The Latest

So, it's been a long time since I made a blog post. I think it's partially because nothing exciting has really happened and partially because I haven't felt the need to write a whole blog post about anything. In related news, I made a tumblr because it seemed like a better way to make quick art updates rather than posting here. You can find mine here: http://chrixeleon.tumblr.com/

Let's see, what's happened since last June... Last summer mainly consisted on working on the Virtual Joust project for the Higgins Armory and searching for jobs (which, I admit, should have been done before the summer!). I feel like I used the end of college and this project to prolong job searching and working on my portfolio, which was a big mistake! Towards the end of the Virtual Joust project, which was completed in October and is now installed in the museum, I buckled down and started really working on pursuing my goal of getting a job in the game industry.

For the month of September I decided to make at least one piece of art a day and post it to tumblr to practice my skills. I also worked on making a game called God's Tower for the Super Friendship Club forum's Mysticism Pageant to get more experience with flixel. In October I ordered some nice business cards from 123Print.com which I am very happy with. Also during this time I kept working on making my website better and now I'm finally satisfied with it (you can check it out here: http://chrixeleon.com/). November was pretty uneventful and December was full of holiday preparation and celebration. Starting in October and continuing through January I was in (and got pretty far through) the hiring process of a local game company but didn't get the job. I was pretty bummed but it was my very first job hiring process experience (and real job interview) ever!

With New Year's 2012 came new resolutions and an increased desire to get a job. My resolutions are mainly about increasing my skills and breaking into the game industry: get better at art, get better at networking (and talking to people in general), get a job! In mid-January I remembered iD Tech Camps, of which I had been a student at one point, and decided to apply for an instructor position. By February 1st I had a job offer and some definite employment later in the year. It was great to finally have something, but I still wanted to be working sooner. Also in January I participated in the Global Game Jam (GGJ) at the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab. I met a bunch of new people, got some excellent game jam and art experience, and helped make a game called Canopy of Shadows in a weekend. It was a great experience and I can't wait to do it again next year!

GGJ was sort of a confirmation that my life was moving in the right direction. I got introduced to a small game company in Boston that was looking for an art intern and someone looking for a pixel artist for their indie project. Shortly after GGJ (and completely coincidentally) I saw a job posting for a position at a game company I applied to in August but was put on file because they weren't hiring then. Long story short, they offered me a job! It's a contract position that starts at the end of March and I'm excited! Since the beginning of February I've also been doing some concept art work for the company I was introduced to after GGJ and can hopefully provide some more help until I start working full time. As for personal work, I made a small game called Proximity Mime for the GDC Pirate Kart.

That brings us to right now. This month will hopefully consist of working on more art, starting my first game industry job, and getting ready for PAX East and it's preceding Made in MA party. Any personal art I make will be posted on tumblr and PAX East will get recap posts here as usual. I might make a post just about preparing for PAX, too, as I'm planning on doing some hardcore networking this year. It looks like a lot of great people and companies will be there this year and I'm greatly looking forward to it!

So, long story short (or TL;DR), things got better, things are going well, and things are looking up.

Schedules + Me = Lol nope

Apparently I can't work on schedules that I create for myself. Once I plan to do something ahead of time I never want to actually do it when that time arrives... So, new plan: setting goals rather than planning schedules. The basic idea is that I'll have several goals I want to accomplish and each goal has a list of tasks associated with it that I'd like to do in order to complete the goal. Each day I'll pick a task to do from my list of tasks and get closer to finishing the goals. If I'm in the mood to finish a certain task, I can plow through it and get it done rather than not wanting to do it at a different time.

Pros: I'm doing the same tasks at times where I actually feel like working on them rather than planning out tasks in a way I won't want to do them. The same tasks get done but the goals get finished quicker (more efficient). It also allows more freedom and flexibility; tasks can be done whenever as long as they get done (plans/schedules don't explode if I miss a deadline).

Evidence: My website! I decided last week to work on my website and I ended up working on it for several days. I finally have a layout that I like after countless iterations. I wish I still had my old iWeb site from last year to see the progress! (Update: I searched through my backups and found my old sites. You can see what they looked like here and here.) There are some minor things that still bug me (mostly just the colors; they're what I want but seem a little off) but now I'm going to be focusing on pure content going forward. I've learned a bunch about CSS and HTML in the process, especially from http://www.w3schools.com/. You can check it out here: http://chrixeleon.com/ (Comments, suggestions, and criticism welcome!)

Cons: Sometimes I stray off the goals list... I want to get a lot of 2D artwork made and get more experience with designing games in flixel because that's what I want to do: make 2D art and design games. But something about 3D stuff keeps me coming back. I never really liked Maya and don't want to be a 3D animator, but modeling and texturing are things I'm starting to like.

Evidence: I started making a 3D museum in Maya with the goal of putting it into Unity with textures, normals, etc. and making it playable online. It was a quick idea I had about making my portfolio interactive, where you'd walk around this 3D museum and my drawings and paintings would be hanging on the walls (possibly with some 3D models around as statues). So last night I put together a quick model, threw it in Unity with a basic First Person Controller, and that's what I'm doing right now. :D

So that's what I've been up to recently. My goal for this week is to finish up this Unity project and add it to my portfolio. Next week, who knows. I have an unfinished drawing/painting that needs finishing, so I think I'll try to get that done next week. I'll try to remember to update with a final museum and preliminary drawing/painting soon!

Getting My Act Together

I haven't been as productive as I would have liked recently, due to my tendency to procrastinate and my recent obsession with Minecraft. I have, however, been working on art for the Virtual Joust project I'm working on for the Higgins Armory Museum, for which I've been working on a medieval knight model for the past few months. Unfortunately, I haven't been getting much else done...

Starting today I will be giving up Minecraft for a bit to start focusing on more important things, like getting a job. I knew I'd get addicted to Minecraft when I heard about it towards the end of last year, but didn't think it'd be this bad. For my final days I decided to build myself a big 'ole Egyptian pyramid and lock myself in it just like in the olden days, and maybe one day I'll be resurrected and a little less addicted.

One of the big things to happen in March was the release of Pokémon Black and White today. I got my copy of White as soon as the doors opened at Toys 'R' Us and have just began my new adventure. I've decided for this iteration of the series that I will not be using Serebii, Bulbapedia, or any other Pokémon database/site to aid my journey through the storyline. Since I had purchased the Japanese version while I was overseas this September and played through the main storyline I figured it would be refreshing to see the game through new eyes (an experience Game Freak was aiming to create). It'll also be great to see how the competitive community begins to evolve with a new generation of Pokémon, moves, abilities, and strategies.

The second big thing to happen this month is the second annual PAX East convention. Last year was great and I'm expecting this year to be even better. I have my badge and I'm ready for this weekend! Unlike last year, I'll try to be good with updating my blog each day of the convention, rather than after it's all over. Expect lots of pictures, Pokéwalker step counts, C-Gear totals, and more.

I'm also hoping to post more of my art, progress on my flixel game, links I've found useful, and other stuff. I feel as though I don't post enough about art and games and that's what this blog is supposed to be about! March shall be the month about getting back on my feet and being productive!