Another children's book.

I'm am sure at some point you will see these popping up on the olde Illustration Brothel, but here's the first round of editing in what I hope to finish in 10 days or less. I busted the layouts out in just under 3 days, but the drawing isn't as impressive as I could've executed. Hopefully, on the second pass (where I really have to visually commit) I'll nail down some good work.

My New Doghouse

One day, my humans started takin all dey stuff outta da place which I rules - until it was empty and big enough to run around for real. I thoughts, "nice call, I like this betta". But then, we's come home to a differen place - where the stairs BE INSIDE. And guess what - I gets to run up and down dem! And by "run up and down dem", I means "all de time".

As it turns out: This is my HOUSE. The King has a HOUSE.

It has its own grass. Grass which I burns with my mazin speed. It has carpet, which burns my feets with my mazin speed. It has many windows - windows the King feels warm under. It has a neighborhood - which I keep out with my barks. It has many crannies - where I hides in ambush. It has a large park - where I unleash my charisma on many ladies (what can dey do? I's powerful). It has a new bed - which I claim underneath as my crib. Don't you doubt my power!
My humans can stay as long as I am well fed the way I likes.

Yet Another All-Nighter

I love the mess I'm in! That's not a facetious statement; I really mean it! Though I've pulled a string of all-nighters in the last 3 months I love the stuff I'm doing. It's back to the drawing board... er, tablet. As much as I enjoyed Animation Mentor I missed the steady scratching sounds of drawing. I'm a planner, thinker, and overall observer - not just motion, but the aesthetic sense of all that expresses narrative. I'm not really sure where I'll end up, but I hope it's a good place.

The Home Stretch

It's rather appropriate that "Slim" is running in this last pencil. I've got just a few more pages to go in this project, and it seems possible that another one is on the way. Iz is still bored with me.

Iz hates it when I work.

I saw Iz laying in front of the door, waiting for something - anything - to happen to give him a reason to get excited, bark, or generally jump around. So far, he's only been presented the opportunity to stay still. So I drew him, in an effort to capture the natural appeal his lines create.

I Rule On Vacation

My Humans took me on a long trip to the... um, "Beach". In my search for the perfect place to eliminates, I had my choice of the Eastern Unitey States during the drive. Not bad. Wherever we stops, I eliminates. My scent be on de whole half o de nation. Schnauzers bow to me!

We stop at a hotel, and my humans think I sleep in da bed wit dem, but dat's where I use my keen Schnauzer Noize Skillz. I hears a noize, I barks. I hears humans outside talkin I barks. I hears a cricket burp, and I barks. I'm bouncin da bed I's barkin' so loud! Den my humans put me in my comfy kennel - I likes it in dere, but I's not an effective Noize-Maker dere. I make sure I gets some deep growlin' in - jus to be sure them crickets keeps dere ground.

When we gets to our desty-nation, my Humans drop me off at this big kennel-type place - At first, I was mad, and I barks loud. Den, I sees I'm in de company of some righteous doggies. First we runs around like crazy and no one stop us. Den, we goes to our room which has a "toddler bed" - methinks it's a bed for righteous doggies. I has a TV, I has my own toys. Rocks.

My humans pick me up on day 3 and take me to dis place what has a lot of sand and a huge freakin' pool that taste nasty - like salt. I din like it. Then, they take me to meet all dees people. They seem cool enough, but not for dis awesome Schnauzer. I got my Righteous Doggies waitin fo me.

When I returns to de "toddler bed" place, we get da party started again. But this time, I gots 3 other Schnauzers joinin me. Two hot ladies, and a righteous whitey Schnauz! I laid down de "wild" like Lassie laid down the goody-goody. Wasn't pretty, which made it awesome. We had a howlin contest and nobody could stop us. Then we raise cain in the pen, then on the floor, then in the yard, then all over! Barkin and howlin and clawin and bitin. One dog started yelling, "Tear up our beds! Tear up our beds!!! Now!!!" I toe up my bed till de springs was showin. Dere are many tings I regret. Dere are many tings I plan to do again - namely the tings I regret. Humans bow to me!

When my humans pick me up, I pretend to be sane. They did looks at me funny when de naive man handed dem a yellow paper (remember to tear up later). Dey know nothin.
Now we home, and everythin like normal. Sucks. So I makin a plan to escape and run to this "Beach". Dere, my Righteous Doggies wait for me. Next time, we gon desecrate the reputation of Lassie like never be-foe.

Lata, Human. Move along!

Keep on Rolling.

I think I'll leave the design on the blog alone for a while. This will do until the day I have time to kick it in design gear.

Curse you Illustration Brothel!

The diligence of the Illustration Brothel is putting to shame the lax posting of the Zealot. Here's my attempt to catch up!

Sappy Alert

I'm tightening today's drawing,

and I end up taking a break and talking to an old friend from college - with whom I worked for about 3 years in a little town called Tifton. It was truly a magical time; I was drawing and writing 4 hours a night. I was improving by leaps and bounds! But best of all, I had great friends.

Matt was the very picture of the meticulous craftsman, specializing in mediums like pencil that work in tiny areas and build up in layers:

We often got together to play computer games and the like, or catch a movie, and we lifted weights until I moved from there.

Richard got Matt the job above, because he was a regular with Beckett magazine for a while:


Richard was meticulous like Matt, but his personality was easy, slow, and understated, which made him hilarious as hell. We all worked at a billboard company called Tri-State Systems, in an art department during the early 90s recession. I felt inspired to draw and get better. The fact that Richard shared his regular gig with Matt was so cool - I was offered, too but I wasn't a huge football fanatic like him and I didn't have a lot of confidence in my illustration skill then.

I am slowly getting back to that lifestyle of drawing, and I'm more driven and happier. I loved Animation Mentor, such classic knowledge and such advanced technique with the most cutting-edge of software. I think I enjoy the drawing more, though.

This is an older set, but I've taken to drawing our dog Izzy (who sometimes writes in this blog, paws-to-keys) as a character:

This Layout Sucks.

Okay, my blog has a new look. But not for long!
I committed a design sin: I designed on the computer with no sketching or planning to back it up. Now I'm reaping the rewards of that sin: A crappy-looking blog. I just went in willy-nilly and screwed with my promotional website docs. Re-workings are already on order. (the layout you see up on the blog now is not what I'm talking about).

On the bright side, here's a little illo project I'm working on with Mr. Baldwin (The Illustration Brothel) : a Japanese children's book that teaches English. Talk about having clear storytelling! It's got to be spot-on! Here's my first layout:


That's a fun one. Lots of fun perspective distortion and everything.
Please refrain from looking at the blog - but look at the drawings as much as you like. Here's the female mouse character Martha:

Animation Mentor, Session 2

Well, it was a hair-raising quarter in session 2. I started off with a really horrible 180º turnaround, then got a little better, and a little better. There was only 4 days between the end of Winter, and the beginning of Spring. 3 days before Winter session ended, I got really sick. I was sore all over, and even talking on the phone made me take a nap afterwords. I was coughing horrendously, too - a freaking, coughing, movie-watching, nap-taking zombie. By Sunday (day before Animation mentor Spring Session 3) my condition was worse. I went to the doctor on Monday cause I ached all over. Bronchitis/Sinusitis. 6 days strict bedrest.

This led to a horrible decision: I had to take a leave of absence for session 3, which I now take in the summer. Man, I hated having to do that, but knowing how much I fight to keep up (and by 'keep up' I mean 'figure out why the rig is behaving this way'), it just seemed sane. Now, all my buds are a class ahead of me - which I'm happy for them, but it makes me feel a little left out.

Best Time to Play.

There be 1 time of day that be best for playing and gen'ral frolic'in: Now.

Now My Turn.

I mayz be a pup. But I knows a blogger when I sees one. I don't sees one.
I like this picture. Two words: "Wrapped" and "Little Pinkie". That's MY chair. I chose it, sure as I choose the spot where I eliminates.

Now, sometimes my Humans leave. And dat is when the freegin party begins. There is stuff on the floor, big stuff, don't know why I didn't notice it before. Point is I do now. And nothing feels betta on my teeth than the stuff I ain't noticed before. I cut through it like butta. I eat it like butta. But I don't swallow it - I display it on the floor. And though the stuff is tiny, it cover a big space. By "big", I mean it gets a rise out of my Humans. And that what the display be all about.

My humans tried somethin new on me. They make me pee in a box. Now, I no smart, but I knows a dumb idea when I sees it. And I saw it. It was that pee box. So I say to myself, "Iz - how long before they know I won't pee in the box.?" Three days. This dumb on my part, cause I held it so long I was feelin puny. But when I throwed up, that was the end of the box. Then it not seem so dumb. It seem smart. End of box.

I am king. I rule here. Move to da next blog, human.

I'm posting a Good One

Now this is me getting serious. There is so much in my skillset that I want to be better, but this represents a "satisfying session of conception". There's a lot of investigation that went into caricaturing the body and face (this image was prepared specifically to show the progression; it's not this way in my sketchbook). There's nothing in it from my iconic cartoon memory. Very satisfying. Now, some of my Animation Mentor buds want to start posting sketches, so I think I'll post this one even though it's older. Then I'm really going to pour in the investment and start some daily drawing that matters. Click on the image to see it at 100%.

I'm Posting A Bad One.

I'm posting this drawing because it was virtually a waste of time. Of course, I learned a lesson from it, but it's bad for so many reasons. One, It's a little face based on all my iconic cartoon library images - stuff I don't think about. I also didn't try to make it dimensional at all. Next time, I'll post some stuff I'm REALLY trying to get right. Sorry to waste your time. Don't even read this freakin' thing. Skip it.

First Semester Finshed

at Animation mentor. My progress reel is here:


The largest hurdles I have to climb are technological. It's one thing to know how to sculpt a good key pose, it's quite another to have it connect properly to the others! There's many a young whippersnapper in these classes, plus a lot of film experience. Just some crazy-mad Maya folk. I love meeting the people and seeing great work and working my brain analyzing it all, but bottom line is, I want to be better. Let's see if I've any gusto left in my worn-out soul to do it.

I Rule. But confused about things.

I am Cute. There no splanation fo it. Just am. And I get things wi my Cute. But there are many thing I don't get. It a puzzal to me. Me can't spell good or talk good, but I give happenings to describe:

When I eliminates, there be a perfect place it should go. I know that perfect place. When I finds it. It takes a time, but I will finds it. My Human doesn't think so, but that not make it NOT SO! Yet, My Human gets impatient when I search for my perfect place for eliminates. I sacrifice greatly for my chosey spot. I holds, holds, holds, quiver, and holds - Then I goes. But olly when it ih perfect.
I thoughts my Human impatient, but now there snow on de ground, and I takes MUCH longer to find my perfect place, and he tuggin and grumpin and complainin. But me standards non-nee-gosh-able. And so it go. I still find time to eats my eliminates, but olly indoors.

When I pee, no perfect place there. Just go! There be a compromise here. I hope he see dat.

My tooths hurt. But when I sinks dem into things - anythings - they feels good. Like a body rub. I likes doin it. My Human give me things, things be "Okay for Tooth-Sinkin", and I sometimes comply. And sometimes I don't. A lot. A LOT of times I sometimes don't. I find things, things ready and 'vailable. The edge of de carpet. The corner wood on de wall (mash!). Flesh. That's my fave. It mash real good and easy to get cause they alway tryin-da pets me! He dangle that fleshy flesh flesh a nail's length from my tooths without my neck out, then I sticks my neck out. And I sinks my tooths. My tooths stop hurtin fo 1 second, then he scream like little mouse. My pup mates bit back, but my Human does not. Good deal.

Just got my jewels removed. Look at me! Why not make more oh me? But dey's gone. Foh-eva. My Human tell me he LOVES me. So what gives? He got lots ah friends - but none of they's jewels come off. They there, cause I stick my nose there - they there. Does he LOVE, or does he LIE? I think de answer be written in the plastic cone round my neck that makes me hear bettah.

I tell you mo. Latuh.

Busy Bakson. Busy. Bak son.

My animation mentor education is so much fun, and you get crazy views like this:



I created this keyframe animation, all on hold-frames, and now that's the only way it looks right. Many AMer's are quite web-savvy, which I am not, and they know how put images like this in their messages to one another. I'm slowly figuring it out.

We also have a new member of the family: Izzy.



Between him, my job, my job, and my education, life is getting pretty interesting. Like a Michael Moore documentary.

The Really Not-So-Awesome List

In the tradition of Jennifer Stewart's "Not Awesome" Lists comes tonight's Really Not Awesome List:

- Virginia Buckley

- Allergist

- The Dream House

- paying to see the Dream House

- Mary Kay

- Crappy Faux Finishing

- Freakin' Bitches

- Jerks

- Yellow

- Eye Dilation

- Your Mom knowing People

- Zelda's Quirks

- Dominos falling

- Marilyn

- Camera Phone

- IRS

- Aids (in Africa)

- Keeping up a Blog

My Pattern.

Wake up. Hit 'Snooze'. Repeat 8 times.
Breakfast. Devotional. Shower. Work. Spaz.
Work. Save. Render. Save. Work. Work. Work. Render.
Xbox. Forget something. Get a phone call: forgot something.
Calm pissed-off friend. Take the blame. Friendship goes on.
Work. Sleep 3 hours. Repeat.

I'm WAY over-committed! A storyboard project for a 3-minute pilot, the standard class stuff, a conference paper (YAAAWWWWNNNN), a 4-minute animatic, preparation for school, and of course, living. My deadlines all seem to coalesce on September 18th at which time I will stand back and re-assess my tendency to say "yes".
As meager recreation, I just finished a classic book, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. First of all, if you said to yourself, "HE hasn't read...?" you need to shut that flapper and get over it. The quarter system completely spoiled me. If you don't remember this book, re-read it. The last third I read in a single sitting; a real nail-biter.
I'm a bit ill right now. No, not physically, but mentally. I just finished 3 hours worth of grading - that already pisses me off, cause grading only extends my ability to analyze - then I look at "The Blackwing Diaries" Sketchbook and HOLY TOLEDO I feel like a complete loser. Bad Zealot! (bangs head on desk).

The Not-Awesome List for July 22nd, 2007

These things are, very simply put, NOT awesome:

• My Neck

• My dried-up contacts

• child molesters

• the unibomber

• Disappointing Character 1

• Hot fries Diarrea

• Let-down of a Personality 2

• Global Warming

• Made-up crap.

• receiving RedBlocks.

• paying for Harry Potter thrice, not seeing once, but seeing a woman throw up.

• bitches

• AIDs in Haiti

• Informatics

• Web work

• being at work at 8:30

BTW

Check out this ironic online advertisement posted with "Fight Club". (If you've seen the movie "Fight Club", and you know it's themes inside and out, you'll understand)


What kind of closet defines me as a person?

Just Saw Transformers

Yes, I gave in. And let me tell you this movie is absolutely BRILLIANT. From a marketing, product placement, and flexible budget standpoint. Plot: This giant Rubrik's Cube can change ANY electronic device (read: product placement)into a living, mechanical organism. The decepticons are after the cube to...take over the universe...and the Autobots must stop them. The autobots can change into any vehicle they scan (read: automotive product placement) and try to fight the other bots out of view of humans (read: cheap shooting locations until the end, when you can bring them in public for an all-out fight). They also learn English by browsing the World Wide Web!!!!! (read: any website product placement) Brilliant!
From a storytelling standpoint, Michael Bay's brillance at storytelling isn't so shiny - He doesn't know the meaning of "restraint"; in other words, when to TAKE SOMETHING OUT so it's more powerful. The music blares the entire movie, only stopping to take in redundant, action-describing dialogue or obnoxious sound effects and explosions. For example, the ice is breaking underneath the explorers' feet, they yell, "THE ICE IS BREAKING". When they pick up the escaping soldiers, the voice-over says, "Get'em home" when a single cut back home could say that better. I mean, the actors WON'T SHUT UP! If you don't believe me, watch it again for clarity. They won't shut up!
Bay has a lot of style backed by no sense of timing. The whole movie rolls by at a breakneck pace to cover all the material specifically designed to cover the widest possible audience. For example: Captain Lennox of the escaping force talks to his wife and kid, saying he's coming home soon. 30 seconds. We see a reaction shot of the wifey at home. 5 seconds. They reunite at home. 10 seconds. Just because Commander Cody, or Lennox, or whatever-his-name-is can kick some robot ass, that doesn't mean I'm going to care about him. And people won't STOP TALKING! And what's with those football villians imported from the 80s?
But with all the money made on this bitch from advertising, Bay can now independently finance his dream film. And that's how this merry-go-round works. Can you blame him? I would've done it! Bay: will you give me a job?

It all starts with a simple...

What a beautiful Sunday! Perfect day for crunch time in a dark lab working on a piece of motion graphics!
The image above is a cel I saved. I was inking day after day, staying late, when all of a sudden animator Joe Peery was looking for someone to quickly animate Scooby-Doo. I stood up and said "I can do it!" This cel was the first one in the sequence, and when Joe saw it he said (paraphrased) "Gee, why don't we have you doing more animation?" It felt amazing to be validated by an animator of Joe's caliber.

Sometime when my fellow employees in the insane world of Academia are down, I draw a little picture to bring them back to happy land. So, I created these two overweight schemers who have nothing better to do than scheme, lie, and fabricate facts since they don't really have real jobs. You may not think this is funny, but I do.

It's been happening right under your nose

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. It's a freebie.

I hesitate to say this, but...I'm an Academic. Though there are things I like about it, I'd say I'm pretty unhappy. I don't know if all institutions of learning are like this one but I must say it is mired by unscrupulous characters.

Let's define "unscrupulous".

Years ago, I was working in the art department of a fast and busy T-shirt company. At the time, we owned a single art computer: A Macintosh IIsi. The Quadra, a significantly faster computer, had just come out and my boss wanted one. The IIsi was slow. Adjusting the art by one click of the cursor keys in Photoshop meant around 5 - 10 minutes of waiting. Pressure!!
I came into work to start on a tight deadline project (ALL of them were tight deadline projects!) to find an empty computer desk. Everything, including my personal disk, had been stolen. Outside, car tracks on the lawn indicated the point of exit. The Police were called and the place was dusted; it looked like we all worked in a mechanic's shop and left greasy fingerprints on everything.
My boss and I set out to make a record of the equipment for the insurance company. Like anybody would do, we "guesstimated" the cost of things rather than going through the long ordeal of research. (The internet wasn't a household name, yet).
The next day, one of our new employees, nicknamed "Dizzy B" showed up with artwork from his brand spankin' (or should I say 'breakin') new Mac IIsi. He was promptly fired as punishment with no report to the police. My boss, in turn, bought the new Mac Quadra. Good trade.

Okay, picture people with less scruples than these people. That describes 20% of the people in my Department. It's very complex, but the state of academia virtually encourages their lack of scruples.

Another Day in the Trenches

Hey. I'm just now settling down at home with the lovely wifey. I've just finished reading "Man's Search For Meaning" by Victor Frankl and it' s good stuff. I don't know if you've ever read it but it concerns the discovery/practice of the psychotherapeutic method of Logotherapy. It says a lot about the human condition through the author's personal experience in Nazi concentration camps. I could say a lot more, but for now I'll just say, there's some real Nazis in Hollywood.
Here's my favorite storyboard panel I draw'd this week:

I'm trying so hard

I'm just not great on this blogging thing. I've recently been working for a studio in town that I really like. Above is one of the storyboard panels (1 of 32) that I draw'ed. I've also been quite busy with a animated series submission. We'll see how that turns out! I've also been working on my website and thought I might include a screen shot of it.



As a matter of fact, I did include a screen shot of it. I've been working on it on and off the past hundred years plus a month. But I think I'm finally almost virtually certainly probably ready to let it go and post it. I think.

Peace, Love.

Hello, Big Nothing.
I'm getting a little tired of the "Tax Man".  I buy food, I get taxed.  I buy entertainment, I'm taxed.  I'm taxed for clothing.  I'm taxed for water, heat, electricity.  I'm taxed for my obligation to register my vehicle.  And then, at the beginning of the year, my income and everything I make is taxed - 40%, almost half.  They're screwing me when the money comes in, and they're taking it when the money goes out.  When I park too long at a meter, I'm charged 20 dollars.  Just take it out of my account which is fat and well-funded and freaking enforced by this fine government.  That's why I - hard-working and long-suffering - can't get ahead.  Because I give 40% of my hard-earned dollars just to keep my government in its trillion-dollar debt