As a kind of quick Merry Christmas to anybody reading this blog, I bring to you some of my latest art pieces. I'm thinking perhaps that an art section on the gallery page might be a good idea, but in the mean time you can enjoy it right here or on my deviantArt page. But, I digress.

I hope everybody had a Merry Christmas and will have an awesome New Year!

In the downtime during my ever continuing quest for employment, I've taken up a few extra hobbies to keep from going completely bored. Some are more relevent to my future line of work, while others are simply for my enjoyment.

One thing that I've attempted to take up again is drawing. My skills currently sit somewhere between mediocre and decent, a stat I'd certainly like to level up. So, my brother Chris and I have periodically enjoyed an evening of drawing while watching the nerdy sitcom, Big Bang Theory. Unfortunately, we've finished the first two seasons and now are forced to wait a week for new episodes, as the third season just began. For the off days, BBT has been summarily replaced with Pinky and the Brain.

In keeping with my new found - and probably unhealthy - fascination with the land of the rising sun, I've been taking cues from the manga/anime style (much of which is fan art). So, for those who enjoy that sort of thing, here's a gallery of some of the artwork I've created over the lest month and a half.

So, there it is. You probably noticed that there's a bit of a common theme to the above pictures (beyond the manga/anime thing). If you didn't, you lose five points and get no cookie.

I've wrapped up my first month of motion graphics (MGR), and with it I finished my sixth month of school. Hard to believe it's already been half a year. Time does fly when you're having fun. But that's hardly why we're here.

For MGR, our final project was to create a magazine layout and thirty second animation for a product, service, etc. I had a few ideas for mine before settling on something that was close to me: Crayola crayons.

I've never really touched much on my artistic background, but I've always had a box of Crayons crayons handy. I can remember buying crayons with my birthday money (it was the only time I ever had any) many times. Also, whenever we'd take a trip to visit my grandparents I'd always be drawing stuff with a bowl of crayons that my Grandma would set out. Even now, sitting next to me on my desk is a box of 64 Crayolas, and they're not unused either. And, for the record, those other brands aren't really crayons. Crayola's have a distinct smell, texture, and feel that has not been duplicated by anybody else. I don't mind spending a little extra for them. Upon opening the box and getting a whiff, I am suddenly a little kid, lying on the floor doodling and day dreaming away as only the innocent can.

But, enough of the schmaltzy stuff. Before you can watch the video you must see the ad. It kind of sets the mood.

And, now, for the coup de gracie. Enjoy!

[video=http://www.youtube.com/v/2FcS9z_JVv8]

If you've been around the internet as much as I have you'll probably know that it has it's own set of rules. Of these rules, #34 is most famous. Rule #34 states:

If it exists, there is porn of it.

Unwanted results from an innocent Google image search is enough to say that this rule is nearly one hundred percent true. However, there is no definition for something that's even more true than rule #34 (luckily, it's also more safe for work). I hereby decree that Internet Rule #48 will be defined as:

If it exists, there is anime of it.

This rule can be nearly solely confirmed by one website: deviantArt. For anybody who has never really scoured the annals of dA, it should be noted that almost 90% of everything posted is anime or some lame attempt at anime. A good chunk of this is fan art of just about anything. It doesn't matter what TV show, movie, comic, game, or person it is or is from. If they exist, somebody has drawn it in anime form. Let's get to proving using five examples from each stated category.

TV Shows

Futurama

Dexter's Lab

SpongeBob (a true abomination)

Columbo

Greatest American Hero (as a chick, even)

Movies

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) (too easy, I'll admit)

Garth (Wayne's World)

Rambo (First Blood)

River Tam (Serenity)

Galaxy Quest

Comics

Calvin and Hobbes

FoxTrot

Garfield

Penny Arcade (not entirely fair because even the comic's artist has anime'd the characters in one or two comics)

Charlie Brown

Games

Halo and Metroid (a twofer)

Mario (there are no good words for this one)

Guitar Hero

Psychonauts

People

Weird Al

Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Bonaparte

Oliver Cromwell

and of course

Jesus

So, there you have it. Anything under the sun has anime art made of it, and nearly all of it can be found on deviantArt. So, let the internet propogate with the wisdom that is Internet Rule #48.

It's been some time since I have updated this blog. So I take leave of my busy life, if only for a moment, to fill you, the reader, in on the various happenings and goings on. (Okay, that's enough eighteen hundreds talk).

So, Christmas has come and gone (as it always does) and I am now back into the thick of school. Luckily, I don't have all sucky courses this month. No, I only have one. However, let's put the good news before the bad, shall we?

ADG

Advanced Computer Graphics, or ADG, is probably the second best course I've had thus far (NOS being number one). ADG is, more or less, a Photoshop/Illustrator class. DCG was also this to a slight degree, but more emphasis was placed on the actual design as opposed to technical issues. Now, however, we're in the thick of opacity masks, and layer styles, and blah, blah, blah. Actually, believe it or not, I've become more comfortable in Illustrator than I am in Photoshop. The pen tool, simply put, is the most brilliant thing since aged cheese. But don't take my word for it, take my art:

[gallery][/gallery]

It should be duly noted that the NES is not, in fact, a photograph. Nor was it some fancy job I did in Photoshop. No, it was done completely in Illustrator and, vector graphics being what they are, is infinitely scalable. The advertisement, however, is not. Oh, and speaking of which, I realize that the NES is pushing twenty-three.

My other course is geometry and I will leave you simply with this: proofs can burn in Hell.

One thing I'd like to say real quick: iPod Touch is the best PDA ever created. I know. I own one. Damn you Apple, damn you.

My site is still riding on a wave of hits from the Rock Band drums thing way back when, but I've had another surge in popularity thanks to this guy. He's created one nicely polished drum kit app and has kindly linked back to my page. It'd be wrong for me not to return the favor.

Finally, while I'm throwing out links, be sure to check out the newly revamped Game Boyz. While you're at it, why don't you sign up on the forums and tell my bro how awesome the comic is.

Well, that should appease the masses for the well being. I write these posts in hope that somebody is reading them, however, even if it just serves as a chronicle of my life for me to read later, then so be it. It's deep tomes of history have already provided me with hours of cringing agony. May it continue to do so in this grand a glorious new year.

It's true; I have pulled an insane amount of all nighters this year and here I am doing it once again. I am currently at Orlando International where I await the departure of my flight at 6:23am, a little less than six hours from now. I was hoping to walk in here, dump off my luggage, and get through security right off the bat. However, good old Northwest Airlines has, yet again, left me with an unmanned counter. So, I am stuck with my twenty pound bag of clothing and vigilantly watching for the first signs of life at the counter.

Once again I have finished another two courses at Full Sail. This time was Design and Art Theory (DAT) and College Math (CMD) which was basically an Algebra course.

DAT was alright; it was essentially a traditional art course with design centric properties. Not being able to use my computer was difficult for me especially because pencils and paper don't have the Ctl+Z option. If you screw up, you've screwed up. Congratulations. However, I did pump out some decent stuff which I will show to you now.

This is my fice piece still life. I pushed it a little bit by counting the drum sticks as seperate objects, but meh. It went ungraded anyways (as did most things in that class).

This is the only piece I am truly proud of. I don't really have much to say aside from it was painted with acrylics on canvas and it was my first time doing any painting outside of using Crayola watercolors. The colors are a little dark because mixing paints is a bitch.

I did do several other pieces, but I don't have pictures of them and seeing as I'm at the airport I won't be taking pictures anytime soon.

Nothing really to report on about math because that's exactly what it was. What is sweet, though, is that I may pull an A out of that class which would thrill me to no end as I thought math was my suckiest subject.

So, there's my month on a nutshell. I'll probably post again once I'm in ol' Bartlesville. Until then, keep on peacin' out!

We're almost down to one month before Christmas. THis means many different things to many different people. For some it means shopping, others getting together with others. For me, it means Christmas music. A lot of Christmas music. Of course, it also means that I'll be able to go see my folks again which is always sweet. And let's not forget the tantalizing aroma of sweet Christmas presents under the tree. And, speaking of aroma, and possibly the most important part of Christmas, the cookies. But, I suppose we must get through Thanksgiving first, which for me means being thankful for my brand new copy of Rock Band that I will be playing on that day.

But, holidays aside, I've been working on some very interesting things for school as of late. I've already given you a taste by showing my trailer project, but there are many other things I've been up to. Let's list them by class.

Designing Computer Graphics (DCG)

So far this class has been mostly about Illustrator and Photoshop basics, though they have touched on some good design practices (or not so good) by reviewing previous students works. However, there are three core projects we're working on (of which only two have been assigned so far). The first was a black and white logo.

Our second project was a set of three (or more) icons based around a theme. There were six possible themes to choose from, those being Olympics, zoo, theme park, library, airport, or musical styles. I'll let you figure out which theme I chose.

First I need to note that that is not my logo (it is the official logo of the 2012 Summer Olympic games). It's primarily there to help set the mood and show where I drew my inspiration from.

You may notice that both of these projects were in black and white (no colors or grays). This is a pretty ingenious call because by limiting us in the color department we are forced to put more emphasis on line width, stylization, and shadows and highlights. If something works well in black and white there's no reason why it won't work well in color.

Networks and Operating Systems (NOS)

As stated before the name of this class is a misnomer. They are actually in the process of converting it into Digital Storytelling, focusing more on getting a point across as opposed to the technical aspects of computers. I have to say of the two classes I am currently taking this is my favorite not necessarily because of what we do but because of our instructors, Fabian Socarras and Jacob Kaplan. It's difficult to explain how there two teach (if indeed they are really teaching at all), but it is certainly the most entertaining course and, so far, the most informative.

But, that aside, I've been doing some pretty cool stuff here as well. After the trailer project we all made podcasts (I will not be posting mine, thank you very much). Our last project was to prepare a Keynote presentation trying to convince our target audience of why we needed something and, subsequently, why they should purchase it for us. I did mine on why I needed a Nintendo 64. I presented in front of my lab group and Fabian and Jacob invited themselves in as presenters which was cool. Will you ever see this keynote? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Our next project is something that, for me, is pretty easy stuff. We are to set up and design a blog using Wordpress. To make things challenging for myself I asked Fabian if I could write mine from the ground up as opposed to using Wordpress. While he gave the nod of approval, he seemed dubious as to whether or not I could pull it off within the time frame and meet all the criteria. Considering most of my back end is already in place, and with the addition of a couple of new modules I pounded out tonight, I foresee no problems. However, it turns out this will be a group project so I may just stick with Wordpress so as not to make myself appear elitist to my fellow classmates. No, that can wait until my official web classes a few months down the road.

That's about all for now seeing as I need to get to bed so I can be up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Here's hoping I have afternoon classes AND labs next month.

It's been nearly a month since I last posted anything of relevance. A lot had happened since then. I've completed my first month of school and, as such, my first set of classes. Now I won't pretend to understand I know how a traditional college works but I do know that Full Sail's approach is much different (and, in my opinion, much more sensical). Every month we have two courses that we attend for four weeks. These are broken down into, generally, five eight-hour days per week with few breaks in between save major holidays. This is how we pull off a four year degree in only twenty-one months. These five day weeks are broken down into one subject being done three days and the other two. This month I was lucky enough to only have four days of school per week but all I did were gen ed classes, namely art history and english composition.

Art History

Art history was interesting if nothing else. We got see all sorts of art from various periods of time starting with the cave men and their wall paintings. My favorite eras were definitely the Renaissance and Baroque. It is rare to find an artist that skilled these days. The Greeks were awesome as well with all their master marble working. The only problem with them, however, is their crazy preoccupation with penises. I could've done without that, thank you very much. We also took a trip to the Orlando Museum of Art. Some pretty interesting stuff their from ancient artifacts up to Andy Warhols. But, the best part of the whole thing was when we had to make our own pieces of art emulating other styles and then have them displayed in front of the whole class. A lot of good laughs shared there. Here's my pieces:

For this we were supposed to do a cave painting using a movie as the theme. Fifty points to the person who can correctly name the movie.

I was shooting for cubism but wound up pulling a weird combo of things, namely cubism, abstract, and pop art. I like it, though.

English Comp

This is the course I've been sweating through the most. Though I have a better than average grasp of English and grammar, primarily through keeping this blog and a lot of reading, I felt that my writing was too erratic and too concise to pull off this class successfully. Luckily we only had to write three papers (four if you include the ungraded one we wrote at the beginning of the course). They were each a different kind of paper, these being a memoir, a print ad analysis, and a research argument. We've also had to do some group presentations in front of the class. The last of these almost got seriously screwed up because we misread our little topic card. About ten minutes before we did our presentation we realized this and were scrambling to come up with relevant information. We wound up just pulling the whole thing out of our asses at the last minute but still managed a one hundred. I'm surprised points weren't taken off for my visible knee shaking.

On the whole I've been having a good time considering that I'm in school learning stuff. I've made a bunch of friends and at that ones who are in the same boat I am, meaning they can quote the 300 PG trailer. Next week I get to look forward to designing computer graphics and networks and operating systems as my courses. Should be awesome.

Dear Livejournal,

Today I stepped on a nail. It felt good so I stepped on it again. God, my life sucks.

Comic

The start of a new arc. Pretty pleased with most of the artwork here, except Bowser in that last panel. Missed yesterday's update, but oh well. It'll be coming Monday. Technically all I need to do is arrange it as I've got the artwork all drawn up. Now on to some artworks.

This was going to be the first panel Monday's comic, but when it came down laying everything out it just didn't fit. Probably the most risque thing I've ever drawn, but don't blame me. Blame Nintendo. They love their Peach pr0n, I 'spose.

I wanted to try drawing some chibis and something Guitar Hero. This is what came out. I like the bassist and the singer best.

I'm not dead, I swear. Okay, it's only been a few days. I did make a comic for Monday, though I hate it. Art's not bad, but... ugh.

However, this is not the reason I am posting. Nay! I've completed what is probably my best work since my Maya picture. Interestingly enough it started out as a practice sketch, working on form and stuff. A few embellishments later it's a pretty cool sketch. Many hours, a few hair and grass tutorials later and it's this:

One thing I'll say about it is I love the colors. It's bright and cheerful. I'm really happy with it over all.

I may post a comic later today, but maybe I won't. Last night I got everything drawn, scanned, colored, etc. and when it came to writing down the dialog I realized the joke was not funny. So, I will give you guys the artwork I drew instead because I still like that. Well, I like how I drew Wedge, anyways.

I didn't take out the text bubbles so you, my readers, can use your wild imaginations and pretend there is writing in them and that it is funny.

Remember that sketch a day routine I suggested last week. Well it's back, only not quite so themed. The reason I stopped in the first place is because thqat Midna picture really bummed me out. It sucked. Hard core.

Well, I've actually got two days worth of drawing goodness, so I'll give you the first one:

From left to right:

My Guitar Hero guitar. Take special note of the Limozeen and Teen Girl Squad stickers. Okay, they're kind of hard to see.

Yuna, a la Final Fantasy X

Some teacup from my sisters' tea set.

Mario as seen in Mario Sunshine (an awesome game). I'm really pleased with how that came out. Also, there's Toad. I wasn't really trying to get a good shape or anything, I just wanted something to test my new pens out on. Up at the top is a little tuft of hair. Just wanted to practice some hair shading.

Keep those RSS readers tuned to here for more arty updates. And other.... stuff.

So I decided to do Midna today. There are parts of this picture I kind of like but overall I really hate it. First off she looks like a guy. Second her head is not wide enough and I scrwed up the shading on the face so it's hard to make out her eye. The body I'm happier with than what it originally was, but it still seems... off. Ugh. Maybe whatever I draw tomorrow will be better.