Long Head

Sketching with Loomis

Borrowed Andrew Loomis' book Drawing the Head and Hands from the library. I think I'll be adding this to my personal library soon. This guy is amazing! He draws a head, and you can tell how old they are, which I've just learned is a feat in and of itself, and you can even venture a guess as to what kind of person they might be, or what they enjoy doing in their spare time. Then you step back and realize that you're looking at pencil lines on a piece of paper. It's magic, you guys. And I'm just an aspiring magician.

Here's a page. Watched Scent of a Woman tonight. Loved it. Tried my hand at Chris O'Donnel's head.

Bandit

Sick day. Perfect time to screw around with some new brushes.

JFK v Nixon, 1960

All this presidential debate stuff got me wondering about previous debates that I wasn't alive to see. Turns out the first televised debate took place in 1960, between JFK and Nixon. I have to say, it sounded very similar to the debates I've been hearing lately, except now we talk about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq instead of the Cold War and the "Kremlin". Also, I found it interesting that they were discussing government subsidies of farmers. Guess that's been going on for a long time.

Anyway, I thought it was funny how JFK looks pretty wall-eyed in the video. Sketched this out as I watched, called it done when it ended.

One-Shot Comic

Long Time

Hey Folks! Boy, have I been busy doing things other than updating this blog. Got a job at 343 industries, which has been a total blast, built a deluxe chicken coop in my back yard that my wife and I designed ourselves (that was an adventure, to say the least).

Also, I discovered this software called GameMaker. I'm fiddling around with it, and it's pretty fun. I'm excited about the stuff you can do with it...you might see a bit of indie-game fiddling from me in the future. :)

Threw this together tonight, making good on a month-old promise for my church. Should spend more time on this stuff...

First Oil Painting Ever

I have done it. I took the plunge. Witness my first foray into the crazy, high-maintenance world of painting in oils.

My subject is a garbage block from Tetris Attack. The idea is

to make a blue one for my brother (for his birthday, which has just happened), and a red one for me. We used to play this game all the time together. And his favorite color was always blue and mine was always red. Anyway, here's my progress and stuff. I only used three colors: French Ultramarine, Vermillion, and Mixed White. This was mainly so I wouldn't go crazy trying to mix a bunch of fancy colors that would end up looking like gray mud.

First test. After I painted this, I had a breakdown of "I am so terrible at this. Why did I only give myself a week to learn oil painting before I try to make some

thing that's supposed to be presentable?"

Second test. Tried to mix some red into his face, which didn't work. I also learned that white really de-chromas the vivid, beautiful blue. Must use sparingly on the final piece. (And I need to pick up some kind of yellow for the red version. Do not want pink.)

Final Painting. Sorry for the glare--not the best lighting conditions. All in all, I'm pretty darned happy with the result. I was stoked to give this to my bro on his birthday this weekend, and when it finally dries, I'm sure he'll be stoked to have something to hang on his wall, finally! (Like I'm one to talk...)