Halo, Halo everywhere...and not a game to play.

The title is a lame twist on the famous "water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink" line (it might been from a Shakespeare play, but I'm not sure). Sadly for me I can't play Halo 3 since I don't own a XBox 360 and have no plans to buy one. Maybe when it's released for the PC (Microsoft "Games for Vista" line), I'll have a Intel Mac by that time and get a chance to play it that way, a year or two down the line.

In any case, Halo 3 was released this week and you had to have been living under rock or in a deep coma (or both) not to have been exposed to the hype and fan madness. Don't get me wrong I like Halo, very much! As a card carrying comic book, sci-fi, video gaming nerd-geek, I think it deserves all the attention it gets. Congratulations to all the creative artist, animators, game programmers and everyone connected to it, for a job well done.

So, in honor of Halo 3's release, here's a retrospective of Dragonfly Flipz concept pieces done based on the game taken from earlier posts here, or on other sites. I know my Game Flipz™ books would have been a great addition to their licensed product line, but it wasn't meant to be, I guess.

(P.S. I also wanted to test the Blogger movie upload feature to see if it's image quality was better than youtube, which sucks!)






This the alternate cover for the Halo 3 Game Flipz book. I ended up using it for the title page.

Here's the first pages of the Halo 3 Game Flipz book. Clip on the image to enlarge:


Here's the fake ad I did just before the official Halo laser tag toys were announced. I still think Hasbro's LazerTag product would have been a better choice. Hasbro has much better design and higher quality than Jazman, who will be making the official Halo laser tag stuff.


Here's the official Halo Laser Tag blasters coming out next month. (If the high prices I see posted for these are true, they'll be a real rip-off! I'll blog about that later, when they're released)



I actually picked up two Halo Mini-Pin sets of the weapons and some Wizkids Action Clix figures. I think they're cool, and reasonably priced. Here's a photo of the pins with my Halo Game Flipz books.

As you can see they would be a nice bundle. If you think so too, post a message to Bungie's fan board and link to this blog.

So, now that I've added my load of stuff to the Halo media overkill pile, enjoy.

Maryann Kovalski - Children's Book Illustrator

The great thing about internet is it helps people contact with each other. It's great for keeping in touch with current friends, and associates. It helps you make new contacts, around the world. And best of all, it helps you re-contact with old friends. That was the case with Maryann Kovalski and myself.

Maryann is a talented illustrator, and sometimes writer, of children books with many published works to her credit. She also happens to have been a friend, and classmate, of mine at the School of Visual Arts, who I lost contact with for over twenty-odd years. As it happened, two years ago, I noticed a item about her in the SVA Alummi journal with a her email address. I emailed her, half thinking, "would she even remember me from those days?" To my pleasant surprise, she did, and we both have enjoyed the warm renewal of our friendship. It's a joy to exchange tales of families, careers, and just "bits of life's journey" from the different paths we've travel since art school. Now, that I live in Rochester, NY, and she lives in Toronto, Canada, we may get to see each other before another twenty or so years pass.

So, do yourself a favor and visit her website and marvel at the great books she has done. Tell her I sent you, and then seek out and buy her books. They great for sharing and reading to your kids. "Omar on Ice" is one of my favorite.
maryannkovalski.net

I'm adding her web site to my links lists, also. You should do the same if you have a blog.

Keep up the good work Maryann. See you soon.

Arts and Crafts for Gamers -Warhawk Paper Model -

I was thinking of doing a blog, joking called, "Arts and Craft for Gamers' because of the Dragonfly Game Flipz Books I do and the "Pop-up card" did for "Gears of War" and "Halo Wars". The most common reaction to the Pop-up Cards were "What the F**K?!!!" But at least Game Flipz Books are generally well recieved. So, what a cool surprise to come across this paper Model for the fighter from PS3 Warhawk game. I hope this is a new start of a new trend, and maybe I had something to do with it. (If, that true I hope someone from Sony will let me know).

The model will be a great rainy day project. My boys love building paper models. I'll post a picture after they, or I put one together.

Here's the link to download your copy:

Warhawk Paper Craft

Gears of War Pop-Up Card


Halo Wars 3D Card


So, even in this advance computer age, paper is not dead yet.

Enjoy

Remembering Joe Zawinul, Jazz keyboard master

It was truly a shock to hear today about the passing of the great jazz musician, Joe Zawinul, best known as co-founder of Weather Report. With co-founder sax player,Wayne Short, Joe Zawinul's Weather Report, blazed trail across the music landscape that many followed but few could equal. In '70 they were vanguard of Jazz Fusion, that hybrid and, when played by lesser musicians, bastard child of "Rock" and "Jazz". But Weather Reports music still holds up, their tune "Birdland" has become a true classic, due in large part to the stunning bass work of the late Jaco Pastorius.

What I remenber most about Weather Report was that at the time I started listening to them in the '70's, I was solidly into guitar base groups, Jimi Hendrix Experience, John Mclaughlin, Jeff Beck, Cream, etc. But, Weather Report was always on my turntable (I stll have those vinyl records, folks!), and they didn't have a lead guitarist in the group! Their music was so good it just grabbed you and shock you until you fell to the floor, a happy heap, dazed and amazed.

Of course, Weather Report wasn't Joe's first band. He played with along list of jazz greats, likes Cannonball Andderly, who Joe wrote the classic Jazz tune "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" for (one of the most soulful tunes ever) and Miles Davis. It was in Miles Davis' "Bitch Brew" session that the seeds of Weather Report were sown. Check the band members list and see how many jazz fusion bands grow from it's personal.

With the passing of Joe Zawinul, and the recent passing of jazz great drummer Max Roach, the music world and our life are a little poorer. But the pure, bright, joy of their music will enrich the lives of all those who take to the time to embrace it with a open heart, mind, and ears.

The Joe's family I offer my most humble condolences. He will always live in our hearts.

Here's a Live performance of Weather Reports' "Birdland"



Here's solo guitarist form Youtube doing a "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy".


Enjoy, and peace.

Greeting from Rochester, NY

To Friends & Family,

Greeting from Rochester NY.

I'm still not totally settled. We're moving into our Town House, next week, so I'm sending this email from my father-in-laws's computer. (My computer is still on route from LA with all my email addresses on it). Everything is going fine, I'm happy to be away from LA. I'm looking forward to diving into my own projects, Dragonfly Flipz and others, full time, and getting back to drawing. In the meantime, my family and I are adjusting to our change of lifestyles. The kids have started school, which they like a lot, plus they have made a couple of new friends, already.

Once, I'm settled in, I'll post updates and pictures. Friends and family can send me emails to my (dfly) address you already have, that's not changing. I can read them through Web Mail.

Let's keep in touch. My best to everyone.

Best regards,

Dennis

BTW: My birthday's tomorrow, Sept. 10, so send me a e-card. (57 yrs, wow!! Time to start pricing that cool walker with the "racing stripes" and bicycle bell. AARP discounts, anyone?)

Free Halo 3 Game Flipz Download

In response to the people who just don't get the whole "flip book" thing, but really, to thank all those people who do "get it", and like my Dragonfly Flipz movies, I've posted a small Game Flipz Demo for download on my website.

Dragonflyent.net



Just click on the Halo 3 Game Flipz Book with the Flamethrower cover. Then, download the .pdf file, print it out, cut the pages out, assemble in order, staple and flip. There you have it , your first Dragonfly Game Flipz to enjoy.

This is a simple one sided flip book. Normally, I like to make two sided ones only, but that's a little more complex, so let's start with this one. It was designed for those pre-cut business card sheets. I advise printing it on card stock or brochure paper (I used Glossy HP Brochure Paper). But, doing so means cutting out the pages by hand. Reverse the last page, Pg. 40, to became the back cover. Use two staples from a heavy duty stapler(a plain office stapler may not be strong enough) to keep the pages from twisting.

And here's some advance tips: Laminate the front and back cover pages (image side only) with those stick-on lamination sheets for protecting I.D. cards and such. That keeps the covers from being ruined by the oils in the fingers. Plus it gives the book a more polished look.

Those who "get it", please show it the guys who don't, who leave post messages like, "...pointless" and "..why not just watch the video?" I'll try to make a movie of the version of the flip book, but I'm in the process of moving , so time is short. You can leave a comment here or when I post the movie.

Enjoy.

Killzone 2 (E3 -2007) Game Flipz Movie Posted

Finally, I got to post my Dragonfly Game Flipz™ book, featuring one of the latest trailer for Killzone 2 (E3 - 2007)for the PS3. This is follow up to my first Killzone 2 Flipz book for E3 2005 trailer. posted 9 months ago. For now, remember this is a Concept Demo and not for sale!



There was so much great action in this new Killzone trailer, I needed to try a slightly different format this time around, 5 panels for flipping pages instead of 4. Actually after I as started to layout the book from the first new trailer released, Gametrailers.com post two additional Killzone trailers with more action. So, I took action from the three different trailers to tell an edited version of the whole mission. My 5 panel format was intended for a larger flipz book size 5" x 7", that way the action panels remain the same size as the 3 1/2" x 5" mini-books. But at the last minute I decide to print them at the mini-book size, so I could have 4 instead of 2 for the same price. Also, I was curious to see how how the 5 panel format work in a mini-book. I'm not sure Killzone was the right choice for the 5 panel min-book format because the images are so dark and complex. I simpler image (flash animation for example) might had worked better. Add that to the poor quality of the youtube movie, I must admit I'm a very disappointed in the youtube video quality. It looks like a muddy mess. My original upload file was much clearer. See the image below. (Click on image for larger view)



Somehow the the youtube compression of the video really kills all the detail in the movie. I have to figure out how upload better looking videos, because it bugs me to no end to see my books looking so crappy, and muddy, that you can't see the image details. Sorry, everyone I'll try to do better in the future.

As always you comments and feedback are welcomed.