And here it is...all drawn 1 pixel at a time using the most excellent ProMotion from the most excellent Jan Zimmerman & Cosmigo!
Unfortunately due to licensing regulations that are tighter than tight things wrapped in latex rubber, shrinked, re-squeezed and then cling filmed to the extreme, this humble image can never be used anywhere without permission from some man in a suit who works for FIFA.(Commercially anyway)
So I thought I would donate it to my blog and give it an airing for bit, poor thing has been stuck in my footy art folder for ages..
Still not all is lost, I have a growing collection of pixel designs for various shirts and other suitably worthy attire waiting to be finished so there! This concluded this rather pointless yet mildly satisfying post to my blog. Good day to you all.
Argh me hearties it be that time of the year when all that swashbuckling and rum drinking be a taking over the erm... well you get me meaning... My son is playing Lego Pirates of the Caribbean at the moment on the XBox360. So I thought I would post a few animations I did of Jack Sparrow 'pixel stylee!!' just to bring them out for a few rounds on the screen before retiring them back in the old stuff folder. Now then me dears these grafs (techie term that) were originally created for an official game of the movie . Unfortunatly said game didn't quite make it past the galley before being abruptly shoe horned off the ship via a very short plank..Sploshee Splash... Plop!
So I did this interview recently for Retro Gamer magazine where I answered a few questions about my days at Sensible Software and the joys to be had creating art on the wonderful Commodore Amiga.
Come to think of it the interview isn't that recent now but just like the good old London buses you wait ages for one and two come along, so not only am I in the 94th issue of Retro Gamer I've also just given an interview for GamesTM who are doing a feature on us bods at Sensible Software.
I believe this issue of Retro Gamer is still available on back issue for the sum of £4.99 + P&P.
This is a blog entry to let you know (yes 'you' that solitary soul peeking around the door at the back of the room) that I shall be writing a new blog entry very soon.
If you're in the UK like me and attempt to watch this video via YouTube you will get this rather bizarre message appearing instead of the expected video feed. The video in question is titled, "Lawful Rebellion in Birkenhead" , please take some time to read up on the events surrounding this video as it will illustrate why the UK Government probably doesn't want you to view it.
Now then to get around this unnecessary tampering from those silly fellows in Whitehall who really should stop treating us like kindergarten kids, there is a way. You view it via a free proxy!! YAY!
I like pixel pushing, I like pencils, I like my Wacom tablet, I like water colour paints, I like.... I like...
I realised the other day that I've spent most of my professional life drawing digitally. When I say digitally I refer to the creation of graphics (mostly for games) on a computer screen using a graphics program without a pencil or sheet of paper in sight!
As a child (still a child some in the know would say) I used to enjoy drawing and painting, what child doesn't? I sketched, painted and even managed to fail my art 'O' level for taking too long in the exam(ever the perfectionist). Then I discovered video games and thus my digital artistic journey began and my artistic endeavours switched from the analogue world to the digital. Commodore 64 sprites and character sets in glorious chunky fat pixels became my new canvas!
Fast forward a few years and the advent of graphics tablets and art applications introduced a whole new way to create art digitally. Don't get me wrong I'm a huge advocate of this technology but there's something rewarding in using a pencil, a pen and a splash of water colour that never fails to make me smile. Maybe I'm becoming less geek as I get older? Perish the thought...Next I'll be growing my own veg and painting sheds.. (Did I tell you we've got a new shed and I'm growing pumpkins this year?)
Take this recent illustration which started out as a pencil doodle and ended up as a new plant species in the Blobbit World, inked in and water coloured with Blobbit friendly hues. I asked my son Jack to come up with a name and he suggested Bloobelly Spikey plant which almost felt right so after further discussion we ended up with the title Blooblee plant!
(Mobile phone photo so not the best quality, scan should look better I'd say)
There's something about water colour that just works for me... simple yet effective! And with that thought next week I shall be painting in a cave using chalk and water... and talking of caves I don't believe that Bin Laden died this year.. 2001 seems more likely surely? Here's the most excellent James Corbett with a pretty good summary of why I like many don't believe the 'official' story.
There I was doodling away recently on the back projection of a Vernimb when it dawned on me that I in order to preserve the correct detail I would have to draw a Vernimb bum! Bit saggy but it's not real so none of that cosmetic meddling required here thank you..
During a recent clear out and tidy up..hang about that reminds me does anyone remember that show that used to be on in the UK many moons ago called Stoppit & Tidy Up?? Narrated by Terry, oops Sir Terry Wogan? No?... oh OK...as I was saying I was in my garage doing some "conversion" work... Conversion being the conversion of old stuff from shabby cardboard box to clean solid weatherproof plastic cube thing (with lid!!) when I found a box of 3.5" discs.(remember those?)
Wearing my techie geek hat as I often do when I find myself rummaging about in old boxes of tech, I often snap a pic or two of any notable finds along the way. I was happily snapping away (resisting at this point in the blog entry to type 'as you do') at lost treasures I'd forgotten I'd owned and came across this....
This is the very box I used to store all me Cannon Fodder art disks, demo disks and beta tests of the game. As you can see I never did get around to buying a proper box and used this bulk unbranded x50 disc cardboard box as storage complete with masking tape repairs to hide the mistreatment the poor thing endured over the years.
Now the question remains do any of these discs actually work since being exiled to planet forgotten about since 1993. Hmmmm I might have to set up an Amiga next weekend and find out... On further thought will any of my Amigas work long enough to test them out and/or(nerd mode) will the disks be damaged? Perhaps I'll leave it "as is" for now...
Note: Will climatise them to the house temperature well in advance to avoid any of that funny electronics failure malarkey if I feel lucky as punks do...
Oh and I should also mention that the Podcast from my appearance on the most excellent Cafe Calcio radio show is still up if you haven't had a listen yet..It's 1hr long and yes the music at the start is part of the show.. (Yes Mum...)
So there I was last Friday having a cuppa tea when out of the blue at zero hour I read an email asking if I would like to be a guest on a football themed radio show called "Cafe Calcio" on London based Resonance 104.4 FM. The subject of discussion was 'Games' which for me meant only one thing, Sensible Soccer!!!
What could I say??
I had a great time meeting the gang (in the pub) Chris Dixon, Chris Roberts and David Stubbs and fellow guest Daniel Tatarsky who's knowledge of Subbuteo was mind blowing to say the least which is probably why he wrote a book about it. (Amazon linky here)
I've been wrestling with Blender in an attempt to make a 3D version of a Vernimb Sentry this week. So far it is starting to look less like a deformed plum and more like a video game character.
Once he is done I can then proceed with the exciting bit , the animation!! Oh and of course creating a bona fide 3D Blobbit too.
The sketch to the right is the literal version I did for the book I'm writing. They're a tad more serious than those seen in the game version that's for sure. It's exciting indeed!!
