SEX.GAMING.HUMOUR.NERDERY.DAZ - Daz Watford

Daz has some tips for games art students Hi all, I know it's been a while since I've done a #DazArtSchool (or any) post, but I responded to a tweet about “tips for students” and then I kept thinking of more tips, so I decided to write them all down here. I've talked about tips for getting an industry job previously (and I'm gonna repeat a couple of 'em, but feel free to click that link and check out that one too) but here's some stuff to specifically focus on while you're in higher education.

You have time to make mistakes When you're working professionally, you're gonna have very little room to screw up, and you're gonna have to work pretty efficiently. Because of this you're likely to rely on the same tried and true techniques that you know will produce good work fast.

This is not a bad thing, but while you're studying, you're gonna have time. Obviously you're gonna want to produce good work, but it doesn't have to be ALL good. Allow yourself time to make mistakes, do pieces specifically to try out new things, experiment while you have the chance. *It also helps to set aside some “time to make mistakes” even while you're professional (the Rey art pictured was a “test piece” I did to try out some brushes and techniques, and it turned out well and ended up one of my most well received pieces)

But remember, not everything has to end up as a pretty picture, so do some stuff purely as learning exercises. And not everything has to be shown, so don't worry about a piece going completely wrong. Also, consider the work you've got, and be honest with yourself, you know where your gaps are. If you're doing all characters and no environments, do some environments. If you're always “hiding” feet out of frame because you're not very good at feet. Do some studies, and draw some damn feet! Fill those gaps. A strong portfolio is your priority Ideally you'll need 10-20 good pieces, but it's best to aim to have at least twice as many as you'll need by the end of your course. That way you'll have some room to manoeuvre and pick the ones that really sell you, rather than having to put the only art you've got in to your portfolio. Also, the “serial killer test”. Avoid too many freaky subjects (naked women with skull heads, foetuses) Ask yourself, “If someone who didn’t know me saw this piece, would they think I’m a serial killer?” If the answer is even “Maybe”, drop it from your portfolio. You are your Brand This is especially relevant if you plan to go freelance, but handy all round; start in with the social media/networking. Now honestly the social media landscape changes so rapidly it's not the same as when I was coming up (eg. Twitter is not the wonderland it was a few years ago) so I'm not a hundred percent on “best platforms” any more. But you have these tools so use them. Social media can allow you access to industry professionals, you can chat and ask advice (just don't get too “grabby”) and expos and networking events can give you opportunities to meet in person, I'd recommend both, but building an “online presence” takes time, so start early, even if you start small. And obviously be professional, also this Penny Arcade “Strip Search” episode is definitely worth a watch. An online portfolio site is fairly easy to build, so build one, and make sure you have an easy to understand email address (ideally your name at whatever) A good test is to try to get your dad or aunt or someone to send an email to that address, but you have to tell them the email address over the phone (this really highlights if there are any “it's an upper-case G, then a number 3, a lower-case l not a number 1” minefields you need to remove by making a new email address) (Optional) Make a game Now as an artist, this is not an essential, but I'm often asked by aspiring indie devs about best processes for how to make a game, and my response is always “make a game” I'd say start with something small, and plan smart to minimise the number of assets; but actually making a game will teach you more than anyone telling you about it ever could. Make something you can finish, it doesn't have to be your “dream game” (in fact it shouldn't be as you'll make mistakes first time out) you can always do the dream game for your next one, once you have some experience of the process. If you're hoping to get a studio job, you'll learn about working with others (and it'll still make for a strong addition to your portfolio) and if you’re planning on going indie, it could end up as your first game and even if it doesn't, you'll learn where problem areas are to watch for when making your next one.

Classified? Really?.. Me too

I've wanted to draw Rey since I saw Force Awakens the first time, but didn't really know what to do with the piece. I really liked the grey outfit she's wears towards the end of the film so that was a probable option, but it wasn't till I saw the “rust and grey” palette variant in this piece of concept art that it all came together :D

Another “What I'd like to see in Defiance Season 3” sketch

and sort of a companion piece to this one.

I loved Doc Yewll's “On the Lam” costume, nobody rocks a cardigan like Doc! Hope to see this look again :D

Back in my day Steve

Made a #BackInMyDaySteve meme, inspired by this excellent mini fanfic by actualmenacebuckybarnes

Red Sonja Redesign Sketch just for fun. Inspired by Red Sonja's original look

Daz rants about the "Myth of Frank Frazetta" Today is the birthday of the late great Frank Frazetta. A friend of mine used to joke that Frazetta would “just suck art power out of the universe!” and I don't think he was that far off, Frazetta's work contains an energy and dynamism rarely seen.

But I'd like to talk about this whole “Frazetta never used reference” narrative that gets spread around, and stories like art director Ralph Mayo taking Frazetta to one side and telling him “your stuff is great, but you need to learn some anatomy.”

This particular story continues that Frazetta is handed an anatomy book (Bridgman I believe) and spends the rest of the night reproducing all the art and diagrams from the book; then returning to Mayo the next day, throwing the book down defiantly and saying “"Thank you very much, I just learned my anatomy.” As if to demonstrate “That's just how good Frazetta was!!!”

This is what I call “The Myth of Frank Frazetta” and frankly it's bullshit! Don't get me wrong, I think Frazetta is an amazing artist, and he is easily my biggest influence; but to say Frazetta could just “do it” is nonsense.

Frazetta studied his art, he had some serious formal schooling. He also had many years on the job experience in comics and illustration. Frazetta didn't start doing book covers and posters till the 1960's, after about 20 years as a professional artist. Also, Frazetta did use reference! While compositions and roughs were often done from memory, it was not uncommon for Frazetta to use reference, often of friends or himself in posed photographs.

Propagating this “Myth of Frank Frazetta” is insulting, it skimps over the effort he put in honing his skill, it ignores the years of study and experience Frazetta put in to his craft. It overlooks his understanding of how important it is to use reference, maybe not as a straight jacket, but as an aid. And it's a dangerous lesson to pass down to students.

If you don't believe me, listen to the less frequently told “ending” of the tale I began earlier, in Frazetta's own words.

“I came back the next day like a dumb kid and said, "Thank you very much, I just learned my anatomy." Of course Ralph fell over and roared with laughter. "Frankie, you silly bastard! I've been studying for ten years and I still don't know anatomy, and you went home and learned it last night?!”

I hope Rynn returns with a "Snake Plissken" look for season 3 of Defiance

The trip to the streets in last night's Gotham gave me an idea for some Bruce Wayne art Also, can we please give Alfred & Bullock their own spin-off show, right now, please! :D

Daz talks about Gamergate and the Cave of the Dark Side

Here's a story you're probably familiar with Dagobah, circa Empire Strikes Back; Luke is part way through his training with short but wise Jedi Master Yoda; when they take a break from running, jumping, doing somersaults an' stuff. After Luke voices how chilly it is, Yoda explains they are near a place strong with the Dark Side (TM) of The Force (TM) and then tells Luke he has to go in.

“What's in there?” asks Luke “Only what you take with you” replies Yoda, “Your weapons, you will not need them”

Luke shrugs Yoda off, then does up his gun belt and heads in. Inside the cave Luke comes face to face with Vader and they fight, but the twist is, after Vader is defeated his helmet explodes open to reveal Luke's face inside.

Luke's fear made him refuse to enter unarmed, Luke's defensiveness cased him to “draw” his Lightsaber first. The test was for Luke to face the potential for aggression within himself, and it was over before he even went in the cave.

Now this has it's parallels with pretty much any online space, but is particularly relevant to the current “Gamergate” situation; and like with the Cave of the Dark Side, if we enter armed and ready for a fight, we'll find a way to have one.

The roots of Gamergate have been growing for the past couple of weeks but most of us have only become aware of it in the past few days with some articles that seemed to attack us for being “Gamers” or tell us we're not wanted in gamer culture.

I self identify as a “Gamer” and it is very easy to read these and feel we've been attacked, to get angry because we've been lumped in with a hateful subset of gamer culture that does not represent us.

But if you feel you've been attacked, pause and ask yourself why before retaliating. Take some time to cool off, re-watch or re-read that thing a day later, and think on it, ask yourself if you're actually the type of person that it was opposing.

Please, talk to your friends about this and listen to them, ask them how they feel, and what they've heard too. Do some homework, look in to the events that led up to this (and when you do, please investigate your sources, find other articles or videos that source has produced to make sure you know where their bias lies before taking them at face value)

While it's very likely there is a problem with “ethics in games” take a good look at how this current campaign is mainly focused on women and those who are trying to make gaming more inclusive, and how other instances of corruption have been ignored. There is no conspiracy to “ruin” games by sanitising them, these people are simply trying to make gaming a more welcoming place for everyone, and in response they have been targeted with harassment and bullying in an attempt to force them out.

Gamergate makes me genuinely sad, because we all seem to be turning on each other. Everybody seems to be arguing about slightly different things, so it's vital that we make sure we're standing for the same thing as those we're standing with. We all feel we've been attacked, we're all ready to lash out and nobody is prepared to back down; but we need to, or we will lose those who are trying to make gaming a friendlier place, for all of us. We are “Gamers” and what we do now and who we ally ourselves with will shape the future of gamer culture, it will decide if the term “Gamer” is seen as a badge of community or hate.

“What's in there?” “Only what you take with you. Your weapons, you will not need them”

Daz tells a tale of a talking horse There's a lot of talk about depression today because of the news about Robin Williams. Depression is a son of a bitch, it makes the most poisonous thoughts seem calm and rational, it makes them feel true.

I've spoken about depression before (posts tagged depression) but today I'd like to tell you a story. This story was told to me by a former Art History teacher of mine, I don't know the origins other than that; also I may have adapted a it a little over the years :D

A long time ago in a land far, far away; there was a Thief.

The Thief had been caught stealing, as thieves are known to do, and was brought before the King. The penalty for theft in the Kingdom was death. Now everyone thought the Thief a fool, but he was a folklore cliché. He was wily, he had smarts. So he made a deal with the King.

“Don't kill me yet” he said “I have a talent! I can make animals talk. Give me a year and I will make you favourite prize race horse speak”

The King agreed, if after a year the horse had spoken, the Thief was free to go; but if not, the Thief would spend the following year in the dungeons being slowly tortured to death. And with that the Thief was sent to the Stables, with a Knight to guard him day and night, and prevent him from trying to escape.

Six months passed and the Thief and the Knight gradually became good friends, but the Horse was no closer to speaking. One day the Knight asked the Thief why he had made the deal.

“Let's face it, that horse is never gonna talk, and you're gonna die horribly. The Headsman's Axe would have been quick and painless; but I've seen the work of Marion the Jailer, you'll have a slow painful death, a year of suffering beyond comprehension! Why didn't you choose the easy option?”

“That's a possibility, but it's not guaranteed” replied the Thief “Life is peculiar, strange wondrous things can always happen, there's always options. Death is so final, it doesn't leave you any other choices” “I've still got six months. If I keep going, anything could happen in that time! The King could change his mind, or die of natural causes, or the Horse could die of natural causes and we'd need to renegotiate the deal. Hell, I could die of natural causes.”

“...and perhaps the House will talk” EDIT: Thanks Wikipedia, it's based on Nasreddin and the Sultan's Horse http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Sufism/Nasrudin#Nasreddin_and_the_Sultan.27s_Horse

Daz is cool with Thor being a lady

So yeah, this morning I planned to write a little something about Thor being a lady. But if I'm honest I'm a bit of a Fake Geek Guy (I only really know the movies) and I'm not a massive Thor fan (I don't specifically dislike him, but he's not one of my faves) so there's really not much at stake for me.

So I thought about other characters; for example, I'd lose my shit if they flipped Black Widow! That's not meant to be false equivalence. It's that Black Widow being underestimated for being a woman, then proving smarter and more kick ass than the guys, is part of the charm of the character for me.

Which brings me to Batman

Now the Batman is a fave. So I started thinking how I'd feel if he was flipped. Like with Thor, not Batgirl or Batwoman, but actually Batman? And I realised I was OK with it. The criminals don't really get that good a look at him anyhow, and he's often referred to simply as “The Bat”, so I figured why not?

I'd been meaning to do an “Adam West era but still looks kinda badass” costume piece for a while, so I got a paintin'

To quote Nolan's Bat, “It's not who I am underneath, but what I do that defines me”

I've heard Jim Murray is a really nice bloke, but he's such a good actor that Pottinger's Super Hateable! :D

Another Amanda Rosewater Scotch Meme 'Cause I'm getting all stoked about Season 2 :D

Daz follows up on Depression and Agoraphobia

So I retweeted one of my earlier posts on Depression/Agoraphobia earlier today, and as usually happens I got a few responses. I genuinely wish I could reply to you all personally, but I'm not sure I'd be giving the right advice to you all (and it could actually be dangerous) I'm not professionally qualified, and can only talk about my personal experiences.

Here are my previous posts on the subject

http://dazwatford.tumblr.com/tagged/depression

Now, I started crying uncontrollably while re-reading my post “Daz gets down”, but that's OK, I'm cool talking about this stuff now. I personally find talking/writing about it helps me, but that may not work for everyone.

I'm OK talking about it because I got two years of counselling, and while I am not “cured” it really helped me find ways to cope. But that doesn't always work for everyone, medication may be the answer for you, I can't say. I'm not professionally qualified, and can only talk about my personal experiences.

(Note: If your counselling does seem to be working, it's possible the problem is with them, not you, maybe try another. Also a lot of College/Unis have access to a free counselling service, use it if it's available)

But every time I do write/talk about this, I find others who also suffer. The important thing is to know that you are not alone. Others suffer too, and others can help. There are support groups out there, there's a few on tumblr itself (like http://agoraphobia-support.tumblr.com/ ) Share these links, help each other find this stuff.

Do not devalue yourself or your feelings, you are not wrong for feeling this way. It is not wrong to ask for help.

As I say, I can only talk about my personal experiences here; and I cannot stress enough, seek properly qualified help.

Edit: If you have a helpful link, please feel free to post it in the comments, thanks :D

Black Widow Because I only just found out there's plans for a Black Widow movie! :D "There’s no time for romance. We’ve got shit to avenge!"

Edit: Since this was written I've discovered that was just Internet rumour, and there's no plans for a Black Widow movie :(

Daz talks about Alien: Isolation

We’ve yet to get a great Aliens game.

We’ve had some good ones, and some terrible, but not a great one. This is surprising, as a great Aliens game should pretty much write itself. It’s the template; countless franchises like Doom and Warhammer 40K pretty much ripped it off.

Creative Assembly are not gonna give us a great Aliens game though, they’re trying to bring us a great Alien game.

The Presentation at Rezzed was very reassuring, they’ve done their homework. Ron Cobb got name checked alongside the usual HR Giger shout-out. But it’s not just the look, they’ve studied the feel. How the Alien actually moves in the film, compared to how everyone “thinks” it moves, and made their Alien an amalgam of that.

But making a great Alien game introduces a whole new set of problems. “How are they gonna fill fifteen hours of gameplay without becoming repetitive?” is a commonly asked one. The Creative Assembly guys, answered evasively, hinting at new equipment, crafting and weapons (my money’s on the Flamethrower :D ) all the time throwing nervous glances at their PR Representative (who I happened to be sat next to)

The film does suggest options; at Chestburster stage the Crew are trying to find the creature, later they’re trying to hunt and kill it, and when they realise that’s not working; they’re just trying to survive. Dan O’Bannon has also mentioned in interviews that he changed the Alien’s overall behaviour throughout (early on it’s super aggressive as it’s after energy to support growth, then it’s effectively nest building when it takes Dallas, and finally it slows right down. O’Bannon states to hibernate and emerge as a fourth stage we never got to see.)

It’s unclear if the Creative Assembly are going with any of these, but it’s obvious they do have answers, just that NDA’s won’t let them share yet. Personally I’d love a section using a Flamethrower to try and drive the Alien through the vents to the main airlock, hopefully with more success than Dallas has in the movie though.

The Presentation ended with a heart stopping gameplay clip that made me decide it was worth braving the queues to play the demo while I had the chance.

The demo itself features a small section very much with the tone of the “survive” section of the film (where Ripley is running round corridors messing with the self-destruct) and it’s utterly terrifying! I spent the first ten minutes or so creeping round hiding under desks and jumping at the motion tracker before hitting one of the procedurally occurring “Alien Reveal” moments and realising I’d been in no danger at all previously.

But I didn’t feel at all cheated, the atmosphere and build up was incredible. These first ten minutes had my adrenalin pumping enough, and now I knew it was really out there. I spent the next ten minutes creeping round hiding under desks and catching half glimpses of the creature round corners. It’s a strange conflict, you want to know where the Alien is, but you understand completely that if you can see it clearly, it can probably see you, and then it’s over.

And then it was.

I moved too fast, and it heard me from further away than thought it could, and in a rush of black shiny cylindrical forms and teeth, I was dead.

After this I died again, a lot. And it made me realise something. Death in video games, is nowhere near as scary as the threat of death in video games. Yes the Alien is scary because it’s so lethal, but once the Alien has killed you three or four times it’s really got nothing else to threaten you with. Hopefully the Creative Assembly won’t play all the Alien’s cards too early, it would be a crime for the Alien to burn all the terror that comes from the “suggestion” of it, and become a frustration, a hindrance that just “gets in the way” of completing objectives.

But the Devs were right outside the demo, getting feedback, asking questions. It appears the Creative Assembly are being meticulous at every stage. A brief conversation revealed some wonderful “Clever Girl” moments they have lined up for the Alien’s behaviour (although I didn’t get my Flamethrower theory confirmed :( )

We will still have to wait for a great Aliens game, and while I’m hesitant to get over excited yet; from what I saw yesterday, I believe there’s a chance we could get a great Alien game.