12.05.2009

alien cow - the bamf version

i've done a little updating to ac for a class project that i am working my ass off trying to finish and hand in next week. i wanted to post a progress pic because at this point he is looking so damn cool. i'm sure that as i finish the model he's going to look like total shit.. so here it is.



i have no idea how he'll look textured. i don't have much experience yet with texturing my models.. i may have to go with a flat material for now just so i can get the assignment done i n time.

11.04.2009

just stuff that sucks


being sick sucks. i think i'm on my 3rd round of this cold/flu/whatever crap that's been flying around. it sticks around for a day or two, goes away, then i get it again.


having friends that are sick (worse than the flu) also sucks. get well soon, doods.


blizzard is awesome.. saw they opened their pet store and are donating some of the proceeds to make-a-wish. good on ya' blizz.


school projects suck. i'm juggling 5 school projects right now for 3 seperate classes. its been sort of difficult to keep things straight especially when the projects are on the same yet different topics.


haven't done anything artsy related late.. just haven't had the energy. been doing a lot of movie watching instead.. trying to get caught up on all of the classics that i haven't seen yet. i've got the godfather saga queued up in netflix.. i still haven't seen them yet.


getting old sucks. going to be 30.. feel like i'm 60.. act like i'm 12.

10.14.2009

trial & error


up all night doing some school work and farting around in 3dsmax. i got this amazing idea to rework one of my previous school projects in 3d.. texture and all. only problem is i am still a virgin when it comes to texturing. in hopes of resolving this i went ahead and modeled something simple, an oil drum and tried to get it textured. i have to say not bad for my first real attempt at proper textures.


 


here is the drawing that i'd like to attempt to 3d'ize...





10.08.2009

arnoldswartzencow


been doing some spring cleaning today, deleting junk files that have build up, and i came across this gem.






he was made for the final project for my digital illustration class back in february.


perfect perfection is not quite perfect

just a quickie, i received a grade of 99 on animation. the one point deduction was for a minor problem with my cow texture. specifically the neck. i think the problem was how the spot kinda crosses over the neckline. in the video it looks like the neck is a bit contorted but it's only cause of the black spot. i didn't spend a whole lot of time on that texture map, honestly it was the first one i've ever done and not the best of jobs. i did want to go back and clean it up but it just hadn't crossed my mind as i was finishing the animation. oh well. good feedback from my instructor though, which i am very thankful for. and to toot my own horn a bit more.. finished the class with a 96%. straight A's.. i has them.

my blog looks like shit. i need to work on a "professional" looking layout sometime.

10.07.2009

3DS Max Tutorial 01: Spinning UFO

There was some interesting in how I created the spinning UFO in my animation so here is my first ever attempt at a tutorial. Honestly it is a simple process and doesn't require any advanced knowledge of 3DS Max. I'm assuming you know how to create models in Max.

0. I'm not going to explain how to model the UFO. Basically I started with a sphere and squished it until I got the saucer. The detail was added later but is an important part of making the animation work. If you don't break the flat surface of the UFO it'll be difficult to tell that it is spinning.






1. To get the top and bottom halves spinning independently you'll have to split the saucer in two. All I did was select the polygons around the middle of the UFO and cloned them to a new object. I then deleted the original polygons. Make sure to rename both parts.

2. Select the main / top&bottom of the UFO. Turn on the Rotate gizmo (E key). On the timeline, make sure you're at frame 0 and turn on Auto Key. Click Set Key or the button with the key on it to set a keyframe.

3. Move to frame 50, make sure the top half of the UFO is still selected. Rotate the UFO 360 degrees counter-clockwise around the Z axis. A keyframe should be created, if not click Set Key again

4. Do the same thing to the middle section of the UFO except rotate 360 degrees in a clockwise direction.

5. Hold control and click on both halves to select them.

6. Open the Curve Editor. There is a button on the toolbar.




7. Hopefully the Track View - Curve Editor window will open and look like this.







8. The Curve Editor allows you to tweak your animation with some precision. Marquee select all of the nodes (gray boxes) in the graph.

9. Menu bar click Controller > Out-of-Range Types...













10. The Param Curve Out-of-Range Types window will popup. Click on the Loop button and press Ok.








11. The Curve Editor should now look something like this.








12. Again marquee select the nodes, if not still selected, and click the Set Tangents to Linear button on the toolbar. This will turn the motion curves to straight lines thus making the rotation smooth (instead of the default slow-in slow-out motion).

13. Close the Curve Editor and click Play Animation. Look at that UFO spin!

If you look at my first image of the UFO model, the green cube hovering above is a dummy object that I used to make the UFO fly along a path.. which is a whole another tutorial for another day maybe.

Also a note. If you do use a dummy and plan on moving the UFO, make sure to Link the middle section of the UFO to the rest of the body. Do this AFTER you have the rotation animation working like you want it or you won't be able to rotate them separately.

10.06.2009

spooky

no classes for a week so i decided to start working on a personal project. this is just a preview of what i have planned. lookit..

10.04.2009

AlienCow Versus the UFO World Premiere!

dwell i'm glad this project is finished, for now. i learned a ton about modeling and animation in its creation which was the purpose of the project. i intend on revisiting this thing later on and tweak some parts.. i think i say that with everything i create. anyway.. here it be. oh and happy october.. 2 months till christmas!


9.30.2009

insomnia = web surfing

every once in awhile, 2 or 3 times a weeks, i end up not being able to sleep so instead i spend my night surfing websites or watching youtube. tonight's adventure led me to an art portfolio for gregory callahan. short story made short.. i want to be like him when i grow up. his roller bunny zbrush sculpt is AMAZING and this is the kind of quality stuff i strive to create.

http://gcallahan.com/?p=585

working daily on my animation project, it's about 80% complete. rendered a hi-res test image, look it...

9.25.2009

big boom

just spent the last 7 hours trying to figure out how to make a gun pop out of the back of my alien cow. this is what i came up with...

i did finally figure out uvw mapping. notice a.c.'s texture has changed since the preliminary images. i've also diddled a bit more with linking and animating. i is getting better but still have a lot to learn.

the middle section of the ufo is spinning. very hard to tell in the video. that's something i'll need to address later. also the black bars around the video annoy me. i know the culprit is adobe premiere but i'm not sure how to get rid of it at the moment. maybe if i actually read the manual i'd figure it out?

the full animation is due in one week. at least the hard part is over.. now i just need to make it all move.

edbit: okay.. for some reason the video isn't playing right. i've run into the same problem on youtube. gonna leave it alone for now, maybe it'll fix itself.


edbititde#2: new video with the weapon animation plus some. i love how the "beam me up, scotty" lighting effect turned out. final is due this week, i'll get that posted once it is ready.

9.20.2009

eek a mouse!

couple screwy bits with the animation but otherwise not bad. i am not too proud of the texturing. as I look at it now i could do a lot better. maybe i'll wait a few months and come back to this and rework it.. we'll see how much i can improve.

project 2 w.i.p.

got some stuffs to show off. this is my progress so far on "aliencow vs the ufo". i've got less than 2 weeks left to work on it, hopefully i can finish it in that time.


9.14.2009

good grades are very good.

got the grades for my animation assignments last week. my bouncing ball got a 100. couple of things i could improve on it, which i might when i get a chance. the second animation which was my mouse animation I was given a 95 and the comment "one of the best in the class." excuse me while i go pat myself on the back.

[ youtube video goes here ]

currently working on project 2 for the class.. i has some big plans for it.

9.08.2009

random ramblings #4

wanted to post an image that i rendered of a practice character that i'm working with this week for class. after reading the lecture and some notes from my instructor i realized that the pose isn't exactly what is required for my assignment so i won't be submitting the image. i really liked the pose though and wanted to show it off. i LOVE the expression! the character rig is compliments of creativecrash.com


"THIS ISN'T SPARTA!"

Finished my mouse animation at midnight sunday night. it took 5 weeks of hell to produce but i'm semi happy with the results. once i get a chance to play with the final video i'll post it. it's not web friendly atm.

9.04.2009

its alive!!!

my very first finished animation! kinda annoyed that it gets cut off at the end due to youtube's insertion of crap. not sure how to fix it. if you could actually watch the ending the ball explodes.



my mouse is slowing getting animated. its been a huge pain in the ass from the beginning.

9.03.2009

thanks verizon.

just taking a sec to mention how happy i am being a verizon customer.

about 20 minutes ago my dsl died. it wasn't long before it was back up and things are resuming as normal. this was the first actual dsl outage i've had in a LONG time and it was a very minor one. i've been a verizon dsl subscriber since 2001 and so far so good. i have no complaints. i'm also happy with my telephone service and my new blackberry storm on verizon's wireless is kickass. so just wanted to say, thank you verizon for providing me with some awesome services to keep me connected and working. you doods rock!

now i've probably jinx'd myself and i'm going to lose dsl, phone, and wireless access for a week....

still working on my mouse animation midterm. it's about 50% complete.. i hate animation. i might have to create a youtube account and show it off. i also have a bouncing ball animation that i'm pretty proud of. on the scale of good and bad 3d animation.. they're crap but i'm still a 3dsmax virgin.

8.31.2009

happy september!

happy september all!
there are 115 days until christmas!

summer ends soon.. fall is around the corner and i am hoping for an early winter, my favorite time of year, with tons of snow.

midterms are evil..here's what i've been working on so far...


brown mouse vs gray mouse! who will come out the victor?

mice are in, changed some textures in the kitchen and added some props. all that's left is to animate the mice and polish it up... before this
sunday.

random ramblings #3

late late night posts ftw.

honestly don't know why i'm posting anything. was looking at the blog and a little voice said "make a new post" so i am.. but i have nothing to talk about. /shrug

about to do some random modeling. i want to throw a toaster to put in my kitchen environment for my 3d modeling and animation class. that project is due this week but i still can't get my frikkin mouse animated. here.. lookit some pics from my assignment last week. focused on lighting this week and i had to create some scenes...

8.21.2009

Blizzcon 2009 - Diablo 3 heroes and monsters

wasn't much to get excited over from the D3 panel. they explained the monk class and how it'll work. combos combined with holy magic. all very cool and i can't wait to play it.

there was a lot of discussion about how they develop mobs and character skills which was interesting. they mentioned a lot of things that i have learned about and currently learning about in my classes. how ideas go from concept and testing in the game then redesigned for gameplay balance. all of the stuff i can hopefully look forward to.

more talk going on right now about diablo 3 and what's going on at blizzcon. looks like a starcraft 2/battle.net panel coming up at 6:30. wow class panel at 8 and then the contests. so still some juicy bits coming up tonight. i really wish my headache would go away. ugh.

Blizzcon 2009 - cinematic making of video

very cool. they actually showed parts of the process that the cinematics team at blizzard use to make the cinematics in the game. wasn't much for me to learn, i know the process very well, but it's always cool to see the behind the scenes stuff, especially of the art.

couldn't tell what any of the software they use was. the modeling software looked very foreign, could possibly be their own in house modeling software. i noticed that the concept artists and some animators use wacom cintiqs... lucky bastards. i can has?

so much new art, articles, and videos to read and view. talk about information overload.

diablo 3 heroes & monsters panels starting up. more monky goodness, yay!

Blizzcon 2009 - WoW Preview Panel

whew.. i've still got a headache.

the preview panel had a ton of new cataclysm info. i'm very excited about the new races, especially worgen. they look like a very cool werewolf, horror film, gothic sort of race.. which i am all into. of course it'll all open up new lore which is always good. can't wait to play it or atleast see a video of the new zone from blizzcon.

so basically deathwing is finally back and he's causing the world to go to hell. which itself is an awesome story. i've always wondered what dw has been doing since warcraft 2. apparently he's back, he's very very powerful and highly pissed at everyone. one of the zones, and where deathwing is making his home, is twilight highlands where grim bitol is/was. i'm glad they finally brought back the zone and updated it. it should be filled with oh so juicy dragon lore and probably some alexstrasza stuff.. i'm sure she wants to get her talons on deathwing.

new pvp of course.. new battlegrounds, i think tom chilton mentioned 3 new battlegrounds, whoa. i'm sure i'll be spending plenty of time in them.

ppv is interviewing paul sams right now and doing movie talk. i'm going to get some food and work on my headache. bbl.

Blizzon 2009 - dayum..

Okay so, Cataclysm is officially announced. I've got one hell of a headache from trying to keep up with the blog and watch the PPV. I think I'm going to kill the play-by-play and just post after the panels and events. Since I only get one chance to see Blizzcon I want to actually watch and enjoy it, not type the whole time. I also want to catch up on Twitter and some of the other fan site coverage.

Blizzcon 2009 - Intro & Opening Ceremony


My personal commentary on BlizzCon 2009's Pay-Per-View event. I'll be updating as I get info from the con or whenever I have something to say.

---- Friday August 21, 2009 - Opening Ceremony ----

[3:04pm] World of Warcraft: Cataclysm officially announced.. I've got chills.

Video of current Azeroth landmarks turned to rubble.

New Horde race: Goblins.

New Alliance race: Worgen.. and they look very sexy.

Flying Mounts in Azeroth
New Class/Race combinations

New monsters. Some concept art of golems, a stone turtle, dinosaur types. There was a clip of a black dragon, Deathwing most likely.. knew that was coming.

Very cool looking underwater raid and something that looked like Blackrock Mountain. Also a new drake. Looked a bit like a netherdrake but was purple and transparent.

Level cap raised to 85

New Secondary Profession: Archeology

Guild Leveling System and Achievements

Heroic Instances of Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep

New Leveling Progression: Path of the Titans

Whew.. I'm spent.

[3:03pm]
Chris going back to topics on Azeroth and touching on the rumors.

[2:57pm]
Diablo 3 talk. Unveiling a new class today, the Monk.

In-game cinematic (machinama) of the monk. Looking very cool.

Showing some gameplay of the monk. I think I found my new favorite Diablo class. He's doing combos of spells and melee attacks.


[2:55pm]
Chris showing the Blizzard employee shirt. Talking about announcements and what they've been doing the past year. Says there's some new trailers to show.



[2:52pm]
Chris Metzen on stage. Stream died again. No big announcement yet... hmmmmm.

[2:46pm]
Still Mike talking about Sam Raimi and the Warcraft movie. Random talk about things going on at Blizzcon and the goodie bag.. the n00bz figure which can be sold on ebay for "the price of a small car."

Jay Mohr and other celebrities appearing at Blizzcon. L80ETC and Ozzy Osbourne. Flash of Ozzy's WoW commercial.

[2:44pm]
Talking about faction changing "on the same realm." doh!

Some talk about Onyxia, a few groans from the crowd. Starcraft 2 and the new Battle.net

[2:39pm]
Mike welcoming fans online and overseas.

Flashback from last years Blizzcon and Wrath launch.

[2:36pm]
Mike just said "everyone is waiting for something cataclysmic to happen."



[2:34pm]
Mr Mike Morhaime comes on stage.. kinda bushy lookin this year. My net stream has died.

[2:32pm]
Gary Blatner (?) talking to the con attendees. He opened by listing the blizzcon attendee pet-peeves.. wasn't paying attention

[2:31pm]
Opening ceremony about to begin.. another audio glitch %(*)@&%@

[2:28pm]
Hosts specifically talking about the rumors of Cataclysm. Yeah soooo.. if it wasn't true would they actually be talking about it live on DirecTV?



[2:25pm]
Just showed 5 girls dressed as Draenai. Gotta please the guys.

Jo Garcia interviewing some people at the store. Aussie's buying some plush murlocs. Showing off some other items available at the store.

[2:21pm]
Interview talking about the history of the n00bz figures at Blizzcon this year. Interviews with the employee winners who designed custom n00b dolls. All of them Blizzard artists, w00t.

[2:19pm]
Hosts showing off the goodie bag. No beta key this year.


[2:18pm]
Roving reporter talking about the Starcraft 2. Dude dressed up like Jim Raynor.


[2:15pm] Still talking about tournament brackets. A countdown timer has been put on the screen. About 14 minutes until the opening ceremony.


[2:11pm]
More audio hiccups. Kim "Bunny" Phan talking with the hosts.. who's names I've missed at the beginning of the show. More audio problems from DTV and buffering on the net stream.

Talk about the tournaments going on at Blizzcon.. good get all of this out of the way now so we don't have to hear about it again.

[2:08pm]
Interrupted the hosts to show a video of the Blizzard HQ tour.. which happens to be the same video they showed last year. You can find it on YouTube.

"I've got a Wrath of the Lich King expansion to ship."

[2:06pm]
Okay it was a problem on my end. Had to buff my tv's volume up to hear it. Nothing interesting, DirecTV's hosts talking about the show schedule. They mention something about "new expansion" I missed it. Oops, audio out again.

[2:04pm]
Oh hay, what a surprise.. NO AUDIO.. technical goof up #1

[2:02pm]
PPV introduction, what to expect etc etc. The net stream is kinda jumpy.. not surprised.

BlizzCon 2009 - Preshow


My personal commentary on BlizzCon 2009's Pay-Per-View event. I'll be updating as I get info from the con or whenever I have something to say.

---- Friday August 21, 2009 - Pre-Blizzcon ----

[1:50pm] Ten minutes to go. I'm expecting the big announcement this year to be Cataclysm or the real name of the new WoW expansion and some info on it. I of course want to see what is planned for Icecrown. Starcraft 2 and it's released date would be nice, maybe some info on the beta. As for Diablo 3, probably one or two new player classes along with some game play stuff. As usual, I always look forward to whatever I can watch/listen to from the panels. Being a game art & design student that's the stuff I'm really interested in from the cons. Five minutes to go!

[1:44pm]
Lots of buffering goin on with the net stream even at low quality. I'm sure it's going to get worse as the show actually begins, especially during the opening ceremony. DirecTV's actually ppv is going strong as long as the rain stays away.

[1:26pm]
Getting myself organized to watch the PPV. Rain has stopped for now and I'm getting a clear signal, hurrah. The internet stream has started buffering like mad, figured that would happen. Only 30 minutes left until the Welcome and Opening Ceremony.

[1:06pm]
Updates on Twitter announcing that the doors at the con are open to the public. I'm sure updates will begin flowing from the con floor now. Less than 1 hour to go!

[12:38pm]
Rain has started again and my DirecTV signal is hiccuping lost for the moment. The live internet stream is going strong though.. for now.

[12:32pm]
Testing out screen shots of the live stream...


Success! A little fuzzy but will work :)

[12:16pm]
Tuned into the live stream at blizzcon.rayv.com. Seems to be working quite well at the moment. It is showing the same as I see on DirecTV with a few second delay. They've also posted the schedule for the PPV, happy to see that nothing is mentioned about the tournaments, it's all panels and features. Not all of the panels I want to see are listed but as long as the panels aren't interrupted for crap I'll be happy. Less than 2 hours to go!

[11:34am] From Sons of the Storm. An update made a few days ago mentioned that the sons will be having an autograph sessions today and L80ETC will be opening for Ozzy. This says to me that they won't be playing with Ozzy. Bummer but we'll see. I'm also reminded of the awesomeness of BlizzCon that I am missing out by not actually attending. I'd love a chance to mingle with Samwise and the other sons.

[11:00am] 3 hours and counting. Just checked the radar and more storms are moving my way. *sigh*. I may get lucky and my dtv signal will hold through the rain.. have to wait and see.

[10:34am] So far my satellite signal has only been lost once due to rain. It's sunny at the moment but I am sure it won't stay this way. I ordered the internet stream also, supposedly free to DirecTV subscribers. That'll be my backup feed.

I am curious how the Ozzy concert will go. I am hoping for a decent concert but I fear it may just turn out to be a lame marketing gimmick. I can't expect Ozzy to perform many songs either, 2 or 3 and the show will be over. Someone had mentioned that L80ETC will be playing backup for Ozzy, that would definitely be badass.

[10:26am] DirecTV is on my tv and tuned to channel 121 ready for the PPV to begin. Nothing yet, just looping video of the cinematic openings from WotLK, D3, and SC2, along with some footage from Blizzcon 08. I expect this to go on until around 2pm.

Read somewhere that Grunty interacts with the Zergling pet. I'm trying my best not to look at any spoilers until after the con. I am sure it's super cool.

8.20.2009

most excellent blizzcon 09 coverage

here be a list of the websites and stuff that i am tracking for my blizzcon news.

WoW Radio - Blizzcon '09 Coverage
WoW.com's Guide to Blizzcon - WoW.com

WoW Radio has been doing some live audio broadcasting the past two days, right now actually. definitely worth listening to.

i'll update as i discover more.

blizzcon 09.. less than 24 hours away!

i've been keeping an eye on all of my favorite blizzard related sites today. just came across a little linky that totally made my day. following http://www.blizzcon/com/pet takes you to the battle.net login and then a redemption box where you'd enter the code for Grunty. the part that i was very happy to see...
This item will be sent to ALL of your World of Warcraft Characters in the participating regions associated with this Battle.net Account. Note that World of Warcraft items will be sent to your in-game mailbox. Please be sure you have inventory space available when redeeming promotional items.
meaning, receiving the pet will work just like the collector's edition pets. it'll be mailed to every character on the account.. current and future (i hope). this means i'll be able to run around with Grunty on my alliance and horde servers. i am quite happy about this. last year's big blizzard bear mount was only redeamable on a single server... and you only received one of the items. this system with grunty will be much, much better. that's all i have for now. my ppv is pre-ordered from directv and 6am tomorrow morning i'll start seeing the broadcast, most likely 8 hours of blizzard cinematics like last year until the official opening ceremony starts at 2pm est. i still plan on posting blog updates with anything i learn from the ppv and my thoughts.

8.14.2009

incoming blizzcon 09

i am frikkin psyched for blizzcon this year. since there's no way in hell i can travel the 2000+ miles to anaheim for the convention, like last year, i'll be sitting home and watching the coverage on directv. not that anyone cares but i'll will try to update my blog with my thoughts about the ppv as i see it. hopefully it'll be better than last year's but if not, i'll still have the pet murloc marine as a going away present. please, directv, don't cut your coverage of the panels short just to show the tournaments that noone actually cares about.

quickie: about damn time.

a quick post since i haven't updated in a few weeks.

6th term is underway, so far so good. the best part is i finally got into a 3d modeling class. i'm movin and groovin right along in 3ds max and i'm far enough along that i can make some decent looking models. i'll have to post some samples here soon.

i realized yesterday that it's less than 5 months till xmas. that made me happy. i always look forward to fall/winter.. i love cold weather. nothin like sittin around on a lazy day in warm pjs and watching the snow fall.. i can't wait.

7.28.2009

summer vacation?

just a quickie.

got my finals finished on sunday and now i am officially on summer break. so far its been spent playing wow.. and will probably continue in the same manner. still waiting on some final grades but so far so good.

words of wisdom.. never tell your parents where you hide your piggy bank.

7.21.2009

7.20.2009

Cheshire Cat + Sith =


i have always stuck to the rule of keeping my school projects to myself until they're finished and i get a grade but this time i can't help myself. my final project for my character design class is a combination of the Cheshire Cat from "Alice in Wonderland" and the Sith characters from the Star Wars universe. this is only a sketch and isn't finished but I am pretty damn proud of the results so far. plenty of goof ups to correct and cleaning to do. after my project is finished i may refine the sketch and color it. i also need to come up with a name for her.

turned the scan purple in an attempt to make it look more cheshire cat'ish...

7.19.2009

random ramblings #2

sunday isn't my day of rest, it's ending up to be crunch time. i have a whole week, sometimes more, to do my assignments and i usually always leave the bulk of it for sunday.. the day the work is due. i can't find a cause for it because there's too many reasons for it.

i never thought it'd be so difficult to develop an alien creature. no matter how much i try to be creative, my mind keeps going back to little green men. i think perhaps i've had to milk my creative juices so frikkin much this term that i'm drained. it is tough coming up with new ideas for characters and drawings every week. during my upcoming week off i am taking atleast one day to lay in bed and think about nothingness.

cloverfield is a lame movie. transformers 2 is awesomesauce.. can't wait for the dvd.

i've been doing battlegrounds a lot in the past few days. i've been a part of quite a few winning games. i wonder what caused alliance players to decide to play to win all of a sudden?

no idea what is up with the game dev team i joined for the summer contest. we turned in a "demo" version of the game last tuesday. after that i haven't heard from anyone. maybe i should gather a search team?

sort of pissed at myself. i really wanted to enter some art for the blizzcon fan art contest this year. i know i probably wouldn't even place top 10 but i figure i'm am "artist" i could atleast submit something. the idea is solid but i've known about the contest for over a month yet i still haven't gotten around to sketch anything. i might still try, there's still a week or so left to turn in entries.

6.29.2009

thank you baby arthas

'member the list of things i'd wish from blizzard for xmas. one of those wishes seems to be coming true.

Faction-Change Service in the Works

pardon me, i'm going to go cry tears of joy.

6.26.2009

"the funk of 40,000 years"



thought i'd spend a minute or two and recall some childhood memories. like everyone else on the planet, i'm shocked at michael jackson's death. being a big fan of music and an in the closet musician, i was a fan in the musical sense. i have a few albums which i'll listen to in a blue moon but it's nothing to the fandom that i feel for my favorite bands like aerosmith and evanescense. to be the fan of his music that i am, i have to force myself to look past all of the bullshit and focus on his music. one of my favorite songs is, after all, 'smooth criminal'.

anyway, i do have a memory of michael jackson, sort of, that's stuck with me. when i was around six my sister's (they were in high school at the time) had a thriller viewmaster. i checked it out one day under one of my sister's supervision (yeah right) and it scared the living shit out of me.

6.23.2009

6.21.2009

this is what i wake up to

father's day and i cashed in my 'go outside once a month' card... i'm kidding.. or am i?

anyway this is what i get to see every day. i live in the crappiest part of pennsylvania. there's nothing to do, no jobs, and the people are absolute assholes but man is it prettyful.




attack of the moronic professor!

i shouldn't post this but i am.. part of my schooling requires we post to our class forums atleast 3 times a week. once by wednesday at midnight and two more times by sunday.

the following was posted on THURSDAY... the names were removed to protect the stupid...

Professor 18 Jun 09 5:36 PM MST
Hope you all are enjoying your work with Unit 4 this week!

As usual, you should have posted at least once by the Wednesday deadline and then provide two other posts by the end of the unit.

Let me know if you have any questions at all. I am always here to help, so don't hesitate to ask.

Response from Student #1 18 Jun 09 6:47 PM MST
Boy, I sure hope I aint as far behind as you are, Professor. Easter has come and gone already!
Response from Professor 18 Jun 09 10:16 PM MST
Thanks for that clarification, (Student #1). Sorry for the confusion.
Response from Student #2 20 Jun 09 12:05 PM MST
I dont get it.
confusion.. a lot of that happens in this class. also to note, mr professor ends pretty much every post and email with the same "let me know if you have questions..." line. he will forever be known as mr copy & paste to me.

random ramblings #1

finally got a chance to check in with the guys on my team for the summer game competition. it is always tough to work on a project with others online. constantly communicating with everyone on the team is an important part. you'd think with all of the different chat programs around there wouldn't be communication barriers but there are. the toughest part is you don't have the physical real time contact like you would in an office or studio.

6.19.2009

"does not compute"


nothing like some early morning idiocy to start your day.

i swear my character design professor is a robot.. a moronic copy & paste robot who can't answer questions with just a simple yes or no answer but instead copy and pastes cryptic responses to very simple questions.

6.16.2009

busy and bored

just thought i'd post something to keep the dust off the blog. i'm kinda busy this week with mid term projects.

i also just joined a team for the college summer game design contest. i'll be putting my graphics skills to use while working with a team of students on a 2d game. not much else to say on that right now.

aerosmith is back on tour, i'm really excited about that but also pissed cause i don't think i'll be seeing them this time around. the last time i actually saw them in concert was around '97 during the nine lives tour. was an awesome show and my first real concert. i'd like to see them once more before i'm too old.. cause we all know aerosmith will be around way after i'm gone. ^A^

6.13.2009

solar system


i created this for school last year but it is something that i am most proud of...



100% barebones photoshop cs3

picture post test - evil doctor sketch

i wanted to start posting some images of assignments for my classes and also test out how posting images on the blog goes. so here is a character that i had to design for my character... design class.



.. he's nothing special. i'm quite proud of myself with the hands in the side view. i suck at drawing hands.

6.12.2009

what i want from blizzard for xmas

dear blizzard's winter presents hander outer,

i been good this year and here is what i'd like for xmas

1. fix the size of gnomes while mounted.. too big
2. cow non-combat pets
3. cross faction character transfers
4. a better orb of deception... make 'em like the orb from mgt
5. no more ganking people who are 4 levels or more below you.. aka 80's can't gank 76 and lower.

kthx

6.11.2009

pvp is bad for my health

i have been pvping a lot lately on my 80 gnome rogue. i haven't pvp'd in a long time but so far my opinion.. alliance still sucks. yeah yeah i could transfer to a different battlegroup and probably have a better time but i have too many friends on my current realm. i've been playing on the same realm since release.

to cure my hate yet still do some pvping i have always wanted to form a dedicated pvp group/guild on my realm. i have a few problems with this idea....

1. none of my friends are interested, they don't bother with pvp
2. i'm not too keen on starting a team with nothing but people i don't know
3. i REALLY wouldn't want to lead it

so what can i do? keep truckin away at this mess? reroll? transfer? quit cold turkey? the world may never know.

6.10.2009

world of warcraft pvp

on this edition of thinkin' stupid...

oh i'm gonna have a whole slew of these types of posts cause the topic highly pisses me off.

i'm sure people are familiar with wow's warsong gulch battleground. well i play alliance and the players in my battleground are composed of 90% morons.

here's a common sense tips for wsg...

when the other team takes your flag, turn the hell around and look for the flag carrier. your number one priority in wsg should be to keep the other team from capturing your flag. its not hard to turn your focus away from your duel in mid field and look for the fc.

and most important: kill healers first.

6.07.2009

wtf is a blog?

i got the idea for this from a classmate. i attend Westwood College Online, i'm a game art and design major. i figured it'd be cool to have a place where i can vent about any damn thing i want and to show off some of my school work.

i chose "thinkin' stupid" from a t-shirt i have. the saying on the back reads "i won't say you're stupid but i'm thinkin' it". it doesn't have a thing related to art but i like it. my shirt is compliments of http://www.bigdogs.com