Bobby is my favorite illustrator, and has been since I first found his work when I started with Ballistic 3 years ago. Then I just came across this great interview with him from Comicon done by the CG Channel guys...
http://www.cgchannel.com/news/viewfeature.jsp?newsid=8820
I really want to get my book funds together and get him to do the artwork. I just know it will be fun, amazing, and more importantly, will capture the sense of humour I want there...
Ah, to dream...
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Graphic novels
I can say with some certainty now that I am a huge fan of literary graphic novels and my interest in traditional comics is waning. It is easy to see why the former are easy to fall for, but why am I finding myself bored with superheroes and splatter comics?
I can't get enough of books by Delilsle, Satrapi, and Joe Sacco, I find this is such a striking and pared back way to tell your own story. Delilse and his expat adventures in Asia are fascinating and yet so mundane. Satrapi's simple drawing style and characters enhance her story, and Sacco tells the most horrific yet uplifting stories, making his point in many ways far more effectively than any normal reporter sent into horror zones.
I just finished Paris by Andi Watson and Simon Gane. They really captured the Frenchness of Paris, without sounding too cliched, the market scenes, the street scenes, museums, the expressions, and the drawings themselves, they just dragged me in and I wanted to try drawing so many of the scenes myself. And the story is not typical, other than a foreigner going to Paris to paint and going to a classical painting school, but it is the finer distinctions that make it stand out. I like that she has to paint portraits of rich people to pay for her tuition, because I sense that this is not normal. Granted it is set in the 20' or 30's (I think, maybe a bit later) and there is a sense of cool style throughout.
Alex Robinson, of Box Office Poison fame, followed it up with To Cool to be Forgotten, a cross with a time travel story and therapy trip, really won me over with the honesty of the story. I hate the title and was not expecting much, especially after starting and putting down his first book, but now I want to go back and have another look. The theme of if only I had not made a particular decision is one worked pretty heavily, but I certainly did not see the true purpose of the story coming at all.
Yet, then I started and put down Rex Libris 'I Librarian' by James Turner. Great idea about an near immortal librarian, but in fairly short order I just found it irritating. Maybe it was the drawing style. I don't know, but I have let it go.
So, this then leads to regular comic books. Maybe I don't find them fresh anymore. The drawing is still good, well in so many (I have no examples, I am going to have to go in and do some deeper research here rather than just blather on...) but the stories are just not engaging me... Yeah, I am going to leave this discussion for later...
I can't get enough of books by Delilsle, Satrapi, and Joe Sacco, I find this is such a striking and pared back way to tell your own story. Delilse and his expat adventures in Asia are fascinating and yet so mundane. Satrapi's simple drawing style and characters enhance her story, and Sacco tells the most horrific yet uplifting stories, making his point in many ways far more effectively than any normal reporter sent into horror zones.
I just finished Paris by Andi Watson and Simon Gane. They really captured the Frenchness of Paris, without sounding too cliched, the market scenes, the street scenes, museums, the expressions, and the drawings themselves, they just dragged me in and I wanted to try drawing so many of the scenes myself. And the story is not typical, other than a foreigner going to Paris to paint and going to a classical painting school, but it is the finer distinctions that make it stand out. I like that she has to paint portraits of rich people to pay for her tuition, because I sense that this is not normal. Granted it is set in the 20' or 30's (I think, maybe a bit later) and there is a sense of cool style throughout.
Alex Robinson, of Box Office Poison fame, followed it up with To Cool to be Forgotten, a cross with a time travel story and therapy trip, really won me over with the honesty of the story. I hate the title and was not expecting much, especially after starting and putting down his first book, but now I want to go back and have another look. The theme of if only I had not made a particular decision is one worked pretty heavily, but I certainly did not see the true purpose of the story coming at all.
Yet, then I started and put down Rex Libris 'I Librarian' by James Turner. Great idea about an near immortal librarian, but in fairly short order I just found it irritating. Maybe it was the drawing style. I don't know, but I have let it go.
So, this then leads to regular comic books. Maybe I don't find them fresh anymore. The drawing is still good, well in so many (I have no examples, I am going to have to go in and do some deeper research here rather than just blather on...) but the stories are just not engaging me... Yeah, I am going to leave this discussion for later...
Friday, August 21, 2009
District 9 - At last a monster movie with a story!
District 9 - absolutely amazing! Such a fresh way to tell the story, even if it nods to Alien Nation (and even a bit of Starship Troopers), and the parallels between real world aparteid and refugee treatment made me very uncomfortable. I can only imagine that A LOT of this really happens, except to people in refugee camps worldwide...
And the mayhem is superb and completely over the top, yet believable because they are alien weapons, so you almost expect them to do horrible things...
But mainly, it was a great script/story. This drove the film and tension, not the carnage, like T4 and Transformers, and made the whole thing more enjoyable and 'meaningful'. For me, the mindless mayhem movies utterly bore me now, yes, the effects are great, but they are empty, pointless, in the big blockbusters. In District 9, the effects were used to fill in the blanks (or create blank space, like where a soldier used to be). Maybe a bit more character stuff with the aliens would have been good, like even finding out what they call themselves, but no doubt the sequel will answer a few of these queries.
On the character building note, the characters were utterly engaging, and I felt genuine sympathy for the aliens, they grew to be personalities as the film progressed, were far deeper than we were being led by the 'narrators' in this documentary. So we have the alien and his son escaping to go get help, our hero is turning into a 'prawn'. During the whole story we never find out what they are actually called. So what happens now? Who do we cheer for? If it was a human and child escaping to go get help, we would be cheering them on. And we cheer the aliens. In the sequel the aliens shall return to rescue their own, and then what happens? Do they lay waste to humanity for being so terrible to their people? This will really test sympathies and I have high expectations that they will pull off a remarkable conclusion. Or is this jaded soul going to be utterly disappointed by a lazy second movie...well, with Peter Jackson running the show, I imagine he simply will not allow this.
Now I worry about the sequel. What style is it done in? Is it another documentary, examination in retrospect, or is it run like Cloverfield, a running live style film capture...the charm of this movie lies in the documentary style... this is key! A regular simple linear story will lose all the ground this one covered so well...
As you can tell I like a decent movie, but I want monsters too! Why do directors automatically get lazy when it comes to making a great monster movie?
And the mayhem is superb and completely over the top, yet believable because they are alien weapons, so you almost expect them to do horrible things...
But mainly, it was a great script/story. This drove the film and tension, not the carnage, like T4 and Transformers, and made the whole thing more enjoyable and 'meaningful'. For me, the mindless mayhem movies utterly bore me now, yes, the effects are great, but they are empty, pointless, in the big blockbusters. In District 9, the effects were used to fill in the blanks (or create blank space, like where a soldier used to be). Maybe a bit more character stuff with the aliens would have been good, like even finding out what they call themselves, but no doubt the sequel will answer a few of these queries.
On the character building note, the characters were utterly engaging, and I felt genuine sympathy for the aliens, they grew to be personalities as the film progressed, were far deeper than we were being led by the 'narrators' in this documentary. So we have the alien and his son escaping to go get help, our hero is turning into a 'prawn'. During the whole story we never find out what they are actually called. So what happens now? Who do we cheer for? If it was a human and child escaping to go get help, we would be cheering them on. And we cheer the aliens. In the sequel the aliens shall return to rescue their own, and then what happens? Do they lay waste to humanity for being so terrible to their people? This will really test sympathies and I have high expectations that they will pull off a remarkable conclusion. Or is this jaded soul going to be utterly disappointed by a lazy second movie...well, with Peter Jackson running the show, I imagine he simply will not allow this.
Now I worry about the sequel. What style is it done in? Is it another documentary, examination in retrospect, or is it run like Cloverfield, a running live style film capture...the charm of this movie lies in the documentary style... this is key! A regular simple linear story will lose all the ground this one covered so well...
As you can tell I like a decent movie, but I want monsters too! Why do directors automatically get lazy when it comes to making a great monster movie?
I seem to have lost a few months of entries
I have sat down to add another entry and somehow I have lost everything since the end of April. This is so bizarre!
Well, I guess I am going to have to rewrite my District 9 review...I loved that movie...
Well, I guess I am going to have to rewrite my District 9 review...I loved that movie...
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Twittering- End of one week (subtitle - Addiction)
Last time I wrote about my Twittering, I really had no idea what I was doing, and missed the fine points of this amazing tool. I started with the scattergun approach, got a few follows, but did not really understand how it worked. I was just amazed that people found me at all. I had no name, no cred, no industry followers (from any industry) but plenty of internet entrepreneurs wanting my attention.
Internet Entrepreneurs...now there is a topic for another day...
Now it is Sunday night, I am up to 270 followers. I am amazed by this and only about a quarter are random, non digital art/bookstore/library/academic/artist/designer/gamer people. I am focusing on these areas for now as they are the ones ultimately who care about the books first and my blog/rantings second. I have so far spent untold hours answering every follow, finding fresh people, exploring the followers of my followers, writing directly to people who have written directly to me, responding to tweets, writing my own about either stuff , artists I like, events concerning Ballistic, books alerts, bookstores that carry Ballistic, the list goes on. And I have only just scratched the surface here!
I could effectively spend the next month or two just working twitter, connecting properly with key news groups for retwitterings, and establishing a whole new publicity list to get our word out to. I have subscribed to a few twitter help sites to really work the business end of it, but that will take time too! All of a sudden I have an outrageously full schedule!
So to wrap it up, twitter is going to be a fantastic tool, and with a bit of fine tuning will be able to really make it sing. The key is to manage this new addiction, because it is the new crack.
Internet Entrepreneurs...now there is a topic for another day...
Now it is Sunday night, I am up to 270 followers. I am amazed by this and only about a quarter are random, non digital art/bookstore/library/academic/artist/designer/gamer people. I am focusing on these areas for now as they are the ones ultimately who care about the books first and my blog/rantings second. I have so far spent untold hours answering every follow, finding fresh people, exploring the followers of my followers, writing directly to people who have written directly to me, responding to tweets, writing my own about either stuff , artists I like, events concerning Ballistic, books alerts, bookstores that carry Ballistic, the list goes on. And I have only just scratched the surface here!
I could effectively spend the next month or two just working twitter, connecting properly with key news groups for retwitterings, and establishing a whole new publicity list to get our word out to. I have subscribed to a few twitter help sites to really work the business end of it, but that will take time too! All of a sudden I have an outrageously full schedule!
So to wrap it up, twitter is going to be a fantastic tool, and with a bit of fine tuning will be able to really make it sing. The key is to manage this new addiction, because it is the new crack.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Mike Hepburn - illustrator and now Animator!
Mikey used to work with me at Ballistic, as my web designer, but on the side he worked to create his own truly amazing designs. Big Fat Robot is the result and he just comes up with one awesome design after another. I just think that here is someone who is well on his way to greatness.
Today a workmate pointed me to the Doritos commercial he did for a competition, and after looking at the the others, his is actually the best and most fun. So I twittered it hoping we get some more votes happening!
Here is the link. http://www.doritos.com.au/index.cfm?sq=1775
You can vote up to 5 times a day!
Today a workmate pointed me to the Doritos commercial he did for a competition, and after looking at the the others, his is actually the best and most fun. So I twittered it hoping we get some more votes happening!
Here is the link. http://www.doritos.com.au/index.cfm?sq=1775
You can vote up to 5 times a day!
Twittering
I have spent days in Twitter, trying to figure it out and think I have it. After all that, it is not that much to figure out, but is it just going to be the greatest waste of my time since Puzzle Quest? Let's face it, this is social network crack. I have spent many hours already searching for like minded souls, vetting people who wish to follow (like there is any vetting at all...), hunting down bookstores (not nearly as many as I would have hoped), and there are still a jillion art schools to follow. And I have not even started on the design studios....
So now I have a plan. To connect with as many art world people as possible, and with a bit of luck people from outside of our pond will start paying us more attention. And at the same time those in our world get even more excited about what we do. I really feel that we are at the edge of greatness, we are so close for our books to simply click with art lovers out there.
And have a bit of fun while I am at it. The tally now stands at 33 followers and 137 following...and 35 updates
There are more reports yet to come on all this...
So now I have a plan. To connect with as many art world people as possible, and with a bit of luck people from outside of our pond will start paying us more attention. And at the same time those in our world get even more excited about what we do. I really feel that we are at the edge of greatness, we are so close for our books to simply click with art lovers out there.
And have a bit of fun while I am at it. The tally now stands at 33 followers and 137 following...and 35 updates
There are more reports yet to come on all this...
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Diet
I went cycling with a group yesterday through the Adelaide Hills, a magic day and a great ride. I am still frustrated by my fitness. By most standards I am very fit for my age, ride to work every day, walk with my wife, play fun, aggressive table tennis with my step son, have my own aerobic exercise regime, go off on my own riding for an hour or so in the hills once a week, but I go riding with a team and I am just left in their dust. I am getting better at riding up close in the pack, am riding further than before, but these guys I ride with are not pro cyclists, they are just regular guys, many older than me.
My friend Tony says that it is more technique and simply spending more time on the bike.
However, the point of today's story is about one of the guys I rode with who is super fit but also suffering from a blood clotting condition and has been on blood thinning drugs for a year. What amazed me was that if he had a crash, cut himself in any way, he would simply bleed out. What a terrifying thought! He stops treatment in 3 weeks which is terrific for him.
We got to talking after the ride and I was very curious about his condition. I thought that maybe his diet caused his condition, which makes his blood clot around his lungs. So, in my normally blundering way, asked him about all aspects of the situation. At the heart of it is that he loves Pepsi Max, and a bottle of wine a night. His doctor said that he should cut back on the Pepsi, and I assume that he backs off the wine a bit too because of the blood thinning alcohol.
I would have thought his doctor would have said, 'Well, there is the main culprit. Stop drinking that poisonous Pepsi!', but no, he should cut back on it. I was floored. There are so many horrible chemicals in there that it is hardly surprising his body is reacting badly, especially as with the onset of this condition he was competing at a very high level.
Now this is only my opinion, but I don't think this guy would suffer from this again if he removed some things from is diet, or at least allow himself a single glass of wine a night. What I see is that he keeps his body in a complete state of distress and it got fed up with him. I liken it to a Ferrari engine. This is a high performance vehicle, but he puts dirty fuel in and expects the car to run normally. The engine is working extra hard and inefficiently to clear the dirty petrol out of its system, but it never gets a chance. The next fill up is dirty again.
Although it is none of my business, next time I meet him, I will ask him about this again. He is actually working against himself! I don't get it...
My friend Tony says that it is more technique and simply spending more time on the bike.
However, the point of today's story is about one of the guys I rode with who is super fit but also suffering from a blood clotting condition and has been on blood thinning drugs for a year. What amazed me was that if he had a crash, cut himself in any way, he would simply bleed out. What a terrifying thought! He stops treatment in 3 weeks which is terrific for him.
We got to talking after the ride and I was very curious about his condition. I thought that maybe his diet caused his condition, which makes his blood clot around his lungs. So, in my normally blundering way, asked him about all aspects of the situation. At the heart of it is that he loves Pepsi Max, and a bottle of wine a night. His doctor said that he should cut back on the Pepsi, and I assume that he backs off the wine a bit too because of the blood thinning alcohol.
I would have thought his doctor would have said, 'Well, there is the main culprit. Stop drinking that poisonous Pepsi!', but no, he should cut back on it. I was floored. There are so many horrible chemicals in there that it is hardly surprising his body is reacting badly, especially as with the onset of this condition he was competing at a very high level.
Now this is only my opinion, but I don't think this guy would suffer from this again if he removed some things from is diet, or at least allow himself a single glass of wine a night. What I see is that he keeps his body in a complete state of distress and it got fed up with him. I liken it to a Ferrari engine. This is a high performance vehicle, but he puts dirty fuel in and expects the car to run normally. The engine is working extra hard and inefficiently to clear the dirty petrol out of its system, but it never gets a chance. The next fill up is dirty again.
Although it is none of my business, next time I meet him, I will ask him about this again. He is actually working against himself! I don't get it...
Lawrence Leung - Choose Your Own Adventure!
I have become completely addicted to this series. For me, it works on so many levels, from his breathless enthusiasm to the rapidfire editing and quirky visual asides. He incorporates animation, different camera styles and tricks, and boundless energy to create a dizzying, eclectic mash of expression. And his parents are adorable (playing along beautifully although clearly baffled by him) and you can see that they are both long suffering and genuinely adoring of their completely batso son who is the opposite of his brother, whom we don't meet. And he also subtley uses this as a vehicle to express his own feelings of inadequacy. Well, sometimes not so subtle, but the point is that Lawrence knows he is talented and creative, but at the end of the day he is always compared to the perfect brother, who merely did all the right things by his parents, school, etc...
I also do not see his relentless attention seeking as anything but pure creative outlet. He could have taken the lazy way and had someone follow him around with a camera. Instead, he has endeavored to cram as much as possible into his project. I would have loved to have been there when he pitched this to the ABC, and he is certainly giving John Safran and Chris Lilley a run in the unshackled creativity stakes. And this does not take anything away from those two, who produce gold at every turn. Well, except for Safran's latest stunt getting crucified in the Philipines. I hope it is being misreported and that he does handle it with the right respect and dignity, considering it is such an extreme expression of religious devotion.
Here is his website for CYOA. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/lawrence/#/begin
More to come this week!
I also do not see his relentless attention seeking as anything but pure creative outlet. He could have taken the lazy way and had someone follow him around with a camera. Instead, he has endeavored to cram as much as possible into his project. I would have loved to have been there when he pitched this to the ABC, and he is certainly giving John Safran and Chris Lilley a run in the unshackled creativity stakes. And this does not take anything away from those two, who produce gold at every turn. Well, except for Safran's latest stunt getting crucified in the Philipines. I hope it is being misreported and that he does handle it with the right respect and dignity, considering it is such an extreme expression of religious devotion.
Here is his website for CYOA. http://www.abc.net.au/tv/lawrence/#/begin
More to come this week!
Friday, April 17, 2009
All Twittery
I made the leap into Twitterland this week and still trying to get my head around it all. At this point it just looks like a lot of people talking to themselves, aloud. I see an open space filled with people walking around, maybe looking around, but for the most part looking straight ahead, repeating something they heard, saying something they just thought of, hoping someone might overhear their statement, but then not caring if anyone does. At the heart of it, no one is really speaking to anyone.
Mind you, it is still early days and I might just get a big 'I get it!' moment about it. This has not stopped me putting my entries in, but now it just seems like more noise, more clutter.
Maybe the trick is to turn it from clutter to something of value. Otherwise it is just one more thing I have found to waste my time.
My followers are gradually growing, I may have 6 now, and really wonder what has attracted them in the first place, especially as I have not really said anything.
Mind you, it is still early days and I might just get a big 'I get it!' moment about it. This has not stopped me putting my entries in, but now it just seems like more noise, more clutter.
Maybe the trick is to turn it from clutter to something of value. Otherwise it is just one more thing I have found to waste my time.
My followers are gradually growing, I may have 6 now, and really wonder what has attracted them in the first place, especially as I have not really said anything.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Peter Norman and 'Salute'
Here is a movie, documentary, telling a story I had no idea about because Peter Norman, human rights activist, 1968 Olympic champion (his Australian world record still stands) and true pacifist, has been ignored by the press and Australian Olympic powers for 40 years. He was part of one of the most powerful symbols of the 20th century, stood up and made a quiet stand against injustice, a particularly sensitive issue at the time. He is the white guy in the photo of the two black sprinters holding the single black gloves over their heads.
I can't recommend this movie highly enough. It should be shown in all schools, it should be celebrated by all Australians, not to mention everyone else. But he did it all so quietly. No violence, no impassioned speeches, just a statement on the podium after winning silver at the olympics.
But despite all the noise and trouble he got in, he never said a bad word against anyone. He just moved on to the next thing and got on with his life in the most positive way he knew how.
http://www.salutethemovie.com/
I can't recommend this movie highly enough. It should be shown in all schools, it should be celebrated by all Australians, not to mention everyone else. But he did it all so quietly. No violence, no impassioned speeches, just a statement on the podium after winning silver at the olympics.
But despite all the noise and trouble he got in, he never said a bad word against anyone. He just moved on to the next thing and got on with his life in the most positive way he knew how.
http://www.salutethemovie.com/
Digital art spreading its wings
I have seen the Mars ad a few times, the one with a couple of dudes walking across town, surrounded and followed by these cool creatures. Are they from their imaginations? I think so, and populating your world with these creatures and artworks is comp lately natural. One of the guys has huge dragon wings superimposed on them, that are brilliantly drawn and realised.
Is this just an Australian ad? Anyway, this is one of my faves simply because of the sheer range of digital art styles. Abstract, clay characters, 3D models, pop art, japanese waves, 2-D animations, traditional art styles, a bit of fractal/chaos stuff, and all being brought into the mainstream...
I just see it as people are becoming more comfortable with it, more accepting, and seeing it as part of being cool and contemporary.
Have another look at it, there is so much crammed in to 30 seconds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNcz34eUP2A
Is this just an Australian ad? Anyway, this is one of my faves simply because of the sheer range of digital art styles. Abstract, clay characters, 3D models, pop art, japanese waves, 2-D animations, traditional art styles, a bit of fractal/chaos stuff, and all being brought into the mainstream...
I just see it as people are becoming more comfortable with it, more accepting, and seeing it as part of being cool and contemporary.
Have another look at it, there is so much crammed in to 30 seconds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNcz34eUP2A
Friday, April 3, 2009
Digital Art communities
There are some brilliant art collectives and online communities out there that I would like to list here. I would also like to see digital art, whatever the genre, start to grow in recognition in the world.
It will happen, I just want it sooner rather than later. (Patience, Grasshopper!)
Here is a starter list:
http://beinart.org/ - I frequently get lost in this surreal art collective
http://beinart.org/artists/group/International%20Digital%20Art/
Although not a digital artist as such, this guy is amazing. I like character studies with a sense of humour or the absurd
http://beinart.org/artists/david-dalla-venezia/gallery/paintings/
One of the very greatest communities outside of CGSociety is ConceptArt.org. I love this community, the depth of talent and energy is breathtaking! Here are artists who just go on doing their thing and daring the art community to keep up!
http://conceptart.org/
I better throw CGS in here too!
http://www.cgsociety.org/
More to come as I keep digging!
It will happen, I just want it sooner rather than later. (Patience, Grasshopper!)
Here is a starter list:
http://beinart.org/ - I frequently get lost in this surreal art collective
http://beinart.org/artists/group/International%20Digital%20Art/
Although not a digital artist as such, this guy is amazing. I like character studies with a sense of humour or the absurd
http://beinart.org/artists/david-dalla-venezia/gallery/paintings/
One of the very greatest communities outside of CGSociety is ConceptArt.org. I love this community, the depth of talent and energy is breathtaking! Here are artists who just go on doing their thing and daring the art community to keep up!
http://conceptart.org/
I better throw CGS in here too!
http://www.cgsociety.org/
More to come as I keep digging!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Quality of entries
One of the main things I want to do with this blog is mention and discuss the work of other people out there that I really resonate with.
Peter Singer writes a fascinating commentary and not afraid to write a long, considered post. The link below got me this morning. I think about what to write do I go long, do I go short. You may not agree, but there is a lot of noise out there and so easily to get missed. How I apply this to promoting the Ballistic books to a wider market, that is yet to be seen...
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/03/18/make-every-communication-significant/
Peter Singer writes a fascinating commentary and not afraid to write a long, considered post. The link below got me this morning. I think about what to write do I go long, do I go short. You may not agree, but there is a lot of noise out there and so easily to get missed. How I apply this to promoting the Ballistic books to a wider market, that is yet to be seen...
http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/03/18/make-every-communication-significant/
Monday, March 16, 2009
Badminton
I know, this is supposed to be all digital art, but I experience other cool stuff too, and last night I played badminton, properly. On a formal court, real raquets, none of the cheap kiddie sets for me anymore! No more frustration of the shuttlecock continually getting stuck in the strings, that nasty, useless string net...
What a fascinating sport! Tim and I went for a hit after work after being invited to play by a friend of ours in the building. There is so much more to it than just hitting it back over the net. The vast majority of the crowd were young Chinese, almost evenly split male and female, but what great style was on display! I am amazed at the casual grace, the lightening quick reflexes, and the sneaky 'I am looking like I am not going to hit it and then, pop it over the net' and my favorite, looking the other way shot.
I only played two games and finished dizzy and exhilarated. Definitely having another go. I don't think we impressed a single person with our skills, but by the end we hit and got over the net more than we missed...
What a fascinating sport! Tim and I went for a hit after work after being invited to play by a friend of ours in the building. There is so much more to it than just hitting it back over the net. The vast majority of the crowd were young Chinese, almost evenly split male and female, but what great style was on display! I am amazed at the casual grace, the lightening quick reflexes, and the sneaky 'I am looking like I am not going to hit it and then, pop it over the net' and my favorite, looking the other way shot.
I only played two games and finished dizzy and exhilarated. Definitely having another go. I don't think we impressed a single person with our skills, but by the end we hit and got over the net more than we missed...
Saturday, March 14, 2009
No better time than now!
Today I begin this blog.
It's funny, I have talked about this for weeks and yet stumble when it actually comes to putting fingers to keyboard and starting the process. The main impetus has been from numerous friends, mentors and a variety of other blogs all saying that nothing happens until I make it happen. Twee, obvious, sure...but nonetheless true.
So I would like to firstly like to thank a few people for spurring me into action
Seth Godin - for reigniting my passion for the digital art industry and community by helping me remember what an amazingly cool world I work and live in.
My wife Lucy - who is a living example of persistence, creativity, consistency and adaptation, as well as wonderful support for my own reinvention and development. She has spent 3 years developing her artwork, her website and her business to places we did not even dream of when she started. I am so proud of her!
Marsha Wajer - A brilliant teacher, mentor and friend, who's work continues to grow and evolve and it's only a matter of time before she makes the cut for our books!
Derek Osborne - hyper energetic student at Animation Mentor with a massive future ahead of him. Another example of someone who believes in consistent effort and genuine motivations to be a force of nature in the animation world. The studio that gets him when he graduates will be rewarded a thousand-fold ...
Ric Holland from Wacom - this is someone with amazing vision of what can be in the digital world right now, so much so that he invented a new job for himself and made it come to life!
Tim Downing - One of the best web designers I have ever met, not to mention a great friend. He inspires me to think outside the box as well as having the remarkable ability to ask questions so that we get to the heart of whatever matter we are discussing...
There are more amazing people in this list, and I shall deal with them as I progress through my entries...
I have been in the digital art industry with Ballistic Publishing and The CGSociety for almost 3 years now, and have met a host of truly awe inspiring people, be they artists, teachers, students, bookstore owners and staff, my work collegues, and a raft of independent industry bloggers and another raft of non CG industry people who inspire me to greatness. The purpose of this blog is simply to talk about them, share their wisdom and enthusiasm, sometimes relate it to my own development.
It is an exciting time to be here, despite the doom the financial world has created and the media feels compelled to exacerbate, and this industry continues to grow and evolve and excite people, and I am a part of this positivity. It makes it very easy to wake up each morning and create something new or tend something I set in motion years ago starting to blossom.
Anyway, bear with me as I develop and grow this beast. I believe that digital art is on the cusp of formal recognition as an legitimate art form, much like graffiti was years ago (for want of a better definition), I definitely want to be a part of this new world order!
Cheers
Alan
It's funny, I have talked about this for weeks and yet stumble when it actually comes to putting fingers to keyboard and starting the process. The main impetus has been from numerous friends, mentors and a variety of other blogs all saying that nothing happens until I make it happen. Twee, obvious, sure...but nonetheless true.
So I would like to firstly like to thank a few people for spurring me into action
Seth Godin - for reigniting my passion for the digital art industry and community by helping me remember what an amazingly cool world I work and live in.
My wife Lucy - who is a living example of persistence, creativity, consistency and adaptation, as well as wonderful support for my own reinvention and development. She has spent 3 years developing her artwork, her website and her business to places we did not even dream of when she started. I am so proud of her!
Marsha Wajer - A brilliant teacher, mentor and friend, who's work continues to grow and evolve and it's only a matter of time before she makes the cut for our books!
Derek Osborne - hyper energetic student at Animation Mentor with a massive future ahead of him. Another example of someone who believes in consistent effort and genuine motivations to be a force of nature in the animation world. The studio that gets him when he graduates will be rewarded a thousand-fold ...
Ric Holland from Wacom - this is someone with amazing vision of what can be in the digital world right now, so much so that he invented a new job for himself and made it come to life!
Tim Downing - One of the best web designers I have ever met, not to mention a great friend. He inspires me to think outside the box as well as having the remarkable ability to ask questions so that we get to the heart of whatever matter we are discussing...
There are more amazing people in this list, and I shall deal with them as I progress through my entries...
I have been in the digital art industry with Ballistic Publishing and The CGSociety for almost 3 years now, and have met a host of truly awe inspiring people, be they artists, teachers, students, bookstore owners and staff, my work collegues, and a raft of independent industry bloggers and another raft of non CG industry people who inspire me to greatness. The purpose of this blog is simply to talk about them, share their wisdom and enthusiasm, sometimes relate it to my own development.
It is an exciting time to be here, despite the doom the financial world has created and the media feels compelled to exacerbate, and this industry continues to grow and evolve and excite people, and I am a part of this positivity. It makes it very easy to wake up each morning and create something new or tend something I set in motion years ago starting to blossom.
Anyway, bear with me as I develop and grow this beast. I believe that digital art is on the cusp of formal recognition as an legitimate art form, much like graffiti was years ago (for want of a better definition), I definitely want to be a part of this new world order!
Cheers
Alan
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