Except for New Years. But getting presents together is why I haven't had much time to update. I'm sure there are lots of things that will come to me that I need to write about, but for right now I need make an overdue post about my two new shirts that are up for sale:
And I want to thank everybody for a great holiday. I stressed pretty hard about getting things done in time and at one point wasn't sure how it could possibly end up being a memorable Christmas, if not a down right sad one (my first one ever without my grandmother) but it turned out to be pretty amazing in a lot of ways. And that even had nothing to do with presents! My family get-together was a lot of fun despite our recent loss (which is how I think it should be and how she would want it) due in large part, I think, to my cousin and his wife doing a great job of starting a family of their own which is an amazing thing to watch. Two of my friends are getting married (to each other,) I got to crowd surf up a staircase, had unexpected friends surprise me at my party and received very nice emails from the people I do business with thanking me for my work.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Happenings
My Moby Dick shirt is up for sale now, as noted in the Splitreason Blog:
"From the mind of Glen Brogan comes a truly epic battle for the ages! Had it been waged in an arcade, it would have looked something like this. Remember kids, cheat codes hadn’t been invented yet."
Also Dave let me know that Gamesniped has mentioned my shirts again:
"I realize there are tons of video game T-shirt companies out there. Split reason however, is hands down my favorite. Not only do they have the typical FPS and retro related T-shirts, but they also have a ton of rather obscure as well as witty T-shirts.
And an update: it looks like I might get my Christmas miracle from the most unlikely place I could have imagined. It will be quite a story if it works out, and possibly make me believe in Santa again. Wait, Santa doesn't perform miracles, does he? Should I believe in Jesus instead? Maybe I'll just pick Moby Dick as an impartial fictional being and be done with it. Thanks, Moby.
"From the mind of Glen Brogan comes a truly epic battle for the ages! Had it been waged in an arcade, it would have looked something like this. Remember kids, cheat codes hadn’t been invented yet."
Also Dave let me know that Gamesniped has mentioned my shirts again:
"I realize there are tons of video game T-shirt companies out there. Split reason however, is hands down my favorite. Not only do they have the typical FPS and retro related T-shirts, but they also have a ton of rather obscure as well as witty T-shirts.
Seriously, Lemmings? Sweet!
My favorite by far though, has to be this Metroid / Nintendo T-Shirt. I just thought it was absolutely stunning."
What a nice thing to say! Read the article here and visit Gamesniped here to let them do all your Ebay searching for you.And an update: it looks like I might get my Christmas miracle from the most unlikely place I could have imagined. It will be quite a story if it works out, and possibly make me believe in Santa again. Wait, Santa doesn't perform miracles, does he? Should I believe in Jesus instead? Maybe I'll just pick Moby Dick as an impartial fictional being and be done with it. Thanks, Moby.
Friday, December 12, 2008
The Christmas Clock is Ticking
This is the most hectic holiday season I've had in recent memory. Several projects going on at the same time on top of buying presents.
It seems like the days until the 25th are flying by and I only have so much to show for the work I've been trying to put into getting good gifts. The main problem right now is that the fate of a few of the gifts is out of my hands. I had a good idea for a gift that would take care of five people on my list, and though it does involve getting those five people (and more) the same thing it's not as lame as that usually is, I promise. They are items that have to be specially made with the right equipment.
Have you ever run into a specific kind of business that just absolutely does not seem to want your patronage? That's the kind of thing I'm running into with this. Since someone(s) receiving said gifts might be reading this, I'll just call the service "service X." I've tried all kinds of companies that provide service X, both national and local, and it took a while just to find one that would respond to me. I decided to focus on local places since I figured that would cut out shipping time and improve me helping the company with the order and vice versa. So I drove to a place that provides service X and the people couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. I was supposed to recieve a proof of the product the next day, and it is now five days later with no contact. I've tried to call the sales representative I talked to several times and only get voice mail.
What is it with entire kinds of businesses just not wanting your money? I mean they need money, right? So why do they act like they couldn't care less?
I need a Christmas miracle. Anyone?
It seems like the days until the 25th are flying by and I only have so much to show for the work I've been trying to put into getting good gifts. The main problem right now is that the fate of a few of the gifts is out of my hands. I had a good idea for a gift that would take care of five people on my list, and though it does involve getting those five people (and more) the same thing it's not as lame as that usually is, I promise. They are items that have to be specially made with the right equipment.
Have you ever run into a specific kind of business that just absolutely does not seem to want your patronage? That's the kind of thing I'm running into with this. Since someone(s) receiving said gifts might be reading this, I'll just call the service "service X." I've tried all kinds of companies that provide service X, both national and local, and it took a while just to find one that would respond to me. I decided to focus on local places since I figured that would cut out shipping time and improve me helping the company with the order and vice versa. So I drove to a place that provides service X and the people couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. I was supposed to recieve a proof of the product the next day, and it is now five days later with no contact. I've tried to call the sales representative I talked to several times and only get voice mail.
What is it with entire kinds of businesses just not wanting your money? I mean they need money, right? So why do they act like they couldn't care less?
I need a Christmas miracle. Anyone?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thanks
I just wanted to say thanks to all new people who have been stopping by my blog, people who have written about me, and of course those who have been paying attention consistently for a long while.
Brad has talked about using my iGoogle theme on his site "Toast without Butter" (where he posts his cool drawings)
and Paulbrazil has featured my Top Cat drawing on his site, "You would say that, wouldn't you?"
And to answer a question I've been getting a lot recently, the names of the cats from left to right are Fancy-Fancy, Benny the Ball, Top Cat, Choo Choo, Brain, and Spook.
Brad has talked about using my iGoogle theme on his site "Toast without Butter" (where he posts his cool drawings)
and Paulbrazil has featured my Top Cat drawing on his site, "You would say that, wouldn't you?"
And to answer a question I've been getting a lot recently, the names of the cats from left to right are Fancy-Fancy, Benny the Ball, Top Cat, Choo Choo, Brain, and Spook.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Game Genie Shirt
My Game Genie shirt went up for sale today. I can't wait to get one of these because this is in my top three favorite shirts that I've done.
You should buy one for everybody you know, even if they have no idea what this or any other video game related shirt is about (like most of my family.)
Speaking of buying something for everyone you know, have you ever seen those generic check-off lists they use as ads for gifts cards and things? They'll say something like "When buying your Applebee's gift cards, don't forget anyone!" and then have this huge list of people that includes your doctor and even the mailman. Who buys gifts for their mailman? I just thought that was kinda strange. This isn't the 50's and I'm not rich.
You should buy one for everybody you know, even if they have no idea what this or any other video game related shirt is about (like most of my family.)
Speaking of buying something for everyone you know, have you ever seen those generic check-off lists they use as ads for gifts cards and things? They'll say something like "When buying your Applebee's gift cards, don't forget anyone!" and then have this huge list of people that includes your doctor and even the mailman. Who buys gifts for their mailman? I just thought that was kinda strange. This isn't the 50's and I'm not rich.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Progression
It looks like I'm going to start some work soon that might not show up for a while but I'm excited none the less. I've been OKed to do several pieces for Cereal:Geek magazine, a publication from across the pond that's entirely about 80's animation.
I have Ally to thank for bringing the magazine to my attention, and I was very happy to run into a contributing artist and writer when I was in Baltimore earlier this year.
It was when I first saw this illustration that I knew I would love to get involved:
I had to thieve these images from personal websites, so thanks and apologies.
I have Ally to thank for bringing the magazine to my attention, and I was very happy to run into a contributing artist and writer when I was in Baltimore earlier this year.
It was when I first saw this illustration that I knew I would love to get involved:
I had to thieve these images from personal websites, so thanks and apologies.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Try it
A while ago I talked about creating an iGoogle theme. I've had it up and running for a little while so I thought I'd let other people know how they can use it if they'd like.
First you have to have an iGoogle page, which if you have a Blogger you've already got (you just might need to set it up.) Then you you just have to go to:
http://www.google.com/ig?skin=http://www.albinoraven.com/igoogle/1.xml
That will automatically apply my theme to your iGoogle page with your settings. The screen grab is of my personal page at mid-day. The drawing and colors will change depending on the time of day, and I completed three additional drawings for morning, evening, and night which you can see if you use this theme (and sit at your computer all day.)
First you have to have an iGoogle page, which if you have a Blogger you've already got (you just might need to set it up.) Then you you just have to go to:
http://www.google.com/ig?skin=http://www.albinoraven.com/igoogle/1.xml
That will automatically apply my theme to your iGoogle page with your settings. The screen grab is of my personal page at mid-day. The drawing and colors will change depending on the time of day, and I completed three additional drawings for morning, evening, and night which you can see if you use this theme (and sit at your computer all day.)
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Real drawing
Finally, this is what I had to make the previously posted logo and poster for, though I suppose I would have needed to make them eventually for use in the comic. I had finished the drawing of Oly you see here but couldn't decide what to put in the background. Eventually I had an avalanche of "wouldn't it be cool if...?" so I've been working on the various parts of this for about a week. This started as an exercise to see if it would be possible for me to make a somewhat realistic image of a character in my style, and I ended up with a drawing that's one of my favorite things I've ever done.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Fake Ad
This is the second "layer" to my drawing, which you can see incorporates the logo from yesterday. The Spectacle, the titular superhero in my script, is the celebrity spokesperson for HÃgado Pine beer. This ad is funny to me, but probably seems insane to everyone else who doesn't have this whole fantasy world and mythos knocking around in their head. I think you're supposed to establish your story and characters to some sort of fan base before you start doing fun stuff like this, but I felt like doing some fun stuff first.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Fake Beer
This is the logo for a fictitious beer brand within my comic script. The research for this was actually pretty fun because I had to figure out just what it is that makes an alcohol logo so identifiable. When you see a beer logo you know it's for beer even if you've never heard of that brand, but it's not easy to verbalize just why that is. I guess the short version of my findings is that beer logos are usually much more elaborate than what a normal logo should be, with lots of unnecessary design elements and bits of text. The Heineken logo even includes awards the brand has won. Plus there are a few general design staples that you see reused quite a bit.
I forgot that graphic design can actually be fun when you don't have someone telling you to suck all the creativity out of your work (i.e. any client ever in the history of the world who is not an artist themselves.)
This logo is part of a drawing I've done that's in three pieces...or layers...or something. This is the first piece.
I forgot that graphic design can actually be fun when you don't have someone telling you to suck all the creativity out of your work (i.e. any client ever in the history of the world who is not an artist themselves.)
This logo is part of a drawing I've done that's in three pieces...or layers...or something. This is the first piece.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Super Merchandise Fighter II
Friday, November 14, 2008
In action
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Rocking Out
Lately I've been messing with iGoogle which is a customizable version of Google. If you have any sort of Google account like Gmail or Blogger then you have an iGoogle page, you just might not know it yet. One of the cool things about it is that you can give your page a theme, meaning you can change the colors of all the elements on the page as well as add a custom banner image. Even cooler is that the theme can change with the time of day.
When I find out I can customize something like this I tend to get a little obsessed with testing it out and making something unique. So naturally, I created a theme around Oly. For some reason Google wants you to create official themes only, meaning that all themes must be submitted for approval and then put up publicly on their site before you can use them. This as opposed to just letting you do something like throw a family picture on there for use by you on your own computer. That policy seems kinda dumb to me but there is a back-door way to get your own personal theme to work.
Ahem, digressing. Why I started this post was to show off a picture of Oly that I drew for the theme.
When I find out I can customize something like this I tend to get a little obsessed with testing it out and making something unique. So naturally, I created a theme around Oly. For some reason Google wants you to create official themes only, meaning that all themes must be submitted for approval and then put up publicly on their site before you can use them. This as opposed to just letting you do something like throw a family picture on there for use by you on your own computer. That policy seems kinda dumb to me but there is a back-door way to get your own personal theme to work.
Ahem, digressing. Why I started this post was to show off a picture of Oly that I drew for the theme.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Buy shirts, vote for shirts, see a guy wearing one
Here are two shirts that are now for sale:
Here are two shirts you need to vote for. They are both underwater themed, I apologize. Ian will recognize where I got the idea for the Moby Dick shirt.
And here is a random person who was inspired by my artwork to make a total fool of himself as he reenacts my Zelda T-shirt. This makes me feel all warm inside.
Here are two shirts you need to vote for. They are both underwater themed, I apologize. Ian will recognize where I got the idea for the Moby Dick shirt.
And here is a random person who was inspired by my artwork to make a total fool of himself as he reenacts my Zelda T-shirt. This makes me feel all warm inside.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Shoulder Angel
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Young Oly
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Oly
Oly is friend and "roommate" of Ted (owner sounds a little too harsh, like he's a pet or something) girlfriend of Fakeout, and waitress at her family's 24-hour breakfast diner The Egg Sac. Her sisters work there too but are always eager to pawn their shifts on Oly so they can go hang with The Spectacle.
I've done plenty of pieces featuring Oly so I tried to challenge myself with an akward pose in this one. My favorite drawings of her are here and here.
I've done plenty of pieces featuring Oly so I tried to challenge myself with an akward pose in this one. My favorite drawings of her are here and here.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Fakeout
Monday, October 27, 2008
Evelyn
"When an angel serves a life sentence she really serves it."
Thanks for all the comments so far guys.
Thanks for all the comments so far guys.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Olivia and Ophelia
Today's sketch is Olivia and Ophelia, Oly's sisters. Oly is one of a set of triplets and the black sheep of the family according to these two. They are rarely apart and don't understand Oly or the company she keeps.
Friday, October 24, 2008
It's Done!
Short of a few read-throughs and corrections I finished the comic script today that has been snowballing in my head for years. It's called "The Spectacle" (same as my short comic.) I plan to ready a draft complete with character sketches so that my friends and colleagues who are willing (especially those who have experience with this kind of thing) can read it and give me feedback before I begin the arduous task of drawing it, which at my generous estimation should take just over the rest of my life.
As I'm re-reading it and trying to correct all the embarrassing mistakes I'm going to post character sketches here. Some of them contain spoilers, though, so there's not really any fun in posting those...
I've never taken a crack at coming up with a plot synopsis outside of spouting my ideas off to my friends, so this is my first attempt:
Ted is a shoulder demon (one of those guys that sits on your shoulder trying to get you to do bad stuff) who has lived with a human named Oly for as long as she can remember. When Ted's angel counterpart is killed he is instructed to return to Hell so that the balance of angels and demons on Earth will again be even. Problem is, Ted doesn't want to go back. Oly enlists the help of her superhuman boyfriend, Fakeout, who is the reluctant and under-appreciated sidekick of the town superhero, The Spectacle. The group of friends quickly realize that going up against the forces of Hell itself isn't as easy as they'd hoped and they're going to need all the help they can get.
Good enough for the back of a 1980's VHS.
The first character sketch I'm posting is Happenman, the town's washed up superhero from yesteryear. Whereas most hero's powers are clearcut and convenient, Happenman's powers are wildly unpredictable at best.
As I'm re-reading it and trying to correct all the embarrassing mistakes I'm going to post character sketches here. Some of them contain spoilers, though, so there's not really any fun in posting those...
I've never taken a crack at coming up with a plot synopsis outside of spouting my ideas off to my friends, so this is my first attempt:
Ted is a shoulder demon (one of those guys that sits on your shoulder trying to get you to do bad stuff) who has lived with a human named Oly for as long as she can remember. When Ted's angel counterpart is killed he is instructed to return to Hell so that the balance of angels and demons on Earth will again be even. Problem is, Ted doesn't want to go back. Oly enlists the help of her superhuman boyfriend, Fakeout, who is the reluctant and under-appreciated sidekick of the town superhero, The Spectacle. The group of friends quickly realize that going up against the forces of Hell itself isn't as easy as they'd hoped and they're going to need all the help they can get.
Good enough for the back of a 1980's VHS.
The first character sketch I'm posting is Happenman, the town's washed up superhero from yesteryear. Whereas most hero's powers are clearcut and convenient, Happenman's powers are wildly unpredictable at best.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
I'm sick and sentimental
First of all, if you don't feel like reading random philosophical thoughts you should probably stop here. I'm in a thinking mood and need some sort of outlet.
I've had plenty of stuff to post about lately but I just haven't pushed the right keys on my keyboard to make these words pop up on your screen. I'm a little sick after a weekend excursion in the cold fall air followed by returning to a house also unfortunately filled with cold fall air.
This morning one of my art professors at Marshall University died while on a hunting trip; a heart attack is suspected. His name was Stan Sporney and I had him for figure drawing. I sent an online message to his daughter (whom I had class with and who has always been very supportive of me and my art) telling her the best memories I had of her dad. In a school where drawing cartoons was heavily frowned upon and thought to be an obvious sign of goofing off and lack of talent, he was the only professor I had that believed things like comic books were a good and worthwhile art without me having to do any convincing. I don't know if he was a comic fan, but I do know he was a fan of artists following their own vision even if their practice was not widely considered "fine art," and he did everything he could to encourage me and my fellow students to keep at it.
It's just...odd. I don't really consider myself old yet but I guess it must be true that the older you get the more people you see die until it just becomes normal. The thing that always comes to my mind first when someone dies is that nobody will ever get to ask them a question again. I'm sure that seems odd because I myself find it odd. No matter how simple a question it is, if only that person knew the answer you will never know it. What did they have for breakfast? What did they think about a movie? I guess in a weird way I'm obsessed with things that you absolutely cannot get back, which is probably why I'm obsessed with things from my childhood: TV shows, toys, video games. I mean in a way you can get all those things back, but you can never be a kid again.
Last week a guy named Fred who worked at the local K-Mart passed away. Before Wal-Mart rolled into town and took over, this particular K-Mart was the place to shop. According to his obituary Fred had worked at K-Mart for 20 years, which I can vouch for because I remember seeing him there when I was a kid. He was still way too young to expect him to pass, though, as he didn't look out of his thirties to me. Before my dad got a digital camera he would always take his film to K-Mart to get it developed because Fred was there and would make sure that Dad's prints were done right, done early, and would always call him personally when they were ready. They would make small-talk about stuff like Family Guy and Fred would offer to let my dad borrow his DVD set so Dad could watch them. I know this is sappy and goofy, but somebody with enough kindness to let what may as well be a complete stranger borrow something from them ending up working at K-Mart for 20 years only to die young and with little fanfare just breaks my heart.
I guess that's one good thing about being a teacher; you touch so many peoples lives in ways that you'll probably never even know that they will always remember you, and fondly, if you're someone like Sporny.
I've had plenty of stuff to post about lately but I just haven't pushed the right keys on my keyboard to make these words pop up on your screen. I'm a little sick after a weekend excursion in the cold fall air followed by returning to a house also unfortunately filled with cold fall air.
This morning one of my art professors at Marshall University died while on a hunting trip; a heart attack is suspected. His name was Stan Sporney and I had him for figure drawing. I sent an online message to his daughter (whom I had class with and who has always been very supportive of me and my art) telling her the best memories I had of her dad. In a school where drawing cartoons was heavily frowned upon and thought to be an obvious sign of goofing off and lack of talent, he was the only professor I had that believed things like comic books were a good and worthwhile art without me having to do any convincing. I don't know if he was a comic fan, but I do know he was a fan of artists following their own vision even if their practice was not widely considered "fine art," and he did everything he could to encourage me and my fellow students to keep at it.
It's just...odd. I don't really consider myself old yet but I guess it must be true that the older you get the more people you see die until it just becomes normal. The thing that always comes to my mind first when someone dies is that nobody will ever get to ask them a question again. I'm sure that seems odd because I myself find it odd. No matter how simple a question it is, if only that person knew the answer you will never know it. What did they have for breakfast? What did they think about a movie? I guess in a weird way I'm obsessed with things that you absolutely cannot get back, which is probably why I'm obsessed with things from my childhood: TV shows, toys, video games. I mean in a way you can get all those things back, but you can never be a kid again.
Last week a guy named Fred who worked at the local K-Mart passed away. Before Wal-Mart rolled into town and took over, this particular K-Mart was the place to shop. According to his obituary Fred had worked at K-Mart for 20 years, which I can vouch for because I remember seeing him there when I was a kid. He was still way too young to expect him to pass, though, as he didn't look out of his thirties to me. Before my dad got a digital camera he would always take his film to K-Mart to get it developed because Fred was there and would make sure that Dad's prints were done right, done early, and would always call him personally when they were ready. They would make small-talk about stuff like Family Guy and Fred would offer to let my dad borrow his DVD set so Dad could watch them. I know this is sappy and goofy, but somebody with enough kindness to let what may as well be a complete stranger borrow something from them ending up working at K-Mart for 20 years only to die young and with little fanfare just breaks my heart.
I guess that's one good thing about being a teacher; you touch so many peoples lives in ways that you'll probably never even know that they will always remember you, and fondly, if you're someone like Sporny.
Friday, October 3, 2008
My shirt on GameSniped
I completely forgot to post about this when it was first brought to my attention, but my buddy Dave informed me that one of my shirts has showed up on GameSniped.com, a website that is devoted entirely to scouring internet market places (especially Ebay) for cool and rare video game related stuff. Check it out here.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Mayor McCheese
Mayor McCheese was added to Cubeecraft.com as the 99th Cubee last week while I was away. I also added him to my Cubee section. Download him here.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Back from Baltimore
This was our first time attending the Baltimore ComicCon and as far as conventions this was the most comic-oriented one I think I've ever been to. By that I mean that most are "pop-culture" conventions with celebrity gust stars and isles and isles of toys and merchandise. Baltimore only had comic-related guests and just a handful of booths that were selling anything but comics. Those who know me know how much I love collecting toys, but I have to say this was pretty refreshing.
Of course the main reason I went was to meet one of my personal heroes, Mike Mignola. Though I consider myself a comic geek, I am far less of one than most people who are into this sort of thing. The only comics I read and have read for years are Hellboy and B.P.R.D., its spin off series. I could launch into why that is, but that's a whole other topic.
I really can't say enough about how nice Mike was, as well as Guy Davis and John Arcudi, the team behind B.P.R.D. For such a relatively small convention it was absolutely packed. For that reason Mignola said that he probably wouldn't be making a return appearance, so I was REALLY glad we went this year. He basically said that he liked being able to talk to people as opposed to just being an autograph machine, which is why he usually attends smaller functions. To me this event seemed especially small, but I guess that shows why he would never go someplace like the convention in Chicago, where heavy hitters like him usually have lines with waits upwards of two hours...here there was never more than say 10 or 12 people in line for him at a time.
The sketch up there is now one of my most prized possessions...I asked Guy Davis, B.P.R.D. artist and creature extraordinare, to do his take on Ernie, the character you may have seen a few places around my site. He did free sketches for just about everybody who asked which is amazingly gracious. I love to meet the guys that actually appreciate their fans rather than using conventions as opportunities to shamelessly coerce a few more bucks from them.
The sketch up there is now one of my most prized possessions...I asked Guy Davis, B.P.R.D. artist and creature extraordinare, to do his take on Ernie, the character you may have seen a few places around my site. He did free sketches for just about everybody who asked which is amazingly gracious. I love to meet the guys that actually appreciate their fans rather than using conventions as opportunities to shamelessly coerce a few more bucks from them.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Johnny Boy "entertains" a Marshall dorm lounge "full" of students
Last night Michael Chadwyk McClure hosted a showing of Johnny Boy in his dorm lounge. Chad plays Detective Dennison in the movie, the character with the famous death scene that I won't ruin here.
The Brainwrap crew were invited as guest speakers, and all made it but Seth (who was home with a tooth-ache, what a wuss.) For the most part I think the students that showed up were there for the free pizza which Chad graciously provided, but either way a good time was had. Chad also set up a little promotional contest which I was pretty impressed with. Those who attended the Johnny Boy premiere back in April may have stopped by our press table and seen the free stuff we were handing out, including a Johnny Boy Cubee (paper toy that you cut out and construct yourself.) Chadwyk made a few of them and hid them around his dorm building, then put up wanted posters offering a free copy of the movie to those who found the little guys. Apparently the search actually got pretty heated at one point, which I found delightful. I commend you on a job well done, Chad.
He told me, though, that he had trouble finding a copy of the JB Cubee, which lead me to realize that I never actually put one up on the site or really made it available in anyway...somebody actually came to my humble web portal looking for something I made and I didn't have it up. That will be corrected soon.
The Brainwrap crew were invited as guest speakers, and all made it but Seth (who was home with a tooth-ache, what a wuss.) For the most part I think the students that showed up were there for the free pizza which Chad graciously provided, but either way a good time was had. Chad also set up a little promotional contest which I was pretty impressed with. Those who attended the Johnny Boy premiere back in April may have stopped by our press table and seen the free stuff we were handing out, including a Johnny Boy Cubee (paper toy that you cut out and construct yourself.) Chadwyk made a few of them and hid them around his dorm building, then put up wanted posters offering a free copy of the movie to those who found the little guys. Apparently the search actually got pretty heated at one point, which I found delightful. I commend you on a job well done, Chad.
He told me, though, that he had trouble finding a copy of the JB Cubee, which lead me to realize that I never actually put one up on the site or really made it available in anyway...somebody actually came to my humble web portal looking for something I made and I didn't have it up. That will be corrected soon.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Updates
I've been working through a list of things to accomplish now that I have a little more free time, and I can now check website update off the list.
I've added quite a few things, so this list is just as much for me as it is visitors:
Main Page
* Added links to Carrie's site, Brainwrap, Johnny Boy, Splitreason and Cubeecraft.
Art Page
* Split the "Work" section into three categories, "General" "Splitreason" and "Brainwrap." I had so much work for those two companies that it just seemed to make sense.
* Added one commission piece under Work-General
* Added three shirts under Work-Splitreason
* Added the cast illustration, DVD ad, DVD jacket, and Brainwrap logo to Work-Brainwrap
* Added "Weeding" cartoon to Personal-Flash
* Added Billy Bob piece to Personal-Illustration-Pieces
Voices Page
* Created new section for Cubees
* Created new section for Johnny Boy trailer and show times
Contact Page
*Updated my resumé
Hooray!
Note: I just found out that you can't use the greater-than or less-than symbols in these posts because Blogger thinks you're writing some sort of incomplete HTML tags and flips out. Thanks, Blogger, you're smarter than I am.
I've added quite a few things, so this list is just as much for me as it is visitors:
Main Page
* Added links to Carrie's site, Brainwrap, Johnny Boy, Splitreason and Cubeecraft.
Art Page
* Split the "Work" section into three categories, "General" "Splitreason" and "Brainwrap." I had so much work for those two companies that it just seemed to make sense.
* Added one commission piece under Work-General
* Added three shirts under Work-Splitreason
* Added the cast illustration, DVD ad, DVD jacket, and Brainwrap logo to Work-Brainwrap
* Added "Weeding" cartoon to Personal-Flash
* Added Billy Bob piece to Personal-Illustration-Pieces
Voices Page
* Created new section for Cubees
* Created new section for Johnny Boy trailer and show times
Contact Page
*Updated my resumé
Hooray!
Note: I just found out that you can't use the greater-than or less-than symbols in these posts because Blogger thinks you're writing some sort of incomplete HTML tags and flips out. Thanks, Blogger, you're smarter than I am.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Pumpin' em out like crazy
Being unemployed lets me make lots of shirts.
Vote!
http://www.splitreason.com/design/design_48d7de063acec/0
I like this one a lot, might be my favorite after the Back to the Future one.
Vote!
http://www.splitreason.com
I like this one a lot, might be my favorite after the Back to the Future one.
Monday, September 15, 2008
One-day shoot.
We were all able to witness an amazing makeup job by Dave Humphries and Carrie Kirk who are always our go-to make up people.
The brave and paitent Anthony Javorsky is the green guy with the eye. Anthony is typically called upon for our monster roles because he is actually man-shaped unlike us puny, weak creative types. Only at the end of the night as fake blood pooled in the seat of his pants did he ask "Can I be done?" through a set of plastic teeth.
Ian's house grew very hot as the body heat of nine individuals filled it continuously. A small price to pay for a night of laughs, mayhem, and gawking neighbors.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
VOTE OR DIE
In this particular election you can, and are encouraged to, vote for both candidates positively. The only winner is me.
This one is a commission based on Resident Evil:
http://www.splitreason.com/design/design_48c814b73a910/2
This one is my idea, based on Punch-Out:
http://www.splitreason.com/design/design_48c93373f30be/0
Both options are better than voting for whats-his face or ol' guy with that chick.
This one is a commission based on Resident Evil:
http://www.splitreason.com/design/design_48c814b73a910/2
This one is my idea, based on Punch-Out:
http://www.splitreason.com/design/design_48c93373f30be/0
Both options are better than voting for whats-his face or ol' guy with that chick.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Meeting of the Brains
I feel like this post would be more at home on some sort of Brainwrap blog, but what the heck, I guess in a way this IS the only Brainwrap Blog...
The Brainwrap crew had its first meeting last night since most of the Johnny Boy dealings died down. Now we've all had time to forget just how grueluing the filmmaking process is so we're all ready jump back into the game, fists clenched and wallets vulnerable. We're still not ready to call our journey with Johnny Boy a done deal, but it has "plateaued," as I believe Ian put it. We (and by we I mean Ian) are still investigating ways to sell the DVD locally and nationally.
Our most recent project was to film a concert for local musician and friend Bud Carroll. We enlisted the help of several friends who also happen to be excellent cameramen, and Mikey V coreographed all 6 cameras as well as edited the whole thing together. It's possible that my job will be to produce the DVD in addition to shooting the most unusable footage out of the group. An interesting thing about this endevor was that a union guy working the show was litteraly about to throw us out/beat us up for wanting to film. Unions have crazy rules about being paid for work that other people do, which didn't bother me nearly as much as how amazingly rude and quick to anger the guy was.
It looks like our first foray back into creative films will be a very last minute entry into the Two-Minutue Horror Movie Festival. If we don't make the deadline this year it looks like we'll just shelve it until next year, at which point all of this will be forgotten and it will seem brand new!
Beyond that there are a few more ideas kicking around...all staring Seth.
The Brainwrap crew had its first meeting last night since most of the Johnny Boy dealings died down. Now we've all had time to forget just how grueluing the filmmaking process is so we're all ready jump back into the game, fists clenched and wallets vulnerable. We're still not ready to call our journey with Johnny Boy a done deal, but it has "plateaued," as I believe Ian put it. We (and by we I mean Ian) are still investigating ways to sell the DVD locally and nationally.
Our most recent project was to film a concert for local musician and friend Bud Carroll. We enlisted the help of several friends who also happen to be excellent cameramen, and Mikey V coreographed all 6 cameras as well as edited the whole thing together. It's possible that my job will be to produce the DVD in addition to shooting the most unusable footage out of the group. An interesting thing about this endevor was that a union guy working the show was litteraly about to throw us out/beat us up for wanting to film. Unions have crazy rules about being paid for work that other people do, which didn't bother me nearly as much as how amazingly rude and quick to anger the guy was.
It looks like our first foray back into creative films will be a very last minute entry into the Two-Minutue Horror Movie Festival. If we don't make the deadline this year it looks like we'll just shelve it until next year, at which point all of this will be forgotten and it will seem brand new!
Beyond that there are a few more ideas kicking around...all staring Seth.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Comissioned Poster
This is a recent commission where I was asked to take an existing poster and put my own spin on it, or really just redraw it "in my style." This isn't the final version as they requested to have the text taken off.
It was printed at around 4 feet tall if I'm remembering correctly, and I'm hopefully going to take a trip to photograph it hanging above their couch so I can post it on the site. It will be part of one of my "add everything I've done in that last few months" updates.
On a side note, I did a little research on the Yonder Mountain String Band and all of their posters are really well designed.
It was printed at around 4 feet tall if I'm remembering correctly, and I'm hopefully going to take a trip to photograph it hanging above their couch so I can post it on the site. It will be part of one of my "add everything I've done in that last few months" updates.
On a side note, I did a little research on the Yonder Mountain String Band and all of their posters are really well designed.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
MY CUBEES ON [ADULT SWIM]
I've been chasing this for a few days with an old VCR and no luck. Finally this morning it fell right into my lap.
Adult Swim has created a bump (possibly a series of bumps? Not sure yet) about Cubeecraft.com featuring the ones that I designed based on Adult Swim shows.
Watch it here! http://www.bumpworthy.com/bumps/1052
Adult Swim has created a bump (possibly a series of bumps? Not sure yet) about Cubeecraft.com featuring the ones that I designed based on Adult Swim shows.
Watch it here! http://www.bumpworthy.com/
Glen elated!
Chris thanked me on his blog for making the AS ones so I feel like I should thank some people too:
Chris for posting the Cubees
Randall for giving me the heads up
Mike for giving up sleep to aid me in trying to record it
Bumpworthy for posting the video
Adult Swim for being awesome
Edit: A YouTube version which may be easier to watch than the above version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHoeiOKli0k
Friday, September 5, 2008
I AM 8-BIT 2008
This is old news now, but Joystiq is the only place where I've found a decent, comprehensive gallery of the work on display at this years I AM 8-BIT show so I thought I'd post it. My favorite piece that was photographed is this Elevator Action poster. I would love to have a print of this, but sadly it is not one the very few pieces they've decided to reproduce.
When reviewing the photos you'll see that for some reason the show included girls lounging about in their underwear playing video games. I REALLY need to make it out there sometime to see this thing. In the meantime they need to get off their butts and release another volume of the art book that accompanied the first show.
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/i-am-8-bit-2008/
When reviewing the photos you'll see that for some reason the show included girls lounging about in their underwear playing video games. I REALLY need to make it out there sometime to see this thing. In the meantime they need to get off their butts and release another volume of the art book that accompanied the first show.
http://www.joystiq.com/photos/i-am-8-bit-2008/
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Simpsons Toys! I want them!
Kidrobot is putting out a new line of blind boxed (of course) mini Simpsons figures which I want to own all of. I never did get around to getting the Adult Swim ones that I really wanted, so if these become available locally like the AS line surprisingly did, I'll pick up a few.
Looking at the lineup I think I'd be hard pressed to end up with one I didn't want. They did manage to make two extremely odd choices though in Funzo and Lucius Sweet. They couldn't have used, I don't know, maybe Moe or Skinner?
Monday, August 18, 2008
Moives and Shirts
Thank god Tropic Thunder is the #1 movie. And the first to take down Batman! When I saw it there was hardly anyone in the theater, so I was worried that maybe the idiots protesting the word retard would win. Seeing as how most Americans probably use the word on a daily basis, I was hoping they wouldn't turn themselves into hypocrites on this matter, like they do with so many other things.
Plus it's a good movie. Robert Downey deserves an Oscar.
You ever notice how the box office analysts are always 100% wrong? How do I get that job? I have a couple sites I check everyday, the IMDB news page being one of them. Most weeks there is an article about what films the analysts think are going to do well that weekend, followed by an article the next week about how they are "stunned" that they were wrong.
Really, pay attention to it, it's their entire job and they somehow can't seem to figure out the difference between a movie people will see and one they won't. Anyway, they were wrong again as they said that Tropic Thunder wouldn't be #1. And get their reasoning: It did fairly well on Wednesday but dropped off slightly on Thursday, so they figured the theaters would be empty by the weekend. Because, you know, 90% of people don't work throughout the week and aren't just waiting until the weekend to see it.
On another front, the creator of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Richard O'brien, is not behind the remake like it had been reported. Here's a little bit of the article:
"I have no view on whether it should be remade but it doesn't have my blessing," O'Brien told the BBC. "I'm not co-producing it and I won't be involved in any way. The first I heard about it was when people sent me cuttings from U.S. papers."
O'Brien said he thinks the new film's makers said he was collaborating on the remake "to suggest I've given the project my seal of approval."
"I don't know where they'll go with it really," he said. "I've even heard that they're going to put new songs in. I wrote the book, the music and the lyrics. Where are they going to get the songs from? Who's going to do that? That's a bit strange, isn't it?
So the creator hates it and the fans hate it. Who are they making this for again? That new generation of hipsters that apparently think transvestites are all the rage? I guess a lot of teenage males do wear women's jeans now.
Anyway, whether you agree with my rantings or not, vote for my new shirt! In a positive manor!
http://www.splitreason.com/design/design_48a853051f08e/1
Plus it's a good movie. Robert Downey deserves an Oscar.
You ever notice how the box office analysts are always 100% wrong? How do I get that job? I have a couple sites I check everyday, the IMDB news page being one of them. Most weeks there is an article about what films the analysts think are going to do well that weekend, followed by an article the next week about how they are "stunned" that they were wrong.
Really, pay attention to it, it's their entire job and they somehow can't seem to figure out the difference between a movie people will see and one they won't. Anyway, they were wrong again as they said that Tropic Thunder wouldn't be #1. And get their reasoning: It did fairly well on Wednesday but dropped off slightly on Thursday, so they figured the theaters would be empty by the weekend. Because, you know, 90% of people don't work throughout the week and aren't just waiting until the weekend to see it.
On another front, the creator of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Richard O'brien, is not behind the remake like it had been reported. Here's a little bit of the article:
"I have no view on whether it should be remade but it doesn't have my blessing," O'Brien told the BBC. "I'm not co-producing it and I won't be involved in any way. The first I heard about it was when people sent me cuttings from U.S. papers."
O'Brien said he thinks the new film's makers said he was collaborating on the remake "to suggest I've given the project my seal of approval."
"I don't know where they'll go with it really," he said. "I've even heard that they're going to put new songs in. I wrote the book, the music and the lyrics. Where are they going to get the songs from? Who's going to do that? That's a bit strange, isn't it?
So the creator hates it and the fans hate it. Who are they making this for again? That new generation of hipsters that apparently think transvestites are all the rage? I guess a lot of teenage males do wear women's jeans now.
Anyway, whether you agree with my rantings or not, vote for my new shirt! In a positive manor!
http://www.splitreason.com
Monday, August 4, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Guns and Mushrooms
A few more of my shirt designs are up for sale. You can buy some.
I don't even know that guy. Isn't that neat?
I don't even know that guy. Isn't that neat?
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