters, comics and sculptures which have been on my to-do list since before I even joined the site. Even if I make a medium-sized dent in it this year, I'd be happy.

As part of that, I'm trying out designing more shirts. I've only got one design up so far (based on the 'Best Day of my Life' shirt from the PADG comic) but I plan to expand on it.

https://www.teepublic.com/user/dragongamers

Tip Jar:
https://ko-fi.com/pendragon

So today I am officially 36. I'm old -yay! :D

In other news, I quit my job at the hot tub place (got tired of fixing the same mistakes made by the same people a million times) and got a new one at a plastic product manufacturer. Right now I'm going grunt work but it pays more (+$3.50/hour more compared to the other one) and I have the opportunity to work with various industrial tools (ie CNC machines). They've also done some prop work for commercials and movies, which is pretty interesting.

So I got a rather large box in the mail (3ft x 2ft x1.5 ft), which is my birthday gift to myself. Any guesses as to what it is? Winner gets a million points.

https://ko-fi.com/pendragon

This is one of the very very very very few bandwagons you'll see me jump on. I like the idea of a simple, no-hassle tip jar, so if you're feeling generous, any amount is helpful/appreciated! I'm surprised 'pendragon' wasn't taken yet, actually.

In other news, the current PADG game company storyline will be concluding soon, as will Season 3 as a whole. I'll be taking a short break from the comic to do other stuff, and I'll start Season 4 in October. As some of you have seen, I have an ad up (for a month, just to test the waters), and I got 45 new followers. Cool!

Apologies for the lack of content lately, I've been in a bit of a funk the past 2 months for various reasons- hopefully I can get some momentum going again. I have a bunch of ideas, including ones for PADG storylines- it's just a matter of getting motivation.

Speaking of the comic, I've been considering getting an ad on FA to promote the Dragon Gamers tumblr site. If I do, I'll make sure it's during a period of frequent updates (ie more than twice a week, which is pretty feasible.) We'll see.

Obviously one of the big announcements today was the two new Metroid games- An official Metroid II remake and Prime 4. Even though I'm (very) apprehensive about how good they'll end up being, this is still welcome news. I was surprised to see Sakamoto onboard for the remake, since I've heard many rumors of his departure from Metroid/Nintendo. The footage from the remake looks interesting, although I fear they're messing with it too much. Hopefully the Sakamoto nonsense that plagued Other M is absent here. Not much is known about Prime 4, except that it won't be developed by Retro. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since most of the original team have left. While I'm far from ready to kiss Reggie's feet, this is at least a step in the right direction. Hopefully some of their other neglected franchises get love soon.

Just celebrated my 35th birthday today- I don't know what scares me more, the fact that in 5 years I'll be in my 40s, or the fact that I'm halfway to 70 O_o. Anyways, I had an uneventful day at work and dinner out with family.

I got a bunch more art stuff planned, which hopefully I'll be able to start up soon. Stay tuned!

Apologies for the lack of new stuff lately- I've been busy with a bunch of IRL stuff, including my new job which I started a few weeks ago, at a company that makes hot tubs (no, we don't get to get in and test them out, unfortunately!). The pay isn't amazing, but it's close by (a ten minute drive) and I get good medical/dental benefits. The only part about it I hate is the 6:30 am start time- not good for a natural night owl like me! D:

Hopefully by November stuff settles down so I can start on art stuff again- I've got a few interesting projects in the pipeline!

So the Metroid franchise turned 30 today. Even though the franchise has had its bumps, its highs more than make up for its lows. Remember how great the ending to Super was? Or how groundbreaking Prime was? The best part about the franchise is that every game is different, but still (mostly) honors its roots. So even if Fed Force is a turkey, I'm sure we'll see a gem come along soon.

Viva Samus!

In somewhat related news, the unofficial fan-made remake of Metroid II is finished:
http://metroid2remake.blogspot.ca/
Usually fan games are neither great or finished, this is by far the most professional one I've seen.

Today marks six years since I joined the site! Whee!

As I mentioned on one of the other submissions, I'm planning to try to upload a comic a day for the entire month of April. We'll see if I can stick to it. Now that I'm getting used to drawing it I'll be slowly adding characters and more involved stories so it's not just a xeroxed-talking-head comic. If you like the comic, please follow it on Tumblr ( http://dragongamers.tumblr.com/ ) or just spread the word (if you want to, of course). I'm also open to any and all critique.

In other news, my digital camera's screen is broken and I'm currently gathering funds for a new one. I am of course open for commissions, but I was also thinking of maybe offering some adoptables as well. Adoptables are a good way to draw more variety- dragons and horses are fun but I need practice other things too!

So I turned 34 today (bleh) but had a good day anyways. I got a Dremel rotary tool, which will be good for doing detail work on sculptures. Got a few Amiibos too (ROB and Ness).

Some good news on the dental stuff- fortunately it wasn't as bad as initially feared, it looked like I was going to need at least one root canal but it doesn't look like I'll need one after all (knock on wood). The original dental work was still expensive (a few hundred bucks), but it could have been a LOT worse!

Commissions are still open!

A few more Mario Maker levels:

Shoes and Giants 31A5-0000-00E5-99F1
Reverse 1-1 (Lost Levels) 05D5-0000-00E0-F8D8
Crazy Intent 1532-0000-00DD-D60D

I just realized I joined up five years ago- time flies eh?

While the site itself may not have grown as I would have liked (no new design, folders or tag filters yet, just the odd minor improvement and a lot of controversy), I have to say I have really enjoyed the artwork and sense of community.

Thanks for all the watches, faves and comments so far! It really motivates me to try harder.

So I'm officially 33 today. Whee!

Today consisted mostly of bowling with friends, fish & chips and Mario Kart 8 (the new DLC is great, BTW). And on Friday I'll be picking up my reserved copy of Smash U & Alpha Sapphire at EB. A pretty eventful week I'd say!

Nothing much new to report- I haven't been arting much lately, partially due to laziness, and also I don't feel like doing much when it's so hot. Fortunately I got an air conditioner so that fixes the latter problem. I'll try to pick it up soon.

I was thinking about creating a Patreon account for Dragon Gamers- I like the idea of having a little extra income, but I dislike the obligation (drawing on a set schedule, coming up with rewards/perks, etc.) since I'm doing this for fun.

I've been considering limiting free requests to 1-2 characters/pic and charging for 3 or more. Mainly because I'm currently between jobs, and also because it takes me a while to draw a finished pic that has more than three characters (especially if there's complicated poses involved). But we'll see, I haven't made up my mind yet.

In other news-

I'm glad I started collecting Maleficent dragon merchandise before the recent movie came out, as it has jumped in price quite considerably since. For example, the jumbo 3-foot tall plush, which not too long ago cost $200-$400 on eBay, I've seen go for over $600! There's even one listed right now with a buy-it-now price of $850!!

Since all the cool kids are doing it, I started a Tumblr account, on which my comic will be uploaded:

http://dragongamers.tumblr.com/

I don't know how frequently the comic will be updated but I'll do my best. Please follow if you have a Tumblr!

A little late, but today marks 20 years since the Japanese release of Super Metroid, arguably one of the best games ever made. I don't have anything special to mark the event (it kind of snuck up on me) but I plan to sculpt something for the NA release anniversary in April. I have a few ideas but I'm open to suggestions!

I recently passed 1k faves on FA, so I'd like to say thanks to those who have supported my stuff over the years! You guys are the best *sniff*

Speaking of artwork, I recently opened a gallery on Weasyl for the sake of branching out. There's not much on there now but that should soon change:

https://www.weasyl.com/~pendragon

In other news, I got the fabric needed to finish the body suit to go with Terry's partial. I've never made any sort of bodysuit before, but I have had experience sewing so if I do my research it should turn out OK.

I found something interesting a while back- in France, both seasons of Blazing Dragons have been released on DVD (over 8 discs). I got a hold of one on eBay (since I have a region-free DVD player), and while there are no extras, it's still pretty neat. I have no idea if there will be a North American release.

A while back I got access to one of the storyboards to the Blazing Dragons S2 episode 'The Isle of Dwight'. It's about 92 pages and I got them scanned and uploaded:

http://terryj.vacau.com/bd1.zip
http://terryj.vacau.com/bd2.zip
http://terryj.vacau.com/bd3.zip
http://terryj.vacau.com/bd4.zip
http://terryj.vacau.com/bd5.zip

If you're a fan of the show (or animation in general) this may be of some interest! If there are problems/issues with any of the files please let me know.

A few quick updates-

I've got four more requests to finish, which I'll try to complete before the end of the month. After that I'll be taking a break from requests since the next couple of months will be fairly busy with RL stuff.

Next weekend I'll be attending the Pokemon World Championships in Vancouver (not as a competitor, as I suck at battling). I've never been to one of these things before so it should be fun. Even a few GameFreak staff will be there too!

http://www.pokemonworldchampionships.com/2013/

As I mentioned a while ago, there's a new Point-and-Click adventure game being planned called 'Armikrog'. It's being made by the same people who made Earthworm Jim and The Neverhood, and is clay-animated. They have a pretty cool preview on their Kickstarter page:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects.....37745/armikrog

Funding is going OK but has stalled a bit lately. If you have some spare cash to spare, please support it! Or at the very least tell your friends! Every little bit helps.

In other news, my laptop has been fixed and all my files have been transferred to it, so I'm finally getting back to art again. Also, I've figured out what my next Metroid-related sculpture will be and it's pretty ambitious- stay tuned!

So my hard drive decided to randomly die- no warnings, no funny noises, no nothing. It's still under warranty (I think), though I can't seem to find the receipt anywhere :/

Fortunately my brother has an old laptop he's letting me use, and I have 95% of my data backed-up. Once I finish setting up I should be back to arting soon!

*Update* I finally found the receipt/warranty (while looking for something else, funny how that always happens) and it's still covered, so it won't cost anything to get fixed!

I just realized that it's been three years since I joined the site- time has sure flown! Over the past month I've had a lot of motivation/inspiration to create (which doesn't happen often), so I've been trying to take advantage of that while it lasts. If anyone has any ideas for stuff to draw/sculpt, I'm open for suggestions.

I've been thinking about turning Terry's partial into a full suit- I originally planned to have a body suit commissioned, but I may try making it myself. I have access to a sewing machine and there are plenty of fabric shops around, so why not?

I recently passed the 500 fave mark, and I would like to say a quick thanks to everyone who has commented/faved/watched my artwork over the past few years. It helps motivate me to improve and for that I am very grateful!

I'm officially 31 today. I got a copy of Super Mario RPG (which I've been looking for since forever) so I'll probably spend most of it parked in front of the SNES!

In other news, the few pieces of Blazing Dragons production art (see previous journal) I bought arrived this past week, which is pretty cool since I've never seen any genuine cartoon artwork up close before. I also found a copy of "The Railway Dragon" for VHS, as well as the sequel ("The Birthday Dragon", which I didn't know existed until recently).

So- how's everyone doing?

I was searching around eBay a few days ago and found quite a few pages of production art (including cels) for Blazing Dragons available to buy:

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/icollect-onl.....l?_nkw=blazing

If you're a fan, this is a great opportunity to own a piece of the show!

Does anyone else remember this 1989 animated short? I loved it as a kid but I never had a chance to tape it (due to a VCR error). Eventually I forgot the name of it so I was never able to find it anywhere. But recently, thanks to YouTube and some extensive searching I have finally been able to watch it again for the first time in over 20 years! Here's the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-U-4e1skRs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6-x0m6cykw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqXQYUPtzIs

Apparently there was a sequel (which I never saw) called Birthday Dragon, so that's another thing to search for.