This week is my last week in my current apartment. I don't have much time, as we are now in last minute preparations and this week will be a long and difficult one. And for that reason, not much has happened on the gaming side of things, and not much will happen for the next few days either. I'm having trouble with Baldur's Gate because my CD4 is scratched for some reason. It worked better after a good cleaning up, but some areas of the game are still not accessible.

Let's begin with the art discussion now. Under the spotlight today are Mysidia's mischievous twins Palom and Porom. The reason why I chose Boum's Children of Mysidia as the featured art this week is because of the style of her piece. This picture is more about the design than the painting, that's for sure. The simple, flat colors do not add much depth to the picture, but the design and composition give it a unique feel. The back-to-back character positions and almost symmetrical composition make a lot of sense since the kids are twins. It creates both a feeling of duality and complicity. This image proves you do not need incredible painting skills or sophisticated software or material in order to have a nice-looking, colored picture.

Following up is Ace's A Crystalline Night Sky, a colorful collage featuring characters from the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. The coloring is bright, especially in the blue section. Although there's a lot of movement in all the different elements of the drawing, I feel as if they do not communicate with each other. My opinion on this is because the three elements are very close to each other and appear as if they had been placed in the center of the frame. The inclusion of text in the picture is interesting and I just love that textured background!

Damphyr is back with a second picture, this time portraying Rude from Final Fantasy VII. Similar to her Chibi Reno picture, this new one shows progress in many respects. First of all, a better mastering of light and shadow. The mixture of hard light and shadow contrasts and of subtle, smooth lighting gives personality to the drawing, although I believe Rude's suit could have been brighter in some places. Notice the eye brows and mouth's position. If you cover either side of his face, you get a different emotion. Shown together, the result is a skeptical face that just tells you to go play elsewhere and leave him alone.

Newcommer Melkor88 made me very happy by sending me the very first (and only) drawing of a suggested game. The game is Persona 3 and the characters are the main character and Yukari Takeba. The drawing is very interesting and it is obvious that attention has been given to line quality and shading. Line work is intriguing and I like the parts where the lines are pale and fade completely, losing themselves in the white of the paper. A good example of that would be on Yukari's head and shoulder. One needs to be cautious when using such an effect, though, because in some places it just looks weird and out of place, like when it is used somewhere in the middle of a straight line. The trick with shaded black and white drawings is to resist the need to use lines to define the shapes rather than shade around them. For example, the woman's blouse could have been slightly darker to define the main character's head instead of using a sharp line. Other than that, the characters' faces look good and their eyes show a lot of emotion. The piece would work well as a poster or as the front of a game's packaging.

Lastly, Nrorrk gives us a scene from Chrono Trigger, first seen in the PSX version of the game. Now watch out for spoilers because this could well be one if you do not know about the special ending sequence. I must start by asking just WHY is the cat so happy about the castle burning? This creature is clearly insane. Now that this issue is behind us, let's concentrate on the picture. Great interaction between the characters. Coloring is simple and works well. It's refreshing to have an actual scene taken from a game. We usually see characters posing or collages. The redesigned costumes are very original and Nathan had good fun thinking them out, I'm sure about that. The best part of the picture, however, has to be the sword. I just love the rainbow katana. I would have liked to see more of it. It makes me sad.

Oh well now I've dragged this for far too long. This is it for this week's Fan Art. I hope you enjoyed the art. I have changed the game suggestions for next month since this is the last column for august 2008. So now, send art! You get bonus points if you draw the complete rainbow sword. But seriously, next week's update will likely be late because I might not have internet access for a couple days. Expect a new change for the next update, because I have a little surprise I'm keeping for then. Have a good week, and see you all next time!

Maxime Viventi has so many things left to do