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Okay ... So, last journal update, I'd mentioned that I had some art I'd put in storage and was considering taking out.
Truth is, I've been having cold feet over it.
See, in 2012 I started working on an idea for an original series of sorts that would involve personified ships, after being inspired by the likes of "mecha musume" artists such as acea4 of Taiwan, who has been doing a graphic novel titled Shermanga Wars (a wordplay on "Sherman" and "Manga," I think). I've come to dub my own project "The Oakenhearted," as you can see in the teaser/preview comic that I've taken out of storage. I had uploaded that on October 21, 2014, the same day that the ship featured in said preview (USS Constitution) was launched in 1797.
You'll notice that in the commentary for that picture, I mentioned that Kantai Collection launched in 2013 and how popular it's become. That's the reason I kept having second thoughts about doing anything with The Oakenhearted, putting up images only to either put them in storage or remove them. Not because KanColle "did it first," mind you—personifying war machines has been a thing since at least the 90's, so it's not like either title is breaking new ground here.
However, people have a tendency to look at anything that has similarities to something they like (or something that is popular) as a ripoff. Taken to the extreme, you get cases like the one fan who sent Universal Studios a nastygram accusing them of ripping off of Twilight with their 1940s film "The Wolfman." That's where my apprehension kicked in: I don't want The Oakenhearted to get dismissed as "a lame American imitation of KanColle," or a "me-too," or something like that.
If I keep going with this series, I want it to be judged on its own merits, not in comparison to more popular titles. I'd been worried it just wouldn't be possible. I'd passed around some of the work I've done on The Oakenhearted to people I know, and some of those who play Kantai Collection bluntly told me "yes, they're going to call this a KanColle ripoff." That's why I've sat on this for several years at this point.
Recently, though, some other friends have encouraged me to go through with it. And ... well, I figure now might be a good time as any: Fallout 4 was released today. Since it takes place in Boston and features its own take on USS Constitution, maybe it'll spark some interest.
I hope.
I'd really like to hear feedback on this idea—if you'd like to see more or what. I have other artwork related to The Oakenhearted I'd been doing in recent years (and more recently) that I may put up as well.
That's all I've got for now, gang.
Truth is, I've been having cold feet over it.
See, in 2012 I started working on an idea for an original series of sorts that would involve personified ships, after being inspired by the likes of "mecha musume" artists such as acea4 of Taiwan, who has been doing a graphic novel titled Shermanga Wars (a wordplay on "Sherman" and "Manga," I think). I've come to dub my own project "The Oakenhearted," as you can see in the teaser/preview comic that I've taken out of storage. I had uploaded that on October 21, 2014, the same day that the ship featured in said preview (USS Constitution) was launched in 1797.
You'll notice that in the commentary for that picture, I mentioned that Kantai Collection launched in 2013 and how popular it's become. That's the reason I kept having second thoughts about doing anything with The Oakenhearted, putting up images only to either put them in storage or remove them. Not because KanColle "did it first," mind you—personifying war machines has been a thing since at least the 90's, so it's not like either title is breaking new ground here.
However, people have a tendency to look at anything that has similarities to something they like (or something that is popular) as a ripoff. Taken to the extreme, you get cases like the one fan who sent Universal Studios a nastygram accusing them of ripping off of Twilight with their 1940s film "The Wolfman." That's where my apprehension kicked in: I don't want The Oakenhearted to get dismissed as "a lame American imitation of KanColle," or a "me-too," or something like that.
If I keep going with this series, I want it to be judged on its own merits, not in comparison to more popular titles. I'd been worried it just wouldn't be possible. I'd passed around some of the work I've done on The Oakenhearted to people I know, and some of those who play Kantai Collection bluntly told me "yes, they're going to call this a KanColle ripoff." That's why I've sat on this for several years at this point.
Recently, though, some other friends have encouraged me to go through with it. And ... well, I figure now might be a good time as any: Fallout 4 was released today. Since it takes place in Boston and features its own take on USS Constitution, maybe it'll spark some interest.
I hope.
I'd really like to hear feedback on this idea—if you'd like to see more or what. I have other artwork related to The Oakenhearted I'd been doing in recent years (and more recently) that I may put up as well.
That's all I've got for now, gang.
32 and Still Kicking
... Well, for a certain value of it, at least.
I've had some really, really demanding classes this entire year, summer included. I don't really have much of a life outside of working on all the assignments that pile up; in the Spring semester I jumped at the chance to take a Game Design course that specialized in Unity. Unfortunately the professor teaching that class (who was only at this university for a semester) had very, very short deadlines for projects. Case in point: He expected student teams to present their work at Oklahoma Research Day. Other Cameron students I spoke to while at ORD told me that their departments gave them a year o
Not Quite the Comeback Kid
Been a while since my last update. I've been spending most of what free time I had this year and last year trying to get better with Adobe Illustrator. I'm hoping that with Illustrator, I'll be able to achieve some actual quality CG that is also completely resolution-independent, what with it being vector-based and all. I think I've got a long way to go, though. Some of the stuff I've done in Illustrator so far is ... really sloppy looking in terms of coloring. I'm still figuring out what tools will be best for what job: you can do some amazing things in Illustrator with just line styles, but Gradient Mesh hasn't exactly been the holy grail I
So Now I'm 31 ...
Hey guys,
It's been a long time since my last update; I didn't mean to leave you all hanging, and I'm really sorry to have worried the people who've expressed their concerns.
Life's been a roller coaster of ups and downs since the Spring 2014 semester. A lot of things have gone right, and a lot of things have gone wrong, the consequences of both which have left me little time to really pursue anything I want to do in my spare time. Going into detail about the the past half-year would make for a really long story, and some of it I'd rather not get into. I can share some of the good (and bad) though:
The good things I'll cover first. Medical
The Light at the End of the Tunnel
I'm almost through with chemotherapy!
Monday was my second-to-last infusion. In two more weeks, I'll be done. The side effects will linger on for a little while, though I've not taken as sharp an inventory of my state as I had planned to at the beginning to monitor for chemo brain and the like.
I'm still really surprised that chemo hasn't been as harsh on me as I'd worried would happen. I never actually lost all my hair (some, but not all of it ... no bald spots at all), my immune system didn't completely vanish, I didn't become super-sensitive to sunlight or grow so weak that I couldn't get to class on my own (most of the time). The nurses
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I would say go for it! Nothing stopped anyone from creating more Sword personifications after Touken Ranbu did so (or perhaps there were some before it?), in fact it inspired even more sword-personification games after it as well, just with different genders. 
If anything, it's really just a new genre, and as long as the characters are unique, there is nothing saying you cannot do it too. It could be especially nice if it included more than just girls, and include more gender diversity that would appeal to a wider audience as well as be more unique since most personification games/anime tend to only pick one gender.
If anything, it's really just a new genre, and as long as the characters are unique, there is nothing saying you cannot do it too. It could be especially nice if it included more than just girls, and include more gender diversity that would appeal to a wider audience as well as be more unique since most personification games/anime tend to only pick one gender.