Harry Potter Weekend!

It's Harry Potter weekend! With the release of the seventh book, a few of us got together this Sunday for waffles, swimming, and marathon Harry Potter reading.

Sadly, I haven't been following the series (though, as they're now all released, I suppose I could read them straight through, no waiting!), so rather than read book seven, I did the next best thing -- draw sketches of people reading book seven:

End of Semester Panoramas

A couple of panoramic photos to mark the end of the semester. I can hardly believe it ... this is the last time I'll be able to say that. After all these years, it makes me a little sad. I guess, in that sense, these photos also mark the end of my time at San Jose State University. I actually kinda miss it already.


From last Thursday, the end-of-the-year Shrunkenheadman picnic.


And from three weeks ago, the BFA Animation/Illustration Gallery 2007.

Berkeley Sketches

Visited Berkeley with friends this weekend, and came back with an enormous Andrew Wyeth book and a couple pages of sketches.



While we're at it, here's an older drawing of the same friends, from a housewarming party back in March:

The Departed Speedpaints

A few of my friends have been doing speedpaintings from screenshots of movies. I think it's a pretty great way to study films more closely. So here are a couple of speedpaints I did tonight from The Departed, which has some absolutely stunning shots throughout.


I think this is actually an over-the-shoulder shot, with the cell phone as the point-of-view character. Not only that, notice how the shot is oriented so that the phone is higher in the frame than Matt Damon's face--meaning the cell phone is actually in a dominant position here.


This shot is only on screen for about ten frames, inbetween other shots that aren't quite as disorienting. The effect is so subliminal, you probably don't remember the shot even being there. But you feel it.

Last Week of Classes

A few sketches from last Friday's maquette class, the last meeting of the semester!




This one could easily be a companion to another drawing I posted earlier.

Five Months in 2007

A long overdue sketchdump of drawings from the last five months. Enjoy!

ADAA Semifinals

Awesome news: Ace Bullet, P.I. was accepted into the semifinal round of the 2007 Adobe Design Achievement Awards! See the official list of semifinalists at the ADAA website.

Congrats also to fellow SJSU entrant John-Paul Balmet and company for getting their film Journey: A Short Vignette into the semifinals, as well.

Ace Bullet, P.I.

Tonight saw the premiere of my new film, Ace Bullet, P.I., at the SJSU 15-Second Animated Film Festival! Thanks to everyone who came out! If you couldn't make it, or if you just want to see it again, here it is, in all its noir-soaked glory:

This is what Christmas means to me

Merry Christmas!

Neil Gaiman @ San Jose

Neil Gaiman doing a reading at San Jose, about a week and a half ago. The way I drew him, he kinda looks more like Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop -- but that's what his hair was doing. All over the place.



The writing at the bottom is part of something he said regarding Good Omens: "When we wrote it, we were just two guys no one had ever heard of. We had no idea it would go on to sell millions of copies. Or that it would be translated into fourteen other languages. Or that young ladies all over the world would be writing pornography involving the main characters."

Barry Yougrau's "Creek"

Drawings from a recent project in BFA, after a story called "Creek" by Barry Yougrau. Initially drawn in the style of Edward Gorey, though I think there's a lot of Lyonel Feininger influence in there too.

Sketchbook Animation

Today's post is an experiment of sorts. About a month ago, I posted this page of watercolor sketches, painted from photographs by Albert Arthur Allen. Just for fun, I wondered what those drawings might look like animated.

The result is this two-second "sketchbook animation." It's not an acting test or a funny gag or a film with a beginning, middle, and end. It's just something I felt like animating. It's like something I'd draw in my sketchbook, except animated.


Click to play the movie (3.56 MB)

Last Drawings of October

A veritable potluck of sketches. Here's what found residence in my sketchbook in the last weeks of October.













Also:

Nerf Movie

The final product of project number one in my Maya class. Nerf fans enjoy:


Click to play movie at 320x240
Or download the 640x480 large version (76.7 MB).

The gun featured in this clip is the N-STRIKE Nite Finder, which unbelievably only costs $5.99.

More October Watercolors

I'm making an effort to spend more time drawing in my sketchbook. I always forget how theraputic it can be, even if sometimes I'm just pushing paint around. It's probably the one place where I can draw whatever I want and not care what anybody thinks. Except for you, nameless occasional reader of this blog. You are my everything.

Anyway, here are some sketches from the last couple days.


From photographs by Albert Arthur Allen. Mostly from the 1920s.


The SJSU tower.


The intersection at 4th and San Fernando, as seen from the 6th floor of the Martin Luther King Library.

Early October Watercolor Sketches

It's been a while since I've posted any actual sketchbook pages. Here are some from today and last Saturday:


The indie film I worked on premiered last Saturday at the Mill Valley Film Festival. I drew storyboards for the film way back in early pre-production, before they'd even had a complete cast. And now after over a year, we finally get to see the finished product! Pretty satisfying feeling.


Sketches during class. "Week 8" refers to this being the eighth week of classes.


Last stop, the Fremont BART station. I was a little early picking Amber up from BART, so I sketched this out real quick and then painted it later at home.

doodle at seven stories high

I was at the library on campus researching our current project in BFA when I found a seat in the corner of the building with this great view. I couldn't resist.

Drawn from the 7th floor of the Martin Luther King Library at SJSU. The gigantic linked image is half the actual size I was drawing.

Heart of Darkness Color Comps

More Heart of Darkness. This week, color comps for many of the black and white thumbnails posted last week.

The Sepulchral City:


Kurtz Station:


And Kurtz's Intended's Drawing-Room:

Heart of Darkness

So I've been pretty busy lately, what with school having finally started. As a result, I haven't got much in the way of sketchbook drawings. Instead, here are some thumbnails from the project I've been working on in class, based on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.