deviantART: by:Dazvinik

http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/10764353/ Sat, 18 Nov 2006 13:11:14 PST
My mother is trying to find a series of fantasy-themed books that she read when she was younger. She really loved the story, and wants to revisit the world and characters, but cannot remember the authors name or book title. We both have been doing some searches for this series, but so far we have come up empty-handed. I figured I would give the folks here at DeviantART the information we currently have on the series, and see if anyone happens to know what were looking for, or is able to find it on their own. Im thinking that this would be a great birthday present for her, to be able to find these books. Im pretty sure it wont come as a surprise to her though, seeing as she looks at my account here at DA.

Oh well. Anyway, heres the information we currently have:

-The books were written by a female author
-There are at least two books in the series
-The books were probably published before 1995
-The books are considered to be in the Fantasy/Romance genres
-In the second book, the protagonists were married, in the first they were not
-The main characters of the series were named Cain and Elaine (Spelling might be different, Im not sure)
-The main characters held monk/priestess type occupations
-Elaine was a priestess of purity and light
-Elaine possibly had a Pegasus-like winged horse as a pet/companion
-Cain was a monk/priest of darkness Possibly belonged to an order of dark priests
-Dark priesthoods location was possibly in mountain/volcano area
-Protagonists were on a quest to discover what the coming darkness was, and started a journey across the sea to an unknown land
-They encountered tribal people when they arrived in the new land, who if memory serves lived in tree houses
-The villainous creatures in the series were humanoid, lizard-like creatures who were once people, transformed by some sort of dark magic or disease
-Lizard creatures were referred to as some sort of soul eaters, who attacked/infected people with an umbilical-like stinger that emerged from their navels.
-The book title most likely had the word Destiny in it somewhere, but we arent 100% sure of it

(Yeah. She found out already and gave me some additional info. We hope it helps.

)

If you can find information on a book or series of books that sounds like this, please send me a note entitled Book Contest, and give me the following information:

-Authors Name
-Series Title
-Book Titles

I will look it up and see if it is the correct series, and if so, youve won yourself a subscription or art from my store. I apologize for not having a larger selection of work available for purchase, but thats the way it is for now.

Best of luck, everyone! I hope we can figure this one out.

Current project lineup for Summoners:

Acid DragonTutorial will accompany this one!
Golden Dragon
Swooping (Blue) Dragon

Finished/Pending work for Summoners:

Megaraptor
Vrock
Infernal Dragon Close-up

Sketches/Potential works for Summoners:

T-Rex
Triceratops
And, of course, more dragons if needed.

I think thats it for now

Basic Info:

Available for Commission: Yes, please send me a note or email.

Available for Art Trade: Sure, why not? Just ask.

Available to create Gift Art: Possibly... Usually any gift art I create is for a family member or close friend, but I'm not against making exceptions

And even though I have not had a problem with this, I would still like to note: All images posted by me are my original creations. Unless I state otherwise, all images, characters, concepts, etc. are copyright to me. Please do not copy/redistribute/modify/STEAL any of my work.

If you are interested in using something of mine, whether it is for profit or not, please contact me and let me know. I'm sure we will be able to work something out.

I am a member of:

http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/10572471/ Tue, 31 Oct 2006 15:09:46 PST
Anyhow, when it gets here, I think I will take an evening and devote it to completing the ritual I have started for new RPGs Ill get everything set up, register my screen name, and start playing through as one of my most beloved characters, Shezmu. ((Unfortunately I don't have any art dedicated to my humanoid characters up at this point, but Shezmu can be seen in the Unholy Alliance pic: [link] Hes the guy with the scythe, in case you hadnt already deduced that

))

Seems like a good idea to take a night off from work, school, and commissions to get some R&R, and get back into some serious gaming. Hopefully that will give me a nice creative boost, role-playing usually does. Its sort of like a mini-vacation, only I don't even need to leave my room.

All right, now that I have completely revealed the extent of my RPG-obsessed geekiness, I must ask: What about all of you? Do you have a favorite computer-based RPG or MMORPG that you cant get enough of?

Current project lineup for Summoners:

DeinonychusTutorial will accompany this one!
Swooping Dragon

Finished/Pending work for Summoners:

Megaraptor
Vrock
Infernal Dragon Close-up

Sketches/Potential works for Summoners:

T-Rex
Triceratops
And, of course, more dragons if needed.

I think thats it for now

Basic Info:

Available for Commission: Yes, please send me a note or email.

Available for Art Trade: Sure, why not? Just ask.

Available to create Gift Art: Possibly... Usually any gift art I create is for a family member or close friend, but I'm not against making exceptions

And even though I have not had a problem with this, I would still like to note: All images posted by me are my original creations. Unless I state otherwise, all images, characters, concepts, etc. are copyright to me. Please do not copy/redistribute/modify/STEAL any of my work.

If you are interested in using something of mine, whether it is for profit or not, please contact me and let me know. I'm sure we will be able to work something out.

I am a member of:

Be sure to check them out!

]]> ~Dazvinik Update 10-08-06 http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/10324663/ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/10324663/ Sun, 08 Oct 2006 11:34:45 PDT
First off, I have discovered how much I love painting. I was never really as interested in painting as I was drawing while growing up, but Ive discovered that its really a blast! I just cant wait to start working in oils, because Ive found that acrylics dry out annoyingly fast. I think itd be pretty much impossible for me to do a large scale painting in acrylics, even when using the retardant to slow down the drying process. Im really looking forward to Painting II

Second, I think Im going to be exploring more with the creation of custom brushes in Photoshop. Ive heard arguments for and against using custom brushes, but I think Im leaning towards using them. They seem to add a lot of really rich texture to pieces that would be incredibly tedious to fill out with a standard Photoshop brush. Definitely something to start experimenting with. If I create something that turns out really well for me, Ill probably put up either a step-by-step of how it was created, a download of the brush itself, or both.

That brings me into my third little update I am currently working on a tutorial of sorts that walks through how I develop an image from sketch to finished piece. Itll probably be released in a part 1 and part 2, because I am undecided of how I want to finish the background of the image that Im featuring. Part 1 will cover the shading/lighting of the creature itself, and part 2 will cover how the background was completed.

On another note that still relates to tutorials I would like to start looking around DeviantART for great tutorials/step-by-steps that other artists have created, and with their permission, start compiling a list of DA tutorials. Not sure if anyone has done this yet or not, but either way, its something Id like to accomplish.

I am currently working on pieces that are intended to be submissions to the Summoners Project. I wanted to put at least something about Summoners in my journal update, because their project is high-priority for me, and until they stop accepting artwork, most of my deviations will be submissions for them. Be sure to check them out at: [link] I have to admit, a big part of me is relieved to be taking a break from my own personal works. It allows me to toss aside all of my own preconceived notions of how things should look/feel, which actually makes it feel as if Ive got a lot more artistic freedom.

Current project lineup for Summoners:

DeinonychusTutorial will accompany this one!
Swooping Dragon
Dragon close-up

Finished/Pending work for Summoners:

Megaraptor
Vrock

Sketches/Potential works for Summoners:

T-Rex
Triceratops
Ether Daemon
And, of course, more dragons if needed.

I think thats it for now

Basic Info:

Available for Commission: Yes, please send me a note or email.

Available for Art Trade: Sure, why not? Just ask.

Available to create Gift Art: Possibly... Usually any gift art I create is for a family member or close friend, but I'm not against making exceptions

And even though I have not had a problem with this, I would still like to note: All images posted by me are my original creations. Unless I state otherwise, all images, characters, concepts, etc. are copyright to me. Please do not copy/redistribute/modify/STEAL any of my work.

If you are interested in using something of mine, whether it is for profit or not, please contact me and let me know. I'm sure we will be able to work something out.

I am a member of:

The Black Dragon Club:

Unseen Artists:

Be sure to check them out!

]]> ~Dazvinik The entry I forgot to title... http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9938650/ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9938650/ Sat, 02 Sep 2006 08:59:59 PDT
As far as my gallery here goes... I'm going to be putting more art up in the very near future ((as soon as I get the stuff finished and scanned, it'll be posted)) I'm going to start posting more of my works in progress, because it'll give people a chance to take a look/give critiques before I launch into the final painting.

Also, I am quite probably going to be editing/scrapping some of my previously posted work. A lot of the stuff I posted is a couple of years old, and some of the coloring/effects I put on the images were done in an early version of PhotoImpact. Now that I know the power of Photoshop, I have abandoned that program for good. I'm definitely going to take down my 'Demonic Assassin' pic, as it was a result of me thinking to myself 'I HAVE PHOTOSHOP!!! WEEEEE!!!!'

I don't think I did that character justice in that picture, and since I actually had produced decent lineart of her, that is a shame. So, that whole image is going to be reworked. I'm going to give her clothes a new color scheme and make the picture in general a lot more interesting. Hopefully when I repost the pic, I'll find it print worthy and try to get it approved.

In addition, I am working on anatomy reference sheets for my unique 'species' of dragons/souleaters. I'm not sure whether I'll be posting them or not. If there is an interest in seeing them, I will definitely put them up, but if not I'll just keep them in my own files.

What else, what else... Oh yes. I've got a decent sized stack of traditional artwork that is too big to be scanned, so as soon as I get a digital camera I'll start taking snapshots of those images and posting them here.

So. In a nutshell, I will be posting a lot more art, revamping some of the art I have previously posted, and sharing a lot more character designs/basic sketches in the future.

Basic Info:

Available for Commission: Yes, please send me a note or email.

Available for Art Trade: Sure, why not? Just ask.

Available to create Gift Art: Possibly... Usually any gift art I create is for a family member or close friend, but I'm not against making exceptions

And even though I have not had a problem with this, I would still like to note: All images posted by me are my original creations. Unless I state otherwise, all images, characters, concepts, etc. are copyright to me. Please do not copy/redistribute/modify/STEAL any of my work.

If you are interested in using something of mine, whether it is for profit or not, please contact me and let me know. I'm sure we will be able to work something out.

I am a member of:

The Black Dragon Club:

Unseen Artists:

Be sure to check them out!

]]> ~Dazvinik Back in the swing of things http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9863195/ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9863195/ Sat, 26 Aug 2006 14:32:43 PDT Mood: Happy

Content
Listening to: Sweet, sweet silence...
Reading: N/A
Watching: N/A

Looks like Ive finally broken through that artistic block that has been plaguing me for the past month and a half or so. Perfect timing too, seeing as I start school again next week and would have hated to be creatively dead upon walking through the door. Not 100% sure what my next project will be, Ive got a couple different ideas that hold good potential. Ill see what happens once I start working on things, see what starts flowing and what doesnt, and decide from there.

Another thing, just while Im thinking about it For some reason DA is glitching on me. Not sure if Im alone in that or not, but I am unable to post on peoples profile pages It looks as if the message boxes are squished. Same goes for reading some messages on profile pages. Not sure what thats about. Ill probably be noting people until its fixed though, because that seems to be working alright.

Basic Info:

Available for Commission: Yes, please send me a note or email.

Available for Art Trade: Sure, why not? Just ask.

Available to create Gift Art: Possibly... Usually any gift art I create is for a family member or close friend, but I'm not against making exceptions

And even though I have not had a problem with this, I would still like to note: All images posted by me are my original creations. Unless I state otherwise, all images, characters, concepts, etc. are copyright to me. Please do not copy/redistribute/modify/STEAL any of my work.

If you are interested in using something of mine, whether it is for profit or not, please contact me and let me know. I'm sure we will be able to work something out.

I am a member of:

The Black Dragon Club:

Be sure to check them out!

]]> ~Dazvinik . . . http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9633844/ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9633844/ Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:03:19 PDT Mood:

Defeated
Listening to: "Butterfly" --Tapping the Vein
Reading: N/A
Watching: N/A

Ok... Well... I haven't posted anything in quite a while, despite my best efforts to get something finished. Seems I haven't made it out of my artist's block just yet. I've got about 4 or 5 pieces started that have good potential I think... But I can't seem to finish any one of them.

How did I get so many going at once? I start on one, then get stuck, and try moving on to something new and/or different in the hopes that whatever I've turned my attention to will turn out better. It doesn't, and the pattern repeats itself. So... That's how I got to have 4-5 open projects and at least a dozen sketches that are going absolutely nowhere.

Therefore, I think its best I take a break. I don't know what I'll do to try to pull myself out of my rut, but I know I probably wont be posting anything soon. I will still discuss commission proposals/art trades with those who are interested, but I'm not sure how soon I'll actually start on anything new.

Basic Info:

Available for Commission: Yes, please send me a note or email.

Available for Art Trade: Sure, why not? Just ask.

Available to create Gift Art: Possibly... Usually any gift art I create is for a family member or close friend, but I'm not against making exceptions

And even though I have not had a problem with this, I would still like to note: All images posted by me are my original creations. Unless I state otherwise, all images, characters, concepts, etc. are copyright to me. Please do not copy/redistribute/modify/STEAL any of my work.

If you are interested in using something of mine, whether it is for profit or not, please contact me and let me know. I'm sure we will be able to work something out.

]]> ~Dazvinik ^_^ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9366385/ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9366385/ Thu, 13 Jul 2006 15:12:56 PDT
Mood:

Artistic
Listening to: "Animal I Have Become" --Three Days Grace
Reading: N/A
Watching: N/A

I got myself a prints account, yay me! Went through a creative dry spell when I had so much time off of work... Which kind of sucks, but that's usually how it works out. I got some decent concept sketches out of it, but nothing worth posting. Hopefully I'll get something new up this weekend... Im thinking dragon related...

]]> ~Dazvinik Woohoo! http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9223745/ http://Dazvinik.deviantart.com/journal/9223745/ Thu, 29 Jun 2006 17:24:21 PDT
Mood: Evil

Maniacal
Listening to: N/A
Reading: N/A
Watching: N/A

Ok, so since I have a longer-than-usual break from work, I'm going to be really focusing on cranking out some more pieces. I'd love to get the Unholy Alliance project colored, but at the same time I think it'd be nice to get some new material up since the last color pic I did was of a pencil sketch I tossed up here earlier. Hmmm... What to do, what to do...

]]> ~Dazvinik