You see, the Catalyst site’s been featured on quite a few design showcases recently (Most Inspired, Best Web Gallery, Smashing Magazine, etc.) and while it’s brought a huge increase in traffic, we haven’t been adding the content that all these new visitors deserve. I’m in the process of writing a tutorial, which I hope to have finished by the end of the week, and I’ve beaten David and Jonathan into agreeing to submit at least one article a month (I’ve said it now guys, don’t make me a liar), so things will get better.

But… that’s not the real reason I’m writing this. Hit the jump to find out more!

As a designer, it always gives me a warm, fuzzy glow when I get good feedback about something I’ve created. It lets me know that I can make things that other people like, too. But for some people, simply dropping me an email or leaving a comment saying, “Hey, nice site!” isn’t enough. Oh no no no, my friend.

Some people like to take my work, my bone-grinding, coding-’til-my-fingers-bleed hard work, and try to pass it off as their own. I hereby name and shame one such wrongdoer!

Since this post was written, I’ve had a civilised discussion with the designer involved and he’s agreed to remove the edited theme, even going so far as to put a nice apology on his site (which he’s since removed, which kind of negates it being on there at all). There’s still a lack of understanding about copyright issues, but I’m glad this situation was resolved so quickly and amicably.

Doppelganger site, come on down!

Oh deary, deary me.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say. So needless to say, I’m extremely flattered. Gotta love the fact that my self-portrait is still on the page. Things you can’t see due to small screengrab size: The pencil’s been removed – poorly – from the top-right of the site leaving a hard edge cut out of the notepaper, and the text on the notepaper sidebar has been erased so scrappily that bits of it are still showing.

You can see a larger version on the Catalyst Studios Flickr page.

Does anyone speak Turkish? Can you let me know what the site’s about? I’m actually quite curious now.

I’ve sent them the following email:

Hi,

it’s come to my attention that you’ve lifted my blog design (www.catalyststudios.co.uk) wholesale, including my own (copyrighted!) illustrations. Please stop using this design as it took me a lot of time and effort to produce.

Yours sincerely,

Mike Armstrong

Perfectly reasonable, I’m sure you’ll agree. Let’s see what happens!

Oh, and a quick note to anyone else who’s trying to rip off my design work: thanks for your interest. I really do appreciate it. But even though you’ve copied all the background images and dependent files to your own server to save me the bandwith (very kind of you), and taken great pains to remove my credits from the top of the CSS file… if you’d really wanted to cover your tracks, you should have removed my Google Analytics tracking code.

Numpties.

I’ll update this post as and when I hear back.

*Edit @ 9:10 pm, 10th June 2008*

I’ve had a reply! This is from the ‘Author’ of the template:

I found that theme on the internet. It’s wordpress themes isn’t it ? So it’s free i think.

Er, no. Here’s my response:

I’m afraid you’re mistaken. While it’s true that it is a theme for Wordpress, it’s a custom one that I coded from the ground up, including all of the CSS. Just because the Wordpress blogging platform is free and Open Source, that doesn’t mean that the themes that people create are automatically free for other people to use without permission.

This theme is my own intellectual property, as are the illustrations (that’s my own self-portrait that’s currently adorning your ‘admin’ post credit). I have NOT given permission for anyone else to use it in any way, modified or otherwise. If you did find this theme up for distribution on a website, I’d be grateful if you could let me know which one so I can contact them directly to prevent this from happening again.

In short, my original request stands. Please cease and desist in your use of my theme on your blog.

Sincerely,

-Mike Armstrong

What will happen next? Oh, the drama! The suspense!

*Edit @ 9:30 pm, 10th June 2008*

I’ve received another email, this one from the info@ that’s listed on the offending site:

Hello.

I found that theme on the internet and i used it. If you look at the

internet carefully you can see your theme template. I changed my theme.

have a nice day.

Hurray! God’s in his Heaven. All’s right with the world.

The only question now is, which website was the template listed on*? Go go gadget Google!

*I don’t really believe this, by the way.

Really I am.

I looked at the date of the last post and realised it’s nearly a month since we last added anything of any substance to the site; the failing is entirely mine as I obviously haven’t whipped the other guys hard enough (or maybe too hard so that their arms fell off, or something) to actually do some work DAMN YOUR EYES!!!!! Jonathan getting Call Of Duty 4 hasn’t really helped as we now spend far too much time failing miserably at Team Deathmatch on XBox Live. Ho hum!

But seriously, we are working on some stuff and we will have something good to show you in a week or two (fingers crossed)… I won’t say too much, but I hope you’ll agree that it was worth waiting for when you eventually see it.

I’ll also try and post a couple of tutorials/process overviews in the coming weeks, and maybe a few character sketches – so keep checking back.

Please.

L-R: Barrington, Maru, Jameson, Yoko and friend

Happy birthday Jonathan!

It’s a bit early, but there you go… :^P

Older and wiser (and realising that you never saw Scotty chucking wayward bits of the Enterprise down the stairs to fix them), I acquired an Xbox. Now, the original Xbox was built like a granite walrus. I remember an old Sony warranty, which casually informed me that the policy was void in the event of nuclear war (no word of a lie, this). The Microsoft warranty told you to hide under the Xbox in the event of nuclear war. And it would still work afterwards. BUT. The very day I sold it on eBay, for a not insubstantial sum of money, the bloody thing packed up. I tried everything with it, shaking it, hitting it, dropping it down the stairs. Mike even took it apart for me. He didn’t know how to fix it. Just took it apart. Anyway, the upshot of this was that I had to write a grovellingly apologetic e-mail to the poor bloke who bought it and refund the money in full. Whilst crying, of course, in a manly way.

Anyway, the final insult. A couple of months ago, being the terminally short of cash bloke that I am, I decided to flog my iPod on eBay. Now, you know what‚Äôs coming here. I tried to charge it before sending it to the buyer and… nothing. I swore at it, took it apart, threatened it in a way of which Jack Bauer would be proud, etc, etc. One apologetic e-mail later, I was poised to throw the thing down the stairs. But then I realised I couldn‚Äôt, because I now live in a flat. So I plugged it in to the dock instead… And it started working again!!!

The thing had broken just long enough so I couldn’t sell it.

And they say technology makes our lives easier. I think we should just chuck it all down the stairs…

As human beings, we’ re conditioned to respond in a certain way to particular stimuli; that’s why a flickering TV image will continually catch your eye (and also why those animated Flash/gif ad banners on some websites are so darn annoying) – our eye is drawn to anything that’s moving in an otherwise static environment. It’s a survival instinct, one that helped us hunt prey in the past and serves us well today by letting us know there’s a bus headed straight for us as we step blithely into traffic. It’s this same basic survival instinct that makes films such as Cloverfield so effective.

You see, at a very base level, humans are afraid of the unknown. This explains why some people can only sleep with the light on – it’s a holdover from the days when we lived in caves and only ventured out after dark if we wanted to be messily devoured by the myriad creatures waiting for us to get just that one step closer to their pointy bits. It’s why things that go bump in the night seem so petrifying. It’s our minds trying to tell us that something’s not right, to get somewhere where we can turn on all the lights and lock the damn door. It’s this fear that the makers of Cloverfield and Lost (to mention just a couple of examples) have exploited so well. What we don’t see is so much better at getting under our skin than what our eyeballs wrench from the screen… or page.

Why is that?

It’s because our minds are given free reign to fill in the blanks. Now, I didn’t stand there and do a vox pop after the screening, but I reckon I could have gotten at least five or six different (and conflicting) descriptions of the big bad monster from Cloverfield from the first ten people I asked. It’s not shown explicitly on screen for very long, and most of the time it’s at center stage there’s a lot of other stuff going on so you never get a good look at it (the intentionally dodgy camerawork doesn’t really help matters either – it’s essentially 90 minutes of Handycam footage). The same can be said for the thing in the jungle in Lost. It’s what we don’t see that freaks us out, because the source of peril instantly takes on the characteristics
of our worst fears.

So what does all this have to do with comics, then?

Dave Gibbons used the same template for every page in Watchmen

Each panel on a comic page is separated from its neighbours with a strip of dead space – or ‘gutter’. This allows a canny artist to control the pacing at which the story is told – a masterful example of this can be found in Watchmen, where Dave Gibbons uses the same basic 9-panel layout for every page, but merges panels on some pages to linger on certain scenes. This ‘dead space’ is a mask, a shroud that hides transitions of angle, space and time. Comics are a visual medium, there’s no arguing that, but the gutter allows the reader to imagine the exact circumstances between each panel; by not being explicit about what’s shown to the reader, the writer and artist can let their audience’s imaginations run wild, and each member of that audience could image something different.

I think that’s part of the reason that artists like Frank Miller (300, Sin City) and Mike Mignola (Hellboy) are so popular – their work makes heavy use of the contrast between light and shade, whilst remaining light on detail – something that allows the reader to ‘fill in the blanks’ themselves, in turn creating a more engaging experience.

It’s the artists and writers that produce work like this that keep me interested in comics. It’s the screenwriters and directors that produce films like Cloverfield that keep me going back to the cinema (even if the film itself wasn’t that great in my opinion). It’s the countermovement to the dumbing-down of modern society – showing a little faith in your audience, allowing them to have a bit of mental free reign, and using their natural instincts to enhance their enjoyment and understanding of the piece.

It really does make a difference. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be hiding behind the sofa with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ears.

The title for this article is taken from Scott McCloud, who explains the effective use of the gutter in comics far better than I ever could. Check out his book Understanding Comics to see what I’m on about. Top image taken from Gears of War ‘Mad World’ trailer – ¬© Epic/Microsoft. Watchmen ¬© Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons/DC Comics.

A long time ago on a PC much much slower than this…

Okay, I’m starting with Faster Than Light. It’s a bit of a space opera spoof. With androids, holograms, aged admirals and smug navigators. That can’t steer. It did start out as deadly serious with a hint of humour, but the hint was destined to grow. AND GROW. I’m not going to include the old, old stuff because it’s quite rubbish. This is the (unfinished) script for issue #1 that inspired Mike to draw the sketches in the Faster Than Light section of the gallery. Length: medium, but it’s funny. Happy acrobating:

FTL – ISSUE #1

Next up I’m going to include a couple of examples of drafts from Humanity: I Think, Therefore I Am. This story has been with me for years. And I’m no closer to finishing it. It’s a story that was originally moulded in the narrative style of manga, but became more and more western as it evolved (it’s still set in Japan, though). It examines in some detail the relationship between man and machine and the question “what does it mean to be alive?” There are three parts, the second of which is I Think, Therefore I Am, but in true George Lucas style I Think, Therefore I Am would be the first to be published. I have put some of my deepest thoughts into this piece, but unfortunately cannot post a completed issue script here as they’re all so out of date. What I am posting are the two plans (kind of first drafts – getting the sequence of events right – that sort of thing). The first one has already been posted earlier in the news section. Length: short. Just one issue.

humanity-pdf.pdf

The second one is the original plan that I wrote in about 2000-2003. It gets to about two pages away from the end of the whole story and I still think that some of the scenes are magic. But some are far too obvious… Length: MAMMOTH! (about 8000 words!)

humanity-old-plan.pdf

Okay, if you’re still with us after reading all that (I wish), let’s move on.

Not being the type to do one thing at a time, I began to write the first part of Humanity, which is called I Dream Of Humanity. It’s about the main antagonist in I Think, Therefore I Am, but is set before she became so embittered. This story would fill in all the blanks, and answer the questions about ANI’s origins. But although it’s technically the first part, it would be published last. Don’t ask me why. It’s a writer thing… I think. Anyway, what I’m going to post here is the beginning of I Dream Of Humanity both in book form and in comic script form – they are different as they represent different phases of the creative process. Length: short.

i-dream-of-humanity-book1.pdf i-dream-of-humanity-issue-1a.pdf

Also, here are some songs/poems that would be written by a tormented ANI.

error1.pdf run-back-home1.pdf

Changing genre completely now, we have So Now They Are Free. David and I were fascinated by second world war history, but we’d read/seen far too many war stories set in this period where the heroes were far too clean cut. They didn’t get bogged down in the horror of it all, they just get on with it. Kill as many of the Hun as they can and get back home to Blighty. Or foil the evil Krauts and get back to the land of the free… (of course there are a few notable exceptions to all this eg: Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Downfall, etc…). Anyway, David and I wanted to explore the dramatic effects the horrors of war could have on a man, but set it in the WW2 era of conflict. You see, the second world war was always seen as a just war – we were fighting the Nazis, who were undoubtedly evil. The narratives of films set in the period often reflect this with a clear good and evil balance. Of course, as we all know, things can get a little more complicated than that… The first file I’m posting here is the first part of issue one. Unusually for me this is laid out more in novel-style prose. Length: short.

So Now They Are Free Issue#1 plan.pdf

Next I’m going to add some concept musings from the piece. Also a plan of the missions that the main protagonist – Andy McBride – would have to undertake. Length: short.

mission-plan1.pdf remorse1.pdf

telegram1a.pdf telegram2a1.pdf

What I have left in my folder are a couple of concept pieces. One of them evolved into a small script, one did not. I’ll start with Nanoworlds. This was a science fiction piece, set on and around an alien planet that had been colonised by humans. Half the population were human, half alien. Relations between the two parties were strained to such an extent that the United Nations Of Earth Starfleet or UNES had deployed two giant military spacecraft in orbit of the planet. The story arcs followed the lives of several different protagonists (hence nanoworlds – the micro “world” of each protagonist) as the situation around the planet gradually worsened, eventually resulting in the declaration of war. What follows is two kind of reportage, journalistic pieces that I wrote to outline the concept in my head. Length: medium.

events-leading-to-war1.pdf nanoworlds-report1.pdf

And finally…

This is a short piece that Mike and I originally intended to enter in a StripSearch competition for Dark Horse Comics. The first PDF is the outline of the idea. Next are the comic pages that resulted from the idea. It’s missing the last two pages, which I never wrote because Mike didn’t like the idea of drawing one of the scenes (you’ll know which one when you get to it). It’s about a young girl who is institutionalised. But as the piece goes on, we realise that she may not be mad – that what she did may just be nightmares in her head, and that the doctors of the institution may be another part of the nightmare. Length: medium.

Concept

page-one.pdf page-two.pdf page-three.pdf page-four.pdf page-five.pdf page-six.pdf

*Edit* – art for page 1 is now available in the gallery (under ‘Sketchbook’):

Well that’s all from me for now. What’s above represents years of ideas, of frantic typing, of frustrating writers block. Some of the characters have really got under my skin. But I’m not sure I’ve found my magnum opus yet. I’m still looking, and having ideas all the time.

I’m off to buy a new keyboard – the keys have worn away on this one. Peace. Out.

Anyway, the film was/is fantastic – another Coen triumph which sits a lot closer to Fargo in tone and style than anything else in the brothers’ oevre (I cannot believe I just used that word). It’s an adaptation of a novel by Cormac McCarthy which I’ve not read, but may just have to seek out having seen the film. But the thing that struck me most about it was the sound of wind that permeated each scene in testament to the film’s desolate Southern Texas setting.

I should really have twigged when the film moved into the larger town and city sets – the texture of the sound never changed, even when all the on-screen action was clearly in a well-insulated Texan office building. Turns out that it wasn’t intentional sound design after all – just a dodgy air conditioner about 10 feet behind our seats.
It really did add a note of bleakness to the film and, as my ears adapted to it, it blended into the film’s soundtrack to weave a subtle thread of unease throughout. The film’s soundtrack is incredibly minimalistic, with spot effects and very little ambient noise being the order of the day; the original score apparently accounts for 16 minutes out of a 180-minute film.

To be honest, this story really doesn’t go anywhere (much like the film itself, except there’s less bloodshed in my yarn) – but I highly recommend the movie. Just make sure you’ve got a clapped-out AC unit behind you when you’re watching it.

Anyway, take a look. The gallery will be updated with new artwork on a (hopefully) regular basis… and I’ll make sure we get a few more coloured pieces in there.

This is the first time I’ve seen a 3-D Virtual Reality concept that would actually work in a home videogame scenario. It looks inexpensive to manufacture, and I can think of several ways that this could be used to create something totally unique – think Time Crisis but physically moving your body rather than pressing a pedal to hide behind objects (I remember playing a Konami lightgun game in an arcade in Luton a few years back called Police 911 which used a pressure plate to similar effect).

You’d still need to use the nunchuck to move around – running in place is just a bit too silly, even for your average Wii gamer – but if a developer can pull this off in a proper gameplay environment, the Wii might just win over a whole new legion of fans and become a true next-generation machine. It’s certainly something I can’t see being possible on either XBox or PS3 (at least as they stand right now).

Can’t take the credit for this one – found via Penny Arcade.