...and it ended up really, Really, REALLY big...

The animatic is done! And very late! So if I end up getting an "F" for lateness, it's the best looking "fail" I'll have. I turned it in today, and did get the look of "...went a bit overboard, didn't ya'?" But I learned a lot about Adobe AfterEffects, and no longer have my fear of that program.

The assignment was to do storyboards to either "Mayhem at Prom," or "Dogs and Cats Fight." I chose to do both...somehow. As I stated earlier, two of my favorite things to draw are chicks and monsters, so the idea popped into my head that prom night would be at high school for "cat people." Couple that somehow with werewolves, and I would accomplish both scenarios.

To begin with a main character was the first hurdle. While I like the "Disney princess" look, I wanted somethings a bit more angular, maybe a little more Bruce Timm. In designing the first character here's what came out of my pencil...



I thought she looked a lot like my friend, Taryn, so I began there.

The play on the joke was the idea of the "first time," or losing one's virginity on prom night. I wanted to play up that angle, having a bit of sexual tension. But the "first time" for a student at Simone Simon High School was to get their "first kill!" So the girls in question(that includes the ginger cat) had located dates from out of country--two foreign exchange from Wales. This idea came from 2 foreign exchange students I worked with this past summer. They were from Slovakia, and I waffled in nicknaming them either "Boris" and "Igor," or "Count Dracula" and "Baron Frankenstein." Their real names are "Michel" and "David." Unbeknownst to the girls, their dates were actually werewolves and were trying to score their first kills, as well. Although the one would like to score before he kills. But I blather on way too much.

For some reason, Blogspot cuts off part of the scene. To see it entirely, double click it, and it will take you to Photobucket, where you can see the proper aspect ratio. And, yes, it's a really big file. Here's the final outcome...



It still has some tweaking, and could use more scenes. But for the class I got it turned in. We'll see what happens Hope you enjoy.

mo' pluggin' away...

Still assembling scenes. This one is scene 10...



It's when they get the first look at their prom dates. And while it comes off as a bet ominous, they will be in awe of their "luck" at getting two beauties.

If you've viewed storyboard 23, you'll see some gropidge going on. This is the reaction shot. Still working on the timing.



Enjoy!

startin' to come to a screechin' halt...

This has been the bane of my existance these past weeks. We were to render a product in Maya--or should I say, model, texture, light, render, and animate in Maya!

There are some things not done on it, and some things I couldn't figure out, like the decals. UV mapping is still a mystery to me. But here it is, and it's "done" and turned in. You may need to double click it to see the entire thing...

back to the drawing board...

My love affair/honeymoon with AfterEffects may be over, or at least getting rocky. Not sure what happened, but I may need to re-do the thing. Probably punishment for me for including a reference to kicking my instructor in the cajones. Hopefully, he would find it funny. But it wouldn't be the first time I've been hated by a teacher...Mrs. Mansfield, Clara Painter, Lonnie Wieland...maybe a few in college, too. But I'm older, now, and find my "give a rat's ass" pretty much malfunctioning. I find it funny. But ball shots are, along with pie fights, stuttering, prat falls, and wardrobe malfunctions.

Enough, already! Here it is...



Leilah Tov!

...on a roll...kinda...

Chicks and monsters are 2 of my favorite things, if not my favorite things, to draw. Here's another scene. I'll probably get dinged for using the puppet tool too much. But how am I going to learn movement without doing some experimenting. Half of discovery is failure. Anyhoo, here's another scene. You may have to double click on it to get the full view. Can't quite get the hang of this blogspot format...

pluggin' away...

Not much to tell. This is a storyboard for another scene for the animatic I'm putting together for a class.

old dog, new tricks...

Don't remember going this long on a dry spell. School's been tough this semester, but I needed it. The semester is winding down, and I have a little ditty I've been working on in Concept Art for Animation. This particular piece is a scene for the animatic, and it's just something I did to get more familiar with Adobe AfterEffects...



The file size is way too big, so I'm going to have to do some tweaking on it. The premise is a mixing of "Mayhem at the Prom," and "Dogs and Cats fighting." When I get it done and more managable, I'll post it.

This one is from the final project from last semester. I did the character design and the keyframing on it...



Tootles!

finding some legs...

Last night, I did an art show which ended up mostly with me drawing some caricatures. In getting out some art for display/sale, I had to go through my file cabinet. Found an awful lot of sketches and doodles of ideas. Most of them are for webstrips that I have yet to get off my duff and draw. Some seemed like good ideas at the time. Others still tell me to find the muse to draw them.

This is one of them.



The art is a WIP. I hope to find some time to finish it soon. Maybe make some prints or something. Now to compose some kind of story. For some reason, the centaur character seems to show the most promise to start the thing off, and them maybe add the others as I go.

We'll see.

hope...

Back in November, I was approached to see if some characters I'd created could/would be animated for a ministry. It seemed to stall and I've been frustrated.

I did take some animation classes, did okay, and a few weeks ago saw a glimmer of hope that the thing may yet get off the ground. One of those involved, who does some animation, took some of my art and worked up a test. We have since talked of working up a second test--something that may convince the "powers that be" to put it on the front burner.

Here's a clip/test. It's only about 6 seconds. Animation by Jake Johnson. Character created and designed by me. Oh, and voice by Jake for the test, too.

Enjoy!



Leilah Tov!

things...

2011 continues to be a year of discontent. Spent it pretty much by myself. There was a family situation, of which I'm not going to comment on further, and Becky was needed for that.

I did go to the Mutchler/Clark family reunion. Got lost because the road I was on was closed about half way. Spent a good 45 minutes on some gravel roads to nowhere trying to get to Tarkio. Found out later on that I-29 isn't closed at Rockport, and that I could've taken the easy route. Time to quit listening to Katey Horny at channel 5.

We did go over to the Dewalt's for Fourth of July evening. It was good. Some homemade pizza. Watched their neighborhood turn into a warzone with all the fireworks going off.

Was listening to the radio, and was amazed at all the memories that came flooding back depending on the song that was playing. Loggins and Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" came on and I remembered the cutest brunette who walked into the gym my senior year at the winter dance...and how I didn't "man up" and try to talk to her.

Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes" reminds me of a mini-roadtrip I was on in Northeast Kansas. Saw some old friends that summer who would've been my classmates had we not moved to Maryville, MO from Effingham, KS.

Some song from "Dirty Dancing" came on and it reminded me how much I hate that damned movie. Still like the song, though.

Feels like I'm "marking time."

I've been wanting to take some kind of self-defense class. I think I'll try to find one, right after I go work out.

...and much of Madness, and more of Sin...

Haven't blogged in a looooonnnnnggggg time. My bad. And I need to. Right now it's 5 in the morning. Woke up at 3, tossed and turned for an hour. Decided to get up and try to wind back down.

We were assigned in the figure drawing class I took, to do our own self portrait. Here's what came out of it...

I have to admit, that it both shocked and creeped me out. Don't know where this came from.

It wasn't quite what the teacher had asked for, but I'm not sure I could've come up with anything else. It kinda reflects how things have been of late. I think she wanted all sorts of symbols and stuff, but that isn't me. Don't know if I'm really that "artsy-fartsy."

I got some "cool" comments from some. Others expressed a certain unease. Some even expressed preferring it without the quote and without the color. John Romita once told me that all drawing is trapping light with shade...hence the black and white.

Only my daughter saw sadness in it.

All in all color can be what you want it to say. Red certainly reflects rage. Even blood as I have to prick and stick myself to test my blood sugar and take meds. Could represent passion? Dunno. Been a bit passion-less of late. Green, for all the happy "life" things it is suppose to rep, is also the color of horror. One little tidbit I found out when researching horror movies, is that the original 1931 "Frankenstein" was tinted green to amp up the fear factor. The blue...I got no clue. Other than I do have blue eyes.

Gonna see if I can catch a few more zzzz's.

the long and winding road...

Dear Bloggie,

I've missed you. Been a long hard winter. Have been in school trying to retool. Will be better about posting. Here's a model sheet to one of the characters for my final animation project in "Introduction to 2D Animation."



Enjoy!

Yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life...

Couldn't post, though. Too busy trying to scoop out of all the white stuff coming down. The downside is that it causes school to be cancelled, and means I have to find other things to fill my day with. BID...

Sorry, my bloggy, that I've been neglecting you. Been that kind of year. But to get things back on track, I'll start with a short diddy.

My daughter, fondly known as "Satan," wanted a drawing of a four-leafed clover a while back. Take that back...demanded a drawing. "Just draw the damned thing!" was what I remember in pressing her for why when it would be an easy matter to find clipart on the internet of clover images. Finally it came out,...she wanted it for a tattoo. (For the record, her sisters, Megan and Emily, disapproved of their older sibling "scarring" herself.) But I finally relented. I got the "greatest father on earth routine" when I'm being compliant. In another post, I'll have to tell you about becoming "scum of the earth" another time. BID...

So here's what I designed...


I found out it just wasn't for her, but for her and a girlfriend as they were both going to get the same tattoo. (Nothing like compounding my sin by scarring someone else's kid.) So her friend, Erin, aka "E.W.T.N.A."(no, I'm not explaining the initials, or what they truly say. Sorry.) got the tattoo as well, and here's how it turned out...


My daughter, who lives by the credo that children were put on the earth to kill their parents, further scarred me by telling me where said tattoo is presently located. Megan and Emily were mortified. I was horrified. What can I say? I'm just not into tattoos!

My dad has a tattoo...the Marine Corps emblem, on his shoulder with his ID #. When I was a kid and asked him about it, he told me never to get a tattoo, claiming it was the stupidest thing he ever did. And when I hear a lot of stories about escapades involving getting tattoos, they usually start with some version of "...and I was drunk..." It seems like tattoos, having your eyebrows shaved, and getting the "clap" all begin with that short phrase. Not a ringing endorsement.

Which brings me to the modern age and being requested to design a tattoo for someone. I guess some people don't get drunk before getting a tattoo, but have carefully thought it out. (And no, I'm not starting a new career in body decoration.) But I have been flattered that Taryn has wanted me to design a tattoo for her foot. She asked me this well over a year ago, and I've drug my feet. One, for some personal reasons...it seems that in Judaism, which I've been studying, frowns on tattoos, mirroring similar comments from Rabbi Paul of the "body being the Temple of God" The second reason is the permanent factor...it's there for a lifetime. And lastly, because I would really hate to do a design for her that would be disappointing to her.

So we've been doing some brainstorming, going over things that might work versus things that don't. She wanted a particular quote from a favorite song incorporated into the design, something that means a great deal to her. Here's a rough of where we are with it. Still needs some refining, but I haven't posted for a looooooonnngg time, and needed to...


After I told her of a quote I'd recently discovered for myself, she asked if I'd considered getting it tattoo'd. Probably the closest I've come to doing it.

My "quote," by the way, is something written by Peter Ham of Badfinger fame..."Don't let tomorrow be just any day..."

Incidently, today is my dad's birthday even though he denies being born on Groundhog's Day.

"Erev Tov!"

...special love I have for you, my baby blue...

One of my favorite childhood memories is of the "Beatles" cartoon show produced by King Features Animation. Love the designs to the point that I don't feel a need to caricature them myself. I did, however, get interested in the "heir apparent" band signed to Apple Records, "Badfinger," formerly "The Iveys."

Badfinger is the greatest band that never was. And so screwed over by the music industry. Three of them are deceased now, and only one remains. So without any more introduction, here's my version of them done as close as I can for a first draft, in the style of the "Beatles" cartoon show.

Here's lead singer, composer, and guitarist, the late Peter Ham...


Bassist, composer, and singer, the late Tom Evans...


Drummer, the late Mike Gibbins...


And guitarist and singer, Joey Molland...


The knock on them was how much they looked and sounded like the Beatles. Ironically, as they progressed they developed their own sound. I also see a lot of myself in Pete Ham.

"Tell me the day and I'll set you free, what you wanna be
Show me the way and I'll let you see what you do to me
Well, it's not enough to live
If you're gonna take, then you have to give
We're for the dark, mm-baby, you and I..."(from "We're For The Dark," by Peter Ham)