Art: Prints by Ell

A while back I bought myself some prints, done by my lovely sister-in-law-to-be, who is a very talented comic book artist. Here's the link to her Etsy store if you fancy getting some for yourself: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/EllJWalker.

These are what I was mostly after. Ell did dragons through October for inktober. She then made them up into postcards to sell and I bought a bunch. I would have bought more if she'd put more of them up! Excuse the bad photo, but follow the link if you want to see them in all their glory! I think they're really creative and beautiful.

At the same time I treated myself to a couple of her very funny little zines. The first one is from another annual drawing challenge, hourly comics. You draw a comic every hour of the day you're awake to show what your day was like. Her little comics about everyday things are my favourite things that Ell draws. I think they're really cute and funny. The second is a comic about Paul Hollywood eating The Great British Bake Off contestants. It's also really funny and well done.

 

I bought this print as well. I just think it's cute. And who doesn't love a unicorn.

These Ell doesn't actually sell these anymore, but she had some spares and let me have them. Confusing advice from mythical creatures. I think these are hilarious.

Yay! Thanks Ell!

Android Games: A Few More Games

A continuation of my updated version of this entry.   Here are a few more games I've discovered over the last couple of years.

First, Plants vs. Zombies.   The people who ought to know tell me that this is called a tower defense game.   You are trying to defend your house from oncoming zombies to stop them from getting in and eating your brains.   You do this by planting plants in your garden that have various zombie killing activities.   The plants include lots of wonderful puns such as a wall-nut, which acts as a barrier, the squash, which, well, squashes, and peashooters, which shoot actual peas.   There are different levels to work your way through and it's pretty easy to get the hang of.   They have made a Plants vs Zombies 2 as well, but to be honest I don't like it as much.   It's bigger, but there's a silly time-travelling storyline, and it's a LOT harder.

Next, Floppy Bird.  This one has an interesting story behind it.   A guy in Viet Nam created the original game, Flappy Bird, a couple of years ago.  It became insanely popular and made him a lot of money.   But he started to feel guilty because it was quite addictive and it's no longer on sale.   Immediately a lot of copycat games emerged based on Flappy Bird and this is one of them.   The game is pretty simple.   You tap to make the bird flap its wings and guide it through a course of pipes that extend from floor and ceiling.   Don't flap enough and the bird drops, flap too much and the bird hits the pipes.   It's pretty difficult and fun.   It reminds me vaguely of games of SuperMario Land on the Gameboy where there were a few levels with sticky sap to swim through.   You had to keep swimming to stay up.   They were much slower paced though.   I think this game has now been pulled as well, because it's too similar to the original.

I think this picture is actually Flappy Bird, but you get the general idea.

Also worth a mention is Robot Unicorn Attack.   You play a robot unicorn running and jumping gaps and obstacles.   Again, it's a little bit like old Gameboy games such as SuperMario Land, only without enemies.   Another difference is that the course changes every time, so you can't learn what's coming next and practice.    You have to have to think fast and have fast reflexes.   It's pretty good.   The music played throughout is Always, by Erasure, and weirdly it doesn't seem to get annoying.   

Finally, Crossy Road.   This is another one where you've got to be quick.   You play a little creature trying to cross a series of roads, rivers and railway tracks.   You've got to time it right so that when you hop onto one carriageway you get a clear shot at the next carriageway before before a car hits yours.   It's quite tricky and frustrating.   You can't stay still too long either or you get carried off by an eagle.