Angry man

 Here's a drawing I recently did of a very angry man.  "Why is he angry?", you ask.  Well, he's in my little film that I'm still working on and should hopefully be done in the near future.  Having a full time job AND a toddler son to chase around does make the work that much more difficult.  But, with perseverance I know I can make it happen. 

My boy Avery is finally here!!!

 On September 17 at 4:46 am Mountain Time, my son Avery was born to very beleaguered and exhausted parents.  That is an ordeal that none of the parties involved will ever forget.

The adventure got underway at about 6:30 Saturday morning when my wife woke me up to tell me that her water had broke.  I knew that was a sure sign that the baby's birth was imminent so it was time to head out for the hospital.  There was literally no time for anything else.  We checked in and the doctors did their usual evaluation, looking at dilation of various parts and things.  We were initially sent home because we were told there were still hours to wait yet.  So we were back for for a small bit.  I took that time to have a shower.  Then, when her contractions were getting more intense and closer together, we were right back at that hospital again.

My wife assumed that this delivery would be quick because of previous experience.  When our daughter was born 14 years ago, there was only an hour between water breaking and full delivery.  She naturally thought that would happen again.  But nope.  This labour went on for hours and hours.  Of course, the maternity staff were busy with other babies being born at that time, so a lot of that time was just the both of us waiting on a bed in a room not knowing how any of this would go down.

When it was finally our turn, the staff was right there instructing my wife to "PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH PUSH".  I acted as a "human stirrup" in that endeavour by holding her leg up.  What else are husbands for?  Sadly, all of that pushing was to no avail.  All that came out was a small amount of poop, but no baby.  At that point, they used the dreaded phrase "C section".  We were both taken to another room full of big lights and beeping machines (none of which went PING to my disappointment).  I sat near my wife while they put a tarp over her lower part so that we couldn't see what they were doing.

In just a few short minutes it was done.  Little baby Avery was finally out of his mother's womb and amongst the rest of us.  It was a joyous and happy moment for me of course.  However, I really really felt so bad for Avery.  Upon being birthed, he was placed on a small bed surrounded by people wearing yellow gowns and face masks (me being one of them).  One nurse felt there was still too much amniotic fluid in his system.  So, to alleviate that problem, she inserted a hose very far into his nose in order to suck it all out.  Then proceeded to insert another hose into his mouth to catch what she missed.  To me, that looked like a nightmare scenario, especially for someone who has just entered to world having no idea what anything is.  Yes, I know that all of that needed to be done in order to ensure survival, but Avery didn't know that and there's no way he could've known.  He was having a miserable time at that point.

It didn't stop there either.  They let my wife hold him for a bit.  Then, while he wasn't looking, a nurse gave him a quick Vitamin K shot in his leg and slipped away before he knew what was happening.  I'll never forget Avery's reaction to that.  He didn't just cry.  He had gotten a lot of his crying out during the previous ordeal I mentioned.  No, this was more of an angry cry.  I was reminded of every Al Pacino performance I had ever seen.  Avery's cry seemed to be saying "HEY! WHO DID THAT?!  WHO STUCK ME?!  I WANT ANSWERS!!  WAS IT FREDO?!  THIS WHOLE SYSTEM'S OUT OF ORDER!!! ATTICA!!! ATTICA!!!"  That's my interpretation anyway.

Thankfully for Avery, things calmed down very quickly and he could finally relax.  That's when I was given a chance to hold him for the first (and definitely not the last) time.  The look he gave me was the greatest look.  For about half a second, his look seemed to say "who's this guy?".  But, it immediately changed to a "oh ok, I recognize him now.  He's good people."  I was at first puzzled by how he could've known me so fast.  But then I remembered something my wife kept telling me during the final few months of the pregnancy.  Apparently, while in the womb, Avery would always react whenever he heard my voice.  So, that's how he recognized me then.  He knew my voice.

I think Avery still has a memory of his tumultuous first few minutes of his life.  We were discharged from the hospital two days later after had deemed both baby and mom to be healthy enough to survive out in the world.  So, we went straight home and put little Avery into his new sleeping quarters: his bassinet. Just a few days after that though, a nurse came right to our house to check up on us to make sure Avery was still healthy and that our home environment was ideal for a baby.  After the nurse was done giving Avery a check up, I put him back in his bassinet while she gave my wife instructions about caring for newborns.  The look on Avery's face was not a friendly one.  He had a "get her out of here" kind of face.  He was NOT in the mood to be dealing with medical professionals at that point and I can't blame him.  No, I'm not going to help him with a vigilante quest to "punish" all medicos.  I'll simply say that Avery has already learned a valuable lesson about the world: there are people you cannot trust.  That's a lesson everyone should learn.

I'm ending this post with my first glance at Avery the moment he was born.  This is what he looked like to me:

Most parents get freaked out by this site and nearly faint.  They consider the baby to be "hideous" at this stage.  However, to me, he just looked cool.  If he stayed looking like this, I'd be fine.

If anyone out there reading this has a baby in their lives, keep being good to that baby.  To anyone out there who doesn't, I recommend it.  Happy parenting!

lol omg wut

 Last post I put up a small animated segment from something I'm working on.  This time I'd like to share one small image from it.  I can't even believe I drew that.  Yes, it's an in-between and it does work well enough within the movement.  But even still, it's such a twisted bizarre image that I felt the need to share it.

I really can't wait for my project to be done and shared with the world.

It's going to be a boy and Avery is his name-o

The wife and I had the big anatomy scan ultrasound just recently.  It is now confirmed that the baby developing inside her body as we live and breathe is indeed a boy.  As I mentioned in this blog's title, we've settled on his first name being "Avery".  He's named after the great animation genius Tex Avery of course.  Will my son live up to the amazing legacy of Tex?  Um......... geez! Way to put pressure on a kid before he's even out of the womb.  Back off a bit, you weirdo!

Based on what my wife has experienced so far in being Avery's portable incubator, we're sure he's going to a spry and energetic little man who will give us plenty of excitement and exercise.  I'm sure he can't wait to come out and meet us all as well.

"Thumbs up, doc! Thumbs up!"

See! He's already giving the world a big thumbs up.  He's ready for us, but are we ready for him?

Also, according to my wife, Avery likes to kick and punch a lot inside there.  All fetuses (feti?) do that to some degree.  But, that seems to be Avery's favourite activity so far.  So, in that spirit, I've created an artist's rendering of what Avery could look like when he finally out of the womb.

Is this accurate?  Well, he's due in September so we'll know for sure by then.  I'll certainly keep everyone posted when that happens.

A preliminary welcome to the world, little Avery. We can't wait to meet you.

There's a new security company in town...

 ...and I designed the logo for them.

There it is.  Aint that spiffy?

And here's the ad they put out in the local newspaper.  I helped design that.

Here's what they posted on their social media accounts.  Buncha goobers!

If you happen to be at the next career fair, watch for their table.  It will have this banner big enough for the entire convention hall to see.  We hope to see you there.

I experimented with lip sync

 

 Above is some lip sync animation I just did as an experiment.  I took an old dialogue file that I used for this "series of videos" (which was really just one very long video) some time ago.  The main reasons I did this is be because I both wanted to see if I still "have what it takes" but also see what my current technology could help me accomplish.

Doing this lip sync was harder than it should have been.  I did finally manage to import the sound file into the Adobe Flash program ut for some reason I couldn't set it to what's called "stream" for the purpose of going over the dialogue frame by frame so as to insure accuracy.  So, what I had to do was put that dialogue file into iMovie and "stream" the dialogue there.  One shouldn't have to go back and forth between programs to complete a simple task like lip sync, but it's what I had to do.

So, anyway, here's my lip sync such as it is.  What are your thoughts?

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT???

The family and I were dining at a local restaurant the other day.  One feature this particular establishment has is that every table is draped in a large ream of newsprint paper that acts as a table cloth of sorts. Plus, since our child is still considered "of child age" (although, confidentially, I think she may be more mature than I am), we were provided with a few crayons to do with whatever we wanted.  Immediately, our daughter started doodling on the paper while I did the crossword puzzle on the kids' menu.

But, my wife (my daughter's mom) issued us a challenge.  She told us both to draw a creature with a specific criteria:

1. Its eyes are on its hands.

2. Its nose is on its giant horn.

3. Its mouth is on its chin.

4. It has four legs.

5. Its teeth are like thorns.

Thankfully there was no official time limit so we didn't have to rush. Although we did have to pause our drawing when the food arrived of course. That's why there's a few grease stains on it.

My daughter didn't manage to finish her drawing sadly. But she did make several other doodles that I thought were quite good. Unfortunately, my wife neglected to capture those with her phone's camera and so they are now lost to time and the elements.  Oh well, maybe she will start her own blog or post her artwork on whatever website would attract the most traffic. Who knows.

Anyway, my response to my wife's art challenge is the one above. Enjoy it if that's how you feel.

Angry Bear

 An angry bear with a crazy looking nose

The combatants

If these two entered into battle who would win? 

The answer could shock you!!! 

Or annoy you!

Or you could just say "meh" and keep scrolling.

But, no matter how you react to these two, the answer to that above question WILL AFFECT YOUR LIFE........... in some significant way I'm sure.

 

some more Russell Mussell

A few months ago on this blog I posted some artwork for a new character I just designed called Russell Mussell.  I only had that one drawing of him at the time.  Well, since I've been somewhat laid off from my day job (because of this big big virus), I've had time to draw lots more of him.  It's been an intense labour of love of course and lots of fun.  Moreso than just the act of drawing being fun, it's the discoveries that an artist makes along the way that are just as fun.  Here's one such discovery I have made in drawing this character:

First I'll tell you a bit about Russell's design.  His head has no shape really.  I start by simply drawing two eyes and a crooked smile. Then I draw everything else around that.  He does tend to look somewhat flat when rendered this way, mostly in the front view.  However, I found that I can easily give him the illusion of a 3rd dimension by simply drawing his eyes in perspective.  As you can see, the eye closest to us is bigger than the farther one, thus the perspective is achieved.

I'm not the first to discover this of course and I'm not claiming to either.  Way back in the late '40's/early '50's many animation studios were experimenting with a graphically flat design in their cartoons.  They absolutely achieved that same illusion with their flat designs and many of the results were pretty cool.

I'm very proud of myself for rediscovering nitrogen in a way and applying that to what I'm drawing now.  I hope I can have much more drawings of Russell Mussell done very soon.

Nurse

Here is a picture of a nurse I have drawn.  Just so you know, it ties in with this character I've drawn as well as this guy I've drawn.  "What is the connection between all of these characters?", you ask.  Hopefully everyone will find out soon long before this year ends.

This old man...

...he played one.... and so on.

Anyway, yes I drew an old old man.  I hope all of you people in internet land who stumble upon this post enjoy it.

Russell Mussell

There he is. He's up on my blog right now.  It's my creation. It's official. You've seen it. I've seen it. It's a done deal.