My Top 5 Videogames of 2011 PT.3

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. I would consider it one of the best in the series. One of the best, if not the best game on the Wii. The most fun I've had with motion controls in a long time. There's so much to like about this game, I could go on and on. But this isn't a blog about my gaming habits, it's a blog about my daily project.

Today's sticker features Fi - a new character who embodies the spirit of the Master Sword. In the game, she serves as your 'Navi' character - guiding you and giving you hints (sometimes warning you about the low batteries in your Wii remote). I decided to show her form using only highlights. The triforce was added to drive home the Zelda theme and illustrate the importance of the character in regards to the rest of the series.

My Top 5 Videogames of 2011 PT.2

Today's game: Bastion. It's amazing. It was one of my favorite gaming experiences of the year. The artwork alone was enough to convince me to get it - but the narration, gameplay, and music kept me coming back for more. The soundtrack is free to listen to at bandcamp (seriously, check out 'Build That Wall' to see what I'm talking about).

I've wanted to do a horizontal sticker for a while now. I used some artwork from the game, fearing what may happen if I try to come up with my own interpretation of 'the kid' in a short amount of time. The dimensions of the sticker don't make it seem like there's much of a difference between horizontal and vertical, but the difference is pretty striking.

My Top 5 Videogames of 2011...

I'll be using these next 5 posts/stickers to tell you about my five favorite games of 2011. I figure this is as good a time as any to make a bunch of game-themed stickers. These aren't in any particular order.

Today's sticker celebrates Pokemon Black/White. I probably have more time invested in this one game than in all the rest of the games in my top 5 combined. This game has all the nerdy stuff I cannot get enough of: collecting, exploring, fighting, obscure mechanics, resource management, 'deck building', and customizing. I loved all of the crazy new graphical touches. I was thankful for the increased battle speeds. I delighted in all of the battle challenges and post-main campaign story stuff. This isn't the game that will make people into new Pokemon fans, but it will certainly please anyone who has tried to catch 'em all before.

Went with a pokeball design because it seemed to fit the format better. My wife suggested I base the design around my favorite new Pokemon. I honestly couldn't choose a favorite from that whole list. I suppose you could go back to my second post and pretend I made a pidove sticker.

NannerWreath

More experiments with 'pattern along path'. That's about it.

Holly

Experimenting with calligraphic lines and intentional off-setting. It's hard create something haphazard without making it look lazy and thrown together. I've wanted to try this style for some time now, but I could never get it to look right. Not a total success, but I think I figured out how to make it look believable - make your line-work first, then create shapes underneath.

NannerSkate

My regular job has me tracing around objects pretty much all day with the Bezier Pen tool in Photoshop. Since the paths are being used for raster objects, it isn't really important to create nice shapes with prime point placement, correct anchor point usage, or shape building methods. Just the same, I and everyone else on the team is a ninja with the pen tool - creating clip paths and masking products with cold efficiency.

Hence, today's sticker is based on a real image of an ice skate. I think I would have preferred to use the more traditional method (research, draw, scan, vector, color) over this quick and dirty approach. But as I'm trying to get back into regular updates, it seemed more important to get the work done. I was curious as to how this approach would look - and now I know.

Not Done Yet...

I didn't want to just post another lame experiment. This is a simple design using the pattern tool and seam workaround. I also managed to get some use out of the align and distribute pattern (no more unintentionally off-center objects for me).

Tomorrow will be an idea generation day. Time to hit the stimuli queue (books and other media I'm absorbing for future creative breakthroughs) and see what I can find. I've learned to create some competent vector shapes - now it's time to take it further.

This project isn't done until I've made 365 stickers.