Sunday, December 17, 2006
Another similar style to my previous posted image: Vine Lines. I like the little details in this. There seem to be forms hidden in the tangled vines - people, animals, buildings - so much raw substance for the imagination. I spent a good hour tweaking with the colors on this one. I made some more subdued versions that had more detail and muted tans and browns. Although those versions were much more like the original I was eventually drawn to make the colors match the strong form that the twisting lines create.
Photoshop really is amazing. The level of control that it can offer with a simple slider simply boggles my mind.
“Fall vine lines” by sparktography
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Just watch this video. It’s in Japanese, but lends credence to Squaresoft’s statement that DQ9 will be “the best game we have ever made, for the DS or any other platform”.
The game play looks interesting, the player control very touch driven - I love the clothing/armor demo of dragging various styles on to the hero - if the whole game is that intuitive it will certainly go down in history as one of the gaming greats. Not to mention if the story is half as good as DQ8 I’ll be hooked.
I’m v. excited and can barely wait. Hurry it up Square!
[via Kotaku]
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Three exposures blended in photoshop, then pushed to the point of abstraction. I’ve been experimenting a lot with various styles of photography and color combinations. This shot is really pushing the limit between photography and raw digital content creation. I’m still definitely basing everything on a photo, but after hours and hours of work it really bears no resemblance to the original photo.
“Vine lines” by sparktography
Friday, December 15, 2006
Much less impressionistic and experimental than my prior post, but again with a rich color pallet. I like the contrast between the deep blues of the sky and the warm yellows and oranges in the window.
“Bendix” by sparktography
Friday, December 15, 2006
I finally got a chance to catch up on a lot of photo editing today. Since work was closed I went through a lot of my backlog of photos and continued a few experiments.
This is another of my more experimental photos. Some of the distortion was from the Lensbaby and lighting at the time, but a majority of this experimentation was done in post w/ Photoshop. I’m really happy about the way the rich colors and the textures of the brick and handrail combine.
“Stair experiment” by sparktography
Friday, December 15, 2006
What a good consumer whore I am! I just spent 2 hours in my car discovering that Microsoft is closed today with no power. I didn’t think to look at the bridges before I left because the weather was so nice now, and discovered the hard way (and at expense of 45 minutes) that the 520 bridge is closed because of wind damage from last night.
After battling my way across 90 I then discovered that much of the east side is without power - including Microsoft. I’m now home after my 2 hour round-trip whirlwind, and trying to figure out what to do with my launch today. Luckily Capitol Hill features underground power and aside from a few slight power glitches last night I’m still in business here.
I think I’ll go have some breakfast with some old co-workers and then tackle my day from the comfort of my couch. Oh what a mixed blessing bad weather can be!
“POTD 12/15/06 - 60mph” by sparktography
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I hate blogosphere memes, but this one sounded interesting. I still refuse to “tag” people. Here are 5 things you might not know about me:
1: I grew up in Walla Walla, WA - a town of less than 40,000 residents in Eastern Washington.
2: My first computer was an Apple IIGS that my parents dutifully bought when the school district suggested that I might be good in this “new computer field”. It came with 512K of RAM (!) and was later upgraded to 4MB to accommodate multiple programs resident in memory at once.
3: While growing up I spent nearly two years at the Morning Star Boys Ranch in Spokane, WA. Not exactly the most glamourous part of my life, but it sure was important looking back at it. I doubt I would be where I am today if not for it.
4: I have a guilty habit of buying too many books that look interesting and letting them pile up around the house unread. I would estimate that I have 40 un-opened books (and at least as many movies) laying around the house. Someday I’ll get around to them all!
5: My favorite spirit is Vodka, with my drink of choice being the illustrious Greyhound. When not drinking Greyhound’s I go straight for the sugar and like Pina Colada’s. When not drinking spirits at all I always am up for a nice red wine - the richer and more cloying the better.
