the failure and the cowards

During the long and cold winter that we recently lived through and are slowly creeping towards again a close friend and I created a character to live inside a blog. The idea was influenced by the character Darcel and I wanted to do something similar but in a completely different direction. I never want to copy someones ideas. Instead of a hip New York socialite very cleverly and unequally commenting on city, pop culture and contemporary life. Very great very original. My friend and I created a character around the idea of a alien or robot sent from an other galaxy or planet to learn about our culture and life and then destroy us. But, the hitch was that the character would start to be corrupted by our cultures especially pop culture and begin to love us. The idea was sound and the creation of the character was a great experience and even though I am still kicking myself for doing such a thing but with all that is going on I just don't have the time for another side project that would take on a life of his own. So, I am the failure. But, in order to give our character, LADO (Learn, Adapt, Destroy, Objective), the credit he deserves here are the imagery that was posted and ones that where in line.

The First



This was a simple image to announce LADO's arrival.

The Second



This was used for a post about when a study was published that Red States, the faith based family first states were found out to be down loading more porn than the sinful Blue States. And, their only defense was saying that the study is bias because the Red States were legally purchasing their porn not the other way around like the Blue States. Sure. Hypocrisy. This was also the first time I crossed over into a political theme and really wanted to live there. My cohort and I decided that I would speak out against political and social issues and he would soften that edge with pop culture references.

The Third



An instant and emotional response to The Watchmen movie.

The Fourth




Title G0d Con-Plex this post was about the Great Pacific Trash Heap and how religion is stunting any movement into responsibility toward keeping our planet clean for generations.

These last two where not posted but where on deck for more posts.





Although this project is over the ideas and passion are still there. In the future there will be a second round of the ideas and creativity that born LADO. Just not at the moment. I fear that I need to create something moving in the next four years. I fear that these four years with Obama are going to filled with crazies attacking him and then they are going to elect a Palin and our country is going to really go to shit. I feel more of the youth needs to speak out and ideas like LADO need to be planted right now to blossom when ideas and movements are needed most. The world is going to get worse very soon. The cowards, the Glenn Becks, the Ann Coulters, the Rush Limbaughs and the fear mongering crazies have the platform to say their racist and ignorant comments and we have all the right to speak against their bullshit. Which we need more of. Speaking out against the ignorance and stupidity that is rooted in America right now is a great start.

So, I feel a bit of a failure. I gave up. But, not for long.

Sorry, Tim. Love ya, bro.

the weirdness: part one

I get really weird about completing projects and outlandish tasks before I leave for a weekend whether it's for a race, wedding or vacation. I noticed this last year when I had a lot of destination weddings and races, among summer time stuff, to leave for I would run around crazy trying to complete weird things before I left. Besides my "five goals" a week I write on a dry-erase board to complete weekly I also write a list of random crap that has no consequence to try and complete before leaving. I think I'll document this behavior for a future post, circa July 16-ish before I leave for the GLR (Great Lakes Relay).

Well, I hit a snag two weeks ago before I left for the North Country Trail Relay. The snag was because not only did I create a random list of crap to complete but I was lamenting the fact that my list of 5 goals to complete have for the most part stayed the same all June. Aside from one goal, clean my studio space, all the artistic goals have stayed the same. So the week before I left for the weekend instead of packing I was trying to catch up on my art. And, this craziness hasn't let up. I've been really trying to clear my list, plus some other projects I am behind on, and get some new goals up before the end of June.

Here is one project I started to knock out. This is something I've tried hard to keep secret until launch but here is a brief taste. These are some finished comic boards of an online weekly comic my friend Paul and myself created. The comic is called Side Quest and is in the vein of pop and nerd culture. I'll post a full report on the comic just before we launch. Hopefully in the next two weeks. But, enjoy the first peek.



The next image is of a painting I knocked out this weekend during a crazy storm. I am happy with the experience of creating and what I learned from painting. But, I did need to separate myself from it. I do enjoy it now but I wasn't really happy with it. But I am excited about my next paintings. I am already planning the next four, yes, four, I am gathering the money right now. I hope to have them started next week. I am going to do multiple painting this time because I am impatient and get board when I have to wait for the paint to dry. So, I am going to knock out four next time. But here is my first of hopefully many paintings.



My last image is of a comp for my new digital portfolio. I told my girlfriend that I would have my design portfolio done by the time she takes the BAR. So I have five weeks to complete my new portfolio. A flash version, a web version and some hand-outs (printed cd holders and business cards). A lot of work and not a lot of time to do it. I'll post the process. Here is the comp.