Hmm...

Well. I feel horrible lately. I think the spring break really broke my work ethic this term.
I have such a bad attitude lately. I wonder why I can't shake it. I guess it's because I'm just physically tired 80% of the time.

Here's those finished pictures of Kodiak.

Also, here's the first shot of my recent painting. It's the first part of my tryptic.
 More progress of that to come later. I've worked on it since, just haven't photographed it. I'm not digging the new still life we're working on. At least the next two pieces are abstract expressionist, and like, some other method which seems cool.

 In case you're wondering what it is, it's a statue of to like, tiny cherubs, and one is leaning in to kiss the other on the cheek. I just cropped it differently because I'm not interested in anything else.

I've done a shit ton more drawings of Kodiak since the maquette.
I think I like the additions. Doing his clean ups are really rough. I just need to rest and get my head on straight.

Kodiak Maquette 99% done!

Hey guys, just updating on my progress with Kodiak. I just finished his maquette and I'm extremely satisfied with it, well except for the one like, bar on his hand got all fucked up some how but other than that the whole thing looks pimp. I cleared out his eyes too so they don't have anything in them since they're blank anyways.
I'm so happy to be done with it. The last thing to do is to just gesso it or paint it primer gray.

Here's the pics.

I removed / smoothed out his eyes because I didn't like the way that looked- Kinda creepy.

The final baked version. ^ There's the fucked up part on his had. Looks retarded... I can't believe I didn't catch that until after I was done.

Back to school update 2

You like getting rewarded for your hard work right?
I am getting to a point where I feel like death is your reward for living-
What I mean is, you work everyday at being who you are.
When you die, DMT will peel away your humanity. You'll shed your mortality.
You'll leave your shell and move on to something greater.

I worked on Kodiak a bit more today. Here's some status pictures:

Back to School Update:

Hey guys, back to school!!
Got back to class and right when I rode up to school it started raining, and later it SNOWED. Crazy shit.
Well- Tight huh? Nothing's more inspiring than mother nature kissing your cheeks with her cold lips.

I wrote some ideas for Kodiak and Liam as far as the story goes. I also started some basic ideas for his father / mother and mentor.
I figured out some key plot items too. I think they'll be cool once I flesh out the story and the world they live in a bit more.

I'll be posting up my last 5 portraits making the total 20, not 30 like I had hoped. A lot of stuff going on in my personal life kept the work from being really done.

Other than that, we have half the term left!
The only grade I know about is my Comp II grade... It's not as good as I had hoped but the way I'm writing now, and actually taking the class serious, I'll be able to get that up by the end of the term to an A. There's no more fucking around-

Also, preparing for some new paintings. A triptych, a landscape, and my final which will include a master copy. I'm still eying Phil Hales' work.
Here's some photos of two of the props. More on the way.

Update again later!

Main Prop- My .357 Revolver.

Gas Mask...

Jebus, it was cold in the mountains!

Hey! What's up guys?
Ever wonder what it would be like, never being born?
Ever think about what it's going to be like when you die?
Ever cross your mind that humans live every day like they'll never die?
I've thought about what'd it be like with out me on the Earth and I feel like the people that I've been around would be really sad. But then I think that's just my ego talking, telling me what I would want to hear. I honestly think though, that I'm a positive impact on the people that know me and that I interact with on a daily basis.
I've also thought about what it's gonna be like after I'm gone. It'll be just the same as if your aunt died, or your cousin. No big deal-
Of course I think humans are egocentric and do not give two shits about what's going on right now. We're going through a time of change and we need to open our eyes to it. The stuff that's going on right now all over the world will be in history books later. The world is going crazy. There's unrest everywhere. No one is happy. It's like the positive life flow is kinked, or blocked. This is why I try to stay positive every day. This is why you'll laugh around me, and have a good time.
I also think that the only way to make your mark in this world is to work really hard at everything you want to accomplish in your life. You can't do anything just dicking off. You have to actually put in time. You have to try. Put your heart into it. Then even if you aren't comfortable, put your soul into it as well.
I've been working so diligently this term on bettering my attitude towards school because it's going to affect my profession. The way I'm looking at it right now is that the field I'm going into is a tough, cut throat, do this shit my way, kind of field. I need to be ready. Most of the students at school do not even really take this into consideration. This school project, that we're working on, TOGETHER, is teaching us how to work in our field. What it's showing me is that I cannot trust YOU to do it right!

Well, at least I know that I'm a champion. I'll never fail as long as I work hard and keep my goal in sight.

I hope to have some solid stories for Kodiak and Liam some time this summer.
I'll be developing Liam slowly while in class. I have a pretty solid idea on how I want him, just gotta have a few other animators check him out and push / pull the design a few ways. A few "what if's?" would be nice.
I get a lot of compliments from my fellow animators on my Kodiak maquette. I don't think it's that great but after looking at what made gallery last term, I feel like he'll be there hanging out.
I've been busting my ass on him since our instructor assigned it two weeks ago. I think it shows.
Everyone mentions his dynamic posing. I think he looks  interesting from all angles. I found some sweet rocks for him at the mountain today.

Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that. I hung out with the fine arts club from school at Mt. Lemmon today. I hardly got any rest last night so I was really beat when we got up there to begin with.
It was super cold. Like, high 30s low 40s. I had my sweater on, my under armor face mask and some gloves while trekking the mountainous terrain. It's cool just hanging out with people from school. I appreciate everyone and their friendship, fake or true.

I have 15 total portraits done, and I plan on knocking out another 15 by the 19th. Wish me luck. I have a feeling I'll be a bit burned out. Also, I'm preparing for my final piece in Intro to Painting. Our instructor has been egging us on to pick out an artist and one of the pieces they did that we really like so that way we can do a master copy, then use their pallet to create our own piece. I'm doing a Phil Hale style painting. I'll be going to buy some props for it tomorrow, maybe Monday, because I wanna freaking sleep in and do nothing tomorrow. I'll be picking up a gas mask, a jump suit, and some military bags or something like that, and what ever else looks cool. I'll be killing myself in the piece. It's got a cool concept. I'll sketch out some rough comps for it some time this week.

I also brought home a lot of animation. I'll be shooting everything I animated at school and uploading it to my YouTube account for everyone to see. I have a lot of failures... But it's all taught me so much, so I have to just keep that in mind. Enjoy my successes and breeze over my failures.

After a cool last week my bud Jon and I discovered some free items in front of the bookstore at school. A person had left a brand new light table out there and a marker set box with other items like mosaic tiles and junk. I took the light table. I'm really happy that it works. I can just slap my peg bar on it and animate any time now.

As far as I know, the nest half of school will be pretty intense. I think I'll have three more full scale paintings to do, 15 portraits, this maquette, sketches and character development for another character, and a maquette for that one too, a ton of papers for Comp II, a paper and 2 tests for my history class, and countless animation practices for my movement class. I'm gonna be a busy bee.


Hope you enjoy catching up with me. I feel pretty good now.


-Zach

Refill.

Hey guys. Just updating. It's been an interesting week to say the least.
Doing some major work- Feeling like a freaking champion.

I've been painting like a fool. Finally over my first painting. I still hate it but the more I think about it, the more I see how much it's taught me. I can't wait to start this next one though. I think it's going to be a landscape. I've been doing my portraits every day but Sunday, since the school is closed. So, keep an eye out for new ones. I just finished my 10th one today. I'm on schedule to finish 20 by the 19th. Again, I hoping to do more over the break. I'm gonna work from some of the pictures I took with Genesis for her lighting project. It's just a ton of expression shots.

My Kodiak maquette... /sigh
I was layering sculpey on him and realized his proportions were wrong.. Very wrong. His body was getting like, elongated near his left arm. I took him apart from the waist up and figured out that my wire from had shifted while layering it with foil. So I pro-poxied the fuck outta him, fixed it and now he looks awesome!
I am super exited to work on the details of him. I'll do that tomorrow. =) Gotta round out his shoulders and stuff. Pictures of that progress to come.

With that I'll leave you with some portraits I did since the last time. Oh, and the pics of Kodiak up until today.

You can see the jacked up elongation of his left shoulder / arm easially in this picture. So glad I caught it- He looks a lot better now. :3