JD's Speaks: A NEW PODCAST and Episode 1: 'Pilot'

INTRODUCING....JD'S SPEAKS!!!

Yes, I have finally started a podcast. Want to hear me speak about stuff as opposed to write it? Than I have the podcast for you!

Technically I can talk more about stuff when I outright speak it...

DISCLAIMERS:

*I'm sorry for some of the rrrgggghhh sound, I think I was accidentally rubbing on the mic.

*When I say Ocarina of Time is my favorite game so far, I mean when it comes to Zelda, not games as a whole.

*I might elaborate in a future episode on a few things I talked about here.

https://soundcloud.com/jds-canvas/pilot

Sonia and Manik (Mobius 25 Years Later) Redesigns. Why Did I Bother?

     Alright so does anyone reading remember the Sonic the Hedgehog Archie Comics? Okay then...does anyone remember that storyline in the pre-reboot continuity that was the epitome of fan-fiction? You know the one where we got a "glimpse into the future"? Where just about every single main character became a stupid 50s sitcom stereotype?

Except...worse than that?

     Yup, I'd say you can blame Ken Penders for that (among some other things, but I digress). Not exactly a fan-favorite story. Barely anything ever happened in it, and not even Ian Flynn's 30 Years Later story was that much better. Besides the ridiculous writing and the 100 other problems with this arc, do you want to know what really gets on my nerves?

The child characters.

Oh, but this was the Penders run of the comic, infamous for bad designs and outright clones...

So Surely Flynn's run was better right?

     Yeah, and I'm Mickey Friggin' Mouse. Clones as far as the eye can see. 

     Sure I only showed two of them, but do I have to show more? All of them except for Lara Su (who still wasn't that well designed) were like this. Their designs were horrible. Needless to say I hate that mentality of "oh a character's kids can be clones because genetics!" Genetics does not work like that at all. Kids can resemble even the grandparents and it would still make sense. Have more faith in your audience's intelligence, for God's sake. I'm not even joking when I say even the Disney Sequels had better designed child characters than this...not all the time, but they had better ones than this.

     Although the personalities are another story entirely...I'd say M:XYL screwed that up about as bad as the Disney Sequels did....but that's not what I'm focusing on.

     So anyways, I've seen quite a few artists on Tumblr redesign some of these child characters from this arc, and needless to say these guys actually had an understanding of character design. Quite a few of them are quite impressive.

    For the hell of it, I decided to do redesigns of Sonia and Manik, Sonic and Sally's kids from the future storyline.

  

     

     Huh...it's been a few days since I actually drew these..,

     Anyways, when I first started these redesigns, the first thing that I did was block out a basic shape to them. In other words, I crafted a silhouette. One of the ideal rules of character design is that you should be able to tell characters apart from purely their shadows or silhouettes. They should have their own shapes and sizes, basically. I kept certain elements of the design in my mind when painting the silhouettes, and then I made a more detailed sketch.  After that, I gave them their colors.

     For the designs, even though I know that it is discouraged by the more grown-up side of the Sonic the Hedgehog fan community, I sort of made a hybrid. Except...I actually put more thought into them and only made minor fusions of parts.

     Manik's tail highly resembles Sally's (a chipmunk mobian) but I kept him as a hedgehog just for the sake of staying "faithful". His eyes are a brighter blue than Sally's and his green fur is a similar color to Sonic's eyes. I thought that giving him black cuffs on his gloves would be a sort of homage to Tails. His shoes are his own, but I did try to make them appear more blocky and angular than Sonic's. Also, like Sally, he has tuft on his cheeks. Furthermore, his hair style is similar to Sally's. I kept in the gap in his teeth.

     In Sonia's case, I straight up gave her Sonic's eyes. She's a squirrel because her granddad (Nigel Acorn) is one. Her outfit is supposed to match her shoes, which are almost like Sonic's, except for the gold cuffs. Her fur is more reddish and darker than Sally's. I also tried to make her eyes look less...elegant than Sally's...or maybe it's more playful or round....Her hair deliberately resembles Sonic's quills. I want to say that her hair is naturally that color. I guess you could also say she dyes it...but I personally wouldn't say that. I also decided to give Sonia a scarf that matches her eyes. I was thinking of Sonic Boom to be fair, but I also thought it could be an element of her design unique to her...

So how do you like them?

I enjoyed doing these quite a bit.

RANDOM PLUG!!!

    Oh, just because I love her work, here is drawloverlala's redesign of Lara-Su.

Go check out her tumblr now, she has a bunch of other redesigns that are seriously awesome!↴

http://drawloverlala.tumblr.com/tagged/My-art

(She also has a deviantart account under the same name!)

Finished Ocarina of Time.The Water Temple Was Fine.

I HAVE FINISHED OCARINA OF TIME!!!! I LOVED IT!!!
(OKAY I ACTUALLY FINISHED IT 10 DAYS AGO...AND AM PLAYING THE 3DS REMAKE RIGHT NOW!)

     Now to elaborate...

    I finished the game 10 days ago and I am now playing Majora's Mask. I loved Ocarina of Time. I loved it more than Link to the Past, which I also loved playing. Now my ass was kicked about 100 times when I played Link to the Past, but in Ocarina of Time I think I only died 20 something times.

     Anyways, aside from a few times were I believe the game was not terribly clear, this truly was an awesome game, Beautiful music by Koji Kondo, great graphics for the time, and it was great to experience how Link to the Past's mechanics were brought into the 3D world. This game is inevitably overrated, as is everything that is popular, but this game deserved all the praise it received back in the day. It's not the greatest game ever made, no single game is, but this is certainly ONE of the best games ever made.

     The Z-Targeting system and the context sensitive buttons, among also the overall feel of the game was a huge influence on future adventure games. The dungeons were really fun, if a bit bothersome at times. My least favorite had to be the Fire Temple...at least I used to think so. I remember having a tough time...well...no just a few things bugged me. I'll elaborate later.

     Oh, and the Water Temple? It was not that bad. At all. I've heard before that most fans hate it and Miyamoto has actually outright apologized for designing it....but it was fine! I liked the encounter with Dark Link, and the Morpha boss even though it frustrated me a bit.

     The two biggest issues were only a few cramped spaces and the fact that you have to constantly pause and unpause to game to switch between your iron boots and regular boots. Also it is pretty BS that you could only fight underwater using the hookshot. If nothing else, Majora's Mask made up for that with the Zora Mask.

     Well...you could argue the rising and lowering of water levels, but trust me it's not that bad at all! I rose the water to one level, searched the rooms, and then rose or lowered it further. It was totally manageable and I enjoyed my time in that Temple. I suppose it is still a problem that it MIGHT be easy to get lost in that temple, because I'll be fair it took a bit of time for me on my first time to find the room where Ruto was.

     I appreciate that the 3DS remake mitigated these issues at the very least, but I still enjoyed the original Water Temple. (Well also there was the fact that I felt like leaving and coming back with the Zora Tunic.) I suppose people will hate me now for defending it.

     Anyways, I actually almost immediately moved onto the 3DS remake after finishing Ocarina of Time. It was actually a very smooth transition, because I started getting through the game in no time flat. I am now on the Shadow Temple and I think I even figured out some hidden detail about the fishing mini-game (my least favorite part of the game by far, Dark Chronicle is the only RPG like game I've played that actually has a fun fishing mini-game).

     When it comes to the Fire Temple, I suppose it was a combination of me not paying close enough attention and it being my first playthrough. When I played the Fire Temple on the 3DS remake, I cleared it with no troubles. That's not the entire reasoning behind my first thoughts on the Temple as a whole, but I'd say those were the biggest factors.

     So yeah, there isn't much more to say, I loved the game. I hope that I can say the same for Majora's Mask but I have yet to complete that one (and I haven't been playing it for a few days). Here's hoping that I love the other Zelda games too!

Also my favorite Temple was the Spirit Temple.

I just redid a drawing! With my tablet!

     YAY! I just redid a drawing! It's not 100% finished, but it is at a point where I can show it off.

     Classic Nicole, again!

     I think I am starting to see how I can put more energy into my poses...or how to make them less stiff. I feel so horrible for enjoying digital art sometimes, because traditional art, when done well, is still such a magical thing.

     Nowadays I realize the need for digital art...and I can learn to love it more. On the side I would still love to improve my traditional art skills. And to be fair, I didn't put 110% into the original drawing but I still tried.

     For the colors this time, I actually referenced a panel from the comics. I always had this thing where I'd like to only use common colors so as to keep my work from getting terribly complicated...but for now it's fine. Thank God for the HTML Color Names page (it's something on w3schools that lists the color code and the names of the colors. It's for coding purposes but it helps with art, too.)

     I also would love to do that coloring technique where the colors are these crazy mixes that still appear to be the "correct" colors but are more vivid. I don't know if that's the standard painting technique but I would love to incorporate that. I think it's called optical blending...yeah something like that where the paint strokes are distinct and energetic.

     Anyways, I do like the newer drawing more, because I feel that it is better constructed and that it has more energy to it. I also think the pixel effect is better integrated, and that I drew the little computer better. I'll do shading later, for sure. To further practice with my tablet, I think I will redo some more drawings...

I HAVE A TABLET AND ZBRUSH!

I am just so happy right now!

I now have a tablet! The Wacom Intros Medium with the 3D bundle!

That's a very big deal for me. My fellow GameDev Knights members told me that I would need  a tablet so I could do 2d art and sculpting. As a Game Design major, and someone who's going to the Art track at FIEA eventually, these were a must. 

They also said that the sooner I can learn Zbrush, the better. I couldn't pay for the $150 license, and unfortunately to my knowledge I couldn't get a student license. When I was told to get a tablet, I decided on the Wacom Intuos 3D. As luck would have it, what does the 3D bundle include?

Oh yeah! Killing two birds with one stone! Also Zbrush has ZClassroom for teaching the software. It'll be time soon to start dabbling into that.

Now here's a practice drawing with the tablet: The Master Sword. It's all free-hand, no tracing. I don't ever trace. I really want to find out how to do what is done in pointillism where there are 2-3 colors for one area...you know to add vibrance. I swear that there is a way to add vibrant colors besides pointillism however. I know that I've seen that in Salvador Dali's paintings...



But yeah, very happy and I can't wait to get better! Now I can offer digital art commissions!

For the longest time I had a stigma against digital art because the people that go out of their way to learn traditional techniques make phenomenal work...

The more I think about it, the more I realize that you still need skill to make genuinely good art. It's never about your tools, but your skills!

COMMISSIONS! Information here!

I am starting commissions!!!!

Why? I need an excuse to draw as much as possible...and seeing as how I'm not terribly confident about my ability to get a job before I go back to school...well, what better way to make some dough than to sell my art?

Even if I get a job before school starts again, I need another source of some form of income that I can turn to in the next 2 years. (When I sign up for this masters' program, I won't even be permitted to have a job...)

May I be good enough to warrant your patronage!

Anyways....

COMMISSION RULES AND GUIDELINES

To Order a Commission from Me:

1.) E-mail your request to jinseikyuzai@gmail.com

2.) If I accept your request, YOU MUST *PAY ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE before I begin work on your commission.

*Payment will ONLY be accepted via Google Wallet. Send payment to jinseikyuzai@gmail.com (Go to the Google Wallet home page, and they will take you through how to send money.)

3.) After I have received payment I will e-mail you an invoice listing a unique ID number, whatever name you choose to give (whether it be username or real name), a description of your commission, and the total price you paid.

4.) I will also e-mail you an update with an image of the initial sketch. IMPORTANT: You are ONLY entitled to a refund at this point IF you decide that the commission is not to your liking AFTER YOU RECEIVE THIS SKETCH UPDATE. Afterwards, if you have no problems with it, REFUNDS WILL NOT BE GIVING.

5.) IF I PERSONALLY FIND I AM UNABLE TO COMPLETE YOUR COMMISSION, WHETHER BEFORE OR AFTER THE SKETCH UPDATE, YOU ARE ENTITLED TO A FULL REFUND.

6.) PRICES ARE NEGOTIABLE ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS

7.) If you ever have any other questions, feel free to e-mail me.

8.) I ONLY ACCEPT THREE COMMISSIONS AT ONE TIME (AT THE MOMENT). I WILL SEND UPDATES WHENEVER COMMISSION SLOTS OPEN.

9.) Rules are subject to change.

WHAT I WILL DRAW:

1.) Any and all fan art from any film, TV series, Comic, Anime, Manga, Video Game, etc.
2.) Any and all art of any real-life subject/person (ex. any celebrity, any animal, any place).
3.) M-rated gore/horror
4.) Mild suggestive content
5.) Comedy/Parody content
6.) Art that approaches certain touchy subjects in a satirical fashion

WHAT I WILL NOT DRAW:

1.) Any and all Fetish/NSFW content
2.) Generally, if a series is not intended for a PG-13, R audience, I will not accept suggestive/gore/horror commissions of that series. (On a case-by-case basis or unless it is meant to be comedic/parody)
3.) Any and all propaganda related art (i.e. Art berating political/religious views, etc)

COMMISSION PRICES

Traditional Art (Sketched->Inked->Colored with Prismacolor Pencils)

One Character
Sketch--$5
Inked--$10
Inked and Colored (Flat)--$15
Inked and Colored (Shaded)--$20
Two Characters
Sketch--$8
Inked--$15
Inked and Colored (Flat)--$24
Inked and Colored (Shaded)--$32
Three Characters
Sketch--$12
Inked--$24
Inked and Colored (Flat)--$32
Inked and Colored (Shaded)--$40
Four or More Characters
*Prices are on a case-by-case basis

Add Background--Additional $5-10 depending on commission

Add a Message to Commission--Additional $2

Digital Art (Pixel Art for right now. Digital sketches/full color TBA)

One Item/Character
Black and White--$5
Colored--$10
Colored with Background--$15
Two Items/Characters
Black and White--$7
Colored--$14
Colored with Background--$20
Three Items/Characters
Black and White--$12
Colored--$25
Colored with Background--$30
Four or More Items/Characters
*Prices are on a case-by-case basis

Add a Message: $1


EXAMPLES

So yeah....I sure would appreciate the help! I hope to give you guys some good looking stuff!

JD Talks-What Games I'm Playing and What I Want To Play

I've been a hardcore "gamer" ever since I was 5 years old and I got my PlayStation 2. I don't technically play games as addictively as I used to, but I still love them. I'm going to school for Game Design for a reason.

Anyways, here are the games that I am currently playing and the games I'm looking forward to:

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Yup, what many would call the "greatest game ever made". I don't think that when I play this, but I still immensely respect this game for what it accomplished. And I am having a ton of fun with it even though I might suck at Zelda...or it could be because it's my first play through.

I've gotten back to playing this in the past few days...it had been about a week. It is very fun. You see, I've owned all the main series games for quite some time, but I've only recently gotten into the franchise. I feel like a fool for not doing that sooner, because I fell in love with A Link to the Past (even though I wasn't the best at it...).

I won't lie, I have been using a guide on and off with these games...but I wouldn't classify these games as ones were you need a walkthrough...I probably have a hard time noticing stuff. Also, it's my first play through and i don't want to spend a terrible amount of time on a single game right now.

Regardless, I am loving this game. I've made it a bit of a goal to play every major Zelda game over the summer. The only main series game I don't own is Wind Waker, so...I'll get myself a copy soon. I'll see how things are after I finish Majora's Mask.

The Rest of the Main Series Zelda Games and Link Between Worlds

Pretty much already explained this...and I just remembered that I have to buy a Wii Motion Plus thing for Skyward Sword...Either way I'm having so much fun with Zelda right now!

The first Zelda game I've properly played is Twilight Princess. I got it for Christmas along with my Wii...but that was so long ago and I barely got through it...and yes I'm keeping the Wii version.

Now the only handheld game I will play for right now is Link Between Worlds. The reasons are that my sister bought the game for me, along with Super Mario Bros Wii 2 years ago as a birthday present, and that it's directly connected to Link to the Past. Furthermore, after I play Skyward Sword, I'll be all set for Breath of the Wild.

I am so excited to finally play that. I already love how it looks and Somecallmejohnny's review of it got me even more interested! But first....

Nintendo Switch and Super Mario Odyssey

...I'm gonna need a Switch! To put it simply, consoles at launch tend to be riddled with problems so it's always best to wait. The Switch is everything the Wii U should have been (but I don't outright hate the Wii U) and it looks so awesome!

So far the only other Switch game that I really want to play besides Breath of the Wild is Super Mario Odyssey. Not only does it look crazy with that new hat power up, and Mario going to the real world, but the course design will be like Mario 64, where you enter a level, and you can tackle the objectives however you want. Don't get me wrong, I love Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 to death, but it's great to see Nintendo going back to a more open design. It helps with replay value, you know?

I'm certain that there are other Switch titles that will be more than worth playing...but for right now these two are the only ones I really want...well that and 1,2 Switch. It's interesting that the Switch games are cards of some sort....


Dishonored and Sims 2

These are the two PC games that I have the most time invested in. Sims 2 is one of those games where the satisfaction comes from successful planning...I mean it's technically a strategy game.

Don't get me wrong, it's charming, humorous, looks great for a cartoony game, but it can be a little tough for a newbie like me...I mean the first sim I sent to University flunked....but I do really want to play more of it... (also this is the best Sims games...kind of because it was the last one to involve Will Wright.) I actually played this on and off years ago on my parents' computer...

Also Dishonored was a game that I bought to test out my desktop's gaming capabilities...and I had more fun with it than I thought i would. I'm sure eventually I'll get myself to play both of these games more...because I know I won't regret it!



Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces

I'm not exactly a die hard Sonic fan but I did grow up with a number of the games. Colors and Generations were pretty good...but they still don't even compare to anything Nintendo makes...

Now I am always cautiously optimistic, but Sonic Mania was a huge surprise that I initially didn't know how to feel about, but after I realized that it was a completely new classic style Sonic game, made by the same team that handled the Sonic CD iOS port?! I was pretty hyped. The game looks beautiful, and that animated trailer directed and animated by Tyson Hesse, who did the Sonic Mega Drive comics, and who is possibly the best Classic Sonic artist I've ever seen? Amazing.

Yeah, some of the levels are repeats, but the overall product has got to be good! The fact that Sega is allowing a 2D game to be made is pretty special....

As for Sonic Team's next game...it just keeps looking better and better. The more that's revealed of the this game, the more I care. The Park Avenue theme recently released? A really addicting track. I also love the colors of the screenshots, and especially that awesome logo.

I'm hoping this game is better than Generations, because with both this and Mania (and the fact that SEGA was willing to push these games to 2017 instead of rushing them for the 25th Anniversary) ...Sonic JUST might have a chance to revitalize itself as a franchise...maybe...because we've felt this way about Sonic before...I'm getting the PS4 version, not the Switch version. I'm not confident about that port....

Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon

Here's an easy one to explain. Sun and Moon is my 2nd favorite Pokémon game, topped only by Generation 5 (Black/White and Black 2/White 2). The logo is cool, the new forms of the mascot legendaries look cool, and...hey this looks like a Black and White 2 situation, a new game in the same region, not just a third version.

Oh, boy am I gonna most likely get this day one...and I know people are upset about Game Freak not doing a Generation 4 remake...but come on, I'm sure they'll do it eventually.

Pokken and the VC Classic Pokémon games I have no interest in. For one thing, I already own the original games.

Kingdom Hearts III

Oh boy! I don't know when we will get this game, but I am playing it! I grew up with Kingdom Hearts, ever since the series started. The story can get really problematic, but the art design, music (Yoko Shimomura is SUCH a great composer), especially climatic gameplay make this perhaps my favorite RPG of all time!

I have so many memories with this series, my favorites being II and Birth by Sleep. The HD remixes are the only HD remakes that I've ever cared for because they were the final mixes of the original games, never before released outside the US. Whatever we get, I hope that the wait was worth it!

All the Other Games in My Collection that I Haven't Played and the Games I Eventually Want to Play that are on my Collection List

This one would take forever to explain, but I have an ever expanding collection of games as far back as Atari 2600...a lot of games I haven't properly played, while others I don't own yet.

I really should wait to worry about this sort of thing until I either have a job or am out of college...but hey I am a collector so...this one will happen naturally on it's own I'm sure.

So yeah, I am a serious gamer, I have been one all my life, and I plan on playing more and more, especially because they can serve as great inspiration to me as a future game creator. I'm sure this list will eventually expand when I get around to reading up on other games. What games have you played and/or plan on playing?