Moving the blog (again)

I'm building a whole new portfolio website from scratch and so I'm going to go ahead and start using Wordpress again for my blogging needs. Fortunately WP lets me import all of my blogger posts so I'm not starting over with nothing. The new blog is over at http://idledrawings.com/blog so change your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly.

If you're interested, you can see what's finished so far for the new site at http://idledrawings.com/dump/revised .

Geez...

Some of my video game covers are showing up all around the 'net. The Mirror's Edge one in particular has shown up on 4 Color Rebellion, Kotaku, Geekologie and Giant Bomb. I've also gotten e-mails from some magazines that want to use it. Not bad, considering I've never even played Mirror's Edge...

Saul Bass vs. Video Games

My Mario Kart illo is starting to spread around the 'net. Kotaku has just posted a handful of pics from the Something Awful photoshop thread, including two of mine.
Here are a few more that I've done.

EDIT: Cool, my Mario Kart cover is up at Geekologie too :)
EDIT 2: Giant Bomb now as well 

Videogame Classics

 

Over on the Something Awful Forums there's a thread inspired by these fake old-old-old-school video game covers. Here's my contribution. 

And yes, I'm going to post my pages today...

Five Pages, 30 Days Challenge - Day 4

 

Just some blind contour drawings for today, mostly of my two dogs, Bart and Mona. That thing next to my hand is 'Max-Fish', the fish Jess and I bought but couldn't figure out a good name for. He looks very grumpy, and I think my drawing captured that.

Five Pages, 30 Days Challenge - Day 3

It was in the 70's today, so I figured "Hey, why not go to the beach!" What I didn't count on was the sea breeze dropping the temperature about 15 degrees. I was freezing my ass off, but I got my five pages. Nothing really pops out at me today (I blame the cold), but what's important is that I got out there and did it. Just 27 days to go!

Five Pages, 30 Days Challenge - Day 2

 

Sat at Barnes & Noble today.

Five Pages, 30 Days Challenge - Day 1

I've submitted an application and portfolio to CalArt's character animation program. I don't know if I'll get in or even how I'll pay for it, but it's where I need to be if I really want to make art for a living.

To that end, I'm giving myself a little challenge: Fill five pages a day with drawings from life for the next 30 days. I've drafted up a few rules:

At Least Five Pages from Direct Observation

A page is an 8.5 x 11 sheet (give or take) filled with drawings from direct observation. What constitutes a full page is sort of up to personal interpretation. If I can't fit anything more without sacrificing quality, I'll consider it full.

All Pages Get Posted

This is, ultimately, a learning experience, and there's just as much value in the mistakes and blemishes as there are in the successful drawings. Besides, sometimes the real gems are the ones we least suspect.

Drawings from films/TV are ok, to a point

Working from direct observation is ideal, but sometimes it's not possible to go where the people are. That said, I won't just pop in a DVD every time it's too cold or rainy to travel.

If I miss a day, feel free to give me shit about it.

On that same note, I'd also appreciate comments in my posts when I do manage five pages. The key to creating or breaking any habit is making your goal public and holding yourself accountable to others.

So there you go. Five pages, 30 days. I managed eight at the mall today. Just 29 more days to go!

New website up + sketches

Tried another pass at that circus girl I made earlier. Also, a little Wolverine! Yay!

The new website is finally up at http://idledrawings.com . The storyboard section is almost done. I learned Javascript so I could code my own gallery (and I just love learning to program). The storyboard section uses a special jQuery library that will allow you to scroll though each board panel by panel.

The Plateau

"It's important to plateau - It defines where you are and makes a definite statement so when you move on you can move on without ambiguity and without holding on. You're finished with it. Shift."

- Karl Gnass, "Spirit of the Pose"

I could have grabbed any quote out of this fantastic book, but this one is really hitting home right now. I'm trying new approaches to drawing in an attempt to shock my system out of its current rut...