Summer Parties The weather is finally heating up! Not that I'm in favor of odd, unnatural, Global Warming type weather or anything, but it's August, and for crying out loud, we can use some heat over here in Vancouver. So to celebrate the Summer season, Backbone threw a little party for us at the beach. Good times, good food, good fun. Lacarno Beach was the location. Absolutely Gorgeous. There were games, prizes, and all around craziness. Catering by Vera's Burgers As we partied like party people usually do, I noticed something from the corner of my eye. More than just fanboy vandalism, I believe that Rockstar Vancouver claimed this area of the beach, and for that, I laugh. As the party ended, I made my way to the car, and noticed a business card on the ground, a card from Relic Entertainment. It seems that they were partying here too!

Next on the agenda was the Activision Meet and Greet at Kingston Pub in downtown Vancouver. Rumors of Activision establishing a studio here are greatly a miss, they simply want to absorb the talent our great city fosters into their collective of studios. Sorry Activision, I'm already taken. Behind in their yearly recruiting quota, they've come to Canada to seek new blood. Aren't we special. Open bar, food, and swag. Cheers. Thanks Activision.

The HR, and studio execs were fresh off the plane so the event started slightly late. I struck up conversations with Studio Heads and VP's and I must say that I was impressed with their vast knowledge of the business. They were very approachable and are actually very informed, even able to relate to the art side of production. A studio head who claims to have got his start as a QA tester, and can relate to the creative urges of Animator's... woah I'm impressed.

The crowd was a mix of industry people and new grads. It's always fun to socialize with the experienced and those looking to get their start. I've said this once, and I'll say it again, Vancouver is a really small industry. The industry gossip you hear around parties is always interesting!

Call of Duty 4, Quake Wars, Tony Hawk , Guitar Hero etc. Activision. The event was a smashing success.

CDNGRRL heard about the event too! Seen here with Leah from the O.C.

Overall, that was one busy ass Tuesday day/night.

I can't wait to see how EA's SKATE compares to the Tony Hawk series.

Forbes has posted an Earnings Preview of Activision.

"Playing Columbine" Trailer Danny Ledonne's documentary on his controversial interactive narrative Super Columbine Massacre RPG!

How the power of the internet connects Journalists with stuff to write about.

When I posted my friends Transformers collection a while back on my uber site The Rez, I had no idea it would attract the attention of a reporter from 24hrs, a nation-wide Canadian newspaper. I'm not sure if it was the youtube footage I uploaded of the Transformers toys, or the technorati link to the post or even the Digg plug, but somehow the reporter for the print publication found my site, and liked my post enough to do a story on my friend. Strangely enough, I was contacted through another sites messaging system, that wasn't made public on "The Rez" nor anywhere else for that matter, which was surprising to say the least. It's the internet, seems like anyone can track you down. In any case, I gave the reporter the contact info of my friend and they went over to his place to take some pics and to do an interview which appeared in the newspaper not too long after.

Yay I made someone famous. Now his mom can't say collecting toys was a waste of time.

What I get for buying an XBOX 360: A gorgeous Red Ring... Futureshop bundle.. nothing too exciting, free games. Everything started out fine until... this... and this... and this... again...

Um, this is what i get for my money, as soon as I take it out of the box? (Like within 10 minutes after setting it up and creating my profile.) Customer service will be hearing from me. 1-800-4-MY-XBOX-IS-A-BROKE-PIECE-OF-SHIT! Maybe I should have played eni-meeni-mini-mo with the stack of consoles at the store in hopes of avoiding the shitty console... Oh wait, they might have all been like that!

But Peter Moore says, everything will be okay...

Transformers the "NEW" movie was surprisingly enjoyable. I went in with pretty low expectations, robots , cars, cleavage and explosions and it was exactly just that. Definitely targeted towards boys, and boys that just won't grow up. Alien robots fighting on earth over a Cube of energy. What more do you want? A deep intellectual discussion on robot spirituality?

It wasn't as bad as I previously wanted it to be! I mean, it could have been worse, a lot worse. The revised robot designs were fine. It allowed for expressive facial animation, so as an animator, I agree with the designers choices. The Transformation and fighting scenes were impressive, like on an eye-popping scale. The action was so large, at times you could barely see what's going on. The film was funny, and it was typical Hollywood blockbuster Michael Bay style. Lots of destruction.

Worst line of the entire film: "You're a soldier now!!!"

Watching Transformers will:

1. Make me want to join the US Military, namely the Air Force
2. Make me want to buy a good ol' American made car, namely a GM
3. Make me want to drink some soda, namely Mountain Dew
4. Make me want to buy an XBOX 360... oh wait VF5 Online will do that

In any case, since posting my friend's Transformers Toy Collection online, I was contacted by a local newspaper (24hrs) and they're very interested in doing an article on him. All thanks to me. It came as a surprise! The power of the internet once again... connecting people. If you're in Vancouver, be sure to keep a look out for it!

Ratatouille Tastes Great!

Pixar Animation delivers yet another visual feast with Ratatouille, the story of an everyday rat (Remy) with sophisticated taste who dreams of one day becoming a famous Chef. Separated from his community after being driven out by a gun touting grandma, Remy ends up in Paris where he befriends a talentless cook (Linguini) at the once 5 star restaurant Gusteau's. With Alfredo Linguini's lack of talent and the rats uncanny cooking ability they team up to make culinary magic, making a soup that impresses the guests and the head chef Skinner.

Ratatouille looks amazing! It's hard to believe that this is 3D animation. In several scenes things like buildings, sets, and clothing look almost photo realistic, sometimes like claymation and stop motion. Achieving Photorealism is no longer a difficult thing to do these days with the right tools and artists, so it's good to see that they pulled back from doing the full on realistic look. The animation is top notch, and gorgeous to watch. The characters are so expressive and full of life. But this movie is more than just visuals, the film is funny, well acted, and well written. It's positive and even inspiring to the youngins and even older crowd. Anyone looking to doubt Pixar's filmmaking ability hoping for an eventual flop will sadly be disappointed. They're definitely at the top of their game.

And to add even more reason to see Ratatouille. The latest Pixar short-film LIFTED, about an Alien abductor in training is pure genius!

Bottomline: "Pixar is Creme de la Creme. Definitely watch this film."

SiCKO, was sick yo!

So I was sitting in a theater watching Pirates the third, killing some time before seeing the movie SiCKO. I had bought a ticket for Michael Moore's film about the joys of the American health care system but being it wasn't a while until the next showing I decided to sneak in to another. Pirates. Well... it's Pirates, and it was entertaining for a while. Chow Yun fat was awesome, and Keira Knightly was even better, but I was quickly bored. It's a good looking movie but I just couldn't imagine sitting through the entire thing. I needed something to get my brain stimulated, not a boring Hollywood blockbuster.

When it was time for Sicko, I quickly jumped theaters. This was a movie I knew going in would be pretty entertaining based on all the praise from audiences and critics alike. More fodder to paint America in an unfavorable light and showcasing his love for Canada, (and other such countries with universal health care). Michael Moore gives viewers an entertaining look of a serious issue and as expected it was good stuff.

Hearing the testimonials from the various cases interviewed in the film, it's hard not to go through a range of emotions sitting in that theater seat. You'll feel like I did, angry, sad, and sympathetic towards their situations, but you'll have a good laugh as well. I couldn't help but feel angry and pretty disgusted with America... the greedy people who run the country. Especially since much of my family clan lives in the states and well have "faith" in Kaiser Permanente. What makes it even worse, my relatives are immigrants, who view America as the "land of Dreams", all the while believing the government would take care of them as they work their asses off to make a better life for themselves. And like anyone else, they to deal with the health care system. Lets just say that they've encountered their own problems with it. Kaiser, Kaiser, damn that Kaiser.

You can say what you want about Michael Moore's tactics and film-making style but seriously he brings an important topic to the people to spark discussion for change. America has some issues, important issues that cannot be ignored. And though Canada, Cuba, France, and Great Britain are portrayed as great Utopian societies, no place or system is perfect.

While the latest Die Hard film is oh so patriotic and American, Sicko makes me not wanna see it.

Well, it's Canada Day tomorrow. Time to celebrate Canada and the universal health care.

Checkout SiCKO on Yahoo Movies.

Black Stickynote art, Jamglue, Ratatouille and Transformers almost here. Back to Black

I recently finished up some more videogame themed stickynote art for the Stickynote Theatre site. This time around though, I thought I'd try something a little different, coloring the entire note with black Sharpie Marker, then drawing on top of it with a white pencil and Witeout. And it turned out pretty neato!

The witeout itself really pops on the dark background, but I realized that the black sharpie isn't that black after all. When scanning the stickynotes into the computer, the black sharpie appears dark brownish. But that's okay, I still love them sharpies.

Remember how back in High School kids used to use Witeout to vandalize school property and/or draw on their friends backpacks? Well, Witeout has officially made a comeback for those poor minimalist artists who have only a few tools on hand. Hey it's cheap stuff, and it goes with he whole office supply theme that stickynotes represent.

Jamglue: Online musical collaborations the future of the Remix?

So a while ago I was listening to an NPR article about a site called Jamglue. A site where users can upload and modify songs but most of all share their mixes with other users to create a wicked sweet track... or several tracks at that.

Using The Submarines "Peace & Hate" song as an example, the interface should be familiar to anyone who's used an audio editing program such as Pro Tools or Sound Forge, or even Adobe Premiere. Jamglue provides the tools to do a decent mix so you don't have to spend an arm and a leg for some crazy highend software.

If you make Music definitely give this site a try!

Transformers the NEW Movie approaches, but not before Ratatouille

It seems like the enthusiasm people once had for Michael Bay's Transformers has been dwindling as we get closer and closer to the day it hits theaters. Haha I know... people were actually enthusiatic for it? Well yeah, people like me.

A popcorn summer flick indeed, I will be watching the movie, with low expectations. I wanna see crazy action and freaking transforming robots rollerblading on the freaking freeway, and I know I'm going to get just that. The last summer flick I saw was Spidey 3, so hopefully the Transformers can wash that bad taste from my mouth.

Oh wait, but Ratatouille comes out on the 29th. This movie looks incredible and as we've all come to expect, Pixar won't disappoint. High expectations riding on this one.

Creme de la Creme. I can't wait for thier next film Wall-E!

Oh and also on the 29th.. the iphone... Anyone buying it? It sure as heck ain't coming to Canada anytime soon.

Nintendo Short Cuts

The Nintendo Office is hilarious but the winning film of the contest Good vs. Wiivil is pretty damn sweet.

Stickynote Theater, Bonk Munny thoughts

Stickynote Theater? Theatre?

Okay so within the depths of the 1UP.com blogging community there's a guy called JT, who has an art thing going on called "Stickynote theater". It's pretty self explanatory... draw on a stickynote pad. I've seen this stuff before -- artists sketching on stickynotes, nothing revolutionary, but I can't remember if anyone actually made it into an official thing... as in promoting the mini canvas as a viable means of art expression. I mean, we've all done the flipbook animation thing (I know I have as an animator), but just doodling on stickynotes and organizing it on a site is pretty neato.

So inbetween making custom Munnies, working, and life in general, I finally got around to doodling it up. It's amazing how busy I am these days that it's difficult to do quick sketches on a tiny piece of paper!

My submission Going with the videogame theme: Mario, Sonic, and Bomberman sketchy style. I've always been a messy artist. I love the organic feel of a messy sketch. I guess it's something I picked up from doing life drawing when I was 16, showing the artist's thought process with lines. Doing something clean off the bat just isn't my thing.

My Tools I love sharpie markers. LOL

Checkout Stickynote Theater

Bonk Munny thoughts

Regarding my Bonk Custom Munny, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who found my custom entertaining. Seeing the great comments all over the internet rocks, the viral spread of information is amazing. Thanks to all readers/viewers who appreciate the character Bonk, and to Joystiq, Kotaku, and Destructoid.

It's great to see the positive feedback from so many people online! It was a challenge, but really fun to do. I learned a lot working with the vinyl figure, and the scupley. I'm hard at work on another :)

Speaking of Destructoid, they complied a gallery of different videogame themed Munnies! Pretty cool stuff. I was surprised to see mine featured since I never told them about my Munny, but I guess their post was inspired by it, since it came around the same time as the joystiq and kotaku plugs.

Pixar: The craziest place to work.

NakedBob sent me this link, which he found on aintitcool

Hilarious.

Albert Art Bonk Custom Munny Toy

Albert Art Munny Custom 2007 "Bonk"


Vinyl Toy Cave Boy
Pop off their arms and head, and create parts for them. KidRobot's custom vinyl toys are the Mr. Potato Heads of this generation. Having for years been popular in Asia, Europe and more recently North America, Munny's, Dunny's, and other soft figurines have been a designer toy collectors dream. And for the artists who make them, creating these toys is just another way of putting their skills to the test. It's one part urban street art, another part cutesy cartoons, with a touch of disturbing humor, the vinyl toy trend is nothing but cool. You could say it was only time before videogame themed Munny's appeared on the scene, from Emilio Lopez's very sweet Gears of War Munny to my humble little Cave Kid Bonk, the Munny is the idle canvas for big headed Super Deformed characters.
I chose Bonk because of the uncomplicated design of the character. I'm also a huge fan of the franchise having played Bonk's Adventure on the Turbo Grafx when I was younger. Along the way I made some stylistic choices as to not make an exact imitation of the character that appeared in the game. Hopefully I won't receive angry letters for violating trademarks or something.
It's quite different from painting on a regular canvas, this is a three-dimensional plastic character after all. Thanks to the Kidrobot forum though I was able to get some important questions answered before getting started. The Munny has no feet, but rather little stubs, so I took some super sculpey, carved out some feet and boiled that sucker together. Beats baking it in the oven. I couldn't resist making Bonk a little drumstick too. It's a cave boy essential. Made from super scupley.
The spotted fur he's wearing was actually found at a flea market!
Painting the Munny presented some interesting challenges. For one, I needed a lesson in patience. There were several 'prepping' steps I had to take before painting... like cleaning, priming, and sanding the Munny. Then while painting, waiting for the various layers to dry. After the blood sweat and tears, I can say that I'm pretty pleased with the way Bonk turned out.
I have to admit, arts and crafts has never been this fun before, and I'm already working on another one :P




After animating videogames on a computer all day long, making videogame themed art is a stress reliever! Bonk Munny has been featured on:
Joystiq.com
Kotaku.com Cranky Caveman
Destructoid.com Gaming Munny makers