>> Merry X-Mas - Scionia Update

After fiddling around with some settings and resolutions I quickly realised that a small lack of detail (almost unnoticeable perhaps when quickly seen, but noticeable enough when the images are compared side by side) was present in the current images in the online version of the webcomic itself. This was perhaps a result to previous resolution changes to find the most desired size to my liking for the site. Also, I noticed that the writing is a little hard to read in the final resolutions in the site, or perhaps a little tiring.

For the above reasons changes are being made to the text in the first pages for a clearer and less tiring read on the eyes. Some resolution tweaks have been made as well to bring the clearer, sharper and more detailed drawings across to the medium.

The new pages will be uploaded in place of the old and existing pages with the next update, along with the new pages being currently made as well. The new pages are scheduled to be uploaded this Friday if everything goes well, it is Christmas Holidays after all and time for work is undoubtedly less ;)

Merry Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year :)

edit: (29/12/2012) site update is pushed back to next Friday. Christmas Holidays took the better of me after all and the new pages still need some work to be on the level that satisfies me ;)
Happy New Year!

>> Finally Here...

The release of web-comic is finally here.

I am Happy to announce that the journey of Scionia - Guardian Angel, begins today. The first pages to the adventure are uploaded, with frequent updates to continue the story, scheduled to be made and released on a weekly basis. The first artworks are also uploaded and the site is up and ready.

I invite you all to take this journey together with me in the months to come for the unfolding of the tale, in hopes as always that it is a pleasure for you to experience as it is for me.

click here to visit the web-comic

>> (New Video) Digital Painting Timelapse - Scionia - Character Art 01

The first timelapse video with art for my web-comic Scionia is up and running on YouTube.

21 minutes with the entire process to drawing and painting one of the main characters to the tale. Also serving as an unveiling to perhaps what can be expected, and what is to come. The form of course is a digital painting. It was completed as an artwork almost a month ago, perhaps more, and served also as a stepping stone to learning/honing my skills as a digital artist. I hope I am only getting better and more productive with time.

Click here to enjoy the full video itself
Digital Painting Timelapse - Scionia - Character Art 01

The last days before launch to the web-comic are also now slipping away as I count down. The following are links to the official Facebook page for Scionia and the official site too.

Facebook Page for Scionia
facebook.com/Scioniacomic

Official Site
scioniacomic.com

Also, follow me on Twitter for quick updates, work related or not, here:
twitter.com/HazaRDReborN

Subscription based games are a scam!

My "article reply" to an article on F2P games and Subscriptions...

I wrote what seemed or started out as a reply to PCGAMERS article with the title:

Star Wars: The Old Republic’s free-to-play restrictions tweaked, Bioware stress “an ongoing dialogue"

and it quickly escalated to an actual article length piece that I thought I hold on to.

It was mostly in response to those supporting the idea that "if people want the full game they should subscribe" and that they shouldn't complain about the f2p model in SWTOR.

I myself having looked at it (the f2p model) see how flawed it is and, well, it reminds nothing of a proper free 2 play model. I support the idea of subscription games simply not existing at all (take a look at my older article posted here called "Free For All - Challenging Life Itself" to get an idea of my thoughts on this matter generally and how I believe it should work) and so I had my two cents to add to it all.

The amount of tolerance we have as gamers, or even human beings, allows for such things as these (e.g subscription based games) to keep gong on when clearly they should be stopped.

I thought it would be a shame to leave the reply there alone (I would end up forgetting about it myself) and so here it is:

(readers beware, the content is less formal than my usual posts, but I think still worth posting as a cry to gamers to simply STOP with their ignorance on companies taking advantage on them)

....

What is Scionia?

Although not too much can be said about Scionia in order to keep the mystery veiled until the launch and journey themselves reveal the details, a very quick outline can be given on it.

Scionia is a web-comic that will be released through frequent updates adding page by page to the adventure. It is not as a project complete yet and it is inked and painted into existence as this very post is read. It is an ongoing process aimed at breathing the completion into a tale that has been written a while ago. A tale that was forged in waiting to be at last given life to. The idea is to share this birth and creation as it happens with everyone through the unveiling of it bit by bit as it takes form.

Scionia is a semi post-apocalyptic science fiction tale, flavoured with great amounts of fantasy and epic throughout it's entire core and structure. And as some may have already guessed through the release of some artwork previews, it takes place in Hellas (Greece) and involves elements of past, present and future born and forged in this land. Unique to it's own origins and mythos, Scionia can be said is like no other semi post-apocalyptic nor post-apocalyptic setting depicted thus far.

More to the tale will have to be unveiled within the journey itself. I hope it is as enjoyable of an experience to all as it was for me to create.

Visit the site for Scionia here: Scionia the Web-Comic

>> One step closer. General Update.

The site for my first web-comic Scionia is now up and running. With still a few things left to polish both for the site, the comic and the first artworks, the way to the journey is not long now with the foundations set and ready.

The release of the comic will begin with some art-work for the comic and the first pages of the tale.

A time-lapse video of artwork is also on its way to being uploaded for your pleasure on YouTube, possibly before the first pages to the comic are released if not at the same time.

Lastly, the idea and goal is to have biweekly updates including more pages for the comic each time and on occasion art-works as well as time-lapse videos on YouTube. If all goes well with regards to time management the updates may become more often than biweekly. Either that or the pages I release may become more than initial amount scoped for.

The goal is between 2 and 4 pages a week on average. Still hoping that time is not an issue for achieving such results when the project is released, I make my way with best possible speeds to bring the idea to life through ink and colour.

Stay tuned, the launch is now not that far away.

>> Web-Comic Site Under Construction

It took a little longer to design than what was expected, but when we aim for certain quality sometimes it needs to have the right amount of time invested to get the required results.

Of course from an artists point of view "a work of art is never finished", but who are we kidding right? We need results and a toned down release is better than no release.

That aside, like I already stated, I am all for quality and quantity together, but will need a team of 4 to 5 people to do this. Being on my own means for sacrifices made on some aspects of quality to ensure it doesn't take an eon and a half for each project update. However, that does not mean I sacrifice quality either. It is important to me that I get the best results possible so it is all about better time management and learning how to be a better digital artist (2D and 3D) for even quicker results.

In the end it is a judgement call. I try my best as a lone-wolf and one-man-army to get the best results possible since I am also a sucker for quality and perfection. Therefore some aspects and parts of each design (whether they be artworks, concept arts, a comic panel or designing the website layout and graphics) will take more time on occasion to complete for that extra quality.

Although I will need twice the time from my part to be completely perfect and I've thrown that idea for perfection out of the window or in a draw for now, the projects can still be approached with the will to get better results so long as the time spent on extra quality is a little more than initially planned and not a lot more.

And here we are at last, although a little delayed. The site for my web-comic is finally underway and in the "under construction" phase. Very soon it will be much more than just that.

www.scioniacomic.com

Simultaneously I am conjuring up an official Facebook page for the web-comic too and a time-lapse video soon to be uploaded on YouTube from one of the character arts for the web-comic.

Stay in touch for future updates.

>> A few steps left to "leap"...

The deadline for the release and launch of my first personal project is near. As the days tick down the pressure increases before the remaining tasks at hand to be completed.

Among these tasks is also the site itself. It will be soon going into production and (fingers crossed, no jinxing allowed) will be up to welcome visitors to my new and first free web-comic soon to be released.

Meanwhile, I will be digitally sketching and painting away to finish off the first chapter for it's release on time. A consuming task indeed since the script, drawing and paint are all written, drawn and painted by the one person.

Tiptoeing from corner to corner to bring as much quality possibly as time allows, the last steps seem like leaps before the final result.

Hope all goes well and all in due time.
I will be updating as often as I can on the progress. If possible, I might even throw in a few sneak peaks as well for what is to come.

Hawken - Closed Beta Event Videos

The 2nd video for the HAWKEN closed beta event is up.

Although I seldom tend to make reviews or commentary videos, I took the chance to look into this new free-to-play mech themed first person shooter once having attained a closed beta key for the event during the weekend of 28/10/2012.

In the video I showcase all the maps available in the beta event, the three mech classes, and the four game modes.

I take a thorough look with extensive commentary on most if not all aspects of the game, leading into the last hour of gameplay only (no commentary) with the remaining items, game modes and maps, profile menu coverage, and showcase of the Andromeda map with no other players online (an even more thorough view of the map designs and the graphics without anyone around to fire at me or to aim at whilst I take my time to look at the environments).

I also uploaded a week before this video the first part, made a day before the event began, dwelling into a detailed coverage of the mech customization menu.

Links to the two videos are bellow.

HAWKEN CLOSED BETA Part 02 - Full Gameplay (HD) (Review)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6bBBFdUQaI

HAWKEN CLOSED BETA Part 01 - A Thorough Look at Customisation (HD)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaPXtkAPDfE

Enjoy.

FREE FOR ALL - Challenging Life Itself!

 “How does free gaming and free filming help reach a change in the world?” The answer is simple.

We have been confined in a world created to suit a system that perhaps we have not all agreed on all the time, struggled with, sometimes perhaps came to question, and even come to confront.

We have been conditioned to see things in certain ways and come to deal with them or believe in them in either the form that “they are like that because they are” or “they are like that because that is how things work.” This conditioning has made us trust and have faith in a model not because we ourselves have dealt to question with it and design it, but because it is the standard, the mean, the prototype and the example that we are just used to and seldom challenge because so far it works. Or at least, it seems to work or has us believing it works.

The majority of the sources that support this model are also those that contribute the greatest in our conception that it works, and they are also at the same time the ones to profit most from it, and coincidentally enough for us, are also the biggest forms of influence in our life. Media!

Whether they be the cinema, television, radio or advertisements (outside those three major medias, from billboards to flyers to posters) that are used by companies, shops, products, and all forms of consumerism. Whatever has a gain in profit has a say in media, whatever isn’t free, needs to be advertised, whatever isn’t free needs to be bought, whatever need to be bought needs a job and jobs need again advertisement or any form of reaching the masses to sell a product. From a service to any other material convenience, it all helps to structure this model and soon enough before we know it we all live to either believe or encourage the notion that “nothing is free”.

Is this entirely true however? In some cases it might be, in some others it might not.

Back from the ashes...

Finally after a very long delay and absence from when this blog was first created, I am back to finish it and give it life at last.

Initially it all began with a place to share ideas on gaming, filming, technology and perhaps on my own works in progress, yet it matured into something else after almost the three years from the initial creation. Still on the same thoughts of sharing ideas on gaming, filming and technology, while showcasing works in progress became the primary goal now. The form of the blog now has shifted more into showing works in progress and updating on projects that are underway.

Times do indeed change. I had once hoped that one of my (perhaps ideas) or wishes for a future of a free market would go from idea into reality.
This all began in a time where it was somewhat laughed at as a thought. After almost a year of pondering on such things and the future of our world I came to want to share my thoughts. And so I came to the initial creation of this blog with the notion of spreading such an idea.
It seems however the world had already by then caught up to such a perspective and small companies or groups of people had began to move into that direction already. It seems perhaps great minds think alike after all?

We are finally in a time where the world is changing faster than I had hoped and thought, and such ideas as this help with this change. Three years later perhaps it all falls into place, in also what may seem to me as a prophetic or poetic way. People no longer struggle to understand or connect with a subject and the idea is reaching a mainstream point.
And so I return to complete my answer to that initial question, “How does free gaming and free filming help reach a change in the world?”