Zachary Earp's College Blog

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese video game composer, most famous for his numerous compositions for the Final Fantasy franchise. Uematsu began work on Final Fantasy in 1985 and continued until 2004 when he left Square Enix and went freelance, forming his own music company, Dog Ear Records. He has continued to compose music for Square Enix as a freelancer and has also composed music for other video games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Linked here is a video where Uematsu explains how he composed one of his most famous pieces, “One-Winged Angel” from Final Fantasy VII. Given the popularity of the song, it has been covered countless times, such as this awesome organ performance.

“One-Winged Angel” is one of my favorite songs of all time and helped spark a love for video game music, especially that of Final Fantasy. Uematsu’s work was a prominent part of my teenage years and still influences my tastes, interests, and musical style today.

Naoki Urasawa is a Japanese manga artist who is most famous for his works Monster and 20th Century Boys. He is considered to be one of the artists who drastically altered the history of manga and has received a number of awards for his contributions to the medium. Urasawa’s art style is notably realistic and lacks many of the stereotypical artistic conventions of manga. Several of Urasawa’s works have been made into anime including Yawara!, Master Keaton, and Monster. In addition, 20th Century Boys was adapted into a three-part live-action movie series. Urasawa is also a hobbyist musician, performing vocals and guitar. Linked here is a video of his performance of “Kenji’s Song”, a piece he wrote for the lead protagonist of 20th Century Boys.

In my opinion, Urasawa’s Monster is one of the greatest stories ever told and its main villain is one of the most interesting, well-written, and legitimately terrifying villains I’ve ever seen (case in point). I have learned a lot about storytelling by analyzing Urasawa’s works and have implemented many of these lessons into my own projects. As such, Naoki Urasawa is one of my idols in regards to the art of storytelling.

Peter Hollens is an American singer/songwriter, music producer, and entrepreneur. Peter is predominantly an Acappella musician, creating music with only the sounds made with the human voice (and some claps). He releases music videos on a regular basis on his YouTube channel, which has over 1.7 million subscribers. Peter was one of the first creators to join the Patreon platform and has since become an advisor for the company.

Peter often collaborates with other musicians on YouTube such as Lindsey Stirling, Mike Tompkins, and many others. The majority of Peter’s music is covers of other songs but he has released two original songs over the course of his career – “Ashland’s Song” and “December Song”.

Peter is easily one of the most talented and professional musicians on YouTube. His warm, outgoing, and honest personality and genuine love for other people have won him the support of many, including myself. Peter’s work has supported me during tough times and has served as an inspiration for getting into music creation. Some of my favorite songs of his are “The Parting Glass”, “I Won’t Give Up”, and “I See Fire”.

Crispin Freeman is an American voice actor who has played roles in numerous media including Japanese anime, American animated television shows, and video games. Some of his most famous roles include Alucard in Hellsing, Itachi Uchiha in Naruto, Roy Harper in Young Justice, and Winston in Overwatch. In addition to acting, Freeman also teaches classes, provides workshops, and gives performance lectures to students in Los Angeles. Linked here is his website, called Voice Acting Mastery, where he provides various tips and resources to aspiring voice actors and others interested in the field.

I myself have done voice acting for projects in the past and Crispin Freeman was one of the inspirations for me getting into this type of creative expression. I’ve often tried to emulate his style while practicing in the past. Who wouldn’t want to be able to sound like this or this?

Tetsuya Nomura is a Japanese creative lead for Square Enix, the game company behind such franchises as Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts. Nomura has served in a number of roles throughout his career. His most notable roles include character design, concept artist, game designer/director, and film director. Linked here is a video of Nomura sketching Cloud Strife, the lead protagonist of Final Fantasy VII. Nomura’s art style is very distinctive and is heavily influenced by another long-time Square Enix artist, Yoshitaka Amano. This video details some of the creative processes behind Nomura’s creation of a number of his most well-known characters.

Nomura’s art style is one of the primary components of what make Final Fantasy games look very distinctive. His use of vivid colors on many of his characters really draws attention to Nomura’s attention to detail. Personally, Nomura’s art style is one of my favorites and his many character designs throughout the years have inspired me to create characters of my own.

As a second semester junior, it’s a little late to make a 4-year degree plan. I’ve already completed most of my requirements as it is. With that in mind, I’ll describe what my plan is for the remainder of my time at St. Edward’s University.

Next spring I plan on taking Game Design Studio 2, Computer Graphics & Animation, an IGST Elective (mostly likely Fiction Workshop), History and Evolution of Global Processes, and Stage & Screenwriting 2.

The following fall I will be finishing up my remaining credits by taking Digital Media Production Planning, Contemporary World Issues, and another IGST elective while also completing my senior project.

At that point, I will be eligible to graduate but will refrain from doing so in order to study abroad in Japan during the following spring. Upon returning from Japan I will officially graduate and be finished with my college career.

1. I think the strongest aspect of the work is the structure of the bottles themselves. For the most part, the geometry of the bottles looks realistic and representative of their real-world counterparts.
2. I think the weakest aspect of the work is the lack of detail on the center bottle. The giant white label instantly draws attention to itself and slightly overpowers the rest of the work.
3. In my opinion, the only way that this work could be strengthened conceptually, given its nature, would be to adjust the initial orientation and arrangement of the bottles. This is most prevalent in the left bottle, the position of which is noticeably different than its companions.
4. From a technical standpoint, the amount detail could use some work. As I mentioned above, I think the lack of detail on the center bottle leaves the work feeling slightly unfinished.

Bottle Drawing Project – Drawing 1:

1. The goal of this assignment was to translate the arrangement of the bottles photographed in the first picture onto paper. My final result is shown in the second photo. The purpose of this assignment was to demonstrate the skills we had been developing over the course of the semester.
2. I went about approaching this assignment the same way I had approached similar assignments from the same class – namely, doing what the assignment required. Since we were given the task of drawing real-world objects, the process was pretty straightforward and required very little use of creative liberty. Given the mechanical (as opposed to interpretive/expressive) nature of this assignment, there was little room for taking creative liberties or approaching the task at hand in a drastically different way.

Yoji Shinkawa was (until 2015) the lead character designer, mechanical designer, and art director of the Metal Gear video game franchise. In this video, Shinkawa discusses his experience working on the Metal Gear franchise over the years. His concept art is usually done in the paint-and-paper medium (or its digital equivalent) and has a very stylistic and flavorful appeal. Linked here is a short video of Shinkawa painting a piece live.

Many of Shinkawa’s works use a small color palette, allowing for special emphasis on certain details of a piece (often the eyes). Something about Shinkawa’s art style makes his pieces look simultaneously sketchy and refined, an aesthetic I often try to go for in my own art.

 

 

While technically not before coming to college (given that I am a junior), this piece is one of my personal favorites. To me, this picture symbolizes everything that has occurred throughout my college years as I have matured and become more self-aware. I still have a long way to go and to that end, I plan on drawing another self-portrait sometime in the near future.

I also think this picture is a good representation of my style of drawing, which includes a large amount of detail in certain features (hair) and total lack of detail in others (eyes, nose, mouth). I like the personality this picture has and how it is still obviously a picture of me without giving away exactly what my face looks like. Who doesn’t like a little bit of mystery?