Behind the Scenes

THE GROENING TIMELINE

LIFE IN HELL

Life in hell was Matt Groenings first comic strip,it debuted in 1977.Life in hell is about three rabits Binky,Sheba, And Bongo along with a gay couple named Akbar and Jeff.There are 8 books in the series Work is hell,school is hell,love is hell, childhood hell, Akbar and jeff’s guide to life,road to hell,and the big book of hell

The simpsons is one of the most popular cartoons ever made first pitched on the Tracy Ullman show in 1987 with the first official episode coming out in 1989 the show has spanded to 34 seasons with no inntention of stoping.The simpsons is about a crazy representation of the modern family.

SIMPSONS

FUTURAMA

Futurama is Matt Groenings 2 cartoon it was first made in 1999,it features a group of charachters from the future it stars a robot named Bender an alien lila a human fry and more.There where 7 seasons made before the cancelation in 2013.

DISENCHANTMENT

Disenchantment is the newest Matt groening cartoon starting in 2017 and has spanded over 4 seasons with more to come disenchantment follows the adventures of princess Bean,the elf Elfo, and the demon Luci.

Behind the Scenes

The programing, graphics and animation it takes to make the best video games By Minka Franco

When thinking of video games, most people only care about the gameplay and experience. But what they don’t think about is what it takes to make that possible. The very best games are the ones that are not only fun to play, but are also fun to look at. There is a lot that goes into making great looking games. It takes large teams dedicated to areas like art creation, animation and programming. Elias Lozano is an Art Director at Scopely. He said to make great looking games, you need to have strong art direction. “An Art Director in video games is responsible for making sure the graphics you see are of the highest quality, consistent, and creates some sort of emotional connection or resonates with the audience.”Elias said. He also said that there are steps to making this happen. Teams take creative risks and make mistakes in order to define their art pillars. “Art Pillars are the themes that are weaved through the game. They will rally the art team around a single vision. These inspirations can come from other video games, movies, fine arts or any area that can help define what the art and animation should be like.“ Elias said. But it’s not always just about art. To make great looking games, it requires great teamwork and devotion. “It’s not enough to just be a really good artist. A really good art director also needs to be

good at scheduling, delegating, running teams and managing people’s careers. It involves personality types, paperwork and spreadsheets. It’s a mixture of creative and management.” Elias said. But it’s not always easy to be creative. It can be challenging to decide what works best for the project and deciding what looks good or getting people to agree on things. “Art is extremely subjective. There is no such thing as absolute beauty. So the hardest thing is getting people to agree. It’s a mixture of risk taking and just sticking your neck out and going for a look you believe in. You’ll be challenged in all directions. But sometimes you need that challenge, it will shake you out of your comfort zone and you’ll find something bigger and better than what you started with.” Elias said. Once the art is created, it’s up to the animator to bring it to life. Ray Pena is Animation Director at Moontower VFX. Making things move well is critical to

making believable and fun video games. It’s a complex process that requires the use of lots of sophisticated software. “We use the 3D software called Maya, sometimes we use 3DStudioMax, and Unreal for our 3D work. For compositing, we use After Effects and sometimes we use Nuke. And sometimes

Photo Courtesy of Elias Lozano

“Gameplay is king.” -Elias Lozano