Fun Fact

I was reading this online article about body language (okay, so it was called "Decode His Body Language" and it's written by the folks at Cosmo...it was on the Yahoo! homepage, alright??) This particular paragraph I found to be cool:

He looks up and to the left. The next time you ask him a sticky
question or he wants to explain himself to you, notice which way he looks. If
his eyes move up to the right, he's recalling information from his memory. If he
looks up to the left, there's a good chance that he's inventing the
answer.

Isn't that neat? Our eyes subconsciously dart to the different sides of our brain to recall a memory or to make up a new story. Pretty interesting.

Quotable Quote

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."

-Steve Martin

(famous philosopher and banjo picker)

The Logo

Still cranking away at those storyboards for my latest story, Deer in the Headlights: A Lightning Bug Story. I finally got around to designing the logo today! You can see it below. I was going for a kind of wood-carved look, with a lightning bug-like glow on the subtitle. I'm fairly pleased with the results.

The Set Piece

I finally created the main "Set Piece" for Deer in the Headlights: A Lightning Bug Story. I'll be using this illustration for the opening shot, the web site page, and probably a few other places. It was done using Pastels in Corel Painter, then I brought it into Photoshop for a few touch-ups. Of course, it was created on my Cintiq. Oh, Cintiq. How did I ever live without you? ...I suppose I just used my smaller Wacom tablet. Anywho, here's the illustration:

The Sunday Sketches

What a drawing-filled weekend I've had! I did some more sketches on colored paper today. Also did a few charcoal drawings again. Check 'em out...

The Saturday Sketches

Had to take a break from the storyboarding today and just do some sketching. I bought myself a neat little sketchbook with colored paper, so I did a few sketches in that, playing with some highlights:

And then I did another one of my new fav sketch/brush pen ink/Photoshop color illustration type dealies:

Deer in the Headlights - Thumbnails

If you click on one of the thin little strips to the left of this text, you will find some really tall images consisting of all my thumbnail sketches for my latest story, Deer in the Headlights: A Lightning Bug Story. Over 300 boards this time around, which, I believe, is a new record for me. Not sure if this is a longer story or if I'm just putting more acting into my boards. I suppose I'll find out when I start recording the dialogue and putting together the animatic. But first, I must complete the actual story boards! Sounds time-consuming, but fun. I will, of course, be doing them totally digitally using my Cintiq (still justifying that pricetag!).

Be sure to skim over the thumbnails and let me know what you think!

Deer in the Headlights - Color Studies

My work continues on Deer in the Headlights: A Lightning Bug Story!  I've got the first draft of the script complete, and the first act is already thumbnailed.  I'm also working on finalizing the character designs (at least to the point where I can use them in my boards) and the sets.  Below is something new for me.  I decided to do a few "color/lighting studies" to help visualize the story.  I used Corel Painter (soft pastels) and, naturally, my Cintiq.

I think they turned out alright for a first go at such a thing.  What do you think?

The Secret Life of the American Teenager's Hair

I know we've all been watching the summer smash-hit The Secret Life of the American Teenager on ABC Family. And we all know the real star of the show...Amy, the main character's, hair! How do they get it to part like that?!? Simply a marvel. So, like any good animator would, I had to do some exploratory sketches to try to discover the secret life of the american teenager's hair. Below is a collage of what I found...

Deer in the Headlights: A Lightning Bug Story

I'm very pleased to announce that my next short-story animatic will be Deer in the Headlights: A Lightning Bug Story! I've been working on development sketches for over a month now, and I've finally got the story where I want it. Next up is the script, then thumbnails of the story boards, then the actual boards, voice track, etc. Still plenty more to work on/out, but here is your first look at the deer and the lightning bug characters.

Exciting stuff! Stay tuned for more, and be sure to let me know what you think!

The Deer Sketches

So, onward I truck. I've been sitting on the idea for my next story for some time, but I think I'm finally starting to get it. It's going to star a deer and his faithful friend, a lightning bug! Hey, the story's still in development, so who knows what could happen. Below are a few of the "research" sketches I've been doing. Unfortunately, the only real deer I ever see around here are dead on the side of the road. While that would make for an interesting subject matter, I don't think I could stand the smell. So, these are from books and my BFF, Google.




Hope you like them and, as always, please let me know what you think! Thanks!

Green-Eyed Girl

Just a quick sketch that I colored in Photoshop. Still working on getting skin tones...I think this is a losing battle for me...

Ding-Dong Sketches

Now that the new Portfolios have been (for the most part) sent out, I can dive into my next project, tentatively titled Ding-Dong Ditch Dog. Below are some of the first sketches for the new story, colored using Photoshop and my awesome new Cintiq.

These are the two main characters. I like the style...it reminds me of The Muppets. It's also different from what I've been doing, which is an exciting change of pace.

The First Cintiq Project

Well, I finally got a chance to use my fancy, expensive new Cintiq. Unfortunately, it was work-related, but I'm still pretty pleased with the results. My boss's father is a school bus driver and she wanted a banner to commemorate his retirement. So, here it is:
I'm surprised by the amount of control I seem to get with the Cintiq. Now, if I could just get used to using those shortcut buttons on the sides...

The New Love of My Life: My Cintiq

This past Monday, April 21, was my birthday. So, in honor of that combined with my tax refund, I decided to finally spoil myself and buy a Wacom Cintiq! Unfortunately, it's been a busy week, so I haven't been able to do too much with it except set it up. Below are some pictures I took whilst assembling the beast:

Fresh from the UPS delivery truck.

Oh...another box.

Fresh from being removed from the other box.

Important yellow notice.

The parts box.

Baby got back.

Set-up on the stand.

Standing up-right on the stand.

The grand unveiling!

The most beautiful thing I've ever seen...

Hooked up and working--with my Carrie Underwood desktop background.

I was able to play around with the settings and Photoshop tonight a little bit. I have to keep pinching myself--it's just too amazing. I can't wait to start working on a real project with it!

The New Contact Me Form

It's been awhile since my last post (about a month), but I've been busy working on my new website for The Adventures of Stickman! And it's now up and running! Very cool stuff, so be sure to go check it out at www.TheAdventuresofStickman.com!!

Additionally, I am starting to make some final updates to my main website, LoweQuality.com, before I send out my latest Portfolio. One of those updates was a cool new Flash "Contact Me" interactive form that you can fill out to e-mail me right from the site. Very cool. I did a couple of new drawings for it and thought I'd include them below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy and be sure to check out the Stickman site!!!! Thanks!

The Ellen Page Charcoal Drawing

My latest favorite movie is Juno (and kudos to Diablo Cody for her Best Original Screenplay Oscar). Fun, quirky story and characters--of course the shining star of the movie is the lovely and talented Ms. Ellen Page. I'm now a huge fan, so, in honor of that, here's a quick charcoal drawing I did of her today.

The Taylor Swift Illustration

Man does it feel good to just draw! Here's an illustration I've been working on of country music star Taylor Swift. I drew it with pencil, then colored it using Photoshop. I tried a new technique of using multiple layers at different opacities to achieve a rich skin tone--and I'm fairly pleased with the results.
Be sure to let me know what you think! Thanks!