Inktober continues!

Inktober Update

More from this year's "Inktober" effort

Inktober so far!

I've been participating in #inktober this year, which is a daily ink drawing for the month of October.  Here's what's come out so far...I've been looking at a lot of Sergio Toppi :)

Some recent sketches

You guessed it, more ball point sketches!.  Seriously, ball point pen may be my favorite sketching medium.

Some traditional work (acrylics)

I realized I didn't have any of my traditional paintings up anywhere on the internet other than Facebook so I thought I'd scrabble together the images I do have and throw them up.  Sorry for the quality of the images, unfortunately most of these pieces are in storage currently.

Working on a new scene

Adding some stuff and fiddling with the lighting.

Got a custom skydome and cloud planes with panning textures and more stuff placed here and there.

Quick paint over of the screen capture to explore some ideas

Starting to sculpt the rock spire I painted in the paint over.

Thoughts on "Gamer" culture and identity.

So I wrote a bit of an essay on my thoughts about "Gamer" identity and culture.

For a long time I considered myself a "Gamer" because I grew up loving video games. Playing them, thinking about them when I wasn't playing, imagining and enlarging the worlds they transcribe. I talked about them with my friends, coveted new games I was unable to buy, read magazines about them, learned arcane, unfriendly software to build personal levels or mod them. I literally grew up with video games in the sense that the industry and game development grew up and developed alongside me. Later, in college, most of my friends only had a peripheral interest in games, if any at all. They would play them if they were around but otherwise it was clear that games and their worlds didn't occupy their minds the way they did mine. I thought I was a "Gamer." Then I went to Full Sail to study computer animation.

I watched two kids (and I say that because they were 17-18) in one of my introductory classes get in a shouting match and nearly come to blows over an argument about video cards. I realized that some of this stuff was so much a part of who these kids thought they were, their little half formed identities, that any different assertion, or even a claim of an non-standard preference constituted a challenge that demanded a response as though a shot had been fired across their bow. That was when I realized that maybe I wasn't a "Gamer" if that's what it was.

There's a much longer discussion about identities, how we construct them, what they mean to us, and how they influence our interactions with others, but I'll try to keep it relevant. I still love video games. I love working on them, creating worlds and experiences. I love working with the other amazing people that have dedicated part of their lives in an attempt to create a piece of technology and culture that will go out and become a part of someone else's life. Perhaps even become a part of some kids imagination. That's always been the dream. As a creator I honestly believe the sooner the walls of the adolescent clubhouse of "Gamer culture" are ripped down the better. Perhaps we can move on to trying to make something more meaningful and culturally supportive and relevant than a childish power fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I love those games too. Shit, I grew up with them and still play them. However, as an adult who has been exposed to multiple perspectives I've also since realized that they often represent the world seen through a very, very small lens and there's simply no reason for that lens to dominate the world of games any more. Video games have struggled since their inception for validation and acceptance as a genuine expression of culture, an art form, and not just simply fancy toys. I say if you want to be treated like an adult, than start acting like one.

Micron sketches and recent "Spitpaints"

Some micron pen sketches for a potential acrylic painting, and a couple of recent sketch paints

EVEN MORE Ballpoint sketches

More Ballpoint sketches!

Some more ballpoint sketches.  Space stuff!

Ball Point Pen Sketches

I think the ballpoint pen is one of my favorite sketching tools...it's like the pencil of the pen world :P

Coloring Rockheadz

I've been taking a series of traditional pen and ink drawings, scanning them in and coloring them in Photoshop using various approaches.  Really digging what's been coming out from the process and will definitely be doing more.

Grumpy Rocks

Some quick brush and micron pen sketches of some grumpy ole rocks.  :P

It's a Shrimp Ship! ...sorta

I've been trying out some new techniques that I've been learning from a variety of different sources and thought I'd give the ole "scribble ship thumbnail" thing a pass with the new processes.  It's not taken to finish, but mostly because I think the time would be better spent doing the same rendering pass to several other "scribble ship thumbs."  Anyway, here she be!

Been doing some learnin'

I've been watching a bunch of the super dooper awesome Anthony Jones' tutorial videos recently and have been thinking a lot more about edge control in my painting and more intentionally designed shapes in my drawing.  I took this guy from a batch of late night sketches, colored him, and generally worked up parts here and there.  Eventually I had to put it down though, as this guy is only really ever going to be a sketch.  Putting too much work into random bits of things is a bad habit of mine.  That having been said, please feel free to slap me if there are not more of these forthcoming :)

Virtual Plein Air

I found a group on Facebook called "Virtual Plein Air" where the idea was you go to Google Maps/Earth and search out interesting spots via street view or other attached photos.  Really a fun idea, and a great study/practice.  Here are two I've done so far.  I definitely need to work on simplifying and edge work though.  Looking forward to doing more of these.

Signal Hill in Newfoundland

and a spot in Nova Scotia

RIP H.R. Giger

Giger was a true visionary.  His work intrudes itself on our minds in some horribly familiar way, like they are images that hide at the edges of what we want to believe is real.  In a zone made of things we know, but lost and entangled in each other, rude with evidence of their biological natures and viscerally insulting in their enmeshing...but impossible to look away from.  Out of that space he pulled images that seem to step out from a kind of universal subconscious and rendered them into shocking portraits.  He manged one of the greatest feats an artist can hope for.  His vision has become ours.