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How Not to Be a Troll

Matt — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:29:40 +0000

We live in a culture based around media and technology. Communication has become instant. What once took days or even weeks to convey, can be done in an instant from anywhere and sent to the world. In this age of information overload, the main thing I’ve noticed is: people are jerks.

Maybe it’s the creative core in me that wants to help out fellow creators, and allows me to appreciate the work, time and skill that went into a piece of work. A recent piece, (Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar, by Felicia Day and the cast of the Guild is one such piece (among many).

While I am not a fan of poppy trendy music, I found this video amazing. Why? Because it parodies that genre of music most of us love to hate (and some of us hate to love), while at the same time making a statement about online relationships, and contrasting being sexy with being an absolute geek. All of this layering leads to an Internet gem, that is expanded upon by the high production values brought in by using professional equipment. The video quickly rose to #1 on iTunes music video list.

All of this made me proud to be a geek. But there’s another side to this Internet beast…

Proud as I am of the Guild’s achievements in the world of Internet fame, I’m still frustrated by the idiots who troll the net. In fact, to call them idiots is a compliment. As a creative myself, it hurts me to see the amount of destructive criticism anything put on the Internet receives, especially when it’s something so well made, and so relevant to the target audience. Especially when these comments are made by people who contribute nothing themselves. How sick is a person that produces next to nothing, and tears down anything creative that does emerge?

Next time you see something you love on the ‘net, make a point to post a favorable comment. We creator’s live for that kind of thing.

Must… Make… Comics!

Matt — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:12:26 +0000

I hate to admit it, but I haven’t drawn a comic in a long time. It’s a sad thing really. One gets involved in a full time job, video games, and life in general and the time for comic creation evaporates. I want to change that, but I need to decide what direction to go. I’ve looked through my old work, and there are good ideas bursting to be finished, or even started.

Below are three brief synopsis’. All of them would be fun to create, so I need your suggestions (If anyone actually reads this thing…)

1. Rembrandt the Mighty: The tale of a peaceful Aardvark people brutally attacked by their evil lizard neighbors. Only one of those villagers escapes slavery. A young child who will grow up to be the hero of his people.

2. The Adventures of Sir Pollywock: A hopelessly addled knight, and his surprisingly competent squire adventure in a world of high fantasy and humor. Sir Pollywock refuses to see just how incompetent he is to the eternal frustration of his poor associate.

3. Myth: An epic world ruled by epically flawed gods. Myth is the tale of a god who suffers a the cruel punishment of being made mortal. Will he survive as a human and learn compassion for his fellow man, or will the experience crush him?

Pages from all of these storylines can be found in the art gallery.

Please send your vote to me or vote by posting a comment below. May the best storyline win!

The Guild Season Finale!

Matt — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:12:24 +0000

It’s that time of year. A time both exciting and sad. The season finale to season two of The Guild has been released. The seasons events culminate in an unexpected twist that you must see if you’ve been following the Guild, and if you haven’t been following, go watch season 1 and 2 now!

View the finale on MSN!

Rock Band 2, Woohoo!

Matt — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:08:05 +0000

A while back I purchased Guitar Hero World Tour. At the time I was unimpressed with Rock Band’s offering on the Wii. The first Rock Band was a gutted fish on the system, and as such Guitar Hero had my allegiance. Since then Rock Band 2 was released. I was skeptical. I didn’t think it’d be full featured. I was wrong.

Rock Band 2 on the Wii has practically all the features of its XBox and PS3 versions. Character customization is there (albeit a little less than on the other systems), tour mode is there, and DLC is there. The best new thing by far: It now supports all the instruments from Guitar Hero – both 3 and World Tour. That was what sold me. I could now have both games without spending hundreds of dollars.

Gameplay is great. I never played the first Rock Band, but I had always heard that the career progression was superior to Guitar Hero. Now that I’ve played it, I mostly agree. The use of special events to add some interesting dynamics to the game keeps things interesting. My only gripe is that the random setlists the game makes for certain events often feature a combination of easy and hard songs that don’t seem to go together.

My recommendation to Wii owners aren’t sure what to buy between the two – I’d definitely get both. Just buy the Guitar Hero band kit and the Rock Band 2 stand alone disc.

Last Chance to Vote for The Guild

Matt — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:56:41 +0000

Tomorrow the voting over at Streamys.org ends. Everyone who loves the guild needs to get over there and vote. A list of all the categories you can vote for the Guild under can be found over at Watchtheguild.com. So go there, get the list, and get voting!

The Guild – Season 2

Matt — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:06:06 +0000

Season 2 of “The Guild” has begun, and is now sponsored by Microsoft! This means that the show is available on MSN for free, and on XBox Live in HD… for FREE! How nice.

Remember, my new credits can be seen on every episode, as well as another surprise coming up soon. Keep watching.

A Nice Surprise… Guild DVD

Matt — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:37:16 +0000

As you can see here, I’ve been doing a lot of work with The Guild recently. In that time I’ve exchanged a lot of email with Felicia Day, the writer and actress that plays Codex on the show. She’s been extremely friendly and easy to work with, as other people have mentioned. I told Felicia that I don’t mind that they can’t pay me right away, or even if they can’t pay me at all, but I’d love to get some free Guild swag out of the deal. Felicia enthusiastically agreed to do so, and had the entire cast of the show sign a season 1 DVD while they were at Blizzcon.

In the meantime, my mind wandered to other things, and I pretty much forgot I had anything coming in the mail. Yesterday, Kim and I came home from work and were pleasantly surprised to find a nice little package in the mail shape like a DVD. It was here!

I’ve attached a photo of the cover. Can you tell whose signature is whose?

Art Galleries Added!

Matt — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 03:40:09 +0000

In an effort to keep this site being what it’s supposed to be, a place to display my work, I’ve added an art gallery page. This page will be continually updated with new images as I go through my archives of work and organize them for upload. Check back often for new material. You never know what I may upload. *grin*

Edgar the Dwarf

Matt — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:47:30 +0000

Edgar Garcia as a dwarf!

Time Lapse Drawing

Matt — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:48:29 +0000

A month or so ago I got a new HD camcorder. Nothing special, really, but it’s the first camcorder I’ve ever owned. Because of that you guys are going to have to put up with my inane videos.

Below is a video I made of myself drawing a dwarf warlock. The actual drawing took appr. 40 minutes, but I’ve made a timelapse that brings it down to nine minutes. Enjoy!

Random Drawing Timelapse (Dwarf Warlock) from Matthew Brackney on Vimeo.