End of July Update, 2017

Finally having returned from the vacation, I’m full of energy and passion to continue working on my sequel of Balloon King. I started working on it somewhere around the beginning of this summer but most progress was made couple of days before vacation and the days following after I returned from vacation, including today.

Somehow it’s much more fun and productive when you are working while on a call with someone and sharing your screen through skype. It really feels nice to share my process with others, but I’m always too shy to stream on Twitch my sketch phases, because these usually take the longest and when I’m streaming it feels like the audience has some sort of weight on me to finish faster. Just like with the Jyushimatsu drawing which I planned to stream for entire day but ended up doing it for like 2/3rds of it.

The game is coming along nicely and I’m hoping that it will continue that way when I start this painful job at the theatre. I probably wouldn’t have been so enthusiastic about the game if not the hours I spent taking notes during my vacation for the game’s mechanics and story. One thing which really helped is writing down 3 unique things for each level. It feels like if one cannot list at least three, there’s no point in separating that level from the others.

I’ll try to use this blog as a hub for posting game art and progress of how Balloon King 2 rolls out. It’ll take time, lots of time, but I’m ready for it, cause I already have a game released on my belt.

If you’d like to support the development of the game or just generally request some art, check out my Patreon and Twitch. I don’t stream often, and my streaming schedule will become even tighter with new job because busiest days for me will be Saturday and Sunday. Hope to see you on the stream tho, see ya’!

Thoughts on Gamedev

Game development for me is something like a big project where I can make myself hundreds of mini-projects to practice everything from character design to tiniest UI. My problem comes from my lack of motivation to grab the path of code. I can already move a block into a block in Construct 2, and I have tried PlayMaker in Unity (which probably was a waste of money, but perhaps I’ll get back to it one day), but I always wanted someone else to do the coding for me, and just let me do the art and actually direct the game in a way I would want it to.

My problem is I prefer to be a lone wolf when it comes to something like that, because with a programmer on the team, there’s that sort of pressure, and the product feels like it wasn’t made by me anymore. I honestly would love to find an alternative to this, and even if Construct 2 saves a lot of time, I’m still limited to low framerates sometimes, which brings me to optimization.

512 and 1024 are my greatest friend numbers. Did I mention I hate game development? Ah, yes.

Anyway, in order for me to keep on going with these artistic mini-projects, I need to pull myself together and fiddle with code and optimize the damn thing. As long as I don’t rush it like I did with Balloon King, even if it took years to develop.

The feeling of releasing Balloon King was amazing. Sure, a few negative reviews here and there, but people enjoyed it, and generally found it addicting. This brought tears to me and I was really happy. And I want to experience it again, but with something bigger. So I’m slowly starting to work on a new game project, but I’ll only work on it when I feel like it. There are no constraints for me and if I ever feel forced to do this, I’ll lose my passion for it. Do I have nothing else to draw? Absolutely not. I feel obliged to satisfy as many of my patrons as I can. I can barely scrape two Patreon requests per month and this does hit me pretty hard, that I can’t give back to the people more.

So I’m taking Society of Visual Storytelling classes now, and honestly I couldn’t ask for better instructors than Will Terry, Jake Parker, Guy Francis and Marco Bucci. Absolutely adorable styles and well structured cheap classes.

I hope this is the end of all this FFXIV addiction and any other unhealthy gaming addictions, because I swear if I’ll ever spend more time on gaming than drawing in a week, I’m gonna end up being a toilet cleaner at McDonald’s…. that is if they’ll even accept me there.

January, 2017

Well then… This month has been something unique. Just when I was about to give up, the new scheduling system I adopted started to work out, and I once again started spending by average 8 hours a day to draw. This means incredibly much to me, and I’m really hoping to maintain this habit for a while.

My art journey is only starting. With the comic I started and the new request system I adopted, I’m hoping to develop some sort of momentum which will be hard to get rid of. I’m still having bit of difficulty finding commissions for the style I have. Maybe, one day, soon. For now, it’s just practice, practice, practice.

There are number of factors which pushed me into this mindset. First one is the failure to get a job at the gamedev studio, as I didn’t try hard enough. And to be honest, I hope I’ll never get a chance to ever work in that place, as it would highly drive me away from my style, especially since I’m currently trying to focus less on painting, and the fact that their style requires to be cute AND painted, gives me couple of doubts how both can be mixed efficiently to be pleasing. But hey, it sells, and kids love it.

Second thing was my adoption of a new art mentor. Well, not really a new one. Rather back to the old one. Someone who understands me, and can occasionally chit chat about stuff. Mario V. was one of my biggest inspirations to start working hard, he was the mentor who actively helped me out through 2015. I learned a lot thanks to him, he also has made an awesome motivational video everyone MUST have checked out.

The world spins much faster to me now. The fact that I started drawing more fan art not only helped me explore my style more efficiently, but also helped me build a slightly bigger audience. Patreon is doing meh, but I’m also receiving some benefits from government so I can pay my part of family bills using that and the stuff I get from Patreon.

Anyway, see ya’ guys on a next update!

Since domain costs so fikkin much why not post some dang art of mine wtf

Basically, balloons. Yes. Literally the entirety of what I draw.

Someone: Ernie what’s with you and balloons?

Me: What’s with you and breathing?

Someone: I’m gay.

Prologue, or Twenty Five Reasons Why Eating Bananas Is Healthier Than Reading Books About Adult Adventures

Hello ladies and non-ladies. I am Ernie. You know me already, that’s why you came to visit this link. So let me get to the point. I need a place to vent out and write about non-sense. The laughe-art.com now redirects here instead of my old site which just costed too much for me.

Don’t mind the nonsense I write here, please. I may write about Pathfinder, drawing, architecture, interior design, painting, sketching, eating bananas and all that.

Honestly, get out while you’re still safe. It’s for your own good.