Jupiter's Shadow

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Syrix Attract Screen (Crop), DM 2020

256 x 256 / Amiga OCS Dual Playfield Mode

Software used: Deluxe Paint III

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Title card for my Amiga slideshow. 8 colours. 

Still working on coding this in 68k Assembly!

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Photo: DM

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Kren’s Awakening, DM 2021

320 x 256 / Amiga OCS Palette / 16 Colours / 80 Frames

Software used: Grafx2 / Photoshop / Processing (starfield programming)

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Some studio shots from early last year. The MPC 3000 had been in storage for over 15 years and I thought I would have to relearn it, but upon switching it on the muscle memory was still there, like riding a bike again - a testament to the the user interface and design concepts of Roger Linn.

I bought the COTK Ensemble Generator module on a whim a few years back but only just got round to installing it. The ensemble effect is noisy (not always a bad thing!) but what I like most is overdriving the module's input stage to add a nice bit of colour to certain signals.

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Sales of the Retro Man Cave 2020 calendar (featuring two of my Amiga photos) just raised £3000 for the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice. Congrats Neil!

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More genlock experiments..

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Deeper Space, DM 2019

142 x 112 / Amiga OCS Palette / 32 Colours

Software used: Deluxe Paint IV / Grafx2 / Photoshop

This was a section of an old unfinished piece, mid 90s. Something I’d started painting in AGA on the Amiga 1200. Unfortunately a lot of work from this period was simply abandoned. The jump from OCS to AGA meant higher resolutions, larger palettes and consequently A LOT more work to produce artwork using the same labour intensive pixel by pixel rendering methods. It wasn’t until I started scanning in my pencil drawings and colouring them in the Amiga that I finally adapted to working fully within the AGA space.  

Anyway, I thought there was something worth salvaging in this composition. I converted this from AGA to OCS, redid the palette in Grafx2 and tidied everything up.

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Photo: DM

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Sprite work in Deluxe Paint III running on an expanded Amiga 1000.

Photo: DM

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Working title for possible new game project. Plenty of work ahead..

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Gorgeous Kaypro II on display at last night’s ARC meetup.

Photo: DM

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Deep Creek Retreat, 2019

Photo: DM

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Deep Creek Retreat, 2019

Photo: DM

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Current Amiga 1000 music rig, here running OctaMED V4.

Photo: DM

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Protracker 2.3D / Amiga 500.

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One thing I’ve noticed about the Easel: It likes to do its own thing and doesn’t always play well with others. But I’m fine with that. I love entering its micro-universe of off-world drones, atonal howls and woody plinks and plonks. The other thing I’ve learnt is to always have this thing hooked up to a recorder: sounds evolve quickly and you’re constantly exploring new sonic terrain - you really need to document the journey as you go, or you’ll never know where you’ve been!