Rawr makes music and the artz

[Rawr]

I'll just put it all into one topic because it'll be easier to manage this way!

Anyway, I probably won't put up any of the old tracks I've made (from either last year, or earlier this year) because I recently got a behringer mixing board + a sennheiser mic for my birthday/graduation so I've been able to get some better quality out of my recordings and thus I can't stand any of my old stuff. If I do post any of my older stuff, it'd probably be this one step closer (by Linkin Park xD) cover I did to a drum backing track.

Anyway, I've been working on writing my own material more than anything lately when it comes to music and while none of it is truly innovative, I'm just doing it all to have fun. I've had the drums for a year now, but due to people in the house not liking loud noise all that much (which makes me wonder WHY we got the drums) I've probably got little over a month in terms of how much I've actually been able to play them. So my drumming is quite bad haha. My vocals could use work too xD.

Anyway, I play all the instruments in my music so I hope you guys enjoy these two tracks that I've worked on. If my computer wasn't so old I'd tweak them more and make them sound better...but it lags once I get near the final steps of making the song.

Also, my solo project name is Mindtrip!. The name is taken from a Zebrahead song that I really enjoy from around 1998.

Mindtrip - Get Up - this song is more punk-ish if you could call it that. Some levels are a bit off at times, I need to fix that one day.

Mindtrip - The Ska Song - The name implies what genre I was trying for, the problem is I don't actually have trumpets...which I think would have really added to the song D:

So that is about all I want to share for now I guess when it comes to musical stuff I've made for now. I plan on recording more stuff sometime soon, as I finish writing it. So now for some artwork...which I shall link to just in case =)

MMZXA Fanart - Ashe (Model A)

I did that because I was getting sick of drawing Sonic stuff all the time, in fact I pretty much purged a lot of my gallery of Sonic related stuff except for a few things. It was done on an Oekaki.

Silver VS Sonic

Another Oekaki, but this one is of something Sonic related. I threw a tiny Eggman in the background on that tiny island thing just for kicks.

Knuckles Oekaki

Another Oekaki, I don't have too many photoshopped Sonic pics kicking around much online anymore.

Except maybe this one but this picture of Sonic was from something that I've pretty much scrapped by now. It was going to be a comic cover picture when everything was done, but I gave up heh.

now for some old concept sketches for something I was going to work on a while ago, but then it kind of fell through since it was during the middle of the schoolyear and I had a lot of stuff to catch up on ^^;;

Concept 1 - Main Character

Concept 2 - Earth Boss

Concept 3 - Fire Boss/Ally

Concept 4 - Final Boss

That is about as far as I went with those, I had another concept art for a sky/water boss thing - but it sucks so I won't post it. I am however working on a sprite sheet based on something that I made in class to be a 'mock video game' for a fake publication we had to make. I sprited out a couple scenes in Fireworks (since it had layers and was easy to work with...even if the program sucks, but it was all my school had xD). If you guys want me to post the fake screenshots I can always upload them, I put them on a USB drive.

I guess that is all I will post for now . I hope you guys enjoy it!

[LarkSS]

I tried listening to your songs but the links don't work for me. =/

Your pics are very nice though; I'm pretty sure your older ones are good too. =] Also I'm interested in those fake screenshots you mentioned.

[KoE]

not listened to your music yet, but the concept artwork is lookin pretty sweet.

[Rael0505]

So you're a one-man band? I'm interested in what kind of recording gear you use, as well as what guitar/amp I've always wanted to do something similar, I just don't know if I could pull it off when it comes to recording.

Nice artwork, too.

[Rawr]

So you're a one-man band? I'm interested in what kind of recording gear you use, as well as what guitar/amp I've always wanted to do something similar, I just don't know if I could pull it off when it comes to recording.

Nice artwork, too.

Thanks for the compliment on the artwork!

As for my recording gear:

-Behringer Mixing Board

-Sennheiser Microphone

-A nice pair of Sennheiser headphones (my speakers suck, so without these I think I'd be messing up the quality big time)

-Almost 8 year old Dell (D:!!!! It was passed down to me when the family got a new comp, so this one SUCKS. I don't have the money for a better PC yet)

-Adobe Audition

Guitar Gear:

-Fender Strat

-Line 6 Spider II Amp

That is pretty much it. Through the output jack on my amp I wire it into my mixing board, which I then have a USB thing that came with it that I plug into my comp. I have to then take a couple audio cables and put one side in the CD Out portion on my board, then plug it into the USB device...and then take another audio cable and plug it from another part of the USB device into my speakers (so I can hear what I'm doing xD). So pretty much I can just plug everything into my mixing board instead of having to always switch the line in to each instrument which is what I had to do before.

Recording drums is funny though, since I have to cover the bass drum with pillows and blankets so it doesn't overpower everything. My entire basement in my house is pretty much my room, so there is a lot of open space down here for sound to bounce around on which isn't really all that good for recording. The Bass drum used to always create so much noise, but now it doesn't as much. I also have to put my mic + stand up on my bed and boom it down a bit to get it to record okay. I haven't tried any other positions yet, but this one does the trick for now. Usually when recording drums you have one mic per piece usually, but I only have one mic heh.

But yep, I'm pretty much a one mand band. I pretty much started recording music and stuff last year, but my gear was a lot different then. I had to use the line-in on my computer (which sucked because it only records in mono) and I used to use a 15 dollar PC microphone for recording vocals and drums. The quality was atrocious, but I had to make do with it . I want to start up a real band sometime soon, I have a couple friends that are just taking up instruments (one guitar, one bass) but what I really need more than anything is a drummer. Unfortunately I know none around here, so that really does suck.

I tried listening to your songs but the links don't work for me. =/

Putfile can be really bad sometimes. Chances are it was just down, they appear to be working for me right now =).

Your pics are very nice though; I'm pretty sure your older ones are good too. =] Also I'm interested in those fake screenshots you mentioned.

Thank you for the compliments! I'll get right on uploading those fake screenshots. The HUD on there kind of is 'eh'. If I were to ever make the game I think I'd ditch the health and stamina bars I put in.

not listened to your music yet, but the concept artwork is lookin pretty sweet.

Thank you !

[LarkSS]

Your songs are nice; The Ska Song reminds me of something you'd might hear from the old Tony Hawk skateboarding games. ( lol yes, links are working now )

[Rawr]

Thank you very much! I actually don't mind a lot of the music from the old THPS games, in fact it introduced me to Zebrahead (Check = Great song, in fact the entire album 'Waste Of Mind' was great). So I appreciate that comment quite a bit =).

Now for those fake screens, I'll just post them not as links because they aren't too big. Keep in mind I was under a very limited timeframe to put these fake screens together and put it into a publication, as well as make another form of media for my fake product I was supposed to advertise. The spriting could be a bit better and less recycled on the quickly done floor tiles since I had only a small amount of time.

These were done months ago before I graduated, I just never uploaded them until now heh. The HUD was quickly slapped together and the HP/Stamina options on it are pretty much temporary as well because I wasn't sure of a system for it. I have ideas on if I were to ever make this game jotted messily down somewhere, I think it'd run off a 3 hit system before you die, and you can pick up items in the level to give you another hit (think Ristar maybe). Either that, or more enemies you kill the more it fills up a tiny gauge that recharges a 'hit' when it is full. I dunno, it isn't like I've actually started making the game (I don't know how yet 8P) but it doesn't stop me from making concepts anyway xD.

Anywho, sorry for rambling - here are the 'screenshots' =)

Sunset Level Thing, Poorly scripted 'cutscene', and a robot boss that I do not know how it would even fit in there. Oh well, it was thrown together quickly.

Arctic Level, enemy crab things that explode when attacked or something. If this level were to be real, I'd allow it that the slope would accelerate you because it'd be slippery (not so much that the entire level would be unplayable) and in which case you can use that acceleration possibly to launch off the ramp and onto that second platform if you were to time it right. Of course, these are fake screenshots and I just think too much about what 'could be' if I were to make this a reality. I think that'd be aiming a little too high though.

[Epon]

mother fuckin zebrahead bitches?

[Rawr]

Hell yeah. Next to Waste Of Mind that album is probably my fave. Their new album Phoenix is pretty good too actually, which I was surprised since I'm not a big fan of the new vocalist Matty. Besides, MFZB ended up becoming a slogan of sorts. I thought it was cool, so being quite unoriginal in my usernames I hijacked it.

[Rawr]

Not sure if I can double post here since I have something to update with ^^;. Anywho, I was bored and because I've got too much stress on my plate for the next few days to even have time to sit down and learn how to use MMF or Gamemaker yet, I was busy working on what the title artwork and HUD would theoretically look like if I actually did get around to making a game.

This isn't me announcing a game though xD. I haven't learned how to use the programs really all that much yet. Anyway, it took me a while to put all this together today (the artwork was a pain to finish). The title version (the one with the ring) I had used the Sonic 1 title thingy as a guide, so that is the only part where I had major referencing. The rest is all my own.

Hope you guys like it!

Once again. Not announcing anything here (I'd be way in over my head if I was). I was just bored, and I need something to take my mind away from all the stuff I have to do this week.

[Rael0505]

Bitchin'. Love the style!

Double posts are allowed as long as there is a reasonable time frame between the two posts. Otherwise, it's better to edit the previous post. Your double post is just fine!

[Rawr]

Thanks for the comment! I really appreciate it! Also, thank you for clearing that up .

Anyway, I have something ELSE art related happening here, something related more to that uhh...picture I posted up of Knuckles with the temporary name and all. When I said I wasn't announcing anything, I didn't want to get in over my head, because as it stands I do not have Knuckles' actions into Sonic Worlds. So after trying earlier until I got bored of trying to figure it out at that moment, I decided to go and work on something else for the game:

Here is a WIP sheet for one of the levels in the game. Not sure if this'll be the first level or not, but it is called Edge Falls Zone. I'm going to end up taking out that Sky Sanctuary thingy I think, I had an idea in mind of which way I wanted to take the level (kind of like a waterfall area with some machinery set up) but then I thought about this being on Angel Island somewhere and I changed my mind so I didn't take it out yet.

Things I've got to do left on this sheet is to make some scenery objects and give some more detail to the ground pieces (like a shadow underneath the grass). I'm not sure if I'm going to add super detail to the ground though since I want it to stick out from the background. I'm not going to know exactly what to alter until I get it into the engine and just mess around with it . I also need to make the waterfall look like it is moving, and possibly make another part to the BG where the waterfalls meet the lake-area.

Any comments are much appreciated!

[LarkSS]

I think it looks pretty good; I can already see this game is going to have an awesomely unique graphics style. My only real complain is that the loop is too rectangular, but then again, no one said that loops need to be circular.

Quick everyone! Look at the flat ground tile at the center of the sheet; what does the design in the dirt resemble? *shotshotshot*

Edit: Btw, the background art ( with the waterfalls ) looks lovely.

[Rawr]

ROFL. I didn't notice that, damn I'm going to have to fix that. I ran into a problem anyway - the tiles didn't quite mesh up right so I'm going to have to find another simple way to make it look like there is some sort of rock underneath there (other than the checkerboard method xD).

As for the loop being too rectangular, I was using the Sonic Worlds pieces as kind of templates as to the size of the tiles that I was going to use, so I can make the loop as circular as I need to =). I just put that together to kind of see how it'd work.

Thanks for the compliment on the background art! I must've got lucky with that one because I honestly suck at drawing backgrounds in my artwork even xD. So I was quite happy when that came out the way it did!

Thanks for the comments!

[Naoshi]

The waterfall is amazing. Keep up the good work with the background/foregrounds.

[Rawr]

Thank you! I plan to make all my levels contain pretty much all custom made graphics except if I'm feeling too lazy to make a piece of scenery or I feel that I can tweak existing graphics from another Sonic game to better fit what I'm going for. So I'll definitely try to keep a consistent quality.

I have some of the graphics put into Sonic Worlds just to see what it looks like and I'm quite happy with how it looks. I'll grab a screenshot of it (I don't have all my HUD stuff in yet to see how it works, just the life icon xD). Then I'll go back into photoshop and tweak up the ground tiles a bit I think.

Edit:

As you can see, I was just testing it in the Worlds Engine, I just want to make sure all my parts fit how I want them to, so that whenever I can get Knuckles' glide and climb working, I can build the level right away and not have to worry about tweaking the graphics. If I have to tweak them, then it'll probably be minor things. Once I get more work on this done I'll actually create a game topic xD;. I want to at least get the engine completed and then have a bit of act 1 done before I make a topic. That way I have more to show.

[DimensionWarped]

If you need any help with Knuckles actions, I'm still partially accountable for the stuff in Worlds, so don't hesitate to ask.

[Rawr]

Oh really? Thanks man, that'd be really much appreciated! I PMed Damizean yesterday asking how I'd go about doing it, but I'm sure he is uber busy . I just need an explanation on how to do it, since I want to learn how to do it myself as well (thus actually learning something). I'll send you a PM with what I've set up so far? It is basically all the stuff from the player_actionValueB object (or whatever it is called, I know it is something like that xD) that really confuses me.

Edit: Just a few screencaps of the new level graphics put into the engine just as a test. I still have to add some shading underneath the grass but that'll all come as soon as I get everything fleshed out. So far I'm happier with how this is looking, though it doesn't look near as rocky as I wanted it - but it fits the environment and sticks out enough from the background image so I'm happy about that. The part with the loop I need to change one of the ground tiles, and make some thicker poles or something for the sides . Right now I have two of them there xD. I made them quick backdrop objects so I can make them the height that I need without lining up fifteen thousand of them. I just put these screencaps together quickly. I removed a lot of the scenery stuff from the backdrop just so things fit better - but I forgot to remove the stuff on the loop xD.

This -ISN'T- the level, it is just me experimenting with the graphics on the test level thing in the Sonic Worlds engine. The reason this is in this topic is because it is the new sprites and I don't want to post another copy of the level graphics up until I've got them more complete =P. All I have to do is create a few pieces of scenery and whatnot and then I'll be starting the graphics I think for the first level in the game, Origin Valley (Oh I'm so creative with my naming aren't I). Either that one or another one that I called Song Mountain (once again, so creative...because it is a reference to something which I wonder if anyone will get).

Anyway:

[ssbfalcon]

I really like the look of it. Especially the background...

[Rawr]

Thanks a lot man!

I've got some new music to update with here. A good friend of mine, Yusuke, invited me to lay down some vocals on top of a track that he recorded.

The track he wanted vocals on was a cover he did of Everlong that he used a drum track, but he played all the guitar work on top of it. So I layed down some vocals within the hour and gave it a quick mastering job and it sounds SUPERB (imo). This is probably my best 'rock' vocal performance that I've ever done. Not saying I'm really all that great to begin with, but this was fun and I like it.

Anyway, here it is: Click!

I'll just point out the first verse was sorta shaky and then there is a wierd timing error that happened somehow during the mixdown in the first chorus that is not present in the rest of the song. But I -love- how this turned out. Hope you guys enjoy it.

[Rael0505]

Love the song, especially the tone of the guitar. Good vocals too.

The waterfall background is gorgeous, but the foreground just doesn't suit the 16-bit Sonic style. Hell, even the objects/Knuckles sprite clashes with it... it's just a noticeably different shading style. Everything is more defined in Sonic 3, with definite edges and less blur/dithering. That Knuckles icon in the bottom left suits your background perfectly, so if you were to edit the Sonic 3 Knuckles sprite with the same style, it could work. But if you're going to be sticking with these sprites, you'll need to change the ground.

[Rawr]

Ah, thanks man for the critique =). All the graphics are still very much WIP stuff, so I can always go and tweak it around still. Thanks for the feedback on that, I'll try and fix it up to fit the style of the sprite more (since I don't think I'll have the time to properly make up a new sprite, editing the BG would be easier).

[Ashura]

Really nice stuff. ^^

[Aerosol]

you got a couple of tone issues, but the song was enjoyable. As for the art, everything I would say has been said already. keep it up dude!

[Rawr]

Yeah, I've still gotta work on my vocals, however I've come a loooong way since I started doing vocals last year. I try and get as much practice in as I can, I've been trying to push myself to be able to hit different pitches better though. Chances are we're going to re-record that cover since I had quickly learned how to sing the song and then lay down vocals in under an hour, cause I had to go to work. He also wanted to fix the backing track a bit as well as change the guitar parts a bit.

Thanks for the comments everyone =D!