The End!

At last, another semester has come to thunderous, crashing close. My poor abused brain has come to a grinding halt and I can be blissfully brain-dead for the rest of the year. Which is only about two weeks, but every little bit counts.
So! Here are my final projects from this semester. I'll probably go back and post other things that I did too. That way people might stop by and visit my poor lonely blog. The top one is my painting final, including Fenris from down below and the second is my final from Joe Olson's class to the theme of "Imminent Defeat."

Portfolio flavored goodness

Nothing especially witty to say here. I just suck at updating this thing and thought that I would share a few portfolio pieces I've been working on. Regular readers (Hi Mom) will probably recognize the first two paintings from earlier this year. These are the honest to goodness finished projects. The third is new. This is my environment design for Sam Nielson's Digital Painting class. I'm pretty pleased with how they came out.

Adventure!

My little brother Alex just got his mission call! I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. For those of you who aren't Mormon or familiar with our interesting little practices, all of our young men (and any young women who elect to do so) between the ages of 19 and 25 are strongly encouraged to basically donate two years to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ where ever we are sent. My brother was just called to serve for two years in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin mission! It covers the upper part of Wisconsin and most of the upper peninsula of Michigan.
It's a big adventure! I served my own mission in the Philippines, Bacolod mission. So there's really no telling where these missionaries might be sent. And, of course, each little corner of the world has its own special challenges.
I think the most amazing part of the whole thing is that somehow, it works! These are not professional preachers being sent out armed with doctorates and practical experience in public speaking. These are children who love the Lord and want to spread around the love of God. These stuttering, passionate young men and women help people to make changes in their lives that years of counseling cannot make. For all their weaknesses and human foibles, they become instruments in the hand of God to bless his children, and those who truly understand greatness tremble at their passing. This dumb college age kids are exactly what Paul was talking about when he said that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.
I'm pretty passionate about this stuff. Anyway, here is a tribute to the great adventure ahead of all of us in the form of another picture I drew for Joe Olsen's drawing for animation class to the theme of Caravan of Awesome in the Desert.

Happy Halloween!

It's once again that magical, mystical night when all of the little ghouls and goblins take to the streets to wreak havoc on the world. And it's not just for the kids either. I think I've seen more fun costumes here at college than I ever did in school as a kid. Some people started celebrating yesterday so that they could show off their awesome costumes and I ran into Russel from the new Pixar film UP!, Jareth from Labrynth (You know, David Bowie), a pair of sharks who roamed campus in search of a feeding frenzy, and a tetris piece that meandered around looking for a spot to fit in. I wish I'd had my camera.
So, in honor of Samhain, here is a creepy little steampunk onion dude. He's from a class assignment, but I felt like he deserved to be here as much as my inane comments.

In Dublin's Fair City!

Alright, it's a lie. This is not Dublin. It's actually downtown Cork, Ireland. This is my messy, sketchy rendition of St. Patrick's in Cork. Not to be confused with the St. Patrick's in any other Irish town with a population greater than two. They ALL have at least one church or cathedral named/renamed for good old St. Pat. I heard more reasons why than I care to list here, but I like them.
This was another assignment for Joe's class. We were asked to emulate the style of one Paul Madonna (no relation to the well known, somewhat creepy pop star) who wrote/illustrated the an ingenious little book entitled All Over Coffee. It's basically just a sketch book of awesome buildings and non-sequitur comments. Very good. I don't know if I would buy it, but it would make a great coffee table book.
I'm not sure how well I emulated his work, but I enjoyed this project.

The Swelling Ranks

Hello friends! I'm back and I've brought along yet another imaginary friend! Soon I'll have a whole army of these guys. Just think what you could do with a posse of imaginary friends. No really, think about it!
First, they don't eat real food. That means that you don't have to worry about providing any kind of actual sustenance for them. Second, they don't actually NEED to occupy any real space. Just brain space, and that only runs out of room when it comes to math and boring things. Third, these guys are indestructible! That is the whole point of imaginary friends, none of the bad things in life can touch them! And finally, they are always on MY side. No imaginary baddies stand a chance against my legion of imaginary friends. So much POWER!
Sorry, got a little carried away with the heady bliss of absolute power. It corrupts absolutely you know. It also rocks absolutely.
This is the latest in a parade of oddities from my third stint in Joe Olson's Drawing for animation class. I think I've got some other stuff roaming around my hard drive waiting for me to post...I'll just send the friends after them.

I'm like da Vinci! With a Mac!

This is the same spacefaring, bug-eyed dog, this time with actual good work applied to it. I thought I would share it with you.

This is the character design from the last post. I have painted it. Four times. All different. Obviously. Which one is better? Please choose one. It won't necessarily sway me one way or the other, but I'd like to know what the imaginary people on the internet think.

Two posts for the price of FREE!

Um...hi friends. I'm still alive. I know that all three of you who regularly check this thing were wondering. I just haven't had any kind of finished stuff to put here. But now I do!

Meet the Space Pug! He is not mine! I just added the poor paint job. The space pug himself is the work of the talented J Borutski. I have no idea who that is. I just painted his line art for my digital painting class. Also for Sam's class, I made a super-awesome-character design!
His name is Fenris. He's not quite done, but I'm close. Fenris is a hero fallen on hard times. Heroing is great and all, but there's no money in it and he has had to fall back on mercenary work, bodyguarding, and bounty hunting to get by, and since he's picky about who he works for and sticking to his Hero's code, he still doesn't make much. But he's got the crest from the (tragically short-lived) heroes' guild, and he's going to live up to it even if it kills him.
There's a lot more to the story. He has taken up with a young hero wanna-be and is showing him the ropes, one thumping at a time. It's amazing how one little assignment leads into a lot of extraneous, really fun, work.

My Head A'SPLODE!

Yes, I am a lazy slob when it comes to posting things on my blog. But I would have been a total slacker if I had neglected to commemorate today's fun filled occasion! It's the first day of classes at good old BYU.
In honor of this momentous celebration, I give you a piece that I have entitled, White Rabbit: the college student psyche after 15 minutes of the first class of the semester. Pretty classy huh? This is why I try never to dwell too much on how far behind I am with all of my school work, commitments, following up on the parental pressure to date, marry, and give them grandchildren, and other delightful social pressures. I just avoid the gradual descent into madness and throw myself into it headlong. It saves time.
By the way...Day 24: NO TIME!

Waterbending Awesomeness

So, I managed to win over a whole slew of new Avatar: the Last Airbender addicts in the form of my family. I just sat down one afternoon and thought it would be fun to watch one or two episodes and before I knew it, everyone in the house, one by one, had gathered around and plopped down on or around the couch next to me. After that it became a nearly nightly ritual. We watched three or four episodes a night until we finally finished it up Thursday night with one of the most awesome season finales of all time! I. Love. Avatar.
I have also decided that, given the option, I would be a waterbender. Most people want to be firebenders, but they just aren't as cool. Most of them seem pretty off kilter to me. The waterbenders use Tai Chi, which is a style that focuses on precision, balance, and on using the force of an opponent against them. It's a style based on the push and pull and flow of nature. Which is pretty awesome as far as I'm concerned. Plus, as my dear friend Aaron pointed out, Katara could have easily taken over the world. The world is basically three fourths water you know. As are most living things...
Oh! By the way, this is my post for day 23: Cat. 'Cause there ain't no cooler cat than Briar here. And yes I know I skipped day 22, but I've drawn it, I just didn't get it scanned yet. It'll be here soon.

Go Team!

Sorry sportsfans. I haven't been keeping up with the hundred day challenge. With work picking up and getting off my application to the BYU animation department, I just fell off the wagon. The way things are looking it might be another week or so before I pick up on it again. Until then, here's something to keep all three of my regular viewers happy. This is the brand new logo for the world famous sports team, the University Villa Monsters. The Villa is a relatively small place, and as such, most of the Monsters' games of choice are largely imaginary, played with the thumbs, or with small game pieces not suitable for children under the age of five. But that doesn't stop them from being great! They're awesome because I say they are! Right?

It's like a sequel!

Today is day 21: Vacation. So I took one. Which means that the sketch I was working on just didn't turn out. So, for your viewing entertainment, here is take two of the back handspring animation from this spring, now in glorious pen! We'll be back to your regularly scheduled program tomorrow.

These are Earth Bending Feet

Those of you who know me may also know that I am an Avatar junkie. I. Love. Avatar. It's like a king sized helping of awesome with a heaping bucket of awesome sauce spread liberally over top. Toph, the blind earth bender pictured above is not my favorite, but she does represent the theme for the day. Day 20: Fortitude. Each of the four elemental fighting styles is modeled after an actual fighting style. Earth bending is modeled after Hung Gar, the Kung Fu style attributed to Wong Fei Hong, a Chinese folk hero who restored the fallen Shao Lin order. The style is characterized by its deep, powerful stances, particularly the horse stance, from which its forms are performed. Pretty awesome huh?

Faded Glory

The other day I sat down with my friend Aaron and we watched the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring. We still haven't gotten around to watching the second half. Mostly because when the council of Elrond rolled around and Orlando Bloom finally appeared on camera after an entire hour of blissful absence we could no longer take the movie seriously. Kind of tragic really, because I love the Lord of the Rings. I just don't like Mr. Bloom. They should have just left him in the prop closet they found him in and find a real actor. It's not hard you know. They just roam around the streets of major California cities waiting to be found.

Gandalf here is one of my favorite characters and Sir Ian did a great job with him. He is also grey. Which is today's theme. Day 19: Gray.

Yes, I know I'm a couple of days off, but I spent the weekend finishing my sample animation for the portfolio that I need to mail off sometime this week. I have decided that it's just better to go from where I was rather than trying to play catch up for the four days that I missed. More to come!

You Crack Me Up Little Buddy.

This is my special tribute to Sam & Max: Freelance Police, a hilarious Warner Brothers cartoon that didn't get it's due on daytime television. Sam, a big Dog guy in Sam Spade get-up and his partner Max, a hyper-kinetic, psycho, rabbit-thing, are constantly up to their eyeballs in life-threatening, hilarious hijinx and warding off the baddies with their witty banter, Sam's really big gun, and Max's tendency towards violence (It may not be THE answer, but it is AN answer) and possible rabies. The other guy is another character from the show, Hugh Bliss. He's best known for his catch phrase, "Hi! I'm Hugh Bliss!" I can't express to you how funny this is to me. It also fulfills today's theme! Day 18: Rainbow.

What?

Day 17: Blood. I really just couldn't come up with anything I liked for this theme. So I went with the obvious. The Vampire sparkles in the sunlight of course. That's also ketchup. She fainted while feeding him french fries in a romantic setting. He's checking for a pulse and calling for help. You believe me...right?

I Don't See the Resemblance

Today is day 16: Questioning. I question the supposed relationship between cows and dolphins. I can see that the DO share some few characteristics...like...um...breathing? and they both...eat...food...I think...
Yep! obvious relationship.

More fun than a flaming poodle

Day 13: MisfortuneDay 14: Smile Who better than the Cheshire Cat (THE creepiest character in wonderland) to show us how it's done?
And Day 15: Silence. You all know that those mimes on street corners are the souls of the damned trapped in spiritual glass boxes being tormented in silence right?
Sorry for the delay. I was with my family on a delightful, computer free camping trip this past week and wasn't able to scan/print anything until this evening. But now I'm back on track and ready for more!

It's more fun over here

Day 12: Insanity. Nothing new here. You would think that I would be more familiar with the form and workings of a strait jacket, but I've never had the privilege of being thrown into one of those. Or a padded room oddly enough. Sounds fun though. No color today, the little blue men ran off with my computer tablet.

Silly Old Bear

Toady is day 11 of the hundred day tour: Memory. I can't tell you how many memories I have that are wrapped up in stories like this one. For a long time I had a real fear of growing up. I thought that childhood was the last refuge, the only safe place. I have thankfully outgrown that sentiment and have instead adopted the point of view expressed by Mr. C. S. Lewis (I quote him often, get used to it) in quoting 1 Corinthians 3:11: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things...including the fear of appearing childish. I agree wholeheartedly. There is no reason on earth that growing up should mean growing hard and cynical. Things have to change, but our childhood joys can grow into even greater joys as we mature. Never confuse growing up with growing old. Getting old kills people. Growing up just makes them more alive.

Not the Regularly Scheduled Program

Sorry about this one. While, on the plus side, I managed to get another celebrity appearance in the person of young Tarzan, The coloring sucks and this isn't really what I wanted for day 10: Breathe Again. I had something ingenious involving divers and a large shark, but while I was drawing some shark studies, I seem to have inadvertently given myself a severe case of the jibblies and can't draw them anymore today. I'll probably try to incorporate them another time. Oh! heart rate and adrenaline gland going nuts again just thinking about sharks. Maybe I'm allergic?

Not Plagiarism, Research.

Before you ask, yes I drew that myself, and yes, I copied the original pretty darn closely. As an animator, I'm expected to be able to imitate the work of others and it's a great way to practice. Onward with the 100 picture challenge! Day 9: Drive with special guest star, Goofy (Obviously copyright of the Walt Disney Corporation) as Mr. Wheeler, the road demon that lurks in all mild mannered motorists.

Would I Lie?

Isn't this the most adorable spiked-bat-wielding thing you have ever seen? There are probably laws against things this cute. This is the post for day 8: Innocence. This is also one of my less socially acceptable imaginary friends. I should probably also point out that this character is loosely based on the brilliantly irreverent web comic Bear Nuts.

Further up! Further in!

100 picture challenge day 7: Heaven. This one was tough. I've been reading a lot of C.S. Lewis's works lately culminating in The Great Divorce about a man who has a Dante-esque experience of passing through Hell and taking a few tottering steps toward heaven. Heaven is a journey. If we are willing to endure all hardships and move ever forward, we will find, at the end, that everywhere we had been had been heaven all along.

Happy 4th of July!

No time! No time! I only have a minute or two before we begin that delightful ritual of lighting highly explosive, potentially deadly objects on fire and watching them burn in honor of our nation's independence. This is my Patriaardvark, in the vein of S.T. Lewis's Patriotter. I thought that I had been at least a little creative with the aardvark, then realized that Shane had done the same thing about a year ago and had done it better. But the Patriostrich was nowhere near finished and I needed something to post for day 6: Breaking Free. So here's to you America!

Rhapsody in Blah

The 100 picture challenge goes on! Today is day 5: Seeking Solace. And there is nothing in this world that provides me solace like beautiful music. I feel like I could have done a great deal more with this one, it looks like a poor rip off of that one George Gershwin caricature. Oh well. Rock on George, rock on.

Sunburn waiting to happen.

The Egyptians worshipped the sun and believed that the best way to curry the favor of said sun god was to expose as much of yourself as possible to its beatific rays. Now scientists tell us that the sun causes cancer. So this guy is taking sun worship to a new level. Or should I say layer. Of clothing. He has at least one. The 100 picture challenge continues with day 4: Light. Sorry for the crappy value stuff. I did it really fast to get it done today.

Things that go BUMP!

Here is post number three: Dark. I had it done yesterday, but my home scanner has been disconnected. There should be another one later today. This is one of the monsters that I need my imaginary friends to fend off.

Don't try this at home.

There's nothing out there that refuses to return your love and affection like a cat. Sure they can be friendly, sure they're soft and cuddly, but you are only staff. It doesn't do to get to friendly with the minions and tummy scratchers. My own cat (family cat. I'm allergic and wouldn't have one of my own) shows his dominance and benevolence by allowing you to pick him up, get a brief cuddle, then climbing to your shoulder in order to survey his domain. And possibly eat your ear. That's cat love. Hence today's topic for the 100 illustration challenge: Love. Only 98 to go!

Nerdvana

Those Zen guys had it about right. If you can't do it with your eyes closed, who needs it? 'Course, it makes the calligraphy a little difficult...

This is the first installment of the 100 picture challenge. I'm supposed to draw one picture to a different theme every day for the next 100 days. The first theme is Introduction. Drawing is very Zen for me. I don't do it with my eyes closed...it's just sort of cathartic.

Wonderland

I spent the last month in faery tale land. No, don't go telling me that it ought to be spelled "fairy" because that is not even remotely what I meant. "Fairy" implies little flitty things harvested in vast quantities from the fairy fields of a small island off the coast of southern California used in cheap statuary and as party favors for little girls birthday parties and similar heathen rituals.
No, I said faery and I meant faery. I've been in Ireland and there is some old magic there. The whole place just oozes oldness. It isn't decrepit or rotting or backwards or anything. Everything just has this sense of age. The bones of ancient civilizations jut from the ground and there are tombs that have been around almost as long as people have been dying. It was fantastic! Ireland and the British Isles are places that just scream to be populated with kings and monsters and heroes and magic...once you get out of the cities at least. Those had a different feel to them, they were still full of history, but they didn't have the same kind of magic to them. If you ever get to see the tombs at New Grange or the Giant's Causeway, you'll have the chance to see what I mean. What a place!
Anyway, in honor of this singular experience, I have finally finished the revamped version of my enchanted forest scene from Joe Olson's class. Feel the POWER!

Abroad and Rockin'

Hey friends. No pictures today. I'll probably have something when I get home, but right now I'm cruising around Ireland with the BYU Singers. I have so much joy! :) Just letting everyone know that I'm still alive and having a blast. Last week we competed in the Cork international choral festival and recieved second prize along with a special prize for being the chior that most touched the hearts of the audiences who listened, which is what we are really here for. Anyway, stuff is awesome and I kissed the freaking Blarney stone today!

Bunkey is a Viral Entity

This is Bunkey in his natural habitat; amid wreck and ruin. This was my final project for Joe's class. I LOVED this class. So much, in fact, that this was the second time that I've taken it! Bunkey here is actually a carry over from last semester. Michelle Weaver has an adorable little animal, part rabbit, part monkey; hence, Bunkey. He has become something of a celebrity and it has gone to his head. He's become a jerk, a drunk, a womanizer, an irresponsible gambler, incredibly violent and he swears like a sailor. Unfortunately, he is also still irresistably adorable. He knows it too.

Robort

This is a robort. I got nothin'. I made this for Joe Olson's class and can't think of anything even remotely funny to say about it. I'll try to post something new after finals. Or before. Whichever one happens will be true.

As Promised...

Ahh...much better. These are both retakes on the design below. For Joe Olson's class, we started out the semester by creating a designer toy. You can see my disgusting failure of a design below. This is partially the midterm redo. I actually fixed the stupid thing up, as you can see in the above picture, as per Joe's instructions. Then, for the midterm assignment, I redesigned the toy to the entirely new theme of "Viking Raiders."
I would SO buy a toy like this. And you would too. Just admit it.

Yucky Toy design

This toy sucks. I'll post up the good one sometime tomorrow.

Animate my world

Here we go again. In a mere two weeks I will be applying, yet again to the animation department here at BYU and I have high hopes and one mediocre attempt at animating a back handspring. I'm thinking about adding the tail properly if I have time this week, but the odds of that actually happening don't look good. What do you think?

Space Shark!

I just felt the old itch to add something here. More to come next time, I promise. I have one or two more things that just weren't ready to post yet. Sharks are awesome. Space is awesome. Therefore: Space Sharks are super awesome! Feel free to leave comments people. It's the only way I know if you like what you see or if I suck.

Hmmm...another imaginary friend. I seem to have quite a few of these. Maybe if I had real friends I wouldn't need so many imaginary ones... At least they're bigger than my demons. And can give them wedgies. Admittedly, this particular demon isn't especially impressive, but hey,they can't all be nightmares.

I feel so violated...

So, apparently I have been tagged. I'm not certain how I feel about that. I guess it stands to reason. I mean, first they tagged livestock, then they tagged unpopular minorities and known mutants, I suppose that it was only a matter of time before they got me.
I guess the rules are that if you are tagged, you must write twenty-five random things about yourself. That's a lot of stuff that few, if any, people really want to know about. I imagine that they ask for twenty-five because they know that only four or five of them will be even remotely interesting. That being said, here goes nothing.

1. I have an "irrational" fear of zombie invasion and several viable plans should zombie infestation become a possible problem.
2. I am an animation junkie. My latest addiction is Avatar: the Last Airbender.
3. My other animation addiction is Kung Fu Panda. I love Kung Fu Panda.
4. I enjoy writing short stories and once wrote a story involved three separate cultural mythologies.
5. I have eaten more species of animal than most of the people I know including, but not limited to: Dog, Monitor lizard, Swordfish, and Sea turtle. No hot dogs were involved. I don't touch that garbage.
6. My favorite board game is Arkham Horror. I only play once every couple of months and only in broad daylight.
7. My younger brother has a scar above his left eye because I pushed him off the top of a refrigerator box when he was three or four.
8. I also hit him over the head with a toy hammer as an infant. It might explain a few things...
9. I sprained my ankle doing a back flip last October.
10. I am 23 and still in the Virgin Lips club.
11. Is one of my favorite numbers. It's just so symmetrical.
12. I like to make sushi and pack it as a lunch.
13. I spent last summer working for a secure government facility...as a graphic designer.
14. I am an orange belt in Kajukenbo. Look it up.
15. According to the Chinese Zodiac, I was born in the year of the Ox, in the hour of the Dog and my element is Wood. Whatever that means.
16. This is the longest blog post I have ever written.
17. I hate monkeys.
18. I can do things with a jump rope that most people would never even think of. (Nothing kinky, just cool tricks like jumping rope while sitting down.)
19. I speak five languages including English: Ilonggo, Tagalog, Aklanon, Cebuano and some Welsh.
20. I will be touring Ireland and Wales with the BYU Singers in April and May.
21. When I meet someone, I secretly decide what animal they make me think of, subsequently labeling them forever. If I chuckle for no apparent reason every time I see you, you now know why.
    
22. I've always wanted to start a kazoo band, but never found enough people who were dedicated to the art of the kazoo.
    
23. I have been to the moon...twice.
24. I have a pet polar bear named Frank. He graduated from Harvard with a degree in Transdimensional Metaphysics in 1978 and is known for his signature yellow ascot. He is also invisible.
25. By day I am a mild mannered college student, but at night I use my remarkable shapeshifting powers and arcane might to fight the forces of darkness that are poised to strike down the human race and rend reality as we know it.

Well, I guess that's about it. Now I'm going to go see what I can do about removing this tracking collar and using it to set a trap for those freaking aliens.

Colonel Mustard in the Library with Frisbee!

I loved Clue. I mean, what a great game! Mystery, murder, and small pieces not suitable for small children! What more could you want? I even read a few of the books as a kid. The one thing that I could never understand, was why Mr. Body kept inviting those remarkably unbalanced people into his home. I know that they never actually managed to bump him off, but you would still imagine that he would wise up to the fact that they were trying! But no. It was always "What shall I do this weekend? Ah, yes, I'll invite my six, slightly unbalanced, possibly homicidal friends over and see which of them tries to eliminate me this time! That'll do it!"

Mr. B. has a strange sense of humor. And no friends. And amazingly high insurance premiums.