Elderflower champagne...

Its summer and brewing time.

Finally found time to up the brewing game and label some bottles properly.

Stamped wax seals hand inked labels. All unique. All tasty.

Apples, Games, Pixels & Nudity + Illustration, Animation & more Games too

Another speed paint

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long time no see

I haven't posted here in quite a while... lots of exciting things going on at the moment.

Cavendish is really really close to complete - time to start work on the promo site. I'll be posting updates and screen shots soon. Not looking forward to recording video tutorial unless I can find someone else to do the voice over...

PixelBeard games is going really well - had some unexpected press coverage!

Anyway here's an hour speed paint.

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Pixel Beard Games

I started making videogames again!

I decided that it would make sense to keep my videogame 'PixelBeard' posts separate... So if you'd like to peek inside the game making process come check out the PixelBeard blog.

I'd really appreciate followers/comments/feedback it all helps keep me motivated! Plus I'd like to invite everyone to take part in a pole and help decided a future game's genre.

I thought this would be a good opportunity to post some work too... PixelBeard logo progress & ideas.



Initially I wanted to make a pixel with a beard logo and render it in a demoscene-esque manner. Harking back to retro logos like Psygnosis's (old school brilliance). I'm sure it would have been a mistake though - I opted to keep it simple and went with a standard base size of 16x16 pixels for the core logo - most of the time you'll see it scaled up but it works small too.

I'll definitely do the more impressive rendering style for a later game load screen or something but a logo needs to be simplistic. Preferably survive being reproduced in black and white. Plus I wanted it to be suitably low res. I do love my pixels...

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The geekiest thing i've ever done

100 1000 1111 10000 10111 101010

Yeah I'm a geek.

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Cavendish Logo/Icon

Worked on this last night. Took a while to get it to look right but I'm pretty happy with it now - we'll see how I feel tomorrow...

All Photoshop - did look at vectoring it to go with the current icon trends but the details on the cutlery would have been lost...

Anyway its for Cavendish CMS (see my last post). If you're wondering why there is a silver fork, knife and spoon on a napkin read on, do read on.

I've based Cavendish's branding around the idea of an old English butler. Cavendish is an online assistant. He (is it ok to refer to inanimate objects you've created by name and gender? Usually I'd say yes, I name my pixel characters and drawings, but with a program it seems odd. For some reason 'Cavendish' is ok but 'he' seems to far. Cavendish is both more inamimate and animate than a picture. It/He does things yet has no face to put the name too...) helps web novices, or anyone really, to maintain their website. Hopefully meaning they can't accidentally remove content or destroy the look of their site.

Anyway I've always liked the idea that an experienced butler, perhaps Jeeves, Alfred or Humphries , might know more about being gentry than his employers. He knows the etiquette for everything. When to wear what, what to serve when. So that's the basic idea behind Cavendish (Except he's not a prick).

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Cavendish b3.0

Here's a little glimpse of the latest version of Cavendish my Flash based CMS (Content Management System).

Its basically an online application that allows users to edit their website's content. I'll post later this week detailing Cavendish's feature set (It's surprising versatile with b2.0 running an online store already).

I'm currently building beta version 3.0 - quite a few improvements being made, mostly behind the scenes, but noticeably the GUI is being streamlined.

I'm also finally getting round to implementing an automated publishing function that generates a simple HTML only site. This will allow universal access to the core content. So mobile devices and public computers (with no flash player installed) will be able to view the site and it'll make the sites fully search engine indexable.


[This is the b3.0 HTML editor]

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My life of games (& computers & geekyness) Pt. i

I was reminiscing recently about great games I've played...

So here in some semi-chronological sense is a guide to my life (I played a lot more but these were the friends who's passing I lament most);

Pt I: My Dad's Apple Macintosh Classic, Apple Macintosh Plus, and Apple Macintosh SE.

Check out the awesomeness that is early Macintosh mouse.

? Inigo Get's Out
Very early kid's game made with Hypercard I think. I used to spend hours making my own similar games.

Warlock
So very cool.
Stunt Copter
Casual gaming, the modern phenomena?
LIFE and DEATH
This one was my brother's, I never really understood it - as far as I remember I never got past the first patient. It scared me. A lot... surprisingly enough my brother's now a doctor
Fokker Triplane
Another of my brothers impossibly hard games
Artillery
Fantastic multiplayer. Seconded only just by the one game I can't remember the title of... Maybe an edit to come when I talk to my brother or look through an old cupboard!
Sitting Duck
Pretty sweet. I remember the noises being class.
? Periapt
? Trek

Multiplayer back then...

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Vic Reeves, he certainly knows how to dance!

So I haven't pixelled in quite a while. Actually it must be pretty close to a year.

One site that I like to frequent is pixeljoint. They often run interesting little weekly challenges. This week's was to make a 48x48 pixel, 8 frames, dance animation. Eh voila:

TOOLS: Photoshop & ImagaeReady
12 colours (1 is transparency). Took a little while to do this but I think I've eased back in the pixelling lifestyle. I heart pixels.

Its referenced from the outro of 'The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer.' Check it out if you haven't. But its a perhaps fat and balding Reeves...

"Um dede du dedu dede dum"

and the slightly trippy version:

TOOLS: Photoshop & ImagaeReady

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Where else to look

Here are some other places I frequent;

willfaulds.com [My professional portfolio]
willfaulds.deviantart.com [If you're interested in who influences me or who I think is awesome come here]
exquisiteremains.blogspot.com [Charlotte Traynor & I make a multitude of corpses!]

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What's all this blog about

Good question.
Basically willfaulds.blogspot.com supports my portfolio @ willfaulds.com


So what's the difference?

Well, it differs from willfaulds.com in that it shows my ramblings, doodles and unfinished works. Generally willfaulds.com doesn't.

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Genesis

Its time to get active... starting tomorrow ^_^

I am the Beard. I am the Pixel. I am the Walrus

Pixel Portraits [Retrospective]

Old Work
DATE: January 2008

Pixel Portraits
TOOLS: Photoshop
These were so fun to do! and yes fine I'm a narcissist...

More info can be found here

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Voodoo Badger [Retrospective]

Old Work
DATE: October 2006

Voodoo Badger, the danceoff.

Ok so here's some of my first pixel art... At the time I was experimenting with work-flows and game asset creation. I produced a fair range of assets under this concept including animations, game screens, and flash prototypes.


TOOLS: Photoshop & ImageReady

These are the early character animation tests. I'll be adding more to this post later with a link to some flash files hosted at my site too.

[click it to go big]
For anyone interested this character sheet is how I was worked on the animations. It shows each head I'd pixelled so I could easily reuse it in another animation. Oh and it shows the palette I was using ;_;


TOOLS: Photoshop

Here's the improved version - after a couple of months of pixelling I was a bit more clued up on colour selection... I'm tempted to do it again and see where I've got to now but that will have to wait.

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Fynoderee Chapter Illustrations Ch.1 [Retospective]

Old Work
DATE: April 2006

While cleaning through some old files I found my Fynoderee™ illustration folder...

I got lucky a couple of years ago and was commissioned to illustrate Fynoderee, a modern fantasy book. If you want to get the jist of what it was about take Harry Potter swap Hogwarts for the Isle of Man, magic with myths and legends unique to the Isle and you're about there. It's a fun little book.

Working closely with Alex Duncan, the author, I researched Norse and Celtic stone carvings and developed a suitable illustrative style (it was great fun - me being a fantasy dweeb and all). He wanted the illustrations to reflect the Island's heritage. He also wanted each illustration to feature the chapter's title in a runic alphabet.

First off we've got a coloured promo piece and the second one's a hand inked prototype. The prototype shows one of my first concept designs for the Bugganes - the nasty bad guys.

Chapter One: Whispers on the Wind.

TOOLS: Photoshop, Pen & Ink

"William Faulds, another young Manx man and also an extremely talented artist, has provided the unique and original illustrations in Fynoderee. They subtly weave through the text creating intricate, powerful images and compliment the brooding atmosphere of the story. William has cleverly integrated both Celtic and Norse symbols and elements into his artwork and as a result they superbly reflect the Island's cultural heritage."

Angie Greenhalgh, Montreal, Canada, Nov 2006.

Thanks!

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Glenda, Garth & Pam [Retrospective]

Old Work
DATE: ? 2002-2003

Glenda

TOOLS: Photoshop & Ink on Paper

I fancied doing something Aubrey Beardsley inspired, I bloody love his illustrations, I think it was some kind of fashion illustration brief.

Garth

TOOLS: Ink on Paper & Oil Pastel

An old Life Drawing. One of my favourites from my Art Foundation course. Weirdly it got stolen on a train!

Pam

TOOLS: Biro & Tea on Paper.

Grotesque caricature profile study. Technique inspired by the rough sketches of Leonardo da Vinci.

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