Nov. 09 11-sec Club

Here is my first animation using Anime Studio Debut. I didn't get it finished in time for the November contest but it was fun learning a new software.

I'll post the December entry shortly.

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New Project

I just got a critique from Scripped.com for a short script I want to make into a short film. The guy liked it a lot without much to criticize. I looked at all the "Average" ratings he gave me and my wife said they weren't bad. Like length of script-how are you going to get a VERY GOOD for length of a short script?

Anyway, he had some good things to say and for me to look at to strengthen the story.

So I'll examine my script for the cracks.

Here's the website for these folks. And they have writing contests too.

www.scripped.com

Watchmen: Portraits by Clay Enos

Found a book at the library in the oversize section called "Watchmen: Portraits" by Clay Enos. Wonderful black and white portraits of the folks that worked on the film, "Watchmen". Set designers and bit actors all get the same fantastic treatment with the camera.

Just flipping through the book, I feel like I could write stories about these characters. Looking into their faces, wondering about the lives they lived. About the lives they are going to live. Adventures in the making....


Here's Clay Enos website to view his portfolio:
http://clayenos.com/

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Sketchbook and Pentel Pens

We keep a small steno pad in the car to write down ideas. Or the names of people we hear on NPR.
And while we're waiting at the bank or at a Sonic Drive-In, we can make sketches.
This is one from February.

This is my favorite pen. I buy them in 4-packs at Staples. It's a Pentel EnerGel 0.5mm. I like them with caps instead retractable. I like the caps because it's old school, one step up from quill and ink bottles. (And if I have to let a customer borrow it, I hang onto the cap so they have to give it back!)

The writing is smooth. The sketching power is great. (I used to use the 1.0mm but it gets a little fat for everyday writing and order taking.)

So that's my secret.

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Milton Glaser

"What paintings do, and what theater does, and what poetry does, is to penetrate people's immunity and to embrace the puzzles to be solved. That's what I mean by the phrase 'moving the mind'." --Milton Glaser

Found a book today at the library titled "Drawing is Thinking" by Milton Glaser.
Looking at the cover, it looks like a ponderous book art essays.
But flip through it back to front (like I like to do) you find that it is all art and no captions (for the most part).
What a delightful surprise!
(There is an introduction and an interview at the beginning. Plus an index of the art in the back in case you want to know what year each painting was done.)

I like it.

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Collaboration

Met with some friends the other evening to talk through a short film they're working on. They had about 5 pages as a rough draft of the story. (They write and film as a team.)

I was happy to be a part of the process as we discussed the tone of the film. And we hashed out motivation of the characters. (What is the thing that pushes them over edge?) It was great to have a sounding board for ideas. And the solutions were already part of the story, we just had to pull them out of hiding.

They're planning on getting this film shot and edited by the end of summer so they can send it out to some film festivals in the spring.

Now I want to do the same for one of my stories. I have some "almost finished" first drafts that have gaps that need some thinking through. I need a sounding board.

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Flux Museum Call for Entries

Here's an interesting site with a call for art.

www.fluxmuseum.org

I may do a flux box to send in by the end of June 2009. The show is in July in Texas.

Maybe one of my silly ideas will work.

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More Cats

Yes, this is him, King Louie as he is sometimes called.

(He has many names, some of which aren't fit to print.)

Doesn't he look awnry?

He's part Oriental Shorthair. When he goes cross-eyed - watch out!

Now this is Cozy... doesn't she look sweet?

And she is. Loves to get her belly rubbed.

Loves to fall down in front of you like a fainting goat.

More photos at a later date.

Both kittens inspired characters in a short animation I did a few years back called Deep Magic.

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Cats with Thumbs

My cat has been asking for a thumb for a long time.

It helps with the pop-top cans of cat fud... er, food.

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Easter Bunny

A sketch I did of Louie (the cat) a year or so ago.

He's dressed as a the Easter Bunny.

He's dressed as Santa Claus.

He has a mouse yo-yo.

He is a clever cat.

He does stand up like a Meerkat too.

When he was a kitten, he and his sister would run through the kitchen like Jesus lizards.

His sister, Cozy, sits up in front of the wall furnace in the perfect Lucky Kitty pose, one arm stretched out in front toward the furnace, the left arm reaching high in the air above her.

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Personal Anchor

Here is a sketch I did a year or so ago.
(Very Thurber-esque I must say.)

It's been windy here again. 45 mph wind gusts. Just steady wind all day and all night.

So that reminded me of this sketch.

A Personal Anchor attached to your belt. There is a "Up" and "Down" button on the control panel.

So you don't blow away in this turbulent time...

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Chasing Mice

Okay... so I had

this dream

the other night...

(Or was it during one of my afternoon naps?)
... about a mouse

trying to get out of a room.

But it may not have been my dream...
I may have been having

one of Louie's dreams... he's our cat.
Seems like he would dream of chasing mice.

But what if we exchanged dreams?

What would he make of

retail nightmares,

of customers in line with no one

else to help me?

Would he whimper in his sleep?

Would he know that it was only a dream?

Could I waken him in time

to get his cat-life back?

Yes, I will return his mouse-dreams.

And I will return to retail nightmares

that never end...

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Non Objective Objects

Okay, here are some more abstracts.

New Blogs

Well, I knew it would happen.

I have 2 blogs and now I want to add 3 more. But the updates will be scheduled on a weekly basis. I have some items to keep them going for a couple of updates before I need new stuff.

I want to do a blog about my cat and his friends.

I want to do a blog dedicated to Non-Objective Art. You know, my digital abstract art.

I want a blog about my sketches and doodles.

Eclectivism was supposed to encompass everything. Maybe it should still be that way. Maybe these other blogs can be part of this blog for awhile before I give them there own home.

Hmmm......

W.W.W.= wide-world-we

The Wide-World-We (as in us... as in all y'all)

I have a FEW blogs I follow. I like seeing the UPDATES when they arrive.
(Some of you need to update SOON... and you know who you are. I'm not mentioning NAMES...)


Besides the updates from PEOPLE I don't know, I like looking at the blogs THEY follow from more PEOPLE I don't know.

Because they FOLLOW the other blogs, I can PEEK in whenever I want.

And I LEARN more about the Wide World that is We.

For instance, I follow the blog
http://papercutsandcoffeehuts.blogspot.com/
and that leads to a blog
http://bunnywax.wordpress.com/
that leads to an artist, Deth P. Sun, that I think I will like.
http://www.dethpsun.com/

Connections.... and more connections...

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U2 music

Hey, you can hear the new U2 single at U2.com.

(The link below takes a minute or so to load the song.)


http://goyb.u2.com/?fcsc=EML011809&utm_source=Publicaster&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EMLU2COS_20090119_single_annoumcement_GetOnYourBoots


"Get On Your Boots" is a revved-up song with a nice hook.


(Actually I don't know what I'm talking about in musical terms. I just like U2; anything they create I accept at face value. Their music is the soundtrack of my adult life.)


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How to Blog

I've starting reading a book on blogging, published by the Huffington Post. (Arianna Huffington and others.)

So far so good.

I'm into just the introduction and I think it will inspire my blog presence.

Here's hoping.

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11Second Club Rough Animation

Here's the link to my rough 11Second Club animation



http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2610703780662851924



Boy, I've got a lot of work to do.



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11-Second Club

Found a website that has an animation contest every month.
http://www.11secondclub.com

They provide an 11-second dialog from an old movie. Then people have a month to create an animation to go with it.

I'm going to enter for January. I wanted another short project to do while I'm working on my feature script.

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