Sketches

Today I worked on designing a stylized character. Props to my coworker for the paper texture, which I use all the time, and also to Hadi Tabasi, my inspiration for this small project. I think you can tell which one I like the most, although the one on the end is nice at 3/4 view, I couldn't get a profile I was happy with.

Photoshop, as usual. For those who care, I used 3 adjustment layers to add form on top of the line work - 2 curves to darken and 1 curve to lighten. I used 2 custom brushes, one that looks like marker on watercolor paper for the sketching, and one that looks like an oil brush for the tonal work.

I will be modeling the head in the near future using ZBrush and Maya.

My Sweet, Sweet Car

So, I had another vivid dream last night. It was kind of weird, but I wanted to record it anyways... I guess it's just because I remember most of it now, so why not?

The coolest thing about the dream is the car I had. I'm not a car guy, but this car was pretty cool. It looked almost exactly like this GTO. It was sitting in my garage, only the doors, hood, trunk and body panels were laying on a work bench. I was packing the car with as many of my belongings as I could, getting ready for a long relocation and life on the run from something, the police perhaps? I'd place bags or throw shoes into spaces in the car, and when it was full I would put the body panel back on. Not like using secret cargo holds, the panels were off to make for easier access throwing stuff inside.

I was living with roommates, and they didn't know what was really going on. I had flashes of memories of what happened earlier, I think the night before. I was driving in the snow, swerved around a corner and hit a guy, and I told everyone he died. Even though I don't drink, I was a little tipsy at the time this happened. Supposedly I was off the hook for some reason, but the real sequence of events was quite different from the story I told, and that was why I was getting out of town.

In another feature-film-like sequence of shots, I came swerving around a corner as I told in the story. However, the man I said I hit, looked at me with wide eyes as I came toward him. I knew him to be the man I was sent to kill. I slid to a stop, fishtailing the back end in the snow. Running out of the car, I tackled the guy as he tried to escape, sat on his chest and put my hands on his face until he stopped moving.

That was why I was getting out of Dodge. It was just a matter of time before the investigation by the police would lead them knocking down my door...

Then I woke up and poured some Kix for a confused Miles and whiny Anna (what happened to the Rainbow Cereal??). A little sprinkled sugar on top solved both problems.

I hope my dream doesn't disturb anyone, but I would love to hear some interpretations.

Some more DS Sketches

The b/w sketches were done at the mall today while the kids were running around in the play area. It was really crowded...

I need to paint more on my DS!

Figure Drawing Demo by Nathan Fowkes

I have a lot of art blogs in my reader. I love to see what people are doing, and be inspired by talented artists. Nathan Fowkes is a recent add, and I am in constant amazement of his prowess. He has two blogs, one for landscape sketches and another for more figure drawing. I just wanted to share this demo with all you artists out there, because Nathan inspires me with every post.

Good Eats

When we got married, my wife informed me that she didn't know how to cook. Of course, I loved her anyway and told her it didn't matter.

But it did.

Growing up, my mother cooked all the time. She baked Christmas treats until she realized she was gaining weight from mid-production sampling. She made strange Chinese food and green bean casseroles with crushed cracker topping. She baked red bean cookies and meatloaf. I am sad that she doesn't cook as much anymore, now that all the kids have left the house, but I will always have fond memories of the food we enjoyed there.

I used to sneak my Dad's cranberry juice after he had his kidney stones.

I also used to stuff my mouth full of food I didn't want to eat, excuse myself to the bathroom (with a full mouth), spit out the food in some toilet paper and flush it down. Yeah, I'm not proud of it, but it is what it is.

Despite all the complaining my siblings and I did, I secretly enjoyed her cold Ginger Chicken and Sunday Macaroni Soup.

Here are some of my other favorite things my Mom made, in no particular order:

- Pasta Carbonara (learned authentically from an Italian woman), which we called "Bacon and Egg Pasta"
- Zhong zi
- Soy Sauce Eggs
- Beef Tongue (just kidding - that was gross. Like french kissing a cow)
- Early morning hot breakfast waiting in the heated oven (I can't believe she got up at 5am to make breakfast!)
- Roast beef on rye
- Almond Jello
- Chinese Tapioca
- Turkey stuff with sticky rice and cooked with Chinese spices
- Lobuo soup
- Paperstick (inside joke)
- Bao zi

My wife's cooking now has tremendously grown since we were first married. We now know how to boil eggs, and some other pretty cool stuff too! If you don't believe me, just go here and check out the cool food she makes for us to enjoy.

Even as I type, she is making Molasses Spice Cookies (aka Gingersnaps). They are to DIE for.