Daily -

Used my free time a bit.

Beautiful Boy

This is my new buddy Dade. He is just about the best thing since the interweb. Not only does he delight at being burritoed up in swaddling, but he makes cooing noises when you play rocket-ship pilot with him on your lap (knee bouncing + finger hand holds + rocket noises). Just look at him. He is a beautiful animal.. a destroyer of worlds.. a paradox of power and babyness. I really want to bring a potential playmate or arranged marriage partner into the world for him.

So I visited my wonderful friends Clint and Cassie this weekend. They are frickin amazing (I also saw Amy - she is great too!). When I watch them, I see things that I want to bring to my relationship.. or just more of it. It is so nice to be around a couple like that. My parents are like that. They still kiss loudly before going to sleep (almost to ad nauseam); it is things like that that make me love them all the more. I'm being sappy, but by golly, baby Dade makes me feel sappy.

On a side note - Cassie's family really knows how to stab people in their souls. It is a neat talent.

Enough on all that.

Strange news from the work front: today I had lunch (which was great.. people brought chili and other good foodstuffs to eat) and we had a belly dancer perform. Never in my life have I been privileged to free chili and belly dancing at my job before. How 'bout that.

Wow.. I have time..to do things..that I enjoy. How to spend the time? Lets start with web-comics and go from there.. Life is good today.

BOOOYAHH!!

Done!

WOOOOT. What a great game. Good job Armor games .. the bad news - I think the leaderboard is messed up.. it only shows 5 names on the board all with 0 deaths. I got to lvl 11 with 0 deaths but I can't imagine getting though the whole game that way.. and it only show 5 names.. NO MATTER. I finished it.. with a modest two thousand something attempts :O






I am free! Free at last. Beat the game.. sanity has returned. It is a strange accomplishment. I feel like I deserve a cookie. Or I want aliens to come claim me as their champion to have a killer early cg battle in space. Aren't those moments, when you succeed alone, just really strange? No just video game triumphs, but those moments when a glass falls off a ledge and you snatch it with your offhand like a deft cat-burglar. You hit a difficult riff that you're never ever able to repeat just the same. You cook the perfect steak or bake the most amazing loaf of bread. I love those moments in life.

I'm going to get back to doing what I love.. you know.. art and animation. On the same note, my wife gets home from a business trip tonight. Hooray.

Journey with me though insanity

So I tried the Hardest Game Ever again.. let me take you though my journey

1-10.. I rule!! WEeeee..



Then it hits the fan. The game is without remorse. It leaves you no time or respite. You move or die.. and you die.. over and over. It is as if you had to play frogger and pong at the same time, while German police induced psychological warefare on you..the same techno song looping and looping. And screw you if you want to save. NO SAVE FOR YOU!! Some levels are puzzles.. great. Others are lemming suicide missions where you stagger around with milliseconds between survival and defeat.



This one.. lvl 23.. everything shifts.. back and forth..up and down.. and there is a damn pinwheel to smite you.

I highly recommend this game. It is fantastic. I'm going to play until my eyes bleed I think.. I had to stop tonight because I thought I might go blind.


I'm stuck on level 26..5 levels and I've beaten it. On 26 I can get each individual point. even 2 of them.. but inevitably I die trying to get the third. This digital nightmare will not beat me.


And the worse part of it all.. there is no reward except perhaps personal satisfaction that you're done with the game and no longer have a desire to play. How I yearn for that sweet sensation.

A mouse

Look.. a mouse..

I'm excited about the weekend already. I get to visit family and friends.. I'm an "uncle" to a cute little spud. To top it off, I get to talk shop with my good friend and plan a body of work. How great is that.

If you're reading my blog for the first time or haven't commented, write me a little blurb. I love hearing from people out here on the edge.

Spotlight on Anju

Hey people! Anuj Agarwal mailed me a little blurb about his slideshows - Neat little concept. I commend Anuj's passion for his work.

Fun stuff. Maybe you'll find a slideshow you like for you page at his site here:
Nachofoto Blog.

Wooyeah! Stupid game.

I got past level 10.. and I got there with only 20 deaths.. then promptly racked up over 100 deaths getting though the level. Damn that game is difficult...

Then I got to here:


Lvl 10 but worse.. I don't think I'll be beating this game anytime soon.. especially when you can't save your progress :(. Mario has nothing on this nightmare.

In other news, the pollen is relentless. My throat has been replaced with fiery pain (only soothed by vitamin C citrus cough drops and jelly belly beans).

I made a new friend type person the other day. Our neighbor sings in the Yakov show and has the cutest little poodle. The doggies love to play together... if I ever recover my camera from our storage room (ie: spare bedroom), I'll take a picture. When I go in there, I'm reminded of the last scene of "The Raiders of the Lost Ark". Poor camera..

Tonight Sarah and I are eating mass quantities of meat.. RibCrib for the win! I'm excited about the meat... (thats what she said) Mmmm.. In other food news: I make amazing Eggplant Parmesan. The key is that you lay out your eggplant slices on paper towels.. salt heavily (kosher).. put more towels on top.. and then press for 30 minutes (Thanks Alton Brown.. you rock). It is amazing how much liquid comes out. Then rinse, dredge, bread, pan fry, and drain. Ooooh so good. I love cooking.. but hate cleaning up. Maybe I could have been a chef. They have dishwashers I'm sure.

Drawings on the rise.. posting later tonight. Wow.. blogging makes you feel good. I need to do it regardless of how I feel. Lots of love.. peace out.

He ain't pretty

But he _is_ a sketch. Behold.. daily sketch.. drawn in pain and generally cloudheadedness. On the upside, I like the character. Not a great design but fun.

I miss my friends everywhere. Life has become work and more work lately. So.. friends out there, I love ya and miss ya! I hope that life is treating you well and that many happy fortunes will be bestowed upon you.

Mind numbing fun

Just have to share this little bit of insanity with everyone. You will like this if you A: Like Games. and B: are a masochist. I'm thinking Cassie and Sarah will both be up for it.

Worlds Hardest Game

Good lord this addicting.. I got to level 10.. don't think I'll get past it anytime soon. I get to the bottom and lose :|. Go.. have mind numbing frustrating fun. I dare you.

Under the weather

ARG

I haven't created anything in the past couple days and I don't feel so good. I'm not ill but I just feel..out of it. Like I'm getting over a cold or just started one. And I wasted my weekend.. Sarah and I did find a great house we would like to buy. Here's hoping the price is right.

YERG

My head hurts. This post is grumpy and no fun to read. And no daily or semi daily sketch up. I'm going to go take some advil and get some sleep. Then tommarow I'm going to have a busy day at work, come home, and make a new drawing. Even if I feel as out of it as I do now.. maybe a crappy drawing.. but it will be one none the less. Here is to tommarow.. when I'll start to live for today. (But really..not tonight..my head aches)

Pla-ti-num

Here is a concept painting for "Dirty Clarence" - a Unity Underground black market dealer. This isn't really where I want to take the art.. I am going to push it more stylized and graphic. That means I'll probably need to get out the pencil and paper... I haven't been able to completely switch over to digital yet and get the same quality work. Its a start... time to sleep.

Sheets of rain

So no drawings last night or tonight.. bleh.

Last night I got home and passed out in bed.. later I woke up disoriented and with fever. This morning.. oh so groggy and not feeling well. Now I'm fine. So I missed my post and sketch last night.. I'm sure under daily sketch law, there are caveats for illness.

Tonight I had a date night with Sarah. When went to the delightful stereotype of an Italian villa that is the Olive Garden. I had the minestrone soup... it is pretty much what I like there. Olive Garden in Branson is not like other Olive Gardens. For one thing, people can smoke in the restaurant. I told the greeter 'First Available'.. in Texas that means 'Patio or Interior'. Here is means.. 'choking or breathing'. Dumb dumb dumb.

The last time we went to the Garden, we sat in breathing. Our waiter was Johnny Monday. He was born on a week where it rained black and his mother beat him because he was ugly until he was nine. After working as a shoeshine boy with a burlap bag on his head for 4 years. Like the ugly duckling, he caught his reflection and saw that he had transformed into a good looking person. He thought to himself - I wonder if I can do that professionally? This led him to Branson where he now works as a performer slash model. Olive Garden is just for marketing in the off season. Johnny Monday bothers me because what I really need at Olive Garden is a waiter. You know.. someone to fill my drink, bring my food, and get my order right. Thats about it. Johnny, your calling is outside of the Olive Garden.. go out and live your dreams.. or work on becoming a better waiter.

Enough ranting (wait.. if I stop that, I have no blog).

Ranting resumed.

I'm starting a new project with KNRPG Productions. Art for a game in production called Unity Underground. I'm psyched about it.. I love projects. They channel my creative energy. They are the flux capacitor for my art. I'm going to start posting work in progress paintings on their steps to completion. I should have something up tomorrow. If not for Unity then some sketch.. hell. Now I feel guilty for not posting anything. I don't want to just throw up a scribble like I did the other day though... and I need sleep to have a productive day. Operation semi-daily sketch go!!

Ladies night..ohh what a night.

Tonight I went out with my boss to a birthday gathering for a nice woman at the chamber of commerce. It was a nice gathering of cute professional women.. I was the odd one out. Long story short.. I had too much wine.. am going into work late tomorrow and my sketch has kind of suffered for it. I had fun meeting all the chamber ladies though. But ya know.. this is about the first daily 'sketch' that I've done. The rest have practically been completed works.. so no biggy.

I'm so busy at work. I had a stack to finish today.. much more tomorrow. That is pretty exciting actually.

I miss Lone Star Comics - (Fort Worth, TX). It is such a great little store.. I miss the people and the comic wall. The local Branson store...well.. it sucks. It has to be a tough market with Branson being a completely tourist driven economy (not really the comic reading tourist crowd either). I want the local shop to be good though. It makes me was to start a store.. but again. It would be so difficult to succeed here. I need to find an online option.

and WOW - Hooray for Portugal and people from Portugal. A Portuguese blogger left some praise on my page and filled me with an enormous sense of joy for blogging. Go global community!

Ohh So Much!!

Wow.. so much to write and I want to get to sleep.

My parents came to visit this weekend and we had a grand ol' time. Ohh wait.. I don't want to talk about that yet.

More Pi

Thanks wikipedia for educating more about how amazing pi is. Get this: there is a collection of poems called Cadaeic Cadenza that corresponds to the digits of pi (well..not all of them..that poem would never end and take too long to read). I highly recommend the read - I attempted a small feat of pi poetry.. my results were rather dismal in comparison.


Fog

A Poem

I yearn leviathan to spread ahead
the dread creature appearing benefic
uncloaked she is the paradigm evil
always


My poor little poem corresponds to pi to 20 decimals (3.14159 26535 89793 23846). It makes for interesting language and is a fun mental exercise. Poetry is difficult enough without worrying about how many letters your words must contain. I haven't written a poem is years - try it out for yourself!

Moving on.



This is the first part of some sequential artwork inspired by Mike Libby's work at Insect Lab. Boy I love his sculptures.. I want to make some.

I'll finish the rest of the art tommarow hopefully. I need to come up with some stories before I start doing comics.

Back to parental visit: We went to watch Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede! yesterday. I think we all had a great time: we got stuffed on meat, got to watch horses, hear nice singing, and get an overwhelming dose of patriotism. My favorite part was the pig races and ostrich riding (thats right.. thats what I said). Good family fun show and food to boot. Now for some critique - if you, like many of my friends and sister, are vegetarian, you would have left the show hungry.. I think the mini corncob and potato wedge wouldn't have sated you. If you were Native American or First Nations people, you might have gotten somewhat offended about the neon painted white guy in a headdress chanting hey-yah hey-ya before summon a bird god. On a positive, the bird god flying dancer was quite a beautiful spectacle to watch. Good job! Splitting the audience in rival "North" and "South" groups is done to encourage audience participation -- I think it was done in a thoughtful manner and in the end Dolly informed us that we're all winners. (Except for the South.. they lost. you get Nascar and the Almond Brothers). Overall, I think it is a great show! Sadly, apparently at other Dixie shows, they have buffalo.. I love buffalo.. shucks :|

More Fun!!

Sarah and I had a grand scheme of seeing a double matinée of "Horton Hears a Who!" and "Penelope" - yahoo movies had different times listed than the Branson Imax however.. so we missed our showtime, at dinner at McFarlains (good food and prices... country home cooking - I had turkey dinner - *glee*), and then payed an exorbitantly large sum to see "Horton Hears a Who!" Blue Sky - cheers to you! I can't say how much I enjoyed that animation in the movie. Great job! (The crowd shots felt like some characters died.. a bit stiff & still..I can't complain though). The movie as a whole is a much bigger ball of wax. Horton is just symbolism layered on symbolism with a parable like quality that was almost overwhelming... really beating a dead horse by the end. I'm sure countless religious groups will be using it for their own ends (apparently Pro-life advocates have already making out the movie to be "Horton hears a fetus"..) the overall message seemed clear enough: be open-minded. I like that. On a stranger note, I had just watched the Messenger: Joan of Ark movie... lots of parallels between the movie that made me wish I could just enjoy the movie without thinking of everything else. I'll probably get the DVD. I love Seuss and Blue Sky. Again.. fantastic work. Cheers.

Time to sleep.

Penguin!

Behold! The majestic penguin.. that I wanted to draw at 2 AM. (What an odd thing to wake up for). I'm going to start working on some sequential art.. you know.. like a comic.

Pi Day

I totally missed it.. thank you Thad for redeeming it for me.




When ink and pen in hands of men
Inscribe your form, bipedal "P"
They draw an altar on which
God has slaughtered all stability
No eyes could ever soak in all the places you anoint
And yet to see you all at once we only need the point
Flirting with infinity, your geometric progeny
That fit inside you oh so tight
With triangles that feel so right

3.141592653589793238462643383279
50288419716939937510582097494459

Your ever-constant homily says flaw is discipline
The patron saint of imperfection frees us from our sin
And if our transcendental lift shall find a final floor
Then Man will know the death of God where wonder was before

Yeah, I know this Pi shit backwards and forwards
Check it out

I did three chicks then I pointed at the door
A girl entered in so that made it four
I snapped one time in came another five
Add 'em all up and that makes nine
The average age 26.5
Now that's what I call gettin' some pi
Five of the chicks wore 6-inch heels
Two of the nine squealed like seals
514 was the area code
Quebec, Canada my winter abode
And my 1.3 million dollar chalet

Pi backwards, pi forwards, all night and all day

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288
4197169399375105820974944592307816406
2862089986280348253421170679821480865
1328230664709384460955058223172535940
812848111745028410270193852110556

Parental visit and working

I had a great day today - it was a nice taste of my new job in full effect. The guy I'm replacing (he is going on to bigger and better things - good job!) last day was today. We had a nice little pizza party send off. I like that professional adults still enjoy a pizza party. And I didn't even have to read any book list books and take my list to Pizza Hut. How great is that? The pizza was from "Pizza World" - good stuff. I'm not a big fan of thin crust, but there were some good choices to eat; the crowd pleaser was the chicken/spinach. Delicious!

So I'm now the Events Coordinator for Thousand Hills Golf Resort in Branson, MO. It has a nice ring to it. Plus, it is a great job. Basically, I organize events: family reunions, wedding receptions, business meetings, and all manner of group get-togethers. If you're visiting Branson, I recommend our cabins - rustic log cabins.. very romantic.

Tomorrow my parents are visiting. I'm excited: I got tickets to Dixie Stampede. It will be the second show I've seen in Branson. I'm going to make a point of try to get to as many as possible while we live here. I love to be entertained. Hopefully everything goes well.

Well.. off to eat and and clean. Ooohhh - 16 days of daily sketches. I'm so proud :)

Reading is easier with pictures

I found a great new comic today. I loves it.. and I think Cassie will like it too. Enjoy. It was a good day today! I helped a nice older couple find the perfect rooms for their 60th Wedding Anniversary. How great is that? I'm enjoying my job more and more. On the flip-side, I inhaled a bit too much ammonia while cleaning some tables in a conference room and tomorrow I'm cleaning out storage closets. Every job has its pros and cons I guess.

http://www.bunny-comic.com/

I've had enough portraits for awhile. Time for some exploration of things that a 11 year old and me would enjoy. Robots, monsters, explosions.. all kinds of good.

Baby Envy

Damn it Cassie.. why did you have to have such a cute little baby? It is like a friend who gets a cool new toy that you don't have and really want. Now we really want one.. he has little feet and you can give him a bath in the sink. He is dis big |-(insert baby size here)-|! Whenever you two, get some vacation time, remember that Sarah and I live in the Missouri vacation destination numero uno. We miss you.

Hmm.. I think my work is sucking creative energy away from me. I'm sustaining my daily paintings but animation has slowed to a crawl. While making sales calls today, I did sketch out some rough posing for my couple animation. I'll keep on fighting the good fight... of making amusing animations.

So good

Hmm.. my job is going well. Still quite a learning curve. I like hospitality, but I really have to work on my phone conversation skills. I no talk good on phone.

In other news, Sarah is awesome! She made lasagna, a beautiful salad, and get this: chocolate covered strawberries! What did you have for dinner? :P

DS 12

Sunday day off woooo....

It's my day off :) Have a nice day.

Picture book

I was listening to the Kinks "Picture Book" today and the song has stayed with me all day. The Kinks are such a great band - I love all the British invasion bands (the Beatles, the Who, and the Rolling Stones) but out of all of them, I feel that the Kinks' sound embodies more of the style that I enjoy listening to in modern music. That is a bit backwards way of thinking about it I guess.. I've been stuck on the Decemberists, Neutral Milk Hotel, Elliot Smith, and Death Cab lately.. surely their music has been influenced in some way by the 60-70's era British music scene. The songs have such great narratives and some fun poppy rhythms... gotta love em.

Apparently I like a lot of "Emo" groups. What about this music makes kids want to write dark poetry, wear too much eyeliner, and get lame haircuts is beyond me. Do Emos exist or are they just a myth that has been popularized by the interweb? Hmm.. hippys.. punks.. head-bangers.. goths.. emos.. (weird.. Sarah and I were big grunge fans.. still am.. not group title? whats the deal?)

Piano man

Tonight I went to a dueling piano bar - Branson has all kinds of fun.... all for a nominal fee. I crashed a birthday/going away party. Good times.

Sketch power!!

Fun with Work

I really like my new job. I get to call people, setup contracts, solve problems, email and "touch base". The people I deal with are generally happy (so far) and most things I can plan well ahead of when they will actually occur. As a bonus, I never have to climb on to roofs or cling to ladders in thunderstorms. Awesome!

I'm liking these monochrome paintings. I can work completely digital and it is a style I'm comfortable with. I think I'll try to do a series of these (unless I decide to do something else..)
I'm short one for the week though.

Last night I took a long, soothing bath, got lethargic and had to sleep. I'll make up the drawing.. it bothers me that I didn't post one yesterday. Anyways : work = good. Drawings = good. Animation = weekend.

New Friend Fun

I made a new friend today and that is always good. After work we went out for food and drinks and now I'll try to draw a picture. Slightly intoxicated drawing on the way.. it might be up tommarow but drawn today.

It was a good day at work. I learned a lot. The end.

Out.

.. oooh.. drinking and drawing don't mix. Here is my sketch of the day after my head cleared up.

King of the Humugens

This little guy came from working solely with digital chalk and no idea in mind of what I was drawing. Stream of consciousness doodling I guess. I need to play housekeeper today..laundry time and unpacking.

Thanks for the comment Clint. I'll start working on some concepts for a game soon enough. If you have an ideas for concept art you would like to see, just let me know. Focus is always helpful for me.

Even though I'm sure it will be everywhere else too, I just want to note that Gary Gynax passed away at the age of 70. Be sure and roll a die or two in his honor. Salute to the father of roleplaying.

Pie of Slumber

Today was my first day on the job - training day for the win!
I think it is going to be a good experience overall - customer service, hospitality, and sales. Good and good. And I am not going in tomorrow due to inclement weather.. and it was beautiful just the other day here.

Sarah and I ate some pie and feel asleep at 4 PM and slept for 3 hours. Now I feel kind of messed up. I'm glad the dogs woke me up or I'm sure we would have woken up around 1 AM.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and start blocking out my new animation. That and unpacking boxes so I can find my camera.. I need reference.

What do you think about this sketch? Sarah says thumbs down. I think there are some positive things happening in it. Either way.. each day is a fun learning exercise. One of the reasons I got out of bed was to draw my sketch.

Today was different than yesterday.

I had a good day today. Kind of a lazy Sunday. Sarah and I went to visit her mom and grandmother. Visiting with Mom was nice - we were greeted with a variety of food. Ravioli, Meat Loaf, Salad, Gravy, Sweet Potatoes, and Cherry Pie. Not generally what I think of when I consider lunch, but I really enjoyed it and now we have left overs for the week. Hooray for food. We visited her grandma next. She is eighty years old - got back from a funeral before we visited with her. Funerals are an odd social function for the elderly I have decided. Hearing them talk about it was about like me and Sarah talking about coffee with friends. I found it really comforting. She is a neat lady with some down to earth advice - "Do what you want to do and when you want to." It gave me a nice little warm feeling that I'm doing the right thing.

Tommarrow is the first day of my new job. Hopefully things go as well as I would like them to.

One drawing and a creepy painting today.. I did the painting at around 3 am the other night. I've been drinking too much tea.

I'm excited at yet another new projects! Its everything that I talked about in a previous post on what I would like to animate. Zombies are on hold for now. I'm going to push to get the new animation out in 3 weeks. Here is the scene - Guy on screen and his lady dashes in from off screen; the guy scoops up his lady and they twirl and then kiss. Then he carries her off screen. Acting, weight, physical action, and two characters interacting. No real props or setting but I'm not worried. Oooohh.. I can model out clothing for the characters. And I can make the scene a period piece and figure out a nice background. I'm thinking a west end New York sort of setting.. the clothing.. no idea. Long dresses without any sort of cloth simulation would be killer. Unless the woman is in equestrian gear, when did women start wearing pants or jeans? Late 50's / Early 60's ?? Time to watch Audrey Hepburn movies (good idea - thanks sweetie!).

Guillotine Necklace

I was thinking about faith and god today.. in particularly Christianity and Catholicism . Mostly about the fixation on pain, suffering, and death of Jesus. I'm by no means a religious scholar and really don't know much about it (I'm sure there are a multitude of great books out there on the subject), but what other religions focus so much on the death of their prophets & saviors? Birth, death, and resurrection.. shouldn't the religion be focused on life? After all; we're alive and it is kind of our principle concern. Yes yes..afterlife.. but who needs faith after you're dead? Just some musings..

On the flip side: would life be odd if the Roman empire had the guillotine? No fixation on pain and suffering.. drop and chop. What would churches be like? Crosses were an implement of death and suffering (crucifix coming from cruciare which means"to torture") and they are represented all over the place. Imagine guillotines and baskets outside of buildings all around your city and towns.. iron maidens necklaces hanging around peoples necks. I know that the modern usage of the cross and crucifix is more or less a symbol - a way of saying "me = Catholic or Christian". What a bizarre thing though.

I love my dogs.. no dogs go to heaven.. because dogs don't have souls. Eternal kowtowing. Wtf?

Gnashing of teeth and fiery brimstone.. Eternal suffering. Wtf?

Can we get some better options?

Enough on all this.. I'm bumming myself out.

Chores Ahoy

Lots to do around the house today.. and hmm.. I haven't been doing much of it yet. So I'm going to write this and get started. Right now. After this. In a minute.

Daily Sketches.. bam