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Dungeons & Dragons is a Piece of Cake

Dungeons & Dragons is a piece of cake so long as the Dragon you’re slaying is made out of cake then an ordinary kitchen knife will do the job!

But, seriously, when Mike’s Amazing Cakes created this Birthday Cake of a Red Dragon clutching a D20 they created a work of art. And that’s a battle map it’s sitting on, by Jove! Y’know I think if someone brought this to one of our gaming sessions we’d have to do a special dungeon-run versus an Ancient Red. There you go guys, if you’re getting fed up* with the current campaign and fancy a big challenge to gain heaps of XP and go up that next level – you know what to do!
Red Dragon CakeYou can find more pictures of this beautiful monstrosity on FLICKR including it’s death and devourment. But this is not the only D&D themed cake made for, and in some cases by, rabid fans. Oh dear me, no. You might even say the best is yet to come!

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Blog

Webtoon ‘Minion’s Quest’

Good News everyone! Jonathan Ian Mathers, creator of the animated cartoon series Neurotically Yours starring Foamy the Squirrel, is venturing into the realm of Fantasy with a new web series. It’s called Minion’s Quest and follows the adventures of a Succubus, Velosa, who, upon being summoned, arrives to discover her Master nowhere to be found; her quest is searching for him in the strange new world she now inhabits.

I suspect she may be from a Futurama-type Universe as Velosa uses the word ‘axed’ instead of ‘asked.’ I love subtle geek references and this promises to be chock full of them!

Minion's Quest webtoon cartoon animation

Inspired by World of Warcraft and encouraged by internet successes like The Guild Mathers felt the time had come to realise a concept he’d been sitting on for 5 years! He says “It’s no secret I’m pretty geeky” and “I really need to work on something that isn’t centered around NYC. Foamy, 4y, Dia & Tofu all take place in Manhattan so this gives me a chance to go beyond my comfort zone.”

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Blog Uncategorized

brushie brushie brushie

brushie brushie brushie guinea pig by amuletts of the webcomic epic failThis is my additition to the brushie brushie brushie meme which started with a bat having it’s head brushed by a blue toothbrush (so cute) and spiraled into a series of images using the same motif created by different people. Thus we have been brought such delightful imagry as Picard transported from dispair to delight by the miraculous blue toothbrush. It even got made into a comic strip!

Well, I just had to find out if a blue toothbrush really had that effect, so using scientific method, I tested* it on a Guinea Pig. She seemed to like it. Mind you she does like strokes on the head best.

*No Guinea Pigs were harmed during brushie brushie brushie

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Blog Sketches

Fan Art for Children of the Tiger

Kinrou from the webcomic Children of the Tiger. Fan Art by amulettsThis Fan Art is of Kinrou from the Fantasy webcomic Children of the Tiger by Melissa Stone aka purenightshade. I am every grateful to her for being the person to introduce me to the fact there is a webcomics community out there, and I read her webcomic regularly. This version of Kinrou is based off a pin-up she drew of him (you might be able to tell).

In the current storyline he is in a love-triangle with Kishandren and Sahiren, but in order to preserve an element of mystery I will not tell you which one he is in love with. Ha ha!

The story in Children of the Tiger very much hinges on the world, and society, in which it is based. It’s a slow reveal, where we’re gradually given pieces to the puzzle that connect events to wider politics. This is an example of a story that is not happening in a vacuum – the main characters aren’t the only people to exist or indeed the only people who are important. That’s something I like, but I think it’s hard to do. I can’t say whether the script succeeds on every level – all the pieces are not in place yet and the author is still learning.

What I like about the artwork is the bright colours. I’ll be honest: the anatomy isn’t great, but I’m a little guilty of that myself. Actually this put me onto Posemaniacs (which I never heard of before) and is such a useful resource. It basically has 3D models of nudes in all sorts of poses that you can move and practise drawing from different angles. They even include muscle structure. I might post some sketches from their references at some point.

Until then, just enjoy sexy Kinrou.

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Blog Sketches

Fan Art for Wayward Fall

I drew some more fan art, this one of Vigana from the fantasy webcomic Wayward Fall by Taversia Borrelli (now there’s the name of an Artist if ever I heard one)! It’s a fairly adult webcomic with plenty of violence, a dash of sex and a dark, Gothic feel – but what do you expect from a comic where vampires stalk the streets?

Vigana from the webcomic Wayward Fall; Fan Art by amuletts

And that’s just what Vigana is: a sexy flame-haired, red-and-black-wearing Vampire (just the sort Amuletts would probably go for)! She’s pretty awesome in my opinion – I like strong female characters.

Hmm, I think I just came up with a new tagline for this comic: Love Buffy? Hate Twilight? Read Wayward Fall!

And now I’ve stirred up that shit-storm allow me to explain: The Vampires in this story are very traditional, they are dangerous, blood-drinking creatures of the night. And like Buffy this comic combines elements of both fantasy and horror, with a hidden, dark world of magic and supernatural creatures. It’s not a teenage angsty romance. Well… I mean there is angst and romance but it’s adult angst and romance :p

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Blog Sketches

Fan Art for Dungeon Legacy

FAN ART SNEAK ATTACK! This is a drawing of Karlaia, a Tiefling Wizard, from the webcomic Dungeon Legacy by George Ward (aka DungeonWarden), and like Epic Fail it is also based on Dungeons & Dragons, but the more modern 4th Edition variety.

‘Saving the world one Dungeon at a time’ since 2008, Dungeon Legacy boasts 7 Chapters and is fast approaching 200 pages! It’s drawn in a niave, somewhat medieval style that not everybody will like but is very clear from a storytelling perspective and fits the genre.

If you enjoy flicking through the Monster Manual to see what weird and wonderful creatures it contains you will not be disappointed; the heroes encounter many monsters including Giants, Vampires, Drow, Displacer Beasts, Lizard Men, and many more. The story concentrates on the fantasy races and exploring their worlds –  there are six main characters and not a human amongst ’em!

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Blog Sketches

Self Portrait

I have it in my mind to redesign amuletts.com as it’s, like, a decade out of date. I think it should say ‘This is me’ and be a portal to all the things I do and my places on the web. A hub as it were. So the front page should have a picture of me then nice clear links off to Website Design, Fine Art, Epic Fail (of course) and Epic Maille. I may do the links in the form of speech bubbles.

I haven’t really been using the site to sell myself. I got a stalker off there a while back and ever since I’ve been nervous of putting up contact information. Also, if I have other website commissions I will put them first, neglecting my own. So… first things first, I need a picture of me. I’m an Artist, so just sticking up a photo would be lazy.

This is the first ever self-portrait I have done of myself using Photoshop. Turned out surprisingly well I think – looks like the practice I get drawing comics is paying off. I still haven’t got the knack of drawing with a Wacom Tablet, so I still did the pencils by hand and they’re part of the final image – I set the layer to multiply and the opacity to 70%. I think it adds more depth to the shading. Actually I think I might try something similar with Epic Fail; scan the pencils first, scan, ink, scan again and overlay one over the other… or something. I know what you’re thinking: that’s an awful lot of scanning, but I just use whatever method works for me.

As always comments and criticism welcome (and helpful)! If you like my stuff why not folloew me on twitter?

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Blog

Caption 2010 Report

I went to Caption Comics Convention at the weekend, which is based in the city I live, Oxford. Considering I’ve been here for the past 7 years I should probably have attended it before now, especially since last years theme was ‘Away with the Fairies’ of all things. I love faeries! And I missed it! But in my defense I’ve never seen it advertised anywhere locally.

But this year I made it and it’s totally unlike any other comics convention. I mean, at most of them the exhibitors rent their table and sit behind it all day gradually getting a numb-bum. Not so here. Comics are checked-in at the beginning to be sold at a big table by the organisers and then everyone is free to enjoy the show, fans and creators alike. It’s much more of a social, rather than commercial, place. It’s about meeting new people and sharing art. Boy, do I know a lot more people in the UK comics community now!

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Blog Movie Interviews

Interview with Director Cisco Davis Jr. on ‘The Peculiars.’

Director and Producer Cisco Davis Jr. talks about The Peculiars – an Indie Superhero film set to start filming this autumn. Something peculiar is coming…

First things first, What is The Peculiars about?

The Peculiars is a actually a spin-off of my webcomic “The Pure and Hidden Truth” (www.pureandhiddentruth.com). It tells the story of a team of crime fighters based in Baltimore City that have just gone public as they take on their first big challenge of facing off with a domestic terror cell of dangerously imaginative mimes.

I’ve long suspected Mimes to be evil! Interesting villains to say the least; Mimes can do amazing things with their bodies. Have you cast actual Mimes and what feats can we expect to see from them?

During the casting process when I was casting the lead villain and and “henchmimes” I was very disappointed that I was auditioning ordinary people for these roles. And then I lucked out one day when I got an e-mail from an actual professional mime from New York! A week later the person came down to Baltimore for dinner and to talk about the movie and was cast on the spot for the lead villain! What’s cool is that the actor is a professional mime and can coach other villain actors during filming. I don’t want to give away too much of what these mimes are capable of but let’s just say that the phrase “dangerously imaginative” alludes to the very real possibility that their “miming”
of various actions or wielding certain objects could pose a serious threat to our heroes… 😉

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Blog Movie Reviews

Movie Review: Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

I’m starting to believe that Dungeons & Dragons is to film what Macbeth is to Theatre: cursed. Invoke the name and you spell disaster. Perhaps you’ve seen the 80’s cartoon series or Dragons of Autumn Twilight? They were bad, to be sure, but this is worse – far worse than you can possibly imagine. Which, believe it or not, is sort of it’s charm; it keeps you watching with morbid fascination to see just how bad bad can get.

Blue lipstick? Bugger me!

The movie’s tag-line was ‘This is no game,’ and truer words were never spoken. The classic role-play game is only conspicuous in it’s absence from the production that bears it’s name. A few scant elements were incorporated from the source matter, but those inaccurately, so what was intended as fan service comes across as a kick in the teeth.

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