New URL

I've moved!

SketchAdventure.blogspot.com

is my new blog address--it's way easier to remember, don't you think?
If you would be so kind as to update your links to me & I'll be sure to do the same!

Miscellany

Sure, this is supposed to be an art blog, but I'm allowed to have hobbies, right?

This here is a vintage Raleigh bicycle that I scored for free at a thrift shop in Willimantic, Connecticut.  All of its components were completely rusted out but its rock-solid steel frame was in tact so I gladly picked up the project--and for the last 2 years have been rebuilding it when I can scratch enough allowance together to buy, say, a new set of brake levers.  The frame handles great, which is no surprise considering it's an import from the original Raleigh factory in Nottingham, England.  It's not completely finished yet, but here are some progress pictures.  I still want to add bar-end shifters to replace the downtube ones on there, and I want to get a better crank and new derailers.  Enough shop talk, I know you came here to see pictures of a cute baby.

By this point, the only original pieces of the bike are the frame, the fork and some ancient Sachs-Huret downtube shifter levers...which will be disappearing soon, in favor of more modern bar-ends.
And now presenting, our cute baby!  Not exactly a hobby like bike building, but definitely sucking up all my time and attention (but you don't hear me complaining).
He's learning to hold up his head pretty well these days.  Now all we gotta do is teach him how to sway in rhythm to James Brown and the Famous Flames.
Sawyer is supposed to spend a decent amount of Tummy Time everyday.  It seems like it would get kinda lonely down there, so daddy likes to keep him company.
He loves to sleep with one arm hanging out of his swing--I think this is pretty hilarious for some reason.
Getting a shampoo from mommy.  As you will see, this is really the only part of bathing Sawyer has any tolerance for at all.
Abuela came to meet Sawyer for the first time last weekend.  They became pretty good pals right off the bat.
And this is how Sawyer really feels about bathing.  I can hardly disagree with him--when the alternative is eating something delicious or taking a cozy nap, who in their right mind would choose "cold and buck-naked on top of a washing machine?"

You may have noticed that Allison is not in a lot of these pictures, I will refer you to a previous post to answer this inquiry.  There is a good reason why I'm not allowed to photograph her when she and Sawyer are together ;)

New tools!

Here's a quick sketch I did of Allison in our kitchen. At the suggestion of Enrico Casarosa I stopped by Jetpens.com and scored some sweet new Japanese pens (some of which I haven't been able to find since moving back to the states). I drew this with a Uniball Signo Bit, which has a .18mm tip--super fine line. Having such a teeny pen allowed me to do this drawing on a 4"X3" sketchbook. It's kind of fun to see it all blown up big like this.

He followed me home...

Can I keep him?
Guess who's home?!! I'll give you a hint: he's in this picture and he's really small...

And some sketchbook pages from today. I had a really productive day of sketching because in lieu of gesture drawing in the studio, we got to go sketchbook. Here are some of the memory sketches I did of people walking. I find it's a helpful exercise--I watch the crowd for someone interesting to draw (fun proportions, interesting walk-style, or quirky personality), then I watch that person walk for a good 10-15 seconds, getting a good feel for how they move and try to find interesting ways to exaggerate their character. Like Marcelo Vignali says, "If you learn to draw what you see, you will be no different than a camera -- I think it is more important to design what you see." So I try to design when I draw--and when you're drawing someone walking, you're forced into designing because they aren't holding their pose for you. Anyway, on to the sketches.


Then, tonight I went to a regional boyscout council roundtable-something or 'nuther. After being volunteered as the Cub Master for our local troop, I had to receive training, so I went to get trained, I guess. Interesting people in the cub scout program...Some have shrunken heads (which may or may not just be a problem with my drawing).

And Matt Biggs, studying hard in a Japanese culture class that I'm taking this Spring term. What a fashionable sweater, no?

An old and new book

I got a new sketchbook. And by "got" I mean "made." And by "new" I mean "old." And by "sketchbook" I mean "I turned a book from the 1950s into a book for painting and drawing in."
Here are some of the newest explorations I've been making in it!

Comics and Cute Baby, a match made in heaven

Babies are pretty great, you know. After thinking about it for a long time I reached the conclusion that 40 weeks is kind of ridiculously long for a gestation period. Lots of other mammals have their babies in well under that time. I decided that a large part of why it takes so long for human babies to develop is because they are only in there brewing up at around 98 degrees, or so. If you could crank it up to, like, 196-ish, that baby would be done in around 20 weeks--easy breezy. I guess the only trouble with that theory is that, like a baked good, the outside would cook faster than the inside, and if you wanted to make sure that the baby was done on the inside too, you'd have to let it cook a little longer--leading to a darkening of the skin.
And there you have it. Races of the world, debunked.

On that note, finally a comic! It's been forever, I know--thanks for your patience.

In all fairness, I will credit Allison with the tennis ball joke.
And now, on to what everyone really came for: more pictures of Sawyer!
Super-Sawyer is allowed to wear a cape only until he learns how to fly. Once that happens, we'll have to remove that accessory for safety reasons. (Thanks for the tip off, Edna.)
When not using the cape to look cool, it also doubles as a handy baby-burrito wrapping device.
"Man, am I cute, or what?"
I'm just glad he favors Allison--I wouldn't want to look into my own face all the time.

Tweened

Okay, no more messing around with youtube's crummy upload. I tweened this and put it on vimeo, which has a better quality clip (I think). From what I can tell it probably plays a little quick because I animated it at 24fps and it's probably playing at 30fps. That would speed it up, right? Who knows...

Jimm tarr, shoots 'em up from Anthony Holden on Vimeo.

A quick am'nimation test

So when I could have been reading for a class I was instead playing with Toon Boom animation software. It's pretty great stuff--I pounded out this quick, shoot-em-up test in, like, 35 minutes. Sure it's rough, but that's just like Jimm plays. I'm so glad for the relaxed schedule that is afforded me by Spring term; it gives me a chance to play. With any luck, you can hope to see some more animation tests throughout the spring and summer.


I can't tell if it looks worse in blogger video or youtube--you decide!

Macquettes and all things three-dimensional

Ryan Woodward was so kind as to give me an extension on my macquette project, seeing as how our family has had some kind of extenuating circumstances at the end of last semester. As I'm working on my (frustrating) macquettes, I'm considering more and more seriously that I should just let Sawyer count for my 3-d model project. Sure it was a group effort, but he's basically perfect--I'm bound to get an A, even if Allison did most of the work.
"Somebody come snuggle me!! You, smart guy with the camera--put that down and give me some loves!!"
Mommy helps Sawyer suck on his pacifier to hone his suction skills (just another to add to his super-power repertoire).
Feeling a little bit sneaky (or having a stinky poot--his facial expressions are hard to read at this stage, but I'm leaning towards 'sneaky' since he's my son...then again, I guess that makes the poot just as likely)...

And as for my macquette progress, here's what has been happening in the studio...I haven't had a ton of time to work on them, but when I find a minute between taking care of Allison and the chores that she normally takes care of (I'm doing double duty--I don't know how she does it...) I try to sit down and chip away at (or add some clay to) these guys.
Here are the beginnings of laying down the skin on my monster. Hopefully with all the mistakes I made on the girl, I'll be able to make a much better finished product with this fellow.
This girl is completely retarded. It's not really close to my original design--I realized that there are certain things that are probably easier to do with polymer clay, and that I totally overstepped my skill boundaries. I kept finding all these flaws that I wanted to fix, but didn't have the skills/fingers slimmer than and as articulate as pipe cleaners. Whatever. She's done now and I can go back to drawing, which I feel slightly more proficient at. Hats off to everyone out there who has ever built macquettes--it's way harder than it looks/sounds.

Cute Baby Sawyer: an update!

More pictures of Sawyer with his mommy and daddy.  Now he's got that thing out from under his nose, so we could finally see his cute baby face, and even hold him!!  By tomorrow he should be breathing "room air" without any assistance at all, and he'll be able to have his first real meal from mommy (not through a tube)--yay!

Our little family...
Having a big yawn!  Hopefully not trying to latch onto daddy's nipples--there's no food in there }:(
Having a great time with mommy!

THIS is my best guess as to how little Sawyer will probably turn out.

Cute Baby is Here!!

Once upon a time, a cute baby lived inside a little house...inside Allison (who isn't very big--this detail becomes important later).

Allison couldn't wait for that cute baby to come out.  She started having contractions on Thursday, morning-ish.  By Friday, early evening, we felt like it was time to go to the hospital and have that cute baby come out!  When we got there, we found out that she was only dilated to 3 cm (you have to be 10 to deliver the baby, apparently).  They sent us home. :(

Then on Saturday, we went back to the hospital after the contractions got closer together.  After coming to the hospital, Allison had already dilated to an 8.5--that baby was coming quick!

Only trouble was, she didn't progress past that point...for seven hours.  Finally the nurse administered an epidural to help Allison relax.  By 1:00 AM on Sunday morning, she had dilated to a full 10, and was ready to start pushing that baby out.  Only Allison--who is just 5 feet tall and 117 pounds with a baby in her--was too tiny to get that baby through her narrow hips.  At 1:45 AM, our little baby was delivered by emergency C-section.

I waited for someone to contact me.  I was pretty anxious to finally meet our cute baby.

I was told that cute baby got a little freaked out during birth, so he was having trouble breathing.  Apparently, he swallowed and breathed in a little meconium (which is when baby gets scared and accidently messes his pants inside the womb).  The nurses said that it's not terribly uncommon, but the want to keep an eye on him for the next 7-10 days, so he is in the NICU (Newborn Intensive Care Unit).  He's doing pretty okay--and from what we can tell, he's cute under all those tubes.

Here he is about half an hour after he was born.
I guess they had to tie him down because he wouldn't stop moving around!  In true Holden style, our cute baby is causing trouble from the get-go.
After Allison woke up from her C-section (they had to put her completely under), we had our first little family reunion around 6:00 AM.
We went to visit him later that morning when he was sedated--he's pretty squirmy.
And he likes to sleep with his hands under his chin, like daddy.
He looks pretty snuggly in his little bed!
Here we are together--he's a pretty big guy.  6 pounds 11.59 ounces and 20 inches long.  No wonder he didn't want to come out the traditional way.  That's a pretty big baby for a lady who's so small.
Here we are as a family: me, little Sawyer, and Allison!

Hooray for Cute baby!  Welcome to the world, Sawyer Anthony Holden! (Allison picked the middle name.)

Finals rush!!

I really should be getting other work done, but this story is so fun.  Here are the first few pages of 魁ヘルメット学生仮面！！Even if you can't read them, they're still fun to look at, right?

A snipet from Tin Wagon

So I've got about one million pages of Tin Wagon due in less than a week--here's a sneak preview of what's going on in my studio:
It may or may not also be a reflection of how I feel. More updates to come (on those macquettes, too--since they're all due on the same day)!!

Macquette progress

So, here are my macquettes, filled with tin foil and ready to be coated with some clay. Unfortunately, I had just set the eyes with glue and so I couldn't get more than just one angle of the girl...
And here's my monster!
Profile...
Other side...

Some recent sketches

Eric Armstrong loves to draw!
Some classmates. Interesting things happen sometimes when two unrelated drawings wind up side by side.
So, I'm trying out this fancy calligraphy pen thing that I've seen Jed draw with.

Wire Frame

I've never made macquettes before--to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure that's how you spell the word. But here are the wire frames I'm starting with. I want to document my progress so I can see how faithful I can be to my original idea. You probably can't really tell at this point, but they are a large-jawed monster and a sword-wielding girl. I've spent about 2 and a half hours so far just getting the wire frames put together. I've still got a lot to do with the wire and then I'll fill out the masses with foil.
It's so adventurous to try something new!

Birthday Bonanza!

The truth of it is: I haven't really gained any weight.

However, I did appreciate all that wonderful food on my birthday--we had such a wonderful run of "P" foods going: Pancakes, sloppy Petes, Pizza, Pie, and the next day we had P'sketti.

Then, to top it all off, we had enchiladas tonight--it ruined our alliterative streak but, man, it sure was delicious.

I love my wife.

Life is full of the most improbable encounters

It's 6:00am, and I've been up all night doing storyboards. Usually when I say "up all night" I mean "up past 10:30," but this time it really meant all night without sleeping. I hope these boards read--because sometimes when you've been up for so long, things make sense to you but no one else....anyhow, some boards!
This happened at around 3:00 or so. I had to stifle my laughter so that I wouldn't wake up Allison.
I love babies.
While I was doodling to pound out some ideas, I inadvertently ripped off Jake Wyatt. Oops.
Poorly...
Double oops.
Yay, Jimm Tarr! Why would anyone ever get in the ring with him?

And an illustration from the story I've been working on--about a part-time superhero.

Another run of storyboards

So, after thinking long and hard about why my boards were not as cool as Jake's, I realized something--death (and implications thereof). In all of my zany antics, I forgot to mercilessly kill people off. I know, how silly of me. Well, fear not, dear reader, in this installment of boards, I have included plenty of instances where characters' lives are at stake. Now all I've got to do is learn to draw better and compose backgrounds, and I'll be home free.
Like they say, one step at a time, right?

Some storyboards...

So, for class I'm completing a storyboarding assignment--and it's turning out to be a lot more difficult than I had previously assumed. And that is because each of the storyboards has to be a single story in itself, not sequential like storyboards usually are. I'm having a time. Anyhow, here are some of those results from my exploits into this type of storyboarding.

魁！ヘルメット学生仮面！

So, I've written and am currently illustrating a short story about a young college student who moonlights as a part-time superhero. It's my very first short story that I've ever written in Japanese, so I'm pretty excited to see it all done with some illustrations and everything. It's inspired by a story called "Kaiketsu Shufu Kamen" by Takahashi Genichiro, and it is also for a Japanese literature assignment, but mostly I wanted an excuse to write a fun story do some silly illustrations.
I'll be away to my youngest sister's wedding this weekend, where--if all goes well--I should have some time to get lots of these illustrations done. Since it's a pretty ridiculous story, I want the art to have a sort of haphazard look to it--because that fits the main character Hiroshi's personality...I mean he's a super hero who wears a helmet and a burlap sack on his face, for goodness sake.

Cute Baby Saves the Day

As you can clearly see, we're kind of in a bind to come up with a good name. So far the best suggestion I've come up with is to write the alphabet in marker on Allison's tummy and let the baby pick out his own name by pointing at the letters with his elbows (or knees, or whatever those pointy things are that keep streaking across her tummy from the inside). But, as Allison so sagely pointed out, if we go with that method there's really nothing to stop the baby (who doesn't yet have a firm grasp on English spelling conventions) from picking a name like "zybybfld," which is clearly preposterous. Any suggestions are welcome! If your suggested name gets chosen, your prize is that we might be able to mention you in casual conversation when people ask us about the origin of the name!

The Highway Robber-strikes again!!

More sketches from this week!
Mr. Chung-Hoon

And then--since it was Saturday again--I was at Nordstrom in Salt Lake painting on fragrance bottles. Not exactly my preferred line of work, but I did get to do a handful of observational sketches of people shopping with their chillins. Most of these are on a teeny tiny 4"X3" notebook (starting from the girl in the pink stroller and below), and it sure it fun to see them all blown up. I'm trying to experiment more with color--especially opacity.

So where does this all go down?

For a character design assignment, I was also required to come up with a handful of environments. To tell the truth, I really like designing characters more than environments, so this was a good opportunity for me to find ways to make environments fun--and fit the characters. Anyway, I think I had more fun with this once I changed my attitude and tried to make the environments work for my characters, instead of struggling with adhering too religiously to perspective. I also kinda lucked out that the styles I went with for Jimm and Reggie are kind of flat (i.e. minimal perspective)...
Interior of the lab where Jimm Tarr's nemesis (in this episode) is having his henchmen concoct a strange mixture, to aid in his scheme for world domination.
The exterior of the facilities where a mysterious product for world domination is fabricated.
An interior of The Modern Squares' tourbus--no doubt en route to the next show.
Reggie's hometown, West Liberty.

Highway Robbery

You know what's hilarious? I am a professional artist. People pay me to make marks on things. I just finished a job at Nordstrom, where they paid me a stupid amount of money to draw little fruit icons on fragrance bottles. Life is so silly sometimes--but sometimes that sillyness facilitates the purchase of Toon Boom animation software. In cases like that, life is good. But still silly.
Anyway, sorry for the lack of new sketchbook stuff--here's a bunch of things I've been doing for the last couple of weeks.


I had this great idea during church a couple of weeks ago--don't be surprised if you see if pop up in a Reggie Washington comic later on.
European faces are great--this guy was from Mother Russia.

The end! of THIS sketchbook anyway....
Every Sunday we visit Allison's grandma, Grandma Stephens (97 in April).

Nathaniel wears a cloak on campus. When I saw him talking to a girl, I knew I had to paint it.
Interesting people frequent the bust stop.

I wish this guy's face really did look like this...he'd have more friends.

Jake drew this guy, too (while we were waiting for lunch to heat up in the microwave). For once, my drawing is more accurate and his looks cooler... :P
Okay, I admit I made this girl way hotter in the drawing than she was in real life. but who's complaining?

John Crowder is a superhero that is comfortable transforming into any number of creatures.
See?

Reggie Washington--a color update

Some Reggie in color.

...

I kind of wish Venn Diagram and the Modern Squares was a real band...

Jimm Tarr--in technicolor!

I've been coloring images!! Enjoy!

More Line Art-- Reggie and Jimm!!

I know what you must be thinking--what is this blog, some kind of online coloring book?

And the answer is no...but wouldn't that be kind of a cool idea to execute? Something to think about in the future.
At any rate, here are a couple more images that I've got ready to be colored. If I weren't so notoriously bad at budgeting my time, I might have begun coloring some of my images while finishing the line work on others. But, as things stand, I did all the line work in one go and have forced myself into a coloring binge at a future date. You might even say I'd painted myself into a corner, if you weren't above making such terrible puns...

which I'm not, apparently. So without further ado, I present Reggie and Theophilus (an updated version for the comic).
And in what must be considered news to some of you, I present:
JIMM TARR: Real American Hero!! Some more designs for an upcoming comic.
His trusty steed, the dinosaur Fossill...
And a heinous villain, bent on destroying the world's happiness in a very unusual way...
And of course, a villain is only as good as his help...
As you may have guessed at this point, both the Reggie Washington's and Jimm Tarr's story will be taking place in beautiful, unforgiving black and white--which is why these designs are already basically finished before I've even put any color on them. Well, I shall post everything once I've got some colors on there, so that I can get opinions on palette/color schemes, etc.

New line work for another COMIC!

You may or may not remember Reggie Washington. Well, I'm brewing up an all new adventure starring Reggie and his pet hamster Theophilus--the story also includes Reggie's favorite rock ensemble, Venn Diagram and the Modern Squares (pictured below).
Of course, the villains would be none other than those scoundrels of the Secret Order of Socratic Ninjutsu, who add to their numbers daily by aiding everyday people in realizing their inner Ninja-potential...and of course, committing heinous crimes utilizing those powers!
How will Reggie and Theophilus stop the mayhem this time? You'll have to wait and see!

Some scary cats for an animated opening sequence

These are some proposed character designs for an animated opening sequence to a documentary about redheads. Just a little line work--I'll post the colors when I finish them.

Breaking in a new Sketchbook

From a figure drawing session--yes we have bikini-clad models at BYU!
At the suggestion of Jake Wyatt, I've attempted capturing likeness more when I sketch from life. I usually have fun blowing peoples features up, but that guy in the camo (lower right) is pretty spot on.
Battle-axe wielding Viking Vixens (sounds like a video Calvin would try to rent when his parents go on a date)...

Who says Utah is boring--I saw all these people on campus.
This guy waited for an hour on Valentines day for a bus that never came--I about cried when he made his way defeatedly away from the bus stop on foot. If I had more than a bike, I would have given him a ride--and the pep-talk of his life.
What do we do when the person we're drawing walks away before we finish the legs? We make stuff up! Then, we learn to draw faster.
At BYU we take classes in religion; this is my Book of Mormon professor, who may have been a game show host at one point in time.
Everyone love to wear blue at BYU.
See?
Listening to music requires all of this guy's concentration.

The Breakfast Avenger!

Another exciting adventure from this past week.

Sell out

My wife, Allison, and I teach a class of 4-turning-5-year-olds at our church. They're pretty great. One of them, Isaac, is turning 5 today, and for his birthday present I drew him a picture of Spidey. Of course you'll understand that my field of expertise is quite narrow and more in the realm of funny books and not the superhero bit. I'm banking on the fact that a 5 year old won't notice the wonky foreshortening on the left arm...

The ends and beginnings

I killed two sketchbooks last weekend and started a new one. Here are some of those results.
More studying. It's too cold to do much sketching outside in Utah during the winter, so I get lots of this kind of stuff.
Two sisters having a great time with their dad and brother at the creamery.
We have a free-draw session at BYU every Friday morning. Last Friday this lady was in attendance--she was way more interesting than the model.
Aren't families great?
This guy from my church kinda looks like Tom Hanks.
Why the long face?

More sketches

I know what you're here for.

Sketch Party!

First, a tribute to my storyboarding teacher, Kelly Loosli--he trademarked the phrase noted below.
Then a few faces I noticed in classes and around campus.

And a Spy vs. Spy moment


Then I drew Gargamel in the cafeteria. He didn't look like he was eating smurfs; and I looked really closely, so I can say that with confidence.

The next bit of Tin Wagon

Tin Wagon is one of a handful of stories I'll be contributing to the upcoming Funkless White Girl Press graphic novel that we'll be releasing later this year. It looks like there are going to be a lot of fun stories, so you should check out the FWGP link at the top right.
So, as you can see, this particular story begins with two kids--one, a zombie--in an Asian food store...what more could you want? I'll keep posting as I make more developments. You keep coming back to check on my progress.

Restless Leg Syndrome: Explained!

If you ever wondered about the connection between RLS and Emperor Krang from Ninja Turtles, THIS should answer all your questions.

Tin Wagon

Finally! A page!

Funkless White Girl

Sometimes you can't read into things too much.

Recent Watercolor Sketches

Some sketches from around campus. That one girl really love carrots.

A Test

I'm trying to decide on the finished look of a comic I'm calling Tin Wagon. Here's a little sample of a finished(?) inking.

Some roughs for an upcoming animation

This has a lot of kinks I've still got to work out, but I think it's going to be fun.

Comics!

I make a habit of keeping my journal in pictures. It's the only way I can bring myself to do it with any sort of regularity. Anyhow, here's a little update about the past few weeks of my exciting life!

End of the Year Sketch Bonanza Blowout Thing!

Here's a bunch of sketching that I've gotten done over the last several weeks!

Characters for an upcoming comic (and for a final project)

Here are some characters for a comic I'll be working on next year!

A futuristic environment

I'm trying a new method of digital painting--I'm learning, but I'm not there yet. Come to think of it, I won't ever really be there. Where is there, anyway? I'm planning on staying on my way to "there" without ever getting "there." That way I don't get too complacent with where I am.

A bug!!

This still needs to be tweaked a bunch, but I've made a lot of headway.

Recent sketchings...

Some more church sketches...I switched up the ball point and tried out a brush pen--I'm branching out during my church sketching sessions (also known as sacrament meeting).



Then, some good, old fashioned ball point.

This is Keina Matsunaga, a friend I work with.
This is Brant Moon, a friend I study animation with (note the radical Pacman t-shirt).
And some observational sketches from around campus...

It's a boy!

We're having a baby!! Today we received empirical evidence as to our baby's boy-ness
(see ultrasound image above). We couldn't be more thrilled. Here are the most recent images of our 3/4 lb bundle of joy.

Robots, but not the cool kind

I was coerced into emulating Feng Zhu, whose work I don't particularly prefer. This is what happens--half-hearted robots. I like whimsical robots.

Rock and Roll

Need I say more?

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is our three year anniversary--yay for being married!

From Friday's free draw session

There are some funky things happening here. Some are a result of having to scan this in multiple iterations due to the wimpy smallness of my scanner at home. Others are just problems with the drawing (some anatomy issues). But you can't erase ink wash--and I do love ink wash. It just does cool things. Anyhow it is was it is, and it was a learning experience.

Eco-conscientious Dinos

:P

Wandering into the vast world of 3-D

I'm not particularly proud of my ventures in Maya, but here is the beginning of a bug model I'm building... Yep.

Sick as a dog, and working like one too

Here is one of three animal assignments I completed for Character design--in the interest of not dying, I slept instead of completing the other two (which, rest assured, will get completed). Well, here's part one anyway...still on animals...This is my first attempt at creating a piece with Painter, which was frustrating but fun--I hope I'm learning. It's also the first time I've ever done a piece entirely digitally, without scanning something in first. How adventurous, no?

a Self portrait

A short trip to Disneyland

My wife's family makes a habit out of going to Disneyland as often as possible. Here are some sketches from our latest venture.
In SLC airport on the way to LAX.
On the plane and first sketches, waiting in line to get into the park.
Assorted characters from around the park, and a caricature artist.
The local jazz band...who gave us beads after the show! and Rachel "Renaissance Woman" Moran.
Then, this giant squid almost grabbed a kid in the next booth over. Luckily I got this sketch done just in time.
Second day in the park.
More stuff from day two, and a sketch in LAX.
Another quick sketch from the terminal...and then the trip was over!!

Characters for Oldies pitch

Animal designs and church sketches

Some animal designs I did for Ryan's class. We were supposed to infuse them with as much personality as possible. I had fun, but my marker started to die towards the end...

...And here's a bunch of sketches from my church sketchbook (from the last several weeks of church--I don't do this many sketches in one go at church! I'd have to have my eyes open during the prayer or something...)







All in ballpoint (my church medium...easily portable, and the moleskin thin paper takes it well).

Doggies!!

I made doggies.

Characters for Henry Stilson Pitch

A new family story

Here's the central family for a story I plan to pitch in a storyboarding class. Be excited. You may see this on television in the near future.

In color...

I had a lot of fun with this one. So, whaddaya think? I don't know that the dress and gloves should be pink, necessarily...

This guy was too cool... and he knew it

I saw this dude on campus. I love people that are too cool.

A project underway...

I'm planning on digitally painting this, but here is the ink drawing of a character from a collaborative project that Jake Wyatt and I are working on. I want to do the background all painted, which is why you're not seeing any of it in the line drawing. I'll keep posting as things move along.

Marker Sketches

In an effort to improve my visual memory, I've been doing this exercise where I really look closely at people while on campus and then try to recapture their attitude and gesture later on. It's kind of like drawing from life, but with a little more freedom, because it's about capturing my impressions of the person as I saw them during our initial encounter. These are two examples of my more successful attempts.

Line drawings for Ryan's class

Here are a handful of line drawings that I did as a completion of the silhouette project. Some are more successful than others. But the important thing is that I learned...and had fun.

A productive sketching day

A quick ink wash in the Cafeteria...
An exploratory ink blot/gouache piece.
And, of course, some fun sketchbooking.
Also, I saw this guy on campus when I gott kicked out of the HFAC (false fire alarm). He told me there was a trombone in the case, but I knew it was secretly a rocket pack. Why do people try to deceive me?

Last of the Silhouettes

Well, here's the last batch. I didn't feel as into these as I did with the Army dudes and Victorian ladies. The geisha turned out okay, but I was having a rough time with the native American warriors. Well, this assignment has been a stretch for me, anyway, so that's good.

Victorian Silhouettes

Some Victorian ladies. I actually had more fun than I thought I would.

Futuristic Army Dude Silhouettes

Here's the most recent iteration of silhouettes for Ryan's class. I'm having fun, but I don't really have any way to gauge my success. Leave a comment, if you please.

Two promises made and kept

Jake and I drew quick sketches of Tatyana (whose name I cannot spell correctly for sure), and promised we would post them on our blogs. Here's mine...please excuse the bionic arm.

Also, after Ryan totally called out our entire class on sucking at drawing nature, I reformed my ways by biking up to Rock Canyon at 6:30 in the morning to draw rocks before class. He was right. And here is my new rock design, which looks a lot more rock-y...though perhaps not as cool conceptually as my original monster. Oh well. Live and learn.

A girl for to storyboarding...

Here's a quick look at a new character I developed for a storyboarding assignment in Kelly's class. It's gonna be rad--a little girl who escapes from giant robot prison guards...trust me on this one.

Stuff for Ryan's character design class

Our assignment this week was to go out and draw rocks, trees,
and clouds--in short, to find cool organic lines in nature. Then we had to incorporate our observations in a design. I came up with this rock monster...

He's friendly.

Then we had to make a character out of shapes. Needless to say, the possibilities we're endless. I'm not quite sure how I came up with this, but here it is...
Yep.

Wednesday night brush pen

Some sketches from our Wednesday night session. I had a good time with my brush pen.

Voila!

Well, here she is...wish me luck!!

A Hillbilly!!!

So, here's the deal: school started last week and I'm not signed up for Ryan's character design class. Now a bunch of people are trying to get in, but there are only 2 slots. The solution: a draw-off, of course. Here's my hillbilly. I'll post the French maid when I finish that. Wish me luck!!!
...Oh yeah, and sorry about not posting in forever, also. I'll try to be better about that.

What I've been upto for the last couple of weeks

I bought these fabulous Moleskine sketchbooks that are 3.5X5 in. & fit right in your [my] pocket. Here are some observations I've made so far with my new pocket-sized friend.
I went to Zion National Park with my brother- and father-in-law last week. It was completely gorgeous. I captured this at lunch time.
Pocket sized means quick church doodles, too. This lady plays the organ. I think I'm gonna turn her into a race car driver, though.
You've heard of coneheads, right? Dead serious, this guy had a square forehead--could you imagine headbutting someone with that? This cranium oughtta be outlawed!
I looked up during Elder's quorum and noticed that I go to church with J. Jonah Jamison (pictured left, sans moustache). Weird, huh?
The lizard man strikes again!
Oh, c'mon. You'd feel the same way if you found a knee-high growth of double bubble sprouting in your front yard, too.

Urban Predator

I also posted this on the Fridrawn blog, but what good is having your own blog if you can't post your art there as well? This was in response to the "Predators of the Concrete Jungle" topic...good times.

Some things I saw at the laundromat

I did our laundry at the laundromat on Monday night & this is what I saw there.
Really.

Sketchbookmania!

At the prodding of Jason Keyser, I have posted more stuff from my sketchbook. I feel like such a one-trick pony when all of the stuff on this blog is 2-minute pen sketches, but that's what I've been doing the most of lately. I should have something by tomorrow to post for Fridrawn--hopefully in color! Anyhow, enjoy!!We had cool cowboy costumes last Wednesday, thanks to Amber. Unfortunately, the boyscout underneath actually came dressed that way...
Granny's death call may be knocking at the door, but she's not going quietly!
I dunno. I just drawr 'em like I see 'em.
MOST...USELESS...SUPER-POWER...EVER!!!
I also took a trip to the zoo on Monday (my wife's birthday was last Thursday & mine was March 29, we hadn't celebrated either of them yet). I did approximately one million 15-30 second sketches. Here are some of the more successful ones. I didn't even know what a springbok was...apparently they can run 60 mph & jump 20 ft at a go. Nuts, huh?
Do not be fooled, this is a Chacoan Peccary, not a pig...though they do look similar, they're not even related--or so I hear.

Battle Pope, Men with Guns, and a fat Shriner...

These are some sketches that were in my sketchbook from March-May...
If the Pope were a super hero, his weapon of choice would probably be a striped umbrella.
To answer your question, yes, that IS Jason Keyser's naked rear protruding from underneath those chaps.
A fat Shriner...well, they can't all be genius.
I did this one in six minutes, as the caption says. Yup. It's a girl. In a bikini. I love going to BYU.

Some 1.5 minute sketches

From last Wednesday, here are some poses that I did in about a minute and a half. We set the new pose time at 2 minutes instead of 5, which forces me to work more quickly and smaller, but I think these turned out okay. I do my best to finish way before the time limit, so I have plenty of time to work the cramps out of my hand before the next pose starts :)

Don't lose your head...

So, I guess the new challenge is to do an every-Friday post... A couple of us are trying to have fun with designs. I'm told the post for next Friday (a week from tomorrow) is "a spider's education," whatever that is... I'm sure I'll come up with something. At any rate, here are a few drawings from Wednesday night's session. Something about heads... I dunno. This is Aaron. I was having such horrible luck with his hair that I decapitated him. No offense, of course.
I don't know if it's because of all the smoke pollution that's been in the air, but I needed something pretty to look at, and a flower seemed like a good candidate.
Your guess is as good as mine, as far as these go...
Here is a rare picture of Jason Keyser, coming out of the closet. Favorite original quote of the night: "You can't reach for the stars if you're still in the closet!"...Wait, can you quote yourself?

Grog and Roll

We have some serious fun on Wednesday sketch club nights. Sometimes we get a little carried away. Michelle swore up and down that the bottle was filled with water, but the fact that she was swearing so vehemently led me to believe otherwise...
I went to see my buddy's band play a show at the Velour on Thursday night. There are always such interesting characters at music venues. I love the look-how-cool-I-am attitude. It's like everyone WANTS to pose for you. So I took advantage of the opportunity. The music wasn't worth my 5 bucks, but the sketching was.

Fun with markers!

I noticed two things while drawing people in church: one--there are a lot of fat people, and two--those fat people are in suits. Why is it that fat people in suits look like Mafia mob bosses? I'll never know. Anyhow, it was fun to play out the idea.
Here's a fun one I did this morning; it's an idea I tactfully stole from fellow BYU animation student Jake Wyatt. Rat pirates--what a maroon, that Jake! (Copic Markers)
This is how I feel when I play rock and rock music. I'm not much for computers yet, so I still do a lot with markers. I fear change.

By popular demand--bigger is better!

This rehashing of Michelangelo's David is only 10 feet tall (not as big as the original), but it was way fun. Burlap stretched over pallet wood, painted with oil & tea leaves. Yeah, I got a little crazy here.
This is a life-sized set of self portraits I call Calculation and Speculation. I used to look like this--can you believe it?
All the King's Horses. Mixed media. 7'X5'
All the King's Men. Mixed. 5'X5'
Falling man...secretly also a self portrait (from photo, naturally). 5'X3.5'
This is a painting I did last summer of Little Italy in NYC. From a photo from when we visited in March of 2006.

In a former life...

Before coming to BYU I was studying fine art at a small community college in Connecticut. As you can see, I bent the definition of "fine art" into something more like "bordering on graffiti." I have since mended my ways. (Not really.)

Actually, I still love painting but now I'm focusing my energies on more of the animation side of things. I thought this would be interesting as a first posting, so you could get a look at my old studio in CT.

Since coming to Utah, I have busied myself with my first true love--cartoons. Later I'll post samples of stuff I turned in with my portfolio for entrance into BYU's program. What were they thinking, letting me in?

Keep an eye out for ultra-cool designs that we'll be working on all summer for a new short film [title pending] at http://fablefilm.blogspot.com. I'll be updating on that site at least once weekly.