Drawings Everywhere

Kids these days.  They expect me to be updated on the latest Pokemon.  Well I'm not.  Kid in question replied "Just make some up then".  So I took his advice.

Three mons from my own brain. 

At some point I turned my attention to three Kenlilian cousins.  It's hard to tell them apart without fur-colors to keep them straight.  Perhaps I should color these in.

From left to right: Ve'an (5), Zaav (16), and Gen (10).

After Zaav says something snarky to Gen.  Ve'an's just trying to keep up.

And finally, I must complain about Facebook's "Timeline" thing they're apparently forcing on us.  It's far too visually cluttered for my taste.  A mono-tasker's nightmare.  Ugly as anything.

And yet... they give me this blank space called a "banner".  I simply can't pass up the chance to personalize my virtual space.  Being an artist, a simple photo won't do.  No, I'm plotting out an epic character collage.

Thumbnail of epic character collage

Lemons and lemonade.  Fun will be had.

Earworm of the Day: The Rescue by Adam Cappa  I've mysteriously had this stuck in my head these last few days.

Doodles of Advice and Alliteration

I know I posted yesterday, but I've got drawings I must share!

Gratuitous sword damage, Blade's biggest pet peeve.

A man with a mustache, a mustelid monster, and a meadow mouse.  Marvelous!

Earworm of the Day: let's face it, I still have that unicorn song stuck in my head.  Ask me again in 3 days.

Rodent in Motion

The above is a short project I worked on over the weekend, trying to animate the walk-cycle of a cartoon mouse.  By no means is it a life-like walk; it's really very simplified and I think a mouse would have a much faster gait.  I'd imagine it almost like a quick trot.  Or perhaps the front legs trot while the back legs bounce like a rabbit.  It's impossible to find a good reference video.  I typed in "mouse walk" on YouTube.  I got 20 ways to sync sound effects to foot-falls.  I tried "mouse slow-motion".  I got 100 videos of small toys and lightbulbs being decimated by mousetraps in epic slow-mo.  (Why lightbulbs?  I'll never know.)

Between Mickey-mousing and shattered filaments, I did find this very talented rodent.  Unfortunately he is too quick, and the video is too poor quality, to actually get a reference from.

Speaking of references, I found a fascinating book with detailed drawings of various animal skulls from all angles.  The skull is the underlying reason (quite literally) to why heads of all vertebrates look the way they do.  The book was made for biology students, but it practically begs the 3D modeler to put a page in the scanner and create an bison or lion skull to add to their portfolio.  I'm debating weather to do so, and if so what animal to pick.  Decisions, decisions...

Earworm for the day:  I've got nothing.  Enjoy an annoying-song-free day.

Meadow Mouse

All classes leave an impression, even the ones I didn't like. If I learned anything from Game Design last year, it's that game creation is not my thing. I give up too easily when faced with puzzles I don't know how to solve. I am generally a non-aggressive person, and most games are warlike to the point that I'm afraid of playing after a couple of levels. Yes, I am actually afraid of continuing to play Spore because I angered the Grox (and the game practically requires that you do so, what's up with that?) Furthermore, they are a big time-drain. I can't play a video game for less than 2 hours (I know this from experience). Where, between work, school, and communicating with DePaul, and doing housework, and doing more schoolwork, do I have the time to play video games?
The answer is: None. Nada. Zip. I'm cutting into my schoolwork just to write this blog entry.

As I said before though, the class left an impression on me, and thus I've begun coming up with a game. (I must be out of my mind.) Here's the concept:

You play as a young field mouse. You start out in a meadow, but as you explore and collect items three opportunities to win the level will present themselves. Which one to go for is completely up to you, but ultimately you can only successfully complete one.

Your decision leads you to a new area where you explore and acquaint yourself with the local resources and hazards. Two ways to win the level are given. Once again, which way you go is totally your choice.

This format continues to the next level, with three chances to move forward. The last level has three chances to ultimately win the game.

There are, in total, 10 worlds in the game, but the player will only visit four. The method you win each level determines which one you go to next. The general three ways to win are building something, defeating an enemy, or solving a puzzle.

In short, I'm trying to fix what I don't like about Spore.