Some Great Photos...

I've been starting  back up with posting some of my amatuerish photos over at my photo blog (see link on the side or click here).  But more importantly is this photographer from Romania that I absolutely love and follow named, Adrian Petrisor.  He has some AMAZING photos from Maguri.  They are black and white, and in them he manages to do something I really love seeing in photography: turning real life into almost abstract art.  You've got to see these pics to know what I'm talking about.  He manages to shoot from just the right angle and with just the right exposure to reduce these landscape photos into almost minimalist realism designs--simply brilliant.

Anubis Puppy...

This is my entry for this week's topic over at the 'Squash n' Sketch' blog.  I wanted to color it, but works still in black and white.

Stop SOPA and PIPA...

I don't mean to outright paste another person's article, but Vlad did a great job in this article--I think it is one of the best articles out there that tackles this topic.  See the original article here.  (please click on the link at least once and give the writer his due click.)  And also check out this Wall Street Journal article.

The SOPA blackout: Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, Google, and many others protest proposed law

By Vlad Savov on January 18, 2012 12:10 am

Two new laws proposed by US legislators, the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, have been attracting a very negative reaction from the web community over the past couple of months, which is today culminating in a day of protests. Aiming to curtail copyright infringement on the web by giving the US government unprecedented new powers, both SOPA and PIPA have been rejected as overreaching and unhelpful laws that cannot coexist with a free and open internet.

The most outspoken protester of the bills today will be Wikipedia, whose English site will be going dark for the full 24 hours on January 18th, starting at midnight ET. It's also joined by Reddit, which will replace its usual "glorious, user-curated chaos" with a message noting its opposition to SOPA and PIPA, accompanied by links to more information about the bills and suggested ways to express your own dissatisfaction with them. Reddit will not be offering its regular service between the hours of 8AM ET and 8PM ET, which is also when Mozilla will be redirecting the Mozilla.org and Mozilla.com English webpages to a similar "action page" inviting users of its software to voice their concern. The Firefox landing page will also be altered to raise awareness. Finally, Google's search homepage is partaking in the protest by blacking out the Google logo, voicing the company's opposition to SOPA, and including a link for more information.

For the full list of websites taking action against SOPA and PIPA today, check out the SOPA Strike website. It includes such luminaries as the EFF, xda-developers, Minecraft.net, TwitPic, and even the Internet Archive. And, if you just can't live without Wikipedia for a full day, we might as well tell you that the mobile version of the site will remain active today, as first uncovered by the guys over at The Wall Street Journal.

Craigslist is participating in today's proceedings by confronting visitors to its US sites with a "Stop PIPA and SOPA" splash page, which can be skipped to access the full site. The best SOPA protest page so far, however, comes from The Oatmeal, which features a poignant animated GIF that breaks the issue down in a humorous and relatable manner.

Sam's Birthday Present...

Here is a blurry photo of a painting I did for my friend Sam Morgan's birthday.  I've known both her and Josh Morgan (her husband and also my friend) since I moved to L.A.  They took me under their wing and helped me survive this big city.  Anyway, she's very hard to caricature in that she's very hyper-critical of any caricature you do of her.  Naturally I had to accept the challenge.

My tactic: Instead of a head on traditional caricature trying to capture an actual likeness her physical features, I tried to capture the likeness in personality.

Now, the Morgan's are both total tech whores (I mean this in a good way--I don't normally go around calling my friends all types of whores unless I mean it in a positive way...well... no, no I don't).  They, the Morgans, both also have a very active social life (in and out of the virtual world).  Sam also has this BIG laugh that is infectious.  And finally, there is a certain look that Josh gives Sam that without words can convey his love and affection.  Well, that's what is in the painting.  Give a Saturday Evening Post circle around it and, BAM!!  Watercolor, add a little colored pencil here and there, and you've got yourself a birthday present (In just 1500 easy steps).  I've also included the rough below.

Squash n' Sketch...

Here's a plug for a blog that is run by fellow UCLA-ites.  It is called, Squash n' Sketch.  It's mission statement:

Squash n Sketch is a collaboration of artists who attended the UCLA MFA Animation Program, past and present, here to keep the creative juices flowing.  Most of our contributors are professional animators and artists in Film, TV, and the interwebs.

Below is the image I did for the current topic--Food.  I will post my drawings for that blog here, but feel free to check out this blog and its other artists (a talented group of individuals I assure you).

Happy New Year!!

Let's ring in the new and out the old--Colonel Sanders style. 

This past year has been both a turn for the better in my life, and also one of my busiest.  When I set out to start this blog I originally wanted it to be nothing past a site to put some of my artwork on.  But, we evolve as people, and the past year (and kind of the year before) I've wanted to expand and evolve what is shared on this blog.  Yet, I felt compelled to adhere to a rule that was in my head and not expressed anywhere else.  So, I hope the two people that read this, and myself, look forward to an interesting new year.  Happy New Year!!

I had a daughter, Amelia.  We bonded over some shared opinions on life.

The Small World ride at Disneyland is crack to infants.

Tales of Hot Rod Horror: vol. 2...

Several years ago my friend, Devon Devereaux, published his own comic title, 'Tales of Hot Rod Horror'. In the last volume I did 3 pages. In this volume I got to do 7 pages. Here is a quick sneak peak of a final page. I learned a lot from doing this. I've improved since the last work, but I still have more to go to get where I'm comfortable telling an issue to issue story.

This is the longest comic story I've told to date. I still need some work to feel more comfortable with this medium of storytelling. Cynically I'm like seven pages?! Seriously, seven pages?! That's my longest story telling in comics?! I need some more practice and material to work from that's longer. That's why hopefully I'll have this current story idea written soon. It'll be a one-shot (about 32 pages or so). After that, one or two more one-shot story ideas till I'm comfortable with that length. Then, wait, wait for the the drum roll and suspense... I'll work on a 3 part installment. Everyone say it with me, 'woooooo...'

Well, hope you like this teaser, see you next week.