Grid Art Scud!

     Okay it is currently 6:30AM and I have finally finished my grid art project! I really don't know why I like the feeling of procrastination. I started this five days ago and have felt this to be one of my most accomplishing works. South Park is a show I really want to work on and it takes them 6 days to make each episode so that time frame inspires me to try and do the same to see if I can compete in an environment such as that. But anyways enough about that onto the project!

     Scud is a character I created that gets the name from my last name of course, but he's been someone I've been drawing since I was in 4th grade for tons of assignments such as this. Over the years he has changed drastically as my artistic style develops. He's a reminder of progress I have made over the years. 

     What I did for this project was use that character to create the name Scud. Of course I thought it would be super boring to draw him in the same position a hundred times so this gave me an awesome opportunity to tell a story throughout it! As you can see through this whole work, the characters are doing a ton of different things and in some way, they all interact with each other. There is even a few costumes, different characters, emotions, etc. 

     I started out by writing the word Scud to map where I would put the characters in each letter and from then on I began to pencil out the characters and ink them in. As I was done with all of that I began the coloring stage to give it a much better polish. As I work on stuff, I get pretty anxious to see the final version so often I would begin to ink them in even if I wasn't done with a letter. I just like looking at a more finished version to show the work is worth it in the end.

     The hardest part of this project wasn't the drawings themselves, it was the ideas I had the characters doing as stupid as that sounds. There are 110 characters on this work. How many possible expressions can a person play out!? Well I tried as much as I could and only a few have the typical smile or something but seriously give me a break!

     My favorite part of the work is the way that each letter interacts with one another. As you can see characters on the S and C are having a football toss on the top and on the bottom their is a duo playing gameboy connected with that wire. Or the C and the U having a pizza delivery. It was little stuff like that, that definitely make me like this so much more. Overall, I'm pretty proud of myself on completing this and can't wait for the next project!

Best Game of All Time?

     Talking about the best game of all time in class had me really thinking. What is the best game I've ever played? I've been playing games since I was 3 years old with the Sega Genesis. Since then I have owned every system to come after and have played hundreds of games. There is absolutely no way I can pick one out of the past 15 years of my life! Of course it's a hellafun to try and make a list. I'm not too sure of the order but it definitely is pretty close to my personal favorite. These are the top ten games I've ever played. The one rule of the list is that I can only pick one franchise too, no doubles on the list.

10. Kingdom Hearts II

     If I was making a list for the most confusing storyline of all time, this would take the cake. Kingdom Hearts isn't a series you can just jump into at any point because each game plays a significant importance to the overall story of the Xehanort saga. Each game has had an impact on me but II absorbed me into the story with beautiful worlds, the best soundtrack, and emotionally invested deeper with Sora, Goofy and Donald. Any game that can make the most cheery Disney characters into badasses must really have something special in it.

9. Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception

     Uncharted is the closest thing to a video game being a movie. With cinematic set pieces, amazing acting, and one of the most realistic looking games out there, there is no way you can't invest in a world like this. This game also tightened up the controls of the second game and added a sweet combat system. It also went into the psych of Drake and really answered why he does the things he does. It was a great way to end the trilogy and hope they continue to bring out more of his adventures.

8. Resident Evil 4

     Resident Evil hasn't been scary for a while and I'm still trying to figure out why. They decided to go with action and while the games are still great, I just wish they were like this one. This was the first 3rd person Resi game and it set a standard for the rest of the series. The game was also horrifying and kept me in panic mode in soo many situations. Controls were tight and had some insane zombies. Who can forget the chainsaw zombie. Leon needs more lead games like this.

7. The Orange Box

     3 Valve games in one? Your not sold yet? This was the best compilation game of all time having the  most critically acclaimed game of all time, Half Life 2. The standout of this game was definitely the introduction of Portal which was a mind challenging game filled with puzzles and hilarious dialogue. I couldn't decide whether to add Portal or Half Life to the list so why not have them both in this!

6. Super Mario 64

     This game has changed the gaming world. The first 3D Mario was definitely his best. An open world mushroom kingdom. Why not make every game like this. I remember as a kid running around the castle, exploring the coolest worlds and finding all of the little secrets hidden away in each level. Mario gets better and better every game, but he lost that non-linear experience that was found in games like this and Sunshine. Fighting Bowser in 3D was also amazing. And collecting all 120 star coins to find Yoshi at the end. This was one of the first games I truly completed everything in it and what an experience it was.

5. Shadow of the Colossus

     Whenever you hear an argument if video games are art, show them this game. This was not only PS2's masterpiece, but an artistic innovation. The game had just a boy and his horse taking on giant monster bosses, that was the game. You would travel fields, mountains, beautiful scenery to find these monsters to take down. Each monster was a puzzle to defeat and here's a question: Have you ever felt sorry for the monsters you kill in games? It's not like they were ever trying to attack you, you just have to do it to save the one you love. I cried every time I killed one of them and that's what made this game special, it was the emotion that it drew from you into a world. Beautiful game.

4. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles

     I am a giant Sonic fanboy and this is the first game I have ever played. Playing back on some games, I realize they don't age to well, but I see this getting better with age every time I play it. It was a platforming masterpiece with the best soundtrack of the entire series and that's saying something. Also the first Sonic game to involve cutscenes and a story. For 1994 thats pretty impressive. Skiing down the slopes of Ice Cap and Reaching the Death Egg in Sky Sanctuary, this game takes you on the most imaginative journey of all time.

3. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

     Now if I didn't pick Sonic as my number 1 favorite that's saying something. Since 2011, Sonic 3 has been my favorite game of all time, until Skyward Sword came out. I'm also a big Zelda fan and have a tattoo of the triforce on my chest. This Zelda game is as much of an innovation as Ocarina of Time. The Wii remote was your sword and the way you would swing it would actually be the way Link swung it in the game. Also this was the origin story of Zelda and it showed how they all ended up in Hyrule, how Zelda became the princess, and was the first time they had a love story between Link and Zelda. It was a huge change from the little elf boy must save the princess. This also featured the monster who became reincarnated into Ganondorf. This is also number 3 on my list because how emotionally attached I was to the characters. Zelda truly is a gaming experience.

2. The Walking Dead

     Next year a new best game of all time came out for me. It seems as each year, gaming gets better. Telltale released the Walking Dead which was the most unique game experience I have ever played. You decided what you did, who would live, how you treated friends, who you kill. The journey is you. You play as Lee who is taking care of this little girl, Clementine in a world becoming infected with zombies. Every decision you make puts the weight of the world on you and it's the first time I really had to think about what I had just done. It really is a depressing game as the world seems to never get better, but the moments that Clementine is happy are the ones you cherish the most. Can't wait for Season 2!

1. The Last of Us

     This year, Naughty Dog released the greatest game of all time. I played through it four times to make sure and each time it left an impact. Never have I ever felt the way I do about 2 characters like I do with this one. 20 years into an apocalyptic world, you follow a man Joel and a little girl Ellie as they travel across America to figure out a cure from an uninfectable Ellie. Following them on this adventure, there isn't any way you can't become attached to them. The little conversations they have, the people they meet, the things they have to do. You are basically teaching Ellie what the world once was as she was born in it, she only knows this world. Have you also ever played a game when your beating up a bad guy to there death, before you strike the finishing blow, they plead to you to let them go? How about when you run out of bullets, the bad guys hear that sound and they know your vulnerable and go right after you? Or what about every little sound you make could get you killed when undercover. That's how fucking powerful this is. It's the closest thing to real life. This game just knows and acts different for everyone. I won't ruin the ending to the game but it's so damn powerful. This is a must play and defines what video games are.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

     Those four words of the title make up what I have been living my life by for years now. Steve Jobs has been a hero to me since I entered high school. I admire his visions and his ability to take risks and he knew exactly what people wanted. I have seen his Stanford address before and it is one of the most inspirational speeches I have heard from him. The struggles he faced in his life, between getting Apple started, fighting for his visions and through his cancer, he fought for what he truly loved, and that was creating the future. He was a perfectionist that wanted to bring out the best products and knew the simplest things make a difference. I learned from him that you don't have to change the world to make a difference, and that's what he did even with the simple different fonts and calligraphy. Many people try to make the man look like an asshole because he didn't care about money, he just wanted to give a simple user experience to the customers. Of course he has made mistakes in his life, but who hasn't? Everyone must read the book and movie about him to really learn in detail what he did to change Apple, animation and the computer industry in general.

Alan Turing

     Alan Turing was a man that could have changed the world much sooner than it did. Turing worked for Britain's decoding center as he was able to decode the messages from the Germans. He was working on a digital computer that his colleagues dismissed, so the project never went over. Looking back at his studies, it seemed as the computer was going to be designed far more powerful than anything released in the upcoming years. The man had a genius vision that was soon later discovered and it does relate to what were talking about in class as we move through the computer era. The one thing that it seems relates the most is everyones denial over the computer. No one thought it was a good idea for Turing and it can still be seen today even with Jobs and Wozniak. They tried to get the Apple computer over with people and try to find investors to really make an impact, but everyone just wasn't into the idea and didn't believe people wanted a personal computer. So now when the computer was a hit and people did want computers, the ideas Jobs had behind creating the Lissa lead to the board of directors kicking him off the project and onto the Macintosh, where that became more of a success than the Lissa did. As Steve Jobs said "People don't know what they want until you show it to them."

Radio Days

     Radio Days is a movie that takes you through the life during the radio era. It goes through the scene in the city with the broadcast shows and celebrities along with the life of a boy growing up with the radio. I also just realized that the boy in the movie was Seth Green! Must've been what really launched his career because this movie was amazing! It really made me want to live through this era to experience the radio like these people did. Just seeing how everyone mesmerizes over the device shows what it meant to them and I don't think we have ever felt something like that in our era. Were surrounded by video games, movies, TV and still even the radio that it's all really just there. It's not like we hold these things on a pedestal, it's just our entertainment. In a time where the radio was really the only source you could find entertainment such as this, it must have been a lot of fun tuning in every night. Overall, great story, great characters and I found it pretty funny too! It's a great throwback to an era that Woody Allen was fortunate to live through.

OZR.com & MZTV

     When exploring these sites, I realized one thing about the radio era, and that it is soo similar to the TV we watch today. The radio had tons of shows, comedy, sci-fi, drama, talk shows, it's the modern day without the visuals. These people were celebrities in their shows and the ones who offered these programs are still doing it today in the TV era such as NBC, CBS, etc. It was interesting to look at the shows found back then because you can spot the similarites of franchises to come that were inspired. Even some of them, such as Flash Gordon were adapted into TV shows. The interesting thing about the radio is it's a lot similar to books than TV, with the use of detail descriptions and dialogue, it feels like someone reading a story to you. Of course the use of actors and sound effects bring that TV feeling, but it is like your getting the best of both worlds with some of these broadcast shows.

CD / DVD / BluRay

     Out with the cassette tapes and in with the CDs! As VCRs became irrelevant, the DVD player came in to introduce a new digital viewing experience which changed the way we watch videos forever. CDs also made an impact not only taking the place of video cassette tapes for music and movies, but video game cartridges as well.
     DVD players could date back to 1958 with the creation of the laserdisc, but that doesn't really count. It was the first type of compact disc to play movies to try and compete with the VHS but it was an utter failure. In 1995, Philips, Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic invented the DVD player which had more storage, higher resolution and great audio. Many of the companies were backing different technology, but to avoid format wars, they all unified to created one format which definitely made the DVD a much greater success. Because with one format, there was no competition. The DVD went straight against the VHS and easily took it out because this wasn't any normal competition, it was the future. DVD players were originally sold at under $200 and eventually dropped to under $50 which is cheaper than a video game! And unlike previous competition to the VHS, there was actually a difference in quality with the DVD player. DVD's actually had menus which usually has scene selections, bonus features, different languages, everything you couldn't do on a cassette tape was found in the compact disc. The extra features and the new conveniences made the DVD player much more desirable and instantly became a hit in households.

     This is all thanks to the CD. Sony and Philips worked together in 1988 to create the Yellow Book, which gave CD-Roms the ability to hold any type of data. This right there made the CD's a revolution. They also took out the cassette tapes due to greater quality and more space to hold data. CD's then made there way to video games when Sony introduced the Playstation in 1995. Unlike Nintendo and Sega at the time still using cartridges with the Nintendo 64 and Sega Saturn, Sony's console was able to not only create bigger and more powerful games, they could use high def audio which really did make a difference. The Sega CD tried using the discs in 1992 but the technology just wasn't there in gaming, the audio was incredible though and the graphics were improved.

     BluRay discs were released in 2006 and became the somewhat successor to DVDs. It showed high definition video and immersive sound unlike the DVDs. High Definition was starting to become an interest at the time and HD TV's were starting to hit the market. However, DVD's would not be able to show off the technology due to their limitations which is what BluRay was to do. BluRay can play HD content and movies were starting to come to the format. BluRay even went through a format war with HD DVD's from Toshiba, but in 2008 they backed down from the war making BluRay the standard. Not only was the quality better, the space was unreal. They can put the whole DVD collection of say the Friday the 13th movies all on one BluRay disc. Playstation puts their games on BluRay discs and it definitely makes a difference when you get an Xbox game like Mass Effect 3, and it comes on 3 discs. You have to switch the discs out in the middle of your game to continue on while Playstation games can keep going.

     It is too soon to consider BluRay a successor to the DVD player like it was to the VHS. It definitely didn't take off the same way. Of course BluRay players are cheap now and a majority of households have now switched to HD TV's, it is the definitive way to watch content. However, times are changing real fast as in the current 2013, it seems as if discs aren't needed anymore as movies are now being streamed through services such as iTunes. Movies can be streamed through all media devices. DVDs and BluRay are still around today but we may be coming to their last legs.

Video (VHS/Beta) / VCR

     The VCR is a device that is able to play VHS tapes, which were able to record sound and images right onto the magnetic tape inside of the cassette to relay a movie. It's so fascinating how it worked and not even that, the convenience it brought to the household. You were not only able to watch your favorite movies, but you could pause, rewind, fast forward and the coolest thing was taking a blank VHS tape and being able to record a anything on TV to create your own tapes!

     In 1956, the first video recorder was created by Ampex for professional broadcasting use. However, this was not used at home and was made for television broadcasting studios due to it's hefty price of $50,000. Toshiba, Philips, Sony, and even more companies were all trying to get into the market due to it's success with the studios. They began to create it for more uses involving medical use, businesses, airlines, etc.

     1963 was the year that the Telcan was created by the Nottingham Electronic Valve Company and became the first ever home video recorder. Of course, like the beginning of everything, it was a failure. The thing only recorded 20 minutes of black and white video, you had to build the thing yourself, and it was still real expensive for the average household. However, many companies still saw something in the device as they began to try and improve on it, making it more affordable, and actually sold it in one piece.

 
     As the video recorder became more popular and began a library of videocassette tapes of movies, Philips created the VCR in 1970 which became the true video recording experience in the household... but not at first. This thing was expensive at over $2,000! Even now it still confuses me that nothing is ever successful at first and it's because the developers make the same mistake everytime. $2,000 for a VCR? No one can afford that so why not sell it at a loss in the beginning instead of no one buying anything and wasting money anyways. They eventually find ways to build it cheaper but wouldn't you at least want sales? Your losing money anyways but anyways that rant is over.

     The VCR eventually did pick up steam in 1975 and had six big companies developing them with the most successful companies coming from Japan, Sony and JVC. They began to make them more advanced and affordable and making an impact in the households across the world.  

     Being the most successful, they dominated most of the home markets which brought the competition directly between them. Sony was trying to one up JVC by creating the Betamax, which is the equivalent to the Blu Ray player against the DVDs, expect it was a failure. Of course it was one of the two standards in the households, but it just wasn't convenient to the consumer. The Beta had a higher resolution, but it only recorded one hour while the VHS recorded 2 to 4. Also when recording home movies, the VHS was able to rewind and show what was recorded in the cameras while the Beta was only straight recording, if you messed up, oh well. And you couldn't see it until it was finished. Over time, VHS took pretty much 75 percent of the market and the Beta vanished. It was innovative in ways when it created a second fast forward option on the Betamax which sped it up even more. It also began to create tapes that could record more time. 

     Pretty much after the Betamax, VHS was what the majority of households owned and became the standard. There was tons of other viewing experiences coming out at the time like the laserdisc which came in like vinyl albums because they were giant discs and showed higher resolution videos and audio. The thing was pretty cool but who the hell owned one. Everyone used VHS and at the time resolution wasn't as big a deal as it is now with High Definition TV's that really show quality.

     However, all good things come to an end. The VCR was really successful in the 80s and 90s. Who doesn't remember popping in their favorite Disney VHS movies! In the 2000s, the DVD came out which was the beginning of the digital age of video. VCR's were still around in the early 2000's, but only to the people who haven't moved on to the DVD players. In 2005, it pretty much became obsolete. Movies stopped producing for it, and video cameras became handheld, recording on mini cassettes and even digital. The VCR was a revolution, becoming a form of pirating as well being able to record the TV, an easy way to record memories with video cameras, and changed the way we watched video entertainment.

Orson Welles was a Genius!

     Just listened to War of the Worlds... wow. I don't care if it was on the Radio I saw everything that happened in it. It's like reading a really good book that describes scenery and the events in explicit detail. You feel as if you are there. The specific detail put into what was happening to the towns and cities gave it such an apocalyptic feel and it was just a great story told. I could tell why this was the golden era of radio. However, this was during a time where TV wasn't compelling and was just starting up. I'm thinking if this was released now in the golden age of TV, it would have the same impact I felt listening to it. I'm not bashing the radio, I'm saying that it felt like such a similar experience to watching a show. If I was in 1938 listening to this at home I would have crapped my pants. Even today, it still has that eerie feeling and I think that's also thanks to Welles' voice. He sells the story in his speech and would have been a phenomenal actor I think in the TV era as well. He makes it believable. Definitely a must watch!

Philip K. Dick

     After reading about Philip K. Dick, I had no idea how much his work has inspired the films we see today. He writes of science fiction worlds that aren't the ordinary stories you hear all the time. In a way, the world is actually very similar to ours, or at least thats what it's coming too. It seems as time goes on, Dick's wild theories are getting closer to these futuristic nightmares is what I'll call them. I am fascinated by his work and love his concepts, but they really are worlds no one would ever live in because of the danger on every corner, the governments having total control over people, it's scary. You can even see with the NSA that they monitor every conversation you have had in your life over phones, texting, computers you name it. That's recent, think about the future. If they already have that much control over us, how long is it until they will have cameras in literally every room in the entire world to make sure nothing happens without there watch. The thing about Dick's work is that it really makes you think into our world. He makes us look into our selves and the place we live. It just seems that he may have also had an idea of what this world was coming too as well.

SOURCE:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/05/m-philip_k_dick_and_our_predicament.html

Stop Animation

     I feel so bad for 2D animators and give them so much credit. Just doing 200 pictures was ridiculous now I can't even imagine a team doing over 1,000,000 for Snow White! But anyways this project was a lot of fun! I actually did this all in one sitting, not because of time or anything like that but I kept having random ideas as I was going along and wanted to continue off of that! This was basically all off improv which I thought is the only way to make a random animation! I did actually notice I made my character fall a lot and I think I actually made a story out of it somehow. All the times he fell he either fell in the ocean, on a giant bird, a snowboard and it just seemed like he kept getting lucky. Now the one time he actually has something that could save him from his fall like his parachute, he's out of luck as the string breaks off and he falls flat on the ground with the parachute finally coming out after the impact. I guess I can make a moral out of this story saying there is only so many times you can get lucky before it runs out but really it's the most random video I've ever made. I'm actually gonna include my 3D animation video on this because it seems like it goes with the whole animator theme so enjoy that one too!

EDIT: Okay so I'm gonna update this ones bloggers video finder wants to work. I left the links below and will get the video on the blog as soon as this thing wants to cooperate!

EDIT 2: No success on that stupid YouTube thing so now I uploaded it through Blogger. Use the YouTube Link if you need to view it on there.

Stop Motion Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTdUMRow7KE&feature=youtu.be

3D Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC9iH9thPj4&feature=c4-overview&list=UURS9aj-LsU7wRR7XErf3_vQ