"Bioluminescence"

Fair amount of sketching, not much worth showing.

Once I got in the groove these two emerged. I did a quick paintover in photoshop to play with the idea of lights fused with the figure. Not sure I got there- the hand looks a little robotic.

The IP journey officially begins

From now on, I will devote this blog entirely to what concerns my IP project (though it has always been 95% IP related anyways).

I am using the Bedroom/ kid/ Nightmare sculpture as a point of inspiration for building a body of narrative works. Using the time-tested "Quest" story with a little bit of "Voyage and Return" (both types covered well in The Seven Basic Plots), my story goes a little something like this:

A small boy has the Last Light, the key to saving the world.

Pretty basic. Nothing crazy in raw form. Then again, "Frodo has the ring and must destroy it to save the world," or "Harry Potter is the Chosen One, and is the key to defeating Voldemort," or "Paul Muad-dib is a messianic figure for the people of Dune" don't sound so crazy in raw form either....

For my story, I am naming my main character Balder. Balder is a Norse God of light, benevolence, and innocence. In addition to sounding good (linguistically), I think it hits on the symbolism of who I want this character to be in many different ways.

Balder has the Last Light, and will enter another world (think of something like Alice in Wonderland or Narnia) where the dark powers in the world are extinguishing every light in it. Building a world literally around Light and Shadow should offer some really exciting visual opportunities (bioluminescent lifeforms, surreally-lit environments....)

I have a good handful of ideas swimming around of where I want to take this. Enough to start painting and drawing and trying to populate what "belongs" in this place he is going.

Balder is about to follow the Beast under the bed, and I am about to take my own plunge down the Rabbit-Hole....

Bed Monster - More Lighting Tests

A UV light, 15 second exposure, and some photomanipulation....

Gymnastics Mural

In progress shots of the mural for our team's facility expansion. This is in the main entrance on both walls. These are still very much in-progress shots, but you can see how once the figures get dark with a couple of coats and the maize paint gets added, it will hopefully look pretty snazzy.

Using my laptop (which is on life-support at this point) and a Sony projector. Occasionally masking parts with painter's tape to get extra clean lines (eg, for the high bar)....

Shadow Box Lighting Tests

After a crazy set up in my living room with a tilted over lamp and turning on/ off a flashlight, I got some good test shots to give me an idea of the lighting.

Updates since last time - the bookshelf is fully painted (along with the books), the carpeting is in place, the lantern (version 1) was attached and turned on with an LED/ watch battery combination.

Shadow Box update2

The walls are mounted with the floor lining and painted. The frame of the door is in place with the door board shown too. You can see the (unpainted) bookcase and some of the super sculpey books (which got burned in the oven, but are otherwise fine).

I made a great looking lantern for the kid with a model helicopter engine support pad (I think), an LED light and watch battery, which will be interchangeable if the light/ battery dies. I also have a nice blue light to give the room a nighttime look (may experiment with some aquarium lights.)

Next steps are installing the floor carpet, getting the lighting to work, and snapping a couple photos for the portfolio before building the outer case/ rigging the lighting/ etc....

The Shadow Box Begins....

Starting a shadow box for the "Bed Monster" sculpture. 3D work is a pretty unexplored territory for me and I'm really enjoying the challenges it provides. The original sculpture is a rapid prototype, so it began digitally, and now I've been researching and reading up on lighting systems and miniature construction to hopefully really enhance the theatrics of the piece.

The picture below shows the (slight) progress I've been making, including sizing the base, plotting out the wall locations. You can also see the beginnings of the door w/ frame and some of the layered stripwood that will give some detail to the floor lining: