Don't ask, a very good friend told me to name the column that.

Ok, as for announcements we only have one. Everyone, from this moment on is obligated to read the guidelines again as well as the FAQ. I have changed some of the old rules, so it would be good for you submitters both new and old to check it out.

With that said, I'm keeping the blurb short this week. You have 3 more weeks for the mini-contest, make sure you follow the new guidelines if you submit from today and on. If you get a rejected e-mail coming from my RPGamer account, please do not freak out. I have a 10 MB limit on my redirect account, and if that happens here's what I want you to do: Go over to the RPGamer message board and use their message feature letting me know your e-mail/submission was rejected. I will check to see if it has, and if so I will give you an alternate way of submission. This rarely happens, but I'm getting close to 9 MB of stored pictures in that account, so I'm being cautious.

Stay tuned to the closing for info on how I'm working the column with archives now, schedule and such

Artist's Comments: This picture is inspired by Jeff's contest rules. I had in mind to draw Sephiroth, but I wanted to draw him in a way to show off his sexiness, but didn't want to draw him with his clothes off... the best thing is the frame runner uniform from the game Zone of the Enders 2, where it's tight fitting and accentuates the body's lines. I have also incorporated some of his original clothes design into the new one.

Curator's Comments: This is exactly what the contest is about. Taking a character and making a new design but having some elements of the prior design if you can work it in. Thank you for a great example!

Artist's Comments: Something compelled me to do a colored pencil drawing after weeks, maybe months of not using the medium. I suppose all that time away did some good after all. This is probably one of my best colored pencil drawings.

Curator's Comments: Although it doesn't make a huge difference, sometimes pressing down harder on the pencil can cover up some white areas and even add a more dynamic look. Your shading here is spot-on, but pushing down harder on the pencil to fill in extra white areas is a good thing. What I always do when I color pencil something is I get every shade of the color I'm aiming for, and go lightest to the darkest of my effect, it gives it more of a shaded/fading look.

Artist's Comments: Have you ever gone insane? At first it feels good. But then, it begins to hurt. Then it begins to really hurt. That's kinda like how I felt while I was doing this piece. I'm actually very happy with how it turned out. I'm always very confused by Ashton. In the actual game he's a real pushover and a wimp, but in the battles, he rocks. For this, I chose to use the designs for Gyoro and Ururun that came from the anime because they seem to have more personality. I especially like how I drew Ururun. For some reason, I just couldn't get Gyoro down as well as I would have liked. I like how the coloring came out in general. Colored and drawn with Photoshop.

Curator's Comments: Overall it looks very nice. The pose would be a little difficult to do, but it works here. Everything looks like it just works with the picture.

Artist's Comments: This is my first submission to RPGamer. I was thinking about submitting something for some time, and finally decided to submit my latest picture. I first scanned it and drew the lines again on the computer, then colored it using Paint Shop Pro 7. I hope you like it.

Curator's Comments: Great job on the coloring, I especially laugh with the spatula. I couldn't get over Leena's use of a spatula. Always remember, however, you have some movement thus some of your clothes will move in certain ways as well, such as skirts. Her skirt should be moving a back and to the right deal, since she has some movement to the front-left.

Artist's Comments: Inspired by the pic in the back of the US manual. after not having much success at a combat scene i went with the old reliable: the idle stance with no background. Done with a 0.5mm Pentel P205 on Hammermill laserprinter paper. Darkened, blurred, and anti-aliased in Photopaint9.

Curator's Comments: Love the Amano-esque style and would love to see this colored.

Artist's Comments: I love Final Fantasy X. The storyline and art is so beautiful, especially the story between Tidus and Yuna. Spoiler: It broke my heart at the end that they couldn't be together.

Curator's Comments: Great pencilwork, I love Tidus' lips here and I loved the game myself.

Artist's Comments: I was a little disappointed that Margulis didn't have a larger role toward the end of Xenosaga, but it looks like he's going to be back in action for the second episode. Anyway, I wanted to pack this piece with energy, so I gave him a blue glow and made a foreground filter with lots of movement.

Curator's Comments: Very good job on coloring, but his hair could use a little more shadows on the front.

Artist's Comments: I did this picture all in Prismacolor colorpencils. I did try using Paintshop, and Photoshop....but I can't. I also just wanted to say that I draw a lot of Final Fantasy Artwork, and that I hope to be able to submit more artwork

Curator's Comments: Looks like art from the game itself. Great coloring job.

Again, don't ask. I'm strugging to finish this update.

For the public knowledge bank updates are as follows:

Saturday I prepare the works by saving them from my e-mail, 8 pieces are selected from Accepted and Backlog respectfully.

Sunday I update with the 8 works, taking about 2 hours to do the HTML work.

All week I check my e-mail and sort them out, I do not write replies yet so you will just have to check here to see if your work is accepted. So far I still have 20 or so works in backlog.

Friday I enter last weeks artworks into the archive.

So now you know when to check here. Sunday and Friday are your key days, one for archives and another for updates. Tutorials are coming soon, please read the guidelines, and I am out of here for the week.