Albel x Fayt... or not. O__o by @zenphoenixa (Annabel Lee)

CHARACTERS: Albel Nox (yonder evil looking dude guy) & Fayt Leingod (yonder stoned looking, human-canvas type guy) XD

PIC STATUS: Fanart wallpaper (fan source – ‘Star Ocean: Till the End of Time’) and Valentines Day contest entry for deviantART’s albel-nox-club (And that explains the pink. OMG so much pink) O____O

CHARACTER OWNERS: Square-Enix and Tri-Ace. Ho hum. Yearns for ownership >_>

MEDIUMS: Sakura Micron felt tips (line art), Photoshop CS (colouring), Photoshop Brushes (background), Paintshop Pro 5 (tweaking)

SHOUT-OUTS: Brushes can be downloaded here: http://www.redmoonstudios.com/buddha/PS_5/index.html http://veredgf.fredfarm.com/vbrush/main.html http://mechadiva.net/ http://kathrynmerteuil.free.fr/brushes/index2.htm http://www.8nero.net/brushes/ http://www.annikavonholdt.com/brushes/x.htm http://www.rebel-heart.net/brushes/

New brush sites since last upload: http://aethereality.net/brushes.php?x=&screen=1 and http://truly-sarah.com/brushes/brushlist.htm

FONT used in wallpaper: ‘KissmeKissmeKissme’ – download here: http://www.fontmaster.com/k2.shtml

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ARTIST THOUGHTS: Behold! After playing numerous RPGs in her lifetime, Zen has come to the conclusion that the following two rules should be taken up with great gusto by any aspiring games developer!

1 - If for any reason, one party member should feel the need to sneak into another member’s hotel room for ‘a chat’ (yeah right), and that said party member falls into the category of ‘rival’ (or ‘annoying’ will do =P) and happens to be sleeping quite contentedly upon arrival… for the love of God, DON’T WAKE THEM UP RIGHT AWAY. O__O Abuse your powers of wakefulness, sneaky-late-night-intruder/perv! That’s why shaving cream and permanent markers were invented in the first place – to inflict early morning mirror madness!!!

2 – If at any point in a game you should acquire one of the most ridiculous equippable accessories known to man, it should go without saying that the member of your party who would most likely take a sword to your abdomen should you ever contemplate the mere thought of them wearing said accessory… should be made to wear the accessory. XD

And with those words of wisdom out the way I henceforth put them into action, as if you couldn’t tell already from looking at this… ‘tis Albel, HAND OF DOOM’ing a delightfully oblivious Fayt. :D Partly inspired by the Peterny scene in the game when Albel snuck into Fayt’s room… this is what should’ve happened. ^^ Also partly inspired by my acquisition of the Bunny Shoes and giving them to Albel… which DID happen. ^^ And I’m not the only one, am I?!?! C’mon, fess up SO3 players – I know the thought crossed your minds at least once. Oh yes, it must have... I’m onto you! O_o

Insanity aside, this WAS supposed to be a Valentines Day contest entry so I had to try and make it fit the theme… sorta. Maybe. I don’t know anymore. XD I do admit that this is the pairing that I find most interesting in the game – and have any SO3 players noticed that Albel is a little… well, biased when it comes to Fayt in battle? I’ve found that if anyone heals Albel then the most that they’ll get in reply is “You’re actually useful!” BUT when Fayt heals Albel, it’s a grudging “Thanks.” O_o Ho ho ho Oh yeah, and then there’s the whole I’m-going-to-sneak-into-your-room-alone-at-midnight-just-to-talk thing, but who cares about that really, how irrelevant. Snort

TECHNICAL STUFF: Hey hey kids, it’s wallpaper time again! Actually, that’s just my half-assed excuse to not make proper backgrounds for these fanarts so er…yeah, the secret’s out. >> Ha, and this is one of those exceptionally rare occasions where I’ve actually used pink. Normally I stay well away from that colour, it rubs me up the wrong way since I perpetually think of Barbies and Bratz dolls whenever I look at it, but for the sake of the upcoming day of luuuuurve I’ve made an exception. My God, and look at those love heart brushes which I specially downloaded for the occasion. I FEEL LIKE SUCH A GIRL. :XX

Still stuck in cel-shading mode, just like the last fanart I uploaded, and thanks to Fayt I’m getting closer to making the colouring look shinier… (I just can’t make Albel shiny enough for my liking… --) Oh yeah, and Fayt’s officially annoying. To draw, that is. I understand now why many Fayt fanarts chop off his legs, they’re hideously complex which then begs the question – how does he manage to be the fastest moving character? O_o But I got my revenge by scrawling on his face with Photoshop’s brush tool, what delicious fun. >:3 So yeah, same thing applies as always – wallpaper is free to use, if larger resolution needed, note me. Wheee. =P

So then, happy early Valentines Day to all you couples out there, and as for the rest of us singles… remember, there are ALWAYS Bunny Shoes. Always. And they give you 30% more movement too. :D

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(The next morning)

Fayt: Looking in bathroom mirror

O____O

Fayt: BLADE… OF FURY!!!!! XD