New Designs

Hey Everyone,

I'm excited to say that there are several new designs posted online. I hope you will go check them out! :)

The first is of my Fire Chibi design I've talked about previously. Finally got her fully colored and everything. I think she turned out pretty well.

The second design is one I did quite a while ago called Rain. I finally went back and gave her a more finished and completed look. I think that she has a really beautiful feel to her now. Rain was always intended to be an image based off the one word, rain. I always loved her alone with just the black and white and hues of blue, but with the background I think she has a more painterly and emotional feel than she did before.

The last two designs are just some cute characters I came up with. The first being the swimming little mermaid. Just a cute idea of a mermaid coming up to greet someone. The second is of a cute little centaur.

All of these designs can be purchased at my zazzle store. If there are any products you'd like to see them on in particular let me know, for now they're just on a few unique pieces. And I must say look pretty cool.

YouTube - Ezvid Review II

Hello again everybody,

So if you remember in a previous post I said I was going to start uploading some speed paints and possibly some simple tutorials to you tube. Well, you may have noticed how videos have not made their way up.

I just wanted to take some time to add some of my personal review comments. I spoke before about how I enjoyed Ezvid and how it really was easy to upload your videos straight to you tube. However, I am not as pleased with it as I once was for several reasons.

The first reason is the 45 minute time limit. Which I didn't think was going to be a big deal at first. Until I spent over 45 minutes on a video and the entire screen capture was trashed. In addition, since I plan on doing a lot of speed paints, the program will only speed up videos 600%, which in my opinion is still too slow. There are plenty of videos on you tube 10 minutes and up for speed painting. And after the hours I've spent looking at them myself, very few of those are going to get watched in completion. A speed paint that times at around 5 minutes is perfect to hold the full attention of the audience. Unfortunately, with this program that cannot be accomplished.

Lastly, aside from the horribly music options that you are forced to select (no you cannot just pick none, the closest they have is silent computer), there is no way to export the video you have created. This program will only upload to you tube directly.

I could see this being a good tool for live tutorials possibly, but it is just not what I'm looking for in a speed paint screen capturing program.

Inspiration

Hey Everyone,

Another week is flowing by pretty quickly. I'm really amazed at how many sketches I've come up with in less than five days. I really am on a creativity kick. Can't wait to get these designs up and loaded so you can have some new products to choose from.

In addition to new products I'm also expanding my territory. Not only am I already apart of Zazzle (online store) I am now adding Cafe Press to my repertoire. In all honesty, I've been a member of cafe press for just as long as I've been a member of zazzle (since 2009), however, they never had a really great selection of products, nor was their design tool feature very good. I have to say they've come a long way in four years. I'm excited to start back up with them.

Anywhoo, I know all you guys really care about is seeing what's next. So, I have a big variety of designs; not only will you see some Halloween ideas coming at you early there will be something for everyone, hopefully. As a sneak peak, the following is one of my centaur sketches. Hope you like it! :)

Weekend Update

Hi Everyone!

So I finally got all my programs moved over to my new computer this weekend. Still have some personal files to transfer and organize, etc. But at least it's up and running in its new home. :) Hooray!

I'm really exctied as I've decided to make some speed paint videos to upload to my YouTube channel. This weekend I downloaded a program called Ezvid. (www.ezvid.com). I played around with it testing out its different features and I have to say this is a really neat little program. I definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in screen capturing anything they are working on. Also, it's absolutely free!

This program offers screen capture, voice recording, text screens, voice synthesizer (for text screen), premade music tracks (or you can upload your own), video editing, and uploading straight to youtube. So if this is something you've been looking for definitely check it out.

Other than than I've just been diving further into the realm of Pain Tool Sai. I really am enjoying this program for its intuitive nature with the brushes. Although, photoshop will probably remain king with most users, for me it is a lot easier for me to create images in the computer that look and feel like I would have done them physically by hand. That is what is most important to me. I have never been great and creating personal brushes in photoshop (although I am improving), using SAI illiminates that frustration. I intend my speed painting videos to be mostly in SAI, so stay tuned!


Amber Rae

Ambrosias Rae's Anime Corner

Welcome to the first installment of Ambrosia Rae's Anime Corner!
I have always been a fan of cartoons of all kinds. Being an animator I tend to have an affinity for the medium in general. So, it's not too terribly surprising that I enjoy anime.
What I love most about anime is that the stories are limitless. Animation, in this context, is truly used as just a medium to tell a story, and no story is off limits. :)

For todays first installment I wanted to talk about the anime Angel Beats.
This is currenlty available on Netflix instant stream if anyone is interested in checking it out.

If you haven't heard of it, the premise is that one of the main characters, Otonashi, wakes up in a limbo realm for the dead. He is there with several other High School age kids (also dead) who enlist his help to fight Angel (later to find her real name is Kanade), a Non Player Character of the limbo realm, who they believe is there for the sole purpose of helping them 'move on' to the afterlife. However, these kids believe that 'moving on' is just another way of saying obliterated, so they've decided to fight back. Instead of conforming to the world set up, attend school, eat and sleep; they decide to skip class and plot attacks and try to keep from following any daily routine that might make them too comfortable and lead to obliteration.

The series originated as a manga, as most animes do, before being transformed into an anime adventure. I have not had the pleasure of reading the books, however, I'm sure the anime series has done them justice. The original managa, released in Nov 2009 was written by Jun Maeda with original character designs by Na-Ga. Both of whom are from the company Key. Key is popular for titles such as Kanon, Air,and Clannad. To which I will review at a later date. Key is great at balancing humor with serious emotion. To which you'll see if you chose to watch either of these famous titles.

The anime series was released in April 2010 and was directed by Seiji Kishi. The series totals 13 episodes. The intro to the series where they set up the whole 'afterlife' scenario did not ensnare me as much as perhaps it should have. Instead, what really caught my attention was the opening song. "My soul, Your beats!" By Lia. This song encompasses the show in many ways and just feels like it is "Angel Beats". The song has a lot of emotion but isn't depressing or sad. It is inspiring and yet not without hinting that there is something serious about it all.

Throughout the series music is played by a band the kids use as a distraction for the NPC's. This band plays songs by Marina and LiSA that are equally impactful to the episodes design. Albeit, the bands performance isn't necessarily the main plot line they have incorporated it well into the episodes. Some parts of the drama definitely wouldn't be as dramatic without this spectacular music.

The other twist to the series is that the main characters that have come to this limbo realm cannot remember thier living lives. Everyone who comes to this waystation has experienced a traumatic death and perhaps even a harsh life. As the series goes on, these past memories are revealed and the characters are given more depth and purpose. The question, however, is will solving the problems of their living life lead to their obliteration?

There are more twists and turns that I'll let you learn for yourself as this is not a forum for spoilers. But if you enjoy a good comedy that is not above getting serious to explain the nitty gritty drama, this is something you don't want to miss. Be warned some episodes may make you cry. :)

Tiger Lily (Work In Progress)

Commission piece for a girl who likes tigers and princesses. Can't go wrong there.

Devil May Cry Reboot - Review

Friday, I reluctantly purchased the Devil May Cry reboot after playing the demo. I say reluctantly, because like many of you, I didn't believe the Capcom/Ninja Theory reboot was going to be any good. Turning classic Dante into an ugly punk demon slayer with a bad attitude wasn't my idea of a great game. All I could ask myself was "What happened to the Dante I used to know?" Thankfully, I have some good news.

I have played and beat the game in its entirety on the Human or easy level. Mainly, to learn the story line and game mechanics. Within the first mission Ninja Theory pays a big homage to the original Dante character design by landing a white wig on the younger version. "Not in a million years." Dante quotes, throwing the wig aside. But, this instantly drew the majority of my skepticism aside. Not only did Ninja Theory show major respect for the classic Dante, it also made me realize that their new punk character model wasn't that far off from the Dante of old. With the long white hair he looks almost exactly like the Dante we're all used to. So, take away the punk haircut and the younger features and you're still left with the classic. Not bad.

The world itself, another area that I thought would be an annoyance, is actually very unique and fresh. With all the strange level layouts I expected the game to be caught in a niche for players who are attracted to the punk genre, but the story arc makes this weird layout easily acceptable. Throughout the game there is the real world and limbo, the halfway point where demons walk the earth unseen. It is in this limbo that Dante mainly plays throughout the game. This gave the game developers free reign to create unique worlds and levels to keep you guessing as you play through the story. And although, some of the maps are quite creative, it is not a free world and the story leads you easily to where you need to be.

The game mechanics are also very easy to use and create an outlet for gamers to play almost any way they prefer. Dante, who acquires a series of eight different weapons, can kill almost anything with either variance. Albeit, there are a few demons that require a certain weapons to be used to break their shields or powers, fighting style becomes the control of the player.

Without revealing any spoilers, the story arc was very well put together and continues to draw back on classic Devil May Cry basics that we know and love. They had a lot of background to put into a short game and are able to catch up first time Devil May Cry players into the worlds history, game mechanics, and plot without leaving the player questioning. In the end, although this story has wrapped up, any player can tell it is open for many sequels to come.

Overall, for any of you who are still questioning if Ninja Theory ruined a good thing, I'm glad to say they haven't. The DMC reboot although very edgy has done a great job of reviving a classic and creating something new at the same time.