Sketchamaroo! (Also, zombies do it for the lulz)

Did I make up that word? If I did, that should totally be a club I'll start... So it's kinda late. I learned all sorts of awesome gesture methods today from Sheldon Borenstein over on his YouTube channel. I've taken the process he teaches and am running with it. These are a couple of pages of sketching that I did tonight. There is an interesting story about a drunk and a zombie that came of out of an "on demand" gesture session. It was a very fun exercise. I hope you find it as humorous as I did while drawing it. It starts on the top right of the second page and ends on the fourth.

A transformation.

Just stepping it up a notch. Gotta get hundreds of times better than this.



It doesn't really mean anything. Do you see something?

Yet another bouncing ball...

I'm hungry and I've got a headache...



This plays much better in full screen. It's kinda awkward in the small window.

Class early in the morning.

SketchCrawl 17!

DRAW DRAW DRAW DRAW DRAW!

IT'S OFFICIALLY SKETCHCRAWL DAY! Here in Texas, that is. I need to sleep to get up early and draw. This is something I'm excited about. I hope to meet new people who can help me along the path to awesomeness.

In the meantime, I've been working on this animation for class. Yes, the bowling ball is alive. It is moar fun that way.



It needs some tweaking, but since this is only half of the project, I'd rather finish roughs of both and then fine tune. Don't want to drive myself mad.

Oh, and in case you missed it, here is an updated version of my first one.

A sketch...

Inspired by Brian Baum. He was sketching all sorts of wonderful creatures and people and it inspired this.
I need to draw more... oh, wait... that's my homework!
Gotta go finish some drawings for class. I'll post some of what I draw later.
On a very related note, though, the 17th World Wide SketchCrawl is this Saturday, the 19th. I've been trying to organize it, and we'll be making a decision shortly, within the next day or so. If you're reading this, you should join us. Yes, you!

LOOK! IT MOVES!!!

It's a bouncing ball!



It's not quite finished, though. I need to add a roll at the end for accuracy.

EDIT! It's updated with the new video.

I'm getting there!

My traditional animation professor worked with Michel Gagne!!! I've loved his work since I first saw his piece in flight! I try to keep up with what he's working on, and I was thrilled when our professor played his short "Prelude to Eden."



Must finish this semester with flying colors of awesomeness!!! Look forward to my animations and character designs and photos of 3d designs and paintings I owe people. Sorry I haven't finished then yet :( . Soon though!

Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

Over the break I haven't really kept up with internet, but seeing as the break is over and I have to find myself in a pattern of regularity in order to function at peak efficiency, (also, my recent visit of insomnia (hello, old friend!)), I was going through the old Google Reader and found a page of essays (linked by Enrico Casarosa) by several prominent figures about what they had changed their minds on in 2007. I've read through some of them, and I find them interesting and thought provoking.
I myself changed my mind on many things. From science to faith to art and beyond, 2007 has been a year full of revelations, epiphanies, decisions, and affections which leave me a completely different person than who I was a year ago. I don't have a good feeling about 2008, as I was telling Aaron, but I'm going to work twice as hard, because life won't live itself, and make the best of even the bad this year.
So I say a belated farewell to 2007, and as 2008 pick up into swing, you'll see my knuckles turn white as I make my way to 2008.

Bleh...

I've got nothing to show over this break. NOTHING!!! Except a half baked idea for a video game and a story I've started thinking about. I've got some sketches made, but that's about it. :( Tomorrow I might do something about it.

Just checking in!

You must go buy a copy of Kazu Kibuishi's "Amulet: The Stonekeeper" as soon as possible. Beautiful art, engaging writing, I was wanting to turn it into a video game. Good stuff.
I've been so lazy, I need the semester to start back up again so I can return to a schedule of productivity.
*edit*
Woo, I have the first printing of the book!

Huzzah for arts!

First of all I'd like to thank everyone who put in a good word for me. You know who you are. I couldn't have done it without you. :)
Secondly, I'd like to thank the artists from whom I took images to create this collage. Jen, Chris, Kazu, and Carson are all amazing artist and I hope to one day meet them and tell them how much their work has both inspired and encouraged me.
The painting was displayed at the UTD Arts Fall Festival and comes down on the 9th (Sunday), so if you haven't already seen it in person or seen it displayed, make sure you head down there soon and check it out.

Painters! A Product That Delivers

...is exactly what I discovered this week. "The Master's" Brush Cleaner and Preserver is a nifty little compound that, as the lid promises, "Keeps Brushes Like New." I had recently bought a few Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes, but seeing as how these are really fine, expensive brushes, I was hesitant to use them unless I knew how to take proper care of them. I researched the subject and found that there are special cleaners, so I took another trip down to Asel's and discovered this little wonder. It even promises to restore brushes!
So I put it to the test and found that it doesn't lie! I cleaned all my brushes and even restored hard oil brushes from the beginning of the semester that I thought were useless! While it didn't completely restore the shape of the neglected brushes, the bristles are now clean and soft and ready to touch the canvas again.
Look at all those clean brushes! (And no, they are not paying me. They should, though.)

The Contract

This is the final project for my Intro to Computer Mediated Communications course. Not completely happy with it, but proud that inking is done 97% with brush! (#4 round red kolinsky, I think) For more information on the horrible truths about modern copyright laws, check out Lawrence Lessig's lecture on free_culture.
Click on the images to enlarge.

(8"x10" in on bristol)

Voila!

This is a photograph of the finished painting. I hope people like it. It seems to be getting a fair amount of applause from the people at school. To think that at the beginning of the semester I didn't like to paint...


I plan to make some more paintings of original images soon. I am going to be teaching myself watercolor painting over the break, hopefully. I've failed miserably at it before, so let's see how it goes.

It's a Thanksgiving Day Miracle!!!

So the most exciting thing to happen over the Turkey Break was the rescuing of 5 puppies. Regrettably, the 6th of the litter had not made it by the time I arrived where the puppies had been abandoned. Rescuing them and then nursing them (which was the hardest thing I've ever done) was a highlight of this year.
My little brother video recorded the adventure and put together this very...creepy?...video.



My sister now owns one of the puppies. It's weird, though. Having nursed them, I feel responsible for their ultimate "destiny," for lack of a better word. Anyways, I hope they survive.

What do you want to be when you die?

I found this very entertaining video showing the many facets of th business of death over at The Fabulist. I decided that when I die, I want to help the environment, so just bury me as soon as possible with no preservatives in a cardboard box in my local forest.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you,

The Baron!


As he surveys his barony, he remembers the old land, his would be Baroness, whom he lost but in his memories. This is home now, Baron, this is home.

I'm almost done!!!

Click to enlarge!!!

Just a few more contour lines for the background and the Ellis image.

The Studio!!

HUZZAH!!!

I am getting the kitten!! ^_^!!!!!