Eselkunst

"Ekoshi" and "Venger" (Both WIP)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:28:49 GMT

8.5" x 11", chipboard, pencil.

Both are works in progress. I scanned them in at this stage
so I can do the "underpainting" digitally. Then I'll print out a
high-resolution version to affix to board under gel medium
and finish as a real media painted image.

The Venger image is just a test before doing the technique
on the other, commissioned image.

The wolf guy's hands are going to be charred and smoky,
as the character apparently spends his time handling the sun.

Also, Venger, Force of Evil.

Axis & Allies

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:47:11 GMT

View Poll: No prep-time. Who wins this Battle Royale?

Persimmon Regiment

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:20:40 GMT

Upon additional consultation with the oracle, I have learned about the derogatory term
"Persimmon Regiment" as used during the American Civil War by the Southern forces for
certain Union troops that were so smitten with the typically southern fruit that they
would throw all caution to the wind when given the chance to pick some.
This led to a few notable scenarios of embarassingly easy capture and defeat.

It's an amusing intersection of food and war; I know I would certainly throw down my rifle
to help raid a persimmon grove instead - especially considering typical soldier fare at
the time.

Persimmons

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:55:35 GMT

Ripe persimmons are proof of the divine.

Kit and I went to this local produce shop and picked up some good stuff for relatively cheap.
They had persimmons on sale. Now I want to go back and blow a fat stack of cash on moar.
A hard, unripe persimmon is just kinda nasty. (From the wiki: "The fruit has a high tannin content which makes the immature fruit astringent and bitter. The tannin levels are reduced as the fruit matures.")

But get it soft and a little squishy, especially if it looks dinged up (the skin can take it, it'll
be fine, promise!) and PUT IT INTO YOUR MOUTH.

Back home in Alabama, there was a wild persimmon tree in the woods near where we lived. It
was singular, not part of a grove or anything and so this was kind of a lovely little hidden gem
among the pines and birches :) It was a small whippy thing, we (local kids) couldn't climb it
or it'd break. So we would send the smallest of us up it with scissors to cut down the fruit.
In retrospect, that was probably one of the most unsafe things I was a part of. Ah, childhood.

Carl Sagan - 'A Glorious Dawn' ft Stephen Hawking

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:23:02 GMT

Relatedly, here's Carl Sagan, channeling his inner Kermit and rocking out.

This was released by Jack White (The White Stripes), who impresses me regularly.
If you're anything like me, you'll be wanting the mp3 audio file to this.
Which is available here.

Friday: Stripped down, Beefed up.

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:21:56 GMT

Firstly, some mp3s:

"Forever Loving Jah" (Dub Version) - Bob Marley... without Bob Marley.
Effectly a chill instrumental, as most dub versions of reggae songs tend to be.

"Reckoner" (Guitars Only) - Radiohead... without Radiohead (well, most of them).
The band released the individual stem tracks for this beautiful song when it came out to facilitate fan remixing. These are just the left and right guitar parts, which make for a lovely minimal piece alone.

Secondly, a video:

Autotune The News #8 - This deliciously overproduced piece is wayyyy more awesome than it really needs to be: random new events set to titanic, lush, emotionally swooping musical passages. And a lot of silliness.

Happy Veterans Day

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:40:59 GMT

Happy Veterans Day

"Otter"

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:10:32 GMT

digital.

Commissioned image.

"Hiver"

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:25:27 GMT

8.5" x 11". gouache.

Commissioned image.

Friday: Four Fingers and A Thumb

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:58:58 GMT

Some random cover songs, ranked as indicated:

(JLA/Avengers)

"Such Great Heights" - Ben Folds
Brilliantly, spontaneously performed live on the radio in one take.
The segue into the "Macarena" at the end is due to him hitting random play on his iPod :B

(Doom Patrol/X-Men)

"Creep" - Ingrid Michaelson

(Teen Titans/New Mutants)

"Burning Down The House" - The Cardigans with Tom Jones(!)

(Legion of Super-Heroes/Inhumans)

"Hey Ya" - Obadiah Parker

(WildC.A.T.S./Defenders)

"Umbrella" - Vanilla Sky

"Tiny Tim"

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:23:45 GMT

"He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon
the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was
always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas
well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that
be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim
observed, God bless Us, Every One!"

- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Friday: Ladyhawke

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:12:24 GMT

I want to say she's trying too hard, but damn if the total package doesn't hit all the right notes.
These came out last year. 2008. Attention, normanrafferty, this means you.

tbtitwrn: "Keep Calm and Carry On"

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:40:33 GMT

From the wiki:

"The poster was initially produced in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, and was intended as a "last case scenario" to be used only should the Nazis succeed in invading Great Britain, in order to stiffen resolve. Two-and-a-half million copies were printed, although the poster was distributed only in limited numbers. The designer of the poster is not known."

There are a million other variations online if you care to look or make one yourself.
Just please don't slap on Optima, it's not the right font. Like, at all.
I'm looking at you, "cupcake"!

In other news, the full moon tonight is gorgeous.

El Dia de los Muertos: Grandma

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:01:30 GMT

My friend abecat invited Kit and I to a celebratory dinner for El Dia de los Muertos. We couldn't attend, but I did make a meal for my Grandmother of food she liked to eat, she was a typical southern girl: black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread. There were a handful of loose blueberries, but those I gobbled up too quickly to photograph.

We had a couple blueberries bushes in the front yard and she would eat them right off the bush as they came in, which always peeved my mom who wanted to cook with them, lol.

Warnock's Dilemma

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:56:37 GMT

Warnock's Dilemma, named for its originator Bryan Warnock, is the problem of interpreting a lack of response to a posting on a mailing list, Usenet newsgroup, or Web forum.

NOTE: Apathy Kat is an awesome comic, by the way.

Late Bus to Hollywood

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:58:42 GMT

I just saw a bunch of films I missed seeing in theaters, because I'm poor:

G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra - The first two thirds are everything I could ever want from an action film based on a cartoon based on a series of plastic toys. Once I swallowed the notion that I was watching a fantasy with a ridiculously thin "military" veneer, it was perfectly enjoyable "bad-ass" entertainment. The last third of the film, however, is shit. The underwater attack of the "Death Star" totally killed my nerd boner. And the systematic emasculation of the "Baroness" character, after establishing her as the only character with any whiff of a development arc, just pissed me off (in the same way the live action "Aeon Flux" film threw its protagonist under the bus), along with sinking icebergs, Snake Eyes's luscious rubber lips, etc. etc. etc. Okay so maybe it wasn't that great after all... Also, I wait all frickin' movie to hear and see the perfectly designed Cobra Commander I know and love, and I am instead assaulted by the worst "Doctor Claw" (a la Inspector Gadget) impersonation evar. DO THE DAMN VOICE OR DON'T MAKE THE MOVIE.

>:[

9 - Yeah, this was that post-apocalyptic ragdoll fable with the awesome art direction. I enjoyed it, though it was kind of a downer. I wish there was more development of the evil spiderbrainHALL9000 antagonist, however. But yeah, good storytelling. I bawled when appropriate. Also, I really dug the post-WWI imagery as a visual playground. I haven't seen it done so well since Pink Floyd's The Wall. Hopefully it's not merely swallowed up as "steampunk" simply because there are gears on screen and the phrase "molded copper" is in the script, cause it ain't. I got a definite early 20th century vibe from the ruination and clutter, not 19th century.

District 9 - Holy shit, this was just wonderful. And I had the distinct sensation of being treated like a mature adult with a full emotional range. I also felt like the film just naturally expected me to be an active viewer. It was flattering.

Halloweenie: TRICK OR TREAT

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 05:56:22 GMT

Here's a clip from the KXVO Local News in Omaha, NE.

"You could spend your whole life trying to find a better pumpkin head Halloween dance than this,
and you'd die a fucking failure."

tbtitwrn: Spooning Leads to Forking

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:04:46 GMT

Snuggie Addendum:

The Snuggie Sutra. I'm not even kidding.

tbtitwrn: Get Down Or The Police Will Arrest You

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:05:56 GMT

Haiku: The Mooch

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:20:13 GMT

Uh, don't mind me, sir.
I'm just here for the buffet.
Are you gon' eat that?

Between Strumpet and Crumpet, There's Tart

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:03:12 GMT

So.. about three hours ago I decided to make a tart.
We had a bunch of pears just sitting around in the
fridge and I'm like... THIS CALLS FOR TART.

I'd never made a tart, but how hard could it be?
It's like pie. And pie is easy. As pie.

:B

Anyway, I found this recipe and got bizzy. Shortly thereafter...

Ta-daow!

"Buck" (WIP)

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:34:30 GMT

Sketchwork for commissioned painting. Adjusted for symmetry and tinted in
Photoshop. I'll be printing this out at about 10% tone to use as an underdrawing.

He's supposed to appear made out of leaves like a "Green Man", but I only
drew in the major ones. I'm going to let the rest of the leaf definition
happen spontaneously during painting.

I don't know why I'm not painting more these days. I blame Autumn. It's
incredibly beautiful right now, but the seasonal affect disorder crap is
creeping in under everything, I can feel it.

MUST FEED

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:45:05 GMT

So, I gave Mae Bell a fraction of my power and sent her forth
as my herald to scout out uninhabited leftovers from the Thai
delivery place we ordered food from a couple nights ago.

She has yet to return. I suspect that she may have betrayed me.

>:[

tbtitwrn: 21 Halloween Costumes that Won't Get You Laid

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:42:14 GMT

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-21-halloween-costumes-that-will-not-get-you-laid/

link thanks to thespian

France, Boston Book Fair, MintFest'09

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:18:49 GMT

Just got out of Triplets and it was, of course, generously beautiful.
Such a triumph of design, very thoughtful stuff. I laughed and cried.

Afterwards, I saw that Boston held the first Annual Boston Book Fair today.
Here just outside the Public Library in Copley Square. Why on earth you'd
hold an event like that, outside, in the middle of October, makes no sense
to me. It's a sloppy "hot mess", as the kids say. And half of the booths that aren't
blown away by the gusts, or swamped out by dampness are filled with odds and
ends of the publishing industry local. I support the idea of a book fair, and
I hope they get it more together for next year. It just seemed like a half-assed
affair, to me.

Right now I'm in the main reading room of the old part of the library. Free
wireless internet, beautiful architecture. Not much more to ask for on a
dreary saturday.

Oh, and as far as MINT goes. I know nothing of cocktails, and I'm okay with
that. But it means that the first response to MINT isn't going to a useful
chorus of MOJITO with some JULEP peppered about the edges. I'm gonna cook with
this stuff :) Today, I crushed some in my hand, dropped it into my water bottle
with a dollop of honey. That's getting me through the thirst of the day, but
tonight I have more savory plans for it, back home.

I want to make a basil fried rice with it, swapping in the MINT for basil. I suspect
this will be heavily fortified with AWESOME. Stay tuned.