Address Is Approximate

Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.

Google Street View stop motion animation short made as a personal project by director Tom Jenkins.

Story: A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View.

All screen imagery was animated - there are no screen replacements.

Produced, animated, filmed, lit, edited & graded by Tom Jenkins (www.theoryfilms.co.uk / https://www.facebook.com/theoryfilms).

Drippy

Amy Shackleton creates these amazing paintings without the use of finger or brush strokes. So drippy and beautiful. Click through to YouTube to view in high def.




Via Colossal

Last Day to Vote

I need your votes. Again! This time it's for the highly competitive, world renowned Washington Centerville Public Library photo contest. The winner has the prestigious honor of having their photo hung in the lobby of the police station lobby.

My photo is number 149 (Jameson on a swing) and I believe it's on page 3 of the gallery.

So help a brother out. Only one vote per person. Click here to vote. 

Those Tasty Little Monkeys

Every summer, Aunt Emily heads off to Connecticut to work at the Hole in the Wall Gang camp. The kids know she goes to camp every summer, but I don't think I've ever explained exactly what camp is.  One day this summer I asked the kids to draw a picture of what they thought Emmy was doing at camp.  This is Amelia's drawing.

She said, "Emily and the babies are chasing and eating monkeys."

Um, yeah.

Photo Contest

I need your votes. Again! This time it's for the highly competitive, world renowned Washington Centerville Public Library photo contest. The winner has the prestigious honor of having their photo hung in the lobby of the police station lobby.

My photo is number 149 (Jameson on a swing) and I believe it's on page 3 of the gallery.

So help a brother out. Only one vote per person. Click here to vote. (Thanks for the direct link, Jason.)

Moving Sculpture

Art. Makes it worth it to be human.

 
MÖBIUS from ENESS on Vimeo.

Sketch #5

Well, I've fallen off the wagon with a couple of New Year's Resolutions, namely my plan to sketch something new every week and to watch at least one 80s movie every week. Now the following isn't a sketch in the traditional sense of the word, but since I'm so far behind on my resolution I'm going to count it anyway. I made this on the ever useful Aviary website. It was for a t-shirt I made for Amelia. She used to have a shirt emblazoned with several Dia de los Muertos calaveras which she referred to as her "zombie shirt." I'm pretty sure it was her favorite shirt. Until she ruined it. With scissors. (She has a history with scissors...) So I made this, printed it on dark t-shirt transfer paper (the greatest stuff ever) and ironed it onto a new shirt. It might not be as cool as her original zombie shirt, but I like it. Coming up with a design for the skull was hard. I now have a much greater appreciation for the awesome calavera artwork out there. 

I don't usually (as in never) dress Truman and Amelia in matching outfits,
but I went ahead and made a t-shirt for Truman, too.

Sketch #4

Well, now that we're now at least 12% moved in to our new house, I can get back to some of my New Year's Resolutions on which I've fallen behind.

Here's sketch number four. This is a cartoon dog that I doodled all the time in high school. His name is Baxter and he evolved over a few years of incredibly interesting and engaging high school math, science and history classes.

2011: A Space Jeopardy

Tension mounts on the set of Jeopardy: Man vs. Machine.

My Photoshop tribute to this week's Man vs. Machine challenge on Jeopardy. Yes, I'm a dork.

Sketch #3

This sketch is a self portrait. This is me from a few nights ago, working on my father-in-law's driveway, shoveling snow under a full moon in almost complete silence. I like shoveling snow at night, especially if the snow is still falling. It seems so quiet and peaceful. The only sound is the repetitive scrape of the shovel against the frozen concrete of the driveway. Even the sound of the shovel is dampened by the thick layer of snow that blankets my surroundings. I also like the sense of accomplishment that comes from slowly revealing the driveway beneath snow. It's a relaxing chore if ever there was one.

Oh yeah, and the pack of hungry wolves ready to take me down? I dunno. It felt like a wolf-like environment. And out there in all that silence, being dragged into the darkness by some stealthy carnivores seemed like the most likely end to my evening.

Yes, my mind wanders.

High Stakes in the Jungle

Jameson likes to draw. I like to watch him draw. It's a great way to witness how his five year old mind works. A blank canvas and a crayon = a completely unencumbered way to express oneself.

This morning he was sitting at the kitchen table ready to make a picture. He was narrating the process to me (as he often does), which is an added bonus to me.

"I don't know what to draw."

"I think I'll make a rainbow."

"Like my rainbow?"

"I'm going to make a jackpot at the end of my rainbow."

"See the jackpot?"

"Now I need to draw some leopards to guard the jackpot."

Sketch #2

Lacking inspiration for my second of fifty-two sketches, I asked Truman for subject material. It's not a good sign that I'm getting sketchers block on only my second drawing, but at least the kids are never at a loss for ideas.

Resolution #6 - Sketch

I've committed to creating at least one sketch every week in 2011. I'm not planning on doing anything elaborate (who has time for that), but I do want to shake off some of the rust. No big ambitions, just putting pencil to paper at least once a week. I'm guessing it will usually be quite random. This week, while sitting in the car waiting to pick up Jameson from school, I drew that sweet nectar of the gods that is so often the lifeblood getting me through my day.

Brilliant Video of the Week

Man walks across America.  Not literally, but it's not a green screen either.  These are real images.  It's professionally done and the results are amazing.  Kudos for the meticulous planning and execution as well as for the idea itself.

Project Complete?

I am the king of the perpetual, close-but-not-quite-finished project. So, it's kind of a big deal when I truly complete one of my pursuits. I promised myself this year I was going to finish more projects than I start (i.e. catch up on some of the back log). Well, I've at least taken one step in the right direction. Early last year I bought Jameson a bulletin board with the intention of giving it a painted SpongeBob SquarePants theme. After many months of working on it for an hour here and an hour there, I'm finally done. The whole thing probably could have been done in a weekend if I had, you know, free time. But whatever, I'm just glad to be crossing something off the ol' list.

Though maybe I could squeeze Gary or Squidward in there... or how about a SpongeBob title... hmmmm... maybe I'm not done.


Bikini Bottom by ~MightyDeez on deviantART


Bikini Bottom - Sandy Cheeks by ~MightyDeez on deviantART


Bikini Bottom - Eugene Crabs by ~MightyDeez on deviantART

Let It Snow

Still waiting for some real snow here in Dayton...

The Inconvenient Flaw of the Y-Wing.

Originally uploaded by Avanaut

Incredible depth with Lego mini-figs. True creativity can be so inspiring. Click the image to see how he did it.

Cell Size

Nerd alert!



Ever wondered what's smaller than a sperm cell? Wonder no more, thanks to this merging of scientifical knowledge and creative graphic design over at the University of Utah's website. It's worth clicking the link!

[Snagged from Gizmodo.]

The Great Pumpkin

I think it's pretty much going to be impossible to save and store every single piece of artwork created by my kids. Jameson can crank this stuff out by the dozens per day. I'd like to hang on to these things for posterity (especially in case one of my children becomes a world famous artist) but keeping everything isn't realistic. Even keeping a small sampling of it won't be easy.

I think I have at least a partial solution -- one that wasn't available a generation ago. I'm going to create deviantART accounts for each of my kids and start scanning in their creations. Obviously, it's not the same as keeping the actual handiwork. But while it will lack in tactile nostalgia, I think it could end up being a very cool collection if I can keep up with it over the years.

I wonder if Warhol's dad kept Andy's first construction paper pumpkin?

Washable Is a Relative Term

Update on Amelia's graffiti...

The good news is that it was a washable marker. The bad news is that it's washable powers were useless on our cheap, watered down, contractor's paint that's been on our walls since the house was built. A little water and a paper towel rubs off the wall paint with very little pressure. (Even the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser fails.) The marker is pretty much soaked into the drywall and nothing can remove it. Half the house has been repainted and this particular area was next on my list anyway, so I guess it's not that big of deal. It's in a fairly inconspicuous location, too. And at least Amelia wasn't being deliberately destructive -- she was extremely proud and couldn't wait to show me her "artwork."

Yeah, that's what I'll tell visitors that notice it. It's artwork.

All Figured Out

I printed a bunch of random photos, cut out the heads, and let Jameson glue them on blank paper and draw bodies for the heads. (I don't know... it sounded like fun.)

Here is a picture of my mom and dad.



His explanation of the drawing:

"That's Grandpa washing dishes. And that's Grandma. Telling Grandpa to wash more dishes."