Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Covenant-Buster AKA Iron Chief


Covenant Buster AKA Iron Chief by ~GodofPH on deviantART



In the 26th century as humanity struggles against the overwhelming forces of the Covenant, a discovery is made that may change the tide of the war: long forgotten technology made in the 21st century by industrialist Tony Stark. The Covenant-Buster Armor is created, armed with repulsors, flight, and a deadly rocket launcher apparatus.

I painted this Master Chief figure as a birthday present for my roommate, and the rocket pack came from a G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra Duke figure. This is the last figure I plan to do for a while that is primarily metallic textured. 

But to anyone who cares to weigh in, what should I do next? I'm caught between a Tron-style Captain America or Rocket from Sucker Punch?

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Room Under the Big Sky

This article was originally written for the ASMSU Exponent.



Ask a lifelong resident of Montana what the greatest threat to this state is. The answer will probably be “Californians,” usually followed by a spirited rant about how they’re infiltrating local politics and conspiring to destroy the Montana way of life. Hyperbole or not, this highlights a growing divide in the demographics of this state. Some would claim the old ways of Montana are dying, but that isn’t the truth. The values, lifestyle and people are diversifying.
According to a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks report, the West was the fastest growing region of the United States during the 1990s, with a 20.1 percent growth in Montana alone. Most of that growth was, of course, in Montana’s cities.
California coincidentally experienced higher rates of emigration during this same time period. Of course, this isn’t just Californians. People from all over the country, and the world, have been moving into Montana at steady rate. The state simply doesn’t belong to just the ranchers anymore.
No one sees this diversification of the state better than us, the students of the universities. Students hailing from Montana meet people coming in from both East and West Coasts, and everywhere else in between.
Not only that, many of us get what is our first exposure to foreign cultures via exchange students. We are surrounded by diversity, so shifting tides seem as natural as excessive weight gain during freshman year.
The same couldn’t be said for old, lifelong ranchers though. How can someone who has lived for the development and use of the land around them not be just a bit offended when a family from California buys land and makes no use of it, or watches prime farmland be consumed by housing developments and chain stores? Yet at the same time, the agricultural lot doesn’t have a monopoly on the operations of the state.
The ranches and farms that characterize this state no doubt provide the gears for the whole operation to run on, but at the same time, new faces provide a much-needed injection of character and, on top of that, diversify the state economically as well. They contribute to Montana just the same; they should in no way be denied an opportunity to voice their concerns for the state’s political issues, from the environmental to the economic.
So the controversy all comes down to finding common ground. Residents both lifelong and new must learn to see eye to eye for the betterment of everyone. I’ve seen both sides of the coin growing up. I was born in North Carolina, but moved to a small ranching town in southeast Montana when I was 9 and lived there until graduating high school.
In just the 10 years I’ve lived here, I’ve seen the state change significantly. Yet I would say the growth has been for the better. There is room under the Big Sky for all types of people; they just have to learn to function together.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Soul Edge Blend

Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords eternally retold...

In my Computer Animation class, we were assigned to create a fantasy sword in Blender. My first instinct was to whip up the Master Sword, but I decided to go for the evil sword Soul Edge instead, based on its Soul Calibur 2 design.


Soul Edge Blend by ~GodofPH on deviantART

Shiny Metagross Custom

For those unfamiliar, Shiny Pokémon are alternate colorations of regular Pokémon that have an astounding 1 in 8196 chance of appearing. Their colors range from the unnoticeable, such as Pikachu merely being a slightly darker shade of yellow, to incredibly different, such as Charizard having black skin instead of orange.

Metagross, in my opinion, has the coolest Shiny colors of all the Pokémon. I saw the Battle Frontier Deluxe Metagross figure at an FYE, on sale luckily, and had the inspiration for this paint job immediately.


Shiny Metagross Custom by ~GodofPH on deviantART

Inferno Golem Custom

Another customization job, well, just a repaint if anything. I had this Golem figure lying around, and while I was waiting for the figures for my next project to come in, I decided to give it a new coat of paint and color scheme.

Inferno Golem
Type: Steel/Fire
Species: Core Pokémon
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 862 lbs

Ability: Temper- When this Pokémon is hit by Fire attacks, its defense and special defense are raised one stage.

Selected Moves: Rock Slide, Lava Plume, Iron Defense, Heavy Bomber, Earthquake, Iron Head

Data: When an Earthquake left a Geodude stranded the catacombs of the Earth, it was forced to adapt to a life in darkness and heat deep underground. Its home was a magma infused cavern on the boundary of two tectonic plates. Over time, the Geodude evolved, and centuries later, life below ground had transformed it.

Like the Earth itself, the Inferno Golem had a pulsing hot magma core, and the heat below ground tempered its rock shell to a hard steel. The lava-filled caverns deep below ground are its dominion. Its monumental strength is said to be able to shove the plates of the Earth, causing Earthquakes above ground.


Inferno Golem by ~GodofPH on deviantART

Tron Alignment Chart

Yes, I am very well of my addiction to alignment charts. Tron is surprisingly fertile for one, though.


Tron Alignment Chart by ~GodofPH on deviantART

Disney Alignment Chart

I simply love alignment charts. This is the 3rd I've done for a specific franchise. I made a rule for myself that I could only use one character from any specific movie, which kept this thing from becoming half populated by Lion King characters. Feel free to suggest any other Disney characters you think would fit the alignments better!


Disney Alignment Chart by ~GodofPH on deviantART

Ten-Speed Sanity



Final project for MTA 102, an original short.

Starring:
Brian Sundermeyer
Ava Redman
Jeff Dougherty
Bryan Gonzalez
Shayna Warner

Director/ProducerPat Hessman

Editor/DP/Composer:
Philip Stucker

Assistant Director/Story/Co-Producer:
Garth Woolf

Assistant Director/Writer:
Robert Stultz

Savior



Project for cinematography class. Assignment was "disarming a bomb", and we had some...divine inspiration.

Starring:
Micah Workman
Andrea Parsons
Bruce Williams
Bryan Gonzalez
Maddy Nicolet-Lloyd
Carmen Lembo
Carrie Bittner
Jakob Michels

Directed by:
Pat Hessman
Hailey Nicolet-Lloyd

Cinematography by:
Greg Norris

Gaffer:
Phillip Stucker

Fight Choreography:
Keith Spearman

Music Used:
The Gentle Hum of Anxiety-
Trent Reznor
and Atticus Ross

Ultimatum- Immediate Music

Epilogue- Immediate Music

Special Thanks to:
Kaylin Hessman
Kayte Kaminski

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Still Gotta Catch 'Em All: Pokémon Black and White Review

This review was originally written for the ASMSU Exponent.

After hiding it all through high school, we could come out in college, we would no longer be judged. We were finally free. I’m of course talking about Pokémon. On March 6, the ever-swelling number of monsters grew again as the fifth generation of games, Pokémon Black and White, was released. Nearly 15 years after the franchise came to American shores, it storms them once again.

Game Freak has succeeded in making something new out of a tried and true formula. Even longtime veterans will feel as if they’re playing a brand new experience when popping this cartridge into their DS. The games are set in a brand new region, completely populated with never-before-seen Pokémon. In fact, none of the monsters from older generations can be found within the Unova region until after the game is beaten. This makes the game incredibly accessible for new fans, while providing longtime fans with an entirely new challenge.

Part of the game’s brand new experience is the improved in-game story. The games have slowly been developing more involved stories over the years, but the story for Black and White stands tall above those that came before it. The players witness the rise and fall of a mysterious figure known only as N, and fight the most compelling villainous team yet: Team Plasma, a group that seeks to “liberate” Pokémon from humans, though their intentions may not be as benevolent as they seem.

Of course, it would be a disservice to the game to not mention graphics. Pokémon has come a long way from the top-down, semi-isometric graphics of Red and Blue. The world is rendered in a pleasing blend of 3D graphics and 2D sprites. The cities and towns of the Unova region are all visually distinct, and presented in dynamic camera angles that best showcase them. The in-game battles have also received a visual upgrade. In the past, the Pokémon were represented as still images, but now are fully animated throughout the battle.

Even if you fell out of Pokémon over the years, Black and White are worth returning to. The brand new experience makes it easy to catch up with. If you’re in need of a nice distraction over Spring Break, then look no further than these games. The same old formula is as addicting as ever. Just as true as it was in 1998, you gotta catch ‘em all.

Exponent Article: Anonymous and Online


I thought I would start re-posting my ASMSU Exponent articles online at this blog. Enjoy!
-Pat
If you want to see human idiocy at its finest, check the comment section of a news story, a blog or a YouTube video. You’ll be greeted by legions of self-righteous posters, also known as trolls, who’ll not only decry the content of the page, but direct personal attacks at the creator, and perhaps some insults against his or her mother for good measure.
Yet the ironic thing is, these same people would be hard-pressed to say the same harsh words to the person’s face. What drives us to make asses of ourselves behind a computer screen?
Lack of empathy is the perpetrator here. When the only information you have to base a person off is a wall of text they wrote and possibly a still picture, it is all too easy to hurl insults at this straw man built in their likeness. There is no real life contact. There is no tone of voice, facial expressions or gestures that develop this online “enemy” from pastiche to person.
Making it easier is the online disinhibition effect, a psychological term for the anarchic behavior people are prone to indulge on the Internet. Behind walls of anonymity and invisibility, one can feel invincible. The worst thing that can happen on a typical website is banishment, but even that punishment can be sidestepped as simply as creating a new account. There is no consequence when you cannot be seen or found, right?
With inhibitions removed, primal pride and territorial attitude are free to run roughshod. You’d never have to own up to whatever you say, so fire away. Disagree with the actions of Congress? Light up the comment section with a lengthy rant demonizing them as the baby-eating devils you know them to be. A blogger criticizes your favorite TV series? Comment on how he is a complete and total failure at life and should contemplate suicide.
The antisocial behavior that anonymity and a screen provide isn’t limited to the Internet, either. The wonderfully enlightening scrawl on bathroom stalls shows the effect is alive and well in the real world. Even when you know the person, a text message seems like such a safe way to tell someone what you really feel about them. The impenetrable wall of a computer screen makes it all too appealing. Which then begs the question: What does it all accomplish? Nothing, nothing at all.
There is no benefit to Internet tomfoolery. The ironic thing is that most of the people who will make fools of themselves online are rather reasonable, normal-seeming people in the real world. Instead of firing off the ignorance cannon, people should instead think about what they want to insult or argue about. Most of these Internet “conflicts” are petty and only make us look like fools for indulging in them. You may feel mighty as you light up the comment section, but it amounts to nothing more than one moronic drop in a sea of idiocy.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Pimpin' Spider Blend

This year I've been learning Blender through a class at my college. This picture started out as something for an assignment, but ended up evolving into me playing with with textures and fibers. Fun fact, my MacBook absolutely hated me for trying to render this baby out. 

But, enjoy the Pimpin' Spider! Feel free to comment and/or critique.



Pimpin' Spider by ~GodofPH on deviantART