Lagasaurus Rex – Games Review

 

I havent been very active blogging lately with finding a new part-time job and balancing so many different projects and just everyday life really. But I am very excited to announce this project with my good friend, John Nolan. We have founded a games review site, where we strive to keep up to date reviewing the latest games to hit the shelves on all platforms. This project combines a lot of elements that I am very interested in; Design, Writing, Gaming, and Social Media.

It is very exciting to set deadlines and spend time playing and dissecting games, which is something I have always done, being more than just a casual gamer, I take games very seriously and I enjoy keeping up with the latest news around the industry. But now, I have an outlet for the time spent with games, somewhere I can write about and show off this work.

The website is called Lagasaurus Rex. The name came from my brother, its gamer slang for having massive lag whilst playing online. Its something we would always say, and fit in perfectly with our aim and the humour of the site. With the name in place, I began designing mascot to accompany the site, along with logo’s and typefaces to build an image and brand. With a name like rex, carries social implications such as being well off and posh, so designed a top hat, monocle, and a little mustache to go with him.

More details can be found over on the site about how we review the games, and how we split them between us, we aim to get several high-profile games done  each week. We have set up Rex up with his own Facebook page and Twitter, which we keep constantly updated with the latest news from the games industry and of course, our reviews, and are currently building an audience. This is an extremely exciting project for both myself and John, and something I have wanted to do for a while and would have no problem taking it to the next level and creating a company from.

Blue Bear Opportunity

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I havent post anything in a while, mostly because of work, but I have been contemplating what to do with my portfolio, whether to stick with posting about work and industry related content, or go with posting about everyday activities. Alas, I have decided not to go down the route of daily activities and events and have decided to stick with professionalism and my work.

A couple of months ago I applied for the role of a junior games artist with Bluebear games inc. based in Dublin’s digital hub. I then heard back (rather quickly) from the company and had been sent a brief to complete within a week’s deadline. This was a great shot for me, I have always wanted to work within the games industry and this was poised to be the starting point in my career.

The brief requested that I complete 3 pieces of artwork. A Main Menu screen, an Ice Cream cone, and a Slushie Machine. I was very enthusiastic and dropped every other project I was working. I spent 4 days in total working rigorously around the clock to complete this artwork, making sure I have every small detail covered and not 1 pixel was out of place.

It was an extremely stressful experience, knowing that this could be my big break into an industry I have always wanted to work with within. As you can tell by reading this that I was unsuccessful in attaining the job opening, unfortunately. But I did learn a lot from the experience, particularly, not to get too attached to a piece a of work, because I spent so long, day and night, and put tremendous effort into the work I almost had myself convinced that it was in the bag, which, as an artist is the worst thing you can do. I thoroughly enjoyed designing and creating the artwork though, it got my back to college days when you would pour so much effort into big projects.

Although this isn’t the happiest of endings to a post, things certainly are starting to look up in the jobs department and are beginning to move in the right direction, I normally dont like to post smily faces here, but just this once, I think I will

Video: Lego LOTR – Weathertop

As with my last video, the Mines of Moria scene, this also took quite some time to plan out and execute. I compiled the photo’s I took of the “Weathertop” Lego set into this video, replicating the scene from the Lord of the Rings film.

This scene was shorter than the Mines of Moria scene, coming in at around the 3.30 mins mark, with more shots per second compared to the other video, which should keep the viewer more interested than the previous video.

I still have another scene to shoot, which I could get done in the short future, before the end of the month, which involves the scene with Frodo, Sam and Shelob.

Photography: Lego LOTR – Weathertop

Like my last photography project, this took some planning, from sketching the scenes, postions of characters, and timing. I got this Lego set for Xmas and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it, take pictures of it.. Obviously! I had to change some parts and add Sam and Merry, seeing as the set didn’t come with them, fortunately, they came in other sets that I already had and added them in to make it as close to the scene from the film as possible.

It was clear from the start that it was going to be hard to physically fit all the characters into the actually set area which features in the film, I dont think Lego thought of the sizing when it came to photo shoots, then again, they do make these sets for children. All in all, I feel I did a pretty good job recreating the events from the film shot for shot, despite the restricted area to shoot. I will have the stop motion animation posted in no time.

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbutterlydesign/sets/72157632855478112/

 

Video: Lego LOTR – Mines of Moria

As I have posted before with my photography of the Lego LOTR from the “Mines of Moria” scene, I have compiled a video of the scene using the same shots I have used from the photography of the scene. Only this time I have accompanied the photos with the audio from the scene in the film.

I had to cut down on the time of the scene a bit, it was running into the 8:30 mins mark so was a little too long, and cut it back to 6 mins, whilst maintaining the integrity of the scene. I have a couple more videos and photo’s of scenes like these coming shortly.

KRK Rokits & New Years Plans

Happy New Year! I couldn’t make this post until I got what you see pictured above, KRK Rokits, because this is a post about my plans for the new year, and they fit in with my new years plans, in a major way. My Christmas only really came today when this package was delivered (at the crack of dawn). The excitement really was like Xmas day, although I wasn’t as excited Xmas, because this hadn’t arrived yet. When I’m excited, I tend to live tweet/Instragram my every move, with evidence on my Instagram this morning. I got not only the Rokits, but my Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 Interface came today too, included in this was gigs upon gigs of plug-ins and samples from Native Instruments; Kontakt, Guitar Rig and Reaktor players. Also included was Traktor DJ Software and a trimmed down version of Cubase (a shame because I use Ableton).

After a few hours of setting up and installing the software and plug-ins, they were ready to go, tested by only the hardest of electronic music, of all genres, the quality really is unsurpassed, the crisp highs and smooth lows are profoundly more dominant than any computer speakers that I was using before, I set up both my new monitors and old computer speakers side by side in what can only be described as a standoff. Of course, the Monitors like a young stallion, left the computer speakers at the starting line like an old mule, unmatched. I have a bit of reaarranging to do and have to a get hold of a studio desk with an elevated level in order to get optimal height and angle for the monitors. After listening to them for a few hours now, there is no doubt that they are completely worth the money invested into them and over the coming months should see them put to their intended use, making music.

With that bombshell dropped, I shall explain that my new years plans include, learning and producing music. I have started to take my music production very seriously, after what was just a hobby, has now turned into a full-on music studio setup. Subscriptions to computer music, several books/PDF’s and months of (ongoing) research into music theory and electronic music production and a couple of (also ongoing) one to one classes with an Ableton Live tutor have seen me gain a huge knowledge in music production & technique.

Over the coming months, music will be my primary output, over graphics, I must focus on one in order to break ground and properly earn about the subject, instead of jumping between the two. Hopefully in the coming couple of months, I can improve the quality of my production and make some good music. With virtually no musical background, only what I have read and seen online, wish me luck.

Trappy New Year

This is my unofficial post about the New Year as I am waiting for a package… Basically containing what I will be focusing on in the new year and coming months. But until that post, that summarizes 2012 and what I will be focussing on in 2013 (Work wise), I have made a mix tape consisting of the very best in Trap and Moombahton in 2012. These are a collection of my favourite tracks to play out and to listen to from both genres throughout the year.

Its something a little different from me as I usually don’t make a purely Trap or Moombah focused mix tape, and tend to stick with Electronic/House, but have recently broadened my musical taste and tend to incorporate both in some aspect into a mix.

Listen on Mixcloud - http://www.mixcloud.com/jamesbutterly/trappy-new-year-2013/

The Cover Art is from a fantastic tutorial from Abduzeebo, striking on an 80′s Christmas theme, and can be found here: http://abduzeedo.com/80s-christmas-artwork-photoshop