Sunday, April 29, 2007

Airbending

Oh man. Avatar kicks ass. What a great show. I love the story and setting, and *love* the goofy moments. It reminds me of Trigun for some reason. I've watched all the episodes over the last two weeks. I really wish I could find out when it starts up again. Sweet series.

After realizing that I had a pretty crappy recording of the Rainbow Connection, I looked for a better one on iTunes. I decided I wanted to get the Sarah McLachlan version. I really liked the 30 second preview. So I was about to login to the iTunes store and make the purchase, but wait a sec... The record label is the same as the Barenaked Ladies new album. And I got that sans-DRM. Could it be that I could just login to the label's site and download away? YES! IT'S SO! Bahahaha! Hooray for no digital rights crap! (And I totally dig the son, btw)

I've decided I haven't been spending enough time being, how shall I say... Productive. I get home and watch a TV show or browse the internet for longer than I need to. I think this week I'm gunna start drawing something. Father's Day is coming up. If only I can figure out something to draw for Dad...

And in other news, it's GREEN outside! Well, not completely. Things are looking alive in some places more than others. But the sun is out more and it's getting warm. IT'S SPRING, BABY! Just never mind the fact that it's almost May.
-Cril

And I forget
Just what it takes
And yet I guess it makes me smile
I found it hard
Its hard to find
Oh well, whatever, nevermind

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Smells Like Teen Spirit

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The Rainbow Connection

Oh me, oh my. It'd be nice if, someday, things settled down. Y'know, as in a little bit less crazy-go-nuts.

Well, I'm learning order processing (and a BAJILLION other related tasks) at work. Now, I was fine with filling, checking, and shipping orders. But playing with other people's money, not so much. It just feels like there's so much to mess up, and when something goes wrong I won't have anyone to call on to fix it. I dunno. Just the thought that I ran all the orders through yesterday gives me the chills. Because from there, I'm not sure about filling or checking or shipping orders. I mean, what if I messed it up when it went into the books? Gah, there are too many places where I can screw up and I don't have the confidence to believe I did it right.

But now I have to do an ad and design some stickers. So while it's nice to get me away from orders for a bit, I'm still feeling the pressure for graphic stuff. Today I didn't get nearly as much done as I should have, I just kept going in circles. But it doesn't really help that I'm essentially firing off as many ideas as I can, hoping that the boss will at least like one. It'd be nice to know what he wants, but I suppose that this is something that comes with the territory. I have to make something they'll like with the minimal amount of guidelines.

I guess right now I'm wondering whether or not I'm cut-out for a career in graphic design. I only have so many good ideas, right? How do I quickly and efficiently narrow them down to what's wanted for the job? What happens when, like today, I just don't have anything left in the barrel to pull from? If I go to school for x amount of years, will creative thinking come easier to me, or is it just a matter of pitching the ideas I already have in a more appealing manner?

I don't know. I just don't know.
-Cril

Who said that every wish
Would be heard and answered
When wished on the morning star?
Somebody thought of that
And someone believed it
Look what it's done so far
What's so amazing that keeps us star gazing
And what do we think we might see?
Someday we'll find it
The rainbow connection
The lovers, the dreamers
And me.

Kermit the Frog - The Rainbow Connection

Thursday, April 12, 2007

RIP Glue

My uncle and aunt had their dog put down today. She'd been going downhill for a while now. She'd been on and off medications for her liver. Not eating much, but barfing a ton. Poor girl. But the time came, I doubt she even would have made it through the rest of the day. She puked/barfed at the office five times, and each it was 99% blood. You felt really bad when you saw her get up to walk. You could tell she was weak. *Sigh* Glue was the smartest dog I've known, she was something special.

Well pooch, go ahead and lick floor to your little heart's content. I'm sure it's infinitely better for you there at the pearly gates than down here in the basement. Oh, and hit God up for a game of Frisbee. I hear he's an alright guy.
-Cril

Jeff Beck - A Day in the Life

Monday, April 09, 2007

Loooong weekend

Yeah, it was a long weekend. And not in a good way. I was (and still am, to a degree) sick. Coughing, wheezing, snorting, sniffling, the whole 9 yards. I think I had swollen tonsils. They aren't any more, but something in my throat is still swollen and hurting. It ain't to comfortable to swallow. Oh well. I did go for a walk on Sunday (It was FIFTEN degrees! That counts as 'Spring' weather, right?!) after I played some BF2142 for a few hours with the Frank (Thanks again dude - I had a blast).

Oh, and I had to put in a bit of OT Sunday night to get that darn Make ad done. Gah. I did the best I could, but I'm not sure if it was good enough. Especially considering it was a full page. The whole thing was a bit text heavy, but I think me n' Dave may have pulled it off. And in related news, I hate friggin' PDFs. It took me like 12 tries to get them to print off right. That's a ton of wasted paper.



I think I gotta start drawing more cartoon(ish) stuff than not. This started off as a rough Igor for an ad concept. The idea got shot down, but I liked the incredibly twisted face of the classic henchmen that I just had to finish the whole piece off. I added in a scientist (with obvious characteristics of Professor Membrane from Invader Zim) with a bubbling chemical in a dark basement suite. Et voila! Instant... Art. I gave it to rob so that he can make some text and turn it into a comic. If I ever get the site designed so it can be coded...
-Cril

I am an arms dealer.
Fitting you with weapons in the form of words
And don't really care, which side wins
As long as the room keeps singing
That's just the business I'm in

Fall Out Boy - This Ain't a Scene, it's an Arms Race

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Snow? AGAIN?

I'd like to go on the record as saying that Calgary weather SUCKS. Ugh. I wouldn't mind so much if it decided what it was going to do and stick to it. Instead, over the past thirty days the temperature has fluctuated some 30c degrees at least twice. It snows, it gets sunny. We get slush for a few days. Things almost completely melt, and then it snows again. Like today. So much for "April" or "Spring".

Not much else to say today... This is gunna be a crappy week. I gotta produce a FULL-PAGE ad for Make Magazine and I don't even know what I'm pimping yet. Oh, and the material is due by Thursday. Oh, and we have to get an order for 2500 motors out the door. And even though I put in five hours of OT today, they're not even all done being prepped to go. *Sigh*

I almost hesitate posting this, but...



I stole this one right out of the Batman Animated Series. I've been working on it off and on for the past three weeks or so. It just got to the point today where I wasn't enjoying it at all. It wasn't clicking. And it's butt ugly. I started it at an insanely large res so I could make it really detailed. I ended up with a friggin' 2GB scratch file. I really don't like this one at all. I barely put any effort into the Bat either.

I did finish watching all the Batman cartoons, though. Great series. Except I didn't like the last season. All the flair in the artwork disappeared so it could be more "cost-effective". It was pretty disappointing from the previous seasons. Oh well, I liked Nightwing, and the episode where Batgirl dies and the cops hunt down Batman and the gang. My favourite episode of the whole series, though, is definitely "Almost Got 'Em", where the classic villians are sitting around telling the story in a dark pub. Now that's something I'd love to draw. But I should get good at it before I go and butcher the scene and setting.
-Cril

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free.

Sarah McLachan - Blackbird