Dread Lines

Article: Twelve Things You Were not Taught (about Creativity)

Mike — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:04:10 +0000

Found a great 12-point thing about the creative process, and naturally it is my forsworn duty to SHARE.
Twelve Things You Were Not Taught In School About Creative Thinking
(With thanks to Michael Michalko at The Creativity Post

Sketches – Cosmic Horror Portrait idea

Mike — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 07:03:50 +0000

Some loose sketch ideas – I’m obviously on another bent to do another horrific self-portrait, this time inspired by the phrase “he had eyes as black as the dark between stars.” Obviously it lends itself to the Cthulhuonic cosmic horror theme.

A renewed effort to produce more art, no matter how terrible I may deem it.

A Very Merchant Birthday

Mike — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 08:52:29 +0000

A Very Merchant Birthday

Originally uploaded by Red Chunks

This is a birthday sketch I did for a long time friend of mine. Her friends have started a long running prank – a life-sized Stephen Merchant cardboard cut-out, of his creeptastic face from “Tooth Fairy.”
Needless to say, it was startling, chilling, and hilarious.
Then it kept getting additions. The real-life Merchant cut-out is actually far more terrifying than this sketch, but “He” does indeed have his eyes blacked out with day-glo irises. Brrr!

Another link: Banishing your Inner Critic

Mike — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 04:13:09 +0000

Another great read that is worth calling out – Banishing your Inner Critic, by Denise Jacobs. Once again, it’s from the viewpoint of a writer, but it’s so integral to the creative process, that it carries right over into the visual arts realm. I’ve begun to start putting these into practice and it’s helped a lot already.

It’s healthy to be critical of your own work – nothing worse than a terrible artist with delusions of grandeur – but not so picky that you squelch your own productivity on the Altar of Perfectionism.

We’re all human (or mostly human, or passing off as humans) – we cannot make the Perfect Image. So let’s have fun making Good and Great Images instead.

25 Virtues Writers (and Artists) Should Have

Mike — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:57:53 +0000

Felt the need to call out special attention to a link I’ve just added to my Elsewhere page:

It’s a highly entertaining read, but it also has very pertinent advice that applies to ALL creative processes, including the visual arts & animation. The narrative style of the article is a joy to read, especially if you like wildly imaginative swearing.

Comic – Fire fly

Mike — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 07:09:53 +0000

It’s been a dreadfully long time since I’ve last updated; the short form of why is “Work work work work work.”

So right to it – I had this little idea pop into my head a short while ago, and I (eventually) sketched up a comic about it. I hope that from now on you’ll hear a little scream of exertion whenever you see a fire fly light up in the night.

Derp Squig

Mike — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 06:43:42 +0000

Derp Squig

Originally uploaded by Red Chunks

Obviously a silly, stupid sketch. Was previously a warm-up to shake me out of my dry spell, but alas, I should obey biologic law and get sleep, otherwise my work performance will deteriorate.

Intro for DOW2:Retribution

Mike — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 07:12:22 +0000

As part of my work as art director on the upcoming expansion pack, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2: Retribution, I got to storyboard and direct the new intro trailer for the game. The talented folks at Plastic Wax were invaluable in bringing the vision to life.

Definitely want to keep doing more of this! (Apologies for the darkness of the vid; the final asset in with the game is quite a bit brighter. I lay the blame squarely on the youtube compression process.)

Ridiculous Brofist #3

Mike — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:48:55 +0000

Originally uploaded by Red Chunks

(Click on the image to view it larger at Flickr!)

Finally got around to adding another installment of these… I’ve had this idea since August 2009 – obviously I’ve been distracted by work and other projects!

All sketched into photoshop. These things are taking way too long to finish. Going to simplify the layouts to almost straight-up “storyboard” form to see if it speeds things up.

Great body type reference: Athletes

Mike — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 16:48:53 +0000

Sharing a post that another artist put up a short span of time ago – a photoshoot of Olympic Athletes. What’s most strikingly revealing of the photos is that there is a vast variety of body types for different people, as well as the events they compete in. The biggest take-away is being physically fit does NOT mean “washboard abs & 0% fat!”

Athletic Body Diversity Reference for Artists by Nina Matsumoto