Monday, April 14, 2014

CGHUB and My Bleeding Heart


Since learning about the Heartbleed, I've been taking stock of my online presence. (Nothing like a major security gap to get the heart pumping) It's nice to have a better handle on where I am, what I use the internet for, etc. But it was also quite a headache getting everything updated.


Almost at the same time, I realized this was happening: http://conceptartworld.com/?p=32801
I can't say I've been that active on CGHUB. I only had a modest selection of my art posted and didn't follow anyone there that I didn't already follow everywhere else. So it wasn't so great a heart break for me personally. That said, I do know people who are very upset; this was their go to place for posting, interacting, and finding inspiration. It is very difficult to loose a community like that, especially so suddenly and without much reason given. There are many other communities out there (some listed on the page linked above) and I'm sure they will find a home again soon.
Thank you internet.

Am I going to go out and join another art community since CGHUB is gone? Probably not. I have enough trouble remembering all the changed passwords. I don't need another one to get confused.


April update: Working away on the Oni sculpting parts. Sue's Monday is thumb nailed and ready for a nice line drawing and some color. And I spent the majority of this last weekend writing. It's been a long while, but I woke up Saturday with an urge to write. OniSan's story just spilled out of my fingers and I'm almost done with the first draft. Guess it was done incubating and ready for hatching. :)
I also applied for Painting Drama 1 – the original Chris Oatley class – so that will be starting up in June/July. Definitely need to catch up a bit with Magic Box...

This weekend I'll be gone for Easter. Hoping to dye some eggs. The following weekend (Starting Thurs actually) I'll be up in Montana visiting – for those who want to meet up, txt me for I may not have my car while I'm there – mainly just playing with/staring at my sister's baby. Baby!! :D

Speaking of babies - Congrats to Brett and Julie Bean on their adorable son!! Best wishes to everyone and I'm super excited and happy for you! :)

Monday, April 7, 2014

OniSan Update!

 No!! No pictures! I'm camera shy!! 


 
Oooo excitement! Here is the armature stage for the Oni of OniSan. You'll no doubt notice a few differences between the armature for Julia: 1. More massing in of the body and 2. No head. 
This is why: 1. In accordance with the design, more of his body is going to be "visible", necessary to fully structure than Julia's body (Mainly hidden by clothes/highly structured under garments) Normally I'd advocate doing every part since it's educational and, to me at least, fun. But when you're on a budget, it's okay to creatively problem solve around material restrictions. He's also going to be a bit more mobile in terms of posing. Julia's pretty stationary - more of a show than a touch item. Within reason, I want people to be able to "play" with Oni when he's on display. More on that later. 2. I'm not sculpting a head - that mechanic is being handled by Raul, who promises to do his own write up for me to link to when I create Oni's master post down the road. (Should be especially great for those of you who like sculpting digitally and are curious about 3D printing) The middle picture is more or less a suggestion as to where we're going with that. Took me far longer than necessary to find the proper (KS) pipes for it - hint, go to a HOBBY STORE not a hardware or craft store. 
 
Anyways, he's a good inch or two taller than she is, making him close to a foot tall - but I won't have an accurate dimension until we get the head back from print and assembled. I had originally envisioned using foam to mass in the larger areas, it's a bit lighter and in my opinion holds shape a bit better than foil, but I didn't know how I would bake the necessary sculpy bits - if the foam would melt or not - so for now it's foil again. If all goes well I may go back and replace the aluminum with foam. I would like to try/demonstrate that technique since it's not too expensive or difficult from what I can tell. We'll see I guess. I'm a bit anxious and excited for those hands. Since I won't be spending a lot of time sculpting the face myself, I will have time to focus on the hands - awesome because having more time on them will let me try to match the quality of the digital head sculpt, but nervous also because hands are indeed a bit difficult. His especially are going to be quite interesting.

Going to be a busy next few months, can hardly believe that April is nearly half over. Will be checking in regularly, more often than not having some kind of update along the way. If you have any questions about materials or process I will be doing another master post at the end, but please leave me a comment and I can answer it more immediately! Also, if there's anything you're interested in seeing me break down/explain further let me know and I can do step-by-step shots too!! :)

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Sue's Sunday


A Sunbonnet Sue Sunday involves skipping along to church. Traditionally she would be walking to/from the church – we may or may not see the church itself – and she would be in contemplation with a flower or her prayer book and rosary. I figured she'd be pretty relieved after a full week of strenuous chores to have a moment of rest and spiritual nourishment, maybe she'll get to see her friends or friendly neighbors.

I would never be this thrilled to attend church, but that's a different story.

Things I realized while working on this:
 
  1. Sketch Up is not only excellent for spot checking your perspective quickly, its ability to rotate a crude model will also help you pick a better/more realistic angle.
  2. Skipping is fun to do, but looks weird.
  3. The lovely ladies in my family (Sister-Mom-Nana) all look like each other, though in this particular instance Sue is looking a tiny bit more like my sister than my Nana. Go figure.
  4. I think switching out col-erase pencil colors in between projects helps me focus on separate ideas and keep energized – i.e. Julia in green pencil is different than Oni in purple pencil is different than Sue in pink. Sue would be pink.
  5. When in doubt, put a bird in it. (Or a sad puppy...with a bandage...omg I love birds!)  
I hope you enjoy Sunday. One day down, six more to go. And next week should be an Oni update post!! :)