Some days, these intros write themselves. Today is not one of those days. The rest of the Spotlight is actually completed at this point but I'm still not totally sure what exciting information I can impart to you all as you get ready to pore over the fruits of the community's labor. So, I won't spend a lot of time on the intro and we get right to the sweet selections for this week's Spotlight. See you at the finish line!

CRÈME DE LA CRÈME

I've seen a fair few pieces by @Spartan_Mandy now but this one especially caught my eye. The sadness from Cortana is almost palpable. This is simple, yet touching and I am in love with this work. I also really enjoy seeing the progression in skill over time since the last Cortana piece we've seen from her.

Snack Break

While I was digging around for this week's soundtrack, I stumbled upon AshGuitar on Youtube. He has covers of some video game things and other fairly popular songs. One of them just so happens to be the Halo theme and so, he finds himself here in the Spotlight!

If you play guitar and have been wondering how to get good and play the Halo theme, Ash actually put together a tutorial video which I thought was really awesome. You can check that out too!

Snicker's Doodles

Now that I've got some pretty good Halo tunes going through my head, let's look at some pretty awesome Halo art to go with it!

Forerunner Installation – Martin Parker

Settling the Score – @legion716

Halo: Reach – @kao_rosseforp

Halo Tribute – @marcoturiniart

Rest in Peace – @KJay104

Ut Prosim – @katarn343

Forerunner Aquarium – @Rythayze

Out Walking – @GergelySzocs

Rampancy – Andy Lucas

The Duel – @EtherealEOD

Fireteam Delta and Rtul 'Drarum – @caboosesfm

Jogger's Ambush – @chrisobrooksart

Fire Chief – @CxeeFoxx

Spartan – Italo Andre

Halo – Brandon Chen

Halo Infinite at Night – @FletchUH

Sanghelios – @kaakria

Halo – Alexsandr Sharov

Half Baked

As always, here's the hand drawn/black and white section of our bi-weekly Spotlights! Please enjoy.

Good Night – @wani641

Master Chief – /u/SOCIALIST_DESTROYER

Halo, done in Sharpie – /u/shadknight20

UNSC Halcyon-class Light Cruiser – /u/is0a0man95

Forerunners – @Lambdafallout12

The Rookie – /u/nephanielle64

Helping Hand – /u/ekaaaans

Eye Candy

There's a sweet assortment of both cosplay and tattoos this week so you get to have a little of each!

ODST Magnum – /u/TheApropalypse

Feet First Into Hell – /u/Rock_Lobbster

Halo – @filippo94189594

ODST – /u/ChiefWoCrunch

Warrior – /u/Alkany

Finish the Fight – /u/Dr1pp1ngB1ood

Legendary – /u/ZeroCO01

Homemade

There's some really interesting and clever pieces this week! Some have even given me some ideas for jewelry one day.

Call me Master Chief – @adrien_espel

Mega Construx Earrings – @hey_tawn

UNSC Wood Burning – /u/huskiesgame1600

Tin Foil Energy Sword – @foil_guy

Rtas 'Vadum – @GCustomsCreati1

10k Gold Battle Rifle – /u/Gurnitz

Snapshots

How about some sweet screenshots? I always like seeing how creative people get taking these!

Ultraman – @xb1webrider

Red vs Blue – @I_Scanbrux_I

Everlasting Fire – @MB_AngelOfDeath

Sweet Rolls

Let's talk moving pictures now! These are always great as well. Please make more!

What's better than great fan art? Great fan art that comes with a "how it's made" video! @ZeroJGB86 tagged me in a speedpaint of her running Chief. I love that it's actually in acrylics on canvas too. I love watching things come together in videos like this.

If you like SWAT, you'll want to check out this montage by @Dauntless641. There's some pretty solid multikills in here and a smattering of Team Hardcore and Team Slayer matches thrown in.

Before the existence of the Xbox Adaptive Controller, video games were often out of reach for many. As a result of an issue at birth, @djhofficial does not have the use of his hands but like many of us, he wants to play games. He was blessed with a very supportive father who built him a custom controller so he could play Halo with his feet! Not only that, he's uploaded a video of himself playing through some Halo 5, complete with a camera watching his feet. This is absolutely brilliant and it makes me so happy to see everyone playing Halo in their own way.

Unyshek recently attended a local lan hosted by @DudemanFps and he says it was a lot of fun. So much fun that Dudeman made a video about the experience for everyone to share in the fun. Enjoy!

If I had to guess, I'd say that the Energy Sword is one of the more easily recognizeable weapons from Halo and it's one that prop makers can have a lot of fun with. I've seen steel versions, ones with clever lighting, some made of foil, and more. Tony the @BlacksmithGamr was excited for Halo: Reach being re-released and he took a stab at his own sword. As someone who is not very creative and is lacking in the crafting skills department, I appreciate the how-to video here too. Super awesome to watch the process and the final project come together! He also has a bunch of other builds you should check out.

Watching Xtremenoob's Workshop create a helmet was absolutely fascinating. Not just any helmet though, he made Master Chief's Halo Infinite helmet. I knew that making cosplay was a lot of work. I didn't realize HOW MUCH work it was and this video does a great job of outlining how long the process actually is. The end product is amazing.

Petits Fours

As always, I'm wrapping up with a collection of additional assorted delights!

Doodle's Snickers

If you're prepping to watch the Super Bowl this weekend (San Francisco 49ers vs Kansas City Chiefs – who are you rooting for?), just remember that @SupremeOptimus helped the Grunts prepare to watch their own gridiron game too. Did I mention you can download the map and gametype from his file share too?

Fin

Congratulations – You made it to the end! That's a wrap for this week. I hope you found something here that tickled your fancy and if you did, be sure to let the creator know! From experience, I can say that any and all encouragement is welcome and appreciated. If you are the creator of some content in this Spotlight, please fill out this form so I can grant your Fire Unicorn skin/nameplate to the proper Gamertag next week. I'll see you all again in two weeks!

Ciao! xx

--Sam