Some nice places I went to

Last week, I went to some new places and some familiar places. My brain sort of imploded from everything my senses were taking in. The colors and smells of fall, the agonizing yet satisfying allure of the lab...New England graveyards. It was pretty awesome.

If you haven't been, go to the Dream House on 275 Church St. It's like being inside a giant womb. I had the best nap there ever. I won't say more than that.
On the highway, coming back from New Hampshire.

So now my days are really "routine-y", minus a distractive outing here and there. Get up, lab, go home. The best thing about going home is knowing that SCHOOL and THE FILM are over for the day and COZY HOME time begins. I turn on the tube, chat with my roommate, and eat and paint and watch Splash or whatever until I pass out. I dig it.

Nothing compares 2 U

Final animatic done for Ice Cream Man...time to animate!

Here's some background stuff and color studies.

And now...as many of you know, my love for Sinead O'Connor will never cease.

More ice cream man

Boy, I've been spending a lot of time at the lab...

I'm playing around with the houses and cacti for my film. I can't seem to break away from that same old boxy look for the houses. I want to try approaching the design from a different direction. Maybe next post.

Sketches of Isabella, one of the kids.

And now off-topic...the mice in my apartment are such ballsy little bastards. I would be sitting in the living room and they'd come right out in the middle of kitchen and stare me down. It's a never-ending battle.

The drawing game

My pals and I have been playing The Drawing Game. Not too creative a name, but good to keep it simple.

Rules:

1) Each person gets a piece of paper and writes a sentence on it. Pass it to the next person.

2) Read the sentence and draw a picture to it. Fold over the sentence and pass it on.

3) Look at the picture and write a sentence to it. Fold over the picture and pass it on.

4) And so on and so forth.

It's fun to see what comes out of the game when the sentences and drawings get more complex or abstract with each passing. We've been playing four people at a time. I like to compare the two sets of drawings and sentences and see what was each person's thought process. Hilarity ensues. Here were some I liked:

Two almost identical setups. Different explanations.

This one was great! Funny how both drawers depicted the same action of a woman pointing as the plant shoots. This one started from bottom to top.

The drawings are basically the same, but different attitudes are conveyed due to what sentence was given.

This was a good one. Translation went way off but it made for a strange but beautiful drawing at the end. Oh, that ghost!

One where it all went to shit.

Sketchbook dump

I'm so excited for fall!

I used to have these daydreams in high school where I would see giant black figures walking in fields. I didn't really know where these daydreams were going, but they looked kind of creepy and cool.

In my apartment, the toilet and the bathtub are built in separate rooms. I get tired of people asking me how I shower after they take a dump in my toilet so this is my answer.

I think I'm gonna try to do more short comics. Just little funny things that happen around me.

Ice cream man

School's started and I'm all geared up to get my advanced film rolling. I've got preliminary storyboards done, and now it's time to cut it down and rearrange them to fit the time limit. I'll post some boards here sometime. Here's some art I did earlier this year for Ice Cream Man.

Prick's suburban landscape.

Early designs of Ice Cream Man and testing some colors.

His mild-mannered alter ego. And the neighborhood kids. He's got a rounder, softer look now.

I'm excited for this year. My goal is to roughly finish this film by graduation, along with my intermediate film from last year. I've learned that making an animated film is no walk in the park, so I'm determined to thoroughly manage my time for the next two semesters and really discipline myself to get something done that I can be proud of.

Bye, August

Summer's almost over so that means it's time to say good-bye to sunshine and beach time and hello to You better start picking up your ass and do some serious shit! Here's some stuff.

My friend, Pam. I hope she's not offended by how I portray her sometimes but she seems to be a pretty good sport about it.

A good ol' sunset.

And some ice cream trucks.

I got great advice from this dude who's the creative director at Four in Hand and he told me this exercise that anybody who's serious about cartooning should do until their fingers fall off:

 

1) Take any subject you see and draw it as simply as possible.

2) Draw another version of the subject using only geometric shapes.

3) Compare the two drawings, and think about what is the ESSENCE of the subject?

4) Now draw the essence.

Deep, but useful.

Oh shit, I'm bloggin!

I made this blog months ago and never did anything to it. Seems like it's the thing to do these days, though. So here goes it--my first post. Here's some stuff from the sketchbook:

I watched the Graduate a few weeks ago. Dustin Hoffman, what a babe!

Ratgirl. Inspired by my friend who works with schizophrenic rats at a hospital.

My pal Barbara and I hit the beach last week, and during a doodle session she told me about some fishnet porn she spotted on the internet.
Well, that's all. I don't see myself blogging all too much, but we shall see!