Phonemes

For the animation class--here are some cruddy phonemes (with a beautiful model)

Platon

Here's the url for the contemporary photographer, Platon. We've been looking at his work in our Digital Media Foundations class. He also has a photo essay entitled Service in this week's New Yorker. Click here to check it out online.

Bald Power: Cal Ripken Jr. and Glenn "Divine" Milstead Unite!

This connection must have been made somewhere before as both Cal and the late, great, "Divine" are prominent Baltimore figures. Nonetheless, it bears illustration. Thanks to my brother for drawing this to my attention.

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.

Picture from DMF demo

There's a right way to rock
And a wrong way to roll
You should just listen to your soul
Just remember that life is number one
You could be having so much fun.

From Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!

DMF Sample Poste

I make picture. It is good.

Fallen Summer

Summer dies to fall. Dang it. Back to work.

Been a bit

And a good summer. Building a shack in the back yard, riding bikes with Sam, all-night Battlestar Galactica and Spore jags, working on an animation with Casey and Jennifer, on-going mid-life crisis--sorting through death and personal-cultural responses to it. Good times. School looms, but bring it on. Also, I haven't checked blog or email for about a month. My apologies. This is a background in progress from the in-progress animation. Silky. Me want draw more landscape outside, but me too afraid to tremblingly confront me inadequacy before pulsating expansive nature.

3D nothingness

hope
pander
repress
should
"the RIGHT way"
bleh
ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting by Scott Spencer is a very good book on ZBrush.
I learn stuff from it
pat on head
now forget it all

Brad Neely--damn you

Laughing, sobbing over Professor Brothers.
My life has been a cowardly lie.
I need ignorance and down-time.
Need to quit or take it up a notch.
"When I was around her, I felt like a goblin made entirely out of wicked genitals."
Goddamnit.

This lion knocker was made in ZBrush following the tutorial from Scott Spencer's, ZBrush Character Creation: Advanced Digital Sculpting.

Professor Evolution Soccer

Okay, finally got around to giving all the Pro Evolution Soccer Premier League teams their proper names. No more "Lancashire Athletic." It's "Wigan," now, baby. Farewell, Teeside. Hello, 'Boro.

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.

Contemporary Approaches to Immortality

Grasping a fist-sized ball of elemental energy whether as hooded street-druid or cryptic man-goat is a sure-fire way to express your mastery over the horrifying unknowable forces of life and death. Failing that, you may want to purchase a 3D imaging system (such as Softimage XSI 7!) which would "give you the power" to create a moving simulacrum of such a vision. Behold.
And yes, as a Protoss Dragoon will insist on telling you, "I have returned."

The Best Song of All Time

Ever is Windy by The Association. Any dissenters? Good. Didn't think so. Play this at my funeral. Recorder solos rule.Guys brandishing mustaches and tambourines rule. Hawaiian Filipino singer/guitarists rule. Represent, Larry Ramos!

First Lazy Day of Summer?

Hanging out in my office with Super Sam today. Wow. We blast some music, and he draws awesome stuff (Jawa Cafe complete with OOTINI sign!). I half-assedly goof around with some QuickTime compression tests and pluck the geetar while Final Cut renders. A student or two drops by to talk and take care of loose ends. Of course Sam and I both sing when necessary. Who can resist I Apologize, Bittersweet Symphony, Sabotage, I'm the One (The Descendents!), In The Meantime, Baba O'Reilly or Time Bomb? Not us, that's for sure.

No Excuses

Because I'm a man. A man with a Pikachu on his bag.
Use Thunder Attack!
Pi-ka!
Pika-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!

I really have very little idea what the hell happened over the last week. Last week of classes, so lots of teaching and teaching-related nonsense. Exhaustion. Definitely some exhaustion. Patches of despair. I think exhaustion was the main thing. Also, on Friday we bought a nu-2-u car, (2003 Toyota Corolla. I'm sensible, damnit), so I inherit "The White Man"--our 3-door '92 Buick Park Avenue. Look out world. I'm comin' for you.

More Higher Ed Dire-ness

Eastern Oregon University, La Grande, OR

Twas a beautiful day in the Rogue Valley. Clear air, spectacular shadows and color. Ah, The Shire.
Hmmm, trying to put together a coherent thought regarding this article in today's NYT about big lenders dropping student loans to "community colleges, for-profit universities and other less competitive institutions." Among the schools being dropped by a major lender is one of SOU's sister schools, Eastern Oregon University. Uh oh. That can't be good.

I'm too tired to think clearly, though. More later.

Maturing of the Internet

PHOTO-ILLLUSTRATION BY SEAN MCCABE

I remember attempting to do some internet digging on Village People lore around 8-10 years ago, and there was precious little there. In the past couple years, I've been gratified to see this void being filled. Here's a nice article by Jeff Pearlman at Spin.com on the rise of the Village People's YMCA as a mainstream sports anthem. I get all happy inside when I think of Glenn Hughes (didn't know he worked at a camera store post-'People. Thanks, Randy!--ed) and Freddy Mercury rocking arenas full of sports fans.

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.

Reflective n' @#$%

I worked on the web site today putting together the Legends From Camp storyboards and pre-production images. Tedious. A successful artist's blog might read like this: "I worked on my latest commission today. My assistant is putting together the Legends From Camp storyboards and preproduction images." One potential benefit of doing my own dirty work is that I started some honest to god writing about Legends From Camp. Hopefully, I'll come up with something better than these blog blasts.

Goddamnit, that Rudolph Zallinger dinosaur muralat the Yale Peabody Museum is awesome. I'd like to do something a fraction as cool before I keel. Alexis Rockman probably feels the same way. His stuff is good, but there's not a single piece of "fine" art in the past 30 years that holds a candle to Zallinger. The man came, laid down his fierce majesty, and died. You who rocked, we salute you.