Unreleased Sketches

A whole lot of stuff I've been sketching in my free time. The conjoined twins one is from some request I got recently. Some people are weird.

Currently I have two part-time jobs that I have been trying to juggle. Nothing great, but I really need to pay the bills and most decent jobs are getting taken up really quick.

The first job is at Macy's. I can never remember the job title, but basically I do whatever I'm assigned to. One day I was signing people up to be on a list for assistance, another day I was putting shoes back on their podiums. Its a good job for me because I can use that OCD gene to clean up all the unfolded clothes or hangers that are lying around.

The other job is with UPS. I'm a driver helper again so it shouldn't be too hard, as long as I don't twist an ankle or wear out my back.

Like I said, I would rather have a career job, or something relating to my career, but times are tough and a job is a job.

Lost Artist

I used to know this artist on Deviantart called Killamangiro. Her signature is DRX though.

When I first saw her art I was skeptical. I mean, its all simple, and everyone has long arms and legs. But after looking at it for a while I realized that she had the makings of a really interesting style. It reminds me of some European illustrators I've seen. I managed to con her into an art trade, one of my characters for one of hers. I did Tobias and she did my character Euna. I would show you her version of Euna, but she deleted everything from her account. I blame the artist depression/modesty.

Artists come in two packages, those who are too modest and those that are too egotistical. Modest artists are usually good, or on their way to greatness, whereas egotists are either so good they know it or so in the dark that they don't know they are bad.

DRX was one of the modest ones however. In most of her posts she would grumble about how bad things looked, but I was always there to bring her up. It was really sad to see that she not only gave up on art, but took away all the art she had put up. I was tempted to post the two pieces I managed to keep before see deleted them all, but I figure it was her right as the artist to remove them so I shouldn't go against her wishes and post them.

That being said, I've decided that now that I have most of Brandon Graham's style, I think its time I added a new style. Since DRX is pretty much gone, its time I learned her style and implement in.

Graphic Designs

I'm working on making a few graphic design type illustrations into my portfolio. It is hard to apply to a job you think you can do when you don't have any examples that support it.

I have been obsessed with Godzilla lately so that's why I drew up Gigan. The text is 'kaiju' which is basically Japanese for giant monster. I really got into Godzilla after watching James Rolfe's "Monster Madness" videos that featured Godzilla (Which is here). Like all of his reviews he throws in a lot of humor, trivia, and history.

On the day-to-day scene I'm still applying to jobs. I have a few lined up that could go somewhere, and if they all work out I might actually have to quit a few to manage them all. Although, in this economy, that is highly doubtful. I wouldn't mind two part time jobs though.

As always I have some crazy stuff that I am into that I have to post up here. This time it involves Arnold Schwarzenegger. I found a band that does nothing but songs themed by the man himself. The band is called Austrian Death Machine. "Get to the Choppa", "Who is Your Daddy and What Does He Do?", and even "Jingle Bells". It is all heavy metal, or as Arnold calls it, brutal!

Old but New Stuff

Art from the student made game, Gold Rush. Well, pre-production made anyway. It should be in development right now though.

I liked how crazy our style guide was on this one. All it was, was a slanted ! shape and make everything worn. Those guns are an example of how crazy I got into making things old and squared off.

I had a blast working on that project. Working in a group makes your art explode ten fold from what it was before you started. Which is why I hope one day I might be working on another project.

Sadly, I haven't found that project yet, or maybe it hasn't found me? Either way I'm cutting back on my loftier goals of getting a awesome job and going for contract jobs and regular jobs like at Macy's.

Aside from that I'm working on a 2 minute animation of a bit by Nick Swardson. Its the dumbest two jokes I have ever heard, but that is why I wanted to animate them. Its all in flash and I'm trying to make it sort of like the show, Shorties Watching Shorties. That was a great show and I'm surprised that there aren't that many bits on youtube. The baby scenes were so-so, but when you take animation and the best comedians throw at you, its a great combination.

Manga of Mentionable Worth

I, like many people, am pretty tired of most Japanese art. It was cool for a while, but now everything is soaked in it. I haven't bought a manga in several years, but I found a few in the regular comics section one day that peaked my interest. They were by an artist by the name of Junko Mizuno and she doesn't deal in your average Japanese story or look. Most would say her style is like the Power Puff Girls, but eyes and round, simple shapes. But if you really read though a Mizuno book you'll see that the style is more like an illustrator, which she started out as. Most of her art is seen on t-shirts, stickers, and some figurines. Here is my top four Mizuno comics that need to be read:

4) Hanzel and Gretel



Part of Mizuno's fairy tales series of comics that feature old tales redone in a way that only Mizuno could do. What is cool for us westerners is when the publisher said they were going to take her stories over to the U.S. she requested that the comics be printed in that traditional comic book paper for that classic look and she would also redraw several panels. Now that's caring about your product. What makes a Junko Mizuno comic about Hazel and Gretel any different from any other story you ask? Basically its her main ingredients: problems involving food, unnecessary nudity, violence, her illustrative style, and a whacked out story that keeps you entertained.

Hanzel and Gretel barely follows the original plot. Its Hanzel and Gretel...that's all that is from the original story. Hanzel and Gretel's parents run a grocery store (the only one in town) but soon their distributors turn evil and stop giving them food. My favorite distributor is the giant pig that cuts off the meat from himself to give to the store, but its okay because he's regenerative. Overall, not my favorite comic of hers, but its got a few twists that separate it from any other comic you'll read.

3) Cinderalla


Yes, that's CinderRALLA. Not Cinderella. This story is much more similar to the original than Hanzel and Gretel is. Only where Cinderella wanted to be rich, Cinderalla wants to be a zombie. Yes, a zombie. Cinderalla's father dies (he's a famous chef, yet another food related theme), and Cinderalla finds out that at night he is a zombie. He marries another zombie and they continue to run the restaurant. Problem is everyone wants Cinderalla to assist them in some way. Her new zombie step sisters are bothering her as well as her new mother who needs to be fed constantly. But soon she meets an attractive male zombie singer and she falls in love with him. Problem is, the only way to see him in concert is to become a zombie. Any plot where the character wishes they were a zombie is a great plot in my book. Of all her books, Cinderalla is the funniest.

2) Princess Mermaid



Yeah, it's the Little Mermaid, but like any Mizuno comic, it's not. It starts out with three mermaid sisters who lure sailors into the sea (I think this is actually a folk lore in Japanese culture). But like all Mizuno comics, it doesn't end well for the sailors. Tura, the evil sister, murders the sailors and they all feast on their bodies (the food related content of this book). Well, except for Julie, the hero. She wishes that they could just get along with the humans. Tura reminds her that her mother (and all the other mermaids) were murdered for their eyes and scales. This comic has so many things going on its crazy for how short it is. Tura's goal is the destruction of the human's specifically the ones that killed her mother. Julie ends up falling in love with a human who is related to the ones that killed her mother. As expected, chaos insues. Unlike Ariel, Julie gets an operation to be human, but its cut short halfway through leaving her partially mutilated. Tura's ending is very dramatic, I almost wished it would have been different but I guess that's what makes it so good.

1). Pure Trance


First off, this is the biggest book she ever made. It's huge by any graphic novel standards. This was Mizuno's first comic, and it was released originally with several techno cd's called, of course, Pure Trance. The compilation book is great because on several pages there are extra bits that tell about things you wouldn't know just by reading the comic, such as minor character back story and what the characters are watching on TV. I love this because it gets you one step closer into an already deeper story.

Some pages:
Nudity, but with an awesome chainsaw
Pill death, check out the info box on the bottom of the page
Violent death of a cute monster (however there are worse...)

And this story is DEEP. I mean, like a three hour movie that feels like its three hours, deep. Basically, its the future and everyone has moved underground to escape the radiation from some nuclear holocaust. People don't eat real food, they just take pills that are flavored like real food. Of course women are prone to overeating these pills and getting sick (yet again, this is the food related problem of this book). The story revolves around the nurses who work at a clinic where they treat these sick women. The head doctor is a whack job who is obsessed with eating real meat. She has her minion go out and get fake animals or real ones if she can find them. All the other nurses are level headed, but the doctor is so crazy that she abuses them all the time and at one point she kills one of the nurses. One of the main nurses takes the children of two sick women (who died), and they end up on the surface world. Everything up there is a drug trip and all the humans there are nothing but floating brains with eyes. Time passes and the nurse that brought them up there gets really sick because she isn't used to eating real things. She returns onyl to be be murdered by the vengeful doctor. So its up to the children to return and avenge the nurse.

I can't get across how great this graphic novel is. Its not only my favorite Junko Mizuno comic book, it's also in my top ten favorite graphic novels ever. Forget the Watchmen, read Pure Trance.

Silent Hill: AVGN

While checking out the art from the new Silent Hill game, Silent Hill Shattered Memories, I noticed that Harry looked a little familiar. A little photoshopping and there it is, the Angry Video Game Nerd in Silent Hill.

New Stuff

A little Silent Hill 3 fan art. I wanted to draw some really gorey art, so Double Head came to mind. This is pretty much why Silent Hill is so popular. You turn a corner and BAM there is a weird looking creature in your flash light beam.


I'm not sure why but I wanted to model and rig Heather from Total Drama Island (and I guess Total Drama Action as well, minus the hair). I found her turn around on totaldramaisland.blogspot.com which is a really great blog made by its creators. I'm not much of a modeler so I chose Heather because she has the least amount of weird geometry on her body. Just look at her hair, it's a brick! My ultimate plan is to texture her in toon shader and then animate a few of the interview scenes from the show. Could be fun.

On the job front I'm still looking. Everyone says I'm bound to get one eventually. My Dad just wants me to get a job, any job, at this point. I'm okay with that because I can always look for career jobs at night after work. I found a photo editing job and a stock associate job that might turn into something I hope.

Birthday

I finally have my computer running again. No viruses, hackers, or dead video cards anymore. Once I get a decent job I'm going to have to fully upgrade it though. Three years ago it was top of the line but now it struggles at a few things.

Speaking of jobs I've gotten a few bites. I took two and a half tests so far (the half is hard to describe let alone understand myself). No interviews however but who knows. I did manage a freelance gig with an Art Institute student that could be a good job for my resume.

A lot of the jobs out there are for flash and graphic designers. Not much 3D animator positions unless they require modeling, rigging, lighting, the works. A lot of the jobs I've been signing up for require Illustrator, but I would just use flash. Not CS4 though, I've tried that out and I'm not much of a fan of all the animation downgrades. What happened to keyframing an object, making a second keyframe that is on the other side of the screen only bigger, and making it grow/move at the same time? Even with the so called "Classic Tween" my symbols just slide over then grow in one frame. CS3 could do it so I'm not sure what happened. I'll upgrade to Toon Boom before I use CS4. From what I've seen of that program it looks like it can streamline a bunch of processes for you. I even heard that they animate Family Guy on it.

I was thinking the other day, Maniac Mansion was a real awesome game. I sold all my NES stuff when I moved, but I kept a copy of Maniac Mansion I had. It's so bad, but good at the same time. The Bad: The graphics look pretty bad - the characters walk like South Park when they move forward and in reverse - Using the NES controller like a mouse is horrible - while some of the music is great (ie Michael's theme or the alien's), a lot of the music is just high pitched screeching (ie Bernard's theme). And yet it's still a great game. Multiple characters with their own abilites like Bernard can fix things but the other kids can't, so choosing the right character becomes very important. The jokes are great and quirky like Jeff who puts the hamster in the microwave or calling the Alien Police. Since there are multiple characters, the game has to be set up so any combination will result in the same ending, so there are many paths to take in order to win. I was always interested in the fact that events would happen at certain times but there isn't a clock around warning you like when the nurse or the son walk around to get things or the time it takes the alien police to come down. Plus, like a lot of Lucasarts adventure games, you can die very easily if you do the wrong combination of tasks like filling the pool or fooling with the nuclear reactor.

My birthday is only 9 days away. I think I'm getting old because I don't need anything anymore. My computer is fixed so that's all I needed. I don't even want to do anything special that day. I don't mind birthday cake though, that is a must.

Bummer

My computer got hacked last week and I've been reeling from that. So far I got rid of all the messed up files and viruses, but of course, that deleted all the major files that keep Windows running. However, my friend Keith is a technical genius and he suggested I use the Ultimate Boot CD or UBCD. It's a boot CD that runs off the disc drive so windows works, but it's just on a cd. It also contains a huge amount of recovery programs. Sadly, none of them can recover what the antivirus program did, but at least I can see my files. It's like a security blanket that I can just look at but can't touch. I know they are there, I just can't get to them. I would like to just wipe the drive clean and start again but it has all my backup data from the last two terms as well as all the info I have for my website. By the way, my website is up, stewart-thomas.com.

I was hunting for jobs, but lately I've stopped since my computer crapped out on me. I think I have my resume on backup along with some other things, but I just haven't been in the mood.

Luckily my Dad's computer works so I can still check for job related things and ways to fix my computer situation.

Graduation

Me at the portfolio show with none other than the dynamic duo, RUSHPUNX, aka Russel and James. The graduation went well. Nothing too spectacular. I had hopes for a possible call back from any one of the employers at the show, but no such luck. I figure that even in this rough economy, as long as I keep trying, a job should present itself. Apply for ten jobs and you'll probably not get a single interview. Apply for a hundred jobs and the odds of getting an interview are much, much higher.

Last week I spent at my parents house. Without my computer I couldn't work on this months 11 second club piece. Oh well, by tomorrow there will be next months up and I can take a crack at it.

While I was at my parents, my Mom and I went to a bunch of thrift stores. One of them had old comics for a buck so I pounced on them. They had a lot of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics that I never read. The ones by eastman and Laird. I was into the Archie comics version of TMNT called TMNT adventures. I snagged a few from issues 40 to 49 where Eastman and Laird were taking a break and letting other artists and writers make thier own issues. I got an issue that was drawn by A.C Farley who had done a few pinups in one of the TMNT Adventures comics that I used to read. His style is so interesting to me. He makes the turtles look both cute and rounded, but also very tough when the scene demands it.

That's not the issue, but it best shows his unique style.

There were a bunch of superhero comics there, but I'm not much of a fan of those. That was until I saw War of the Gods: Wonder Woman Vs Lobo.

Now from what I've learned, Wonder Woman was the biggest feminist ever when she started out, but she's about 10% of that now. Lobo, on the other hand, is the biggest mysogynist ever.

It's like some goofy sitcom having them fight, but that's why I was drawn to it.

As always with hero battles, no one really wins. That movie Hulk vs Wolverine was different, but for the most part it's usually a draw.

In the issue a wall bursts open and Lobo rams into Wonder Woman. She lassos him, but with reason, they realize they are sort of on the same side. Lobo proceeds to beat up the women that were following Wonder Woman and Wonder Woman beats up the woman who was fighting Lobo.

Pretty lame, they could have at least had a few more pages of them feuding. I just wish someone would make Wonder Woman the woman she was before and not this sort-of tough princess type she has become.

PINGAS

Mama Luigi put it on the fridge.


Some animation I've been interested in lately.

Abigail, a 3d animation by a student at Ringling College of Design. The students at Ringling do some amazing short films. They aren't always the best animated, but the design is through the roof. Every student seems to come out of there with a beautiful illustrated quality of art.

Tenacious D Rock Song The poster doesn't know who animated it. I assume it was someone who worked on Timesplitters 3 due to the character models. Really amazing animation.

Sproessling by Anne Breymanna German stop motion animator. It's a short film about a woman who orders a baby making kit that grows the baby in a pot like a plant. Something goes wrong and she unleashes something evil. There is something about stop motion animation that makes it easy to make scary short films. I think it's because the animation is always a little jerky even in the hands of the best stop motion animators. But that's what makes it so great.

Watch out for the Starkfin

Man, I can't believe I forgot to upload this. I drew Ryan in that muscle and bones class last term. This was one of the better ones.

Bus People and the New Short

Pretty much every artist that rides the bus draws the people that ride it from what I've seen. It's a blast because A) free models and B) You never know how long you'll get to draw that person so it builds up how fast you can memorize a look or face. An actual quote from Cat Boy aka Crazy Legs as I awkwardly waited for a bus with him. Luckily he didn't recognize me.

The new short idea:



The initial idea is it's an apartment complex (the set is just a hallway and the main character's room) where a shy, nerdy girl is attracted to her neighbor but too nervous to tell him how she feels. This builds up until it seems he is going to be leaving her forever so she breaks and confesses. I'm planning to sync up the video to the song Faraway Vol 2 by Apocalyptica (and bits of just Faraway) so that way I can stay on course. Here are my initial random nerds. No sense of rhyme or reason.
By this time I had an idea as to her look so I was fleshing it out a bit. Changing her race and head shape. It was hard to find references on the internet because according to the internet, a nerdy or geeky girl is any female who has glasses. This is a fallacy. Glasses do not make the nerd. However, to get across that she is a nerd, she needs glasses for the short. Some common nerdy traits are sweatshirts, unkept hair, and a lanky or stout body shape.
I hit gold a few days ago when I drew up the upper left face. I found a weird face shape someone drew so I went off of that. That look she's giving in the upper middle is exactly what I'm going for. I'm still working on her love interest, but he seems to be making himself. I like how she is very rounded and short but he is squared and tall. The short is going to be toon shaded in 3D with the style like Codehunters and two short films I've seen from Ringling College of Art and Design (that being Lindsey Olivares' "Anchored" and Gigi's "Gretel & Hanzel").

Also, if you haven't seen it, watch Doggy Poo. It's hilarious that people got paid to make a film like that. Trailer

Stronghold Final Designs

The project was just dubbed "Stronghold" so the name is still up in the air.

The turnaround images on the right are the final designs I passed off to Leif and his modeler(s?) to work on. From what little I've seen, they look pretty good. There were some problems with the proportions in my turnarounds, but I pretty much expected that. Leif said it wasn't that bad, but something I should look out for next time I draw one out.

Probably the hardest thing was getting the finalized version of the Queen and the Knight. Leif had okayed the Mage and the Guardian, but he wasn't quite satisfied with how the other two were going. I really amped it up for a few days to get them done, but he was getting finalized characters that he hadn't okayed. I was a worried that he'd get them and say something like," well, they'll do". On the other hand, he was really excited about it. In fact, Leif was the most excited I had ever seen him since we had met.

Overall it was pretty iffy the whole time, but I had fun. Hopefully this might turn into another job down the road.

Game Character Designs

So in my spare time, in between the other spare time and the regular time, I've been working in a project for another senior classmate. He's a game art guy so his whole resume is riding on getting a working game done. He's pretty smart because he's getting a lot of other seniors to do various parts of his project while he controls the whole thing as the game director. He asked me to do the four main characters of the game.

The Queen was described as a woman who has a skeleton for a body but a human head. The character is undead and is more powerful once she dies (which makes her character one of the best to use). I had a pretty clear image of her being very above everything else because she is a queen and that she gets even more powerful after she dies. I was also advised to use mechanics in all the character designs, excluding the guardian.












The mage was a bit tricky at first. When I was told to give them a mechanical edge I figured a mage could be anyone who seems to do something magical, so an inventor/tech guy sounded like a good idea. Another angle I'm trying to push is the fact that he has the best move radius of all the characters, so I decided he should have some vehicular transport of some kind. A jetpack or mechanical legs.










The knight was supposed to be not the cliched warrior type, but when you think about it, what isn't a cliched warrior? He (or she) came in two variants for me. 1). A bulky, thick iron armored trooper or 2). A thin, skeletal swordsman. I also came up with a tribal female design, but I think that would clash with the opposing forces. My vote is really on that weird tank bot guy. He's like a living iron clad.































The Guardian is supposed to be the home team's weapon against these mechanical warriors. If the queen/mage/knight mange to beat him, then he will fight for them for one round. The keyword for the guardian was Babylonian style. Lots of horns and beards really. At first I stayed with the art style, but after a while I thought, "This is the guy who is supposed to look tough and someone you would want to be on your team for a while". That's where I branched out and made him more Conan looking and then bestial in the lower drawing. If he's a guardian he doesn't have to be human or physical.

Flash Series Idea

I've got a new idea for a flash series. I've had the idea for a couple of years, but this time I'm actually fleshing it out a bit.

The Premise:
It's a girls school for goddesses in training (high schoolers). The episode flow would be like every other teen drama, only the have crazy classes and god-like abilities. It's like the movie Sky High, only not the last part of the movie where things get really dumb. I might have a boys school near by so they can interact, kind of like the two camps from Camp Lazlo. My only joke so far is the fertility goddess and the war goddess have to take some general classes. The fertility girl has to take a war class and the war girl has to take a fertility class. The war class would be like gym, only with weird stuff like fighting trolls and wielding maces etc. The fertility class would be based off of the age old home ec assignment where students have to care for a fake baby. Since they are gods, it would be funnier if they had to carry around babies like the gods do(i.e. in their foreheads or elbows). So the whole episode the war goddess would have a big lump on her face, maybe it could conflict with being war-like, I dunno. Other things that might come up in the story is goddesses that aren't human like anthropomorphic (mermaids and Egyptian cat people) or elemental ones (living fire, plant life, or water).

The Students (no teacher ideas as of yet):
Goddess of War: She's a tom boy who eats raw meat at lunch time. Kind of like a Norse god.

Goddess of Fertility: Bubbly and doesn't know the extent of how much guys want to date her. She's like that girl that everyone wants to date, only she has never dated anyone. (I can't explain her character very well for some reason)

The Trickster: The typical chaos god. She screws up plans or puts tacks on the teacher's chairs.

The Artist or creator goddess: She's the one pictured above. I figure she's one of those angsty arty types, only instead of painting or writing music, she makes creatures.

Goddess of Wisdom: Every show needs a nerd. I don't know much about her yet, but I figure I'll need her to make inventions or sciencey stuff.

Goddess of Death: A small, quiet, goth girl who kills stuff.

Goddess of the Sun: This is the optimist. If I ever figure out what she looks like, she'll be one of the main three characters (fertility and war being the other two). She's that character who convinces others to do stuff that would advance the plot, a leader of sorts.

Goddess of Love: She's going to be that token preppy girl who rags on all the misfits. A cheerleader type.

Goddess of Nature: A hippie girl. I might cut this character or just make her a very minor character.

Right now I'm trying to create the characters, then simplify them so I can easily animate them in flash (the hand drawn way not the flash libraries way).

Project Sasquatch

Here's some stuff from the short film I'm working on.

The main characters are Sasquatch the... Sasquatch, Apple Sasquatch's fairy friend, and Vincent the mean bat/vulture.

It's a story about not resorting to violence as an answer, because in the end you become what you hate.

For a simple animation test of Sasquatch, check it out here [Link]

The short film will resemble the test for the most part. It's going to be hand drawn in flash (no libraries, just a Wacom and a dream), but the background won't be in flash. I'm going to put the flash animation into After Effects, then insert the background elements. The background is going to be a totally different medium than the animation. I'm thinking either clay, 3D, or maybe just cut out textures of things such as grass or bark. We will see. I'm also hoping to convince a sound design student to do my audio so that way I don't have to do it and he/she gets something for their reel.

So far I'm about 20% into the animation. Not exactly where I wanted to be at this point, but I'm really pushing for my best work, no slouching this time.