Comic Strip Development/Trial

Comic Strip Development/Trial

Ok so I've decided to do a moving comic strip for one of my projects, I've now put a bit of thought into how this might work.

Weirdly the first thing that came to mind while thinking about this was my pixilation piece for my previous module, I did like it but I always felt that I could have done it better or in a different way. What I most liked about it was the first person view of the hands on the screen. So I really wanted to do something like this

Idid a couple of quick sketches to see how this would look then a more neat one that I could use to work with on Photoshop. I'm thinking at the minute that the animation will start from this view and then zoom in shortly afterwards to each panel individually. I'm hoping to give each panel of the comic book perhaps a few seconds of animation, and it entire thing will last about a minute and a half. I think that was one of the main weaknesses of my pixilation last time that it lasted far too long, so this time my work is going to be short and sweet.

So I took my sketch into photoshop and made it look a lot better and neater, it's not perfect but I just wanted to see how this would look after I've worked on it in Photoshop.

Well I've got a few ideas for this, one is that the hands could look really messed up, old and creepy. I do want to develop them a lot too, at the minute they're very Jamie Hewlett inspired, which is great but I want to make them my own and develop my own style, obviously with a lot of influence from his work but I don't want to simply copy him all the time. The other idea I have is as you've probably noticed I have no background at the minute (well I've coloured it in blue if that counts). But I think it would be really cool to do an example of really bad green screening, have the reader walk through lots of daft locations every time the animation zooms back out towards the hands. A running joke every time his location gets more weird, for instance he could simply be walking in the street to begin with, and then end up floating in space the next time the animation zooms out.

Well to pull this off I'm going to have to do a serious amount of work, I probably won't be finished for the presentation at the end of term, but I will get it finished for the deadline, I'll try animating the walking feet and a couple of page turns next. I also need to come up with a story, I'll probably do my flat on a night out but the animation will only be basic for the comic book so that shouldn't take a lifetime to produce. Time to start working then....

Identities - Another Virtual Object - Cartoon Strip

Identities - Another Virtual Object - Cartoon Strip

Well I've been cracking on quite well with all of my work but I've not even considered what I'm going to do for my two free vitual objects, I think this is a chance to show what I want to do more than the other pieces because it isn't set in stone like the logo and avatar. Well until this point I didn't even have a clue what I was going to do until I was watching one of my all time favourite films today.....KES.

Ok I'd just like to say I didn't watch it on youtube, I have the DVD! Anyway I have decided to do an animated cartoon strip, If you take a look at the clip from the film above you'll see what I'm talking about a comic strip that plays out in front of the screen and zooms from panel to panel. What is annoying is that for all the rubbish on youtube I couldn't find the exact clip I wanted so I had to use the first part of the complete movie, the clip is right at the end by the way. But yeah I think it could work really well, I want to try and animate each panel slightly before it moves to the next, another idea I have is a narrator over the top like in KES to give it a humorous edge. I'd like to make it humorous and very colourful with lots of stuff going on in it, I don't quite know what its going to be about but having a cartoon version of my avatar in it might be a good idea jut to give my work some kind of continuitey.

As far as influences go I guess you can't go wrong with Jamie Hewlett I also like the Marvel comics a lot, not the point of obsession I might add I'd never collect them I just quite like comic books. What I really like is that I can work on it from home giving me lots of time to make it brilliant from the comfort of my own flat. But thats about it I'll work out a story and get on with drawing a comic strip, fun, but watch KES it's awesome, gives a real amazing picture of a deprived Britain and an evil older brother.

Journal Task - How do I Research

Journal Task - How do I Research

Part A
Recently I have enjoyed my time at University a lot, not just because of the social life and the drinking, I've also liked how open my course is. After being given the module task and the brief, that's pretty much it, its my job to take the work the way I want. Take for example our current module, Identities, we have to design a 'box' and put 5 things in it that reflect us, in fact it doesn't even have to be a box. We are given lectures and seminars but that's more of a nudge in the right direction instead of a direct, "DO IT LIKE THIS!".

It wasn't always like this however at college I think we were pushed into a certain direction for the simple purpose of getting grades. To take for example I did a course in Graphic Art, where we would have to pick an Artist to study first, we didn't even have much time to research this due to tight deadlines.

I guess then the simple answer is that I was creative during my time at college was to get me here, which isn't the greatest thing ever but if you look on the bright side that has got me to the stage where I can be really creative so now I can do what I want to do. I love the fact that I can choose what area I want to go into next year, specialise and choose my own influences instead of someone picking out an artist from a book for me.

So in the future I would really like the specialise in Both 3D and 2D animation, but what I also love is games design, I've had a real passion for games for ages and nothing sounds better to me anyway than working for a games design company with my name in the credits. Make something that people like and I can be proud to say I've created.

Part B
I guess that research can help get me there by making the projects I do a lot easier, also the research I carry out that in my own time ie. watching films, can help me develop my knowledge in the multimedia area.

When I am researching I use the exploratory method, I'm a big fan of the idea that an idea can come from anywhere. I'll see something that looks awesome or strikes a chord with me and I'll use it in my work, this happens both when I'm trying to think of an idea specifically for a project and when I'm not working towards a project but I'll find something and use it in a project later. I use this idea as a starting point and then use the descriptive method to look into an idea more and see what influenced it and similar pieces of work. I also like to try pieces of work out before I properly start working on a project through the Pilot Stage of research, for instance with my logo for the Identities project I did a trial of my logo's paint splats idea making shapes, this can be seen on my blog a few posts down.

I do feel wary of doing descriptive research on its own however, I don't think it's very good at producing ideas on it's own, instead you tend to only look into the ideas that are given by the person who set the work. Instead I prefer to bring in my own influences and combine them with these to come up with an idea that's more fitting with the brief. I guess what it all come down to is that I believe that all good ideas come from a moment of sudden inspiration, a lyric in a song, a sight while passing in a car. Yes, I read into these ideas thoroughly after, but I don't desperately hunt around for some inspiration, I tend to find the best ideas I have come when I'm not even looking.

To throw a few examples into the mix I've chosen my two practitioners for the essay, John Laseter of Pixar who directed 'Toy Story' came up with the idea for the film 'Cars' while on a road trip with his family, he didn't deliberately go on a road trip to come up with an idea for a film. Also the legendary Jamie Hewlett and the equally legendary Damon Albarn came up with the idea for Gorillaz while sat on the couch watching MTV thinking 'that's rubbish, so many videos are rubbish,every 6 videos there's a great video' and thus the Gorillaz were born. I like to think that it was a eureka moment, but it probably wasn't, in my defense though they didn't sit down deliberately to help them come up with an idea for a cartoon band. Anyway check out the video I've posted up its a cool interview, about the Gorillaz story....

Box - Ideas

Box - Ideas

Ok I have been working quite hard recently, trying to get on with this module so that it doesn't turn into a last week pro-plus fuelled rush to get it all finished. However other than post an idea up then scrapping it I haven't really thought about my 'Box', which is the thing all of my work is going to be in.

I was then quite concerned when my friend told me that this was the most important part of the project, naturally I was concerned. Even if my logo is fantastic and my avatar is cool that won't matter, whether that is exactly true or not I'm not sure but I do have to start cracking on with it.

Ok so I think I've got a good idea......

I've always been a fan sticking random things up in my room, posters, promotion adverts, artwork, CD covers and subsequently my room appears quite untidy. But I like this my room is my place my refuge, I also like the idea of looking around when I'm stuck on a piece of work and seeing something that will give me an idea. A kind of unintentional mood board. So I'm going to go with an idea like this, how It's going to be done (flash, 3D and so on) I'm not so sure of yet but I'll think of something. It could be a very messy version of my room, but I've already seen someones doing that idea so I don't want to look like I'm nicking ideas.

Anyway I've found a couple of pics along this idea that are quite cool, the first is the album cover for Jamie T's ' Panic Prevention', a really cool album, and I like the real scruffiness of the cover, really rough with lots of stuff on it, the only thing I'm concerned about with this is that it would be hard to find the areas with my stuff in it (logo, avatar etc), there is also a risk that the user may be over faced, if you look at the Jamie T artwork you don't know where to look first, nothing stands out. I've also got a picture of the legend himself Jamie Hewlett at work, again with lots of stuff on the wall, CD's, DVD's, but still a practical work place. Another Idea I have for my avatar is to have my avatar as a part of it, for instance in both of these pictures the guys are in it, this could help link my pieces of work together more.

Who knows but I've got an idea I'm sticking with it and if I did the room idea I would have a lot of room ideas to work with, it's a good thing I reckon when you have to think about toning down the content instead of adding more in. Next stop mood board.

Practice Modelling - UVW Editor

Practice Modelling - UVW Editor

Today we were given a model of a car and told how to model the textures on Photoshop. This is a really simple way of making your models look good, it does take forever to do though. I did have a bit of a panic when the image wouldn't upload to my model for ages but it's on now. So yeah check it out, I've gone for a Lamourgini style with a bit of a Ford Gt style stripe, it's not too complicated to do and I would make it easier to model my avatar.

My Journey and Using this in My Logo

My Journey and Using this in My Logo

On Friday we were given a lecture in which we looked more into what makes me me. One idea I did like however was that where you grew up and the experiences you had have a huge influence on your life. This projects getting very deep very fast.

But anyway in this we created a map of our life where we were born and places we've lived. I've knocked this much neater version up on photoshop, it's very basic but I've only really lived in two places and I lived in another village for the first year of my life. I was born in Huddersfield and for at least a year lived in a village called Golcar, I then moved to Meltham which is a village near by. I thought that it was important to include the village names instead of simply Huddersfield, where I grew up the villages were very important and there was a lot of friendly local rivalry between the villages (I'm proud to be a Melthamer). Meltham is the biggest circle on the image, it's where I grew up and has had the biggest influence on my life.

Similarly the line from Golcar to Metham isn't very thick that is because, I was only young and therefore it wasn't such a big change for me. The line to Nottingham is a lot thicker, I also made Nottingham a very big spot, although I've only lived here a short time I do really like it and I think I've grown up a huge amount and this time.

From this I was able to come up with a concept for a simple logo by applying my circles idea to this map, I've already stated that my shape is a circle and I was already planning to do something along these lines. Here however I've put this into some context as they represent where I've lived, and the ripples effect shows how important this stage of my life was to me.

I do really like this idea as it takes something about me and uses it in an attractive way, it also similarly to what I did with the paint drops (making the Xbox controller), takes an initial idea that I had and uses it for something that is more relative to the project.

I love this idea but it does need developing to make it slightly simpler, I do need text as well so I'll look into this. I'm also doing a short piece of animation before my logo just as an introduction, which will look cool but if I have a more simple idea in the end like this I will also fulfill the brief.

So I'm working on the animation at the minute my original idea for this was that all the animations would form the shape of my logo, this will be hard to do however if I only have the outlines of circles. So what I am now thinking is that my animation will play they all be sucked in to a single point in the centre of the screen, immediately after my logo will appear bursting out from the same point. I think this is a cool idea, I do really want to use animation in it as I think it will serve as a good introduction to the logo, how this will relate to my logo is that all the thing in the animation; a footballer, a guitarist etc will be things that represent me and therefore are a part of what makes up the inspiration for the logo. I'm really sorry if this sounds really confusing give me a couple of days to fire out the animation and all will become clear I promise.

Logo Development - What Shape Represents Me?

Logo Development - What Shape Represents Me?

For my shape I have chosen a circle, why? Well I believe that it represents me because I feel that I have a quite rounded personality without one aspect of my personality showing through more than any other.

I also like the idea of having only the outline of a circle, I think this represents how I'm not complete yet, I haven't done everything I want to do, seen what I want to see but hey I'm only 19. So I've chosen this in preference of a full circle.

Another thing that interested me about this shape is the idea of linking the shapes together. This represents the connection between people and places. I do really like this idea for instance on the left the large circle represents me while the two others represent my 2 best friends and the way we are connected. Unfortunately I'm not the only person who came up with this idea as it is the logo for one of if not THE most famous logo ever. However even they have the same idea of representing the connection between different countries. I would like to use this idea for my logo obviously I'll have to develop it away from the olympic logo but I love the idea.

Practice Modelling

Practice Modelling
Ok so I decided to do some practice at 3D modelling by using the same ideas as last week where I made a very boring man. This time I thought I'd make something I like, one of my favourite game characters, the binge drinking, chain smoking squirrel Conker!

Anyway I found this a lot lot harder, but I also found some unique ways of getting around the problems I found and for the very first time I made something myself without all the work sheets or tutorials to help. So all in all not a bad session even if I didn't finish it!

I used the same principle as with the man of using box modelling I then added a single arm that was then mirrored onto the other side. I do really like that tool I probably shouldn't use it until I've finished modelling the side but it makes what I've done look awesome. I also wanted to make Conker appear to be wearing gloves, so I tried the method of extruding along a line I had cut out, I found this method very hard to use which is probably why it doesn't quite look right.

I then added the legs and beefed Conker up a bit (he's not exactly skinny) and added legs and shoes. This time I used to instet tool to tell the program not to smooth that part. This method is much more effective. Can I just say I don't like the smooth tool I think it's almost like cheating and it never quite gives you what you want but it is useful at this early stage, however I do want to eventually phase it out of my work.

So all in all not a bad session of work, I know it's not finished but I forgot my memory stick (I'll come into uni tomorrow and IF it's still on the computer I'll finish it) and I have a lecture in 15 minutes but still lets be honest it isn't the best thing you'll ever see but it's a step in the right direction.

Logo - Can You Please Everybody? Try Anyway?

Logo - Can You Please Everybody? Try Anyway?



Ok first things first check this advert out for the new Blackberry, I saw this and it gave me an idea that I think can solve all of my problems that I've encountered while designing this bloody logo. Ok I kind of worked out through feedback that what I'd created originally wasn't a logo, I loved it don't get me wrong I think its awesome but it's not a logo...... a bit of a problem then. The trouble is that it was too busy to be a logo.

Anyway I then saw this advert and realised how lots and lots of images make up the shape of this phone thing. A lot like how all the paint splats form the Xbox controller on the trial I did. So the idea I have now is that all the stuff I like music, sport, art, games and so on will all combine to form my logo, and much like the Blackberry advert all these images can gradually fade out and my solid nice neat logo can be left. Just a quick point I won't use what I've got at the minute for my new logo I'll design something new from scratch.

But yeah I do really like this idea. This way I can use the style of my original logo that I did get a lot of positive feedback from but I will be left with a single logo at the end which is my brief at the end of the day. I guess this does prove that you can get an idea from anywhere. I've got so many ideas kicking around my head at the minute, I love this I can throw the kitchen sink at it and have everything on it that I love but still be left with something simple at the end. Therefore I am pleasing both sides of my feedback.

Depression Forget that! I'm an Optimist

Depression Forget that! I'm an Optimist
I put a post up last week called 'Another Influence and a Good Idea!' where I think I was being a bit too worried about my work and what it means or what it will mean. What I mean is that I said I wanted to paint a picture of a depressed Britain in my work that reflects the current climate. Yeah ok then....

The major huge problem with that is that I've always prided myself on being an optimist, looking on the bright side, the glass is half full and all that jazz. So basing an entire project around something that isn't me probably isn't the best idea, especially when this is an Identities project! So I've decided to scrap that idea, you can't get out of a recession if you just say how bad it is. Instead my work isn't going to even mention it, I'm going to be me look on the bright side, and that's what my works going to say about the current climate. Even though the worlds shit most people just get on as normal instead of moaning about it, and that's what my work will say about the world.

Star Wars Galaxies Online Journal - This Game Is Massive

Star Wars Galaxies Online Journal - This Game Is Massive

Once again this game has amazed me at just how huge it is. I mean look at that picture on the left, that is Mos Eisley Space Station, the place from episode 4, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy'. Anyway this is just 1 city on the game there are lots and not to mention loads of space around the cities, and then there's outer space of course that you can explore.

And if you think for a minute that I was missing the flying thing on Second Life check this out..... My very own speeder that I can use to fly around the map because it's so big. Yeah this game is cool but I'm getting a little side tracked with the fact that I'm in the Star Wars universe so I need to look at what makes this MMO different to other and why people play it and so on. So far I have been playing on my own as well which kind of defeats the point of it being online but tomorrow I'll find my friend on the game and ask him why his Avatar looks how it does.....(it's a fish alien!)But for the minute WOW.

Star Wars Galaxies Online Journal - Day 2

Star Wars Galaxies Online Journal - Day 2
Just thought that I'd put up a quick post to say how my adventures in the Star Wars world are going. Pretty well in fact, I'm getting quite into this game. There are a lot of quests and general things to do which is cool, these generally involves running around finding a certain number of items or as I am a bounty hunter 'taking care' of someone (hopefully they deserved it).

But yeah this is so much better than Second Life, it's Star Wars! I also helped out Han Solo by finding him some parts to fix the Millenium Falcon, I'm always happy to help Harrison Ford out. I also have plenty of good news as I thought I was only able to go around this trial area, but the SWG people must have taken a note out of WoWs book and let me go anywhere! So I'm going hitch a lift with either Boba Fett or Han Solo to Tatooine next time I play and I'll post back, I'll hopefully meet up with one of my friends too.

Logo Even More Feedback and a Totally New Direction

Logo Even More Feedback and a Totally New Direction


Ok I think that I've finally realise that what I'd come up with before for my logo simply isn't a logo. I mean logos are meant to be simple and when Andrew my tutor pointed that out along with my Graphic Designer friend I knew that it was time to change. A great shame I know.

Anyway what next? What else can I do? well... the parts that I most liked in my current logo are the circles and the paint drops, which kind of game me an idea.The idea of ripples being caused by the paint drops, I do also like the speaker idea so in this case the circles could represent sound waves. This needs a lot of developing obviously. But yeah I'm thinking at the minuite the speaker could play out sound circles that gradually get bigger like ripples, yeah this ideas crazy, but maybe just crazy enough to work... After all that madness has happened in a short piece of animation everything will fade out and my new very simple and sleak logo will fade in where it will stay.

Oh just a quick note I did personally really like what I did for my logo before, the problem is it simply wasn't a logo. But I like it that much I'm still going to finish the piece of animation almost like aditional work, I'm not going to hand it in unless after both of my logos are finished the old one is miles better. So more of a labour of love and why not?

Building a Man

Building a Man

Today we had a seminar on building a quick man which will obviously be very useful when it comes to building my avatar. I am very happy with the results. I'm finding it a lot easier to follow the work sheets we are given and am also looking at doing some more advanced stuff. For example my geezer here (who I'm calling Geoffery) has thumbs. I also like the cartoon style of his massive hands a feet an effect that is very easy to apply.

So yeah getting a lot better at this program, I'll try modelling something else soon then it should be time to crack on with my Avatar.

Star Wars Galaxies Online Journal

Star Wars Galaxies Online Journal

Ok Second Life really wasn't working for me so I thought that I'd play something that I'd actually enjoy, Star Wars Galaxies. First of all this is only the 14 day trail thing, I might start playing the proper one when I get into it but that's only a might at the minute.

Anyway let me say this took literally forever to download, well the game has been out for 5 years so 5 years worth of updates.... anyway it's finished now I decided to play in the most busy server (or as this game calls it galaxy). I was then allowed to choose my race which had the usual variety that you'd expect from a Star Wars game but instead I chose to keep it simple and have a human character.

I then started editing my character to try and make it look like me. The character editing thing isn't great it has to be said, all the hair styles commit the worst 70's sins but it is quite in depth you can for instance change height and weight something most other MMO's (mainly WoW) don't let you do. I'm not even going to pretend that it look like me, it really doesn't but it's the best I could do and when I think about it the game has 10 different races all with lots of customisation available so it is pretty in depth.

I was then prompted to choose my class, I chose bounty hunter because it seemed the coolest and Boba Fett is my favourite Star Wars Character. And that's it my characters name was randomly generated he's called Evasti Destar, not a bad name and it keeps in with the whole Star Wars canon.

And that's it the familiar opening sprawl came up and I'm trapped in a space station that's exploding talk about putting you straight in the action. Anyway C3-PO no less is giving me instructions, I find a gun blast a door open only to be rescued by Han Solo, Chewie and R2-D2. That really is the best thing about this game it doesn't mind letting you meet these characters and interact with them which is very cool. Anyway we escape (naturally), even Darth Vader was chasing us you do feel very involved in the Star Wars universe, obviously your not going to be able to change history or nothing but touches like that are nice.

Anyway we escaped and land at some space station otherwise known as the starting area, what I am very happy with is that there are lots of players running about, which is always nice to know. Anyway I went looking for my first quest and was very surprised to find Boba Fett lurking in the corner giving me a few quests, again getting to meet your favourite SW character after 5 minutes of playing is very nice.

Anyway just to let you know I have played through part of this tutorial before back home but my computer wasn't good enough to run it so I never finished it.

I've also managed to get a few of my friends to download it and play they haven't started yet though so I don't really want to leave them behind, I'm going to wait and then we can all play together which really is the point of these games. But so far very nice I have to say, the graphics are awesome by the way very nice.

Another Influence and a Good Idea!

Another Influence and a Good Idea!
Ok I've just been checking out some videos on youtube as you do and I came across this awesome music video.



It's by the Frattelis, I know not exactly Britain's greatest band in the world but they're ok and they've got a few anthems at least. But that's not the point though this video is awesome, it's animated. I really like the look of the characters in it and I may use this style like the caricature style.

My lecturer Jool's also made a very good point, 'what will my work say about the time I live in?' or something like that. And I think that's a wonderful point and something I hadn't thought about until now? We've been watching all of these terrible films as research and It's easy to see the time they're from such as the one with the French kid's views on rebellion and uprising in between the 2 world wars and why this idea was so scary. Well as I say I haven't even thought about this but I think that I should, so what's happening today here and now?

The recession, bad times, people losing jobs..... all very bad things.

So I was thinking that for my box idea I will use the idea of a run down and battered street. This is the kind of area I grew up in and a sight that seems to be only too normal these days, closed down local shops, graffiti, and so on. I do also like the look of the streets and the buildings in the Fratellis video, so I can do something along those lines well with the view of a run down street on top.

So how will this work, I'm thinking at the minute that the shops will all have shutters on them, however when the user scrolls over them with the mouse the shutters will all come up and clicking on it will allow them to view the thing underneath. One problem I do have though and it's only a slight problem is being able to link my logo, which is almost finished into this depressing atmosphere as it's quite bright and optimistic. Maybe the logo will appear on a television that is then nicked who knows. Anyway I'll do a quick sketch of how my street might look but I'm happy I do have an idea for it at last as I was really struggling to come up with anything.

My Online Identity...

My Online Identity...
Ok I was reading a couple of peoples blogs (as you do) and one post struck me by Tom Waring, check it out, anyway and his post 'My Online Identity' where he talks about his online characters mainly his World Of Warcraft character. Although he makes some very valuable points there is one thing I disagree with 'I don't personally like to de-characterise my creations, and see them as they're own entity almost. I control the character, but I am not the character itself. That is why I don't use tom_349 for character names'.

It's not that I disagree with the fact that he makes up characters I know a lot of people that do that, but my point is I like to place myself in the game I like to think of my characters as extensions of myself not something completely different. I do however give proper names for my characters though, not adam_222 for instance my own World of Warcraft character was called 'Minaith' (very geeky I know, its a pun on Lord of the Rings 'Minas Tirath', wow I'm cool) but I still view it as me. Online games for me give the opportunity to play in a role you will never ever be able to, obviously I'm never going to be a member of the alliance or a Paladin wielding a huge sword. But I still view it as me, I play as human characters and behave as I would behave in that world. For example on my Star Wars Galaxies account I was a bounty hunter who used stealth and speed to bring down my enemies, instead of jumping straight into battles I couldn't win (I must be sounding like a right geek now).

But yeah my point is that I enter these worlds as a version of myself, unlike a lot of the people who play as a character, there's a very geeky joke about when they added voice speak to WoW 'unfortunately most of you will find out that hot night elf chick is really a dude'. Well hopefully you get my point that it is possible to play as yourself on an MMORPG even if I have sacrificed my coolness to make that point. By the Way I'm sorry there's no photo evidence of all of this but I really can't be bothered to pay £15 a month anymore.

I am really struggling to get into second life I have to admit right now so I think I'm going to download the Star Wars Galaxies Online game and hopefully get a couple of my flat mates to play it too (they're Star Wars mad too) so then it can be more of a social thing. Can I just make one point though to save me some respect I only ever played these games because my friends were at the time, I'm not like a guy who sits in his room in the dark with my pretend friends on screen I like the social aspect of being in this world with your friends. But anyway I might start playing SWG or at least the trial and see how I get on I'll post back with details later.

IMVU Avatars

IMVU Avatars

Well I have been a bit of a busy bee recently doing a load of work but I haven't really done a lot in regard to the 4 week diary of a avatar thing so I thought that I'd do a little bit more for that. Everywhere I look on the Internet I seem to see advertisements for this program IMVU so I thought I'd check it out and see what it's like.

Well to begin with I was very happy that it was free (well kind of but I'll come to that it a bit), you choose a basic starting avatar when you register in the beginning, so I chose the one that looked the most like me and registered my avatar with the name 'tunderball2' (I normally use 'tunderball' as my online alias) and continued.

Once it was downloaded I found it very easy to edit my avatar, again like with the Xbox Live Avatar system it is very easy to use, however one thing I found was that a lot of the clothes and hair styles have to be downloaded for credits and although you get some to begin with you have to pay cash to get them afterwards so only the really keane players have all the cool stuff and look how they want to. But still I was able to put together an avatar that looks something like me, one thing I do like is the anime style of the program this works really well.

It is them really easy to start to chat with people, this isn't as epic as Second Life you can more around in a small room and have a chat with some people and that's about it but I quite like it because it's so simple. It's quite a good way to meet new people I don't think that I'll use it any more than I have to, for research into this project.

Logo More Feedback

Logo More Feedback
I quickly showed my logo to Jools my tutor today to get some more feedback and again it was very productive. That's the thing with feedback they spot things that you don't probably because your so involved in creating it.

However, what he said was the paint splats forming the controller was too slow and it took too long for him to recognise what it was. But in regards to my main logo he did generally like it which I am very happy about. One thing he did pick up on however was that the name wasn't clear, so I made this much bigger and a more major part of the logo. Another point was the colours, not that he didn't like the blue colour scheme but perhaps diversifying the colours more, I didn't however want to get rid of the similar colour scheme.

So to solve this I totally changed the colour scheme, to a red, orange and yellow theme helping me to diversify the colours more instead of just having different shades of the same colour. This then allowed me to use the much darker red on top for my images making them stand out much more therefore solving the problem.

What I would like to try next is adding a background to help build up my image more, I do like the white background though so I'm not ruling this out but It's defiantly worth trying adding a fancy background. I probably jumped the gun a little by already starting to animate my logo and now I've changed the colour scheme I'll have to do most of it again, so we'll call it a trial just to see if the idea works and it does. But yeah I'm very happy with the way that this is going and I'm actually getting really into it, It's a fun little project that I can do from the comfort of my own flat.

Logo Movement

Logo Movement



So I thought that I'd make a start on making my logo move and began with making the paint splats on Flash. I am very happy with it so far I must admit, I was slightly annoyed with having to make the entire controller again on Flash but it's done now so ah well. I don't know what else to say, animating the rest of my logo will be difficult so I thought that I'd post this part of it up just to prove that I'm doing something. So anyway enjoy sorry about the poor quality but when it's completely done I'll export it in full quality, anyway have fun...

Logo Feedback and Improvements

Logo Feedback and Improvements

Ok well I showed my logo to some of my arty flat mates and got their feedback which was very positive, however they did suggest that the paint splats were a bit random in their placement, they also said that nothing on it represented my 'geeky' side ie. computer games and so forth.

So I made the paint splats form the rough shape of a Xbox controller, I think this will be most effective when it is animated so the image gradually appears, kind of a Art Attack 'can you tell what it is yet' sort of thing but yeah I'm pretty happy with the results.

I moved the speakers slightly to the left so the controller is still mostly visible underneath. Another thing that came from the feedback was that the guitar was hard to see, my flat mate didn't even realise it was a guitar until I told her. So to solve this problem I changed It's colour so that it stood out more. Other than that no major changes have been made to it really. Just to let you know I may change the location of some of the images such as my name after I've animated it but for the minute I'm very happy with it on the whole. What I like the most is the randomness of the placement of the objects on it, I think this represents my personality better than anything else, I'm not particuar fussed about being neat and tidy or symetrical, I was checking out some of my class mates blogs and the only other logo I find was by Dan Ryland and it is very good by the way check it out but I wasn't crazy about having mine dead symetrical like his although in that case it does work very well.

I think I'll show it to one of my lecturers tommorow and see what they think and unless anything majorly bad happens when they looks at it I'm going to stick with this as my final logo well maybe a few last minute changes but other than that done...... well until I make it move.

Logo Finished Well Kinda

Logo Finished Well Kinda
Ok so I think that I've kind of finished my logo, which is a bit of a relief. Well by finished I mean that I've got a logo that I'm happy with I do need to get some feedback though from some people just to have a bit of a check to make sure that it's all good. A few of my friends are quite arty so that helps and one does do Graphic Design, 'it's not what you know it's who you know'.

So yeah I'll do that tommorow make a couple of changes from what they say and then worry about making it move.

Logo Further Development

Logo Further Development

This is my logo after I developed it a bit more, I added circles around it to help build up the image more, I think that this works well as it adds another level between the images onto top and the paint splats undearnearth and helps to bring it into one image.

I also added my name into the logo, I decided to add it on the side so that it is easier to read instad of being on top of the rest of the image so that it is much easier to read. I also added more paint splats to help bring it into the image more. I think that it needs slightly more development but so far I'm very happy with the results, So I'll develop finish it off then worry about making it move.

Logo Development

Logo Development

I decided to develop most of my initial ideas further so that I could get a sense of what they would look like when assembled.

To begin with I started by dripping paint onto a sheet of white paper and scanning in the results, I then choose the ones that I was happy with on photoshop and assembled them into a larger blog. I am very happy with this effect and I also like the idea of using two colours as I believe that it adds depth to the image.

For my first idea I choose the guitarist and I also combined this with the speaker idea, which I think works well as it builds up the image well. One problem I have though with the speaker is that if it was just a silhouette like the guitarist it would be a circle, which would be rubbish. So I gave it a threshold effect, one thing I couldn't decide however was whether to leave part of it white, here I elected not to but it's something to definitely look into. But all in all I like this logo as a starting point as it has the potential to be made into a moving logo, ie. to guitarist can jump about playing the music coming out of the speaker.

For my second Idea I simply added a footballer to the image again in silhouette, although I like the simplicity of it, I do prefer how my first logo design builds up the logo more by having more images giving it a deeper feel. I also feel the this silhouette works a lot better than the first as it is clearer what the image is doing and the pose he is taking up, again this has the potential to move when finished.

For my final design I choose to add everything into one logo which I think is my strongest idea of the three, I like how the different images interact, and how it appears that the silhouettes come from one source in this case the speaker. Obviously this idea needs a lot of development but I believe that it is the strongest idea I have come up with. I'm going to look at the positioning of my silhouettes and the posture they are taking up, I also want to look at adding my name into it somehow, one thing I am very keane on is making sure that my name simply isn't stuck onto the image so I need to find a way to make it appear to be interacting with the rest of the logo.

By the way sorry for the really rubbish presentation on this post, It's so hard to get images onto text and keep the post looking normal.

Logo Rough Ideas

Logo Rough Ideas

I've just knocked up a few initial ideas for my logo, and I'm quite happy with the results. I've used the idea of using paint splats in the background with an image in the foreground that will be in silhouette.

The trouble is as I stated earlier I would like it to move slightly and this would be much easier to achieve with the silhoettes idea rarter than with the stotic items such as the guitar, so I am favouring that idea more. Another thing I would like to try is to combine some of the images from my intial ideas into one super logo.

So my next job is to get onto photoshop and start developing my logos.

Logo Ideas

Logo Ideas

Hey well I've just finished my Gannt Chart (I'll post it up later) and I've realised how tight this deadline is going to be. So I've decided to crack on with some my logo since it's the only thing I can do from the comfort of my student bedsit.

Anyway I kind of thought that I wouldn't go for the traditional very simple logo idea and instead I'd have a complicated logo with a lot of things on it that represent me, so I started to find a few logos that look good and that suit the style I'm looking for.

What I liked about both of these was the silhouette idea as well as lots of items all popping out of the same location, ie. the Cola bottle.

One thing that interests me about using silhouettes is that they could be made to move giving my logo a bit of a twist. Another idea that I like is how they appear to be very messy, I think this could be quite representative of my personality, I don't consider myself to be an organised person and I have no fascination with time or routine. Therefore I do like the idea of paint splats built up on top of each other which could represent the arty side to me in a much more subtle way to simply adding a silhouette of a paint brush.

Although I have stated that I'd like to make it move, I am yet unsure how to do this, I would really like to try making it 3D and have it spin around maybe bounce, who knows. I also know that logos do work well in 3D from their use before the football game on Sky sports where they spin around, I'd upload a video of it but I can't find one to save the life in me and unfortunately I don't have Sky sports.

So yeah I want to make it move however I might try quickly doing a moving one in Flash, but for the minute I'll concentrate on making it first, I'll post back later with my Gannt chart and the results of the early stages of my logo design.

3D Animation Squid

3D Animation Squid

Just a quick update, I just finished my squid in 3D Studio Max, It's a good program actually because the animation is really easy and simple to do, but I'll keep plowing along learning the program and hopefully get a lot better at the modelling aspect of the program. But yeah I'm slowly getting the hang of this...

SPP Tuesdays Lecture

SPP Tuesdays Lecture

I just wanted to stick up a quick post about how surprised I was by Tuesdays lecture mainly because I was dreading it. Basically we all had to make a 1 minute power point presentation all about us and we all showed these to the group and took notes then said who we thought the person was.

I absolutely loved it, it was a really good way to get to know the group, to this point I knew a good few of them and recognised them all but didn't know everybody but now I feel that I know a lot more about them and doing the seminar was really fun and a good ice breaker. I also got a good few ideas from it for my Identities module and helped me focus on who I am, for instance I didn't know just how much I liked computer games.

Another thing that came out of it was how good some of the people on my course are, to be honest I was expecting about half of the group to have done the task, but they all did and some of them were done really well, I was impressed. I've noticed recently that our seminar group seems to keep getting smaller and a lot of the blogs on the reflective journal are empty, it's almost like the people that are left are the ones who are prepared to work really hard, which only makes me want to work harder to keep up.

So yeah a really good seminar I didn't even mind waiting 25 mins for it to start.

Avatar Mood Board and Ideas

Avatar Mood Board and Ideas


I finally finished my Mood Board today so I thought that I'd add it up here. I do plan to add another up that will be the inspiration for my Box so that will be a bit more arty, this however is a sprawling mess as I wanted to have lots of images and insprations up at the same time.

Anyway from it I've already generated a couple of ideas. The first was my original idea of a human avatar using a caricature idea but having lots of inspration from the artwork of Jamie Hewlett. The second is a much more fancy idea, I was walking down the road the other day after a lecture and managed to catch part of a conversation from some people on my course and their Box ideas sound fancy and very good. One guy was planning to make his box a space ship with his avatar in cryogenic sleep inside, Wow. So I'm a little worried that just a standard 3D avatar won't stand up against some of these ideas, So I was thinking of doing an animal avatar with human postures, much like the RARE characters ie Banjo and Fox McCloud.

I'm still undecided yet I think the animal idea is good but I don't know how I could justify it being me as I don't have any particular fascination with animals. Also modelling animals would be very hard because of fur and other things. So I'm leaning towards the human avatar idea at the minuite although I'm worried that it won't be as good an idea as some of my class mates if I do it well it might hopefully stand up as well as being a better representation of me which is what the entire module is about.