Happy Easter

Easter was traditionally the biggest holiday in Greece, until the advent of trans-global consumerism and Santa.  The halo - the perfect circle - represented life eternal, and 'Oon' and the letters *omega*omicron*ni* are often inscribed in the halos on the icons of Christ in Greek Orthodox churches. 'Oon' was the ancient word for egg (hence Ova, OOcyte, etc, in modern biological terms), and it's traditional to eat eggs dyed dark red to symbolize the blood of Christ.

On the other hand, the original Germanic story of little Red Riding Hood was all about death, or at least the perils of reproduction. Upon meeting Riding Hood in the forest, the wolf inquires whether she will go to Grandmother's house via the 'path of pins or needles'. Some say that the 'path of needles' is a medieval metaphor for prostitution, the path of pins a metaphor for a girl's coming of age, and the Wolf a metaphor for the deadliness of STDs and childbirth.

So two very asymmetric influences on the image below, which works, since it was originally a Visual Narrative class assignment on the use of balance or asymmetry to convey mood.

Either way, it reminds me of what's really important this time of year - Cadbury cream-filled eggs.  Yum.

Happy BP-day!

So, apparently BP wrote off the clean-up costs of the Gulf Coast devastation as a $32 billion tax liability, and are now receiving a $13 Billion tax break from the U.S. government. I remember when the oil tankers spilled off of Galveston and we used to come back from the beach covered in tar for years. We rubbed on sunscreen before we got in the water, and turpentine after we got out. Of course, Galveston has been so overbuilt that it's literally sinking into the ocean and they actively pump sand up from the sea bed to keep any beach at all. Now, BP isn't actively responsible for Galveston's crud, but they did have two fatal refinery accidents within the space of two or three years in the Houston suburbs, and the second was so loud we heard it in the center of town.

This is from a term I Visual narrative assignment to design a monster or zombie, a cute character, and a hero character for a video game.  It's a whole year old, but somehow it still feels fresh to me. Is it summer yet? I'm hitting the beach. Please pass the turpentine.

storyboards

Storyboarding for animation was a very 'unlearn bad habits' process for me. I used to storyboard live action projects of mine all the time prior to shooting and editing, but the nature of the beast never required me to draw out every glance, head swivel, phase of a reaction, flick of an elbow, etc. It was mainly a way for me to mentally orchestrate the actors and sets with the dynamic moving camera shots I love to employ.

So, I had to learn to be rigorous when showing my animated character's thoughts and actions.... Now if only I can force myself not to add the rack-focus-backwards-dolly shot or the high-angle close up to low-medium-wide shot, at least not while the characters are moving.....

long poses

sketchy.....

I don't have a great attachment to reality, and sketching is initially a bit like pulling teeth for me because I have to pay attention to the world outside of my own little one. but eventually the whole game of pencil spying on people becomes kind of addictive.