Freezeezy Peak

And now I break the Paper Mario streak to bring you a glorious blast from the past!

In one of my recent journals, I described how I just got one of my favorite games, Banjo-Kazooie, back from my friend after him having it for nearly two years. To celebrate, I've been replaying the game (and plowing through it, might I add). I was inspired to do some fanart of what I've finally decided is my absolute favorite level in the game, Freezeezy Peak. What I love about FP is... well, having grown up in a place where I very rarely see snow, I've always been fascinated with the stuff, and therefore am very fond of good snowy levels. But besides being a good snowy level, the Peak is a CHRISTMAS level. And I am obsessed with Christmas. So FP makes me very happy indeed, and I love playing around in it. I always feel like I'm in a Christmas movie due to the music and atmosphere. It seems to be Yuletide year-round in the Peak. I want to move there and live in one of those tiny li'l houses. (Who DOES live in those, anyway?) I guess Christmas would lose its meaning if you had it every day, though. Maybe that's why Boggy and his family left.

I wanted to draw a Sir Slush, because I like them, despite how annoying they are. I mean, sure they prevent you from having any peace in the level until you destroy them, but for some reason I've always thought those insane laughing snowmen were just awesome. Though I'll admit that their deep, sinister laugh is enough to strike fear into anyone's heart. They definitely add a diabolical undertone to what would otherwise be a purely cheerful Christmas world.

And Banjo is a walrus, because he's just so dang cute as a walrus. XD

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This is my most complex vector yet, and it took me a ton of time and effort. By now, I'm quite sick of working on it. XD But I'm still very proud of it and consider it one of the best pictures I've ever done. I experimented with new teqniques and styles, and figured out how to do some pretty cool stuff. Quite by accident, I discovered how to make an awesome aurora borealis effect. This image makes full use of the blur capability of the most recent version of Inkscape, which I just downloaded and was so excited about.

I am particularly proud of walrus Banjo, the mountains in the background, and the Christmas tree. My poor slow computer could barely handle that tree, but somehow I finished it.

As my vectors are getting more and more experimental, I'm depending on you guys to tell me what works and what doesn't. Remember, I'm still eager to hear any critiques you may have. If anything looks funny, point it out. There is likely something wrong with this pic that I just can't see because I've been staring at it too long.

This is #5 in the Vector100 project, "Seeking Solace." [link] Because that's what you do in this level, you try to seek solace from these insane snowmen, but there's hardly anywhere you can get away from them. ...Ok, I feel the theme is a bit of a stretch, but seriously, even though I have ninety or so themes left, that was the best one I could find.

Banjo-Kazooie (c) Rareware