Thursday, August 30, 2007
WILLIAM HALL IS MY DAD!
There are many reasons that I enjoy drawing and creating art. Growing up in my parents art studio, watching my Dad paint and wanting to be like him is chief among those reasons.
Check out this short video of my Dad's work to get a little taste of his newest direction of working in construction supplies.
It's amazing stuff.
Check out this short video of my Dad's work to get a little taste of his newest direction of working in construction supplies.
It's amazing stuff.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
DIY CINTIQ!
Really want a Cintiq Wacom but don't have the cash?
Check out how this guy built his own and watch it
work!
Links originally from Drawn.
Check out how this guy built his own and watch it
work!
Links originally from Drawn.
LOW EXPECTATIONS!
Man!
I just can't believe how long it's taking me to create now a days.
I've been trying to color the first six pages of Knucklejelly for the past two or three weeks and it's taken three times as long as I thought it would. I actually finished them on Monday, but I'm not super happy with them and need to tweak them some more. I think that's the problem with churning stuff out, you don't get a chance to step back and see what could be improved.
In any case, I wanted to post sketches to this blog three times a week, but with the way my life is right now, that's just not possible.
So my new plan is to post new art once a week and a Genre-xplosion once a week and then whatever else falls into my lap at least once a week. We'll see if I can keep up with that...
That should still equal at least 3 posts a week and keep this blog alive, even if it's not 100% art.
Wish me luck!
I just can't believe how long it's taking me to create now a days.
I've been trying to color the first six pages of Knucklejelly for the past two or three weeks and it's taken three times as long as I thought it would. I actually finished them on Monday, but I'm not super happy with them and need to tweak them some more. I think that's the problem with churning stuff out, you don't get a chance to step back and see what could be improved.
In any case, I wanted to post sketches to this blog three times a week, but with the way my life is right now, that's just not possible.
So my new plan is to post new art once a week and a Genre-xplosion once a week and then whatever else falls into my lap at least once a week. We'll see if I can keep up with that...
That should still equal at least 3 posts a week and keep this blog alive, even if it's not 100% art.
Wish me luck!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: EVIL SLUTTY TWIN
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
DOPPELGANGER (1993)
Evil, Slutty Twin
Directed- Avi Nesher
Written- Donald P. Borchers and Avi Nesher
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Poor Patrick Highsmith (George Newbern) is a failing screenwriter, just trying to make some extra cash by renting out his bedroom to a beautiful stranger named Holly Gooding (Drew Barrymore). What he doesn't know is, just four short years ago, Holly brutally stabbed her mother to death.... But was it Holly's split personality or her evil doppelganger?
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There's not a lot of gore in this movie, but there is a lot of blood, goopy bits and some pretty gross creature effects. There are also a few scenes of topless Drew Barrymore, which may make the whole movie worth it for some folks.
THOUGHTS:
This movie is a tough call... definitely not good, but not terrible. Doppelganger takes a very tongue-in-cheek look at its storyline, and at Los Angeles in general, that is meant to be humorous, but there is a lot of unintentional comedy there as well. From the overly conscious score, to the hammy dialogue, to the fact that the movie gets more and more ridiculous until culminating in a big stinking pile of crazy. This is one movie that I could not stop watching... and that's why, in the end, I liked this picture. It's colorful, well shot and keeps a pretty brisk pace... and it's just weird... Not even in an art school trying-to-be-weird way... It's just odd.
DOPPELGANGER (1993)
Evil, Slutty Twin
Directed- Avi Nesher
Written- Donald P. Borchers and Avi Nesher
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity, not quality.
SET-UP:
Poor Patrick Highsmith (George Newbern) is a failing screenwriter, just trying to make some extra cash by renting out his bedroom to a beautiful stranger named Holly Gooding (Drew Barrymore). What he doesn't know is, just four short years ago, Holly brutally stabbed her mother to death.... But was it Holly's split personality or her evil doppelganger?
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
There's not a lot of gore in this movie, but there is a lot of blood, goopy bits and some pretty gross creature effects. There are also a few scenes of topless Drew Barrymore, which may make the whole movie worth it for some folks.
THOUGHTS:
This movie is a tough call... definitely not good, but not terrible. Doppelganger takes a very tongue-in-cheek look at its storyline, and at Los Angeles in general, that is meant to be humorous, but there is a lot of unintentional comedy there as well. From the overly conscious score, to the hammy dialogue, to the fact that the movie gets more and more ridiculous until culminating in a big stinking pile of crazy. This is one movie that I could not stop watching... and that's why, in the end, I liked this picture. It's colorful, well shot and keeps a pretty brisk pace... and it's just weird... Not even in an art school trying-to-be-weird way... It's just odd.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
MORE KNUCKLEJELLY BUFFOONERY
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
RANDOM KNUCKLEJELLY PAGE!
Monday, August 20, 2007
DR. MONKEE!
This here is Dr. Monkee, a quick
drawing I did for one of my buddy John Robison's incredibly dark and strange poems.
drawing I did for one of my buddy John Robison's incredibly dark and strange poems.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
GOOG-411?
Sorry I haven't been posting much art. I'm a little unorganized at the moment and am trying to set up a schedule to get used to blogging more. I hope to one day post new art every Mon, Wed and Friday and then post some other nonsense on Tues and Thurs... but we'll see how that works out.
I did post the first Genre-xplosion post yesterday though! I've been wanting to do a cult movie/comic blog FOREVER so I'm glad I finally got my toe wet. I know there are TONS of movies and comic review sites on-line, but I'm only posting about films and comics that I like, so it's not really a review site. My main goal is finding these works of fiction a few new sets of eyeballs. Hopefully I'll update it weekly... we shall see.
Also, in my ever-growing quest to organize my life, I am finding Google to be a VERY helpful tool. I've always enjoyed my Gmail account, I finally got a handle on RSS feeds with their Google Reader, I customized my workspace with Google homepage and now I've found out if you call 1-800-GOOG-411 you can actually call Google on the phone and they will play operator for, help you find a place in your city and even connect your call for FREE. It's my new favorite phone number.
As far as art goes, I've been busting my hump trying to color the first 6 pages of Knucklejelly this week. Hopefully I'll have some to share on Monday.
One final note... I'm sure most everyone in comics by now knows Mike Wieringo passed away on Sunday... I was not going to post about it as I never met the guy and I really didn't feel it was my place, but I did want to mention that he went out of his way once, to leave me a message on an art forum that he liked one of my drawings. Not many pros will come off their high horse to do that, but he did. That and the fact that I really liked his work made him a very special creator to me.
His passing is a major loss for my favorite art field.
I did post the first Genre-xplosion post yesterday though! I've been wanting to do a cult movie/comic blog FOREVER so I'm glad I finally got my toe wet. I know there are TONS of movies and comic review sites on-line, but I'm only posting about films and comics that I like, so it's not really a review site. My main goal is finding these works of fiction a few new sets of eyeballs. Hopefully I'll update it weekly... we shall see.
Also, in my ever-growing quest to organize my life, I am finding Google to be a VERY helpful tool. I've always enjoyed my Gmail account, I finally got a handle on RSS feeds with their Google Reader, I customized my workspace with Google homepage and now I've found out if you call 1-800-GOOG-411 you can actually call Google on the phone and they will play operator for, help you find a place in your city and even connect your call for FREE. It's my new favorite phone number.
As far as art goes, I've been busting my hump trying to color the first 6 pages of Knucklejelly this week. Hopefully I'll have some to share on Monday.
One final note... I'm sure most everyone in comics by now knows Mike Wieringo passed away on Sunday... I was not going to post about it as I never met the guy and I really didn't feel it was my place, but I did want to mention that he went out of his way once, to leave me a message on an art forum that he liked one of my drawings. Not many pros will come off their high horse to do that, but he did. That and the fact that I really liked his work made him a very special creator to me.
His passing is a major loss for my favorite art field.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
GENRE-XPLOSION: UNDERWATER ZOMBIE NAZIS!
Genre-xplosion is a short, spoiler-free introduction to some of the strange and obscure movies and comics that I enjoy. Some of them are brilliant masterpieces... some of them aren't. All of them are entertaining.
SHOCK WAVES (1977)
Underwater Nazi zombies
Directed - Ken Wiederhorn
Written - John Kent Harrison, Ken Pare, Ken Wiederhorn
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity not quality.
SET-UP:
A group of tourists take a tour of "the islands" with a salty old captain (John Carradine) and his crew on a broken down boat. They become lost at sea and arrive at a deserted island where a paranoid ex-SS Commander (Peter Cushing) lives, haunted by a secret platoon of underwater zombie Nazi soldiers.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
No sex, no nudity, very little gore and almost no violence. Very few of the death scenes appear on camera and the makeup effects are mostly icky looking dead guy skin.
THOUGHTS:
This a very neat, but slow paced flick. Make sure you've got your taxes done, a hot plate of nachos and a special someone to sit down and enjoy this with because it is not going to fight for your attention. Shock Waves is in no hurry to get anywhere fast nor does it feel the need to always explain exactly what is going on and/or why. What it does deliver is some striking (albeit low-budget) visuals, a terrific slowly mounting tension and the eerie atmosphere that such a situation would create. This is not a jump-out-of-your-seat scary movie, this is a creepy there's-no-escape, impending doom kinda film. It also benefits greatly with roles from two horror legends, John Carradine and Peter Cushing, near the end of their careers and the attractive Brooke Adams near the beginning of hers. If the idea of dozens of low-budget underwater Nazi zombies soldiers chasing tourists around a deserted island sounds like your idea of a good time, definitely check this out.
SHOCK WAVES (1977)
Underwater Nazi zombies
Directed - Ken Wiederhorn
Written - John Kent Harrison, Ken Pare, Ken Wiederhorn
STYLE: ****
SUBSTANCE: ****
BLOOD/GORE: ****
NUDITY: ****
Scale built on quantity not quality.
SET-UP:
A group of tourists take a tour of "the islands" with a salty old captain (John Carradine) and his crew on a broken down boat. They become lost at sea and arrive at a deserted island where a paranoid ex-SS Commander (Peter Cushing) lives, haunted by a secret platoon of underwater zombie Nazi soldiers.
SEX AND VIOLENCE:
No sex, no nudity, very little gore and almost no violence. Very few of the death scenes appear on camera and the makeup effects are mostly icky looking dead guy skin.
THOUGHTS:
This a very neat, but slow paced flick. Make sure you've got your taxes done, a hot plate of nachos and a special someone to sit down and enjoy this with because it is not going to fight for your attention. Shock Waves is in no hurry to get anywhere fast nor does it feel the need to always explain exactly what is going on and/or why. What it does deliver is some striking (albeit low-budget) visuals, a terrific slowly mounting tension and the eerie atmosphere that such a situation would create. This is not a jump-out-of-your-seat scary movie, this is a creepy there's-no-escape, impending doom kinda film. It also benefits greatly with roles from two horror legends, John Carradine and Peter Cushing, near the end of their careers and the attractive Brooke Adams near the beginning of hers. If the idea of dozens of low-budget underwater Nazi zombies soldiers chasing tourists around a deserted island sounds like your idea of a good time, definitely check this out.
Labels: genre-xplosion
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
WHO DO YOU SUPPORT?
Friday, August 03, 2007
MY MUSIC CRUSH #1
Sorry for the lack of posts this week. We helped move Marlena's mom, Jo Ann, from Vegas to Arlington this week. Welcome to Texas Mom!
So since I don't have any drawings handy, I thought I would talk about the three newest albums I've been listening too.
First up, the new album by the originators of hipster geek rock They Might Be Giants - The Else. "The Else" is really one of their better releases and I have a feeling it will become one of my favorites in the future. There are lots of catchy, rockin' tunes and the entire album has a good consistent "concept" vibe to it. Plus, If you run out and buy the first pressing of the CD, it even comes with a bonus disc of songs they've been playing in their brilliant podcasts. I've posted some short snippets from my favorite songs, give them a listen.
I'm Impressed
Climbing the Walls
Careful What You Pack
With the Dark
Don't Stop Now
She Called Up
Say That Again
Even A Child
Spindrift
The Way The Wind Blows
So since I don't have any drawings handy, I thought I would talk about the three newest albums I've been listening too.
First up, the new album by the originators of hipster geek rock They Might Be Giants - The Else. "The Else" is really one of their better releases and I have a feeling it will become one of my favorites in the future. There are lots of catchy, rockin' tunes and the entire album has a good consistent "concept" vibe to it. Plus, If you run out and buy the first pressing of the CD, it even comes with a bonus disc of songs they've been playing in their brilliant podcasts. I've posted some short snippets from my favorite songs, give them a listen.
I'm ImpressedClimbing the Walls
Careful What You Pack
With the Dark
Next up is the reunion album of Crowded House - Time on Earth. I'm a huge fan of these guys and am glad they got back together for a new album. It's not as great as some of their earlier stuff and maybe not even as good as some of Neil Finn's solo stuff. But it is still some great, meaningful tunes that grows on me with every listen.
Don't Stop NowShe Called Up
Say That Again
Even A Child
Last, but not least is the new album from Canadian rockers Rush - Snakes and Arrows. This album is also slowly growing on me, it seems pretty personal and has a heavier spiritual side to it than usual, most likely from drummer and lyricist Neil Peart still dealing with the death of his wife and daughter. Rush has always been great at mixing great beats with intellectual lyrics and meanings and this album is no different. I'm really enjoying it. Also of note is there are two different versions of the album on the shelves, the CD and the MVI. The MVI is a little pricier and it will only play in DVD roms, but it comes with a bunch of videos and concert footage. It's really cool.
The Larger Bowl
Spindrift
The Way The Wind Blows
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