06.21.06
Posted in Art, Life at 7:58 am by Fletcher
Ye gods I miss the ol’ creative jam session. Late nights, mega-dosages of caffiene and Bawls, frantic scrambling to find new inspiration when the original didn’t work out, feverish prayers, sour stomach, RSI’s, panicked phone calls not answered (or returned), the Hail Mary rush to get it done and hope, beyond all hope that the client likes what you came up with and you run the project burned on CD to the print shop, and oh, by the way, can you hurry the fuck up?, cause like, they closed 10 minutes ago and are waiting for you to get here so they can start the job and go the hell home…
(collective exhalation of relief)
Off to the Banc Cafe, pints of Sam Adams to celebrate a job well done, to blow off steam, laugh about those oh-no moments where it looks like the whole job is going down the toilet, talk of the next projects, seems like everyone is writing their Great American Novel, essay, short story, screenplay, and can we all crit each other’s work.
The nice part is that the money is starting to come in. I keep forgetting that people will pay for creative talent, and I must remember to whore myself out for these gigs more often, because the Good Doctor must be paid, and dammit there are all kinds of bright shiny toys I want, especially those that make my creative work easier (for example: a tablet for my photoshop work) plus, I need some new goddamn clothes (and thats a rarity for me to admit because I despise clothes shopping and will I keep wearing shit until its falling off of me, and those damn puritanical types won’t let me run around naked).
So, the next day or so will be some R&R, and then over weekend I get to experiment, Dr. Jeckyll style with fake blood recipes. Lets see how bad I can freak out the roommates…
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06.19.06
Posted in Art at 7:58 am by Fletcher
Hot damn, things are really starting to roll now-
Just got my crits back from the weekend work- and there is no finer compliment than ‘you are a talented s.o.b. that looks great. ‘ and, this, coming from a guy who has been in movies, on tv, and written, filmed and edited his own indie films- well what can I say, inspiration calls to inspiration.
The next steps will be hammering out the timing of the animatic and perhaps laying a pickup track to determine pacing. And playing with the freakin’ blood. For the test, I had used cheap poster paint - now its time to play mad scientist and start messing around with the fake blood recipes such as food coloring and corn syrup… New footage will of course ensue, mayhap we’ll play around with some of the ‘wuxia’ style blood effects ala ‘Kill Bill’…
In the meantime, I just got an encouraging email from a mod team looking to remake the old original ‘Quake’ utilizing the Doom3 engine. They are looking for a texture artist and loved my portfolio. Once we get this ball rolling, I’ll be creating a new online journal (I hate the term ‘blog’ it just sounds wrong) and it’ll detail the creation of visuals in a videogame - and since its a remake of the 1st pc game I got hooked in, it’ll be done with a lot of love and reverence.
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06.18.06
Posted in Art at 1:36 pm by Fletcher
OK, manic work period over. For the moment at least. Two projects well worked out-
Blood Video
Animatic
Now to have it critiqued, reworked, forgotten about, lost under tons of paperwork, misfiled, found, buried in peat moss, hosed off and frantically redone at 5 in the morning…
Ye gods, the dog days are here. Can feel the lure of the gin and tonic, the pull of the outdoor cafe, the wanton lust of the urban female in those delightful spring dresses, and the desire to mix it all together while chainsmoking and pretending to read something haughty and intellectual…
There’s something in the way these mailboxes are painted that reminds me of Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde from the old Pac-man video game…
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06.17.06
Posted in Art, Life at 7:57 pm by Fletcher
Damn, company functions with free booze and me do not mix well. But, still slogging away at the the ol’ hampster wheel. Woke up this morning to a pounding headache, made worse by the fact that my stomach was empty to the point where I couldn’t sleep.
As I ran on autonomic pilot, coffee - heat up the skillet make some eggs, to elevator opened - the two roomies came in, with a couple dudes, carrying a ton of DJ equipment. P was sporting a huge bandage on his chin. Seems that he slammed into something and flipped his bike, opening up a gash that required 6 stiches to close.
Figuring everyone was on the verge of collapse, I grabbed my camera, and went down to the corner diner, deciding I didn’t want to cook for myself. 3 pancakes and 2 eggs over easy later, I hit the street- and damn all if I didn’t run into yet another street fair - seems whatever direction I go, I’ll invariably run into one of the damn things.
So, after soaking up some rays, sweating out toxins, reading a draft of a novel a friend is writing and chilling out in the park I went hole to start working on the special effects shot- the idea being that IF I can make it look decent with my crappy digi-8 camera with cheap paint and bad lighting, footage from a professional shoot will be a piece of cake. The first iteration came out well, just need to tweak it. I’ll probably post the video tomorrow.
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06.09.06
Posted in Art at 7:54 am by Fletcher
“Everything you love, everything meaningful with depth and history, all passionate authentic experiences will be appropriated, mishandled, watered down, cheapened, repackaged, marketed and sold to the people you hate.”
Found that quote online the other day, wish I knew who I could attribute it to- because it is, in a word, fucking brilliant. The death of cool summed up in a razor-sharp sound bite.
It’s gonna get insanely busy yet again, Jonathan & I started talks about his next project, a very smart, snarky and pointed short film that he’s putting together. I read the script 2 days ago - and have re-read it twice, its that good. He wants me to do a 15 to 20 second opener animation, in the 50’s Tex Avery style, and while it may mean a lot of sleepless nights, I’m revved up to do this. And based on Jonathan’s enthusiasm for this project, he’s gonna do everything he can to promote the hell out of it. I showed some initial sketches to him and the producer, Lydia (who I met last week at karaoke) and we’re starting to nail down the look and style that they want. The bitch of the deal may end up that we go all out traditional; and draw each frame by hand.
On the other end of the spectrum, I just started talking with a new mod team, one doing a re-vamp of the old classic, Quake. This is the game I cut my teeth on (and its tough to think that was a decade ago) and the idea of doing a current engine remake has me itching to shoulder my nailgun and go find that quad damage and wreak some freakin’ havoc…
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06.02.06
Posted in Thirsty Thursday at 8:29 am by Fletcher
Homage to Heather: the one person who can, against my better judgement, convince me to face wrath of god weather, toxic alcohol poisoning, 4 alarm hangovers, the Yakuza, and public humiliation - all to go out karaoke singing.
Back to Dip on a Thursday. Watching a NCAA Softball game on one TV, Spelling Bee championships on the other. Chatting with Tiffany about her new job; chatting with Jonathan about new projects, chatting with Craig about politics. In comes Heather and her friend Lydia. Talk about her book I’m supposed to be reading, and why she hasn’t sent it to me yet. The waitresses buzz about, talking about impending rain. Devon the bartender and I get into a discussion of ‘Shaun of the Dead,’ and I advise him to look up ‘Spaced’.
Heather gets that look in her eyes, the one that says I’m in trouble - I know whats coming. ‘Let’s go do karaoke!’ she exclaims, ‘come on! You haven’t gone in a while!’ And I know that despite my protestations, she’s already won, I’m going, and there is no way I can duck out of this one, especially since I missed Live-Band-Heavy-Metal-Karaoke the last time.
As soon as we decide to motivate, that when the sky unleashes a torrent of rain, I mean, my shower doesn’t put out this kind of force. As we sit under the awning, smoking, making jokes, I start to regret the idea of pressing onwards, thinking it is a school night, after all. This is when Heather gets the genius idea of wearing trash bags as rain slickers.
Well nothing is more liberating nor humiliating (not to mention as dry) as wearing a garbage bag as a poncho. A trash bag. A bin liner. And we walk in the downpour in our bags. Offering them to people leaving, wanting to share the wealth.
Indoors, we meet up with Lydia’s husband and we get tequila slammers and Kirins all around. Heather grabs a mic and starts in with Neil Diamond’s ‘Love on the Rocks’ and promptly misses my stellar rendition of ‘Luckenbach Texas’ by Waylon and Willie. There are basically 2 songs I can sing without causing people to either run away in fear or suffocate under their own laughter, the other is Steely Dan’s ‘Deacon Blues’…
Between sets, we chatted, and the one thing Heather is great at is changing my perspective and way of thinking about things, particularly when I’m not feeling good about life in general. Her boundless energy and enthusiasm have a way of restoring my faith in all that is good and right about life, and this planet needs more people like her. In easy to carry six-packs.
‘Let’s go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we’re livin’ got us feuding
like the Hatfield and McCoys
Between Hank Williams pain songs, Newberry’s train songs
and blue eyes cryin’ in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas
ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain…’
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06.01.06
Posted in Uncategorized, Life at 7:37 am by Fletcher
Got around to editing the photos from the San Fran trip- a slideshow is available here.
Do keep in mind that my photography skills are lacking, and that I usually take pictures without rhyme or reason- I just shoot stuff that looks cool…
SAN FRANCISCO PHOTOS
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