I still exist! ...and I'm still making stuff.

Alright... Let's catch some fish.

MousePaw has pretty much taken over my life... yes, it's true. Creating a game requires a lot of devotion! But in my spare time (weekends, pretty much) I still work on other things...

A Vocaloid Character Design Contest!

Yes, blog followers, by now you must know that I love Vocaloid a great deal... so when I heard about the "Everyone's Vocaloid Project" Character Design contest held by Yamaha, I had to try my hand at drawing up a character or two.

This one, Nocturne, is my first entry, but since there are no limits on entries I'll probably make another one (a guy) as well. :)

One-Wing 2011 - Finished at last.

It feels like months ago when I posted the pencil drawing which eventually led to this finished product. At first I attempted shading her in Photoshop like I did with my illustration of Len & Rin Kagamine. But no matter how many times I tried, I just wasn't satisfied with it...so I ended up going with a much simpler vectorized shading instead. ^^;

And that's what I've been working on.

Thanks for visiting; I'm really sorry I no longer update this blog nearly as much as I used to. I'm down from once a week to once a month if even...but yeah. At this time of my life, I have to keep myself busy or I'm afraid I'll become depressed or something. :/

MousePaw: Pipe Climbing

I finally have a new Word4Word clip to show!

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The last couple of weeks I've spent on "exit" and "enter" animations - where our two characters Alicia and Rebekah walk in and walk out of various stages (leading up to the various challenges/ story sequences). It sounds simple enough, but there are a few twists...

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One of them is that they have to climb in and out of pipes! Take a look...

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Another challenge is that I always have to have the characters stop and start in the exact same place so that the various clips can play together seamlessly. (The video above is actually four clips played in a row, for example.) It's so interesting to experience all that goes into making art for a game.

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Hopefully I can find a few more things to post that won't give away too much of the storyline of the game. We'll see! ^.^~

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One more thing. Mousepawgames.com has just opened its Beta listing. If any elementary school teacher would be interested in Beta testing our game for free in their classroom, please visit our homepage. :)

MousePaw: Aviary Ambient Animations

Do you think there are enough A words in the title of this post? :)
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Once again, the ambient animations for Word4Word are intended to be background as the player is making decisions - just to make the characters seem like they're not standing around lifelessly.
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Here are the different bird characters in the aviary of the pet store. Simple enough animations, yet fun - I enjoy how "twitchy" bird movements are.
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The Seagull Sisters:

Dip the Pelican:

(He isn't eating the soup, he's just stirring it...for now.)

Stringfellow the Hawk:

Morris the Eagle:

Sadly, I won't be able to post too much more of my MousePaw work online because it will give away elements of the story - and we can't have that :) So you'll just have to wait for the release to see the rest of my work for the game.

What I'm Working On

Remember the days when I used to post something new once or twice a week?
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Those days are definately gone, but it's not because I'm producing less work than usual. I could still crank out a fully-rendered drawing a week. However, I've turned my focus to bigger projects - and lots of 'em! The only downside is the long periods of time where I have nothing to show.
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That's why I decided to make this special post to show a few bits and pieces of all my various projects right now. All of them are works in progress, but it should give a bit of an idea what I'm spending my time on lately.

I. MousePaw: Word4Word

Not surprisingly, a great deal of time is going into MousePaw Games' latest game project, Word4Word, an educational game that teaches English skills. The kindergarden version Beta is projected to be finished in August of 2011 (Just in time to give to schools for testing. :))
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I'm approaching the animation for the game by starting with the simplest things and working my way up. First on the list is the ambient animations, which basically have the characters staying in one place, but shifting around and blinking as part of the background while the player is doing something. I've uploaded two short clips to serve as examples:
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Here are Alicia and Rebekah in ambient:


And here they are again, but this time in scuba mode!

After the ambients are finished for every stage, I will move on to the exiting and entering animations - and then finally the action and lip-sync as the characters interact with one another and with the player.

II. Vocaloid Art: Len & Rin Kagamine, Append ver.

By now, most of my blog visitors probably know how much I love Vocaloid, the software which allows users to create songs with virtual vocalists.
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Len & Rin Kagamine were originally designed by character artist KEI, the same artist who designed my two favorite Vocaloid characters, Miku Hatsune and Luka Megurine. However, I did not love the Kagamines quite as much... that was until I saw their Append versions.
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Miku's Append version, which served as an add-on to the original program, adding 6 new variations of her voice, was released about half a year ago. Besides increasing the realism of the virtual voice, Miku Append also came with new box art featuring the character Miku in a much more "technological" design. Now, last December on the Kagamines' 2-year birthday, their own Append version was released. I was absolutely amazed by the new box art and knew from the moment I saw it that I would have to draw them myself, and soon.
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And so I began with Len:

This Vector drawing may seem nearly finished, but it actually has a long way to go. Firstly, I plan to take it into photoshop and paint on more dramatic shading. And secondly:

I have to add Rin!

Here is a rough idea of what the completed version will look like. Sing it, Kagamines!!!

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III. One-Wing 2011

Because it's just been too long since I've drawn my own character mascot... ^^;

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Right now she's only in rough pencil phase. Hopefully I will get more time to finish her soon...but it probably won't be until after I finish the Kagamines.

No, the dress won't be transparent in the finished version. :P

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I'm also doing a little bit more internship work for Shine Global in NY... however, I am not allowed to post any work online. But that is what I am working on! Please come back soon to see all of these projects once they are finished. :)

MousePaw - Crabs

Here's some more characters for Operation SpyRat: Word4Word. They're all crabs! Most of them don't look all that different...but wait until you see the last two.

Pinch:

Clamp:

Snap:

Bob:Claude, the fiddler crab:

His Majesty, the King Crab:

I had to do a lot of looking at pictures of real crabs to draw these...and man they are ugly, especially those king crabs - they are huge and make me cringe quite a bit. Nonetheless, I think the characters aren't nearly so untouchable. :)

Seagull Sisters

More characters for the MousePaw games...
These three sisters which appear in Word4Word are like chatty teenage girls. I decided to give them matching scarves & anklets as well as ridiculous eyelashes to go for that effect. :3

Sakuya Flash Animation

Although I just recently brought you a Flash animation, this is something quite different from the SpyRats.
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We've got a much more complex character and of course a muuuuuch shorter clip - which is why it's best if watched looped. :3 I love Sakuya (from Touhou Project) a lot and after I finished making the vector of her I just couldn't let it be done yet. And I'm really glad I made that decision. I have no doubt that this short clip will be the crown jewel of my next demo reel.
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I could talk more about this animation and all the different techniques I used in it, but since nobody reads this stuff anyway, on to what you all care about, the link to the clip!

Click here to watch it.

Operation SpyRat: Word4Word Opening Sequence - finished!

Weeks go by with nothing to show...but that's all done now! As promised, here it is - the Opening Sequence animation that I've been working on for so long.

Just hop on over to youtube to watch it. :)

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Up next will be more character models for the games, as well as other illustrations of a new style... Come back again soon. ^^

Word 4 Word Opening Sequence Animation - Sneak Peek!

For all of you who are curious about the project I've been working on for the last month or so, here is a little glimpse.

Did you see the lip sync?! :D I still remember being in my Flash class and getting so excited when a guest speaker came and showed us how to do lip sync. Little did I know then that one day I'd be working on a game project where lip sync was a large part.

For those of you who are wondering - yes, both voices are me. Those probably won't be what we use for the final clip (so I'll have to tweak the sync a bit again, heh) but that's all I've got to work with for now, hehe. :3

Although I've only posted a short clip, I actually have 1 entire minute of animation completed for the opening sequence - I suspect it will be 3 minutes when done (including the credits). And that's what I'm up to!

Don't forget you can keep tabs of both sides of the work for Operation SpyRat: Word 4 Word on MousePaw's website, www.mousepawgames.com.

Miku - 180 degree turn (animation)

This little animation is the first two cuts of the introductory scene of Append7, which will serve as a teaser of sorts to get people curious (as well as draw people to my auditions, which I will talk more about later). But although I don't plan to release the clip to the general public (ie. youtube, etc) until it is finished, I just had to show this off to my blog visitors!

Despite it being short, I can't help but be proud of this animation. After all, I took a 2d vector model and made her appear to do a 180 degree turn in space. What do you all think? Comments and critiques desired.

Vector Model - Rebekah

I'm continuing work on making all the MousePaw characters into vector models, and next is Rebekah the turtle. I'm getting faster at making these things, I think :3
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I'm also doing a bit of animation for Append7 and will be animating these guys too now that the scripts are ready. Hopefully I'll have showable animations soon.

Vector Model - Alicia

Here's another MousePaw Flash Vector - Alicia, the female mouse who stars in Word 4 Word.

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I also have more Vector Models for Append6 but I'm going to wait and post them all at once, I think. Also, you may notice I got a new template for my blog, but the banner no longer fits very well. Thus, a new banner is in the works as well. And I've started on the animated intro to Append7 as well!! (Then I'll actually explain what it is.) Yup, busy as always. :3

MousePaw - Animated Logo

Here is an animated logo I created that will be played at the beginning of each MousePaw Game.

I think it turned out pretty nice. Also, in the final version, when the whiskers twitch, a little mouse giggle will play.

Vector Model - Luke the Mouse

It's time for the first of the MousePaw characters to be converted to an animatable Flash vector for the new set of games coming out this year. Of course, it had to be Luke the Mouse. I think Luke's design converted well to a vector - he didn't lose his fluffiness or character and still is his cuddly little self.

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Just wait until I start animating him. :3

Flash Model - Miku Append

You can expect a lot of Flash stuff in the near future from me. That's because I have two projects going atm: The first is "Append 7," which I will explain more about later, and the second is bringing the MousePaw characters (Remmie & the Lab Rats) into Flash for animated/lip sync sequences.
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Needless to say, this Miku Append, which is the new design for Miku which appears on the box-art of the newly released add-on program of the same name, is for "Append 7." She will be interesting to animate because unlike Miku Prime, she does not walk, rather she "floats" using the hover devise around her waist. :)
Vocaloid fans will know that there are 6 different "appends" for Miku - Soft, Dark, Sweet, Solid, Vivid, and Light. But what's this Append 7...? Hmmmm...
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I have lots of cool ideas in my head for this...hopefully I will be able to bring them all to life once I get better adapted with Flash CS4. Keep coming back! ^^

Test Animation: Miku Walks

Just to get the hang of animating complex models in flash, I decided to start with a basic walk animation. And here it is! It isn't nearly perfect - but that's why it's just practice ;)

Flash Models - Miku & Izaya

I'm starting a new animation project.
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The first step (well, after getting the storyline down) is making the character models. And so I made these in Flash:
Anime fans may recognize these two very popular characters. They are:
- Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid
- Izaya Orihara from Durarara!!
So why have I made modes of them and what do they have to do with one another? That's still going to be a secret...for now. But both characters are major players in my next project...
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I made a version of Izaya with and without his jacket:

The cool thing about building characters in flash is that they are vectors, which means no matter how close up I zoom, they don't get fuzzy!
Close-up of Miku:

Close-up of Izaya:

But the most important part about these models is they're completely animatable. Both are ready to become players in the original storyline which I will tell you about later! Keep watching. :) First I have to model a few other characters...

Demo Reel Sneak Preview - Animated Chibis!

Well I'm still working away on my demo reel but I thought I'd show you guys a little piece of it. These five flash animations loop in the corner of the screen as other art of the character climbs up the page. They're really short but they are designed to play over and over and over again. :3 -

So anyhow, they're kind of cute :3 Enjoy.

One-Wing:

Elhiroth:

Moon Dancer & Dusk:

Falling Leaves:

Ruka & Ryru:

"Moonlit Dance" - Flash Animation

At last, at last!
Although this clip is only 30 seconds, it represents a long time of diligent work - I've spent about 2-6 hours a week on this thing since December, and now here it is.
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(click the pic for a link to the youtube vid, or click here)

It was worth the effort for sure. However short it may be, the animation really is my best - I also love to see my two characters, Moon Dancer and Dusk, come to life on the screen.

The animation isn't top-notch yet; I haven't added the inbetweens which would make the motion more fluid. Likely, I will do that in time. The reason I haven't yet is because the due date for submittions to the DMA (Digital Media Arts) showcase was today and I really wanted to show this. :)

I am so glad I finally have an example of good animation to actually show what I can do. I hope you all enjoy this cute little clip.

Chibi Falling Leaves

Who saw this coming?!
Yes... Falling Leaves has now been chibi-fied. But that's not all. I decided to add her to my character artbook last minute after all! However, such a decision was not without a casualty... because it meant someone else had to go. And so...

Poor Analise. But it had to be done. And here's one more pic:

I decided to pose Falling Leaves and Moon Dancer together to serve as a little preview for my just about finished novel, Moon Dancer II, in which both women play key roles. (As you can tell, they don't get along the best.)