Long time coming.....

,I have been meaning to get this blog off the ground for quite a while now.

I was working around the clock for the past month on an animation project for The Boxing Lesson, a band in Austin, TX.  It is complete so I can take a moment to breathe,  ( and eat, and sleep, and move my posterior a bit) and post my first entry.

I had been working on a good deal of "dreamscape" drawings in the past year. "Dreamscapes" are just stream of consciousness type work where I shut everything out around me, usually start with pen or watercolor wash and see where the drawing takes me. Sometimes they take on a recognizable image. Sometimes they remain abstract but usually have some vague bio-form quality to them. (I also work directly from life as you see from my profile self portrait painting.  I will go into the creative process differences in an upcoming post.)

To celebrate my friends' ( Paul Waclawsky and Jaylinn Davidson of The Boxing Lesson  http://theboxinglesson.bandcamp.com/ ) new release, I let them know I would be making a drawing as I listened to it. Paul jumped on the opportunity to ask me as I was just about to start if I wanted to make an animated video to one of their songs. I thought it would be a great creative challenge and took it on. Four and a half minutes is no small task for a Dell from 2004, an old version of Photoshop, and Windows Movie Maker of all things.

I took a similar approach to the animation as I did with the dreamscape drawings. The only thing I knew for sure before I started was that you would see the drawing in progress.  The drawing was scanned in various stages until it was complete. This is how it turned out. (It is 8"x8" in india and metallic ink, watercolor, gouache and pen on watercolor paper) I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to go with this particular drawing. I  offered to make more images to scan and work until completion, but Paul really liked this one. So I thought I'd just see where I can take it.

When I animated the linear parts I got the idea of transforming the line into a ghost like figure that has popped up in my dreamscape work over the years.

                                          This image above was part of a multi piece painting series.

                                               This one above was also part of the same series.

                          (The one above is titled Medusa. aaand you now know why this site is set for adults.)

And from there the project took off.


I will be working on one more animation for The Boxing Lesson. I have free creative reign again (thanks TBL!) with one notable exception: I was requested to make something a bit more ahem, "adult" in theme. I think I can handle the challenge.  When I'm done with the project, it may not exactly be smut, but I hope some fine smuté. Storyboarding starts tomorrow.