Do you ever look back on playing games as a kid, thinking how amazing they were? Then you whip out your aging PS2, boot up the game, and realise that it was through rose-tinted glasses you were looking and that the game was actually pretty terrible? Well, you’re not alone, as evidenced by the 350k+ subscribers to YouTube channel Mind Pulp, which plays awful games so you don’t have to, and laughs at their expense.
Tying in with my passion for gaming and technology, and all the corresponding highs and lows, comedy skit channel Viva La Dirt League offers regular laughs, often bringing me to tears, with their clever observation and re-enactment of typically recognised tropes and failings.
As you are more than likely familiar by now, I love games. I love reading about games, I love playing games and I love watching other people playing games (what a strange era we live in, eh?). Rolling off of that last point, YouTube channel SwitchUp offers, as suggested in the name, info, advice and reviews centred around Nintendo’s Switch. Yes, I watch many Nintendo-centric YouTube channels but of them, it is SwitchUp that offers the most regular, varied and interesting content.
As you may remember I recently raved about the Jazza art channel on YouTube. Immensely popular, he launched a side-project, the [INSERT ART] channel to seek out other creative talent by which to share more fun, incredible content. A designer myself, I highly value having other creatives around to spin ideas off of, learn new skills and generally have a laugh. It would seem this sentiment is shared as the chemistry, as well as the art, is rather special.
As you may have realised by now from a few of my past blog posts, I love discovering other artistic talent courtesy of YouTube. Be that digital or traditional, I enjoy gaining inspiration through other’s creativity, as well as marvel at the incredible talent on show. Recently suggested to me via my recommendations was the Jazza channel starring… Jazza! Covering a vast mix of artistic experimentation, it was the nerdier, pop culture videos that specifically caught my attention.
Despite my love of Pokémon, and collecting the trading cards, I never played the official game. The rules were just too complex and I couldn’t get the hang of it. Step up Yu-Gi-Oh!. With a simple ruleset and based upon a fantastic anime, I was enthralled with the game and played frequently against my friends in the playground. Unsurprisingly then when a Yu-Gi-Oh!-focused channel popped up on my YouTube suggestions, I was hooked.
As most of you have gathered by now, I am a huge Pokémon fan. Whilst the majority of fan art for the series is often fairly basic, failing to match the unique rendering style and character of the creatures, the YouTube channel Subjectively succeeds. Though not primarily a Pokémon channel, a large portion is dedicated to Jack’s (one of the lead illustrators) venture to create his own Pokémon region, and its inhabitants.
After receiving some feedback for the first Block of my course, requesting I add some texture to my animation, I wasn’t sure where to start. Fairly new to After Effects, my first point of call was the Internet and I came across a series of fantastic tutorials by Ben Marriott. Simple and clear, even for a beginner like me, they really helped me add a little extra oomph to my idea.
I genuinely think adding autoplay to your YouTube suggestion list is one of Google’s smartest moves yet. As a fan of Lego and being somewhat partial to the Transformers movies (the first is still the best), IXRollOutIX’s Lego Transformers series instantly caught my attention. Let’s be honest, Lego isn’t exactly the most maneuverable building tool and Transformers, well, they move quite a bit. As a result these recreations are frankly outstanding and put my Lego ingenuity to shame.
It is so easy to get lost on YouTube, trawling through the endless hours of content and before you know it, half an hour, an hour, a day has passed. Throwing up recommendations onto my home feed, it is actually a surprise the wonderful Drawfee Channel didn’t pop-up sooner. Covering multiple passions of mine: drawing, Pokémon, gaming, anime, each episode sees the channel’s hosts participate in bonkers drawing challenges by suggestion of the community.
Brandon King Design 