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| This is my favorite. It's only a rusty drainpipe under a bridge. |
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
More decayed urban psychedelic stuff
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
My first (and only) attempt at video editing
This 9 minute short film on Youtube was created by me (well, assembled from many different sources, most of them historical). It was in response to a video contest in February 2013--10 years after the Columbia disaster-- about "Why Space Matters." It was also partly inspired by a video from Neil de Grasse Tyson about a similar subject. (Link HERE)
While it didn't win the contest and was disqualified for its length, I think this video has strung together all the footage which shows why this is the singular greatest achievement of the human race.
Space exploration is the only thing that can ensure the future of humankind. It deserves all of our effort, talent, energy and resources. The budget cuts that decapitated NASA after the retiring of the space shuttle fleet I think may have hurt our nation more in the long run than the 13-year War on Terror. We don't even realize the implications.
The process took about a week to put together. Lots of clips had to be downloaded and audio tracks and music removed, then overdubbed with my own carefully selected soundtrack. Some of the clips had to be sped up or slowed down to match the high and low points of the epic score. All of this was done on my MacBook using iMovie and no other software that didn't come packaged with my computer. I will say this: video editing is not as easy as the millions of youtubers make it appear. It takes dozens of gigabytes of storage, even with 2 gigabytes of memory my laptop was struggling and overheating. You really need a Mac Pro or a dedicated workstation for video editing, and an external hard disk for the file storage is a must. at 40 gigabytes, this video project almost killed my poor laptop.
You probably wish it was longer, but I'm afraid this is the best I can do so, sit back and enjoy.
Some of the footage used: NASA Archives, Public Domain World War II newsreels, the 1983 movie The Right Stuff
Music: "Garador's Flight" and "Ascencia" by Jo Blankenburg, "Mars" by Terry Devine-King, "Song of Heroes" by Chris Blackwell
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
An image that took me almost 3 years to create.
You have no idea how hard it was to take these photos and have them all look exactly the same. It took me almost 3 years to find a perfect sunny day with no one else in the park and remember the exact spot where I stood.
I missed two chances and had to wait another year to try again. It takes patience. :)
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Oversaturation turns dirty, ugly urban textures into Modern Art
About a year ago, I was walking around in my city taking pictures of things like stained concrete, stone walls and rusty metal. Anything that looked decayed for use as "stock textures," to manipulate or alter somehow in my digital artwork later. But at the time I wasn't sure how I would use them.
Today as I was playing around with these images in Photoshop, I discovered that simply over-saturating these images creates an explosion of hidden color. The effect looks very Andy Warhol -inspired, like Pop Art. Over-saturation is a photographic term which means too much color. Usually the effect is undesirable in photography. But the subjects I chose for the photos are very plain, boring stuff, things people walk by all the time and don't notice. This almost gives a vibrant new life to the ugly parts of the city people would rather not look at. I find a certain beauty in old decaying things though. Maybe it's just me.
I like the way these turned out, some really do look like modern art paintings. Below are the before and after comparisons.
...By the way, I've read in science books that the image on the right side is more how the world looks as seen through the eyes of birds, certain insects and reptiles (and possibly dinosaurs). Their eyes have more color receptors than ours do and they can see wavelengths of light that we can't...so they can see colors we don't even have names for.
BEFORE AFTER
The more you zoom in on the texture, the more abstract the photo painting becomes.
Who knew that so much color was hiding in plain sight?
Today as I was playing around with these images in Photoshop, I discovered that simply over-saturating these images creates an explosion of hidden color. The effect looks very Andy Warhol -inspired, like Pop Art. Over-saturation is a photographic term which means too much color. Usually the effect is undesirable in photography. But the subjects I chose for the photos are very plain, boring stuff, things people walk by all the time and don't notice. This almost gives a vibrant new life to the ugly parts of the city people would rather not look at. I find a certain beauty in old decaying things though. Maybe it's just me.
I like the way these turned out, some really do look like modern art paintings. Below are the before and after comparisons.
...By the way, I've read in science books that the image on the right side is more how the world looks as seen through the eyes of birds, certain insects and reptiles (and possibly dinosaurs). Their eyes have more color receptors than ours do and they can see wavelengths of light that we can't...so they can see colors we don't even have names for.
BEFORE AFTER
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| Drainpipe underneath an old stone bridge |
 |
| Lichen-encrusted exposed rock by a hiking trail |
The more you zoom in on the texture, the more abstract the photo painting becomes.
 |
| Mossy tree bark |
 |
| Stone wall in a drainage ditch |
 |
| Underside of a railroad bridge |
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| Exterior of a church |
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| Stone wall |
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| Cracked pavement |
 |
| Water-damaged tunnel ceiling underneath a bridge |
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| Vines climbing up a concrete foundation |
 | |||
| Door latch on an abandoned barn |
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| Peeling paint on another old barn |
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| A wall attacked by graffiti |
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| Rusty basement door to an abandoned building |
Friday, November 15, 2013
Advice from a jaded designer
To you creatives out there, here's what I learned from my 5 years in the field.
Anytime you have too many people involved in a creative process, the result is counterproductive. A design project should involve three people at most. The designer, the client who gave you the job, and one other person to give a second opinion. The third party should be a marketing director of the client's company, someone from your own design firm, or whoever is responsible for producing or delivering the end product. Nobody else.
Whenever a client tells me my work will be "submitted to a design board for approval" I gotta just roll my eyes. Each member of a group thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong.
If the so-called "design board" (usually made of non-designers) can make any decision, it will be a weak compromise based on your least favorite concept, or a mish-mash of elements from other people's ideas that don't work together, they'll even want to go back to an old idea you threw out when you started because you already knew it wouldn't work.
The result will be cluttered, incoherent and unsatisfying to look at. Once you get to iteration #8 or so of the concept, you realize the work you did up to that point won't mean anything and wasn't worth the effort or time you put into it. Committees are indecisive, prone to changing details at the last minute, telling you the work is done then calling you a day later asking for "one more little thing" and it never ends. It takes all the fun out of the creative process and it makes you regret ever taking the job in the first place.
A creative process should be an intimate one. Design is not a democracy, nor is it a republic of squabbling bureaucrats. Design is kind of a dictatorship. You're the artist, if you're being paid to do the job, then you should be allowed to do it.
Monday, September 30, 2013
Painting #1: Snowy Twilight Forest
Here's the photo I took of my grandmother's forest in upstate New York last winter:
The "blue twilight" effect is a cool trick I discovered by altering the white balance on my camera. We had more snow in December 2012/January 2013 than I have seen in many years. And it was very cold, below zero. It was also windy as the snow came down, so it frosted on to one side of all the trees. Walking through this forest, everything was peaceful and totally like a scene out of a fairytale. I got the snow dusting on the tree trunks with a dry fan-tipped brush and very small dabs of white paint.
...And this is the dark corner of my parents' basement that I sometimes work in. For no other reason than lack of studio space. I do what I have to do.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Sketch #1
Daily drawing. From a closeup I took at Longwood Gardens in 2012. This took me about an hour and a half this morning with colored pencil.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Time to do something with art again.
I have a confession to make. I have committed a sin when it comes to art.
I have gotten lazy.
Even though I am a passionate, dedicated hard worker at every job I do, I am still extremely lazy when I'm not at work. I mean lazy about art. I just don't enjoy it like I used to. When I set my mind to it I can do awesome things, but lately I'm feeling blah. And I don't want to accept that this is simply because I have a regular job now.
Work takes a lot out of anyone. It drains the life out of anyone. When I come home, it makes me want to sit around in a catatonic state, and do nothing and think about nothing until I can fall asleep.
That's bad. In fact it's terrible. There's so much I could be doing in my spare time. It's a well-known, often overlooked and unpleasant fact that if we spent just 30 minutes to an hour doing something we enjoy every single day, we could master it in a year. But most of us don't have the motivation to start anything new.
It's time to do something. I had an idea today.
I have taken thousands of digital pictures. Like over 100 gigabytes' worth of photos. Every significant moment in my life for the last 6 or 7 years. A visual universe of memories, most of which I shared with no one but myself. And right now, these images are all locked inside my computer, taking up space on my hard drive. The free space is getting ever smaller. I've been taking much less pictures lately, because this occurred to me. My Macbook is almost 8 years old, I bought it for christmas in 2006. And just about every internal component of it has been upgraded or replaced, some more than once. The cooling fans, DVD drive, battery, hard disk and memory have all been replaced. But I know eventually, it will die. And eventually, my backup disk will die too. And years from now, the recordable DVDs I store my life on will deteriorate. And all this stuff will be lost. Why? Because it isn't tangible.
I think it's time to start drawing and painting my photographs. 100 years from now, a painting will be worth more than a photo, right? The world has been photographed a million times over, but art exists only in the head and hands and what they create. There's billions of photographers out there, and they all take the same images. But no one will ever see them the way an artist does.
I need to create stuff again. I need to stop my laziness.
So...why not draw or paint my photos?
I should pick a photo I really like, sit down and turn it into a work of art. And then make another, and another. I'll start small, of course. Small stuff takes up less space. But it's time to start making a body of physical, tangible work that I can show people. And the process will make my art skills better, too.
I have a lot of sunsets, and landscapes. Seasonal pictures. Natural stuff. Some things which are gone and can never be seen the same way again. There is already so many colorful and pleasing subjects to choose from. It's my own stuff, so why not? No need to ask permission to use my own images. No need to give credit, or pay royalties.
It's sort of dumb to just let this stuff die without using it.
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| The Grand Teton mountain range, 2011 |
Then as I get better, I can go bigger. I could go from small watercolors or colored pencil drawings to
bigger paintings. I could fill a sketchbook, or use up some art supplies I have laying around.
I should try new things. Like rendering a familiar picture in dots, or lines, or squiggles, or smudges.
I need to use unexpected colors, or patterns.
My realism limits me too much. I gotta loosen up and be free.
My realism limits me too much. I gotta loosen up and be free.
Smear the colors around, make a little mess and enjoy the work, not obsess over unimportant details and perfection. I need to stop caring so much about the end result, or this won't be possible. In the beginning, the focus should be on quantity, not quality. Then as I make more stuff and grow more confident, I should really make it shine.
With all the images I already got to work with, I could spend the rest of my life drawing and painting.
Just an hour a day. That would be all it would take to transform my art, if I can just get started.
I gotta make a pledge to myself. I must do this. There is no excuse not to. No one else will ever see the world the way I see it. Unless I show them.
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| This is my journey of a thousand miles, and this is my single step. |
Friday, August 23, 2013
Special Summer Project: Custom Decorated Bird Houses
This is not the kind of artwork I normally do, and so it was not easy. The Wilmington Garden Club asked me to paint these three small birdhouses with the theme of the "Three Little Pigs" for the children's garden behind the Talley Day Park Library. The project took about three weeks to finish after almost a month of procrastinating ("Uhh, I really dunno if I can do this...") If it were not for my art buddy Stephanie Ann and her nimble, dainty girl hands with a fine-tipped paintbrush and her moral support, honestly today I'd still be staring at a bunch of unpainted bird boxes.
I still do traditional art such as painting, but it takes a real kick to get me started, and don't believe that I can do something until I actually do it. I really wasn't sure if these would turn out as well as they did. I hope the Garden Club likes them even if the birds don't.
I still do traditional art such as painting, but it takes a real kick to get me started, and don't believe that I can do something until I actually do it. I really wasn't sure if these would turn out as well as they did. I hope the Garden Club likes them even if the birds don't.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
My 80's Tribute Custom Mix CD
Some of the more interesting things I came across, particularly in the Alternative and Hard Rock genre--and this seems to be a trend in modern music that is mostly outside the 'mainstream'-- is a lot of bands have recorded 'covers' of songs they heard on the radio twenty or thirty years ago. These hardly ever get radio airplay, and might only be heard as a bonus track at the end of a studio album or an encore at a live concert. The bands that record them aren't what you would expect either (a good example is the slow and downright creepy rendition of "Seals and Crofts - Summer Breeze" as performed by Type O Negative.) While not all of them are this shocking, all of these tributes sound very different from the originals.
While I was on vacation, I put together 24 of the best ones. If burned to CD's this would be a 2-disc anthology. The theme and title of the playlist, "Turn It On Again," is taken from the title of a 1986 song by Genesis which appears on the final cut.
Below is the track list I put together, with the song titles and a link to see what the new version sounds like. If you want this entire "album," you'll have to download or buy the tracks yourself though. Let no one say that I would ever be an advocate of illegal music piracy....
DISCLAIMER: The more "hardcore" fans of hard rock among you will be the first to point out that I neglected to include two very popular tracks in this list. "Sweet Dreams" by Marilyn Manson (originally Eurythmics) and "Another Brick In The Wall" by KoRn (tribute to Pink Floyd of course). I'm not a fan of either--so sue me-- and these are both pretty well-known and popular songs that have gotten lots of FM radio play. The songs I have compiled here you aren't likely to hear anywhere, and even if you like these bands, you may not know that they even recorded these tributes.
So without further ado, here's my lineup:
1. Orgy - Blue Monday (New Order Cover - Single Mix)*
*I couldn't find a video of the best version of this one. It's a bonus track off a rare single version that features remixes of only the song "Blue Monday". The Single Mix version is heavier and more metal-driven whereas the album version of Blue Monday is electronic. I recorded this one off the radio 11 or 12 years ago. It really does sound better in the car with a good stereo!
2. Fear Factory - Cars (Gary Numan cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSoKp6dRUH0
3. Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal ( Michael Jackson cover) http://youtu.be/CDl9ZMfj6aE
4. The Ataris - Boys of Summer (Don Henley cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI93w0OV6D8
5. Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company (Bad company cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVo8g7T39A4
6. Disturbed - Shout 2000 (Tears For Fears cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo62kvjLHvY
7. Disturbed - Land of Confusion (Genesis cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbp3I2evSXo
8. Metallica - Turn the Page (Bob Seger) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DuRVp3S2Gc
9. Deadstar Assembly - Send Me an Angel (Real Life cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwWO3t-ToDk
10. Firewind - Maniac (Michael Sembello cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmhZFV3WbDM
11. Dope - You Spin Me Right Round (Dead or Alive cover) check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjKNUfPEsB8
12. Dope - Rebel Yell (Billy idol cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aJv1daNtKw
13. Lacuna Coil - Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOLMbKjLeY
14. Machine Head - Message in a Bottle (The Police cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV4NcnhktHY
15. Trust Company - Rock The Casbah (The Clash cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-zosUjzgdQ
16. Nonpoint - In the Air Tonight (Genesis cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihYwcaxEEUk
17. Saxon - Ride like the wind (Christopher Cross cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWn06y86__w
18. Steel Horse - You Better Run (Pat Benatar cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-h2qM8-6Xs
19. Type O Negative - Summer Breeze http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNo7ZZryuSQ
20. Terminal Choice - I Ran (Flock of Seagulls cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeSxWvnGIV4
21. Warmen - Somebody's Watching Me (Rockwell Cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNOVMdmBppI
22. Powerman 5000 - Good Times Roll (The Cars cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDSRp9TqixM
23. Lydian Sea - Turn It On Again (Genesis cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jJTo3KiT0
While I was on vacation, I put together 24 of the best ones. If burned to CD's this would be a 2-disc anthology. The theme and title of the playlist, "Turn It On Again," is taken from the title of a 1986 song by Genesis which appears on the final cut.
Below is the track list I put together, with the song titles and a link to see what the new version sounds like. If you want this entire "album," you'll have to download or buy the tracks yourself though. Let no one say that I would ever be an advocate of illegal music piracy....
DISCLAIMER: The more "hardcore" fans of hard rock among you will be the first to point out that I neglected to include two very popular tracks in this list. "Sweet Dreams" by Marilyn Manson (originally Eurythmics) and "Another Brick In The Wall" by KoRn (tribute to Pink Floyd of course). I'm not a fan of either--so sue me-- and these are both pretty well-known and popular songs that have gotten lots of FM radio play. The songs I have compiled here you aren't likely to hear anywhere, and even if you like these bands, you may not know that they even recorded these tributes.
So without further ado, here's my lineup:
 |
| Made this album cover in Photoshop |
"TURN IT ON AGAIN: Modern Rock Covers the 80's"
1. Orgy - Blue Monday (New Order Cover - Single Mix)*
*I couldn't find a video of the best version of this one. It's a bonus track off a rare single version that features remixes of only the song "Blue Monday". The Single Mix version is heavier and more metal-driven whereas the album version of Blue Monday is electronic. I recorded this one off the radio 11 or 12 years ago. It really does sound better in the car with a good stereo!
2. Fear Factory - Cars (Gary Numan cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSoKp6dRUH0
3. Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal ( Michael Jackson cover) http://youtu.be/CDl9ZMfj6aE
4. The Ataris - Boys of Summer (Don Henley cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI93w0OV6D8
5. Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company (Bad company cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVo8g7T39A4
6. Disturbed - Shout 2000 (Tears For Fears cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lo62kvjLHvY
7. Disturbed - Land of Confusion (Genesis cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbp3I2evSXo
8. Metallica - Turn the Page (Bob Seger) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DuRVp3S2Gc
9. Deadstar Assembly - Send Me an Angel (Real Life cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwWO3t-ToDk
10. Firewind - Maniac (Michael Sembello cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmhZFV3WbDM
11. Dope - You Spin Me Right Round (Dead or Alive cover) check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjKNUfPEsB8
12. Dope - Rebel Yell (Billy idol cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aJv1daNtKw
13. Lacuna Coil - Enjoy the Silence (Depeche Mode cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTOLMbKjLeY
14. Machine Head - Message in a Bottle (The Police cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV4NcnhktHY
15. Trust Company - Rock The Casbah (The Clash cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-zosUjzgdQ
16. Nonpoint - In the Air Tonight (Genesis cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihYwcaxEEUk
17. Saxon - Ride like the wind (Christopher Cross cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWn06y86__w
18. Steel Horse - You Better Run (Pat Benatar cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-h2qM8-6Xs
19. Type O Negative - Summer Breeze http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNo7ZZryuSQ
20. Terminal Choice - I Ran (Flock of Seagulls cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeSxWvnGIV4
21. Warmen - Somebody's Watching Me (Rockwell Cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNOVMdmBppI
22. Powerman 5000 - Good Times Roll (The Cars cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDSRp9TqixM
23. Lydian Sea - Turn It On Again (Genesis cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-jJTo3KiT0
Monday, June 3, 2013
Live Right!
Good, sound advice from a street vandal? Graffiti discovered in Wilmington beneath a bridge:
Monday, May 6, 2013
Tribute to a Favorite Cartoon Character
Back in my high school days, I used to draw Japanese-style sketches based on beloved anime characters from my favorite shows. (For anyone who can remember back this far, that was around 1999-2001, when Dragonball Z was the biggest show on Toonami) In my teenage years it was huge. I remember kids talking about the latest fight between Gohan & Perfect Cell in study hall, and it seemed everybody in Art Club had to spend half of a meeting in their little social groups, drawing their made-up anime characters. Everyone had a specific show they liked, or a character from a cartoon they felt best fit their personality. I remember people reminiscing in the past tense about what an awesome show Gundam Wing was, and my 16 year old self being rather upset that the show was cancelled before my parents decided to pay for cable TV.
(Yes, I grew up with only 12 channels of garbage to watch. They considered cable to be a "luxury" and not worth the extra monthly expense. Call me a deprived child; but really you have no idea.)
When I was about sixteen, I decided to put all my loose leaf sketches on scrap paper into a 3-ring binder, and label it "Anime Drawings." I still have this book, and the last time I added anything to it was August 2002.
Here is one of the last drawings I did but never showed anyone, dated sometime in late 2001: (click to enlarge)
And below is my a brand new set of practice sketches for another beloved character, Vash "The Stampede" from the less popular but still cult-followed Trigun series. Having done no artwork of this sort for the last eleven or
twelve years, I decided to try my hand at drawing a tribute to his
dorky, offbeat and hilarious character and see if I still "got it."
Well, apparently I do. I honestly forgot how much fun it is to draw this stuff.
I plan to make another picture expressing his more serious side. This is the silly one.
Vash is my all-around favorite male protagonist from an anime show, and he reminds me of myself in so many ways, but I'll list10 of them:
1. He has spiky hair and glasses, and looks somehow cool and dorky at the same time.
2. He is some sort of freak, an alien, or some genetically engineered experiment run amok (how I feel sometimes)
3. He has a very sad, dark and scary past he doesn't like to remember.
4. He has scars from injuries all over his body, some of them medical but most of them accidental.
5. He is a goofy comic-relief sort of character, but can be serious when he has to be.
6. His emotions really come forth when he's hurt or upset, but in general he's much stronger than anyone gives him credit for.
7. He doesn't try to make friends. But rather it just sort of "happens" when people accidentally get thrown into the same situation with him.
8. He always seems to screw everything up, but he isn't actually clumsy. He just has bad luck.
9. He is truly loved by his friends and thoroughly hated by his enemies.
and last but not least...
10. He really sucks at talking to women, and has pleasant manners but really bad social skills.
BRIEF CHARACTER BIO:
Vash tries to keep his true identity a secret. We never do learn what his true name is, and his only response in one episode is a long and rambling one along the lines of "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." I have trouble remembering this name he gives to someone, but I think it goes like Valentinez Alkalinela Xifax Sicida Boheretz Gambicobella Blue Stradivari Talentrent-Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovichi Baldeus-George Deutzelkaiser the Third...or something. Obviously, these are all fictional and meaningless titles.
He has been given the fearsome nicknames "Vash The Stampede" and "The Humanoid Typhoon" by others because everywhere he goes, incredible chaos and destruction follows in his wake. He once completely destroyed an entire town and doesn't even remember the incident, which resulted a sixteen billion (16,000,000,000) double dollar price being put on his head. So now all the toughest assassins in the galaxy are after this poor guy and he has no idea how he became regarded as so dangerous.
He is treated as a fugitive everywhere he goes and is constantly on the run from gunslingers, crime bosses and the local law enforcement; respected and feared by his enemies. Civilians are afraid to be seen around him because of the reputation he brings wherever he goes. An entire planet considers him the most dangerous man alive, but he really is not the brutal and remorseless killer that most imagine him to be. In fact he's a pacifist and doesn't like to hurt people. He's really a big softie on the inside, and has a goofy and silly demeanor like that of a child. His life is constantly being threatened by people who step up to challenge him, and he has managed to develop his skills to the point of disabling and incapacitating his opponents without killing them, or in some cases even injuring them. Most of the hit men, bounty hunters and thugs who come after him end up "crawling away in defeat with multiple injuries, usually self-inflicted, or staggering away in disbelief that such a dork could possibly be the man they are looking for!"
Trigun is a great series, and it mixes serious action and combat with the quirky, offbeat humor that has since become a trademark in modern shows. Unlike some which seem dated by today's standards, this one really has stood the test of time and remained a classic.
(Yes, I grew up with only 12 channels of garbage to watch. They considered cable to be a "luxury" and not worth the extra monthly expense. Call me a deprived child; but really you have no idea.)
When I was about sixteen, I decided to put all my loose leaf sketches on scrap paper into a 3-ring binder, and label it "Anime Drawings." I still have this book, and the last time I added anything to it was August 2002.
Here is one of the last drawings I did but never showed anyone, dated sometime in late 2001: (click to enlarge)
 |
| This was done in response to the endless debates I heard in the cafeteria, study halls and after-school art club about what was cooler, Dragonball Z (or Shonen Jump fighting anime in general) or the Gundam style (giant mecha-robots in space). So I drew the two opponents having a face-off. This is also the only drawing I ever tried to do in the "Chibi" style, which means dwarf-sized characters with exaggerated and caricature like features. Not everybody gets the joke behind this image, but I find it pretty funny. |
Well, apparently I do. I honestly forgot how much fun it is to draw this stuff.
I plan to make another picture expressing his more serious side. This is the silly one.
Vash is my all-around favorite male protagonist from an anime show, and he reminds me of myself in so many ways, but I'll list10 of them:
1. He has spiky hair and glasses, and looks somehow cool and dorky at the same time.
2. He is some sort of freak, an alien, or some genetically engineered experiment run amok (how I feel sometimes)
3. He has a very sad, dark and scary past he doesn't like to remember.
4. He has scars from injuries all over his body, some of them medical but most of them accidental.
5. He is a goofy comic-relief sort of character, but can be serious when he has to be.
6. His emotions really come forth when he's hurt or upset, but in general he's much stronger than anyone gives him credit for.
7. He doesn't try to make friends. But rather it just sort of "happens" when people accidentally get thrown into the same situation with him.
8. He always seems to screw everything up, but he isn't actually clumsy. He just has bad luck.
9. He is truly loved by his friends and thoroughly hated by his enemies.
and last but not least...
10. He really sucks at talking to women, and has pleasant manners but really bad social skills.
BRIEF CHARACTER BIO:
Vash tries to keep his true identity a secret. We never do learn what his true name is, and his only response in one episode is a long and rambling one along the lines of "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." I have trouble remembering this name he gives to someone, but I think it goes like Valentinez Alkalinela Xifax Sicida Boheretz Gambicobella Blue Stradivari Talentrent-Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovichi Baldeus-George Deutzelkaiser the Third...or something. Obviously, these are all fictional and meaningless titles.
He has been given the fearsome nicknames "Vash The Stampede" and "The Humanoid Typhoon" by others because everywhere he goes, incredible chaos and destruction follows in his wake. He once completely destroyed an entire town and doesn't even remember the incident, which resulted a sixteen billion (16,000,000,000) double dollar price being put on his head. So now all the toughest assassins in the galaxy are after this poor guy and he has no idea how he became regarded as so dangerous.
He is treated as a fugitive everywhere he goes and is constantly on the run from gunslingers, crime bosses and the local law enforcement; respected and feared by his enemies. Civilians are afraid to be seen around him because of the reputation he brings wherever he goes. An entire planet considers him the most dangerous man alive, but he really is not the brutal and remorseless killer that most imagine him to be. In fact he's a pacifist and doesn't like to hurt people. He's really a big softie on the inside, and has a goofy and silly demeanor like that of a child. His life is constantly being threatened by people who step up to challenge him, and he has managed to develop his skills to the point of disabling and incapacitating his opponents without killing them, or in some cases even injuring them. Most of the hit men, bounty hunters and thugs who come after him end up "crawling away in defeat with multiple injuries, usually self-inflicted, or staggering away in disbelief that such a dork could possibly be the man they are looking for!"
Trigun is a great series, and it mixes serious action and combat with the quirky, offbeat humor that has since become a trademark in modern shows. Unlike some which seem dated by today's standards, this one really has stood the test of time and remained a classic.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Some Cool Truck Graffiti
Mighty impressive road advertising by an unknown artist (Taken on my cell phone cam while driving)
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
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