Lazy Monkey

Busy Days to Come

2010-09-27T12:05:00.001-07:00

I'm currently in the process of creating another website specifically for my portfolio. LazyMonkey.info will be for stories section while work and school stuff will be transfered to CloverFall.com later this year.

I'm also in the process of job searching and interviews while doing my school assignments and personal stuides at the same time. Phew!

Animation with Flash Report 06

2010-03-25T04:06:00.000-07:00

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 06 - Putting it all together

I'm more or less halfway through animating the assignment as of today. Unfortunately, I'm a little behind schedule due to 2 major issues; a personal and a business issue. The first being my 1 year old kid fell from a chair and dislocated her arm joint and we had to wait at the hospital almost the whole day on Monday....*grumbles*. The latter being my client wanting some changes done to her company's website this week (since they're scheduled to launch the homepage next week --- www.firstbitumen.com) so I had to squeeze in the webdeveloping hours along with my assignment hours. Luckily for me though, I actually managed to study while working since I made some Flash stuff for the website.

My Flash CS4 trial will run out this Sunday so I better be done with the assignment by then. I'm a little stressed out but it's all good fun! Nothing is more fun than animating! (well, ok, gaming maybe....and shopping. Hehe.) Animating is a lot of work! But it's very rewarding too. I feel so proud when I see the stuff I draw come to life no matter how crappy they are.

I'm not sure if my animating methods in Flash are the smartest/simplest/productive ways but I have so few time to experiment with other methods now and it's probably best for me (time-wise) to just stick with what I am confident with (motion tween and classic frame-by-frame animation) for this round.

I'll be visitng Flash over and over again, (I have the old MX version though) so I'm very sure I'll learn a few tricks later :)

My break is almost over, now back to animating!

Animation with Flash Report 05

2010-03-17T03:14:00.000-07:00

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 05 - A little sneak peek

This drawing was done just a few moments ago. It's a still picture and there'll be texts telling the viewers what's going on the screen.

This scene is when Hikaru and Hiro walked to their target's residency.

For some reason, they both look like chibi (compressed, cute) versions of themselves whenever I draw bird's eye perspective. Hmmm....

Animation with Flash Report 04

2010-03-17T02:24:00.000-07:00

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 04 - Characters Drawing Progress

Now it's 3 days into the week which I dedicate to drawing up the characters (and their animations if any). It's a gruelling process! Especially considering that I'm strugging with my inner "demon" from pouncing on the game controller (Final Fantasy 13...) and trying my best to concentrate on the work at hand. Discipline can be torturous!

Anyways, the assignment is very interesting for me for the most part because I'm creating an animation based on my own stuff. So it feels rewarding even though it's a lot of work.

I've divided the tasks of drawing the characters into several scenes per day so I don't lag behind the schedule and by Friday 19/3, I will have all scenes done. Saturday and Sunday will be used as touch-up sessions.

Due to the overwhelming amount of drawing and colouring to be done and that I shaded every character so that they are coherent with the backgrounds (no flat colours or black shadowing), I came to a conclusion that I need to use tweening instead of frame by frame drawings even for the simpler movements. The end result may not be as beautiful and natural as I planned but time is of the essence! Plus, the whole course is really about how good one is at Flash (at least that's what I think...?).

Animation with Flash Report 03

2010-03-11T04:08:00.000-08:00

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 03 - A Little Recap on the Idea Pitch

I thought of writing the Idea Pitch (Assignment 2) briefly in this post just so that this entire report/work progress blog flows and become easier to read and understand.

The idea:
To create a 2 minutes and 20 seconds (maximum) animation based on my own story "Tales of 2 Ronins" with Flash.

The methods:
While most of the graphics are to be done with Photoshop, simpler graphics (i.e. bubble speeches) are to be created directly with Flash. Due to time constraint, the animation wont have 25 cels per second (but the frame rate will still be 25 frames/second). There are simply TOO much to draw otherwise!
Some of the movements (i.e door opening) will incorporate Flash's motion tween just to make my life easier.
I'm creating all the raster images much larger than the intended final display ratio because I'm following the advise of my ex-lecturer when I was in MMU; "Make things really HUGE! And then size them down in the final production. That way mistakes are made hardly visible". Now I'm putting that theory to the test!

The story:
Tales of 2 Ronins is one of my original stories I created as a nod to Japanese mangas (comics) which have inspired me through many years. You can call it a tribute to Japanese mangas if you wish.
It is set in a fictitious land (alternate 1700-1800AD Japan, perhaps?) where samurai code of honour was upheld vigorously by swordsmen.
The story tells the lives of swordsmen; Hiro and Hikaru who later became ronins due to them abandoning said code.

The animation:
The animation in this assignment will feature a look on Hiro's and Hikaru's day where they were ordered by their master to attack a rival clan.

Right now I'm rushing through the characters' animations until the whole of next week. I will [hopefully] begin animating on Monday, 22nd March 2010.

Animation with Flash Report 02

2010-03-10T04:17:00.000-08:00

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 02 - Progress (Background)

Thanks to the fact that I started quite early with the backgrounds, I've now finished with them all and began starting with the characters' drawings as of today. Below are samples of the backgrounds in the animation:

Each and every of these backgrounds was done in 1920 x 1080 x 300dpi Full-HD (but the animation itself has a smaller size that that)

Animation with Flash Report 01

2010-03-10T03:58:00.000-08:00

Animation with Flash Report, Entry 01 - My views on Flash

I've started with the final assignment last week (1st March 2010) and began developing the backgrounds for the scenes in the animation "Tales of 2 Ronins".

In between the drawings and colourings of the background, I managed to sneak in some Flash exercises and trying to get accustomed to Flash's environment a little more. I'm still a quite daunted with its complexity (or simplicity, depending on how one looks at it) perhaps mostly due to the fact that I'm so used to other Adobe's programs such as Director and After Effects which have similar interface as Flash. I used to take the coward's way out by avoiding Flash and opted for Director or After Effects and later converting the result to .swf file (thus having more work to finish than necessary). Now I'm facing Flash head-on!

Right. Anyways, I'm still having a few difficulties with the vector tool (namely, the Pen tool) in Flash as I'm very used to Photoshop's Pen tool. The changes done on Flash with the Pen tool can feel a bit confusing and I dont often get the results I was expecting...(e.g tried to drag and change a vertex and ended up with multiple vertices on the same spot! Argh!).
I will be using a lot of bitmap graphics (the backgrounds and the characters) but there will be some vector graphics in the animation too. Things such as sword swiping effects, bubble speeches and other, non-complex images will be vector graphics.

I might be biting more than I can chew at the moment considering the fact that I'm an absolute newbie with Flash (nevermind the fact that I'm good at Director --- it's a different story. Period.) and attempting an over 2 minutes [mostly] hand-drawn animation within slightly over 2 weeks time limit. Ahhh.....

Merry Xmas! And welcome 2010!

2010-01-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

I got Tekken 6 as Xmas gift this year and wow! What a shocker! Tekken 6 feels so different. I played a quicky and the story mode is a bit like Xenosaga meets Tekken. Anyways, Lee was entertaining as usual but he's becoming less and less cute over the years. Oh well.

Joyful dolly week!

2009-07-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

This has got to be one of the most awesome dolly weeks ever! I received my Heliot on Monday (6/7) and then Giselle on Tuesday (7/7) and Eden (8/7) and finally received shipping notice for Eugenia club doll today (9/7). Repeat after me: "Hallelujah!" Hehe.

Once I get the camera home again I will upload pics to my Flickr account. Url will be added later but for now, you can search my album under Hiro_Kazushi.

Oh and my website is updated today. Please do check it out.

The Horror! Part 1

2009-06-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

Oki, let's start anew. Since I'm too lazy/slow to take and add new pics of my dollies (and Heliot is still not shipped...nyaaa! >_<), I'll write about my assignments instead.

I've finished my mermaid for my 3D class and she turned out horrible from the neck up. The rest of her with the exception of the arms are pretty nice. Her eyeballs seem like they're gonna popout any second hehe. That's our Horror 1.

My next assigment is to design some characters and artifacts for a thriller/action/mystery/horror game and movie. The thing is, in my opinion, the descriptions given to me were a bit too...well...action-oriented. Just like Resident Evil 5. There's no real "horror" to it. I'm from Malaysia* so I guess I demand a lot from any horror movie/game. It takes some of the horror factors away if you can shoot the ghost's head off and it'll stop bugging you. Okay, in RE they have zombies and plagas so they're off the hook...
Take Fatal Frame for example...now that's creepy. Ofcourse you get less spooked after a while but hey, it was pretty scary while it lasted :D
And let's not forget Silent Hill. That is one disturbing game that is. But I want to see more ghosts and not just monsters (we'll discuss the differences between the two later).

I'll sketch something to get the creative juice going soon and will get back with more horror chitchat soon!

*We Malaysians (and Indonesians) have waaaaaay too many ghosts stories that can scare a person's timid heart for life. Take me for example; I'm too old to be scared of the cellar but yet I am! Kyaaaaahhh!

Back from Malaysia

2009-04-21T02:41:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my 3 months "holiday" in Malaysia last Thursday. It was great to meet my family again after over 2 years. I didnt manage to do some of the things I was planning to do but oh well...

Still no sign of Heliot shipping, but according to Soom, he should be out around May, so I'm counting on it! Ducan (Eiji) is anxiously waiting for his buddy.
Speaking of the devil, I will post pics of him later.

I finally finished Resident Evil 4 while in Malaysia. I know, I know...it's soooo yesterday, but I had problems playing the game due to my easy-to-get-nauseous-self-when-playing-fps-or-similar-games. On top of that, I also played through RE5 with my sister. Since it was her game (RE5), she had the right to use Chris (the main guy) and me, Sheva (the companion chic).
It was great! But I still feel a little sad since Wesker...well, if you havent played then maybe you want to skip the next few sentences---he's gone. kaput. but i doubt it's for real...there's probably a Wesker Jr. or Wesker II somewhere. I mean he's a really cool evil dude and he's a ton of fun to use too.

I bought Southern Belle Silkstone Barbie while in Malaysia (actually I ordered it from US hehe) and pics of her will come soon too.

Oh and I gave my Street Fighter 4 to my siblings for being so nice and that means I have to buy a new copy for myself. I think I might go for the Special Edition (which comes with an anime DVD and other goodies). I still need to buy the fightpad from MadCatz.

I also got my Bewitching Hour Luchia (FR doll) there.

A Great Start for a New Year!

2009-01-02T03:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!
I hope 2009 will bring us all lots of great things!
This year started really amazing for me. Erik gave a green light for me to buy Heliot - God Master! Yippee!
What/Who is Heliot? Check out www.dollsoom.com ! I think he's absolutely gorgeous and he'll be a fantastic partner/pal for Ducan. I've always wanted a Soom doll but they're just so expensive (but very beautiful too). Well looks like I have to cut my FR budget for this one, but I absolutely dont mind at all.
Speaking of which, I have 3 FR girls to come in the future. One is Veronique in Moods collection which will arrive shortly. Theo ther is the second WClub doll Luchia and the third is Vanessa upgrade club doll. After that I'm not sure if I'm getting anymore since I need to pay for my Heliot. Oh well, he's worth it! :D

Enough rambling for now! Off to enjoy the great year!

The FR Girls #1

2008-12-16T08:55:00.001-08:00

These beautiful ladies are "Hot Property" Natalia (first two pics) and "Going Public" Eugenia. They are Fashion Royalty dolls by Integrity Toys and each wearing Funny Frock (Dressmaker Details Couture) and Just Brilliant (Hollywood Royalty line) respectively.

Behind the ladies is my "holiday pot" which holds 3 hyacinth (pink, white and purple) and some Chrismas ornaments. "God Jul" roughly translates to Merry Christmas, but Jul is really a Swedish festival/celebration that is more or less equavalent to Christmas.

Winter in Sweden #3

2008-12-16T08:47:00.001-08:00

Now for the third and final entry for the Winter in Sweden series, this is how it looks like in Sweden on a snowy day. The snow is fresh and the air is crisp (and cold). I love it when it's snowing! Everything is so white and even though the sun sets around 3pm, it is still quite bright considering all the whiteness. My only gripe is that I wish winter isn't so long here...

Random Chat:
I've watched Resident Evil Degeneration which features Leon and Claire (both debuted in RE2) and it is quite good. It's a CGI movie and the graphics are very well done. There are ofcourse some improvements they could've done to the storyline but overall, it has that RE feeling and formula to it and that's a big plus. The movie is about 90mins long and it contains animated violence and gore so viewer discretion is advised. I highly recommend those who like RE series, CGI movies, and horror/action movies to watch this one!

Ducan and the Tree

2008-12-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

Here is my Ducan (that's his default name, but I named him Eiji Seong Ran). He's a Dream of Doll DOT doll and in this picture he's wearing H.Naoto outfit. Behind him is our xmas tree. Yes it's fake hehe but it'll have to do for now.

Hopefully next year I'll be able to buy a girl DOT and she'll be Ducan/Eiji's mate hey.

Soon I'll update my website (http://www.lazymonkey.info/), so please keep a watch out!

Winter in Sweden #2

2008-12-05T11:00:00.000-08:00

Now for the second part of Winter in Sweden series: Survival in the cold.
To ensure that we dont end up getting hyperthermia or gangrene or nasty crap like that (including but not limited to colds, flu and fever), we must make sure we keep warm whenever we go out during the winter.
Ahem, as you can see above, we have the vital equipments; knitted cap, thick winter jacket, gloves, scarf or mufflers, socks and shoes (not shown in the picture).
So now you know! *enlightened music in the background, please*

Winter in Sweden #1

2008-11-27T04:31:00.000-08:00

I will go off-topic for a little while...and today I will talk about the Swedes and the typical Swedish culture (winter edition).

Above you can see a bottle of Glögg (comes in both alcohol and alcohol-free versions), pepper cookies (a sort of gingerbread cookies I guess) and a red plant (forgot the name...looks kind of like the red herb in Resident Evil games) found in most Swedish household during this time.

So now you know. (Enlightened music in the background please)

Who Am I?

2008-11-27T04:24:00.000-08:00

No matter which test I take, I always end up with this guy...

Your results:
You are Dr. Doom

Dr. Doom		67%
Magneto		63%
Apocalypse		63%
Mystique		62%
Dark Phoenix		62%
Lex Luthor		56%
Poison Ivy		55%
The Joker		51%
Catwoman		47%
Juggernaut		46%
Mr. Freeze		46%
Venom		44%
Green Goblin		42%
Two-Face		42%
Kingpin		39%
Riddler		32%

Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

Game Indulges #1

2008-11-22T02:14:00.000-08:00

I received my new Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia a few days ago for the DS. I havent played it yet since I'm still on Devil May Cry 4 (PS3). Frankly, I'm quite surprised that Igarashi-sama chose a female main character for this Castlevania. Always thought he is kinda...well...cliché or sexistic (he DID erase off Sonja Belmont just because he thinks a female character isnt a strong choice to represent the Belmont clan...hey.)

Picture courtesy of Gamespot.com and I purchased this game from DVDBoxOffice.com.

Anyhoo...

As for DMC4...I'm getting desperate for Dante. Nero isnt a bad fighter. In fact, he's GREAT. But I dont like his personality and the overzealous use of "coolness" and "stylishness" that he becomes somewhat corny. And not to mention he's an emotional wreak. Dude! Get yourself together!

Random Rant:

I watched Dead Poet Society last night and I realized that Robert Sean Leonard looks the sae after all those years. Okay maybe a lil meatier nowadays but definitely one of those people who age nicely.

Love the movie! Charlie you rule!

My First Blogg

2008-11-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

Testing One Two Alif Baa Taa...

Okay. I'm going to write about 2 things. 2 completely unrelated things. In one blogg. Yes.
Ahem,
The first major topic will be about my work progress on my website (http://www.lazymonkey.info/) and its contents (which are mainly my university assignments so far).
The second will be spared for my dolls and games guilty pleasures.
That's all for now.

Now let's go off-tangent: I want to complain about having to take theory and driving tests again (although I have 8 years of driving experience...in a much more dangerous situations at that!) just because I dont have a Swedish driver's license and only a Malaysian one....d'oh!