As you (probably) all know, it's Halloween, and the mood was certainly set for me this morning, when I woke up to the lovely sight of the biggest, hairiest spider I've ever seen in a civilized area crawling across my wall. Big enough that I could actually see its mouth opening and closing. Really nasty... so I captured it, and now it's crawling around inside a plastic cup in my kitchen, and I think I may try to draw it. After all, it's so creepy-looking it's cool.

   And since my day started off rather startlingly, I decided to pass that shock on by actually doing an update on time. Is that scary enough for you? Well anyway... there's the trick, and the treats are yet to come - thirteen pieces of eye candy.

   In the first gallery, it's all Final Fantasy in the first gallery, starting off with Laura's "Bardian Forest," a CG portrait of that spoony Edward from FFIV. Uncreativity gives us "Furlough," a snapshot of Kekfa and Celes some time before the game begins, in a more peaceful time. The first two FF8 CGs in today's update - Evil Tiger's "Rinoa" and Eiji Gen's "Promise me," featuring Quistis - are nothing short of gorgeous. And since it's Halloween, I drew an odd little FF7 piece entitled "Maybe I'm a Lion...?" Yeah, FF7. I know, I know... And I tossed in a pencil sketch of the "witch" Edea too, which surprisingly enough, I'm not displeased with.

   The second gallery starts where the first left off, with three.. unusual FF8 pieces. Heh heh, it'll be fairly obvious why I like CHILD's picture of Laguna so much, besides the fact that Laguna rocks. Thanks, man! And then we have pulpy's strange, almost ghostly "let's give your hand some work," again showing the artist's love for unusual media. Kellar's "Critical HP" is a one-pic comic of sorts, portraying a situation those who have played through FF8 just might be uncomfortably familiar with... Next come two excellent Pokémon pictures from Petra Rödig: "Vulnona," a Ninetails drawn as if the pokémon were a real creature, and "Pika, Pika!" an absolutely adorable piece featuring Pikachu and James... undercover. Sakana's "Bleeding..." is a Parasite Eve piece drawn in a rough manner very fitting for the subject. And finally, Evil Tiger gives us a sweet picture of Suikoden 2's "Jowy." (Someday, I will play those games...)

   Special Halloween notice: Anyone else dressing up as game characters this year? As costuming is an art form, and cosplay is a growing interest of mine, I'd love to see some costumes people have made, particularly those that fall under the GIA's areas of coverage (RPGs, adventure games, strategy, puzzle games...). Maybe I can put up a costume gallery sometime in the next month. And if I get enough people to send in pictures, maybe I can get some staff members to post their Halloween pics as well. Mwahaha... is that motivation? ;)

   -- Andrea Hartmann the generic FFT Priest/FF1 White Mage, aka "What are you supposed to be?"