I took some critiques from Ron and added the forest in the background, and that changed everything! Anyway, take a look at what I am currently calling "Animal Kingdom".
- Zach
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Comic Cover
Just wanted to show a quick update on my comic book class progress. Yesterday I had some time to sit around and work on my cover.
I took some critiques from Ron and added the forest in the background, and that changed everything! Anyway, take a look at what I am currently calling "Animal Kingdom".
I took some critiques from Ron and added the forest in the background, and that changed everything! Anyway, take a look at what I am currently calling "Animal Kingdom".
Monday, May 25, 2015
Jury Duty, Comic and Deadzone
Jury Duty
So I have been a little bit busy lately, specifically, I had jury duty last week and that threw a kink into my regularly scheduled life: |
| Lanyard we had to wear all the time |
Basically, what happened was I was called in with like 200 other people, then they randomly selected us to go get into smaller groups for trials. Then the attorneys got to look us over (like livestock at the State Fair) and ask us questions to see if they wanted us to be on their jury. The process is much more boring than TV makes it look...I don't know how many hours we actually spent sitting in the jury room waiting for stuff to happen. Anyway, I got on a civil trial, did my duty and here I am...hopefully a more well rounded person because of it.
Comic
Next on my list of updates, I am still taking my comic class for I think 3 more weeks. This week we started making a cover, and I haven't gotten very far on that. I did get a new addition to my technology family, though....I got an over-sized scanner, so I can start digitally coloring the pages I have done. You would be surprised how difficult it is to find a scanner that can scan bigger than 8.5 x 11 (well at least at an actual store, I'm sure you can find something online).
Anyway, my photoshop skills are pretty poor, but here is the beginning of the coloring of my first page, the cat guy hunting the boar.
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Deadzone - Rebs video
Last thing to inform you about today, I added another video into my Deadzone series. This one is about the Rebs faction. They are rebels fighting against the big Corporation....type scenario. They are ill-equipped compared to the Enforcers, and so must scavenge supplies. The video just goes through the models I received in my Kickstarter package.
So in conclusion for today - jury duty, no so bad; comic creation, fun; Deadzone Rebs, watch the video.
Until next time, thanks!
- Zach
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Comics and Class with Ron Wagner
For the past few weeks I have been taking a class from comic book artist Ron Wagner in Des Moines. It has been a really fun experience, and already I think I have learned a lot from him. I still have no idea what I'm doing overall, but I enjoy drawing and this has been something I've wanted to do for a long time, but never had the opportunity until now.
My history with comics:
I've never been one to run out to the comic book store every Wednesday to get the latest issue of Green Lantern, or whatever is cool right now :), but I have volumes of comics and graphic novels that I have collected since college. These are things that I just thought looked "cool" because if something isn't visually stimulating, I'll have a hard time getting into it. I've really been drawn towards things with lots of action and color (not a big fan of just straight black and white, although I have some). I also pick things like this because I have no idea about the stories. I don't know what multi-verse we are in right now, or what story is being told right at this minute, so all I've had to base my purchasing decisions on is the visuals, or if a friend has mentioned something, I suppose. Anyway, long story short, I would call myself a casual comic reader.
I have only dabbled in comic drawing previously, and had no idea where to start. I have made random panels, and some mini pages, and they all looked terrible. Part of this was when I last tried comic art, which was before/during college, and also because I had no direction at the time. I was just doing it to do it. I have tried readying about comic drawing, and I have had difficulty learning anything from the books I own. I just don't learn that way. I am much more comfortable with people showing me something, then me going from there, which is why I have enjoyed watching Ron draw in our classes. I could care less about me actually drawing in class; it is much more informative just watching his process. I do appreciate the critiques we have been having on our work, though. We will bring in what we are working on, and he will just magically (through his years of experience) tell us better ways to do something. It's not in a mean way, he just says this doesn't work for me, try this. And BAM your whole panel is better just from a little change in the angle of the view, or something like that. It's amazing to watch.
In my first class with Ron we worked on some characters. Our goal was make characters from 4 genres - Western, Monster, Romance, Sci Fi. My characters didn't quite meet all of the genres, but the exercise was more about creating characters and less about the actual genres.
My first character was the riot squad type robot for my sci fi category. Second was the sheriff crocodile. Third was my monster/romance and the is the chick with the knife. She was more of a metaphorical monster, rather than an actual "monster". And then I rounded out my 4 with the cat warrior guy. I suppose he could have been my monster, but I felt he was more of a good guy.
And now we have been working on making a "day in the life of" type of comic page. I had a quick little story for the cat warrior, that I have been working on.
We haven't actually talked much about inking yet, so the stuff I did above was just from the little bit in class then glancing through a couple comics I had sitting around from Free Comic Day.
There's more to my cat story, but this was the first page, and it's sort of a complete mini-story encompassed in one page. I have a couple more classes with Ron and hope to get some more tips/hints from him. He is very knowledgeable and a neat guy. I hope to have more interactions with him in the future.
Hopefully you enjoyed this. My hope is to continue with this comic drawing stuff. It is fun and seems to be a good medium for the stories that are spilling out of my brain.
Until next time,
- Zach
My history with comics:
I've never been one to run out to the comic book store every Wednesday to get the latest issue of Green Lantern, or whatever is cool right now :), but I have volumes of comics and graphic novels that I have collected since college. These are things that I just thought looked "cool" because if something isn't visually stimulating, I'll have a hard time getting into it. I've really been drawn towards things with lots of action and color (not a big fan of just straight black and white, although I have some). I also pick things like this because I have no idea about the stories. I don't know what multi-verse we are in right now, or what story is being told right at this minute, so all I've had to base my purchasing decisions on is the visuals, or if a friend has mentioned something, I suppose. Anyway, long story short, I would call myself a casual comic reader.
I have only dabbled in comic drawing previously, and had no idea where to start. I have made random panels, and some mini pages, and they all looked terrible. Part of this was when I last tried comic art, which was before/during college, and also because I had no direction at the time. I was just doing it to do it. I have tried readying about comic drawing, and I have had difficulty learning anything from the books I own. I just don't learn that way. I am much more comfortable with people showing me something, then me going from there, which is why I have enjoyed watching Ron draw in our classes. I could care less about me actually drawing in class; it is much more informative just watching his process. I do appreciate the critiques we have been having on our work, though. We will bring in what we are working on, and he will just magically (through his years of experience) tell us better ways to do something. It's not in a mean way, he just says this doesn't work for me, try this. And BAM your whole panel is better just from a little change in the angle of the view, or something like that. It's amazing to watch.
In my first class with Ron we worked on some characters. Our goal was make characters from 4 genres - Western, Monster, Romance, Sci Fi. My characters didn't quite meet all of the genres, but the exercise was more about creating characters and less about the actual genres.
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 |
My first character was the riot squad type robot for my sci fi category. Second was the sheriff crocodile. Third was my monster/romance and the is the chick with the knife. She was more of a metaphorical monster, rather than an actual "monster". And then I rounded out my 4 with the cat warrior guy. I suppose he could have been my monster, but I felt he was more of a good guy.
And now we have been working on making a "day in the life of" type of comic page. I had a quick little story for the cat warrior, that I have been working on.
|
|
||||
There's more to my cat story, but this was the first page, and it's sort of a complete mini-story encompassed in one page. I have a couple more classes with Ron and hope to get some more tips/hints from him. He is very knowledgeable and a neat guy. I hope to have more interactions with him in the future.
Hopefully you enjoyed this. My hope is to continue with this comic drawing stuff. It is fun and seems to be a good medium for the stories that are spilling out of my brain.
Until next time,
- Zach
Mother's Day (belated)
So Mother's Day was just this last weekend, and I did something a little bit creative, and thought it would be fun to show.
My parents really love the Despicable Me Minions, so I made a Minions Mother's Day card based on the scene from the second movie (I believe):
Anyway, it was fun to make, and my mother seemed to enjoy it, and in the end, that is what all holidays are about, so I'm calling it a success!
- Zach
My parents really love the Despicable Me Minions, so I made a Minions Mother's Day card based on the scene from the second movie (I believe):
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Anyway, it was fun to make, and my mother seemed to enjoy it, and in the end, that is what all holidays are about, so I'm calling it a success!
- Zach
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Switch to "Getting Handsy"
It's been too long since my last post....but I have some interesting news!
I am slowly starting to switch over all of my "extra curriculars" to the Getting Handsy, let's call it "brand".
With this change has come more YouTube videos, and I hope to continue that. Recently I have been uploading a number of unboxing videos and some craft-y Popsicle stick building ideas.
Anyway, keep an eye out for more changes and I get everything moved over. Thanks!!!
- Zach
I am slowly starting to switch over all of my "extra curriculars" to the Getting Handsy, let's call it "brand".
With this change has come more YouTube videos, and I hope to continue that. Recently I have been uploading a number of unboxing videos and some craft-y Popsicle stick building ideas.
Anyway, keep an eye out for more changes and I get everything moved over. Thanks!!!
- Zach
Friday, March 14, 2014
Stick People
Well I've been neglecting my internet obligations of late, so I apologize. Busy, lazy, whatever...I haven't had much to put on here lately anyway.
But I was thinking that lately I have been seeing a ton of those stick people on cars. The one that struck me the most, was one I saw the other day. It had 2 parents and like 12 kids....not sure if it was a joke or real, but either way it got me to think...what would my stick people look like, if I were to put stick people on my car? I decided to make one.
If you don't know, I am single, have no kids, am pretty nerdy, and have 2 cats. That is my life, I guess. So I put together a set of "stick" figures that I think would be cool to have on my car to show people who I really am.
Ya, pretty badass in terms of stick people, if I do say so myself.
Anyway, that is all for today.
- Zach
But I was thinking that lately I have been seeing a ton of those stick people on cars. The one that struck me the most, was one I saw the other day. It had 2 parents and like 12 kids....not sure if it was a joke or real, but either way it got me to think...what would my stick people look like, if I were to put stick people on my car? I decided to make one.
If you don't know, I am single, have no kids, am pretty nerdy, and have 2 cats. That is my life, I guess. So I put together a set of "stick" figures that I think would be cool to have on my car to show people who I really am.
Ya, pretty badass in terms of stick people, if I do say so myself.
Anyway, that is all for today.
- Zach
Friday, February 7, 2014
Vikings! and Cable TV ala carte
So when I was a kid, my family went back and forth between having cable tv and not having it. It was this vicious cycle of having nothing to watch and having everything to watch but never wanting to watch any of it...or missing the only thing you wanted to watch. In the end we gave it up completely.
When I left for college, every dorm room or apartment I lived in came with free cable, and it was great. I got to catch up on all those shows that I had missed, and started a lot of new shows, but again, the problem came with timing. If you wanted to watch a new show, you would have to be ready at the exact time the show is on. I like to watch things when I'm trying to avoid being productive, or when I'm going to bed, and that doesn't always coincide with the timing of the tv programs that I liked to watch.
Then came along Netflix. I can pick what to watch, when I want to watch it. People say, "but Netflix doesn't have everything I want to watch"...neither does cable. When was the last time you found an adult cartoon on at 9 am on tv...exactly. If there is something I feel like watching, I see if Netflix has it.... and if it doesn't, I pick something like it.
I first saw a free episode of Vikings on my Xbox. I really liked it...but again, no cable and I didn't want to pay $20+ to watch the episodes on my Xbox, so I just waited until it came out on dvd and bought it. But now that the 2nd season is coming out, I really want to watch it now. I am in that Vikings mood.
(I'm not the first to say this, and I won't be the last)
So my proposal is an "a la carte" system of cable channels. Why get 200 channels when you know you will watch maybe 5-10 of them regularly.
When I had cable I watched:
Cartoon Network
Comedy Central
Sci-fi (SyFy now)
FX (for Archer only)
Discovery
History
USA and TNT (pretty much the same channel in my opinion)
I never had HBO, but I would love to grab that on "a la carte". Perhaps even Showtime as well.
But out of 60+ channels that's all I watched.
Anyway, get on that cable channel providers. I can't guarantee I would pay what I can only imagine would be outrageous prices per channel, but just having the option would make me contemplate getting a channel or 10...
- Zach
When I left for college, every dorm room or apartment I lived in came with free cable, and it was great. I got to catch up on all those shows that I had missed, and started a lot of new shows, but again, the problem came with timing. If you wanted to watch a new show, you would have to be ready at the exact time the show is on. I like to watch things when I'm trying to avoid being productive, or when I'm going to bed, and that doesn't always coincide with the timing of the tv programs that I liked to watch.
Then came along Netflix. I can pick what to watch, when I want to watch it. People say, "but Netflix doesn't have everything I want to watch"...neither does cable. When was the last time you found an adult cartoon on at 9 am on tv...exactly. If there is something I feel like watching, I see if Netflix has it.... and if it doesn't, I pick something like it.
There is a minor problem with only having Netflix - there are a number of shows I would love to watch now that Netflix doesn't have. These shows have new seasons coming out soon and I want to keep up. I've heard Hulu might be something to try, but I didn't want to spend more money on another streaming service at this time, and they don't have everything I want to watch (Game of Thrones, being the big one).
I first saw a free episode of Vikings on my Xbox. I really liked it...but again, no cable and I didn't want to pay $20+ to watch the episodes on my Xbox, so I just waited until it came out on dvd and bought it. But now that the 2nd season is coming out, I really want to watch it now. I am in that Vikings mood.
(I'm not the first to say this, and I won't be the last)
So my proposal is an "a la carte" system of cable channels. Why get 200 channels when you know you will watch maybe 5-10 of them regularly.
When I had cable I watched:
Cartoon Network
Comedy Central
Sci-fi (SyFy now)
FX (for Archer only)
Discovery
History
USA and TNT (pretty much the same channel in my opinion)
I never had HBO, but I would love to grab that on "a la carte". Perhaps even Showtime as well.
But out of 60+ channels that's all I watched.
Anyway, get on that cable channel providers. I can't guarantee I would pay what I can only imagine would be outrageous prices per channel, but just having the option would make me contemplate getting a channel or 10...
- Zach
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