Ryan Bird

More Running Kids

2010-03-14T15:50:00.004-06:00

This is an addition to the drawing of "Little Sharman" running. I drew this for my sister, who was giving it to a teacher friend of hers. From what I understand, the teacher liked it, but wanted a boy on it as well, because this image would be put on t-shirts that would be given to boys and girls.

On a side note, I need to apologize for not posting for the last couple of weeks. I have been crazy busy, and haven't been able to do much of my own art. I'll keep trying to post every week, but it still hasn't slowed down enough to be able to fully commit to it.

Older, yet strong gentleman

2010-02-21T06:45:00.004-07:00

Dagnabbit! I'm a day late again. I've been getting busier and busier these last weeks, and it looks like it's only going to get more busy over the next little while (I'm not complaining because I love having the work). I'm not sure I'm going to be able to continue to do this every week, but I'll try.

While I have done a lot of realistic characters for different jobs that I've worked on, I normally don't do them in my spare time (as anyone who has followed this blog will undoubtably notice). When I built him, I was really intrigued with the facial features and structure of older people. I wanted to build a head with cool wrinkles and definition. The only textures on this is on the eyes - everything is just geometry.

Meet Joey

2010-02-14T14:38:00.003-07:00

Oops! I'm a day late on this one. I actually had this done a couple of days ago, but I've been working a LOT this week, and forgot to put it up last night. Here comes a punch in the stomach from my brother.

Anyway... this is Joey. I've been working on him for some time now, but finished him up recently. I'm also using him as an example for an article I've written. He's a fun guy, and I think he'll be popping up here and there on this blog.

Spider Programmer

2010-02-06T22:26:00.004-07:00

I didn't have time to finish the 3D thing I was working on this week, so I'm posting this image that I did about 7 years ago, when I first started on Microsoft. The challenge was to draw an arachnid programmer.

I wish I would've had time to color it tonight. Hopefully, I can color it soon. I've got some fun things I want to do with the lighting on this.

Balloon Wizard

2010-01-30T23:40:00.003-07:00

Woooh... just barely made the deadline for this week. I need to get a lot better posting every week, so that I'm not doing it at the last minute, or even being late.

At any rate, this is a balloon wizard I did a couple of years ago. It was a randomly drawn character that I drew when I was working at Microsoft Games.

New Year, New Challenge

2010-01-13T16:13:00.003-07:00

My brother, Shawn, and I just challenged each other to post a new piece of art on our blog every week, this year. I'm excited and am going to try really hard to do it.

I just finished this up for my sister's friend. I guess they're going to make t-shirts out of it. They haven't seen it yet, so I hope they like it. :)

Baby Skeleton

2010-01-09T08:23:00.004-07:00

I did this for my awesomely artistic brother, Shawn, and his good wife, Lindsie, when I found out they were pregnant with Owen. Owen is over a year old, so this has been sitting idle for awhile.

I know this may seem a bit morbid for a baby picture, but at the time it went along with the cross bones fashion that was going on at the time.

2010 Baby

2010-01-01T21:08:00.004-07:00

This drawing has a couple different meanings for me. While I actually started this many years ago, I finished it up for my sister, Stephy, and her husband, Chad, to celebrate the new bundle of joy they are expecting in the summer. The bird on the diaper represents Steph's maiden name, and the teddy bear represents Chad's nickname (Bearclaw). I couldn't be happier for them.

The other meaning this picture has is for a hope that this new year will be a good one. I'm not saying that 2009 was absolutely horrible for me (there were some nice things that happened), but I just really hope that 2010 is a lot better. I've faced a lot of challenges last year, and I'd really like this year to be a lot better.

Little Birds

2009-12-31T08:05:00.003-07:00

It has been waaaaaay too long since I last posted. I have been in a stupid funk and haven't done anything creative for awhile (stupid economy getting me down).

At any rate, I did these several months ago for Christmas presents that Jen and I gave to our parents. When Maggi Quackenbush did our family pictures, we had her take some of the kids posing with imaginary birds. The kids had a lot of fun doing it, and I had a lot of fun drawing them in.

Halloween Pumpkin

2009-10-18T04:55:00.004-06:00

This is a small part of a larger project that a friend and I are working on, right now. The flaming eyes and mouth probably won't be in the final project, but I thought they were fun to add to this image.

Halloween sketch

2009-10-06T06:43:00.003-06:00

I feel bad that I haven't posted in a while. I've been super busy with other projects, and haven't had a lot of time for extra art. I've even been neglecting the CG Character Challenge that I swore I wouldn't neglect.

I drew this during conference. I used only a pen and drew it in a dark room, so it's pretty rough. I was going to color it, but it looks like I won't have time to do that, either.

Terrifying Thanksgiving Turkey

2009-09-01T11:22:00.003-06:00

This is was for an art challenge that my family does once a month. The challenge was "Things That Start with 'T'". For those of you paying attention, you may recognize this as a revamped turkey that I did for one of the Low Poly Challenges that I did several years ago. I just spent a couple of hours tweaking and rigging that model to get it ready for this image.

Fish on Patrol

2009-08-26T21:54:00.006-06:00

Ok... I know that last Wednesday, I said I would be posting this that night. I actually had something to post, but when I saw that no one else on the CG Character Challenge had posted anything for the week, I thought I would take an additional week to make this a lot better. I'm glad I did... I really like how this turned out.

The challenge that I did this for was Lurpy Cop Sea Animal Female. I built this fish to be like a officer/patrol car hybrid; with the body painted with the colors of a patrol car (I tried to make the top fin look like red & blue police lights), and topped with a classic bobby hat that holds a starfish badge.

Don't mess with her... she'll jack you up!

Sneak Peak

2009-08-19T09:15:00.004-06:00

For these CG Character Challenges that I participate in, I usually end up having a lot of detail in my characters that no one, but myself, ever sees. This week, we're working on a Lurpy Cop Sea Animal Female. I'm making a lurpy looking fish. This starfish is part of the fish's hat badge.

As I'm sure that in the final render, you probably won't be able to see the detail that I put into this starfish (it is only a small part of the whole character), I thought I'd just post this now, as a sneak peak for what I will hopefully be posting tonight.

I should also point out that the center of the star fish is fairly smooth because there will be a cartoony face there.

Well... hello, there.

2009-08-12T23:51:00.003-06:00

It's been awhile since I posted anything. Last Monday, I had surgery to take my gallbladder out. Between recovering from that and doing some freelance work, I haven't had a lot of time to do anything.

This image was for the last CG Character Challenge, which was Crazy Cook Dog Female. I only really had time to get the modeling and VERY quick texture job done on it. There were several other things that I wanted to add to make her more feminine, but I just didn't have the time or energy. I'm just going to have to call 'er good until I have time to re-visit the old gal.

Will you BEE my love?

2009-07-29T22:11:00.003-06:00

Man... that title is pretty lame.

This is my submission for this week's CG Character Challenge, which was Twitterpated Computer Nerd Insect Male. Because of my lack of time this week, I ended up using a bee that I created several years ago for my sister, Sharman (if you're interested, you can read the back story here).

I pretty much threw this together in about an hour.

Pink Teddy

2009-07-26T09:38:00.004-06:00

This is a submission that I did for my family's monthly art challenge. The topic was pink, and I thought it would be funny to do something cute, with a smedge of inuendo.

Evil Turtle

2009-07-22T23:36:00.004-06:00

This was my submission for this week's CG Character Challenge, which was Evil Delivery Boy Turtle. I spent most of the week being busy with side work and having to go to the emergency room with a gallbladder attack - which, while it was very painful, I'm extremely glad that it wasn't more serious.

I really like this character, and was a bit sad that I didn't get to finish him. Hopefully, I'll have some time to finish him up in the future. If nothing else, I'd really like to take him into Zbrush. I have some fun ideas to do for his textures and detail.

Fighting Fire with Fire

2009-07-15T21:32:00.003-06:00

Man... I need to get a lot better at posting.

For this week's CG Character Challenge, the goal was to make a Frustrated Fire Fighter Food Female. I thought it was cool that every word started with the letter 'F'. I wanted to make a food character that started with an 'f', but I couldn't find one that I liked. Instead, I chose a red chili pepper so that I could go with the whole 'hot vs. hot' theme.

I also have this scenario set up to have two frustrations. The first frustration is that she can't figure out why she isn't getting any water out her hose to fight the fire. The second will be when the hose becomes unkinked and she gets a face full of liquid pain.

Oopsie!

2009-07-07T07:24:00.004-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted. It's been pretty busy over here, so I haven't had a lot of time for doing art, outside of the freelance stuff that I've been doing.

I was barely able to get this done. It was for last week's CG Character Challenge - which was Clumsy Cowgirl Dinosaur. She's supposed to be tripping over something, but I probably should've built something for her to trip over... maybe a cow pie.

Purple Dragon

2009-06-24T00:05:00.004-06:00

It's sad that I couldn't think of a more interesting title to go along with this. Come on... the mocking potential for a purple dragon has got to be pretty high. Maybe I'm just tired.

In other news, I should probably announce that I'm working on several freelance projects this week, and may not be able to post that much. I'm hoping to be able to have some time to work on this week's CG Character Challenge, but there's a good chance that I won't have a lot of time for it.

This guy could use a good meal

2009-06-23T00:11:00.006-06:00

This is my entry for this week's CG Character Challenge, which was Sad Lumber Jack Skeleton Male. I had a lot going on this week, so I wasn't able to get a lot of what I wanted to do with it. If I had the time, I would've had him holding an axe, with one of his arms accidentally chopped off. Instead, it just looks like he's sad to be a living skeleton, working for a lumber jacking company.

Also, I didn't get any art up yesterday because it was my son's birthday, I was working on some freelance jobs, and then spent the last couple hours of the day working on this. You know... considering the lack of time that I had to do this, I'm pretty proud of how much I got done. :)

Parakeet

2009-06-21T18:59:00.005-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted for the last couple of days. I haven't been feeling well, and everytime I sat in front of the computer, I felt like my head was going to explode. So, I thought it would be best to take a little break.

Now, on to the story of this image. This is definitely not my best work, but I posted it for good reason. Awhile ago, my daughter, Kensie, got a childrens' how-to-draw animals book. One day while she was learning to draw from the book, she asked me to draw the parakeet image with her. Though this is not how I would've drawn a parakeet, it was how the book taught you how to draw it.

I ended up giving the drawing to my daughter and didn't really think about it again. Over the next several months, she used the drawing that I gave her to create many variations (by tracing it and doing some freehand copying). I think she ended up doing around 25 different versions - naming each of them and coloring them with different designs and colors (similar to the dolphin image that I just posted).

Yesterday, she asked me to ink in that sketch that I did for her several months ago. Being so close to Father's Day, I think I felt obligated to be a good dad and do it for her. After I inked it, she asked me to color it. I didn't really want to, but she is so cute, I couldn't say 'no'. I had her bring in her pet parakeets and colored this image similar to the colors and designs that were on her birds. The result is this image.

So, while this isn't something I would show off in a portfolio, it reminds me of some fun memories I got to have with my daughter.

Dolphins

2009-06-18T23:28:00.003-06:00

I drew this for my daughter because she loves dolphins. By adding the baby dolphin, it just increased the 'cute' factor for her.

I ended up giving her the original drawing for this. She liked it so much that she traced over it and made several different versions. She then colored all of these versions with different colors and markings, and then named every single one. She is so adorable!

Daily Drawing Challenge 020

2009-06-17T00:09:00.003-06:00

Well... this is the last of the Daily Drawing Challenges that I did. This was a lot of fun when I drew them several years ago, and just as much fun to color them over the last couple of months.

I like doing art challenges. Hopefully, I can keep the CG Character Challenge going, as well as start up a new one here and there. I should really get my family's art blog started up again. That was a lot of fun.

Speaking of family, it's my Dad's birthday today. I'd like to wish him a very happy birthday today, but I don't think he knows about this blog. So, it looks like I'm going to have to give him a call.

There's something soothing about a snowman playing banjo music

2009-06-16T00:18:00.004-06:00

This is my entry for this week's challenge - Sleepy Musician Snowman. I'm kind of sad that I spent so much time on details that can't be seen, yet have several areas that I wish I would've improved, instead.

Oh, well. On to the next challenge

Daily Drawing Challenge 019

2009-06-14T22:47:00.004-06:00

This one was a lot of fun to draw and color.

One of the first things I ever built in 3D was a haunted tree, that I built in Ray Dream Designer. One day in the near future (hopefully), I plan on rebuilding another haunted tree in 3D (now with almost 13 years of experience under my belt) and posting along side my original rendering. Hopefully, it will be an improvement.

Daily Drawing Challenge 018

2009-06-13T09:44:00.004-06:00

I'm not sure if this monkey is more crazy for driving sideways, or for not using his hands to drive. Either way, I think it's crazy to even let a monkey drive. What was I thinking?

Daily Drawing Challenge 017

2009-06-12T22:51:00.005-06:00

This is another one of my favorites from the challenge. I also have it in my demo reel - although, I re-colored it, tonight.

When I was coloring it again, I was going to paint in fur, but I thought that it would take away from the 'softness' that I thought this baby monster should have. All-in-all, I'm happier with the way this turned out, than the first time I colored it.

When I originally drew this, I used a lot of inspiration from my son, who was a baby at the time. I think that's another reason why I like this so much.

Daily Drawing Challenge 016

2009-06-11T21:03:00.004-06:00

I'm not too proud of this one. I hurried this one really fast, and it shows. I was hoping that when I colored it tonight, it would make it better, but I don't think it did the trick.

Daily Drawing Challenge 015

2009-06-10T11:57:00.003-06:00

For some reason, I forgot to add a hard hat to him. On every other one of my challenges that involved a construction worker, I've had a hard hat with a happy sunny face on it. I must've been in a hurry when I did this one.

Daily Drawing Challenge 014

2009-06-09T15:27:00.003-06:00

The lunch hour that I drew this, Mike and I just sat there for most of the time saying, "I can't figure out what to draw for this one!".

When I finally drew this, there wasn't much time, so I just flew threw it. Fortunately, I think the coloring job that I did on it today covers up a lot of the lack of effort on the drawing side.

That looks unBEARable!

2009-06-08T22:34:00.004-06:00

This is my submission for this week's CG Character Challenge, which was Angry Construction Bear Male.

I snuck my signature in here. My initials are RGB. That is also the initials for the Red Green Blue color channels used in computer image reading. You'll notice that the bears are red, green, and blue. Clever... eh? I've done it in several other pieces of my artwork.

Daily Drawing Challenge 013

2009-06-07T23:00:00.003-06:00

My apologies for missing yesterday... which I believe would go out to the 3 people who actually watch this blog. :) The reason that I missed posting yesterday was because I tried to help my wife catch up with some yard work. I'd like to be able to say that the yard work took up most of the day, and I wasn't able to work on my art, but I can't. Unfortunately, it's been awhile since I did some serious yard work, and the years of sitting in front of a computer reminded my body that I'm a soft, weak, dough boy, who has no business trying to impress my wife with how much work I think I can do. Needless to say, my arms felt like rubber and hurt too bad to do any art.

Which leads me to today's image. This challenge was really fun for me in several ways. First, this character is the mascot for my side business. For the last several years, I have been building him a little bit at a time in 3D. I've got all the modeling and UV work done, but there are some things I want to get and learn before I finish up texturing and rigging. I know how to do both, but there are some cool new tools that I want to get familiar with before I tackle it.

The second reason that this was so much fun is because this image symbolizes me. For those of you who know me, pretty much always see me with a hat on. My favorite color is blue, my last name is Bird, and I am a total computer nerd. I wouldn't say that I'm generally angry, but when I'm having computer or software troubles, I can definitely blow my top.

This image is also in one of my demo reels, but it wasn't colored until tonight. I can't wait to put it in my new demo reel, with some cool effects I want to try out.

Daily Drawing Challenge 012

2009-06-05T23:09:00.004-06:00

Although I had a bit of a difficult time figuring out the color scheme that I wanted to go with, I liked working on this one. It was fun playing with the colors and I think they add to the reason why this guy is a bit confused. :)

In other news, I got to go to all-you-can-eat sushi tonight with Adam (my brother), Bear (my brother-in-law), and a couple of my brother's brothers-in-law. It was a night of brotherhood.

Daily Drawing Challenge 011

2009-06-04T20:55:00.003-06:00

I'm not sure if this cow looks crazy, posessed, or if he's about to explode.

Either way, I actually have a lot of respect for many of the guys and gals that put on their badges and do what they can to make sure we're safe - even if it means risking their own safety. My hat goes off to all the valiant and honest officers - especially the one who didn't give me a ticket because I accidentally ran a stop sign.

Daily Drawing Challenge 010

2009-06-03T23:43:00.006-06:00

I don't know how I feel about this one. I think I may have tried too hard with the patriotic colors. I also didn't really use any reference for this, so I did a lot of guessing and making up stuff. I'm not really sure if this is a 'quick read' of an astronaut.

Oh, well. On to the next one.

He's so good looking, it makes him mad

2009-06-02T00:06:00.005-06:00

This was my submission for the CG Character Challenge, this week. The challenge was FURIOUS MODEL DRAGON MALE. Mine is an underwear model - which is probably was he is so furious.

It was a tough one - mostly because I hadn't been able to do it for the last month. Now that my side work has slowed down, I was finally able to get it. I've spent most of today finishing it up... which would explain why I didn't post a piece of art yesterday.

On to the next challenge!

Daily Drawing Challenge 009

2009-05-31T23:57:00.002-06:00

This one took me a long time to color. Usually I can get these Daily Drawing Challenges colored in about an hour, before I post them. This one took about 2 1/2 hours, but I had fun coloring it, and I like how it turned out.

Daily Drawing Challenge 008

2009-05-30T22:39:00.003-06:00

This was one of my favorites. In addition to liking the way that it turned out, it also reminds me of my daughter, Lexie. At the time that I drew this, her hair was very similar, and she is quite the ham, so I wouldn't put it past her to make a face like this if she was pretending to throw up.

I also put this in my demo reel - though I did a bit of touch-up tonight.

Daily Drawing Challenge 007

2009-05-29T23:30:00.003-06:00

For those of you who have seen our Bird Family Art blog, you should recognize this. I posted it there a long time ago. While this was originally done for the Daily Drawing Challenge, I posted it on our family blog as an example for some art challenges that we were doing.

The only difference is that now it's shaded, instead of having just flat colors.

Pink Flamingo

2009-05-28T23:13:00.003-06:00

I didn't have time to color my next Drawing Challenge image, so I'm just going to post this thing that I did several years ago for a girls camp shirt design. For some reason, whenever I look at it, all I can see is the number '4'.

Daily Drawing Challenge 006

2009-05-27T23:39:00.004-06:00

I don't know why plumbers get the bad rep for always showing a little crack. In the years that I've lived at my house, we've had several plumbers come to fix various things, and none of them have had this problem. On the other hand, I know that my wife has had to tell me to hike up my pants on several occasions... and I've done very little plumbing work.

Daily Drawing Challenge 005

2009-05-26T23:00:00.004-06:00

Now that I don't have any more Low Poly Challenge images, I'm going to jump back to my Daily Drawing Challenge images.

Work is also starting to slow down, so hopefully, I'll be able to get the CG Character Challenge up and running again.

Low Poly Challenge 009

2009-05-25T00:15:00.003-06:00

This was the last of the Low Poly Challenges. After this one, Mike and I started realizing that the job we were at wasn't that stable anymore, and that we should probably start focusing more on getting our demo reels ready.

I had a lot of fun with the Low Poly Challenge. I just hope that the CG Character Challenge will be able to hold up, and that I can stay motivated to do it - with all the other stuff I have to do.

Low Poly Challenge 008

2009-05-23T14:05:00.007-06:00

Ugh... I REALLY didn't want to post this one. The challenge was Angry Cheerleader Girl. When I started this, I though, "Cool. I've got my fairy girl and superheroine from the past challenges. I can just make a few modifications, and I'll be done".

How come everytime I think a piece of art will only take a little bit of time, it NEVER DOES?! I spent a lot more time re-modeling and tweaking the original than I planned. A couple of days before the deadline, I rigged and posed her in this pose, so that I could show Mike where I was. I figured I would have plenty of time to add textures and make her look 'angry'.

But, as fate would have it, I got really busy and was never able to finish her. So, while she is supposed to be angry, all I got was a textureless cutesy cheerleader.

Low Poly Challenge 007

2009-05-22T22:29:00.003-06:00

This one didn't turn out as nice as I had planned. If I remember correctly, I think I threw it together in the last 2 days of the deadline. I was really busy that week, and it got put off to the last minute. Everything on this was rushed.

Though, I guess it's not that bad if I look at it as something that I did in only a couple of hours.

Low Poly Challenge 006

2009-05-21T21:59:00.004-06:00

This was another one of my favorites. I always liked it when I was able to completely finish the challenge. I even had a few controls for his face that I never used.

Low Poly Challenge 005

2009-05-20T22:06:00.004-06:00

This one was fun for a couple of reasons. For one, it was a very simply character, only consisting of a head - so I didn't have to do all the work I would need to for a body. The other reason that this was fun, was because I was only essentially building a head. I was able to take my alotted 2,000 triangles and add more detail than I normally would have for a head.

But, the ultimate reason that this was fun was because I love taking Halloween things and making them cute. It really ticks off the hardcore Halloween fans. :)

Low Poly Challenge 004

2009-05-19T23:22:00.005-06:00

This one was one of my favorites for several reasons. In addition to being able to finish modeling, texturing, rigging, posing, and rendering within the week deadline, I was happy with the overall look and style. I also liked the doll he's holding. I think it really adds a lot to the overall theme and mood of the image.

Low Poly Challenge 003

2009-05-18T22:04:00.003-06:00

For this one, I only got modeling and texturing done... well... not totally. I had also planned to build a madscientist type mustache and a lab coat. I think out of all them, this was the one that I got the least amount of work done. I'm also not thrilled with how it looks, but again, I'm posting it because I'm making myself post what I did on these challenges, regardless of how good or bad it turned out.

Low Poly Challenge 002

2009-05-17T00:44:00.004-06:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a week. Between our family vacation and still being expected to get in a certain amount of hours in for work this week, every second of my day was taken.

At any rate, here is the second of the Low Poly Challenges that I did. For some reason, we had 2 weeks to work on this one, but I can't remember why. At least I was able to get it posed.

Low Poly Challenge 001

2009-05-11T08:57:00.012-06:00

In an earlier post, I mentioned the Low Poly Challenge (that went along with our Daily Drawing Challenge). In this challenge, we had 1 week, 2,000 triangles, and 2 texture maps to create whatever character we drew out of the 3 bowls (also mentioned in that earlier post).

The Low Poly Challenge was awesome! At the time, things were really excrutiating and tedious at work, and my friend Mike and I needed to do something that was creative and fun. We did these challenges for a couple of months before they ended up fizzling away - due to the downturn of the studio we were working for.

The other thing that was fun about these challenges was that at the end of every week, we would post our work next to our office door. At first, Mike and I would just go to each other's office and enjoy seeing what the other had accomplished. Within a couple of weeks, we started seeing that other co-workers would start dropping by to see what we had done. It was nice that others were looking at what we were doing, as well.

Obviously, for this challenge, I only got the modeling and texturing done. I wasn't able to get it rigged into a 'sneaky' pose.

___________

On another note, I'm going to California with my family, this week. If I don't post something every day, you'll know why.

Happy Mommys Day

2009-05-10T10:25:00.003-06:00

I made this for my wife for Mothers Day, this year. I know this probably falls more in the "photo" realm, more than art, but I did have to do some Photoshop work on it to make it look nice.

I'm just grateful that I didn't fall off the ladder when I was taking this.

Happy Mothers Day, Hun!

Daily Drawing Challenge 004

2009-05-09T22:24:00.003-06:00

Ok... this has got to be the WORST car I've ever drawn! When I drew this, I had a bunch of stuff I needed to get done, so my lunch hour was more like a half hour. I had to just pound it out, and it really shows.

I was a bit hesitant to post it, but I feel like I shouldn't skip over a challenge, because it's bad. After all, the point of the challenge was to see what we could get done in the time we had - even though the coloring was done tonight.

Daily Drawing Challenge 003

2009-05-08T23:52:00.004-06:00

Although, I love creating characters and working on art for a living, I have to admit that sometimes working with computers makes me feel like this guy.

Daily Drawing Challenge 002

2009-05-07T23:53:00.005-06:00

Man... it's getting harder and harder to post something every day. I'm super swamped with a freelance job I'm on, and it doesn't afford me a lot of time to do other things.

At any rate, here is the second of my Daily Drawing Challenges. The drawing was done during a lunch hour, and I did all the coloring tonight. I know it's dark, but that's the way I likes it.

Daily Drawing Challenge 001

2009-05-05T21:24:00.005-06:00

Several years ago, my friend Mike Snyder and I came up with some art challenges to help us fight off an excruciating boredom we were suffering through, during some long and tedious crunch hours. We had a Low Poly Challenge that we did every week. We also had a Daily Drawing Challenge that we would do every day, during our lunch hour.

Both challenges consisted of drawing out slips of paper from 3 bowls. The first bowl had emotions, the second bowl had occupations, and the third bowl had character types. At the beginning of each challenge (whether it was daily or weekly), we would draw a slip of paper from each bowl, and that was the character we had to create.

Similarly, the CG Character Challenge that I started and am participating in now, works the same way.

This image was our first Daily Drawing Challenge - Angry King Insect. In the hour that I worked on it, I just did the pencil and ink. Tonight, I colored it. We ended up doing a bunch of these, so I think I'll start coloring and posting them.

You seem disturbed, Mr. Carrot.

2009-05-04T22:31:00.005-06:00

I originally built this for a '10 Second Club' animation that I did a LONG time ago. I used him for a few small things here and there afterwards, but not a lot. Tonight, I dusted him off, posed him, and did this rendering.

I think the main reason that I did this was because I completely missed this week's CG Character Challenge. With my trip to North Carolina, the mounds of side work I have, and family stuff , I just didn't have any time to work on it. So, with what little spare time I had tonight, I brought this guy out for another small shot in the spotlight.

Go shine, little vegetable.

Bee Cool

2009-05-03T20:28:00.004-06:00

I created these characters for my sister, Sharman. She was doing a Primary presentation on President Hinckley's Six Be's. Initially, she just asked me to draw her some pictures, but as soon as she mentioned the Bee characters, I just had to build them in 3D. I was really happy with how they turned out.

Best Friend

2009-05-02T23:50:00.005-06:00

Several years ago, when my wife was hanging out with me, while I worked, I turned around and she was looking at me like this. I had some paper handy, so I hurried and drew her as a cartoon. It's probably not the most impressive thing I've done, but it reminds me of how cute she is to me.

Love you, best friend.

First Class

2009-05-01T08:18:00.006-06:00

I wasn't able to post anything yesterday, because I was either packing, working, or traveling all day long. I really enjoyed my trip, but I have to admit that it's great to be home!

I did have a really nice surprise yesterday. While I was checking into the airport, the guy that was checking me in, informed me that I would be flying First Class. I was really suprised by this, becuase I was sure that I was supposed to be flying in Economy. I asked him if he was sure, and he said that's what his info said.

I figured it was probably a mistake so I tried not to get too excited. But, when I went to the gate to get my assigned seat, sure enough, they had me on First class. That's where this drawing comes in. While I felt like this guy on the inside, I had to totally play it cool on the outside, so that I wouldn't nerd myself out around everybody else. :)

First Class was ok, but not amazing. The plane ride was over 4 hours long, but just didn't seem to have an appropriate First Class arrangement. Granted, I've never been on First Class before, but I've definitely been on enough planes to know that the longer flights usually have nicer First Class sections... and this one just seemed to be lacking. It was nice, but not great. It was nice getting everything for free (food, movies, games, etc.). I'm greatful for the experience, but I'm not sure if would ever pony up the extra money for a First Class ticket, anytime soon.

I will say that I was treated nicely, and I did get to sit next a cool guy, named Dave. He was just the friendliest guy, and we had some nice conversations. In the 4 hours I got to know him, I got the impression that he would do anything to help anybody out. He's good people.

Badda Woords

2009-04-29T17:55:00.010-06:00

Believe it or not, I actually did this for a childrens' presentation. It was part of a series of images that I drew. Some were good things to do and others were bad.

The title of this blog is how me and my siblings used to refer to swearing when we were little - except the 's' sound would be said with a messy slur. Ahhh... good times.

Not quite there

2009-04-28T05:01:00.004-06:00

This week's challenge was a Happy Politician Amphibian Male. I was really stoked about this challenge, because my wife and I had worked together on a really cool idea for it. In addition to this model, I was going to add some cool textures and materials that had some cool colors and designs, as well as some cool translucense in the material. Then, I was going to pose him, so it looked like he was throwing money in the air.

Unfortunately, I had to spend most of yesterday flying to North Carolina (for work), so this was all I was able to get done by the deadline. I really liked where this was going, so I may finish it later down the road.

Saddle Tears

2009-04-27T07:54:00.005-06:00

Awhile ago, I challenged myself to make a mock movie poster. In the end, I think I really just did it to try and make people laugh.

Hobble Creek Hawk

2009-04-26T06:56:00.003-06:00

I originally did this for a neighbor-friend of mine, who worked at an elementary school. I'm not quite sure, but I think he moved to a new school shortly after I did this, so I'm not sure that it ever got used there.

Fortunately, my dad happened to be a principal at an elementary school where their mascot was a hawk. He was happy to take this off my hands and used it on their website and shirts for the students. My dad has always been one of my heroes, so it felt nice to be able to do something for him.

Look what smoking did to him...

2009-04-25T21:39:00.003-06:00

Back when I worked at Viewpoint, there always seemed to be this same group of people smoking outside. It seemed like they were there everytime I entered or left the building. There was a point where when I looked at one of them, all I could see was this sickly cigarette character. So, I decided to draw it.

Timid

2009-04-24T10:05:00.003-06:00

This is another sketch that I did awhile ago. It was sketched in pen, so it's a bit sloppy.

Scouting... dragon-style!

2009-04-23T09:16:00.003-06:00

Several years ago, a neighbor friend of mine asked if I could draw them a scout logo with a dragon incorporated into it, for some shirts they were making. I can't remember why, but I also think I needed to incorporate the letter 'S', as well. Anyway, this is what I came up with.

Squirrel

2009-04-22T09:22:00.007-06:00

Is it bad that I had to look up the spelling for 'squirrel'?

This is a rough sketch that I did several years ago. I think it was a concept piece for a short movie we were going to do while I was at Viewpoint. I sketched it in ink - which would explain why it is so messy.

Rock & Roll meets Sufistication

2009-04-21T00:08:00.003-06:00

This was my submission for this week's CG Character Challenge. The challenge was to create a "Refined Rockstar Inanimate Object Female". I like how it turned out, and special thanks to my wife for helping me with the colors.

Caged Eyes

2009-04-20T07:40:00.006-06:00

It's about time I put some 3D art up. Believe it or not, that's what I do for a living. :)

If you've seen my demo reel, you'll probably recognize this. I did a little animation where the cage of eyes comes in to view, one of the eyes falls out, and they all look down. Simple, but good times.

Turtle Goodness

2009-04-19T19:19:00.002-06:00

When my oldest daughter was 2 years old, I got her this little cheap $100 computer. It wasn't the greatest computer in the world, but it worked for the little programs that she had on it.

Her computer was in my office, where my computer was. When I would work on my computer, she would come in my office and work on her computer. For me, this was the cutest thing in the world.

One day, she noticed that I had some art that I had created (I can't remember what it was), as my background. She asked why she didn't have a picture on her computer. So, I drew and colored this turtle, so that she could have a background image on her computer. Luckily, she really liked it, and it stayed on there the whole time she had her computer.

Potty-time Elephant

2009-04-18T08:13:00.003-06:00

I drew this several years ago for a potty chart to help give one of my kids insentive to get potty trained. The chart had a bunch of these elephants in different colors, and everytime she went potty, she got to put a smiley face sticker on one of the elephants.

Though we finally had success through my wife's hard work and dedication, I'd like to think I helped by drawing this. :)

Mr. Bean

2009-04-17T09:08:00.003-06:00

I've always been a big Mr. Bean fan - from the first time I watched him. Comic Genius.

This was a drawing I did back in 2000. I was going to make a 3D model of him, but lost the steam for it after I did the drawing.

Hot Cocoa

2009-04-16T08:16:00.003-06:00

This is another one that I did awhile ago. I'm not happy with his left hand (our right), but because I only used a pen to draw it, there wasn't a lot of option to fix it.

Resuscitation

2009-04-15T18:11:00.008-06:00

It's time to bring this blog back to life.

Hopefully this will be the first piece of many to come. This is something that I did for a challenge that I just started for a bunch of artists I know. Every week, a random character is drawn from a bunch of different options. We then have a week to put build it.

This week's challenge was to build a 'Dizzy Teach Gargoyle Male". Unfortunately, I was only able to finish the modeling, but I was really happy with what I did get done.

If you want to keep an eye on this challenge, you can find it here: http://cgcharacterchallenge.blogspot.com/

Mr. Chubby

2007-05-06T01:03:00.000-06:00

Another sketch I did about 5 years ago.

Big chin & nose guy

2007-05-04T09:44:00.000-06:00

Ok... I'm really trying to push myself to post regularly, so I may just post old art for awhile, until I can build up the momentum to start doing more current stuff and then posting it.

This was done about 5 years ago.

First Post

2007-05-03T01:42:00.000-06:00

I'm hoping that this can be a place where I can get some art up that I've done and talk about various topics. I have a web page, but I haven't been very good about updating it. So, maybe by posting here, it will help me update my website more often.