This is my hand animation I was inspired by a sequence from Megaman.  It took something like 70 hours or so to do.  It's the same principle as a flip book... only cooler.

Grid Art

For my piece of grid art I wanted to do something inspired by old 8-bit video game characters.  So I chose my second favorite video game character of all time, Kirby.  Originally I had half the amount of sequence but it did a very bad job at showing the picture due to the amount of negative space so I filled it in some more and ended up with this.  I think it turned out pretty well and now it's hanging up in my dorm.















Also while on the topic of art and stuff.  I entered the student art show with a digital art work that I recently did.  It's a parody of Guardians of the Galaxy, I've titled it The Groots, get it?

Public Service Announcement

So this blog post I'm going to use as a public service announcement for the rest of the class. If you haven't started your flipbook/stop-motion project yet.  You absolutely should.  I've so far put about 8 hours into mine and gotten to about 46 frames, which is almost 2 seconds of video following 24 frames per second. Of course you might be able to cheat the frame count a little bit but just for reference, here is what one of my frames looks like:

Not very detailed right? Kinda looks shity and you probably can't tell what it is. Yeah. I have 46 of these in a lot of hours, and I've been workin with animation for years. Consider yourselves warned everyone.  Have a great weekend :P

Nonsensical Product

If I were to make  nonsensical product I'd probably just stick with the classic 3 gallon 10 gallon hat.  Yes you read that right.  No one wants a full 10 gallons on their head, that'd be insane, but 3 gallons thats totally cool.  No one would ever have to go thirsty ever again.  In some countries people have to carry water for miles, but with the 3 gallon, 10 gallon hat, that frees up their hands!  You can even use it on your runs.  If you thought your runner's fashion was lacking what will people think when you have a 10 gallon hat filled with 3 gallons of water!

Lights on Tampa

Lights on Tampa was cool.  I keep forgetting to post my pictures but I actually went both Friday and Saturday, it was really fun.  Some of the stuff was a little abstract like the chiming lights that were meant to go in time with the tide, but parts were just plain fun.  Especially the Sykes building strongman test, that was interesting.  I'm not sure how that was rigged up.

I thought the idea behind this event was really thoughtful and I like that the city of Tampa is trying to create more events for those in the Tampa area to go to.  They're also making an effort to beautify downtown and apparently Lights on Tampa was a part of this.  I hope they keep doing cool events like this.

Dragon Forged

           

            Dragon Forged will be an action/adventure role-playing game based in the fantastical land of Nibelungenlied in reference to the Germanic legend Siegfried is derived from. 

Siegfried's Player Model

The game will have three difficulty levels: Svak (Norwegian for weak), Hero, and Legende.  Upon loading into the story mode of the game music will start from a black screen and fade into the Siegfried (the player's character) in a mystical forest.  It's the tutorial level after all, it has to be less threatening than later in the game.  Siegfried is out hunting for food for him and his father, Mime, a dwarf.  A pop-up displays the controls and from there the game begins.  Upon moving, the music changes from rather somber classical music to electronic music (example: Link).  In order to practice the movement and combat mechanics, wolves will sporadically spawn in front of the player.  After a few minutes the player will stumble upon a clearing.  A dire-bear will come crashing through the trees in a cut-scene and the boss battle will start.  Halfway through the battle, Siegfried's sword will shatter from the impact of the dire-bear's claw slashing it.  From there the battle changes pace.  Instead of hacking and slashing, the player will have to eek out victory by dodging and striking the dire-bear.  Upon winning the battle, the player is awarded with a dire-bear pelt (for use in crafting) and a level-up.  The screen then fades to black and the tutorial level is over.

            From there a cut-scene will start.  Siegfried walks into his cave, dragging the massive dire-bear behind him.  Mime is drunk on mead, laying on a bench.  Siegfried demands a new sword from Mime, as his previous one broke and nearly killed him.  Mime, is not amused and reminds him that he took him in and took care of him punctuating his lecture by drunkenly punching Siegfried.  Siegfried takes his foster father by the throat and demands to know who his real parents were.  From there, flashback cut-scene starts in which Mime explains the story of his parents.  The player than takes control of Siegfried's father and must battle a dragon.  The player cannot win the fight and after lasting as long as the player can the dragon kills his father, destroying his sword, Nothung.  Upon completing the story Siegfried asks of the blade Nothung, which Mime then tells him he possesses the shattered pieces of.

            Siegfried enraged that he hasn't been told this before demands the sword be remade.  Mime, does not possess the skill to re-forge the blade and tells Siegfried that he must retrieve three artifacts before Mime can forge the blade.  The objects he must acquire are, the blood of a Skygge Wolf, lightning from Mjonir's strike, and finally Hel's fire.  Siegfried sets off on his quest.  Upon leaving the end of this very long cut-scene, the player leaves the cave to continue the story.  This is where the video game diverges from the Opera in interest of extending the game.  The first of the items he must retrieve is the blood of a Skygge Wolf.  This level takes place on a mountain.  Siegfried must climb a the dangerous terrain fighting various mystical enemies.  After the boss fight a cut scene happens in which you see Mime, pacing in the cave talking to himself.  He mentions that he cannot make the blade even with the mystical items Siegfried is out to get.  Only one with no fear can forge the blade.  The player resumes control of Siegfried.  From the top of the mountain, he finds a temple and ascends to Asgard, to find Mjolnir.  Siegfried must sneak past the guards, Solid Snake style.  Once reaching Thor's hall, Thor challenges Siegfried to a fight.  If he can best Thor, Thor will grant him lightning from his hammer gladly.  After winning.  Thor tells Siegfried of the treachery of his foster father, Mime.  He also gives Siegfried power to summon lightning.  Siegfried, upset with Mime, leaves Asgard to kill his foster father.

           

Mime's Character Model

 Siegfried storms into the cave and the player fights Mime, when Mime is almost defeated he stops Siegfried and tells him that he cannot forge the blade because he knows fear, and that Siegfried is the only one who can forge the blade.  Mime shows Siegfried how to forge the blade and Nothung is forged.  Siegfried then interested in the concept of fear listens to Mime's instructions about confronting Fafnir.  The player must escort Mime through the forest to the dragon's cave.  He enters the cave and fights Fafnir.  Upon stabbing Fafnir through the heart, the dragon tells Siegfried to beware treachery.  The dragon's blood mysteriously disappears from Siegfried's hands and suddenly he can hear the dragon's thoughts.  Fafnir tells Siegfried that for besting him, he has been granted Fafnir's greatest powers.  Siegfried leaves the cave.  Mime offers Siegfried a poisoned drink.  Siegfried of course can read Mime's thoughts and proceeds to kill Mime in another boss fight.  Once the fight is over a little bird tells Siegfried of a woman who might be able to teach him the meaning of fear.

            Siegfried enters the "forbidden forest"  dire wolves and skygge wolves which were at one point worthy of a boss fight are now the only enemies the player will encounter.  After fighting through a maze of nearly endless corridors Siegfried encounters a knight in shining armor.  The night charges Siegfried without asking any questions about why he is in the forest.  The player must beat the knight, but as there is no reason to kill this knight, Siegfried halts before killing his opponent, and instead removes the knight's helmet.  Under the helmet is not a man, but a woman.  Siegfried learns her name is Brunnhilde, and the two fall in love. This unlocks a side story where the player may play as Brunnhilde and learn her back story.  The game is now complete.