Guitar Hero is First Class

I think most people probably know what Guitar Hero is at this point, but just in case - basically it's a rhythm based video game where you pretend you're able to play guitar by clicking along with scrolling notes on a plastic guitar with only five buttons. It's really easier to just show you than it is to explain - so here is a video of a kid who is way better than I am.

Yeah. He's much better than me. And yes - everybody makes that silly face with their mouth hanging open pretty much the entire duration of a given song.

Well it's one thing to make that face in the privacy of your own home, but with the recent release of Guitar Hero III they've announced that it will also be available on PCs and Macs (not to mention the portable DS).

Well since a PC and Mac port means I can play Guitar Hero pretty much wherever and whenever I want, I think air plane trips are going to be a lot more enjoyable. Well, for me at least.

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I figure it's only a matter of time until the FAA steps in.

End of the month sleepy time...

I have two final projects due at 6:00 AM today (Monday). Then I have my next month's class starting at 1:00 PM.

It should be obvious to anybody who has ever picked up an Encyclopedia Brown novel that this insight into my schedule is a precursor to me telling you that I'm not going to have a comic in on time. Sorry about that. This school stuff is a lot tougher than round 1 up at UNL. Mainly because a teacher can fail you by saying "No.. that doesn't look quite right... I'm not sure what it is... but something is off." Stupid subjectivity.

Anyway, I'll get a comic in tomorrow, don't you worry. And to make up for it, I have a couple of extra treats.

First of all, here is one of my projects from an animation class. We were given a Knight character and told to animate him either sneaking, or walking. I chose sneaking, cuz that seemed like more fun. So here's that

The final project for that class was animating the same knight going through an obstacle course. I've been meaning to get that up here as well - hopefully I can manage sometime this week.

The second "I'm making up for reneging on the promise in my banner" goody is similar to my normal Wacom / Photoshop comics, in that it is a comic BOOK, made with a Wacom tablet and Photoshop. Johnny Nguyen, one of my buddies down here in Florida, recently came out with his first comic book. You can find it here (mildy NSFW - sorry Kevin):

http://enliv.com/comic/

Good stuff. Also - check out the "Behind the Scenes: Extra" features at the end. You might recognize a couple of people in those photo references.

Again, sorry again for the lack of comic. Check back tomorrow.

Edward seems to have lost some weight

I'm not going to lie to you. This week I was blindsided by a bit of information that is rather detrimental to my day to day life.

Florida does not sell 40 oz malt liquor.

I know what you're thinking. "Who cares Dan? It's not like you ever really have a strong need for malt liquor or anything. Get over it." But I don't think you understand. Ever heard of something called "Edward 40 Hands?" If you haven't, it's a drinking game that's based on the Tim Burton movie "Edward Scissor Hands." Not only that, but it makes for a great Halloween costume.

Unless, of course, you live in Florida.

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Nintendo causes Paresthesia

Going to a school like Full Sail, you tend to encounter a lot of people who are into video games. Typically, I don't get drawn into too many virtual adventures... I dipped my hat in World of Warcraft for a couple of months back in college round 1, but somehow managed to evade it's deadly vise-like grip. I enjoy Guitar Hero type games quite a bit as well, but let's face it. Playing guitar, virtual or otherwise, is just cool.

One thing that has really managed to addict me is the Nintendo DS. That little portable system is simply amazing - from it's WiFi capabilities that let me throw down in some Mario Kart with Mueller and Ross from across the country to it's simple and handy design that lets me start and stop play with a simple flip of the lid. I find myself carrying it around just about everywhere, and playing it in places and situations when I probably shouldn't.

One of these days it's going to get me in a bad situation.

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Just call me Henry Clay...

Ok ... here's the deal. I have a comic that's halfway done, and I have other things that I need to do this morning. I could finish the new comic quick and post a black and white version, OR....

I'll post a comic that some of you have already seen, and in exchange for your understanding, post the second comic later this week. Wednesday, let's say.

Sound good? Alright then. Glad we agree.

This comic was made for the JDE Alumni association newsletter. During college round one our dorm had an internet forum where we would occasionally hold surveys and the like. One such survey was the "Hot or Not" survey.

As I'm sure you already have surmised, considering my dashing good looks, I did pretty well in the competition. Some people, however, did a little better. Nowadays I'm finding that my success doesn't have quite the sparkle it once did.

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See ya Wednesday.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...

Another month has come and gone, and a new set of classes has begun. This month I'm taking another character modeling class (like when I made Tobias a couple months back), but with more emphasis on proper proportions with regards to human musculature. If that weren't going to be difficult enough, we don't get to choose somewhat obscure comedians to model this month. We have to create a 3d representation of ourselves.

It's going to be pretty challenging. Not only because creating something that looks like a particular person (especially one as dashing as myself) is fairly difficult, but also because temptation to take certain artistic licenses with this sort of thing is pretty much unavoidable.

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Hopefully I'll be able to get my project from last month posted sometime this week, so keep an eye out if that sort of thing interests you.

It's Tired in Here...

It's October, Halloween time, and apparently that means one thing these days.

I truly and honestly hate those movies. Maybe I just have a weak stomach, but they don't seem to scare me as much as they make me want to vomit.

What did scare me when I thought about it five minutes ago when I was a little kid were the Urban legends about murderers outside my car with hooks for hands and mental patients that would escape their wards to write messages on walls in blood.

I always thought that it would take a lot of patience for those killers to hang around in the dark so that they could set the just right mood, you know, really scare the crap out of somebody. I can't imagine that I'd be able to pull something like that off with the same ambiance that the legends manage.

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