A Tiger's Last Song - Holiday Update

Here's this Christmas card thingy I put together for friends, family, and supporters of our graphic novel project "A Tiger's Last Song." It was put up on the ATLS Facebook Page a while ago, and I even decorated the page itself for the winter season. I'm a little late putting this image up on my blog... but what can I say? I've been enjoying my Christmas, and have been on crunch mode making new material before we launch our Kickstarter page on February 1st.

I'm WAY excited to be working on this. It's one thing to get out of college and find a job in your field - just for the work. I'm just very fortunate to have a possible opportunity to be doing something that has my enthusiasm and confidence through the roof. In which case, I can't stress this enough: Pwetty pweeeease check us out and 'like' us on Facebook, and spread the word to your friends!! ................with a chewwy on top?

...And to all, a happy new year!! :)

Update - The Final Apology

A lot of you guys probably found me under my YouTube pseudonym "FountainKeeper," and followed me for songs I just happened to magically figure out how to play on the piano. I'm truly thankful for the followings I have received. I would very much love to get back into playing more Blind Guardian, Muppets, and other video game and anime music. But throughout this whole year, I've been apologizing and apologizing for not posting any new videos. This has likely annoyed you, and it sure has been annoying me. Therefore, as of now, the apologies end here.

I've just been busy trying to shape my life - Finishing college, finding work, making this graphic novel Kickstarter project happen, the works. I still play piano. In fact it's been keeping me sane. So you can rest assured I'm not dead, and that I'll one day return gloriously. It may just be some time before I'm back in the game However, I will still update you on the graphic novel, or if I have a new piece of other art to show :)

You may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog from ElephantSpank to The Skaploony Bin. While E.S. is the anagram for my name, not a lot of people might catch onto that. I'll be changing my DeviantArt name as well, once I get around to making a premium account.

Lastly, I have a new Tumblr page. It was meant as a backup blog, after Blogger had been acting up on me at the time. Guess it doesn't hurt to expand :-P

A Video Game Christmas

     I took this photo back in 2009, back when I did my three-part Winter Video Game Piano Medley. I hadn't seen the full-res image since then, and I recently found it while digging through my old operating-systemless laptop. I'm so glad I kept it around. Found a bunch of old pictures like this that I almost thought I'd never see again.

     So I went in, adjusted the lighting, and added a frost frame... you know, just for the hell of it. The medley took a while to get done - One, maybe two weeks during my free time. The whole process was fun to do... though when I wasn't playing, I was a tad anxious, hoping that my cat or someone didn't knock anything out of place :D  It's still one of my favorite piano vids I've done, along with my favorite Christmas picture that I've taken. (DeviantArt Link)

Merry Christmas!!

 PART ONE
(0:07) Chameleon Twist 2 - Ice Land
(2:08) Jumping Flash! - World 4-1: Slippery Ice Land
(3:10) Jumping Flash! 2 - World 2-1: Checking Out the Castle
(4:23) Diddy Kong Racing - Snowflake Mountain
(5:25) Duck Tales - Himalayas
(6:21) The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Ice Cavern

(7:31) Metroid Prime - Phendrana Drifts

PART TWO
(0:00) Final Fantasy X - People of the North Pole
(2:28) Mario Kart 64 - Sherbet Land / Frappe Snowland
(3:48) Star Fox Adventures - Snowhorn Wastes
(5:20) Diddy Kong Racing - Frosty Village

(7:22) Final Fantasy VII - Buried in the Snow

PART THREE
(0:00) Chrono Trigger - Singing Mountain
(1:07) Paper Mario - Shiver City
(2:22) Final Fantasy IX - Ice Caverns
(3:47) Donkey Kong Country - Ice Cave Chant
(5:45) Diddy Kong Racing - Everfrost Peak
(6:46) Super Mario 64 - Cool, Cool Mountain
(7:58) Banjo-Kazooie - Freezeezy Peak

A Tiger's Last Song - Artwork 01

Here is my first promotional environment piece for "A Tiger's Last Song,"  the graphic novel I'm helping with. This was partly an experiment in blending my environment with work done by our character artist Jack Malametz. It also sets our level of detail standard that we want throughout the book. Check out our Facebook page for more details on this project, and spread the word. Any support we can gather is greatly wanted and appreciated. Thank you! :)

A Tiger's Last Song

I am excited to finally announce the graphic novel project that I will be working on for my good friend Kevin Smelt called "A Tiger's Last Song." We will be launching our Kickstarter page on February 1st, 2013. For more details, please check out the Facebook page, and by golly, SPREAD THE WORD!!! :)

Zoras Be Jammin'

 

      It's no surprise that I love Zelda. My favorite entries is a tie between A Link to the Past and Majora's Mask, and my favorite creatures in the series have to be the zoras. This piece was inspired by one of my favorite Zelda songs, "Zora Band," particularly the Mario and Zelda: Big Band Live version. I began this sucker back in 2009, but because of school, I never had time to continue until recently. It started out with a couple reference photos of me and my guitar. Unfortunately, I don't know where those photos have gone to. I then went and did a trace sketch. It looked embarrassing as hell. :S

      Yes, folks. This is the schlock I had spewed out in '09. Just be thankful it wasn't a fully fleshed out version with these wonky proportions. I would never have heard the end of it.
      You can see a bit of ass coming through Japas' (left) scale-flap. This was just to figure out proportions, as vastly improportionate as it already is. ...No, if you must know, I was wearing pants in the reference photos. Actually, in the design stage, I was thinking of a way to tastefully censor him without interrupting the flow of anything, since the zoras are naturally exposed - more so in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Overall, I just didn't want a the vast majority of the internet comments being about Japas' ass. So I took some liberties, and incorporated parts of the Twilight Princess zoras. You could argue that the zoras didn't evolve these features yet in the timeline, but for this particular instance, I'm letting it slide :)
      Moving, on, I jumped a bit far ahead, and worked on a color layer separation, while tweaking a few proportions. Japas' neck and bass are noticeable changes here. After this, the project hat to remain on hold, until school wasn't consuming so much of my time.

      Two years later, on a Winter Break, I finally returned to this piece, while I still had a bit of school left to do. I had gotten pretty far in it, but unfortunately, the file corrupted. I was pretty upset at the time, but it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me the chance to start almost from scratch, fix even more proportions, and to make it where the two zoras aren't standing so ridiculously close together. In also comes shading/highlighting and the first incarnation of the background. The second iteration came when I decided the characters shouldn't be so close to the frame.

      Around the time I was doing this, I had my oil painting instructor check it out. He gave me some pointers on what I could do to improve on this piece. It had been a long while since I painted anything. Most of what I was doing at the time had to be done in 3D programs. I'm glad I understand 3DS Max and Maya, but I always had more fun, and would have rather improved my 2D painting skills. It took a while for things to click and re-learn what I had lost when I first started college, but that one oil painting class really helped out a lot.

      Here we have what was a placeholder final product. Water light and reflections have been added to the characters, everything has texture, small rocks are coming out of the water to counterbalance the picture, Mikau has a new pick, and we have a new third background. I just didn't like the way the old one was turning out. That, and I changed the aspect ratio to 16:9. The fins also have a new sparkle, based on that of how the original artwork of Japas appeared. I was thinking of adding water droplets, but they were became distracting to the picture.

      Now, a few months later, we come to the latest latest product (up top). Version 1.1, if you will. More detail has been added to the lighting and the rock wall, faint spots have been added to Japas' bass, and the rocks in the water have been replaced. The water collision edges have also been toned down. The one thing I couldn't stand about the image was Japas' head fin, so I made it to where it was over his shoulder.

      ...Well, thank you for sitting through these long ramblings over a silly piece of fan art - over the little tiny details you probably didn't care about. :P Now this may not be the best way to go about doing art in the slightest...but it was a good little experiment, and I learned a heck of a lot by doing this one picture. And with this, I opened up my DeviantArt account.

Piano Issues

Greetings, all!

I would just like to take a minute to ex(com)plain one of the problems I have with playing and recording my piano videos... And that is the piano itself. See, my electric piano is a Yamaha Clavinova CVP-75, and it's been in my family for nearly 20 years. I had no problem with it before I started uploading to YouTube, because I only played for fun. I still do. But the more songs I put up, the more I want, well... MORE out of my piano.

For instance, I've wanted to make higher quality audio files, and be able to make sheets / tutorials for the longest time. Unfortunately, the piano has no USB port. Instead, it has the big bulky MIDI ports. It's hard to even get my MIDI to USB cord to function properly. Not to mention my sheet-making software is extremely out of date. It probably doesn't even work on Win7 :/. I am also currently using a cord coming from the piano's headphone port, and into my laptop's mic port to at least get better audio than direct-from-camera hiss. Unfortunately, the quality still is far from the best thing in the world.

On top of all the technical mumbo-jumbo, the piano itself just doesn't feel right. It's stiff. Sure, it's weighted, and I would indeed like a little weight in my piano, but I would also like to do glissandos without getting blisters on me fingers. This has happened before, when I was practicing my "Tragic Prince" video. I ended up not putting one in, and played the song with blistered fingers. I had one in "Sound of the Wind, but that happened beforehand.... That was painful too. I've played these songs on a couple upright acoustic pianos without a problem, and would like to be able to at home. Could it truly be that I just have weak frail fingers and need to man-up? .....Naahh, I'm pretty sure it's the piano.

(Boring rants end here. You're welcome.)

So I've graduated from college, and am about to head into the job market. Once I've saved up $2000, first order of business is for me to get a new keyboard. That's right, I'm divorcing my piano. She's been a great companion for many years, and we've had some great times together... but let's face it, we're having some domestic problems. The fingering and the pounding has just gotten a little too rough for us.

 ....................Why is everyone looking at me like that? :P

Anyway, here's a checklist for what I'd like out of my new baby. An E-harmony list, if you will.... Get it? ...E? ...Harmo--yeah, that was lame.

- 88 keys (MUST)

- Feels real, like an acoustic piano. Not hollow and plastic-y, like most keyboards.

- Pain-free glissandos

- 3 Pedals.

- USB Port for MIDI and sheet-making.

- Different audio output. My microphone port will not be satisfactory anymore.

- Great sound and quality (not basic MIDI sounding - again, like most keyboards)

- Record / Playback function for practicing duet pieces.

- Will last a good long time.

I'm thinking of getting a Kawai, for its supposedly more real-feeling keys. I'm too afraid of shopping online though, and would rather test one out before buying. Does Anyone have experiences in buying somewhat higher-end keyboards? Any recommendations? Any good stores you know of in the Seattle vicinity?

Update: I ran across a piano shop in Redmond, and tested out my first Kawai - an electric grand. I'm in love. It feels and sounds great. All the other pianos I tested there didn't give me any glissando problem (it was the first thing I checked on every one.), but this one felt the best overall. So I know now what brand I want. It's just a matter of getting enough dough to bring one home with me.

Oil Paintings

These are some of the artwork I did for my oil painting class. A lot of these I feel I could have made better with more time, but whether or not they were the best things in the whole damn universe didn't matter to me. The class was fun, and I learned (or re-learned) a lot, especially near the end.

Update 05-15-2012

Where the hell are my new piano vids?
Remember when I said I'd be able to work on those 100th and 101st videos in May? Well, May's half-over, and I still haven't gotten to them. And honestly, I don't know when I will. At least I didn't exactly promise I'd have those videos by May. Then I'd be in a whole world of trouble :P ...But I do still intend on doing them this Summer. I've just gotten myself into a small bind, is all. I just had my graduation ceremony, and I have only one more semester of College to go over the Summer, then I'm FREE!! WOOOO!!

Art
You're probably going to kill me for this, but instead of taking the time to make those videos, I've been arting. I've been digitally painting something I've wanted to get done for a while, but school wouldn't give me the time to do. There's still a lot I want to do with it, but I'm pretty impressed with what I've done so far. I'll post it when I'm finished, and may even start a DeviantArt acct afterward.

Live Streaming Sites
I have signed up for different live streaming sites, just to try them out, like Livestream and JustinTV. Only which one do I want to try out first? Last year I did it on UStream, and that went well. I was thinking of going over to JustinTV, but now that I have my iPad, I see you have to pay for the app. Not only am I concerned for viewers, but I would like to read the chats right in front of me for a change, instead of turning my head and squinting my eyes, reading what's under the laptop's built-in webcam. And the reviews for the JTV app aren't as good as others. Is $5 worth the risk? Which do you use?

Kid Icarus: Uprising
As far as gaming goes, not much has happened, except for beating Kid Icarus: Uprising. I LOVED it. There has been some bashing on the controls, but honestly, I didn't have too much of a problem with them. Actually, the thing that scared me before playing the game was the voice acting, especially coming from Thanatos, having heard him in the 3D Anime feature. He sounded like something that would come out of 4-Kids. I shiver just mentioning the vile company. But even he was entertaining in the game. In fact, the entirety of the nonstop dialogue was probably the best part about the game, and that's kinda rare.
Since I pre-ordered the game, it came with a free copy of the 3D version of the original NES game I remember playing when I was a toddler. Not only did it add extra visuals to the game, it did away with the blasted password system and gave us a save feature! It would have been cool if they had left the passwords in to jump to a further level for kicks, but I'm not really complaining. After all, I had never beaten the game until just last month.

Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses
I also attended the Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses concert in Seattle. It was pretty great, and some of the performances were more powerful than that of the CD that came with the Skyward Sword preorder. My favorite piece had to be the A Link to the Past movement, especially the Ending Credits theme, which nearly brought a tear to me eye. My only real gripe with the event was that we were jipped out of two medleys that were played at Vancouver, on top of all the same songs that were played here. The song everyone was expecting to hear in the Majora's Mask Medley, the Song of Healing wasn't played because it was in the random Ocarina song medley, which wasn't in our setlist. That was a rather lame move on their part, but nonetheless, I'm really glad I went to this masterpiece.

A Song of Ice and Fire
I just finished audio-reading "A Clash of Kings." I'm a little irked with some of the changes they made in the TV adaptation, compared to how close the first season followed the book. I just think they could have taken a bit more time with it, or even extended the show by a couple episodes if it meant pleasing fans. But at this point, it's becoming less bothersome. As long as it's still good, and even if George Martin is okay with it, I'm still watching. Now onto "A Storm of Swords." I already know of some of the serious shit that happens in that book :D

Update: Okay, I take back every nay-say I said about Season 2. Those last two episodes were amazing!!

Tex Murphy Kickstarter
Looking for something to dump your wallet into? Well one thing I am super-excited for is the Kickstarter revival attempt for Tex Murphy, of which I have just now backed. If you haven't played these games, I highly suggest you check them out - at least the latter three. They're all on gog.com (I still have the original CDs, myself). They were some of my favorite PC adventure games back in the 90's..... Wait, what am I saying "were" for? They still ARE! I replayed them fairly recently, and wound up just as entertained as I was back in elementary school, and I was pretty damn entertained. I'll probably replay them again once I'm finally finished with College, and may even do a song from it.

Lastly, err.... yeah.... Avengers..... F#$%ING SEE IT!! ..............That is all :)

Update 03-11-2012

It's been a little while since I've updated anything, aside from making a new Christmas piano video, and made a little meme thingy. I'm on my last big semester of college, with one more class to take in the Summer, so I'm hoping my activity will increase sometime around May. Then I will finally be able to get around to doing my 100th and 101st piano videos that I've been planning since forever, and doing more artwork that I'm actually more motivated to do.... Make better things to stick in my portfolio, and whatnot.

I'll also be announcing more live piano-chat sessions. Only this time on JustinTV, instead of UStream, just to try things out.

In my last update, I said I'd been listening to audiobooks while I work. I've finished "Howl's Moving Castle" and "A Game of Thrones." Now I'm on "A Clash of Kings." Gotta get through it as much as possible before GoT Season 2 starts - in less than a month. EEEEEEE!!! :D

I've gotten a little gaming down. I beat "Skyward Sword," "Portal 2," and "Super Mario 3D Land," been playing "Mario Kart 7," and only just recently started "Arkham Asylum." I also have my copy of "Kid Icarus: Uprising" pre-ordered. I sure as hell hope it's good, I've waited just about my entire life for a new installment.

Lastly, I'll be attending Seattle's "The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses" Concert on March 26th. I expect my 3DS to be bombarded with Street Pass Mii's :P

NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!

A little meme thingy I made:

Piano - The Muppet Christmas Carol - A Thankful Heart

Have yourself a very Michael Caine-y Christmas!