Concept vs. What We See (Finished Product)

The idea of having anger portrayed onto your artwork or having the image's message say "DO NOT ABUSE!" is all concept!

So how do we determine whether it is the finish product than conceptual art?

Art by: Andre DeFreitas "Megatherium" 

From what I understand from Professor Kari Friedstad from painting. She said that if I describe what I want on the painting or have everything set to stone, that basically gets away from the concept idea. Still a bit confused on what I am saying?

Well, concept is something abstract and not exactly what is being shown on the image because concept is basically what the artist is trying to message to us. For example, if I want the image to explain something as stop abusing animals and keep saying that this suppose to explain to me that the image is saying stop the abuse of animals... that is basically concept.

To actually relay what the image is saying to me are the elements that are placed onto the image like if the image has a happy looking bear that is colored brown but half of its body was sliced in half and showing blood dripping out onto the dirt and having this image be placed in a forest preserve, that basically is showing the viewers something is wrong and that avoids the idea of concept, because that is what I see being portrayed onto the artwork instead of saying this suppose to mean "Do not abuse animals" because people can see it as something as "Don't poach."

Art by: Kari Friestad

My opinions with concept vs. final product is still a little vague, but slowly I am getting the clear picture of what it is because usually my style is a chaotic style and it just needs to be controlled properly. As I continue to hone my skills on my thesis project... this is what I can show for now that society is always hiding from the truth, but that is only just the concept idea.... most likely I want to show that sadness or whatever emotion is behind the story!

-Lehvorak

The Doctor is IN! (Dr. Mario)

Feeling Sick?

Feel Nauseous?

Do you need Medicine?

Then you need a DOCTOR!

Well let me say, Dr. Mario can heal your illness with his awesome pills! Tossing pills inside a bottle killing off all the viruses is as awesome as playing tetris! Dr. Mario is an awesome puzzle game that can be played for all ages and in the newer ones like the Nintendo 64 version up to the Wii, you can use your awesome puzzle-playing skills to show off against your opponents or beat the never ending viruses.

As you can see how many changes had gone on for the game but mostly the gameplay has been the same throughout the entire time. Any strategies for these games? I guess you can say, keep doing combos because that gets you a lot of points and it helps you a lot especially when you are playing against another person, because it sends trash on your opponents side. The thing about the trash is... you might be either helping your opponent or making it hard for them... so basically you don't know!

Overall, the game is fun for a short period of time. It can be addicting. I don't know I'll say it would be a huge favorite among gamers but it is a classic game!

So I'll give tis game a 3.5 out of 5 stars for its classic-likeness!

Anyways, if you guys haven't played this awesome puzzle game yet, then give it a shot because this is a classic fun game! To leave it off, I'll show you a video of me playing Dr. Mario! HERE YA GO!

-Lehvorak

That Bear & Bird!

Banjo-Kazooie is a classic Nintendo 64 game that came out on 1998 and was re-released on 2008 for the Xbox 360 via XBox Live Arcade. This game brings back a lot of memories of my childhood because I spent hours playing this game and had a lot of fun playing as a honey bear and bird who fights against a witch. Yes, you battle an evil witch who kidnaps your sister and you are the only one that can save her from imminent danger and to reach her, you need to go through the many worlds that are introduced to you to gain jigsaw pieces and musical notes that helps you open doors in the witch's lair... until you finally get to the top and duke it out.

This game gave me a lot of inspiration as a kid and as an artist it helped me on my creative experiences because there were some things that I took from this game and placed it in my works, but yes this game is one of the best ones I ever played as a kid and I always loved the music scores for this game!

Especially Gruntilda's lair! That song has never left my head and always been playing just like the Dr. Mario Fever song. I also remember on the game you have to learn battle moves from a mole named Bottles who teaches you almost anything on the game and guides you along the way as you head deeper in the witch's lair. There were so many things that were in this game that were so much fun and a little better than Super Mario 64.

Also, when the sequel of this game came out, I was so excited about it... if I could recall... I called my cousin occasionally on the phone (YES BEFORE CELLPHONES I HELD A PHONE!) about certain tricks and areas on the game helping each other out beat the game, but I did notice that the sequel of this game "Banjo-Tooie" was a lot easier than its predecessor.

But the cool thing about the sequel is... YOU CAN MAKE KAZOOIE (The bird) INTO A DRAGON!!!

Which was awesome... and it was interesting how they tried to do the swap n stop by alternating the games simultaneously and being able to use the same items from both games. Their planning was way advance for its time but sadly, that plan never happened due to how the Nintendo 64 worked and it may actually damage your console... >.>"

Anyways, yes this game was one of the best and was one of my inspirations as a kid and hopefully you guys tried it before... if not, then go get yourself an xbox 360 and purchase it on xbox live arcade and give it a try... sadly it won't be the same as laying it on the N64, but at least you can relive the 90s a little bit!

Also they came out with something called Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts.... which isn't as fun as the original, but at least you can create awesome vehicles on it! So I'll leave you with a picture of Nuts & Bolts!

-Lehvorak