Two for one!

I could say I have been busy but then I would be lying. Unless you count playing the Orange Box, Total Overdose, Rainbow Six Vegas and Bioshock as being busy. In that case, I’ve been busy from dawn till dusk. I do this mostly in lieu of doing actual constructive work such as building a website, finishing a game I’ve been making for 3 years, or make some goddamn drawings for art class so I don’t totally stress my ass off on Sunday afternoon (I need to show off all my art from this semester on Monday).

So a few minutes ago, I thought I might still salvage some of this day, which I had initially scheduled for massive arting, but had turned into another fragfest. So, for the Motion assignment, I whisked this one down:

And also this little doodle, one of hopefully many little cartoons about my life. I’ve been planning to do something like this for a while now.

The curse of being creative

Being creative is great. The only problem is you can’t pause it when you’re trying to focus on one thing. It’s nice to try something new when you’re stuck on your current project, but that’s only going to delay it. And if you get more than just a fun little idea it’s hard to put that on hold. Believe me, I’m trying.

Inspiration can come from the strangest places at unexpected times. When I started making adventure games, I was chasing that high brought about by Broken Sword, which was themed around an ancient Knights Templar mystery. I adore those kind of stories, so I would love to make a game like that, I just never really had an angle.

Then last week I zapped past National Geographic channel, and it was showing a documentary about the Ark of the Covenant. And for once, it wasn’t one of those lame docs where they just regurgitate boring facts and give no real conclusion at all. Within minutes, it was blowing my mind, and I came to realize that this was the story I will have to use when I eventually get around to making such a game. So now I’m doing some research on the subject, aswell as coming up with a basic setting and style for the game. Remember Titan A.E.? I’m in love with that style(and especially the ridiculously awesome animation).

So I’m excited, but I’ll have to shelve it for a while until I complete TMC (and there’s a another -luckily short- game that I’ve got laying around aswell). However there is no law against producing concept art in the meantime! Perhaps I’ll post some in the coming weeks. There’s no classes next week so maybe I can get some good work done then.

btw: IDEA COPYRIGHT ME, YEH!?

Also, I’m going to set a deadline for meself, yeh? January, yeh?, new TMC demo, yeh?

Now get outta me fuckin kitchen, yeh?

The Manga Studio evangelion

Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub. It is impossible for me to appreciate those guys even more. They have been essential for my understanding of comics, ad they always have great insights. A little while ago they turned me to Lulu.com, a self-publishing solution, and in their latest episode of Webcomics Weekly (with Dave Kellet and Brad Guigar) they did it again. They briefly mentioned Manga Studio, a program that is like Photoshop, Flash and InDesign in one, and I immediately tried it out. I think it’s safe to say I will never use Flash again.

Manga Studio is (as the name implies) tailored towards creating mangas -Japanese comics-, so there are a lot of those conventions built into the program, but it’s also perfectly suited for creating regular art. The tablet pressure sensitivity is the smoothest I’ve ever seen (better than PS and astronomically better than Flash), and it has some very useful options and filters. It’s not great for coloring, but it can be done, and it has no animation section (there’s Anime Studio for that, also amazing), but it’s got everything else you need without being massively complicated.

The program is made by the same people who made Poser, so it’s a solid little app, and if you see what you can create with it, it’s mindblowing. Check it out at e-frontier.com. The simple version, MS Debut is only 40 bucks.

Also, for you Dutchies, if you want to read about what courses I take this year, check out this guy’s site.