CutmanMike put together a DOOM mod that uses the sprites from the original 8Bit Megaman games and fuses them with FPS awesomeness. That effort is, aptly titled, Megaman 8Bit Deathmatch.

One item on my wishlist of personal projects was to sprite for a 2D asset populated 3D FPS with slow projectiles, platformer style, using the DOOM engine. Mike’s beaten me to the punch.

I used to be a 2D games artist, making and animating sprites, and I love the original cadre of sprite based FPSes. I want to A) kick myself in the ass for not pursuing that idea further and B) be glad the work is already done and I just get to play it.

If Parallels doesn’t want to run it, I’m installing Windows in Bootcamp for the express purpose of playing this game.

Sat. the 20th a lot of really talented artists are going to be drawing at Wildclaw Theatre’s Dance of the Demented. It’s a benefit for the Theatre’s upcoming production of Willam Peter Blatty’s Legion. You’re invited to come have drinks, draw with us, and raise money for the arts! So, bring your sketchbooks, dancing shoes, or iron gut to the Viaduct Theatre in Chicago.

9:00 PM to 2:30 AM
The Viaduct Theatre
3111 N. Western Avenue, Chicago

Google Map

Music by DJ White Russian, DJ Vapor Eyes, The Ordeal, DJ Miles Beyond, and DJ Chas Vrba.

Artsy fartsy assholes, such as myself, in attendance include: Jessica Joy (smART Show), Alex Wald (Ultraman/Shaolin Cowboy), J Anthony Kosar (Avatar/Buckaroo Bonzai), Tony Akins (Jack of Fables/House of Mystery), Dave Dorman (Aliens/Star Wars), and, hopefully, you.

I don’t come down a lot and I’d really dig seeing y’all at the event. I’m going to be nervous as shit and I suspect I’ll be very drunk and drawing giant penises for a live audience before the night is out. Should be a good time.

Apple support forum discussion on the topic.

Me lamenting Wacom’s monopoly of pen-based input devices and their lack of customer support on Twitter.

I sure do love my $2400 brick!

I get a lot of emails from large companies looking for spec work. Most of the time, there is an implied confidentiality. A smattering of text on the bottom of the email indicates that it’s for my, and the 300 other recipients’, eyes only. Posting the contents of the email to my blog would only get me sued. Billabong’s Art Director, Aaron Hennings, included no such text.

Large companies are exploiting illustrators. They use the lure of working with an established brand to engage in unethical business practices. But don’t take my word for it, take Aaron’s:

Billabong is looking to supplement the Men’s T shirt collection with fresh freelance art by new designers. You have been selected and invited to be part of the freelance submission process.

Take a look at the attached .PDF and let me know if I can answer any
questions. Looking forward to hearing from you and seeing some great work.

We review new submissions every week, so the deadline is on going. However, we do have a limited number of designs we can include each season, so sooner rather than later is better.

Regards,

Aaron

Aaron Hennings
————————
Art Director
Billabong USA
117 Waterworks Way
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 753 7222 tel. x3292

Here’s the attached PDF. I’d suggest you take a look at it. They even provide a nice tee template for forking over your multitude of Billabong branded, spec generated designs.

I know a half dozen or so other illustrators who got this email. Luckily, most agree that doing spec is bad. Some don’t. Please, don’t be one of those illustrators. Your decision affects us all.

On a quick test search, my first using the service, the word “illustration” returns the following “commercially usable, modifiable” images.

Take this result. It’s a “Creative Commons” image embedded in a Flickr set featuring an illustrator’s copyrighted work. The user has it labeled for both modification and commercial reuse, but I’m guessing the illustrator’s estate (as marked in the Flickr photo’s comments) wouldn’t want others to take his image and slap it on the side of a product. Confusing to searchers.

It supports my theory that improperly marked, “found” images from third parties could cause a headache for illustrators, photographers – any content creators really.

That, and might it give unscrupulous designers an excuse to rip off work for reuse? Maybe?

I’m not anti-Creative-Commons, I just have concerns with this particular service. Playing devil’s advocate here. Yahoo has been doing this for a while and the sky hasn’t fallen…

The Work in Progress podcast is produced by a few close friends of mine and I definitely recommend checking it out and would do so even if it didn’t prop up my fragile ego. :)

jimiyo (Art Director, Design By Humans – Ed.) said: I have no problem with spec or contests, because it got me where I am today, and also it affords me the freedom to create as I wish, become better at art, and maybe eventually get paid for it. (Emphasis mine. -Ed.) I don’t expect to get paid, so it’s more the better when I do win and get paid.

Something more important!

Crowdsourcing, being undercut, etc is inevitable. The game is changing even in the freelance world.

Because of the global economy and the internet, the competition will get even more fierce.

If you view the participants of the contests, you will see more and more international artists participating. Artists from countries who’s exchange rate makes it much more profitable for them to haul ass to even win just ONE contest, or to do freelance work for much cheaper than an established artists from a richer nation.

As they begin to proliferate into the freelance world, you might find yourself being undercut by cheaper artists as well.

I notice this escalation of threats becoming enabled in many areas. Cheaper computers, easier to use software, easier digital transferring of art.

So what’s the solution?

Better work your ass off doing whatever you can to make a name for yourself, or get out the kitchen.

Art is mostly subjective, and becoming famous in art is also largely based on becoming known, after a certain point, not for skill level, so it is possible.

The cheese is moving ya’ll.

_______

P.S.

Someone is going to win money from the DBH contests, or Cameesa contests.

Someone is not going to win money from he contests, but will have done one or two more pieces of art, and having done so, become better at art, than someone who didn’t.

DBH… also has contests that you don’t have to use logos for… like the 10K. Just saying.

I’ve transitioned at least 6 designs from Quiksilver/KOL into regular paying DBH or TF designs. So smart artists, say like… Mr Rocks, https://www.designbyhumans.com/vote/detail/58013, might have himself a win regardless if it was entered into a “sponsored” contest.

We tried to promote the fact that you can still win without using logos, so calling out DBH is somewhat biased. We are not just asking for art without specific logos, etc IF THE ARTIST so choses. It’s very similar to Threadless’s PreLoved VolksWagon sponsored contest.

I couldn’t disagree more with that opinion. I sure hope I maybe, eventually, get paid too! It’s a bad argument and a raw deal for artists. Again, contests ≠ spec. Themed contests, however, are too close for my liking.

I am of the mind that spec (or heavily themed contests with restrictive work requirements) create a culture that diminishes the value of an illustrated piece. Client expectations for pay are lowered in a way that impacts the rest of the industry. Therein lies the rub. It affects us all.

How it works? … Artists submit their Ragnarok Tee designs. … Members financially support an unlimited number of their favorite designs with $10+shipping. … Artists & Supporters are rewarded with ongoing dividends and t-shirts (once a designs hits $500). Read the full details OR Start supporting.

Screenshots from the current system:

Most designers are not picked and spend many hours working for the entity’s “theme” for free. They end up with designs for a specific entity that are not applicable for resale in most cases. This is much different than creating personal works that can be used elsewhere should the designs not be chosen for print. How likely is it that a Ragnarok games based design will be usable for another purpose? I have similar issues with Design By Humans’ “themed” contests that often require work to be created on spec for large clients. Incubus and KISS, really? Good luck selling the Gene Simmons design elsewhere! I’m sure you won’t be sued into oblivion; perhaps that’s the final fuck you to the designers leasing their souls one entry at a time?

I tweeted a succinct, if vulgar, summary of my feelings on Cameesa’s “Operations” program and received a reply from Andrew Cronk, who created a thread on Cameesa to address possible concerns. Let Cameesa know how you feel there.

Designers lose, entities win. Spec-alike, for sure. Crowdfunded? More like crowdsourced!

Update: The Design By Humans art director responded to my comment with a less than satisfying rebuttal. Ho-hum.

The text is still a bit placeholder, but I have the inks just about completed. Some exposition and gushy personal stuff after the jump.

The brief called for a design that could be colored or printed as lineart. I’m happy with the level of detail on this one and can think of a few ways to color it. I’m waiting for client feedback and will post the finished image after that.

Sorry for the infrequency of updates. It’s been a trying couple of months. My dog, Moose, was diagnosed with lung cancer and I am taking him for radiation and chemo. My house was hit by two storms, frying my work iMac (new MacPro, though!) and flooding with 14″ of water. Berlin, one of my other dogs, had an auto-immune disorder crop up (her body is attacking her toenails as if they were a virus and she is sloughing them off, ouch). We lost a cat (well, the vet lost the cat – literally, they let the cat out of their front door while transporting it from place to place) and my wife and I spent the better part of six weeks lying in wait at night with traps and food hoping to get him back to no avail.

So, yeah, the blog has suffered. Between the lack of free time, NDA-laden work, and personal setbacks, I haven’t much felt like blogging. I’m getting back into the swing of things now, though. I have a heap of work on my Flickr account that hasn’t made the voyage to the main blog. Additionally, I added a Twitter update to my sidebar and am trying to frequently update there as well.

Farm Sanctuary is an organization devoted to sparing the lives of (and rehabilitating and fostering) farm animals. They hold a yearly walk on World Farm Animals Day and my wife and I will be participating for the second time.

PAWS is Chicago’s largest no-kill, cageless shelter. They also operate the Lurie Family Spay-Neuter Clinic, the nation’s busiest low cost/free surgical clinic. Since PAWS began in 1997, they have reduced Chicago’s euthanasia rate by over 50% and are putting Chicago on the path to be the largest no-kill city in the US. This annual event is extremely important to raising funds for PAWS Chicago’s life-saving programs.

If you’ve read this far, you can probably guess what’s coming. I know that not everyone has the opportunity to give. In the current economy (read: viking effigy of the “free” market!), that’s to be expected. If anyone does pledge to support either charity, I will send them along a small sketch as a gift. Just make sure to include your address and other details when making your pledge at one of, or both of, the links below.

My Paws Chicago donation page.

Both charities have been awarded the highest 4 star rating by Charity Navigator – so no worries about misappropriation of funds or any of the malarky.

I’ll be getting back to my regularly blogging schedule pretty soon here. It’s been a busy few weeks!

This happens a lot. I always send along a crash report to Apple. Today, well, I decided to spice it up a bit by adding some exposition to the comments area of the bug report form.

Dear Apple,

If there is anything you can do to make Painter more stable, please, I beg of you, do it. You see, all the way back to version six or so, I’ve been using it. No matter the operating system, amount of raw computing power, or patience you throw at Painter, it still crashes sometimes. And, often, those crashes occur during saves (like right now, during the save of a file I worked on for eight hours)!

I realize it’s not your job to make Painter less buggy, but maybe you can yell at Corel a bit? A stern talking to, maybe?

Thanks!

I get bored with my blog theme once in a while. I really like it, but I am the sort who likes to swap stuff out in an OCD way. Note the new lettering for my name up there!