I Feel The Light Betray Me.

[rionaleonhart]

My dad's observation on my paintings so far: 'They're all fir trees. Why don't you paint some oaks?'

After my latest painting, I can say that the answer is 'because painting oaks is terrible'.






This was a request from my mum, who sent me a photograph she'd taken in Richmond Park and asked whether I could paint it. It turns out I have neither the patience nor the nerve to do all the fiddly little branches on bare oaks; it'd be so easy to slip with the brush and make them too thick!

'When you've got a big stretch of the same colour that looks a bit too uniform and flat, just get a slightly different colour and splotch it everywhere' is not conducive to photorealism, but it is good fun.

In other news, I've started up a new game of Final Fantasy XV, and I'd forgotten how happy it makes me. I love this game! I love these boys! It's so flawed, and yet somehow it's perfect.

Comments

[kalloway]

Oooh, I really like how the sky looks! And yeah, I like drawing bare trees to a degree and then there are just too many branched and whoops, what a bad idea...

[rionaleonhart]

I'm glad you like the sky, because I messed it up; I painted the grass and then went WAIT, I FORGOT TO DO THE WHITE PART OF THE SKY, better adjust it so it doesn't have to go all the way down to the ground. It's good to know the solution apparently worked! Thank you!

[apiphile]

I feel like this art movement might appeal to you: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primitivism

[rionaleonhart]

Ooh, that does make trees look less of a pain to paint.

[rosa_heartlily]

The painting of the trees is really atmospheric. I feel as if there's something wonderful and amazing just over the hill - a city? a cave full of treasure? a sleeping prince in an abandoned castle?

And FFXV is great in so many ways and so terrible in so many others. I honestly don't know if I'll ever play it again - but when I listen to the OST, I get all nostalgic!

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you! You'll probably see London over the hill, which is technically a city, but I don't know whether it qualifies as 'wonderful and amazing'. I'm quite fond of it.

The OST is so good! I think FFXV probably has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. It's such a mess of a game, but it worked its way straight into my heart (much like VIII).

[rosa_heartlily]

Well, VIII will always be my favourite - and the plot holes you could ride a chocobo through are part of the reason! XV doesn't have the plot holes, there just isn't enough exploration of the plot. It has to be the deepest, darkest story Square have ever done (at least of the FF games I've played) but it's all kind of thrown away. So frustrating. And the gameplay doesn't really suit me, so I don't even have that to fall back on.

Oh, and I'm a Liverpool lass, so not really a fan of 'that London'. :D

[wolfy_writing]

Yeah, I have many opinions about trying to paint oak trees in the winter, or any non-evergreen in the winter, most of which boil down to "No, no, no, don't mess with me tree, I will fight you!"

Honestly, you've done a lot better here than some of my attempts.

[rionaleonhart]

Thank you! I have learnt from the experience. Leafy oaks only from now on.

[squeemu]

I am so excited you're playing a new game! They keep adding new dialogue to their updates which is stupidly exciting for me.

ALSO DID YOU KNOW THEY ARE COMING OUT WITH AN UPDATED EDITION OF FFXV WITH BONUS STUFF IN MARCH

/crawls back into the study hole

[rionaleonhart]

I've been going 'should I start a new game or should I wait until they stop updating so I know I'm getting all possible dialogue?' for a while. Eventually, I concluded that they're never going to stop updating. It's very weird that they keep going OH WAIT HERE'S A FUNNY THING THE CHARACTERS COULD SAY, LET'S GET IT RECORDED AND THROW IT IN EVEN THOUGH THE GAME CAME OUT A YEAR AGO, but I'm not complaining!

I'd heard about the Royal Edition! I just checked the list of features, and... does it really include a first-person mode? I cannot get my head around the thought of Final Fantasy XV's combat system in first person, particularly with all the warping. I'd instantly go down with motion sickness.

(Oh, hey, good luck with your exam!)