Awesome Face Magnets! £4.00 each
http://www.myspace.com/kylehopwoodart

Darwin Tremor

Zero VS Megaman : Friendly Rivalry

My latest piece is one I wanted and intended to do for some time, lack of materials (read: beads) put it on hold. However, it's finished! I made it over the space of 3 days with a sore arm and shoulder resulting. Not to mention my fingers staying in a claw like position for some time after! Totally worth it though. First I did Zero, click on the progress photos below for a bigger picture.

I had some small problems with colouring the red, I always feel that the standard "Dark Red" looks to light to be used as a shadow for normal red, but it usually turns out ok. Also the fact that my standard Red seems to have a few dark red beads in it, which is hard to notice untill they're ironed, then it's too late. I done some slight recolouring of parts, the gem on his helmet was only one shade of purple, but I added a lighter shade to bring it out a bit. Also used a neon looking colour called "Hot Coral" for the red highlights which again I think brings the whole piece out a bit more. After Zero it was time for Megaman, or "X" as he's simply known when Zero's around (Pretty much just geeked myself out there with that statement...). Again, click the progress photos below for a bigger picture.

This guy...THIS GUY was a complete pain to iron. I don't know if it was that particular colour of bead, but the dark blue, well all shades of blue just refused to fuse, no matter how hard or hot I used the iron...Eventually they gave up and joined the rest in melted glory. After it was finished, it was time to mount them. Usually I mount my pieces on FoamCore but the Art Store I shop in ran out of A1 boards, and A2 was too small, so the next best thing (according to the clerk) was MountBoard, which is just basically rigid carboard. So I got myself a sheet of that, trimmed it a bit and began to glue them both down, little did I know that the glue would decide to seep through the board, sticking it to the table. I managed to get it off with no noticable damage, which was a well needed positive. Unfortunately Zero was a tad squint and I hadn't noticed this untill the glue was well dried. Finished product below, clicky clicky.

It isn't priced at this time, but it's currently for sale on an offer basis in my Myspace Store.

Beading Blanka with Glow beads!

So amongst my huge shipment of beads, I ordered some Glow in The Dark beads. Originally had no idea what I'd use them on but after some inspiring searches I settled on Blanka from Street Fighter Alpha for the Gameboy Advance.

The piece contains about 2k beads, a few hundred of which are glow in the dark for his electricity.

Picture one, Blanka in normal light (click to enlarge).


Picture two, Blanka in the dark (click to enlarge).


Picture three, Blanka under a Black Light/Neon Light (click to enlarge).


He's now backed on FoamCore and ready for sale on my Myspace Store.

Beading Guy Fawkes from Maple Story

After waiting and overpaying in customs charges for my bead shipment, it arrived!

So I've got 3 pieces lined up, firstly "Guy Fawkes" from Maple Story, a PC RPG. Most will probably know him as "V" from V for Vendetta. He took 2,335 beads and about 3 hours of my time, but I was really happy with the outcome! Here he is :

I've also attached a high res unfused picture so you can see the amount of beads and colours in detail.

He's for sale on my Art Myspace page. If wanted, he can be mounted on foamcore to make him look nicer when mounted. He obviously looks good on his own aswell though!

Quick Review : Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix (Xbox 360)

Ok sure...it looks good, but after playing the game for a simple 10 minutes I have to say that it's been a big waste of money and anticipation. As much as I loved the original Street Fighter games, this version has been cursed with the same stupid ethics as Xbox Arcade re-release, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...It's just TOO difficult. Sure everyone loves a game that is challenging, but a game that is sluggish and has AI that loves to spam the same moves at you (Blankas jumping around and T-Hawks flying attack, not to mention Dhalsims already tedious elastic arms) just ruins any fun the game has to offer.

When I first fired it up I had a browse at the achievements, the usual Xbox Arcade quota of 200 points up for grabs doesn't make this game worth the pricey 1,200 points price (Roughly £10.00), especially seeing as predicted, a good chunk of them are online which (again the same as UMK3) will have you facing spamming opponents, leavers and people who just happen to be miles better than you at the game. A game with no ability matching never works online, it always ends up with a room of say 7 people which 6 just get repeatedly pwned from 1 person.

Lastly, the controls. The SF series in the arcades had joysticks similair to car gear sticks, with allocated groves for the stick to be pointed in the desired direction, but now that we're on analogue sticks which the game subliminally suggests you use...it just doesn't work. You can (in your head) be doing the exact directions/combos the move list asks of you, and you'll get nothing 90% of the time. So you'll go to the Xbox 360's horrid Dpad, which is mainly used as a menu sidekick in most games...it also is on an analogue pivet so again the same applies.

Frustrating and time wasting, I advise you to look past the "ZOMG STREET FIGHTER" and "OMG HD GFX!" and save your precious money/microsoft points and do something better with your time other than wanting to chew your control pad to pieces in frustration.

4 out of 10 (just because it looks nice)

Xbox 360 Avatar

Say hello to my new Xbox360 avatar. His names also Kyle...funnily enough. Look like me?