Archive | Permalink42 Months

It has been a milestone month for everyone! Yaya spent her first month as Kak Yaya (big sister Yaya), and we all had to adjust to having Rafe in our lives. And now the girl is officially three and a half years old! Halfway to four! Craziness right?

Note: Mouse over the pictures for additional captions.

Keywords: alya,birthday,lily,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkTwo Covers, One Customer

Two cover artwork were commissioned by Ebb & Folks for their Iqliptiq Books science fiction imprint. The first is for a prequel and the other a sequel.

Rhittach: The Beginning

This short story tells the rise of Rhittach, the Payan warrior featured in the novel The Adepts Book 1: Furato, which was previously shown in this blog post.

Four Of A Kind

This is a sequel to Iqliptiq Books' short story Three's Company, also featured here previously in this blog post.

Both books were written by science fiction author David Leyman.

Keywords: artwork,book_cover

Archive | PermalinkWhile Becky was here...

As you know, Vin's cousin Becky and her family were here for Rafe's birth. Everyone arrived the day before Rafe was born, and everyone except Becky and Aunt Mary (Becky's 98-year-old grandmother) left the day after he was born. Becky (and Aunt Mary) stayed to help us out for the next few days. Here they are with their beautiful smiles:

Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,around_the_house,artwork,rafiq,toys

Archive | PermalinkThe Bilirubin Files

As mentioned in the previous entry, Adik was going to experience some complications in his young life. On Saturday January 7, we took him to see the doctor because his left eye was gunking up despite our best efforts. His usual pediatrician was unavailable given that it was a Saturday but we saw one of the other doctors in the practice. She looked at Rafe's eye and prescribed an antibiotic ointment to put on his eye. She also expressed concern over his color and sent us to the satellite Dayton Children's Hospital that was in our town to get a check on his bilirubin levels. So off we go where Rafe gets his feet poked and blood taken for said test. Then we got his prescription filled and went home.

That afternoon we got a call from Rafe's regular pediatrician, telling us that his bilirubin levels were too high (21.2) and he was jaundiced and needed to be taken to the main Dayton Children's Hospital in Dayton and that she would call ahead so they would be expecting us.

So it began. I took Rafe in while Vin and Yaya stayed in the car. I would keep Vin updated via cell phone. It seemed unnecessary to bring Yaya into the ER and get everyone exposed to who knows what in there. First Rafe had his foot poked again for another blood sample for the bilirubin test. Then he gets strapped into this contraption:

Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkRafe's 1 week birthday

Here's an excuse for gratuitous baby pictures, Rafe's 1 week birthday! I've included pictures of the boy taken over the past week, including some professionally taken ones that we purchased.

Note: Mouse over pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,around_the_house,birthday,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkThe Arrival of Rafiq Charles

The new member of our family has arrived. Vin and I welcomed our son Rafiq Charles Renstrom to the world on December 29, 2011 at 4:35 PM, Eastern Time. He weighed 8 lb 11.2 oz (3.95 kg), and was 20 1/2 inches long. In other words, he was 2 oz heavier but the same length as his sister Yaya was at birth.

Here are some pictures of Rafe's (a.k.a Adik) birth.

Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions

Keywords: alya,birthday,pregnancy,rafiq

Archive | PermalinkIrfan's Imperial Entanglements

So the other day, Irfan was in a blaster shootout with some Imperials - perhaps CompForce troopers.

Click here to check out the video.

Keywords: irfan,star_wars,vfx,video

Archive | PermalinkD6 Magazine: Two Monsters

Two final images commissioned for the latest D6 Magazine issue featured two entries below are the Redcap and the Springheeled Jack and lots of spilled blood.

Redcap

Springheeled Jack

Download the zine from DrivethruRPG to read about them, complete with OpenD6 stats!

Keywords: artwork,d6_magazine,rpg

Archive | PermalinkSavage Star Wars Character Sheet

Almost two years ago, I was looking at custom Savage Worlds character sheets online. There were ones for games such as Solomon Kane, Slipstream, Necessary Evil, Realms of Cthulhu and Deadlands. These roleplaying games used the Savage Worlds system and they were officially supported.

However, what if you need to play Savage Star Wars? I know there are a number of fanmade (unofficial) documents designed for you to play a Star Wars RPG using Savage Worlds.

So, I fired up Inkscape and created this custom character sheet. If you're using Savage Worlds to run Star Wars, go ahead and download this pdf file.

Zipped PDF file (221kb)

Click here to download the Savage Worlds test drive rules version 6.0 PDF at the Pinnacle Entertainment Group downloads page!

Keywords: rpg,savage_worlds,star_wars

Archive | PermalinkD6 Magazine Issue 3: An Interview

D6 Magazine - the online fanzine for Open D6 roleplaying game material - has released issue #3!

The horror issue has a variety of articles and scenarios, including vampires, a hell hound, a redcap goblin and Spring-heeled Jack. There's also a simple Sanity System for running D6 horror adventures.

The eerie, underwater Cinema6 adventure "Down Below" written by J. Elliot Streeter brings the zine to a close. You might remember my artwork created for the adventure in this previous blog entry.

But it also has a bonus four-page interview with me by Peter Robbins, interrogating me about my past, present and future in artwork and illustrations, as well as role-playing games!

Here's an excerpt:

Q: When did you decide, "Hey, I could make money doing this? Sure, let's roll in that dough!" And what were your emotions when this decision came into fruition in your life?

A: When I ran out of kidneys to sell on eBay. 

Dowload the PDF now which is free at DriveThruRPG here.

Keywords: artwork,d6_magazine,rpg

Archive | Permalink41 Months

Another impossibly quick month has passed. Don't ask me where the time went. Despite my best efforts, this entry is quite late and (guiltily) backdated. My excuse: work. I had a lot to accomplish before handing off for maternity which meant that I had to work through the Christmas holidays even! Excitement and nervousness abounds - Yaya's Adik is scheduled to arrive on December 29th, and we have much to do to be ready! Yaya was stellar throughout this period. She didn't complain that Mama was always in the office, making me feel all kinds of guilt. But as always, she is an absolute joy for us.

Keywords: alya,birthday,lily

Archive | PermalinkBook Review: The Cowboys of Cthulhu

David Bain's The Cowboys of Cthulhu was the first novelette I bought and read on the Calibre ebook reader.

It's a great mashup of weird western and the Cthulhu mythos.

Weird West is a genre of western, where its tales of cowboys and injuns and heading out west is infused with heavy doses of horro and the occult. Other examples of Weird Westerns is the Deadlands RPG and DC Comics' Jonah Hex.

The Cowboys of Cthulhu tells the tale of Gentleman John Brodie the Demon Duelist, Doctor Darius Darke and a host of multi-cultural and strange characters in the guise of a travelling carnival gets embroiled in a hunt for three creatures that kill and eat human brains. However, they discover that they might have bitten off more than they could chew in a box canyon where geometry seems to be non-Eucleidian and darker, more evil creatures may be waiting for them.

The tale is short but solid, and left me wanting more adventures with our heroes. I can see Mr. Bain writing more stories with the characters in a prequel or a sequel story, taking into account the ending of this novelette, and I hope that he does!

Keywords: book_review,cthulhu_mythos,weird_west