Jumping Toaster Productions

While attending the Circle Craft Christmas Market this year, I came across a very unique booth filled with all sorts of bronze statues. The artist; Kathy Ross is a very talented artisan whom not only produces bronze statues but fabric doll pins and figures made out of recycled materials. This was not your typical Christmas craft booth, which is why I hovered around absorbing the very surreal imagery Kathy Ross incorporates into her pieces. Try to imagine Hieronymus Bosch meets Salvador Dali in bronze! Kathy Ross takes a very difficult and beautiful medium to capture her imagination indefinitely.

Kathy Ross has a fascination with globes and how we fit in this world with all this ‘stuff’ swirling around us. She takes an interesting approach to this idea and takes out sections of the earth and puts in funny looking humanoid characters among fused objects set upon chicken legs cast in bronze. Also on display was a very interesting piece that featured soldiers riding mice in a battle against babies also on mice. The title; Us vs. Them or The Mice Wars. For the artists statement and a further in depth explanation on these two pieces please visit her website: Sculptures by Kathy Ross. Troika was one of the sculptures I purchased from Kathy, there was something about these three horses fused together that made me smile. Troika currently sits atop one of my many bookshelves where I adore it when I reach for a novel.

Also found in her booth was a series of sculptures known as the ‘Travellers’. Kathy Ross takes her figurative sculptures holding small globes and poses them using the globe as a sort of ‘vehicle’ which drives us to our destination. These charming figures are sculpted out of many different recycled materials, mainly cardboard, wire, paper, cloth and then layered with plaster and actual maps to help visually represent travel and destinations. A very beautiful and delicate figure is created with this collage of plaster and paper materials to create a fantastic eye catching piece.

I spoke with Kathy Ross throughout the craft show about her inspirations for certain pieces and was delighted to hear and that she was going to branch out into another interesting and difficult medium; tin. I can’t wait to see her beautiful yet surreal figures moulded out tin at the next Circle Craft show!

It was a pleasure meeting Kathy Ross, and I hope that you take a moment to look at her beautiful sculptures through her website.

I love my Nintendo DS Lite that I got for Christmas, I especially love the fact that my DS plays Game Boy Advance games! So many cool retro-games like Super Mario 3, Castlevania, Zelda, and Metroid, just to name a few that you can still find on eBay or craigslist. Personally, I find ‘recently-released’ games can’t hold my interest and provide a challenge that’s worth my money. Then I came across a great title that instantly peaked my curiosity; Dawn to Life ‘The Next Chapter’ by THQ coincidentally ‘Best of E3’ Winner 2009.

Looking at the box-art and the back it looked like a simplified version of Photoshop Illustrator meets Mario. I dropped about 40 dollars, picked up a copy, took it home, and Blamm-O! I was enthralled in the creative world of Drawn to Life! You couldn’t get me away from the cursed device. My evenings after work mainly composed of drawing the next object needed to complete the level. From carrot surfboards, to inflatable-women platforms, I made a very surreal game of my own starring my own hero Gangstapus! He was a mean purple pimp octopus, with a Rolex watch, fedora and rusty prison shiv. The drawing palette that you use to create your hero is pretty straight forward with a build in ‘help’ button in case you don’t recognize a certain tool. For the artist or anyone familiar with Photoshop they included some nice blending option tools that you can use to amp up your creation! The game also included an option to trade your creations with other users via WiFi connection, however you can only carry a maximum of two hero creations on the cartridge.

Overall the game itself is pretty linier, and takes no time completing it within a few hours if you choose the ‘default’ game objects to use. The content you provide as the ‘Creator’ is really the meat & potatoes that makes this title worth while to spend about 30-40 bucks on. For a long time now I’ve wanted my own side-scrolling game featuring my own creations and now I have it! 

Check out the official website here: http://www.drawntolife.com/

All images, logos, designs and trademarks are of THQ Inc. Licensed by Nintendo

Just a few to mention this week, that really caught my attention. The first one is a blog instead of a website, but the artist is John Kricfalusi creator of Ren & Stimpy so you know it’ll be good! John K has a great imagination and style, which is why I fell in love with his work. He continually pushes the envelope in animation and humour, from the obscure backgrounds to his characters ever changing facial expressions John K has changed the way we perceive animation. Pick up a copy of The Ren & Stimpy Show ‘Uncut’ Season 1&2 for the commentary John K and the rest of the Spumco team provide throughout the three disc boxed set. It’s like getting a private animation lesson in your own home! Or you can donate a little cash to John K’s Curriculum and follow along as John takes you through the fundamentals of animation and cartooning. It’s amazing to see how the comic/animation industry has evolved with technology to bring the reader so much content at the touch of a button. Which is why a lot of animators are now blogging or streaming live podcasts to keep up interest in their work because of the number of ‘up and coming’ artists out there.

Another way artists are raising cash for their projects is through Kickstarter.com Though the site is still in BETA mode, Kickstarter.com is an incredible platform. “Its’ purpose is funding, but we find ourselves gaining so much outside of collecting pledges. For us, Kickstarter has been a powerful tool to connect with a community passionate about our work.”  Quote from Lumi Corp.  Check out ‘Frog in a Suit’ and donate a little money to Joe Murray’s Kaboing TV idea and help get it off the ground! Perhaps some of you don’t know who Joe Murray is; well he’s the creator of Rocko’s Modern Life that was aired on Nickelodeon back in the 90’s. A truly brilliant ‘independent’ animation show, which created 52 episodes and had legions of fans and followers across the globe. Kickstarter.com is great place to witness new up and coming talent and provides a means of funding your own project. Perhaps Jumping Toaster Productions will ask for funding to produce a couple of Beany & Ralf animated shorts when the time comes.

Lastly, a neat little website Exploding Rabbit.com who produced the Super Mario Bros Crossover video game! A great flash game that recreates the original Super Mario Bros for Nintendo and allows you to play as characters from other classic Nintendo games like Megaman, Metroid, and Contra just to name a few. Great frame rate speed, online playability without having to download any of the content and to put it simply great Nintendo action! Jay Pavlina, the creator has some funny videos of him playing his own game for additional content on his site. Great job Jay, you’ve fulfilled one of my ‘pipe dreams’ from the 80’s and allow me to play as Megaman and blow the Goombas to dust!

Enjoy

🙂

With most of my illustrations I start by blocking in my characters in non-photo blue pencil. I prefer the Staedtler 0.5mm mechanical pencil lead, but feel free to pick up the wooden pencil ‘Copy-Not’ type. I draw in the non-photo blue because let’s face it, when you’re ready to scan if you’ve made a mistake or make additional changes the scanner won’t pick it up. After the rough sketch is blocked in, I go over the illustration again in a thinner 0.3mm black lead and clean up any lines that might affect the image when scanned.

Next I scan the image or character at 600 dpi and save it as bitmap. I take it into Photoshop and run a series of ‘Actions’ I’ve developed to clean up the scan, convert the image, resolution, create selections, and even folder directories of the original scan and the working copies! You gotta love Photoshop for helping save you time by developing basic ‘scripting’ in the form of a palette anyone can use! Still within Photoshop, I complete the coloring and special effects, save the working copy before I run yet another ‘Action’ that will save another ‘flattened’ copy in a different folder to use for the final greeting card layout. I’ve always preferred the motto ‘Better safe than sorry’ in saving multiple copies of my digital work after experiencing several losses.

Using the flattened image, I complete the layout in a nicely reduced file size and my illustrations are ready to be developed at the local print shop! Each finished card measures 4.25 x 5.5 inches and comes with one standard white envelope and is printed on 12 pt card stock paper with a glossy finish. You get two greeting cards on a single 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of cards stock.

This ‘Action’ palette has really saved me time in a number of different ways. Namely the multiple copies in different stages of completion, where you can go back to a ‘pre-flattened’ copy file and change the color of the character and other aspects of the image. Seeing as how I’m typically scanning in black & white drawings, it made sense to write an ‘Action’ to clean up the fragmented pixels and other commands so I didn’t have to continually do the work over and over again for every new scan. Don’t forget to add the ‘Save Copy’ and set up folder directories in your ‘Action’ it’s a great way of ensuring you have a backup of the illustration!

Enjoy

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the apartment,

 Not a silverfish was stirring, not even a varmint.

 The bug traps were laid by the foot of the bed,

 In hopes that the insects will soon be all dead.

 The girlfriend was nestled all snug in my bed,

 While visions of electronics and gold danced in her head.

 And a smoke in my hand, and gin in the other,

 I had just settled down and couldn’t be bothered.

 When out in the alley there arose such a clatter,

 I sprang from the couch to see what was the matter.

 Away to the window I flew like The Flash,

 Tore open the blinds and broke the lamp with a ‘crash’!

 The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

 Gave light to the hobo smoking crack down below.

 When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

 But a rusted old shopping cart loaded with beer.

 With a little old driver, so homely and sick,

 I knew in a moment it couldn’t be St. Nick.

 More rapid than eagles his followers they came,

 He whistled and shouted and called them by name.

 Now, Derrick! Now, Eric! Now, Phil and Bill!

 On, Craig! On Meg! On, Jimmy and Jill!

 To the top of the bin! The empties they leave!

 Now drink away! Drink away! As fast as you please!

 As dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly,

 When they meet with an obstacle, they choose to get high.

 So up to the house-top the coursers they climbed,

 With a cart full of empties, were they stupid or blind?

 And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,

 The thumping of foot steps which sounded like proof.

 As I drew in my head and was loading my gun,

 In came the little man, who was in for ‘No fun’.

 He was dressed all in rags, from his head to his shoes,

 And his clothes looked out-dated and he smelled of booze.

 With a bundle of cans he had flung on his back,

 And he looked like an addict who had just smoked some crack.

 His eyes – how blood-shot and red! His pimples how merry!

 His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a berry!

 His droll little mouth was drawn-up like a bow,

 And the crusted old beard on his chin was as white as the ‘blow’.

 The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

 And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.

 He had a broad narrow face and a little round belly,

 That shook, when he laughed, gosh he was smelly!

 He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

 And I laughed when I saw him, and pee’d a little myself.

 A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

 Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

 He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

 “What the hell?” I said, “Get out of here you jerk!”.

 And laying his finger aside of his nose,

 He shot the snot out, which landed on my toes.

 He sprang to his cart, to his team gave a whistle,

 And away they all flew like a nuclear missile.

 But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight,

 “The aliens are coming!” And “Who wants to fight?”

To put it simply, I’ve been getting hitched! Over the past few months my fiancé and I have been planning our wedding & reception! We had alot to accomplish in such a short time, but it all came together in the end whether we were ready or not!

Below are a couple of links to check out if you are planning a wedding or reception. We had such a fun time at the Burnaby Village Museum and carousel! We took some stellar photos that day, probably about a thousand photos!!! Also Deer Lake Park is so beautiful in the summertime, almost anywhere you go you can take fantastic shots.

Burnaby Village Museum

1912 C.W. Parker Carousel

Deer Lake Park

Enjoy!

I’ve been getting to know a good friend of mine again…my playstation! One of my favourite genres of video games are the ‘shooters’! Recently I’ve been addicted to R-Type, due to the fact that this game tests your patience on an extreme level. My wife has over heard me use numerous cuss words or sentence enhancers as I call them, within minutes of turning the game on. R-type is one of those special games where it seems near impossible to complete any level without dying at least once! The game throws multiple enemy ships at you at full force even on their ‘pussy’ setting. It is bloody aggravating to see the ‘Game Over’ screen again and again. Yet every morning there I am with my cup of coffee, mashing away at the controller in some kind of desperate attempt to thwart the baddies and save the universe! If you still have your original PSX kicking around in the closet and are fed up with current games and are in need of a real challenge, pick up R-Type off eBay and plug in!

Cheers

Nothing like playing with Lego on a Saturday afternoon with the wife!

Enjoy

Another Lego short I did over the weekend.

Enjoy

My third Lego animation.

Enjoy