inprogress :D

2012-01-31T00:18:00.000-08:00

Ah, I know I'm only posting lots of doodles and studies, but I swear this wednesday I will sketch out a new comic page.

Really, for sure.

!

On a different note, had an amazing weekend :D. Totally unrelated to drawing. (sorry)

2012-01-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

A few doodles and a preview of something underway at work!

Thinking about scrapping my current version 3.0 of my comic and going onto 4.0.

Already I am haunted by the earlier pages...

Maybe I need to make more than one page every two months?

2012-01-24T21:51:00.000-08:00

So I'm back into the comic making mindset, finally, and so here are some new designs!

They'll have to be tweaked still, because initial presentation has shown that people think the girl on the right is a guy. :I

But yeah!

Back to work, and hopefully I'll have some cool stuff to shove up here in a week or two!

2011-12-11T21:40:00.000-08:00

more quick studies, but the game i've been drawing for at work is almost done, so back to 3 day work weeks and extra draw time verrry soon yeaaah

2011-11-29T13:32:00.001-08:00

Revisiting the snow queen idea, will put up some designs over the coming week!In the meantime, some random doodles.

2011-10-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

Well that more or less takes care of the major arcana, although I'm sure in the morning I'll see something, and now onto the minor arcana!Polishing these guys up for TCAF, which I should be applying to tomorrow or the day after!

TCAF = Toronto Comic Arts Festival, and it is an amazing convention.Went there last year and had an amazing time, and between nesting at (my talented and wonderful host) Katie's table (http://ktshy.blogspot.com/) and meeting a ton of new amazing artists I felt that I had to at least try for a table this time around.

So yeah, going to try and get a printed tarot deck, and maybe a few comic pages done and see what sticks!

2011-10-02T20:59:00.000-07:00

Tarot cards!Unfinished, still in the early stages, and missing the minor arcana, but they are a blast to make!Stay tuned for sweet polished tarot art.

2011-08-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

can you spot the adventure time fanart?

Also, man, drawing is fun.

2011-08-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

that hurricane sure made the air feel fresh!

2011-08-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

more face studies! and an (almost) finished page.

oh man, my backyard is coming together. mulch is down, chairs are bought, and the weeds have been beaten into submission.

It's almost time.

TO GRILL.

2011-08-07T11:07:00.000-07:00

Just a short note;

I will attempt to use happiness to motivate instead of an excuse to procrastinate.

2011-07-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Been feeling a lot more like doing studies in the last few weeks, but here are a few doodles (and a slower, longer, face gif) for your viewing pleasure!

2011-07-19T22:24:00.000-07:00

it's past my bedtime

but here are some face studies in .gif form

2011-06-29T15:31:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems like it's time for my bi-annual blog post.

And what do you get after such a long wait?

Doodles!

And a mostly finished comic page!

It's like christmas... IN JUNE!!!

2011-02-04T13:46:00.001-08:00

Wasn't going to put these here because of how fanarty they are, but then I figured "hey, at least this way I update my blog"

So anyways!

Fanart for sailor moon, and skydoll

'njoy

2011-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I tried a font.

Does it work? Not as well as I'd like. But I'm still certain there must be a good answer out there.

So starting now I am going to dedicate the next ten years of my life to finding the perfect font.

Goodbye friends, I will see you in a decade.

2011-01-28T13:30:00.000-08:00

Page 7!

Still trying to wrestle down the exact techniques that I want to use with these pages, but I feel like I'm in a good headspace, so yay.

The text though. HM. Will probably end up going through all the pages and putting in more sound effects, and changing out the hand written text for computer fonts.

Comic sans perhaps?

2011-01-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

Ahh, crazy busy week.

But hey!

I got into TAD, conceptart.org's online school, and starting feb 7th I'll be taking those classes.

So hopefully that will be as awesome as I expect it to be.

And I apologize for the boring standing monsters, but they are just the most relaxing thing to draw!

2011-01-15T13:29:00.000-08:00

Okay, the next page will absolutely not take as long as this one did to get around to finishing.

Absolutely.

For sure.

2011-01-11T08:24:00.000-08:00

So's you don't wander off

a dood

2011-01-08T12:35:00.001-08:00

Okay, yes, I know, haven't been updating the comic.

But!

Major life reshuffle to occur in the next two weeks, and hopefully that will give me all the time I need to draw, as opposed to spending 6/7ths of the week doing work for other people.

have an Akira drawing in the meantime.

:I

2010-12-26T08:56:00.001-08:00

Merry christmas and other festive moments!

Enjoy a robo santa and baby jesus redux!

2010-12-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

Page 5..!

And yes Nestor, I do like me some Moebius.

2010-12-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Aside from working a few hours in the morning for this personal comic, I've also been keeping busy by doing some freelance concept artwork for the excellent game company Tiny Mantis, as well as working a few days a week at the also excellent comic bookstore Forbidden Planet.

The interesting thing about retail is that it's a job that most people do not seek out as their primary occupation. What this means is that almost everyone who works a job at retail also has something else going on in their lives.

Because of this it's almost impossible to know what kind of lives the people working with you live outside of the store situation, and equally frustrating is that there's usually very little time during work to find out.

So it's been a (slow) pleasure to get to know those people better and find out a bit more about what they do in their own time, as opposed to the time during which they collect a paycheck.

Surprisingly, it turns out that most of the people that work at Forbidden Planet are artists of one kind or another(!)

This is awesome because during the last few months I've gotten to know more new talented artists through the ACA and forbidden planet than I did during the year and a half following graduation, and it only dawned on me recently how much that effects the way you approach the creation of your own work, and with how much energy.

Annd, page 4.

2010-12-03T08:54:00.000-08:00

So! The fourth page is coming along nicely, but this has been a busy busy week (as it always is, for everyone, everywhere), so as to give you something to look at, and salivate over, here's a piece of fanart for the awesome Paul Pope!

For those of you who have no clue why I'd do this, other than the chance to bust out some artwork that takes an excellent design and saves me the trouble of too much thinking, it's because for three weeks I was down in Florida studying with Paul Pope and his ninja team of fellow artists.

This is completely the reason I'm doing a comic right now, because I sure wasn't nearly as motivated before I went down there.

So yeah! Paul is awesome, the Masked Karimbah (the character below) is awesome, and if you don't know his work already (shame on you) you should check out his site, as linked above!

2010-11-28T09:45:00.000-08:00

Bah, image upload services resize and downgrade images too much.

I need all my glorious pixels at perfect crisp quality! Why can't they understand that need??

...Anyways, page 3!

The handwritten text is a bit of a test, but I'll see how it goes. Ironically, seeing how this comic is about robots, computer fonts just feel too cold to me.

Also! I feel like I might have found a process that works for me through each step of making this comic. It involves alot of back and forth between analog and digital, but the key part is that it's enjoyable at each step, which I really can't stress the importance of enough.

2010-11-20T10:42:00.001-08:00

Okay, page 2!

And if you're already getting bored of landscapes by page 2, I promise page 3 will have lots of bustling robots.

Also, I feel terrible about not contributing to the awesome website fanartfriday.tumblr.com/ this week, but it's a collaboration project by various folk that I got to know at the ACA, and who every friday will put up a new piece of fanart dedicated to their artist(s) of choice.

Bookmark it! These artists are fantastic, and the artists that they honor are equally as fantastic.

2010-11-19T10:52:00.000-08:00

Ahh, between two jobs and jury duty this week has not given me much free time.

Still! Page 2 is in the coloring phase!

So yeah!

2010-11-08T11:51:00.000-08:00

Well Florida was too amazing to be able to summarize easily, but in short, I now feel amazingly motivated through meeting and working with so many talented and wonderful people.

And so! Page one of the new (old) comic that I'll (hopefully ) be posting here each week.

Like with any drawing I'm making at this point, these pages are much more about the process than the final piece. Still, I hope it holds together, and I hope the first ten pages make people want to read more.

(and also in this post, a doodle page of girls and a robot)

2010-10-09T12:13:00.000-07:00

I'm off to florida in a few days!

yaah

2010-10-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

more redesigns, something different

2010-09-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

Redesigns!

(some slight)

2010-09-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Eh!

2010-08-30T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well that was a decent sized haitus, but now I have a bed!

Also a rug.

So here's some stuff, and expect good stuff soon.

For real.

Really!

2010-07-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Ahh, well, an interview went very well over a portfolio of stuff that's only kind of mine, but we will have to see how that all turns out.

In the meantime, here are some works in progress.

(inked piece skeletal and muscular structure provided by E. Bloom. Makeup by H.)

Parental Discretion Advised.

2010-06-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, so a preview of the "project" that I'm working on.

This absolutely contains work that is not mine, and is purely for demonstration purposes. So, yeah.

2010-06-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

I am working on a top secret project, that when unleashed upon the world will either solve all mankind's problems (and by that I mean my problems) or else nothing will happen.

It should be complete in about a week or three.

So here's a fathers day doodle in the meantime.

2010-06-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah job searching.

It's like dating, except I'm I'm back in middle school skill wise.

2010-06-07T21:07:00.000-07:00

So, starting a short comic using a story written by Alex Sherman.

These are the thumbnails, and a few unfinished pages.

In other news, I feel sick, but motivated!

So yeah.

2010-06-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

Yeah random robot drawings.

But!

It's about time to get off my ass again, so expect great things soon.

2010-05-16T18:23:00.000-07:00

A few concept pieces for an idea me and alex are working on

aand a new endless hell level for tiny mantis

aaand a collab between me and eric

2010-05-13T11:13:00.000-07:00

Just a random doodle.

Sherman is going to have my head soon if I don't make him his comic, so hopefully that will be my next post.

2010-05-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

Hey! It's finally out!

The game I've worked on for months is in the itunes store!

(To be fair I only did the artwork. The programming, writing, voice acting, music and animations were done by others.)

Itunes link =

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/propaganda-lander/id369236049?mt=8

Fuzzy screenshots!

Yeaaaah

2010-05-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

So my hair is cropped short again, and I figure it's about time to start the snow queen story again as well.

The below picture has zero connection to either of those things.

2010-04-26T22:26:00.000-07:00

doods for the dood god

2010-04-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

A study and a drawing for the hell of it.

But which one is which?!

2010-04-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

One day I'll have someone else to update this for me.

So a bunch of quick drawings.

yes they are horrific.

I'll have major updates! At some point.

2010-03-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

So I colored my characters (but they feel too redundant to post) and I'm starting to work out key scenes sketches!

I'm also taking a sculpting class which I feel is hopefully doing something for me, and I'll probably post some pictures of my pieces when I feel like they are worth posting.

Expect greatness of some kind soon(ish)!

Pictures are quick key scenes and random doodles. Can you figure out which is which?

2010-03-03T19:55:00.000-08:00

started taking a sculpture class that meets every day and is completely awesome.

Studying from life with a three dimensional form is completely different than drawing and is (hopefully) unlocking a few new ways of seeing things.

buut, still pretty new at it, so no pictures of that for a bit.

Instead!

some new character designs!

2010-02-18T08:20:00.000-08:00

Well that was a nice hiatus. Spent the last few weeks doing studies and I've decided to do a reboot of the comic.

Not the end the world, or at least only the end of a fictional one, but I feel like the new direction I'm going to go in will be alot more enjoyable, at least to me.

So!

I'm going to do a big image dump of some of the new character designs (with a few more to come).

Plus! Extra special bonus valentines day drawing!

(see if you can guess which one it is...)

2010-01-16T22:03:00.000-08:00

I cannot wait to show you how cool the final bosses for the game I'm working on at work have become.

More nightmarish creatures can hardly be imagined.

SPAWNING HEAT SEEKING EYE BLOBS

2010-01-04T22:01:00.000-08:00

even handwriting comics is hard!

So yeah, now that the holiday season is over I'm pretty sure I have the self control to do some decent updates.

Also! New years resolution!

Be 33.33% better by this time next year!

2009-12-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

woops

work/festivities preparation/a week at a hotel has thrown me off track!

So yeah, i'll be a bit mauled, but everything will right itself faster than you can clearly work out the true meaning of christmas.

Anyways, here's a card for you!

From those closest to our hearts....

2009-12-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

wooo i'm getting slow with these comics.

on the plus side my classes at the art students league are awesome.

seriously, these classes are so cheap and excellent that i'm a bit annoyed nobody told me about them earlier.

2009-12-03T23:29:00.001-08:00

Wow, just working from my imagination, trying to do real colors and real life scenes made me so slow.

Combine that with thanksgiving and life and I've totally missed a billion self imposed deadlines.

Okay, hopefully this block of a page down I'll be able to get back on track.

(this was not a happy page)

(but it was educational)

2009-11-27T23:36:00.001-08:00

weeell I've been lazy this week.

blame it on thanksgiving.

Although on a bright note I now have a fridge full of turkey bits.

Also some shrimp.

2009-11-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

Eh, page 4 is being annoying, but I'lI just not put in the title for now.

Found an awesome anatomy class at the art students league so if the class isn't full yet I should be taking it by next month!

mmm. Yeah.

2009-11-18T00:04:00.000-08:00

really need to learn to simplify.

Oh man, so today me and eric made Pan Cakes.

A completely original and inspired idea yeah?

Take your pancake mix, make it, then pour it into a baking tray.

cook till firm.

cover in chocolate icing.

and!

(pan) Cake!

yeaaaah

2009-11-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

I just realized I haven't eaten dinner yet.

I'm going to do that now.

Also I think it's time to become a bit more hermetic.

There are alot of things to do, but only some of them give me exp.

If you know what I mean.

(you nerd you.)

2009-11-10T21:21:00.000-08:00

Well I already see the flaws, but I figure I learn from it and try and get it right on the next page.

Or the one after that.

Whatever MAN, I'm learning.

2009-11-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

Starting next week this blog is going to start rocking.

Seriously.

And by rocking I mean I'll actually be working on a comic.

But see the difference this time will be that I've trained a rottweiler to maul me if I don't spend (at least) six hours drawing every day that I have off.

Seriously.

Seriously.

2009-10-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

blah blah, something about posting more, blah blah

I'm quitting my photo taking job, in large part because time is feeling depressingly fast, and I'm watching months fly by without doing nearly enough of the work I want to.

My other job is still going swimmingly though, and Sherman is now aboard doing animations, so that should be pretty awesome when everything is finished up in a few months.

But seriously, I'll post more. Like, for reals.

Starting another story/comic thing! For the hundredth time.

This time maybe it will stick?

Have some chars.

2009-08-27T20:36:00.000-07:00

Damn the weather was fine today.

Sunny, but with a touch of coolness in the breeze.

The dying breath of summer sure is pleasant!

2009-08-21T12:43:00.001-07:00

aaah don't think just post!

aaah don't think just post!

2009-07-15T22:26:00.001-07:00

Listening to a song and fighting an urge to just post the lyrics instead of writing a post.

whoops, just deleted a post about the differences between who I am now and who I was then.

haha, oh well.

OH hey!

Know what's fantastic?

CLASS

2009-07-11T14:21:00.000-07:00

So a few things are up my sleeve at the moment.

Awhile ago Dan started a kind of mini illustration society, which since then seems to be going in the direction of turning into a comic collaboration.

In an effort to actually start making something me and Sherman are going to collaborate on an epic (and perhaps humerous) online sci fi/ fantasy comic.

So far things look awesome.

---

another thing I'm starting to work on is a game. I've attached an image of the initial design of the leveling process of the players spacecraft.

I figure although I can't program, if I come up with all the visual assets of a game I can probably find a programmer to cobble it all together for me. Perhaps Tommy?

At the very least it might make for an interesting portfolio piece.

---

The final thing is that it's time to start life drawing again. As I type this I am heading towards a life drawing class ($14 dollars, soho, the more the merrier) which I will try to attend at least once a week.

---

Also it is (past) time to do laundry.

2009-07-07T21:25:00.000-07:00

Forcing myself to blog.

Starting to feel overwhelmed by the desire to do nothing, but thankfully I've got four days of work a week and an active (too active at times) social life to rouse me from my tiny messy room up in Harlem.

Another step in a good direction is that I'm going to start taking life drawing classes again. 14$ at Spring Studio. The place has a nice website, so I have high hopes.

I'm pretty sure it's just the immensity of the future that's making me so lethargic, and I'm also sure that I'll become numb to that feeling soon enough.

Still!

Life is better than good, and at times, with certain people, it is great.

... although work wise those are the least productive moments. Eeh.

2009-07-01T21:38:00.000-07:00

So I woke up yesterday to my cat having a half dollar sized hole in her side. Apparently a cyst had formed there by another cat biting her (the door is often open to the outside. lots of cats around.) and so the cyst had filled up with pus, and then it had been ripped/bitten/torn open and off.

So yeah, I could see her muscles shifting where her skin and fur should have been. I got her to the vet and I got her patched up, although I think that patch job isn't going to be enough and she's going to have to have surgery done.

She's been very sweet throughout, I'm tempted to find the cat that bit her and kick it.

In better news I now have two jobs, one that pays well and is awesome, the other that pays okay and is amusing.

So I guess technically I can support myself now! I mean, aside from health insurance, and oddly my cell phone bill. So I guess I can't cut the umbilical cord just yet. Still, food and rent are now manageable, and that makes me feel relieved.

...

Other stuff is ongoing as well, and I have quite a few drawings to show since the last time I posted (which isn't saying much considering how long ago that was) but I'm feeling burned out tonight.

But yeah, I'll start updating again now.

2009-04-22T23:12:00.000-07:00

I love color.

Strangely enough, my memories usually contain very little color, and are blurry on the whole.

I remember plots, I remember emotions, I remember the idea of the moment, but colors (and details, and dates, and names) escape me very quickly.

Maybe this is why when I actually do notice brilliant colors they always seem so startlingly enjoyable.

Or my subconscious has the pleasure receptors of a five year old.

Either way works.

2009-04-21T23:09:00.000-07:00

2009-04-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

I find that I have a pleasant reaction to frustration and impediment.

Work harder.

It's not really a reaction that will fix all my problems in every situation, but at the very least it helps distract me from them.

...

Well, in this case it's certainly the right response, as I only have three weeks left of school, and I really don't think I can be working hard enough.

After that I will be given a sheet of paper stating that i "draw real good" (regardless of actual talent), and will unfortunately have to uproot myself from the comfy nest I have pieced together over the previous year.

As is always the case I have accumulated even more priceless junk that I will need to sort through, keep, sell, or throw out.

My somewhat massive comic/art book collection continues to grow.

I will probably die in middle age due to me reaching for a "ranma" manga and having a whole bookshelf of pulp paper come crashing down ontop of my head.

...

I think I read a story about that happening to a brother who lived in a maze of books with his blind sibling, and then the blind sibling died alone in the self built catacomb.

(anyways, here are two updated but perpetually unfinished drawings)

2009-04-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

life is pleasant and full.

looking forwards to graduation just so I'll have some time for a little more experimental drawing.

Enjoy some HD comic pages in 3D!

(requires appropriate glasses)

2009-04-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

2009-03-24T23:29:00.000-07:00

So my birthday was the other day, although I've delayed enjoying it till the weekend.

Still, another year has passed, and I get to take a moment to look back and think about how much older and wiser I've surely become.

I think I can chalk up "older" as a sure thing, but I'd think "wiser" has some truth to it as well.

Certainly I'm feeling more centered than I was last year at this time, and my vision of the future is a more planned out than I ever thought it would be.

And yet again the last year has driven home the point that you learn very little from the good things in life, but the unpleasant parts can be ruthlessly educational.

2009-03-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

So I scared my coworkers and boss by telling them I'd be traveling to Michigan with a stranger and then never contacting them to say I was okay.

Kind of touching that they were thinking about calling up people I knew on facebook just to find out how dead I was.

Then again, as the only artist on the staff I guess they can't afford to have me go dying on them.

...

Eh, felt like I had a ton of stuff to rant about, but I'm tired so I'll mark it down on my arm at some point later.

Enjoy some strange fruits in the meantime.

2009-03-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

I love my ibook but having half the screen constantly flickering is really distracting.

So!

I've decided how I am to go about my concept art post graduation lifestyle!

The main deterrent from graduate school is the cost, but I've found a wonderful alternative.

Concept Art's Atelier!

It's a school that was founded only a few years back by some of the leading concept artists of our time with a tuition cost of $600 a month.

It has a rolling admission and new people are let in when the old people leave for jobs or graduate after a two year stint.

From all accounts it is insanely competitive to get in as it is a very small school, and the workload is ridiculous.

For two years the only thing you do is learn how to do concept art and study to be better technically, socializing is done in the context of further learning your craft, and upon graduation you have been forged into something truly awesome.

However, the way they can assure you really are going to be awesome leaving is by only accepting people they think are awesome, or potentially awesome, going in.

Between the small window of opportunity to be chosen and the very large amount of skilled people applying it is not likely that I will be accepted anytime soon.

But this is okay, as it allows me to keep working in the field, while continuing to update my application to the school, until the day comes that I'm good enough to be allowed in.

I figure it will be a few years at least. Hopefully I will get accepted just as I've become tired of shopping my portfolio around for less pay than I would like, or for doing jobs that hold no interest.

It's a plan!

2009-03-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

After spending some time talking with Zach I again realize how much of a self centered know it all egoist I am/come across as.

There is nothing that I have heard of that I do not have an opinion on, there is no problem that I will not give advice to, and I am absolutely convinced that life will continue to get better for me no matter what failings I have/encounter.

Happily I can say that I have few emotional problems, but pathologically I sure do have some quirks.

However!

This defect is probably one of the better things I have going for me.

I have been told by teachers and friends that it is healthy to be afraid of the future, and have been admonished for living a sheltered life as well as being naively optimistic.

But to live optimistically while still being motivated, this seems to be the best path one could take.

Oh!

Awesome things = have a place to live upon graduation for six hundred a month/ no utilities, and my internship has started paying me 19 an hour!

2009-03-03T17:09:00.000-08:00

Jess was showing me some of the artists she has bookmarked and I had to refrain from grinding my teeth in both admiration and intimidation.

I've always been aware that there's a seemingly infinite number of superior artists out there, but the internet goes out of its way to show you *how* superior they really are.

If I drew because I wanted to impress others or I drew because I thought the world needed what I was doing I would have given up by this point.

Thankfully I draw for the purely self serving reason that I enjoy it immensely.
And it's nice how the most compelling reasons for doing things are usually selfish ones.

...

Actually selflessness is something I've been finding more annoying recently. Or, rather "selflessness".

I have no problem with people being nice or giving to charity or helping out if they feel that help is needed in any situation.

But to do something that is "selfless" only because you feel that you need to is tiresome.

To do it because you feel that someone else will be upset if you don't, or upset if you do, to compromise your own time or ambitions because it's the "right thing to do" just leads to built up resentment and passive aggressive behavior.

And stress is so overrated.

2009-03-02T15:18:00.000-08:00

Feel like more is happening in my life and more is on my mind than has been in awhile, but per usual writing down concisely these matters is beyond me.

So I'll just say that everything is moving forwards in a very agreeable way.

also random images, bigger things to come when more photogenic.

2009-02-27T07:17:00.000-08:00

Time has again decided to be lazy as hell and started to take most of the day off.

If I could perceive time through someone elses eyes I would be appalled at how little of it I retain.

But thankfully I don't have that perspective.

Considering graduate school, but have neither the time or money, and not even sure if I could get in.

Never thought that I would want to remain in an academic world for any longer than I had to, but the idea of being surrounded by people of that artistic caliber who all focus on concept art is just insanely alluring.

Have such a desire to improve, and I just can't stand to let it take any longer than it has to.
Still haven't become a hermit yet so most of that blame falls on me.

...

Continuing to have a stronger sense of "self".

Kind of feel like this is dangerous somehow.

But I'm still oblivious 78% of the time, so I guess that helps even things out.

p.s.

Go read "Scott Pilgrim".

It makes you feel ::awesome::

2009-02-18T22:59:00.001-08:00

Ugh.

I think it comes from me just drawing individual items for years, essentially learning how to draw from doodles, but creating whole scenes always leads to me confusing the viewer.

I overdo it with color and with details, creating too many of them too evenly spaced.

I realize that I've started to do that again this time, but I'm going to push as hard as I can away from that for the final piece.

It's funny how it's so easy to acknowledge flaws but yet when you try and grab them they just get so damn slippery.

bah!

.

On a brighter note my life is awesome at the moment.

2009-02-15T20:45:00.000-08:00

I really can't help it.

I just feel that everything is going to work out fine, not because it logically has to, but because I want it to.

Just as I feel that I should be able to influence the weather or the arrival of a subway train by willing it with my mind, I also feel that I will be able to influence the future through my actions and my desires.

Weather eventually clears up and trains arrive (even the G) and along those same lines the future occasionally turns out the way you wanted it to without you really having a say in the matter.

All the same, I'm glad I feel this way.

If things are going to work or not work regardless of my say so, then I'd really rather have the illusion that I'm doing something right.

2009-02-12T19:42:00.000-08:00

I've had a relaxing week.

It wasn't really restful, but it was enjoyable as hell, and I actually got alot of stuff done that wasn't classwork.

However now I really have to refocus on said classwork.

I've got the teachers and classes of my dreams so it really isn't any kind of hassle to do the work. It's just a matter of giving myself the time.

Soo... in order to make this a bit easier i'm going to (probably) quit my job at the labs.

My internship finally has a confirmed job (or two) so that means contracts and that means getting some payment for real work instead of getting paid to shuffle papers around and nag fellow students about getting the proper semester stickers.

And I really do love doing this concept art business.

My teacher today told me I should go to graduate school for it. I would love to more than anything.

Can't convince myself that the time or money is worth investing though.

eh.

2009-02-04T22:50:00.000-08:00

Okay.

So this city is going to be based off of manhattan, the areas around it are just wastelands now, and it's become virtually self contained, and heavily policed.

These are still just sketches.

Also comic con is this weekend and I'm planning on shopping my portfolio around. The advice alone from the professional artists will make it worth it even if no one else has anything for me.

...

Um, oh yeah!

Tolkien totally ripped off Wagner.

Just need to make sure the word gets out.

2009-02-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

I remember when I was probably about eleven or twelve (well, young anyways. placing age is not a strong point in my memories) and I had eaten some bad ravioli.

I had already thrown up everything inside of my stomach and was dry heaving into the toilet, my eyes burning with tears and my whole body covered with sweat and shaking with the exhaustion of its exertions.

Life, at that moment, was unbearable.

However I knew that this wasn't a death knell, just food sickness. I knew that this wasn't a permanent affliction, just something that would last for hours and be done.

I knew that by the time morning came I would be asleep, and by that afternoon I would be fine.

It is true that chemically I seem to have been built to be an optimist.

So maybe it is easier for me to believe things will work out unless proven otherwise.

But I just cannot understand why so many people seem to embrace pessimism as if it is something worth holding onto, as if predicting failure somehow protects them from it, and as if accepting agony ahead of time somehow subtracts from the agonies of the future.

2009-01-31T23:54:00.000-08:00

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2009-01-29T23:22:00.000-08:00

So I applied for internships at Blizzard and Pixar today.

Both of them supply housing and both of them pay.

They are also two of the most desirable companies to work at in the country.

Haha, a chance in a million, but whatever, the nice thing is that it doesn't cost anything to submit a portfolio, so it's just like playing a fantastic lotto for free that not only calculates chance, but throws in skill as well.

oh!

And comic-con is coming up in a week, so although that won't be the same level of *awesome* that getting into pixar or blizzard would be, I figure I might as well shop around my portfolio there too.

Why the hell not, right?

2009-01-27T22:22:00.000-08:00

Let's play god!

After all, in the long run what's the difference between a fictional city or a real one?

A stone carcass is a pretty lousy answer.

2009-01-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess why not spend every moment the way you want to if given a choice?

Why spend even a moment doing something that doesn't make you happier if it is not necessary in some way for future happiness?

Be greedy for it, in the end, beginning, and middle it is the only true measuring stick of life.

2009-01-25T22:53:00.000-08:00

Still here, just busy.

Been working on some stuff that isn't all that interesting in preparation for stuff that is very interesting, but I'll post a few drawings that might tide you over. Of stuff completely unrelated.

Wow. Tired.

Eh... Life would be so much easier if the inward nature of people actually did influence their outward appearance.

And then would people grew little tiny faces ON their faces if they had split personalities, or if they really had no personality at all, they would just cave in on themselves.

Like a jack-o-lantern that's still sitting outside in may.

But without the stain.

2009-01-21T22:59:00.001-08:00

Eh, once again I delete paragraphs of writing because they just aren't worth saying.

(was rambling on about escapism and how it's always been a consistent factor in my life)

Well, with all that written and deleted, I have nothing more to say.

Here's some stuff.

2009-01-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt the way I draw and approach drawing is going to be greatly affected by this upcoming semester.

I embrace this change absolutely.

My mind, my imagination, the way I approach my work, I'm always haunted by the fear that stagnation will overtake, or is already overtaking, those things and all that I produce.

I'm young and still learning constantly from what I do or fail to do, so maybe I shouldn't be so worried.

But it's hard, and perhaps pointless, to try and separate myself now from who I will be twenty years from now.

Much easier to just view the future as something that has already happened, and to work to shape the past so that it becomes a bit more livable.

...

But so many superfluous things constantly distract me and engage me. The problem is that I really can't tell what is going to be important and what isn't.

In hindsight it's always easy to see where time was wasted or where it was well spent, but as is proved relentlessly throughout my life and others it is often the stupidest and most inconsequential of decisions that turn out to have the most lasting effects.

Good or bad of course.

etc etc etc.

No sense in rambling on about a point everyone has ground into dust with thought already.

Anyways.

Here's to a new four years with someone who seemed to be the right decision at the time.

Let's hope it pays off a bit more than the last few rounds.

2009-01-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

If I had another week of break I'm really not sure what kind of strangeness I'd be drawing.

But it's time to go back to classes, so it's back to long term and (slightly) more cohesive drawings to emerge.

I've got a whole new stable of teachers this year, for the first time in years, but I'll be optimistic about it up until I hate them.

haha, nah, they'll all be totally great and let me do whatever I want while still giving me constructive intelligent criticism.

c:

2009-01-16T21:03:00.000-08:00

Hey, I finally reached the same amount of posts as my old sketchblog.

cool I guess.

While rummaging through my desktops hard drive I came across the portfolio that got me into Pratt.

Holy crap I was bad.

I mean, not even just comparatively so. Just bad.

Maybe they can sense spirit or something, but I'm kind of amazed that things have worked out this well so far.

Well, all the more reason to try harder.

And on that note, more quickies.

2009-01-15T22:31:00.000-08:00

just started reading atlus shrugged, figured it was one of those books you kind of have to read, and I'd be laughing at the ridiculousness of the incompetent businessmen riddled throughout the businesses in the book along with the obvious attempts to use other people's money to save their own asses if it wasn't *exactly* what was happening to our economy right now.

I mean really. It's a step away from reading an article on the current government bailouts.

Eh, anyway.

School is finally about to start and I'm almost counting the days.

Not for this semester, although it should be fun, but because like awaiting a final, a shot, or some momentous news I really feel that I'd like to cut to the chase and get on with it already.

By that I mean that I'd like to graduate and start living my life.

I never wanted to be defined by where I live, who I know, who supports me, or anything that exists outside myself unless I actively chose it to do so.

But soon, and for the first time, I will be able to push myself into a void where all umbilical cords can be cut with impunity.

Perhaps I will float there without being able to reconnect to anything or one.

But that seems unlikely, and if it will be the case temporarily then that's okay too.

I feel cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.

(pictures today are mostly meh studies, but the orange piece is drawn from a jill greenberg photo. So... ®©™ to her I guess.)

2009-01-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

Well I'm off to go socialize.

If spend anymore time today alone and talking to my cats...

.

But on a positive note I actually cleaned out the sink, fridge, and my room!

Seriously, this is an accomplishment.

2009-01-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

I worked today, I bought groceries, I talked briefly with friends over the internet/phone, drew a bunch, fed cats multiple times, fed myself multiple times, went online, and will soon go to bed.

...

I have a feeling of foreboding that this kind of day might happen alot after graduation.

I also stumbled across Jill Greenberg's photos online and figure they could be great for some emotion studies, found some cool brushes I'll use for awhile, and illustrated a poem for a friend.

oh, also one of the pictures I'm posting was done by my dad.

see if you can spot it!

2009-01-11T23:32:00.000-08:00

woops!

Went awhile without updating or doing a comic or anything!

Oh well, that's the joy of not getting paid to do this I guess.

I do have the next page all sketched out, but haven't found the time yet to ink/color it.

It'll happen.

oh!

The James Jean exhibition was painfully good.

He has a way with colors and lines that actually makes me feel pain at how much I want to be able to do what he does.

Eh...

Well, I took some pictures that I'll dissect later.

Such beautiful stuff. If I had forty thousand dollars lying around I would have bought a triptych in a second.

Anyways, I have work in the morning, so that's it.

Oh.

Also better burger is pretty meh.

meh.

2009-01-09T22:07:00.001-08:00

Been drawing all day at work and took awhile off to eat dinner with the folks.

Also drew a picture that got erased when my browser crashed.

And drew a picture I will post in this post. New character! Main potential love interest!

(I plan on making him utterly pathetic, but unintentionally awesome. )

However because of above things, no comic for today. It's only one in the morning now so I could probably chunk out the sketches, but still won't be able to get the whole page done.

Ah, such are the perils of self set deadlines and obligations.

...

Eh, how much more time do we have left before school starts?

This break is turning out to be more exhausting than classes...

2009-01-08T13:46:00.000-08:00

Went out to dinner with an old friend last night and had both fantastic food and a very good time.

Sadly this put me behind schedule on this here comic, which has also taken the longest time of all of them so far for some reason, and so I will unfortunately miss a day.

Still have to do some concept designs of vehicles today for work!

OHHHHH!!!!!!

ALSO!

:O

Axiotron released the modbook PRO!

It's a ridiculous 6,000 dollars, and it looks like the drawing pad of a GOD.

UGH!

...

oh, and here are some nice links that I've been meaning to put up.

Two great tutorials and two fantastic artist pages.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

http://www.huevaluechroma.com/

http://www.abukas.com/

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=123338