Welcome to my site!

Over the years, I've always found myself working on various projects, for school, for others, for enjoyment and for myself...

I've dabbled in video editing, photo manipulation, audio mixing, podcast creation, game editing, storytelling, roleplaying & a host of other things I find entertaining.

Here I present my projects, both past and present. Have a look around; use the categories above to sort through various project types. As I rummage through my digital clutter and create new stuff, I'll continue updating this site. Comment if you want, and enjoy!




Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Abstract & Miscellaneous Art

Over the years, I've created various artwork.  Below is just some of the originals I've done.  Most of these are abstract with a few strange things I've played around with and saved...  Granted, there are varying degrees of skill here, but keep in mind some were done with MSpaint, waaaay back in the early 90s... so don't be too harsh :) but comments are always welcomed!

I'll be updating this section as I run across miscellaneous artwork I've created & post them here.



Added a filter and a lens-flare to a photo I took of the sky. Called it "Sky Launch"
"Sky Launch 2.0"
"Sky Melt"

"Sky Burn"

I called this one "Cloud Saturn"


Waaaaay back in the day with Eyecandy filters.  Probably Photoshop 3 or so...

My eye, added what was an attempt at reflective stars.  Now, with such low-resolution, I think it's just sorta blurry.  Cool concept & attempt though :)

Playing with Vistas in Bryce 3d and some Photoshop incorporation for a school project I was wondering on at the time.

I remember using Corel Draw to do this.  Again for a high school project back in the mid-90's.  Not too bad, I guess :/

Variations of a photo I took.  Tentatively called "Cloud Bubble"

Variations of a photo I took.  Tentatively called "Cloud Bubble" lightened for a poster I printed.

I don't know.  Something about commercialism killing us or something?  Or just a skeleton in a bar-code silliness :P

While a bit low-res now, this piece took quite a while to render on a PowerPC with Photoshop 3.

Vector graphics before such a thing existed. :P

I remember after creating this calling it "Damned"

A variation of the spiral created earlier, this piece was an attempt at a forward look at a wormhole.


Again, with the wormhole, this piece was inspired by the Sliders tv show.
An experiment I did after getting some new eyecandy plugins for Photoshop.  I was going for an element thing with these frogs, but then I just started having fun.  This wound up being my background for a while.

Artwork from Project Navi

Inspired by the anime Serial Experiments: Lain, I began developing a theme for Windows XP with a boot screen, and a login sequence similar to Lain's Navi computer.  In the beginning, it was a simple theme, but I began using a 3d desktop application, using the backdrops from the theme to enter various 'rooms' of icons.  When the development of the application went south, I just used the backgrounds and boot screen for my personal use.

I ran across the images while cleaning out a hard drive and was really surprised at how the art turned out. The 3d application allowed for lighting the backdrop, and as such, I didn't have to worry so much about how bright these pictures were.  If you can imagine a 40% darker contrast on them, with floating icons on top, that's what it was like. While they may be too chaotic to use as backgrounds now, they're fun to look at. :)









CD Autorun Backgrounds

Below are some Autorun backgrounds I created a few CDs back in the day with multiple apps on them (mostly roll-ups of OSes so I wouldn't damage my originals) and decided to create autorun choosers to make installations easier.  While I no longer even have the CDs, I came across the art for them & decided to share.  Although looking at the Windows CD backgrounds, it looks pretty crowded... I suppose they served their purpose, back in the day.






Windows Art

So, I've created backgrounds and various graphical replacements for Windows over the years, and the following is some original artwork I created for that purpose.

What's really funny, is that if you compare these pics I made back in 1995-1999 to the intro animation from Windows 7, it's eerily similar.  Should have submitted the design to Microsoft... oh well. :(

Also note that some of these were created with Windows Paint, so don't be too judgmental :P

I remember adding this frog and going pixel-by-pixel to get the glouds to blend into the skewed Windows 96 label.  After it was done and I applied it to the login screen of Windows 95, I realized I forgot to do anything with the tree stem he hung from.  At that point, I gave up.  It was 'good enough'!
I used to go by SpIDer VeNoM, hence the reference.



This was a cloud concept I was paying around with before Windows Vista / Win 7.  Years after I created these images and Windows 7 started for the first time, I was reminded of these pics I created.  Should have submitted the design to Microsoft. :(



A strange combo, I was playing around with a ring around the earth, and it really started to resemble the MS logo for Internet Explorer.  If I remember correctly, I ditched my ring and superimposed the IE ringer just playing around.  Granted it's all pixelated and nasty, but hey it was cool back in the day!

I found another background involving clouds that I apparently spliced in with some waves.  Don't remember what I used this for, but I've included it with the OS stuff, since I used the Windows 95 clouds...

Heroes: The Movie

Basically, I started working on this project when Heroes was at a low in its popularity.  The previous season really angered me because I felt they didn't focus enough on the main story, giving way to many little side-stories that were never concluded; some characters were simply abandoned!  Now, I understand that there are staffing issues and budget concerns and all that.  I get it... But really, the story became so convoluted that it was almost incoherent. So, to combat this, I decided to make a 2hr 'movie' version of Heroes, which would restructure the story to something much more accessible with its continuity.  I began watching every show and documenting each scene so I could re-edit the episodes...  Ambitious to be sure, but I felt like the series needed some love from a fan.  However, soon after I started editing the film, the series was canceled and given that I would have no more source material from the show, I put the project on the back-burner. I may still go back one day to complete this project, but as of now, I don't have the enthusiasm needed to finish sifting through the murky mess of a story that was this show's last season.  Still, below you'll find the unfinished product of the beginnings of what was tentatively called: "Heroes: The Movie".

Note: you may need to pop-out from the embedded player, Google may have disabled embedding from vids from Google Docs...

Just the intro... 


 Here's the intro in addition to the opening scenes.  It ends rather abruptly, but you can see the direction it was going in.

Skeletor's Obsession: A He-man Parody (Work in Progress)

After watching the first few episodes of the He-man cartoon, I couldn't help but notice something a little odd about the characters: namely all the homosexual innuendos I failed to notice as a kid. So, I decided to make a video showcasing such. Note: This project is currently in an unfinished state. I do plan to go back and finish it, but unfortunately, I lost the project files in a hard drive crash.  That said, I put it up on Youtube to see if any interest arises.  See the intro video (currently with music and no voice-over) and the rough cut of the first scene below (voices but no background music).

Keep in mind this was created with Windows Movie Maker, and was one of the first projects involving video I ever did. I think it was on a 1ghz system. So be kind. :)  Leave comments below or on youtube.  I'd love to hear!
 

STO Character Roleplay Captain's Blogs

(Apples on my Family Tree / Search for Apples)

While playing Star Trek Online, I ran into a few established role-players who were looking at changing up their story.  They had decided that by going and revisiting their character's past, new opportunities may present themselves to the stalemate they'd come to in their character's futures.  A noble concept, to be sure.  But then I stepped in and posed the question to them both: what if something in their past was altered, and changed their current continuity.  Both parties agreed that it would be something they could live with, and gave me the go-ahead to 'narrate' a new story for them.  I became so enthralled by the story, that I decided to write a blog through my character's experiences - in the form of personal logs & field reports.  The link above will take you to the logs (complete with screenshots taken while we were RPing the story), where you can experience the adventure.

STO Original Artwork (Graphical Ship Charts by Spidermitch)

I used to actively play a MMO known as Star Trek Online. While there were many resources available, there was no ability to preview ships / stats at a quick glance. A member of the community abandoned a shipchart concept he started, and I decided to create one. What started out as a simple concept: create a shipchart that showed 'multiple angles of each ship & the stats of those ships' had become a major project. I developed these charts since June of 2010, and was urged to post it on the STO forums from some friends around August of 2010. The reaction I got was phenomenal, and as the game continued to grow, so did the attention to my 'little graphical shipchart'. Members of the community helped me in keeping these things up-to-date and accurate, and it's to that community which I gladly shared my little contribution to STO. In September of 2012, after a major update to STO added a flood of new ships, I decided to stop working on the project. I posted the following to the forum:
To all those that supported and used these charts: I have enjoyed making these charts & contributing to the passion of this community. It's what's tied me to this game (in an unofficial capacity) and I've always looked at this project as a "labor of love." But moving forward, I don't think I can give the attention needed to continue making this resource - at least not in the capacity that everyone using it deserves. I used to keep track of the dev blogs and listen to podcasts, anticipating new ships as they came out (often showing on the shipcharts with "placeholders"). I was usually on tribble with the test ships AS SOON as they were available; those that weren't on Tribble, I'd beg others for screenshots of the latest and greatest ship. With time constraints on me and working two jobs just to make ends meet, I really don't think I can continue, no matter how much I wish I could. If it was a paid gig, then yeah! bring it on! but, as I said, it's always been a "labor of love" and sometimes, love just isn't enough. *sad panda*   Don't want to leave on a sad note though... I again want to thank everyone who's supported this project and gave me encouragement. Working on something like this for the better part of 2 years is a commitment I have enjoyed and held proudly. It's our love of Star Trek & it's ideals that unites us all - as a community and through our humanity, and I've learned so much through doing this for everyone. Thanks & I'll see you all in the stars...

For the sake of completion, I've included all three final pieces here.  I may wind up uploading each version, to show the evolution of them, but that's for a rainy day :)
Note: added FULL RESOLUTION links of final renders.


SpiderMitch's STO Fed Ship Tier Chart
Click below for Low Res preview, click here for FULL RESOLUTION




SpiderMitch's STO SS Ship Tier Chart
Click below for Low Res preview, click here for FULL RESOLUTION




SpiderMitch's STO KDF Ship Tier Chart
Click below for Low Res preview, click here for FULL RESOLUTION




Nightmare Before Christmas: Redreamed

I've always loved the Nightmare Before Christmas. Everything about it was so very well done and cared for. It seemed to be a labor of love for most people involved in it. The soundtrack included a remix of the tracks done by modern artists. I thought, "Wow, that would be very cool to have the new music with the movie." So, I went about changing most of the songs in the movie... The result: A version of Nightmare that is more sinister and heartfelt. Watching the original directly after watching this version, the original seemed to lack some of the original sparkle it had. All this being said, I did alot of editing to get the lipsync to work correctly on footage that was already there with totally different pacing than the originals, so I hope it's regarded as a good alternative to the original.


Nightmare Before Christmas: Redreamed (Uploaded on my Skydrive)
Note to self: To download the entire thing, I have to login to skydrive & click the link on the right that says "download folder".


Disclaimer:

The link above goes to my Skydrive account, which is not hosted on this website. It is provided as storage space to provide me with quick access to a project I did as explained above. Spidermitch.com & Spidermitch.blogspot.com cannot be held responsible for anything people download through the provided link. Anyone using the link above to download this fan-edit does so at their own risk and responsibility and are hereby warned that Fan-edits might be illegal in their country. Fan-edits must not be bought or sold. Please report every fan-edit you find for sale to the local authorities.Fan-edits are an artform and to be shared among legal owners of the original source material only (DVD, BlueRay, VHS... etc). We do not support piracy. We do not have any financial interests. Spidermitch.com reserves the right to refuse services at any time. Notification that Information Provided by You is Public Information Any information provided by you to the Spidermitch.com website, including but not limited to feedback, questions, comments, suggestions, download links, etc., etc., are considered non-confidential since it is a public website; moreover, such information is a public record subject to public inspection pursuant to law. The Spidermitch.com website has no obligation of any kind with respect to such information and cannot be held responsible for the decisions nor the actions of any individuals of the entire Internet community at large. By downloading anything, the downloader assumes all responsibilities thereof as well as all the consequences that may incur.

Spiderman 3: Web of Darkness

So anyone that knows me knows I'm a huge comic book fan. I grew up with Spider-man being at the top of the list. I was so excited about the Sam Raimi trilogy of Spider-Man movies that came out back in the early 2000's, and really enjoyed the treatment the first two movies received. Needless-to-say, I was the first in line for the series' third installment! There were whispers and hints of Venom being a primary antagonist and the conclusion to the Harry / Goblin arc was finally coming to a head! What I saw was simply atrocious... There was a dance routine, corny campy dialog / one-liners, and worst of all, the Harry / Peter arc was downplayed... So was Venom! And then there was Sandman who (while cool to look at) had no point in the entire film.

So after the movie came to video, I made the decision to re-edit the entire film! I removed the aforementioned points of contention and reorganized the movie to tell a more compelling story and dramatic ending for the series. I also completely removed Sandman, who seemed to have no real reason for inclusion (even though the writers tried to convince us he was Ben's killer). Furthermore, the New Goblin now uses manipulation rather than fear, pitting his wits against Peter & ultimately playing on Peter's jealousy over MJ. This jealousy culminates in attracting the symbiote.

What's left is a better end to the series. I'm not saying it's perfect (and it's my first feature-film editing job, so there may be some rookie mistakes), but I think it works... and works well.

Note: you may need to pop-out from the embedded player, Google may have disabled embedding from vids from Google Docs...

Disclaimer:
The link above goes to a Google Drive account, which is not hosted on this website. It is provided as an example of an editing project I worked on, and presented here to allow me quick access to show others work I have done. Spidermitch.com & Spidermitch.blogspot.com cannot be held responsible for anything people view through the embedded / linked video. Anyone using the link above to view this fan-edit does so at their own risk and responsibility and are hereby warned that Fan-edits might be illegal in their country. Fan-edits must not be bought or sold. Please report every fan-edit you find for sale to the local authorities.
Fan-edits are an artform and to be shared among legal owners of the original source material only (DVD, BlueRay, VHS... etc). We do not support piracy. We do not have any financial interests. Spidermitch.com reserves the right to refuse services at any time. Notification that Information Provided by You is Public Information Any information provided by you to the Spidermitch.com website, including but not limited to feedback, questions, comments, suggestions, download links, etc., etc., are considered non-confidential since it is a public website; moreover, such information is a public record subject to public inspection pursuant to law. The Spidermitch.com website has no obligation of any kind with respect to such information and cannot be held responsible for the decisions nor the actions of any individuals of the entire Internet community at large. By streaming anything, you (the streamer) assumes all responsibilities thereof as well as all the consequences that may incur.

SpiderMitch History

At a very early age, I loved Spider-man.  When a local comic shop put on an event where Spider-man was going to have a personal appearance, I couldn't wait!  I drug my mom out of the house so early, we were there before the comic store opened.  While we were waiting, a very big storm came about, and while the store still opened, nobody else showed... That is, except for Spider-man!!!  What I got was a one-on-one encounter with my hero!  He put me on his shoulders and walked around the comic shop, posed for photos with me & signed my shirt...  I scanned this pic in high school & found it when going through some old floppies.  If I find more from that fateful day, I'll be posting them here.



So, a while back a friend of mine took a picture without me knowing it, and pasted my head over a picture of Spider-Man from the first movie.  He then plastered this picture of me around the office when it was my birthday, with the words "Happy B-Day, Spider-Mitch" on it.  People in the office started calling me SpiderMitch and it kinda stuck.



A while later, I decided to register the domain, and change my online handle from SpiderVenom to SpiderMitch.  Can I swing from a web?  No I can't.  I'm just Mitch.  :P

What's a Spider-Mitch without a little Venomitch.  Wait... That sounds like some kind of horrible jock-itch...

Despite the crazy dance-routines in Spider-man 3, I actually did like some of the iconic scenes featured in the movie.

Decided on an update, since the new movie was coming out & the costume changed.



Silly Seasonal Changes
I quickly modified the main black SpiderMitch picture for a silly seasonal look.  The hats don't match at all, and that's the fun!  Figured I'd put them here for completion.  I had another little javascript that made the rain actually animate and I changed it to fireworks during New Years & snow at Christmas.  Like I said, just some little thing I did back-in-the-day for fun. :P
SpiderMitch.com on New Years

SpiderMitch.com on Christmas

Spidermitch's SoundTrax Mashup 1-3

This is a dumb little compilation I did of some soundtracks. It was supposed to be used for a trailer, but eventually evolved into something a little different. In some instances it reminds me of moving from room to room in a foreign building & finally arriving at the exit, after a roller-coaster of strange happenings.

Or, maybe it's just a neat blending of songs... Give it a listen and lemme know.


Oh, and if you wanna use it for any projects you may have, just let me know, give me credits, and we're good.
P.S. I just noticed there's like a minute gap at the end of the file. Oh well :P

TechBell Ringer (Holding on Forever)

A group of guys I worked with back in the day saw a video from a Texas Tech game, where some dude is rigorously ringing this bell. Apparently it's like a huge honor and stuff, and that's why he's so happy... We laughed like crazy. I then put it to music and upped the ante. :)

P.S. this video was made with Windows default movie editor, so it's a little rough... Still funny though.


ORIGINAL VIDEO:


SpiderMitchified (watch with speakers on):

E.T. SpiderMitch Dubstep Remix

I came across some source material from the Katy Perry song, E.T. & decided to make a remix of it. What came out is a Dubstepped version of her song WITHOUT the vocals from Kanye West (which are - in my opinion - horrible lyrics). I've ran across the song taken from me on other sites, so please ask if you want to use it for a project of your own.

I've actually been thinking about making a music video to go along with it (and I'll post it up here when I do so).