The 3rd Dimension

I remember when saying "The 3rd Dimension" used to be cool and exciting and unknown.  Now it's so commonplace that no one gives a whoop anymore.  I also remember when people used to say "who gives a whoop?".

Until now, everything I've posted on this blog has been 2D art.  Buckle up, cause now I'm showing some 3D art... in 2D!!

This was a final project for a modeling class I took.  I have a tendency to pick out the flaws before anyone else has a chance to, just so it doesn't seem like I'm trying to pass off something good while being totally naive.  But today I don't care.  I'm just going to assume that you know that I know that we all know it's mediocre.

Grandfather Clock done in Maya.

I didn't get a chance to learn the camera animation in Maya yet, so I don't know why it turns so choppy.

Last post of the year.  Hears hoping my posts will be more frequent and of better quality in 2011.

Happy New Year!

another one bites the dust

This is my second failed attempt at winning an animation contest. This one was sponsored by William Shatner and his social networking website My Outer Space.  It's basically facebook for trekkies.  The winner got a whole bunch of good stuff, but I was just aiming for a spot as one of the top ten finalists so I could win the Toon Boom software.

Basically I was just hoping that no one good would enter the contest and I would have a fighting chance.  But most of the entries are pretty solid and mine is something less than that.

So here it is...



And if you feel so inclined, here is the youtube link.

You may notice that the mouth doesn't match up with the voice as it progresses.  I don't know why that happened.

Dare you enter?

Don't try to make sense of this.  ...On second thought, do try to make sense of this, and tell me what you think.

Rare and priceless works of art

If anyone is planning on making a trip to Zion National Park, might I suggest a few art galleries to visit during your stay.

You may want to start by visiting the Michael Fatali gallery full of stunning landscape photography.  Or step in the DeZion Gallery featuring local artist's work of paintings, drums, and gourds. But if that's not your thing, just make sure you set aside a few hours to visit the world famous Bumbleberry Inn Gift Shop featuring some rare artwork done by yours truly.

Featured here are some of the illustrations I did for Pillow Tie. Blurry, they are. Which is why you need to go see them in person to really absorb the coronal rays they emit. And while you're there, buy a tie as well. Tell them I sent you and they might throw in a slice of Bumbleberry pie. (I'm confident that won't actually happen.)

Story goes like this:  My wife's family goes to Zion National Park every year and we've been lucky enough to be present the last two years.  We didn't get to go this year, because of my job that I love so much that I'd rather use a porcupine for toilet paper than work there another year. (Mom, does that sentence have grammatical errors?)

While at work, I received a picture text message with the above photo from my brother-in-law Randy informing me that I no longer need to worry about work or money anymore because my art is hanging in the Bumbleberry Inn Gift Shop.  You can imagine my elation.  Turns out I still have to work and I'm very concerned about money, but I still feel pretty cool. This is a giant step up from just getting my macaroni art projects hung up in school.

speed walking

walkety walk

What's that you say? He doesn't have a shadow?
Well... what does he need a shadow for, anyway?
What do you take me for... an expert?

(can you count all the w's in this post. winner gets a treat.)

old stuff

Nothing too impressive, but postable nonetheless. These were old projects from some drawring classes. Both were done with charcoal on paper, probably some time around 3 AM to 5 AM in the morning.

If it looks like the perspective in the background is a bit off on this second one, it's probably because your eyes are having issues.  Either that or the perspective is a bit off.

what do you get when you cross a head with a radio?

Typography class... that was a fun one.  I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did.
Here are a few of my assignments.

Objective:  Create 5 images where the meaning of a word is enhanced by manipulating its features.
I guess I had sin on the brain...

Objective:  Create a portrait of a famous person using only text.  I chose Thom Yorke from Radiohead.

Milk

Final project for my storyboard class.
Be warned.  This story includes an image of a man gagging.  If you have a weak stomach, I suggest you drink a gallon of milk and call me in the morning.

My story takes place in a kitchen...

Milk:  "Ten cents he picks me today."

Orange Juice:  "Here we go again."

Milk:  "Today will be the day, there's no doubt about it."

OJ:  "I don't know why I put up with this."

Milk:  "I can feel it inside.  Something is stirring within me."

OJ:  "Dude, I think that's because you've expired.  You're probably just feeling the effects of your milk beginning to curdle."

Milk:  (sniffs himself) "I don't smell anything..."

Milk:  "...If you're afraid to lose ten cents I completely understand."

OJ:  "Make it twenty cents and I'll even throw in a string cheese!"

Milk:  "Done!"

OJ:  "Shush. I think he's coming."

Milk:  "Ahhh yeeeah!"

Pillow Tie

At what point is someone considered a professional in their field? It is an interesting question. I once won a Taco Time wallet from winning a coloring contest. Does that make me a professional colorer? I once earned 1st place in a billiards tournament sponsored by Aspen Village Apartments in Rexburg, Idaho.  Does that make me a professional billiardist? We'll come back to this.

I am currently providing digital illustrations for a company called Pillow Tie. Earlier this year a friend of mine who knew the company's founders gave them my contact information and they hired me to do freelance work. Thanks Becky. If you're not yet familiar with their product, please feel free to familiarize yourself. It's a genius combination of form and function, sprinkled with a bit of tongue-in-cheek wit. The founders have been kind enough to let me post the finished images for my mini cult-following to see. (Yes I'm referring to all you sneaky viewers of this blog that slide in the side door, browse around, and then jump out the bathroom window without leaving comments. I've got cameras you know.) The company has been recognized by KSL Channel 5, NPR, and most recently on the Today Show, as well as several popular blogs.

I've been tasked with illustrating the many uses of a Pillow Tie. Featured below are the final products, complete with logo and a pithy one-liner provided by the creators.

Let us syllogize. 

A: To be considered a professional, one must meet a determined demand of duties and be credited for it.

B: I have been illustrating for Pillow Tie since April, and have been credited in the form of cashola.

C: I am a professional Illustrator.

If A and B, then C.  Right?

Dawn of Man

Here is my submission for an online animation contest. The rules were to animate 15 seconds or more of a live-action movie.  I chose 2001: A Space Odyssey.  I've realized that it takes a certain kind of person to like this movie.  I can see how one might find it extremely dull or just plain weird, but I see it as a major achievement in film and it's one of my favorites.

If you haven't ever seen it, I'm not going to recommend it to you.  But if my animation peaks your interest, go check out the movie.

And for those of you who have seen it and love it like I do, high five... on the side... down low... where'd it go?   OHHHHHHH!!!

You can see the HD version on youtube here.
Again, pardon the watermark that covers the entire thing.  It only shows that I'm poor and can't yet afford the actual animation software.

A Window to the Soul... or so they say

Speaking of eyes, here's one.  

I got a book in the mail this week called Digital Character Design and Painting by Don Seegmiller.  This quick painting is a result of one of the tutorials found therein.  It turned out quite a bit different than his, but I learned some good techniques about how to lay down color.

I'm sure there is probably a lot more I could have done to it, but it was just for practice anyway.

nude amphibians

Today I was quite fortunate to have a guest model for my figure drawing class.  You may not recognize the face but this is the lead stunt double for Princess and the Frog.  He sat down with us and told us stories of making the movie and how he always wanted to do stunt work.  You wouldn't think it but he's just a regular guy like you or me.  He laughed at all my jokes and chewed gum like anyone else would.  It's refreshing to know that there is still good talent out there that doesn't let the fame go to their head.

Here are a few of the sketches I made while he posed for us.

An alternate version of the story goes like this:  While in figure drawing today, I decided to change things up a bit by making the human model look like a frog.  Since I try to keep this blog G-rated for the sake of all my 0-12 year old fan base, I finally have some tasteful nudes to post on here.

someday i'll look back on this and laugh/vomit

Today's Feature:  My final project for Intro to Animation.
It was mainly just an excuse for me to get acquainted with some animation software.

The assignment was to animate someone diving into a pool.
A friend of mine, Steve Macleod, advised me once to always go above and beyond on my assignments in order to challenge myself.  I definitely went 'beyond' the limits of the assignment, but whether I went 'above' may be questionable.

This was done in Toon Boom Animate with a free downloadable trial, thus the watermark covering most of the screen.  The timing is off in a few places and it gets a little strobey sometimes, but hey.

tribute

For all the many things to which I could pay tribute to my brother, Tag, I choose to recognize one thing that sets him apart from everyone else in the entire world.  Since it's inception, there has only been one individual who had the courage to be an open follower of my art blog.  Now I know there are a handful of you that secretly take a glance here and there, and I appreciate your visit, I do.  But according to my secret blog statistics, my brother stands alone as my 1 follower.  I salute you Taggart Giles.

As a token of my esteemed gratitude I post a rough sketch depicting your majesty.

Some of you may be wondering why the above image is merely a low resolution photo of the sketch taken with a camera phone.  Well my friends, I still have not developed the habit to save my work as I go and my computer loves to freeze on me when I least suspect it.  This is not the first time this has happened, and I suspect it won't be the last.  Does anyone know if Photoshop has an autosave feature?

So in conclusion... I'm a doofus.

beleza pura!

Assignment:  compose a figure drawing of at least three human figures in some sort of environment

I went the extra mile.  Mine has FOUR.  (the other two are back in the trees)

first fruits

In it's most crudely primitive form, I present to you my first animation.
So far, everyone who has seen this asks me if the sandbag is a pig... and no one has yet asked me if it is a sandbag.  It is a sandbag.  Not a pig.  Just a regular bag of sand.  A bag with sand in it.

an intricate orange peel

By popular demand I am about to reveal the story behind my header.  I'll warn you now that intrigue and drama abound in the following story and you may be wise to take a few breaths before continuing.  You may even want to dim the lights and hold hands with someone you love.  If by the end of this story you haven't altered your perception of the world and felt compelled to adopt a child or a highway or something noble like that, then consider yourself in a state of numbnity.  Yes, numbnity.

Now that I've talked this thing up, prepare to be let down.

The idea for the design came like any other solid idea:  absolutely out of nowhere.  It was initially to fulfill an assignment for class where I had to demonstrate continuity or something like that.  So I came up with the idea of a puzzley sphere.  I started by making three stencils that all fit inside of each other in a 3d spherical sort of way.  Only one of the stencils has since survived.

Next I traced them onto card stock and painted the individual shapes.  This is the how the assignment looked that I turned in.  I probably got like a moderately low to high A for a grade.

The next step was to quickly teach my self a program called Adobe Illustrator.  I took the above photo and traced it in said software and finished it off by adding a few gradients here and there and creating a nice blue smokey atmosphere in Photoshop.
I'm pretty sure there was one point during this whole process where I thought it would be neat to peel an orange like this.  Maybe I'll do that some day when I'm old and I can only eat oranges.

And here's a quick animated video I made that illustrates how the pieces fit together.  For some reason it only lets me play it twice and then it gets all confused and disoriented.  Maybe you'll have better luck on your computers.

Well, they almost fit together.  You get the point.
So, that's all.  I hope you had fun.  I did.

unrelated fact:  saw Inception.  Nolan totally nailed it.  A fine job, Nolan.  A fine job indeed.

trees, wrinkles, and a service offering

Here are some old relics from my photoshop archives.  Just doodles really.  But since I haven't been posting as often as some people would like, I guess you'll just have to get the mediocre art from yester-year.

Here is a handful of trees.  You may ask, "Red. Why red?"  Well, chlorophyll is the substance in plants that makes them green through the process of photosynthesis, I think.  But not all chlorophyll is green.  Some types of chlorophyll are more resilient to the cold so they last right on into the fall season.  These types are usually red, or yellow.  Of course, none of that had anything to do with why I made the trees red.  I just thought it looked neat.

Next here we have a wrinkled cloth of sorts.  I've never been too great at drawing drapery, so this was kind of a practice study in wrinkled linen.  You might say I tried to give it a spooky kind of feel by having some sort of creature pushing his way into the cloth.  And of course you might not say that.  Either way, I don't really expect you to say anything.  But that doesn't mean I don't encourage comments/ovations when you're done viewing.

To conclude, I've decided with some trepidation (but with a gentle nudge from family) to put more confidence in my art and try to make some money.  With the rising cost of diapers (because of the energy crisis, I think), my wife and I realized we're not that well off.  So, since some of you have inquired about soliciting my services for portrait paintings and such, I am pleased to announce that I'm now open for business.
Also, if any of you need illustrations or animations to help market your own business, I do that as well.  And furthermore, If anyone knows of a growing company that's looking for a full-time illustrator/beginning animator that doesn't involve being bitten, sworn at, and hated (my current job) I am ALL EARS!!!
Happy Independence Day!