Sasha Cline is a Greensboro College Art and Psychology major who lives in Greensboro, North Carolina. Originally from Russia, Sasha was adopted by her mother in 2001 and has lived in Greensboro since.
Sasha Cline, Oil and Acrylic
Sasha has been working in art for as long as she can remember. She prefers working in watercolor and encaustic and uses her art as an emotional outlet and just thoroughly enjoys making art. She says, “I am free to create whatever I want [and] whatever makes me happy without having strict guidelines to follow or having the approval of others.” Sasha wants to show people a different point of view when they look at her art.
Hit, Sasha Cline, Wax on Canvas
Currently, she is studying both Art and Psychology to work towards getting a counseling degree in art therapy. “I want to help people who have a hard time expressing their emotions and [who] struggle with mental disorders,” says Sasha. “I think art has a therapeutic element that many people need in helping them express how they feel or just cope with everyday life.”
Sasha Cline, Ink transfer with Stamp
Sasha Cline, Pastel and Pencil
However, Sasha has faced many hardships along the way in her art career. Being a perfectionist, she sometimes feels that her art is not good enough and has often found herself frustrated trying to create the “perfect” piece of art. “I would draw it over and over until I felt it was ‘right’ but in the end, it never felt good enough,” says Sasha. She also comments on how there are many other talented artists and compares her work to theirs, discouraging herself and her own talents.
Sasha Cline, Oil and Acrylic
Sasha continues to study towards her degrees at Greensboro College in hopes to later get her Masters in either counseling or therapy.
You can find Sasha and her work on her Instagram below:
One of the most popular categories on YouTube is its gaming content. Let’s Plays, Video Game Reviews, Skits, and Animations, there’s a variety of ways to enjoy games on the site. And within the user base who make content, it’s not easy coming across ones who put out anything that isn’t substandard. Don’t get me wrong, making videos takes plenty of time and effort, which is a dedication many don’t want to have to go through. (Trust me, writing this is NOT as easy as it looks and it’s a main part of the process.) But when millions of people are uploading every minute of every day, there’s bound to be a bunch of cluttered nonsense, especially when it comes to gaming content. Even with Youtube’s algorithm, there’s no guarantee you’ll find content creators that aren’t just appealing to the generalized population of children on the platform. Of course, it isn’t impossible to find videos made with great care and quality.
There are creators that create truly amazing experiences in videos, and related to today’s topic of gaming content, here’s a few: Scruffy, The Stupedium, SuperButterBuns, FunWithGuru, and chuggaaconroy. (P.S. All of these people do very different things but ALL of their content is an experience to be had so PLEASE check them out!) One of the diamonds in the rough I’ve found recently was a user known as “uricksaladbar”. He’s an artist who, for the past two years, has been creating visual commentaries as a basis of his views on certain games. All of his opinions and statements are all very honest and upfront towards the game he’s talking about, which helps when they’re factually checked up on. BUT THE VISUALS THEMSELVES ARE A MASTERPIECE! A perfect blend of colors that are simple yet effective, and he has an organized and comfortable layout that is made to specifically help the viewer interpret the video better.
In his Detroit: Become Human video, Urick explains the concept of deviancy in androids.
His art is also well done, whether he’s implementing the style of a piece of media (like DBZ, My Life as a Teenage Robot) or his own, it’s all related to how he portrays that character. His videos are also entirely animated, to make them feel all that more coherent when it comes to understanding his points.
An example of what Urick’s video format looks like when he’s making points about Chloe, from Life Is Strange.
This all comes together to make a video of his seem… uh, seamless which makes an hour long video feel much less than that. He also uses a lot of the same tactics that most others use to grab the attention of viewers, and while the colors are right, I can’t say if they work entirely. I recall many times I saw some of his videos pop into my feed but I never felt inclined to click them, so maybe that could use some work. But I promise that going into his videos, you are certainly getting a quality video with expert editing and one that looks appealing as well, so I encourage anyone to watch him if they’re interested in video essays.
A funny illustration made to show off how uricksaladbar portrays the main characters of Omori.
He also has an instagram (under the same name), for you check out his art that he makes for the videos he creates. Either way, that’s all I have to say for this Youtuber, but maybe I’ll go more into depth with others that I find interesting, too! Until then….
Editor’s Note: Originally, this was only going to be a Monday Minute review, but I cared a bit too much about the topic and this creator to just leave it be. But I suppose that shows “dedication”, eh?
So recently, I’ve been trying to complete some video games on my Nintendo Switch to save space, and one game that I’ve decided to come back to was Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. I know, I know, the concept itself sounds pretty insane and don’t even get me started on the guns. But despite all of the abstract choices, THIS game has to be one of the most notable Mario games in the past century, and it wasn’t even developed by Nintendo. It was created by Ubisoft (and Ubisoft France respectively) as purely a game meant as a love letter to the Mario series.
The first playable characters Mario, Rabbid Luigi, and Rabbid Peach looking towards an oncoming threat.
Regardless of where it came from, what makes this game so noteworthy? Well there’s plenty to talk about there but for today I think its biggest strength is its portrayal of the residents of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Yoshi are main playable characters in the game, each with their own Rabbid counterpart who is also playable. And if you know those four characters, then you know how you’d expect them to act. Mario is a mainstay character, taking charge of any situations present with the utmost bravery. Luigi is entirely fearful of the situation that he’s in but still manages to put his foot down. Peach, while usually being kidnapped, is now fighting back with her own royal spunk. And Yoshi is willing to protect his home against any threats while spouting “Yoshiii!” gleefully. The ability of replicating personalities that perfectly fit these four who have not had much characterization in any of their mainline games is a feat in itself.
Mario, Rabbid Luigi, and Rabbid Peach celebrating their well deserved victory!An awkward interruption occurs while Rabbid Peach is trying to take a photo.
But where the characterization really shines is in their Rabbid friends. They all are perfect dramatizations of their personalities and it’s ABSOLUTELY amazing! Take Rabbid Peach for example, the posterboy (or girl) of the game. She’s a sassy diva-like character who acts as if she’s got the world under her feet and is obsessed with her phone as much as she is with Mario. Her character makes for a very funny character to watch unfold as well as humorous just to see do anything. My favorite Rabbid has GOT to be Rabbid Yoshi, though. He acts completely primal and finds destruction to be a fun little game.
What’s more is that you see this in characterization EVERYWHERE in the game, from the character menus, to their in-game animations. I remember this one moment in a boss battle where Rabbid Yoshi was captured and if I aimed at the boss who was holding him, Rabbid Yoshi would hold his hands up and I loved every second of it. It’s truly a gift knowing the Mario franchise and then seeing cute portrayals of these standard characters be given such life. And it’s not just about who these Rabbid characters are, but what these counterparts say about the originals that make it funnier.
The team of Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Mario discovering some treasure that gets added to the game’s gallery.The victory screen after finishing a battle, with Rabbid Peach, Mario, and Rabbid Yoshi.
This game has been on my radar ever since I first heard about it, and while I was skeptical at first, it truly did surpass my expectations and I would recommend it to people who don’t usually play Mario games. It recently was announced that it would getting a sequel next year, so please, if you ever have the time, check this game out and play it. What I’ve talked about is just one small piece of the bigger pie here.
A special cutscene of the characters all together enjoying a job well done! (Spoilers… whoops…)
Platformers are games where the main appeal is moving a character in a space to get through levels. In this sense, think Mario or Sonic, where the focus of one is his jumps and the other is his speed. Sounds pretty simple and can be but it can also be much more memorable than that. A Hat In Time is exactly that! Taking clear inspiration from platformers that came from the 90’s, it’s a journey where you move a small kid known as Hat Kid through many different worlds to get Time Pieces, for Hat Kid to get home. The game was made by a small company named “Gears for Breakfast” who got crowdfunded by fans of the genre and while usually games that go through that process don’t end up that well, Gears For Breakfast followed through with their plans! The game isn’t perfect but the personality of the game shines brightly like a diamond in the rough. Through the logo alone, you can tell it’ll be a journey to be had.
Hat Kid enjoying the sights of what looks to be a new adventure!
The goal of the game is to collect hourglasses known as “Time Pieces” to help Hat Kid get home. First, you go through Mafia Town, a small island that is overrun with big burly men who constantly refer to themselves as the “mafia”. Their design is based on mafia men in Italian culture, albeit a very goofy interpretation of them. They wear an apron, blue suits, sometimes a red tie and they’re bald. They don’t do much to stick out from one another which may very well be the point, ringing true to an actual mafia. But they are nice ways to incorporate what an enemy is to Hat Kid. They tend to only bully the residents and Hat Kid in small ways but also are admirable in their own way, attacking you when you’ve attacked them and are willing to talk to you in some cases.
The title card of every level shows a bit of personality of Hat Kid and the situations she gets in to.
On the note of designs, Hat Kid’s is a very unique one. She wears a mostly purple attire which definitely helps differentiate her from other 3D Platformer mascots. A top hat with a coat, it has a distinct yellow cape and an oversized zipper, beige pants and little brown boots. If you weren’t really looking at her, it would all feel natural. But that’s the brilliant part, none of what she’s wearing feels out of place, despite her being a female. Often in cases like these, the main female character has a bow, a dress and other accessories that make her feel like a little girl. But Hat Kid feels comfortable to look at while not wearing traditionally known female clothing. And just like most of the other designs within this game, it portrays exactly who that character is. Like Mustache Girl for example, she’s a small girl in the game just like Hat Kid, which makes you feel safe but when she decides to fight against you for the rest of the game, you realize she’s the exact opposite of you. She has the same distinct yellow features as you but wears red to signify her more oppressive and rude undertones.
After the first boss, Hat Kid and Mustache Girl convene with one another as the Mafia runs away.
I’m only talking about the character design but I promise there is so much more to love about this game. From the worlds, to the music, to the even cuter details down the line, it all comes together all to help you love what many loved about older games before it. And I’m so happy this game is much more than just a homage.
A little collage of stickers I collected of Hat Kid and me making her look like a worn out crazed old lady.
This one might be more than a minute… not that I ever count how long it should take to read these things. Anyways, the other day, I was watching one of my favorite Youtube animators known as Spicevipe. He has an original series known as RTTMOT (I’m not telling you what that means) and at the end of one of his videos, he left a link to a website called Manyland.com. At first, I thought it was something he created specifically for fans of the show, so I went and explored it. I got lost and was also very confused on what I was supposed to be doing. A lot of directions were thrown at me and I didn’t understand any of them but I knew two things: I had an avatar and that I wanted a new avatar. I went searching for anything to change my skin and slowly I realized that this world was much bigger than I had imagined.
Manyland is a user-made website where you can create pretty much anything you want. One thing I did was just travel onward for hours and I could not see an end for as long as I was on. It’s mostly an endless vast space of creativity from artists all around the world and it truly feels like you’re travelling through the internet. It’s amazing seeing all the things young artists have created understanding the website. I couldn’t at all but if you’d like to explore it like me, here’s a link: http://manyland.com/
One animation studio that has really stood out in the crowd of others has been Sony Animation Studios. They’ve created plenty of animated movies before but in recent years, especially after the release of “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” they have been able to create such amazing movies that are astounding to look just as they are memorable, and that’s no different with their most recent entry “The Mitchells vs The Machines”. It’s a movie that has such a creative take on standard movie films like this, and you can just feel all of the love pouring out of it.
It’s about a girl named Katie and her family going on a road trip to her new college (prompted by her utterly misunderstanding dad) which gets interrupted by the robot apocalypse. Using their overall weirdness and a plethora of purposely outdated memes, they fight against the forces of technology to save the world.
I think this movie is particularly amazing because it uses meme culture appropriately and also definitely represents an accurate depiction of what any weird person is like. Moments of awkward silences and (while cat related things on the internet in media is overused) cat filters on just the right places make it feel like this movie was made for people of our generation. Like it was made for me!
Hi, local weird person here, and I have to say that I really enjoyed this movie because of how none of its charm felt like it was forced into the movie. Don’t get me wrong, the plot of the movie is pretty generic and hits some of those standard family film tropes, it’s the characters and scenarios that create a magical experience. So if you have Netflix, go watch it and make sure to be ready for some nostalgia and a bit of cringe, because this movie’s really that relatable.
Have you ever seen something great and wanted to see what could make it greater? There’s plenty of aspects that can make any sort of media even better, and one of those things is adding new characters to your media. New characters open up to new perspectives on the same story and add to a formula that could make it work or fix it entirely.
In Persona 5 Strikers, we follow the journey of the “Phantom Thieves”, a group of teenage high school students who were given the power to change the minds of the corrupt after awakening to their “personas”. They fight within a cognitive world known as the Metaverse, and along the way meet two new additions to the game, Officer Zenkichi and an AI named Sophia.
Zenkichi is a part of the police force, and while his overall goal is to imprison the Phantom Thieves, he plays a big role in aiding them from his position. Sophia is an AI that’s lost its memory, only knowing to serve the purpose of humanity’s companion. They both play off of the narrative in two completely different ways.
Zenkichi acts as an adult perspective for the kids, understanding the importance of acting legally and being able to handle extreme situations with a stern mind. While the Phantom Thieves aren’t new to the sick nature of the world, they still get taken aback by Zenkichi’s serious yet honest way of thinking. As for Sophia, she’s a cute and clueless robotic friend, who doesn’t understand how the “heart” works and seeks to learn more by helping the Phantom Thieves. She shows a more naive perspective of the world, always asking questions about emotions and what’s just or morally right.
It’s a great dynamic that helps the player and the narrative in an interesting and seamless way. Persona games have a way with always making all their characters work well in their plots, and I recommend checking out more of their other games, too!
Art Fight is an online competition where artists of all sorts go and draw each other’s art characters, also known as Original Characters (OCs). Artists are split into two teams with different themes, such as Sugar and Spice. By drawing another artist’s OCs, you “attack” them and gain points for your team. This event has been going on for years and it’s a great way to introduce yourself to different art communities and challenge yourself personally. Although there tends to be a fluctuation of people, it’s not hard to make friends if you connect with them on different platforms, such as the Art Fight Discord! Go here and check out Art Fight on the website or join the Art Fight Discord server today:
Art comes in many forms and has a very inaccurate way of being created. For example it’s easy to call anything “Art” but it always seems to be up to the viewer what falls into these classifications. If I had to choose a constant theme I more than likely couldn’t as these were all done at different times in different head-spaces. I mainly just create what seems interesting to me in the moment. For this show, I wanted to focus on digital art and showcase the skills and techniques I’ve learned over my years at Greensboro College.
Many of the pieces were particularly challenging for me as my color theory still needs improvement, but the only way to move forward in art is to get over your shortcomings and work towards improving them while making strides towards something better in the next piece. A large portion of these were first sketched then digitized, excluding the animations. There is still much I am not familiar with and there are so many possibilities within the medium of digital art so I definitely plan to continue this work after graduation.
So, I may have missed a day unfortunately and even a post last week, but this week, I’ll make up for it! This choice was a bit of an odd one though, as it’s only a trailer that BARELY any news as of recently. But I caught this trailer yesterday and I had to ABSOLUTELY talk about it. The fantastic animation, the build up to what the story could be, all of it was executed way too perfectly for me to ignore. Alright, so let’s get into it. Here’s the trailer:
Starting off, this is a trailer for a video game. When I had first come across this trailer, I had been confused on whether or not this was a sequel to that interesting mediocre movie from 2016. Gladly, I was indubitably surprised to hear that it was a game, and even moreover, it was a game being made by Rocksteady. For anyone unfamiliar with them, Rocksteady is a video game company that’s been profoundly successful, especially due to the Batman Arkham series.
Regardless, the quality of the animation is astounding, just because at first glance, you can’t really tell if it’s a live action film or not. Everyone moves realistically and fluently, and lighting and tone really matter in this setting, as it’s first set in Metropolis. So it’s really fun to see them move, but I really want to talk about how they act. The characters are Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Deadshot. The casting of the actors is perfect, as the actors themselves do a REALLY good job with giving a feel for the characters they play. Tara Strong as Harley will never be a bad cast, and while Captain Boomer and Deadshot don’t have confirmed actors yet, King Shark is voiced by Samoa Joe, who is a WWE superstar.
But the part I’m most concerned about is the story. There is PLENTY of foreshadowing going on within the trailer, even if the title is “Kill the Justice League”. Amanda Waller, director of the Suicide Squad tells Harley that “Air support is being cut to pieces” implying that the threat is in the air. The entire group does not want to do whatever Waller is telling them to, despite the seriousness of the situation, and this is entirely portrayed with how they act. Boomerang just sitting down, Harley playing around with Waller, and Deadshot gearing up for the next battle. King Shark finding interest in balloons…? They joke around with one another, giving us some very great character interactions, and then Waller demands them to pursue their target. they start fighting together. All of them are killing foes left and right as if it were nothing, while music is bumping in the background, and they fight all in sync.
Then, as the music fades out, they come to a building where Harley begs the question of who it is they should be fighting. A helicopter is destroyed right before them and when all the smoke is cleared, you see Superman holding a pilot. At this part, the trailer takes advantage of what you know about him and portrays his stance to be heroic and noble. King Shark even exclaims that the “mighty Superman saved” the pilot. But after the fanfare, there’s a tonal shift, and Superman KILLS the pilot. My favorite detail is that if you look back before the crash, you’d actually SEE the silhouette of Superman zooming through helicopters, just like a missile.
There’s SO MUCH more I’d love to get into about this trailer, but this is already WAY too long of an article. But THIS is how you present a trailer. Great setup, and wonderful build-up, while also world building in between, for a fantastic pay off in the end. Game trailers have been done for years and some serve as homages to the games they are for, others do not do what this one has. So I very much appreciate this one and look forward to what the game has in store!
GREENSBORO COLLEGE ART COLUMN 