I had one of these when I was in school. They called it a "water dog" at the pet store. When it grew too big for my bed, I released it in the sewer. It grew and grew and ate a beauty queen, a pack of stoned teenagers, and the mayor before it was finally captured. The whole town was pretty angry with me. Luckily, they never traced that face-ripper demon back to me.
4/30/10
Night of the Axolotl
I had one of these when I was in school. They called it a "water dog" at the pet store. When it grew too big for my bed, I released it in the sewer. It grew and grew and ate a beauty queen, a pack of stoned teenagers, and the mayor before it was finally captured. The whole town was pretty angry with me. Luckily, they never traced that face-ripper demon back to me.
4/29/10
Wild Willie Wylde
This is a character from Morgan Monster Hunter and the Crypto Kid. Wild Willie Wylde is Morgan's grandfather. His ghost appears to Morgan with a warning of the upcoming monster apocalypse. Morgan thinks she dreamt the vision but soon realizes it was real. Wild Willie visits Morgan throughout the story with advice, warnings, and a joke or two.
............................................................................................................................................................
He is one cool cat and was an important player in rock and roll's early years. He toured with Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and played bass guitar on legendary tracks by Elvis Presley, Fats Domino, Johnny Burnette and dozens of others.
4/28/10
Kiwi
4/27/10
Nien-nos and A-guhngh guhng guhngs
Living with a toddler requires a lot of investigation and translation. My son's favorite animals are "nien-no"s and "a-guhngh guhng guhng"s. A "nien-no" is easy enough to figure out...he means rhino. But without the picture above, you would probably never guess that an "a-guhngh guhng guhng" is a penguin. How did "penguin" become "a-guhngh guhng guhng"? My wife figured it out. A penguin waddles so we say "waddle, waddle, waddle" when we see one at the zoo or in a picture. So he is really trying to say "waddle, waddle, waddle" which is what he thinks a penguin is called. He also rocks his head from side to side when he says it, looking very geeky and adorable.
4/22/10
4/21/10
Man-Eating Flowers
4/20/10
Spontaneous Sproutings
4/15/10
The Forgotten Wildlife: Crockens
Crockens love the ferny undergrowth of Nufsed's steam fog forests. They spring forth with amazing speed and agility to eat almost any passing creature, including the other predatory "eaters" of the forest. All creatures fear crockens, but many also rely on crockens for their survival. Crocken eggs are the main source of nutrition for dozens of the forest's inhabitants. The crocken deposits ten to twenty "eater eggs" for every fertilized egg that it lays. Even the males lay these watermelon sized "eater eggs". An acre of crocken territory can have up to 25,000 crocken eggs on it's floor. Crockens like to keep their prey close and fat. Ahhh, the circle of life.
4/13/10
Happy
A one and a half year old's babbling may be the funniest sound on earth.
I recently read The Element by Sir Ken Robinson. Here is the gist of it: "The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves, most inspired, and achieve at their highest levels."
The book digs deep into the current state of eduction, the job market, and society in general, and lays out many great examples on how people with creative minds and attitudes are, and will continue to be the ones who come out ahead in life. I found it relevant for my life, but even more so for my children's future.
Creative problem solving and artistic expression are not high priorities in most schools, but children don't live in schools. Parents should make creativity an important part of home life. It promotes an additional way of thinking, which will be beneficial no matter what direction your child takes with his/her future. Plus creating is fun for kids and parents alike.
4/12/10
A dinosaur can eat up to five twinkies a day!
Good! The internet is still here. I just got back from a week of family vacation in Florida. We had a super time in the sun at Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and SeaWorld. I didn't get as much sketching and writing / problem-solving done as I had hoped, but the relaxation and time spent with my family was awesome. It is difficult for me to concentrate on creative projects when I'm having fun and exciting experiences and watching the fascination and happiness on my children's faces. I'm sure all of the awesome art and design work from inside the parks has been planted in my subconscious mind for later use. The week helped refresh my noggin and I hope the plot problems I'm having will be resolved soon.
At least half of my day job consists of no-brain, monotonous tasks. This would probably drive most people crazy, but I've come to realize just how important this time is for developing personal projects . I get my work done while being able to solve plot issues, develop stories and characters, fill in story details, and plan other aspects of my own projects. Time for writing and artwork is hard to come by in a house with a growing family. At least I have a day job that allows some time alone to work through project issues, so when I do find a few minutes or an hour at home, I can immediately "put pencil to paper".
And I've learned that the fossilized remains of an ultrasaur was found with a stomach full of Twinkies. I just had one (a Twinkie not an ultrasaur) and they are not as good as I remembered.
4/8/10
Alleluia Abstracts
These four abstracts were created from the Praise painting that I posted on Easter. The only alterration that I made is the orientation. Simple mirror images placed side by side can often create some pretty cool designs. I've been fooling around with this trick on my paintings for years and I am still surprised by many of the results. Sometimes computers are really fun!
4/5/10
4/4/10
3/30/10
Teenage Truths!
Here are some pages from one of my high school sketch books.
Though looking back at old work is sometimes embarrassing, it can also be rewarding to see the development and improvement over time. I remember thinking that these pages were pretty deep back in the day. Ha ha! The scary thing is, I know I'll look back in the same way at all the ridiculous things said and created on this blog.
I guess that's just life...cringe, wince, repeat.
3/26/10
3/25/10
Me, Me, Me
I've decided to take this blog in a different direction. Rather than focusing on creativity, story-telling, and art, I'll be filling you in on the minutiae of my day. For example, I didn't have cereal for breakfast this morning. I had some dried fruit. Let's see, there were apples, pineapple, peaches, and even some kiwi. I was a little disappointed that all the dried mango and papaya was already gone, and I have to remember to buy more bananas for the next batch. Beyond that, it's been a pretty typical morning. I hit two green lights on my ride to our daycare provider. That probably saved me 3 or 4 minutes! I'll stop and get some gas after work today and I'm looking forward to a night of television.
I also want to up the ranting by about 80-90%. I'll mostly be pushing my political and religious views, but I'll have special posts that focus on my road rage and clever names that I make up for all the incompetent people I encounter on a daily basis. If that’s not enough for you, I’ll be ranting on facebook and twitter as well. I hope you enjoy my blog's new direction!
3/19/10
What's the Word?
A-well-a everybody's heard about the bird
B-b-b-bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a bird, bird, bird, well the bird is the word
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!
A-well-a bird, bird, b-bird's the word
-The Trashmen
-The Trashmen
Garage rock will change your life if you let it. Here's a great place to start. Little Steven's Underground Garage
3/17/10
The Day Job Lament or The Ballad of One Smart Otter
One cloud covered day the otter realizedThat staying in his burrow would not be wise
The burrow was taking a toll on his soul
So he skip scampered away leaving only a hole
Then the sun broke through the clouds up above
And the otter spent his life doing the things that he loved
3/15/10
The Raspberry Gnome
I've been putting a lot of time into a graphic novel version of Morgan Monster Hunter & the Crypto Kid. It will be an all-ages origins story and it looks really cool in my head. My goal is to get a large chunk of it done this year. The blog posts may slow down a bit so I have time to focus on this and a few other projects. I will still post at least 2-3 times a week so please keep checking in or subscribe(button in the column to the right).
.
.
Something I've been hearing and reading a lot over the past year or so is "the project is the new portfolio". A good portfolio is a necessity and I need to continue to update mine with stronger pieces, but I want to have a few cool finished projects to show as well. Also, I want to get some of this stuff out of my head before I die. I'm hoping for another 50 years or so, but I may only get 50 minutes. Yikes! The time to DO is upon me!
.
.
There is not a lot of time beyond family, work, sleep, and building a business, but there are a lot of ideas. I'm going to try to squeeze in 10 hours a week for personal work. Good bye sleep, hello satisfaction. Of course, there will be dozens of smaller things sprinkled in here or there, but these are the big ones.
-MMH & the CK comic
-A fun/educational book w/ my wife (my ace in the hole? hmmmm...)
-Two long-term portfolio pieces (way too awesome to detail here:)
- A large series of fast and smallish acrylic and/or watercolor paintings
-The Forgotten Wildlife web comic?
I am often frustrated, but I am never bored. And now...
-The Forgotten Wildlife web comic?
.
The Raspberry Gnome is a MMH & the CK bedtime story. He does not appear in the origins story line, but my daughter and I had a good couple laughs with him. Maybe he'll show up again down the road.
On a warm summer day, Morgan and the Kid were out taking pictures and sketching in the woods behind Morgan's house. They came across a patch of bushes with the most delicious raspberries they had ever tasted. They heard a rustling from deep within the patch and then they heard a raspy little voice.
."Leave my berries alone!" the voice said.
.
We find out that the Raspberry Gnome, who tends the bushes, is not fond of sharing and turns Morgan into a toad. The Crypto Kid runs off to hide at his house. He worries about his friend, who finally shows up at his door. The Kid and Morgan the Toad devise a plan that not only turns Morgan back into a girl, but gives the Raspberry Gnome a taste of his own medicine.
.
This story had several laugh out loud parts and I think influenced the comedic turn a lot of the future stories took.
.
.Here is an earlier sketch of the Raspberry Gnome:
.
3/9/10
3/4/10
How to rip on rich people
"Your house is so big, you need to set capybara traps instead of mouse traps!" Boom! Roasted!3/3/10
3/2/10
Octobuddy
An octobuddy must be very careful when it scratches an itch. Thousands of octobuddies pop themselves every year. That is not enough! The octobuddy invasion has been devastating. It's estimated that 97% of the world's population has fallen under molluscular consciousness. If you are reading this post, know that you are not alone. There are others like you and we are stockpiling pointy things, too. Earth will be ours again!
3/1/10
The Fanciest Orange
The fanciest orange never had any fun. He would say, "There's no time for fun, I must ripen in the sun." Then, one day, a dirty bruised apple rolled by. She was the most beautiful piece of fruit the fanciest orange had ever seen. Over time, miss apple and the fanciest orange realized that even though they looked very different on the outside, they were much the same on the inside. They fell in love. Then, one morning, some punk kid picked the fanciest orange and ate him declaring, "This is the sweetest (expletive) orange I've ever tasted!"2/26/10
Art Buddies
I've joined a great online group of artists and storytellers. I'll be adding their links to the "cool places" column on the right. They have helped me focus and proved what I have suspected for a while: sharing ideas is an important part of the creative process. It is great to have a place where like-minded people can discuss techniques, resources, struggles, and goals. It's a place for critique and support and to discuss projects and creativity in general. I'm excited about the group and psyched about working on and finishing some projects!
2/25/10
the girl takes the leap / some color stuff
More practice drawing people. I used a photo of my daughter as reference. She's about to jump down an inflatable slide.
The point of these quick sketches is to work on poses/anatomy/form, but looking at her pants and skin tones is reminding me of something I've been meaning to do for a long time. I need to create and save some nice color palettes on my computer. I'm currently just slightly altering the default palettes, which is only wasting time and negatively affecting the outcome of my work.
Working with color digitally has many benefits:
- It's not expensive like paint
- It's not messy like paint
- It's not permanent like paint
- Mixing colors is easier and faster and can't be wasted or ruined
- The ability to adjust opacity and layering is an artist's dream come true
Good color palettes will allow me to take full advantage of these benefits. Just another thing added to my to-do list (at least fooling around with color is fun).
There are tons of great books on color theory. My current favorite is:
by Leslie Cabarga
This book uses a source photo (a theater poster from the 1920's, a children's book illustration from the 1950's, an advertisement from the 1970's, old wrapping paper, etc.) and uses the color scheme on some new layouts. Good stuff.
.
The Art Nouveau movement of the late 1800's and early 1900's was largely a style of architectural design. I like the print artists associated with this movement. They were a huge influence on the psychedelic art of the sixties and the style is still popular on gig posters, fantasy art, and in advertising today.
Here's an example from a book on Eugene Grassett who made a whole series of designs based on the diversity of the world's plant life. Spectacular colors:
Catalogs and ads are great (and free) places to pull some nice color ideas (and poses) from, too. The Sunday paper usually has some decent ads, but I also recommend getting on mailing lists for interior decoration retailers like Pier 1 Imports. Their catalogs have page after page of interesting color combinations.
.
A friend and fellow artist left a comment with a great color resource. Thanks, Gina. here's the link to Kuler: http://kuler.adobe.com/#create/fromacolor
I'll be spending some time over there!
.
Here's another site: http://www.colorjack.com/
.
And last but not least, is this cool little tool. Just copy the url of any image and this site will instantly make a palette from it: Color Palette Generator
Here's a sample using one of my images.
dull | |
|---|---|
#444411 | |
#66aa11 | |
#cc6611 | |
#ddbb11 | |
#eeeecc | |
| vibrant | |
|---|---|
 | #445500 |
| #33dd00 |
| #ff0000 |
| #ffbb00 |
| #ffffee |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)