Gee

Prerequisite: none

If you would like to know the Blue Giraffe a little more, here are some comics I did over the past couple months: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7EA2CwmDWk4d18zN3o3VU9oNlk

Check "details" for each PNG where I might have added a comment in the "description". Set list order to "last modified" to know whether I uploaded a new comic or not. There may be month gaps without activity but hey, I am a busy person~

There are a couple motivations for making these comics. One is to share amusing random thoughts. Not necessarily stomach splitting, but amusing. Another is to introduce my little Blue Giraffe world. It is not something that can be explained, but it can be shown. And lastly, to show that I do have a sense of humour. I am not particularly known among my peers for being playful. I should be able to say that even if my sense of humour is lame, at least I have one..

Just go read some. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Anyone can do a comic. It does not take great artistic skills (as demonstrated by Rage Comics). If you can find a reason why you might want to draw one, take a shot. Like video games, you are telling a story. So why not. Tell your story.

Ham vs. Man

Prerequisite: none

I do not play video games.

Ha, kidding. Who does not? If someone claims such they are lying. If they are not lying then I have sincere pity.

I made this silly Scratch game a while back: Ham vs. Man.

Alice is a cool program too but the 3D is quite a hassle. And I rather like my corny 2D characters. The best thing is that these softwares do not have all that computer science jargon, which is convenient for recreation.

Here are some incomplete but potential games:

GigaPig (based on MegaMan)
Gee Nui (based on Voya Nui Online Game)

When the program does such absurdities you facepalm really hard. But then you acknowledge that it is correct in its logic. This is when you relate to the joke:

Parents abhor video games, and they have good reason to. Like other art forms, there can be degenerate or inappropriate works. But child corruption is not the only thing games can do. As a game maker you have the power to create something beautiful (perhaps not as silly as my Ham vs. Man). There is a lot of potential in video games. A clump of clay can only be as good as its potter, a violin as good as its player, a canvas as good as its painter, a book as good as its writer, a story as good as its teller..

Everyone should have a go at Scratch. It is as simple as game making can get. The making of the game is almost a game in itself. Even if it drives you crazy with its cold logic, at least you will come to appreciate the games you play. If you need encouragement to master the skill, refer to A Cringeworthy Process. Everyone starts from scratch (pun maybe intended).

By the way, Marc Broussard is awesome. Just saying.

The First Image

Prerequisite: maybe psychology. Actually nah, you are too smart for psychology.

A big question in Art History class came about: how did the first drawn image come to be? How did it occur to the first human, to join some lines on a surface, and make believe that it is a "thing"? I have an idea. Just an idea.

Gestalt Psychology explains (partially) how humans interpret the light signals from our eyes as images. Here are some principles:

Similarity: similar things are the same "thing"

Proximity: close things are "together"

Continuity: let us pretend that the dots are connected

Closure: let us pretend that the shapes are bound

These are instincts that we take for granted. And since these psychological reactions are built into our brains, it probably is not so weird after all for the first drawn image to come about. See this:

Do not deny it.. I know you see it! You see a face on the surface on Mars. You know very well it is not a real face, but you applied similarity (the whole bump is one rocky material), proximity (the surrounding craters are too far to take into account), continuity (the features align to express a face), and closure (despite the shadow, you assume that the face is bound). We have such strong Gestalt instincts.

Going back to how the first drawn image came about, a possible answer occurred to me one night. Humans loved naming constellations. This art is in most cultures I can think of, even if their star-object associations are not the same (almost like a Rorschach test). Without light pollution, ancient night skies were full of stars and planets, and according to Gestalt Theory.. humans cannot help but connect the dots! Say, you cannot possibly not see an image in this randomness:

And with so many dots.. someone put some order to this madness! First apply similarity (brightly glowing dots appear to be the same thing, and indeed they are stars), proximity (close stars are one group), continuity (chains of stars make lines), and closure (connect star chains to make shapes). Then name it something that it resembles.

(By the way, I had some fun with Planetarium. I knew when to see Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn over my suburban house. Stellarium goes even further with more deep space features and cultural perspective. That might be another story to post if I get myself to understand those technical terms and figures).

Before every artwork comes inspiration, and the night sky could have been the first canvas which inspired humans to connect some lines or objects. Or perhaps humans first observed the clouds, or some bumpy rock surface, then sought to sift some sand or chip some rocks. One way or another, nature was the vey first inspiration, and humans learned from this master creation.

Art is probably unavoidable. Even if you do not draw your idea, you still think it. It is there.