What Chew Talking About?

Thinking of my last post when I went to the zoo and spent a lot of time at the giraffe exhibit, I wanted to do this. As I mentioned, it was feeding time for them, and for the most part they were facing away from me, but at one point one of them walked over in front of me and continued chewing his leaves. It was hysterical because their chewing habits are similar to that of cows and camels, which involves moving the jaw in a clockwise/circular motion. I think this is how I'd like to start eating, especially something like sushi (which I can't stand). Then when I eat like this, it'll gross everyone else out and I won't have to worry about having that food anymore. That's right, there's a method to my madness.


On a side note, I just bought this book last night called Varmints written by Helen Ward. It's a children's book containing some AWESOME illustration work by UK animator Marc Craste. So anyone looking for a good book for their kids or just looking to admire some great art check it out! Some further images can be seen here:

http://www.smartplanet.com/news/leisure/10000402/
varmints-children-s-book-imagines-eco-doom.htm


Have a great week y'all!

Dorothy Goes To O.Z.

Well, by Dorothy I mean me and by O.Z. I mean the Oakland Zoo. So finally after a bit of a hiatus I'm back to my zoo visits, which happens to be my favorite place to draw. Animals or People, it's all there. Majority of the time I'm drawing the animals, and I find that often people don't even take notice and step right in front of me for a better view. I don't make a fuss, I just step back and draw them. If they do make me upset it'll just reflect in my drawing of them, heehee.

Set up in the Oakland hills, it's a very nice zoo, and the weather was awesome too. Of course the more sun exposure for me the better (I'm surprised the zoo staff didn't try to dart me, thinking I was the escaped albino ManChimp). I hope to visit there again soon. I actually have a membership to the SF Zoo, but not Oakland. I'm really tempted after this last visit to get a membership there instead. It's cheaper, and in my opinion a nicer zoo.

Daydreaming

Sometimes you just have to get away...

One Foot In The Grave, The Other On A Banana Peel

Well Easter is fast approaching and earlier this year! Many people have their own perceptions of this holiday. There's the Christian view and there's the one of the happy little bunny hoppin' around hiding eggs for kids. Well...my view's a little different. When I think of Easter, I think of my mom falling out of a tree, and stumbling across our yard. I know this sounds really macabre, but bear with me here.

When I was in high school one year, my mom was out front of our house hanging Easter eggs in the trees. As I was casually walking into the kitchen I glanced out the window, I saw my mom stumbling across the yard and falling over on her side. Panicking, not knowing exactly what happened I ran outside and screamed "Are you ok?!". At this point she was getting up laughing explaining she was on the step stool hanging the eggs, when she lost her footing, fell off, and stumbled across the yard on her ass. Well at this point I'm on the ground laughing my ass off at what just happened. I'll forever have that image in my head of the dance I saw her doing before she fell over. She tells it as I came outside laughing, being completely insensitive to what happened, then asking if she was ok. This is so far off from the truth!

So this is my Easter card for her this year. Having an embarrassing moment alone like this is one thing, but having a witness, like me, to remind you about it the rest of your life is another. Happy Easter Everyone!

Just Call Me Angel of the Morning, Aaron

As I opened my eyes this morning, this was the first thing I saw. Tuna, our little cat, will often sit on the ledge above our bed and stare down, waiting for me to wake up and feed her. Or she'll of course coincidentally rustle though papers in the room, until Wow, Aaron and Sarah just happen to be up...even though it's 4 am. The look on our faces at this point is subject to another drawing.

"Chuck Cranston Doesn't Own Me"

If you don't know what I'm referring to from the title of this post, I may have to delete you off my list of friends. I had to do an ode to one of my favorite movies of all time, Footloose! Not exactly sure what it is about the show, but I love it. Actually to the degree where I can perform a majority of the dances in it at will, which is a good thing to know at parties.

Really when I sit back and think about it, the majority of my favorite movies are from the 80's. Maybe it was because I was at the peak of my movie watching ability then. True, it was the era of horrible blue screen effects, but hey I could still see that now a days, all I have to do is turn on the Sci-fi Channel. Also, they could break down movies to an hour and a half, not all this 21/2-3 hour Lord of the Rings crap. I definitely watched the show a lot though, and like much of 80's television and film, it just got ingrained in my mind. I think it's also the case with the movie Dirty Dancing. I may be one of the few straight guys who actually likes that movie. I suppose the therapist thing to do is to go back in the history of your family and find the problem. Well I can already tell you I blame my sister! Ha, kidding, but this is dedicated to her for us watching this and Dirty Dancing all those times she babysat for me.

I'm also including some of the sketch studies I did for Ren, which again if you don't know who this is, we're done!

Busyness

I'm not trying to cheat, but this was an earlier post on my blog for me. When I saw the "Routine" subject for illustrationfriday.com, I figured there was no better way of showing my routine than this. It's also the reason I posted this for this week, as it's been a busy one!


Busy, busy, busy. I know it's all people hear from me, but it's true. More arms sure would help, but it's just a reminder perhaps to know one's limits. There are certainly more times than I can count that I've bitten off more than I can chew, but I'd rather be busy than doing nothing. My new goal for myself is to be more prolific as an artist, which is one of the reasons I created this blog. Regardless of the occasional (or maybe continuous) chaos, I love my life, and it all feels worth it when I can step away from work and enjoy great friends, family, my fiance, and my little cat Tuna.