An Unexpected Mail...

Earlier today, I was checking something really quickly on my dead dA account, when I noticed I got a message from just last May:

Now just some backstory... Several years ago in dA, I used to play Tekken 2 a lot. I was immensely fascinated by the story and mystery surrounding Kazuya and his relationship with the Angel and the Devil vying for control within him. I ran on a high drawing pics of the three of them, posting my measly colored pencil drawings on dA to compensate for the lack of content of the three of them interacting with one another (and mostly for my own personal enjoyment more than anything).

I was also watching a buttload of videos about Tekken on Youtube as well. One of them was a compilation of CGI clips from various Tekken games while the song Summer Nights from Grease played in the background (and fucking end me because I can not find that video on Youtube anymore REEEEEEEEE). Videos like those mainly served as more fuel to draw them interacting with each other in a more lighthearted manner.

I remember also at the time, they were announcing Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on the PS3. I was just stoked to play it and was begging to see Angel on TTT2 or bloody riot. I got what I wanted eventually, and bought a copy of the game with Angel and Kunimitsu as available DLC characters. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to play it, let alone open it despite having pre-ordered it, as my life got too busy at the time for me to be interested to buy a PS3 and my interest had already long petered out.

This post is the last testimony I have of those times. The other artworks I posted on dA about them are no more. I stored them before I went inactive, but now I can no longer seem to find them. I suppose they got deleted probably after dA made their UI overhaul of the site.

The message was an unexpected, but welcome surprise to be honest. I sent them back an appropriate reply:

Feels good man. Feels very good.

09/30/2021 Changelog

Hey, guys. No art today (sadness), but as I am slowly revitalizing the website and fixing some things here and there, I figured now would be a good time to post updates regarding the blog itself and what you guys can expect in the near future.

So first off...

New website address. For the sake of having a nicer looking website, I changed the website's address from zipknight48.blogspot.com to zippyzipper.blogspot.com. That old dingy username from 11 years ago is no more. It's high time I went back to my old username, one with a lot of quirk. Just the way I like it. All of my links will now have the new site address. Shouldn't be too much of a complicated process as far as I'm aware. Unfortunately, my Gmail mailing address is still the same and I have no intent to change it.

New e-mail! I've recently created a new e-mail, on Yahoo! Why Yahoo? That shit's ancient! It's simple: the e-mail I wanted to make wasn't taken, and I had the app on my phone, so for the sake of just using it more I made my account there. Now you can reach me on more mails than before!

New profile pic! As mentioned previously, I've updated my profile pic to reflect the 2020 version of me more.

Removed Sharehouse Cooking as an individual page. I didn't think it was pretty necessary to keep it up, so I took it down. It still has its own tag in case you're keen on looking up the recipes I've made and posted about.

Soon on Crossover...

Moar art! This is pretty much a given. I'm aiming to get more art pumped into this website before the end of the year. I also have a terribly abusive relationship with procrastination so in an attempt to break free of that I'm setting myself some deadlines to keep content running on the site. In line with that...

Scheduled posts. I am thinking of creating a schedule of what to post on specific days of the week. For example, Photography on Mondays, Inks on Tuesdays, Digital Art on Saturdays, etc. I don't really have it well-thought out just yet, and the idea is still up the air until the end of next month because...

Digitober. Breaking the tradition I've been attempting to successfully keep keeping on the site for several years, instead of Inktober this year I will be doing what I call Digitober. Essentially this is the same thing as Inktober where I post art everyday for a month, except in this case it's little bits of digital artwork instead. No photographs, just digital paintings of random things or whatever. Again, this is an attempt to finally break free from my abusive relationship with procrastination and to be more productive overall. This is also so that I stay true to my New Year's resolution of more digital art in 2020. Also, so I can add more color around here; this site is full of too much monochrome and grayscale and I wanna change that.

Patreon? This has really been nagging at me for the longest time. I've had some friends egg me to start a Patreon for my art, but I've been too unwilling to test the waters out of a lot of uncertainty and anxiety. I really want to change that, but first I need to learn to be more productive, and be more proactive with learning art overall. So like scheduled posts, this will be up in the air until further notice.

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That's all for now. Until next time, cheers!

-Zip

Then and Now (2020)

 

In my attempt to keep my website up-to-date, I drew a new, more appropriate looking avatar for my current self (excuse the blurriness of the second photo).

Thing is, back then I hated my curly, unruly hair. I was so into straightening my hair so much that I'd do just about whatever to do that. Over time though, the constant straightening sessions just damaged my hair so badly, and I had an unhealthy obsession of trying to portray myself as the appearance I perceived to really be, which fucked me several times over mentally and emotionally. I had believed so hard that if I tried hard enough, I could become just what I thought I could be, but in the end, it was just me trying to be something that wasn't. It took me such a long time to realize that, and to realize how fucked up it really was.

I came to eventually embrace this part of myself. First, it was hair that most women were just dying to have but never could, and I felt proud knowing I naturally had something that people envied so much (as petty as it sounds). But the real thing that convinced me to be more accepting of it was the fact that my hair could never really be kept down no matter what anyone did; it was wild, unruly, and rebellious... And I realized my hair and I just weren't all that different. The whole thought of it amused me enough to just be okay with it.

Since then I've been taking biotin pills on a daily basis, and just letting my hair grow and free as it wants to be. I'm actually going for a bit of a Spanish look with it; still a ways to go, but I'm getting there.

Coq Au Vin

(Would it still be called Sharehouse Cooking if I don't live in a sharehouse anymore? Or would it simply just be plain Cooking? Would it matter? Technically I am sharing my house with the rest of my family... Either way, you can still cook this in a sharehouse, so enough self-debating and let's get on to the recipe!)

In recent months and weeks, my free time has mostly been poured into playing Guild Wars 2. Just before the beginning of a meta event, it's customary to lay down some buff banners and food right by the crowd, so everyone participating gets a little boost that helps take down the big bosses. One of the foods people often put down in is Coq Au Vin, which buffs vary depending on the garnish or notable seasoning used, as you can see from these recipes over here.

After seeing several different instances of platters of chicken in red wine being passed and served around to the squads of adventurers seeking gold and glory, I couldn't stand it any longer and sought to recreate a version of my own in real life. I pulled up my old stash of recipes saved from my college days, and once I procured my ingredients, went to make some kitchen magic happen:

In lieu of frrrrrrresh chicken stock that I ought to have been making from scratch like a tr00 cHeF, I instead decided to use chicken cubes (chicken powder basically packaged to look like cubes). Besides, unless you're one of those people who are just incredibly anal about this stuff, chances are you'll want to spend the least amount of money possible; that bottle or carton of red wine alone is already gonna cost you a fair bit, for sure.

The end product tasted just as I expected, bringing to the forefront of my mind memories of a time when learning to create delicious food came at the cost of your mental and emotional health, as well as your own sanity, in addition to the already expensive tuition fee. Never fucking again.

But enough about my personal problems--at the end of the day, this classic French stew tastes just as fancy as it sounds, and is sure to not disappoint on a family gathering or a get-together with friends at your place. Best served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, and feel free to add some German sausages in there too if you want a heartier meal.

Reminiscing Egypt

A few days ago I read this article on Kotaku about in-game photography in GTA 5 and the whole culture behind it. After seeing all the photos, some of which more surreal than I'm used to, I couldn't help feeling inspired. So after making a few edits on my last digital painting, I went digging through some of the screenshots I had from playing Assassin's Creed: Origins and started editing them.

I saw how few the photos I had from AC: Origins were, which was surprising given how I really loved the whole concept of the Photo Mode in the game. It was the perfect addition to a game with such stunning background and scenery, which I felt captured the whole feel of ancient Egypt.

Anyway, I decided to just share what photos I have, after giving them a quick shoopin':

They make great desktop wallpapers too. It's great.

Sad to say I deleted the game a few weeks ago to make space for Cities: Skylines... 😅 At the very least I still have AC: Odyssey on my computer, and I'm keen on sharing my photos from that game too sometime in the future. 😄 I've certainly taken more than just a few...

I'll also be digging through my Snapmatic photos from GTA 5, see about editing a couple of those as well. They're probably not as good as the ones in the article I read, but I think a couple of them are well worth sharing still. 🙂

New Friends

"Oh hey, it's you! The one who saved me from the river the other day!"

"Huh?" Todd looked up. It was that little gator from Gatorville... Stubby, wasn't it? "Oh, hello..."