Life Sketches

During a wedding at Aurora, OH, the weekend held more opportunities to get some decent life sketches. I was going on a 2 1/2 hour tour of Cleveland, OH, and there was some cool things going on.

This guy was chillin' at a Wendy's before we went on our tour...he wanted his cheesburger...with extra cheese...maybe?

During the tour when the bus took a stop to do history lessons, a skateboarder was going through, and a woman looked a little bored waiting for the COTA bus... or was she?

 During a 10 minute break from the tour, there was a greenhouse and garden, and I saw a beautiful statue, and decided it was perfect for a quick 2-minute sketch...I don't think I had 2 full minutes, so more like 1 minute 45 seconds...still impressed with what I had.

Did I mention that we went on a tour? Bars were around, and I guess a woman had to have her early weekend drink...

 TOURISTS!!!!!

A couple more people, and my girlfriend playing her 3DS. It was Labor Day weekend after all...

Kyle meets Cy-Guy

It's been a while since I have posted, but I'm ALIVE! Anyways, amongst the entire time I have been healing and saving my brain from Brain Damage (Pink Floyd reference anyone?), I have also been thinking of a lot of ideas, including an animation that my girlfriend wants me to do, and a character I have been using for another animation class, named Cy-Guy. I have created this character with minimal characteristics

However, with his poor character development, I have decided to re-create him. Here are some ideas for his further character development.

The final character is a boy named Kyle. From the previous posts, his design was very poor as well, supposed to be based off of the Powerpuff Girls, however, I wanted his design to be more fitting with Cy-Guy, and it would fit better also with the Dark Weasel, as you can see the previous designs, and what I have in mind.

More updates to follow in the next couple weeks.

Of Success and Failure

So what exactly is my project? Well, to be as clear as I can be, as I know how hard it is for me to be, is to describe a little more of my story and what it is supposed to be.

My story is of an anti-hero named Ahmnihad, a thief of ill intention. He wishes for nothing but for his own gain and his own desires, which is wealth and power. But he is only an evil street rat that cons people to give him money, and steals when he can. He has no feelings for others, and laughs at people's idiocy for falling for his gags. 

Now later on, he finds a lamp, and encounters a genie. He grants him three wishes, with the exception of that he cannot kill, make arrangements of love, or bring back the souls of the dead.

Ahmnihad wishes to be a powerful leader. So his wish is granted, as he gains the wealth that his country lives by. The more wealth you have, the more powerful you are. The clothing also represents the caste system, and his clothing shows that.

He also gains a scepter that represents the snake, which represents wisdom and power.

He goes to the nearest city, and sees the sultan, along with his beautiful and attractive daughter. He allies himself to get closer to the sultan, so in the end, he gets to become sultan, and also gain the hands of the daughter.

However, genie repeats himself, that he cannot interfere with love matters, and upsets Ahmnihad greatly. He storms off to his cave, where he begins his sulking. The genie replies,

"What is your wish master?"

As Ahmnihad replies with,

"You're always so serious! Why can't you just be funny to lift my spirits? I wish you were a lot more funny, at least for me to feel better!"

And so the genie grants his wish, and becomes the hilarious genie we know from Aladdin. So Ahmnihad goes to the kingdom once again, and tries to gain the love of the Sultan's daughter, but she really gives him quite the guilt trip.

She yells at him that his greed serves no one, that his pranks do nothing for anyone, and that his selfish desires do not help the kingdom. She explains that he is a useless bag of skin and bones, that he is more worthless than the slaves of the Sultan.

Ahmnihad freezes with a sad realization that she is right, and if he has no one, then no one will have his treasures.

He goes to his cave, and asks the genie for his final wish.

"I wish for my treasure to be buried deep below the sands of this desert. I want you to be deep within, a cave guarded by the head of Tigris. No one can enter this cave unless they have the two halves of my scarab beetle brooch on my clothes. Only one pure of heart, his worth lying within, may enter my cave, but he may touch nothing but your lamp. If he does, then have the cave collapse, as that would prove that there is no one pure, and that no one deserves you. This cave shall be known, as the Cave of Wonders."

And genie grants his wish.

     Now I have been trying to work on my project, which is going to be explained now. What exactly is it? Well, it is concept art, or illustrations, that tell of this story, to give the story beats. This is basically the major important parts of the story, that help develop the style, the representation, the characters, and the beginning of developing storyboards.

However, I have failed the entire project, as reasons I cannot figure out. I have tried organizing my time, and for two weeks, well, I say I have done a shitty ass job. 

But what my father has always said,

"Failure is only the beginning. If you fail, but keep going, you have overcome a problem so large, that you have practically passed life's greatest challenge. Failure is a step of learning. Not the end."

I am adapting my father's philosophy, and I am going to keep striving, even if I have failed. Failure sounds like a laughing matter to some people, but what those people don't get, is that failure is the most terrifying moment in anyone's life. It's my greatest fear. It has always been. But I'm not going to stop, no matter what anyone says. So with that, I present what I do have. Story beats for "The Cave of Wonders". Please comment about what story beats I can change, or what parts of my story could be better, as I'm not the perfect story-teller.

So with that, I hope I can learn from this, that time is a very complicated dimension, and that it is always ticking, and to always assume that it will take three times as long to get stuff done as I think it does.

So with that, I bid all ado. Until next time.

Cave of Wonders

    I am changing my project to concept art of my senior thesis that I will work on for two years. It is about how the Cave of Wonders came to be. It's kind of weird that people haven't really thought about the creation of the Cave of Wonders, considering there are so many theorists out there, including why there are no parents in "Ed, Edd, n' Eddy", because the kids are actually in purgatory, and are dead. This may be way out there, but to consider that a famous Disney film, that any person has not even thought about why no one, even the person pure of heart, cannot touch anything but the lamp. Why is there a magic carpet to begin with? Who made the Cave?
     I have decided to create the story about the Cave of Wonders, and show exactly how that is. But in order to begin such a story, I am going to have to make some concept art to begin understanding story-telling basics, storyboard, and getting the motion of the story to a roll.

    Right now blogger is being a pain, and is not letting me upload anything I have. This sucks. So until further notice, and when blogger gets their stupid programming running properly, I don't have any pictures I can post. :(

Unfortunate Happening

     Ok, so we have some bad news...and then some kinda-good news. And we do the lovely "Bad news? Or good news?" Well, we are doing this in order.

     So the bad news, is that I wasn't able to get paid,...LIKE I SHOULD HAVE!!!!! So the synthesizer is gonna have to wait...sad enough as it will seem, I will have to wait until this Thursday to get paid to be able to get the synth, solder it together (Let's not burn myself again...) and then FIX-IT-FELIX! AND have an awesome helmet! :)

     Another bad thing, is that my suit, which is nothing more than scrubs, has not been through the tye-dye process yet! Why? Well, let's just say that when I have been at home, the washer and dryer has been taken over by 1 of 2 people (Both of which have full rights before I, might I add) and can't tye-dye until I get those SCRUBS WASHED!

     Alright. So since the cat has been brought out of the bag, might as well bring out the dog too. So what's this mean? Well, it's the some-kinda good news. The news, is that I was able to get said scrubs at a fabulously silly store named Wal-Mart for somewhat cheap. :) Made my day.

     Second. I AM getting paid Thursday, as someone has forgotten to pay me properly for the previous week. So I had a nice 5 minute talk with this person, and he said he "Fixed it". Well let's see if he does as good of a job as Fix-It-Felix Jr. from "Wreck-It-Ralph". :)

     Another good thing, is that I'm going to be able to paint my helmet and my scrubs for the suit this week, fixing what time I had lost this week, due to being sick, and working on 7 other things.... :( I don't like not sleeping. Especially Kroger stealing half my week of soul and hard work...

    Well, this week is going to be tedious. But...getting this done will be a good thing. I can't wait to get this done! But unfortunately, like the title says, no pictures. :( But next week will! :)

     So for those who want pictures....PATIENCE! Benjamin Franklin didn't say, "Patience is a virtue" for nothing! So. Teaser until next week.

    As far as the actual paints and other color knick-knacks, those are ready for spreading and painting...just...need to figure out color schematics. :( I haven't been able to sketch anything out yet. So until next time.

Synthesizer Helmet and Sound Suit

So in doing a ton load of research to be able to complete the synthesizer Helmet and Sound suit, I have decided to first talk with some friends to be able to fully figure out what exactly I am capable of doing within 4 weeks.

My girlfriend suggested not a suit, but a clothing combo that will be easier to put on and off, and a lot cheaper. Bills are taking over, and money isn't quite available for me....

It will also be a lot easier to create, with all the sound creators that I might be putting into the clothes...And a lot more roomier...don't want to suffocate my subjects.

So I want my suit and helmet to complement each other, and I want it to stand out in the open! So what better than to manipulate color dye? I decided to go to Michaels to grab some Tye-Dye, and now I will be able to create my colorful suit! I can't wait!

Onto the helmet. I already ran into some issues (wouldn't you know it?) as the Synthesizer on the helmet has a short circuit on one of the keys...Not...Good. So now I have to spend $60....Which I don't have yet...
I only have my helmet... :'(
And even so, I have to re-do my entire helmet, so that it looks more presentable, as the condition it is in is a little beat up and looks like a homeless person fixed it with duck tape...It's re-painting time.

So here's my schedule to complete my interactive sound suit.

This week: Get synthesizer, re-paint helmet, buy clothes for Sound Suit.
Next week: Have suit dyed, buy certain sound equipment for suit
Following week: Have helmet and synthesizer combined, suit and sound equipment ready.
LAST WEEK: Have results as experiment of it working is in play.

Project Choice

For my final project in Design 4 media, I am deciding to finish either one of two projects that I have started in the past. There is Project Sedrixxees, a game board that I have been trying to complete and develop for a very long time, and to take this oppertunity to finalize the project, along with the game cards, rules, and other parts of the game would be a great asset to being able to work more on illustrating characters, getting color practice, and working on fundamentals that I need to become an animator. I have a board made already, however, I am wanting to remake the board completely, with a lot of changes from the dragon to the overall design of the board.

     Project Synthesize is a helmet/suit combination which incorporates a psychological study of extrovert/introvert personality types. I have the helmet mostly completed, and the suit has not been able to be worked on yet. The wearer of the suit and helmet have their own headphones plugged into the synthesizer that sits on top of the helmet. The suit will have sound from the synthesizer audible to the surrounding area. However, because of the person wearing the headphones, people cannot interact easily with the person, as that person is disconnected(introvert) with the people trying to interact(extrovert). So basically, it is communicating that extroverts and introverts both have to play a role in society, whether or not it is the introverts trying to come out, or the extroverts from being to aggressive with introverts.