« Year Summary »
2021 continued to fall on hard times, but I was heads down with Detecdev for a good part of the year. Despite the weight of the world during that period, I was inspired to create things outside of the Detecdev realm. I started tinkering with styles using vector art tools. I really latched onto using it as a stylistic choice as I'm not artistically inclined, as least in the aspect of free-hand/hand-drawn creations.
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A brain in a trashcan, or trash brain as I like to call it
Using the trash brain, I took it further to make Garbage Thought Planisphere
After I took a step back from Detecdev for a bit during this year, I continued to mess around with vector art tools. It was a joke at the time with coworkers that I have carried along with me, the idea of having "trash brain". That feeling you get in a corporate setting where you kind of sit and stare at the screen wishing you were doing something else.
I honestly don't remember where the idea of Garbage Thought Planisphere came from, but it was a neat idea to play around with at the time. It was a random mash of thoughts that got put together, probably from a trash brain day 🧠
The Skulkin Bros. | From The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
My wife and I started playing through "The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles" and came across these charming couple of characters. Like many of the characters in any of the Ace Attorney games, they immediately become memorable. Their quirky and goofy nature inspired me to make a banner of them.
Floating HUB World
This was an experimental piece as I was messing around with different effects available to me. HUB worlds were really popular in the 90's mascot platformer games that I love. For this, I tried making a little HUB world using some of the effects and other things I learned. The isometric perspective and the water running off the side were the hot ticket items for me at the time.
A fancy latte. I'm still not sure if I'm okay with how it turned out
An alien invader icon
With more experimentation, I tried creating a realistic object with the coffee mug. I remember having the hardest time trying to get the latte cream pattern to look a certain way. Overall, it still looks a little flat to me, and now I really want a cup of coffee... ☕
The alien invader icon was one of those things that came out of just trying things out. I ended up picking some colors and running with putting shapes together. If I remember correctly, this was around the time I really learned how to merge, cut, and manipulate shapes properly.
Barok Van Zieks | From The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Another banner inspired by "The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles", but this time with more finer details. I believe my wife and I had just finished playing through the game and I was once again inspired to create a banner of the prosecutor Barok Van Zieks. The head itself I remember having a tough time making it not look weird and have the proper visage. I do remember having a good time making this one though. One of the few I was proud of around then.
Flowerglass
The Flowerglass (or flowery hourglass) was another one of the tinker pieces that I ended up doing. Messing with colors and shape designs was a prime investment in this one. The biggest thing I messed around with on this one was trying to give it light and shadow effects via shape-work.