unlikely attitude dispatch

This blog has moved

2010-03-24T00:29:00.001-07:00

This blog is now located at http://blog.unlikelyattitude.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

Moving to WordPress

2010-02-10T23:13:00.000-08:00

I have been pretty unhappy with Blogger for some time now. It seems to me that at least since Google gobbled them up very little has been done to improve or enhance the service. I've been thinking for the longest time that I should switch to WordPress, which is what I was using for my comic, but for one reason or another I just haven't gotten around to it. Well now they are forcing my hand. Google has decided to discontinue FTP support for Blogger which means that only Blogger hosted sites will be able to run with Blogger. Yuck. Massive yuck. That means that instead of running my blog on the front page of my site, I'd have to link off over to unlikelyattitude.blogspot or some such. Grrrr.

So now I have to figure out how to flop everything over. If things look sloppy here for the next few days (weeks?) it's because I'm working this out.

Wish me luck!

1st blog post from my iPhone

2010-01-18T14:05:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to try a post from my iPhone for a while seeing as I've been having trouble finding time to post and since I had a moment, sitting in the car with our neurotic dog, while Andrea and the girls do some shopping in Grass Valley, I figured now would be a good time to try it out. It works fine but I can't seem to enter text in 'compose' mode. I have to be in 'edit html' which I guess is no big deal just kind of odd.

Another problem is that I can't figure out how to upload a photo. The 'upload from your computer' button is grayed out so the only option is to link to an image on the web. Looks like the Blogger/iPhone integration is totally nailed quite yet.

must post to blog, must post to blog...

2010-01-14T20:05:00.000-08:00

Slowly, slowly getting my site back into some kind of reasonably presentable shape. Look! I added some buttons...over there on the right! Come back tomorrow and maybe there will be something else to look at. Stranger things have happened.

Don't mess with the mouse!

2009-09-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

I am always delighted when a Lou Romano post graces my RSS feed. The man is amazing. His posts are infrequent at best (I should talk), but when they come, whether it's thumbnail storyboards, color studies, concept art, a personal project, or just WTF, there is something mouthwateringly irresistible about his mid-century modern, retro-beebop style that just gets me every time.

It's been a while since Romano posted anything so when I saw the Something Marvelous post, of course I went and checked it out. Holy cow! Pretty subversive for such a prominent Lieutenant in the Mouse's Army (granted he's stationed in a norther outpost of the Magic Kingdom, but nonetheless...) I was curious if anyone else thought this was a little off the charts considering the source (I mean it's great don't get me wrong, I love it but it's blasphemy coming from a Pixar guy). Google reader didn't show any comments, so I went to look at the post directly: Page not found. I went to the home page of his blog and top of the feed is a post from July about Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Looks like the post has been removed.

Am I just being paranoid to think that Disney strong-armed Romano to pull down the post? Or did he just think better of it? Did he get a couple of voice mail messages from fellow Pixarians: "Dude, do you hate your job or what?" Maybe he got a late night visit from Goofy and Donald and their friends Brass Knuckles and Baseball Bat. Whatever the case, the full size image is still up on the blogspot server even if the post has been removed. Take look before the Mouse himself shows up on Romano's doorstep with a cannoli.

Real faces! Real People!

2009-08-30T16:01:00.001-07:00

Tangentially connected to my ongoing investigation into Clip Art Crimes Against Humanity, here's a downright funny instance of propaganda with stock photos. The story starts at about 1:06 in this clip.

IlloFri: Wrapped

2009-08-21T01:32:00.000-07:00

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More sizes of this image are available on my flickr stream.

Don't forget to follow twittering IlloFriers with the hashtag: #ifri.

Arthur in Captivity - Final

2009-06-20T03:41:00.001-07:00

Arthur in Captivity - Final
Originally uploaded by three_point

This is my street painting for the 2009 Youth In Arts Street Painting Festival. It didn't quite turn out how I expected or planned but I wasn't disappointed with the results. Drawing with pastel chalk on the ground is such a different thing from pencils in a sketchbook...or pixels on the computer!

I was hoping more people would twitter the experience. Maybe next year.

Street Painting from last year

2009-06-05T01:03:00.000-07:00

Hey lookie here...photographer Paul Millholand got a super clear shot of my street painting from last year. It's way better than anything I got. My best shot had tree shadows unfortunately. The only problem with this photo is my site url is smudged and he took the photo before I signed it! Oh well.

I've started a FaceBook group for San Rafael street painters and enthusiasts, so go and join!

Every Day in May: May 31st

2009-06-02T01:33:00.000-07:00

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Here we are! 31 days of May and 31 pages in my Moleskine. A nice, poetic ending too. This spread officially completes this sketchbook, and I go out on Arthur at work. This is a very, very rough sketch of the image that I am doing for the San Rafael Italian Street Painting festival in a couple of weeks. So here I am wrapping up EDIM and moving into my next big thing and also easing back into my web comic. Like I said: a nice poetic ending.

Take a look at more Every Day In Mays on Flickr.

Every Day in May: May 30th

2009-05-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

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As my wife pointed out yesterday that May has 31 days not 30 days, so yesterday was my antepenultimate EDIM and this is my penultimate EDIM. Just a bunch sketches from random news photos + random doodles.

IlloFri: Adapt

2009-05-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

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I did this drawing of Charles Darwin in PhotoShop some time ago. Since Darwin introduced Natural Selection, the process by which species adapt to changes in their environment over time, I decided to pull it out for this week's IlloFri.

Don't forget to follow twittering IlloFriers with the hashtag: #ifri.

Every Day in May: May 29th

2009-05-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

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Almost there. This is my penultimate EDIM. The pen drawing here is a little sloppy, but I'm trying to pick up my speed a little. I'd like to get to the point where I can create a credible pen sketch in an hour or so, and not have to take 3 hours for it to look decent.

I'm also enjoying getting back to the watercolors again. It's funny though; I feel the need to have the structure of a pen drawing or a pretty well established pencil drawing to hang the color on. I should try working from a very light, rough pencil sketch or even straight into watercolor.

IlloFri: Cracked

2009-05-29T02:51:00.000-07:00

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I don't know why I like the image of the Frankenstein's monster in a tie and coat. I draw it every so often. I had no idea where I was going with the cracked concept. I just started out drawing the crack, and the rest came along as I drew it. As I was drawing this I was suddenly struck by the similarity to the Harry Potter lightning scar and the Frankenstein forehead crack. Hadn't really thought of that before.

Every Day in May: May 27th

2009-05-28T02:34:00.000-07:00

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Lunchtime sketches plus color added later. 3 more days in May for 30 days of May.

Every Day in May: May 26th

2009-05-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

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Every Day in May: May 25th

2009-05-26T02:02:00.000-07:00

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Or perhaps some fruit.

Every Day in May: May 24th

2009-05-25T04:50:00.000-07:00

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Sketching at a graduation ceremony on Sunday.

Every Day in May: May 23rd

2009-05-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

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Busy weekend, but here's my sketch from Saturday. Playing around with cracks for the Illustration Friday theme: Cracked.

Every Day in May: May 22nd

2009-05-23T01:35:00.000-07:00

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Finished from yesterday. Battling Assyrians.

Every Day in May: May 21st

2009-05-22T03:54:00.000-07:00

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Kinda cheating here. Started today, finishing up tomorrow. Oh well. A post is a post, I guess.

Every Day in May: May 20th

2009-05-21T01:43:00.000-07:00

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Random stuff from the sketchbook. Ten more days to complete every day in may. Whew.

Every Day in May: May 19th

2009-05-20T01:36:00.000-07:00

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Experimenting with water color pencils, but the scanner really doesn't capture what it looks like. The thicker the cover the less it gets it right. I think it's the pigment reflecting back?

Every Day in May: May 18th

2009-05-19T00:12:00.000-07:00

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Messing around with faces. Some observed. Some imagined. Some from photos.

IlloFri: Contagious

2009-05-18T01:47:00.000-07:00

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Every Day In May for May 17th and Illustration Friday on the subject of Contagious. I did all of those thumbnails yesterday and then ended up going with something entirely different. Go figure.

Every Day in May: May 16th

2009-05-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

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Late post from yesterday. Just playing around with ideas for Illustration Friday theme this week: contagious. Also more working with water soluble color pencil. I really struggling with scanning color pencil. The scan really doesn't capture the texture or the color correctly. I can get a bit of back in PhotoShop but not really. Wondering if there are resources online with info on scanning natural media.

Every Day in May: May 15th

2009-05-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

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IlloFri: Parade

2009-05-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

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A last minute parade for Illustration Friday and May 14th for Every Day in May. That's all.

Every Day in May: May 13th

2009-05-14T00:58:00.000-07:00

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Hey, this is my 100th post to this blog. That must be cause for a celebration of some kind, right? Anyway, here's my Every Day In May contribution for today. Did this one mostly on the spot, south of market, although I finished it up at home with the help of a photo from my iPhone. The bottom is a little sloppy, partially because I couldn't really make out the details from where I was sitting (iPhone didn't help much with that) but mainly because I had to wrap it up and post it.

I am really enjoying doing this EDIM thing and following all of the other folks adding their stuff to the flikr page. Lot's of good stuff there!

Every Day in May: May 12th

2009-05-12T23:48:00.000-07:00

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Some vague echoes of the movie we watched last night (Australia...which we didn't find nearly as dreadful as we had heard. We actually enjoyed it). Still feeling sick today, so had trouble drawing on the bus. I only did a bit each way and added the color at home.

Every Day in May: May 11th

2009-05-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

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Still sick. Did this of our dining room from the sofa in the living room. Pretty sloppily done, but that's all I could manage today. Hopefully I'll be feeling up to more tomorrow.

Every Day in May: May 10th

2009-05-11T19:01:00.000-07:00

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May 10th by proxy...I actually did this one a couple of weeks ago in San Francisco, and uploaded it on the 11th, but I was sick as a dog on the 10th so I'm cutting myself some slack here.

Every Day in May: May 9th

2009-05-10T03:31:00.000-07:00

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'nuff said.

Every Day in May: May 8th

2009-05-09T01:48:00.000-07:00

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Random scribblings today. Some working out of ideas for this week's Illustration Friday. The word this week is 'parade'. Nothing's really hit me yet, but I have the whole week, so we'll see what happens.

Every Day in May: May 7th

2009-05-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

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May 7th. That's one week's worth!

Every Day in May: May 6th

2009-05-07T03:03:00.000-07:00

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May 6th. That's all. Time for bed

Every Day in May: May 5th

2009-05-06T00:49:00.000-07:00

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May 5th posted in the wee hours of may 6th, but actually drawn and colored on May 5th (so there!). This was another one done primarily on the bus, finished and colored at home. The reference for this came from The History of Costume site that I have been looking at using for inspiration and reference every so often for the past...what? decade, perhaps. I don't think the site has ever really been updated much; the images are small and not terribly clear; but I still love it as a source for ideas. This fellow, by the way is an Egyptian king. In the original, there's also a court official and a fan bearer, but my goal is to complete a sketchbook page every day in May, so supporting cast will have to wait for another day.

Every Day in May: May 4th

2009-05-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

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4th day sketch. For every day in May. Did this mostly on the bus into work and was going to do some more on the way back, but the evening bus was really vibrating. My pencil was like a seismograph. Sometimes I can draw on the bus no problem, and sometimes it's impossible. Depends on the bus.

Every Day in May: May 3rd

2009-05-03T23:47:00.000-07:00

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May 3rd sketch. Done mostly in downtown Sonoma, although I finished it up at home with the help of a photo from iPhone. 3 down. 27 to go!

Every Day in May: May 2nd

2009-05-02T23:53:00.000-07:00

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Every Day In May post for May 2nd. Didn't have a lot of time today so did this pretty quickly but I want to make sure I got something up. And this time I posted before midnight!

IlloFri: Hierarchy

2009-05-02T00:17:00.001-07:00

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I think this is the earliest I've ever put up a piece for Illustration Friday. It's only because I'm also doing Every Day in May, which is another art challenge to do something (a drawing, a painting, whatever) ever day for the Month of May. I'm going to see if I can fill an entire page in my Moleskine. Every day. In May.

I've started using the hashtag #illofri on Twitter because #illustrationfriday doesn't show up on search.twitter. It seems there is a character limit for hashtags, although I haven't been able to find any documentation to that verify it. I've just noticed that longer hashtags don't stick. If you use twitter, and you're doing the Illustration Friday thing, please consider using #illofri to announce your stuff. Or let me know if you're using something else. Also, follow me if you're so inclined: twitter.com/ThreePoint

Could you tell that the face at the bottom of the image is Arlen Specter? The mouth and eyes are more or less correct, but the shape of the face is a little too round.

Luchtime sketch

2009-04-27T23:14:00.000-07:00

CLICK THE THUMBNAIL TO VIEW
Sketching the view of the building at 1st & Mission from atop the 100 First Public Parking garage.

View Larger Map

I'm not sure why it's called '100 First' when it's actually at 524 Mission, but there is a great little garden park up top. Very pleasant spot for sketching.

I have to figure out posting images and locations from my iPhone, but when it comes down to it, I'd rather spend the little time I have out of doors sketching.

Commute Sketch

2009-04-23T02:17:00.000-07:00

Here's something drawn mostly on the bus. I don't know how Chris Ware does it. How he draws so smoothly, in ink, on the bus. That just doesn't seem natural. Click the thumbnail to see the full image.

IlloFri: Subtract

2009-03-27T01:08:00.000-07:00

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Drew this one on the bus again. That's pretty much how I feel on the bus: like my brain has been subtracted from head. Pencil + a touch of color pencil + some PhotoShop tweaking. That's about all that I've got to say on this one.

Wonder what this week's word is going to be!

IlloFri: Legendary

2009-03-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

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So what is it here that is legendary? Is it legendary globe trotting twitterer Stephen Fry? Or perhaps it is the notoriously legendary bon mot generating machine Oscar Wilde, played wonderfully by Fry in the adaptation of Richard Ellmann's biography. Or is it twitter itself, with it's legendary rise to sudden web app prominence? Or is it none of the above. Just the best idea that I could come up with and enjoyed doing. Got me.

Wish I had more time to work on the color, but it's Friday already and my time is running out. Time to post.

Oh, by the way, follow me on Twitter, if you like: ThreePoint is my art & webcomic twitter handle and EJagger is my elearning (day job) twitterself.

IlloFri: Instinct

2009-02-27T01:32:00.001-08:00

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Drawn on the bus. Super-quick color in PhotoShop. That's all I've got this week.

IlloFri: Celebrate

2009-02-20T01:25:00.000-08:00

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Haven't had much time to do Illustration Friday since I started Trifles, but I scribbled this one on the bus and added some watercolor at home. I'm having a lot of fun working on an ongoing comic, but it's great fun to do something unfettered by the need of the continuing characters.

IlloFri: Resolve

2009-01-09T01:51:00.001-08:00

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This is the header image that I created for AT without the color. I actually think I like this better with the blurred out reddish pencils as opposed to the full colors. Click the image above to view full size and take a look at the finished piece on Agonizing Trifles.

Finally joined technorati

2009-01-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

I don't know why I haven't done it before, but more to the point, I'm really not sure why I've done it now.

Technorati Profile

Joe the Search Engine

2008-11-12T02:14:00.000-08:00

Googling Joe and the suggestions are unnerving. I'm not sure what bothers me more: that 'Joe the plumber' is number 1 over Joe Biden, or that number 6 is 'Joe the plummer'.

Webcomic: Week 3

2008-10-04T09:16:00.000-07:00

I have completed week 3 of my ongoing web comic: Agonizing Trifles. I am still struggling with just the physical "inking" in Photoshop, let alone all the technical aspects of publishing. And I'm still using the 'out of the box' layout of the ComicPress theme for WordPress, so I guess you can call this a Beta release of the strip.

I will be publishing twice weekly (Mondays and Fridays) for the foreseeable future.

You can go to the first strip, the current strip, or the RSS feed to subscribe. And let me know what you think!

We will, we will Barack you

2008-09-27T17:28:00.001-07:00

Video blogging is still something I'm not entirely clear on. I understand how, it's the why part that leaves me a bit baffled. Maybe I'm too old for it to click with me. Like Twitter, I just don't get it. But add ukulele, now yer talkin'. Jump to 3:12 for the awesomest bit, a ukulele Obama medley.

Frida at SFMoMA

2008-09-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

I finally made it down to see the Frida exhibit at SFMoMA, and although I know it's close to blasphemy for a liberal, SF Bay Arean, ethnic art loving, post-dadaist, pop surrealist to say this, but I was not enthralled. Perhaps it was just the pressing throngs of liberal, SF Bay Arean, ethnic art loving, post-dadaist, pop surrealist humanity pressing up to every tiny canvas that turned me off. I have never been very good at crowded art shows. So I think that this was part of what was problematic for me. But it wasn't just that. I am so used to being blown away when I see an artist's work first-hand after studying it in reproduction, and for some reason Frida's work was not vastly improved by seeing it up close. It was interesting and I'm glad I went, but it was not a revelation. Not in the way that the Cornell exhibit was. I enjoyed examining certain of her canvases from a foot away. For example My Dress Hangs There with it's collaged huddled masses was surprising. Another thing that i was very taken with was her still life canvases. Towards the end of her life, after her final reconciliation with Diego but before her health ultimately gave out, Frida did some still life paintings that are really beautiful. These are not the images that you see on posters and t-shirts because it's not the blood-and-guts Frida; there's no self-portrait staring defiantly out at you. I actually would like to go back and take another look at those pieces. They were at the end of the painting portion of the exhibit; before the photos. By the time I got to them I was worn out with the crowd so I looked quickly and pushed on through. But those were the pieces that I keep thinking about.

Now, the other show, the one on contemporary artists in China. Wow. That was an awesome show. More on that one later.

the election visualized

2008-08-29T13:04:00.001-07:00

perspctv has some really amazing visualized data and web 2.0 widgetry swirling around the upcoming election. Maps, charts, timelines all pulling info from news, blogs and twitter. Pretty cool stuff.

Via FlowingData
Posted using ShareThis

IlloFri: Sail

2008-08-15T02:13:00.001-07:00

Click the image to enlarge.

Pencil sketch with 'ink' and color in photoshop. Based on a woodcut of Columbus's boat the Nina.

Putting out the fire with gasolline

2008-08-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

The SF Chronicle reported today that several countries are racing to claim oil and gas resources opened up by receding arctic ice. When I hear things like this I think of Spalding Gray's line from Swimming to Cambodia: "Mother Earth needs a long, long rest with no people."

Other similar headlines:
Choking Man Scarfs 12 inch Sub
Heading 60mph Toward Brick Wall, Driver Hits the Gas
Coyote, Teetering on Ledge, Grabs Anvil

IlloFri: Poof! (Not Posted)

2008-08-08T02:58:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge.

Some shameless Photoshoppery here. Very little actual drawing. Just a lot of messing around with filters and layer effects and such. I was stumped for what to do for this word. Poof seems to connote transformation or sudden disappearance. And I wasn't quite sure how to do that in a single image. I guess I could have done a sequence but that somehow seemed like cheating.

Edit: Phooey. Played to long on this and missed the posting window.

Darwin

2008-08-07T01:21:00.001-07:00

Been working a bit on my Photoshop drawing chops. Still getting used to drawing with the tablet. This is the first time I got really excited about the process because I could feel the potential. If I could just get more control over my line, I think I could emulate the wood engraving look that I love so much. The combination of the variable line width from the tablet with the ability pull the whites back out by switching to the eraser could afford some very exciting drawing possibilities. And of course corrections and changes are a thousand times easier than in wood engraving. Even scratchboard lacks undo, save as, and history palette.

Click the image for a larger view.

Hostile Work Environment, circa 1939

2008-07-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Having worked on a number of harassment prevention courses over the last decade, I know that this memo is concerned with what is now called "Hostile Work Environment Sexual Harassment." I guess in 1939 they just called it plain ol' "gross language". An interesting aspect of this memo is the reference to the female workforce in the InBetweening Department. InBetweening, of course, is the process of creating the images between 'keyframes'. Keyframes were created by experienced animators, and the inbetweens were created by 'unskilled' and underpaid workers, usually women. Nowadays inbetweens are created by computers or underpaid Koreans.

(via Cartoon Brew)

Marcel Duchamp has no recent activity

2008-07-18T19:41:00.000-07:00

From the Duchamp fan page on Facebook. I don't know how the man who prefigured post-modernity by half a century would feel about the internet, let alone Facebook, but I think the pre-programed mini-feed message coupled with this photo is completely awesome...in a Duchampian kinda way.

A good day for animated shorts

2008-07-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

I was not at all surprised to see the brand new JibJab election parody crack the Viral Video List but I was thrilled to Simon's Cat #3 made the list as well!

See the high res version on the JibJab site.

IlloFri: Sour

2008-07-11T03:40:00.001-07:00

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Ahhh, lemonade. A taste of summer. Actually, most lemonade-stand lemonade is too watery or too sweet for my taste, but watery doesn't really lend itself to slapstick facial expressions...and that's not the word of the week anyway. I really wanted to add a suburban street with tract houses in the background but ran out of time. Pencils and photoshop as usual. Although this time I used the flat color method to create selection areas as described by the incomparable James Jean.

IlloFri: Fierce

2008-07-04T05:04:00.001-07:00

Click the image to enlarge.

A quick picture of Seymour Hersh, fierce defender of truth and, in my humble opinion, a true american patriot for this holiday Illustration Friday post. Drawn in my sketchbook, mostly on the bus, with very quick color in Photoshop.

New old stuff

2008-06-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've posted a couple of animations from the GreenPoint daze on my animation page. It's interesting looking at these things from a year or so down the line. I still am pretty pleased how quickly I cranked them out. The compliance piece I did in less than 3 days and I did the whole thing solo. Except the music; I can't claim the music. But it's also hard looking at them. I definitely see the warts and blemishes on these puppies. And, alas, it's sad to think of the work we were starting to do when they shut the doors. We had a great team and it's too bad that it had to end so abruptly just when we were starting to hit our stride.

Street Fest '08 - Done!

2008-06-17T02:22:00.001-07:00

Street fest in full swing
Originally uploaded by three_point

It was great fun. Looking forward to doing it again next year! More photos on flikr.

My spot at the Italian Street Painting Festival

2008-06-13T18:03:00.000-07:00

This is the view from my spot of asphalt at the Fest. It's Friday and some folks have already started! Looking forward to it.

Crescent City, Seattle, Nome, Uncanny Valley and all points North.

2008-06-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

I had no idea that there is an actual named phenomenon for the visceral negative reaction I had to those creepy freak-mouthed kids in Polar Express.

file under 'c' for creepy

2008-06-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

The creepy children’s book My Beautiful Mommy (for plastic surgery victims…um…patients…to help guide their kids “…through Mommy's surgery and healing process in a friendly, nonthreatening way…”) has popped up on a couple of my daily blog reads in the past couple of weeks and was even the subject of a question on Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me. Dan Piaro blogged about it on his Bizarro blog today and I laughed out loud at some of his alternative titles, like: What Did You Do With My Mommy, You Taught-Eyed Freak?! and Why Does Mommy Always Look Surprised?

I think that MBM might even top Love You Forever as creepiest kids book of all times.

Is it just me...?

2008-06-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Front page article on SF Chronicle states referred to Obama as Hillary Clinton's "longtime rival" I'm having enough trouble with 'rival' considering how close the two senators are on most issues, but 'longtime'? Even in the short attention span opera that is US politics this language borders on the absurd.

First time ever

2008-06-06T06:46:00.000-07:00

For probably the first time, in all the times i've done it, i know exactly the image i want to make for IFri. It hit me within 10 minutes of seeing the word. Ah, but when to do it. That is the question. After all, it's going to be a busy week.

IlloFri: Baby

2008-06-06T03:50:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge.

Awwww. Is the big, mean gas pump making it hard fill up your Suburban? Got an owie in your wallet? Poor guy!

Suck it up, ya big baby. Take the bus. Get a hybrid. Telecommute. There are people in the world who are really suffering. Food prices are shooting through the roof for people who have been trying to feed their families on pennies a day. Your neighbors' kids are getting mutilated and killed in Iraq. We could be on the brink of an ecological meltdown and you're whining because it's going to cost a bit more to haul the Winnebago to your favorite fishing hole? Gimme a break.

Ok, ok. I know. Gas prices are tough on the already stretched middle class. I know it's hard on my family. Everyone I know is feeling the pinch. But really, let's get it in perspective.

IlloFri: Wide (not submitted)

2008-05-24T01:06:00.000-07:00

click image to enlarge

Due to connectivity issues I wasn't able to upload this Thursday evening. Ah well. Not crazy about it anyway. Working with digital 'inking' in PhotoShop with the WACOM and am simply not getting the feel of if. Also, too tired to work out the colors so just went with the very muted almost monochromatic, quality. I do like glowing quality of the teeth and the jittery, multiple line.

So am I a twit now, or what?

2008-05-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Struggling to get back into/keeping up with the whole blog thing and now along comes Twitter. Ani keeps talking about it, and I’ve certainly heard a lot about it on the interwebs. But I keep thinking…what exactly is the point of this? I’ve been having a really hard time getting mind around it. Then I saw this.
OK. I’m twittering. So now what?

Game Over

2007-08-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

Things are strange and uneven in northern novato today; like being underwater. It's hard to quantify the feelings in the halls. Ani keeps calling it surreal which gets pretty close to the feeling. But maybe it's more unreal than surreal. This is different from any other layoff that I've been involved in because this is an full-on shut down. It's a very, very odd feeling.

And it doesn't help that Channel 2 is outside the interviewing people as they go out for lunch!

IlloFri: Emergency!

2007-08-17T03:35:00.000-07:00

Click the image for a larger view

Hey, waddya know! This is my 50th post and my 32nd Illustration Friday. I couldn't really think of anything very interesting for this weeks theme. I kept going back to that old TV show from the 70s which I was never a fan of. When in doubt, make it a robot. Words to live by.

IlloFri: Missing

2007-08-10T00:55:00.001-07:00

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Quick and dirty color pencil from the sketchbook.

Sweeney Todd Poster

2007-08-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

Grim and ghastly, this is my first peak at the upcoming film. It gives us a sense of what the thing is going to look like and it's a swell image to boot. The use of color is particularly striking. The very subtle, sickly pale green in the wallpaper really pushes the red forward, while the rest of the image--including Depp's face--has a bluish cast, which not only pulls everything back into the shadows but also gives everything a cold, matalic feel. All this underscored by the battling horizantal, vertical and diagonal lines. The whole thing captures the feel of story: Sweeney's calculated madness, danger, revenge and violence.

Also learned the answer to who is going to play Judge Turpin: Alan Rickman. Yes, I can see that.

I still have to wonder if Depp's voice is strong enough to handle this role.

IlloFri: Moon

2007-08-03T03:20:00.000-07:00

click for a larger view

Another one from the sketchbook with color in Photoshop. That's about all I've got for this week.

IlloFri: Geeky (not submitted)

2007-07-14T01:34:00.000-07:00

(click to see a larger version)

Too busy this week - in more ways than one! Not only did I not get this beyond the rough sketch in my sketchbook, I didn't wasn't able to post it to IF. Oh well. There's always next week!

IlloFri: Twist

2007-07-06T01:59:00.001-07:00

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Scribbly sketch from my sketchbook with some photoshop color. I got kind of stuck on this one and couldn't really think of anything original that interested me. So I went back to a twisted up couple kinda like my first IF entry. No ribbons on this one, although I was tempted.

IlloFri: Rejection

2007-06-22T01:58:00.000-07:00

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This is probably the fastest illustration friday i've done yet. I had nothin' when I sat down. And about 2 hours from first pencil mark to uploaded image. whew!

IlloFri: Suit

2007-06-15T03:45:00.000-07:00

Click the image to enlarge.

IlloFri: My Paradise

2007-06-08T03:49:00.000-07:00

click to enlarge

Communication Sketch

2007-06-07T00:12:00.000-07:00

I was trying to clean out my overstuffed harddrive to make room for more stuff and came across this, from my sketchbook. I was working on this for the Illustration Friday 'communication' theme, but I never finished and was busy on the thrusday before the upload page got switched so...

Anyway, here it is, as is.

Git along little doggie

2007-06-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

OK, browsing through the other stuff from these folks, I have to assume that they are not given to ribald humor, but then again, looking at the placement of the vintage wallpaper shellacked to this light switch I have to wonder. Or maybe this is just an early concept sketch for the cowboy doll in Toy Story.

UPDATE: Looks like they got wise and re-photographed this, confirming that the humor here was in fact unintentional. If you want to know what cracked me up about this, picture this same switch-plate cover on a light switch...in the on position!

IlloFri: Cars

2007-06-01T03:15:00.001-07:00

(Click the image to see a larger version)

From my new sketchbook + color in Photoshop. I think the sudden appearance of big old pile of Calvin and Hobbes books in our home has had an influence on my drawing.

Sketchbook 8 complete...more or less

2007-05-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

I completed sketchbook number 8 with citrus entry for illustration friday. I was going to do some more tweaking the cover 'cause the painting is a little sloppy, but I final decided that enough is enough, and anyway I kinda like the sloppiness as it relates to the work-in-progress nature of the idea of a sketchbook. There are still some bits in here that I like that I may post in the furture. In the meanwhile...on to #9.

IlloFri: Citrus

2007-05-18T02:17:00.000-07:00

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Holy Cow!

2007-03-25T03:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, everybody knows about the Chris Ware animation from the newly minted This American Life a la Showtime. We all saw that already. But now Showtime has posted the entire first episode of TAL on their site for free!

Gates v. Hodgman

2007-03-22T00:42:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to last week's On the Media podcast (which currently rates in my personal top 5 of public radio shows) and was very interested in the interview with Bill Gates. I was interested because he seemed an unlikely candidate for that particular forum. OTM seems to favor folks of a much lower media profile who usually have very specific subject matter expertise. It's what gives the show it's flavor. Gates is probably the highest profile person I've ever heard on the show. The segment was also interesting to me because it was so uninteresting to me. Droning on in that gooey monotone of his, spilling out all that technobusiness babble, he managed to drag the show to an all time low. The quintessential moment came at the end of the interview when Bob Garfield pointed out the similarities between Gates and John Hodgman as the personification of a Windows computer in the Apple ads. Gates's answer demonstrated such lack of humor and grace that he proved once and for all that he is no John Hodgman.

IlloFri: Wired

2007-03-16T02:09:00.000-07:00

Click image to enlarge.

Inspired by Arun Krishnan and the Learn Hindi from Bollywood Movies Podcast. Let's examine this one line by line...

IlloFri: Hide

2007-03-09T05:44:00.000-08:00

Back in the illofri saddle...sort of. Too much going on at work and home to do much more than a sketchbook doodle this week. Maybe more next time. Maybe!

Dazed and confused

2007-03-07T10:06:00.000-08:00

Wit from the Jim Hightower podcast. Quoting Butch Hancock on being raised in the fundamentalist South:
"…as hormone charged teenagers they were instructed that sex is the filthiest, nastiest thing in the world…and they should save it for someone they love."
I miss Molly Ivens, but thank god we still have Jim Hightower.

IlloFri: Help

2006-12-22T03:50:00.000-08:00

Click the image to enlarge.

Short on time again this week. Didn't spend a lot of time thinking about this week's topic, with everything that was going on. For some reason this image popped into my head when I sat down to do something. What about this is 'help'? Is it the fellow behind the bars? Is he asking for help or is he being helped? hmmm....

IlloFri: Mask

2006-12-15T00:54:00.000-08:00

Click the image to enlarge.

From my sketchbook. About all I had time for this week. Continuing on my loopy, out-of-control ribbon motif.

IlloFri: Might

2006-12-08T02:07:00.000-08:00

Click the image to enlarge.

I was stuck on this one for a while. I kept going back and forth between might as strength and might as a state of possibility. I was delighted to see the number 2 response to might on google was They Might Be Giants. But that didn't give me any additional insight. I ultimately came up with this a conceptual compromise, somewhere between strength and possibility. I didn't quite get the 1930s poster look that I was going for. I wanted something WPA-ish. And the starburst in the background is a total cop out. o well.

IlloFri: Invention

2006-12-01T02:50:00.000-08:00

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I would like to have added more background detail and color to this one, but alas, the time ran short. So it will have to stand as is, for now.

Flash Demos

2006-11-23T01:57:00.000-08:00

These are not totally fresh. Both were created earlier in the year, timed with release updates to online tools for mortgage brokers who do business with GreenPoint. There are two demos, one for ePoint and one for Pipeline Manager. See if you can spot the shape tween goof in the Pipeline Manager demo!

IlloFri: Thanksgiving

2006-11-21T02:32:00.000-08:00

click the image to enlarge

Did this for a flyer for my daughter's Kindergarten class last week and since it fit the theme...

Icons and such from my day job

2006-11-12T00:19:00.000-08:00

I've added some icons and illustrations that I did earlier this year for online courses. I did them quickly but am pretty happy with how they turned out, mainly because even though I did them fast, they don't look terrible. Click the thumbs-up image posted on the Illustration page. Take a look!