Sunday, January 19, 2014

Ham and Bean Soup

Today at church my mom was selling her ham & bean soup for a fundraiser. Of course I had to get some for lunch, and it was so good it inspired me to write a little song. Due to potential copyright concerns, I can neither confirm nor deny that this song may or may not be sung to the tune of a popular French folk song...

Ham and Bean Soup
Ham and Bean Soup
You’re so good!
You’re so good!
Wanna fill a whole cup
Gonna eat you all up
Love that soup,
Love that soup!

Ham and Bean Soup
Ham and Bean Soup
Carrots, too!
Carrots, too!
Also really nice is
Celery with spices
Love that soup,
Love that soup!

Ham and Bean Soup
Ham and Bean Soup
From my Mom
From my Mom
Outside the snow is blowing
But my tummy’s glowing
Love that soup,
Love that soup!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Who's Out There?

Today I found the book Ghosts and Ruins, by Ben Catmull at the library. It's a weird little book of ghostly legends (which I have a strong suspicion were just made up by the author). The highlight of the book for me, however, were the fantastically moody scratchboard-type drawings on every page. Of course I had to try making something in that style, so here's tonight's drawing:


Friday, January 17, 2014

Dodo 3D

Okay, so you probably could have guessed something like this was coming. Tonight I've combined a paper cutout-type picture with the 3D layers technique. The subject was inspired by my youngest daughter. After dinner, she told me she was a dodo bird and was shy, so whenever I stared at her she would pull her arms up beside her like stumpy little wings and scurry away.



Note, the background paper texture is from here: http://inspirationhut.net/design-resources/38-fantastic-vintage-old-clean-and-free-paper-textures/



Thursday, January 16, 2014

Purple Mountains 3D

Still playing with the 3D effects - this time with many more layers, hoping for a more subtle depth look.

Cross your eyes to view, click to mountain size.

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Pegasnails

For Christmas, I designed a couple of custom iPod Touch cases for my niece and nephew. He got an image that combines the Temple of the Golden Potato with a couple of adventuresome Baninjas. Unfortunately, for some reason my computer is not allowing me to shrink and save it to a more web-friendly size (although I've been able to do the exact same thing to every other picture I've posted on this blog!), so for now you'll just have to imagine that one.

My niece, on the other hand, likes snails. So for her I added some wings and made a small flock of pegasnails, fluttering happily through the sky. For one reason or another, they didn't actually receive their gifts until today, so I've been holding off posting this picture since mid-December.


Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Straw Rocket

Tonight's picture is a frame from something I'm doing for work. I'm making an animation showing the assembly of a straw rocket. Here's the finished rocket. I'll admit it's not that impressive yet (and the gray background doesn't help) but I'll post the animation when it's finally done.

 
 
Okay, that took far longer than I expected. At least it's done, and I can finally go to bed!
 


Monday, January 13, 2014

The Choco Nacho Fountain

While driving my daughter home from choir practice tonight, one of us happened to say the phrase "choco nacho fountain". Clearly that's a phrase needing a poem (and maybe an illustration, too), so here you go!

At the tip of Teapot Mountain
There’s a most majestic fountain
But it’s not the type with water flowing out
While most fountains spray out water
It’s delicious, and much hotter
With two jets of goodness shooting all about

There’s a column made of copper
With a pangolin most proper
Pouring gooey liquid chocolate from his hat
In the opposite direction
There’s a penguin-shaped projection
That spills molten nacho cheese sauce in a vat

And this fountain, if you found it
Has these bushes all around it
Growing strawberries not seen in any store
While the trees around the clearing
Have these branches, most endearing,
Filled with tacos and tortilla chips and more

So if you climb that mountain
To the Choco Nacho Fountain
And you see a bloated figure lying there
Please don’t tease me or deride me
Say “Hello” and sit beside me
Cause a treat is always better when you share

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Arrival - Now in 3D!!

Sunday, they say, is the day of rest. In honor of that, and because my daughter challenged me to be in bed by 11:00 tonight, I just took one of my old pictures and 3D-ized it. Again, cross your eyes and merge the pictures to see it.

Click to supersize!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Ring Planet Rendezvous

I've been interested in 3D stereo pair images for a long time, so I thought I'd try drawing one tonight. I started with the main picture, keeping every element in its own layer. Then all I had to do was take a copy of the original and shift the layers right or left to give the illusion of depth. To view it, all you need to do is cross your eyes until the two images merge into one in the middle. It takes some practice at first - good luck!

Click the picture to enlarge.

Friday, January 10, 2014

Back at the Start

…back at the start.

I thought it impossible, not to be done
They say that there’s nothing new under the sun
It’s just science fiction, and fantasy, too
But I’ve gone and done it! I made it come true!

I’ve invented a thing that can go back in time
But so far it’s confined to the lines of this rhyme.
Which means as I finish this last little part
At the end of this poem I’ll be…