HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS GUYS

THERE'S GOING TO BE A RATCHET AND CLANK MOVIE


[link]


My heart has just gave in. *collapses*

Hey guys!

Some of you may have noticed my account was deactivated. That wasn't me, I would never deactivate my account without prior notice. In fact, I don't think I would ever deactivate this account anyways.
Some asshole got into my email and deactivated my deviantart account. Lucky dA added the option to roll back that decision really. Needless to say I've mega upped the security on all my accounts. Don't need to be dealing with that kind of rubbish.

Sorry about that!

Hey y'all!
I'm aware I've been pretty absent from dA for a while, it's just life has been so busy lately! So what's been happening?


Timesplitters Rewind

Some of you may or may not have heard of Timesplitters. It doesn't matter. It's an awesome game that everyone must try at least once Well, I've joined Pantheonyx to work on Timesplitters Rewind; a remake if you will, of the multiplayer modes of the 3 games from the PS2. More info can be found here: [link]

I am a character modeller for this game. Unfortunately, I can't put anything up yet of course but in due time, I should be able to. But for those who have played the games, what were your favourite characters?


General Life

General life has taken a turn for the better too. Due to certain events, I came out feeling like a much happier and better person which is cool, amirite? I also rebought a PS3 (slim) and have been playing Ni No Kuni. I also have a spare copy of Crack in Time if anyone wants it (for free).



Welp, that's about it from me! I'm off back to Uni on Monday, let's hope we get some actual lectures this term huh!

I met with some people from Mind Candy (the people who made Moshi Monsters) on Friday. We were at an animation festival in Exeter (UK of course haha!). It was the first time they have ever come down to the South West to talk.

Well, the talk was amazing! The people who spoke were the lead animator and two other animators. After the talk, I caught up with them and showed them my portfolio. And then... well, they kinda wanted to pull me out of Uni to see if I could work for them LOL. I was honoured in fact! But after speaking to my parents, it would have been silly to not complete my degree when I only have a year left.

The Art Director emailed me anyways which was pretty awesome. He said that I should stay on to complete my degree, but "please come back to us once you have your degree".

*squeels*

I could work for Mind Candy. How awesome is that? Their studio is AMAZING, I'm not even kidding. Just check these pics out:

Yo all!

First off, I finally returned to my hometown today from Uni and managed to snap a pic of both sides of the huge Rise of the Guardians poster my cinema gave me! I seriously wish I had the space to put it up haha, it's too tall! I'm becoming one of those mad collectors -_-




Also, my entry won that Outernauts design a beast contest Insomniac Games ran. I can seriously say I did NOT expect this. It was a total shock, when they told me I had to say "excuse me for a moment" and kinda rolled away from the computer LOL.
Here is the little interview they did with me and the runners up entries too: [link]

got into the top 5 too! How awesome is that?! This means that they could well still use her design in the game (hers is the one with the 3 birds). I asked if they could credit the runners up but they said no. So yeah, just letting you guys know that it was Denny that made that one!

Have you ever drawn something, uploaded it onto deviantART, forgotten about it for a few months/years, then went back to it and suddenly remembered the exact thing you were watching/listening to at the time you were drawing it? Or even, you remember exactly how you were feeling at the time of drawing it? It's so weird. It's like drawing helps things stick in your mind much easier... not sure why.

/pointless journal entry, but I found it interesting

Haha man, I've been having a funny five minutes with Google's reverse image searching. It's weird how your old art that is actually very shitty winds up in the strangest of places. Most of the stuff taken from me is Lion King, Pokemon and a Digimon piece. I don't mind though, it's funny

Most of the time they end up in Youtube videos but I've seen a few being used in those weird custom Pokemon/Yu-Gi-Oh card makers, Facebook, some forums (mostly different language forums) and Tumblr. But yeah like I said I don't mind it, but it does serve to remind me to watermark my work more often. Right now I only really watermark fanart, if I feel like it.


Oh yes, I've also stuck a few of my old things in storage because I'm kinda annoyed that it crops up in that "More Like This" sidebar thing next to my work and...well, I don't really want to promote my worst stuff I've kept some stuff out though such as the work I did for Lukunsky Grove.


Oh! And I shall be applying for an internship at Insomniac Games very soon! They open up around early Feb and I'm so nervous but... I hope I make it. If not, it's okay though

Alright, we've all heard that age old argument about how women are portrayed in games lol. That much is pretty obvious, I really don't need to elaborate on that here. However, I was thinking... I saw this image from a guy who recently got hired at Blizzard and was featured on Kotaku (nudity ahoy): [link]

Now to most people, you would be thinking "well, she'd be a pretty easy killing target" if she were in a game. It's pretty stupid armour. But that's not the point of this post

I was thinking about painting a male version of this, gonads ahoy, and gauge people's reactions on it. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get hired at Blizzard (or even get featured on Kotaku for that matter) but hey I was wondering if people would react differently if it was a male instead of a female. I could be wrong, but I predict that people are terrified of penises, but women? NAAAAH, that's fine.

Before you guys get the wrong idea, I don't really draw nudity haha, this was more of a curious experiment I was thinking of running.

What do you think?

Hey y'all! I got another journal update here. Some of you might remember that a while back, I sold my 3DS for a Vita. Well, I rebought a 3DS this week after the announcement of the new Pokemon games (and the fact that Monster Hunter is on the 3DS now). This time though, I decided to get the XL. It's much better, I really do enjoy the bigger screen.

Well, another factor that made me decide to get a 3DS now rather than in a few months time was that I managed to get this Pikachu 3DS, complete with camera nipples! :



I was aware they released these in Japan a while back, but I didn't know there was an English release, so I just... caved haha. I looked it up and saw that they weren't released in the US which is really sucky for my US friends who want one. However I know you can import them but then you'll have the problem of region locking. But if you don't mind getting EU games for it then it's a cool idea, because I'm pretty sure these will skyrocket in value one day (as with anything with Pikachu slapped on it xDD).

As a result of buying this though, I ended up selling my Secret Agent Clank Press Kit and my Clank keycap to =Lurking-Leanne to make back some profit. I don't mind it going to her because I know she will take good care of it. I wouldn't have just stuck it up on Ebay.



Also, the cinema in my hometown phoned me up and gave me their huge 10 foot tall and 6 foot wide Rise of the Guardians poster. I'm... not even sure where I will put it, it's taller than me rolled up but hey It has Jack Frost on the front, and I know it's double sided but I'm not sure what characters are on the back yet as my boyfriend had to pick it up for me (I'm away at Uni).


And one last update! I'm working on a small side project right now- Ratchet and Clank: Monopoly! More details on that to come later but for now I will depart... got tonnes of work to do for the deadlines next week and well... guess it's time I got my butt in gear

I just brought me one of these beauties!





Well it's a preorder, but still. He's D-Art's first Pokemon figure and D-Arts are well known for their high quality fully pose-able figures. They're awesome. The Mewtwo one is a little tricky to get now since he's sold out nearly everywhere, but they've just released a Charizard one for pre order (I won't be getting the others though):






And here are Venusaur and Blastoise which should be announced for pre-order sometime this year:




So yeah, if you love Pokemon then definitely get one of these!
If you want to buy Charizard (or the other two when they come out) whilst he's still available for pre-order then I would advise you to go to this site and do it, it's the cheapest and I use it quite often:
[link]

*Merlin spoilers ahead! Do not read if you haven't seen it yet!*



BBC.... you took my heart and ripped it right out of my freaking chest, then impaled it with Excalibur. You just.... YOU WENT THERE. PFFFFT.

That was the single most depressing thing I have had the chance to experience

Well, at least Merlin got to pour his heart out to his gay lover best friend. But everything else. WHYYY.



Okay, I'm done.

I've decided I'm going to try and go for applying for an internship at Insomniac, but I'm going to go for the art one instead. I just feel that right now, my art is a bit stronger than my animation so that would be best for me.
And so because of this, my Christmas break is going to be incredibly busy! I have 2 animations to complete for my course for January, an essay for January, and a big series of animation commissions I'm doing in order to save up money just in case I do get the internship. And on top of that, I have to work on making a damn amazing portfolio to even stand a chance of getting to IG

So yeah, the next month will be extremely busy, working non-stop. We finished up for the Christmas break yesterday but I booked an appointment with a Uni bursary advisor for Monday, to see if there are any bursaries I could apply for if I did get an internship (to help with getting there and such). So I will be back at the Uni on Monday hah.


I fell a bit ill last night and my landlady thinks it was because I kinda worked myself to exhaustion so I slept for ages and I felt better afterwards. It's nice that the most recent deadlines are out of the way, now I just need to get working on the stuff for my next deadlines as soon as possible.


Well, I've chosen this path and I'm going to follow it no matter what. I really want to get to Insomniac this summer and I'll work as hard as I can to get there, even if it means I have to work from the moment I get up until the moment I go to bed. Jobs don't come to you after all, I guess you get out of it what you put in!

I'm seriously considering applying for an Internship at Insomniac for this summer. I have been speaking to people about it, and they think I should go for it! Fwah!

Well, I was speaking to one of the community managers at IG and he hooked me up with a lady from the HR department since I have ALOT of questions. The problem is, I live in the UK and I'd need a Visa- something IG do not help with for interns, they usually don't accept international students.

But they told me that if my University is willing to help me out and fund my Visa, then they will consider my application for me. So I have a meeting booked with the careers people at my Uni for next Tuesday to discuss this with them.


I really hope this works out and my Uni can help me with a Visa. I really do! 10 weeks at IG would be fantastic, and the amount of experience you would earn (like Pokeyman, yes?) would be tremendous.
I'm planning on going for an animation internship there, so I'm currently working on making the best dang showreel I can.

I have just made a website for my art and resume and such! I have added a tutorial section on there too, but I need ideas for what tutorials people want to see.

Here is a link to the site (it's still a little under construction and some art on there is just temporary until I do better stuff haha): [link]

So yeah, when I have time to get some tutorials done, what kind of stuff would you like to see? I can do animation principles, some painting techniques (although I'm no expert when it comes to these things, I can still pass on a few things), general Photoshop tips... what do you want?
I will try not to do stuff that you see all over the place already though because that would be a bit pointless.

They are invading the UK ahh!

Haha nah xD I found a funny stick insect in the wild the other day, just basking in the sun on a wall; it was huge and brown. Stick insects aren't native to the UK, I knew that much, so I looked them up on Google. I came across a man who studies and records stick insects in the UK for a living and I sent the photo I took to him.

Apparently, these stick insects came from New Zealand about 100 years ago, from eggs that were on some imported plants. They only thrived in the South West of England because of the milder climate (they are only in Devon, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly), and so there are a few colonies scattered around. Every single one of them is female; they breed on their own.

~KBABZ and =Lurking-Leanne. take yo stick insects back! Nah kidding, I love that they are here! I hope I see some more!


Here she is:



/pointless journal entry that I hope someone finds interesting!

Next year I'll be going into my 3rd and final year at Uni, and we have to do one huge animation project. I know we're not supposed to be thinking about it now, but I have an idea I think might actually be really cool.

I just emailed London Zoo about my idea- I'm hoping to collaborate with them on some kind of animated exhibit about endangered and extinct animals (I plan to use animals such as the thylacine, the British wolf (which is unfortunately extinct also), the endangered tigers, etc).

I mean, I don't just want my project to be a personal thing that I do at Uni, then is thrown aside. I want to make something impactful and have it somewhere where alot of people will see. Not only that, endangered animals is something I am quite passionate about and people seem to pay more attention if the message is put through an animated medium.

I have no idea if the zoo will even want to bother with this, but they would be crazy to turn down free animation, especially since they don't get any government funding so who knows

Here's to hoping this idea takes off!

For the past few years, I've been slowly building up my collection of Pokemon games. I'm aiming to have them all boxed one day, but that does get pretty costly heh.

But now I have at least one game from each generation! But you know what really sucks? The fact that the Gameboy games saved using batteries. My Pokemon Crystal has run out of battery and doesn't save anymore, so I shall have to look into buying a new battery and making it work.


But yes! Here's a pic of my game collection so far!



In other news, I managed to nab one of those RaC screenprint posters which is pretty sweet! Thanks to a big commission I got, I was able to get it (the shipping to the UK was pretty hefty).



And now, to end this journal I want to ask...




What do you think makes a character design "appealing"?

This question stems from a conversation I had with my animation teacher last week. He thinks that Disney's newer-styled works (Pocahontas for example) isn't appealing to him. Now he is the artsy-type of guy, but I could see where he came from. He was saying about how the old Disney stuff (such as Mickey Mouse) used very curvy lines and they worked really well together whereas Disney's newer stuff tries to be too "real", and the lineart isn't "alive" like it used to be.

Now as for my own opinion- I do really enjoy curvy lines more than the straighter-edged lines, it appeals to me more. But I think Disney's newer style appeals in a totally different way. I think each style has their own appealing aspects... beauty is in the eye of the beholder