Blog Wrap-up

I am supposed to have 45-50 blogs, so I am forced to end it at 50. I will post again if I come by something interesting. At the end of this short semester, I have gone on the internet and found many things I liked and that were well done. Music, Video, and images all serve as key components in video game design and all are which i need to look out for. This wouldn't be a post if I did not show something. This time it is not a work done by Wen-jr, but by yours truly. I am going to post some things that I have done. While they are not the best in the world by any means, I worked on them and I want to use them as a placeholder of what I have done in the past before I step into the future. I am not good with photoshop, and I tend to just give up half the time when it takes too long, but I still want to show it on this blog. See you all around. Live long and prosper as Sir Spock would say.

Ascii

What is so special above the image above? It is quite simple really. Simple in conept and simple to explain. The whole image is made from text! This is called Ascii art which uses text to make an image. Some people try to fool you by overlaying an image on a wall of text in photoshop, but true ascii art is above. ALL done with text. It is difficult to judge which character should go where and how long it can take. it could take hours, maybe days depending on what you are trying to do. I am posting this to show the dedication some people have and to show that if someone works so hard on this, it must show how hard you must work on more complex projects. While simple it is well done considering it is just the head of an anime character. I do not have the patience for such a thing, but I like to see Ascii now and then.

CG-Final Wen-Jr Strikes Back

I am going to wrap this three post series up with another appearance of Wen-Jr. He makes magnificent pieces of art and I could only wish I had half the talent he possesses. His work ALONE defines what I aspire to do in video game design. While he is not video game designer, his pieces reflect the quality of modeling and rendering that I wish to do. Take for example the Fuchikoma below:

The amount of detail in the metal and design to accurately reflect the 2D anime robot is so crazy. Metal is always hard to get right with small scratches and dents and everything is hard to model, but he does it like it was nothing. He usuall takes about three days of work too. If ONLY I could do something like this and I hope to be able to in the future. Next take a look at a different style, with an anime woman rendered on a fuchikoma:

The fuchikoma above is the same one as above, just turned around to fit the image. The background is actually a stock image edited to fit the whole composition. The woman is new and man does she look great. She is the main character from Ghost in the Shell. And personally I believe she is well done here. Wen-JR does what I want to do. This is the future of most art as it enters the digital age. I now leave you with another of his pieces. WARNING, the picture may not be suitable for some people so do not look if you do not wanna see:

CG-2

This image reflects another thing I like to do: watch anime. Aside from that, it is well done. Especially for a fantasy scene. This image is used for this post in order to show that CG is not all high end graphics for games and movies. Far from that fact actually. CG is the sole practice of making graphics on a computer and its carious possible programs that you can use. CG can range from a photoshop drawing to the image above and even to the last post's image. As said in a previous post, art and design is almost completely dissolved into the digital media and age. It is most likely many things now will be rendered in CG formats. However from a personal standpoint, I love the high end stuff like the last post the most. However works like the image above is ok as well, but I like the pretty stuff.

CG-1

For a few posts I would like to talk about CG, or Computer Graphics. The image above was all made on a computer and most likely with the aid of a program. Now not all CG are still images, they can be video too. Many movies today use CG when they can not get something done because it is not humanly possible and still can't be done with wires. They turn to CG and make it look as real as possible and then proceed with the process. The image above shows what I plan to do with my life, only in game design. The amount of detail is great and the human female is made accurately. It is a great piece. There are those who do this without any education on the matter, but they have pure talent. I hope to learn this in school with the modeling and design classes given to me.

Celestial 4

The last three posts and now finally including this one were all found by searching for celestial. I end this series with this vector-like art. It is indeed great to look at, but what of the process that went into making this? My answer is that I wish I knew. I would love to make great vector art like this, but I have little knowledge and talent in making something even basic. Which is why I need to extend my knowledge like everyone else should. We should all never stop learning in what we love to do. Mine is Video games and then graphic art, so I will always be looking into those. It today’s world and economy, we can not afford to fall behind in out personal learning. It is essential to get to where you want to be in your life.

Intersting

Sometimes there are artists, or just people, who can create works of art that are visually awesome, but still seem to be strange............or at the very least interesting. The above image is no exception. Artists these days are no better than Picasso, trying to mess with out minds and just ask why. The above image is a great visual piece, but the person seems to be throwing me off a bit. Is that a smile i see? While it is draining the life out of Earth or something? It seems the artists has some future plans we may need to know about. I could never come up with something like this let alone be able to make it. It IS interesting and visually appealing, but that is all I can say about it. Like Picasso’s work, I can’t begin to fathom what the maker was thinking when this was made.

Texture

Texture is what you feel when you touch something physically. Above is an image with a visible texture which was used to give it a grungy effect. The human mind always wants to make the body touch things, me included. I always think "What if I touched it?" or "What does it feel like?" Well that only happens when I can't make a guess. Here I can make a guess. It is grungy so it would feel like rough or hard, although it is shiny in the corner and dark in the others, like it should be soft. Everything has a texture but you can make some things more interesting by giving it a visual texture aside from its physical one. I will always wonder how people come up with these textures as it is easy to know that they took an image in photoshop and overplayed the texture onto it. Aside from that, the image is pretty nice.

Open Canvas

For those of you who can draw, I recommend Open Canvas programs. The image above was done 90% in Open Canvas and 10% in Photoshop. Such good digital art, drawn by hand is great. There are many people who do this, but the world could use more artists drawing their art digitally and editing them with other programs if they so desire. The world is shifting into a digital age and sooner or later, everything will probably be digital, even paintings. I am not saying everything HAS to be digital, but it seems inevitable to not move on with the change. As the digital things come, people will get even lazier and will want to see online museums rather than going to one themselves most of the time. It is kinda sad and good at the same time. Good as out technology and knowledge grow, but sad as people become too dependent on such things.

Urban Violence

While this image looks awesome and the manipulation to make it look gloomy and in terror is simply just awesome, that is not why I chose it this time around. It is more of a parody on violence in urban areas. The only people are is maybe those in cars or maybe the guy walking on the right. What does it mean? It shows just how people are just turning a blind eye to all these events, even if they are out in the open. Gangs and other criminals do what they want until they kill someone or rob a convenient store and are caught on camera or something. Tthis picture can give you the wrong idea with the monster things attacking, but it is meant to be ridiculous to throw you off. It is just an example of how we are too busy with our own personal issues to even look at the problems around us.

Combining Hand Drawn with Photoshop

Here is something I see less uncommon these days. It is a very simple process as well. You take a hand drawn, uncolored art like this was, many times from a manga or something, and open it in photoshop. You then proceed to make new layers set on the multiply type. Then you choose you colors with the round brush and go at it. Multiply allows you to color over black lines and thus not having to worry about messing up as you have layers as well. This is what happened with the above picture. What makes this better is that is uniquely drawn AND colored by the same guy. And how he was able to color it with all the curves and styles plating around is pretty awesome to say the least. As I said, it is not uncommon these days and many people do it, even professionals as it is easier to color in photoshop than real life.

Another Matte

Matte Paintings today are usuall done in computer programs and edited there as well, however in the old days, they were painted on large sheets of glass using pastel or oil paints because they were scenes and locations that would be too expensive or impossible to build. Computers then edited in the live action footage from a green screen and it all came together. As seen with the excellen piece above, the paintings are usually VERY detailed and well done. Not only does it look epic, but it fits the criteria of it being an impossible. Some notable mattes are the Government Warehouse in Raiders of the Last Ark, Emerald City in Wizard of Oz, and even London as Mary Poppins floated on her umbrella. Today these things are pretty much painted in photoshop or another design program for ease and lesser cost of materials total, but it is amazing how they did it in the past.

Simple Space

Another picture all done in photoshop. Anyone in 201 can do something like this, given the right shuttle picture and the tutorial for it as you need at most that and maybe a brush pack to do this. It is a beautiful shot of a red and blue colored planet. It also has the "badass" tone to it with the rocks floating around it. The stars and nebula are done exceptionally well too. I have done stuff like this before but I always lacked toe patience to do it right and decently. It shows just how powerful photoshop can be. This picture is an understatement though as it can do much more than this given the skill. People should go out and find tutorials and learn more and more if they have to. Even if you are not an artist, you can make something great just by following a simple tutorial on the web. Its ironic how awesome art can be taken from must have skill with hands and tools to the use of a mouse and a program.

Orchestra Again

I used this Orchestra at the beginning of my post series as well. They’re back with another piece. This is the same song I used in my seventh 201 assignment. This piece just gives you much more feel than normal in the moments it is played in. The moments when the person shows the determination and will succeed at what they believe is right. The Orchestra plays it so well and with the instruments all clear so one can hear them all. There are Orchestras all over that do video game and anime music because unlike what some people think, their music can be nothing short of amazing. The Eminence Orchestra played this song along with the other pieces they used from video games. Even if they were like Mario, they were performed well and entertainingly. I believe that there should be more groups like this to share the wonders of such skill in music.

Landscape-I am in Awe Again

People have so much ability that I do not. This isa beautiful piece. It is a 3D landscape made in Vue 7. I hope I can do such things when I become a video game designer because I really wish this place existed in our world. It is very good and something that I have no current ability before. I found this by searching digital landscapes on deviant art. I saw others, but this one stood out so quickly for me. These are some of the best kinds of art to base places in video games off of. I could draw a lot of inspiration when thinking of concepts for a game. If not, it also gives me a peaceful mind to think as I look at it anyway. The power of what you can see can change everything. And looking at this, it gives the atmosphere around me a soft and cozy feeling.

Abstract

Abstract is one of my favorite types of art styles. I am much more into graphical art like above. It is a really interesting piece and I love how it looks aged. Go to deviant-art and search abstract to find such pieces of art and just look how interesting they are. It is a widely done type among the internet and outside it as well. A good thing about abstract is that it doesn’t need to be understood to be good. And that is EXACTLY what I like about it. It bugs me when I have to explain everything to some people. Colors, curves, hierarchy, and everything else comes into play in this work here. It just looks awesome, for me anyway. Everyone who reads this should go out and look for abstract work in other places. Do not try to understand it as it will take away from it.

One-Man Band

First off: Take a Minute and Listen to This Guy. all by himself:



This whole song is not only serene and relaxing, but it is all done by this one guy. The amount of effort to play each instrument alone and then line them all up correctly for the video is outstanding to say the least. Do not get me wrong, a lot of people have done the one-man band thing, but I decided to post this one instead because of how he did so many things for the piece other than just placing guitar, drums, and a base for the song. He used a variety of instruments, glasses, and even his own voice. You can go into you tube and fid other people who do this kind of stuff and more. There is so much talent out there, but the world ignores it. This guy can be really something and needs to go farther, because I know he can. There are people on the internet who know so much about things I couldn’t even fathom. I would love to even be able to do a fraction of what this fellow did.

Dark Art

I can’t say I am in love with this piece, but I am using it as an example for Dark Art. Dark Art is a term used when a graphic artist makes a gloomy, dismal, gothic, distorted, and so on image. ANYTHING you can think of when it comes the word “dark.” It is usually done with people taking a human and transforming them into another being or creature. Like in the image above where you see the human like mutating into something. It is interesting on how or why people do this, but there are just some who love it. I am writing about it solely because it is “interesting” to me, but nothing else really. Dark Art has its roots in history from the gothic style of art done in the past. It is nothing new, but I wanted to throw it out in the open in order to change the mood from my past posts. I think atleast everyone should go and check the style out at least once.

Atlas

Those who never paid attention in class when talking about Ancient Greek and/or Roman Gods and their myths around them, probably does not have even the slightest clue about how to see this picture. First off, let me say this picture did not stand out greatly at me, but I found it interesting on how a simple idea worked pretty well and was kinda funny. The picture depicts Atlas taking a break. Atlas was a Titan who was condemned by Zeus to hold up world forever. Now you see here in this picture that Atlas is taking a break, so lets hope the world doesn’t end because of him. I believe there should be more new media artists that use ancient mythology in their works. Whether it be songs, games, pictures, or movies. I looked around and of course found some, but there should be more out in the open ones in the public world known by many. A GREAT example was the God of War series, but that is just a pebble in the sea of boulders.

Milkman vs Mailman

Barats and Bereta are back since my last posting of them and their Mousemate video! This time they show how the rivalry of the Milkmen and the Mailmen of the 1950s escalates into a serious feud. I found this video HIGH-larious. They are making more and more videos which I love as well, but this one is exceptional. If one doesn’t know NBC picked these two comedic geniuses up and is creating a new show staring them called “This is Culdesac.” Which I think was a smart move by NPC. There is so much great talent in the world of the internet that it would be UNWISE not to look for something that can work. I mean CBS had ThatGuyWithTheGlasses do a commercial for them one time. I could NOT find any other show based off someone from the internet as of yet so NBC is creating one of the first and I expect it to create a string of new shows off the internet to compete and gain views which they most likely will. I just hope no one asks that stupid Fred kid to do his own show. My god that would be horrible.

With Lyrics!

The above is a video made by the user Brentalfloss. You know him if you read my first post. In this series of videos he takes songs, so far from video games only, and adds lyrics to them. He recreates the original tunes himself on his equipment and then makes then sings the lyrics for the songs. They all for fun and are supposed to be funny so don't watch it expecting something serious. A lot of people do this today, even bands endorsed by the companies of the original games. Also, if games have something like this, why not other shows? Well I looked around and found videos by ThatGuyWithTheGlasses who did that very thing. I really enjoy this series and find most of them very funny, for both of the creators mentioned here, and would love to see more. I expect there will definitely be more demand for lyrics to be added to these songs that don't have them and I think there will be some serious ones by SOMEBODY later on.

Pentool!?

I lovethis piece, not only because of its Japanese-style artistry, but the use of only a few colors, concept, and hierarchy of the entire piece. Believe it or not, this is all done 100% by the pen tool. Which is just insane. The pen tool is a Photoshop tool that uses lines and curves to make shapes the user wants, but it is very difficuly to control, let alone master. I fail to see how the artist did the female face. However, I shouldn't as I have seen things made with the pen tool that end up looking 100% real. This ahd to be made with dilligiance because regardless of how good you are, you'll mess up with the tool here or there and have to go back and fix something, even if you save often, it will not help with that accursed tool.

The Guardian

I love this piece, not only because of its Japanese-style artistry, but the use of only a few colors, concept, and hierarchy of the entire piece. Believe it or not, this is all done 100% by the pen tool. Which is just insane. The pen tool is a Photoshop tool that uses lines and curves to make shapes the user wants, but it is very difficult to control, let alone master. I fail to see how the artist did the female face. However, I shouldn't as I have seen things made with the pen tool that end up looking 100% real. This had to be made with diligence because regardless of how good you are, you'll mess up with the tool here or there and have to go back and fix something, even if you save often, it will not help with that accursed tool.

Penance

This piece doesn't have too much going on but I like it nonetheless. The colors and contrast are just great and I love the sunset feel to this. It matches the story behind it. The artist on deviant art said this is about a man reaching the end of jis journey, looking for forgiveness and whether or not Penance will hear his call will be seen. The figure reaching the sunset-like light symbolizes the end of the journey as do most artists, writers, etc. when thinking of sunsets. The large thing in the background is called an Abstract C4D render and was probably made in Cinema4D by the artist or someone else. Though it looks cool and fits back here, I do not sense a real purpose other than to look cool. Maybe he was wanting to draw the eye to the sunset more or show the sunset like it was exploding. Aside from that, I like how it has a story about it. Some pieces of art can be created off a simple line of text, reflecting that moment.

From 8bit to Metal!!!!!!

The above song is a cover by the band Powerglove. I LOVE this song. Not only because it is from one of my favorite games but how they went from one great piece from the game to another so good. Powerglvoe does their versions on metal and it is crazy how they can take a song performed in only 8-bit sounds to......well this! The drums although do get a little heavy. This band only does usually popular songs and only from video games. Which is probably why I like to listen to them. There are several bands who do this. Some examples are MegaDriver and The Megas. The bands used the term ReMix, not to be confused with its cousin remix, to refer to new interpretations instead of alterations to the song itself.

Dissidia

Please ignore the text that appear at the beginning. The video is mirrored so youtube wont mess with it. Enjoy the CG video.



This is the opening to the PSP Game, Dissidia: Final Fantasy. This is what I want to do in the future. Not only this CG content but the games itself. I want to design and make these games. This clip catches my eye not only because I am a fan, but all the action and details of the opening are amazing. I really want to do things like this. the game was made to celebrate all the games in the Final Fantasy series and to basically give the best fan service they could. Being on of the company's only fighting games, it did exceedingly well with fans and people who are new or not even a part of the franchise. The game utilizes the PSP's graphics to the fullest. Being a handheld video game, the content was amazing. Technology is rapidly increasing and so does the need for new and higher forms of CG and graphics like this game produces.

Wen-jr yet again

Ok so I am being redundant with this artist so this will be the last one for a while. This piece sure is different though. What catches my eye is the colors used, the great lighting and contrast, and especially the surrealistic look. It has a humanoid......thing almost like it is tied into this spider looking machine. I have no idea where he is going with this and I dont think he does either. He said he is not inspired with it so it is not moving along in the way he wants it. The title of the piece is called Magus Compo II. This is one of the first non model/CG work from Wen-jr, but............I do not get it. Though I still like how it looks. Surrealism has long roots in history and usually displays odd looking things like this. Not possible........yet.

First Tsurugi

Ok, so I love swords and video games and animated movies. So what happens when a sword from an animated movie(CG) based off one of my favorite video games of all times is made by an artist? My mind explodes is what happens. This sword is just awesome. It is made up of 6 separate swords with different ranges and functions. However, I am here to discuss the picture. The detail on this work is just amazing. The small scratches and usage appears on it. The fabric it is on in the back is very details as well. Wen-jr yet again amazes me in his abilities. I hope to be able to do this in the future. Also a little note on this sword. The company who made the movie actually had the combing sword made but together it weights 720 pounds. Which is impossible for MOST people to pick up and wield. The guy in the ovie and game however wielding this like it was a stick.

Vectors

The above piece is simple yet it is great to look at and makes your eyes follow the swirls of vector water. I personally love it for the style of vector and the blue colors. It really gives me the feel of swirling water. The lightning is good and has some simple but good shading near the edges of the vectors. Vectors are 2D, flat types of art with simple, solid colors. Like cartoons and Anime for example. They have 1 solid color which is sharp and everything on them instead of a smooth transition to it. That is vector. Limited colors that create an art. I like this style as well as very detailed.

Fantasy Mountains

Aside from the deviantart logon watermark on it, this image is just beautiful. The lush green environment mixed with the housing built into the mountains there is something I wish I could see in real life today. If only, if only. Believe it or not, the artist did this in a matte painting followed by an IFX tutorial. Upon looking into it, I found an IFX was actually ImagineFX. A site and magazine dedicated to scifi and fantasy and more types of art. They even have tutorials I hear. I would check it out further but I can not draw or let alone paint so I will leave it up to the readears here to go check this out.

Photomanipulation-Angel of Death

This image looks dark yet cool doesn't it. This is done in photoshop merely by using photomnaiplation. Photo-manipulation is when you use pre-existing images and/or photos to create something new while editing them to blend in with each other and not clash so it is obvious. Three images were used here and then using photoshop the desginer added effects like fire to the buolding some color and blending. All so it would match up into his title and theme. At the bottom of this post are the three images he used. I like this piece because of it's dark theme and great blended environment. It really gives off the feel of darkness and destructions of the modern day.

Images used:

http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/3483/wallpaperprototype07128qj5.jpg
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/6567/stock10ds0.jpg
http://alexiuss.deviantart.com/art/Antecedent-Terminus-72614364

Smooth Transisting Animation

This is the current opening sequence to an Anime I watch. Usually the shows has some cheesy opening with some basic animation, but the opening here is like movie quality for anime. The animation is just so smooth and everything. Personally, this is the best opening in both series of the show. This is the 6th opening of the long running series. Also, the dark contrasting with minor fully, vivid, and bright colors was very interesting in the beginning. As well as the dark style of animation halfway through the video. The manga started back in 1999 and it's 10th birthday already passed. It is very popular all over the world and is still continuing to this day. Hopefully the opening's animation will be used in the show because it has been getting some choppy animation a lot recently.

Epsilon Lyrae: The Product of PSD Collaboration

This picture is aaaaaaaaammaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-zing! The great colors and contrast! The surreal and dreamy effects and lok. I love it all. The city or whatever it is on the cliff side and planes, flying machines, making the streams in the air are all just awesome. My favorite part though has to be the back of the image on the right. It looks like the sunset is on fire! The interesting par tthough is that this was a collaboration between two people on deviantart. Akajork and Pr3t3nd3r shifted a PSD between each other for about a month to get this result. Two great people put their abilities together and made something even better. I believe this would be a great thing for something like 201. Two People shifting a file back and forth, even if we are not the greatest artists, to get a better result. Two heads are better than one sometimes and this picture here shows it. You can get more out of a friend.

On the Road Again

Expect to see a few more Wen-jr pieces in the future. Like the Cold Heart Fury picture, elements in the piece here are rendered in a modeling program and some in photoshop. The motorcycle and the man here are modeled. They are VERY well done and this is why I like it. It gives the picture here the feel of him driving at great speed. The background is part photograph and part edited in photoshop. With that you can tell how real it looks because of how it just fits in. The renders and the background have little to not txture contrast level so it looks like it is in the same place and they are not fake. A very good piece.

Cold Heart Fury

There is a lot of blue but I really like this picture. I like most of this guy's work though. The contrast and color are just working with each other to make an epic picture. The swirl of water behind here is well done. She also has a huge sword so that helps make it even more epic. The female here is really well done as well. How he did this was thta he made the person in a modeling program and then used other programs such as photoshop to add the other effects. Though I do not have a quote for this, on his page you can see an example of how he does, actually multiple examples, where he has the models of some of his work posted on how he did it. I can not post them here since some of them have nudity since that is how a modeling program does it. This is one thing I hope to learn how to do in college next to making them for video games.

Abstractness

I like this design because of the tons of different colors and the shape. The bakground is pretty soothing as well. However if you look closely, you can see a bird shape to it. That is th true intention of this artist. On the artist's deviant art, he made this to enter a Large art contest on a forum he goes to. I found this piece by browsing that forum. Which it is planetrenders.net. This is an abstract piece and these can sometimes be hard to read. I would not have noticed the bird without reading the discription that is an animal. The artist name is huMAC and his deviant art has other nice images you should check out. According to him, it is apparently "a Philippine epic book."

Dark and Light Create Balance

I love this image. Many reasons why I can not put into words. But somethings I can explain is the balance of light and dark There is minimal light her, which is the source of being able to view this image in the first place. The title of the piece is Controlling Chaos. You look at the image and you see this strange, bubbly object that is twisting around with only 1 source of light in the background.

Thes et up gives it certainly a chaotic feeling. The take-away from this is not using balance but setting up your design in the way it is most effective. Here the example is using strong light to dark.

I do not know what tis is, but....

I like it. It is like a mix between very old Japanese art and Pablo Picasso. I can not describe this but I just find it appealing. It seems random to me, but the creator had some sort of idea in mind for this. To put in to words what I take away from this is that, well......There are somethings in design we do not understand but others do. We may never understand somethings but that should not take away from what is before you. You do not need to understand something to like or hate it.

There are tons of images similar to this in history and today. You jsut go up and skip it ebcause it looks different than what you expect. Images do not need to tell you what they mean. of course it is nice to know, but the visual aspect is there regardless.

Making New from Old

I have no idea what inspired this video, but I believe it not only hilarious, but very creative. It starts off by playing chess but somehow they start playing other board games with the chess pieces and make an entirely long and inventive idea. It was just a video for laughs as their other ones are. But this is awesome! They took a bunch of old and dated board games and made something new and cool out of it. If I had the time, and knew how to play some of them, I would totally go and try it. Though I would have to find a dramatically cool room first.

I have not seen anything like this before, but I have been subscribed to these guys for a little while. Check out their other creative videos at their channel which you can find by searching "Barats and Bereta" on youtube. Creativity is the basis of youtube even though some use it just for rants and stupid stuff. Now enjoy the video!

Some think video games are useless

But those people in my opinion are wrong. Some people are able to use video games and come up with something on their own. It is like a chain of inspiration. The following music piece was conceived by a youtube artist. He created this music from the feelings and impact made on two games, Star Ocean and Phantasy Star. They had such a good impact that he could create 3:05 of music. This is something we all need to learn. We need to take in what is already here, gain a feeling and feel the impact, then create something on our own. Not everything can be done on one's own. Sometimes we need to take in what is in existence and make something of it. Not everything ie useless. Everything has something to offer. And now without further ado, here is the piece:



I feel that this music is just awesome. Serene and gives you the feeling of what the future can hold and what he hope to accomplish.

Why can't all urban areas be this cool?

Look at this picture. Do we have anything that looks this cool in Indiana just from highways and a city background? From my experience, no. And if there is, I would be glad to see it. The lighting of this picture and perspective is awesome. I can't tell if this was created in photoshop or it is natural. If it is natural, then that is amazing. I would love to see something like this in real life. It is a nice scene and has nice colors going on.

I can't really improve it myself but it could do with probably another color in the mix. That is about it but if it is just a real place, then there isn't really anything to be done. I for one like this picture and would love to see more of this.

Time's Scar

First off it is best to listen to this before youmread the blog, so here is the video:



This piece is beautiful. It is not only from one of my favorite video games of all time, which I believe to have the best OST ever, but it is composed with many different elements you normally do not see. The OST itself is made up of many elements including but not limited to: African Percussion, flute solo, orchestrated pieces, and more. It is an odd group of music for a video games as you usually see guitar and drums only. There are many different versions across youtube and I propose you go listen to some of them. It is a nice song. This and the other soundtrack's songs, well most of the non-battle ones, give me the feeling like I am in a clean, outside field with a nice breeze blowing. It just gives me the feeling of piece that I don't usually feel in a place like Indianapolis. No other song, or soundtrack for that matter, has ever given me such a feeling even close to that.

I really do not see how I could make this better other than that I would love to see a longer version. Not only did this orchestra give the right sounds for a new variation but it also kept the feel of the original piece. That is what remixes or other versions should do to an original. Give it the justice it delivers itself. Here is the original piece:



Listen and compare. Not TOO difference, but slightly variated to say the least. This is on of the best songs I have that I can remember clearly on a daily basis. To end this post, I leave you with several other peaces from the same OST that I find great.

Box Trees

Driving back from school down Meridian Street yesterday, I saw trees. Of course you wonder "So? there's always been trees there!" These weren't ordinary trees, oh no. These were Box Trees. So you wonder: are these treese that are in the shape of boxes? Are they like when you go trim the hedges? NO! These are trees where someone has cut a box shape out of it. Everyone knows when the brances get too long for big vehicles to drive, the government or property owner has them trimmed down. However who in the right mind thought this was a good idea? It looks absolutely horrendous and dumb. Someone had to been lazy or they had to have hired a guy with a single arm.

It looks terrible. Whoever is paying them got ripped off. Because this was a poor job on the cutter's part. They need to go back and re-do the darn thing. I mean there was one tree that if they went up a single more inch, they would have mmde it look nicely cut. That is either dedication to make a box shape or they are just that lazy. Plus large trucks still can't get through some of the opening so that is another downside. To all the tree cutters out there: don't be lazy. Make the trees look nice so we don't have to be hounded by boxes wherever we go. Thank you and good night. I leave you with that note.

Wix

Wix is a website used to CREATE websites. Although it is MUCH more expansive than other websites. I, myself, have already made one and I really like it. It could be a little faster but it is free and I understand because it has so much usable content. It is user friendly and media oriented to fit the needs of the web site's creator. I suggest everyone going there and at the least try it out. There ARE TONS of website creators out there but nothing as mediated as Wix here. Of course many free site creators are adding more stuff to their availability but still I see Wix above the rest. Though there have always been sites that allow what Wix does, just not free. But as the costs of running such media goes down, one should expect to see more free sites creators like Wix appearing.

Internet People 2

This blog entry is about an online video. This video itself is about the many people spread across the web, mainly youtube, who are more than so well known by many, many other people. This is a good video for many good reasons. Although I did not like the first one, this one had good music and vocals. Although the second one was not made by the original guy and was made more or so as a tribute. I barely know anyone in the video, but it gives information on just how many people are out there and do so many different things for fun an entertainment on the web. Not only that, but the style of artwork used to make the video is eye catching and appealing. They're all hand drawn by a collaborator with the singer and music writer of the video, Brent. Brent, or known more by his Youtube name Brentalfloss, is most famous for his Megaman Intros with Lyrics. I like most of his videos, but this one really popped out at me an I usually tend to watch once or twice a week.

The only thing that I could add to make it better would have to be that he could have added some more people that are famous, but in truth, there is already a lot there. The song is really catchy although there are a few couple of instances that some people may not like when he says a small profanity word or he added a "certain, repulsive video" mention in with the famous people. So if you are the kind of person who can't stand those minor mentions, then don't pay attention or do not watch the video.

I came across this video on my main page as I was already subscribed to Brentalfloss on Youtube after watching his MM3 Intro w/ Extended Lyrics video. If you have not seen it, I reccomend you go to his page and view it or you can watch it below: