Archive for March, 2008

Cool Games Made with Box2DFlash

Monday, March 24th, 2008

After writing my introduction tutorial to Erin Catto’s Box2D AS3 physics engine port, I found out that I was writing about version 1.4.3. Well a new version (v 2.0.0) is set to come out within the next few weeks, so I thought that I would put off any more tutorials on Box2DFlash till I find out what has changed.

Until then, I’ve found a bunch of fun games made with the Box2D engine and I thought I would share them with you.

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Phont Reconstructs for the Homeless of Toronto

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

Phont Signs
Photo by Mark Daye

Mark Daye from Phont Visual Communication has put together a really powerful campaign to raise the issue of homelessness in Toronto. He’s using de- and then reconstructed city street signs to get his message across.

Statement
The goal was to affect an urban population on an intimate level using graphic design.
Official Toronto city signs were deconstructed, then re-encoded with a subversive message that spoke about a less discussed and largely ignored urbal population, the homeless. The intent was to catch people off-guard by making the invisible visible through a respected and authorized medium. Official signs carry with them an authoritative voice put in place to inform behaviour. The question was, what if the authoritative voice spoke of a humanitarian issue? On how many levels can these
signs be read? – Mark Daye

More pictures of the project
Props to Vectorvault

My Vitamin Water (green tea that is)

Sunday, March 23rd, 2008

glaceau-rescue.jpg

As I was on my way to NYC to visit my abuelita for Easter my family and I stopped at a citgo to get some gas. I was a bit parched so I zipped inside and bought a “Vitamin Water” (which is by far one of the greatest beverages on the market…save Starbucks Caramel Latte and Tropicana Peach Orchard Harvest).Have you ever stopped to read the witty stuff the Vitamin Water company throws on the side of their bottle?Well, as the refrigerator door rested open upon my shoulder I stopped to muse at the wittiness of my green tea. The excerpt was as follows:

“Is it us or is “maturing” just another word for getting old? and who likes getting old anyway? your ears get hairier than your head, your back goes out more than you do, your late night dinners turn into early bird specials, you go from blonde hair to blue hair and your little black book contains only names that end in M.D.that’s why this bottle is packed with fancy science stuff (except without the bubbling beakers), like vitamin c +egcg (a natural antioxidant) to help kick your metabolism up a notch and keep you looking good from now until the day that you’re so “mature” you can put your teeth in a cup.”

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TRANSITION (a quick-fire questionnaire with a very rad band)

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

transition.jpg

This past summer my band, Universal Royalty, was on tour in the UK for about 6 weeks. While touring, VQ, my brothers and I have gotten to play along side some very cool groups. TRANSITION, who hail from Bristol, England are one of the coolest. Todays “quick-fire questionnaire” is with Niall, the bands bassist. Let’s get into it.

CPM: How long has Transition been a band?
11 years

CPM: Hometown?
Bristol, England

CPM: Years playing your instrument?
Good question! I started when I was 8, so around 16 years. Man that’s scary!

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Nuclear Warning Vectors

Thursday, March 20th, 2008

NUKE!

A couple days ago I posted a tutorial on making a Nuclear Warning Symbol in Illustrator using a simple brush. As a follow up this week I’m posting two variations of the result of that tutorial. The first is the normal Nuclear symbol, and the second is a grungified version. Have fun.

Download the Nuke vector pack (.ai and .eps)

GodBless:ClickPopMedia

Sketching Graffiti Overview

Wednesday, March 19th, 2008

A few friends have asked how to sketch graffiti. I started sketching graffiti in Junior High School to keep occupied (I usually sat in the back of the class). So here is a quick overview on how I sketch graffiti when wanting to pass some time; the reason I mention that is to let you know that this is a more time consuming approach. Also, this type of sketching is for when you don’t have anything but a pen and a “whatever type” of paper (printer paper, napkin, math assignment, etc.) handy. I’ll only be using a ball point pen and and my sketch book(Sometimes I feel that using color in a sketch is a waste of time; markers, pastels and colored pencils never look as good as paint…this is just my opinion).

graffiti_sketch_hosea_10_12_number1.jpg

Now as a point, you should know this is how I do it. This is NOT the way I would sketch if you’re looking to develop a “line by line” lettering structure for your graffiti. I used to just draw any word that came to mind, in the past few years I’ve been sketching books of the Bible and reference verses. This one will be a quick sketch of Hosea 10:v12.

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