It's late to be posting this, but I wanted to include a little send-off, since yesterday was officially the last day of the semester for me.
I enjoyed this class! Yes, learning the new software is an ongoing struggle, and the work itself could be challenging, but this ended up being my favorite class of the semester! I may not be a graphic design major, but I know that I can take what I've learned here through the rest of my life; hopefully by creating packaging/cover designs for some of my own work in the future. And more importantly, I feel inspired. I have lots of ideas that I want to try out, new techniques to experiment with, renewed drive to improve myself. It's refreshing.
In particular, I was happy with my work on the book cover. This project felt the closest to something I'd want to do for myself and I was finally able to get myself to do something more clean and minimal, just like I was hoping way back at the start of the semester. Yay, goals accomplished! Personal growth! Shouting!
What about you guys? Do you feel like you grew as artists? Did you have fun? I hope so!
Have a great winter break, everyone!
Saturday, December 14, 2013
School Graffiti
What do you think of the graffiti that occasionally shows up around the school, especially in the art building? Lately I've been taking photos when I notice ones I like, unfortunately I can't post them here because of my computer crash. I might be able to recover the photos, I just can't count on getting that done soon.
But I can still tell you about them. In particular, there was a piece signed "Banksy" on the second floor of the stairwell in the Art Building of a smoking fish. This is what first got me to start looking out for and making note of school graffiti. I passed by it almost every day for weeks, so it should still be there. The only change I noticed was that someone wiped off "Banksy" and wrote "No!" shortly after it first popped up. Not sure why, maybe they thought whoever posted it was a poseur?
Another which I only noticed yesterday, but I doubt can stay up long: on the main crossing area between the student center block and the library/general classroom building/art building block, someone tagged the stick figure sign. They painted little black wings on the stick figure and attached a can of Red Bull to his hand. I though it was funny. But again, this one's up in a very public area on a street sign, so I doubt it can stay up nearly as long as the stairwell fish.
Those are the main two that really caught my attention, and I hope you can catch them before they're taken down!
But I can still tell you about them. In particular, there was a piece signed "Banksy" on the second floor of the stairwell in the Art Building of a smoking fish. This is what first got me to start looking out for and making note of school graffiti. I passed by it almost every day for weeks, so it should still be there. The only change I noticed was that someone wiped off "Banksy" and wrote "No!" shortly after it first popped up. Not sure why, maybe they thought whoever posted it was a poseur?
Another which I only noticed yesterday, but I doubt can stay up long: on the main crossing area between the student center block and the library/general classroom building/art building block, someone tagged the stick figure sign. They painted little black wings on the stick figure and attached a can of Red Bull to his hand. I though it was funny. But again, this one's up in a very public area on a street sign, so I doubt it can stay up nearly as long as the stairwell fish.
Those are the main two that really caught my attention, and I hope you can catch them before they're taken down!
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Even More Games!
Okay, had to do one more: Psionic Games.
It's just one guy in the UK who goes by Si, and he apparently makes everything in the games himself. That alone is impressive. All of his games are CGI as opposed to the hand drawn art I love from Hyptosis and Pastel, and while CG doesn't hold the same place in my heart I can't help but appreciate the details Si puts into everything.
BE WARNED: most of Si's games (okay, most of the ones that I like) are horror games, and they include the occasional jump scare. If you're sensitive to that, you might want to skip this. My personal favorite of his are the Ghostscape games. You have to adventure alone through creepy settings, collecting evidence to put together the mystery of what is haunting the place. Going back and forth trying to collect everything can be a little frustrating, but it also gets you to really appreciate the world that was created.
But wait, if you just don't care much about playing games, his website is still worth a look. Because he's devoted to working on every aspect of his games himself and has built up so much, there's a lot of free 3D models, textures, sounds, etc. that he provides for other artists to use! That is awesome to me!
So, with that said, I've really got to start working on something of my own. There's no excuse now, it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. The only questions are: Just what is feasible for me with my current skill level? and What do I want to make? I find these questions difficult to tackle, which might be partly why I've waited so long. Once I can answer them, though, the rest should come easy.
So, thoughts? Comments? I know you've only seen a little of my style and what I can do, but I'd love to see what everyone thinks!
It's just one guy in the UK who goes by Si, and he apparently makes everything in the games himself. That alone is impressive. All of his games are CGI as opposed to the hand drawn art I love from Hyptosis and Pastel, and while CG doesn't hold the same place in my heart I can't help but appreciate the details Si puts into everything.
BE WARNED: most of Si's games (okay, most of the ones that I like) are horror games, and they include the occasional jump scare. If you're sensitive to that, you might want to skip this. My personal favorite of his are the Ghostscape games. You have to adventure alone through creepy settings, collecting evidence to put together the mystery of what is haunting the place. Going back and forth trying to collect everything can be a little frustrating, but it also gets you to really appreciate the world that was created.
But wait, if you just don't care much about playing games, his website is still worth a look. Because he's devoted to working on every aspect of his games himself and has built up so much, there's a lot of free 3D models, textures, sounds, etc. that he provides for other artists to use! That is awesome to me!
So, with that said, I've really got to start working on something of my own. There's no excuse now, it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time. The only questions are: Just what is feasible for me with my current skill level? and What do I want to make? I find these questions difficult to tackle, which might be partly why I've waited so long. Once I can answer them, though, the rest should come easy.
So, thoughts? Comments? I know you've only seen a little of my style and what I can do, but I'd love to see what everyone thinks!
More Games!
Well since I wrote one review, why not another?
Another inspiration for me to start working on my own games are the people over at Pastel Games. They've made a few generic, but very cute point-and-click escape games, but what originally got me following them was their Daymare Town series. Seriously, just open one of those games and look at it. They're set in this Dr. Seuss-like world, all the art is just hand drawn, plain black and white, but so wonderfully weird. It's the minimalistic soundtrack, though, that makes the games just a bit unsettling (in a good way). Be warned, like a Seuss story, the games run on their own weird logic, so don't feel bad if you have to refer to a walkthrough to finish. I'm more appreciative of the art than the gameplay anyway-not that it's bad, that's just my taste.
But they have quite a few more series that kept me hooked. The one I'm most crazy about right now is The Fog Fall, a story-based adventure game set after a nuclear war. Can't wait for the next in this one! There is a larger story to it, but we have to take our time getting there. In the meantime, I appreciate the visuals of the world growing feral, the characters we get to meet along the way, and the lonely mood.
As I said, they've got quite a variety under their belt so try to check out more than what I've mentioned here, but one thing I always look forward to when playing a Pastel Game is the atmosphere. This is especially true of their more serious games; the world of the game feels real, it's all around you, but you just can't see it all. That feeling just makes their creepy series all the more satisfying to me.
C'mon, the winter break is coming, so check out Pastel Games when you have the time!
Another inspiration for me to start working on my own games are the people over at Pastel Games. They've made a few generic, but very cute point-and-click escape games, but what originally got me following them was their Daymare Town series. Seriously, just open one of those games and look at it. They're set in this Dr. Seuss-like world, all the art is just hand drawn, plain black and white, but so wonderfully weird. It's the minimalistic soundtrack, though, that makes the games just a bit unsettling (in a good way). Be warned, like a Seuss story, the games run on their own weird logic, so don't feel bad if you have to refer to a walkthrough to finish. I'm more appreciative of the art than the gameplay anyway-not that it's bad, that's just my taste.
But they have quite a few more series that kept me hooked. The one I'm most crazy about right now is The Fog Fall, a story-based adventure game set after a nuclear war. Can't wait for the next in this one! There is a larger story to it, but we have to take our time getting there. In the meantime, I appreciate the visuals of the world growing feral, the characters we get to meet along the way, and the lonely mood.
As I said, they've got quite a variety under their belt so try to check out more than what I've mentioned here, but one thing I always look forward to when playing a Pastel Game is the atmosphere. This is especially true of their more serious games; the world of the game feels real, it's all around you, but you just can't see it all. That feeling just makes their creepy series all the more satisfying to me.
C'mon, the winter break is coming, so check out Pastel Games when you have the time!
Games!
I remember at the beginning of the year talking about how I'd like to work on a game. Just a simple one, maybe text-based or point-and-click, but after how crazy this semester was and all the trouble I had with my programming class even that started to seem overwhelming. Still, winter break is approaching, and that always sets my mind toward working on personal projects.
One guy who keeps inspiring me to make my own games is an artist called Hyptosis, on Newgrounds. He's most famous for his work on the creepy yet whimsical Alice is Dead series, but he's done quite a few other games. They vary in tone from slightly dark to very lighthearted, but what really gets me is that he is slowly developing a world for all of his fantasy games to live in. Not just little jokes and references to old games here and there; events in one series are having effects on the events in the others. Aside from the fantasy world, the main thing he sticks to is zombie apocalypse survivor games. Dude loves zombies. Now, I personally found his zombie games a bit hit-or-miss, but I do think everyone should check out his The Sagittarian series. It's a choose your own adventure point-and-click, with a catchy soundtrack and a great, surprisingly complex story.
Wow, I didn't really mean to turn that into a review, but like I said, I admire Hyptosis and I've been following/internet stalking him for a while now. Check him out!
One guy who keeps inspiring me to make my own games is an artist called Hyptosis, on Newgrounds. He's most famous for his work on the creepy yet whimsical Alice is Dead series, but he's done quite a few other games. They vary in tone from slightly dark to very lighthearted, but what really gets me is that he is slowly developing a world for all of his fantasy games to live in. Not just little jokes and references to old games here and there; events in one series are having effects on the events in the others. Aside from the fantasy world, the main thing he sticks to is zombie apocalypse survivor games. Dude loves zombies. Now, I personally found his zombie games a bit hit-or-miss, but I do think everyone should check out his The Sagittarian series. It's a choose your own adventure point-and-click, with a catchy soundtrack and a great, surprisingly complex story.
Wow, I didn't really mean to turn that into a review, but like I said, I admire Hyptosis and I've been following/internet stalking him for a while now. Check him out!
Sketches!
So, I tried to save the sketches that were in my notebook on the disc with the final versions of all my assignments, but whenever I tried it would somehow corrupt the disc and everything would be removed! Weird. Now I've tried to upload some of my sketches here throughout the year, but I just want to try and make sure I've got it all up now.
Project 01: Logos
There are some other sketches from this project that I uploaded here way back when we were working on it, so I'm not worried about putting them up a second time.
Project 02: Ads
Project 03: Event Poster
Pretty much all of my sketches for this project were done on spare paper outside my notebook, so I turned them in this morning along with my sketches of the final project.
Project 04: Book Cover
Just like with project 3, most of the sketches for this one were done on spare paper, which I turned in this morning, and I know I uploaded them here, too.
Project 05: Packaging
And finally, our last project. I turned in my sketches with everyone else. Some were on spare paper, others in my notebook. Here's the ones from my notebook just because:
Monday, December 9, 2013
Random Discussion
I just felt like bringing this up. For my last project in another class this semester, I'm trying to build a zoetrope. Ever since I found out about them the idea captured me, because I hope to be an animator someday and this is probably the oldest form of animation ever.
It's really simple, though.
What's probably the most amazing thing about them is that, with enough knowledge and creativity, you can make them out of almost anything. Really anything: paper, plastic sculptures...
CAKE!!!
Yes, even cake can become an animation. I feel a whole new world opening up before me...
It's really simple, though.
What's probably the most amazing thing about them is that, with enough knowledge and creativity, you can make them out of almost anything. Really anything: paper, plastic sculptures...
CAKE!!!
Yes, even cake can become an animation. I feel a whole new world opening up before me...
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