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            <div class="Pixel Pieces">17th November 2009</div>
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            <p>Hey, folks. The economy is improving and jobs are appearing here and there. Over the past few months I have been working with Urbansquall, an internet based flash games company. Some projects unfortunately haven't made it to the completed stage, but a couple have reached that seemingly unreachable target.<p>
	    
	    <p>The first of these projects is Urbansquall's "Battalion Arena" an online multiplayer strategy game. I also worked on other games in the Battalion series where I did a number of the art assets including firing animations and part of the customisable avatar graphics. The game can be found on <a href="http://www.kongregate.com/games/urbansquall/battalion-arena">Kongregate.com</a> and is one of the most popular games on the website.</p>

		<p>The second is Ubisoft's <a href="http://tmntgame.us.ubi.com/">Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Double Damage</a> . A small flash game on Ubisoft's website used as a promotional teaser for "TMNT: Smash-Up". The game was one long crunch period but we managed to finish just about on time. The game is also available on Kongregate and Newgrounds.</a>

		<p>In other news, back on pixel joint I haven't yet been able to replicate 1st place pixels of the month, but have managed to get 6th and 2nd. Continuing with the 3D Modelling I have been experimenting with different shaders to improve the visual results of my texturing.</a>

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            <div class="Pixel Pieces">30th June 2009</div>
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            <p>The news of this month is that things are finally starting to look up. It seems like the economy is finding it's feet again, job opportunities are starting to appear and everyone is generally more optimistic. I am no exception. I've been managing to get some freelance work here and there for the last week or two. With the country seemingly on the mend, I'm hoping that more companies are willing to give me a chance.<p>
	    
	    <p>Gusto Games very kindly gave me two weeks at their company to learn the ropes and get a some vital experience of working in the industry. I spent the time learning the ropes and displaying the necessary skills. After an initially daunting week, I settled in nicely by the second and think I did a pretty good job whilst I learned plenty of new skills and time saving shortcuts. Thanks for the the time and help, Gusto!</p>

		<p>Lately most of my work has been 2D for these freelance jobs, however in my spare time I have been continuing to work on models that, even though it's been officially shelved, could easily be used in Nigthblade if it should start up again. Also, this month on the famed Pixel Art site Pixeljoint, I've managed to make top pixel art of the month with my steampunk airship. Considering the amount of fabulous artists on there, I'm very pleased with the achievement. <a href="http://www.pixeljoint.com/2009/06/16/2860/Top_Pixel_Art_-_May_2009.htm">PixelJoint Top 10</a>
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            <div class="Pixel Pieces">16th May 2009</div>
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            <p>After a lack of significant updates on the site, I'm going to fill you all in on what's been happening lately. Unfortunately Nightblade, the Unreal3 mod, has been officially shelved whilst we try to drum up new support for the project. I've been making more asset/environment models for it and will soon have them up on the site. For a solo project I'm working on a Point and Click adventure game in the same style as The Secret of Monkey Island, one of the finest games ever made. For this, I have made some character walk cycles and more background environments. I have updated my portfolio with two new pixel pieces, firstly the king of the cards showing off his poker faces and, secondly, a continuation of my steampunk sprite set. Go and check them out!<p>
	    
	    <p>A games company has kindly offered me a 2 week placement in the beautiful village of Bloxham near Banbury. These are exciting times for this wannabe artist! I start this monday and will be purely focusing on that for the time.</p>
          
            
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