Captain's Log

An Apple a Day... #29

2010-12-04T11:55:00.001-08:00

Moustache.
Part V

An Apple a Day... #28

2010-11-29T15:56:00.001-08:00

Moustache.
Part IV

An Apple a Day... #27

2010-11-05T20:28:00.000-07:00

Moustache.
Part III

An Apple a Day... #26

2010-11-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

Moustache.
Part II

An Apple a Day... #25

2010-11-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

This is a new storyline that is playing itself out right now. It's not done yet. I also have no idea how long it will be nor do I know how it will be resolved. Probably in some stupid way using Deus ex Machina.

Titled, "Moustache."
Part I.

An Apple a Day... #24

2010-08-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Before this silly series of event concludes, I feel I must apologize about my poor excuse for legible handwriting. It's terrible, I know. It got pretty bad in some areas and I tried my best to clean up the truly illegible spots. Also, the drawings, overall, took a noticeable decline. However, I feel that lends this particular series of strips a certain character. All of the pages are scanned from a sketchbook and the drawings and crappy handwriting reflect this. For whatever reason, I think it works out alright in this instance.

Also, it's important to note that these six comic parts are still rough sketches. They will be cleaned up and made sensible soon.

Okay. Now, onward to the end.

The Bet
Part VI

An Apple a Day... #23

2010-08-05T13:58:00.000-07:00

The Bet
Part V

An Apple a Day... #22

2010-08-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

The Bet
Part IV

An Apple a Day... #21

2010-08-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

The Bet
Part III

An Apple a Day... #20

2010-08-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

The Bet
Part II

An Apple a Day... #19

2010-08-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

If I keep making comics loosely based around Twilight, people may begin to think I'm a fan.

I'm not.

But I feel that this new obsession amongst young people today has to be commented on in some way just like Harry Potter, Star Wars and a myriad of other things before it. (That's not say it hasn't been commented on, at great length, already. I'm just fashionably late to the party.)

This is my commentary. Stupid comics that entertain me as I draw them.

Therefore, I present:

The Bet
Part I

Neverland.

2010-07-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

I made this painting for a friend as a sort of housewarming gift. When I told her I was doing it, I asked if she wanted it to be anything in particular. She said she wanted something to do with Neverland and a unicorn.

Well, the unicorn made it in. Neverland......not so much. This is basically what goes on inside my head everyday. So, I suppose, it's my Neverland.

An Apple a Day... #18

2010-06-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Titled, Sword.

This particular comic is special in that it's an experiment. It's actually an animated comic, despite what the image below would have you believe. Also, the image is blurry because it's a still frame from the end of the comic. But enough of this blabbering. Onward, to the animated tale of Apple and his sword.

Just click the image and watch the panels come to life.

NOTE:

This is embarrassing but, The last text bubble of the comic reads "I seem to have cut myself." Yet it's written much more sluggishly than that.

Bear.

2010-05-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

I titled this one, Bear, because I'm very creative.

It's a watercolor painting.

Honestly, when I began painting this, I hated it. It looked very good as a cleaned up line drawing. But, now that it's done, I like the painting. I just wish I scanned it as a clean line drawing before painting it.

Maybe next time.

Pizza and Bear Roughs.

2010-05-20T21:19:00.001-07:00

I came to the conclusion that both of the ideas had to be in comic form, whether Jenn and Ashley wanted them to be or not. The firefly idea definitely, but I think this bear idea only benefits from a panelled composition. I roughed it out to get a better idea of what it should look like.

It will get painted.

Firefly.

2010-05-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

I completed the Firefly idea first. I then did the sensible thing and titled it, Firefly.

It's ink and colored pencil on sketchbook paper. It has measurements, but I don't know them off-hand.

Sketches For Ideas That Weren't Entirely Mine.

2010-05-20T20:50:00.000-07:00

"Ashley and I have a couple ideas for drawings for you to do," Jenn's message read.
"Ok. What are they?" was my reply.
"In the first one, we want you to draw a picture where a bear is like right outside the tent when you open it and he's asking you for the keys to your car because you left a pizza inside of it."
"Lol, Ok."
"In the second, we want a drawing of a person who eats a firefly and you can still see it glowing from within him. Then he poops it out and it flies away."
"Lol. Can I guess who came up with which idea?"

My friends are great.

Here are sketches for the ideas.

Food.

2010-05-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

So, I've been busy at work with this whole remodeling thing. Now that it's done, the signs we have are crummy and not very appealing. My manager turned to me and told me to design something better.

So, I am.

I figured that evoking the concession stand food characters from the drive-in movie era would lend itself nicely to a sign meant for calling out new release movies.

An Apple a Day... #17

2010-04-20T19:32:00.000-07:00

Titled, Breaking Dawn.

This is more of an epilogue, but there are four books in the Twilight saga. It only stands to reason my comic should have four strips like its namesake. I'm going to be honest. I don't know what happens in the Twilight saga. But, I like to think I nailed it.

An Apple a Day... #16

2010-04-20T19:28:00.000-07:00

Titled, Eclipse.

I really wanted to evoke that whole CSI: Miami sunglasses thing with Apple. I think I failed. Probably because he isn't making a pun.

An Apple a Day... #15

2010-04-20T19:24:00.000-07:00

Titled, New Moon.

An Apple a Day... #14

2010-04-20T19:16:00.001-07:00

This represents the start of the first multi-comic story arc. It's incredibly stupid, but fun. Interestingly, these next few strips are not the originals, but are the redone, cleaned up versions of the same comics I made for a friend. I created them on green sticky notes with ballpoint pen and blue masking tape. Those have a certain character to them that I like and, sadly is not present in these newer versions. But in that sense, they are special. The originals are hers, and these are mine. Like two sides of the same coin.

This first one is titled, Twilight.

An Apple a Day... #13

2010-04-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Titled, Self Image.

An Apple a Day... #12

2010-03-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Titled, Kite.
Sometimes, clouds can be jerks.

An Apple a Day... #11

2010-03-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

These next few comics have been done for some time. I've been too busy to post them.

This one is titled, Captain Obvious.

Awesome. In Color.

2010-02-21T17:53:00.000-08:00

I decided to color in the Wartortle and Rapidash picture for fun. The pink background is only there so the picture wasn't sitting on white.

Before I wrapped it up, I turned off the outlines to see my paint job. The result was pretty neat, if a bit unresolved.

Honestly, I think I like it better as a line drawing.

Run!

2010-02-19T07:56:00.000-08:00

I've been on a Pokemon kick lately.

This is Mr. Mime being chased by a few Beedrills. The bottom Beedrill is pretty crappy, to be quite honest.

Sleepy.

2010-02-18T18:37:00.001-08:00

When I showed my friend the picture of Wartortle riding Rapidash, she loved it. She then suggested I draw a picture of Paras pinching a Snorlax.

So, I did.

Awesome.

2010-02-18T18:32:00.000-08:00

I was chatting with a friend recently about Pokemon. In particular, we were discussing our favorite Pokemon. One of her favorites is Rapidash. Mine is Wartortle. I then said it would be awesome if Wartortle were to ride Rapidash into battle.

I knew then that I had to draw this.

An Apple a Day... #10

2010-02-05T18:53:00.000-08:00

Apple's snowman comes to terms with his mortality.
Snowmen are such tragic figures.

Moon.

2010-01-29T13:13:00.000-08:00

It seems as if I've written the end to a story I didn't know I was writing. Or, perhaps, it is the beginning. After all, I believe it was Peter Pan who said death would be an awfully big adventure.

Hot Dog.

2010-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's been too long. At the start of the year, I began asking a friend of mine to give me drawing assignments. She gave me a few which got progressively more complex in terms of execution. I don't mind at all. This is a fun experiment and she seems to enjoy it as well. Perhaps I'll post them in the future.

The drawing below is something I told my friend to do, but she said no. Said she can't draw. So, I did it.

The Apples are alive and well. I gave them a break for the holiday. They're due back to work soon.

An Apple a Day... #9

2009-11-16T13:55:00.001-08:00

This took a while to finish. Mostly, I had the idea but wasn't sure how to format it. When that was figured out, I wasn't jazzed about drawing the last panel. But, it came together. It's also a bit blurry for some reason.

Titled, Oven.

It's not my favorite.

Snowmen

2009-11-03T18:38:00.001-08:00

It's getting colder outside and I want it to snow. In the meantime, I'm going to draw snowmen. Here is a couple to start with.

Also, I'm hard at work on the next comic. It's not very complex but it's taking longer than I anticipated. Just need more motivation, I suppose.

George

2009-10-29T20:30:00.000-07:00

Goku

2009-10-29T20:26:00.001-07:00

I drew a picture of Goku while waiting for a game to load.

Some Old Stuffs

2009-10-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Some random drawings from my sketchbook. These are a few months old.

Hug Bear - In Technicolor!

2009-10-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

Someone wanted me to clean up my Hug Bear drawing and add a splash of color to it so they can put it on a shirt.

Funeral

2009-10-10T18:35:00.001-07:00

Went to a funeral for my great aunt today. I drew a picture of me in a suit. It was also raining.

Hug Bear

2009-10-04T19:01:00.000-07:00

Story of my life. Sometimes, I just want a hug.

An Apple a Day... #8

2009-10-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

Ice Cream reveals his favorite food.

Sean Versus a Shark

2009-09-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

"What should I draw on the first page of this comic," Sean asked.
"You punching a shark in the face. 'Cause eff sharks," I replied.

And thus this picture was born. Well, not immediately. First, I drew a picture to illustrate what I was talking about:

I suggested he be smoking a pipe and wearing an old-school red and white striped swim suit as he was doing the deed. (I also suggested the use of a disclaimer spreading a lie that he has punched a shark in the face. In real life!)
A little later, he sent me a rough sketching of a drawing that will depict him committing a violent act against a shark. I then took an artistic liberty with it and drew all over it and came up with the mess of lines and squiggles at the top of this rambling tale.

I showed it to Sean and he laughed saying that's precisely what he was drawing in the first place. So, while not entirely my drawing, it was fun to draw all over someone else's drawing and present the results to them (and here, for that matter).

Besides, I'm sure Sean's own final version of this drawing will be much better than my messy "interpretation."

A Little Doodling Never Hurt Anybody...

2009-09-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

Except for that one guy, that one time, during that one year, long, long. ago.

Incidentally, both my brother and I appear in this particular post. In caricature form.

Return of the Sketches, Doodles, and Mistakes

2009-09-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

Large post ends in
3.....
2.....
1.....

Even More Sketches, Doodles, and Mistakes

2009-09-25T18:15:00.000-07:00

The sketch dump continues.

More Sketches, Doodles, and Mistakes

2009-09-25T18:04:00.000-07:00

A large amount of sketches to post today.
This will probably take multiple posts.

Sketches, Doodles, and Mistakes

2009-09-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Some sketches. The carrot ones are terrible.

An Apple a Day... #7

2009-09-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

Titled Writer's Block.

Horizontal formatting is a killer when it comes to resolution. I don't like having to make a thumbnail so you can actually read the comic, but such is life and I'm not gonna rule out horizontal formats just because they can be hard to read and I'm too lazy to link to the larger version.

So just click the image to see the (not much) larger, but legible version.

Regarding the Comics

2009-09-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

I'm now noticing a trend.

These comics don't just present a beginning and an end anymore. In fact, some have middles, clear as day, such as Raining Babies. Others have middles that aren't blatantly obvious, yet are there. Those have yet to be produced. And one, Pimple, has an end that also happens to be the middle. Is that even possible? I suppose it can be. Or, maybe that's just an illustration of cause and effect.

In any case, these comics are no longer just easy things to throw together. Now, my desire to tell narratives is popping up.

Dammit.

An Apple a Day... #6

2009-09-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

This one took longer to complete. Titled, Raining Babies, and it's loosely based on a Flaming Lips song of the same name. "Loosely" might be an understatement, but it was what I thought about when I listened to the song.

Anyway.....

An Apple a Day... #5

2009-08-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Another installment in the "Candid Speakers" segment that will pop up from time to time. This time it features Banana speaking about his view on life and love. Candidly, of course.

An Apple a Day....#2 Revision

2009-08-24T19:05:00.000-07:00

Since the original version of the candid carrot comic was unreadable in its horizontal format, I decided to redo it in a brand new, fancy shmancy, super duper vertical format!

An Apple a Day... #4

2009-08-22T13:56:00.000-07:00

Quite a pimple, indeed.

An Apple a Day... #3

2009-08-20T19:08:00.000-07:00

Titled, To Live.

This particular comic was the first to be conceptualized, yet, due to other ideas being more fun, was the third to be completed.

An Apple a Day....#2

2009-08-17T19:27:00.001-07:00

Carrot speaks candidly about his fears:

Click here to see a bigger version

New Beginings: An Apple a Day... #1

2009-08-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

To commemorate this refresh, I'm posting the first comic from something I'm beginning to create, tentatively titled, An Apple a Day... However, if I decide to add different fruits to this than just an apple, well then the title will need to change, yes? If this turns out to be the case, the title will be Fruit Salad. I like both titles (though, I must admit, I'm a bit partial to Fruit Salad).

Oh, and this comic doesn't make sense at a glance. That's the point. I present a beginning and an end. The middle is up to the reader to fill in. Now without further ado:

Oh my...

2009-08-16T16:34:00.000-07:00

It seems I've been a terrible blogger. I've really let this place go. There are cobwebs everywhere and dust, inches thick, covering every surface, nook, and cranny. But, I've decided I'm gonna be a good blogger now. I can use this for posting work, thoughts, ideas, anything really. I doubt anyone will read it but, so what? So, starting today, this place will be different - overhauled in a way.

If, indeed anyone does read this, then perhaps a quick update is in order. First, I no longer reside in Philadelphia. I no longer create work for Motion Heads. The PSA for Fresh Artists was created and presumably never used. Or maybe it is being used in various donation meetings, just not on their website. The lego project was a week-long grind that was completed satisfactorily and looked great. But never in my life had I touched legos that were so dirty, grimy and hairy. After all that, I moved back to Delaware and tried to find a paying job in animation. In Spetember 2008, I went to New York with my buddy,Zach, and took a test at Little Airplane Productions. I didn't get the job, but Zach did. I came home and got a job working at Best Buy. It sucked but was a paycheck. Plus I met some nice people and that's always wonderful. Zach had tried for 6 months to get me a job at Little Airplane.

In March, they called me in for another test, claiming usually people don't test twice, but I get to under a technicality. Apparently in the time since I had taken the test and failed, miserably, I might add, they had decided to make up a tutorial. So I retook the test and did infinitely better this time around (it helped that I got some pointers from Zach beforehand...). Then a month passed and I recieved word that I didn't get the job again. Disheartened, I went back to my life at Best Buy, resolved and resigned to make the best of things. A few weeks later, Little Airplane called again, this time they wanted to offer me an interview. I went in, nervous to impress and fairly sure I'd fail again, but I interviewed like a champ. A few days later, I was offered a position working as an animator for The Wonder Pets! on Nick Jr. Ecstatic, I put in my resignation at Best Buy and went to work in the city. It's proven to be the best job I've ever had.

Come September 4th, I will lose this job. But that's not to say I can't come back. The season is over and the project is over. Hopefully there will be more work, and I'll be back, enjoying what I'm doing. Until then, I'll try to find something else. Freelance or something, I don't know.

Long time no post

2008-07-24T16:55:00.000-07:00

Its now been two months since the furor of the semester died off and the Senior Animation screening showed the city of Philadelphia what the students of UArts are made of and have to offer the world. My film was well received, but didn't take the best of show prize. Oh well, maybe next time.

During these summer months, I've been working at an incubator studio set up by two animation teachers at UArts. Dubbed "Motion Heads," we spend our time working on client based freelance work. It's a nice gig to keep busy during the summer but just a prelude to the real world, which is right around the corner and ready to wrap its arms around me and keep me in its ever entangling embrace forever. Right now, I've just finished a new demo reel to be shopped around, and I'm preparing to send off a mass of applications to various studios in New York and see if I can't get a job.

Incidentally, I have applied to Pixar for an open position as a full-time animator. I don't think I got it.

Back at Motion Heads, I'm attached to two projects; one more seriously than the other, but that's gonna change soon. One project is a web-based PSA for a start up organization called Fresh Artists here in Philly. Fresh Artists aims to get more money in the hands of Philadelphia Public School art teachers through various donations from corporations in the area. My PSA is an effort approved by them to help raise awareness for their cause.

The other project is just a segment of a Festival bumper that will require the use of legos. Should be fun. Plus, I get to play with legos while I work.

Stills

2008-03-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

Two almost-finished stills:

And two in-production stills:

Strangers

2008-03-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago, I had a dream. I dreamt I was a brave warrior on a mission to kill the swamp lady. My companion on this journey was a donkey with soulful eyes. When we got to the swamp and were confronted by the Lady, my donkey companion charged her while I snuck into her coffin shaped hut to search for her weakness. It turns out she had 7 daughters, 6 of which were beautiful and 1 that had her mouth stitched shut and was a vision of horror to me. I had to kill the daughters, who held the swamp lady's vital organs, but could not bring myself to do it. I failed my mission and woke up.

On a less subconscious note, I also began (or will begin) reading a new book, Coraline by Neil Gaiman. When I opened the cover, I was greeted with a wonderful quote by G.K. Chesterton, which reads:

Fairy tales are more than true: not because
they tell us that dragons exist, but because
they tell us that dragons can be beaten.

The quote spoke to me because we all have dragons in our lives. Be it our jobs, our relationships, our perceived enemies or just life itself and the challenges it presents us with everyday, it's important to remember that these challenges and problems can be overcome, no matter the difficulty. In my case, it was animating this senior film.

And sure enough, I've overcome. I finished animating, or, more precisely, production. However, this dragon was more like a phoenix. The obstacle died, but no has been reborn into another task called post-production. I hold onto my determination to finish this beast and have something I can be proud of to show off.

Spring Break

2008-03-15T21:22:00.000-07:00

Last week, I was on spring break, and when I look back on it, it was a nice break. I didn't have to worry about going to class or doing work for any classes. However, I did decide to focus fully on finishing the animation of my film, or at least getting close to being finished. Getting close is exactly what happened.

The week was filled with plenty of opportunities for me to goof off and blow off my responsibility to my animation. And I did. I played a hearty amount of Smash Bros. Brawl, which came out the Sunday spring break started, and I spent alot of time with my family. I also managed to take on the task of redesigning the logo for my uncle's podiatry practice, which is in the final stages of being completed. So how is it that I sit here at 12:26 a.m., Sunday March 16th, in the early morning before I return to the city and, by extension, school, with only four shots left to be animated, when I began the week with, what I thought was 13 shots left to be animated?

I say "thought" because the shot count inflated due to the fact i was missing shots in my production schedule and that some needed to be added out of necessity and for the sake of continuity.

In any case, I suppose the answer to my question lies, at least at its core, in the "Spring Break Schedule" I wrote out at, almost this precise time, one week ago. But as the week went on, I found some kind of motivation, and perhaps drew on the abundance of inspiration I had been stockpiling since before the school year started, and let it, for lack of a better word, explode out of me into this production process that was, at the same time rewarding as it was fun.

Fun. I haven't had fun animating in a long time. Probably not since I left DCAD as a sophomore, and just before I transferred to UArts.

Either way, I know that when I tell the number of shots I did complete this week to Karl, my teacher, and the class during my critique, I will get a few scoffs and a look of unanimous disbelief. In fact, the only way to prove it would be to show it, and well, I don't have much choice about that since it's my crit, and it's what I intended to do anyway. I say that an overall disbelief will overtake my critique because I have a hard time believing it myself, but I've done the final count three times already, all with the same result, and because up to this point the best weeks I've had clocked in around seven shots. To do thirteen would have been wonderful. If you do the math, I had 13 shots to do, have 4 left now at the end of break. That would mean I did a scant 9 shots this week. However, as I said before, the shot count inflated, and variables are everything in math from the algebra level onward.

This has been a bit long-winded and self-flattering, but, damn it all, I'm proud of myself. That's the first time I can say that during this entire animation and it feels good. It's definitely the much needed self-esteem boost that I've been waiting for since I started the summer internship at WYBE. I hope this feeling stays with me as I work on finishing the animation. I think it will.

So, here I am, now at 1:11 a.m. on Sunday, March 16th, feeling accomplished and with 26 shots of animation done over this week and ready to be shown to an audience that will constructively criticize it between the scoffs and disbelieving stares. "A productive break indeed," they'll say when it's over. And I'll just nod my head, and agree.

It's raining.

2008-02-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

Outside, it's raining. I have slacked off a bit on my animation schedule the past few weeks. I think this was necessary for two reasons:
1) At the pace I was going, I was going to be finished animating within two weeks, which scared me because Karl has a habit of telling me to add things that may or may not be necessary. Also, if I were finished at that time, my work would be looked at more critically, eventually ending with plenty of shots that need to be redone or reworked and I don't think I would have had the sanity to deal with that.
2) My mental state of mind was switching between depressed and oppressed to happy and carefree so much that I thought that I might have gone insane, or at the very least, become bi-polar.

It's a relief that slacking for two weeks has helped me readjust and begin to get back on track. Should be smooth sailing from here on. Anyway, I began to color some shots I've finished and am finally beginning to get a sense of what the final film will look like. That said, the end is in sight, but too far away for me to feel anything but longing for.

Heh.

2008-02-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

Funny how quickly inspiration and motivation can fade, leaving you left sitting, alone, at a desk staring blankly at a monitor until you realize you haven't drawn in over an hour.

Today was the first time I have animated since Tuesday. Even still, it was only a total of eight frames to finish a shot that I had started on Tuesday before class. The total number of shots I need to do this week is 5. I've done 1. 4 days left until Wednesday. 1 shot a day would do it I think.

I think I need another pep talk.

Teh first post

2008-02-02T19:09:00.000-08:00

It has become commonplace for my mental state to wither and degrade over the course of work on an animation. So, I decided to start this blog so that I can have a written record of said mental withering and degradation as I work furiously to finish up my senior animation.

Of course updates will be posted periodically and random scenes may find themselves on the internet before long.

Should be great fun.