This Semester in Review

This is my last blog, and I want to look back on this last semester and how it's benefited me.

I learned plenty, that's for sure. This is a school like any other one. But learning just isn't enough to get a career and be happy in life. It's how I apply that knowledge and knowing whether or not I'm on the right path or not. My thoughts on what to be when I leave this school has changed a lot. I came to this school wanting to be an animator, and I've started to look more towards game design. 

I have to think back on what I've learned that I can apply to this career. I've learned plenty on the roles of design in new media. I've learned a lot on game design and how I can apply it. Despite not actually having worked with game software, I found out a lot of things on how they are made, the kind decisions I have to make to get it to work, and the hours and effort it takes to develop a game. I even made a couple of games this semester.

I think that I've grown alot over this semester, and have plenty that I can apply in my career.

The Advantage of Flash Sites

Places like Youtube and Megaupload are great if you work in video, but it doesn't work well for those of us who are game developers or animators.

That's where places like Newgrounds are so effective. Newgrounds is the most popular site for uploading Adobe Flash content. There are literally thousands of games and animations to see on the website. Anyone can upload something, and anyone can review and vote on what they think is the best. There's also better quality content and a higher abundance of it when compared to Youtube, as things that are vote to be horrible are generally kicked off of the site. There are a few things that are just people messing with flash, but there several entertaining animations and games. 

This is a great place to upload work and have it get noticed, and it's more likely to be seen there than on Youtube. Not to mention people can critique and give feedback, further improving one's projects.

Importance of Knowing History of New Media

There's the old saying that those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it.

That is as true in new media as everywhere else. When you don't learn what's been done before, you're bound to create something that's already been done. I've heard a few students say they'd love to see a virtual reality helmet like one would see in the movies. However, that's already been done twice. Once in the 60s, and it was so heavy, it would crush you without proper equipment. The second time was in the 90s, and that one would blind you after an hour or so of use. Besides better technology already exists right at the campus in the form of that virtual room on the upper levels. 

All I'm saying here is that most of the students I've seen don't see the importance of learning things like this. Learning these kind of things can have a huge benefit in the future when one wants to develop something truly unique. 

Steampunk vs. CyberPunk

A while ago I had a discussion with a student teacher who wanted to write Science Fiction styled graphic novels. 

He wanted to learned a few techniques from me on what he could draw. I looked into it myself and discovered there are several styles to choose from when designing a science fiction work. There's two major ones: Steampunk Vs. Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk is the traditional style of futuristic artwork, meaning everything has futuristic feel with clean, efficient technology and laser guns and all that good stuff. Steampunk is a bit different. It's a science fiction futuristic style, but in a different sense. Its technology is powered by old methods like steam and coal, and instead of the futuristic space suits, people where the old school 1950s outfits (though it can go as far back as the 1800s fashion).

My friend and I found a new style to consider when making our work, though he wasn't as keen on the idea as I was. He still preferred the Cyberpunk style.

Workaround Copyrights

I learned of the copyright system, and what they call "Disney Creativity". When Disney developed his animations, he generally took old stories and gave them his own style. He was able to borrow off the ideas of what others had done before him, due to a loose copyright restriction on what was considered "public domain".

Today, that option doesn't exist for the new media artists. Copyright laws are more strict, and public domain is limited to only a few things, such as stories that existed thousands of years ago. But people find workarounds to the copyright all the time. Such as the Youtube users that create parodies of different shows, cartoons, etc. They can build on what others have done without violating the copyright law. They can even make money, through things like merchandise based on their own series and not that of the original show. This has opened a whole new set of options for me as a New Media student.  

  

Download Vs. CD Use

The medium  of the CD is dying for every industry.

It started with music with things like iTunes and Rhapsody. Now it's moving on to games. There are things like XBox Live arcade and PS3 store where you can download independently made games or remakes of old classics. But now you can actually buy full Xbox 360 games on Live without the need for a disk.

Now that doesn't replace CDs as a medium for games as a whole, but recently a new PSP system was launched that was a Download only system. No CDs at all. In all honesty, it never sounded like an intelligent idea. When you get bored with a game or finish it, you can trade it in at game stores, and buy a new one. With this system, when you buy a game, you're stuck with it. You can't trade it back, or reconsider if you don't like it at all. Still, it'll probably be the way of games in the future, so I'd better make sure when I design a game, it's good enough to keep.

Audio Parodies

Thousands of parodies of anything exist on Youtube. I was reminded of this after one of the TA's at the college, Todd Shelton, showed me an audio project that he created as a student.

The concept of this has been used by almost everyone on Youtube. Not even realizing that they are performing a technique called cut-up. Either by using their own audio, or taking audio from other source, they are creating a new media experience using their own sense of creativity. Several groups on Youtube, such as the Idiots of Garry's Mod and Team Four Star, and almost entirely cut-up artists. I never even thought of this concept until I heard of the cut-up technique in N100. Most of the time they are just a piece of audio over a clip, but some like the pre-mentioned examples are a hilarious yet unique experience.

This is just another option for New Media minded people and creative fans to create something unique and hilarious.

the Application of PowerPoint

Over the semester I've had to use the application PowerPoint. While I wasn't a huge fan of the program and am by no means a fan now, I was impressed with what could be done with it for such a limited program.

Over the course of these last few semester, I've been able to create movies and small games of impressive quality. The animation and hyperlink options on PowerPoint are versatile and easily editable. I was able to make small but entertaining games on it using just a few simple animation and button cues.

Overall, what this showed me was that even the simplest programs like powerpoint, with the correct amount of manipulation, can create amazing projects.

I still wouldn't recommend it for anyone trying to create an actual game or movie, but it's great for anyone looking to show what they can do when the options become limited

Game Reviewers

One element of game design that I haven't looked into until recently is game reviewers. I figured that looking into how they review games would benefit me greatly. 

One huge characteristic I found in most American game reviewers is that they don't like games from Japan or games that follow a similar style as Japanese games (i.e. RPG, fighting games, horror themed games). 

Generally on most review sites, shows, or magazines, the Japanese games receive poorer reviews than the American or European games. This isn't a racial thing by any means. It's just that most American gamers are used to shooting games and sports games. In my opinion, it's a sad but true trend. 

It's a downer for me as I want to create games similar to the Japanese style, as I find them more unique than the American games. Then again, this will be good information on what to expect from reviewers.

Free Vs. Paid Application

Over this last semester, I've had to make the decision on what applications. One term always crawled in the back of my head: Price. 

I've found that one is going into the new media field, you have to be smart on what applications you use over others. Some that are free can be effective while others can be useless compared to other applications. 

When you have the advantage to get free programs, take up the offer, even if think that you might not use them later, such as the offer that IUPUI gives to students for free Adobe applications. I may not use After Effects or Premiere Pro. However, I took upon the offer, because I might have to take a film editing class or two, and those programs are two of the best to use. Not to mention, If I had to buy them late, they would cost me over $2,000 .

They do eat a lot of memory on my computer, so I do have to watch what I put on there. If it's something like another image editor or painter, I generally don't take up the offer because I already have Photoshop 

The Mind Control Game

Amazing. Simply amazing. A game where the controller is you're thoughts 

Link

This game was recently developed I had heard about it in my N100 lectures. This game uses the

waves created by thought, and a player controls his amount of thought to control a fan to guide a ball through obstacles.

To think that we're already on the verge of creating mind control video games. I should worry of what this means for war and such, but for now I'll focus on what this means to games. When a game can be controlled through thought, the medium of the controller becomes a dead technology. I can definitely see this as a future medium for video games. Just the thought of mind controlled video games gives me goosebumps.

 

The Idiots of Garry's Mod

Found another great example of using unconventional means to create a new media experience.

A group that calls themselves the Idiots of Garrr'y Mod

Link (some cursing)

This group uses a program called Garry's Mod to create a hilarious movie of random clips and

jokes (generally ones understood by those who play the games). What's amazing is that this had never been the intention of Garry's Mod, which is meant to played as a sandbox style game, where you create your own levels and play with your friends on levels you've made.

But after it was released several people used it to create hilarious screenshots and joke movies. The Idiots so far are the most popular. It's amazing that systems like this unknowingly can create a sort of "Make You Own 3D Movie" program when used with the right media programs. I honestly think it's hilarious and quite creative. 

JTHM

I'm a big fan of comic books and graphic novels. Most graphic novels have great artwork and good story lines, but most of them go along the same style. A big, strong, yet flawed superhero has to overcome the villain who is the exact opposite of what he is.

There is one I cam across about a year ago that was nothing like any other comic I had ever read. A little independent graphic novel called "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac" by Jhonen Vasquez. I'm betting at this point you probably laughed a little, that's the point. The story centers around a young guy named Johnny C. who throughout most of the comic (obviously) kills people. What makes this more than a simple blood book is the story line behind it. Johnny is very emotional character who sees only the underlying evils of everyone around him. And he takes this info to weed out those he sees as unfit to affect the world around them. The best part of all this is that this whole horrific story is actually supposes to be funny. It was one of the first of what they cal a "dark" or "gothic" comedy, in which that which we hold sad or evil, is portrayed as funny. 

It's unique in the fact that it took so many risks in its subject matte and presents a unique story line and art style as show here:

(this is about the least graphic I could find)

If you're easily offended, I would not recommend this series ever. But if you can get past the violence then it's a great read.

Unique Game Designs

The thing about games today that disappoints me the most today is the fact that they all seem the same. It's a giant mess of gritty, greyscale graphics and first person shooting. However, there are a few out there that are just amazingly unique and creative in their presentation.

The examples I have ready are Assassin's Creed 2, No More Heroes, and the Final Fantasy series.

AC 2 basically is a game about a war between assassins and the Knights Templar. What makes it so unique is the gameplay and story elements. You are allowed to climb on every building you see to travel throughout a large city in Renaissance Italy, allowing you to approach you're targets from any angle you choose. Not only that, but the historical references are amazing, and educational. No More Heroes is a one in a million game. It has a very strange, satyrical story line, and cell shaded graphics. The Final Fantasy series has always been a unique series being the first series ever to develop the RPG progression system (character progression and stats).

These example show that there are a few unique  designs in games out there today and that shooters aren't the only option out there.   

3D vs. Claymation

I've always been a fan of 3D animation. Some of my favorites when I was young were movies like Nightmare Before Christmas and Toy Story. But I always noticed a big difference when I was young on how they looked, and I always wondered what type of effect that Tim Burton used to make his movie. 

I found out that the technique used in Nightmare (as well as most Burton Movies) is called Claymation (a.k.a Stop motion). It's basically creating clay models and moving them just a little and photographing each one. When you take several photos, you create an animation. 

The technique takes much longer than regular 3d animation., but by most animation critics is considered a more artistic approach. It's definitely a different and impressive approach, but not the fastest. But I'm no Futurist, so it's cool with me! 

Painting Programs

After working with different painting programs over the past couple of years, I've developed a very good opinion on what is better than the other.

There are several programs to choose from; Photoshop, Gimp, Chorrel, Open Canvas, and Sai are the most popular. Photshop, Chorrel, OC, and Sai all are paid programs. Gimp is free. It's also the worst one out of the group. It basically is the same thing as MS paint. 

Photoshop and Chorrel are the most expensive, but offer the most features. Sai and OC are cheaper but offer less features than Photoshop or Chorrel. From that, I believe that Photoshop and Chorrel are the best. From there, it's all up to what type of paintings you want. Photoshop gives works a refined, digitally made feel. Chorrel gives them a realistic, oil painted feel.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that people who want to use paint programs should look into several different programs before buying.

 

New Media Tools

As an artist, the tools I use are the most important thing. I need the correct tool for the job, or the project itself will fail. That is why I looked into the Wacom Tablet.

I tested a few different tablets from Wacom. Tablets are basically mouse pads with the mouse replaced with a very complex pen tool. This basically allows someone to draw and paint freely on a computer program like Gimp or Photoshop. 

I've used the Wacom Bamboo model, the Intuos 3, and the Cintiq. I thought the Bamboo and Intuos were the best. The difference between the two sets is that the Cintiq actually has a screen where you see what you are drawing. The other two do not. The sensors on the Cintiq, however, feel off when you draw. Plus, they're somewhere around $1,500 dollars, the Bamboo is $100 and the Intuos is $300. 

People are better off getting the cheaper models, especially if they're just starting with digital artwork.

development of Virtual Reality

The new approach of most new media forms such as phones, games, and television is virtual reality. Things like the Wii already use the concept in every game design they make.

 The concept has been in play in new media for several years, but the technology was inefficient and sometimes harmful, such as the Nintendo headset made in 1990. It let you watch your games in infrared from a headset, which would give a headache in 1 hour, and could blind you in two! Other examples include the arcade games that allowed you to shoot at the screen and hit enemies or games that used to similar technology to simulate bats or golf clubs.

In my opinion, the approach to this new form of media is a little fast. The technology is still awkward and hard to use, however it will become a wonderful tool when it is perfected. Knowing this is definitely helpful for any new media designer in games as this is going to be the way of the future. 

Making the Conventional Unconventionally

After this last assignment, I began to think on other examples of create a presentation of a medium that isn't commonplace for the particular presentation. One I personally enjoy to see people use is map editors in video games.

In the game Halo 3, players can create their own levels using a map editing system called "Forge". In its initial release, Forge was meant to create levels specifically for multiplayer fighting matches, however, there are several people who have learned to exploit the physics Halo offers and actually make creative artistic mobile designs rather than just simple maps. A good example here shows a mobile design created by a group of players last year to wish Bungie, the creators of Halo, a Merry Christmas 

link

Even thought the program wasn't designed for this, a group of creative took something conventional and made something unconventional but well designed out of it. There are several other examples on Youtube and other sites of people taking what limited options they have for creating an artistic statement and succeeding in doing so, especially in Halo Forge. 

Crazy Invention

Recently in my N100 class we discussed the advancement of New Media product design. One product in particular had one of the most poorly designed commercials I had seen. It was basically table sized iPhone but designed by Windows. It allows for people to transfer data to each other by laying their phones on the table and moving the data with there fingers, plan out routes on roads, and pay for dinners, all using a large touch screen. 

The problem here is that the product obviously isn't designed for home use. Something this big is more designed for a restaurant, hotel, or cafe. The thing costs about 10,000 dollars to own. The commercial, however, aimed it as something built more home use. 

The fact here is that when you create something, you have to watch how you advertise it or people get the wrong idea about what your product is designed for. For home use we already have the iPhone. We don't need a big table to plan out a route to the cafe.  

One Man Guitar Band

Over Youtube there are tons of people who are famous for theses one man band acts. I found one channel in particular that plays several tracks from the Final Fantasy 7 video game. He's very good.

Link 

What's done here is one individual plays several different instruments, or in this case several different parts to a song and creates a whole musical piece. Several people have done versions of these, but only cover one of the parts of the song. This one is truly one of the best. 

This shows how people today are multitalented and creative. People can still make a name for themselves without the assistance of many people. 

Here's a link to another one man band:

Link

 

The Artistry of Cosplay

Over the weekend I visited an anime convention in Indianapolis. During my time there I observed what they call cosplayers (Costume Players), which are people who dress up like their favorite characters from a video game or anime. 

These costumes can range from the simple to the extravagant. They can be as cheap as throwing together $30 worth of clothing to spending over $200 on one costume. I noticed that people put enormous amounts of effort into the costumes they wear. In my opinion, it's a great experience and very fun, but a huge but good waste of time and money

What this tells me is what can be considered a well designed outfit for a character in a graphic novel or artistic presentation, because people tend to dress as the character who they like the most, which are usually the ones with the best outfits. It's good for reference on what's a perfect outfit design, and character design.

Cell Shading vs. Rendering

As anyone can tell from these blogs, I'm a fan of the 3D world. I always find something interesting when I research this area. 

I decided to discuss the different types of rendering I've found in the past few weeks. I always knew of the realistic, traditional rendering that I saw from games I played, but recently a friend of mine showed me a unique style called "cell shading."

The technique itself, as it turns out is a style of rendering that causes all the graphics to look like hand drawn or hand painted artwork. Several games (particularly the Nintendo games) such as the Legend of Zelda series, No More Heroes, and BorderLands use this style. I find it very useful to give game designs a unique, stylish look.

 It can add a sense of artistic intensity, such as in BorderLands, or give the game a cartoonish, carefree feel, Such as in LOZ. It also works in movies and animations just as well, though it isn't often used (which I find very disappointing...).

Change of Career Outlook

Recently, I've had thoughts about changing my career choice.

Originally when I came to college, my dream was to become an animator. That had been my plan for the last few years. But as time has marched on through this semester, I feel I should consider game design instead. I've had several classes on the development of new media, and the field of animation is dying in terms of two-dimensional animation. While I still might do some things with flash for fun or alternate career options, I'm starting to realize that game design is the better way to go. I've thought this ever since I saw the different things I can do with game design as well as the exposure of new games by friends, students, and teachers.

The availability to be a game designer has become so much easier with things like Xbox Live and independent games, It's so much easier to get into than animation. Plus, it's so much more interactive and immersive, and just is a whole other experience all together. 

As a result, I've taken the path of game design instead. 

New Aged Software

Recently in my I100 class, we heard a lecture from the game design department of the school. I developed a particular interest in the fact that we have the Unreal Engine at the school. The Unreal Engine is the considered the best graphic engine today and is used in several games like Gears of War, Bioshock, and Unreal Tournament.
I decided to look for other engines that are used for games today. A friend showed me a new engine called the CryEngine3 by a company called Crytec. The graphics are the most amazing form of 3D rendering I have ever seen. I could not believe the amount of graphic output that this engine was capable of. The movements and animations our so smooth and crisp. Better still (at least I believe it is) is that the graphics are realistic in the real world way, and not like the curent concept of realism where everything is brown and grey.
Before seeing this, I thought that the Unreal Engine would be the way of game design for a while. But it looks as though game engines like CryEngine3 are going to be the way of the future.

example of new engine

Escheresque

I had to show a photography piece that I found recently.

Escheresque_by_alexiuss.jpg

The photo alone was enough to blow me away. It's the kind of work I'd expect from an artist like this. At first I thought this was photoshop work. Surely something this cool couldn't exist on real life. 

I was dead wrong. I did a little research and found that this is an actual staircase in Split Croatia. An artist modeled the staircase for a palace in tribute to M.C. Escher, the famous illusion sketch artist. 

It just amazes me that things like this actually exist in the world. People are willing to make the strangest designs in art and architecture to honor people like him.    

development of game design

Everyone knows that with all forms of design, the period of time determines the current trend. I wanted to study how the trend of game design has changed over the years. 

With the older systems, like the PS1 and the 64, colorful platformers (jumping games) were popular, like Donkey Kong, Mario, Spryo, and Crash Bandicoot. The Last Generation systems, like the PS2 and Xbox, focused on realistic shooting games, like Halo and GTA. 

The funny thing is for the modern systems like the 360 and the PS3, the concept of realism has changed completely. Instead of realistic, natural colors, developers almost always seem to use brown, grey, and black as the only major colors. It has more of a gritty feel than a realistic feel in my opinion. I've found that game designers today prefer this gritty, warlike feel for their games that drains out all positive emotions, with games like Gears of War, Halo 3, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto 4. Nothing can be colored. It lacks creativity and has only monotony.  

Adobe TV

I'm pretty new to Adobe products. I only know how to use photoshop that well. I decided that if I was going to get a career in New Media, I had better learn how to use most of these programs. I first tried using youtube as recourse for tutorials.

I found most of the tutorials on youtube we're very well thought out. Most of them were vague and of an amateur quality. These weren't going to help me get any better at designing with these programs. I then tried deviantart for some visual tutorials. These were also very vague, and it didn't help that they were all picture based and had no video demonstration. 

I finally decided to ask around for some tutorial sites. My old art teacher suggested a site called adobe TV as a good recourse for video demonstration. I checked it out and I thought it was the best site i've tried for advice. There's some great tricks they teach, like how to give your photos and old grainy, gritty look, or create realist effects in After Effects.  I would suggest it to anyone wanting to get better at CS4. 

the site is: adobetv.com

If you're reading this, try it! 

3D modeling

In a recent post I mentioned an artist who used 3D modeling and photoshop painting. I searched for what program they used. It was called C4D. It's a rendering program that also allows for texture painting and animation. I also found out it was extremely expensive.

I searched for similar programs that might be a little cheaper. I found two others that were suggested by fellow students; Maya and Blender.

Maya looks like it works just as well as C4D, but unfortunately is just as expensive, being around 4,000 dollars. However, Blender is free. What's better is I found out that after I've made my designs in blender, I can incorporate them into movies, photoshop projects, and game designs. The downside to it is that it looks a lot more dated in it's graphic output than Maya or C4D. But that's what you get for a free program, and it's still a good deal.

The best thing about these programs is that the models can be fully animated. There's no need for extra software. The programmers have tailored it to be an all in one system. Below are examples of C4D and Blender 

blender example

 

C4D example

Cultural/ New Media design integration

I know it's a long time off from last year's Olympics, but after seeing the opening ceremonies in N100, I had to show this particular part here. 

link

To sum up what's happening in the video, this a part of the opening ceremony at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The people on the giant scroll of parchment (which is actually a giant LCD screen) are using their arms and legs like paintbrushes to create a work of art on the screen. Their hands and feet are the brush. 

What I love about this is that this country is willing to assimilate its culture into modern  technologies to create a beautiful design. This also shows how far we have come in New Media designs. People have not forgotten how utilize themselves completely in their work. The combination of dance and painting just creates an amazing design. I was not even aware that this kind of painting technology existed. I learned in one of my New Media classes, however, that this kind of technology has existed for years. Computers were created in the 70s that allowed someone to draw simple designs on the screen of a computer without a mouse. This performance shows how much that form of technology has advanced in the last 3 decades.     

another brilliant artist

My friend suggested I make this post in particular on an online artist named Wen-JR. I decided to take his suggestion, and I'm very glad I did. I had to show this artist's designs.

Wen-JR's account

At first I was stumped at how they were able to make the designs look so detailed and real. I discovered something that shocked me completely. They were three dimensional models painted with photoshop! I had no idea that that was even possible. After I looked in Photoshop's interface, I saw that there is a feature that allows models to imported and edited.

I just believe that the work by this artist is incredible and I have to try this for myself. 

Movies compared to shows

I remember during my N201 class, we discussed the ability for a design of some sort to hold attention for a certain amount of time, like a movie or TV show. We agreed that you don't often sit down and watch several movies at a time, because you don't want to sit through that much.

A friend and I discussed this issue with movies, and learned here that movies really are designed to be watched one at a time. Television shows however (particularly dramas, series, and animes) are designed to keep you coming back. You see a section of something, and it draws you enough to get you to come back. That's how a show is designed.

Personally, I think this better than a movie, which gives you a huge amount of information at once. With a TV program, you get your information in divided sections, which keeps you interested, and wanting to come back. Trying to watch several movies makes you bored. You just don't want to sit there that long. 

Modern gaming

When I was a kid and you got a new game on your computer, you were stuck with what you had. You didn't like it? Too bad. I've discovered that that is not the case today. Today the availability of redesigning a game is so wide. People who have access to PCs can redesign almost any game through mods (modification of software) to tailor a game to what they want. I've never had this ability, so seeing what people can through modding amazes me. I checked around for the most popular modding system today. Out of all my research, I found G-Mod or Gary's Mod to be the most popular.

link

 It takes the ever popular Source gaming engine and allows people to modify any game under this particular engine (Popular titles such as Half-Life, Team Fortress 2, Left 4 Dead, and Portal). In my opinion, this is one of the greatest things to happen to gamers since 3-D graphics.

 

Manovich on New Media

I've thought for several years now that the integration of new media into modern design is principle to the advancement of design. I often find great study to the use of New Media in my N100 class. One particular reading disappointed me though. That was the reading on Lev Manovich's studies of Modern Media. Manovich in his studies discovered that America out of the major technology centers of the modern world was one of the last to embrace new media. The Japanese and Europeans were some of the first, according to the reading. This doesn't surprise me, considering that we were always an industrial country before the New Media boom of the late twentieth century, but it disappoints me that we didn't catch in sooner to integrating it into designs and art. As a country that seeks advancement, it's a shame that we came so late in using it for visual interest. I've learned we aren't always the ones to do that.

link to reading:

Manovich reading  

Adobe effects

I always adore people with talent for making special effects. I find a huge amount of different After Effect videos while surfing Youtube. there's a lot of light saber tests and fights, but there's one in particular that i find amazing. 

link

These guys were one of the original fanboys to try the lightsaber fight with After Effects. While there are a million different videos of fights, this one went all out with good effects, camera angles, and great fight poses. I simply find it amazing!

I'm going to to try and make a video myself on After Effects as soon as i figure it out. But I find this program even harder than flash or photoshop. Anyone who can utilize it this well is a brilliant individual.  

EDIT:

I've tried a little bit to work after effects and I can't figure it out. However, a friend told me of some sites that teach after effects tutorials, so I'll see if those help.

The Futurist Manifesto

In my N100 class, we discussed the ideals of the Italian Futurists and the Futurist Manifesto. I decided to do some research on their concept of digital media. At first I was enthusiastic about them. They believed fully in the concept of moving forward and embracing new media technologies and depicted them in their artwork. I then discovered how radical they really are after reading their manifesto. They not only wanted to embrace new technology, but do away with and destroy older forms of media, like painting, museums, and handwritten literature. They said to all to burn museums down, and burn old paintings, forget the past. They even said to abandon all those who are over 40. While I do advocate the use and embrace of new media, I'm not that radical on it. I learned here how radical some people are on this subject.

here's the manifesto, to show how radial the Futurists are!

Futurist Manifesto  

Eraser Head

A few weeks ago my friend showed me a movie that completely blew my mind. I only saw parts of it, and it was enough to get my emotions to react. It's called Eraserhead by the filmmaker David Lynch. It has no actual linear plot and it's open to each critic what the point is of the movie. It looks to me like the film adaption of a living nightmare, as most of the movie takes place through random dreamlike sequences. He really gets that dark, emotional sense of despair throughout the movie. He even did the whole film in black and white (even though color film was available) to increase that nightmarish feeling. I think he did his best to assure that the viewer would feel uncomfortable throughout the film. It's an amazing movie and in the end I learned of the existence of another great artist and a very unique style of film production.

Here's a sample of the movie that isn't very graphic:

clip from Eraserhead 

I looked for some more works by Lynch and found that he did a lot of animated work as well, using old, hand painted pictures. They are really interesting animations that have that strange style he uses. It shows, despite the simple animations today, that there are some creative animators out there.

 

Graphic Novels vs. Manga

I was curious on why American graphic novelists and Japanese manga writers have a common style. I wondered if this was for any design reason and researched on that fact.

I found that American designers choose a more gritty, hard style using older characters like Spider-man or Batman. The characters usually have larger than normal builds and huge bodies. The action is often assisted by dialogue and sound bubbles.

Japanese designers, however, use a softer, more idealistic style. The characters are usually very young and have large eyes and pointed chins, as well as spiky hair. The action is focused on more than the actual dialogue and is often exaggerated. 

I asked a few artists, and looked up a few references, and found that the styles are done for specific reasons. The American style has a more realistic, hard-edged feel because that appeals to an older male audience, people that the readers can look up too. The Japanese style however, has a softer, feminine feel and has characters that the young audience can relate too. (I also noted that this helps confirm my earlier blog on line art)

I personally love both styles, but I prefer Japanese manga for its over the top action and its unique idealist style. That doesn't mean that I don't read a good graphic novel every now and then, which generally have more immersive story lines than manga does.

Photoshop Perspective Tutorial

I often search site like DeviantArt for inspiration and photoshop materials. I happed to stumble upon a very interesting tutorial

http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Photoshop-painting-74699956

It wasn't the painting techniques that I was interested in. It was the new perspective concept that caught my eye. I had heard of the 1 and 2 point perspective techniques for drawings and designs, but I had never heard of a 3 point perspective. It's an interesting style where a third vanishing point is placed for the objects to meet at, except when it's placed off the horizon line. In my opinion, it's great for works involving a city, but it also works wonders when you want to make a project seem deep and low, like pit or a cliff, or even an image viewed from space. It doesn't work well in designs that are subtle, but it's wonderful for those dramatic designs.

Class Discussion

Recently, in my New Media 110 class, we study a few design elements for a project. The concept of line art in designs. I was told of something I should have known being an artist, but quickly realized.

  My professor explained that in line art designs, curvy lines are considered feminine and therefore are used in feminine designs. Angular lines are more masculine and are used in the appropriate designs. It's one those principles that you don't know until you her about but you know as common sense, like breathing or eating.

  

I thought about it and checked some of my own work. I saw this rule applied everywhere. Any design on clothes, backgrounds, etc, that I wanted to be more welcoming and gentle, had a curvy look. Any design I wanted tough or intimidating, I gave an angular feel. I had never heard of this rule yet I applied without realizing it.

Big Whopper, Eh?

While researching for my blog, I came up with this thought after getting some food from Burger King.

Burger King always makes commercials that advertise how huge their Whopper and Whopper Jr are. Either by saying how much meat is on the burger or dressing people as a one to compare size, they always praise how big it is. 

Here, I made my own comparison. The burger was almost as small as my wallet! Big, huh? I learned here that Burger King (as well as many other fast food restaurants) claim huge proportions and show large burgers, but it's all in the design. The burger itself is small and tiny, but is disguised to look huge with veggies that makes it twice as thick. Yeah, that makes it bigger, but that patty is still small and tiny. So by designing the commercials to advertise its size and using condiments to make it look bigger, they've made their Whopper huge and appealing. By designing your product and ad right, you can fool just about anybody.  

N110 discussion

During one of the discussions in N110, We discussed an interesting concept of design. The concept of angular designs verses curvier designs. Angular and sharper designs attract masculine audiences

Animator vs. Animation

I am a fan of quality animation work. I found this particular one several months ago, and it just amazed me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo1d6ttbAq8

To label it simply, it is the animator's mouse arrow caught in a battle with his own animation as the two fight among each other on the Adobe Flash window. The animator claims this took roughly three months, which is still impressive for flash.

I see an underlying message here (whether the animator realized it or not) of how frustrating flash can be to create animations, and how one seems to be in a fight with it constantly to finish a work. Also, because they are fighting on the workspace, you can see how much can be done if you have the patience to figure it out, like the figure using the tools as weapons. The only thing I don't like is how quiet it is. There are only a few sounds, most of which are repeated several times. This can cause a slight disconnection from an otherwise amazing piece. Just a little music might help to fill the silent gaps and more variety in sound effects.

I checked myself how hard Flash is to use. After about, 30 minutes, I thought my brain would explode. I couldn't even make a shape move. In, conclusion, the thing to take from this is that animation is very difficult.     

Horrible Ad Choice

Recently, I search for ads that would peek my interest. And lo and behold I find my wish and then some.

Yes, a McDonald's ad for young teens below a childhood obesity warning sign. You have to ask yourself, who makes this kind of decision? Is someone pulling off a sick joke here or what? One thing you can take away for ad design is this: "Location, Location, Location..."

It's not just how the ad looks, but where you decide to place it. Placing it under an ad that foils it is pointless. People will just laugh when they see it.  

I looked into how these spaces are chosen, and they are on a rent basis. You go to a billboard company, and rent the space. So at least one company knew about the other's space already.    

Billboard Ad: Blood Donation

On one of my many rides through Crawfordsville Road, I happened to notice a billboard advertising a blood donation center. I found this billboard ad quite profound. It depicted a giant bandage with one small blood drop in the middle. Beneath it the donation center wrote. "There, that didn't hurt a bit." In the corner is their logo. 

I figured what they're implying is that by taking a tiny little prick in the arm, you can help to save dozens of lives. Here, the tiny blood drop is the price you're paying, which is small. And the giant bandage is the lives you help to save. It is definitely a very profound design. However, I have a slight issue with it. They've got their message across, but the logo was so small and hard to see on the sign, I had no real idea what their name was. From this ad alone, no one will know who to contact. Maybe making the logo a little bigger and giving the text a darker color against the white background would help tremendously.