Little Big Planet: Winter Reindeer Wonderland

There is a game for the PS3 called, Little Big Planet.  It is a very creative game where you play through all kinds of levels.  You can also create levels and share them in the game.  It has been out for about a year and a half and there are more than two million levels that have been uploaded by users.  I have made created several levels in the past couple years.  I will be highlighting them, since it is another expression of creativity.  Not only do you create all the objects, but the story as well.  The first Little Big Planet level that I made is called Winter Reindeer Wonderland.  You can find it in the game by searching for it or my PSN name, which is mbcross.

Get your Portable ID!

Where Have I Been

If you just know me through this sketch blog, you may be wondering....where in the world I have been.  My brother was involved in a severe car accident leaving him with traumatic brain injuries.  We are helping him through his recovery process and are just now starting to get back to some kind of normal.  You can read more about that at his blog, prayforkevin.com.

I am going to start posting again.  And I have a small backlog of projects to highlight. So you should start seeing some more postings soon.

Cartoon School

So, I have been wanting to get involved in the informal online cartooning school that John Kricfalusi, creator of Ren & Stimpy. I finally took the dive and did my first lesson. I won't post the lessons here, since I created a separate blog just for them. However, I will post a link when I have done a new lesson. Feel free to leave comments on either blog.

http://cartoonclass101.blogspot.com/

Experiment in Watercolor

So, I am not much of painter. Part of the issue is that I don't have a great deal in patience while creating. When I draw with a pencil my strokes are instantaneous. When, I use pens, color can be added as soon as I close the lid of the previously used pen. But with paint, you have to be careful about mixing colors that you don't want mixed. While our nephew Kohl was here visiting, I took him to Venice. While there we found an artists' little store. Her walls were filled with watercolors. She had full size originals mixed with various sized reproductions. I noticed that her watercolors were different. They weren't the washed out paintings that I have seen before. I noticed that she used a black outline and then she colored it in with watercolors. It looked like a black pen, since the line was perfect and completely uniform in every stroke. I asked her why the watercolors didn't make the ink run when it came in contact with it on the paper. She said its because she found the perfect pen finally. It is a waterproof, fade proof pen by Uniball. She told me that she had a spare pen that she would give to me. When she went to look for it she realized that she had left it at home. I took a picture of it and looked for it at stores once I got back to Verona. After only four stores, I found it!! At a store three blocks from our apartment. So I gave it a whirl.

The character below is a new character that I came up with recently. Angie and I were out to lunch a couple weeks ago and I saw this statue in the window from across the restaurant. Because we were on the other side of the restaurant I couldn't completely make out what it was. But I thought it looked like something, so I made a quick sketch of it in my notebook. I looked at the statue on the way out and laughed because it was completely different than my drawing and what I had seen in my head. I am also putting the original sketch I made of him.

Right now, his name is Bog. He is part of a comic book idea idea I am working on called "The Year of the Bog", that is unless I change it.

Brinkley, First Sketch

Here is a quick sketch of our new puppy, Brinkley. I worked on it over a couple days, and didn't look at him for most of it, so it is by memory. Later, I will do more sketches of him, while looking at him. If you want to see the real Brinkley, head over to my new blog set up for him at http://apupnamedbrinkley.blogspot.com.

Best Wallpaper Site on the Web

So, in case you are ever hunting for the best wallpaper for your computer's background, look no further. Go to Smashing Magazine at http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/30/desktop-wallpaper-calendar-february-2009/. This actually points you to the February 2009 submissions, but you can search for past months and download versions sans calendars. They look very sharp and come in a variety of flavors. I plan on submitting some to them some day, if they are still running the program. Check them out, you won't be disappointed.

Halloween Hijinks

Happy Halloween!!!! Here are a few pictures from tonight and things that Angie and I made throughout the month of October.

October Monster Madness 2008 - #31

And finishing off the October Monster Madness is monster #31, the Wolf Man. Aawoooooooooo!

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Technical details: I used two Pilot Precise Rolling Ball pens, one V7 fine and one V5 extra fine. I didn't use any pencil, choosing to sketch with the pen. It creates a more improvisational line. Then I scanned them in and colored them using CorelDraw X4.

October Monster Madness 2008 - #30

Monster #30, shows us what happened after Humpty Dumpty fell off the wall....he went on the warpath! Only one monster left.

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Technical details: I used two Pilot Precise Rolling Ball pens, one V7 fine and one V5 extra fine. I didn't use any pencil, choosing to sketch with the pen. It creates a more improvisational line. Then I scanned them in and colored them using CorelDraw X4.

October Monster Madness 2008 - #29

Coming into the final stretch is a madly demented jack in a box, monster #29. In August, I got to visit a restaurant, which when growing up was a childhood favorite later closed. The restaurant was "Jack in the Box". I'm not sure if it would have been one of my favorites if the mascot looked like this one.

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Technical details: I used two Pilot Precise Rolling Ball pens, one V7 fine and one V5 extra fine. I didn't use any pencil, choosing to sketch with the pen. It creates a more improvisational line. Then I scanned them in and colored them using CorelDraw X4.