Want Ad: General Artist/Collaborator

I've mentioned this a few times before. I'm big on development and mock-ups, edits, etc. and weak on my own follow through. In fact, I'm willing to bet I add many more "Work In Progress" pieces than I take off.

If anybody thinks their artworking skills rival my creativity I'd love to collaborate and work with you on almost any kind of project. If you're wanting a brainstorming partner I am willing to be an idea wall (to bounce ideas off) as well as a devining rod for workups.

I'm willing to work more or less for next to nothing. The one stipulation is some credit given (especially if commercial artwork, for my own portfolio, etc). The very limited general fee for such work I've done in the past was very cheap ($25 for an organizations convention logo, theme, and set-up) or exchangable for commissions of my own ideas, etc.

Want Ad: Sound-mixer, etc.

Alright, most people have heard or know something about a 'mash-up'. It's basically what DJs have been doing for years except they don't add their own strums or scratching. Basically its taking the recorded music and mixing only it create a new song or a compilation of an idea or feeling. One of the best ones I can reference if "Boulevard of Broken Songs" by a San Francisco DJ named Party Ben, which features Green Day, Oasis, Travis, Aerosmith as well as other acts.

Anyway, the point of this is to say that I am looking for a creative person proficient enough to attempt a mash-up. As I am flat broke at the moment, but may be able to scrounge up something for a completed product this has no due date, would remain the creator's property, etc.

The Idea: A combination of multiple songs that convey an ominous but active environment in the air. Specifically included tracks: "Flight of the Valkyries" and "Flying Blue Monkey Music from Wizard of Oz--Title Unknown atm". Addition possibilities include but are in no way limited to "Flight of the Bumblebee" "Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone", etc.

Fictional Fat-loss Series

So I'm on a self-imposed diet of kinds at the moment. Basically the hardest part is just finding something worthwhile to do. Exercising is great, but it's so boring doing it alone. Wouldn't it be so much easier if dieting had an easy button?

Well on one far-flung night when we were at college me and other 'fluffy' gents somehow got on the topic of easy ways to lose weight. Mind you these are all fictionous, but they were entertaining. Well, I'm going to attempt to write them down in some justifiable fashion and maybe sketch out some of the examples. Most of them are pulled from concepts we've seen elsewhere but very few were used for the desirable dietary purpose.

As such, I will most likely stop at general concept sketches. Providing references whenever possible, but enough to generally get the idea across.

Utilizing the blog-features.

Well I've since done some timkering with the blog and here's some new uses I'm applying.

I'll use the labels for any of the following genres. This way you'll know if I'm still looking for help, working on a current piece or just random blatherings.

Ideas - Blogs where I'm too busy or not in the right frame of mind to create a note or sketch off-handedly for whatever reason. More or less a placeholder I can refer back to when I have the time and initiative.

Read Me - Like this post, any of my previous logs that actually explain what's going on albiet temporarily or permanently.

Random - The catch all for anything ranging from a stupid question to intellectual humor.

Series - Only the Central Page will be tagged, but as pieces to the series are added, the links will be updated. Series include any theme work and may include multiple works in progress simultaneously.

Want Ad - This is a lable I will use when I am vastly out of my league on an idea I have. Either resources, know-how, etc.

Work In Progress - Not to be confused with 'Ideas' in that no sketch even exists. Just as the lable claims, the rough idea is in place, but I'm not entirely finished with the piece. Obviously this will be updated as I complete the work.

List will be updated as I figure out new tags.

to be continued...

Alright. Sorry to post more or less daily for this openning bid, but this is all I have scanned/photographed/prepared to discuss at the moment. As I complete more pieces or find them in housecleaning expect more.

As far as future posts go, expect to start seeing the brainstorming ideas start.

I invite you to view my new Multimedia Review blog if you're interested, no biggy only one post thus far.

#014 - World of Warcraft Buttons and Wallpapers

I don't real like the idea of rehashing this more than once, so I'm only putting the two completed designs on here for now. I'll add individual ones if I care to later. Basically the left one is the original guild my buddies and I started. The rightmost one was the one I saw the most potential in after the original folded. The second folded while I was away.

Don't actually like the blue one, but I was on a WoW hit at the time so it's there. If anyone is actually interested I found a nice little online tabbard creator. Natch I found it after who knows how many hundreds of screenshots trying to get the hammers right by hand in paint. The seoncd one and any future ones will be done with this creator.

Warcraft Patch 2.4 Bug

I know this isn't a true work of art, I just screenshotted and commented on a Warcraft moment. 2.4 was the buggiest patch I'd encountered. It repeatedly crashed and on this instance, didn't even register my alternate character was gone until ~5 minutes after I'd been on my other one! Posted on deviantart because everybody was pissed when the patch came out. Since then, Blizzard has gotten most of the major issues under control.

#013 - RHA Logo Designs

Ok, technically these are 3 different designs, but as simplistic as they are I grouped them together. The RHA (or Resident Hall Association) on our campus wanted a logo as an incentive or tool to attract new membership. They had virtually no funding so the requirements were:
1) to already have the design vectored in CorelDraw or to have the font package used.
2) simple, single colored design
3) logo lends itself to shirts and letterhead equally
4) simplistic design, go easy on details
5) the most predominant part must be the letters

Enough said, I could have made these in 5th grade on a p.o.s. mac. None of mine were chosen, but I really didn't care that much.

#012 - Simpson-ified Freinds

Well when the Simpson movie came out the Simpson character generator became all the rage. This was done at one of our LAN parties. If you're interested you can still find it here under 'Create your own Simpson Avatar."

#011 - Put 'em up...

I love this one. First off, you should know that I did not do this. My roommate at the time liked everybody messing with me and my long hair so he photoshopped me as the cowardly lion from OZ. This is posted with his blessing and for the longest time it was my avatar. A few of my friends in the society think I should cosplay this or dress up for Halloween. Maybe, who knows.

#010 - Hypnotoad: Version B (W.I.P.)

I drew this almost immediately after the first one. I went to the trouble to find a picture on the internet of decent quality to eye-ball from. This is Version B of the Hypnotoad design, the amalgamation of Michigan J. Frog & Futurama's Hypnotoad. Again, still refining before I put the completed stamp on this one.

My roommate Paul goes by "HypnoToad" or some variant of the name. I didn't like the Battletoad rendition, so I started looking for other reference. I was reminded of Toad Man from Megaman, but after a little image searching, I don't think It'd be a decent amalgamation. Reference is Warner Brother's Loony Toons.

Rights to Futurama's Matt Groening(?) & Warner Brothers where inspired.

#009 - Hypnotoad: Version A (W.I.P.)

The second piece from the video game avatar series (of the two currently on paper, four additional ones in development). This one I'm torn between two ideas, both of which internally funny amongst us friends even if not so much to you, the audience. Version A is the amalgamation of Battletoads & Futurama's Hypnotoad. I'm fairly disappointed in the current body: proportions, details, and overall tone. Again, still refining before I put the completed stamp on this one. I disliked it immediately after I'd finished so don't be worried at the self-notes I put on as well.

My roommate goes by "HypnoToad." Body type and coloring matches Pimple? more-or-less, the final addition of Hypnotoad's darker textures finally seperate them. Battle garb is a mixture of all three battletoads, save the necklace which is "Our Load and Master's." Will probably change his posture entirely unless I lose focus. Most likely will have something more suggestive of hypnotism like a b/w swirl coin, pendulum watch, or crystal ball hanging away from his body.

Rights to Futurama's Matt Groening(?) & Rare where inspired.

#008 - Mad Bomber (W.I.P.)

First from my video game avatar series aka a W.I.P. (work in progress). Nearly ironed out minor changes I want to make, but still refining my skills before I finish it. Hand's down the piece I'm most proud of. The idea came to me as I was bored out of my mind at work having been called away from a LAN party I had requested off for.

My buddy John goes by "Mad Bomber" so obviously this is Nintendo's Bomberman + Lewis Carrol's Mad Hatter. Only think I hate is the current TeaKettleBomb design. I may be twinking that for the final. Clothing is assumed to be wildy missmatched colors with the classic bomberman thread on our little hero. TeaKettleBombs are Purplish in tint.

Rights to Disney & Nintendo where inspired.

#007 - Cinco de Mayo Print Logo

Well this contest fell through but I liked the finished product. It was for a sorority's Cinco de Mayo festival. It had gained permission to use any of the university's logos (I was told) but needed to be a very simple design in a single color. What you see here is about 10 minuts of work using the school's lion head logo (very popular in similar university events' apparel). The phrase and such were my own creations and took the majority of the time lining up the text and the shape.

Copyright Texas A&M University System where applicable.

#006 - Dad's Glazed Noggin

This piece was also created back in 1999. It was originally a requirement for a merit badge (yes, I was in boy scouts--and cherrish many memories). It stipulated that it had to be a realistic depiction of a human head. Dad's birthday was coming up so I chose to make it a gift to him in the process. All shaped using everything I could grab from a single slab of clay. Original piece had glasses, but they didn't survive the first firing so they were removed. I love how it came out.

The glaze was pre-coated with iron-oxide* and them a reactive agent glaze over that to add definition to the lines and impurities on the surface.

* - It's been almost 10 years, so Ican't be 100% sure. I know I lost 3 of my favotire shirts to the dribbles of the stuff staining the fabric.

#005 - Kokopelli, flute player

I love this piece. I made this in 1999 in Mrs. Tschoerner's art class. I found that I loved sculpting, and not to shabby at it if I do say so myself. We had gone all over the four-corner's area the previous summer vacation and I was on a kokopelli trip as far as references (possible other artwork to be scanned and added in the future) were concerned.

One problem did arise in firing. The base was too thick even after scraping it and shaping it, so it swelled just enough to break the figure off his perch. Thus the work was glued on and painted instead of a glaze. The colors were based on a 'sunset vase' I had a clipart on: yellow on one side, red on the other, and equal fading through orange to connect them.

I have a rough outline for a follow-up piece in a different medium if I ever get around to it.

#004 - Warcraft: My Anti-Wallpaper

Well this one was a very quick, and surprisingly popular design that took all of 15 minutes. My college roommate had just gotten into the World of Warcraft and those blasted "...my anti-drug" commercials had invaded out theatre previews for the first (and sadly not last) time. He and I were making up our own anti-whatnots and this is one of the ones I came up with. Funny how verbally put he gave me the finger, but after I emailed him the desktop he loved it.

My only problem with it now is that it's about to hit 1000 views on deviantart, so I need to figure out a 'special edition' or updated verion soon. Come to think of it, I myself am about to hit 1000 profile page views too. Damn, more to do. ;)

#003 - February 2007 LAN Party Flyer

Not exactly a work of art, but I like it none-the-less. Screenshot is taken from Unreal Tournament, text is in normal fonts provided on any basic package or free site online*. A few of my friends of deviantArt browsers** asked about the lengthy name, well at the time we were planning on having large-scale LAN parties at the college campus on a monthly basis. Due to scheduling conflicts we had 2 more that semester, but not as many showed up for those. And class loads prevented me from making more to advertise. Maybe in the future I'll make more flyiers layouts for the future, but as I've since graduated, most LANS will be with friends only unless I visit the few collegiate friends I have left.

For the record we had a total of 54 people sign-in here, not counting the ones who skipped in, played the consoles, and left without signing in. All-in-all a very successful event!

* - I couldn't tell you which at the moment as I literally keep thousands of fonts at all times, some not so different than others
** - I would call them fans but I don't publish enough to consider them that, but these are the ones that troll my page occassionally.

Almost forgot, the Bleach-esque text was made using a textgenerator found:
Bleach Title Font Creator

#002 - TAMU-C Swap Shop

So this one all began when my campus, Texas A&M University - Commerce, finally got access to (pre-public domain) facebook.com. Lots of groups were starting up so I started one for a swap shop for college related materials. This was the 'unofficial' logo. Credit to the A&M school system and ebay where necessary, but I like my amalgamation of the two. Rudimentary in design and redundant in scope, but a quick job none the less. And besides no one made money from it, or on it thinking back to the group... hmmm...

#001 - Bostonian Moonanite

The first art I published online, this was in responce to the 'bomb scare' in Boston, Mass. over fairly cheap advertising signs lit up with mono-colored L.E.D. lights. Hundreds of calls were received about the street crew's marketing campaign, but it was blown out of proportion by Boston after repeatedly calling out the bomb squad and the mayor stating that it would henceforth be crimial to continue with these. Created in paint with the stamp tool and basic text. The humor says it all.

Artwork Presentation

Alright, so I already ran out of ideas. I also discovered that you can't just post a blog and (though people assume and threaten it happens) expect people to see it or seek it out unmitigated. Henceforth I will be posting, explaining, brainstorming, etc. Since I'm still working on ideas to actually work on, I'll start by posting my already published deviantart designs and discussing them. As I get other ideas and such, I'll mix and match the content as I go.

I've been intermittenly active on DeviantArt.com for a few years now, mainly as a source for clip-art for school projects or reference photos for my own ideas, though few have come to fruition. One of the more popular themes ideas on dA is the traditional "100 Picture Ideas" where pictures of a theme or not are published. So let's start this going.

"100 Picture Ideas" Artwork will be referenced: #000 - Artwork Name

Any other ideas/brainstorms will not have numbers preceeding the subject.