I JUST MADE A HILARIOUS INTERNETCOMIC!!! WATCH OUT JIM DAVIS!!!

more scribbles from dune!

paleontology is way sweet! kynes is the paleontologist on arrakis and he is a badass.

kynes is one of my favorite characters so far. though i got kind of confused and thought he was a fremen, one of the dudes native to the dune planet. i guess he’s just been there a while because he likes doing stuff the tough way. a wizard set me straight. but for this drawing pretend he’s a fremen or at least got their general vibe. i gave him dreads and a tiny pile of sand on his head. it’s sandy in the desert.

don’t let this picture fool you. i stamp tooled the heck out of the space around the drawing, my sketchbooks are clutter central.

hey! i’ve been out of the loop for a bit! i’ve been experimenting with this sweet new software i just got! it makes drawing so easy and if you plan stuff right you can make some totally sick stuff!

here, i took a screen cap:

i’ve been exploring some different features. i’ll split it up into two posts because there’s a bit to talk about!

first let’s talk about “paper.”

you can draw on this program’s “desk” with different kinds of “paper.” it’s really intuitive! i never really considered there being different qualities of paper in regards to animation, i just took computer paper punched it and scanned it. i generally do bulk scans using duane palyka’s scan fix program to align the pegs. but now that i don’t have a hole punch readily available, when i was animating the rochester, ny high falls laser lightshow and ran out of punched paper, i decided i’d take an opportunity to experiment. so i ordered the 10 field paper sampler pack from these guys: lightfoot ltd and thought i’d see how they stacked up against each other.

here’s what they send you in their sampler pack. “student bond,” “mohawk bond,” and “ingram bond” animation paper, all 20lb paper.

ok great. 3 kinds of paper. what does that even mean? well the student bond looks to be very similar to my standard computer paper i was used to. and i could notice that the ingram and the mohawk were slightly different colors. they’re varying in smoothness too. i’m used to drawing on the moleskine journal paper which is a smoother cream/off white colored paper. but it’s still thick enough to deal with my scribbles not newsprint or anything like that.

ok well great, they’re different colors? do i look like i care? how does this stuff work? why would i pay money when i can just go to the staples and buy half a rainforest in a box for 4 bucks and punch it at some local college or something?

well check this out…

when the lights go out, the magic happens.

here’s the rundown: top left: INGRAM top right: COMPUTER PAPER bottom left: MOHAWK bottom right: STUDENT BOND

and now that we know what we’re looking at let’s zoom the heck in

so here’s something that i’ve never thought about AT ALL. sure the feel and color of the paper are all something you think about when drawing but the makeup of the paper? let’s call it MURKYNESS! so check out how murky the two entrants on the right are? this “student bond” that came in the sampler and my 20lb hammermill computer paper. even with my crummy camera you can see they’re all sorts of murky. all the little fibers become crazy visible when they’re backlit, which is HUGE if you’re going to be animating. you want to be able to draw with reasonable pressure and still be able to see a couple drawings deep on your light table. but if the paper is too murky it will keep you from seeing between more than a couple sheets! that can be a real pain.

but scope out the mohawk and ingram paper! the mohawk is a lot more clear than either of the contenders on the right, but dang, the ingram? that’s just nuts! it looks like tracing paper! there’s definitely a reason this stuff has a pricetag. 34 bucks for 500 sheets? REALLY? but hey i could do that 70 times and still have spent less than i would on a cintiq! i tried looking into buying just straight sheets of this stuff and it looks like they don’t really make reams of it that a normal paper distro like xpedx or something similar would carry. it’s also rather difficult to find lighter weight computer paper like 16lb [though i'd imagine it wouldn't be much less murky if you did]

the ingram paper is also really smooth too [as is the mohawk don't get me wrong] check out how they stack up next to my moleskine sketchbook:

this time the ingram’s on the bottom, mohawk on top. they both stack up well against the texture of the moleskine journal, but the ingram is silky smooth compared to the murkyness of the book’s paper!

this blew my mind!

what you need to know?

INGRAM ANIMATION PAPER IS AWESOME!!!

if i continue in this odd experimental vein i might do tests to see how far visibility goes through a stack of paper and stuff like that…

next time i’ll talk about this program’s sweet drawing tool!

ARRAKIS! THE DESERT PLANET!

according to carl sagan in his cosmos series, “planet” is a term derived from the greek word planan meaning “wanderer”. on dune there’s a bunch of nomadic people. wanderers of a wanderer. yet there’s also this family that comes to rule over it and all it’s stuff. they’re not bad eggs, at least as far into it as i am…

see i’m endeavoring myself in this: dune book club!

they don’t wander so much…yet. they’re kind of stuck.

there’s allusions cast however that one character “lady jessica” had a boy when she could have birthed a girl? they can pick? LIKE REPTILES? maybe she kept the eggs warmer or something and popped out a boy. through this i deduced that the characters of dune very well may be akin to david icke’s reptilian humanoids and did a proper homage:

thufir hawat

lady jessica…ON THAT PATH LIES DANGER!

and paul, that little scamp!

two months ago, someone out there decided they should take the highway to the danger zone right into the danger zone.

in taking my most valued material possession and primary mode of transport from me [by cutting the bolts off the stop sign, hoisting it lock and all over top of the post and fleeing like a coward into the darkness. they did not win it fairly in a thunderdome match or a game of crossfire.] this stranger has incurred my wrath. oh and the wrath of a tiny sicilian/concentrated humanoid is boundless.

i have since ordered a new bike so that i may once again be mobile. and appropriately i have named it vengeance [the demon whip]. tempered from raw steel built beyond the 7 seas. with vengeance i shall ride to protect those who may fall victim to bike theft and to avenge those who have been wronged in such a manner. a trying charge indeed.

to aid me in this quest i had prepared this pendant to be mounted on it’s headtube.

HOWEVER recently it seems to have been vanquished to the nether-realms and i’m left without it’s aid! because everyone knows magical talisman are a primary source of such powers.

so to you i pose this offer:

if someone will purchase a replacement talisman/pendant currently available here [though please get in touch before taking me up on this]

i will return the favor by making for you an inked commission of your description!

if this is of interest to you please leave a comment or email me at smo [at] smomotion [dot] com and discussion shall be had!

air guitar is alive and well.

as a testament to it’s continued virility and to aid some friends in washington DC with their poster making efforts i drew this fine lady playing an invisible gibson sg with her mutant tongue.

tongue aside; she’s more king diamond than gene simmons.

i like to make good animation for fun and profit.

i’m currently available to make good animation for profit.

so you want to be an “artist” and draw naked people? but sometimes naked people posing on cold charcoal stained platforms just doesn’t do it for you? sometimes you need to draw models that are dressed like space aliens coming out of cakes. and by sometimes i mean always.

enter: dr. sketchy’s anti art school.

because i’m such a stand up guy, i made them this animated version of their logo.

it’s the best alternative figure drawing session ever around. hosting burlesque and fetish models and friends that the likes of leonardo, donatello, raphael, michelangelo, and david lee roth would all be content sketching!

below is what it looked like when i was working on too many things at once; before i consulted a wizard; all knowing all wise, and studied the five magics of animation.

you’re not a real man until you’ve spent at least 3 hours animating a beard…

certain monstrous beasts are so intense you can’t look at them directly, or you’ll disintegrate into a pile of cabbage eating maggots.

you can only confront them by approaching their reflection.

only the bravest most masterful of artisans attempt to capture their likeness and to do so they must draw the creatures backwards on parchment with only the aid of brush and ink.

i melted 3 different brushes while inking this, the demonic fires shooting up from the bike tires were too intense for my windsor newton series 7 but i pressed on.

to the right is a digitally remastered version of what we think the creature may have looked like were it drawn directly without the need for a mirror.

because they’re tough enough to handle it and they have access to shiny reflective things like mirrors they break because they laugh in the face of bad luck; i am sending this drawing to the silver sprocket bike club.

they love bikes and songs about demons that’s why they handle bands like the groovie ghoulies. that’s right they’re a bike club that deals in rock and roll! sick!

a few months ago they made me an honorary member of their crew, even though they’re stationed in califonia and i’m in brooklyn.

their spokes are true.

artist statement:

“i drew these smaller ones first then i drew the bigger one. after inking the red guy i made some ink from blackberries and colored in his eyes and gums. goes on red, comes out purple. brutal.”

to be a freaking sick hunter gatherer and make your own ink go out and ravage some bushes [the berry kind]

if you decimate 1/2 cup of berries add 1/2 tsp of vinegar and 1/2 tsp of salt. you can change the proportions too: for 1/4 cup use 1/4 tsp. i just threw crap together and crushed it.

try and scoop out the guts before you add the other junk. or cram them through a colander or busted up window screen so you get all berry blood. keep it in a little jar locked up tight so it doesn’t magic itself to death.

the vinegar helps the color stick.  the salt keeps if from turning into rotted fruit stank.

i found out about the vinegar stuff on this wussy website.

if you don’t know what the different between tsp and tbsp is punch yourself in the teeth.