Art world jungle

Hm....

2011-12-13T22:10:00.001-05:00

Still not unleashed enough, kinda leaned too much towards "finished" - "presentable" things but the interest and strength kinda lies in the construction, form and rhythm. Bigger canvas doesnt always force it out, gotta keep reminders of the main goals all over the place.

2011-12-13T22:04:00.004-05:00

Im down with the sketch XD

mini comicon mtl

2011-12-12T00:32:00.001-05:00

INGRAM BOND PAPER - Oh do i enjoy drawing on thee. No joke, it just feels great to draw on this paper. Alright, heres some mini comiccon MTL commissions, more coming soon, cant slow down atm since this is basically my Christmas bonus earnings. Extra stage planning is taking a hit but im hoping to get the layout done after this rush is over.

Thanks for the comments btw, ill try to get back to you all soon, very soon - i hope :S

Sketchin-g

2011-11-17T22:30:00.001-05:00

More comic purchase sketches, still battling with the work and drawing. its soon coming together

Hand out

2011-11-11T06:51:00.001-05:00

Training, commissions, planning - Sheesh, theres just no time to play around.

Rushing X2

2011-10-16T23:56:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the no show, im trying to finalize Disc3's story and setups while practicing hand drawings and finishing commission sketches. Gotta see if i can stick to schedule. More audio logs coming up, just need to transfer them.

Thanks for all the comments btw ! Will try to be more interactive XD

2011-09-14T07:20:00.000-04:00

commission sketches and such, gotta get ready for comiccon montreal !

2011-08-31T06:32:00.000-04:00

Wildfire sketches

2011-08-20T23:52:00.000-04:00

Ive recently got inspired by Toby Shelton 's Darkwing duck Model sheets. Cool forms, on the dot weight, very clean and expressive, so i had to get down on the paper, specially after the digital downtime.

And i couldnt stop rechecking Mike Kunkel's Hero bear, its an inspiring comic work since the expressions and draftsmanship are rough but still clear to the eye.

I urge you all to checkout Hero Bear, im just too braindead to write something worthwhile on it.

Argh i still have more graveyard sketches around.

I-Feel -iiiiiiiiiit

2011-08-14T21:15:00.000-04:00

Ok, quick mind spark -

Quick loose and light from the starting point

Light enough to run the roller coaster but remaining concentrated on starting shape and silhouette.

Then when things are set down advance and build up on it.

Strong bold emotion lines while showing no regrets or hesitation for facial expressions.

Ill try and post some stuff reflecting this tomorrow or later on.
For now, new cover, its officially printed out!

Audio log 8/4/2011

2011-08-05T00:12:00.000-04:00

Not dead, just studing

2011-02-18T08:04:00.001-05:00

I gotta try and scan my daily studies at one point during the week.

Ive always wanted to learn from Snk's artist : Nona - so im taking at least 30 mins every mornings, past the 30 min- 1 hour gestures to study a Nona drawing. This one is from Snk vs Capcom Chaos, one of his latest available work.

2 more sketches for the day

2010-07-26T16:23:00.003-04:00

Continuum shifting

2010-07-26T00:06:00.002-04:00

Mai oh Mai

2010-07-25T01:56:00.003-04:00

Oh we missed you Mai. This is where the KOF13 budget went.

sketch play

2010-07-24T04:52:00.002-04:00

Blerg

Eliza sketch

2010-07-23T03:32:00.000-04:00

Im owing alot of sketching nowadays

boom

2010-05-17T14:25:00.001-04:00

brushpen aint always good for inking large pics.

Temporary thing

2010-04-26T14:15:00.001-04:00

To sum it up

2010-03-31T14:36:00.003-04:00

And then some

2010-03-30T14:43:00.002-04:00

Progress

2010-03-23T13:10:00.003-04:00

Photoshop-Fu on dying laptop, thank goodness for SD card compatibility.

Something different

2010-03-08T14:38:00.001-05:00

Less care for refinement gives me an edge at times.

The WIP ing continues

2010-02-12T13:29:00.004-05:00

New Daily sketches

2010-02-03T12:40:00.005-05:00

I really need to upload them on a daily base but the current schedule doesnt really allow consistency. Probably might have to cut out the video gaming.

WIP again

2010-01-27T13:59:00.001-05:00

1 more

2010-01-25T14:47:00.001-05:00

Daily sketches ?

2010-01-25T14:27:00.004-05:00

Late daily sketches, gonna need to tweak with the scanner some more.

2009-11-28T23:56:00.001-05:00

As good as it gets for now, i need to work on my tones, less saturation.

Air brush time

2009-11-18T14:42:00.002-05:00

As good as itll get so far

2009-11-03T17:48:00.002-05:00

Ok so bad color base and the painting texture wasnt that good, but thats a start and its overall liked. Yet ill try another approach on the next one.

next step

2009-10-29T12:49:00.001-04:00

WIP

2009-10-28T15:20:00.001-04:00

boom

Cannon spiking through life

2009-09-09T14:19:00.002-04:00

Ok so i passed the training, im at my new job, time to get into gears as well as getting used to the well structured system, i got a bit confused on my first REAL day yet after a night or revising the procedures, im ready for action. Now im enjoying this even if im on the evening shifts so i get to draw in the morning then work at night.

As for the drawing, im brain storming this Cyper Punk brainfart project i might send to Galvo if time allows it. I got till halloween to get 4-5 pages done, ill be posting the quick concepts next post.

The good: I get to explore a new concept
The Bad: Might not have time to experiment more painterly ways.

Either ways, i just want to feel this one out and see where it goes, hopefully it'll be done in time.

Also, time to move out again, my friend Jeff offered a room at his place so its a great chance to tag team the bills. Also, im in a shit area filled with heat seeking hobos and drunkards, just now i went to buy some bread and cheese on credit ( i didnt get paid yet) and this messed up fucker litterally walks up to me asking change for weed. Fuck sake man, what kind of idiot posts himself infront of a grocery store, to ask for money from people who fucking WORK FOR THEIR FOOD.
Enough is enough, theres only so much tolerance one can bare.
So the packing up begins and i hope i can perform my 1 week packing madness i did last year, same month, IRONYYYYYYYYYYYYY lol.

Family Matters

2009-08-30T10:03:00.002-04:00

Nah, not the show but i liked that show back then.

I got a few things to spill out on current family BS but before that, artwise, Extra Stage disc 2 is under way, 1 page per week since the time the first pages were posted so im at page 3 of the new book and ill try to keep that schedule up while im working at my new job.

NOW,

For the family BS:

7-8 months ago my cousin borrowed a large amount of cash from me since i felt i needed to help her as someone robbed her credit card and made a large amount of purchase on it. So trying to do a good thing for a family member, so far so good right? Again this was 7-8 months ago, since then, she cut off contact with the rest of the family, having everyone wonder what the hell happened to her. She doesn't answer the phone, rarely stays home with her BF and doesn't answer text messages as well.
This kinda pisses me off to a certain level, i know she may have some kind of personal issue, but no personal issue is too great to cut off from the entire family FOR 7-8 MONTHS with no signs of life, that's just a bit exaggerated.
My only guesses on what could possibly be going is :
1)Unwanted Pregnancy
2) Deep Dark urban city after hour shit ((And thats just taking it to the extreme))

But either way, you can still show signs of life for fuck sakes.
Now its family, so i dont really want to pull off the "track down technique" eventhough i could easily force my way to an answer but burn the bridges to that family branch quite fast.
So sticking to that "family first" type of mentality where you still care about how the family is doing and that would be "the christian thing to do" even if i did turn atheist DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN after during high school.
So now both my second cousin and own mother are spewing shit about not giving a fuck about theses guys (that branch of the family) and their problems.
Ok, so the good christians are telling me to ignore family matters and that theses guys might be scumbags.

Thats goddamned twisted, its all freaking goddamned twisted.

This whole bullshit is fucking twisted.

FUCKING TWISTED.

So caring about family during hard periods of time is wrong? Eventhough they do stupid shit at times. Shouldnt they be left a few chances? I kinda find this mentality fucked up on many sides.
I wish i had more time to type it out but i might just have to do a Vlog about it

No longer supporting prince of persia

2009-08-21T00:37:00.002-04:00

Dont get me wrong, i loved the original game, finished it and liked the ending.

But

The epilogue is a piece of shit.
I have no idea what they were thinking when they started programing theses levels but theyve managed to create the most frustrating prince of persia levels with the cheapest elements a-la Megaman X8: Last level.

I dont know who's brainless idea was to crank up the difficulty level to Devil May cry 3 stage after the moderately difficult game.
And some of the difficulty is added because of buggy jump, over emphasize on glitchy Elika jump spams and often poor camera angle contradicting the player's command causing leap of fates quite often.
Theses causes this anger and hatred that simply gets you to shut down the ps3 or go play a less buggy game.
Im quite dissapointed and i will no longer finance any more DLC for that game nor sequels and such.

Oh and i finished killzone before POP and even that was less frustrating since i had no bug messing around with the last boss fight .

Extra push

2009-08-17T12:58:00.004-04:00

i think i want to go further than cell-shading yet, comic wise it'll eat up more time to pull off. As much as i like cell shading, it just doesn't push me to my full extent, it just looks pretty for cartoon characters. Yet unless there is a way to mix it up, it kinda feels boring. Time to splash them markers out and experiment.

Drunk ?!

2009-08-16T10:45:00.002-04:00

BBQ yestarday and i did a crazy mix between what i though was cranberry juice and smirnoff, apparently the cranberry juice already had vodka and i added more vodka into it, all that in a big cup. Never again i say, i was off balance from that one, even when we went to the St-Hubert a few hours later, i hadnt fully recovered from that mix of doom. Aside from that, fun times.

also : http://extrastagecomic.blogspot.com/

Comic will be there for now, no cash for those fancy websites and here is chuck norris fighting a zebra.

Enjoying comic making once more

2009-08-13T01:59:00.004-04:00

Otakuthon passed, things just went by and now i get to enjoy working on the ExtraStage Comic on my own pace with a 36 page advance. Right now im really enjoying the fact that i can flow with the story as much as i want. No real page limit, no character specific restrictions, no constrained character canon to bare with. Its quite enjoyable, ill still push myself to pop one page per week while having them fully colored and shaded so that Extra Stage Disc 2 gives a better quality than 36 pages on red bulls. But disc 1 was still a fun rush and it was a great relief to pull it out, spread it and at least get my name out there with this con so that i can get more drive to man up and bring more things on the table next year.

ComicCon Montreal is gonna be next month, got a few friends to meet again, Kate Bradley will be there, the Hulk's voice actor will be there and since i want that ComicCon to grow, ill try to spread the word as far as i can. Im sure it'll be bigger than last year and wont bomb like World Con which occured last weekend. The first time is always a dud, too bad this one was an expensive dud.

I dunno if i can participate to adapt this year, unless i tackle a big loan with interests and loosing a week's salary, man, i want to tough, meeting old friends, learning more madness, such a rush. Another spot i gotta advertise. Non official advertisement but not too hardcore since it can go wrong at times.

Anyhow, here are some of the cards i sketch on, i need to buy another pack tomorrow since they are running out while i thumbnail on the next comic pages, 99 cents for a pack of 100 i think, anyhow, they go out fast, i find them better than post its for the color, resistance and size. (I can still sneak em in anywhere and draw).

Ok then back to sleep.

PS: Go Finance games like Blazblue and Yakuza 2, low publicity but great games.

First page

2009-06-16T11:56:00.004-04:00

Main objective is gonna be to ink them, photoshop the words in then print.

The master plan revealed?

2009-06-15T13:34:00.003-04:00

So i guess you all noticed how much my void stories arent really cared for and all that.
Why, well i simply dont give a damn about the place anymore, its been a rush, interesting at times but it all comes down to realizing how much of a waste of time it really was.
Bad feedback, douchebag infestations; now i kinda see how my friend Wayne was right about that kind of internet BS and well, there is only so much crap you can take for reasons of " Well its training" nah, conceptart.org and even drawingboard.org have a better ambiance than that.
So while this last void story scraps the entire storyline, ive previously decided to break Abrao's original storyline from void and release the "Beyond battles\ In between story segments" As the core timeline outside the site and possibly printed if time allows it.
Ive had my fun with the layer experimentations and digital stuff, didnt get shit for feedback from entervoid, so time to move on.

Below is a slight preview of an episode ill be working on in the future, ill put the sample pages im currently working on, later today.

Another quick experiment

2009-06-08T11:16:00.003-04:00

So painting and thickoutlines just doesnt work, one breaks the other. So theses 5 pages werent that bad but the whole digital completion doesnt seem to be my thing.
Ill try to post my latest experiment with theses and you'll notice, im better off doing most of my work traditionally and maybe spam some textures after.
Anyhow its all fun and games.

Old scraps of ink

2009-06-08T11:06:00.003-04:00

Woah, forgot i havent updated in ages and didnt post this sooner, this is really, really old and mostly a brush pen rush due to time constraint and a fulltime job.

Tip: Dont ink backgrounds in the metro.

Next level

2009-02-24T05:26:00.003-05:00

I want that SNK painting technique, from the comic, the character design and so on, gonna try to work some more on mixing ink and rendering like that.

Good art Critiquing: The new challenge

2009-02-19T11:16:00.008-05:00

People nowadays cant seem to critique constructively, at all.

Most of the current "So- called" Critiquing is split into 2 division:

- " Its nice, i like it"
|---- The Appreciation comment

- " What a putrid piece of....ive seen 5 year old.."
|---- The "Simon Cowell" syndrome comment

On this post i want to concentrate a bit more on the second division as its growing trend on the internet nowadays.

Now a lot of internet users are familiar with reviewers such as the Angry Video Game Nerd, Zero Punctuation or even the Nostalgia Critique and as popular as theses people are there is one thing that needs to be set clear:

They ACTING for satirical and comedic purposes

They are not doing constructive reviews, they aren't being entirely serious, they are just doing this for comedy, so they shouldn't be taken as role model when it comes to giving feedback and critiques.
More and more users have been mimicking their "styles" when it came to other type of critiquing and this is becoming a big problem as it ISN'T HELPFUL AT ALL.

Being harsh and brutal while backing it up with useful tips, draw overs and pointers is one thing

Being completely snobbish, offensive and satirical without any useful feedback points is something else.

Start figuring out the damn difference already.

Nobody likes being assaulted with foul language and jokes on work they took time to make. Dont even try to back it up saying " This is honest, brutal feedback". No, Bullshit, go drink toilet water right now and compare its taste to the one left by the bullshit you support: Quite close.

Homework:
-------------------
And good exercise you should try now is repeating your critique pattern on a friend or co-worker and see how long it'll take before their begin frowning and eventually cuss you out.

Thats how critiquing with integrity works: if you cant say it face to face without expecting an a punch to the face or a broken relationship, REPHRASE IT!

This isn't a reality show where the best insults win, people requesting feedback are looking for serious critiques in order to improve. If the only thing they receive is a metaphorically phrased pile of fesses with no helpful content, they have the right to be pissed as they do not grow as artists.

And now i have to tangent on a little episode i had on entervoid.com for a while:

The entervoid episode:
-------------------------------

www.entervoid.com is an original character comic battle site in a nutshell. It attempts to be helpful to its artists by providing tutorials, pointer system and user feedback through forum and main website.

This sounds good so far right, maybe this is going to be as good as conceptart.org while having specific comic book style competition as a fun side project.
Well all this would be fine and dandy if the feedback was actually constructive.

Am i being too harsh here? Am i being a bit vengeful?

Actually i have got jaded with the place after 4-5 short experiences, why?

[]Feedback based on style preferences:

Certain people will base their feedback on the style they are critiquing, hence, since they dont like the style and may not be familiar with the style, certain pointers and critique points are simply "dumb fucked". Im sorry, i cant describe it in better words using a second language. Best example would be: " I would like if it your style was less cartoony"
Purely based on preferences and I KNOW i personally dislike anime but i still try to give feedback based on the drawing fundamentals (refer to loomis and hogarth) in order to explain and point our mistake, yet you wont see me blantantly go "Those "kawaii" eyes are just horrible, could you make them more "real"? " No, thats just dumbfucked.

Thats strike one.

[]Vague and impressive Feedback:

A few people on void attempt to give constructive feedback on comic submissions. This would be a refreshing breath of fresh air if that feedback wasn't as vague as a Duke Nukem forever release date.
Here is a satirical example: " Well there seems to be some problems on a few panels-Done"
No effort for specification.
No pointers to help it out.

This gets really annoying there are absolutely no backup for the critique's points. In the end the post is just a diarrhea of mistakes which remain "somewhere" inside the work and arent remedied as there are no solutions proposed in the end.

-"Simon Cowell" Syndrome:

Do i really need to get more in dept with this one?
Why dont i talk a bit about how this trend has made users quit the site entirely.

Entervoid is a side activity, most of the users have jobs, homework and lives.
Now after tearing yourself in half to meet this fictional deadline, mostly short enough for you to pour in half you creative juice, ending up in a piece of work that is below your usual type of work; The absolute last thing you want to hear as feedback, is none helpful bullshit coming out of someone ass.
Sweat and tears on none priced-FREE work completely smeared with non helpful canine diarrhea typed by someone who doesn't know better than to mimic reality TV for the "LOLZ".
Im not saying people should get pats on the back but they do not have to take idiocies trying to pass as criticism.

General Professional workload:

Penciling : 1-2 pages per FULL DAY
Inking: 1 page per FULL DAY
Coloring:1-2 pages per FULL DAY

Now with entervoid, nooooo tag teaming, so you are a one man army, from scripting to coloring and since you potentially have OTHER prior objectives such as a PAYING JOB or HOMEWORK, you rarely have a full day, maybe a lucky 4-5 hours without screwing over your sleeping schedule.

So in the end, the ideal full page count to have in a 4 week deadline, for a non professional thats just learning the ropes with comics is around 4-5 pages maybe? Ok ideal could be 3 complete pages.
Yet people keep expecting the next Watchmen or Civil War comic and often seem to forget that not everyone can make the deadlines nor can create the next sand man graphic novel and eventually spill shit out of their asses with no shame or self respect.

This has made a couple of people leave the place for good.
Ive seen professional who found more profit doing comics for ACTUAL printing places.
Ive seen teachers offended by the twisted and perverted "helpful" message from void.
And ive seen new people leaving after a verbal shredding when missing the deadline due to personal events.

Of course, the place isn't full of scums as i may seem to indicate, some users are attempting to provide constructive feedback and do succeed. Theses users can be counted on a single hand but at least they are trying to pave a way for a new generation of helpful critiques.

What will i do on my side?

Post
Ignore the comment box
And get better feedback from forums such as Conceptart.org or Sketchtavern forum.

To be continued....

COD 5 frustration and Digital Drawings...

2009-02-16T12:31:00.005-05:00

Call of duty 5 World At war: Treyarch production
Single Player: An adrenaline Rush that doesnt let up
Cooperative Multiplayer: Zombie Nazis Mode will keep you coming back for more while Competitive Campain with cheat modifiers are a well added boost to the coop fun.

Multiplayer: Partially fun ; Certain maps are plagged by horrible spawn points.

Analysis of the problem:

Its nice to have close quarter combat maps that are small enough to emphasis skirmish, now the backfire of this is THAT YOU CAN SPAWN NEXT TO A PASSING ENEMY then die.
Now this problem is doubled by the fact that you can land on a mine, get blown by artillery or get eaten by dogs.-Since racking up scores earns you bonus offensive moves and since the enemy is already killing spawning players, traps and ambush can easily be setup.
The game is plagged by 2-3 maps evoking this problem and at this point, i dunno if it can be fixed since the map would have to be enlarged.
Yet this can seriously get on your nerves quite fast and thats an issue which COD modern warfare didnt have.(Most of the maps were medium size).

Constant COD Issue: Cannot mute players in server lobby:

Lets be frank, 80% of the online player population will talk smack, play random songs or talk very loud at mic-vol-5. Now in all iterations of COD, i had no power to mute certain people inside game lobbies.

Why?

Metal Gear Online DOESNT have a lobby, you get thrown straight into the game and voila, option to mute player. But in COD, i get to wait a whole minute for the game to start and most of the time, i take off my bluetooth mic, sit it on the desk and enjoy the silence of my appartement, something i rarely find myself doing in MGO or Soul Calibur 4. Id have send my complains to the COD Modern warefare 2 devs.

Sidework:

Been doing alot of digital work: i dont like it.

I felt great sketching during loading time while playing COD5 and i guess ill have to take more time in the morning to do personal work after finishing the comissions.
To be continued.

The game:

Gotta test the engine with vector drawings ASAP.

Enemies and bosses

2009-01-28T12:13:00.005-05:00

Trying to get some Satirical Bad guys, the name's gonna tip you off at what im trying to make fun off. You wont just beat up humans but also some parodies of the typical furry character. Yet i dont want female enemies, i just feels wrong to have Mokuu, 10 years old, beating furiously on multiple womens with fire blazing attacks since the aim of my gameplay will be rage moves. Yet you will get to fight Katarina twice but she has her reasons and she isnt a pushover boss, similar to Jeane in No More Heroes.

Now comes the hard part, interesting level design, i want to stray far away from a game where you fight wave after wave in a repetitive way. Guilty Gear Judgement seriously suffered from that flaw. I gotta find a way to make it fun, surprising and none repetitive.

silhouettes

2009-01-25T19:17:00.001-05:00

Thinking more in terms of silhouettes for the 2d side scroller game, ill scan a few tries for Katarina.

Will start spamming shapes for the generic bad guys.

Alternate thinking approach

2009-01-12T07:32:00.003-05:00

While working on a current vector program i kinda noticed my mind shifting when i play with a big low opacity brush, im gonna try to pull it off using the side pencil tech.

Current objective:

Clear all commissions before anything else.
-1 digital left, 4 traditional left, 1-2 on standby

Urgh, i so wanted to jump into a 2 week battle but i gotta finish theses first, less work being postponed.

There's No More Heroes

2008-12-24T12:09:00.004-05:00

||Thoughts:
-------------------

#1 No More Heroes: WII

I have to chug out that everyone who owns a WII and isnt from this X-box live generation HAS to give this game a try. The game literally rewards you for being a gamer. From references of old games to complete gameplay style switch in mid battle, to their interestingly nostalgic interface. The game doesn't take itself too seriously and its a real blast to see how that plays out in-game. It isnt UBER hard but not extremely easy and does require quick thinking especially in boss situation.
Every bosses in this game are unique on their own and amazingly introduced to a point where it makes you wonder if Suda51(game designer) studied along side of Hideo Kojima when the chapter of creating interesting boss characters popped up in game design class 101. I mean, wow, its one concept that will stick in my head for eternity and i hope i can do the same with the low budget game im making.
Now the game has minor replay value unless you're a difficulty addict or costume collector and the game doesn't force you to do crazy things to get the REAL ending, its a ingenious though that will have Average to Hardcore gamers picking it up without noticing.
"You basically have to fight the last boss having earned the Last weapon (bit expensive)"
Yet even so, you may come back for more playthrough with your last weapon available at the beginning of the game.
So if you own a wii, go get it now, probably 20$ since the game didn't sell alot here, (very VERY poor advertisement during a Halo 3 season).
And i send my thanks to Suda51 for the confirmation of a sequel even if the game bombed in japan and relatively sold in the US, this is devotion, they do not think about the big bucks and i cant wait to see how Suda51 can surpass himself in this latest design.

#2 No More Heroes: In the world we live in

People, im seriously wondering if i should turn into a total douchebag once and for all.
Why? Ive had enough of being helpful with certain people then being abused and backstabbed right after.
Of course, i don't mean that this happen every months, year or whatever but bloody hell, thoses rate times it happens, it fucking hurts, adds useless stress in my fucking mind and i always get a chance to turn the "ass-kicking" option on but never do cause im too fucking nice to pull it off.
Whats up this time, well im at this new apartment and i landed on another PS2 gamer close to the land lady so hell we played tekken and spent some gaming time chilling. Now at one point he had to bring back the PS2 to the friend who he borrowed it from. So he asked me if he could borrow mine seeing that i had my PS3 setup. I was never a greedy and conservative person when it came to anything and the guy just came from Russia with his family living around the appartement building so he didn't really have squat when it came to gaming also worked as the janitor when i came there SO, sure have my ps2, bring it back when ur done with it or ill pass by.
And so it was brought back and all was cool, now ud think this would be it, right: Wrong, the guy came and borrowed it 2-3 more times. Sure then, as long as you bring it back and keep it save. Now where this really started to piss me off is when he started to knock on my door at 9 PM when im drawing quite on an A4 comic before a coat of marker dries up.
First thing is: Who in the name of fuck knocks at someones door at 9pm without announcing themselves first via phone call?
Second thing is: Sir, you probably finished paying that 1600$ you had to pay for your Canadian papers, your last paycheck already passed, go at a wal-mart and get yourself a PS3 or X-box360, Grow up.
At a certain time, i started ignoring the evening 9pm knocks, since i DON'T expect anyone to pass by without calling or ringing the door bell at the front and i didn't fraternize with my neighbors yet, never did, not that im willingly unsocial but you as you will see, it backfires in an apartment situation.
The peak point of this whole situation is when i started hearing those 9pm knocks EVERY NIGHTS. Oh for heavens sake how immature can you get as an adult and this isnt the funny immature that you have with friends and co-workers or girlfriends, no, that's immature as in: Im banging my head at your door for a cookie that i could buy at the dep store instead of bugging you.
So this lasted for a week and stopped the next week, possibly showing that he realized that the neighbors tough he was a depraved stalker or drug dealer. So finally, some peace and quiet, right? WRONG.
Slightly short resume of a mini-event that followed up: Landlord knocked-i though it was the same guy so no answer-Landlord knocks constantly-I grow more frustrated and kept ignoring-Landlord ATTEMPTS TO OPEN THE DOOR- I open up and ask WTF!-Landlord THOUGHT i didnt pay this month's rent- I show the receipt and precise that i paid IN FRONT of em: The end.
Slight fuckup on both sides yet if i wasn't hassled by the immature depraved chap, it wouldn't have lasted till 11 pm, no kidding, knocks till 11pm.
So recently, ahem, Monday, i got a knock at 10 pm, that was it, i had to explode, i had already tried to explain to the guy that this behavior wasn't socially accepted, we weren't that close and his financial status had got better, then WTF !
Textual reproduction of how i laid it down when he asked me for my ps2 this 10th time [WARNING: Foul language due to boiling anger]

"Now listen up you miserable piece of bitch, i don't know what the fuck you think you're doing and if you realize how fucking annoying and immature uve been about this PS2 lending shit. The neighbors told me uve been knocking at my door every fucking day, late night just for this fucking PS2 and i find it fucking sick how you can bother people at this time of the night for a fucking hardware you could have bought on your last paycheck IF YOU DIDN'T SPEND IT ON SHIT ASS BEER. Now if i hear that ur gonna pull off this late night bullshit on me again, i will shove my foot so far up your ass that ull turn vegetable and UH-HO NO GAMES FOR YOU. NOW GO FUCKING BUY A CONSOLE AND QUIT PISSING ME OFF."

--Door shut, headsets on--

And i have no regrets about laying it down on him quite harsh, the bloody bastard borrowed 100$ from me to buy a quick deal-ed laptop, payed me back, asked for PC games and then tried to sell it to me for 200$ a few days after when in need of money. So what am i, a dump whore who can be used and duped at every occasion, any average person would have told the moron to get the fuck out NOW, i just said " Nah, no need for a laptop, sorry". Bloody hell, now i struggling not to punch the guy when i see him. Where's the self-respect in milking people without being "serious friends", the guy basically came to be only for my PS2 while i helped him with his resume (his typing is shit), lent him money and tried to be a helpful person to him while he got settled in this country. Well Fuck it, i don't see why i should be nice to people i just meet, no, really, fuck it all.

...
......
........

WRONG!

Ok, as many times as theses back stabs and abusing happens there are always moments where you feel good, about being relatively good, short example: Last week Christmas shopping, 110$ total ,30$ showing up in the online account bills. So here's the choice: Do selfishly i save 80$ because only the last item was registered in the credit card bill or do i simply notify and pay for the malfunction?
I mean, why in the name of fuck would not save up on such a deal, right; Why would i not use and abuse of a lucky malfunction?
Answer: Just because i can.
As much as i hate my favorite quote hence representing my way of thinking, i naturally go back to the shop the next week, with the bill, to pay them the difference. And honestly, its a small book store so people are friendly and i was surprised that they were in fact stressed out at the thought that there was 80$ missing. So it felt quite good knowing that any theft assumptions towards their employees or robbery ideas was instantly cleared and also, they were nice enough to thank me for my honesty. A simply thank you for a good act, odd feeling of * 1 POINT TO THE LIGHT SIDE YEE-PEE* and it can feel odd to miss a chance to screw the system/government that keeps raping us with taxes every days. I cant bring myself to screw or rip off people when the opportunity comes to, really, many opportunities have occurred, people ive met just cause they are interesting and in no ways have i though of abusing or fucking over people. Horribly result of a Jehova Witness Dad and Catholic Mom with a dash of Atheism developed during high school. Yet im strongly getting to believe that there are No More "selfless" Heroes in this world or maybe just my entourage, or just less than before and this also gets me a big shaky about the notion of "Connections" to get inside the industry. Im not too keen on the whole " I know you, just to get in the industry", fuck that, if i got your number, ill call to say merry Christmas, if i got your email, have some well wishes or MSN chat. Now i will tell you all in advance, I-FAIL-AT-OUTSIGHT-INTERACTIONS, im either home drawing or studying anatomy or playing a game so i barely chat on msn as im never constant in a chatroom and i cant seem to call everyone regularly IF i have their numbers and it makes me a bit mad at myself at times. I recently miraculously found my old list of ubisoft emails, funny jokes and blogs from friends i had while testing and i though i had lost them when my last hard drive died, luckily saved on my first PSP memory card, bloody hell, i had to add theses guys on linked-in to get some news, see some blogs and ask em how they are doing. People i used to see every day and had interesting conversations with or even played games with. Damn, started to glee remembering the faces attached to the digital names and memories i had of our interaction and really, good people, that testing job got me to meet up alot of devoted people even tough i might have sounded jaded about the job yet that's another chapter.

Anyway, are there really no more heroes in this world, will there be less "good" people in this world, how can you foresee being screwed over before it happens? Experience i guess, remembering, analysing and then acting. Easier said then done but better late than never.

Its drawing time...

||Next post:
-------------------

Podcast list i hope? Man i gotta remove this section lol.

Re-Balance

2008-12-22T17:38:00.003-05:00

So many points, so little time so lets make it quick,

||Current Tasks:
-------------------

[Override]: 9 page comics, 2 week deadline.

That completely slipped off my mind, a friend on entervoid.com recently freed up for a Christmas battle and spontaneously sent the challenge last Thursday. Had to accept Saturday to give us both that "last minute Saturday rush" pad we'd get around the deadline date. And i thought i would have had time to clear the local commissions i pushed back every battles and portfolio constructions....blast, really bad personal management or..... [Thoughts#1]

[First Priority] Portfolio V1.5

Ok so my digital coloring doesn't reflect what i really do, it just looks clean, alot of people keep telling my that not everyone look for "clean work" so i should stop beating myself to play with the digital took and just "Do-the-Do-that-i-do-do" but brush it up with the lightbox aid. And i always get this annoying feeling that i shouldnt post anything anywhere till i get better but, seriously, that idea can go to hell. If nothing is shown nor done then no experience and no one knows you at all. And as much as i want to perfect my construction method melting pot, at one point, i gotta move on...[Thoughts#1]
|
|--[Branch] Beat em up project

Cleaning up that quick walk and run then import and color.

[Third priority] Local Comissions

Ok ill cancel my 1 hour morning anatomy study to get the comissions done, the correction lists have been recieved so i have to strike them down ASAP.

||Thoughts:
-------------------

#1 Mental motivation method

You guys know I have the Procrastination sickness, i wont lie, im at a dangerous state. I have the stupid little voice in my head continuously telling me that id do better inside the game industry because id have close feedback, real experience and id be doing drawings for something i actually love.
Now that annoying little message pops up in my head from time to time the goes on and when i have alternate [non deadlined] tasks to accomplish, i usually let them slide saying id do them the next morning (and that gets canned because of sleep-ins due to late gaming...) or i just hate how long ive stayed on a certain piece of work then detest it since by the time i look back at it, id have learned a few new tricks somewhat evolving my style further on and making it easy to notice mistakes. YARRRRRGH!!!!!
Ok so thats a pain in the ass and theses thoughts constantly roam in my head all day long, until, this afternoon, something clicked.
Why not work on theses tasks, as if i was working on them for the industry?
I remember doing this kind of self-brainwashing while working on a few projects back when i was in Illustration and Design, it definitely gave me good results back then, even in essays.
And looking back at this way of thinking, i always get this brain surge, imagining that im working with the Team of Abes Odessey or Prince of Persia, giving context, meaning, a goal other than just making pretty images. Thats bloody hard to tap into. They had never tapped inside that part of us back then and thats what got me jaded about the Ill and design program, i personally dont care about making pretty images, im searching for a soul and i cant tell you how often that keeps me up at night. Im being torn between trying to get anatomy and construction at a high level OR getting all the glitter......wait, counter argument right there, is the pretty glitter anyway related to having soul in your artwork, unlikely. So what the hell am i stuck at. Huh, oh right, anatomy and construction versus meaning. There we go, so im spending too much time worrying on the anatomy instead of having "meaning" emerging in the end. Man, isnt that an interesting struggle...I think getting this mental brainwashing pushes me to think beyond anatomy or actually go past that point, past and current "artisticly great" games have always gave me this extra glee of joy and inspiration, ill see if i can tap that same glee when doing personal work and comissions.

#2 Bad design or Personal Preferences

Ive heard certain people complain about Prince of Persia and other new games, not having punishment for death or being too easy because death doesn't happen that often and this gets me to wonder, what the hell?
Some of theses games have great setting, storyline, artistic design yet people still seem to complain about such a thing as being punished in-game.
Thats very odd, i mean, i lived through the super mario bros 3 era and i do see how that can alienating yet ive also tried games like God Hand or Devil May Cry 3 US and certainly had my moments throwing that ps2 controller on the floor which i had never done before with a snes controller. Why is that? Is ridiculous game difficulty a bad game design, are the controls too complex for smooth and fluid gameplay? Or is it just personal preference?

<>

Godhand had an engine which was more fit for ONE ON ONE combat, not full fledge free for all. This forced the gamer to Pick fights one by one by taunting each enemy or run away from a group or the camera would eventually kill you (straight on camera). The game had hilarious potential if only the engine was made for its purpose instead of forcing you to resort to cheap tactics and move spamming in order to finish a level.
That can possibly count as bad game design.
Devil May Cry 3's normal mode -US- was the -JAP- hard mode. There is a sense of pride when completing certain bosses at that difficulty level. You really learn to use ALL your moves and to time things right.
Tekken 5 had a final boss that could stun you up close ignoring any moves you perform at him (later removed for the psp version.) Bad..part of the game?

<>

Ultimately, feels like personal preferences, some people like hard games, some people like going through a story, everyone is different, the interesting part would be having a serious debate on that subject relating certain games yet, with internet, getting a good debate is hard; typing time, typos, non willing agressivity, words being taken out of context, its a real hassle, why cant we all pick up a mic and skype it out :D.

Next post...?
----------------

Possibly Podcast shoutout as ive been listening to alot of interesting "Game related" podcasts and im sure theses shows will have you thinking alot on the industry as a whole, maybe too much?

back to drawing.

Cut backs and Rise of the Argonauts

2008-12-19T05:32:00.004-05:00

The game project cutbacks:

1. 3-4 frames for animations in order to test the engine.
2. Cutscenes will have to be "living comic book" style for now.(Till i see if i have time for fully hand drawn sequences before i grow grey hair.)
3.Episodic method, only as a last resort.

Rise of the Argonauts

The game tries to be different from your average hack-n-slash. I mean, first thing that ull notice : No on-screen hud or map. And maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan do i want my map, i mean i really really miss the map. BUT the game gave me a real mind fuck when i landed on an NPC conversation randomly giving me a new and well needed item. Guys, you have no idea how much this plays with your brain as we are often used to being lead to theses points via objective or hints, this was just THERE to reward your interaction and searches. Very interesting little feature. The game is more centered on story thank anything else, there is a shitload of dialogue, really, a shitload, you choose how they go most of the time yet man i wish theses characters had more attitude in their body motion during dialogue, yet i dunno if that can ever be well done with this many amount of dialogue which can also be modified.
Obvious frame rate issue yet i wouldn't blame em as there are a shitload of people you CANT kill. Yep this aint god of war, you aren't a mass murderer and there are people living in theses cities.
The game is more story based than combat based, anyhow back to prince of persia then off to this one again.

Prince of Persia Collectors edition The good part

2008-12-16T17:22:00.002-05:00

Ok guys, i know ive ranted alot on the Collectors edition and what came with it so this time ill just drop the last bit of fuel to the artbook dissapointement then go on about the goodness of the game itself.

The Collectors edition : Strategy guide

So i walk buy gamebuzz (i dont support eb games) to see if i can get myself a copy of Rise of the Argonaught (i support mythological games too :D) and while finding out that it came out tomorrow, i stumbled on a nicely covered book saying " Prince of Persia Collectors" ok so i thought that it was the redeeming Prince of Persia Artbook that ive been waiting for and that Ubisoft pulled a "God of war" on me (Strategy and complete artbook in the package) so i bought the nicely covered book along with the Assassins Creed artbook (great artistic team as well, same one i think). So in the metro, while sitting down and going home, i opened it and flipped through the strategy pages to evade spoilers.
And then.... flipped some more, and more, and more...wait, where is the artbook?
I FINALLY land on some art pages...all 8 of them at the end of the book.

WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh GOD DAMMIT, UBISOFT YOU'VE RAPED MY HOPES AGAIN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH.

7-8 pages of artwork so 8% of the whole book. What the hell.....what...the...hell....
Man, i couldnt even draw straight after, i was so pissed to have been had again...

So all jaded AGAIN, i come back home and takeout Saints Row 2 which i finished online with a friend then placed Prince of Persia inside. (Sorry Fallout 3, you come next).
Now i did get nitpicky about that code you need to enter for a "hidden skin" only available to pre-orders (I have the collectors edition....wheres the damned code..) and i do hope that feature is unlockable later in the game but thats it for the menus. Overall, very nice menu to menu transition, quite creative kinda like a blue ray movie :D.

Now i finally get to pressing the new game button and then ......

[Mokuu has died of an artistic orgasm caused by Prince of Persia, please beware that the content of this game is a bliss to the eyes, fluid and contains combat so satisfying that you will get adrenaline rushes. This article will continue once Mokuu is ressurected enough time to finish the game itself. Sorry, the game is too sexy right now GO BUY IT!!!!!.]

2008-12-15T12:30:00.002-05:00

Notes on the combat system, i gotta do a running and movement test first

Prince of Persia Collectors edition

2008-12-05T19:31:00.003-05:00

Now i got a bone to pick with Ubisoft for this collectors edition and believe me, i can justify it.

I dont know their internal problems with the art department but when i pay these extra dollars, i expect some kind of serious artbook.
This "artbook" was first and foremost DIGITAL. Type-o-thing even I wouldnt burn and pass out at a con.
And then the kick in the balls is that this "artbook" is on a BIG ASS BLUE RAY DVD. WHAT THE HELL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So there is absolutely no ways to keep theses pieces if work on my pc or IN MY HANDS, no, blue ray DVD, 6-7 pages, have a nice day.

Suikoden 4 gave me an artbook even if the game was a pile of crap.

God of war 1 and 2 had artbooks either with the game or strategy guide.

FALLOUT 3 even had a small artbook with their uber packaging.

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DIGITAL ARTBOOK PILE OF SHIT!

UBISOFT HAS SOME OF THE MOST TALENTED ARTIST CREATING SOME OF THE MOST TALENTED PIECES OF ART IN VIDEO GAME HISTORY WHY CANT THE FUCKING MARKETTING GET IT IN THEIR PUNY LITTLE HEAD THAT THESE PIECES OF ART ARE BEST SEEN ON HIGH RESOLUTION IN OUR FREAKING HAAAAAANDS. PRINCE OF PERSIA 1-2-3 HAS SOME FUCKING GREAT ARTWORK BUT WE NEVER EEEEEVER GOT TO COLLECT THEM CAUSE NO ARTBOOK WAS RELEASED.

Now i got a few theories on how this can possibly be explained:

1-The marketing pulled this as a last minute plan.

2-The marketing had no clue what a collectors edition really is.

3-The marketing doesnt want to have outsiders learn art techniques that could rival their team's skills so they held them back.

All 3 reasons extreme exaggerations but im starting to think their are all true.

Now it aint all that bad, i mean, that behind the scene was funny, yet the box coulda been kicked to another level and the CD slip,............yep number 2 seems to be the valid reason for this.

ANYWAY, ill be playing the game little by little.

Small thoughts

2008-12-05T12:34:00.003-05:00

Hmm......
Ok, looking back at some older games from japan, manas, odin's sphere, final fantasy and such.
Man, creating a world that is both believable and unique is an interesting task, its like basing off reality but then adding some nonsense that CAN blend in the world. Odd merges but gives you such great results at times.
Sooooo ok, lets try to make these environments and stages unique, but thats quite a stretch.
i might want to do some kind of video diary, just for note taking and review.

Stage 1 storyboard

2008-12-03T10:29:00.005-05:00

Halting the storyboard after this, gotta jot down the stages first:

End of boss fight

Back to planning...

Reboot

2008-11-27T18:31:00.002-05:00

Been a few days since i started waking up at 5 am to brush up on my anatomy, tutorials with books and Ron Lemen's anatomy articles inside Imagine FX. I think i found my approach method, drawing approach but i cant be 100% sure cause this always happens.
I went back to Marvel's way of drawing and gesturing, it somewhat worked well and i was able to like it to the Force way of flowing, yet it loses the bulk that the academical approach gives me. Might find a way to compensate soon.
So anyway, ill be adding some of the exercises this weekend, im using the a7 biggie paper so i cant really scan them.

As for the game project, enemie's attack patterns are designed, now im making some decisions on the player's abilities, attacks, comboes, speed, balancing. Ill also sketch up some ideas for the stages and upload the enemy attack patterns while trying to hide the notes :D
Anyhow lets go.

Recent comic

2008-11-22T09:21:00.006-05:00

So greyscale shading on colored flats doesnt work that well. city is quite empty, special FX with markers needs to be planned out, and scanning at 48bit color to evade the linework being greyed. Also, no more 6-7 panels pages, next one is 4-5, i want my lines. But so far doing this with markers was more enjoyable than the previous ones.

Apparently i made my opponent look emo, and well i just wanted to bring out the absent minded genius the character was, might have to play around with expression sheets more often.

Intro stage

2008-11-19T08:08:00.008-05:00

Intro stage:

-Boss section:

Beaten boss:

Off to stage 1 !

The game : Main idea

2008-11-17T13:50:00.003-05:00

This will be a beat em up game, as old school as it can get, my main focus is on FUN and adrenaline rush.

Now this on its own can cause a few problems:

[]How can it be challenging and fun at the same time.

-Reviewing some past beat em up games, Co-op play usually made more fun since people tag teamed with each other to gang up on a cheap boss, annoying enemies OR overpower foes with custom made tag team comboes.

-Adding destructible elements: Everyone loves to smash crates to find power ups, why not give the feeling or creating a real impact on the enemy organization by taking out their utilities and machines, of course, this will be additional most of the times and will give the player bonus points, might have to remember this as a REWARD.

-Interesting bosses: One major thing ive noticed with bosses in past beat em ups is that alot of them had no personality or introductions. Recently ive played No More Heroes, this game both broke the plain "Boss has same pattern all the times" and "just another enemy with alot of hp." type of stereotypes. My bosses need to turn the previous army of badguys floored before reaching the boss areas, a joke. Maybe focus a bit more on "technical" boss fights without being too cheap or making the game dislikable, maybe making it like a small puzzle type of fight. Getting the boss fights to have their own flow. Thats a challenge using an old engine, ill also have to "Cheat" individual boss musics since the engine only allows "single boss musics", ill have to use good old megaman trick to open a new area and give it its own music then script a mini dialog with the "boss" with high HP and its own patterns, now as for the -End stage- trigger, well its either an element ill have to add at the end stage or a trigger area.

-Useful items: Ergh, thats an odd thing in beat em ups, the only game ive seen to it well was Alien VS Predator Arcade where the guns actually made a difference instead of the good old 2x4 stick or pipe.
Now since i wanted this to be a single player beat em up at first i thought of character specific "Short term abilities" as power ups, like pitting fire balls or causing earthquakes, maybe simply turning them into temporaty Elemental strikes.

-Lively stages: Super Double Dragon had that Truck stage, Final Fight 3 had that bus stage, Final fight 2 had many countries and a cruise ship stage. They felt like an antity of their own and didnt feel repetitive since you had to go in and out of these stages.

-Mokuu as a character: He's the agile character with firepowers of steel. He's gotta be fast, hits are weak but can be chained and he does evolve as the game goes along, Specially those fire powers will have to give an extra glee of happyness when the player uses them on the enemies and enemy machines. Maybe some extra KOed animations for Burnt enemies, that'll be fun.

Alright i got the stage storyboards, ill be posting after.

7 Random Fact

2008-11-16T13:30:00.008-05:00

Alright gotta be fair, been tagged by Dan so ill have to post this and tag 7 other victims.

-If i sleep early, i usually wake up at 4am to draw till 6:30 am.

- Peanut butter and jelly seem to be my favorite breakfast.

- Im too competitive in fighting games, Street fighter, tekken, you name it, the only fighting game i cant stand is super smash brothers. Control issues.

-I actually own a wii, PS3, PSP and DS.

-I sharpen my pencils with an exacto .

-I use a brush pen quite often but i prefer the brush and india ink.

-I have a hidden stash of Copic markers ill user after i finish wasting my letraset on experiments.

Alright, now i gotta tag:

Brad Goodchild
Fransisco Herrera
Mariana Morena
Kendra Cook
Megan
Ryan Cole
Sandra Khoo
----------------------------------------------------------------------

On the side note

The game

2008-11-14T12:14:00.004-05:00

Back at adapt, a game designer told me to get my moves ready before working on the environment and pretty shit. I kinda see what he means, having the character's overall abilities planned out can also map out the gameplay in multiple aspect, traveling, difficulty, reward. etc

got a bit too many files to upload, ill see if i can do a merge at home.

Characters and bosses

2008-11-10T05:04:00.003-05:00

Main profile sheets are somewhat done, i can always move on to the interface graphics or just jump into the main attack animations.

Kicking it a notch

2008-10-19T21:03:00.003-04:00

Its not over yeeeeeeeeeeet !

The bosses

2008-10-07T10:09:00.004-04:00

Boss 0: This fight will be like fighting a final boss at the beginning of the game, ull be at starting abilities, no fire power and super moves and you arent expected to win.
But you can win this fight if you carefully evade all her massive radius moves to land in quick counters to then dodge again. I might add an attack pattern change around 50% HP to add more difficulty.
But you do get rewarded if you beat the scenario, that'll be the fun part :D.

Boss 1: Man, i dont have many ideas for his attack patterns, he basically shoots bean bags at you with his shotgun, Maybe 3 way shots, grab attacks if hp is below 40%, ricochet shots maybe. He's basically the ease back boss you get to use as a punching bag for your newly acquired firepowers.

Boss 2: Enters the cheapness, youve had fun beating a long range opponent, but this guy will make you step back and FAST. So far, spear thrusts, dragoon jump. semi shadow step and i may add high damaging grab chains around 30-40% hp. Time to get serious with the fire moves.

Moved and sketching

2008-10-03T09:53:00.004-04:00

Recently moved to a 2-1/2. doing better, been to adapt, getting net soon. Later : D

More models

2008-09-08T05:50:00.001-04:00

Life drawing madness

2008-09-01T08:12:00.003-04:00

More life drawing, 2nd this week, aiming for less long poses but i gotta balance my schedule for that as well.

A3 madness

2008-08-08T05:42:00.003-04:00

Big scanner feeling great : D

More compilations

2008-07-11T21:48:00.002-04:00

Before i forget, now i have to get an A3 scanner, nm the auto feeder will buy another one when the opportunity comes.

Art Jeet kun do

2008-07-11T20:53:00.002-04:00

I dunno anymore, i mean, i want it all but at the same time i cant restrict myself to animation style only, of course it all comes down to practice, knowledge and determination. Alright alright, so after checking a couple of bruce lee movies and interviews i might have another path to understanding. Just doing it with no strict approaches after knowing these approaches. Kinda like merging and melting these techniques to get some kind of my own result. Its hard not to remain to old principals, very hard, extremely hard but being formless and shapeless to then mold back and forth kinda struck me at random times when im sketching in perspective at high speed. I havent really noticed until today when i got sick of my miserable results at perspective in the morning that, i was thinking too much about which approach i should and remain with when starting a figure.

I was stuck with two to three approaches, the marvel way, the vilppu way and Glenn Keane's force approach. All 3 have distinct ways of either starting the figure, holding the pencil and anatomical stylizing. Now i kept trying to try them one by one, one after the other to see which ONE should i use and force myself to master. I found myself switching from one another when failure occurred. Seemingly focusing too much on the pencil and approach to get me where i want to go. Yet at one point, i just came crashing down that 10th piece of animation paper with only one thought remaining in my head: "Faster, Faster, FASTER" and then silence. Nothing else was heard and my hand just went loose. Whenever i though of something, i instantly heard myself saying " Shut up, you're thinking too much" then utter silence followed. No more stupid thoughts about scanning, people in the bus looking, scanning and such, just draw, fix, ADAPT. My hand just switched drawing positions by itself in order to ADAPT to the specific pose i was trying to draw. Just like that, approaches overlapped each other consecutively with no breaks just like a chain.

F**king weird aint it. I wonder if i can hit that state in a broader scale, not only with poses and figure construction but with composition, storytelling, layouts and even coloring. Its odd, its exilerating, seems i want to try everything in that "trance" if i manage to channel it at will that is. I recall that state when reading Sarah Simblet's Drawing with the right side of the brain. No thoughts , no symbols, just you, the model, the idea.
Jeez, talk about Art Kung fu and the worst part is i may probably forget it unless i add a few reminders to myself, including this blog post...

So it continues

2008-06-10T07:30:00.004-04:00

Cant draw animals for my life huh, ok wheres that old character sheet

]

2008-06-01T18:43:00.007-04:00

Alright, a few shorts on this post, ill have to post the rest separately since quicktime vids are hard to compile. Also the DA link is a WIP im working on at the job. Nothing official just personal.

The small stuff is a brainfart for a side scroller im imagining, who knows, might land on a flash coder who'll be able to help.

Current Animation WIP by *Mokuu on deviant ART

Not much time.

2008-06-01T02:06:00.004-04:00

More detailed update later one, till then, bus work compilation:

Latest comic.

2008-04-22T12:40:00.003-04:00

More ink attacks, more speed, more notes taking and analysis and a new gameplan for the next one.

Few experiments

2008-04-20T11:18:00.003-04:00

Few experiments here and there:

Ok so bristol can take marker, lets try with the Canson comic paper and some digital flats.

its near decent but traditional shading with cool grays cant be edited, that kinda removes some options. Lets try some trad flats instead.

Ok getting better, ill have to buy an extra 90 color markers to do some real marker blending on these flats but its getting there, now lets try with a drawing that isnt as crappy.

Ok i think i got something, fast shadows on comp, fast flats on the go. Ill run a background test later today and start going overdrive with the next comic.

Pieces of recent life drawing

2008-04-20T08:34:00.004-04:00

Dr Sketchy life Drawing session yesterday, i cant stop feeling the rush in these life drawing session, more speed, more quality, more spontaneous rediscoveries, techniques from books popping back again. Man, i hunger for more of these. MOAAAAAAAAR ! : D Ok so i got at least 2-3 life drawing targets a week, gonna try to hit them all every week at least 10$ each.

Inking all around.

2008-04-06T21:39:00.006-04:00

More inking play, back to work.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling ...

2008-03-31T23:30:00.004-04:00

Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok.

Mixing traditional keyframes and trying to do Digital Inbetweens is practically impossible without a nice texture brush and bitmap imports. Vectors can cut it. So ill have to try Toon Boom Digital Pro at work during break to see if its worth the effort, in the mean time. ITS INK FIESTA!

Brushpens, Sable brushes coming soon.

Digital Gift:
Off to work, later all.

Up and running

2008-03-16T13:19:00.003-04:00

After a few weeks of switching between animation and comic at work, i still get time to sketch on the bus and such. Void experience #2 is ok, all pencil and ill post it as soon as that "Wait till the votes are over", annoying rule since i get to wait more than a week for serious feedback. Anyway, Experiment #3 is gonna be gray marker on bristol probably, right now i can afford Sable brushes so back to inking on paper for a while. Getting a laptop is on hold, saving up to get one but on hold so far. I got a few animation key frames ill upload later tonight if i don't fall asleep earlier.

Crossroad

2008-03-07T05:49:00.002-05:00

--Early morning post full of typos.--

Now ive been thinking and wondering about this for a while and it aint gonna let go until i finally write it down.
Testing seems to be the black hole of all things, testing games, testing animation softwares, giving feedback on em etc. Ive seen people remain at these positions for years after finishing diplomas and such but i always wonder why.
I mean, if you have a BA in animation, why not go animate in a studio or participate in game projects. Well, as a first job its quite comfortable, i mean, great pay, cool people to work with, partially doing what you love and you may get to draw.
Yet what breaks the illusion is the idea that we may just be "playing Animator" all this time.
How?
Feedback is nearly none existent and your work may not count as yours or not at all.
Its like giving a part of your devotion but not receiving the full reward you know.
I guess that to break free from this you'd have to stay away from the illusion and keep pushing it to the limit while showing your work around, man i really dunno anymore.
Lets just see what happens this time.

And we start again

2008-02-24T12:21:00.002-05:00

Just like i noted last time, using some new strategies to beat photomerge's dastardly effect until i can afford a bigger scanner or laptop (soon). The laptop would be my secret weapon, why, cause i usually work on the go and around friends. Ive never liked doing my work in class (mostly cause people talk alot back then.) and its hard to do it at home as there alot of people talking (urgh) while i usually cover them with music or movies, so distractionpalooza. Sooooooo, time to save up.

BTW, i was hired by toonboom a week ago and loving the job, only prob is i MUST force a better sleeping schedule on myself. Its been a whole month since family problems caused me to return home at around midnight to evade certain people there (more on that in a rare emo journal post.) so thats left me with 5 hours of sleep every night which makes me take 2 cups of coffee, 1 rockstar energy drink and 1 back of extreme spicy doritos. And all that still doesn't keep all my senses awake. So far, sleeping in my work room at home seems to work for an hour or two so i guess that'll be my strategy. Also im loving the job, great people, all pro-traditional animation people, you learn so much there just by hearing random conversations on the industry and people are very helpful. Ill be amping my training to match their expectations. This means, everything else will be slown down: Comissions, void, art trade, gift art. I also gotta create new characters for these guys, this'll be a rush.

Now on for void, well that first battle was a flunk, family situation didnt help and i HAVE to get a second gig of ram. So here goes:

Let the party start for match 2.

Lost the void but got the job.

2008-02-17T20:35:00.003-05:00

For a first battle, that was a flop but in the mean time I GOT THE JOB! Oh yeah, now working at toonboom on a project it cant speak of. (Policies have to be respected). But ill actually be drawing most of the times. Sure beats beta testing splinter cell all over again. So far preparing 2 sets of page layouts. First one's for the job im at, X amount of pages, lets see where it goes, the second one is for my second battle on void, im going overdrive on that one with less than a week for penciling as an objective, NO MORE BLUE PENCIL since photomerge seems to be screwing me everytime and polygonal lasso for the win. I think ive decrypted the udon coloring technique, so far, here goes:

This is for an art trade with www.niebakura.deviantart.com

Gonna be experimenting a bit more but next up is full pencil to digital transition.

Still Alive

2008-02-14T07:05:00.002-05:00

Barely, ill write up on the story a bit later on, till then

Page 1 outta 10:

Rest will be posted as soon as the battle is up.

Rush Rush Rush Times 3 !

2008-01-20T16:45:00.000-05:00

Cant talk much, first battle on entervoid, page layouts done (10 total) working on 3 commissions to pay for the dead fan replaced on credit 2 days ago, gotta pay for tuition which might be reimbursed if i don't go to school this semester, trying to do some kind of animation portfolio for both disney and a local flash studio here, shit, should i still apply for sheridan?! *takes a deep breath* and gotta earn cash for model sessions. Things are a mess here, but no despair, time to fight harder, ATTACK ATTACK ATTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK !

Birthday present for skulljammer.deviantart.com, go checkout superworldpresent's comic :D

Watercolor mess with Katarina, ill have to write a bio for her to explain the inhuman size of her cleavage, its a very serious story part. Yet i messed her face as soon as the water hit.

During a surfing exercise, Drake got attacked by one Giant Shark and surely though it was his last right, Yet the quiet native guy he adopted as a brother suddenly rushed in and kicked a whole in the shark's head ((wind kick, but underwater?!)). Drake was so surprised he wasn't eaten alive that he gave him his eternal gratitude and told him that he was gonna give the ultimate gift a guy could give another guy:

He was gonna get him laid.

So they headed to a bar later that night...
-----------

This is from a second story i had in mind, same world as Mokuu's saga but different area/country.

Ok back to the shamble, later !

wips

2008-01-19T11:16:00.000-05:00

Drake and X

2008-01-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

X cause i cant figure out his name yet... Yet Drake is the type of surfer who always remains mellow, jokes around while being a complete womanizer, He tries to get the native guy to adapt to the city life and get chicks, only problem is: He is in love with an Anthropomorphic wolf woman he was competing with back before his village was burned down. Imagine how odd that sounds when you say your girlfriend has hairy arms and a tail.

Past life drawings

2008-01-14T09:46:00.000-05:00

I need to do more of these, big sized gestures at full speed.

Done

2008-01-03T21:33:00.000-05:00

Next target, animation project.

Rolling some more

2008-01-03T13:25:00.000-05:00

Rolling

2008-01-02T21:04:00.000-05:00

Colored and an ink

2008-01-01T22:08:00.000-05:00

Flats p 1, not to figure out special effect techniques

Inking first page

2007-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

One outta 2 inked.

Christmas times?

2007-12-26T00:11:00.001-05:00

Playing with tools for the festive season, back to training starting tomorrow morning.

Re voiding

2007-12-18T01:14:00.000-05:00

Reworking on the void char, DA tourney over soon so lets get ready for more training.

2007-12-16T23:07:00.000-05:00

Time to spam some past life drawing, master copies and traditional work. I usually do these as morning warm up that ill try and push further time after time. I usually use master painting, sculptures and game concept art and try to work animation principals on them while studying light and anatomy. Fun times. whenever i can ill upload my semester's life drawings.

From a sculpture:From a master painting:

From God of War

Master painting figure:
From Franzetta:
From Drawing force book:
From hogarth:
Inking practice:

Rolling,Rolling,Rolling...

2007-12-15T21:19:00.000-05:00

Bridgeman to start the day while i get to work on comissions during the day. Random fact of the day is that a storm might stop me from delivering these on time. Blasted canadian snow storms :S Gonna upload them later on.

slowing down again

2007-12-14T11:22:00.000-05:00

DA comic tourney entry to finish in a week then void entry comic and sheets to finish, 3-4 commissions to finish, all that before Christmas, feels like there wont be enough time to touch fantasy painting attempts and deeper anatomy studies, lets rush:

Slow responding

2007-12-07T00:52:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the slow response guys, ive been running on coffee for the last few days and i really appreciate the criticism you guys have been giving me, ill return the favor once i get my mind back (end of semester tonight) and respond to you guys as well!