This was work avoidance week, also known as, vacation from the day job. As well intentioned and optimistic as I was about getting several things done this week, or at least
worked on, I just wasn’t able to make it happen to the extent I hoped. That isn’t to say that the week was a total wash out. I did finish the guitar piece, and I started a new piece. I also got in some time on Sticks, just not as much as I hoped, and I did some extra cleaning.
And while those are the basics of what I had wanted to do, truth is, I would have like to have been able to write that I finished rigging Sticks. And I would like to be able to write that I got a lot of sketches done. Neither of those things happened so I won’t be writing them.
As I said, I did get the guitar piece finished. I have it signed and framed. I have sent an email to contact the place I was hoping to hang them but have not heard back yet. I think I will need to make a trip out there and see if I can speak with someone. If not I have a couple of other places I may look into. The idea is to get some of my work out in the public where it can be seen and people can start to know some of my work. It’s looking like this may be a little tricky though. In any event, the guitar piece, and the pumpkin piece are the two that I am hoping to show, and perhaps sell. Here they are in all their beauty.
While I was in the store searching for the frame for the guitar piece a squirrel ran across my path and I had to chase it. I was wondering, since I do the stippling on paper with acrylic ink, how it might work out if I did it on canvas or canvas art board and used acrylic paint and a brush. I purchased a few additional items towards this project and went home. Once the guitar piece was in its frame it was time to really chase this squirrel. I had to play with laying down some paint first and then I decided I didn’t want a white base to start with so I chose and odd sort of blue. I was thinking of re-doing a picture I had done many years ago, thus the blue for the base color. But I didn’t really want to repeat myself. Then I 
decided to try something else guitar related. I took pictures of the head-stocks of three of
my guitars and chose the one that I thought would be the cleanest and so easiest to start with, the Gibson. I then penciled in the reference so I could have something to guide my work. And then paint. As you can see, I only got some of the text done so far, but it’s a start and I think it will work out nicely.
I knew that I might have some old paints that were close to dried out and I found one right out of the gate. It was still usable though it needs replacing. I’m thinking that will be another trip to Cheap Joe’s or an order to Dick Blick’s. Not sure which yet. But, as with most things art related, it won’t be a small bill.
The sketchbook mostly got moved from room to room this week. I really didn’t put much pencil to paper there. I did get one done that I think is rather fun. I was experimenting 
with using a colored pencil for the rough in and then using a regular graphite pencil to finish it out and do the detailing. I used what is called a non-photo blue pencil which means that a camera isn’t supposed to be able to pick it up. However, it looks like my digital SLR didn’t get that memo because you can see some of the blue.
I took a bit more time on it than I usually do since I typically do my sketches in the morning. I think it came out much nicer because I had more time to spend working on it and as I head back to the day job it has me re-thinking some of my scheduling for my day. I may change the sketching to an evening activity. It should work out nicely even after Taekwondo class and the trainer. And then I won’t feel like I wasted my evenings. Ideas.
And I finally got to working on the rigging for Sticks. I am farther along than where I left the original one, which is progress. I’m just not as far along as I would like to be. Still, I have finished with the foot controls and the knee controls and will be starting on the spine next. The tutorial that I am following along with will cover the eyes and eyebrow controls in some of the future lessons, these I will be able to skip or just listen to since Sticks has neither. That means I may be farther along that it seems like if I were to just look at the number of lessons total compared to where I am. Here are a couple of shots of the rigging with the x-ray of Sticks and a screenshot of just the bones with the controls.
This week will likely be taken up with the process of getting back into the flow of the day job. I know I have a couple of days of big project stuff to do. I’m guessing I will be pretty mentally spent at the ends of the days so I’m not sure how much Sticks progress I will make. I’m going to try to do one segment a night. Or the equivalent. I think that is a reasonable goal.
I will also want to start preparing for the Zbrush Summit that is coming up in just a couple of weeks. In case you are interested the 2nd Zbrush Summit is being held in Los Angeles at the Gnomon School September 25th through September 27th. If you can’t go in person the entire thing will be streamed live. To get more information go to the Pixologic website at pixologic.com. I am really looking forward to this event. And hope to have much to share afterwards. Of course, my brain will be so full it may take me weeks to get it all sorted out.
Keep checking back for more news and updates on projects and art pieces.