Free from freelancing!

A few months ago, I decided to try freelancing out. I have a regular day job, so I decided to take on some side projects. A few weeks ago, I stopped freelancing. I spoke about this in detail on the Art Zen podcast (ep 39). 

What led me to quit freelancing you ask? The simple and truthful answer is passion. I wasn't passionate about designing for people, even for money. I had been doing some work for people on and off for free over the years and I thought that if I got paid that I would do my best and love it. I did not.

I did my best, but because I didn't have clearly defined parameters (aka, Contract), all the back and forth with the clients just became a big pain in the ass. I started resenting the client, and developed an ego.

"Well what do THEY know, they're the client, I'm the designer I know what's best!".

In some situations, that mentality might get a designer through a tough client, but in general, it's a crappy attitude! The client may not know exactly what they want, but they're looking at the designer for guidance. If you cannot successfully guide the client to the goals outlined, then you haven't provided the client with the proper service. I couldn't guide the client. I tried... but that's just not a skill i possess.

I will admit that some clients are just hard to work with, no matter what you do. However, a good designer can negotiate and work with the most difficult of clients.

These are just some of my thoughts. I feel that people who hire you deserve to have the best designs and working relationship possible, and I just don't have the patience for that.

There's no shame in trying something and ultimately quitting. There are just some things you may not be great at, but ask yourself if it makes you happy. If the answer is No, then maybe it's not the thing for you.

~D

The resurrection of Adventure games

From a very young age, I have been a big fan of Adventure games. The love affair began in 1990, when my father bought the LucasArts Game, "The secret of Monkey Island". I played the hell out of that game! It was well written, very funny and the music rocked. There's just something about the old synth music and creative uses of the technology of the time that makes me happy.

At the time I didn't realise who created that game, but I knew it was a Lucasarts property. It wasn't until later that I learned that Tim Schafer and Ron Gilbert were two people involved in Monkey Island. In fact, it was created by Ron Gilbert, and Tim Schafer had a hand in the game design and writing with the game (along with Dave Grossman).  I was hooked. I played Monkey Island, again and again and all the sequels. In fact, I STILL play Monkey Island, even though I know what the story is. It's that good. Oh, and I now own the original Monkey Island disc my dad had (he gave it to me). If you want to play MI or some of the other games, you can get them on Steam (even an updated version of MI exists).

Flash forward to a few years later. I began playing other Adventure games. Loom, Indiana Jones (which actually came before Monkey Island, but you know how that goes), Full throttle, Grim Fandango (A WONDERFUL game, and I wish i could buy on steam, Get on that LucasArts!) , and The Dig. (I don't know if Ron Gilbert or Tim Schafer worked on all those titles, but a good majority of them).

I still haven't played Day of the tentacle, but I will... 

Eventually Tim Schaffer left LucasArts and created his own company called "Double Fine". Double Fine went on to make Psychonauts (awesome) and Brutal Legend (still need to play that). Besides those games, adventure games have sort of declined. I've always wanted more, but unfortunately we couldn't demand games like that (I felt like the minority). 

So flash forward AGAIN, to a few days ago.

Double Fine starts up a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to fund their new adventure game (and document their process in a Documentary).
Felicia Day (of The Guild Fame), tweeted the kickstarter link, and I backed it instantly. When I woke up the next morning, it has reached $600,000 USD.. but wait.. still not done... 

In one day... They broke records. They Smashed it actually.. Where are the records, I don't know they're all over the place! 

In one day, Double Fine raised over 1 Million Dollars (USD)!! Think about that for a moment. This is a monumental thing. This changes a few things. This means, us Gamers, who love our Adventure games and who trust the great games of Double Fine, are willing to give our money to a product that is not yet developed, in hopes to play the types of games we love. That -is- that game changer (No pun intended).

We gamers now have an avenue to request particular games (via social media) and the potential for big game companies, like Double Fine, to fund it paid-for without a board of directors or a "distributor" saying "Nobody wants those kinds of games anymore". Because clearly, we do.

I'm very happy to see this kind of stuff happening in the age of social media. I think we'll see some awesome games come from big and little developers using Kickstarter. 

I can still hear the Monkey Island theme in my head when I sleep.

~D

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(if you want to read more about it check out the article on Kotaku : http://kotaku.com/5883864/why-the-internet-gave-this-video-game-1-million-in-a-single-day/)

There's still time left if you want to get in on this cool deal. $15 bucks will get you the game (delivered on Steam). Just check out the kickstarter page http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/66710809/double-fine-adventure

New blog post!

Yeah! New Year, New blog post.

Man has it been 3 months since I've posted? Yes it has. I feel like a slacker... a Non-blogger... Wait a minute, I'm not really a blogger. I post things from time-to-time, but other than that I can't call myself a blogger. 

I have created some art, some sketches and other things since November, but I keep forgetting to create a blog post about it. I think one reason why I don't post as much is, I don't think anyone would be interested in me. This is very self defeating. I don't know why I do this. Perhaps it's my way of being "non-egotistical"... but truthfully I like when people read and like my stuff...

Man I'm messed up :)

I should just do what my buddy Thomas does.. write what he thinks and don't care about what people think about him. That's a good way of going about things. I will try to do that more.

I don't want to offend anyone with my writings but this is the internet and is inevitable (SO FUCK YOU!! Just kidding). Chances are I'll offend someone just on the basis of my horrible spelling the grammar. Granted, I may sound stupid, but I'm not as stupid as I put on.. im non-stupider.

Alright. I feel better.

I got a post in the first quarter of 2012. Well that's about as much as I can right... err, write.

See you in 3 months! (Maybe sooner).

- D

Art Experiment : Ocean Splash

I hope everyone has had a great Thanksgiving holiday! Since I've had a long weekend, I thought it would be fun do do an art experiment. I will do experimentation with art to figure out technique, or to create painted "sketches" to spark other ideas.I go into these with the thought that it might not work out, and I don't consider them finished pieces.  

It is, however, neat to watch the process.
I liken them to a sports player watching videos of their plays to see what they can improve on.
I hope to make more of these. I think it's been 2 years between my 2 videos... I'll have to shorten that gap :) 

So I give you, Ocean Splash!

I took the plunge. Art for sale.

I have been wanting to sell my artwork online for a while, but I didn't think I could because of 2 reasons: 

• 1) I was too attached to the piece. I have artwork that I cannot sell, because I'm too attahced to it. it's too personal.
• 2) I didn't have enough "high quality" art.

 Those are crappy reasons. 

Let me be honest, these are not reasons, they are excuses.

I can sell the "personal" artwork. There's nothing preventing me from letting them go other than my insecurity that nobody will like my art. It's all in my head and it's pointless to dwell on such things. It's also in my head that my artwork isn't "good enough". But it IS good enough. In fact, I'd argue that my art isn't any better or worse than any other creator's.

I'm trying to remove the barriers that I tend to put up to keep myself from succeeding. I made a decision a few months back, to create and sell my artwork on etsy. Etsy seems to be a good starting point. Eventually I'll have my own storefront, but until then, this will do. Etsy has a great community.

It's been pretty freeing to just ignore those "excuses", and just power through my stupidity.

Check out my etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/raydred

Let me know what you think!

- Darrel