I Present to You:

John K....with massive PECS! This idea came from an interview of John K that I read online.

Here's the picture of John that I used as reference:



Unfortunately, I think my Faber-Castell PITT brush pen is now depleted...I'll have to figure out how to get re-supplied with some more of those bad boys...they're awesome!

John K and influences

Ok, got 3 goodies today:

First, here's a link to an old article on Animation World Magazine's website with John Kricfalusi, talking about his cartoon influences. It provides not only the names of animators and producers, but also the particular cartoon episodes that are of interest to him.

One he found awesome (as do I) is called, "The Great Piggy Bank Robbery," with Daffy Duck. I'm sure anyone in my generation remembers this from their childhood!



Lastly, I have a link to a bunch of Spumco Flash Animations, included therein "Weekend Pussy Hunt," and "The George Liquor Show." These are pretty cool, but not as fluid as actual animations and a little burdensome to get through with a slow internet. Nevertheless, I think Spumco is amazing for what they've done with the medium.

I was looking for a good picture of John Kricfalusi to do a caricature, but I got distracted with all of this! My next post should be that caricature of John K.

I'm not a painter, but...

I checked out a pretty sweet tutorial on Tom Richmond's blog about digital coloring, and gave it a shot (see my face at right). ------->

Here's the link.

I don't have a Wacom tablet, but hopefully will someday, as the process probably would have been easier than using my mouse.

Jim Woodring

I've been researching cartoonists/animators, and I came across this fellow, linked off of Bill Plympton's facebook page. On Jim's site, there's some of the most bizzare, symbolic, and humorously cynical one-liner comics that I've seen in a long time. Some are easier to arrive to their conclusions, but others really make you scour each mysterious figure and scene for some type of meaning. I really like them, especially since some of them are so dark. Here's the link (www.jimwoodring.com) and I've also included it on the blogroll ---------->

I love the reference to Durer-esque woodcuts in this one! It just screams 1500s Europe!

Wood Grain Background...

...just in case you couldn't tell...Also, our camera sucks! Picture the color being more vivid.

Several (Seven) Sketches

Ok, so I've been remaining sketching from my Time magazine (December 2008) over these past few days. I love it...it's like a high sometimes. I think this is one of the only things in life that makes me feel like this...I grab a cold liter and a half of water, throw on my earphones, crank up the music, keep the pencil sharpened, and sweat bullets as I ESCAPE into another world.

Sir Edmund Hillary is first on the lineup. I wouldn't have included the name, but he's kind-of an obscure celebrity...the first to scale Mt. Everest, I believe.



Another obscure celebrity: the political figure William F. Buckley


Tim Russert


Another one of Tim Russert, less exaggerated, followed by some more political celebrities






My friend Alex Clare as an "Alien." His idea actually, if I recall correctly. I've been wanting to do something like this for awhile. This is just the sketch. I'm currently working on the inked and colored version, which I'll have up soon.

Comics, Caricatures, and Characters

Ok, I've been keeping a sketchbook and have been pretty busy recently. This first one is actually pretty old: from when we just arrived here in Morocco.






Sketch of Emily at the computer.





A few presidents, new and old: Sarkozy (France) and his wife and the departed "W"





My mug. Forehead needs to be bigger.



This is a little guy I created after watching alot of Spumco-based work. I think I'll keep running with him. I feel like putting him in different scenarios is a good way to try to understand his personalities. So far, this is what I know about him: he has an affinity for booze (and possibly smokes), has a New England accent, be it Boston or New York, has a short, and sometimes violent temper (a la Ren Hoek), and is periodically manic.

In completing these I've been putting myself outside of my comfort zone of black and white, and especially with watercolor. I'm not very familiar with painting, but I have a great respect for well chosen colors and I really like the immediacy of mixing them.

Logo Evolution

I'm continuing to work in Illustrator, giving myself little "problems" to solve. The latest was to develop a logo for my digital art.

My first few attempts, unfortunately, won't upload. It may have been the way I saved them.



This, above, is right after I nixed the "egg" like solid grey background that went behind the JL form.



These two are where I am right now. I'm pretty much sold on having the little triangle between the bottom of the "J" and the left side of the "L," but I've included the sans version below just for a visual comparison.



I feel like the design of the JL form is solid, but I'm not 100% sure about the color choices and the corresponding color of the text. I like the font choice but I'm not sure if I want the text to be larger. I still have to play around with that.

Iconotastic

Standard Mac OSX Finder Icon. I felt like it needed a little more personality.



My slightly overworked and disgruntled Finder.

A logical equation for me...

...but those of you unfamiliar with Moroccan culture won't make all of the connections.

I haven't figured out why blogger does this strange un-cropped business; If anyone knows about why this might happen, please let me know!

Wierd Walking, Part 1

TWEAK!: a sort of Albers-esque exercise

Some new Music

Hey, you gotta keep busy while it's monsooning outside...

The first one's a quick little melodic experiment. Nothing complex structurally. It's called "Six by Six."

The second one's a little more involved. It's called "Somethin' New."








Yay for Garageband. Enjoy.

My first hack at illustrator

This started out as simply a way to "see" the notes of my bass guitar. While I don't know how successful that was (the colors of the fretboard are still somewhat visually confusing), I do enjoy the concept that sprung in the background and that completes the image.

Yeah, the lighting is underdeveloped. As is the figure. But...maybe it's not. After all, it is in the background...i didn't want it to "steal the show."

I've realized that illustrator has some limitations, for instance, you can't do a "transparency blend" (but now you can in CS4) the same way that you can do a blend of color within a live paint group. That's my biggest complaint. But, i am a novice, so there's probably tricks that I don't know that I should have employed to make some sweeter transparent lighting! Enjoy!

Ps...the main lighting on the figure (from the left) is coming from behind the figure. It was terribly hard to apply lighting affects in Illustrator.

Walking Jazz Line - similar to "Take The A Train"

Here goes a little tune that I've learned to play on the bass. The bass line and chord progressions were pre-written, so I basically just learned how to play/construct them (I'm actually playing the bass part to this tune). The drums are pretty much a generic jazz drum beat; the alto sax and trumpet parts are my very own creation. I was quite impressed by the quickness that I improvised/tweaked these parts.








I've been entranced by jazz music lately, especially walking bass lines. Teaching myself the structure and mechanics of jazz bass lines has been a hobby for myself as of late. I would like to take this further some day...perhaps making my musicianship something more than just a hobby. As of now, it remains a dream!

5 panels of simple brilliance

One of the many reasons I love the work of R. Crumb...

Hippopotamiss

Here's a happy lil' tune that I whipped up a while ago. Yours truly on vocals (yikes), bass, ukulele, maracas, xylophone, and clappin'. Inspired by a few stuffed hippos Emily created. Somehow, I don't think this endeavor is fully realized without a deranged video to go along with it; I may get to that at some point in the future. In the meantime, enjoy!

Sketch Partyness

Here goes my caricature of Alex Clare...i don't know why, but for some reason, I thought I needed to draw the hands in that position...kinda went with the expression on his face I guess.




Here's a time lapse movie of our last sketch party of the summer. Notice my victory pose after completing my sketch of Alex!

Mr.Beaveaus or "Fun things happen when you Google Image Search"

The lovable beavis we all know



The not-so-cuddly, but more belligerently intriguing REAL LIFE beavis



Quick 5 minute sketch of the real beavis...I made it look more monkey-like than he really is. Wish I had a profile shot..

A ballpoint pen drawing doctored up with some Photoshop. Jamie, Eric, and myself, the KAS CP management staff.