rogue-Z

Books books books!!!

2011-12-17T00:01:00.002-08:00

Well, only three actually:
Steampunk! edited by Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant. This compilation of short stories is pretty good. It's not as groundbreaking as the introduction would lead you to believe, but there is a good variety in the stories. My favorite was Steamgirl, but most were actually pretty enjoyable. Overall the book is well designed with nice little icons for each story. The pages are thick and nice to feel. Checked out from KCLS. Might be the first one to read it, it seemed brand spankin' new!!

Excession by Iain M. Banks. A Culture novel, told largely from the point of view of various ships' Minds, it's a pretty good romp through the Culture-verse. If it's any indication of how good it was, I read it in about 5 days. Borrowed from a co-worker.

DMZ: Body of a Journalist by Brian Wood, art by Riccardo Burchielli. This is the second DMZ collection. I thought the first was darn good, and this is a worthy follow-up. Decent art doesn't detract from the story, but doesn't add a ton either. There's a large paranoia aspect to this one which is really fun. Checked out from KCLS.

Books I've Just Read

2011-11-29T19:10:00.004-08:00

Algaebraist - Iain M. Banks

Super good. Slow to start but totally worth it. Love the Dwellers!

Hardback, loaned from guy at work.

Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver -Aaron Dembski-Bowden

Good guilty pleasure books. Sort of horror meets WH40k. First WH40k books I've read. I read them out of order, Soul Hunter should come first. Mostly they made sense even though I know nothing about Warhammer.

Paperbacks from KCLS.

Surface Details - Iain M. Banks

Awesome! A Culture novel and really great.

Paperback from KCLS.

Allegiance - Timothy Zahn

Darn good! This was a super fast read, and action packed from start to finish.

Ebook on Kindle from SPL.

Game of Thrones -George RR Martin

Surprisingly good. Now I want to read the rest and watch the movie.

Ebook on Kindle from SPL.

New Model Army - Adam Roberts

Great! An interesting narrative structure made this even more engaging. A book I checked out because of the cover!

Paperback form SPL.

Diamond Dogs and Turquoise Days - Allistair Reynolds

Two good short novels. Really enjoyed them both, but Diamond Dogs was hands down better.

Hardback fromSPL.

SIGGRAPH Observations

2010-07-29T22:09:00.004-07:00

I was lucky enough to go to SIGGRAPH 2010 and experience some of the inside track on the computer-graphic industry. Fascinating!

Here are just a few observations, I might throw a couple images up in a while, but now, just text!

There were tons of people using Macs. Mostly MacBookPros, and mostly the newer uni-body ones. I somehow thought there would be a higher tendency towards PCs, but it was at least a 50-50 split, if not in favor of Macs. Just anecdotal observations, but I found it interesting.
Stereoscopic 3D was of course the big thing, but everything relied on glasses or other headgear. And unless it's a motorcycle helmet, headgear is rarely cool.
All directors, producers and writers make a big deal about "story". Heck, even in my line of work, we make a big deal about "story". But so many movies are complete crap, who's actually behind the scenes hacking away at what may have been a good story and turning into schlock? I wish I knew... Harlen Ellison wrote a screenplay for "I Robot" and in the intro ranted that it would never be made into a movie, Hollywood would turn it into some action SFX drivel. He was right (although I did enjoy the Will Smith version, it was typical Hollywood.). All I'm saying is, I loved the panel with the folks from Tron: Legacy, and their stated attention to story and design, but the proof is in the pudding, and the pudding ain't ready yet!
"Loom" was an incredible piece of animation, but it totally freaked me out! I have squashed several spiders, and one incredibly bold and now incredibly dead roach purely because of this short film. I never had a problem before...
I went through the whole gamut of emotions at SIGGRAPH: super excited, totally inspired, completely depressed. Kind of in that order too. The Computer Animation Festival was great and the level of work amazing, so were several of the panels. The aforementioned Tron panel was pretty inspiring and totally depressing. One of those, "why am I not doing this?" sort of moments. Straight off, the director has a bach in Engineering, and a masters in architecture. Then he worked in SFX. Now he's a big time director. He even said he specifically wanted an industrial designer to be his production designer!
Smartphones are the way to be. I need one.
Limited access wifi is stupid. The convention at least had free wifi, but only in certain areas. And those areas were rarely where you would be waiting in line. Now the hotel was way, and I mean WAY worse. Not only did they charge $9.95 per day to use their stupid wifi, but it was slower than molasses! I had connectivity issues like you wouldn't believe and all the while trying to work. Sheesh, I'm trying to be productive and all I get is "no network available"! Lame.
Emerging technology mostly left me bored with stereoscopic 3D, but two or three were incredibly cool. Surprisingly, a Sony prototype was my favorite. It's hard to describe, but it was basically a cylindrical "display" that was fully 3D -- you could walk around it and see the image inside from any angle. It looked pretty darn good. It was motion capable too, one of the demos was an Arkanoid like video game but totally 3D!

That's enough for now... peace out yo.

The continuing sketchbook saga...

2010-03-03T10:08:00.003-08:00

I have actually been doing much better about keeping my sketchbook, but at the moment, I have no scanner. It's all packed away. However, I saw this cartoon on Core77, and it was perfect for my continuing sketchbook tribulations.

Currently, I'm in the DIY camp. But when that one is filled (about 75% through it now) I think I'm going back to a moleskin proper. I don't know though. Something about the disposable nature of the DIY version is liberating. And easier to scan.

Sketching is good though. Helps a lot. Just in general. :D

Laid Off!! How cool is that?

2009-12-02T22:42:00.003-08:00

You know, I've always tried to keep this bloggy thing abstract and not personal. But for just one post I'm going to break that rule. Here it is:

I got laid off. That pretty much sucks. Or so I thought at first.

But, being laid off forces me to face the big questions: what do I want do do (professionally), where do I want to do it, who do I want to work for and how hard do I want to work?

I think those are critical questions I've never really asked. Things are rough economically right now, personally (duh, I just got laid off, and right before xmas!) and nationally (double duh, am I living in a cave?). Hmm. I better focus on bringing home some bacon.

So how does writing this self aggrandizing post get me to the cash? For two reasons really. I'm forcing my self to state the Problem. And by publishing it in the interweboogles, I'm showing all two of you what I'm working on. You are now my bosses. Keep me honest.

First Question: What Do I Want To Do: I am a designer, and I want to design. Simple. My focus has been on exhibit design, but that is by no means all I enjoy designing. I DO enjoy exhibit design, I also enjoy production design, concept design, industrial design... is there a reason I have to limit myself right now to just what I have oodles of experience with? HELL NO. Now is the time to think big, to take this situation and turn it into pure Awesome. And believe it or not, I have the Skills to do it. No, it's not my nunchuck skills or ninja skills, but my design skills. I have mad crazy design skills.

Second Question: Where Do I Want To Do It: Now, since I'm married with children (natch, watch the pun kids!), this really should be plural: where do we want to do it... but this is my friggin' blog so, here's my personal answer. It'll help me talk it over with the spouse. I want to be around cool people who I can be comfortable around. I want to be with my friends, and dear god dare I say it, my family. We all know where that is. If I'm more clear the creepy internet stalkers will be able to find me. But the two of you know what I'm talking about.

Third Question: Who Do I Want To Work For? This question is binary: Me or Someone Else. The worst part is I'm not sure. Which generally means Someone Else, except in this case I don't think it does. I think it's just I'm scared of the real answer: Me. Is that really true? Well over the next couple months we'll see how it goes. In other words, this answer subject to change with out notice. (Kind of like one's employment in a right to work state. How bass ackwards is that title for a rule that allows termination for no cause and with no notice? Oops. I'm trying to stay positive.)

Fourth Question: How Hard Do I Want To Work: Another scary one. I want to see my family. I want to be with them and enjoy them. When they are sick, I want to be there. When there is something silly like preschool graduation, I want to be there. So, I will bust my ass, but I damn well want to be there for my family. They are NOT I say again, NOT exclusive. You can have both. It just requires more... work. I'm willing to work HARD. I will put in long days and nights to succeed. But I will be succeeding on my terms now, thank you very much.

So there. That's my road map. There are a few turns undecided, but the general course is set. So is it I-90 and straight through the Rockies, or is it Route 66 and taking my time? That is yet to be seen.

So yeah, just like Captain Max, I'm ready to fly!

Funky Stuff! Sketchup + Photoshop CS4

2009-11-24T22:58:00.003-08:00

And my first youtube post! It stars Max, but you can barely tell.

I made a bunch of different renders in Sketchup and some spinny animations, layered them all up in Photoshop CS4, added a short vid of Max. Voila! Crazy funky animation test!

I was also testing out the Sketchup rendering plugin Podium. I think it's pretty cool.

Zounds! Content creation is calling me...

I'll watch anything...

2009-11-07T10:48:00.003-08:00

It's true. For reasons best left unsaid I'm stuck at home today watching Disney Channel. I got totally sucked into Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior!!

Now to make it worse, I didn't think it was THAT bad. It has the "Jolly Good" kid from Last Samurai. Funny a Thai/Vietnamese chick and Japanese dude playing a pair of Chinese relatives!! There's a joke in there somewhere.

I even learned a new term: DCOM. Can you guess what it stands for?

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS!!!

2009-10-12T18:00:00.001-07:00

Wow. So I had to close an unused bank account last week which left me with almost $80 in cash. I spent some on pho, but the rest I blew on books!!!

I spent about $20 at Borders and got some great stuff of the discount rack:
- A pair of books from Popular Mechanics: The Boy Mechanic and The Boy Mechanic Makes Toys, these cost $1 -- FOR BOTH!! What a deal!! They've got great illustrations and lots of fabulous projects.

- Another pair, this time of aircraft cutaways, Modern Military Aircraft Anatomy and Aircraft Anatomy of World War II. I love aircraft, and these were only $6 each. The illustrations are pretty clean with lots and lots of annotations. In other words awesome!

- The big spend was a hardback, $10 or so, Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor. Now this is a total nerd book, full of pictures of, you guessed it weapons and armor throughout history. Almost all are photos, and there are lots of notes, descriptions, stories, and other fluff to go along with the neato pictures.

Then because Borders didn't have the one book I was really looking for I went online... a big
- A surprisingly excellent book, one which I bought for pretty pictures, but actually had a good bit of how-to information. Doug Chiang's book Mechanika looks pretty sweet, promising lots of pictures and sketches, but it also is chock full of Chiang's process, tools and techniques. Actually each one of the "projects" in the book is a simple step by step, some marker renderings others finished in Photoshop. It's a great book.

- The next splurge is a book I've been wanting a long time: Cosmic Motors. It's a sweet design/art book jam packed with sweet sketches and even more amazing renderings. Though it's got a few more, uh, cheesecake images than I normally buy, the combo of photo-real renderings (Alias Studio Tools natch) and the real life models is absolutely amazing. Each different ship has a series of sketches and process images, along with several sweet full color renderings complete with pilots, mechanics and other people and props. This is an amazing book.

- The final book, and the one that started this whole reckless spending spree: Operation Storm City by Joshua Mowell is the final installment in the Guild of Specialists trilogy. It lives up to the first two, both in terms of the art and the story. But, the story is good and enjoyable, not great literature. It follows the adventures of the two teens through India and the deserts of central China. It's got all sorts of good stuff: ancient warriors, crazy Russian mercenaries, super high tech lost societies, conspiracies, in other words, all the good stuff!! But what makes the series so awesome, is the illustrations, diagrams and "photos" of artifacts. It's all a very well built little fantasy, complete with artifact numbers on all the illustrations. I'm glad he wrapped up the series, but I actually hope there's more to come.

Anyway... thanks for listening to me ramble. I was so excited to get these books, it's been a long time since I went on a rampage like this. Well worth it though. But maybe I should have saved some cash-money for jellab!

Music music music!

2009-09-09T19:46:00.007-07:00

After a looooooong couple of drives late last night and this afternoon, I've been thinking a lot about music. So, here I am to share those thoughts! Enjoy!!

Radio stations. We all know KEXP is the best radio station ever. But if you are like me and get REALLY PISSED OFF when they play crap, as in Morrisey or The Smiths, or worse, both back to back followed by Depressed Mode or similar whiney garbage, you change the station. Well what do you change it too? I change it to KGRG! It's the "today's rock" station out of Green River Community College. Production value and professionalism, not so much, but ass-kicking rock and roll music, HELL YEAH! KGRG also has an "oldies" station that plays punk standards from the 70s and early 80s, good for nostalgic days. But, the main station, KGRG plays new stuff. They tend to play 15-20 songs frequently, but not so much you get annoyed. I actually like hearing the songs more than once, especially if I dig the song. Unfortunately, the DJs are pretty much horrible at telling what the songs are that just played. And there is no playlist available online. I've been listening to it a lot lately. Partly because I'm an angry angry man! GRRRRRRRR!!!

So here's where to check KGRG out in the interwebs: kgrg.com

Segue... I also recently bought an album from a band I heard on KGRG, a New York hardcore band called H2O. Pretty damn good stuff, wish I'd know about this back in the 90s! But their latest album "Nothing to Prove" has one single getting airtime on KGRG at least, "What Happened" that is a friggin' awesome punk anthem. I could listen to it over and over. In fact I do. The album is solid, but it's a little short. Only 10 songs, and punk songs really aren't that long either. But it came with a free digital version with my CD order -- plus a bunch of stickers! Gotta love stickers! My biggest beef though, is the track interludes: too much friggin' talking! And the "hidden" track, all talking! Stop! Less talk, more rock. Hey, a radio station should use that!

Check them out here: H2O website

Speaking of radio stations (common theme with me I guess!); the Metro DC area is a vast wasteland of broadcast radio. The NPR station is solid for news, but hey, it's NPR right? There's one station that plays killer tracks from time to time though, WPFW. It's a public station, with a very mixed format. One morning I was listening to it when an awesome song, "Reparations on My Soul" by Gil Scott Heron. Awesome song. Really. Listen/watch here:

And finally, another radio tie in, this time regarding commercial (!) radio and a main stream band! Can you believe it? The one almost listenable station out here, DC 101, a rock'n'roll station. I listened to it pretty regularly for about 9 months before getting fed up with all the commercials, promotions and general commercial nastiness. But during that period I heard three or four songs off the (then) new Linkin Park album, Minutes to Midnight, which apparently was a huge departure from their normal style. But starting with "Shadow of the Day" which got tons of airplay, a mellow and sorrowful track, followed by "Bleed it Out" and "Given Up" and I was hooked. "Bleed it Out" especially had a sing along quality and fist-pumping beat that really appealed to me. So... I bought the album online through Amazon. I like buying music
with Amazon, but when I get the chance, I buy it directly from the artist.

Anyway! Hope the two of you find some enjoyment here!

I bought a CD! How old school is that?

2009-07-16T05:31:00.004-07:00

I just ordered a CD, the album "Loud Wars" by So Many Dynamos.

It was 10 cents cheaper to buy it through iTunes, but I didn't want it rights managed, I guess I'm old school that way too. But the disc itself was only 10 dollars, plus $4.00 shipping. I hope that the band and label get more of a cut from a CD than they do from an iTunes purchase.

Whatever, the album is darn good. I heard their live set on KEXP yesterday and have been thinking about it since then. So Many Dynamos is like the cool step children to Man or Astroman! and that is a very good thing. So Many Dynamos has some of the retro sci-fi influence of Man or, but in a slicker, more conventional prog rock package. It works too.

Check them out! So Many Dynamos - The Loud Wars, http://www.somanydynamos.biz/

Oh yeah, and their name is a palindrome! How cool is that?

It's way cool. That's how cool it is.

Up! Fantastic!

2009-07-11T18:00:00.004-07:00

Wow. We just saw Up. No, not in 3d, but just regular. Doesn't matter, though, it was amazing. I wasn't sure Pixar could top Wall-E which was pretty much movie perfection. But, Up is excellent. It's a completely different movie than Wall-E, or even any other Pixar movie before it.

Whereas Wall-E had a sort of broad and ultimately uplifting message, Up is pretty much designed to tug at your heart. I could hardly help from crying - in the first ten minutes. How those guys at Pixar control your emotions is darn scary, but this movie plays with all of them, and I love it for that.

Sadness, of a most poignant variety, pervades much of the movie, but again, like Wall-E it is tempered with hope and joy.

Dreams are magical, but so is the mundane in Up. It's by definition, amazing.

And in case I wasn't clear: I really really liked it.

Bugs!

2009-02-22T21:06:00.003-08:00

Sketchup default styles have some fun effects. This is one of my favorites. And the bug turned out pretty close to what I was hoping for.

Enjoy.

Summer Project?

2009-02-21T22:53:00.003-08:00

Totally nuts... but we're trying to build two treehouses this summer! And I will NOT be honeymooning in either thank you very much!

Considerably longer than 15 minutes...

2009-02-20T20:33:00.002-08:00

I watched the classic Shoa Lin & Wu Tang tonight. Great movie. And here's the "tai chi sword" used by the Wu Tang. Without the braided thingy.

More than 15 minutes...

2009-02-15T20:53:00.003-08:00

I got the rough shape for this one done in about 15 minutes, then spent the better part of a half hour messing around with a few edges here and there.

I'm still not entirely happy with what I can crank out in a quarter hour. Grrr.

15 minutes in the bottle...

2009-02-14T19:51:00.002-08:00

Not very creative, but an exercise nonetheless!

Another 15minutes...

2009-02-13T21:44:00.002-08:00

It has some serious problems, I was trying for curves. Curves in sketchup take more than 15 minutes! Yeah for styles!

Enjoy!

15 Minute Sketchup Challenges

2009-02-12T21:11:00.002-08:00

I've been trying to do some sketchup, uh, sketches to keep the ol' skillz sharp. Here's the first two. Both were about 15 minutes, honest. Today's was better. The carpet is the only thing that's not custom 100%. It's a stock sketchup texture, but I changed the color.

Today:

A couple days ago:

Inspirational Crap...

2009-02-09T19:21:00.002-08:00

David Kelly-isms

Bloggedy blog blog blog. Read that article. Maybe you'll feel better about going to work tomorrow. I think I will. Now, what's the politic way to send this article up the food chain?

But to bring it all back way down below to the opposite of inspirational, check out this about crowdsourcing design, and honestly, I don't know if I'm impressed or depressed. Maybe try it for the chance of a few extra bucks?

Crowdsourcing - The Forbes Perspective

Crowdsourcing - A "Snooty" Designers Perspective

Long live paradox! Long live the sacred chao! Hmmm... I must be tired.

Staring at my desktop...

2009-01-13T06:29:00.005-08:00

So I messed around yesterday with new desktops and this morning at work I put a Mars Panorama on my two monitors at work, from here: Mars Santorini Panorama. Now the thumbnail they show is only a TINY portion of the entire panorama, see the full size one here.

I've put two 1680 x 1050 chunks from this, one for each monitor, as my work desktop. I can't work now. I just stare at it. Its FRICKIN" MARS!!!

Here's my dekstop now:

The seem isn't as bad on in real life, but it's exaggerated here because my monitors aren't the same size, though they are the same resolution. Crazy!

Friggin' MARS!!!!

I love NASA.

Not Sketches... But NASA!!!

2009-01-12T21:05:00.004-08:00

I made a couple desktop backgrounds out of NASA Image of the Day shots.

Nothing special, but pretty cool looking!! Oh, and these were minimally processed with GIMP, no Photoshop involved!

Enjoy!

I'm so EXCITED!!

2009-01-03T19:59:00.004-08:00

It's been a while. Sorry folks (all three of you!). But I'm back on the bloggy horse so to speak.

My mission for 2009: Fill my new sketchbook!!

It's 100 "pages" long, and I hope to fill it in 3 months. That's one sketch a day. My goal is to post them once a week. Doing it every night was intense. Easy burn out factor. The sketchbook is super cheap: 4x6 index cards with a grid pattern from Staples. Cost me two dollars. Awesome. Plus it fits in my pocket no matter what! I love that. The notecard idea was inspired by this guy: http://www.alxart.com/

Although, I didn't realize it until just now, that he used a pantone tria marker in his standard kit. That's what my initial three sketches have been done with! I'm using 4505-t, which is almost a gold. Weird I know, but I find working in weird colors helps me sketch more freely. I don't know. Crazy I guess! You should try it! Red, gold, pink, green, they all work. Blue not so much. Black, definitely not a sketch inducing color. At least for me.

Anyway, the other thing that has me really stoked, http://www.ponoko.com/. I WILL have something on this soon. I'm working on a reading lamp -- oh, it will be cool -- that I want to have mostly fabbed by this place. The whole fabrication on demand thing makes me all giddy. Plus it uses a fricken' LASER -- yes, a light-amplified-by-stimulated-emision-of-radiation -- cutter!!! How much cooler does it get? So my lamp idea is the Eurolite ply and PETG or Acrylic. You'll all want to by it. Now if I can just find a cheap source for LED fixtures... hmmm...

I'll leave you all (three of you) with some random stuff for fun!
Have a good 2009!

I've also been doing some crazy illustration type of stuff, all spin offs of my geek hobbies. Nothing great yet, but it's getting there!
Here's a web banner thingy:

And some more random fun for color:

This one's something wacky that happened to me in Sketchup. Cool image huh? I can't get it to happen again!

The next two are some paintball jerseys I'm doing for a fellow geek who just happens to live in a different country. I love the internet!

Day 3 - A little cheat!

2008-10-03T20:42:00.002-07:00

I did this one at work. But it was just right for today!

Day 2! And it's not pretty...

2008-10-02T21:52:00.002-07:00

Continuing with yesterdays theme I tried to do one that focused on a central organic building in an otherwise traditional city street. But EPIC FAIL!!!

October is a new Sketch A Day Month! Day 1...

2008-10-01T17:46:00.002-07:00

I was going to do giant robots, but I've changed my mind. Instead, its going to be architecture themed. Using the term loosely, I'll be sketching buildings, cityscapes, and other man-made structures from the depths of my feeble mind. I may even try to do a few drawings outside!!

Starting it off is a sketch inspired by a Massive Black video tutorial. The similarities are clear. The working technique I pretty much copied. It's all done in Photoshop (in case you couldn't tell...it's pretty obvious!) and more or less all on one layer.

I made a custom brush that was kind of pill shaped for this. I thought it worked well for sketching.

Enjoy!!

Friggin' Software Companies!! (ANGRY!!!)

2008-09-23T11:22:00.003-07:00

Hi!

I knew it was coming, but it hadn't landed in my email yet: Adobe CS4. Yes, it's here, and it's out. Even the Master Edition seems to be available. Now, since I'm new here, no one knows that I am a Software Junky. That means I NEED the newest version of software like a heroin addict needs their next fix. So when a giant like Adobe launches closely spaced full point releases, well, I get ANGRY!!! I can't afford this crap year after year! Who can? My office sure can't!

I mean COME ON! It was only a couple months ago I was jonsing for CS3 in a bad way, not to have this thrown in my face? That smacks of the dark side!!

I always associated this evil behavior with Microsoft and Autodesk. I knew Adobe was teetering on the brink for a long time, but CS2 was so solid, I thought they hadn't succumbed to the dark side. Clearly I'm wrong. What with absorbing the only true competition and integrating Flash, it's the single choice for professional graphics. I know, I love the GIMP, Inkscape, Scribus and especially Open Office, but come on, honestly, CS2 and CS3 are so powerful. And considering their capabilities, their UI accessible too.

Now it seems not only Adobe, but other players as well are jumping on the "full point release a year" bandwagon. The other one that's really breaking my b***s today is Nemetschek North America's Vectorworks. Last year around this time, they releast Vectorworks 2008. It had some bugs, like all major updates, but they got them ironed out the software has become intergrated into my workflow. Now they're about to (maybe they have, it's made me so mad, I haven't followed along!!!) release 2009, and it's supposed to again be a major upgrade.

Well! Screw all that!! Major upgrades every year? Sounds to me like the last EXPENSIVE upgrade wasn't so well done if there was that much left to do! I like Newtek's Lightwave, they're release schedule is slow, but they do tons of open beta testing and while there's a hiccup every couple full point releases, they generally make the paid upgrades extremely worthwhile. Right now, besides Open Source projects, they're the only software company not on my sh**list.

Well, thanks for letting me rant. If someone gives me a couple grand, I'll sure as heck run right out and download CS4. But I'll curse Adobe the whole way. Isn't that exactly how a junkie acts?

Damn them!!

No drawings...

2008-09-18T10:37:00.003-07:00

But still some eye candy, courtesy of NASA:

Also, I passed 1.000 miles on the scoot yesterday. Big time!

cya!

Day 31!! I made it!!!

2008-09-05T19:13:00.002-07:00

Yesterday I really enjoyed drawing a giant robot. So I did another one tonight!

Last Sketch-A-Day for a while. I think I'm still going to sketch, but just not post. I'll post once a week, just to make sure I don't slack off completely!!

Enjoy! And thanks for watching!

Day 30! I still might finish strong!

2008-09-04T18:46:00.002-07:00

I think tonight's drawing is decent.

The line work needs some clean-up, but as a relatively quick drawing (about 20 minutes) while talking on the phone, it's not bad!

Enjoy!

Day 29? Almost there!

2008-09-03T21:03:00.003-07:00

Today was better than yesterday.

This drawing still needs some work, especially the hands. I just didn't have it in me tonight to do the hatching and ink work required to make the ninja outfit black.

I do think the pose works alright and looks pretty natural. Now, if only it were a dynamic pose and not a static one!

Enjoy!

Day 28. Nothing Exctiting.

2008-09-02T18:30:00.002-07:00

This is really tough. This sketch blows.

Day 27!

2008-09-01T18:51:00.003-07:00

This is a crazy mash-up of frontier architecture, combining features of sod houses, forts and hill country. I'm not really sure why.

Pencil in sketchbook...

Enjoy!

As a postscript, the next four days will really test my resolve! Extra super busy with deadlines deadlines deadlines!

Day 26!

2008-08-31T18:00:00.002-07:00

Another Flying Moto?
Yes. It is.

But, even though it's not a killer drawing, I learned a TON about painting/coloring in PS2 with this one. The killer technique: using a 10% opacity brush for shadows and highlights. Coming from the marker world, it finally clicked in terms of coloring and shading. I obviously still need lots more practice, but I kind of have a process to test now.

Maybe next month I'll do a tutorial a night? Or at least one tut a week...

Enjoy!

Day 25? I don't believe it!

2008-08-30T20:51:00.004-07:00

This is a quick sketch. Two objectives with this one: place a character in an ext. space, and use the "red pen" technique to get clean black lines.

The first one is somewhat successful, but not very dynamic.

The red pen technique, worked no problems. That's why this day's post has two images. The one with red is before the knocking the color out in PS and the other after the processing.

Enjoy!

Day 24! The Home Stretch!

2008-08-29T17:38:00.003-07:00

Today, I decided to do a sketch of the Professor mentioned in the previous posts. I don't know much about him, but he's still got dark hair at a spritely 57 years. There is a scar near his eye, but it looks more like a smudge in the scan. It's done in the sketchbook with the chubby lead holder/pencil.

Our skeptic, the notable poet W. Harmonious Salubrious, sketched this portrait of your humble journalist. I am rather taken by it's likeness, though it presents a more wild appearance than fact. However, I do enjoy the youthful energy he has infused in my representation. I do need such infusions, especially today. I was decidedly confident the Mark IV would work. Somehow we forgot to add the coal bin for the boiler. Why are we struggling so with such details?

- Professor Rigby J. Assurance, Illuminated Steam Perfectionist (132nd degree)

Enjoy!

Day 23!

2008-08-28T20:16:00.002-07:00

Here's another "environmental" drawing, that is, trying to show a complete environment and not just a single object.

I started constructing the perspective and then got lazy, so it's definitely off in places. I didn't turn it upside down either (you know, to check the accuracy). But it's a sketch right?

This is just the cheap-o mech pencil in my sketchbook. I did tear the page out, since I filled the page almost completely.

Enjoy!

Day 22! Only 9 days left!!

2008-08-27T19:04:00.004-07:00

Well, continuing with a brown theme, and picking up the story from a couple days ago...

"The Mark III surprised us when it sank. Jonsey was lucky to escape when it capsized. I suppose the weight was not distributed adequately for stable flotation. It remains somewhat of a mystery how so simple a concept escaped our collective engineering expertise. Lo Phong made his usual cryptic comments about the Mark IV, but we are very confident with this prototype. The HMS Deliverance, still at our disposal, has again provided a platform for testing our inventions. Dawn shall bring our craft to fruition!

- Professor Rigby J. Assurance, Illuminated Steam Perfectionist (132nd degree)

Still silly, I know, but it's fun! This one was all Wacom, I like the way I can layer colors and adjust the opacity. I'm getting the hang of it I think!

Enjoy!

Day 21! No way! Only 10 Days Left!

2008-08-26T19:22:00.002-07:00

I didn't think I'd make it this long.

Here's another attempt with the ol' Wacom. I actually like it. The room I think came together nice. The hologram dog... well he still needs some work.

Enjoy!

Day 20!?! I've lost count!

2008-08-25T18:52:00.003-07:00

The story for this one:
The Mark III Airship rescue vehicle addresses notable design flaws from the Mark I (no descent control device) and Mark II (no boat or flotation device). Field testing is still required. Our resident pessimist believes the Mark III will fail as well, though our engineering staff is at a loss for his recalcitrance and negativity. All the elements are there, even a lamp on the bow to aid navigation.
We are taking it for practical testing aboard HMS Deliverance tomorrow, the worthy Airship is braving the Atlantic Crossing. We are confident.

- Professor Rigby J. Assurance, Illuminated Steam Perfectionist (132nd degree)

Yeah yeah, stupid I know. But I didn't get a chance to ink the sketch. But it's a ridiculous contraption, and it was fun to draw!

2h pencil on sketchbook. I ripped it out, cause the parachute went all the way to the top of the page!

Enjoy!

DAy 19 - Continuing a theme?

2008-08-24T17:23:00.003-07:00

Yes, it's a theme block! Just like one of those cheesy rock stations!

Rocket bikes anyone?

Enjoy!

Day 18!

2008-08-23T19:26:00.002-07:00

So this is a revisit on the bike design from a couple days ago. The design was solid then but the sketch sucked pigs butt.

This one's a little better, the design is more discernible. I like it. I think it looks like a water skeeter bug, and that was unintentional, but I think it works.

Yes, it's a flying "motorcycle", but that's okay!

Enjoy!

DAy 17 - Back to basics

2008-08-22T19:16:00.002-07:00

Day 17! Wow!

After the crappyness of the last couple, I decided to go back to basics. Just a simple pencil sketch. I did try to push myself though in adding texture and shadows. The shadows could be better, and the pants' texture leaves a little to be desired, but overall, I think it's decent. There's a nice range of tones and even though it's a fat man on a bench, there's some tension in the composition. Not much, but a little tiny bit.

This is the .7mm mech pencil in my sketchbook. I can almost get a black with the lead in the pencil. If I could have found a B or HB or softer pencil laying nearby, I would have used it to punch up the contrast even more.

Enjoy!

Day 16... past the middle!

2008-08-21T21:47:00.002-07:00

I experimented on this one. I was going for different levels of luminosity. Epic Fail. I think I'll go read some tutorials...

Enjoy!

(PS2 & Wacom...)

Day 15! Almost half way!

2008-08-20T21:09:00.002-07:00

Tonight, a quick character sketch. This is the first in this series that's based on something else. Sorry, guess the creative juices are just a little depleted. He's an original character based on the inhabitants of a certain planet in a certain show with certain vehicles piloted via musical instruments... yeah that one.

Wacom this time. It's pretty interesting to note, I have an easier time with characters on the Wacom, and vehicles and objects with pencil and paper. I'm going to work on that, and try and break the habit.

I did do the angled bit on purpose. He's a wacky character and I was trying to do something a little interesting. I kind of like it...

Enjoy!

Day 14!

2008-08-19T21:42:00.002-07:00

Wow! 14 days of constant posts is tricky.

Here's a pretty quick drawing of a car. I know what you're thinking, and yes, I will reference something eventually!

Day 13? It's all a blur!

2008-08-18T21:24:00.002-07:00

Motorcycle sketch. I guess I really need to look at the tutorials over at IDSketching!

Enjoy!

Day 12 - A real sketch!

2008-08-17T21:33:00.002-07:00

Okay, tonight I worked at home for about 4 hours. So when it came time for my sketch, I knew what I wanted to draw, but I was totally burned out. But I pushed on through, sort of, and made a real sketch. I think it succeeds in defining an entire space and showing a concept, though it's pretty damn rough.

I used two different red pens: a red ballpoint from Staples and a Pentel Sign Pen (their great!) felt tip marker. I typically draw underdrawings in red, though this is the first one to do so in my Sketch-A-Day-A-Thon. Just coincidence I guess. I like red better than blue for a number of reasons, the most rational being it's a lot easier to knock the red out in Photoshop to get clean work.

This sketch was done in my sketchbook. I did the drawing all the way to the edges and had to tear it out to have any hope of scanning it reasonably well.

Bleh!
Enjoy!

Day 11...

2008-08-17T05:50:00.002-07:00

Day 10! That's a Milestone!

2008-08-15T21:16:00.002-07:00

Anyway, ten days of sketching! And only now did I draw a Giant Robot!

Back to the sketchbook tonight. Same pencil, Microns and weird brush pen.

Enjoy!

Oh, those are fuel and O2 tanks, not missiles or whatever. And the plates on his forearms are for hooking big things too.

Day 9... Spaced Out!

2008-08-14T18:11:00.002-07:00

Wacom and PS2 again. I wanted to keep trying, see if I had better luck.

And while it's not great, I think it's better than yesterday. It didn't take a lot of retries to get this one, much more of a flow.

Nothing much else to add...

Enjoy!

Day 8... It's getting a lot harder!

2008-08-13T19:49:00.002-07:00

Today was the hardest one yet. Admittedly I'm preoccupied with a massive amount of work looming over my head, but still, it's supposed to be quick sketches!

I'm not really happy with this one. I really liked the cowboy, so figured I'd give the digital sketching another try. Total mental block. I tried werewolves, cars, city streets, mutant sharks, steampunk ship captains, and probably a couple more I can't remember. Nothing seemed to click tonight. So we end up with a clumsy airplane! I am happy with the canopy though, the transparency and hint of something inside came out pretty well!

Enjoy!

Day 7...the fun continues!

2008-08-12T21:16:00.003-07:00

I used my wacom and PS2 this time, I wanted to do something in color. This is an experiment in different brushes and some simple layering. I used the displacement trick (See the PolyKarbon site for a tute) for the textured paper background. My intent was the old timey hand colored photo, but of course it's cartoony cause apparently that's how I roll! The dude is wearing "woolies" if you can't tell!

Oh yeah, it took about 10-15 minutes to sketch, another 15-20 for coloring and about 10-15 in layer tweaking and filters.

Enjoy!

Day 6! It's a little fishy...

2008-08-11T18:47:00.002-07:00

Ha ha ha!
Just trying to draw some diverse things here. I failed miserably at referenced drawings yesterday, so this is another one straight and undiluted from the ole' noggin.

Micron 01, cheapo .7mm mech pencil and sketchbook. I'll do something different tomorrow, honest!

Day 5 - Real Life!

2008-08-10T20:23:00.002-07:00

Real life is hard!

This is inspired by a cicada shell we found at a park. It's pretty cool, the front legs have really wicked claws, and the whole body is pretty weird. Since it's an entire shell (or husk?) left over from a molt, the details may vary from a living noisy cicada.

I had lots of trouble today drawing this guy. Took about three tries to even get something like this! I tried to mix things up a bit: 2H pencil for underdrawing, Sakura Micron 02, and a weird black brush pen, but all still on the same old sketchbook.

And the ironic thing is, I didn't want to spend more time on it because I had to do some work. The work I had to do? Drawing! I sketched like a madman for the last 2 1/2 hours!

Day 4 -New Lesson Learned...

2008-08-10T08:50:00.002-07:00

See it's a joke. But I did learn that scanning and image adjusting a straight pencil sketch is a pain in the butt!

It's a futuristic study desk in a student's place. Basically the thing on the desk is a computer, that can either project holographic images, that are multi-"touch" and interactive or it has a flexible touch screen for more discreet use. Showing the transparency in a line drawing is tricky.

More random stuff would have made it better, but I ran out of time!

Same cheap-o .7mm mechanical pencil in the same sketchbook...

Day 3 Sketch...

2008-08-08T19:32:00.003-07:00

I like this one better. I wanted to show movement and action. It's not super dynamic, but it's getting there.

Again, unreferenced. But I wish I'd looked at something for the water. Anyway, it's drawn in my sketchbook, underdrawing with cheapo .7mm mechanical pencil, inks with Sakura Micron 01 and 005 (just a little bit with this one though).

Enjoy!

Sketch-A-Day

2008-08-08T06:12:00.002-07:00

I sort of wanted to do a Sketch-A-Week, but I figured that's not really pushing myself very hard. So instead, I'm trying for a Sketch-A-Day for a month. From Wednesday, when I posted a quick sketch, to September 5th, I'm going to try and post a sketch every day!

I did this one last night, but couldn't post it until this morning. It's unreferenced. I used a .07mm cheapo mechanical pencil on sketchbook paper. Nothing but a simple levels in PS to get it looking a little sharper after the scan.

Enjoy!

More sketches... but not as cool

2008-08-06T20:54:00.003-07:00

I'm trying to post at least one sketch a week. This one is all digital, small wacom intuous and PS2, just two layers. I probably should have dropped in a bg color, tightened up the lines, and a crapload of other things that may have saved it. But I didn't. So it kind of sucks...

Rap is cool. Science is cool. Rapping about Science?

2008-08-05T08:50:00.001-07:00

I think it's cool!

CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.

Is CERN the new word?

I know these guys!

2008-08-04T12:47:00.002-07:00

One of the two designers quoted in the article is an alum from the UW ID program. Gotta give 'em props for making it into the paper! I especially like the fact they designed a dog bowl. w00t!

Seattle PI Article

They summarize nicely five points that lead to poor design. I'd have to agree with all of them.

Oh Snap! That's two posts in one day! WTF? Shouldn't I be working? Oh wait, reading about good design is kind of working...

Again with the inspiration crap!

2008-08-04T10:05:00.004-07:00

This time, completely different:
Thanks to Boing Boing!

White House Garden on BB

Original Dude's post

Sure, it's got an agenda, but something about it is inspiring, in a DIY sort of way. I'm gonna help with the garden this time!

Inspired?

2008-07-30T21:05:00.002-07:00

Gee, can you figure out by what?

But it was really nice just to bust out a sketch and have it turn out kind of how I wanted. I'm especially happy cause the pilot doesn't look like a dude.

Cosmic Motors.

2008-07-29T14:50:00.003-07:00

So cool.
Cosmic Motors

Now my must have list is $3,050 because I need the hardcover version of this.

STUFF STUFF I NEED MORE STUFF!!!

2008-07-25T08:31:00.003-07:00

Really, I just need this:
Cintiq 12WX

Friggin' sweet.

That and CS3, man, I'll be set for like THREE months before I jones for something new!

Funny! Read the comments on this article.

2008-07-15T18:40:00.002-07:00

From Zero to 100 in Six Weeks
But don't bother with the article really, read the comments.

The funny one is about five down, but read the first real long one.

It's really hilarious.

Heck, here they are:
First, the serious one (yawn!)
Simonft at 03:16 PM

Reply by Email

Well, I certainly applaud anyone wanting to do a hundred pushups, but take it from this old gym rat, I've spent my entire adult life in the gym, and a program like this one can do more harm than good.

If you only train one part of your body (and that's all a single exercise like pushups is going to do for you), you're setting yourself up for injuries down the road. I've seen it a hundred times.

It's like putting a powerful engine in a stock Toyota Tercel. What will you accomplish? You'll blow out the drive train, the clutch, the transmission, etc., because those factory parts aren't designed to handle the power of an engine much more powerful than the factory installed engine.

Push-ups basically only train the chest muscles and to some extent, the triceps. What you really want to do is train your entire body, all the major muscle groups (chest, back, abdomen, legs, shoulders and arms) at the same time, over the course of a workout. And don't forget your cardiovascular work!

I'm proud of you guys wanting to do this. Three cheers! Falling in love with exercise, eating right, etc., is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself. And you WILL fall in love with it if you can just force yourself to stick with it a year or two and experience the amazing progress you'll make.

But do it right, okay?

My advice, find a good gym, with qualified trainers who will design your programs for you (especially in the beginning, until you get the hang of it yourself) and guide you in your quest for physical fitness. Thirty to 45 minutes a day, three days a week, is all you'll ever need to do (I refuse to believe anyone is so busy that he or she cannot make time for that, especially considering how important it is).

And don't worry about being embarrassed or not being in shape the first time you walk into the gym. You have to start somewhere and almost every one of us were there ourselves at one time. So no one will say anything to you and very, very quickly you will progress way beyond that stage anyway.

Now get out there and do it! :-)

Now here's the funny one!
scudco at 04:10 PM

Reply by Email

@rhlowe:
Well, I certainly applaud anyone wanting to eat 100 big Macs, but take it from this old McDonald's rat, I've spent my entire adult life eating at McDonnald's, and a program like this one can do more harm than good.

If you only eat big Macs one part of your body (and that's all a single burger type like Big Mac is going to do for you), you're setting yourself up for injuries down the road. I've seen it a hundred times.

Big Macs basically only train the gut muscles and to some extent, the esophagus. What you really want to do is train your entire digestive system, all the major gut groups (esophagus, stomach, colon, liver, and kidneys) at the same time, over the course of a Big Mac meal. So, you will need to add large Big fries, and Large coke with it. Ask for the "Go Big" program.

I'm proud of you guys wanting to do this. Three big meals! Falling in love with eating big Macs, etc., is one of the greatest things you can do for yourself. And you WILL fall in love with it if you can just force yourself to stick with it a year or two and experience the amazing progress you'll make.

But do it right, okay?

My advice, find any McDonnald near you, with qualified burger flippers who will design your burger for you (especially in the beginning, until you get the hang of it yourself) and guide you in your quest for physical fatness. Three to 5 burgers a day, three days a week, is all you'll ever need to do (I refuse to believe anyone is so busy that he or she cannot make time for that, especially considering how important it is).

And don't worry about being embarrassed or not being out of shape the first time you walk into McDonnalds. You have to start somewhere and almost every one of us were there ourselves at one time. So no one will say anything to you and very, very quickly you will progress way beyond that stage anyway.

Now get out there and get fat! :-)

Sensible? Sustainable? Even Economical?

2008-07-13T17:00:00.001-07:00

One of the most compelling sustainability arguments I've read in a long time. It's more economy than ecology, and drives home it's point with a sledgehammer!
It's the Economy, Stupid!

My Open Source Toolkit

2008-06-02T10:26:00.002-07:00

I'm trying to move towards using Open Source software, and also moving my office towards it as well. This is just a list of software and sources for it, and of course some small commentary. I've experimented with most of them, and use a few extensively.

Open Office: this is the basic Open Source tool everyone should get. It's pretty sweet. But on a mac at least, it's a bit clunky, so instead I use this OO flavor...
NeoOffice: This is basically Open Office, but optimized for a mac, and it works great. It's clean, simple, and all the keyboard commands work like they should!
Ubuntu: This Linux flavor is the one I keep meaning to try. Either on my PC box or virtualized through VMware on my mac. Something tells me it will be important to learn a Linux based OS...
The GIMP: This is a photshop competitor. I have only played around with it. There are some amazing things people have used it for, but I find it a little less user friendly and intuitive than PS. But, I've been using PS since version 4.0, so I may be biased! What I do know, it's powerful, and it's free. Worth looking into for sure.
Inkscape: This is a Illustrator analog, that is a vector graphics program. For me, it suffers from the same shortcomings as the GIMP, but has the same benefits, powerful and free.
Scribus: I've only recently come across this one, so I know little about it. Scribus rounds out my "adobe killer" open source apps, being a page layout app. It seems robust, but I haven't used it for anything besides opening it up and playing around.
Firefox: Of course!
Jashaka: I have high hopes for this one, but haven't had luck producing with it on my one try. It's a video editing suite, which promises loads of possibility. But, it's weird and the workflow isn't immediately clear (I hope to figure it out soon!).
Audacity: Combined with Jashaka, Audacity rounds out my media apps, but again, I haven't spent too much time with it.
Blender:One of the most well known Open Source apps, Blender is a very robust 3d animation package. It's got some amazing capabilities, but it's UI is a bit weird for new users (like myself) but it's got so much! I can't wait to get really into it!

So, that's my basic toolkit, but here are some bonus ones I've looked at:

NVU
Dia
Freemind
FlightGear
Good stuff from Lifehacker
And the list that got this all started.

There is so much out there! And even a For Dummies book: Free Software for Dummies.

Whew!

Feature Junkie

2008-05-27T07:36:00.002-07:00

I am a feature junkie. I am a software addict.

I just watched some video tutorials for Photoshop at Adobe, and MAN! I NEED NEED CS3! And I want it all!! Now!

So, anyone got an extra 2 grand laying around to buy me CS3 Master Edition? No? Really, darn.

Then the plan will be to acquire it by selling my soul!

Really, PS3 and the rest of the CS3 suite looks like a fantastic upgrade. I know it's old news, but I don't have it yet, so it's still a big deal to me. The UI and icon improvements are impressive. I've expended my PS3 demo time, and since old Photoshop 6.0, I'd say this is one of the best updates.

I haven't messed with the rest of the suite but the inclusion of the old Macromedia bits makes me very very excited.

Go and download the demos, I think they still give you a 30 day trial. It's worth it. Unless of course you don't want to taste the forbidden fruit. Maybe I should have stayed ignorant and happy...

I Rode the Red Ratscoot to Work Today

2008-05-21T06:27:00.002-07:00

It's about 15 miles or so, and some pretty major roads. I avoided the Beltway, of course.

And the Ruckus is awesome. I made it to work in 45 minutes, and it normally takes me in a car on the freeway: 45 minutes. So I'd say the scoot is a success!!

Real Pictures of MY Scoot!

2008-05-17T21:17:00.005-07:00

Red in all his glory!

(Small Pic for Linking:

Design Books

2008-05-16T09:34:00.004-07:00

I came across a list of design books looking though crap at work. I think these are great reference material, mostly for exhibit and industrial designers, but I'll put 'em up anyway:

The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
A must read for anyone designing anything people will use. This author has several other, all worth reading. He may come off preachy at times, but only if you haven't run into the problems he's describing.

By Design: Why There Are No Locks on the Bathroom Doors in the Hotel Louix XIV and Other Object Lessons by Ralph Caplan
Again, a must read. This one seems a bit dated, but the theories are timeless. It's also very fun to read.

Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte
This is part of a series of books on this topic by the same author. I find this book most useful, but all of them are fabulous. Very clinical in style, but still worth reading. Lots and lots of pictures!

Okay. I'll stop there and add some more later.

Ruckus!!!

2008-05-05T20:18:00.001-07:00

I just bought my very own Red Honda Ruckus!! I'll pick it up tomorrow!

Sweet!!!!!!!

Why Youtube is great.

2008-04-28T12:15:00.002-07:00

I laughed very hard when I watched this.

Thank you Steampunk Forums!

Totally cool motorcycle!

2008-04-25T10:31:00.003-07:00

Check it out!
Uno on Makeblog

Rather lengthy Sketchup Tutorial

2008-04-24T21:53:00.002-07:00

Heres a link to a rather lengthy Sketchup Tutorial I just wrote for The Blueprints website. It's not up there yet, I've got a few folks proofing it right now. I think it's comprehensive, but maybe it's just long winded...

Check it out. Let me know what you think. If you find any mistakes, let me know!!

Steampunk Ninja...

2008-04-23T12:51:00.003-07:00

This is a work in progress, I plan on updating it as I refine it. Here's the initial 25 minute sketch done in Photoshop CS2 with a Wacom Intous tablet. I've only used solid colors so far, no blending or transparency. As it gets more finished, I'll explain what all the pieces do on the character.

Cool Photoshop Brushes

2008-04-22T08:50:00.003-07:00

Found this collection through the Steampunk Forums.

Here's the link: http://brushes.500ml.org/indexx.php

Google Docs + Google Gears = AWESOME

2008-04-20T18:44:00.005-07:00

+ = AWESOME
Yikes! This is sweet! Google Docs offline! Officially in action now!

Sorry for all the exclamations, but this is exciting. Google Docs files are now available offline in the native (if you can even call it that) Google Docs web-based interface. In other words, files in Google Docs are now available when ever, where ever. On a plane, on a boat, anywhere you have your synced computer. That's really the only catch. That and having to install yet another Firefox extension.

That extension would be Google Gears. It's a little scary for me, especially given what it's supposed to do. And it's supposed to be a first step in the whole "cloud computing" idea. Cool and scary. I've basically now opened up my computer to the cloud in a bigger way then before, at least I think so.

But, if you haven't tried Google Docs, it's pretty snazzy. Basically simple functions like Word or Excel, but online anywhere. There are lots of other features as well, but this is how I use it. Simple word, or simple Excel. I haven't branched out beyond that. But maybe I will now. The added benefit of automatic syncing with an offline copy is sweet. I'm not being eloquent here, but I'm very excited about it.

Try it. Google Docs + Google Gears = Awesome. It's true.

Appleseed: Ex Machina

2008-04-12T20:37:00.003-07:00

I bought this in the deluxe edition site unseen. And it was totally worth it. Ex Machina is better then the previous CG Appleseed movie. The original cel anime still maintains a special classic rating for me, so I can't compare it to these modern incarnations.

Now, Ex Machina is a good anime style flick, it's fast paced and has a high minded sort of plot. There's also plenty of mecha action. And the character interaction is pretty good too, there's a lot more character personality than the previous movie. The animation is more consistent too. The jarring contrast between photo real backgrounds and cel shaded characters is replaced by a seamless look. The mecha all seem pretty true to the original feel too. Oh heck, the real deal was the production design: Mecha: Awesome, Characters: Awesome, Sets: Friggin' Awesome, Vehicles: Rad, Props: Awesome. There you go. And in case you're wondering, Awesome is better than Rad. But both are better than Cool.

Some reviews noted the similarity to the Borg, and it's true. But Star Trek: The Next Generation was pretty lame, and the similarities aren't enough (IMHO) to drag this movie down. I do have some criticisms though. First, the characters are more super-human than in the comics. Second, the plot is too simple for a Shirow thing. Simple may be the wrong word, but it's not convoluted and mysterious, but straightforward. The final big criticism comes straight from the geek locker: they made Briarious a white guy! He's supposed to be a black guy! What the F**K! How do you change something like that? Oh well... at least the people from Posiedon are still Japanese.

I haven't watched the special features yet. I will.

New Rogue-Z!

2008-04-07T20:28:00.002-07:00

Well, I'm just playing around. Just some quick fun in Illustrator. Nothing fancy yet...

Engine Work

2008-04-05T17:59:00.002-07:00

Today I replaced the sparkplugs in the Jeep. I'm not a car guy so it was a pretty extreme task for me.

But the Jeep seems to be working just fine. I guess it'll take a few days to see if they make a difference!

I'll say doing stuff like that definitely makes me feel more able, not just with cars but with other tasks too. This whole DIY and Maker thing going on might be on to something!

Fun with Adobe Creative Suite!!

2008-04-04T19:18:00.003-07:00

While of course I wish I could say "Fun with Adobe Creative Suite 3" I actually only have CS2. Both at home and at work. Ah well, I can't always be cutting edge (and when cutting edges is thousands extra, being a bit dull hurts less!)

The fun was had making this poster:

All the fonts are free, search around the interweb with the googles and you'll find them.

I learned lots of techniques used on this poster from these two tutorial sites:
The slick new one: PS Hero (http://pshero.com)
The somewhat dated but still really handy: Polykarbon (http://www.polykarbon.com/index.html)

There are tons of good, free photoshop tutorials out there.
This place has gone quiet, but there still good tuts, and the blog has recently reactivated, so that's a good sign: PhotoshopLab (http://www.photoshoplab.com/)
And this one was surprisingly good: AppClinic (http://appclinic.com/)

Hope you too can have some CS fun!

Okay! Well, you can score high on the geek chart if you can guess the world the poster belongs in!

Speed Racer?

2008-03-21T10:17:00.004-07:00

I just saw a trailer for Speed Racer. A Speed Racer Movie that is. And, to make things even more weird. I thought it looked pretty cool. It might be the first movie since Sky Captain to actually pull off the whole green screen movie thing. Or maybe it will totally suck. Either way, I think I'll check it out. Or at least Netflix it.

Okay. Back to watching I Am Legend. It's off to a good start!

(I Am Legend also had a groovy trailer for Appleseed Ex Machina.)

Update: I Am Legend was an awesome movie!!

I watch Project Runway.

2008-03-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

In fact, it's the only show I watch regularly on tv. It's a damn fine program.

You should watch it too.

And you should watch the SNL sketch about it. Super funny.

Fierce.

Flying Banananananananananana!

2008-03-12T08:00:00.002-07:00

Geosyncronous actually!

Enough with the spinning, panning zoom outs!!

2008-02-28T11:09:00.003-08:00

I love cg animated movies. I also love the whole Appleseed franchise. I'm really excited about the new movie too, Appleseed:Ex Machina. But all that is being a fan boy.

However, as a designer, and a person who takes criticism all the time I can appreciate when enough is enough. And enough with the overused, overdone, cliche spinny pan zoom out camera move so prevalent in cg these days. Watch the link below to ign, from Ex Machina to see exactly what I mean.

It's like lens flare, super glossy reflections, and all the other gag me conventions from cg. It's just used too much and gratuitously. Yeah, it was cool in The Spirits Within, but it seemed fresh then, and we've been forced to sit through those spiraling stupid camera moves ever since. And you know what? They SUCK!!! It's sort of like peoples' annoyance with the super shaky camera moves in action movies. It doesn't help the story, so it should be cut. Yes, that's the benchmark for all this crap, if it doesn't help the story dump it. I'm a poor writer, and mediocre designer, but come ON! Let's pull out that big tool we all have heard about and edit a little bit!

It's the same stupid lack of editing that has ruined star wars and stands poised to ruin LOTR (why invent a "bridge story" between the Hobbit and LOTR? That's stupid!!).

Okay, here's the link. And rant mode, off.

I LOVE ROBOTS

2008-02-16T17:41:00.003-08:00

Here's an awesome vid of a robot doing some martial arts moves.

It's from these guys here: http://www.bauerindependents.com/

Like I said, robots are sweet.

Some Rally Vids from Youtube

2008-02-10T19:32:00.000-08:00

Since we don't get this stuff on tv, I have to watch it on Youtube. Here are tonights favs:

Check out especially around 2:19 for the 180 degree turn. Rad.

And this one:

Good stuff!! Enjoy!!!

Screen Shots and Screen Capture

2008-01-21T20:14:00.000-08:00

Strange coincidence or corporate espionage led the the near simultaneous discovery by me of two similar yet different screen capture softwares in Beta from two companies.
The first, Jing.com is a video capture software that is pretty darn handy for making quick tutorials and simple videos. It's multi platform, both Mac and PC. It's also from TechSmith, makers of lots of other video doodads. It's pretty cool. I've used it at work for simple tutorials on our new server and some other things. Works great.
The other, Skitch.com is a screen shot app, it's powerful and versatile. I've only started playing with it, so I can't really tell yet how useful it is, but it's pretty. Skitch is from plasq.com, the makers of comiclife for your mac. It is mac osx only though, which is a shame, but as I'm mostly mac these days, no problem for me!
Both apps are "beta" and "new technology" though they seem simple enough. Both also feature quick upload to a dedicated content sites. The hosting is temporary according to the EULAs, but for now, they are sure interesting to play with. Despite their stupid names, I'd say give both of these apps a try. Definitely good stuff.

Cars!

2008-01-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Since I've been driving almost 40mi/1.5hours each day, cars are becoming much more important in my life. So I've added some car related links and images to the blog. Enjoy!

Some Sketches... To Kick Your A**!

2008-01-09T19:18:00.001-08:00

"I'll be too busy lookin' good!"
I did these sketches while in the Extended Stay Hotel when I first moved out to the NOVA. I had only brought a couple DVDs with me, one of which was Enter the Dragon. So I sketched the baddest mofo from that movie: Jim Kelly. Enjoy.

*Please pardon the scan quality. The Moleskin sketchpad I did them in has very thin pages. Shine some light on them and bam! the page behind shows right through...

Trying to see if my new video screen grabber will work...

2007-12-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Beware, this is a test. Sketchup test, watch the VCB at the bottom...

My new favorite website...

2007-12-26T05:55:00.000-08:00

www.voltron.com!
I know! Seriously though, even though Voltron is one of the cheesiest cartoons ever, they have a really well designed web site! Yes it's trendy, and yes, Voltron is still cheesy, but it was definitely a nice surprise to find good design. Especially when you consider other monumental cartoons like Robotech, whose web sites suck from a design perspective. To be honest, Voltron's site design actually made me more interested in the show, whereas Robotechs poor, or mediocre, design leaves me less interested even though my opinions of the shows are reversed. See, good design does matter, even for cartoons!

Thanks for listening,
jwillie

What's this? rogue-Z? I thought that was a (office name deleted to protect the guilty) thing?

2007-11-04T19:42:00.000-08:00

Well, and you'd be right. Except now I've gone ahead and claimed it as my own personal domain (see that was a play on words, cause I'm a geek). Yes, the rogue-Z pedigree does hearken way back to my former employer in the Evergreen State. But as life moves on and things change, some underground movements prove less catchy than others. I will always hold a special place for my rogue-Z conspirators, but for now, I'm going to use this as my personal blog for sharing my randomness. I hope none of you (and you know who you are) will mind. I guess I should send an email since the chances of anybody reading this are practically zero...

Thanks!
To all the original rogues (formerly the OG of 5n) PEACE!

Jwillie.

Something Squirrely...

2007-09-29T20:23:00.000-07:00

I had climbed an aged oak near the old road, it had good nuts. Once I reached a reasonable height above the sorrel and other scrub grasses, the view was quite broad. Carefully scaling the spindly branches, I worked my way up a bit higher and out from the leafy foliage to enhance my view, I had smelled something interesting when I got above the grasses. My first guess would be beans. My teacher loves beans, he says they are high in protein. I guess that's important for an old man.

As I looked around, I spotted off in the distance a small caravan. It looked like a large robot vehicle of some kind, a covered wagon pulled by an ATV, I think and several horses and smaller vehicles, maybe a hovercycle or two. I could just make out the figures, but no detail. I hadn't bothered with my set of binoculars on this little trip, their large size is impractical for the kind of tree jumping I had planned. So I sat and watched for a minute.

I heard some twigs break below me, and nearly jumped. Settling in below me a large man lay prone training a long rifle of some sort towards the caravan. He was obviously a bandit or mercenary or something. He had the popular western styled armor on, with a flat crowned wide brimmed hat. He tilted the hat back as he lined up his eye with the enormous scope. I wondered who he was, and why he was ambushing the caravan, I wondered who they were too, I suppose.

The sniper fiddled with dials on the scope, re-lined up, fiddled some more. I suppose it was fairly long range, but my perspective is a bit different from a humans, so that's conjecture on my part. Especially since that is still the closet to a gun I've been before.

I have to admit, I was scared. I kept very still, I don't think I even twitched my nose or my tail. I didn't know who to watch either, the man or the caravan. This man clearly intended to kill someone or several someones from the caravan. For some reason, I had the feeling that this man was the bad guy. I can't explain it to this day.

It felt like an eternity passed before anything happened. Those of you who know me will attribute that to my natural restlessness, but time really did seem slowed somehow. Actually, that is the only way I can explain my detailed recollection of the climax to the situation.

As the man shifted his weight again, I assume it was to settle into firing position, a blurred shape flew in from my left. I had heard nothing, and my ears are sharp. The blur caught the man's head, knocking the had onto the ground. I had my first look at his face as the mysterious figure twisted his head around. The man had dark eyes wide in fear and astonishment. I looked straight into them. The horrible popping of his neck broke the silence of the moment, and I did jump this time.

From an upper branch I continued to watch. The second human, or close to human, kept twisting the man's head. It popped a few more times before the man was clearly dead. I had seen death before, but this was gruesome. I looked away from the man's dead face, and my gaze landed upon the mysterious figure. It was clearly a woman, despite the highly decorated deadboy armor she wore. She had no helmet or head covering, despite her pale, albino skin and bald head. A strange blue flash of energy erupted from the body as the woman bent to tear into the dead man's neck. I knew he was a bad man, but who deserves a gruesome death like this? The woman appeared to absorb the energy. She slumped back in what can only be called fulfillment. I think the content look on her face will haunt me for a long time.

She only paused for a moment. Then she looked up, directly at me. She gave me a knowing wink. The smile on her face would have been friendly but for the man's blood. Without even a whisper, she blended back into the landscape and disappeared. I sat on the tree for a good half hour before climbing down and heading home, without my acorns. I not longer felt hungry.

Later I discovered that the caravan was the much respected (at least in North Texas) Thomas Crow Traveling Show. The next day they stopped by the small town near our homestead. It was a great show and I had a good time until we were about to leave. As Bob and I said goodbye to our friends, I noticed the albino. She seemed right at home among the show people. She noticed me too, and gave me the same knowing smile. I shivered in my bed in fear each night for a week after that. I may rethink my plans to go explore the world.

Image for Kurv Studios Forum

2007-07-30T00:28:00.000-07:00

I just finished the Kurv Studios Lightwave From the Beginning tutorial DVD. I learned a great deal about Lightwave from it, and wanted to post my more or less final image to the tutorial forum.

Welcome to rogueZ!

2007-03-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

For all the former 5n and friends this will be the new wave of goodness! Thanks and enjoy. I will try and find a way to make this interactive so we can all post and edit. Wouldn't that be cool?

Check out the stuff at the rogueZ store: www.cafepress.com/rogueZ!