Sean's Blog: Musings and sketches

Week Project Tally and Debriefing

2011-06-26T10:30:00.000-06:00

Hi folks!

Just thought I would tally up my current progress on projects. This week has had 3 points of focus so far:

Castaway 2 TD [flash game]

Definitely not the prettiest of sketches, but I was using this image to finalize the number of "worlds" within the the game [The answer is 5 worlds, we'll be using 5 tilesets from Castaway2: Beach, Forest, Marsh, Snow, Lava. Each has a unique colour palette and object set so that helps].
Each world will have 6 levels, although I designed some paths to bifurcate, mainly so that a player can reach the next world within 4 levels [2 are left for general exp boosting and exploration]. There's a slightly different level pattern for each area [well, as much variation as 6 levels can provide], with the last level being the exception since you have to cross all 6 in a linear fashion... and because we are bastards.
All the in game towers and upgrades are complete for this game. Next week involves finishing the world map, and interface representations[icons] for the towers and traps.
Estimated game release is still mid-July.

Sky Expedition [iPhone app]

Stephen has been extra patient with me on this project so I really have to thank him. I now have the ship moving and behaving properly [want to have it travel nice and slow, uncovering areas slowly, to give a sense of distance/size]. The particles are behaving properly and definitely augment the appeal of refuelling the airship. By the time the game is ready for v1.0, I would like people to have a positive pavlovian response towards teal energy glows:P Salivation will be optional.

All the in game towers and upgrades are complete for this game. Next week involves finishing the world map, and interface representations[icons] for the towers and traps.
Estimated game release is still mid-July.

Sky Expedition [iPhone app]

For this small project I'm redesigning/skinning an existing game for a colleague over in France. A variation of the match 3 type, I'm just helping prepare the graphics for retina display and to design things look "shinier". Shining is currently in progress.

Estimated contract end is next week.

Cheers bros and gals,
Sean

Castaway 2 Necromancy: Tower Defence

2011-06-22T07:40:00.000-06:00

In between small upgrades to project Sky Expedition, I've also been helping my buddy Mike over at Likwidgames. Castaway 2 was a satisfying and well received flash game since we learnt a lot from it's predecessor and applied the feedback. However, since we don't want to jump into another large development cycle, Mike had proposed a project that would use Castaway 2's art assets. A game "sibling" if you will as opposed to a descendant. A tower defence mechanic was chosen and this is the current result :D

We are predicting a mid-July release for this baby. In essence, we're exchanging art development time for game design and spending most of our efforts on making the game functionally different from it's sister. This has also given me the opportunity to further practice on structures/buildings, and not worry too much about the other visual aspects.

Sky Expedition: Start Project

2011-05-06T15:37:00.001-06:00

Now that the skies have cleared a little bit project wise, I was finally able to sit down with my friend Stephen Gazzard from Broken Kings. He had recently released an experimental iphone game called "Dirt" a few months ago, and ever since I had been exposed to that game, I hounded him to bring his expertise to a project I had dubbed "Sky Expedition". The project is still in its infancy, Stephen having just built an svn repository along with basic tiles. That being said, we seem to have a clear enough idea of the variables and assets involved, so we hope to have game iterations relatively often and early.

To give you folks a heads up, the game is essentially a tile based exploration and cartographic game. The player takes command of a storm stricken airship that has to find it's way to port and recover crew members along the way as well as potential artifacts. Currently that is the scope, but I will be keeping you guys updated as this project progresses

Here's a possible logo:

Castway II released on flash :D

2011-05-02T14:50:00.002-06:00

Hi folks! Finally this game is seeing the light of day and not a moment too soon. It was an interesting experiment in design and project goals. Not too bad for 2 -3 person team game if I say so myself. Next time round I would like to invest more heavily on actual story but that is a minor gripe over all. Please give her a go and tell me what you guys think. No worries, it's free :3

CASTAWAY 2 AHOY!

Of Design Docs and Sketches.

2011-04-28T13:54:00.000-06:00

The past 2 weeks I've been burying my head into design documents, trying to distill the distinct fragrances and facets of a game prototype. It's very hard to nail down what is essentially a definitive document for a loose game concept ["Definitive" being relative to the duration of that project cycle]. By the end of this week I'm hoping to have a rather simplified yet concise document that can be deciphered to make a game concept within a 2 week cycle *crosses fingers*.

In the meantime, I threw together a piece depicting Mandy's character Julian for the Paperchain Project. There's still some more good work needed to go into this piece but I am quite content with the layout. Just need to create a more apparent urban middle ground between the building and the exterior. Enjoy :D

Studio Move

2011-04-25T10:15:00.000-06:00

"A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body."
-Benjamin Franklin

An apt quote for the times seeing as I will be spending the next few weeks slowly moving into a new space for the studio. My brother has given me access to an entire basement equipped with all needed facilities, so a newer and more elaborate workplace is in the works. Most importantly, our bedroom and home studio will be once again separated. No TVs or computers in the bedroom, only in the studio. I'm going to be quite adamant about that. Hopefully this should help further develop a proper workplace mentality and professional vibe.

Oh, and today's transit sketch for the peeps:

Upcoming Game on the Flash Platform.

2011-04-15T13:30:00.000-06:00

Heya folks!

Just spreading the news that a simple Action-RPG I've been working on will be released in the next week or two. It's quite a rush job [due to me miscalculating the necessary documentation to make this project feasbable] but it's also a labour of love... plus it will be free to play anyhow :B. I'll make sure to post a link to the game once it's officially available.

The game is a continuation of the first Castaway and uses pretty much re-engineered backgrounds. The sprite handling system along with battling, however, is completely new. What's most interesting was our decision to "regress" from an isometric view to a simple cartesian grid [x,y]. Although I think isometirc views can be more visually interesting from a game point of view, you still run into collision and depth sorting issues. Since we were a skeleton crew of 2 people, with some help from :thumbazreet911:, we were willing to use a simpler tiling system. This was in hopes to include some battle elements we discovered in Diesel Valkyrie, but also to really change up the core experience from the first game.

Enough banter, onto the screenshots:

Comfort Zone and Art.

2011-04-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

"Comfort makes cowards of us all."
~Michael E. Gerber

I do realize taking only the last line out of a paragraph can erode the strength of a quote. In this case however, the lack of context can allow for a much wider interpretation and can make the short snippet even more poignant. I have recently finished reading Michael E. Gerber's book, The E-Myth Revisited, and i would have to say it's a recommended read for any of you embarking on a journey of starting a business, and the eventual self-discovery that will come about.

At this point however, I'm not here to discuss the book, just this juicy little tidbit he threw in near the end. Under a broad scope, this quote pretty much echoes what most entrepreneurial war cries try to get across: If you are not challenging yourself daily [ie. breaking your comfort zone], then you aren't getting better. A good concept, but one that I only recently internalized on an emotional level, as opposed to just nodding my head towards what I read.

Breaking one's comfort zone really does sound as uncomfortable as it should be. The fear of not-completion, the fear of ridicule, or worst of all, the fear of falling short of one's own expectations, intangible as they may be. All of these should be experienced in some form towards your craft on a daily basis. The more obvious examples would be challenging ones self on an artistic level: Experiment with media, poses, themes, studies etc. Good advice as always but I find it is only a part of the discipline as a whole. Breaking one's comfort zone in art also implies shaking one's social and organizational structures: Randomly initiating contact with folks, Getting used to rejection or indifference [it does tend to be less painful each time], learning how to register/run a business, delegating tasks without stepping on other peoples toes [at least not too heavily], etc.. The list varies for each individual and can probably go on indefinitely, but the key point is that this list is much larger in scope than one would expect. Everyday doesn't have to involve some form of artistic challenge, but having a self-appointed challenge nonetheless is important. Just remember, it's perfectly natural, and in fact healthy, to feel a sense of unease when performing a challenge for the first time. That sense of unfamiliarity can be a bigger sign of impeding progress than you may realize.

On a side note, transit sketch:

Some simple logo variants.

2011-04-07T11:44:00.000-06:00

Here is what I would call a "Second Stage" set of logo variations, submitted for final approval to a literary services company. At this point the core shape and design is already there, but now I needed to provide the final iconic graphic within.

Sketches and Pimping Commissions

2011-04-05T19:08:00.000-06:00

Hello folks, another quick series of sketches for today.

Most importantly however, I would like to bring an important matter to you're attention, yes, you wonderfully awesome dozen who watch my journal. My dear fiancee Mandy is in a financial pickle and is offering sketches for $25 a pop. I know I cannot shift masses of people to other sites like Mandy and her friends, but I thought I'd at least try to send her my trickle of folks, in whatever capacity I can muster. Maybe I need more Tiger Blood... Anyhow, at least drop by and say Hi or pass the word along the ever ascending internet grapevine

Set your Warp Drives to destination !!!

Cheers!
Sean

Oh wait! Sketch:

New Month, End of Projects

2011-04-04T14:47:00.000-06:00

Everything is coming down to this week to get the current projects out the door. Once that is done I can spend more time elaborating on my own and lavishing them with the attention I have withheld so cruelly for so long. Stay tuned folks :D

Mice vs Dogs

2010-11-30T09:03:00.000-07:00

The end of the month is upon us and despite some set backs I really look forward to finishing playing this game. This week and the next will probably be most intense, with tweaking and fixes. All in all, a great learning experience especially in how to manage folks and build a team. My heart felt thanks to the art girls who helped this project, Cil and Rachel. Their patience with me will always be appreciated! Alright, what's mainly left now is to buckle down and get some puppet units moving around :D !

Cats vs Mice !

2010-11-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

I will make a showdown image for each encounter [Cat VS Mice, Cat VS Dogs, Mice VS Dogs].
Currently I'm finishing up the backgrounds for the HD version along with a titlescreen. I do hope to get an iPhone 4 so that I can appreciate the higher res graphics once I get my dev station up and running :3

Quickie Tutorial

2010-11-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

Work has been hectic, but I would really like to keep up with semi-regular posting. Here's a quick tutorial done for some friends.

Increasingly Furious Tactics

2010-10-18T15:24:00.000-06:00

Alright, time for me to chime in and show what I've been up to :D
Diesel Valkyrie is waiting to be put into the vast interwebs. I will make sure to do a post when it is officially online along with some image/art on the project. In the meantime, I will bug you with art from an iphone/ipad project currently in development by my company [Bella Machina Studios Inc.], Broken Kings and Big Stack Studios. Thank you for your feedback folks, it was a close one but we decided to go with animal based units. It'll be fun.
Not all the portraits are complete, but I will show you what we have so far. We're starting with a simple contingent of 7 animal units [excluding the mobile base/fortress]:
Our staple units for the mice [from left to right]:

I also want to take this opportunity to show the portrait system with other planned units. Let's introduce a feline counterpart for the footsoldier:

[feline portraits provided by fellow artist and partner in crime, Cil Cheung]

Please stay tuned for more info coming this week :] !

Aesop versus Classic Fantasy

2010-09-09T14:05:00.001-06:00

I'd like to open this journal with a question. For those of you who are tactical rpg fans, if you were presented with two possible themes, which would currently catch your fancy? [Bear in mind that the game itself will have a relatively serious story regardless].

1.] A "traditional" feel with knights/mages et al.

2.] "Aesop's Fables" style in which the characters are represented by animals.

I look forward to your comments :D [Probably not on this blog, but on devart]!

On a side note, I have some piled up sketches need to get off my chest:

Cheers!

Personal Work - Soothsayer

2010-07-30T20:47:00.000-06:00

Nothing like non-work related art to pass the time. This one has been sitting in the archives for a month so it is about time that I start completing the rendering. I'm fairly happy with the upper torso, but need to work on the legs, background and pretty much everything else.

On the personal side of things: Justin [my roommate]'s parents have been staying over at our house and I have been spoiled by all manners of Indonesian cuisine. I'm eating so many chillies my gastrointestinal tract is crying bloody murder... but it's soooo good to have proper home cooked cuisine from across the Pacific ; w; Beef Rendang, Babi Hong, Chap Chai... my mouth is watering again.

Vocation versus Avocation

2010-07-29T21:09:00.000-06:00

It is one thing to study war

and another to live the warrior's life.

-Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary 5th century BC

No, I am not equating the life of an artist to that of an ancient warrior, but rather mentioning the analogous concept brought forward from the quote: Practicing/doing art is not the same as being an artist. Let me clear the air and state that the study of ones craft and having a profession aren't mutually exclusive, but the act of improving a craft alone does not make it your profession by default. A "student of art" practices when they want to [or when they're told to], an "artist" does art whether they feel like it or not, rain or shine, day in - day out. Not that artists practice every single hour of every single day, but they have established a routine in which they hone their craft, regardless of whether they have the whimsy or drive to do so. They just do.

The reason I bring this up is that this is the path that I am facing. Art started off as a hobby, an avocation I would amuse myself with during boring lectures and long weekends. Becoming an artist at a game studio changed that. Now a vocation, art was no longer a fun activity, but a necessary task that had to be performed at least five days a week in order to place bread on the table. It was a change, but one I was more than willing to make.

When I set upon the world of art production on my own, the daily structure of practice had eroded to an activity I would do when I mustered enough energy to plug in my wacom tablet and fire up the computer. In short, it had taken a backseat to TV, games, and whatever activity caught my mind's fancy. It is therefore imperative that I get back into more regular artist training, treating it more like a boxer who performs a daily set routine of cardio exercises. A professional boxer doesn't see the point in asking himself every morning if he "feels" like running a few K before hitting the gym, he just does it regardless of his disposition. I didn't feel like writing this post and submitting my art a few minutes ago, but now I'm glad I did. Here's hoping to more drawing and posting in the days to come.

The Art of Art Mastication

2010-07-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

Also see, "Biting off more than one could chew". I'd like that to be the reason why I haven't posted at all during the last few weeks, but it doesn't help much to scapegoat when one is the only person in the chain of command. I've come to the conclusion that in order to push myself, I have to be the most demanding when it comes to discipline. The real culprit lies in the fact that I haven't truly paced myself, not because I have taken on too much work.

On the sunny side, this means the situation can be remedied. I am my own boss, have been for the past 9 months, but I must be an unrelenting one. Not to the point of driving myself to an early stress inundated grave, but to a level of productivity that is tough albeit sustainable. Much like how an athlete reaches a state of zen/flow when entranced in their sport, I need to establish a pace where I am constantly trying to catch my breath and yet feel compelled to do more. A "Goldilocks" pace would be an apt [albeit cliche] name, and so far I feel that I am closer to attaining it.

As for transit sketches :D ~

Fountain pens suck on this paper.

2010-07-11T11:45:00.000-06:00

Actually, I'm just being pissy, the paper is fine for watercolour in particular. I just lack the patience to have the pen deposit it's sweet carbon filled liquid in a timely manner. The bouncing on the bus doesn't help too, but it really does force me to wait and pay more attention to what I actually want to put down [waiting at traffic lights falls under the classification: "Golden Sketching Zone"]

I actually swapped around with a few pens/pencils for the top sketches since I had lots of stationary time... ooh, that would have made an awesome pun.

Project Valkyrie 004

2010-07-07T15:31:00.001-06:00

Time to get the updates rolling. Last week caught me by surprise in terms of project timing. So far I've gotten all the non-moving angles for Brunhilde prepared:

Rotate Baby!

I had to fix her angles a bit, since it seems like I forgot what a 45 degree angle is supposed to look like. The shots weren't lining up with the gun barrel and so I tweaked them. There's still some rough patches in the rotation but I'll sand those down once I get back to actually making her walk.

Also got the retinue of basic enemies here:

I'll be tossing in sergeant zombies along with a Boss Zombie as well.

Project Valkyrie 003

2010-06-23T16:12:00.002-06:00

The game play itself is developing at a brisk pace. Granted the game play is relatively straightforward and derived from existing examples, but it definitely helps keep a fire under my ass when the co-designer is spearheading the production. I need to hurry up and get all 8 directions [5 unique directions, 3 are mirrored] for Brunhilde, our heroine.
Apart from an evident colour change [Mike much prefered camo-based colours, I was on the fence, but eventually agreed that it will work out best], I've redesigned the guns. In particular, I made sure the guns cast a strong silhouette, in this case, a shape reminiscent of certain tank turrets. I have to bear in mind that the character will remain small ingame and so focusing on minor details yields little results in the long run [no pun intended, honest]. Only large shapes and patterns are recognizable once the character is shrunk onto a game screen.

In other news, more sketches :D !

Project Valkyrie 002

2010-06-17T17:20:00.000-06:00

Refined the protagonist concept a little bit [her name is Brunhilde by the way ;3 ] and decided on a potential colour scheme. I threw in a quick colour and texture for the background, something desaturated and med-high value, since that will be the predominant setting for backgrounds. In contrast to that, I purposely chose the baby blue and yellow as Brunhilde's colours because it forces her to "pop" on top of the play screen. Plus, it's a "regal" colour set and will help differentiate her from the primarily green-brown-ish zombies. The last thing people need is loosing track of the player piece during gameplay. The blue-yellow combo may not be her final colour set, but the high saturation will remain.

Also, once the image is shrunk to the in game size of 48x64, one can notice the guns disappearing into the background. This is something I will have to fix since seeing the guns recoil and animate is essential for visual feedback and general sense of kick-ass-ness.

Project Valkyrie 001-Quick Character Concepts

2010-06-14T15:18:00.000-06:00

It occurred to me that I might as well be a little more transparent in regards to my game development process, seeing as I have not bound myself to an NDA [Non-Disclosure Agreement]. It would be very hard to sue myself ...although I'm sure with enough legal hoops and lawyer creativity, such a precedent would be possible.

Hypothetical musings aside, Project Valkyrie is a simple top down, move and shoot game. We plan on having some fun with the weapons, but the game play itself will be pretty standard. Here's a quick sketch of our heroine, Brunhilde, here with weapons and what seems to be oddly rendered wheels: [Note to self: Draw angled ellipses more often].

Wojcik, my co-developer and cohort at Likwidgames, mentioned that wheeled legs gave a "Rosie", of Jetson's fame, -type feel. I was inclined to agree with him and so I experimented with a pair of petite sexy legs:

It'll make the animations a little tougher but I think having her sashay around the screen with two huge gun-arms makes for fun visualization.

As for the enemies, we'll be going with undead WWII soldiers, primarily nazis... mmm, Nazi Zombies.

Saturday Cud Chewing

2010-06-12T13:15:00.000-06:00

I can be surprisingly superstitious, something I attribute heavily to the Thai end of my upbringing. It has served me well in some cases, by making me cautious, but the neuroticism that accompanies superstition can be stifling. In particular, it applies to me when it comes to mentioning good fortune. I am incredibly uncomfortable when it comes to admitting that all dominos did indeed fall as planned. Almost to the point that it feels shameful and an outright tempting of fate, to mention that I have been experiencing good fortune. That being said, internally I am fully aware when the winds of good fortune strike my sails, and I am fully grateful towards the universe and the powers that be... it's just rare that I would mention it or if I do, I will downplay it to a minor stroke of luck. Anyhow, it's a habit I'm tweaking, and so far, dare I say it, my freelance business is finally showing some signs of life...
*knocks on wood*

On a side note, I have used and abused my first pocket sketchbook of the year, here's the last page:

On the digital painting side of things:

Those of you who are fans of my dear Mana's work may potentially recognize this scamp >;3

Back in the saddle.

2010-06-08T15:09:00.000-06:00

Despite my own best efforts at thwarting my posts [self-criticism can be a bitch], I will keep on going. Still need to up frequency of posts big time though since I do have a lot to say, I just need to sit myself down and articulate it in writing. Always simple to say, harder to do.

Important news first:

The flash game Castaway has come out.

Play it here!

I worked on this game with my friend/colleague Wojcik over at Likwidgames. I did all the backgrounds along with the main character. The game itself is relatively simply, and we've already got a giant list of ideas and concerns we will need to address in its eventual sequel.

This in turn marks the beginning of our newest project. Our main goal with this game is to hopefully narrow the scope down enough for a two man team to get a playable game out within a 1-2 month timeframe. For the time being I will refer to the project as "Valkyrie" [How inventive, I know.] , but hopefully have a finalized name soon enough. Here are concept sketches of the main character/unit.

On a side note, I also need to get a finished painting of Strauss done. Who is Strauss you say? You folks will find out soon enough >:3 [Pssst, there's a sketch of him on the bottom.]

Sally's Studio is out!

2010-05-19T12:41:00.000-06:00

Actually, the game was released a little earlier this week, but I decided to bunch up the scans into one post. I promise I will not make a huge habit of this, I much prefer piece meal updates overall. Anyhow, back on topic, the last game I helped work on at GamesCafe, Sally's Studio, is finally out. This release brackets my first half year of going freelance and starting my own company, and is to me a formal swan song to my career and all the good times spent over at GamesCafe/Orbital Media. Knowing that this was the last project I worked on for them really gives me a sense of completion, and this flows well with the changes that I've been swimming in for the past week. A comfortable letting go of the past if you will.

Refining and absorbing advice.

2010-05-06T15:59:00.000-06:00

Today was incredibly uplifting, not just that I got started on a few small contracts here and there, but I also got the chance to catch up with some old friends/colleagues over at Ph03nix New Media. Nothing like hashing ideas over with folks and getting back feedback to further trim the project. I find the more I document, the more material I actually end up removing or simplifying, in an attempt to keep things from growing out of proportion.

This is tougher than it sounds. When you get a room full of people with differing ideas about one destination, the conversation becomes a distillation process of the ideas that are ejected forth. The key is to try to lump as many ideas into cohesive bite size chunks, without having others feel like you are ignoring their points. I cannot accommodate everyone's thoughts, but I can sure as hell try to get a little tidbit of everyone's brainchild into the mix. The key is ending up with a cohesive love child of a game, as opposed to a Frankenstein abomination, barely holding together at the seams.

Tomorrow should be even more interesting.

In the meantime, some bus sketches along with some sprite work samples for an upcoming browser game :D !

Last but not least, the game's main protagonist undergoes a beating depending upon his HP. An homage to early fps's like Doom and Wolfenstein.

New Month and focus

2010-05-04T15:02:00.001-06:00

May started off with a lurch, one of those kinds that launches you forward but then you hit some solid patches of friction along the way... and it's only been 4 days. Following the performance at the Calgary Expo, I've had a chance to really sit down and hash out what I would deem at least a feasable path for my small company, Bella Machina Studios. Having had a heart to heart with our current team, it seems like trying to build a facebook community for our project, Empires of the Mist, followed by an app, would be the path of least resistance.
At this point though the plans are still rather amorphous, although the end product is more clearly defined. I will be spending the next month talking to peers and mentors, picking at their brains to refine and streamline what has to be done on my end.

On a side note, I'm coming close to finishing a small sprite based flash game with an old colleague of mine over at Likwidgames. I did all the art for the background and character sprites [not the enemies/monsters though, I only tweaked a few of the latter animations]. For today, I will post some tasty tidbits of the backgrounds that are to be found. Next time I will show off the main character's sprite/weapons and armour :D

Comic Con Recap

2010-04-30T12:16:00.001-06:00

Worry not I have been actually maintaining daily sketches... albeit I have been rather lazy when it comes to posting the images. I'm working on being able to rein in my over reaching powers of procrastination. The Calgary Comic Con was a blast. Didn't sell as much as I had hoped, but after holding a con postmortem, I think we were able to figure out why: Stand out more. Be more up front with your intent and product.

After some reflection, this point holds true to me as an individual as well. I need to start posting more, making more statements, showing more projects, sharing my thoughts [Within reason. There's some places in my head that a sane mind should be spared the trip.] Nothing earth shattering really, just a good solid realization for me to focus on for the next few months. Anyhow, onto the sketches:

2 more days

2010-04-22T21:51:00.000-06:00

Comic Expo draws near, and the first print run of the comics, postcards and bookmarks have come in. This will be a very exciting and educational event :]

First and foremost, the daily sketches for the past two days:

Also added one more postcard depicting the capital of third culture, the Julians:

I also forgot to show this the last update, but it's the cover for the first issue of the story "Strauss":

Catch Up Time!

2010-04-20T08:14:00.000-06:00

Past weekend has been incredibly busy, trying to get things in order for next week's Comic Expo. Unfortunately I misjudged workload for both myself and other people so I'm caught with my pants down at the moment... art wise. Spent a good chunk of the last 2 days trying to learn how to do basic matte/speed painting. Haven't quite reached the "speedy" part yet but it's getting there :]

Daily Sketch 002

2010-04-17T00:29:00.000-06:00

Sketches of people's appendages whilst on the bus. Need to start scraping the rust off my sketching skills. Drawing hands while the subjects are moving/changing gestures gives an added fun factor.

Daily sketch 001

2010-04-15T19:17:00.000-06:00

It's about time that I got back into the routine. To be honest it's always hard to muster up the gusto at the end of the workday, I'm sure a lot of you will agree. Sometimes I even wonder if my internal critique is actively trying to have me quite the discipline altogether [Not that I would, just that I am indeed my own worst enemy].

Maybe I have to mentally turn it around in my head... The more my mind fights and procrastinates walking back to the computer, the more I will break it and conform it to my will >:U !

Cheers,

Is studying art worth your money? Did it make a difference in getting YOUR job?

2010-03-01T23:44:00.000-07:00

An artist on deviantart posed the above interesting question on her journal.
http://zombiesmile.deviantart.com/journal/poll/1057059/

My 2 cents:
It all boils down to personal drive.
I have met phenomenal artists from both sides of the fence ie. self-educated or attended an institute. I find that really, the background of an artist's education isn't correlated to future success, it's their initiative that is a bigger factor. Different levels of initiative require different forms of education.

So really, [money aside] the question of whether to attend an art institute or go solo is really determined in part by your personality.
If you feel you can scour forums, talk to peers, look at youtube tutorial videos, buy/lend out books and force yourself to practice to the point of self-loathing: Then you can be a candidate for self-education.
If you feel that having someone paid to keep the fire going under you and give you guidance and direction is crucial, then post-secondary art school may be for you. I find that the true worth of an art school isn't as much in it passing on technical skill, but rather in it teaching students to work under deadlines and the ever present shadow of outside expectations.

Now to bring a little middle ground to the discussion, I am self-taught, primarily through peer groups of artists, online resources, and lots of books. My Bachelor's degree was in Vertebrate Zoology and some minor studies in Molecular Microbiology, but I ended up getting a job in the videogame industry 8 years ago starting as a lacky background artist, eventually working to Art Director a few years later. I didn't have the financial resources or time to go back and study up in art school, so I decided to use an equally powerful source of education: Mentors and Peers. I attended local art school student meets/get-togethers and also signed up for late night figure drawing classes or any other courses that were offered.

I think that is an artist's "Ultimate Solution": Get yourself into a group of people who are of your skill level or higher, BUT make sure these people are more than willing to speak their mind about your art. You'd be surprised at how willing an artist is to go over their techniques if people showed genuine interest in their craft.

It's really a matter of whether you are willing to pay more money upfront, to gain quicker access to a group of peers/mentors, or you think you can already access these types of people and their knowledge by other means.

Addendum: It should be noted that having a post-secondary degree (in anything), may give prospective employers the impression that you can "buckle down and take instruction". This point loses strength as time goes by, and this is coming from someone who used to whittle down resumes based on academia alone. I find that a look through the portfolio, discussing their thought process and a general chat with the artist are better indicators of his/her potential than a degree ever will be.

On a compeltely different tangent, I have been spending my time doing backgrounds that can be tiled for a flash game. See below for an example:

Ibuki Attack!

2010-02-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.graphicrepublic.com/images/art/illustration/20100202-ibuki.jpg

Signed up for more online stock trading classes and happily watched some tutorials. Finally got the Ibuki piece done [Looks in Jazz's direction]. I do say it was a fun experiment in doing a completely digital piece from start to finish. Since it worked out so well, I plan on exploring further and seeing how far I can push.

3D Effects: The Cake is Indeed a Lie :D !

2010-02-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/chromakey-goodbye-real-world-hello-green-screen

Rather surprising to say the least. Upon closer inspection, there is a few areas that can cue the uncanny effect, but you really have to look for most of them. Can't complain.

On another note: Ibuki sketch!