Midweek Preview

What fabulous fragment is this unearthed 'neath Chronos' bones? Tune in Monday, January 26, 2009 for the latest installment of Arms and Ether. Fanfare. Garlands. Dancing. Physiognomy.

Got some decent drawing done this morning after waking up from a nightmare at 5 a.m. Lots to think and draw about these days. Time to work up some Maya magic for class this afternoon. Need more coffee. Liquid courage.

Lots of ideas percolating for the "hard launch" Arms and Ether rollout. The button thing in yesterday's post has got me thinking about a far more phantasmagorical website. I'll burn in hellfire for it, but since I can do it, why not? I'm like Shatner or Anthony Hopkins in that way. Sure, I can act, but I can sing too! Holy @#$%^#$%&* I'd never actually SEEN the Shatner Rocket Man before. Go. Now. See. Believe.

God knows when the Arms and Ether "hard-launch" will happen, though. Realistically, I'm thinking summer, and why not? A rocket. . . man.

Feelin' Better, Thank You

Got to bed at a reasonable hour last night, so I'm feeling better. Hoorah. Going to go to bed early again, I believe. Tomorrow it's Arsenal vs. Liverpool, so gots to get up for the 8:00 kick off. Okay, that was my best blog post ever.

Here's a page from the brilliant mind of Evan "Big Evan" Carroll. A concept drawing from our Happiness Hole project.

Herodotus!

Getting the Arms and Ether characters together. . . here's Herodotus. Funny that he doesn't know how to draw togas either.

Comic Class--Roughing in the Story

Here is a .png of the template I used to rough out Arms and Ether.
Download and enjoy. The other images are side by side scans of my roughs next to my finished artwork.

I wanted to illustrate two points for my comic/picture book class.
1. Don't let artwork hang up your writing and your ideas. Get the flow going. REFINE artwork LATER.
2. ROUGH your pages in quickly so that you are able to establish the flow and feel of your story. Make edits in the rough stage before you've dropped a day's work on drawing a page the story would be better off without.

Dang it. Now I've got to lay low.

From today's Medford Mail Tribune:
Police circulate sketch of Human Bean robber.
"Witnesses described him as a white man about 30 with dark, short hair, a full beard and a pot belly. He was last seen wearing a tank top and long black shorts, police said."

Better put off that trip to Medford. I'd just be asking for trouble.
"But officer, I'm 41!"

Plus that damn drawing looks like every other page in my sketchbook. . . Maybe I'd better change my profile picture.

The Soul, Long Dark Night Of

Had an unscheduled bout of insomnia last night which doesn't become me; I prefer to sleep easy.

Look out! Could be a "cavescape" a-brewin'!

God help me.

Quantity, not Quality

That's me, today. Showed Satyricon to my USEM students. "Kids, don't steal Hermaphrodites."

Three process drawings of skull guy. This is driving me nuts, putting these up because a) they need a $%@% of a lot more work and b) they still suck. That being said, I'm putting them up because a) Daily drawing b) they remind me that you can't half-ass this stuff. It takes time, focus, and concentration. Since those three things are in precious short supply, I'm hoping the humiliation of putting up half-assed stuff will drive me to increase time, focus and concentration. That sounds bleak.

Oh, and I look and feel HAGGARD today, but not to worry, I dressed "dumpily" to help offset that impression.

Busy (as a morning sunrise)

Been working away this morn getting Legends From Camp to stream on the web. Not sure if this is ultimately a good thing. Watching video on the web really does suck. On the other hand, never getting to see something sucks as well. I want Legends to go out and have a life in the world, but I seem constitutionally incapable of distributing copies of it myself. This way, at least, it can be seen now and then by actual flesh and blood people. Imagine. Prattle. More when I upload it.

On the daily drawing end of things, here's an early stage of a sci-fi character design from my sketch book. I'm going to paint up the skull dude in 40-shoppe. Stay glued to your set for the updates. Yeah, I know, Mars Attacks. Who says 5th generation design can't be fun? These started as concepts for a 2D flash video game I've been designing with my son.

The 3 Stages of Heroic Man

Last night, as I returned to Pelican Bay, I was thrilled to find that the inmates had put together a collection to commission me to create a great mural for the recreation yard! They were quite clear that the subject of the work was to be "The 3 Stages of Heroic Man," and that I, as the embodiment of their rough and tumble heroic ideal, was to be the model for our Hero. You can imagine my excitement at such a challenge! I feverishly set to my sketchbooks, and after a sleepless night and not a few cigarettes' worth of paper, I posted my proposal in the cafeteria for all to see. The tumult was such that the guards fired several warning shots and were about to institute a "lock-down" until they too were transported by the genius of my design! Oh, the gaiety! If you had only seen the spontaneous bonhommie 'twixt guard and inmate, I have no doubt you would have wept as I did at the precious power of almighty Art to move friend and foe alike. Is there nothing that art (and the artist!) cannot achieve?! We are truly living on the cusp of a great age! What a precious gift it is to be an artist in these daring and heady times!

Oh would that I could stay and talk a very blue streak about the ecstasy of this day, but I must away to this great responsibility, my commission--my vocation!

Giving up, giving up, giving a #$%@

As a modern mother on the go, my husband, my son, and my career are all very important to me.

Ups and Downs

Well, not too much to say. Worked late, got up early. Preached the holy arte gospel. It's now 7:00 p.m. A long day. I should write a poem. Had a good chat with Joe Brick last night about the whole web thing.

It feels liberating. Dare I say it, "reifying." And the sun was out today. Riding my bike around felt good.

Up mit People

I'm looking forward to seeing all of my "concept" work up in one place. I'm not sure why that is. I'm not a slick commercial "concept artist" who renders out industrial sci-fi machinery and anatomically correct triceps (though God knows, I've tried.). I suppose it's because I'm realizing I've spent a lot of my life using drawing as a way of thinking and feeling. And when I see these desperate little scuff marks on the paper it feels like me. It feels like who I really am. My students think I'm some weird, muttering, disorganized bald guy, my colleagues think I'm scheming to wreck their lives, and my neighbors think I'm a lazy oddball with a shitty yard and crappy beat up cars bringing down their property values. But really, I'm just a guy excited about thinking and drawing things. Kind of like a 5th-rate, irrelevant Hokusai (who apparently described himself late in life as "an old man crazy about drawing."). Yeah. I think that's it.
p.s. this drawing was a concept for Arms and Ether.
p.p.s. still haven't found the USEM papers. #%*@!

Gray again. Gray.

It's 3:15 p.m. a bleak time in anyone's life. Slept in til 10:00 today. Thanks, baby. Still groggy, though, of course. Sorting through Legends From Camp material today. Hmmm, should have done this oh, about 4 years ago. Too bad, so sad. Okay, so I didn't get my act together until today, but I didn't have a total nervous breakdown 4 years ago either. I came very close, I bet. The Moral? Growing up is a gradual never-ending process. And then you die.
Here's a concept drawing I did for Legends From Camp, back 'round 1998 (!). Since starting this web project, my mind has shifted back and forth between, "Oh my God, look at all the stuff I've done!" to "Oh my God this is all the stuff I've done?" Go figure.

Friday Fever

Okay, Friday, 2 p.m. down at school working on the site after spending two hours doing department work. I'll probably pass out at some point. . . Buddy Holly's good, though.

Can't Get Started With You

3 a.m. Sweet Jebus. Hacking around with the web site. It was either that or mope around the house when I should be in bed. I've been going through all o' my Daily Drawings from the past 10 years , and I'm mired in 2001. hurglh.