Preparing for the Invasion

Last year, I returned to school.

I do this from time to time to learn something new, get my creative juices going, or break up my weekly routine and to give myself something to look forward to. But this time it was all three.

I had worked as a graphic artist for 20 years until the "Great Recession of 2008" which seemed to hit my industry before the rest of the nation but, working with newspaper advertising and the automotive industry, we were doubly cursed for a fall. After 20 years, I was ready for a change, a little relieved even, except my new job title, which I had been transitioning into since 2004, was as a family caregiver, which was much more stressful and challenging. You can do your best avoiding responsibility for years but, at some point, it finds you.

I had put my own art away a few years back as there just wasn't any time for such "nonsense" anymore. My creativity did manifest its self in other ways through music, photography, and graphic design, but the idea of picking up a pencil to draw was just too much effort after a long day. I hadn't touched the watercolors since 2002 and the oil paints are probably still hiding out in the back trunk of my car since 1999.

After over two years removed from the workforce, I thought the time was ripe to get back to doing something for myself. The sad thing with being a family caregiver is, at some point, you know it will end with a "goodbye" and you'll have to get back to the world of a paycheck to pay the bills. And when that time comes, I'll need to land on my feet so I thought the best thing I should do would be to keep my skills fresh and up to date.

My skills had gotten rusty as I walked into class the first night asking the instructor, after looking around some, if there were any Macs in the class to use. "Um, they're ALL Macs." was his response. I'd never worked with a Mac Pro machine before (work had really penny-pinched the last decade and we never got top-of-the-line machines).  So after I got my foot out of my month, I settled in for a semester of learning Adobe Flash.

A few years back, we were told that we should update our skills by learning Flash and, indeed, a couple years of peeking at job postings, employers were asking for more web-based skills like Flash instead of the desktop publishing skills of print. Now, FLASHforward a couple years (get it? FLASH? Groan!), we were being told the first night of class that this software might be phased out by the industry very soon as Apple wasn't supporting it and the loving relationship between Apple and Adobe that the two enjoyed for a couple decades was becoming strained. (Relationships do that. Perhaps they need a marriage councilor?) I also learned in the early 1990s the technology game of keeping up with the tech. Fall behind and you're a relic, trampled over by the next wave of young tech-savvy kids. I knew back then that I wanted to find a career that didn't transition so quickly. Maybe a career in Illustration? But that is another story as I've already rambled on way too long.

So, after a semester of Flash, I was able to update my portfolio a little. My final project was an interactive animation where I combined my love for humor and Science-Fiction. While learning the software, I was able to utilize my past knowledge from other Adobe programs and marriage that with my drawing skills. I also called in some favors with my old DJ friends (another story to be told one day) and had them do some voice work for this little interactive opus. Everyone seemed to have fun with it and, despite some crazy days at the end banging it into shape, it finally all came together.

I've placed some snapshots of the project throughout this post to break up my rather lengthy ramblings along with a thumbnail of the alien, the design for the Omni-Vox device, an alien cell phone of sorts, and the building of one scene.

If you want to check out the final results yourself, head on over to www.rrwerner.com and have fun with it. It starts with a title card before you click to a mini movie that sets up the premise before you are dropped into the interactive part. Enjoy the geeky Sci-Fi humor. A warning though, it will load up quickly on fast computers, with decent connections it could take 30 seconds, and with slower connections, it might not load up at all.


Designing the Alien: The sketch

Designing the Alien: Character build in Adobe Flash

Designing the Alien: Gradients added to greater depth

Designing the Alien: Playing with the Alpha channel to simulate a beam down

Designing the Alien: Using a glow on an outline of the alien to finish up the beam down

Designing the Alien: Punched up color. I also deleted the ringed planet in the final as there was too much clutter.

I'm fairly happy with the results except for the stiff animation of the alien (look for that if you go to the site). Flash can do a lot of animating for you with its smooth motion tweens but you still need traditional animation skills and an artist's eye for studying life to make it believable.

And that is where the next semester comes in! :)

More to come.