Yesterday morning, Dave Maas invited the Art Evolved crew to a Speed Paint challenge, based on questions posed to the extremely useful (and oftentimes unintentionally amusing) website Ask a Biologist. For the unfamiliar, a Speed-Paint is a quick digital (or not) painting finished within a half-hour or less.
For this week's game, I chose this question, because who could resist? "Who would win, a harpy eagle or a grizzly bear?" With this question for the ages and the memory of an excellent satirical book that is more than a little tangentially related in mind, I spent twenty minutes on this:
I will confess I cheated a tiny bit: I just had to double-check on what a Harpy eagle looks like. Wound up mostly going from my memory anyway.
Last weekend, I worked hard on a piece for a contest held at the Pokemon Daily group in DeviantArt. The rules were simply, "have your team of six Pokemon battle a Legendary in it's lair."
Now, I briefly considered making a Big Damn Painting of a Big Damn Epic Battle. Then I remembered that I tend to stink at battle scenes, especially if they involve more than two characters/figures (one-on-one fights are more dramatically interesting anyway).
But more importantly, I remembered what actual in-game encounters with Legendaries are really like...
So I whipped up the sketches you see here. With an end-of-the-month deadline, a big painting was out of the question, but I didn't really want to do yet another digital painting either. Watercolor felt right. I just didn't want this piece to look "too neat", it wouldn't fit the tone I was going for.
Get In The Damn Ball Already by ~babbletrish on deviantART----
Feederwatch Thursday!
Downy Woodpecker 1
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Carolina Wren 1
European Starling 16
Northern Cardinal 1
House Sparrow 15
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And speaking of Nuthatches, I added these cards to the Zazzle store just in time for Valentine's Day!
First off, thank you, everyone, for the outpouring of kind words and thoughts after the last post. It means an awful lot, you don't even know.
Tetrapod Zoology is five years old! Darren Naish's book, incidentally, is very good. I will warn you that it's basically a collection of older blog posts that, for the most part, were not archived online.
David Orr has a fantastic recap of Science Online 2011 at Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs, with a focus on their discussion of the role of art in paleontology. And it reminds me that I have to say some stuff about Brian Engh's... different take on sauropods.
Also, the terrific Dinosaur Tracking has some musing on whether we'll ever see a fourth "Jurassic Park". It also gives us a reason to worry about "Terra Nova": "We have dinosaurs we know existed from the fossil record but you get to make up your own dinosaurs as well!" - Showrunner Brannon Braga (To which I say, No. No, you cannot. No, no, no, NO, NO, NO, GODDAMMITSOMUCH!!!)
Comics Alliance and Topless Robot both reported on a brilliant short film entitled "Lazy Teenage Superheroes". Have a look here. Whole thing cost $300.00. Holy. Sh*t.
The delightfully named Bogleech Blog (Blogleech?), run by the delightfully twisted Scythemantis has a recap of the recent episode of the delightful "Pokemon" Anime centering around a character who already has a very dedicated cult following: Yabukuron, the living trash bag. He also comments on some of the supposed English names for the Black/White critters. (I will believe them when I see an official release from Nintendo.)
Bad Astronomy has a reaction to yet another epic science reporting failure that managed to slip past me (since nobody I know mentioned it, I suppose that's a good sign). In other news, Zaphod! NOOOO!!!
If you are somehow unaware of the wonder and magic that is Nedroid, these adorable 200+ Bad Comics Challenge posts are a great place to start. Read them here and here. I think I need to do the same challenge someday.
TouringPlans.com has a small collection of Disney news, mostly about the ongoing construction happening throughout Walt Disney World. Basically, it may not be worth it to go down there this spring. But this time next year... holy Iwerks!
The Audubon Society's blog has a criticism of the recent, and very strange, "Bears Love McDonalds" commercial.
I did this little watercolor study of aquatic plant life in October and never got around to uploading it. Thought a little taste of warmer weather might cheer us all up:
Let me rephrase that. My ninety-four year old grandmother, mother of seven children, thirteen grandchildren, and twenty-one great-grandchildren, recently passed away after an excruciatingly long fight with Alzheimer's Disease. She had, all told, a very good life, produced a huge and loving family, and she was reasonably happy up until the very last week or so of her life. So, while this is very sad, it's not really tragic.
Even so, I am -as you may imagine- very upset about this. As artists (I figure most of my readers are painfully aware of this) we spend an awful lot of time inside our own heads. Therefore, grief is exhausting. I not only feel depressed but physically ill. The reality of it is just starting to hit me and my family, as I'm sure it has for many of my aunts, uncles, cousins, second-cousins, friends, and so on. Obviously, we all knew this was going to happen sooner or later, but the problem with "later" is that it always eventually becomes "now". (Let me just say that there has been a major uptick in my chocolate consumption lately.)When I launched this blog, I made a pledge that I would plan on having at least two new posts per week for the first three years. This was to keep me focused and avoid stagnation, and it was kind of my own little protest against interesting websites that go for months without updating (I am considerably more sympathetic to them now). I would allow myself a break during the holidays and hiatuses if anything major (good or bad) came up. I'm pretty sure nobody would mind if I count this as something major.
And yet, part of me wants to muscle through. I feel like that would be better for my psychology. As I said to one of my cousins, I want to get behind the wheel of some major projects. I feel like if I don't, I'll succumb to despair. I want (need really) to update my resume and portfolio, get more original pieces up for sale on ebay, and maybe get some paid commissions going. And I think I need to read through my own blog and keep a running list of things I said I was going to write more about. And, of course, Giant Carnivorous Birds to paint! Valentines / Single Person Awareness Day cards to design! Secret projects with kitties and toucans, maybe!
I apologize if this post was uncharacteristically Emo. I'll try to make the next one more fun.
EDIT: Thank you, everyone, for the kind words. I was afraid this might veer on the "too personal" side of things, but it was something I just had to write. Thank you all so much.
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Doodle of the Day! It's Award Season! Here are silly and hopefully funny things I sketched during the Golden Globes:
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And in other Mood Whiplash news, it's Feederwatch Friday!
Yeah, you might have heard that we had a little storm recently. As I've said before, snow brings diversity. The Wren is back!
American Crow 5 Black-capped Chickadee 3 White-breasted Nuthatch 1 Carolina Wren 1 Northern Cardinal 1 House Sparrow 30
With that headline and perhaps with what you can discern of my mood lately, I'm guessing it's pretty transparent that some stuff happened recently in real life that made it hard for me to keep on top of things in the wider pop culture world. I... might explain what's going on later or I might not; right now, it's too soon.
Anyway, here is something the rest of the animation blogosphere is already over:
Mad props if you can recognize all the characters. "Gotham High" was a show that was being developed by the comic book artist/author team Celeste Green and Jeffrey Thomas. The whole thing was prompted by a piece of art they had made and sent in to DC. You can see it and the other concept art for the series on their blog.
So as far as anyone knows, this was not the "make us a cartoon about Batman in high school to appeal to the young parsons!" series that, through clever interpretation, eventually became "Batman: Beyond". It's a more recent proposal that was lost in the great sea of Batman-related animation projects pitched in-between the two (thus far) Christopher Nolan (hold that thought) films. It was rejected and it isn't happening. I think the "this is a secret test" theory over at Topless Robot is intriguing, though a little unlikely. The whole thing was probably going to be in the vein of the dearly missed "Clone High".
This is, if it were actually happening, a fine example of the crazy and stupid stuff Warner Bros. likes to do with it's characters now (let's not bring THAT series up again). But with the "This is not actually going to happen" safety net securely beneath us, I have to say that, surprisingly enough... I don't hate this. Which is to say, I think the concept art and character designs look really, really good. Clayface leaves me a tad confused, but every other character design choice is pretty clever.
I am glad this isn't happening, don't get me wrong. Now, have you heard of that crazy Spider-Man musical?
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Been surprisingly disciplined in adding new reviews to the Realm of Mad-Ness. The latest is of a kid's movie that will scar children for life. Actually, that describes most of the kid's movies I review. Huh. ----
First off, Astrology is a load of bologna. Let's just make that clear. Yeah, people born around the same time of year *maybe* have similar personality traits, and it's useful for extreme shortcuts in literary symbolism, but that's about as much credence I give this stuff. Also, if the PG-13 rated title didn't warn you enough, this post will have vitriol in it. Hide the kiddies until Wednesday, when I will either talk about Batman or Pokemon.
So last Thursday, your Facebook page probably exploded in an orgy of "OMG why am I a Gemini now?" or "What the hell is an Ophiuchus?" This is all thanks to the mainstream media catching wind of Parke Kunkle, board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society. Earth's relation to the sun has changed slightly since the Babylonians created the first western zodiac, but according to Kunkle, the zodiac dates were never updated to reflect this. Since zodiac constellations are so helpful to astronomers in determining the position of the sun, he came up with a more accurate timeline for them. It includes thirteen constellations, simply because astronomers have counted Ophiuchus as a zodiac constellation for years, and anyway the Babylonians had entirely different zodiac signs. (You would think that the astrologers would have caught this earlier, but never mind that now.)
Got all that? Good. Because here is an example of how this has all been reported (and the comments, holy sh*t). Note that OK! hasn't changed it's horoscope page. How rebellious of them.
So basically, an astronomer did something cool to help his fellow astronomers, and unless you study space yourself, this really doesn't affect you at all. But the internet, in a fine demonstration of why I love and hate it, misunderstood what actually happened and lost it's sh*t over it. I find the ways people have been reacting to this story *fascinating*. It's a little more fun than Tricera-Fail because the subject matter is, as has already been stated, baloney. That said, I never knew, until this week, how many people I know took astrology this seriously. It's... unsettling.
No, your birthdate has not changed. Ophiuchus isn't something scientists just made up, it's just usually left out of the zodiac constellations probably because there's twelve months and so it's just easier to have twelve signs (trust me, I'm just learning about this constellation myself). The night sky has not changed either, and frankly it doesn't care what we humans think about it. And finally (this is the one that astonishes me), just because your new astrological sign doesn't match up to your old astronomical sign, doesn't mean that your personality has changed in any way.
Unless...
Unless you read up on your "new" sign and what it represents. And you vehemently disagreed with it. And yet, somewhere deep down inside, the personality traits of your astronomical sign... stuck.
Other reassuring things for people affected by the mainstream media misunderstanding and losing their sh*t over a mildly interesting science story. In fact, please copy and paste this into your status if you know someone, or have yourself been affected by the mainstream media misunderstanding and losing their sh*t over a mildly interesting science story. The mainstream media misunderstanding and losing their sh*t over a mildly interesting science story affects the lives of many. There is still no known cure for mainstream media misunderstanding and losing their sh*t over a mildly interesting science story, except for the media getting off their collective fat asses and doing some damn fact-checking. 93% of people won't repost this... Why? Because they probably think reposting this will cause autism or something, which it won't, as determined by science.
1) Pluto is a Trans-Neptunian Object and there are a LOT of them. So rather than have a "My Very Excellent Mother..." mimetic that goes on for twenty minutes, it was time to reevaluate how to define the word "planet". If you're not talking to an astronomer, you can call Pluto whatever you want. Call it a gerbil for all the cold unfeeling objects in space care.
2) Paleontologist Jack Horner started kicking around the idea that maybe the dinosaur we call Torosaurus was really a very old and cranky Triceratops. I have never seen the mainstream press blow a science story so out of proportion as I did when this one got out. Almost no Very few other paleontologists take this theory seriously, and most are just like, "well, that's... interesting, but let's see if we can find more evidence of that first". Point is, Triceratops isn't going anywhere.
Further Addendum-ing: I love you too, Clever Girl. ----
Sketch of the Day!
I think you could make an excellent argument that the rise in scientific misunderstanding directly correlates to the lack of a good current "Star Trek" TV series...
Further, further Addendum-ing: I love you too, VG Cats!
Well, first I have to open with some disappointment. I was hoping to visit the library at the Museum of Science and see if I couldn't go home with a camera packed with vintage paleoart. And maybe - just maybe - old Ranger Rick illustrations (I will never give up hope). I knew they had a copy of McLoughlin's Archosauria, of a crazy-awesome book called The Dinosaur Scrapbook with loads of old paleoart in it... and now this sign:
Wah. Got a nice view of the city, though, so there's that.
Even so, I found a terrific variety of old -or not- paleoart in the Dinosaurs: Modeling the Mesozoic exhibit. First up, something weird that is, thankfully, hidden away in a corner, as if embarrassed:
Wow... Wow...! And then I had a nasty flashback to something I saw in the traveling "Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly" exhibit (with my reaction, via Arthene and Squee):
Oh, sweet Raptor Jesus no... (And fridge logic I'm angry at myself for not noticing right away: Clyde Peeling doesn't care about Tuataras. Or, as pointed out in the comments, every kind of extinct reptile after the "ancestral reptile".)
Thankfully, the record is set straight in their massive Dinosaur Family Tree. Sadly, I do not know who the artists are who made this or the sculptures, but this is pretty awesome. Click for the huge version:
Gorgeous, gorgeous mural (though it skimps on the maniraptors). All the colors and poses are in line with the wonderful and dearly missed Battat Museum of Science dinosaur model collection. This is the case with most of the recent art in the room. And yes, those murals are by the wonderful Douglas Henderson:
These Nyctosaurs are brand new, and they are amazing! They are probably the most recent addition to the room.
This guy puzzles me deeply. I really can't tell if he is more recent or older. He doesn't look anything like the Battat sculpt, and the low tail and naked skin screams 60's. But the color pattern seems a little modern. I wonder this because the older version of the MOS's dinosaur exhibit was almost nothing but 60's era dinosaur models. Here's a flashback to what this exhibit looked like in the 80's:
I have no problem at all with this whole room being gutted and started over. There is one little remnant of this version of the exhibit, and it's a strange one:
For the majority of the 80's, this was the most up-to-date model in the Museum of Science's dinosaur hall. They've still got him on display, with a card explaining how he is a reflection of the time in which he was made, and he looks very odd, especially with the more up-to-date small theropod in the mural right behind him.
I'm ending with this craziness from the gift shop:
I have a very special post I'm saving for Friday about something specific at the Museum of Science, so this post will be an overview of other random cool/weird/ect. things I saw during my last visit there. First off, I am so very happy to see that they still do this:
The Museum underwent a major refurbishment maybe ten years ago. While I have a lot of nostalgia for the place in the 80's, I'll admit it has never looked better. The crown jewel of the new MOS is the first-floor exhibit, Natural Mysteries:
When I was a teen, MOS had an awesome temporary exhibit called, "What's in Our Attic?" They brought down a bunch of weird things they'd collected over the years, but which weren't on display. Natural Mysteries has nearly all of the items from "Attic" on permanent display. There is an overwhelming amount of cool stuff to look through in displays, in drawers, and even hanging from the ceiling. On top of that, the focus of the exhibit is on the scientific method, classification, and curiosity. In other words, the kids visiting are invited to be scientists.
The Museum appeared to have gone through a refurbishment since the last time I visited about a year ago. This Icthyosaur has always been on the wall, but the plaque and paint is brand new. There are still a few remnants of 70's-ness to be found, however:
I have no idea how old this display is. Still really cool.
The Museum of Science is also an accredited zoo, and live animals are having more and more of a presence. I didn't visit the excellent Butterfly Garden this time, but I did attend a live animal presentation. Opossums! Fluffy little owls!
I'm going to arbitrarily end with this amusing sign, from another special exhibit that was running at the time (Edit - yes, it makes sense in context.):
Well, I didn't quite fill a Sketchbook during this visit, and I didn't have any opportunities to do long studies. The museum gets very crowded over winter break (PROTIP: Avoid the Museum of Science over school vacations. I feel like, after five hours, I came home with everything school teachers build up an immunity to over the course of five years.)
But I did do a lot of sketches on this visit to the wonderful Museum of Science. It was well worth going, because as I have said many times before, there is no substitute for sketching a living, breathing, eating, pooping animal. Especially if that animal is one that usually sits very still:
A beautiful Green Tree Python and an unconventionally adorable Gila Monster. This is exactly how I'd be spending my day if I lived in a tree.
The Veiled Chameleon was surprisingly frisky. Turns out they have a particularly hilarious way of walking on the ground, which I was struggling to sketch.
And here's the star of the show. A handsome Water Monitor who was incredibly spry. As you can see, I never got a chance to do a long study of him - but I did get some awesome action poses.
This traveling exhibit was created by Clyde Peeling's Reptiland, which is in Allenwood, PA. I may have to visit their dedicated reptile zoo some day, if only to add this to my collection.
And since you love it, and I love it, here are
Hilarious And/Or Sad Things Overheard While Sketching!
A Downright Obnoxious Number of People: "Oh, I'm SO freaked out here; I HATE snakes!" ("WTF, why did you even come into this room full of snakes? It isn't like there wasn't informed consent going in," I wanted to ask, but I was too polite.)
Crazy Lady: "Oh crap! Now I really don't want to go to Africa, LOL! It'd be SO easy to step on a Gaboon Viper!" (I am hoping this woman re-evaluates her priorities [She's just afraid of the snakes? Ffft!] if she ever goes to Africa. Which is, incidentally, a pretty effing big continent. Imagine somebody seeing the Cottonmouth and vowing to stay away from North America. Yeah.)
Even Crazier Lady: "Oh, he looks so SAD! And he's in the aquarium all alone! Mr. Reptiland attendant guy, does this poor creature ever get lonely?" (Said attendant actually gave her a straight answer, but I would have had to say, "Gee, I don't know. I will ask him. Hey Mr. Giant Alligator Snapping Turtle Who Is, All Things Considered, The Scariest Nonhuman In The Room And No, I Am Not Forgetting The Nagini-From-Harry-Potter-Inspiring Gaboon Viper, are you lonely?")
Multiple People: "Are they real/awake/alive?" (*Head-desk*)
Happy New Year! And I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season as well! Now it's time for Seasonal Affective Depression until mid-April, yaaaay!!!
I'm proud to say that I've kept last year's New Years Resolution to share the smudgy, unpretty, brain-farty part of the creative process by sharing full scans of Sketchbook pages. I'm going to keep this up, which means I get to start up a Sketch of the Day 2011 Flickr set. I am way too excited about this.
You may have noticed an influx of "Super Mario Bros." related doodles in the last few entries in the "Sketch of the Day 2010" set. This is because my family is g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y working our way through "New Super Mario Bros. Wii" in an attempt to stave off cabin fever. This is a bad, bad idea; if you are playing this game with people who are familiar with the Mario series and who are totally into it, then the game is so much fun it shouldn't be legal. But, if not, then you want to try and complete this game during a time of year with nicer weather, so you can go outside and be not in the same room with the other players for a while. I don't want to ruin what makes this game different from other Mario games in case you don't know, but the "Simpsons" quote (there is one for every occasion) that has been haunting me since we've begun is, "Ooh, a Rubik's Cube! Let's all try and solve it together!"
Wishing everyone a safe, happy, healthy New Year! Regular posting schedule will resume... next week sometime. Until then, here's DJ Earworm's semi-annual mashup of the past year's most popular songs. "Hey Soul Sister" is actually not annoying now:
