Past and Present

I can't get over how much my terrible sketches upset me. I played around with Ace's scene in my head last night before falling asleep trying to improve it while snuggled with my two favorite men (hubby and my loving pup). As pup's head was against my chest I had the wonders of snoring in stereo to keep me awake. I didn't mind though, I kept rolling with my idea, fleshing it and painting it in my head as if I already had my tablet :)

I've been taking into account making the viewer's eye move around the painting and I contemplated how I was going to show that Ace was running low on ammo as the title suggests. The title either being "One last Bullet" with him cradling his rifle or "Out of Ammo". Being that I'm not creative in making up fictional weaponry I came up with the idea of him holding onto a combat knife to convey one of those desperate 'this is it, make it count' moments.

I also reminded myself that Ace has wings! Black barred owl shaped wings to be precise. But if he had them, why doesn't he just use them to fly away? Well, I thought to myself, maybe they need to be ratty to show that they are non functional, or maybe I should twist one or show that it is injured?

I woke this morning with happy intentions of improving the below sketch with something a little more updated. I dug around and lifted out my VERY OLD sketch of Ace to use as a reference. Gaze upon the horrible first try at a photoshop background!



It's terrible but it works (it's so OLD there is so much improvement to be had!). Some things you may notice about that picture... Ace or Acear (his full name) is very gundam like, which is intentional. It was a gundam rpg his character was written for. Oh and that other dude in there is Resh. Ace is training him to hunt in this picture and is just taking a break. Ace's wings are not remotely owl-like and aren't even big enough for him to use them to fly.

Conclusions? A new character update is in order! As Ace is kind of a solitary soldier he reminds me a lot of master chief from Halo. Please note though that Ace was invented long before Halo ever came out! His sole purpose is to hunt down the rogue Caius creatures. These hell hound things didn't really have names, it's just that the most intelligent one happened to be named Caius.

I really wanted to get into his character so I went back and started reading over some of my posts in the old rpg trying to get a feel for him. Unfortunately when I first make a character they aren't fleshed out at all. I may have a basic outline but how they think or feel or act doesn't actually come out until much later. In fact, in the first posts, he wasn't a likeable character at all! He was abusive, angry, hellbent on success, didn't care for others at all, a lone wolf if you will. You could liken it to the situation he was in, having to train all the new experiments that came out of the processing labs trying to get that perfect soldier (sounds kinda halo-like with the spartans huh?). I don't really know why I favor Ace after all these years. In fact I like Caelum much more.

And yet, Caelum (Kale-lum) is merely a culmination of all my characters mashed into one single original entity. Oh well. More on Cael another day.

So with all my digging around I found an excerpt that highlights Ace's appearance in a long forgotten world that existed solely for the pleasure of about 4-5 other people. A treat I share with you now in it's original state :) (apologies in advance for the sloppiness, this was written while in highschool many years ago! I have to pull myself away before I edit out the silly bits!) :p


Acear landed in the swampy area he was familiar with. Situated
to the far south of the Overlord's base he knew that this was the
weakest point in their security. Checking over his heavy beam
rifle's condition Acear spent a few minutes reloading it from its
last use against the enemies that had swamped the clan's
territory.

The clan.

The word echoed through his mind and threatened to shake his
confidence. Was he really a part of the clan? Perhaps he was
since Kida had declared it but Acear refused to accept this idea.
He was not a true Living Gundam like the Free Ones. Not even
Fleia was real. Resh was just a poor copy and the rest of the
Overlord's creations were all faulty in some way. Damn them all
for putting him through this.

Acear snapped the magazine in place and cocked his rifle. All
was set. The hunt began.

Sticking low to the ground, Acear coiled his wings behind him
and stalked silently through the swamp. The sharp thrill of
danger seized his mind and sent his heart racing. This is what
he lived for: an unending chase that would lead him through the
high of combat regardless of the outcome.

Acear reached the edge of the swamp without any trouble. He
checked his internal map where he had last stored the last
reserves if the chemical his body needed. The stronghold was a
few miles away but it was those miles that seemed the most
dangerous. The hiding place could have been discovered.

Once again the slow trek was without peril and Acear
approached the stronghold with caution. Scanners revealed it to
be unguarded. Creeping forward, Acear approached the grand
doors. He placed his claws between the seem and forced them
open with sheer strength. To his surprise the stronghold was
completely empty.

Acear cursed under his breath.

He would have to venture further into enemy territory.
As Acear was standing there he felt a pang of unease rise from
within. Listening to rustling of the trees he tried to confirm his
fears by matching any noise to an enemy mecha or creature he
knew the Overlords had prowling around. As it turned out there
was something following him and it's exact location bleeped up
on his internal radar.

Acear whipped around and fired off two shots in the enemy's
direction. Expecting to hear a scream of sorts he was extremely
surprised when nothing happened save for the falling of a few
trees.

Puzzled by this predicament Acear pressed his back up against
the stronghold wall and listened for the steps to come again.
Minutes passed as birds sang happily, grating on Acear's
nerves.

The attack came from above. Caius descended from the
stronghold's roof and landed on Acear's shoulders. The sheer
weight of the beast knocked Acear face forward into the dirt.
Recovering from the sudden shock he raised his head to see
the familiar beast beginning to circle.

"You again? I should have known you'd come back to plague
me. I should have killed you when I had the chance."

Caius growled, seeing Acear readying for an attack. A familiar
dance was about to begin and Caius knew Acear well enough to
predict some of his attacks. As long as Caius kept close, Acear's
weapon wasn't going to be trouble. Sinking claws into soft dirt,
Caius readied himself for his first move…