"Yes, words are useless. Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble! Too much of it, darling."

Surprised? I was back at the zoo, with an apparent turkey theme this time. I was drawing turkeys and turkey vultures, both of which were very interesting and fun. While drawing the turkeys though I witnessed a crime, in which the culprit may be seen below.
That's right, ah so innocent, the cute little grey squirrel. Well to quote Elvis "You're the devil in desguise!" I watched this little squirrel run up to a lady's bag, left unattended in a baby stroller and grab a bag with a muffin in it and run off. Well me being the good samaritan I am, went after the squirrel and got the lady's muffin back, placing it back in her bag. Pretty heroic huh? How superhero-esque of me. Whenever a crime is committed by a squirrel call "SQUIRRELLY BOY!".......................well, I may have to rethink that name. If I go with that, I might as well call myself 'Wienny Boy'. Either way, if any of you witness this squirrel please report him IMMEDIATELY to your local police department.

Family Photo

I watched a documentary on the Great Pyramids of Egypt this weekend, and apparently it inspired some thoughts. Thinking of all the tourists that visit there now, and all the camels that are still roaming around working there humps off (Maybe this was what the Black Eyed Peas were singing about). It just seemed like camels have to take a break sometime too. Maybe though if they're on vacation they wouldn't want to visit their own country? Maybe they just would wanna get out of Dodge and seek a polar climate like Alaska or Norway? Damn, now I have to draw this all over again...ok, maybe not.

The pyramids are a true wonder of the world though. I think a lot is taken for granted with them, that they're just blown off as some temple a bunch of slaves in loin clothes built by lugging large blocks of stone up ramps erecting this monument. Apparently evidence of weathering can be found on each structure that can only be done by water. This would suggest the pyramids existed long before Egyptian time. Hieroglyphics tell nearly everything that Egyptians did during their time from plowing, worship, rituals, mummification, but nothing is mentioned as to how these enormous structures were built. So who built them then? Well this is where Fox Mulder steps in and starts lecturing on little green men from other planets making there mark on this one. They do have astrological associations as they align perfectly with specific stars in the heavens, and the diameter of the great pyramid is 365.25 which the exact length of one of our years. Pyramids also exist similar to these on Mars. Though obviously this could simply say that what civilization built them had an intense and extremely advanced knowledge of astronomy, but maybe it means something more. Many suggest that the accuracy as to which they were built could not even be done with present day technology. Hmmmmmmmmmm. "I want to believe."

Tip of the Iceberg

Sometimes you see a problem in the distance that turns out to be a little larger than you thought. Obviously it's just best to be prepared, which in this case would be a bigger boat.

Are you Serious?

I think a lot of people who know me may wonder if I'm ever serious. Well...I can be. My art tends to change according to my mood. I'm not trying to go schizo on people as far as my style goes (I've been told this many times by the way regarding my art). I really do prefer the happier more up beat, cartoonish style, but I feel art is about communication of thoughts/feelings and I don't want to deny what I'm feeling. So obviously my mood is a bit darker lately. This came out of a commercial I saw for Cinderella this past weekend, and concept art tutorial I watched (hey, learn and apply right?). I was thinking of Cinderella's evil step mother and just wanted to throw my own modern, I guess even futuristic spin on her. Also I've been watching more horror movies lately, which sets a tone of course.

Regardless of the style fluctuation, this blog is about learning by doing. There's nothing concrete here, it's all about experimentation and discovery. But never fret, the cartoons will return soon. ;)

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH S*#T!

Back at the Zoo again, this time in San Francisco. I've been going there since college and have seen many things change there over time. After the recent "occurrence", I came prepared with my nunchucks in one hand and a butterfly net in the other (in case I need to help capture any escaped animals). New fences equipped with barbed wire and thick glass now border the big cat pens. The crowds seem to be the same as always (surprisingly), and in fact maybe even larger than before. As always the cats don't even seem to notice the people, but obviously this isn't the case.

I started the morning off with some quick gestures of the lemurs, then moved onto the flamingos, the toucan, and finally after some walking to the penguins. Again some people got in my way, so I just drew them. It ended up being an aviary-themed day.

After this I "booked" down to the SF "Urine-Soaked" Public Library, to continue Aaron's pursuit of knowledge. It just seems like such a dichotomy down in that area of the city, where while scanning over Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra you're twitching your nose thinking, "Wow, did someone just die in here" For those who don't know, this area of SF is called Civic Center where the main SF government buildings are. It also seems to be the meeting grounds for many of the city's finest homeless folks. Now don't get me wrong, my heart goes out to them, but you know...

Though there's boatloads of thoughts going through my head lately I will not bring them up here because, hey, it's about the art people!

An Animated G Thang

The evolution of Mr. Giraffe continues from my last two posts. As I mentioned last time, I wanted to do this since going to the zoo and watching them chew their food, which I thought was hilarious. I sketched out his key frames last time, and now got to animating it in Flash. As with every drawing/animation I do, it was a fun learning process. I always seem to think I have it planned out, then new ideas keep popping up along the way, almost making it more of a straight ahead animation. Either way check it out and enjoy!

p.s. I can't get it to loop on the blog, which I'm not too happy about