More Metal Gear Solid cosplay photos to rave about, and these folks know how to get into the act whether male or female

Seems like there are an ending supply of these, and that's a good thing right? Fans of Metal Gear from all walks of life gather around to show how close to the real thing they can dress up as. Some even go so far as to make their own cosplay outfits, from scratch! If they have the time to make it, we all certainly have the time to witness it. Even though some are better than others, all are welcome as we take a closer look at how some of these folks will stop at nothing to dress up as Solid Snake Raiden, Grey Fox, or whoever else you can think of.

Also, while your in the neighborhood, cosplay isn't the only thing circulating around the Internet that's worth taking your time to look at. There is a great site dedicated to artwork called DeviantArt, which showcases not only artwork from movies, comics and so on, but also from games like Metal Gear, Castlevania, Silent Hill and many others you can think of. People from around the world send in their work to be shared with others, and I for one thank them kindly for their efforts. To all of you who make these fine works of art, plus those who take the time to perform the cosplays like the ones you see below, keep up the good work! It's appreciated!

Hideo Ueda would be proud of this fine Sparkster artwork, done by KohakuKun19 who sent it in to DeviantArt for others to enjoy

The Super Nintendo / Super Famicom was known for many awesome action games, one of which I remember well. Back in 1994, Konami had released a game called Sparkster, which was also released as another version called "Rocket Knight Adventures" (and part 2) for the Mega Drive (Genesis) system, which was somewhat different from the SNES version. The famous opossum knight character that starred in it was the directed handy work of Hideo Ueda, who also had a hand in the great shooter Axelay, another personal favorite of mine.

To pay homage to the classic side scrolling platformer, a lady by the name of KohakuKun19 took the time to create a great likeness of Sparkster which was posted on DeviantArt a short while back. The images below are basically a three stage creation process, the first starting out as a pencil sketch, the second an ink fill in, and the third of course is the final product. Her name is Amber Johnson, and guess what? She wants to draw for you!. Yes, Amber currently has a job helping the Crippled and the Elderly, a noble job indeed. But since it doesn't pay all that well, Amber would enjoy making some extra money on the side, and she loves to draw. So what a better way than to ask her to do some drawings for you. Here is a draft price list she made.

Characters/Concepts: per concept (one to a page.)
Line Art: $3
Colored: $5

Concept Bundle: (5 concepts)
Line Art: $10
Colored: $15

Landscapes: (varies based on complexity)
line art: $5-$10
Colored: $10-$20

Scenes: i.e. fight scenes, romantic scenes, etc. (also based on complexity)
Line Art: $5-$10
Colored: $10-$20

Title Cards:
$25

Amber has also founded a page that is dedicated to petition Konami to bring back Rocket Knight Adventures to the present day gaming scene. She has my vote, that's for sure. Why don't you check out both of her pages in the links below, and if you like, ask her to draw something for you after taking a look at the list above to see what you fancy. Meanwhile, check out her Sparkster art below, and for those of you who have never played the game, check out a video below. Good luck with both quests Amber!

Amber Johnson Sparkster page
Amber's petition page for Rocket Knight Adventures

The Castlevania: Lords of Shadow fan art keeps pouring in from fans that known who to express their love

When Castlevania took a step into the world of 3D, fans of past "MetroidVania" titles were anything but optimistic about it. Castlevania had always shined the brightest star in the realm of 2D side scrolling platform action, and the very thought of turning it into a 3D world would likely kill the series they thought. I'm convinced by now that Lords of Shadow has at least proven some of them wrong. Then again you will always have your dedicated 2D crowd, and believe me there is nothing wrong with that.

But for those who are drinking the Lords of Shadow kool-aid, and loving every sip of it, there are some among them that have expressed so much love for the series, they have taken their sweet time to produced some of the finest artworks my eyes have ever laid upon. Some ore most of these can be found at places like DeviantArt, a place where artists share their handy work which includes the realm of video games. Let's take a look a few samples of my personal favorites below. I think you will like them as much as I. Each involves Lord Dracula (Grabriel Belmont).

By the way, that top one had a bit of photo editing involved, using tools like photoshop. You probably knew that already. Then again, perhaps not.