What You Talkin' About? Does It Disrespect God, or You?

The week before Easter, a young man and his mother were sitting in the pew in front of me at church. The young man sat, very sullenly, with his ball cap pulled down low over his eyes, and his arms folded across his chest. His mom, beside him stood and participated in the service. She was there to worship, and it seemed he wanted to make it clear that he was only there because she wanted him to be. I remember thinking that he was being disrespectful to his mother; that if nothing else he was reflecting poorly on her and the things she felt were important. It seemed like maybe I should lean forward and tell him that he needed to be mindful and at least act like he was participating. While I watched him though, I noticed that his eyes were open. If he wasn't sleeping, then he was at least hearing. His mother was quietly witnessing to him by making sure that he was there to hear the message. Maybe the important thing was that he was at least here, and he should be allowed to come to that message in his own way rather than to adhere to mine.

This week, I wore a hat to service. I made a conscious decision to do this because I'm letting my hair grow out, and it's in that in between stage where it starts looking bad because there's nothing to control it. It didn't seem like a big deal, because at least all my clothes were clean, and my appearance was between me and J.C. A man came up to me just before the beginning of service, and told me (told me) that it was disrespectful to wear a hat here, and asked that I remove it... This stirred up a few things inside of me, and I would like to talk about it a little bit.

First it made me feel unwelcome, which caused a downward domino effect. J.C. said to go out and make Christians. Not Methodists, not Catholics, not people who don't wear hats to church. Make Christians, and making anybody feel unwelcome goes a long way towards defeating that purpose. I didn't want to sigh the guest book. I didn't want to give my tithe. I didn't want to come back. I spent the entire service thinking about him, instead of being present, where I was. Spending time with God. He may as well have asked me to leave, because I wasn't there anyway.

I wanted to wear my hat to service again next week. To actively disrespect the man.

Maybe that's one of those instances where we ignore God's soft voice so that we can get our own way. Whether I wear a hat in church is between me and J.C., and not me and some guy. I actively decided to wear it. It's possible that this man telling me that it is disrespectful is Gods way of letting me know that he thinks it is too. Or...

He could be telling me through this experience that I did the right thing by not stepping in with that boy a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it was His way of saying that I should let Him speak to th this young man with out my being a distraction. It could be that the best way to witness for God is to step back, and to watch and witness.

Or maybe there's a better way... Sometimes the Big Guy can be difficult and makes us figure things out on our own. After the service, as Abby and I were getting in the car to come home, the guy came up to me in the parking lot. He told me that he was sorry if he offended me, and that it is just the way he was raised, and something that was further ingrained by military service. (For the record this is true for me as well, and 90% of the time this situation would never have presented itself.) I told him I understand, and I appreciate that he felt it was important to talk to me, but that kind of approach will always leave one person on the defensive and become a conflict. I told him my story of the boy from a couple of weeks ago, and commented that there had to be a better way to go about it.

I don't know how he could have asked me to take my hat off without me feeling like I didn't belong. I don't think that was the point that was being made though. Two weeks ago, instead of worrying that that young man was being sullen, or disrespectful, I should have made a point to say "Welcome" and "I'm glad to see you here today". This seems silly maybe, but sometimes it's the silly little things that make the biggest difference.

It's okay to get upset with the man for handling a situation that he thought was important badly. That doesn't make it the church's fault, and doesn't mean I'm not welcome. Every week we recite the Lords Prayer, and ask him to forgive us our trespasses, and he does. Part of the deal there though, is that we also need to forgive those who trespass against us.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend,
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About? Coraline

"...And he said that wasn't brave of him, doing that, just standing there and being stung, " said Coraline to the cat. "It wasn't brave because he wasn't scared: it was the only thing he could do. But going back again to get his glasses, when he knew the wasps were there, when he was really scared. That was brave."
-Neil Gaiman"Coraline"

When my wife and I first saw "Coraline" in the theaters we were amazed. This movie was everything we look for in a film. Excellent story, beautiful visuals, the sound track fit well...it was a movie that we knew we were going to own and share with our daughter(s).

So my first female character for little girls to look up to is Coraline Jones, from the book (and movie) Coraline. Just in case any of you has not had a chance to lay your hands on either telling of this story, I'll not spoil it for you by going too in depth here...The story revolves around a young girl who, just having moved to a new home with her parents is bored. Everything seems colorless and dull. She has no friends, her parents are busy with work, and (like many tweens) she feels like she never gets what she wants.

However. Behind the peeling wallpaper in the great-room, she finds a little door, and behind that door is another world. A world that is so much more...interesting than her own.

Coraline Jones gets my vote as a female character to look up to for three big reasons. She's clever, she's brave and she's compassionate.

What You Talkin' About: Role Models

One thing about growing up and having kids... you want them to have strong role models. When my first daughter, Abby was born, I noticed that there was a general lack of female characters out there to really look up to. Sure, there were I guess the Disney princesses, but by and large they seemed to just let events happen to them. I guess you could say that some of the pantheon of mythical gods could be considered strong female role-models. They were strong, clever, independent... but they were also... bitches.

Fortunately, as I've been paying more attention to such things, I've noticed this trend changing. Does this maybe have something to do with our changing views on woman's role in our modern world? I don't know, but it does make me feel a little better to know that there ARE some very good examples of strong, clever, capable, compassionate, smart, friendly... girls who are independent and powerful without losing their femininity.

The reason I'm bringing this up this week, is that my second daughter is due to be born soon, and I think it might be a nice way to look forward to that event to spend a couple of weeks showcasing some of the wonderful female characters out there today. I have a few picked out, but would love to hear who you all think would make a good role model for a little girl (both real and make-believe.)

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' about? Mark Zug

There are several conversations that I have carried with me through the years that help me through rough patches. Overly simplistic as it may sound, they take on a sort of mantra quality, and even thinking about them can often calm my thoughts.

I remember once talking to my friend Nathan about working on our art... our skills. There was a desire there to work doing illustration for roleplaying games, media and ourselves... and to make a living doing it. He said something to the effect of, "Do you think all those great artists like Brom and Mark Zug were always amazing? No. One day, they pretty much said to themselves that they were going to learn to paint really well. And then they did it." Like I said, I'm paraphrasing there, but that's the gist of the conversation.

Whenever I feel like I'm maybe not good enough, or I need to get better, work harder, or practice more I think of Mark Zug. And I get to work.

I first ran across Mark Zug's work in the Shadowrun 3rd edition handbook. The quality of his painting and his characters was just simply... stunning.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

Links: Mark Zug
Brom
Nathan Miller

What You Talkin' About: Josh Middleton

Since beginning his professional career as a comic book artist in 1999, Joshua Middleton has worked for every major comic book publisher, as well as book publishers and movie studios as a cover artist, character designer, and conceptual artist.

Joshua maintains a full slate of regular cover and illustration work while working on his own forthcoming illustrated faery tale, Sky between Branches.

I feel bad about making such a short post for such an incredible artist, but it's already been a long week, and it's just half over... LOL. I've been looking at the blog of Joshua Middleton for about two years now, and am always just STUNNED by his work... beautiful and ethereal, he captures the grace and movement of the world around us, and shakes it up (Yahtzee style) into these gorgeous drawings filled with fantasy characters and superheroes. On top of that, he makes it feel effortless. He's apparently been very busy with work of late, and so hasn't updated his blog since October, but it's still worth checking in on because there's always the chance that there will be something new to inspire awe and delight. Check his links at the bottom of the post.

Until next time, take care and be good.

Your friend,

Jeffrey

Links:http://joshuamiddleton.blogspot.com/

http://www.joshuamiddleton.com/

What you Talkin' about? "Swallow Me Whole" by Nate Powell

At times, arranging and reordering was all i could do to handle the day. Didn't know they had a name for it and everything else. - Early on, I thought I'd found a way to exercise just a little control over my world, until I felt my size through it.

The first thing that caught my attention about this book (as with most books) is the cover. Beautiful, cleanly brushed linework and a muted color scheme grounded in drab reality... And a fantastical subject matter of a girl being carried over the trees by a swarm of insects. Glimpsing it out of the corner of my eye as I chased my daughter to the check-out counter at the library, I felt compelled to pick it up. And I was not dissapointed.

The line between what is reality and what is imagination is blurred in the Book "Swallow Me Whole", by Nate Powell. The story follows (I think) a year in the life of Ruth, a teenage girl living in the fictional town of Wormwood, Arkansas. Between Powell's lyrical, sometimes sketchy/sometimes clean but always precise, drawing style, and his well crafted writing, we are given a pretty clear picture of a girl, suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and mild Schizophrenia, trying to make sense of her world. a family trying to hold it all together, and a girl, suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and mild Schizophrenia, trying to make sense of her world.

As the book starts out, the family is going to see Grandma in the hospital. One of the things that struck me about this scene, is the way the details were handled. The hospital was clean, white... sterile. Grandma looked fragile and distant. The kids were sad and awkward, the way kids are in situations where they know they should feel a certain way, but aren't sure why. All of this was beautifully, delicately handled, but the thing that really hit me was the background. The doctor coming in the door was practically scribbled in... just a loose sketch in ink, because all too often, that's all a doctor is, somebody who's in and out, a fleeting character in the event of being in the hospital. the relatives out in the hall are loose drawings too, not on the minds of either the kids or of grandma. Their words just scribbled murmurs, hanging over their heads.

I'm a sucker for poignant moments, and subversive reinforcement of real social morality (is that even a word?) rather than the PC lip service that much of the media outlets feed us as "correct". Powell does such a good job of letting the reader identify with his characters. They know when they are doing something wrong, and as a reader I felt that. Also, even though Ruth felt like the world was (is) confusing, and jumbled she knew when something just was not right, and took a stand against it, when most of us wouldn't have. All in all, the book was a very good read, and I think I would score it a 4.5 out of 5.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend,
Jeffrey

What you Talkin' About: Jackson Pollock

I am not really a huge fan of the work of Jackson Pollock. I appreciate the idea behind it, and the experimental nature of it... but basing an entire body of work around this idea seems unreal. I'm not here to bash on Mr Pollock though. I have a design related story to tell, and it involves him.I got in the mail the other day (by other day, I mean about two month ago...) a brochure for Pantone. There was a design on the back of it that I thought was really pretty cool, lot's of swoops, flourishes and spatters. At the end of the day, this is really just controlled chaos, which got me thinking about Jackson Pollock. Maybe I'm way off base here, and I can think of other artists/movements that also relate to this statement, but here we go. I told my wife that I don't know whether we'd have design quite like this if it weren't for Jackson Pollock.

I graduated from college with a studio art degree, and I remember feeling like it was just as useful as a philosophy degree. (By that I mean not really useful at all.) So much of "Fine art" is wrapped up in ideas, and like them or hate them they do affect the world we live in, and do become a part of our collective unconsious. Sometimes it gets so easy to be elitist about what is good or bad art and design which is a dangerous trap to fall into, simply because it closes your mind to the dialog of ideas. I'm starting to ramble, so I'm going to stop here. I hope you enjoy the design stuff I pulled off the interweb, and Jackson Pollock too.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About?: Denise Brunkus

I think drawing kids is hard. In spite of this, I do it often, both at work and at home. I also am always on the lookout for good art featuring kids. Last night, Abby and I were at the Hobby Lobby scoping some art supplies, and a copy of "Junie B. First Grader: Boss of Lunch" caught my eye.

Wow... What a great illustration. The little girl has a definate sense of character, and the drawing is simple but so full of life. I wasn't able to find very much information on the illustrator, Denise Brunkus, but here's what I was able to dig up.

Denise Brunkus has illustrated more than sixty books for children, most notably the bestselling Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park, Read All About It! by Laura Bush and Jenna Bush, and Charlie Hits It Big by Deborah Blumenthal. Denise is basically a neat person, so adding smudges and smears to the art for Sloppy Joe was an unexpected thrill. She lives in Massachusetts.

Mostly, I just wanted to share these fun little illustrations with you tonite.

Until next time, take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About?: Lorenzo! and Studio Blink Twice

"When I look at the sketch work of an artist, it is always the working lines that hold the most interest for me, as they show an idea as it is just taking shape, when it could go any number of ways and when the creativity and imagination of the artist holds the most potential."
I first saw Lorenzo!'s work in his sketchbook on ConceptArt.org. I was blown away. This guy is doing art that is both loose, and yet clean. His art is highly detailed, but simplified down to what it needs to be. It holds together equally well as black and white line art, and as more finished, rendered grayscale and color pieces. Just... wow.

Looking a little bit closer, he's also working very hard, and apparently LOVING every minute of it. That's one thing that comes across in his sketchbook, and his blog in the way he talks about his work. It also seems to shine through in every line and gesture... Lorenzo! truly loves what he's doing.

Founded in 2003 by the Etherington brothers, Robin and Lawrence (Lorenzo!'s "real" name), Studio Blink Twice was a "total change of direction from the whole touting-art-and-words-to-publishers-who-weren't-all-that-interested, to Self-publishing". Working in black and white, the animal comedy story "Malcolm Magic" launched as a bi-monthly title in January 2004. "Our intention is a simple one; we want only to create beautiful things. Blink Twice is committed to breathing excitement and fun into paper, pixels and people’s minds."



I've been following the sketchbook for quite a while now, and I'm always excited to see new work. Recently, Lorenzo! self-published through Lulu (A Laser Awesome self-publushing/print-on-demand website) the first volume in a brand new series of art books, "El Sketchbook Lorenzo: Volume One". What an excellent little book! Weighing in at just over 100 pages, it is packed to the gills - cover to cover - with drawings, sketches and processes.

It's really cool to see the process that artists go through when they are working on concepts and finished drawings, and I look forward to checking this book out over and over again. If I were to have anything bad to say about it, it would be that I would've liked a little bit of commentary to go along with the images, but at the end of the day he was trying to keep costs down (which I appreciate) and it's an ART BOOK! Given the choice between some text, and more pictures, I think he chose wisely.
One last cool thing about both his blog, and his sketchbook on CA... Demos! this is another reason I can easily forgive the lack of text in the book. LOL. Every so often, Lorenzo! posts pictures of his workspace and works in progress... as they are progressing. Even better, sometimes they include detailed text embedded in the .jpg for convenient theft (erm... I mean... um... well...) viewing later when you are trying vainly (LOL) to emulate his working style.

This is something that I personally love about the inter-web (and you kids better count your lucky stars at how easy you have it). It seems like when I was a lad, everything (techniques, processes, even ideaology) was closly guarded. I remember getting issues of "Starlog" or "Wizard" magazines reading the fluff articles with the creators "behind-the-scenes" and studying grainy little photos of their studios hoping to spy the Holy Grail. That one thing that made them better. Or at least to get an idea of how to do some of the stuff that they knew how to, and I didn't...

Well, it looks like I've started rambling, so that's a good time to cut things here short. I hope that I've piqued your interest in the Etherington Brothers, and Studio Blink Twice, and that you'll go and check them out. Also, as a side, I hope they inspire you check out the possibilities of self publishing your work through companies like Lulu, or Ka-blam!. There's a lot more flexibility out there now than the old model of working and hoping to get noticed by Marvel or something. There's still some hustling involved, but I think it's worth it, and possibly more rewarding in the end.

Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About?: Portland Studios

We want to be consumed with something beyond ourselves.

Portland Studios isn't concerned with the next big leap, the next wave, the magic bullet. We strive for a collective body of work that displays a habit of excellence.
Hopefully behind our art, people might perceive the shape of truth, the romance of order, the virtue of beauty, and the goodness of goodness.

It's a big job, but that's the plan.

Sometimes, I run across something on the interweb that just inspires me. I found the Portland Studios website through the blog of Justin Gerard, Quick Hide Here. Interested in Justin's work, I wanted to see more of it, so I followed up to the where he works, which was conveniently linked in the sidebar.

From the opening screen, I was hooked. Elegant design, with a warm brown pallette and textured background brings to mind old books, a warm kitchen, and a hot pipe. Add to that the charming "soundtrack", and it just draws you into the experience. I'm not usually a fan of music on websites, but the music for the Portland Studios site is tasteful, not overpowering, and like I said, adds to the experience. Also on the home page right now is a short animation, illustrated by Justin Gerard that was just wonderful.

The Portland Studios site is easy to navigate, with tabs for Home, People, Work and Contact. Also there are links to their blog, as well as a company store where you can purchase apparel, textures, books, and brushes.
The Work (portfolio) section is split up into the companies three main areas of expertise. Illustration, Animation, and Interactive. It displays as a pile of snapshots in a Flash interface. When you click on a picture, it enlarges into a full view. All of the work is impressive, and really puts paid to their claim of striving for a collective body of work that displays a habit of excellence. We could all take a page from that book.

Like I said, this site really invites you to explore, and explore, explore. There's just enough information to leave you wanting MORE. So, in that vein, I did... and for all you lazy people out there I have provided some links to blogs by members of the Portland Studios team. I hope you enjoy checking them out as much as I have. All in all, I was/Am very impressed with Portland Studios as a company, and as a site. I feel inspired to push with renewed resolve in my own work, and also that this is maybe another sign-post towards where I want to go in the next couple of years.

I'll be in again soon. Until then, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

Links:
Portland Studios: www.portlandsrudios.com
Blog: blog.portlandstudios.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/portlandstudios
Justin Gerard: Quick Hide Here
Cory Godbey: light night rains
Ben Kammer: Tide Is Level
Mark Johnson: WMD Boom

What You TAlkin' About?: Pose Maniacs

Well... I missed Sunday's post. Oops. It's so tempting to get down about it, and miss Wednesday too, but that's a slippery slope. I'm tired, but I'm going to get this done.

Todays post is about Pose Maniacs. Or more specifically about their 30 seconds drawing section.

Randomly displayed from 19,440 different poses and angles, the images from Pose Maniacs are both high quality, and inoffensive. That shouldn't matter I guess, but I just want you all to know (as if you couldn't tell from the sample image) that while the figures are not clothed, there is no way that they would be confused for porn. Ha-ha! Another thing that I would like to note, is that the site is mixed Asian and English text, but it dosen't take too much poking around to find what you are looking for.

This is directly from the site:

"Get ready in front of the screen with a pencil and a paper. Press the start button. The models shown will change every 30 seconds. Your skill will surely improve if you do this training every night and day, with 2 sets of 5 minutes(10 poses).


What's this training for?

The idea of thirty seconds drawing app is based on a special training method introduced in "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" by Betty Edwards."

Basically, the idea is that by observing and drawing quickly, we are able to bypass the concrete left side of our brain and access the creative right side. Effectively observing what we see, rather than interpreting it.

Another aspect of this exercise that I find useful is using it as a warm up. Sometimes in the evenings, I am uninspired, and tired... the last thing I want to do is commit to getting my sketchbook out and drawing for thirty or ninety minutes. With the Pose Maniacs 30 second drawings, I can commit to 5 minutes (six small drawings) and if I'm still "too tired" then I can quit. Often though, I find that all I really needed was to get the ball rolling. I do my five minutes of sketches and then work for another hour or more before calling it quits for the night. Sometimes we just NEED a little constructive goof off time to actually be more productive.

Okay, I hope you all had a great week, and I'll talk at you again on Sunday. Until then, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' About?: Skottie Young

Maybe you'll find this a little ridiculous, but I think all week about what I'm going to post on Wednesdays. It's mostly questions like "Should I post about this artist, who I think is really cool?", or "Oh! I saw this cool technique, maybe I'll talk about that!", or even "Well I got all these bookmarked pages, maybe I'll start with my command bar, and start talking about them. I look at them every day, so Obviously I think they're worth seeing..."

Then sometimes something comes up and I get really excited about it. And that's what makes the cut.

Today, I sat down to check the e-mails, and see what's up on the inter-web, and Skottie Young posted again. Always a good time, but this time it was special. It's a video post. It's only like 15 minutes of footage of him drawing and talking, but it's always cool to see inside the process of somebody you admire. Plus Skottie's pretty funny. Double bonus.

I first heard of Skottie on a Sidebar Nation podcast, and really enjoyed his frankness, his sense of humor, and... I guess you could say general personability. He seems like the kind of guy I'd like to hang out with for awhile, have a few beers and shoot the breeze. One thing that always comes across, whether it be in his blog, his Podcast, "The Devil and Me", or his art is how much he enjoys what he's doing. I really hope that this video-casting becomes a regular thing for him.

Okay, so I'm still super busy trying to get a project out the door for a client. So until next time, take care and be good!

Your friend
Jeffrey

Links: www.skottieyoung.com
devilandme.com
www.sidebarnation.com

What you talkin' about?: Concept Art House

Concept Art House LLC is founded on the idea that great art does not come from an assembly line in an outsourcing factory, rather it comes from passionate individuals who truly enjoy their craft and believe in the products they produce.






Today's post is about Concept Art House. I was going to post about them in the next couple of weeks anyway, because not only do they do stellar work, but I am also a member of their team as a graphic designer. Recent events bumped them up to the top of my list. I don't know if anybody noticed, but I missed my post on Sunday. I was swamped with work, which is a good thing. Even better is that the work I was doing isn't under NDA so I can actually show it, and use it in my portfolio.

Maybe it reminds me of my days as a picture framer, or when I worked as a gallery assistant hanging shows in the Art Center Gallery, but I LOVE being a graphic designer. and I love working in print. It's really hard to describe how fun it is arranging elements and cutting out pictures and layering them to show everything off at its best. And to top it all off, getting to see and work with so much fantastic artwork is the icing on the cake.

Headed up by James Zhang, who got his as a concept artist for Lucas Arts working on titles such as Star Wars:Star Fighter, Gladius and Star Wars:Republic Commando. From there he went on to work for Factor 5 as a lead artist, and then to VP of a major game-art studio before finally breaking away to form Concept Art House.

As a company, they do high quality concept art across the full spectrum, including Fantasy, Science Fiction. They do Stunning 3d assets as well as high impact illustrations for game companies such as Wizards of the Coast and Blizzard. The website offers a good selection of artwork, as well as a consistantly updated blog. My only complaint is that the blog is in chinese, so I can't read what they have to say about the artwork, but it's straightforward to navigate, and there is a lot of great stuff to look at.

I hope you like the brochure, and I hope that all is well with you. Until next time then, take care and be good!
Your friend
Jeffrey

What You Talkin' about?: Lines and Colors

It’s my delight in that feeling of wide-eyed discovery that has prompted me to create Lines and Colors.
"Lines and Colors" is (I think) the first blog I really started paying attention to. Also, since Charley Parker updates daily, it is part of my daily routine. Get home, check e-mail, check "Lines and Colors"... In his bio, Charley says "...I’m only writing about things I like. It’s my hope that I can introduce you to some visual art gems that you may not be aware of, or perhaps tell you something you didn’t know about someone or something you’re already familiar with. (And maybe you can do the same for me.)" That's one of the great things about this blog. His interest and passion for the artists and sites always comes across in his posts.

I don't want to say that the featured artist is always one that interests me. Fairly often they don't. That being said, there are far more times when there is somebody featured that really captures my imagination. There is always a well researched, and informative body of text with the collection of one or three examples of the artists work. Also, at the end of the post, Mr. Parker is very good about providing links to more information/images by the artist. The wealth of inspiration and information contained in the "Lines and Colors" blog make it more than worth checking on a daily basis.

Okay, until next time. Take care and be good.
Your friend
Jeffrey

Links: www.linesandcolors.com
Charley Parkers web comic: Argon Zark!
Website: www.cparkerdesign.com

What You Talkin' about?: Paolo Rivera

Do you remember the first time you knew you wanted to be an artist?
It was right after I realized that I couldn’t be a superhero.

The first time I really "heard" about Paolo Rivera was on The Art Department blog by Tor art director, Irene Gallo. She posted a really good interview with him about the "Mythos" comic series he painted for Marvel. Unfortunately, as is often the case when tooling around on the inter-web I read the interview, went on to the next thing on mind, and Paolo Rivera was out of my head.

I got a second chance though, two months later with the Lines and Colors blog, by Charlie Parker. Charlie started off the post like this. "At one time the brief description line at the top of Paolo Rivera’s blog read: “I am a painter for Marvel Comics. Really, I am.”" How cool is that? So, interested, and read the article. Going to the follow-up links that Charlie is so good about adding at the bottom of his posts, I found Paolo's blog, The Self-Absorbing Man. Wow. He's not only extremely talented, but he does some WORK. Posting at least three times a week there's always really solid, exciting content. There's an fairly even balance between current works, Tips tricks and equiptment, and appearance announcements.

One of his segments "Wacky Reference Wednesdays" is especially entertaining, and I really look forward to it each week. In fact, it's what inspired this segment for me, and that's why he gets the dubious honor of first post. Last week, Paolo posted an example of how he uses Google Sketchup as refrence for his comic panels when he has a tricky perspective problem, or the same environment from different angles.


So, here's an example of the sketch up models, set against a backdrop of his initial layout drawing. He builds parts in the program, as well as importing elements from the sketchup warehouse.

And then here's how it all fits in with the finished page. I've given an extremely truncated version of the process here. To read more about it, go and check out his blog.

Just for fun, I thought I'd also share a handful of my sketch up models and a page that I finished recently for a personal project, I hope you enjoy them.


Well that's all for now. Until next time, take care and be good!
Your friend,
Jeffrey

Paolo Rivera: http://www.paolorivera.com/
http://paolorivera.blogspot.com/
Lines and Colors article: http://www.linesandcolors.com
Art Department Interview: http://igallo.blogspot.com