It's December already?!? But...that means 2013 is right around the corner!

I realized I didn't submit anything during the month of November. I've just been so busy and it's all OCT related. Let's take a look at my schedule for the next 30 days:

Dec 8th - End Run Round 5 due
Dec 17th - 6XL Round 2 due
Dec 23rd - Hyperion Round 5 due
Jan 1st - Duality app and intro comic due

Being in the middle of soon to be FIVE OCTs is really exhausting, but I've decided that coloring takes up most of the time. I should limit future rounds to monotone with one or two additional colors for highlights.

I was going to finally update arkeis.com around Christmas time, but lol NOPE. That ain't happening. Maybe in January...

Also gotta do my two kiriban requests and even a Secret Santa thing.

In other news, I am going on a cruise to the Bahamas starting tomorrow. Yay...I guess. I'll be back on the 8th so that's 4 days. But it's 4 days I won't be working on my entries, which is really starting to worry me.
I'm the kind of person who needs everything to be nice and complete. I cannot under any circumstance submit something unfinished. So I'll try to enjoy the trip somehow, but I'll try to do some drawing on the ship as well.

See you all in a few days!

Oh you guys!
Spamming my front page with views so that I reach 100K in only 2 days! Well, it happened, even though I was asleep when it did.

So...the winner of the kiriban IS....

*CoronaCat

CONGRATULATIONS! As a reward, you get to request anything Pokemon related and I'll try my best on it! It most likely won't be done until late December, because of all the OCTs I'm in. But I promise it will be done before the end of the year!

Oh, but that's not all! ~MegamanDX came VERY close. As a consolation prize, you get a smaller request, and it will be posted on my Tumblr (again, in late December).

Anyways, thanks everyone! It was pretty fun. I don't know when I'll do my next kiriban. 200,000 seems so far away. 150K seems more likely, but I still have plenty of time to decide.

Oh and as a reminder, my birthday is in 8 days (Nov 15th).

See you!

All right, so there's less than 1,000 pageviews until I hit 100K. As a reminder, the first person to grab a screenshot of the 100,000th page view will get a Pokemon-related request from me! At the rate things are going, this should happen sometime in the middle of the month.

Speaking of which, my birthday is in exactly 10 days!
That's right, it's on November 15th which is next Thursday. As if I didn't feel old already.

And tomorrow is election day to determine the next US President. I'm not too into politics, but I'll be out at the polls tomorrow morning because I genuinely favor one candidate over the other. It's going to be really close. We'll see how it goes...

I haven't posted a journal entry since July, and it's already October! Where did the year even go?!?
Also the journal has a fresh new look now! Yay!

So for the past couple of months I've been killing myself with all the OCTs I'm in. Seriously, OCTs stress me out even more than my actual job!
But they're still fun to do. It's like running a marathon, except you're drawing instead of running.

Then I realize haven't really done any non-OCT related art since June. My main gallery hasn't been updated for all this time. That will change soon though. I've got quite a few drawings planned for October, especially since this is Halloween month. In fact, I'd say this will be my most active month all year (asumming I don't slack off!).

Also I beat Pokemon Black 2 (the Japanese version) last week! Now I've unlocked Challenge Mode, so I can use it for when I get Pokemon White 2.
Speaking of which, I will be attempting a Nuzlocke and comic on White 2! More details to come...

OH! I almost forgot.
I am at over 95,000 pageviews right now. That means the 100k mark is coming up soon. I'm thinking of doing a kiriban when that happens. So if you get my 100,000th view, take a screenshot and submit it to me as fast as you can. I will only accept the first person to do it and that person will get a free request from me!

I gonna...............create a Tumblr account!


That's right! I'm hopping on the bandwagon.

What is Tumblr?

Well, Tumblr is basically a blogging and social media site, sort of like Facebook except WAY more customizable. You can post and share pictures, videos, music, etc. You can follow people and stay updated, and you can also ask them questions and send fan mail. A lot of artists have Tumblrs which they use as their personal art blogs.

So you can find the main Tumblr for Arkeis HERE.

I haven't really posted anything there, but in the near future, I'll upload sketches, WIPs, and other art that won't make it onto my dA gallery. So if you have a Tumblr account, please follow me!


ALSO...

I've created an ask blog for my Sixfold League character, Terry. An ask blog is basically a Tumblr where you role play as a character and people can ask you questions and interact with you. This specific one is more for other people who are also members of the Sixfold League.

You can find it HERE.


IN OTHER NEWS


It looks like my subscription is running out soon.
It would be really nice if someone can extend it or donate some points so I can renew it. I'll most likely give that kind person a free drawing request (and I'll post it on my Tumblr too!).

EDIT: Thanks so much to *Mewscaper for the 1 Year subscription!

IT'S HERE, IT REALLY IS!

I mean for Black and White 2 that is.
It's so exciting, I can't help spoiling myself. If you want to get a quick rundown on everything in these sequels, click HERE.
This includes images and stats for Kyurem and the Kami Trio's new forms, a list of new level-up moves and tutors, new locations, new characters, and much more.

Here are some more useful links:

HERE you can view a sprite sheet of all trainers in this game, including those who will be in the World Tournament. You'll be pleasantly surprised. This also includes sprites from the PokeWood thing, in case you were wondering why there are zombies and robots in a Pokemon game.

HERE you can view a list of ALL the Pokemon and what tutors they can learn. Just use your browser's search function to see if your favorites got anything useful in battle. Although I should probably tell you that only a few Pokemon got any significant upgrades. Some Pokemon got completely shafted! Oh well, maybe next generation...

NEW MUSIC! Yes, go onto Youtube, type in "Pokemon BW2 OST" or something like that, order it by Upload Date, and you can listen to the cool new remixes that this game has.

If you want more spoilers including major plot points, a list of Gym Leaders and what they use, and a look at the New Unova Champion, just head over to Serebii and spoil yourself silly.

So what do you think of all these new changes? Which ones are you most excited for?

Hey guess, what? It's my 2 year anniversary on deviantART!

It's kind of scary how fast time passes. But a lot has happened these couple of years, so it's not like they've gone to waste. A big thank you to all of my watchers (wow, over 3000 already?!?) for following my art. I know I don't really respond to comments unless it's a question, but I read everything you say and I really do appreciate them.
I have many more art things planned for the future, so stay tuned!


Oh, let's talk about the Pokemon B2/W2 news! You can read all about it here: [link]

Those new formes sure are....uh......interesting.
But oh God, that World Tournament with past gen trainers. I've been wanting this to happening for so long! Although it appears to be 3vs3 only and not 6vs6, but it's still awesome.

[link] Official site and high quality trailer
[link] April 16th Pokemon Smash videos featuring ingame footage

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty excited. It's almost like we're getting Generation 5.5 (well more realistically speaking, Generation 5.2).

New Rival is swagtastic, even his battle music is cool (though you can't hear it too well). Also, you can NAME him! You start in an actual city rather than a tiny town with 4 houses. And all trainers are actually animated!
Some things you might not notice at first:

Not only are there revamped battle backgrounds, but the circular platforms are actually animated.
Looks like Pokemon have new animations. Emboar stomps its foot, Oshawott tosses its scalchop. They never did this in B/W
The battle music has been remixed. It does sound a bit better!
One of the screenshots shows a group of people all dressed the same. Is this the new "evil team"?

And all that's just the tip of the iceberg (lol get it? I made an ice reference because of all the ice and Kyurem and….yeah…)

Any ways, discuss your hopes and speculations for these two games.

Do you have a Facebook account? Of course you do!

Your goal today is to click HERE and vote for me in the Pokémon Reorchestrated fan art contest. My entry is number 1 so all you have to do is say "1" in the comments.

This is the entry by the way:



Please vote and thanks you for your support!


IN OTHER NEWS...

Enough about Kanto, let's talk about the future of Unova.

What do you guys think about the new characters from Black 2/White 2? The new boy trainer has pretty ridiculous hair so I'll most likely be playing as the girl this time around.

The expanded Unova Dex is welcome news and so are the new towns. The rival looks pretty cool (why can't he be playable?!?) and the new Gym Leaders are nice as well.

But still no Pokemon following you...

And the correct number was....



The only one who got the correct number was ~FakeMakeT
CONGRATULATIONS!

FakeMakeT does really cool Fakemon designs, as well as other Pokemon art. Go check him out!


============================================================

Everyone who was no more than 5 off gets a normal feature. That means anyone who guessed between 38 to 48. The closest numbers will be listed first.

~xKuroiYuri  ~SpriteFabio =VlKlNGEN ~Flygon3x *CyndersAlmondEyes ~ArmoteTheHedgehog

~jakobs98 ~TheFakemonMaster ~waterarceus

=AkaPanuka ~Twin-Daggers =BlackRayquaza1

~fishburger

~TimberSoul

============================================================

Everyone who was more than 5 but no more than 10 off gets a mini feature. That means anyone who guessed between 33 to 53. Here they are in alphabetical order:

~AntisocialDinosaur
~HawkeyeAven
~BrokenLullaby200
~Flygon017
~JingoStar123
~Lupsus
*OEmilyThePenguinO
!XxPikachaoXx
~Pheonix-burst
~pikachu187
~PokeGuy98
~PoppyTheKitty
=Rubixa-Seraph
=NeonStryker
~saniyoyousefi
~Seebaru
~shockwavetherobot
~Snashyle
~Snowstorms
~DoeFay
~Xander3000
~Zuru-Sama

If you should be on here, but don't see your name, please tell me and I'll fix it right away.

Thanks to everyone who participated. I might do something special again in the future involving actual prizes like subscriptions, points, or even shiny Pokemon giveaways.

[link]
Pokemon Black and White 2 for the Nintendo DS  

I feel so trolled.

I'm gonna lie down for a while now...




Oh by the way, the Get-Featured Lottery is still going on: [link]

I'm planning on doing something special on leap year day (February 29th) by featuring some fellow deviants. I don't like the "first come, first serve" method because of timezones, but since there's not enough time for a contest or anything, I'll do a sort of mini-lottery. It's really easy.

I'll pick a number from 1 to 100 and all you have to do is guess what that number is by COMMENTING in this journal. (don't note me)

• Anybody who gets the number (or is the closest) gets a mega feature (icon, name, and a few thumbnails of their best work posted, as well as a few lines of text).


• Anybody who is no more than 5 off gets a normal feature (their icon and name posted).


• Up to 10 people who are no more than 10 off get a mini-feature (their name posted).

The deadline is February 28th 2012, 11:59 PM EST (GMT -5)
It only takes a second so good luck and see you on the 29th!

Wait what? It's New Year's already? Where did the year even go?

Well, actually, it was a pretty eventful year. I felt like I did more notable things than last year, including getting my first full-time job.

I'm not usually the kind of person who makes New Year's resolutions, but I definitely will finish redesigning Arkeis.com by the end of January and then I'll continue with Pokemon Factory (in fact, I already restarted it a few weeks ago). I'll probably open up commissions (both point and money) near the later half of the year depending on how busy I am and what is happening in terms of OCTs and stuff.

Anyways, 2012 has a lot of neat things I'm looking forward to. New movies, new video games, new anime. It should be great and in 2013 we'll all look back and laugh and realize the world really hasn't ended after all.

So with that, I just want to say Happy New Years to everyone!

So another new Pokemon game is coming out. No, it's not Gray and it's not the Ruby/Sapphire remakes either. It's something completely different:

[link]

A strategy game with a crossover between Pokemon and.....




.....Samurai Warriors?!?   

(well more specifically, the game Nobunaga's Ambition)

That was totally unexpected!
Personally, I am excited, being a fan of Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre. It's being developed for the DS, not the 3DS though, and it appears to be mostly sprite based so no fancy 3D graphics unfortunately.

Still, is this the first time Pokemon has a crossover with a non-Nintendo franchise?

Well, it's my birthday today, so I guess it's finally time to add a new journal entry. Also it's an opportunity to try out some simple CSS.

I just want to say thanks to everyone for the llamas and birthday wishes that you've given me! And thanks for the comments, favs and watches in general. I don't have time to reply to everyone, but I do take notice.

Anyways, I haven't been submitting as much as I would like recently, but hopefully that will change soon. The end of the year is coming up which means holidays and more time off.