Life-Hack for Starving Artists

A great life-hack for starving artists! Make a sketchbook 12 times cheaper than some you might buy! After which I spend entirely too much time introducing my sketchbook stack . . . lol the next one will be shorter :)

"Paris: City of Love and Mutant Catfish"* aka "The South Beached Diet"?

AKA also Monster of the Week :}

      So I was driving on Friday listening to NPR and heard a story that caught my curiosity.  Apparently, a species catfish translpanted to France from Eastern Europe in the 1980s has recently developed some rather radical feeding behaviors.  In their native environment, catfish are quiet, nocturnal, bottom feeders.  In the last 30 years, hower, their behavior has changed— they've started beaching themselves to attack pigeons in broad daylight.  Check out the video:

Wow, be careful where you walk your dog! The idea that these fish are changing so quickly intrigued me.  If their behavior could change so completely in 30 years, what will they look like in 30 million?  So I decided to do some doodles.  One of my favorite sketch games is "Projected Evolution"– basically, you take a creature and guess what it will turn into in umpteen million years.  A great example of this is the gorilla bats in the BBC's Primeval.  They project that some time in the distant future, bats will evolve into a ground-based superpredator that still operates by echo-location.  

Here's one way to play this sketch-game yourself–  you can take 2 very different animals and say "in 30 million years, elephants and rhino beetles will switch ecological niches."  Read up on what they eat, any particular behaviors they have, and look at pictures to learn what is unique about their anatomy and how it helps them survive. Then, as you draw, you start with the elephant's current design and ask yourself questions about what anatomical changes would need to be made for it to function as a matchbox-sized organism.  For one thing, elephants have evolved to have sparser hair than most mammals, as they easily maintain heat by virtue of their enormous bodies (partial mass homeothermy for you nerds).  If an elephant were to shrink, it would need more hair, as it would have much less mass to maintain heat.  Rhinoceros beetles are insects, which means the materials and structures in their bodies will only carry so much weight,  Even in prehistoric times, land based arthropods would max out at 2.5 feet (and those were scorpions, not insects).  What needs to be changed in the Rhinoceros beetle's body if it's going to be 13 feet tall and support 7 tons of weight?  What changes in the shapes of its legs will the elephant need to burrow and scurry? These are the kinds of questions that will lead you to new, creative solutions and fun creature designs.

Projected Evolution Doodles

The image above started as a 4AM flashlight doodle, which I played with more the next day.  I projected that the Catfishes' beaching behavior and desire for land-based food would lead it further and further on to land, paralleling the way amphibians developed in the Devonian period.  Its ray fins would become sturdier and stubbier to pull it along like a crocodile for excursions of increasing duration.  In the doodle at top left I evolved the catfish into an entirely land-based predator, but kept his fin because I thought it looked cool (which is allowed lol).  Obviously these aren't to be taken as serious scientific projections, but it's a fun exercise in creature design.

Listen to the aforementioned radio segment at TheWorld.org:

http://www.theworld.org/2012/12/pigeon-hunting-catfish/

See the never-mentioned cool spikily catfish picture:

http://www.aqua-fish.net/imgs/articles2/bristlenose-catfish-4.png

Watch as catfish tries to beat the unmentionable Dennis Rodman's NBA rebound record:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/catchfish.asp

*Technically not paris, but the Tarn River in Southwestern France.  It made a better title Q:{)   (a frenchman with a berret.  Or a coonskin cap).

Marshmallow Matey

As much as I love pirates, I've never understood what possesses advertising agencies to use them to promote their products.  Particularly those relating to food and hygiene.  One time in Wal-Mart I saw hanging on display  Pirates of the Carribean chapstick.  Nothing says "kiss me" like a yellowed pirate skull.  I mean, the thing didn't even have lips!    I can't imagine anything a skeleton pirate would be less qualified to sell.  Except maybe Citizenship in the Community merit badge booklets.  Also,  "Marshmallow Mateys".  I can get why the kids like it, the sugar+pirates= uncontainable hyperactive bliss. However, one would think that when trying to sell a parent on a sugar cereal it would be wiser to choose a mascot with more teeth . . . or a dentist maybe.  A fallen dentist, willing to sell his visage to promote the spread of oral decay.

This sketch was inpired by Allen Ostergar's pitch last night for the new BYU Animation department film.  Ultimately it was't chosen, but it had some fantastic ideas and lots of beautiful, beautiful, ugly pirates.  Awesome pitch Allen!

A learning experience

       This is a cover for a recipe book my writing class is putting together, with the "pencil-fork" sculpted in Zbrush/Blender and then photographic elements incorporated in photoshop.  There are lots of easier ways to accomplish what I did than the path that I chose, but I've been dying to learn more Blender and ZBrush and it was a good opportunity to do just that :)  You can't tell in the picture, but the noodles are alphabet pasta, which I thought could be a fun way to emphasize the theme.

     Before this point I had reached a certain level of modeling competency in Maya, so it was a humbling experience to start from square one (polygon one?) in Blender. The result wasn't the prettiest, but I got some basics under my belt.  Then, bringing the pencil into Zbrush, it was a fun opportunity to learn about materials and radial symmetry, which I hadn't worked much with in that program before.  It was neat to be able to sculpt identical designs on the six sides of the pencil at once :)  The tines of the fork got irreparably mushed when I up-resed the mesh ("splinched" for you Harry Potter fans), so the final image includes more of my photo-reference fork than originally intended. The final product definitely shows that it was a learning experience, but that's what counts!  I'm psyched to take the new skills I learned and apply them to future creations :)

Burrito

 In my subject's defense, his proportions are highly exaggerated, though I was kind to the burrito.  I witnessed this in the Wilk today.  I'm not sure what this guy's major was, but I'll venture to say sword swallowing; most units of measure have a fixed standard, but "bite-size" is a relative term.

Walt Stanchfield once said "let your sketchbook take preference over your camera."  At first it seems harder to capture a moment, an emotion, a character on paper than it is through a lens.  However, the point isn't necessarily to capture a likeness– it's to capture life.  Too many people treat a sketchbook like a curated exhibit.  It shouldn't be; if it is, you're losing most of the benefit.  Sketchbooks are for practice, to be sure, and they can contain nice drawings, but more importantly they are to stretch your imagination and capture life. Life isn't always likeness. Have you ever shown someone a photo of an experience and said "I wish you could have been there, the picture doesn't do it justice"? Now, technically the camera captured the scene with complete technical accuracy.  Due to the miracles of modern physics and chemistry, everything you pointed the camera at is represented with exactness.  What then is missing?  It's life, it's heart, it's emotion.  A good photographer will capture all of these things in an image– but not every time, and they will certainly not make every passerby stop to set up lights and have a 2 hour studio session.  No, they move in and through the experience, never stopping. They open their eyes wide and try to find the story in every moment.  A good photographer will snap hundreds of pictures in ravenous pursuit of the one that will immortalize the experience.  A good photograph isn't just for the eyes– you can hear, smell, and taste every element of the experience.   It's the same with drawing.  If you are seeking to capture life, it can't be done by mere likeness; there needs to be something more.  To catch it, you have to keep moving, and I mean moving. Too often I think we pick our subject based on who is sitting still long enough to draw.  That shouldn't be the deciding factor.  Try looking instead for where the life is, for which subject has the most interesting story.  Draw those people, even if your pen can't keep up with how fast they're moving.  The point isn't how pretty your sketchbook is anyway— it's whether you've caught a bit of life in your mind to breath into future characters.  At first these drawings will be nasty, as in pull-a-paper-bag-with-eyeholes-over-your-sketchbook-and-another-one-over-your-face-nasty.  This is a good thing.  It means you're stretching yourself.  And every so often, something nice will come out.  As you gain more experience, as your sketchbooks stack up, the number of nasty drawings between the good ones will shrink.  Best of all, your drawings will start, in some inexplicable way,  to come to life.   

     Remember, your job isn't to create an ink-jet likeness.  It's to "animate"– to bring to life. Sometimes you will want photographic accuracy, but often the most emotionally accurate drawing will be a caricature.

I've ranted long enough, but before I take off my "self-appointed-guru fez" I want to share one thing:

Link

If you are at all serious about sketchbooking, buy this book.  The above link is a free preview on google book, which is a taste, but I would highly recommend getting the 2 volume set on Amazon. Best drawing book ever.

Ok, i need to sign out, my fiancee has confiscated my fez lol.  But no joking, get the book!  You will be happy you did.

A quick sketch

Just a quick sketch, I think it has something nice though.  I'm working on the cover for a recipe book entitled "Eating Our Words" with my English class, and this is one of the development sketches.  I thought it would be fun to play off of the old elementary-school procrastination excuse "A dog ate my homework".  Maybe that's why they don't allow pets in college dorms . . . :)

I don't know that this is the direction I'll end up going, but it was a fun idea

Monster of the Week Nov 28 2012: Tapioca Golem

 Lol I was inspired this week upon review of one of my favorite childhood TV shows to try something new.  It struck me that the Power Rangers had fought a brand new villainous monster every week since I was 5– and I was curious if a list had ever been compiled.  It turns out that a certain self-sacrificing, saintly geek has been laboring for years, like a limner monk in a monastery, to compile a complete Power Rangers bestiary.  The resulting tome can be found HERE.  It turns out that in 19 American seasons (ie not including the Japanese show, which dates back to 1975) the effects artists on the Power Rangers shows have designed and fabricated 1026 separate monsters. Mind. Blown.

I thought about all the monsters in my sketchbook that never see the light of day, and how some of the earliest ones I ever drew were inspired by the Power Rangers'   "Monster of the Week" formula.  So here's one from this week :)

This first monster, true to Saban camp form, is based on my culinary arch nemesis: Tapioca pudding.  I always had my suspicions about tapioca; though I am not a picky eater I could never manage to stomach more than a few spoonfuls.  Maybe it's the texture, maybe some long forgotten traumatic childhood experience, or perhaps it's the uncanny resemblance tapioca has to this guy from the aforementioned show.  However, tonight after scanning the drawing I looked up tapioca on Wikipedia out of curiosity and felt justified.  Did you know the Tapioca plant is a natural source of cyanide?   Lol it's perfectly safe for human consumption, but I bet my 8-year old-self would have taken that bit of trivia and run with it.

Guava

(Digital speedpaint, wacom tablet and photoshop)

Happy thanksgiving! Random question: have you ever tried a guava? No, not mixed into a Sobe or fruit drink– have you ever eaten a plain-jane fresh-sliced guava? Okay, so between you and me, methinks it's an escaped strain of fruit from the inner sanctum of Willy Wonka's candy garden.  I'm not even kidding– this thing would make Gene Wilder flip out.  My fiancee's Uncle brought some that he had picked fresh near his home to Thanksgiving last week, and it was like eating bubble gum mixed with sweet tarts in a fruit. I'm no connoisseur, having been known betimes when in haste to eat unthawed hot pockets, but– amazing.

Okay, enough ranting about food, it's time to rant about painting.  Justin Kunz was kind enough to review my portfolio this last week, and was kind enough to give me a few suggestions.  The main one was to think more about my stroke, the way I lay paint down.  I like energy in images and tend to lay things down sporadically, which in my early drawings lead to a lot of "hairy" lines.  Gradually I learned  that the right, thoughtful, one line could contain more energy than the most frenzied six lines.  I think I may be starting to learn that same lesson in painting.  This painting doesn't necessarily have the most refined technique, but I was definitely thinking about stroke and massing shapes with stroke as I worked.  Thanks Justin!

Dinosaur Spelling Bee

A flyer I made to for the BYU Museum of Paleontology, for a promotional event I'm helping to coordinate.  If you're in the Provo area, come join us!

This Sketchmonkey went to market . . .

A few sketches from the aforementioned farmers' market :)

(A composite of moderately cleaned up sketches from several different pages)

More than you ever wanted to know about glowing sheep cheese

This was kind of a fun study of some cheese I bought when my girlfriend and I visited the farmers' market by Lavell Edwards Stadium today.  I had been looking for an opportunity to study sub surface scattering ( [Readin' Words], [Video]), and this seemed like the perfect subject to work with in a controlled setting.  Lol I know normal people buy cheese to actually eat it, but ;)  Placing a light directly above the cheese, I was able to see the light's effects on the material at various textures and depths.  Best of all, because of the uniform consistency of the cheese, the smooth surface of the cut, and having the light angled from behind, I could see exactly how deep the light was penetrating and how it changed the color temperature. Ok, enough nerd talk ;)

The guy at the farmers' market said that the cheese comes from a sheep, and as I recall the particular variety starts with a d . . . Derby? Daphnia?  Delouse?  [Link]  Daddy Long Legs?  I suppose it wouldn't be daddy long legs cheese if it comes from a sheep, would it?  Ha . . . everyone knows daddy long legs cheese comes from daddy long legs.  Like, seriously.

So, we did eventually eat the cheese, in a lovely meal my girlfriend cooked with pasta and peaches of all things, which turns out to be a really good idea.  Like, no joke :)  However, my highly cultured better-half (who knows some pretty cool Frenchy words about cheese) had to explain to me that you do not eat "le croüte", or the crust of the cheese, because that is basically mold.

P to the somewhat related S:
An interesting video about the visual aspect of food- [Link]

Homegrown Tomatoes

Ok, so I've been taking this class from Sam Nielsen (plug!) who is an incredible digital painter.  We've been discussing the properties of light and the way they interact with surfaces, which while enlightening, has made a bi-hemispherical omelette of my brain.  Resultingly, I've been trying to sort out some of the thoughts from class this week, and I thought it would be useful to do so on a simple form. My girlfriend's grandparent's were kind enough to visit us on campus this week and bring some fresh-picked  tomatoes (et. al) from their garden!  It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up.  Thanks Baa -Chan and Jii-Chan!

A'ight kids, keep feeding me them patties!

Happy Labor Yesterday!

This one started out as a speed sketch that went a bit farther.  The story of its conception is rather silly.  I saw this amazing old man on a summer-themed commercial; he was so hairy that laying on the beach there that he might have been mistaken for a really gross shag carpet.  It was glorious.  I had to draw it.  Honestly I would have liked to give him more hair, but time waits for no follicle :/ Perhaps I shall revisit it at a later date . . .  I had to come up with a story for why he had his shirt off in the first place, and with labor day coming up, and my perennial beticklement with the concept of dentures . . . man, I really hope no one from NIMH subscribes to this blog.

This painting was kind of a neat opportunity to play with the way slight interacts with soft materials (ie skin, meat, and polymethylmethacrylate (apparently the polymer used to create dentures)).  In the case of meat for instance, which is semi-translucent, light actually penetrates the surface and bounces around inside, creating a slight glow.  In physics and computer graphics they call it "sub-surface scattering".

Rendering out materials is an area in which I can definitely stand to improve . . . I'm beginning to undersand the emphasis the old masters placed on still life paintings of food.  There is definitely a lot to be learned about light, color, texture, and form from those kind of exercises.  The best modern 3d artists still learn by studying in a similar way.  Here's a short video Pixar put out on studying food for Ratatouille: link

Nutella the Hun

Lol this one's been floating around in my head for a while.  It's a silly idea, but sometimes you gotta be true to your inner cheese-ball ;}  Oftentimes cheese and awesome come as a package deal lol; my apologies to the lactose intolerant :)