When my speech slurs, it's time I sleep

bruised and battered

2008-03-25T20:46:00.001-07:00

I hate when my blog goes neglected. I have been bogged down with a storyboard project for a portfolio submission. Now, when I say "bogged", I don't mean I mind the work, I've actually been having fun. But so many storyboarding-specific adversities have shown up in the last month. For instance, I fell while hiking (see above), and the only thing that was injured beyond use, was my bread and butter. When that healed up and I was able to draw and wacom pain-free, my monitor randomly died. Try as you might universe, I will make it to the post office tomorrow to mail my work!

Below are some hot dog stand props. I love food carts, they're so cute! I drew these last summer, and recently found them again. They're not the best, but they will prompt me to improve them once I get started on a prop portfolio.

sketches

2008-02-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

Above are two more concepts for toys, in the same series as Mari-Morgan; in the event that I don't win, and 90 days have passed, I will develop it on my own. These are mountain and forest spirits. (Mountain does look a little too mardis gras 80's punk for my tastes, but we'll see.) If not toys, then perhaps some kind of painting - I haven't decided yet. Below is just a volcano sketch! (Mountain with an upset stomach.)

fly attack

2008-02-12T11:10:00.001-08:00

Remember the bizarre outside world things I vaguely mentioned in a previous post? I know I promised them a couple of weeks ago, but better late than never. There was lots of construction around my place; they were replacing pipes, and I can only assume the old dirty pipes were just lying around, because one morning, Will and I woke up and there were flies all over our tiny apartment. There must have been atleast 40 in the living room alone! So after shaking off the heeby jeebies, we sprung into action assuming the roles of fly-killing forces of nature. They were dropping like flies, as flies. There are none left.

then there will be cake

2008-02-06T18:39:00.001-08:00

First, my most distracting problem these days, is the game Portal I don't play it a lot, (I used to play lots of games, but now I fear that nagging voice in my head that says "do something!") but I think about it all the time. And not just how to solve the puzzles, but longing for a portal gun of my own -- though my balance is bad enough as it is. Below is my worst food day ever. Everything I touched turned to crap! And you better believe the next day I only ate once -- I'm not even sure what my lesson was....

last texas installment

2008-02-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

This took way too long. But in my defense, my neighbors are very distracting. And who am I to look away?

prop break!

2008-02-01T13:46:00.001-08:00

On the side of my other pursuits, I'm trying to create a prop portfolio. I love drawing things. The tricky part is to pick a theme or a location from which you wouldn't mind drawing props. For these pieces, I was trying to draw items found in a witch doctor's or necromancer's lair. I know it sounds nerdy, but I also know these often come up in the gaming industry, so there you go! I assumed there would be a bunch of candlelight, and instead of the typical candle melting on a human skull, I went for the dead rat motif. I also feel some kind of live chicken would always be present; whether it be to make eggs, provide feathers, or more live chickens -- it just made sense to me. Below I was only using yellow and purple. I don't really like purple on its own, but paired with all sorts and shades of yellows it changes my attitude on the matter.

why girls exist

2008-01-30T18:42:00.000-08:00

sorry babe, but you can't find crap without me. don't feel bad, you're just a dude! <3

toys and boys

2008-01-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

Large thumbnails today so you'll be fooled into thinking there's a lot of content in this post. Here are some more adventures from Tejas. The goal is to be faster with this whole thing, but bizarre outside world things keep happening around me and I cannot turn my head. More on that later this week!

I entered one of my toy designs at this threadless-type site, called Patch Together, for aspiring toy designers! Nothing may come of it, but I would certainly like to see what kind of feedback I get if only that. It looks like it could be a toy to me, I can see it on someone's desk. Of course it's a water monster, as I am convinced under the surface of every body of water, lies some form of monster. This is Mari-Morgan, a welsh malevolent water spirit that lures souls into the water with illusions of treasure. Incidentally, I have Morgan in me from my mother's Scottish side. And despite all my efforts, I am really quite the Morgan. (The Scot not the Water Beast!) Back on subject, here is my official entry at the site, Patch Together. Vote if you so desire, though registration is necessary.

back from houston

2008-01-27T10:22:00.001-08:00

There's more where that came from! the others will be easier to read. I wrote these on a plane so it's lucky even i can read them...

I thought what better practice then to just throw out the day's events onto paper. Now to only keep it up while I'm back at home.

Artificial Children

2007-12-13T18:29:00.001-08:00

Above are concept drawings for toys I want to produce. I'm still hung up on my first, but once he's completed I'll start making these. I researched South American tribes all summer hoping to come up with a jungle story, because I've always wanted to make my own jungle, thanks to Jumanji, but nothing has come up yet. But at least I finally made use of that reference folder. Here is a super messy concept sketch of my first one below. His name is Ogopogo. He looks a little different in 3D, but I like how he's turning out. I cut out the claws because they're just not translating as well as I'd hope, and this is my first toy so I should be able to relax

Below is a design for my Bean Boy. It' s a short narrative about not wanting to procreate/reproduce and making a son out of a sack of beans. I'm currently trying to turn him around, and if I have success with that, some actual finished illustrations should happen. And after that still, perhaps a toy. Off the topic of bean boy, I'm considering making a second blog for daily sketches. It would better encourage me to draw everyday. Lately, I've been trying to draw something manly everyday, because I draw too much like a girl; so maybe I'll make a man blog to chart my progress!

it's time to pay the price

2007-11-13T19:27:00.001-08:00

Just a tribute to my favorite three kids! The DVD's always seem to find their way into my player, especially when there is work to be had! They keep me from getting too frustrated. The creative minds behind them seemed to have split paths and now have two different shows, both pretty funny, I mean they have their moments, but they just don't fill Home Movies' shoes in my opinion. And since it's my blog, that's what you get.

ketchup part two

2007-10-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

Boy practice.
Comic ideas, based on a true story.
Bear practice. I can't draw bears very well because the bear at the zoo is always hiding. They're shy even though they can easily maul anyone and everyone. I guess that's sweet of them; they're not too showy...

Tree practice. I can't seem to make a non-flat tree. I like the twisty windy, but you may have noticed that they are just silhouettes. You may also have noticed that nothing is colored. This is because we have had port problems on our motherboard, and ever since, the wacom has never been the same. Come back old friend, I need color in my drab little outlined world.

catsup part one

2007-10-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

I have been drawing a lot but I have been posting very little. So I figured I would make a semi-mega post to catch up on everything:I've been into fashion sketches as of late so I wanted to play around with really long legs almost sailor moon-like. I don't know if it would work in comic form unless the frames were taller, but my next task is to design frames around those legs!

I'm attempting to redesign the props and background of my film. When I was making it in school, I didn't quite understand depth and form. And not that I'm the master of it yet, but my drawing has improved since the film started and I would like to make it over with a more professional touch and less like a student just trying to get it done before the deadline. (I'm still proud of it, it needs fixing though!) Above are some prop and background item ideas. For those of you that haven't had the chance, the last version of my film is available on my temporarily simple website!
These are sleepy children I'm doing for a near-future digitally painted piece. I wanted to do something a little storybookey but without completely losing myself. I wouldn't mind building an illustration portfolio....

girl and pandas!

2007-08-28T16:37:00.001-07:00

Some more face practice, this time I'm trying to see how far I can push my colors. The girls in the previous post were all shaded with green and highlighted with pink. These girls are shaded with blue and highlighted with oranges and yellows. Maybe they're not pushed enough or maybe this is what it looks like when all those colors meet. I'm going to attempt to do man heads today. The problem I'm having is all the books I have are written by men and focus on compensating as a man with the difficulty of drawing women. When what I need is a book written by a woman that focuses on compensating as a woman with the difficulty of drawing men. But not many women make drawing books. And I've taken to drawing myself yelling at my bad drawings as of late. I find it makes me less frustrated.

I've been on a red panda kick! I'm in love with them! Why are all the cute animals on other continents? All we have is coyotes and armadillos. While some may consider them cute, I only ever see the backs of coyotes as they are running away, and armadillos are always squished on the side of the road because they couldn't waddle fast enough. I haven't seen one picture of a squished red panda or any of the eighty something types of lemur. It seems easy enough to visit other continents to see these animals in person, the tricky part is smuggling them back in here...Back on topic: these are part of a set I'm going to put in my portfolio. I'm going to do several poses with emotions and all that. I like to draw them more with beady little eyes, but right now, people want to see pupils.

girl heads

2007-08-26T22:42:00.001-07:00

I've been trying to nicely slap together a mini-web page for myself so that I can easily point others to my demo reels. So all this compressing and converting has been eating up my computer time. Plus I'm so picky when it comes to formatting and layout, so it's slowing down my blog entries. But here's some face practice! I'm still playing with eye angle and shape and whatnots. But that girl on the bottom left sort of looks like Liu Kang, so atleast I've got that going for me. Soon they won't all look alike. I hope it's okay that I leave this entry short, there's only so much to say. Atleast there's 6 heads to distract you from noticing my lack of lengthy paragraphs!

peanut butter

2007-08-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been addicted to peanut butter. I've always been guilty of being a snackaholic, but the thought of peanut butter in the fridge never actually leaves my mind. I'm not above taking to the jar with a spoon either; no bread required. I've always roll my eyes at hypoglycemics that hate it and have to eat a spoonful a day. (I've known many!) Like peanut butter is the worst medicine you've tasted...

And I promise the next thing I post will be with cool colors.

where has all the art gone?

2007-08-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

No! I still exist. I've been busily finishing my last degree requirements, and I'm down to one left. I've learned some new tricks drawing, and while I haven't posted anything as of late, I have actually been drawing everyday. And not one little thing or for half an hour. I've been drawing for hours! It's my new favorite past-time rekindled. So I suppose it isn't very new at all. But so much inspiration hit me at Comic-Con this year, even in the one day I went, and my head is full of ideas just waiting to fall out onto paper. That's right, I will post more. I'm going to make a "posts per week" goal. That should help get things rollin'. Until then, a tasty tidbit I did pre-con.

a sigh of relief

2007-05-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

It's that time again! Another semester has ended; this time, it's the last. Yes, I still have to finish a thing or two in the summer to make it official, but I'm still graduating at the end of this week. And yes again, I will still be working on finishing up my film to get it festival-ready, but not without a slight hiatus from it, because frankly, Adobe AfterEffects is just infuriating. But I'm sleeping again, and smoking less! The purple from my eyes is fading, though they are still puffy...but my sleep deprivation aside -- here are some highlights! Above this soporific paragraph is a very woolly bear. We had to make up an animal for my animal drawing class, re-sparking my love for visual development. Now to build that portfolio.

These pieces are result of my independent study to get me better acquainted with illustration. Left is my favorite from the semester, based on what water looks like in my dreams: full of fish. It was my longest composition and also built a layer count in photoshop that I find too embarassing to admit. The middle piece I tried something new, with flat and texture; it didn't turn out anything like I had first planned it, but that happens all the time. The right is the poster for my film. I did a take on the film noir shadow tricks, since my film is full of noir....isms?

That seems like it will do for now! I'll keep you posted on my portfolio building adventures; and in the meantime, Will and I have webspace now, which means I'll have an actual page soon, which means I can direct you to some pencil tests and maybe even the film. Which may be fun. Bye.

even in my home, there is work

2007-03-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

I have found myself, lately, taking to drawing on computer paper instead of in my sketchbook. Maybe I have commitment problems, but I feel no pressure on loose leaves. Anything can be kept or thrown away guilt-free. Though, now there is less paper for actual printing and a bunch of single pages floating around my living room at all times. I suppose I could stick them all in something, such as a binder, but then they might start to resemble a sketchbook; and I can't take that risk. Above is Wander from Shadow of the Colossus. I haven't done 'fan art' in years and thought I would give it a go! This is the perfect game to play when you're super busy, because you can always take a break from work, defeat a colossus, then return to work with only half an hour gone.

My heart now belongs to muted palettes. And I'm almost to the point where I dislike clean drawings completely. They're pretty and all, but they have no hustle. I'm signing with my middle name since I can't make my first and last look pretty on paper. One of these days I'll have a cycle of names I can pick to put down. Until then, I have one.

And now I'm throwing lemurs at you! I sit next to them every time I visit the zoo. Which is once a week. I love Sifakas much more, but any lemur is fine by me. The ring tails are always god knows where when I arrive, but the Sifakas are all over the place!

Differently voiced under stressful measures

2007-03-08T00:19:00.000-08:00

Uh, hey there. This is Will. Lindsey's asked me to write this post for her. So here I am, the other side of the cyber gap looks about the same as my own little stretch of virtual pavement.

Lindsey's got a couple of nifty pictures to show off. She spent hours coloring them last night, forsaking any outside form of entertainment and dooming herself to a full day of an overworked hands and a sore bottom.

First up, we've got a pair of the kings of the jungle, slayers of the Sarengeti, the thrilla in Manilla:

Some lions!

HOLY CRAP! That was actually a little harrowing. That might be the Gladiator soundtrack though. This is the most epic blog post in the history of man.

Notice the subtle use of shading and foreboding. The hard arch of the lioness' brow. These are real lions people, stand back, and enjoy the fury.

Next we have a piece of fanart for another totally epic hero. Ammy!

HOLY CRAP AGAIN! I'm feeling the power eminating from that little sun goddess. The powers of light and yin yangs and sparkles flows through her with the strength of 1000 generations. Because if I've learned anything from Asian media, the more generations, the more badass you are. Ammy, right now, is somewhere around Patrick MacGoohan. Except she can draw some stuff and he's only good at being cocky and sort of opaque.

So there's your blog post Lindsey...I hope I did ok and didn't totally scare off your readership. If I did, go to MY BLOG and start reading that instead k? It's totally not as epic and hardcore as Lindsey's blog.

<3

hello color

2007-03-05T01:35:00.000-08:00

Too much time passes in between my posts. Before I know it, nearly a month slips in there, and I always feel like I posted a couple of days ago. Maybe time is just moving faster than I remember. This is the second background for my film. It may be the only background I will have in color before the semester is over. It still needs fixing up, so consider this the first pass, but eventually, all my backgrounds will look at least this nice. More tomorrow, I promise!

tall friends

2007-02-09T00:11:00.000-08:00

Giraffes! My trip to the LA Zoo was lovely; I took more pictures than I drew though, and I only drew giraffes. Their baby giraffe (on the left) is 6 feet tall, which seems really tall until you see his15 foot tall mother. (pictured right) They're my favorite to draw so far. But that's only because I couldn't find the lemurs in time...

Yawhoo

2007-02-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

As promised I'm posting again. And what more, I still made it in the limits of what constitutes as "tomorrow"! Today it's drawings I did for fun, instead of work. They gave me the opportunity to mess around a little more in photoshop. Above are some owls I whipped up one day; they don't look my style, but I think that's why I like them. Now as for the picture below, this is Kayo from Polysics. I saw her live last week and she is an amazing robot girl. She never broke character even when hammering out speedy tunes on her keyboard.

Behind Glass

2007-02-06T00:55:00.000-08:00

Please forgive me for neglecting you, blog. To make up for it, I'll post more tomorrow; but until then, here is a composition I'm working on for my Independent Study. The above is the concept piece for the first establishing shot of my film, complete with bad perspective. (Don't worry, I soon find my ruler!)

And create my first value study in frame. Color study to soon follow, as well as something fun finally! Oh, Draw For Fun Night, if we ever needed you more?

Final Highlights

2006-12-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

So, once again, I made it. And for the last two weeks I averaged 4 hours of sleep a night, give or take. Needless to say, I slept since I got home on Friday, until Saturday morning. Plus I've been eating extra meals to make up for all the ones I couldn't eat during crunch time. But here is Monday, and I can relax and return back to normal. Though I'm not entirely work-free, since I need to return over the break and get a head start on animating. But here are some highlights! Above is my Animation Drawing Final. It was particularly nice, because I haven't had the opportunity to use traditional mediums in quite some time. This was done in powdered graphite.

I was pleased to hear such a positive reaction to my senior film animatic. I didn't feel like I got much feedback this semester, so I didn't know whether anyone especially liked it or especially disliked it. But the reactions were good, and I'm ready to continue. The above are some value studies I whipped up for areas of the story where lighting plays a key dramatic role.

This is my final Maya bathroom model. I must say, I seriously enjoyed Maya this semester. I really got the hang of it and fell in love with modeling. I even had a moment, while putting together my final demo reel, where I realized I would actually miss it next semester; since I will be moving on to advance compositing. CG certainly isn't something I want a career in, but I can see it's usefulness in several areas other than animating. Of course, I can always play with it on my off time; maybe I can model a complete set of farm animals. But in short, "who the f needs z?" -- Me.

I want to host a "draw for fun" night, since the entire semester is spent drawing things that are due, and those never turn out as nice as those you haven't spent much thought on and threw out in ten minutes. It will be a nice pressure-free night of drawing whatever the crap you want to, maybe we'll have a topic or subject. Though, I wouldn't know who I would invite, nor where I would hold it, considering my apartment might not hold more than five people comfortably. That aside, I've been receiving electronic xmas cards, and I'm actually in the mood to celebrate this year, so maybe it's time I made one as well.

mogu mogu

2006-11-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I thought I would join in the cheer of things (with one minute to spare) and draw what I really think of Thanksgiving! I have nothing personal against it; I just think this particular Thanksgiving is very ill-timed. I could've used the class time, and the peer/teacher input. Disregard the fact that I dislike most holidays since I am, afterall, a crotchety old man.

But in all sincerity, I hope you had a good one!

Sheepy Screamy

2006-11-09T23:47:00.000-08:00

Where have I been? It's not so much school taking up my free time as much as it is my recent reunion with my old closest friend Harvest Moon. I promised myself I would post so much more than this. But fear not: in honor of November being National Write a Novel Month, I will be practicing the art of written word; not so much in novel form but in this here blog and in my own personal notebook just to express myself in another creative manner. These methods won't by any means be best sellers, but I have a lot I've wanted to write about lately; and what better excuse to get started? (Above is an accident-prone sheep freaking out because his glasses fell off his face.)

Well, screaming sheep aside, here is my latest Maya assignment. This is the duck I built up square by square, which took up my entire last weekend and then some. (I'm estimating a total of 17 hours...) It still needs some smoothing and shaping, but I can't believe it turned out as well as it did. I think I'm finally getting used to Maya and can say, honestly, that I have enjoyed my semester with it. (I also modeled a toy bus, and will post it once I color it up.)

Fruit Lovers

2006-10-17T01:39:00.000-07:00

I have a short but sweet fruit stand story going underneath everything just incase my overbove projects for some unspeakable and hopefully unlikely reason start to appear as if they are not going to follow through with what they have personally promised me. Which is an A. So these are my rough characters I modeled so far in a lighter Ovi Nedelcu-inspired fashion, which I like to call Ovi Light. Maybe when I'm ready for them, I'll push them further to maybe even an Ovi Medium. But most likely they will end up looking like I drew them, which is what I really want, even if it doesn't show sometimes. This storyboard will come much later in the semester.

Some Kitties

2006-10-13T19:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, in acting class, we get a non-specific drawing assignment from an actress with no drawing experience. I guess this is just busy work, but I suppose it's the best form. But what better way to hash out a character concept for a 'little story' I have cooking up on the side. (Both 'little' and 'story' needed quotes because it is niether little nore completely a story just yet.) Back on subject, here is the apartment manager in this particular collection of events that will later be a story. He is adorned in a Chesire Cat shirt in honor of Gallery 1988'sChesire Cat exhibit, which I thoroughly enjoyed!

Me, The Chimney

2006-10-10T23:31:00.000-07:00

Ah, the results of a stressful semester, and it isn't even midterm yet. But for some reason, dealing with people that are only four years younger than you on a daily basis wears thin your patience. Hang in there little bee; cigarettes are your real friends. Someday soon, I will post pieces in color, and not just sketches done in color erases.

Long Legs and Bad Posture

2006-10-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

I would be lying if I said they were not Okami-inspired, but you try playing a game about a wolf with a paint brush and not draw something wolf related. I tried to make her look a little snooty, but I can see I only managed an onry look.

This is the wolf's secretary, complete with scribbly set-up stick figures. Because who doesn't need a PA these days? I need eight.

Little Sister

2006-09-12T01:16:00.000-07:00

This would be the beat board to my senior project. It isn't much of a beat board; and it might not even be a beat board, since I'm still unclear on what a beat board actually is. What I have posted here, are the main events of my story, sans final character designs or set-up shots. So if that is the definition of a beat board, I'm in good shape.

High and Low

2006-09-07T00:22:00.000-07:00

My professor drew these for me as examples of high and low angle perspective. When I noticed them slightly crumpled in my drawer, I feared for their future amidst my messy habits. So I scanned them;now they are safe forever in cyberspace as reference for you and me.