Blzzcon!!!

Hello Nerd Herd!

Thought I would pop in for a quick post.  You know this time of year is one of my faves.  Fall I mean. Temperatures fall, hot cocoa is in season and then my ultimate fave, Blizzcon! 

Blizzcon happens typically every November.  This year I am bittersweet as I love to have the opportunity to watch the live events on the digital ticket option but I won’t get to be there in person. :(  Last year was AMAZING!  I had the opportunity to test out Heroes of the Storm and see their development of that.  I also got to see the first look of the new Warcraft expansion, Warlords of Draenor.  I love Blizzard and I appreciate what they do for their fan base.  Their conventions are so in depth and hands on.  We even got to play Hearthstone on tablets there to get a feel of how it would be at release.  I can’t wait for this years convention! 

I will post updates regularly during that weekend, Nov 7-8 on my Twitter (@girlygamernerd1).  2 of my favorite cosplay artists will be in attendance again this year.  Lightning Cosplay and Kamui.  Kamui put a fantastic original concept together last year.  She created the Protoss wizard (combining Protoss race from Starcraft and Wizard from Diablo). The costume was created with warbla and tons of LEDs that lit up the stones embedded in the armor.  Her staff was sooo well done.  She mentioned it took a bit of effort to get the LEDs to work correctly but her hard work paid off immensely.  

Lightning Cosplay is also from Germany.  She was in attendance last year with her fiance (they got engaged on stage!!) as a barbarian couple.  Both looked amazing. I was very excited to see she attended a con recently in the states where she went as Magda, a sorceress from Diablo III. Details on this costume were amazing. The wings on her back are actually 2 large moths that allow Magda to fly around.  

I can’t wait to see all the costumes from this years convention! I look forward to the in game goodies we will get too.  Hoping to see more on Heroes of the Storm as it is still in Alpha. I wonder if they might release something about the Protoss expansion of Starcraft.  Protoss was always my favorite race to play.

Comment below on what you look forward to see from Blizzcon! Share photos with me on Twitter (and follow me!!) @girlygamernerd1 and on Pinterest.  

GAME ON!

Art Style Series - Digital Painting

So this week, I decided to share a basic (vrey very basic) breakdown of one of my drawings that I have worked on. This is not the final as it's still a work in process but I like to share my progress. I am in the works of developing my digital painting techniques. I have so many styles I like to try and I personally think the style of the coloring/painting can help your picture.  If I went with my typical 'toonish' style of heavy ink lines and more of a vector image, it could convey a different mood as opposed to a more painterly image.   I am always learning so feel free to share constructive criticism! I'd love to hear from you!

This particular breakdown is not a tutorial. I assume that you understand basic Photoshop terminology and actions and do not detail the process but simply show you my work flow.

Enjoy!

Then there was a girl and she loved all things nerdy.

Greetings Nerd Herd!

So, to coincide with my new Twitter feed, @girlygamernerd1, I am launching this blog to share my musings of the interwebz of various gaming updates, art concepts and of course cosplay!  For those that don't know me, my name is Jayme (aka girlygamernerd). I am from Nashville, TN and I love all things art, gaming and that in between. I have always enjoyed creating and admiring fan art of our favorite games. It was until a few years ago I started to heavily research cosplay art form and hope to one day do my own creation at a convention.  For now I hope to share my love of games and more of the artistic side to it's development.  So come along with me! Please give me a follow on Twitter!

So tomorrow raps up the yearly DragonCon convention!

www.dragoncon.org

I was super sad I couldn't attend this year. I am hoping for better arrangements to go next year.  DragonCon is held every Labor Day weekend in Atlanta, GA. My first convention was back in 2007.  I fell in love with the atmosphere. It also opened a new door of art and fandom for me.  I still have not created my own cosplay...but in the next year I hope to have something I can proudly display.

This year, some of my favorite cosplayers were there:

Kamui Cosplay (http://www.kamuicosplay.com/)

Svetlana Quindt is from Germany and I have followed her progress for years. The work she puts into her armor and weapons is amazing. She does an amazing job pulling characters, armor or weapons from the game to bring them to life.  You can check out her blog to see her portfolio. AMAZING stuff guys!

Yaya Han (http://www.yayahan.com/)

Yaya has been in the world of cosplay for a very long time. Her style is no better word than ambitious!  She creates fabulous costume pieces, armor and props in very short amount of time as her schedule is very demanding since she travels to sever conventions per year.  Yaya has an amazing eye for detail and models her art work like a class act.


I have a few others I will share with you in the coming weeks.  Also to come, what are the biggest game releases that we are looking forward to this year?   Leave me a comment below! Discuss!