First Flight, Pg 3

Page 3 makes me realize this looks kinda incomplete without background paintings... Anyone want to help with that? You can find the rest here.

First Flight, Pg 2

The rest of the pages are here.

First Flight

I made this comic a few months ago. I call it "First Flight."

This is page 1 of 9. Click to see higher res.



I'll be posting the other pages every other day, although the rest can be found here if you are the impatient kind. Hope you enjoy it!

SketchCrawl Numero Vignt & Go

That means number 25 in spanish, french, and japanese!

Alex and I went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens hoping to meet other sketchers, but unfortunately didn't run into them. We spent our time at the Japanese Gardens! Some peekatures of my sketches (click for embiggening):

Where The Wild Things Are - a personal interpretation

It's been over a year since I've written in this blog, but seeing as my "official" website is down, I've come back to blogging on the blogspot.

First things first: this post won't be a review of the film, nor of the book. If you want to know whether you should spend the money to go watch the film, don't ask me. I did, and in my opinion, it was worth every penny of both mine and Alex's ticket purchase. Instead, this post is my personal analysis and reconciliation of the book, the movie, and myself.
The wild things in Maurice Sendak's book are scary. There is something about the way the creatures are drawn that gives me chills, even disturbs me a little. Max encounters them fearlessly, however. They are his wild things, created from his imagination. He subdues and rules over them, befriends them and plays with them. In the film, the wild things are, by contrast) very lovable. Still giant monsters, their representation in three dimensions, their expressive faces, and their distinct personalities makes them each very easy to empathize with. Their voices, however, bring them to life. The inflections in their manner of speaking, subtle changes in their tone, and masterful reading of the script can all be praised as marvelous acting, but it was the frantic, desperate cries and dialogue which makes them true wild things. I found myself getting teary-eyed as each one's character was revealed, because in them I saw and heard the wild things in me.
In Spike Jonez's film, these monsters were blatantly and unapologetically the monsters found inside each and every one of us. Our primal anxieties, fears, insecurities, all manifested in their rawest, most concentrated forms. These are the emotions that come from what scientists would call the reptilian part of our brain, our basest instincts. We live with these everyday, yet rarely stop and look at the wild things within, often letting them romp about our lives, building up fortresses, instigating chaos. These traits are hidden in the characters in the original children's book, but as I watched the film, something resonated within me as these monsters' tempers flared, as they broke down crying, threw their tantrums, and withdrew within themselves.
It was clear to me within the first few minutes that the film was not going to be a film for children, but rather a film for the child within all of us: a film that forced us to explore the wild things within ourselves. These concepts might be lost on children who do watch this film. Sadly, many children these days aren't brought up to understand their wild, dark side. It frightens me often when I teach (yeah, I kinda teach) and find that most of the kids would rather be playing their mindless video games than exploring the fascinating natural world, the infinite cosmos without, and the infinitesimal cosmos within. Could much of what is diagnosed as behavioral disorders very well be due to an ineptness to tame the wild things within? Perhaps instead of drugs to correct behaviors we could encourage a conversation with the wild things, perhaps they will make us their king? If the the wild in us is the remnants of an ancient brain, then perhaps reason and creativity, the products of an evolved brain, can rule over these emotions?
But neither book nor film ends with harmony between the king and the wild things. They both explore what is perhaps our inability to contain the monsters. Echoed throughout the film is the idea of endings. We are reminded that the sun dies, that rocks erode to sand, to dust, and, "and then I don't even know what comes after dust." That which is most solid in our lives will someday crumble; that which is most constant will someday cease. I was personally reminded of the death of my faith.
In an interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Spike Jonze explained to Terri Gross that Maurice wanted him to make something personal. "You can't care what anybody else thinks, you just got to make something that's personal to you," said Maurice. This, I believe, is the true heart of art. There are, and no doubt will be, countless conplaining that the film strays drastically from the book. On the contrary, Jonze argues that he just went deeper into what was presented in the book, reading between the hatch lines, if you will.
So do I recommend this film? If you are willing to explore the depths of your darkest emotions, cry a little, laugh a little, then this film is right for you. If you want a cookie cutter film with a happy ending, perfect resolution, and nonthreatening ideas, go watch something else. As for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey through night and day, in and out of weeks, and almost over a year to where the wild things are.

A small sketch dump

A girl playing the Wii. I wish I had one.
The model called it "The Sleeping Guard,".
These are sketches in preparation for a team animation project due in a couple of weeks. I am really excited! I hope this animation turns out fantastic and I get a job because of it. COME ON, CAUSALITY!!! These first Homer ones are when I was warming up.
These are when I realized Homer is harder to draw than he seems to be.
And lovable Lisa Simpson. At first, she was really tough(top left), but once I learned the inner shapes and proportions, she became really fun to draw(bottom left AND right!!!)!

I swear I'm still alive!

Today I had some extra time at school and decided to draw up some "digitized" comics with photoshop and my trusty 4x5 tablet. This is what I came up with. It's a random story that popped into my head as I drew, so I most likely won't come back to it (unless it takes me somewhere I don't expect (which it might) (maybe)).Page 2 is very confusing. I can't tell what's going on if I try looking at the pictures, so it's going to change if I decide to keep working on this story. But I like the last panel. :3

Amazing Artist Alert!!

I just ran across this blog linked over at Cartoon Brew. Amazing artist with wonderful, intriguing works. James Jean produces a definite must-see style of art, rich in line with beautiful figure renderings, so if you are on the web, swing by his neighborhood.

You know you're tired when...

your cat starts giving you animation advice.

What's all this, then???

I hadn't drawn one of these in a while. Quick comic of the day.

Aunt Tisip: Asian

Anticipation, also. This is what I came up with. This, I confess, was harder than it looks. Body mechanics and motion, combined with perpective and timing, are very taxing both on my mind and on my hand. Not to mention the pencils. ANYHOO... it was really fun to make. Credit to Vera Brosgol on the character, and YES, I did it because it's cool...



Also, I just remembered I need a background... it'll be fun background drawing practice!!! -_-,

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.