Fateful Encounter

Sohnansu

This past Sunday I was lucky enough to meet Mike Fitzgerald, who does a number of things but one of them is work for Pokemon USA. Specifically he’s responsible for designing the pre-constructed decks here in American as well as the rarity system for each new set.

From what he explained Japan has  a different system of commons, uncommons,  rares and all that stuff. So what he does is collect several of the Japanese set releases, put it together and reconstruct the rarity. I didn’t get all the details but I would love to know just what the differences are and what type of work goes into planning out a new American release.

I did get a better understanding of the decks, that he is given the two ’stars’ (like Rhyperior and Electavire) and then gets to build everything from there, like what other Pokemon get included and what type of energies to build on and strategies to come up with. He also play tests them extensively to ensure they’re balanced and actually work.

Oh yeah, he used to work for some wizards and while there he released his own game called Wyvern. Pokemon USA is a part-time job for him, the rest of the time he works in radio.

I have an interest in designing games myself as well as being a Pokemon fan, so I had a blast learning all this! Its also glorious because not that long ago my life was hell. Now I’m starting to live my dream and its taking me to most wonderful places and offering me the chance to meet the most incredible people. Who could have ever known?!

12 Days of Christmas

As the string of fall and winter holidays were approaching I was curious to see what kind of activities a group of creative people like Periscope Studio would be doing. I found out for Hallowe’en theres a big huge haunting on Hawthorne and Thanksgiving brought Germans to the table.

I was especially interested to see what kind of Christmas cheer would sprinkle its way through the hearts of these people. And one exciting event is thanks to Laura Hudson from Comics Alliance to have Periscope Studio do an illustration representing each day for the song  ‘12 days of Christmas’. Amazingly, I got to do the 1st day which you can see- HERE! It’s going to be great as each day brings new and fantastic art leading up to Christmas this year.

Oh, only a year or two ago I decided to find out exactly when the 12 days of Christmas are and learned that the first day is Christmas and that it ends on January 6th!

Revolution: Dream Part 1 Finished

I forgot to post the last page this past Sunday, but it’s posted now.  And there’s oh so much to absorb from it.

That completes part 1. I would love to continue on regularly with part 2 but now I’m working on a professional project for Dark Horse Presents. I’m putting all of my focus on trying to establish  a career for the forseeable future.

Providing for my survival by using creativity and artwork. Oh, what a wonderful possibility!