TSAOSHIN

My new F2B Savannah Cat Ose!

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 21:15:51 -0400

My new F2B Savannah Cat Ose!

First Flight

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 18:58:32 -0400

A baby griffin contemplates his first flight.

Created with Adobe Photoshop CS4.

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Little Foo Dogs

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

I love Foo Dogs. I used my cat as a reference :]

Created with Adobe Photoshop CS4.

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Pokemon Group

Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Just a fun drawing of some of the original Pokemon. I made them for buttons for this year’s Otakon. Enjoy!

Created with Adobe Photoshop CS4.

For larger size and commenting, check it out on deviantART.

Through the Woods

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0400

A kitten and his friend take an early morning stroll through the woods.

Created with Adobe Photoshop CS4.

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The Final Boss

Mon, 30 May 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Gannon, the Prince of Darkness, faces Link in the final chamber of Death Mountain from the original Legend of Zelda.

As an ’80s kid, few things were more important to me than Legend of Zelda. I was Link for many Halloweens and I often created “dungeons” out of couch cushions and blankets around our house. Hyrule was a constant source of inspiration for drawings which continues even today.

This scene is when you first enter Gannon’s (not a typo) chamber and Link holds the completed Triforce above him. During my first play through of the game, my hands were sweaty when I saw this final boss after hours of navigating his maze-like dungeon (no Gamefaqs back then!).

I took liberties in the design here so in b4 omg inaccurate :b I borrowed a lot of Gannon’s design off his more recent incarnations.

Enjoy!

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More backyard friends!

Wed, 18 May 2011 23:30:07 -0400

More backyard friends!

Almost ran this little guy over with my mower today! He must...

Tue, 17 May 2011 22:40:25 -0400

Almost ran this little guy over with my mower today! He must have wandered onto our yard from the river near by. Quite a trek.

Today, Mr. Boots is home with his new owner. I made the...

Mon, 02 May 2011 21:23:17 -0400

Today, Mr. Boots is home with his new owner. I made the decision to give him away after several months of considering his living situation with us. With the cats and a lack of safe running space, he spent most of his time caged up ever since our move. He is now cheerfully bounding among other rodent friends with a nice lady from College Park. Goodbye, little guy. We’ll miss you.

Hiccup's Treasure Map

Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0400

Hiccup has found a map that he believes will lead to a rare treasure. After hours of hiking through a snowy tundra, they approach a dark forest where, according to the map, the treasure is buried. Hiccup reassures Toothless that everything will be fine but the dragon has his doubts.

Wanted to draw a scene with Toothless and Hiccup on an adventure in a winter setting. I had hoped to finish this up during winter so the setting would feel appropriate but couldn’t find the time to work on it. So, here it is for spring!

Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Toothless, Hiccup and How To Train Your Dragon are © Dreamworks.

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Yesterday, I hiked Old Rag with Jamie. Great peak with...

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:34:15 -0400

Yesterday, I hiked Old Rag with Jamie. Great peak with beautiful views and a terrific scramble. This was my third time up but it never gets dull!

Etsy Shop

Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:50:06 -0500

Etsy Shop:

Finally got around to creating my shop on Etsy. Not much there right now but at least it’s up!

Recently purchased my first home! Here’s a few of the...

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:21:27 -0500

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Billiard Room

Cinema

Sunroom

Studio

William's Room

Tsao's Room

Arcade

Recently purchased my first home! Here’s a few of the photos after we unpacked, painted and got new furniture. More photos are on my flickr account.

Secret Santa Gift

Sat, 25 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0500

My secret santa gift to dancemove as part of the Cutesy Secret Santa 2010 exchange.

I hope you enjoy! Wishing everyone a happy holiday!

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Walt Disney World 2010

Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:49:00 -0400

I realized that I STILL haven’t posted about our trip to Walt Disney World. So instead of sitting down and trying to write one now, I’m hijacking 27’s post on his blog about it:

My sister was scheduled to visit me and Tsao between her school semesters with her girlfriend, so in a last minute decision, Tsao and I decided to surprise them with a trip to Walt Disney World!

There were a ton of choices to make. First of all, whether to drive or fly. If we drove, we’d have to set aside two extra days (one for each way) for the drives up and down. If we flew, we’d have to stay for more days in order to maximize our value. After much debating and asking friends, we chose to fly.

Our next big choice was where to stay. Since we were booking at the last minute, the resort rates within the park were pretty steep, but we were determined to spend our nights on the park property.

There are multiple benefits for this. We wouldn’t need to rent a car to travel from the airport to the resort since there is a bus that travels between them for free for resort guests. There are buses inside the resort that will take you from the resort to any of the parks. The parks are open longer on select days only for resort guests!

We decided to go with one of their middle tier resorts, the Caribbean Beach, to avoid most of the families full of kids at the most reasonable price.

We chose to stay for four full days with the additional Park Hopper option. We also opted for a fifth day, the day we flew in. The price for the additional day was so low, that even if we didn’t utilize it, it wouldn’t matter.

We made sure to schedule our days to maximize our resort guest extra hours.

Last time we went to Disney World, I wanted to write a detailed review of everything we did. That ended up never being finished, so this time I’m being less ambitious. Here is a log I kept of all the rides we rode on each day, in order:

Friday

Magic Kingdom

Pirates of the Caribbean

Ate at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn & Café

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Splash Mountain

Haunted Mansion

it’s a small world

Mickey’s PhilharMagic

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor

Stitch’s Great Escape!

Space Mountain

Saturday

Hollywood Studios

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Ate at ’50s Prime Time Café

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

The Magic of Disney Animation

Journey into Narnia

Studio Backlot Tour

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

Star Tours

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!

Jim Henson’s Muppet*Vision 3D

Toy Story Midway Mania!

Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream

Sunday

Animal Kingdom

Kilimanjaro Safaris

Pangani Forest Exploration Trail

Wildlife Express Train

Habitat Habit!

Conservation Station

Affection Section

Finding Nemo - The Musical

Ate at Anandapur Yak & Yeti Restaurant

Expedition Everest

DINOSAUR

Primeval Whirl

It’s Tough to Be a Bug!

Festival of the Lion King

Photo op with Lilo & Stitch

Expedition Everest

DINOSAUR

Maharajah Jungle Trek

Expedition Everest

EPCOT

Some of the World Showcase, from Mexico through China

Magic Kingdom

Peter Pan’s Flight

Prince Charming Regal Carrousel

Snow White’s Scary Adventures

Dumbo’s Flying Circus

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Tomorrowland Speedway

Monday

EPCOT

Ate at Electric Umbrella

Universe of Energy

Mission: SPACE (Green line)

The Seas with Nemo & Friends

Test Track

Soarin’

Living with the Land

Spaceship Earth

The entire World Showcase in counter-clockwise direction

Ate in Morocco

Downtown Disney

Various shops

Ate at Planet Hollywood

Tuesday

Magic Kingdom

Tomorrowland Transit Authority

Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress

Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin

Astro Orbiter

Ate at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe

The Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre Farm

Mickey Mouse’s House

Space Mountain

The Hall of Presidents

Country Bear Jamboree

The Enchanted Tiki Room (Under New Management)

Walt Disney World Railroad

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

Jungle Cruise

Ate at Liberty Tree Tavern

Pirates of the Caribbean

Mad Tea Party

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

There are a lot of great rides here. Aside from all the classics that I love in the Magic Kingdom, my favorite new Disney attractions are: Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, DINOSAUR, It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, Star Tours, and Toy Story Midway Mania!

On Tuesday, when we entered the Magic Kingdom, our tickets were processed manually instead of through the machines. This created a problem when we used the Fastpass ticket machines in Frontierland and Adventureland. They recognized that our tickets hadn’t been processed and refused to give us a ticket. We exploited the situation by giving confused looks to the machine attendant, who would have Fastpasses printed for us. We would then run over to other Fastpass enabled rides and collect more tickets, so we could skip the lines to a few rides in a row. Awesome!

Make sure you figure out in advance which restaurants have air conditioning that you would care to eat in. For the most part, the lowest tier restaurants will be outdoor numbers, but there are a few cheap places with A/C. In EPCOT, you can go to the Electric Umbrella in Future World. In the Magic Kingdom, you can try Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, but expect the line to be out the door if you want go during standard eating hours.

We nicknamed EPCOT to ‘CRAPCOT’. There’s very little actual fun to be had here because it’s primarily stores and shops. We even heard one of the Disney employees remark, “Do you know what EPCOT stands for? ‘Empty Pockets? Come Other Time’”. There are a couple really nice spots in the World Showcase, like Mexico and the buildings in China and Japan, but they are pretty limited. They really need to step up their efforts in edutainment in this whole zone. Future World has incredible lines, especially for Soarin’ (which is really cool) and Fast Track (which is ho hum).

It was worth upgrading to the middle tier hotel resort. When we got on the bus at the airport, it was packed with loud, obnoxious children. When we arrived at our hotel, only our group and another got off the bus; the noisy families were hauled off to the bottom tier hotels that were on our bus’s route. Our suspicions were correct!

We had a blast. I’m already looking forward to the next time we visit.

Tsao took a bunch of photos that you can check out here.

Chu

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Summer time campfire fun for Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu. Hope you enjoy!

Grass brushes by charfade.

Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Pichu, Pikachu and Raichu are © Nintendo.

For larger size and commenting, check it out on deviantART.

And so it begins...

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Little Link could never understand why this kid seemed to be addicted to giving him crap. He’d build a beautiful sand castle on the shores of Lake Hylia and BOOM - it gets knocked over. He had his ocarina smashed more than once coming home from band and his lunch rupees stolen almost every day since they met. He hated this little punk more than anything in Hyrule, but he knew one day…ONE DAY he’d have his revenge…

Something for fun as a follow up to my last drawing ^^

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Conquer Yourself

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Fanart of Link and Dark Link from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This was one of my favorite parts of the game and I’ve really loved the Dark Link/Shadow Link character since his inception in Link’s Adventure.

Here’s my take on the epic battle against yourself. Oh how frustrating this fight was until I busted out my Megaton Hammer. ;)

Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4. Inspirations for the poses from selficide-stock and Photoshop brushes from obsidiandawn.com

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The Creation of Mario

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Shigeru Miyamoto creates Mario in a parody of Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” from the Sistine Chapel.

Oh boy! What a journey on this drawing. I was joking with my best friend around about doing a drawing like this and after a few ideas of doing classic game characters in well known masterpieces, we came up with this crazy idea.

I know there’s quite a few inaccurate attributions to Miyamoto on some of the characters represented here but I really wanted him to be surrounded by some of Nintendo’s finest.

I’m aware that I’m also missing some females like Pauline from the original Donkey Kong but it was getting a bit crowded in that little swarm so I kept it limited to some of the more recognizable characters.

From left to right: Mario, Midna, Shigeru Miyamoto, Daisy, Princess Peach, Toadette, Zelda and Birdo. Lower row: Rosalina and Samus.

The leaf is from Super Mario Bros. 3. It’s the one that grants you the raccoon tail.

Had a lot of fun drawing this one out! Created in Adobe Photoshop CS4.

References for some poses from almudena-stock and star brushes from kuschelirmel-stock.

For larger size and commenting, check it out on deviantART.

May-June Updates

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 19:31:00 -0400

It has been an exhausting month. My sister visited for a week and the day after she left, William’s sister arrived. So for three straight weeks, it has been a non-stop adventure. I’ll break up my post and start with Jackie’s visit as a separate topic.

Jackie arrived at the end of May to the exceptionally hot and muggy DC weather. We played some billiards and arcades over at the Rockville Dave and Busters and tried out some Duckpin Bowling at White Oak Lanes. I’m a terrible bowler but had fun anyway. We trekked up to Baltimore for Maryland Death Fest and had lunch at the Inner Harbor.

On Memorial Day, we went down to Virginia for Kings Dominion to check out some of the newer coasters. It was a toss up between this park and Busch Gardens but KD won out since it was closer and had an onsite water park. We tried out the new Intimidator 305 which is modeled after Cedar Point’s Millennium Force but built just a bit higher and with a more violent post-drop experience.

I’ve ridden a lot of roller coasters in my life and have never been affected by them (aside from a headache here and there) but I actually grayed out on this. My vision became increasingly de-saturated and I began to lose control of my body. Luckily, the coaster took a turn upwards and the negative G-forces snapped me back into full consciousness. It was insane.

Apparently this is a common issue on the ride and William experienced it as well. It was probably one of the most severe positive and negative G-force encounters I’ve felt on any coaster. The accelerated climb was pretty cool too.

Also worth mentioning was Flight of Fear - a totally dark enclosed coaster with an accelerated start. Somehow, we managed to miss this ride completely on our trip to Kings Dominion with Josh. This was also a great experience similar to Space Mountain but with inversions and corkscrews. It was far more aggressive than I was expecting from a ride tucked away in the back corner of the park.

I took Jackie to a couple of thrift stores so she could look for old cameras. She showed me some of the really great photography she takes with older cameras on expired film. She took all of the pictures on this post.

It was great to see her again and I had a lot of fun!