leafbunk

Yes I use itunes and I've found it to be increidbly awesome. Now, I say this, having never used another media player before, but still, I'm quite happy with the way itunes lets me sort and handle my music. I also use something called itunes keys, which allows me to switch songs and things while I'm playing video games and such, so I don't have to go back to the itunes application window. But...yes! I'm so glad they added folders to itunes, instead of just playlists, because it makes it much easier for me to sort and manage all of my music! : )

Actual school work I probably spend about two maybe three hours on the computer per day. Entertainment things though, I spend much more time doing. If I'm working on drawing a piece of art on the computer, then I'll probably spend about 4-5 hours on that a day until I finish it. That's...just...mainly because I'm a bit slow at colouring for some reason. If I decided to play WoW....well......gosh, that's a whole other story. : )

Thanks for posting these articles. Honestly I hadn't heard of this asteroid until just now. I can't get over how incredibly....crazy it would be to have an asteroid hurling through the Earth's atmosphere, and to know that it could potentially wipe out cities or even more! But yes, I agree that we seem to already be worried enough as it is with things like terrorism and global warming, that we probably shouldn't focus too much of our attention to freaking out about an asteroid that may or may not come close or hit us. Amazing to think that there's still a possibility it could collide with the Earth though. Wow, that would be a mixed up day....if I even managed to survive. : (

I had heard something about this a while back, but thanks for providing a link. I think the next thing they need to work on is a....food dispenser like on Star Trek. Hah, I'm such a nerd. But really, wouldn't you love to be able to have any sort of drink or food you want, and all you would have to do is say it to a machine? Yes, I thought so.

Well.....I really liked animal crossing! I sure did. Of course this game looks silly, and you feel increidbly weird playing it, because you'll constantly ask yourself, "Why....why in the world do I like this game? There's no point to it!"....but still, the game is good. It's great, beacuse it's a game that never ends. Yes, of course after a while I got a bit bored with doing nothing in that game, but it's neat to come back to, even if your town becomes over-run with weeds. New people move in and out, and ...as lame as it sounds.....sometimes it's sad when they move away. There are plenty of time wasters to mess around with if you're just looking for a game to chill out on. You can fish, or catch bugs and donate them to the museum. Anyways, without going into too much detail, it's a simplistic game where you can just waste time. It's fun though. You'll just have to try it out some day.

I've come to the decision that the songs in Guitar hero 2 suck. Really. They suck hard. I wish so much that there was a way to incorporate my own songs into the game, for I'd have SO much more fun with that, than with the crappy selection of songs I'm faced with in Guitar Hero 2. Even Free Bird you say? Blah. I wish they had included a better variety of songs, because it seems that the selection of songs in GH2 really only seems to go with .... 80s metal heads. Well...it's not even that, really. The selection is so horrible, I can't even come up with some good words to describe it. And the guy that sang Heart Shaped Box on GH2? Wow. Sounded a bit like a country singer to me. Still though, the game is great just because of the concept. Of course I feel dorky wearing a plastic guitar and playing along with buttons on a screen. Still though, the game is cool. : ) Buy it or try it out. Find some way to experience it. You'll like it, I'm sure. With a bit of practice, you'll love it - even if the songs aren't incredibly awesome.

Mmmm a smoking discussion. Personally, I don't smoke. I never have, and I don't really plan on starting in the near future. I just really don't like the smell that accompanies all smokers or the smell I seem to acquire when I'm in a smoking area. Like...the bowling alley for example. Geez, I sure do like to bowl, but the only bowling alley we have in town allows smoking, so I don't like to go there too often. It just...frustrates me to think that if I go, I'll have gathered up the smell of smoke all over my clothes and in my hair and then I'll have to drive home and get it all over my car. Of course smoking has far more awful consequences than the way you smell though. As you have discussed there is the increased risk of cancer, as well as the danger of second hand smoke for those who are nearby. I'm sure it must be very difficult for people who smoke to actually stop smoking. I mean, anything is more difficult without help than it would be with. It usually seems too that smokers tend to hang out with friends or be in relationships with people who also smoke, and the same goes for non-smokers. So, for a smoker, I can only imagine that being surrounded most of the time by friends or family who smoke, it would be increasingly difficult to kick the habit. That's why I think (as with any addiction), that smokers might have a better chance of actually quitting if they seek some sort of support group or at least have a couple of friends who have also decided to drop the habit. Smoking just seems like such an odd thing to pick up. When I see people smoking, they're usually by themselves, on their work break or something. It seems like such an incredibly lonely habit, especially since it's somthing that isn't accepted in certain places like inside stores and such. Not only does it seem lonely, but it seems to be an inconvenient habit to have too. I guess most habits are though. I just know that I prefer not to have my lungs coated in tar, so I probably won't be smoking any time soon. I don't think I'll ever understand why people make the decision to start smoking. And like you said, people could save some cash if they quit buying all those cigarettes! Well, the sad thing is though, because we're consumers, that money will likely be spent on something else anyways. But anyways! I encourage those who want to quit smoking. I hope that they consider reaching out to friends and family for support in quitting smoking, and that they really stick with it if it's something they really want to achieve. It could save your life! It could benefit those that you live with, like your spouse or children.

Heh, yeah WoW really doesn't take much, if any, skill to play. I also think it's practically impossible to become "really good" at WoW as you can with other games. I'm really not too great at FPS at all, but I think they're more....adrenaline focused perhaps? They really keep you on your toes. MMORPGs are really just a "sit back and vegitate" game style, but that's probably why I like playing. I enjoy WoW because I can just sit and do something to take my mind off of real life, and enjoy chatting with everyone that's online playing the same game. FPS though....definitely they take WAY more skill and WAY more focus to play proficiently. I'd say go with FPS, because it'll keep you more alert, and will probably better develop your eye-hand coordination far faster than any lousy MMORPG will, if that even matters. But yeah, I think you've inspired me slightly to look into some good FPS games so maybe I can not play so much WoW.

Looks good! Sorry to say I'm not familiar with the characters, but I like the look of the images. They've got a very textured, almost graffiti/street look to them, escpecially the first. The second one is good too - nice textures, and color, but....it seems like it's missing something at the top left. Ah well, it's probably just me that thinks that. Great work with the designs.

Mmmm this is a good topic. It's cool to see what everyone uses most often. Well, here's my list. ;)1. Aquadock - I use Windows, but I hate having stuff on my desktop, and I don't like the default windows taskbar so much, so I use aquadock instead. This program just gives me a customizable dock (like the one that's on Macs), which can be set to look pretty much however I want it. You can customize the icons on it, and have them bounce like they do when you select the program on a Mac dock. It's a really neat program, and it pops up automatically when my computer loads, so that's really nice.2. Firefox - damn good browser. Really. I suspect you all already use it though! :P3. iTunes and iTunes keys - Well, you're all familiar with iTunes, no doubt. iTunes Keys though allows me to control the songs without having the iTunes interface directly up. I can assign hotkeys to change the song or playlist, etc. I mainly use iTunes Keys when I'm playing computer games though because it's a super easy way to change songs a such without having any interruption to my game.4. Mozilla Thunderbird - Yay! All my mail comes in one, easy-to-use program! I got tired of checking hotmail because it was so slow, and I hated flipping between mail sites just to see if I had anything. Thunderbird is good.5. WoW - does this count? Probably not. ;)6. Photoshop CS - I use this all the time. It seems to be one of the handiest programs I have. 7. Trillian - Nice chat program which consolodates AIM and MSN Messenger for me, so I don't have to deal with their stupid looking chat programs. Trillian is nice, and it's got some great options and features. It is also quite minimalistic compared to other chat programs I've run across.8. Macromedia Dreamweaver MX - Great, great, fantastic program. Soooooo much better than Frontpage, and it is very easy for me to manage and use.9. Clean Up - Nice program for helping me keep my computer tidy. It makes me feel like I'm doing a great thing for my computer when I run it.I guess that's about it! I wish I could use more programs which change the look of Windows, but they slow my computer down too much. Too bad, because I had a great look going, which was really customized and clean, but I can't stand sacrificing performace for looks. Ah well....I blame it on my computer being a laptop!

Looks good Vyoma, and it's nice to see that you're really getting into vector art and doing many things with it. Yes I agree the lighting is nice, and I like how you've tried a more simplistic, but very colourful approach to this picture. I like the border to the picture as well. The roundness makes it really appealing and fun to look at, not to mention I think it makes the whole thing more eye-catching.Good stuff.

I like the golden plate signature, but for some reason (might just be me) the detail quality looks a bit blurry. You're right in saying that it does seem a bit big for a signature, but if that was the intention then that's what it is! I think it might have looked a bit more rustic/bold had you added a more defined border around that particular signature. Maybe even the addition of a drop shadow as you have used in some of your other signatures, would have given this one a more 3-dimensional and bold look. Nice font though and sort of rustic design. ;)The hellwars signature is cool. It's pretty bold and dark, and seems very prominent in it's design, like it would stand out very nicely against a dark background. Being against the white though, it's good too. I think it would have benefited a bit from a drop shadow as well, to give it an even more prominent look. The fire is cool though, and the chains are neat. I like the rather dark marron/red that you've chosen, as it works well with the metal and the dark theme you've gone with for this signature.The Travian signature is very nicely done I think. It seems to be the perfect size, and it is very appealing. I like the textures, and the colours, and the nice, simple, red/brown border that it has. I think the drop shadow is great here, and really adds to the signature. I also like how you've utilized transparency to give it even more variety. I think I like this one the best out of the ones you've shown here. This one just really seems to flow together, and isn't so obtrusive as the others, due to their size. This one though, it looks very, very nice and clean.The Maplestory banner is nice as well, and I much prefer it's size than some of the larger ones you've shown. I like how you've incorporated your character into the banner, and I like how he has a shadow and is slightly larger than the banner itself, to give it more dimension. The font would be slightly hard to understand, if you hadn't provided your name, but that's not really a problem I guess. It's good that the font has that white outline for it, so it doesn't blend into the background. It has a nice separation between the background pattern and the font itself.Nice work on all of them. I just commented on a few that I really like, but I like the variety in all of your signatures. It's nice to see that they're all pretty much different, and that you've tried new things and techniques with each.

Heh, your FBF animation looks like it's coming along pretty well. Nice to see that you included a bit of music and sound effects. That always enhances an animation. I realize that while FBF is somewhat time consuming, maybe you could try to clean up your lines a bit? Everything seems to be running pretty smoothly as far as syncing the sounds with the animation, so nice job there! I've always found that to be the difficult part, but then again I don't know much about flash. I also don't know how to blur anything in flash...so...great work on figuring that one out! I think animating is tons of fun, and it's a really great thing just to do as a hobby in your spare time. I wish that I would spend more time doing it so I could learn more. I hope you continue to work on this animation and others as well, for practice can only bring better results, and more comfortablility with the program and the outcome. : ) Keep at it!

I must admit that while I've never been a big fan of pixel art, I do thing that it's pretty amazing stuff. I'm just not a fan of the ....well....pixel look, but I'm always amazed at how well people can pull of shading and three dimensional effects with the specific placement of pixels. And the colour variations are pretty amazing as well, because it must take an incredible amount of foresight to be able to create a whole masterpiece from simply using pixel by pixel to build it. I've never tried pixel art, for I seriously believe I lack the patience and extreme attention to detail that working on something such as that might require. I think that the pictures you provided in the first post are pretty cool, and I was fairly shocked to see such a clean looking scene, as well as the three dimensional look that was pulled off. I mean, the puddles in the driveway, the shading on the side of the house and in the pool, as well as on the shrubs, etc. And the patterning on the roof?!?! Crazy! I can't imagine the attention to detail such a picture would require. I suppose a pixel artist also has to have a really good sense of...geometry, especially when working on things like buildings or structures like that. My mind, it just doesn't work on such a rigid structure like that. It's truly amazing how people do art, and all the different kinds of art they can come up with.

Hmmm. Neverwinter Nights, eh? My friend told me NWN2 system requirements are pretty high up there. The first one though, he suggested I play. I'm really into World of Warcraft, but lately I've grown a bit tired of it and have been looking for another game into which I could get really involved. Another friend of mine said that NWN is really interesting, but I've watched it being played a bit and truthfully it looked a bit slow. You can play it online though, right? I'm really into games in which I can interact with people. I'd also like to be able to create a really customizable character, and my friend said that NWN allows this pretty well. I don't know though. Even though it's only twenty dollars, I don't feel like going out and spending that just to try it out. Anyone out there who has played it, can you offer me a bit of info about it? Did you like it? How would you compare it to Wow?: )

It seems very much like a novelty thing, but I guess...that might've been just your point. But...then if you have a keyboard (musical, not computer), it does practically the same things by pushing the keys if it has the capability and settings for that. And I'm sure there are music programs out there that allow you to do it with a computer keyboard as well. I'm surprised though that you would want to go toward such an electronic route, especially since it's something you do all the time, on anything, with any tools available. It seems like the fun of that sort of habit would be lost if you had to say to yourself, "Hmm. I'm going to get out my portable drum set now," rather than just busting out with a kickin' rhythm on your desk with your pencils and all sorts of crap that makes different sounds. It seems that bringing that sort of a spontaneous habit into a more controlled environment (by limiting it through electronic capabilities), it would totally take away the individuality of being a funky, random, rhythm-maker. *shrug* You know though, since the whole Guitar Hero video game thing has been a huge success, you could build a drumset equivalent. Wouldn't that be cool?? I mean...yeah I suppose it'd feel slightly dorky to not be playing a real drumset. I do feel quite silly sometimes holding a plastic guitar, playing along with the moving buttons on the screen, but hey - that doesn't mean the game isn't incredibly fun! So, I can only guess that someone would have a bit of success as well with a drumset equivalent to Guitar Hero.

And to think I assumed this would be a poll that would spark some religious or scientific debate of sorts! HA! I have absolutely no idea who any of the people listed in the poll are. Maybe if you explained what in the world you mean by this poll, it would be a bit more of a success. : )

The very first line in your post could have offended multiple people who are lesbian/gay. Since I don't know anything about the even that you're talking about, I can't really comment on it. I just think it's weird that you want to discuss people's reaction to racial slurs, etc., and you started your post off with saying something that could have been taken offensive by a whole different group of people.

I think that it's good to let your work shine and speak for itself rather than adding a lot of text or information explaining it. Especially with photography, since you're capturing a moment out of real life, sometimes people can relate more closely with your images if you don't say anything about them at all. Of course though since it is a portfolio it's good to offer the information you've said you included. I just don't think that anything past that is really necessary. Portfolio sites (at least in my opinion) seem to captivate me more when I can just dive into all the images in the gallery rather than going through and reading a bunch of text explaining it. After all, sometimes I might have a different perspective on the picture than the artist did. Art is very flexible, and sometimes offering a different interpretation that might conflict with the viewer's, can crush their initial attachment to the piece.Anyways, for portfolio sites - simple is best. I seem to have rambled a bit, so you have my apologies for that.

It's got a nice bit of color to it and it isn't distracting, so that's good. Textures look nice as well, and I think it's pretty appealing over all. Maybe the only thing that I'd suggest having been done differently is to have made the copy of the figure more transparent. The...duplicate...of the man...on the right side, where his fist and sword show more prominently. Because it's so close to the original figure, it might've looked a bit less awkward had his duplicate been a bit more transparent, and maybe slightly more to the right or farther away from the main pic of the figure. Anyways, clean-looking signature with nice textures and color. Nice work.

There's something to be said about having the ability to escape reality by throwing yourself completely into an unrealistic world. I, for one, quite enjoy this feat. I quite appreciate having the opportunity to detatch myself from whatever responsibilities or issues I may presently have, and just enjoy playing a game. Everyone has different outlets. For some, reading does the trick. Others - meditation, religion, drugs, etc.I think it might be best to broaden your categories by adding one into which I would fall: "Escapists". It must be noted though that the reasons people will offer for why they play video games would probably closely coincide with reasons people do anything.

Now since I'm not too incredibly familiar with signature creation, I won't rate them. I will, however, offer you my thoughts. :)Number one is nice. It's got a cool retro feel to it, and I can dig that. Number two is nice as well. I assume that by "brushed in photoshop" you mean you drew it yourself. Looks good, and there's a nice transition between all the different shades of green. Appealing landscape shot, but (just my opinion), I'd really fancy it a bit more without the fisherman. I say this only because he draws my attention more so than the background, and I think since you've done such a nice job on the landscape, it deserves to be focused on. Nice work with the sigs. They are very appealing. And the signature you have currently looks cool too. Has a nice bit of movement about it.

I think something that might help your vector portrait have a little more 3-d look to it is to utilize transparency for certain layers. Your shadows seem to be very defined, and if you would/could add more layers and make use of transparency on some, it might blend things a bit better. This girl (link below) does vector portraits, and she's got a pretty good sized gallery to look through. I think she even offers a tutorial on vectoring, so you might check it out. I'm sure she has some pretty good tips to offer: http://chewedkandi.deviantart.com/

Hmm. Best MMORPG EVER? Now that's a pretty bold statement, right there. True, WoW is very entertaining and it is a very captivating game. I have played it for many, many hours, and have had a very good time with it. I think though, that while it does indeed have many great aspects about it, sometimes the game just feels like it had the potential to be so much more. I wish, for instance, that the character creation capabilities were much more open. Sure, the races aren't too shabby, and the classes aren't all that bad or boring, but it seems like so much more could have been added. For a game that racks in millions of players, it seems that they really could've gone all out with the character creation. I quite enjoy the cartoony aspect of WoW, so I won't diss the graphics. After playing for quite some time though it seems like all of the armor and items look basically the same, excluding the Epic gear of course. After trying out guild wars I wished that WoW had a bit more flare to the armor and gear provided.You guys have already discussed the customization factior quite a bit though, so I guess all I can say is that I think WoW is indeed a great game. Personally I haven't found another that I can spend as much time playing. In the back of my mind though I know it could've been a really fantastic, knock-you-off-your-feet game, had it allowed the gamer to personalize it a bit more.

Ooooh! Man that's hot. I really like the look, and it's got a fantastic 3-d effect going with the shadows and metal feel and such. I'm really diggin' the colors of the banner - that nice faded icy blue with the white against the grey. I think it looks really sleek and modern already. Don't give up on it!!!!