Artimation

Did I say 'back to drawing' in my last post? In case you hadn't guessed by now, I'm easily distracted and in this case it was by animation techniques. I've yet to acquire photoshop or flash, so I've been using a very good free graphics program to manipulate the images (paint.net), writing scripts to automate the image changes (autohotkey) and compiling them into gif animations (unfreeze). It's hardly professional or cutting edge but it's fun and relatively simple to do (and free). If you are interested in such things I hope the links provided are of some use. As for the image I used here, it was passed to me by a friend and I've no idea who created it or I'd give them credit for their efforts. Okay... NOW back to drawing :)

Flat Universe

So lately, scientists have been telling me that the universe is flat. No really, I'm serious, you can check and see what NASA has to say about this yourself. I found this amusing, interesting and confusing. The fact that we've gone from thinking the earth is flat to the universe is flat is humorous to me and will undoubtedly result in another drawing by me soon. Being a bit of a science buff, I was curious about this and after doing a bit of research vaguely followed their logic regarding the theory. However, the fact that the theory is largely based on things we have yet to really prove exist, such as dark matter and dark energy, I find it all slightly frustrating in addition to which I have trouble visualizing something exploding, as they believe the universe did, outwards in the shape of anything but a sphere. Well, enough of that, back to drawing... Cheers.

Kitty Revenge

This is actually a belated birthday drawing for EMMA the AQUA-GIRL! There, that should suitably irritate her. She's just turned twelve now, going on 35 of course, and remains one of the brightest children I've ever met. There are volumes I could relay about her, but she'd have her lawyers all over me if I did so I'll have to limit it to the drawing in question. Emma used to wrap Max's head, my friend's Russian Blue, in toilet paper and chase him around in her younger years and I thought turn-about would be fair play so I gave Max a chance for revenge here. By the way, kiddo, I got Max's attorneys to give me permission for printing this so don't even think about litigation.

Moveable Feast

This is another birthday drawing, this time for my brother-in-law who among many things is an avid gardener. In itself, it is not a complete product because my intent was to superimpose this over a photograph I took of him working diligently on his garden, constructing elaborate wired frame structures to keep the critters away from his plantings. As I was watching him work at this I noted quite a few said 'critters' observing him with amusement knowing that such man-made constructs were no match for the ingenuity of a hungry garden forager.

Not Going Out There

How many times have we had these moments where we sequestered ourselves in our imaginations while the abrasive bray of day to day reality raged on outside? I for one, have had them more times than I can count sometimes overlapping the two and gesturing to an imaginary friend within about what a jungle it was out there.

Religion Discovers Science

This is one of my older ideas, dating back to my high school days. A simple 'what if' concept that I found amusing. After all, what would God's reaction be to mankind's bold pronouncements about the nature of reality be other than laughter (or at least a snicker). I'd almost forgotten about it entirely until a friend asked me to think 'godly' thoughts. She wanted a photo of me to use for a drawing she doing that depicted me as a godlike being and wanted me to look the part. I found this hysterical but gave it a shot. Approaching it as an actor like Pacino might, I attempted discern my motivations and immediately hit a brick wall -- constructed, ironically from my innately scientific nature. I tried to picture myself as a being that created everything and logic forced me to ask that age old question of what existed before it was all created. Naturally, I was stymied because I'm just a human on a ball of dirt in an infinite universe. Incidentally, I knew even before I drew this that I'd end up making God look a bit like Santa Claus, but in retrospect the parallel seems somewhat fitting.

The Salesmen

This is a birthday drawing for my nephew, depicting him attempting to sell internet marketing services to the devil. I pictured him pointing out how Google rankings always had Heaven coming up before Hell to an unimpressed Satan and finally, seeing his pitch fail, pointing out to the devil that heaven and hell are just manmade constructs and didn't really exist anyway. That's me waiting for him to finish so we can go burn. Oh... and that's Bat playing with the mouse skeleton next to the sign post to our destination.