Eight Days

You know what's wild? I start school on the same day that 9 comes out in theatres. Totally can't wait for that. And the Ottawa Animation festival is coming up soon too, so I might get a chance to see Cordell Barker's new film, Runaway, and the release of the Astroboy movie a week after that.

It's a good time to be into animation.

But school's creeping up fast. Tonight was the last Sketch Night of the summer (they don't happen during the school year), and tomorrow will be my last Wednesday night life drawing for a while. Gonna be a whole new kettle o' Pisces, starting in a little over a week.

Only one pic for you today, a bone beast girl I made up tonight. Her name is Darla, ain't she sweet?

Millyuns!

Nothing really amazing today, but if you want something really interesting, I've been saving this link to PZ Myers doing a brief overview of where the idea of a many million year old Earth came from. Naturally, some Creationist dining room table doesn't care for it, but so what?

Also got to see the open house for Algonquin's first crop of graduates from their new Professional Illustrator course. A mixed bag as you might expect, but some pretty good work there. Some of them are going to go a long way, I'm sure.

As usual, Preston Blair studies and a page from tonight's Sketch Night of some Spirou supporting characters.


BURD!

One week

Not really new art this time, but I realized that one of this week's Sketch Night pieces was based on the same Dean Yeagle sketch I worked from last week. So I thought I'd do a quick side-by-side.

That's a big difference for only one week. I wonder where I'll be a week from now?


I also want to share this great animation by Jackie Lay of Tom Waits' Eggs and Sausage. I loves me some Tom Waits, yum.

Eggs and Sausage from Jackie Lay on Vimeo.

Ponyo!!

So a bunch of us went to see Ponyo tonight, and it was great! As expected of Miyazaki, of course, but it was great to see his work on the (relatively) big screen again. Well worth watching if you like family films at all, although it doesn't have the deeper themes of stuff like Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke. It was more like a fond call-back to the simple, sweet stories he'd done in the past, like My Neighbour Totoro.

It was also the first time the bunch of us who became friends back in Pre-Animation had gotten together since the wrap party at my place. Pity Kris didn't make it, though.


So as usual, Preston Blair studies. Only one page today.


Sketch Night at the school tonight. So I applied my new style to a piece from a Dean Weagle sketchbook and one from another book the artist of which I can't recall. I'm really getting to like this, and I'm learning all sorts of things I didn't expect.



Beware the NUNJA!!

Silently kicking ass for the LORD!

Yeah, someone came up with the name, and I had to draw it. Sue me, why don't'cha?

Things continue to be fun at Pastor Tom's All Night Whackaloon Warehouse and House of Pancakes, what with him generally melting down and tossing personal insults at anyone who ever looked at him funny, then bragging about how great Christianity is doing. Watching the clowns is always a fun pastime, but sometimes it's interesting to see what the adults are up to.

The adult this time is rather an interesting one. The Thomas Society, one of the rarest of rare breeds, an evangelical Christian who embraces doubt and actually interacts honestly with the world around him. He's well worth a read, so go check him out.

Oh, and Honest Tom hates him, so what better recommendation you gonna get?

Drawing today is a mixed bag. First is a couple of pages from last night's Sketch Night, drawn from any number of sources. The only one I remember for sure is some of the Dan Weagle sketchbooks, but who knows what all else is in there.



Next are studies from a couple of pages from Preston Blair's book, Cartoon Animation. Expect to see a lot like this over the next few days.


And finally, two pages from tonight's life drawing session at Sandy Hill. Haven't drawn a male model in ages, so it was a bit of a treat. I was a bit scared last week's successes were a fluke or something, but apparently I actually am getting better. Who knew?

The problem is man...a specific man, it seems

So I've still been following the adventures of Pastor Tom after he went a-trolling over at Pharyngula. It's actually rather stunning, here's a guy who supposedly is supposed to uphold GOD'S LAW, and yet here he is making with the pride and conceit and bearing false witness and all the rest. Not really a surprise, but the totally bald-faced manner he does it in, wearing his ignorance proudly and even admitting to trolling, it really makes one take a second look.

Of course he's getting righteously schooled by the pro-science brigade he attracted, causing him to whine that learning something outside of what Answers in Genesis spoon-feeds him is haaaaard! Well of course science is hard, you crybaby. That's why we don't all do it! You'd think a grown man would realize that spouting off as if he was an expert without knowing a damn thing would earn him a few slaps in the face from real experts, but there you go.

In other news, tonight was Sketch Night. Only four left, and due to storms and other stuff I was the only one of my group of friends who ended up going, but that's okay. I got to read a book of Frazetta roughs, and draw a couple of good pages of sketchy stuff. Makes me feel good about this fall.

A little hilarious stupid for you all

Via PZ Myers (who's well worth reading any day), a fun Creationist test on evolution, every bit as hilariously wrong as it sounds. Being honest, I ended up answering every question with "Are you really that stupid?" For extra laughs, go check out the poll. It's been Pharyngulated.

So today's piccies!



Sketch Night tonight at the school, and we needed to draw chihuahuas for Rich's daughter. Problem was, I didn't know how to draw a chi-dog. So a quick run to the internets and a couple of hours practice, I think I've started to get the idea. Not great, but certainly a start.

I ended up submitting the squinty one, way up there at the top.