Mel-NEH-bone-AY, eer-KOON, em-RERR-rerr?

It takes at least two hours to get to Oakville, and one and a half to get to TSA. The plus side is that I get more of a chance to ride the trains. They aren't as crowded (or as smelly) as the subway, and there's more to see than walls and ads. It's different on a train. There's a special serenity about it. Bits of nature and pieces of neglected civilization mesh together as the train passes, routes often traveled but never settled, suspended in a world that is neither here nor there. For a time there are no destinations to speak of, and no origins to recall. There's a rare tranquility, briefly, in the understanding that things like responsibility and obligation only exist beyond the stops.

I also had this idea about a clown playing a harmonica, but it's night, and he's a hobo. 

Wonder if he plays any Woody Guthrie.

New York, 1960, where infidelity is like saying hello!

God, the international lag on BBC News is horrible today. Everyone knows those awkward few seconds it takes for reporters to respond from the next continent, but when it looks like they're having a staring contest, SOMETHING IS WRONG.

First week of proper life drawings (with the class and everything!) of 14. I'm trying to use a new medium each week, out of this pile of stuff I got before years ago that I assumed I would be using in my capacity as an "artist". Might as well as have cut a hole in my wallet. This week is willow charcoal, or "the box of sticks that I paid money for". It's really messy, especially on newsprint, but surprisingly smooth. These other drawings are sorta crappy, but I'm keeping a log, hoping to see some improvement over the weeks.

btw 20th Century Boys is amazing. So is Billy Bat. And Pluto. Actually, just everything Naoki Urasawa does. It takes some real inspiration to make Doctor Tenma badass. His entire introductory chapter in Pluto had him as this shadowy silhouette, and he never faces the camera, only ominously turning his head over his shoulder, like Batman. Far as I know, he's supposed to be some sort of abusive alcoholic with coping issues. Amazing how they pulled that off, really.

"I hit small robotic children" - Dr. Tenma, sex offender

Mad WASPs

How the time flies. I'm trying to finish up the last bit of Schoolwork/personal work cleanup, but before that, I've been trying to get off the computer. To that end, I've pulled out my pastels again. Just like I remembered, really. The choking dust, the smudges that stay in your clothes and stains your skin, the poisonous residues... it's a special kind of magic.

One small note. Most of these are life drawings, but the top is the eldest Billy Goat Gruff from the Dresden Files (or a crude representation of him)!  

Frothy

They ought to make in-betweening an approved form of "enhanced interrogation". I bet it's cheaper than waterboarding. 

Anyway, how do you make a snail intimidating? Imagine this sort of Gigantic Snail in the mountains, and it's got fire on its back. Sure that fire looks hot, and sure the thing makes mountains look like your backyard anthill, but any immediate sense of intimidation is mitigated by "when was the last time you were outrun by a snail".

 These are people I see around the school. I know some of them, but others I don't. I hope no one recognizes themselves or anything. That'd be pretty awkward, no?

I'm Mongolian Throat Singing in the Elemental Plane of Fire! I'm Mongolian Throat Singing in the Elemental Plane of Fire! What a Wonderful Feeling, I'm Burning Again!

Continuing in the vein of creature design ideas, here's another one from class. It's a mix of a Gomphotherium (one of the ancestors of the modern elephant), an actual elephant, some kind of crustacean, and the basic anthropomorphic form. It survives off what little vegetation it manages to dig from the ground, snapping tougher roots with its claws. Food is scarce, however, as it lives in a world where there are no backgrounds.  

So he says:" Hey wait a minute, I had a drink with a hero left in man last week!"

This week's life drawing session was one of the most enjoyable in class experiences I've had this year. No one is likely to ever see it, but the "Titty Monster Boob Tower" (TM) was tremendously fulfilling to draw. 

There were a few other ideas too. One was this thing. He's some kind of cross between a turtle, a crab, a scorpion and Thane. He lives in a highly desaturated version of Roger Dean world, where he ekes out a bare and simple existence fishing beneath giant stone arches. 

I've Heard Enough About The Shepard

My display's on the fritz again. Not only does it mess up color saturation and slow down explorer to a grind, it also rearranges all of my desktop icons Every. Single. Time. I log on. I have no idea what anything I post looks like on a normal screen, but on the bright side, at least I'm not in front of a light table, going slowly and perceptibly insane. 

The kitchen painting assignment is weird in that it was done almost entirely with the lasso tool and gradient. It was also more than 60 layers, so the computer was more or less venting super heated steam towards the end. 

It's pretty obvious now that this pan is less of a pan and more of a tracking shot. It also became obvious that this pan also didn't fit the criteria of the assignment. Since I'm not going to be getting any kind of walk cycle to work on a cityscape, we'll call this a learning experience and weep softly over the mark later.

And sketches (not really). The color of the week is: Purple.

Now That's a Dijuridon't

Blog updating. I ought to do more of it. Here's some doodles.

Fuh-ilm

Technically, the shark is a commission, but it was commissioned at the totally economically viable price of $0.00 CDN (adjusted for inflation). It's the shark from my storyboard, so I just had fun with it, design be damned. 

Apparently, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2's not entirely lost to the depths of oblivion. Recent tweets have confirmed that there's still hope!

Bastion is a magnificent game. Gorgeous art design, smooth, intuitive controls, smart game play mechanics, and models are made so that they fit the painted art style PERFECTLY. I dig the story telling aspects too, mostly just how the entire thing seems to be one storybook narration (meaning they only needed one really good voice actor, which is a brilliant stylistic and financial decision). The community outreach stuff they did, especially the GiantBomb documentary, is what really gives indie development (it was essentially made by seven people, so I just ignore the giant WB logo) this magical, impossible odds feel.

I also listened through ALL of the podcast Guys With Pencils (thanks Christine) in what was essentially one sitting. Indeed, as I lead this incredibly rich and fast paced lifestyle, I've had time to do a lot of reflecting on the immensity of the content. They're two Sheridan grads who share their workplace experiences, as well as their academic life.Their interviews are racking up an increasingly impressive list of interviewees, all of whom have unique perspectives to share on the entertainment industry in general. TIME WELL SPENT.

I'm also finally actually really making stuff for that 24 hour film I said I was going to do 43 years ago. Above are "character explorations", below are BG's. There isn't really any tangible design in the characters, just like how there really isn't any tangible art style. I'm using this as a chance to get more hands-on experience with Flash, and maybe do a little pixel art. Just experimenting, basically, and hopefully under the 24 hour mark (all the BG's are basically 3 elements copypasted).

Dabblin', Hireland

This semester has been ounce for ounce one of the more interesting periods of my life. To think of how we juggled so many deadlines around while simultaneously maintaining our sanity... I think I still have nightmares about allnighters. 

The first half of second year is like this series of hills. It's got a respectable number of highs, but an unsettling number of lows. Nestled behind all achievements are immense valleys that I seem to have spent the lion's share of my time in. In regards to actually performing the namesake of this program, I don't actually have anything presentable. Animation is one of those things that I sincerely feel like I've dropped the ball on this semester. Due to my phenomenally poor time management abilities and delusional goals (and and then, he's gonna like, summon a meteor, and we'll have this slow mo scene of the meteor cresting through the clouds, and then we'll have this cool 3d perspective shot of him casting a spell and IT'LL BE AWESOME), I haven't been able to fulfill any of my animation propositions this semester. At any rate, I'm hoping to devote some of my winter break trying to clean up the salvageable ones, in the hopes that they might become presentable later on.

The greatest gains I've made this semester aren't really academic (HA!), or even artistic. Hell, I'm lucky to be passing some my classes at all, what with some of the embarrassing crap I've been producing. Still, I've learned a great deal more about the state of my future professions, and my potential place in those industries. I've learned from friends on how they plan to focus their talents, and I've learned from instructors about the complexity of plying an artistic trade. Honestly, I think the greatest value we get from Sheridan is the atmosphere of mutual exchange, or the opportunity to toss around ideas and aspirations with like minded people. Maybe it's something about those allnighters, but they really get people into a philosophical mood. I truly felt like my perspective on life has benefited from those exchanges. Hopefully, all these nuggets of wisdom I've managed to scrounge will coalesce into something resembling a clear focus, which might eventually dictate what I should devote my time to. Until then though, it's simply an exciting journey.

I've been working on this for a while. It feels like I'm trying to realize these cool light effects, but not doing any of them right, which is frustrating.The thing above is the final painting plus the initial sketch. I really need to actually study Egyptian aesthetics before I try this again, cause the generic designs are getting tiring to look at. 

AND a 30 min thumbnail (that's pushing "thumbnail" a little, I think. Maybe a speed paint?). You may ask, "why, that's just a black box with a white highlight on the lower left"! Well, you're not wrong. I plan on making it not a black box later. Or maybe just a very highly rendered black box. I just wanted to do something in light of the cancellation of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and the closure of GSC. At least we'll always have the 100 Rads.

I apologize in advance for the next few images. They depict people. Perhaps poorly. Remember folks, every time you press a lawsuit, a kitten is put to work in a factory with LOWER THAN MINIMUM WAGE!

People around the studio. I could always push things more, and I don't always catch my significant structure problems and design problems, but now I know. Thanks Pete! 

DQ's chalk talks have ended up being one of the most valuable resources this year, and I think I've learned more about the intricacies of story telling and the "Industry" than I ever realized existed. So obviously, I'm uneasy about drawing him in such an unceremonious way. The Iron Lady though, not so much.

Here's one of my painting thumbnails for my storyboard assignment (the only one I dare show people, at any rate), which is about a shark. I understand that its drawn like a 3rd grader's first time with a colored pencil, one of those things I'm trying to do is develop a simpler, more efficient style for quick drawings.

I put up the Leica Reel too, just to round out the assignment. It is actually the first fully timed piece of production I've ever made, and despite the timing inconsistencies, the whole process gives off this sense of accomplishment. A more cohesive soundtrack would have helped it time better, and not using two licensed tracks might help it not be taken down within the hour. On the other hand, I don't think I'll ever get another chance to mesh the Jaws Theme and the 1812 Overture, so there's that. Truly, it's a learning experience.

Oh, and here's my Christmas card.

There are things we draw out of frustration with life, which do not reflect our true feelings towards, say, a particular species of animal. When I did this, we were going for the most repulsive thing possible. I should have added more maggots.

Seriously though, it's not for everyone 

Happy Holidays!