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.