Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop when he’s saying, “It’s not a toomah!” Only this time he’s saying, “It’s a toomah!”
Last Tuesday I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Okay, the doctor never used the C-word, but did say he found a tumor and has me scheduled for surgery Monday the 23rd along with a dose of chemotherapy (psst! that’s cancer). There’s a 40% chance that will take care of the whole thing, but we won’t know for a while (2-3 months, I think).
I just stumbled across a dozen promos I created back in 2007 for a (now defunct) company called Deal Dot Com. They wanted to do short daily promo podcasts (about 2-mins each) and asked me to create a couple weeks worth. They really liked them, but we couldn’t come to an agreement on price so the project was bagged. But I kind of wish I’d used them as a spring board to doing that for someone else because it was a lot of fun.
They gave me a link to the product and just let me decide how to promote it — I wrote and recorded the commercials then sent them the final version that they published.
Here are a couple of the promos:
There are 10 more just like that sitting in the “archives” (my hard drive).
I’ve never liked first-person shooters — not from a “too much killing” standpoint (crap, what does that say about me?!), but from a standpoint of just not finding them to be much fun.
However, a couple years ago when Tom started playing PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) I started watching him play and discovered it was really compelling. For those who aren’t gamers, the “plot” in a nutshell is that you and 99 others are parachuted onto a deserted island (lots of empty buildings — no other people) where you have to scavenge weapons and be the last person alive. All the while an “electric fence” is slowly pushing everyone toward one point, so you can’t just sit and hide somewhere.
Did you read “Hunger Games” or watch the movie? It’s that type of game.
What makes it different (to me) than a typical shooter is the strategy aspect. While you need to have decent reflexes in a firefight, there are many ways to avoid fights until there isn’t any other choice. And while scavenging weapons you can choose from guns that are better for close-in fighting like a shotgun or a sniper rifle with a scope that allows you to pick people off from a distance. (Okay, reading that back that now I sound like a bloodthirsty violent person. I’m not. I’M NOT!!! TAKE IT BACK!!!)
So while I liked watching PUBG, as a Mac user I didn’t have a good way to play it, and when Tom moved to Vegas I couldn’t even watch it. But a couple weeks ago the publisher released a version for iOS (iPhones and iPads). While nobody thought PUBG would be worth playing on a mobile device, we were wrong.
Yes, it’s different than the PC version, you automatically pick up some items you find, for example, but the general experience is the same. The suspense when sneaking up on someone, the excitement trading fire with others while ducking behind a nearby rock or tree.
There’s some discussion about more ‘bots than real people being used in the lower levels (10 and under) to give new players a taste of success, and that’s probably why I’ve been able to get into the Top 10 several times during my first dozen games — but it also just might be my innate gaming ability (ahem). I’m now a Level 13 so games should be getting harder if the ‘bot supposition is true, but I’m hoping my “training” has been enough that I’ll still feel like I have a chance for a Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.
I’m playing PUBG on an iPad Pro and it’s set for high-res graphics and plays without any problems. I also played one game on my iPhone 7+ and it worked well, but the screen is a little too cramped for me. From what I hear it plays well on a regular iPad and even works on Android (but who cares about that).
I know PUBG Mobile isn’t the kind of game that will appeal to everyone, but if you’re a (sometimes) hardcore gamer and want to try the latest cool new thing, PUBG is it.
Free to play, some micro-transactions that aren’t required.
PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds Mobile for iOS
Drew this while waiting for my Deep Sea Match Game to compile.
Yeah, he’s really really simple, but I like him. And I’m out of time, so…
Earlier today I played around with drawing different kinds of fish based on what I did last night, but tonight decided to go back to the human species.
I think tomorrow I will go whole hog and draw a complete body and not just a head. 🙂
From the retro book. Only one because it’s 4am.
Yes, while technically it’s tomorrow, my days don’t end at midnight, so as long as I draw something before I go to bed, I’m still good. (But I do reset the dates on these posts so they show the (in)correct calendar day.)
More from the retro cartoon book.
This time I actually drew on real paper.
So weird, my pencil felt awkward while drawing, and then when I went to erase the pencil marks after inking, the ink started smearing. WTF?
Turns out I had been drawing on the inside front cover, not on one of the pieces of paper. It has a slick coding, so the ink wasn’t drying. I’m assuming a real artist would have noticed that the paper they were drawing on wasn’t actually paper, but the backside of the cardboard cover.
Honestly, the only reason I’m continuing to put these up here is because if I ever become a famous artist these will be worth lots of money.
I believe I’ve come to the conclusion that  drawing anything is hard. Even cute little cartoons with less than a dozen lines.
Just to be thorough, the one on the left was done second. I moved to the table and decided to take more time after doing the one on the right, and then I got this far and thought it might not really matter how much time I take. 🙂
Really late trip to Anchorage means I didn’t really think about drawing today. So here’s just a quick five-minute sketch of some Alaskan trees.
I will be back to cartooning tomorrow, I’m pretty sure. 🙂