Hello everyone :)

#21

I expect the Platinum one to be big when it comes out. Quite a bit of hype. The license is already famous, but I dunno if they’re gonna write it horribly or not yet, it might totally flop. I just draw for them :slight_smile: But maybe you’ll get it over there :slight_smile: The graphic novel I doubt, unless the creator decides to go on a world tour. He’s doing all the distribution himself as far as I know o_o

But I’ll post whatever I’m allowed to!

And yeah, I bit off a whole lot. But I chew well. I heard somewhere when I was a kid that if you didn’t chew at least 25 times you’d choke and I’ve been totally paranoid about it ever since :smiley:

I also tend to be overly optimisitic, so who knows? Maybe I’ll miss all my deadlines and ruin everything…

#22

That’s the spirit! Optimism while philosophically pessimisic!:smiley:

But yeah, I think the chewing helps. I’ve always been better with a massive workload than a skimpy one, because you’re FORCED to do the work. The workload is sort of like it’s own motivation really.

Then again, i’ve also occasionally swallowed so much I couldn’t actualy move my jaw to chew…:argh:

#23

Hehehe… All the work is stress, but it’s such good stress. I tend to do my best work when I’m under the most pressure. I think a lot of creative types are that way - a lot of artists I know say the same thing :slight_smile: I also tend to do my best work when listening to video game soundtracks, which is maybe a little more original, but maybe not, hehe :slight_smile:

#24

Video game sountracks are the best thing in the universe to draw to. They really get you in the right frame of mind!

Okay now, this is important! What’s in your collection?:smiley:

#25

You do that too? Awesome :smiley:

Ohh, let’s see… I have music from all the Final Fantasies plus orchestral versions (I don’t like 10 as much at all though, except for a few tracks), Xenogears plus orchestral versions, a couple songs from Xenosaga, Chrono Trigger, a few good and a few bad remixes from the above games, some Tetrisphere (that game was my first exposure to ambient and electronic music), Katamari Damacy, and some songs from Shenmue. I’m about to get a whole lot more though, my friend is sending me a very large present of many CDs (so excited! :D) I also like listening to Vangelis, Philip Glass, and Danny Elfman movie soundtracks while I work. And sometimes classical stuff or really ridiculous metal like Rhapsody, Blind Guardian, and Dragon Force :slight_smile:

I think instrumental stuff that’s supposed to go along with a story is just really really inspiring to listen to, it gets your imagination going :smiley:

How about you? Got any good suggestions?

#26

I pretty much have the whole Final Fantasy music collection as well. I went to Japan last year and spent up big. Nobuo Uematsu is king! :smiley:

As to recommendations… hmmm… let’s see. For nice story moods, Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2 (work by Harry Gregson-Williams is always good in my opinion), American McGee’s Alice (freaky but fun), Diablo (Really good orchestral stuff in number 2), Icewind Dale and Baldurs Gate… I could go on for ages.
Good ambients are ones like the Half-Life 2 soundtrack, Ico, Riven, Silent Hill and a weird remix CD I found of Secret of Mana!

If you like mood electronica with great strings, you may enjoy Hybrid. You can download their new track for free. People’s taste is highly subjective though, so you may hate it! You may also like the game remix site www.ocremix.org , but you have to pick the good ones from the bad!

I wish I had Katamari and Shenmue, but they’re so hard to get here.

Steph Laberis and I were going through our collections at the workshop. I think she has a bigger collection than both of us combined!

#27

By the way, your website address in your profile has a typo! :smiley:

#28

I downloaded that Hybrid song and discovered that I already know them :slight_smile: My brother’s a dj/producer so I get a steady stream of everything remotely electronic from him. And my boyfriend is a crazy music snob so I have to listen to a wide range of overly technical stuff and so much Radiohead they make me sick, I hate that damn Raindrops song… I do really love electronic/instrumental hybrid type stuff though - Pendulum is really cool for that. And Xploding PlastiX.

Thanks for all the game music suggestions :slight_smile: I’ll definitely check them out! I’ve been meaning to get Ico :slight_smile: And I did not know that about Steph Laberis - I actually hardly saw her at the workshop. I stayed at a different hostel from everyone else and didn’t get to know very many people, but there were a few CAers there too. We did a sketch game and everything. But I was pretty shy at the workshop itself. I picked on those who looked shyer than me, mostly.

It makes sense that concept artists like game music though. I’m a big game dork. My dog’s name is Brinstar and I have the Metroid item theme for my ringtone. It’s odd because I’m not that good at games. I like RPGs because I can just power level and then I get to be good enough to beat the bosses easily :smiley: Annnd I really dig the odd version of masculinity the Japanese games often have, especially RPGs. I like Japanese comics a lot for that reason too. I hardly read American ones, really, besides some Spiderman and Bendis and Joss Whedon stuff… Morrison’s X-Men really should count as British. I read quit a bit of Brit authors, they seem a lot more cynical and sick and intelligent :slight_smile: Do you read much comics stuff?

I must be getting sleepy, I’m just babbling now. I’m jealous that you’ve been to Japan o_o

#29

Ahhh, I had to look all over to find the typo! Thanks for pointing that out, I never would have caught it!

#30

I’ll have to check out those other electronic guys. It’s often hard to sift through all the bad stuff to find good music these days!

I have Mario Bros as my ringtone.:smiley: I play pretty much anything that doesn’t involve sport or driving, but RPGs are my favourite. I actually got into the industry by being obsessed with Secret of Mana as a kid. Best RPG ever! So i’m not the only one who does insane levelling! I tend to want to max out my characters abilities and stats, while trying to find all the secret side quests and weapons before i’ve even got past the first area! Disgaea did bad things to me…

Now of course I don’t have much time for games! Too much to draw and learn. I’ll ALWAYS make time for Final Fantasy and Zelda though.

The energy at the hostel was brilliant. Nothing but drawing and talking about art (with a little of Steph’s weird movie collection on the side!). It was a pity we couldn’t all fit in the same place!

As for comics, I read an ecletic mix. Things like Hiroaki Samura, Jhonen Vasquez, Frank Miller, Ashley Wood, Mike Mignola and Calvin and Hobbes! :smiley: My comic interests fall into two catergories: Pure art and pure story! For example, Ashley Wood’s comics aren’t all that interesting to read, but the art is great.

You should make time for Japan one day. I think i’ve talked to numerous people across cgtalk and CA about it. We should all book a group trip!

#31

I’m fortunate to have people who do the music sifting for me :slight_smile:

I’m a young’un, I got into games and decided to become a character designer when I played ff7. I think I’m still in love with Cloud Strife :slight_smile: And I get all teary-eyed when I think of the scene where Aeris dies… Oh my god, that moment when I first played it absolutely bowled me over. I spent the rest of the game desperately searching every tiny spot on the map for some way to bring her back. I didn’t even really like her that much, but I had never seen a character get killed off before. Wow. And Sephiroth’s theme song, wow.

Xenogears was my second big push, and Soul Calibur sealed the deal for good :slight_smile:

I do like driving games. But not sports unless you count Monkey Bowling and Monkey Tennis in Super Monkey Ball 2. Or Mario Golf. I don’t play scary games. I have Eternal Darkness and that’s as scary as I go. My friend plays all the Silent Hills and Resident Evils and makes me watch the plot points though, so I know them well enough.

I kind of wish I’d gotten in at the CA hostel, but I was also travelling with my best friend who wasn’t going and isn’t even an artist (you wouldn’t know that by talking to her - she’s been so involved in critiquing my stuff and dealing with my rants and epiphanies and frustrations that she has all the language down pat) so I had a separate agenda. We totally combed the city though, and took 290 photos :slight_smile: I loved Montreal - it was like a big, lively, half-European version of my hometown in Minnesota.

Calvin and Hobbes got me started on comics waaayyy back when I was tiny. I’ve been drawing since I started walking, but Calvin and Hobbes is the first thing I remember looking at and saying “This is GOOD art.” Before that I would copy Darkwing Duck and Garfeild for my classmates, and after that I started trying to draw my own comics. I remember looking at the trees and dinosaurs and being amazed by how he could to realism and cartoony stuff right next to each other. And Jhonen was really huge in my circle of friends in high school. We used to have a weekly party to watch Zim :slight_smile: Did you ever see Roman Dirge’s stuff? His comics seemed to go along with Jhonen’s but something about his wiggly lines made me motion sick to read it.

OH man. You ever get that feeling that drawing just makes you so happy you could blow up? Talking about this stuff is making me all excited. Sometimes when I draw it suddenly dawns on me that I’m just about at maximum happiness. There are times when it’s a chore, but only getting started - once I’m in it I love it again, even when I’m horribly frustrated and nothing’s going right I still sit back and go “Well, I couldn’t have done this LAST month, so it’s awesome!” And I feel like I have some huge revelation every time I draw. It’s like levelling up :slight_smile:

I’m easily excited though :smiley: I get excited because I draw one vein in some way that looks totally cool, and no one will ever notice it anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

Maybe there’s just crack in the water :slight_smile: That could explain why I end every sentence with a smiley.

Also - I would totally love to go on a group trip to Japan. I don’t know much Japanese but I’ve been told my pronunciation is great. And my name splits easily into syllables so my Japanese teacher thought I was Japanese. Which is odd. People always mistake me for whatever minority they are though. At the hostel this sort of exotic looking guy with an Australian accent asked me if I was Filipino, and I was like “No, but I bet you are.” And he was amazed and flattered that I had guessed his nationality despite his accent.

Now I’m really going to bed. My babbling is out of control. Sooo nervous for the unveiling of the Tdome!!! 6 more hours!

#32

Wow, that was a long post. Remind me not to start writing when I’m sleepy. Erilaz, I saw your T-dome piece! It made me laugh :slight_smile: I was actually kind of surprised by Staceydiana’s piece - didn’t live up to her work in the Girlie T-dome.

#33

I’m a young’un, I got into games and decided to become a character designer when I played ff7. I think I’m still in love with Cloud Strife And I get all teary-eyed when I think of the scene where Aeris dies… Oh my god, that moment when I first played it absolutely bowled me over. I spent the rest of the game desperately searching every tiny spot on the map for some way to bring her back. I didn’t even really like her that much, but I had never seen a character get killed off before. Wow. And Sephiroth’s theme song, wow.

Very true. Final Fantasy 7 was the first game to make me cry, and i’m not ashamed to admit it. They have great writers.

Xenogears was my second big push, and Soul Calibur sealed the deal for good

We never got Zenogears here unfortunately, but I fell in love with the music. I can kick anyone’s ass with Kilik. :smiley:

I kind of wish I’d gotten in at the CA hostel, but I was also travelling with my best friend who wasn’t going and isn’t even an artist (you wouldn’t know that by talking to her - she’s been so involved in critiquing my stuff and dealing with my rants and epiphanies and frustrations that she has all the language down pat) so I had a separate agenda. We totally combed the city though, and took 290 photos I loved Montreal - it was like a big, lively, half-European version of my hometown in Minnesota.

Did you post up your photos? We sort of had a dry spell of good images after the Carnifexathon! montreal was a lovely place. A pity about the weather though! i was expecting some sort of summer! Still, I can’t complain. I love the cold.

Calvin and Hobbes got me started on comics waaayyy back when I was tiny. I’ve been drawing since I started walking, but Calvin and Hobbes is the first thing I remember looking at and saying “This is GOOD art.” Before that I would copy Darkwing Duck and Garfeild for my classmates, and after that I started trying to draw my own comics. I remember looking at the trees and dinosaurs and being amazed by how he could to realism and cartoony stuff right next to each other. And Jhonen was really huge in my circle of friends in high school. We used to have a weekly party to watch Zim Did you ever see Roman Dirge’s stuff? His comics seemed to go along with Jhonen’s but something about his wiggly lines made me motion sick to read it.

I only just got into Calvin and Hobbes recently, and I’m really glad I did. One panel of that strip can say so much, even if they’re not saying anything! I haven’t read too much Roman Dirge as the humour doesn’t seem to have the same twang as Jhoenen, but I know his work.

OH man. You ever get that feeling that drawing just makes you so happy you could blow up? Talking about this stuff is making me all excited. Sometimes when I draw it suddenly dawns on me that I’m just about at maximum happiness. There are times when it’s a chore, but only getting started - once I’m in it I love it again, even when I’m horribly frustrated and nothing’s going right I still sit back and go “Well, I couldn’t have done this LAST month, so it’s awesome!” And I feel like I have some huge revelation every time I draw. It’s like levelling up

That’s truly the thing that makes me happy. Looking at something i’ve just finished (well, nothing is EVER finished, but you know what I mean!) and thinking “This certainly kicks the ass of the art I made a few weeks ago!”. I’ve got a long way to go to become any sembalance of good, but it’s a fun journey that keeps me at my desk night after night.

Wow, that was a long post. Remind me not to start writing when I’m sleepy. Erilaz, I saw your T-dome piece! It made me laugh I was actually kind of surprised by Staceydiana’s piece - didn’t live up to her work in the Girlie T-dome.

Heh heh… I tend to ramble too when I’m tired! Thanks for the comment! I loved your evil baby! :smiley: I was a little surprised by StaceyDiana’s too, but it still wipes the floor with mine!

#34

I never got around to resizing all those damn photos down, haha :slight_smile: I still intend to, when I have a break or something.

Can you import games or do they not work on your system? Area codes or something? Xenogears is old now, and the dialogue is not so good at times, but the concepts are awesome, the story is great, and it’s still definitely worth a play :smiley: Kilik is cool, but there are a lot of characters who are very good against him. I like playing with more difficult characters like Taki, Hwang, Sophitia, and Maxi - Maxi’s crazy though! I love his Elvis costume :smiley: Seung Mina’s cool too - just like Kilik but a better color scheme :smiley: AH, what a great game! We’ll have to play sometime, I’ll show you what’s up :smiley:

Roman Dirge is crap, his lines make me feel nauseas and you’re right, he’s not really as funny. It just seemed like a lot of people I know who liked Jhonen liked Dirge too.

IIIII love drawing. I love researching for my drawings too, but that makies me slow and I need to stop doing it so much. My pitch has a school bus converted to a battle RV kind of thing and I spent 3 hours yesterday researching bus conversion sites and stories and now I can talk like I have done it before :slight_smile:

I think Helium Macaroni is going to win from my match. He seems to be getting the most response. sigh oh well :slight_smile: I learned a great way to make colored rim light working on that piece :smiley: I think that’s also the first time I painted a baby, and I couldn’t find reference for his pajamas, but I drew from memories of my little brothers and it looks good to me right now - though it’s not as good as the part I had my roommates sit for and that’s a little too obvious :frowning: It’s up in the 2d illustration gallery, btw :smiley:

#35

I need to mod my consoles to play imports which I never got around to!

True, there are very effective kilik-counters. I’ve got the Gamecube version of number 2, and my nephew can whip me solidly with Link! You’re on for a match though. I wonder if I can get a console through customs…

IIII love drawing. I love researching for my drawings too, but that makies me slow and I need to stop doing it so much. My pitch has a school bus converted to a battle RV kind of thing and I spent 3 hours yesterday researching bus conversion sites and stories and now I can talk like I have done it before :slight_smile:

Heh heh… I know what you mean! I can have a whole night of reference hunting and very little progress! (I’m actually capturing movie stills this very moment to study lighting and composition!). The plus side is I now have a reference collection that does me very proud!

You had some tough competition, so I think you did pretty damn well! I should have started mine way earlier! :argh: It’s good you can use your visual memory to help out! I referenced a few poses, and I had Karla (Iconphobian) help with the composition.

#36

When this thread reaches 50 pages, I will laugh (goodnaturedly, of course!). :slight_smile: :wink:

#37

Rebeccak - 50? Almost there :smiley: I haven’t had time to start an anatomy thingie yet - I will really really check it out when I gget past this crazy project…

Erilaz - Reference is a major addiction for me. Almost as bad as Pepsi (I’m drinking my last can right now! I need a ride to the store!) The one thing I’m really upset about with this comic that that, while I found the perfect bus front, I couldn’t find a photo of the back end of that bus. The are school bus fan sites out there, but it seems that the people who write them are kinda bad at html o_o No thumbs, just link after link.

I also spend quite a bit of time finding and bookmarking artists’ sites - they’re freakin awesome for when I hit an inspiration block. Especially Hyung Tae Kim and Alien and Matt Rhodes and DSIllustration (it was sooo cool to meet those last two, wow)!

I put up a few pages of pencils in my blog, if you want to see :smiley: And PM me if you want Katamari. Rebecca’s right, this thread is getting looong :slight_smile: But hey, we’re thoroughly introduced now :smiley:

#38

Awww… really? I have heaps of back-of-bus reference! What kind did you need, those yellow prison-style school buses? Let me know if you still want!

I also spend quite a bit of time finding and bookmarking artists’ sites - they’re freakin awesome for when I hit an inspiration block. Especially Hyung Tae Kim and Alien and Matt Rhodes and DSIllustration (it was sooo cool to meet those last two, wow)!

My inspiration folder is getting out of control. I’ve had to start catergorising so I don’t lose track! I’m still a major Dan Milligan junkie. He was the highlight of the workshop for me (plus having DSIllustration and Jason Chan rip into my sketchbook! Brilliant). Either that or I read something Jason Manley or Marko Djurdjevic have said. If all else fails, I read Dirty_c’s three rules (in my signature). Tough love sometimes helps get the motivation going!

Rebecca’s right, this thread is getting looong :slight_smile: But hey, we’re thoroughly introduced now :smiley:

Hey, we’re just making up for all the conversation we DIDN’T have at the workshop! :smiley:

#39

That’s true! I was so shy there, and I really didn’t want to be. Until the last day I didn’t know where I stood in relation to the other attendees so I kinda kept to myself unless someone looked even less threatening than me. I kind of thought I would be at the bottom of the pile, but my portfolio reviews went really, really well so then I thought maybe not, but it was too late. For all my talk I get very insecure sometimes, especially since I don’t have any artist friends in real life - just online, and it’s a whole lot easier to be outgoing in type :slight_smile: Actually, I flip-flop between being completely overconfident and very insecure, I must have just been on a downswing there. But next year I’ll be a little more accustomed to it :slight_smile:

For the back of the bus reference - it’s too late now, I’ve drawn 6 pages with a made up combination of a modern bus with a curved window thingie - if my comic pages in my blog work you can see it (someone told me it wouldn’t load in firefox, which is what I use anyway so I dunno what’s gong on). If anyone bothers to look up that model bus and complains to me I’ll just tell them the back was modified too :smiley: I’m putting up pages with letters tomorrow I think… Man, I came up with a SICK layout for page 7 and I’m almost there! Only 2 more panels on 6! I can’t wait. But I’m too OCD to skip ahead.

Because I’m paranoid about HD space, I only saved the images I knew I would desperately want to see again and be unable to find, like from an artists’ site whom I know updates all the time and the old stuff disappears. (That can’t be grammatically correct but I’m too lazy to fix it.) My inspiration folder is not too huge but I do have a ton of bookmarks. Though I suppose with my recent discovery of 77 free gigs, I’ll probably save more now :slight_smile:

#40

Yeah, you were approachable, but seemed just a little apprehensive! :smiley: I KNEW I wasn’t anywhere near the calibre of the people in the room, so I just went all out and talked to as many people as I could. I learnt a lot!
I’ve made a lot more artist friends through online channels and recently I’ve made an effort to actually go and see them in the UK and in the US (i’m looking at you kimmie!). It’s a small world.:slight_smile:

I’m sure no one will pick out the back of the bus as an issue. They will be too busy saying “Oooooh, 'splosions!” to notice. :smiley: Feed me pages when and if you can!

I just bought an extra 500 gigs of space for my little shuttle pc, so I try to keep everything (I think i’ve downloaded every single cool sketchbook from CA.org now!) I’ve just had to keep myself organised to stop losing track. I keep a ton of bookmarks too, so we’ll have to swap sometime.