Enough Already!

OK...out with the sad and angry comments. They are forthwith banished! Must think positive about the future (health AND career) and do fun and interesting artwork and activities. And, on that note...

Four out of Five stars from me for The Illusionist! Sweet story about an illusionist/magician and his long search for something to give his life meaning. Or at least, that's my interpretation. Lovely score, too, by composer Philip Glass. No worries - I did NOT fall in love with the police captain as played by Paul Giamatti. His eyes just were not the same as Cleveland Heeps. I know, that doesn't really make any sense unless 1) you've read my earlier comments about that other role of his, and 2) another personal reason which I'm not going into any more detail about. :)

Interestingly enough, I also just happened to catch this BBC series about a magician's assistant, Jonathan Creek, helping to solve a murder mystery late Friday night just before I went to sleep...kept me awake watching the whole two hours. Looking forward to catching more episodes of this series!

Also, seeing both of these shows now has me all curious about magic tricks and sleight of hand...could do some fun research on that. Plus, another upcoming magician's movie that my friend told me about reminded me about a favorite magic story, Shadowlands, by Peter Straub. I'm thinking it's time for a revisit.

Barely Scraping By - Article from Gamasutra

Applying for Your First Game Industry Job

Read this article yesterday from a link in the "Gamasutra Daily" newsletter I get from Gamasutra (The Art and Business of Making Games) website. While I'm not currently working in the game industry as a concept artist, it does provide some very useful nuggets of information for any creative person considering opportunities in the game development industry. You could also certainly apply some of the information to other jobs you interview for as well.

Of course I especially liked this bit of information since it appears that I'm barely scraping by:

"As an entry level artist, you can expect to be paid at a range of $30-$45k a year. That may seem like a lot compared to what you’re making now. But when you factor in all the costs, you’ll find that you’re barely scraping by."

Ah, yes....ENTRY LEVEL ARTIST. Believe me, I think about that every time in the past year that I factor in my 15 plus years of various professional creative roles....and the job that I currently still have. After two years (ok, ok, I'm an idiot for a variety of reasons for that and I know it), I should realize that there's no interest from management in offering me incentives to stay with my current employer. I just need to stop thinking about it and simply get myself out of the place. Stop being angry and frustrated and stressed...and move on.

As mentioned previously, it's simply one of the daily whips to keep me motivated for better opportunities. I'm such a glutton for punishment. sigh.

Angelina Sphinx

Over at the DrawingBoard, the August Drawing Jam study is Angelina Jolie. Since they provided some fairly good references, I thought I'd do some studies of my own. For whatever reason, her face keeps reminding me of the Sphinx I recall seeing in some movie years ago...maybe it was in the NeverEnding Story; or maybe it was from a book I read. Must be the cheekbones. I'll have to think about it.

So, here's the thumbnail sketch I created to figure out my composition of "The Riddle of the Sphinx". I initially had a full moon shining behind the head of the Sphinx, but decided that I wanted to add in a path for the viewer to be walking toward her; and the best way to highlight that would be to have a nice light coming in from the left. I'll be working on a tighter sketch and some quick value studies tomorrow.

In other news, I'm doing some spec concept artwork for some former co-workers of a friend for a CG feature animation pitch. The story seems fun and I really like the visual tone that they want to have. And, the best thing, they provided lots and lots of references to help explain the visual direction that they want. Excellent for rapid development for characters, props and environments. In any case, it gives me something to do that isn't necessarily cute and for Christmas. I'm feeling very humbug about my work "work" at the moment. Need some Halloween gore or at least something that isn't supposed to be all cute and fluffy. Where's the variety that they promised me? My cute little characters will start carrying knives and getting bloody soon, believe me.

Hmm....there's an idea.

Argh...my hands aren't yet quite back up to my usual typing dexterity. Darn that muscle inflamation, hand tingles and aggravated nervous system! But, I'm feeling a wee bit more normal every day.

Yay!

What is it about Shopping Malls?

This week's Zombie Flick was "Bio Zombie". Truly an odd kind of zombie movie; but our host said it was one of his favorites, so I expected something interesting. And it was quite a fun one. Definitely one to see with friends and...have your popcorn handy for those random moments of "No way!"

Healthwise I'm not quite feeling at zombie status anymore, although the muscle relaxer I take at night is a pretty good one - and one of the reasons I can only take it before bedtime. Migraine is gone, sinus infection gone, back-pain still present. So, 2 out of 3 isn't too bad. Hopefully, the next few days will still see continued improvement. If not, they want to do more X-rays. All over.

Hmm...that could be interesting.

In sketching studies, I've been helping out another illustrator get a better understanding of horse anatomy...in particular, flying horse anatomy. Here are a couple of the random sketches I quickly did and then discussed with her.

It's All In My Head

So, the headache wasn't going away after seven days even though I was taking OTC pain-killers, and I was starting to feel dizzy during the day, too; so I finally went to see the doctor on Friday. It appears likely to be a combination of stress, migraine, muscle tension, minor sinus infection, too much time at the computer (and working with poor posture lately...I know that, been trying to fix that), a lack of regular exercise, etc., etc. On the plus side, there's no fever so probably nothing infectious. I got a few different meds (horsepills they look like) to take for the next few days that will hopefully kill the pain at last. If it doesn't improve, then they want to do an MRI and see what all is going on in my head and back.

One cool thing, they X-Ray'd my skull to see if there were any polyps or other random growths in my sinus cavities that was causing the pain....and it looks like I have a micro-chip in one of my upper molars.

Just kidding. Or am I? Hmmm....

Evil Mood

I have the worst migraine and sinus headache today. Almost left early from work so I could go home and pass out. But I didn't. Needed to get stuff done, particularly if I have to call in sick tomorrow. On the plus side, no involuntary crying or nausea along with the headache. Just an occasional involuntary eye twitch, dammit. Was getting bad enough this afternoon that not only was it getting difficult to think, it made me feel sore all over...not just my head. And I was starting to get rather dizzy. To make myself feel better when I finally got home, I indulged myself in a lovely vanilla almond Hagen-Daz ice cream bar (yummy!) before AND after dinner. Like I said, no nausea. Ha! Still feel a little dizzy, though. Hopefully, since I plan on going to sleep shortly, it will all finally be gone by morning. Usually that works. Usually.

And, I also ordered me my very own epic scale Balrog. It will look very nice and intimidating guarding my cube at work. Will just have to cut back on the groceries this month and certainly no going out for the next month. Starting next week. ;)

Belly Dancing

The hookah for the previous post reminded me of this farewell party I attended over in San Francisco with my project team. Yup, there were belly dancers, and I even got to do a turn on the floor with the ladies. Well, I was one of the people that was leaving, heh. But only after quaffing the many appropriate good luck and farewell toasts, of course! Even though I was wearing a dress I had none of their hip coordination, I'm sure. I'm quite happy to say that I don't have any photos of that bit of hilarity. The fond memories I have are probably much better in any case. ;) I still remember the Buddha Bar we all went to afterwards. Lots of fun!

So, just a quick sketch for tonight of a late night belly dancer memory. I'll need to fix it quite a bit, especially the shoulders and arms, if/when I decide to color it.

Mmm...Lovely Greek

I found a reminder of this really nice Greek restaurant that I finally went to for lunch with my co-workers this past week. A bag of tea. A great bag of tea. Not only was the food totally tasty at the Dunes, a nice little Mediterranean restaurant across the street from the Irving Mall, right next to one of my favorite places to visit, Half-Price Books, and just around the corner from Lone Star Comics. The service was quite friendly and the tea an excellent way to finish a great lunch. We all liked the tea and were so complementary about it to the owner that he brought each of us a bag to take home with us. It's the Sadaf Special Blend Pure Ceylon tea with Earl Grey. Soooo good! Especially for bag tea. I even kept the wrap so that I could find it and, hopefully, order it for home. The tea is that good. Especially for one with Earl Grey, a tea I don't usually like.

I have every intention of going back to Dunes again. And again...and again... You get the picture. :)

Fly Away Home

I fell in love...

I went to see "Lady in the Water" a couple of weeks ago. It's a nice, little, modern fairy tale with some beautiful imagery. And, I have to admit, I appreciate the color palette that is frequently a structured element in M. Night Shayamalan's movies. I was, however, unexpectedly delighted with the stuttering character of the "Guardian" as created by Paul Giamatti. His character Cleveland made me all mushy. :) Not the kind of beautiful man I usually get a crush on, that's for sure.

Obviously, I have horrible taste in men.

The friend I went to see the movie with liked the big brown eyes of MNS instead. Bleh, she can have him. He's a "pretentious jerk", per the biography written by a journalist that MNS hired to follow him around for a year. I am annoyed by MNS's acting, but he does some interesting stories (although I've since read that there are possible elements of plagiarism in at least two of his movies), I've most definitely liked his screenwriting, and he has done some really nice directing. Overall, I must say that I've enjoyed his movies. I really appreciate the awkwardness of the ordinary characters in his films. So, after seeing the movie and getting involved with most of the story development (although I was really really hoping that M. Night's character would die a horrible, evil death...sadly that doesn't happen...why, oh why does this guy think he can act...his face is always blank and his voice so irritating to me - it always pulls me right out of the story)...in any case, when I got home I did some quick rough sketches of some ideas as inspired by the movie.

The above is a work in progress of one sketch inspired by the film that I'd like to create a more finished digital illustration of one day. So for now, something new for my ongoing idea box.

Change in the Air

Some very rough layout sketches and thumbnails of another one of my story ideas that has been rolling around my head for years. No, this is NOT my tween project. Drawing most of the day at work (or coloring or re-designing product) and then working on my own projects at home evenings and weekends (updating the portfolios print/web, sending out samples, working on the tween graphic novel and other proposals, learning about sculpting, studying animation and concept art development, blah, blah, blah) I actually sometimes get to feeling even more creative.

YAY!

So, it felt right to take a break from the day-to-day grind (ha) and do some quick sketches of yet another one of my stories I'd like to completely pull out of my head one day and actually set all down on paper.

And, yes, I do have a routine for daily sketches after dinner. I just don't always post my little scribbles. :)

-----------------------------

Got a lovely postcard from my mom who's in Germany again visiting with a few of her sisters over the summer. Another nice one to add to my collection on my corkboard at work. I missed her phone call this past weekend. I figure I'll try and call on Saturday for a few minutes just to let her know I'm still alive. heh. Unfortunately, she still doesn't have internet access over there (doesn't really want to, I think) or she'd be visiting my blog, too, to see what silly little things I've been up to.

-----------------------------

At work for the past week or so, I've been banned from accessing the toy and related websites I liked to visit which were part of my initial morning research, if I didn't have an art request that was "urgently required". Yes, they denied me access to Google even. Once. I immediately complained about that. It was over a year ago, though, and I really thought that was the last of it. I mean, it makes perfect sense to deny online access of current information to one of your product designers...just keep me in a vacuum.

Yup, no else has been banned.

Isn't that the stupidest thing. I couldn't believe it when I saw that horrible red, white and blue "Surf Protect" page. I'm not accessing porn, dammit! Even weirder, these are ALL sites that were initially sent to me by other employees (designers) at the company! It's not like my employers purchase any design periodicals for us, either. Nor do either of my immediate managers provide team building workshops or design activities to expose us to different modes of production thinking and/or motivate us to build new skills that we can use to enhance our work. It seems lately that we just work. I like to learn things from my peers and my managers. Isn't that why they're senior to us "junior" artists? Yes, I've presented a couple of times during the weekly scheduled "Art Development" meetings. I don't see anyone else on the design team volunteering to do the same. Not lately. Not for the past year? A product designer (me) obviously isn't supposed to be cognizent of what is currently on the market or has the potential to be, and what prospective consumer design or product trends our competitors are potentially considering. Obviously I'm just supposed to keep my nose to the sketchpad and Photoshop. Will do. (End sarcasm/rant/...ok, maybe just a wee bit of whining....sigh).

Fine.

I'll simply see it as another whip to motivate me.

It Rained Today

Kind of weird to be happy for just a bit of rain, but there you are. It's been too long since we had some here, I think. It felt like we were watching one of those old movies about the end of the drought during the Great depression where everyone starts to smile and then dance in the rain which finally comes after 7 long years. It's fun getting wet and dancing in the hard, heavy, end of summer (almost) kind of rain. :)

Here's another dance that put a smile on my face at work today, from "WHERE THE HELL IS MATT?" I give you "Matt Dancing" -

http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/dancing.htm

The Places I've Been...

We had a nice little happy hour after work (well, we left a wee bit early...well, I left about 2 hours earlier than my usual 6:30/7pm). Anyways...for some reason or other I started naming all the different cities or countries I've managed to live and/or work (from a few weeks to several years), or visit for a bit of vacation. Evidently, I'm a bit well-travelled. Funny. Most of those places I've been to on my list are because of work. Likely that's why I don't feel a real need to travel on the job these days, although I'm ready to move out of Texas at last. I think I've been here too long.

So, just for fun, here's the list in no particular order:

Europe:
- Germany (mainly central and up by the North Sea area)
- Italy (northern areas)
- Switzerland (primarily around Zurich)
- Austria
- Sweden
- Lichtenstein
- Paris, France
- London, England

United States:
- North Carolina
- California (San Fran, L.A., San Diego, Santa Monica, etc., etc.)
- New York, NY
- Tennessee
- Louisiana (Baton Rouge, Alexandria, Lake Charles, Shreveport, West Monroe/Monroe, etc., etc.)
- Pennsylvania (Pittsburg, Philidelphia)
- Arkansas
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Detroit, Michigan
- Bismark, North Dakota
- Arizona (Phoenix, Tempe)
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Chicago, Illinois
- Washington, DC
- Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota
- Orlando, Florida
- Vienna, Virginia
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs)
- Danbury, Connecticut
- Texas (San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Austin, El Paso, Galveston, Padre Island, etc., etc.)
- Oahu, Hawaii

Elsewhere:
- Sint Maarten/St Martin (Antilles Isles)
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Tijuana, Mexico

I'm sure there are a few places that I've missed, but I think I've listed most of them. :)

The Ant Bully - in theaters at last!

Actually, the release date for The Ant Bully had been moved up to July 28th from the original August release, long after I'd already set my Yahoo Calendar for a reminder to go see it that weekend. So, I saw it this weekend.

I actually liked it better the second time. :) Next weekend I'm gonna go see it IMAX style.

The story was nicely adapted for the screen in some rather unexpected yet interesting ways that weren't in the original children's book by John Nickles. This time, however, I didn't get all teary-eyed during the "Here we come to save the day!" battle scene near the end. I can be such a sap for heroes. Reviews that I've read mentioning an almost communistic manifesto in this movie shouldn't be all that surprising. Several fictional books about ants have explored that same line - the fictional struggle of an ant society is something that adults can immediately relate to with their own human experiences. Do a bit of research and you'll see some of the same "communist" themes of equality and teamwork in the ever popular Star Trek, too. ;)

And...it was a major improvement over the previous DNA feature film, "Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius", which I admit I didn't like. D'oh! Didn't like the look, the story or the characters. The JN tv series, for the most part, was sooo much better than the film of Neutron that I saw back then in theaters. But, then I really wasn't the target market for it, not being under 10 years old and not a parent bringing her children with her. I don't have any kids.

Anyhoo...I liked the AB movie and most of the audience, parents and kids, etc., seemed to like it, too. I give it a B+! Cool to see the scenes that I'd gotten a brief mention about here and there during production from people that I knew at DNA. I bet Ant Bully does really well on DVD...if Warner Brothers ever decides to finally do some marketing for the movie. The odd tv commercial here and there isn't helpful...and looks really bad if you compare it to the marketing efforts done for "Happy Feet", also being distributed by Warner Brothers, as well as the other animation projects this year by other studios and their distributors. Anyone recall "Hoodwinked" and how much repeat tv advertising that one had? How about all the voice talent spouting about "Open Season" in the last week, in theaters and on tv?

Only a few minor things to quibble about with The Ant Bully (and it's only because I've seen the movie twice...and was looking for the stuff):

- The ant animation wasn't consistent as far as how they got around on four legs. Occassionally they'd also float about a bit, rather like marionettes, or move like camels rather than the usual four-legged movement that seemed to be the standard. Kind of funny in its own way, but inconsistent to most of the other scenes.

- Continuity. The firecracker size fluctuated from the original introduction to the fight scene with Lucas and the wasp. Lucas's "glasses" were on when he jumped over the fan - yet the next shot, the glasses were back up. Since his hands were rather occupied with holding tightly to the flower petal, how did they move back up on his head...and why? Thought he couldn't see much otherwise or why make them?

- The lighting. At random times the ant eyes glowed oddly, mouth interiors were lit up, shadows were strange, blah, blah, blah. I did like the atmosphere that was created when Lucas was with the ants in the ant hill. And the night scenes were really nice. For some reason, just didn't get that same feeling of appreciation during the day scenes.

- The wasps. Why didn't they keep with the original dark, almost black coloration that I saw in the character designs? It would have been nice to see a more subtle patterning and could have made the characters more believable...and threatening. Just my opinion. :D

- Lucas and the Wizard. I totally didn't believe in the friendship that occurred at the end between Lucas and the Wizard (Cage). And this is where, particularly the first time I saw the movie, the end third of the movie just didn't connect for me like the first half of the movie. The characters weren't true to themselves even if the point of the story was to become more than what they were. But, hey, it's not my story or character development.

- The end design of the Exterminator. It just didn't look funny when he was unevenly shrunk, but was rather disturbing. One of the little kids sitting next to me got scared even, although everyone was laughing when he got stung. Twice. Well, bitten then stung.

I'd previously gotten to see The Ant Bully at the DNA Crew Premiere Party a few weeks ago because of an invitation from a friend who was both a texture and IMAX artist on the film. She also happened to be a classmate and my former VP for the school's student animation group that we'd both helped get started. In fact, several of my AID classmates had gotten the opportunity to work at DNA Productions on The Ant Bully in various departments - animation, lighting, texturing, etc. They all received some awesome animation industry experiences, both good and the "could have been better" (well, that's crunch time for ya), and seriously learned alot - I was really happy to see all their hard work in theaters at last.

I was both very sad and disappointed not to have had the same opportunity, of course. Who wouldn't have been? Didn't even get in as janitor. sigh. Now that the studio has pretty much disbanded, it's cool to hear that so many of them are finding excellent opportunities to grow even more at other studios. Good luck to them all!

Can't Remember

I don't remember when I started sketching this one. Just found it in one of the random sketchbooks that lay about my apartment. I must have been feeling a bit blue at the time.

Watercolor Everywhere...

It's been awhile since I've done an illustration that wasn't most if not all digital. This one is pencils, inks and watercolor - a pirate caricature for a birthday present. A fairly quick project that was a gift for a friend. That was alot of fun. :)

ARRRRRRGH!

Thinking about adding a caption like this once I've got it all colored up:

"Jump the shark? Hey, man - I shot the bastard. Just like that. Ain’t no way I’m gonna let some damn shark get in my way. Know what I mean?”

Simply Waiting

One of my various projects that is still "in progress". I'm pretty satisified with the character, but haven't created the proper background just yet - that's still on the drawing board.

The Monster Under My Bed

Few people have actually seen my cat, Theo, although there have been occasional sightings. It's rather amazing that there haven't been many Theo encounters with my friends and family when they visit my apartment considering how big he is. I affectionately will call him "Orca" on occasion, because of the big tummy and the random white splotches on his black coat. I promise, he doesn't get any treats because I am definitely concerned about his weight and the potential for kitty diabetes. However, regardless of his size (call him fat or call him big-boned, he doesn't care) and the fact that he's easily three times the size of his brother and sister, he's very frightened of strangers - basically, anyone that isn't me.

His refuge is always the dark cave under my bed.

Running Away: in Progress

Decided to color this sketch to have another color concept for my portfolio. Not that I don't have plenty of stuff, but it's always good to have something fresh and new. :)

This one is just where I've added most of the flat color pass to all of the image, and now I get to play with the details. I'm working with my Wacom tablet and Photoshop. I'll probably finish it tonight. I need to get to my sketch table now for another project. Multi-tasking...always fun!

Run Away