Welcome to Draw Something for reals…. the Tumblr dedicated to those who take Draw Something Seriously and create amazing art. I’ll keep it up with some stuff that I did… My UserName is Nato_VanDookie… I’d be happy to start a game with you… Submissions are welcome and can be sent to nathan.vandookie.animation@gmail.com. Check out my other Tumblr: http://vandookiemation.tumblr.com
Finally! It has been a long time since I posted anthing art related on here… Primarily, the reason for this is that I’ve been spending a lot of time at work and/or travelling to/from work (this is not a complaint, I am so thankful to have a job). On top of that, it was video game season… so many major releases came out in the last few months and that consumed most of my free time. But I have been working on stuff. This is something I’ve been working on in my downtime at work since probably my second day with my tablet. I really wanted to test my tablet out as a device to be used for coloring illustrations. Come to find out, it works just fine. Sure, it doesn’t offer me the speed or precision of a Wacom drawing tablet and my monster of a PC, but definitely functional. I did this 100% on my tablet using a combination of my Kensington Pen/Stylus combo and my new Wacom Bamboo Stylus. I’m pretty satisfied with the results. I didn’t get as detailed as I might on my computer, but really Sketchbook mobile for android is not the most full-featured application. I’ll probably start a new one tomorrow to see if I can’t knock one out a bit quicker. Lineart created by the uber talented/sick Ryan Ottley and is the cover for one of the funniest comics I’ve ever read: Grizzly Shark.
As every year comes to a close, every publication starts working on their “____ of the year” awards. It’s an exciting time because it’s fun to see if the games, movies, books you love will be given that great praise of Best of the Year. Now, I’m by no means a publication… technically this is a sketch blog… but I want to discuss my favorites for 2011.
It’s tough to put into words how much I truly loved Batman: Arkham City. I mean, Arkham Asylum is easily one of my all-time favorite games despite its repetitive boss fights, and absurd ending… but Arkham City, wow… What a game!
To preface this review, it should be mentioned that I am a huge fan of Batman: the Animated Series. I have all 4 seasons on DVD and am always up for watching them I’ve always been a fan of the Batman films, and several of the one-off batman graphic novels and mini-series are among my all-time favorite comic book reads. Basically, I’m a batman fan… have been as long as I can remember. This will influence my review. I am biased, and I think it’s only fair that you know.
Arkham city picks up a short time after the events in Arkham Asylum. There’s a short 6 issue comic that does a good job of explaining what happened between the two games. It’s not essential really, the game does a good job of letting you know what’s going on, but it’s still a good read. But the basic gist is this: Dr.Hugo strange convinces the newly elected Mayor Quincy Sharp (previously, the warden of Arkham Asylum) to rope off a rundown part of Gotham City, and turn it in to a giant prison for all the inmates of Arkham Asylum and Blackgate Prison. It’s a crazy idea, but Hugo Strange is pretty good at influencing people and manages to convince everyone it’s the best plan after the failures that occurred at Arkham in the previous game. That’s the basic premise. Throughout the campaign, in a variety of side missions, you will face a ton of classic Batman villains including Two-Face, Penguin, and of course The Joker. Many others make appearances, and many more are referenced… it’s a Batman fan’s dream game. But I’ll let you play the game for yourself to get the rest of the incredible story. I will say though, the ending this time around is so much better than Arkham Asylum. I can’t wait to see where the series will go from here.
The campaign by itself probably lasted about 10 hours, but I did some side missions along the way, and by the time I finished the story, I had played the game for 18 hours. Now, having more than 24 hours in the game, I’m still only 62% of the way through everything this game has to offer. It’s immense. You have the campaign of course, but there are also the Riddler challenges which are far more interesting and difficult this time around (honestly, I may have to look at a guide to figure out how to get some of the trophies hidden throughout the game world). You also have several other villain-based side stories dealing with everything from serial murders to simply blowing up barrels. On top of that, there’s even the added bonus of Catwoman sections that put you in control of Batman’s villain/love interest for a few missions. She comes with her own moveset, gadgets, and even special riddler trophies. Her story weaves through the main story every now and then, and honestly, feels a bit tacked on… but it’s pretty fun to play from a different perspective. And even more on top of that, there are random crimes that need preventing and hundreds of random thugs just waiting to be wailed on.
Speaking of wailing on thugs… The combat. In Arkham Asylum, it was deceptively simple. Essentially, it came down to two buttons: attack and counter. But as you started to get into it you realize it was really elegant. Sure, two buttons, but when you factor in the timing, being surrounded by enemies, and— as things went along— enemies requiring different tactics to defeat, it felt like a much more fully realized system. Arkham city takes that system to whole new level. For one, there are a lot more enemies in the various fights. Now you’ll have multiple enemies needing countered at the same time (simply hit counter twice), enemies throwing things, and enemies with shield/knives/guns/tasers who all have to be dealt with differently. It can be pretty hectic. Factor in that now you can quick-use many of Batman’s various gadgets and you have a much deeper, yet still deceptively simple combat system. There is very little that compares to the elation I felt when I cleared my first mob of 25+ thugs with an unbroken combo… its sublime.
Another major element of Batman’s combat arsenal comes into play during the predator segments that task you with surveying and eliminating a room/street full of armed thugs while remaining out of sight. This has gotten a bit deeper this time around as well. Now you’ll have guards with thermal goggles that can spot you hiding in the shadows. Some of them wear backpack disruptors that essentially make Detective mode (Batman’s special vision mode allowing him to better survey his surroundings) useless. And now, some of them will even destroy your perches making it more difficult to escape detection. Adding all these new, more difficult bells and whistles to the game just goes a long way to make you feel more like you are Batman when you master them.
I mentioned Batman’s gadgets… Arkham Asylum had a wonderful assortment of classic batman toys that were slowly unlocked as you progressed through the game. It was always exciting when something new was unlocked because it meant you could go back and get that previously unreachable Riddler trophy. Arkham city starts you out with most of the gadget from the previous game and still lets you unlock several more as the campaign plays out. Among my favorites were the multi-use disruptor that— among other things— lets you silently deactivate an enemy’s gun without them realizing it until it’s too late, and the updated grapnel that makes navigation through the city a delight.
Speaking of navigating the city… it’s a major part of the game. Arkham city is quite large, and you will spend a lot of time traversing back and forth. It sounds tedious, but I assure, it’s a blast. I would sometimes set goals at alternating ends of the map just to see how quickly I could get from one end to the other. The grapnel launcher combined with gliding using Batman’s cape makes soaring through the streets endlessly entertaining.
On top of the incredible single player campaign with all of its extras, there are also challenge maps that can be accessed through the main menu. These come in various forms ranging from standard high score challenges to challenges requiring you to use— or avoid using— a certain tactic. These aren’t for everyone, but it’s cool to see how your best scores stack up in the leaderboards.
That covers gameplay… what about the graphics? In one hyphenated word: absolutely-jaw-droppingly-gorgeous-from-start-to-finish. Seriously, this game is running on the Unreal engine… It’s amazing how much the developers were able squeeze out of that engine, and they know it… as you find riddler trophies in the game, you’ll occasionally unlock character trophies. These are posed character models from the game. You can zoom right up close to them, and pan all around to take in all the lovingly added details. Truly stunning. The whole of the actual city looks great too… the amount of care that went in to crafting this game is truly inspirational… other developers should take notes. Arkham City is easily one of the prettiest games of the current console generation. Note: I played the game on my PC, that’s why the review is so late; it only came out Nov 22… But it was worth the wait… the added power behind a gaming PC really makes this game shine.
I really loved this game, and I still do really as I still have a long way to go to get that 100% completion. I can’t recommend it enough. If you like video games, you need to play this game. If you like Batman, you need to play this game… An absolute must-play and easily a contender for my personal game of the year.
Okay, so I know I said I was going to do this about a month ago, when I played the game… but I didn’t really have the facilities to do so at the time. Since returning home, I have been very busy at work, playing other new games, and getting caught up on all the shows I missed during my 2 week hiatus from my life. But now, I have a handy little device that lets me type up my reviews on the go. I recently purchased an Asus EeePad Transformer, and more recently I purchased the keyboard dock. I’m currently at work typing this. It’s pretty sweet, and maybe I’ll post a review of it after I’ve had a little ore time to play with it. But for now, I will review Uncharted 3… it’s game of the year award season, and I have something I need to get off my chest…
Trying to work on my characters when I can… but things are pretty crazy down here at the Alltel training. And without my computer, there’s not much more I can do.
What a crazy couple of days!
I went to work monday knowing nothing about my flight the next day except that there would be one. I got all my details about flights and hotel about 1 hour before I got off at 7.
Tuesday I got up early and crashed at my sister’s apartment for a couple hours while I waited for my flight. Thank goodness for my sister, without her this whole ordeal would have been a complete nighmare. She lent me her suitcase, dropped my off at security and everything went smoothly.
First flight was good. Although, people who fly when trying to describe it to people who haven’t, always say things like “once you level out you won’t even know you’re moving”… False. There was no point that I did not know I was moving… and fast. and the noise was nearly deafening. And those giant planes can really bank into those turns too. I was not expecting to see nothing but ground out one window and sky out the other… But it really wasn’t bad.
Second flight was less fun, but it was just a smaller, less comfortable plane. Fortunately it was only 30 mins.
Once I was on the ground in Savannah I had to find my way to my hotel. It’s a realy really nice place. They have a free shuttle that picked myself and another alltel trainee up at the airport and is available for use at anytime for any destination within 5 miles… which means pretty much any restaurant or store.
My room is great… the pictures above illustrate better than I can describe though.
pic 1: the plane for my first ever flight.
pic 2: entering my room
pic 3: classy bathroom
pic 4: food area
pic 5: desk and sitting tv area
pic 6: beds (where the second tv is)
I’ll give Alltel credit where it’s due. They know how to spoil they’re employees.
Larger version of the drawing from the video…
Video: Time-lapse drawing of my two characters for this month’s 11 Second Club.
Okay… it’s been a while since I posted anything here… or anywhere really. Reason being: I have a job!
I started work monday and worked 46 hours this week! That’s the bad news. Good news is I’m going to be rolling in the dough… I did not realize that cellphone salesmen make so much money. It’s a bit ridiculous really… If I work at Alltel for a couple years, saving money every month, I should be able to put myself through Animation Mentor, and move to California! Very exciting…
Moving on though… Last month’s 11 Second Club challenge was partially successful. I built, textured, and rigged a new character in something like 12 days… that’s huge for me. Sure, I didn’t finish my animation. But by the end of the month, I had a lot going on.
This month… I’m sure I’m going to be super busy… I work 5 days a week typically, 9 hr shifts, an hour away from home… That adds up to very little me-time. On top of that, I’m being flown down to Savannah Tuesday for training from the 9th to the 18th. And on top of that, Batman:Arkham City comes out for the PC on the 15th… that’s going to be consuming a lot of that me-time. But, I’m going to at least try to get something done.
This month’s sound clip is from the movie Philladelphia.
Voice One: “Some people think you have an attitude problem, Beckett.”
Voice Two: “Really? Who thinks that?
Voice One: “I do.”
It’s a better clip than last month’s in my opinion. I immediately had a vision of the scene and the characters. That and there’s some significant silence which will be great for subtle acting…
I’ll hopefully update a couple times a week with progress. But with my schedule this month… not gonna promise there will be any progress beyond this.
Also… hopefully I can post up a quick review for Uncharted 3 tomorrow. I want to get back to writing reviews. I find that quite enjoyable.
I’m really struggling with this animation.
I think it’s a combination of things, but the big one right now is that I really didn’t do a very good job on the facial blend shapes. I was getting nowhere with the previous attempt I posted here. That’s just not how I work. I was doing it the way that I’ve seen everyone else doing it, and that way just doesn’t come naturally to me.
Another big problem is that I lack a real understanding of the fundamentals of animation. I spend my time flailing around making mistakes that I don’t even realize I’ve made until it’s too late to fix. I think that’s the biggest reason that I don’t have any animations longer than 5-6 seconds. I don’t really know how to manage much more than that at this point.
This post doesn’t mean I’m giving up. Not yet. I just need to acknowledge that I may not be there yet. I may not have the core skills needed to succeed in animation at this point in my life.And that’s okay. I’ve only really been at this for a little over a year now. And I don’t have any formal training in animation.
If I don’t succeed this month in completing the challenge that I made for myself, then I’ll just have to try harder next time. Or maybe, especially since I’ll be starting at my new job Monday, I’ll have to either do just the animation or just design characters… Or, on the 11 second club forums that have little mini animation challenges for fun. They focus more on the fundamentals… and maybe that’s what i should have been doing all along.
At this point, I don’t know what to do… I have no sense of direction with my current animation. The premise was never very strong. Hopefully, within the next day or so I will have some sort of epiphany and figure it out…
