Summer Komikon 2013

Yes, it is pretty late but I just have to post it somewhere lest I might forget the awesome titles I've encountered there. Something to keep me fueled up until the next Komikon!

Animus Rush

Here's the much awaited synopsis of our first VN project, Animus Rush:

Alice is the ace of Ogure Highschool's Volleyball Club that goes to the Nationals every year. She usually stays in the court to practice and stays there to be out of everyone's way. But this year it's different. The school decided to hold a campaign to advertise its standing and chose Alice and two others to be the representatives. The active and cheerful Alice turned into something fearful when she discovered that one of the two is her ex-boyfriend. Will she be able to just focus on her goal to win the Championship or will she finally exact revenge? 

deviantART

deviantART [dee·vee·un'nt·ART] is the world's largest online art community where artists and art enthusiasts can share their work.

I decided to just post my progress in digital arts here in my deviantART page. Feel free to check it out and if you liked something, don't forget to add it to your favorites. Oh, here's one I haven't submitted yet: 

Miss Universe 2007 - Philippines costume

This sketch was a request from a friend of mine. I may try to outline it in the future.

Not Another Hair Technique on Gimp for Beginners by a Beginner

Okay, so basically I just started learning digital arts and encountered a lot of different tutorials on howto's and whatnot's. I did learn their techniques, but it just isn't working for me. I do get confused and sometimes even irritable when it's taking me too long to get the shades right. I was never really fond of a lot of layers. With my blood, sweat, and tears on the line, I'm going to post it here so that I won't forget.

The most common technique (and easiest to understand) is probably the two-layer technique where there is the base color then the shadow or light color. I choose shadow. 

And here's what's confusing: What is the best shade to use? I don't think that there is a best shade, since it really depends on your preference. There are a lot of techniques on the net, you can just search it right now. But I prefer the fewer clicks the better, so I suggest using the burn tool... clicking on the base color 3-4 times then use the color picker tool and get the darker shade. Undo the burn and fill the shadow layer with the shade that you just got.

I place the shadow layer on top and from here on it's basically the same thing. With the shadow layer, use the path tool or pen tool and run through the hair. Always remember the Selection from path and hit delete. Do this for all the layers you'd want your hair to have. 

When you're done, duplicate the base layer. Then go to Colors > Hue-Saturation and go for a higher level of Lightness. Use the color picker to get the lighter shade. Delete the duplicate layer. Use the spray tool to draw a curve throughout the base layer. The output is as shown below:

Note: 
1. Do remember that this shading may or may not be the best option for your coloring scheme.
2. Base layer > Shadow layer may be interchangeable to Light layer > Base layer. 
3. There is a total of 2 techniques used in choosing shades used, either one may be favored.

Once I get a new coloring technique that works for me, I'll post it here.

SFX

The sounds of games is an important criteria in making a making a game especially in visual novels. It's the small things that matter, as I always have in mind. From the small squeaks of the shoes to the grand musical themes of VNs like a2, sound effects (SFX) make the game realistic and even more enjoyable.

 a2 ~a due~

I've been scavenging here and there for SFX in the internet. I know, it's a little early for the stage of our project, but a huge database for sound effects isn't so bad. Here are some sources that I actually find helpful:

• free SFX
• Freesound
• Freeplay Music

A Visual Novel Project

I'm having too much fun with Ren'Py lately. And with Project B going slow, a friend of mine decided to create a visual novel on the side. It was actually debated whether to just use Novelty or just Ren'Py. Since it's our first attempt at a visual novel, Novelty would've been easy to use. It is more user-friendly for those with no background to programming but at the cost of less features, not that we'll be using all the features of Ren'Py anytime soon.

Well, aside from the wiki of Ren'Py, I have been stalking the Lemmasoft Forums for a while. There are a lot of nice people there and their works. I am pretty excited since the NanoRenai has just ended. 

New Visual Novels galore~!

Happy gaming, everyone!

Time to practice!

I got hooked up in coloring. I do need more practice in cleaning the outline and, of course, the shading. There are just too many layers. The image above was drawn by my good friend. You can check out her blog here.