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.