Term 2 final grades ...

Art History: 82/135 for a total of 1119/1207 (92.71%)
Image Editting for Games: 30/30 for a total of 1200/1230 (97.56%) -- 600/600 on my picture!
Intro to Animation: 460/490 for a total of 1430/1520 (94.08%) -- 370/400 for my animation!
Intro to Game Development: 268/270 for a total of 1067/1130 (94.42) -- got 40/40 for back assigment.

For a total of ... ALL "A"s!!! WooHOO!!! I pulled it off again.
*WHEW*

I have to say that I would not have done it without the help from Meredith. Art History was a major pain as I kept getting dinged on my posts for not enough information. She helped me out big time on that, even though we still got dinged, but at least I didn't feel so frustrated.

I am also very happy that I received full credit on my past assignment. I wish I would have known that sooner. With that big ZERO there it was bringing me down to a "B". I know I am trying a bit hard to keep up my grades, maybe too hard, but I am afraid that if I start slacking off that I will lose the momentum. I am sure that it will start to wear on me, but I wnat that to happen later instead of sooner.

With that being said, my books are ordered and will be here tomorrow. I am extremely excited about that. I cannot wait to see what the books for Color Theory and Digital Illustration will be like. I know that for Digital Illustration I will be using Adobe Illustrator. I openned up the program for the first time today. Looks like a cross between Photoshop and Paint. Should be lots of fun using that. Has anyone out there used it before? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

Well ...gotta run. It's been snowing out here in Illinois and I will need to ge tup early to clean off my car before going to work tomorrow.

Love you all!

Let's give this a shot ...

I got my video up ...

Enjoy!




And I have it up on YouTube as well ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6B7-YHw66I

Last weeks grades and next term's classes

Well, last week's grades are in and here is how I did:

Art History: 285/285 for a total of 1037/1072 (96.74%)

Image Editing for Games: 100/130 for a total of 540/570 (94.74%)

Introduction to Animation: 30/40 for a total of 970/1030 (94.17%)

Introduction to Game Development: 260/280 for a total of 679/780 (87.05%)

So ... I am still fighting to get back to an "A" in Game Development. I got a note back from the professor saying he won't grade any "late" work until the end of the term, so I won't know anything about that until next week.

I missed out on 30 points for my rough draft in my Photoshop class because I didn't list my text in it. Oh well .. no one is perfect. Speaking of Photoshop, Meredith (my wife) has signed me up to in the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. I now have access to their site and all of their tutorials, as well as getting the monthly magazine "Photoshop Users." It is a very informative magazine. I really do enjoy it and ahve learna lot from it already.

I am happy to say that with Meredith's help I got a perfect score on my Art History paper. I had to write a thesis on a famous Artist and some of their works, so I picked Norman Rockwell and his "Four Freedoms" poster. My thesis was that he was more of a propagandist than an artist. The profess made a note on my paper thiking that it was an interesting spin on him.

Of my four classes this term, three of them have final projects that are being critiqued by the other students:

Image Editing for Games: My picture that I uploaded as my final is what is showing, and it is getting mediocer reviews. Too much fog and that the text looks like it was added as an after-thought. Of well. Lets see what kind of grade I get from teh professor.

Introduction to Animation: My animated short is the only one so far to get 4 reviews while everyone else has one or two (one person has three). Everyone loves it and says that they laugh and cry over the story. One person asked if I was planning of doing a whole series of them as there are way too many possibilities to do with it all. Now, I will see if I can get these files over to my brother and see if he can find a way to show them on his site (18mb to get over to him).

Introduction to Game Development: We had to do a PowerPoint presentation on what we want to do in our careers, how we will get there kinf of skills we will need and such. I ahven't gotten any critiques on that yet, and the choice I picked was a texture artist. That is pretty much considered ground floor starting position, but it was more realistic to pick then Head Game Designer and Art Lead as many people picked. Sure, I hope to one day be in a leadership role such as that, but I went to do my presentation on something different. Let's see where that will take me.

So ... today I found out what classes I will be taking starting in January. They will be:

Digital Illustration: In this class students develop electronic illustration skills. Emphasis is placed on conceptual thinking, composition, creative type effects, and design campaigns. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to create effective layouts and illustrations through the use of digital illustration tools and menu items.

Color Theory: This course covers the principles of color as it applies to print and electronic media. Emphasis is placed on color relationships, composition and color mixture. Students will study the effects of color on the development of design as well as the psychology of color and its power to deliver effective marketing messages.

Both of these courses are 7 credit hours, so they should have some big projects in them. I am very excited about both of these. I eventually want to get into painting some digital pictures and would like to get a decent digital pen tablet to make it all easier. Photoshop and Vista have some great features for tablets, and am eager to play with them all.

Anyhoo ... that is all for now. I am very eager to know how I did on my final projects and will post the grades once I have them. I love you all and wish you all happy holidays!

Bummers

First off, here is what I am considering turning in for my final project for my Photoshop class. I took elements from my past assignments and put them together for this picture. I was not going to put the text in, but it was required to have some sort of writing or a message of sorts, so I put it in. Now that I look at it, it seems to balance it and complete it, so ...

I have until midnght on Sunday to turn it in, so any constructive criticism anyone wants to give, please feel free to do so.

The bummer part of my post is that I encountered an issue with one of my assignments. In my Introduction to Game Design class I had to turn in a paper to 2 locations instead of the usual 1, and I missed that little detail. Imagine my shock and horror when I logged in at my In-laws house on Thanksgiving and saw that I had a "0" for my assignment. The only thing that I saw was a note that said that the assignment had not been received. At first I thought that I messed up on the naming convention of the file, as you need to name it in specific format or you can get docked points for that. I downloaded the file (as I did not have it with me in Cincinatti) and renamed to upload it again. I even email my professor stating this is what I did. I never heard back from him and finally figured out on my own that I had to upload it to a second area, and I still have a "0" for a grade on that assignment. I think I emailed him at elast 3 times and he never contacted me back. If I still do not hear back from by the time he grades last weeks assignment, I will talk to my councilor and see what she has to say about it. It makes me mad as I had finally gotten back up to an "A" in that class, and now I got a "0" on a 40 point paper. What even makes it even more aggravating than the fact that I had just gotten my grade up was that I just received a certificate from Westwood because I made the Dean's List last term. Hope I cna still do that again this term.

Anyway ... here are my grades from week 6:

Art History: 85/95 for a total of 698/729 (95.75%)

Image Editting for Games: 30/30 for a total of 440/440 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 134/140 for a total of 813/850 (95.65%)

Introduction to Game Design: 40/80 for a total of 419/500 (83.80%)

Oh well. On the plus side, I started my new job 2 weeks ago, and me being able to keep it was contingent on passing my licensing exam. We were to get three tries at passing it, and I passed on my first try. That is a load off of my mind. Now they tell us that because I am going to be on the team that will be dealing with Canada, I now ahve to take that exam as well, and that no one has passed it on their first try yey. Oh joy.

So ...

That's all for now. I have 4 final projects I have to work on. I will keep you all posted!

YAHOO!!!

Art History: 49/57 for a total of 613/634 (96.69%)
Image Editing for Games: 80/80 for a total of 410/410 (100%)
Intro to Animation: 138/140 for a total of 679/710 (95.63%)
Intro to Game Design: 80/80 for a total of 379/420 (90.24%)

I GOT MY GRADE BACK UP TO AN "A"!!! W00T!!! Now if I can jsut keep it there, I will be happy. With all of the studing I have been doing for my licensing, it has been very stressful. I have that test on Tuesday. Added to that I have an assignment with the Game Designer's Club to work with two other people to get a game summary written up to be submitted to the designers. If they accept it, then they will work out a game from that and if that gets published, I may get a credit for it and I can put it on a resume. Maybe.

Oh, and what did my instructer think of my picture of Pickles smoking?

Hi, Jah rastafari Cat. Nice work, David. Creative ad. (work on the point of junction between the cigar and cat's mouth, but that's not a big concern for this assignment). Nice work. I see where you are going but it needs more work to be complete, and convincing. Try working with some opacity variation in your smoke, mix it up a little in how you create the texture, to add to the realism.

It is so nice to have a teacher that gives such good feedback. I feel like working on the picture some more now to see if I can make ti better.

Anyway ... off to bed and maybe some more studying in bed.

Wish me luck all ... I am sure I will need it!

A new picture and my grades for last week

This week our assignment was to create a picture and add some smoke. So ... here is what I came up with.

My grades for last week are:

Art History: 331/33 for a total of 564/577 (97.75%)

Image Editting for Games: 80/80 for a total of 330/330 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 127/140 for a total of 541/570 (94.91%)

Introduction to Game Development: 80/80 for a total of 299/340 (87.94%)

So I am on my way towards an "A" in my game development class, I just need to stay focused on it. I do enjoy me image editting clas, and not just because I am acing it. It is a lot of fun to be creative, and I am excited about where I can go doing this kind of thing.

Anyway ... I'll keep you all posted on how things turn out. Take care all!

A Field Trip

For my Art History class I had to take a field trip to a civil building or church and then write a paper on the building and how it was built, and what kind of art influences were present. Meredith helped me out on my paper, and between the 2 of us, ended up with a perfect score of 250/250 ... the biggest scoring assignment for this class.

W00T!!!

I am posting the paper here, and I am also wanting to take a moment to publicly thank my wife for her help and insight. She is the best!!!


Holy Trinity Church; Bloomington, Illinois
For my field trip I went to the Holy Trinity Church in Bloomington Illinois. This church has the distinction of being one of five registered churches in the United States to be done entirely in Art Deco and is on National Register of Historic Places as of 1984 (Holy Trinity document, March, 1989). Although it is in need of many repairs, it is still a very beautiful building.
The church has a great history dating to before the current structure was built. The original Holy Trinity Church was established in the late nineteenth-century by Irish-American immigrants wanting to show God the glory of a building dedicated to the Catholic faith. However, the parishioners must have spent all of their money on the construction of the building because insurance was not purchased when the building was finished in 1869. Central Illinois resides in the “Tornado Alley:, the swath of middle America where tornado season ensures that all buildings have tornado exit plans and drills in today’s age. The almost-finished building and rectory was demolished by such a tornado less than 10 years after construction was finished. Between building the replacement (the second church) and the existing Holy Trinity, the area near the church sustained fire damage that was classified, “mysterious”. The Chicago architect, A.F. Moratz, was consulted at one point about the cost of replacing the church structure and is largely credited with saving the parish from ruin when fire did destroy most of the building in 1932. (Jutkins, p.10) The parishioner’s gratitude most likely provided Moratz the commission of the third church, the Holy Trinity that stands today.
The architect, A.F. Morantz, appears to have done other buildings in both Illinois and Indiana, including another Catholic Church in central Indiana. Today, Holy Trinity Church is conducting a capital campaign to repair the almost 70-year-old building. Due to the Depression, there was a great desire and need to reuse as much as possible from the partially destroyed building. For that reason the steel structure of the second Church was reused in Morantz’s design. Inside the steel rafters are supported with solid concrete pillars
The term “Art Deco” is used to describe the overall decorative movement that originated in the mid-1920s and lasted through the1930s. According to www.wikipedia.com, the phrase is used to describe the period of decorative arts where Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism, Art Nouveau, and Futurism culminated into an art form where chevrons, stained glass, steel and aluminum we used as mediums. Famous examples of the Art Deco style include the Chrysler Building in New York City and the Omaha, Nebraska train station. Moratz utilized a glass-maker in Munich, Germany to create the distinctive cobalt blue glass for the windows and lead to outline the patterns. One of the interesting points about this building is that the Art Deco theme is carried out in all of acid-etched stained glass windows and there are no religious scenes are utilized in those windows. Another characteristic of Art Deco arts is the usage of decorative plaster. The main vault is barrel arched was created and completed in 24 hours using a scaffolding that was constructed to allow a specially built trowel to plaster the richly adorned ceiling in a continuous concave oval. Outside, the Church is recognizably Art Deco with multiple layers of stepped brickwork on every side. In 1996, the Chicago Art Deco Society published an article in their quarterly newsletter on Holy Trinity Church. Art Deco structures are based on mathematical geometric shapes (Hauffe). . The roof is a massive steel structure that is covered in gothic art. The spire was made of limestone, and is in need of repair. The rectory itself was done in red sandstone which also needs some repair. Copper was used on the roof in the ridge caps, the box gutters, and the downspouts located inside the walls, all which needs to be replaced. The pillars that ring the altar are simple cylinders, plain but topped with decorative elements.

More Grades

Art History: 57/58 for a total of 233/244 (95.49%)
Image Editting for Games: 80/80 for a total of 250/250 (100%)
Introduction to Aninmation: 134/140 for a total of 414/430 (96.28%)
Introduction to Game Development: 80/80 for a total of 219/260 (84.23%)

So, I aced my Game Development class this week and brought my score up 7 percentage points. I am glad that a bad week was not enough to pull me completely down. I just need to keep it up to get back to an "A". I know I can do it.

My Image editting teacher gave me great feedback on my picture:

Hi, David, outstanding composition here. This is one of the strongest I've seen today. great work, technically, creatively, and with the requirements of the project. Keep it up. Point Structure: For this project you needed to included the following requirements: 1. Format size: 8.5 x11 = 10/10 points 2. Minimum of 3 images = 15/15 points 3. Use at least one MASK = 10/10 points 4. It must be original = 15/15 points Total points = 50/50

I am happy that I got this kind of response. I am really happy with this picture, the way it turned out. I look at it and see places I could make it better, but knowing that this was a first attempt for me is what makes it feel important.

For my Game Development class, I had to submit three original game ideas for the professor to look at and to OK at least one for our class final project. I'll post the actual rubric for the paper at the end of the post. I submitted these ideas:

1 -- Invasion Oz: a real time strategy game (changed from being massively multiplayer online)
2 -- Frankenstein 13: an action adventure game
3 -- Feudal Days, Ronin Knights: a sandbox adventure game in feudal Japan

This is what my instructor had to say:

I'm a fan of everything oz even the play Wicked, very good game ideas David choose the one you like the most they all will work.

I was kind of hoping to work on Frankenstein, some. So do I cow tow to my instructor and possibly hedge my bets a little? Or do I do Frankenstein? Oh, decisions, decisions, decisions. Anyway, here is what the assignment will be:

SG110 Introduction to Game Development
Game Concept Document
This assignment supports the following outcomes:
Discuss game career goals and strategies.
Apply market analysis, competitive analysis, genres, platforms, and applications to game ideas.
Express opinions related to the game industry and game concepts using accurate terminology.

Assignment Overview
The purpose of a concept document is to sell the idea for a game to your team, company or funding source. Submit a 5-7 page concept document containing headers and 1 paragraph (on average) discussions of each of the following with regard to your own original game idea:
Title: Make sure your title is brief, descriptive, and “snappy.” Try to come up with something that will attract players to your game.
Theme: What is the theme (usually philosophical) of your game? Are you trying to make a statement, promote an agenda, make a value judgment about good vs evil? Common themes include survival, redemption, transcendence, and temptation. Come up with a theme and discuss it in one paragraph.
Genre: Use an accepted genre, a hybrid – or make up your own!
Platform: What platform will you primarily target, and why? Will there be a secondary platform?
Application: Why are you planning on developing this game? Is it purely for entertainment purposes – or will it have other applications and goals (e.g., education, marketing, fitness)?
Summary: Provide a short summary of your game idea. What is the main storyline and player goal?
Target rating: Indicate what the expected ESRB rating for your game will be, and why.
Target market: What is the portion of the game-playing audience that will be most likely to play your game? What is the market’s geographics, demographics and psychographics?
Competitive analysis: Choose 3 game titles currently on the market that could be considered competitors of your game. Describe each of these titles and discuss why your game can attract the same audience and establish a competitive edge over each title. This section should be a total of 3 paragraphs (1 paragraph per title).
Goals & player motivation: What are your expectations for this game as an experience? What mood are you attempting to achieve? Make sure you go beyond the idea of "fun." Are you trying to provide excitement, tension, suspense, challenge, humor, nostalgia, sadness, fear, or a "warm fuzzy" feeling? Do you want players to create their own stories and characters? What will drive the player to actually play the game to the end? Discuss how the game will achieve these goals.

My grades for last week

My apologies for not getting these out sooner, but my last grades did not get in until Sunday night. Throw into that mess a migraine, and the fact that I got accepted for an internal job at State Farm, and things jsut got out of hand.

Anyhoo ...

Art History: 78/86 for a total of 176/186 (94.62%)
Image Editting for Games: 80/80 for a total of 170/170 (100%)
Introduction to Animation: 134/140 for a total of 280/290 (96.55%)
Introduction to Game Development: 69/110 for a total of 139/180 (77.22%)

Yes, I tanked my Intro to Game Development that week. I got docked 20 out of 30 points because I missed two posts. And a report I did received 49 out of 70 because I didn't cover all of the material that was requested. So ... these grades are only for the second week and I cna still pull an "A" out of it, I just need to be careful. In my defense, I wrote the report in peice meal as I had a medical problem that prevented me from sitting for more than a little bit at a time, which meant I wasn't really focused. My coach says that if I had notes from my doctors (which I did), I could probably ask if I could re-write it, but I declined. I really didn't want to go into embarassing details about the issue, and besides ... in real life, you don't get "do-overs". So I see it jsut as a challange to get back up to an "A". As a matter of fact, I have 2 of my three grades back for this past week already, and I have gotten full marks (40/40). If I ace the paper I turned in, I could pull myself up 7 full percentage points. Here's to hoping!!!

Anyway ... I just accepted an internal position with State Farm. I was external working for a vendor called Technisource. I have done that for almost 4 years, and the politics were awful. At least from an internal standpoint, I will not have to tip toe around those kinds of things. I will be working in the Quote & Bind area, which is the after hours sales team. I will need to go through 10 weeks of training to get my certification and then I will get placed eitehr on 2nd or 3rd shift. I would like to get 3rds, so then Meredith and I will still have our evenings together. Also, it is only part time, 30hrs a week, but there is a commission on it, so I will be making close to the same, if not more. This will be great for me to get more time into school and studies, and if school is caught up, so play time with the new programs I have. I haven't done the developer's challange yet for the game design club as I have felt that I didn't have too much to contribute yet. I could get that out of the way and then start participating more in the game design when I am ready.

One other exciting note ... about 45 minutes away from where we live is a game studio called Volition. The have manufactured two of my favorite games, Saints Row 1 & 2. It sure would be nice if I could intern with them, but that might be a problem with my new job. I won't have to worry about that until next year though. Once I have been with Quote & Bind for a year, I can move around inside of State Farm, and they have a really nice Creative Services department. Perhaps I can do some developmental opportunities there.

Anyhoo ...

I got some homework to do now, so ...

See you all around!!!

For anyone who is interested about the picture I made, I am including here the three pictures I used. The sides got cropped a little, but you still get the idea.

A picture I made

I am still waiting for grades back from the previous week, and I find myself getting irritated by the fact that one teacher seems to wait until Sudnay to do all of his grade postings. Although he has until midnight on Sunday night to get them posted, he could do like some of my other teachers and post the grades for the minor stuff such as our discussion postings.

So ... I am about to endevour myself with some homework I need to get done. I have been out of action most of this week with an abscess in a very uncomfortable spot. It was drained on Thursday and I have been on Vicodin since then. I have not taken any today as I need to get my storyboards drawn for my animated short. I did do my Photoshop assignment while taking the painkillers, and I wonder if it shows. We had to come up with a landscape scene by taking apart any three pictures we had access to and see what we could come up with. I have a friend who is trying to break into semi-professional photography (not to mention a brother who is in my opinion already there) who has some landscape scenes up on his own website at http://www.photosbychauncey.com/. As a matter of fact, I bought one of his prints for Meredith for her birthday this past year. Anyway, I used two of his landscape scenes and the boat I took from a picture I shot while visiting my brother and his family that last summer as he reitred from the Navy after 25 years.

My own thoughts on the picutre I creatred are this: I feel I could have merge the two pictures a little better, but I actually like the effect of the outline the foreground gives. It makes it look even more creeper. I at first thought the blurs at the top and bottom looked cool, and now not so much so. I like the overall compoisition and will give myself an "A-" on it.

Thoughts, anyone?

Story Arc

In the game club I have been attending the writer's round table. In the game design industry, there are artists and programmers, and sometimes writers. In the cases where there are not specific writers (smaller independant companies), the artists and teh programmers fill the role of the writers, so it is good to ahve this experience. Basically, we started with a picture that someone had drawn, and then came up with a game concept from that. We brainstormed and came up with ideas of what kind of story we could tell in the game and then submit our ideas for what kind of scenes would be important to gettin gthe story across. This is what I came up with for a story:

Prelude – Father and Squire
Opens with two sets of running legs (knee down), one clad in armor and the other in leather. Cut to what seems to be many pairs of running legs, all wrapped in cloth. Flash to full profile of a fully armored knight, visor down, running with sword drawn and his squire beside him. They come to stop in a clearing and the knight is huffing and puffing. He decides that this is where they will make their stand. Attackers look like zombies, setting the stage for the game being set in an alternate reality. At the end of the battle, the knight raises his visor and talks to his squire commenting on the fight. They turn around to head home. Fade to small room at night. Story is being narrated by a father (the knight) to his son as he drifts off to sleep.

Intro to Chapter Three: Cut Scene
The king addresses his knights, explaining the importance the upcoming Crusades. As he speaks of the evil people that his knights will be fighting, we get flashes of grotesque looking people doing violent things. After the king’s speech and all of the other knights have left, the king pulls aside the hero. He speaks to him as a father to a son, speaking about his past triumphs, glories, and honors. He looks forward to his triumphant return so that he can marry the princess.

Out in the staging grounds as the knight and his squire make ready to leave, the princess shows up in his tent to give the knight her favor. He protests the impropriety of her visit, and she remarks upon how he is as much an honorable knight as his father was. His squire is notably absent during this encounter. The knight and his squire ride off into the morning mist followed by more knights as the princess watches from the tent.

End of Chapter 4: Cut Scene
The hero has just delivered the killing blow, cut scene kicks in. It shows that massive battle of the hero fighting the King of the Infidels. During the battle, the Infidel King morphs into a big killing brute. The hero takes a blow to the head right as he delivers the killing blow. The hero falls to his knees and then passes out. He awakens to what sounds like the battle still raging and he stumbles about. He is appalled at what he sees: knights raping helpless women and beating and killing children in the streets. As he tries to stop a group of knights, on makes the comment “Not much like his father, is he?” implying that his father was not as shining a knight as he thought. As the hero stands in shock, his squire appears and escorts him back to the main camp. As he heads towards the camp, the hero looks back over his shoulder at the group of knights, and their faces seem to have changed to something more beast like.

Further Chapter Elements: Character Cast
The hero will have three more people join his group of himself and his squire. They will be a female bard (representing “Heart”); a big burly blacksmith (representing “Body”); and a young knight (representing “Soul”). Each of these characters will be like the squire (representing “Mind”) – not real. Each character will be a representation of the hero’s well being. As he is suffering from dementia at this time, the Squire will seem to be almost evil, with a very sardonic side. The Squire character will always be at odds with the Bard character; representing the classic battle between heart and mind. The young knight will be the manifestation of our hero’s doubt. He feels that he has be naïve this entire time and is no better than a young inexperienced knight. The blacksmith represents his physical well being. As he leaves the crusades to head home, this will be the first of his new allies, as he will need to heal himself and make himself better. As our hero recovers over time from his wounds, the blacksmith’s attacks will become more powerful.

Cut scene before the Final Battle
Our hero enters the throne room of the king after a long journey home. The king is holding audience and seems genuinely surprised and happy that the hero has returned. He goes to embrace the knight who in turn draws his sword to keep him at bay. The knight accuses the king of genocide, that the people the crusades were launched against were weak and defenseless. They posed no threat to the kingdom. The king refutes this saying that they were cruel viscous people who threatened the kingdom’s well being, their way of life. The hero responds back that it was the knights who were cruel and viscous and were under the employ of their cruel master, the king. The king laughs at our hero stating that our hero is just as naïve as his father was, and morphs into an evil ogre. Hearing that his father really was a true knight, our hero takes strength in this. To represent this, his four aspects of Mind, Heart, Body, and Soul all morph into golden knights and then merge with the hero. The final battle begins.

Cut scene after the Final Battle
The kind lays dying at the feet of our hero. He says that he launched the crusades because he could not justify a war. His daughter wanted a larger kingdom and convinced him to launch the crusade. He dies and at this time we notice that the princess was there for the entire battle. She sheds no tears as she walks over to the throne and sits on it. She says that he father was a simpleton and was weak. She makes her first royal command and it is for the guards to arrest the hero. No one makes a move and our hero looks long and hard at the princess before turning around and walking out of the castle. You can still hear the princess/queen yelling for him to be arrested.

Finally! My grades for the first week!

It was very annoying and frustrating waiting for my grades to get returned. My teachers have until Sunday night to give them to us, but why do they have to wait that long? Especially if it is just the first week and the assignments were small and simple?

Anyway ... my grades are as follows:

Art History: 98/100 points for a total of 98/100 (98%)

Image Editing for Games: 90/90 points for a total of 90/90 (100%)

Introduction to Animation: 95/100 points for a total of 95/100 (95%)

Introduction to Game Development: 70/70 gor a total of 70/70 (100%)

The Introduction to Animation was the course that I botched my quiz. This week around I took a lot of notes on the lecture, but I feel like I missed some of the information that was on this week's quiz. So once again I am fretting on what kind of grade I got. My instructor had this to say about my idea for the animated short:

David, a very funny story to start out the description, and it really helped to set the tone of the project. I don't know that the cat's line in number seven is going to be a hit with audiences, as it really is an inside joke between you and your niece. However, I think you could replace that with just awkward silence or some kind of internal thoughts that everyone would associate with cats. Regardless this will make a great animation and I'm looking forward to seeing the character design.

With that being said, this week I had to create a character sheet of one of the characters in my short. Well, I could do Pauline who is tide to the train tracks, but I would need to do a front, side, behind and action pose. How fun would that be to draw? So I made a character sheet of the other character, PICKLES! And so that is the picture that is up on the blog. Yes, the action pose is of Pickles laying down ... I was going to do the butt licking pose, but I want to save that for my short!

Yup. Definately different this term.

So, my first week of the new term is over, and I am starting to get my grades back. Yes, I did bomb my one quiz, getting only 5 out of 10 questions correct. I did get 29 out of 30 correct on my other quiz, though. I have gotten my grades back on most of my discussions in all 4 classes, and I got docked a point because I didn't give enough detail on a subject. Wow. I never missed a point in all 3 of my classes in the previous term. I will have to step it p a notch.

So ... I have just spent 2 hours working on my first animation. It is to be just a bouncing ball. So, I have added a little background and a somewhat looking sandy beach. This will also be my first attempt to posting such an animation, so ... here goes nothing!!!


...


...


...

Well ... guess what? I couldn't figure out how to load it. Perhaps my brother who is a lot more smarter than me can assist me. I'll have to give him a call here in the near future once I get all of my homework for this week done. I still have to do a character sheet of Pickles. So, like my Frankenstein 13 sheet, I will need a front, back, side and action pose. I ahve to be honest and say that the most action we get out of Pickles is her sleeping!

Anyway ...

I will post my grades once i get them all. Take care all!

A new term has started

And boy it feels different than the last. In my last term, 2 of my courses felt like sluff classes from the get-go. Looking at the syllabus for my classes this term, well ... it's not that I am worried, but one of my classes the final project is 50% of my grade. A lot of my classes are low scoring classes, so if I mess anything up I can be in trouble.

I may have botched up my first quiz this term. Last term, the one class that had weekly quizes all of the questions were in chronological order according to the blook. This term I ahve 2 classes that have quizes, and the questions include information from the lectures. So the first quiz I took I was not quite prepared for that, and I will find out my grade for it tomorrow. So when I took my next quiz in the next class, I was more prepared this time, and missed one question out of 30. So I am feeling good about that.

The big thing that I have to do this term is make a 10-30 second animated short using flash. For my first assignment I had to write an outline of what it is to be. Here it is:

“Why cats cannot be rescue animals”

I have a niece who just had her 5th birthday, and she has a cat named Gus. We asked her if Gus had gotten her anything for her birthday, and she looked at us and scrunched up her face and said: “Don’t be silly. Cat’s don’t have pockets!” And the way she said it, she said it as if that explained it all. With that in mind, I dedicate this to her and all cat lovers.

1. Train zooming along in wooded, mountainous country
2. Pauline tide to the train tracks screaming for help
3. *zoom out* Pickles sitting along the train tracks next to Pauline, twitching her tail about
4. *zoom in on Pauline’s face* Pauline begs Pickles for help
5. *camera on Pickles* Pickles remains seated, but lifts her leg and starts licking her backside
6. *camera on Pauline* Pauline growls and frustration and yells at Pickles for help
7. *close up of Pickles face* Pickles stops licking herself, look up at Pauline and says “I can’t help you. I don’t have pockets.”
8. Full shot of Pickles, Pauline, and train getting closer. Pickles walks off-screen as the train barrels in on Pauline who has question marks popping up all over her head.
9. Fade out and we hear a big SPLAT as Pauline gets ran over by the train.

Thoughts?

And my final grades are ....

Computer Applications: 160/160 for a total of 1408/1450 (97.10%)
Success Strategies: 202/230 for a total of 1649/1705 (96.72%)
Introduction to Drawing and Perspective: 1020/1040 for a total of 3352/3500 (95.77%)

For a grand total of: 6409/6655 (96.30 -- an "A")

!!!

My art project got divided between my character sheet final and my story board final. This is what he had to say about each:

Character sheet final
Daivd, This looks good. Progress! The shading turned out really nice. Great touch. Good details. Nice contrast. The write up helps sell the design and shows critical thinking skills. That extra effort along with the attention to detail on shading took the grade from a B to an A. As you move forward I am pretty sure you know what you need to work on. Details. Draw with you see. Proportion. You made great progress in these areas so I am confident that with more practice you will get there! It has been a pleasure working with you! Thanks for the hard work!

Storyboards final
David, This is great! It made me laugh. It kept my attention. Your illustrations were consistent and solid. Suggestion on that end is to try and add more contrast to your shading so there are even darker lines. That will help add emphasis and style. That will come with practice. This solution shows great effort. Excellent progress. And a great ability to tell a unique, funny and engaging story! Well done. Your hard work paid off. You earned this A!! I wish you continued success.

I am feeling very good for myself for doing this well. I was so very afraid of falling flat on my face. And what is even better is what he said about telling a unique, funny and engaging story. I am already reading my books for my next term classes (which start on Tuesday) and my Introduction to Animation book is really stressing the story and the characters (duh, right?). Anyhoo, I will start jotting down my ideas for characters and stories and keep them in a file so that when the time comes, I have plenty of information to draw upon.

Anyhow ...

I need to go and read some more of my books. I love you all and wish you all the joy and happiness in the world!

Last Week of School

Here it is the last week ... no, the last DAY ... of school for this term. I feel that these last 9 weeks have been spent very well. Each week was a trial for me, to over come wants and desires over the needs. I WANTED to watch TV, but I NEEDED to do my homework. I WANTED to play video games, but I NEEDED to get my drawings done. I think once or twice I gave in to the WANTS and put the NEEDS off, but I always finished my homework before it was due to be turned in.

My grades for week 8 are as follows:

Computer Applications: 128/160 for a total of 1248/1290 (96.7%)
Success Strategies: 370/370 for a total of 1447/1475 (98.1%)
Intro to Drawing and Perspective: 60/60 for a total of 2332/2460 (94.80%)

This last week in Art is worth 1040 points with my character sheet being worth 400 points, my storyboard being worth 550 points, my postings worth 30 points, and my critiques worth 60. So, by my calculations, if I was to take serious hits on my drawings, I could lose 125 points on each and still come up with an "A" in the class. The postings and critiques have always been good for me, and in this pweeks postings, my instructor give me this comment:

David, Like I said at the begining of the term you have some crazy creative writing skills. Your postings were stories, rich and full of energy. I really appreciated that level of effort and admired the talent so know that you have a double whammy on skills here...you are going to become a solid illustrator/artist and you have some natural talent with writing and storytelling so develop those skills. The combination is unique and will open doors. I wish you success.

It is times like this that I am glad that I did not go to school to be a chef. Sure, I could have come up with something that looked and tasted great, but I would probably be short one or two fingers by now.

Also, in my Success Strategies class we had to write a paper on our reflections of the course; what are we taking from it and how will we use it with our plans for our future and careers. I got a 340/340 score, and the teacher placed the grade as "A+" in the grade book. This is what she had to say:

David - I'm glad that you are including your wife in your goal planning. This is so important! Excellent job with this paper! I really valued what you wrote on each of the applications of each topic you selected. I'm glad that you can apply what you have learned in this class to your career, education, and personal life. Well done!

So, I have done pretty well for myself. It feels good to know that I have not let anyone down and have isntead made people proud. I was truly terrified that I was going to fall flat on my face and disappointed everyone, but instead I have extremely well!

Thank you all again for being there for me. You all get "A+" from me for being supportive.

Hokey smoke, Bullwinkle!

Well, I just ordered my books and software for my next term of school. It came to almost $1900. $1600 of is for software. I will be getting Photoshop C3 and the entire Adobe Creative Suite. I am so very excited about this. I have been buying magazines that have some really great tutorials but I didn't have the software to do them with. Also, I will be just that much closer to making my first "portfolio" piece.

W00t!

So ...

Onto other things ....

My brother has asked me what my Success Stratagies class has been about, so ...

The book for the class is "From Master Student to Master Employee." The course is about self discovery, discovering what your personaliy is, what study habits work best for you, how to plan your time more efficiently and so forth. It gave suggestions on how to study for tests and exams and ways of taking notes. It also gave suggestions for making goals and planning to meet then long term ones. As I said, it was an easy course.

Well, tomorrow is the first day of the last week of class. I am eager to wake up and check things out.

Tkae care everyone!

Frankie and Grades, and ...

Well, it has been a very long week for me.

It started on Tuesday morning when I got up and discovered that my home/school computer had the Blue Screen of Death. Here it is, week 8 of 9 for my very first term of school, and I find that my computer had crashed. I went to work and was planning on taking half a day off so that I could work on my computer, only to have my team lead send me home after half an hour because I was a nervous wreck. I worked on my computer from 7:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. A friend had loaned me his Windows Vista recovery CD should I need it, but that was not the problem. A few times I was able to get into Windows and I was told that I needed Service Pack 1, so I downloaded that and rebooted only to crash again. On Wednesday I stayed home to work on it (got no sleep the night before), and I discovered a few things. I first of all had installed 4 gigs of RAM nto the computer on Saturday, and Vista 32 bit can only handle 3.5 gig. If you put more in, it becomes flakey. So I am now at 3 gig of RAM. Also, my motherboard needed a new driver, so I downloaded that and installed it, and now it is working great (or so I hope).

*WHEW*

Anyhoo ... I finally got feedback from my Art Teacher on Frankenstein 13, and this is what he had to say:

David, Good work. Thanks for the play by play in the sketchs. Helps sell the idea. Your sketches are fun. I want you to try and darken up the outer line. Add darker lines in the body as well to help show the weight and balance of the character. Adding that kind of shading will take this to the next level. The proportions on the profile are a bit off in the neck area. Getting that will come with time. As a whole I am very happy with the creativity and the progress. Keep up the good work!

That's a good feeling, knowing that someone likes my ideas and all I need to do is keep on working at it. Honestly, I have not submitted much art to the Game Designer's club yet as I am not yet creating anything that is "portfolio" worthy. Once I start getting into the programs that willallow me to modify my pictures, to "paint" them on the computer (hopefully next term or the term after), then I will start doing so.

So ...

My grades for last week are in, and:

Computer Applications: 158/160 for a total of 1120/1130 (99.12%)
Success Stratagies: 550/570 for a total of 1077/1105 (97.47%)
Introduction to Drawing and Perspective: 250/260 for a total of 2272/2400 (94.67%)

Overall: 4469/4635 or 96.42%

*WHEW*

Granted the first two courses are pretty easy courses and it helped to have them first. But I am still happy to be getting an "A" for my first term of school after being away from it all for 20 years.

I would liek to thank my brother Skip, to Mom and Mike, and to Meredith for being extremely supportive and encouraging to me. I love you all!

And here he is ....

Frankenstein 13!!!!

Frankenstein 13 and Grades

How many people here watch American Idol? I don't, but I am familiar with the judges telling people that they picked the wrong song. What this means is that thesinger mihgthave done OK with their singing, but the song was the wrong choice giving them a lower score. If they had chosen a different song, they would have scored higher. With that in mind, I picked the wrong song when it came to story boards.

This week for art class we needed to come up with a character sheet for a video game character we created. It didn't have to be related to our story boards, but it might help flesh out the character. My idea is for a character named Frankenstein 13, and here is what I posted:

As for a character, I have bounced a comic book hero around in my head for a few years called Frankenstein 13. The back story being that Baron von Frankenstein was real, and he didn't die with his monster. Instead, his body was destroyed and he exists now as a brain in a bottle. The Baron had a following, and they are still trying to perfect the process so that they can put the brain into a viable body. Unfortunately, each attempt has resulted in the brain becoming extremely psychotic ... until now. It is their 13th attempt. the body is that of a massive Mongol. The brain is that of a Navy Seal. Unfortunately, the Navy Seal training kicks in and he makes his escape trying to get home to his family. The Baron and his following are trying to recover their masterpiece and release the other 12 monsters to bring him back.

And this what some of the students thought of him:

George: David that character sounds amazing with that much detail to his back story. Please take no offence; the Oz Theatre of War idea for a game was a cool concept, but man Frankenstien 13 is a game all unto himself and sounds like a much cooler concept. I mean seriously, you just mapped out your whole game progression right down to the 12 bosses. It mixes fantasy as well as modern day military. you could have a field day with this guy. I suggest you pursue some serious development on him, even if it's just a personal game that you have a a showpiece; one heck of a showpiece might I add.

Timothy: I've got to go with George on this one. He's absolutely right. You've got an entire game already mapped out in this one neat little paragraph. By all means... bring the little nipper out to see the world. I think the world is looking forward to meeting him. It just may not know it yet!

And the Professor: An extremely fun and creative idea David. You tap in to the classics but bring a very post modern/pop culture feel to an old story. Clever. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

So ... I have one more drawing to do for my character sheet. I will be working on that today. Once I haveit done, I will post it here. I will be redoing my Oz storyboards for the final project (as it was my roughs and now need to turn in finished work), and I will post those as well.

My grades for last week are finally in and they are:

Success Strategies: 60/60 for a total of 527/535 (98.50%)
Computer Applications: 154/160 for a total of 962/970 (99.18%)
Intro duction to Drawing and Perspective: 310/360 for a total of 2022/2140 (94.49%)

Oing great in the first two, good in the third ... just gonna have to work a little bit harder so that I do not lose that "A" that I have.

Well ...

Gotta go finish that last picture!

Next Semester

Next semester starts October 14th, and my classes will be:

Art History: This course provides students with a brief overview of historical ideas and events in the development of the arts. Topics include a review of art styles and functions of art in varying cultures. Upon completion of the course, students should be able to describe major characteristics of art and architecture and identify historical significant artists and works of art.

Image Editting for Gaming: This course covers the basics of digital image editing in creating textures using industry standard software.Topics include digital photography, scanning techniques, photo retouching and manipulation, and texture building. Upon completion of this course, students should be able to utilize layers, channels, filters, and masks in creating efficient textures for use in 3D applications.

Introduction to Animation: This course introduces students to the fundamentals of traditional animation. Topics include the history and principles of animating key poses, timing cycles, and the mechanics of motion. Upon completion of this course students should be able to present a short animation using traditional techniques.

Introduction to Game Development: In this course students are introduced to the history of gaming and the terminologies used. Students will learn both the theoretical and practical considerations governing the development of a game and how these considerations are manifested in the design and development of games.Topics include game history, terminologies, philosophies, and genres. Upon completion of this course students should have an understanding of the basics of gaming and how games interact with the user.

The first class sounds kind of 'meh' to me, as I have had classes similiar to this before. I understand the need for taking this class, but it just doesn't excite me like the other three. The image editting class sounds absolutely exciting. I have been reading magazines (Imagine FX, 3D World, and Photoshop Advanced), and image editting as well as image painting is extremely exciting. I am hoping that this class is the one where we get our copy of photoshop as there is so much I want to try and play around with.

Anyway, I got my grade back for my story boards. I got 250 points out of 300, which is a B/B-. I have a lot of work to do to make my roughs look "not-so-rough".

Grades for last weeks, and ...

Because of Ike, my Intro to Drawing and Perspective teacher (who lives in Texas) did not get the grades up for last week until today. So ...

Computer Applicatons: 160/160 for a total of 746/750 (99.47%)

Success Stratagies: 237/245 for a total of 467/475 (98.32%)

Introduction to Drawing and Perspective: 260/280 for a total of 1742/1810 (96.24%)

YAY!!!

Still going strong ...

Anyhoo ... this week for Art we had to comeup with some rough drafts for a commercial representing a video game we came up with. If you ahve been following my blog, you saw the outline I did for it eaerlier. So, here are the drafts I submitted:

Power Point

This past week in my Computer Applications class we had to search the web and find a site that had a Power Point presentation on it and discuss what we liked about it and provide a link to it. I found this site: http://www.graves.k12.ky.us/powerpoints/elementary/. What I really liked about it is that it's a website full of educational presentations aimed at elementary students. My instructer really liked it and is passing it along amongst his peers, and other people are having their children go through tem as well. One person even said that they were going to show it to her child's teacher because she really liked it. So ... I thought I would post it here and if anyone who has children want to check it out, they can.

Week 4 grades

Computer applicatons: 160/160 for a total of 646/650 (99.38%)
Success Strategies: 60/60 for a total of 230/230 (100%)
Intro to Drawing and Perspective: 414/430 for a total of 1482/1530 (96.86%)

!!!

Still going strong. I am feeling really good and happy with my scores to date. The first two courses are ones that I take seriously, but also lightly. I think because because these courses will have little bearing on my career choice. I fret and worry each week until my grades come out for my art class because it is a more accurate guide for me as to how I am doing.

On another note, I took my first real test today. It was my mid-term for Success Strategies. 50 questions, at 4 points each, I scored 192 points (missed two questions). That makes me feel great! First real test in 20 years, and I didn't panic or anything. So, I am pretty certain that the next three years will be well spent.

Last night was a very good night for me in the game design club. We have round table meetings every week for each section of the game design. There are meetings for the programmers, the artists, the writers, and for everyone in general. I attend the general meeting as well as the artist and the writers. Last night was the writer's meeting, and I was the only one who submitted an outline for the project. We are trying to come up with a unique story for a knight. After two hours and going over the outline that I provided (which got some really great feedback on), the story will revolved around a knight that is suffering from some form of dementia. He had been the proverbial knight in shining armor and then went on the crusades. The shock and horrors he endured during the crusades breaks his mind, hence his dementia. We are trying to decide if his squire is real or just a figment of his broken mind. It was really a great feeling working on this story with the group, and they were working with the outline that I submitted, which was also a great feeling. So ... I have to now listen to the meeting again (it was recorded) and refine all that was said and resubmit so we all ahve something to go off of at the next writer's meeting. Once we get everything all hammered out, I will post it here for everyone to see. What is a lot more exciting is that all of the round table meetings connect together, and what one table comes up with, the other tables might pick up to work on. So this might even make it to a published game!

One final note ... I really want to take a moment to thank Meredith (my wife). She has been very encouraging to me and is always there for me. She heard part of the meeting where people were really excited about my outline and she got just as excited. She was extremely happy for me when I finished my mid-term and had a great grade. She is utterly fantastic. She has even offered to listen to the recording of the meeting and scribe it for me. Isn't she awesome? These next three years will be all the more easier because she is by my side.

I love you, Babe!

Storyboard Outline

As I decided to go with my Oz idea for my storyboards, I have to come up with 15 storyboards for a 15 second commercial to pitch my game. I do not have to create this game, just pitch this idea that I have. this week I have to give an outline as to what my commercial might look like. I have until Sunday night to post my outline, so this is my first draft, and would like some input as to what people think:

Board 1) A sunrise over a cornfield with a scarecrow on a post taking center screen.
Board 2) Black screen, gold letters "Somewhere ..."
Board 3) A busy Munchkin village
Board 4) Black screen, gold lettering "Over the Rainbow ..."
Board 5) A nice sunny day viewing from afar over a field, Emerald City
Board 6) Black screen, red lettering, "A War Rages!"
Board 7) A grey sky and the view of Emerald City shows smoke rising up from it, and battle damage to the city
itself
Board 8) The same view of the Munchkin village, the buildings in ruble and bodies in the street.
Board 9) The cornfield is now burned to the ground, the post is but a burned down stub, and there is no sign of the
scarecrow.
Board 10) Faction shot of the Good Faction of Oz, with characters such as a Lionman, Clockworkman, Scarecrow, and
Munchkin standing grouped together in from of some damaged buildings in downtown Emerald City
Board 11) Faction shot of the Evil faction of Oz, with characters such as a Wicked Witch, a Winged Monkey, a
Winkie, or a female assassin.
Board 12) Faction shot of the Corporate Army, with characters such as the Shocktrooper, Commando, Medic, and
Infantryman.
Board 13) A split screen showing four different battles between the different factions.
Board 14) A war room with a general leaning forward against a banister, looking at the central command screen, that
has the Wicked witch's face with her pointing at the camera, and a horde of winged monkeys flying in the
background.
Board 15) Black screen, red lettering, "Theater of War: Oz"

Thoughts?

Drats!

One of my ideas has certainly been done already. My idea for a gangster game that was free roming has already been done. The game is called "Mafia" and it is listed as:

* 20 action-packed missions with subquests - Luxury and riches are yours for the taking, if you do as Don Salieri has requested. From mob hits and car chases to shootouts and more, complete the unsavory tasks the Family needs done and you will be handsomely rewarded. * Explore over 12 square miles of the 1930's American city, with simulated traffic, landmarks, and surrounding landscapes. * Convincing environments pull you into the 1930's with their attention to detail and style. From seedy bars and hotel rooms to train stations and airports – every location is rendered in fantastic detail by the 3D "LS3D" engine, such as the Lost Heaven International Airport and Chinatown. * Gun down enemies with classic mob weapons including machine guns, shotguns, and the famous molotov cocktail. * Drive over 60 vintage cars, roadsters and delivery trucks using the most realistic car physics ever made for a game.

Pretty much what I had in mind, so ...

I am tossing around between werewolves and Oz. Here is an interesting site for Oz information. Who knew how big the Oz universe was?
http://www.halcyon.com/piglet/

I hate waiting ...

I hate waiting for my grades to come back each week. My instructors ahve until Sunday night to post my grades for the last week's work, and I swear I check every night 4 or 5 times until they are posted. To make it worse, my grades for my Computer Application class always seem to get posted by Tuesday, and then my Success Strategies on Wednesday, and then I have to wait for the one class I want to see the grades most. So, here are my scores for last week:

Computer Applications: 160/160 for a total of 486/490 (a high A)
Success Strategies: 60/60 for a total of 170/170 (a VERY high A)
Intro to Drawing and Perspective: 410/430 for a total of 1076/1100 (a high A)

*whew*

I was worried about that last week for art. We had to do 4 sets of 15 quick sketches each (each set worth 100 points). A quick sketch is no more than a 10-20 second sketch to capture the flow of movement or action. It is like a shorthand version to sketching. After I was done, it lookedlike a lot of scribbles, but as i did them and knew what my shorthand looks like, I understand the sketches. I got scores of 95s on all 4 sets because I needed just a tad more detail. I can do that. I can work with that.

Meredith asked me how I felt about my Art scores. I said I was happy because I am still doing good, but just a tad disappointed that I didn't do better. I am not "unahppy" or sad or anything else ... I just realize that I can do better and should continue to try and do so. So ... I will!

As for my final project ... unless I come up with a better idea ... I seem to be leaning towards the werewolf idea. Not only might a better idea come up, but we are still kind of in the air as to what exactly the project will entail. It is 15 storyboards, that much I know ... but is it to cover 15 consecutive seconds, or is it just a general base idea that I am pitching? The final project is worth 900 points out of a total 3900, so I want to make it a good choice.

Anyhoo ... I am going to call it an early night tonight. Take care all, and if I don't see you before hand, have a great LONG weekend!

Decisions, decisions, decisions ...

We have been asked by my art teacher to start thinking about what we want to do for our final art project. What it is, each of us needs to come up with an idea for a game, and promote it with 15 story boards. I have had a few ideas that Ihave already shot down as they were not something that could be easily promoted in this manner. I have narrowed my ideas down to 5, and would like any feedback that anyone has to offer. I will need to make a decision by sometime next week. My ideas are:

1) A game based on werewolves. There are plenty of games based on vampires, supported by numerous books and movies. Werewolves are just lurking around the edges of the multimedia world, and their brief appearances have been somewhat lackluster. As it has been documented throughout history, each ethinic society has had some form of myth that was related to the common werewolf: Africa had werehyenas; South America had werejaguars; and Siberia even had myths about weretigers. The player would be tracking down a pyschotic werewolf across the globe and would encounter the other types of werecreatures.

2) A game that would take place in both the future and the past. A serial killer is on the loose and is running through history killing people during major disasters (no wistnesses and no bodies to be found). You are chasing him down through disasters such as the Titanic, the burning of Chicago, and Pompii.

3) A game that uses all of the material that L. Frank Baum created for the land of Oz, but with a twist. In our world, some huge mega-corporation with it's own private army finds it way into Oz, and wants to take it over. You could play a character from either the good faction of Oz (Tin woodman, lionman, or Munchkin), the bad faction of Oz (a wicked witch, a flying monkee, or a Winkee ), or a member of the mega-corps army. Whichever side you pick will determine a set off objective based missions for you to take.

4) In this game, you are a cop who is chaing down a very bad person. You chase him into a skyscraper and during the chase, a huge fire breaks out (think of the movie "Towering Inferno"). As you are chasing him up the burning skyscraper, you will have to run rescue missions for trapped people, all the while dodging traps that the bad guy sets up for you. It would be a mission based/puzzle/action/adventure type game.

5) Grand theft Auto is the mother of all sandbox games. A sandbox game is a game that you can do anything you want in (just like in a sandbox). In the Grand Theft Auto games, you are either an ex-con, or part of the mafia. In Saints Row, you are a gang member. In Bully, you are a student in a private school. In my idea for a sandbox game, you are a gun for hire in Chicago in the 1920's. What would make this game different is that once you join a gang/mob, you can change sides and the missions that are available to you will change according to that. For example, if you were going to do a mission and the outcome would have been one thing, but you change sides before you do the mission, then the outcome becomes something else.

So ... those are my ideas.

Thoughts, anyone?

My first real concept art

Taking everything that the artistsin the game club had to say to heart, I went back and revamped my sword. I used a very old copy of photoshop that I had laying around (version 5, and they are up to 10 right now) to do the textures and the shading. I just put it up on the club's website and hope to get some feedback from them.

The actual concept we were given was that the game would would be making would take place a few decades after a nuclear holocaust wiped out most of the world. There are still people around and they are starting to emerge from their shelters that they hid in. The hero of the story is a welder, and his sword and shield needed to look like something he would have created. So ... here it is!

Round Tables

The game Designers club has had 2 Round Table Meetings that I have attended. One for the club in general, and one for artists.

The first one, for all in general covered groups and their projects. It went into detail on getting onto a group and who should be in what groups. As the goals of these groups is to get a game completed from start to finish so that you have something to put into your portfolio, it is important you get into a group that you will work well in, as well as a group that will complete what it started.

The artist meeting was extremely exciting for me. They are working on practicing doing concept art. Each week we are given a scenario of what a customer might want, and we have to come up with ideas and draw them. As I only found out about the artist meetings the night before, I looked up what the scenario was and whipped up a couple of quick ideas. The ideas I had were well liked, but of course the artwork was not too detailed. I was given some suggestions and after the meeting I got right back to my drawings and started reworking them. Some of the ideas and drawings that people did were amazing! I really felt great spending time with these people and getting ideas from them. I know I am in with kindred spirits with these people.

Anyhoo ... I only wanted to take a break from drawing to get this posted. I want to get more work on this done before I go to bed.

Catch you all later!!!

Last Weeks Grades

So my teachers ahve one week from Sunday to get all my grades up from last week, and I now have all my grades ...

Success Strategies: I received 55 out of 55 points, and I am at 110/110 for a perfect score. My teacher's comments are more on the nugget of wisdom kind of comments. They are not very encouraging, just more like fortune cookie kind of stuff.

Computer Applications: 158/160 for a total of 326/330. Doing good here as well. His comments so far are that I show good energy in the discussions. Meh.

Art: 330/330 for 666/670!!! YAY FOR ME!!! My instructor is great. His comments are strong and instructive. He likes my drawings and appreciates teh leadership I show in our discussions. This is going very well for me, and I get more excited as I get deeper into the semester. I cannot help but to wonder what the next semester will be like?

Who knew?

So, I was bored last night as 1) I had finished all my homework and postings for the week, and 2) there was nothing good on tv, so I started looking at old emails I had gotten from the college. A lot of them were invitations to workshops on career planning and such, and one was an invite to the Game Club that they have.

Well ... as an avid gamer (and a recoering World of Warcraft junkie), I had put almost all of my gaming on hold as I do through school. I will play the ocassional board game (I belong to a Bloodbowl League), and once a month hold a game night, but that's it. I do have an Xbox 360 that is seeing very little use, and that is because I want to devote my time to learning and developing my new career choice.

Imagine my surprise when I check into this club and find out that it is devoted to getting students immersed into the field of game development. Most companies will take a person who has a degree, but they also prefer someone who has worked on some games that have been shipped (completed and in circulation) already. So this club puts together teams of programmers and artists to get them going and possibly get out 3-6 games over the next three years. And here I thought they were people setting up virtual game nights to play World of Warcraft! It is funny because the first thing they say is if you are serious about joining this club that you need to cancel your World of Warcraft account because you wont have any time to play. So ...

I joined!

This coming Tuesday I will be attending a round table of all the club members. I will also be attending a meeting of all of the artists to see what that is about. It's even funnier to know that I was pretty clueless as to exactly .... EXACTLY .... what my degree would teach me. Its in "Game Art and Design", which is jsut the ART side of building a game. The other side is PROGRAMMING, and truth to tell, I have an ART background and no real experience with programming, so I fell into my niche. It was an accident, but maybe I have someone looking out for me.

So ... I have been told to treat this as just another class, but with more deadlines and such. I will be attending meetings and joining a team and hopefully get a game or three out. I will mark posts related to the game club as Game Club so people who want to track those seperately can.

Is this exciting or what?

Week 2 completed

I have just scanned and uploaded my third peice of art that was required for week 2. My syllabus for this week looked like this:

Week 2 Sucess Stratagies
Discovering Yourself
View Lecture materials
Complete the Pre-assessment (10 points for completing)
Complete tasks under Assignments item (15 pts)
Participate in the Discussion (30 pts)
Review Read On resources

Week 2 (Art)
Drawing Techniques
Read: Reference Chapters 1 & 2 in the Drawing for Animation text.
Assignment: Drawing Techniques assignment. (100 points)
Assignment: Upside Down Drawing (100 points)
Assignment: Self-portrait (100 points)
Discussion: This week we will discuss comic books and graphic novels. (30 points)

Week 2 (Computer Applications)
Word 2007 Read Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques
Word 2007 Chapter One: Creating and Editing a Word Document.
Assignment --Due: Sunday, by midnight (100 pts).
Discussion--First response by midnight Wednesday. Respond to two posts by Sunday midnight (30 pts).
Quiz--Due: Sunday by midnight (30 pts).

I actually had the computer application class completed on Monday night, except for the 2nd and 3rd posting I need to do between Thursday and Sunday. I still have not gotten all of my grades from my Success Stratagies calss yet as I had placed my assignment in the wrong box. I have resubmitted in the hopes that because itwas time date stamped as being on time, that I will still get credit for it. I have completed all of my work for that class for this week, and have verified that I have placed it in the correct box this time.

The three peices of art I had to do this week were fun to do. The first peices was three drawings of a mortar and pestal, and each one had to demonstrate a different shading technique (hatching, cross-hatching, and stippling). The second drawing was of a picture that was upside down (and we had to draw it upside down as well). The hard part was not turning it upside right. After I was done, it looked really good compared to the actual picture. The last peice was a self portrait, and the ahrdest to do. I took a picture of myself, and had a hard time drawing myself. I finally went over the picture with a black marker to highlight myself, and then it became really easy to do. Granted, I feel I can do better, and in three years I hope to look back at it and have the proof with other work that I can.

Anyhoo ...

I am anxious to get started on week three. I am indifferent to my other two classes, and want to dive in to my art class. It is what my degree is about, and what I want to do with my future. Speaking of which, I have come across some really great magazines that I feel would be great for me to subscribe to, as they go over some great techniques and even provide software as tools and examples, but these are being printed in England (#d World, Imagine FX, and there is one other about Photoshop). A 13 issue subscription to any of them is roughly $100. If I buy them at the newstand, they $16 each. Mere and I dicussed getting subscriptions, but I told ehr that we should wait to make certain that I can do this. There will be one more semester before Christmas, and that will give us a better idea of how I am doing, so we should hold off until then to start shelling out more money. And belive me, there are a lot of places I can be shelling it out. There are some nice peripherials I could plug into the computer, such as a drawing pad that would let me draw directly to the computer. Or even a nice digital camera. I was looking at some interesting books on animation and artificial intelligence programing yesterday. This will all wait until I am further along, again, to see what I will need and what I can do.

But still ... THIS IS ALL SO EXCITING!!!!

As I sit here and type, it really occurs to me that I hope I do my brother proud. He is older than I, and has jsut retired from the Navy, and I am really proud of him for his accomplishments. He is a photographer by hobby, and wants to do it professionally, and some of his pictures have really blwon me away. We have never really be close as brothers, but I would be filled with pride if I knew I created something that blew him away.

I think that is my goal.

Well, I have three years to polish my work!

Grades for the first week

Most of my grades for my first week ahve come back, and they are looking good!

In my Computer Appplicaton class, I am at 168/170 (having 168 points out of a possible 170)
In my Success Stratagies, she has only graded my introduction so far, and I have 10/10
In my Drawing class, I have ...

336/340!!!

YAY for me!!!

I was so nervous about getting back into the drawing side of things, but my instructor has given me some real good feedback so far. For my blind drawing (drawing without looking), he had this to say:

XXXXX
Well done David. The blind contour shows you did not look...the lines are off and bumpy...so you focused in and drew what you saw. That said I am going to throw out a challenge at you I think if you tried this again, but this time you really focused in on your hand and every bump and devit that is on the outline of the hand..we have all kinds of wrinkles on the hand that are begging to be drawn, then you will get more out of the assignment. If you slow way down you will train your eye to really see the line and details of the hand and your eye will learn to transfer that to the hand. But it takes practice. The half-blind contour is good. Great line work. Shows some very strong talent! Thanks for the hard work.
XXXXX

I feel really good about this. I am getting more and more excited about this each day. Another interesting thing was his comment about how I come up with ideas. We had to post on where we get our ideas and how we develop them, and I said:

XXXXX
Cats don't have pockets!That is what me niece said when I asked her if her cat had gotten her anything for her birthday. She said it was a silly questions because cat's don't have pockets. If you stop to think about it, it's hard NOT to come up with ideas for a short story or picture book.Ideas are everywhere, and you don't even need to look for them. It could be overhearing something someone has said that strikes a cord in you, or it could come to you as you are taking a shower. My own creative process is nothing set, and I go to wherever my imagination takes me.A few examples: I was at work and I heard a snippet of a conversation between two ladies. One lady said "And we took him to the emergency room, and I had to explain everything to the doctor." The other lady responded with "And did the doctor believe you?" Just hearing those comments made my imagination run wild. What could have happened? Was it funny or sad? What kind of story could I make up with that?Another time I was just out and about, and I saw a child's balloon flying away. My sister had a little girl who was three at the time, and I could just picture her asking me where balloons go when the fly away. Sounds like another possible picture book in the making.So, basically, my style is just to let my imagination run wild and the ideas just abound.
XXXXX

I had already gotten a bunch of responses back from my classmates when my instructor responded with:

XXXXX
If the drawing thing does not work out for you David you can fall back on your writing and storytelling skills because you have them in spades. Thanks for this excellent response! A very fun read!
XXXXX

So all in all ... I think I am doing great!!!

I will keep you all posted!

End of my first week ...

The first week of school is over, and I feel great!

My Computer Application class is a real sleeper, with my first assignment being me using the HELP feature in Word 2007 to do 10 look-ups and pasting screen shots of them into another document to send to the teacher.

My Art class was fun, with me having to do a drawing of my hand without looking at the paper. I then had to do a second drawing where I could look at the paper only to lift the pencil and put it back down.

In my Success Stratagies class, I really got a discussion going when we were asked how we define "success" in 5 different catagories. I said that for a person to define success is like trying to define what is funny. What is funny for one person may not be funny for another. And for success, there are so many different levels that it is all relative. The instruction then asked me if I agreed witht he statement that the only success is the ability to live one's life the way the choose. Well ... I finally responded that without going into politics and law and such, that I would have to agree with her.

I am enjoying this a lot. I cannot wait to get this semester over and get into more exciting classes. This is so AWESOME!!!

SCHOOL'S STARTED!!!

I woke up at 5;30 this morning with Mere, and stayed in bed until about 7:30. I just couldn't wait until 9:00 and hopped online. I let out a small whoop for joy as I found out my classes had started and were available for me to access. I went straight to the art class as that is the one that I am afraid of, and sure enough, the instructor wanted me to post a picture I had drawn recently. Well ... I didn't have one. So I whipped up a contour (outline) drawing of Pickles. That was good enough (this wasn't graded, it was just and introduction). The other two classes look ok, and I have already completed all of the work for my the week in my Computer Applications class, so that is good. My syllabus for this week for all thre classes looks like this:

Week 1 (Success Stratagies)
Mastering Transitions
Read through the syllabus, view all lecture materials
Introduce yourself to the class (10 pts)
Read the Introduction in your textbook.
Complete tasks under Assignments item (15 pts)
Participate in the Discussion (30 pts)
Complete Self Check
Review Read On resources

Week 1 (Art)
Contour DrawingPerspective
Read through the syllabus.
Introduce yourself to the class. (10 pts)
Read: Drawing for Animation: Chapters 1 & 2. Reference page 53.
Assignment: Contour Drawing Assignment. (100 points).
Assignment: Perspective Studies. (100 points)
Discussion: This week we will discuss your sketching skills. (30 points)

Week 1 (Computer Applications)
Introduction to Office 2007 Read Microsoft Office 2007: Introductory Concepts and Techniques
Appendix B: Microsoft Office 2007.
Appendix C: Microsoft Office 2007 Help.
Appendix E: Customizing Microsoft Office 2007.
Introductions (10 pts)
Assignment --Due: Sunday, by midnight (100 pts).
Discussion--First response by midnight Wednesday. Respond to two other posts by midnight, Sunday (30 pts).
Quiz--Due: Sunday, by midnight (30 pts).

So, I still have my assignments for my Success Stratagies and my Art class to do, as well as I have to post 2 more times for each class. Shouldn't be too hard to complete before Sunday night, right?

I will start posting again every Monday so I can put out my new week's syllabus.

See ya then!

Tomorrow is it!!!

What a long night. Stu couldn't make it over, so I watched television all evening. Mere went to bed at 8:30, and I was tempted to join her. I have not slept well the last few nights. It always felt that my body was asleep but my mind was racing around. I am very much hoping for a good night sleep tonight.

So I have spent more time looking at the magazine I bought yesterday, and I am amazed at what people can do with computers. I found a picture in the magazine that a person made of Ingrid Berman. The person made it solely with computers, and it looks like a snapshot that somoene took just yesterday with a digital camera. It's funny because when I first saw the picture, I thought to myself "Wow! In three years, I will be able to do stuff like that!" ... and then right away I also thought "WoW! What if after three years I CAN"T do stuff like that?!?!?" I just gotta keep telling myself that not only CAN I do this, but that I WILL.

Besides ... I have an awesome support group. I have friends who are loaning me books to inspire me and give me ideas and tips; I have a great mother who is not too far away; my cat Pickles is always telling me how proud she is of me as she curls up in my lap; and my wonderful wife is very happy and proud that I am doing this. How can I fail, right?

Anyhoo ... I see that I was msitaken about how the semesters work. I thought they were 6 weeks long and then 2 weeks off. Well ... they are 6 weeks long, and then 5 DAYS off. Yeah ... gonna be a busy 3 years!!! At least that means it will go by fast. I am happier with it being 5 days instead of the 2 weeks as I would be just too anxious for classes to start again once the got done, I think.

So ... in less than 12 hours I will be a college student.

Wish me luck!!!

One more day ...

Just one more day, then school starts. One more day and I will be on the road to a better career. One more day then school starts!!! YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

This afternoon I picked up a magazine called 3D World. It is devoted to 3D Artists. it has a ton of articles on how to achieve certain effects with certain programs and tells what programs are best to use for said effects. There were a couple of magazines that we for 3D art and animation, but I picked this one up because it has an article in it about the 10 best things one can do to get noticed. About halfof them centered on putting your work out on the web (having your own website and such). So, in a year or two, once I get some real work to show, I will put up a website other than my blog for people to check out what I can do.

Tomorrow night my friend Stu(art) is coming over for another game of Twilight Struggle. It will help me pass the time (as you all know I am just so eager for school to start). It is like waiting for Christmas when you are a little kid. I have been asked how semesters work, and it is not like going to regular school. I will have 5 semesters a year, each one being 6 weeks long with 2 week break between. There is a longer break at Christmas time.

Anyhoo ... that's it for tonight. I am really tired tonight and plan on sleeping like a rock.

See you all tomorrow!