Earth Day 2000 - 2010

So, it's been a while! A proper catch-up post is on the way. However, given that today is Earth Day, it seems appropriate to dig into the archives and recycle some old material. (Ha!)

Way back at the turn of the millennium, having successfully negotiated Y2K and the mass panic that technology would fail and civilization would fall, I was enrolled in my high school’s computer graphics class. Two sections of the class existed, using our “state of the art” computer graphics lab – one section focusing on CAD, the other focusing on Photoshop (5!). Identifying myself as more of an “artsy” type (I guess some things haven’t changed so much) I opted for the latter, which meant an hour and a half a week each week to mess around with whatever images we could unearth off of Lycos or Altavista Picture Search. (Sidebar: I can’t imagine kids today being given the same freedom to explore the Internet wilds – if I recall correctly, there were hardly any filters or rules!)

One of the few mandatory assignments in the class was to develop an entry for the Earth Day 2000 campaign. I’ve long since forgotten what the actual prize of the contest was, though I imagine it had something to do with advertising and posters and random merchandise. I was simply excited to enter a real art contest. I may have even created my first e-mail account to enter.

Below is what I submitted:

I was so proud of it. It had taken me the better part of a month to put together and really reflected my Photoshop philosophy at the time: blurry equals better (no crunchy pixilated edges). I loved how the dolphin and eagle traced the edge of the nebula and the way that the (very obvious) paint daub filters made the colors blend and glow…

I was even prouder when I learned that it had made it through the first round of competition.

For weeks I tracked the contest - only to learn that the entries that had made it through to the final round were all crayon drawings by elementary school children!

It turns out that the “youth” category included everyone under the age of 18, and, really, who was going to vote down the little kids? Oh well.

Ten years on, I’m fairly amazed that I still have a copy of this piece (saved through progression from floppy to ZIP disc to email and USB). I know it’s not that great - it’s actually pretty cheesy and kind of screams "high school girl," but the fact that it was one of the first pieces I ever made on a computer, that it “nearly” won a contest, and the sheer earnestness of it all... I can’t help but have a certain affection for it.

Happy Earth Day Everyone!

#dailysketch: Remembering to Make Art

The Internet is awesome.

I learn something new from it every day. I encounter new artists, authors, books, shows, media, movies, music... and seeing what other people are writing, making, and thinking gets me excited to learn and try things out for myself.

On New Year's Eve, Neil Gaiman posted a beautifully stated set of wishes on his blog, which included the following:

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books... don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."

It got me thinking. How often do I "forget" to make art? How often does my impulse to draw, write, photograph, or sculpt get pushed aside and lost because I'm distracted or overwhelmed or simply too busy with everything else I have to do?

I realized that if I wanted to do creative things, I needed to force it into my schedule -- make a "want-to" into a "have-to". This is a model I'd seen work for people before, my favorite example being Jonathan Coulton's "Thing a Week" project, and he's even written about how forcing himself to work made the music happen...and how the desperate frenzy to make-it-happen had a role in sparking inspiration.

Around this time last year, Cory Doctorow noted the importance of maintaining a routine in an article that explained how he manages to write as much as he does, despite all the distractions. Since reading the article, the part that has stuck with me the most was his comment that "It's not plausible or desirable to try to get the world to go away for hours at a time, but it's entirely possible to make it all shut up for 20 minutes." I've since learned that this is absolutely true. Using this approach has helped me power through things I've had to do for work and school... why not apply it to doing something I want do do?

As a result, #dailysketch was born.

The goal is simple: set aside (at least) 10 minutes every day to sketch, doodle, or draw something, anything. It doesn't have to be good, but it has to happen.

It's easy enough to find 10 minutes of time each day that would be wasted otherwise. And anything I draw, even if it's terrible, only serves to hone my abilities. Chuck Jones used to tell his students, "All of you have one hundred thousand bad drawings in you. The sooner you get rid of them, the better it will be for everyone." If nothing else, this would help me get rid of my hundred thousand bad drawings.

Beyond this, #dailysketch is about getting things onto the page. It's too easy to avoid doing things out of fear that they won't come out right. In response, I've decided to steal Wil Wheaton's mantra:"It's okay to suck. Don't be afraid to suck. It's easier to fix a lame scene than fill up a blank page."

So that's it. 10 minutes, every day (or as close to every day as possible): The good, the bad, and the downright awful.

One week in and I think it's going well.

On Sunday, as a warm up, I did practice sketches using poses from a Doctor Who magazine.



On Monday, I drew a mad scientist riding a dinosaur down the street. The mad scientists would turn out to become a recurring theme, partially because they're fun and they amuse me, and partially because they're surprisingly easy to draw.



Tuesday brought a mad scientist girl greeting her robot minions. Note that all the robots are copies of "Eh" from the Robots of the Company prologue I illustrated. He's become my default for whenever I need to draw a robot.



Wednesday was a tribute to the domestic applications of mad science. I especially like the jar of olives/eyeballs in the background.



Thursday, I decided to expand my theme to superheroes, and wound up with a silly piece about Superman's inability to dress appropriately for a night out on the town. Not one of my better ones in concept or execution, I'll admit...



On Friday, I revisited the main character from "Bottom of the Barrel," who has always been my go-to character whenever I'm not sure what else to draw. Hopefully the use of two default characters in one piece aren't a sign of early fatigue!



And on Saturday, I attempted a 3-panel piece. Again, not one of my better efforts, but I think the first two panels came out much better than they had any right to be.




So, that's it so far.

With the new semester starting up in a few days, I can only hope that I'll be able to continue at this pace. But even if I don't, that's okay too.

So long this continues on a fairly regular basis, I'll be happy. Perhaps I'll change the parameters to once a week. Maybe I'll expand it to include writing, photos, or other projects... The rules don't really matter because at least I'll have remembered to make some art.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions, and requests are all welcome!

Holiday Roundup

Happy New Year!

A new year is here, bringing with it a lot of other newness.

First of all, Santa was very good to me this year, bringing me a shiny new Nikon D5000. Hurrah!

Revel in the shininess!

And the weird meta-aspect of taking a photo of a camera...

Taking it on a brief trial-run, I quickly realized that there would be a considerable learning curve. So many buttons and settings!

It'll be a while before I'm able to do everything I'd like to do but with time, perusal of the shockingly thick guidebook, and slow weaning off of the automatic presets, I'm sure some really cool stuff will happen. Oh, the potential!

I took a few test shots of our totally awesome Christmas Tree but they don't really do it justice. It was hard to capture the aura which beckoned to us on the lot...

Our totally awesome Christmas tree

The holidays also brought along some new Sherlock Holmes goodness. No, not that Sherlock Holmes. This Sherlock Holmes: The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes. Specifically, The Case of the Stalking Death. The Misadventures (or MOSH as the folks involved like to call it), is the brainchild of Victor Alpha and follows the good detective on some of his sillier adventures. I've been lucky enough to be involved with MOSH on several occasions, both behind the scenes and in an acting capacity. The Case of the Stalking Death is a particularly special episode because it's one of the few episodes I was ever-so-slightly more involved with. (Mostly, I was allowed to sit in on a couple of production meetings and shared my thoughts when asked.) Plus, I played Queen Victoria. In all fairness, it's probably the worst Queen Victoria ever, but how often does one get to be a Queen for Christmas?

It's been a very promising start to the new year and I look forward to seeing what comes of it. I am hopeful that this year will bring more opportunities to engage in art and creative endeavors amid the madness and demands of academic life. In an effort to make this happen, as a sort of belated New Year's resolution, I've challenged myself to find (at least) 10 minutes every day to sketch, doodle or draw something, anything. It doesn't have to be good, but it has to happen. More on this in the next post... Bring on 2010!

Trick or Treat! (Coulrophobics Beware)

It's almost Halloween, so that means an extra-special holiday audio posting!

"Yuppo Knows" by MJ Cogburn & Robin Carlisle

A little background:
As much as I enjoy doing voice work, I don't often audition for things. This is because I know there are a great many actors out there who are better performers and better suited for the parts I'm eligible for. Quite honestly, I find it can be just as fun to listen to them perform (if not more so).

I am very lucky, however, to know some incredibly talented people who are occasionally willing to give me a little nudge and cast me in projects. MJ Cogburn is one of those people and "Yuppo Knows" is one of those projects.

"Yuppo Knows" was a somewhat scary prospect for me and not just because it was a Halloween story. My terror came from the number of departures it marked: It was the first time I'd recorded something for a group other that Dream Realm. It was the first time I'd played anything close to a main character (okay there are only five characters in the piece, but it was still a big deal for me!). On top of all, it was entirely out of my usual playground of sci-fi comedy, being dramatic and downright creepy. All this newness was well worth it, though - I think the final product came out quite well!

"Yuppo Knows" was released on October 18, 2007 by Brokensea Productions as part of their month of Halloween productions. The cast includes me as Bobby (an eight-year-old boy), Paul Mannering as Yuppo the Clown, MJ Cogburn as Olivia (Bobby's mother), Rick Rhoads as Newscaster Tom Alexander, and Jon Morss as Newscaster Michael Rosenbaum.

Fun fact: Google tells me that "Yuppo Knows" was nominated for a "Golden Icepick" award in 2008. I'm not really sure what that means, but it's nice to hear that it was nominated for something...

Sun, Still-Life, and San Diego

Okay, enough with the robots. For now. It's hard to believe that it's already practically July. JULY. Where is the summer going? Between work and the weather (rainy and gray for most of the last couple of weeks), I have to remind myself that there can be a summertime that is shiny and sunny and which exists outdoors. I keep thinking about my recent trip to San Diego. Never mind that I went in April - the weather there was so relentlessly gorgeous and bright that it just had to be seen as summery. We just don't get sunshine quite like that in NYC.

Cabrillo Park

While I was out there, I spent a lot of time with a family friend who has become very involved in photography. His specialty: photographing flowers. As a result, I learned three things: 1. I seriously need a new camera. My previous one died a sad and soggy death involving drum corps and a tornado, and my loaner camera (a Sony pocket Cybershot) just isn't cutting it. 2. A disproportionately large amount of my time in San Diego would be spent in and around gardens.

Botanical Gardens at Balboa Park Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens

3. California has some of the wildest plant life I have ever seen.

An Alien Plant?

Since I was spending so much time at the gardens, I decided to try my hand at some still-life flora-based photography. I've not done much of this before - my subjects are usually people, typically people running around a football field with flags and large noisy instruments. All things considered, I'm pretty happy with the results.

And here's a picture from the trip which has absolutely nothing to do with flowers:

Children's Beach, La Jolla

Why? Because seals are awesome.