character development

Here's a rendition of the characters for a childrens book. This character set is already changing... I need to modernize the support characters a bit to match the current eddy and flow of the times today.



Aand here's a look at one of the spreads.... The "butterfly spread".
I like the little house in the background.

the statue

Here's a fun project. What you see in the pics is my own representation of what the 4-toed statue from the TV series "Lost" looks like.

After lots of research watching several episodes of the series..(I'd never watched the show previously)... I drew up some 3-way sketches of the statue and sculpted a 13" tall version using super sculpy.

Once the original sculpture was completed, I used it to make an rtv silicon master-mold.

The project required 10, hand-painted statues and numbered statues that the client plans to present as awards to the finalists of a video contest they've been hosting.

I think they turned out really nice. In fact, the client was pleased enough with the results that they ended requesting another set of 8 statues cast in ebony black.

Working on it now...

I'll post more images in a bit...

The dangers of working late into the night

A few days agoe I'd been working late into the night... or rather, early into the wee morning hours of the day to come. As I was driving home, I stopped at a 7-11 for somethingorother. (I've long ago discovered that sleep deprivation consumes enormous amounts of my body's energy reserves. And thus, I find myself craving protein at around 2-3 AM or my body will shut down completely.)

Agreed, that 7-11 isn't the best choice for a nutritious pick-me-up... but hey, it 2 AM after all. Anyway, I know I wasn't thinking clearly. And so I won't bother to attempt to defend my snack choices.

There was a pleasant fellow of Indian or Pakistani descent manning the clerk station that night. And he obviously felt that someone HAD to say SOMETHING to the poor fool who brought the hideous combination of a package of stale crab sushi and a bottle of Nestlie Quick chocolate milk to his counter top.

"Ahhh... are you sure you want to do this?" He implored with obvious concern."

I stared bleary-eyed at the sushi and chocolate milk... then staggered off to a nearby snack display.

"There! That should do it!" I declared. Triumphantly placing a package of spicy pork rinds next to the other items.

Obviously concerned for my sanity as well as my health... the clerk shook his head and rang up my purchases.

As I said before... I was tired.

And NOT thinking clearly.

progress... of sorts..

I sold one of my paintings today to a private collector. However YOU can still download a paper model of that painting from the papercraft section of my website. I must say that I am profoundly grateful to live in a capitalist pig-dog country where any man or woman can make a buck from their own engenuity and talent.

yeah yeah yeah...

Heather and I've been spending the last half-year or so looking to buy our first house... a soul consuming task to say the least. Now, suddenly, we find ourselves in the position of being able to choose between two different houses who's lenders have accepted our offers. Sure, we've recovered from the shock of having a lender actually accept our offer... but now what? New territory.

In the midst of all that this year I'd received a commission to sculpt an iconic statue from a popular TV series. Cool man. Was fun to do. I'll post photos once I'm sure that it's legally ok to do so.

Paper craft

In between searching for a new home for my family, sculpting new rubber parts for the vintage motorcycles I restore, and my responsibilities at work... I've been focused on some of my paper craft designs. I've had to train myself to use some simple 3-D design software to be able to adequately produce project designs that will unfold into usable flat parts. You can see some of the designs I'm currently obsessed with. The design that is closest to completi0n is the "Kolywopter". A cross between steampunk and science fiction design. The majority of the model has been flattened into parts and even assembled as an actual model in real life. I still need to complete the engine nacelle, and the wings...

I'll post pictures of the Kolywopter later. But for now, here are the exploration sub and the eel powered lantern vehicle as designed in SketchUP. Ready for flattening into parts sheets.

Been thinking 'bout steampunk subs again...

Yep, mechanical things moving under deep water. After making a few more idle sketches here and there... I decided to plunge in and start building the model in Google SketchUp. I'll post that later. But for now, here's the latest little fishie-sub sketch.