u/asplenia_studios

The Max and Milia VF-1Js are reversed so I can do a charm with one on each side. Then I thought "Why not Hikaru?" And then I thought "might as well do the cannon fodder VF-1J, too."

tl:dr - who would I reach out to for an inspection of these cracks?

We've recently moved to be near my father-in-law, who is experiencing health issues. Preventative maintenance on the family home has been deferred for quite a few years (probably a decade or more), and since we've come back I've been keeping an eye on some issues with the foundation and rear deck.

The home has a walk-in basement, and there are two ladder cracks in the rear foundation, extending from the two I beams which support the rear deck. The LEFT ladder crack extends tow the ground. The RIGHT ladder crack seems to peter out about halfway down. There is also noticeable wear where the I beams enter the foundation, including loose masonry/mortar (? IDK if I'm using the right term).

Also, a new crack has appeared on the side of the house. Not obvious in these photos is there is a clear shift between the two sides, either outward on the right, inward on the left, or a bit of both. This shift is greater at the top than at the bottom (even accounting for the fact that the top of the crack is at the seam line between two blocks). I know this crack wasn't there last fall, as I did a circuit once I found the ladder cracks. I discovered it a week or so ago while clearing Russian Sage that had taken over that side of the house. I made hash lines and put the date on the crack to keep an eye on it.

Looking for advice on exactly what type of repair person or service would be best to make an initial assessment on these?

(Pardon the ink and other stains on the manky drawing table desktop)

They turned out a ton better than I expected, and the 325g card stock is much sturdier than the 250g samples I made using my SD 0080 Project art.

They immediately went into penny sleeves, which cuts down on the reflective features. I also have, like, A LOT of drawing lamps, so I tried to turn on and off the right ones and adjust them so as to not wash out the photos while still sampling the hologram and, for the EX Base and EX Resource cards, the foil effects.

I rebuilt my 2018 TV version from the ground up, tracing the line art and coloring with new brushes and tools I've acquired for Photoshop over the past 8 years.

I've been very rigid in my SD drawings lately, and wanted to go back for a bit to the more fluid, cartoony style I had back in the late-2010s/early-2020s.

I was writing up a (long-winded) post on my Patreon about my newest art, and referenced the Q-Rau floatie (in Milia's colors) I drew back in 2020, as part of a larger illustration.

Honestly, I still giggle quite a lot when I see it, and figured I'd share. (Partly because, often, it also gets lost in the illustration as a whole).

I finally gave in and did a non-UC Gundam. I wanted it to be very moody and goth, not an action shot. Second image is my typical "penny sample," showing parts of the illustration at full resolution compared to a US penny.

Drawn in Photoshop. No AI used.

Throw Back Thursday!

In January 2021, when we were still pretty much under COVID lockdown, I messed around with what a Blade Runner game might have looked like on the original Nintendo Entertainment System. I cribbed the Mega Man sprites as my base*, and then went at it using the same constraints of the original system.

Doing the sprites and backgrounds were easy. The funnest part was that the CRT scanline and curve effects (see fourth image) were all done manually by following a tutorial, not using an automatic plugin or filter. That part actually took the longest.

Also, the Score at the top is actually how many seconds into the movie that particular scene happens, per one of the Director's Cut versions on the Blu-Ray.

*Each sprite on the NES is 24x24 pixels and uses three colors from a ~55 color palette. Often the "black" areas are simply missing pixels over a black background. Mega Man (orig. Rock Man in Japan) got around this by stacking sprites on top of each other, allowing up to six colors. Clever!

(Full disclosure: I was previously posting as u/georgetimberhill but have now reclaimed my art persona)

And, tbqh, they look great. There’s a numbering issue I need to correct, and the proofs are 250g cards, and I feel I need to bump that up to 325g because I love quality.

This test set has helped me a lot in sorting the next round, which will include my own Gundam art, plus the 8bit sprite project.