It’s time for a new diversion. I considered making my own beer or cheese, but a fattening pastime isn’t really the best idea for me, especially in winter. The notion of watching and recording the types of squirrels that visit my bird-feeder crossed my mind, but that wouldn’t last long: the Eastern Gray Squirrel is the only member of the Sciuridae family to grace my deck, and I’m usually at work when they pilfer my seed. Annotating Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes is fun in moderation, but I want more.

Looks like rain over Foozitoonooland.
(source)

Here’s my new hobby, and I invite you to join me. I’m going to try my hand at emanating lower and lower spiritual modalities until a physical universe results, flowing forth from my self-aware, unmanifested sentience beyond comprehension. (Wikipedia) In short, I want to create!

I’m sure you’re the same, if you’ve ever felt the rush of making stuff. There’s no better way to put it than Hugh Macleod:

“Making stuff develops the ability to see, hear, taste, smell and feel. Making stuff is about problem solving, the openness to possibilities, development of skills, internal and external navigation and resolution, a sense of exploration and adventure. Making stuff transforms one from a consumer to a contributor. Making stuff is not passive. Making stuff involves making choices. Realizing you have choices and making them is empowering. Empowerment leads to confidence, and the courage to question and challenge the status quo.” (Macleod)

The empowering act of making stuff sums up the idea behind the PC game “Spore,” due out in the second half of 2007. In a recent interview at Popular Science, Will Wright (SimCity, The Sims 1 & 2,) describes the innovative gameplay of Spore where as a player, you design your own creature species and evolve it from a single-cell organism to a conquering, space-faring race.

Creature (Blackus Lagoonus).
(source)

“I want people to feel like they are Pokemon designers, Neopet designers, or Pixar designers, and the range of creatures is pretty astounding…I’ve had a lot of people, when I’ve demoed Spore coming up and saying ‘I’ve never played a game before, but I want to play this one.’ And I think those people are attracted by the empowerment of the tools, they would really like the experience of creating a Pixar character and having it come to life.” (Morgenstern)

The evolution of the species takes place in game levels until you reach the “space” level, at which point the game opens up to a sandbox-style universe populated by other players’ races, vehicles, cities, planets, where you play, build, destroy and progress.

“What it means to be human is to learn to use tools to basically expand your abilities.” (Morgenstern)

We built this city on click and scroll.
(source)

With the built-in tools to create important game resources and share those with others, Spore might be a game that, after a session of playing, leaves you feeling able to confidently create and share in the real world. At the very least, it moves you from “consumer to contributor,” from idea-sponge to, well, idea-garden-hose.

“Making stuff and sharing it is a social and political act, which opens avenues for communication.That can help prevent us from becoming mindless drones subservient to the mass media, politicians, advertisers and commercial interests…” (Macleod)

However, since it will be several months before the game comes out, I suppose I have time to make a little bit of beer, count some squirrels and try to figure out obscure MST3K references.

References

• Macleod, Hugh. "Why Make Stuff? ", Gapingvoid: "Cartoons Drawn on the Back of Business Cards", 30 Nov 2006. Retrieved on 28 Feb 2007.
• Morgenstern, Steve. "The Wright Stuff", Popular Science, Feb 2007. Retrieved on 28 Feb 2007.
• Wikipedia contributors, ‘Emanationism‘, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 Feb 2007, Retrieved on 28 Feb 2007.

Face in a Meeting
Graphite on wasted paper
meeting handout, 2/26/07

Here’s a reason to run to that next meeting at work, maybe even get there a few minutes early. You get to draw people, and, if you angle your paper right, it looks like you’re taking notes! Listen.

A friend was in a recent meeting led by a megalomaniac who kept a roomful of her subordinates in suspense under the promise of revealing her organizational “strategy.” Instead, they brainstormed the strategic number of toilets that should be installed in their new facility.

As the story goes, the person in charge offered these pearls:

• “I will start asking questions like, ‘get rid of the (important resource.)’” (A typical “question” from this one.)
• “I’m worried that, as a leader, my decisions aren’t very good.” (This is currently being cross-stitched, using the popular Outlined Diamond Eyelet Stitch, and will be suitable for framing and displaying.)

The friend was sketching his neighbors during the meeting. After the boss shared her malaise, she asked if anyone had questions. No one (everyone) had questions, so the room was silent. She turned to this friend and called him out. “I saw you taking notes, I’m sure you have some questions.” He came close to holding up his doodles, but returned a blank stare instead. Eventually, someone broke the silence with a question.

My friend needs to get better at corporately thinking on his feet.

Communication Overload
digital (Painter), 2/25/07

Mmmm, what’s cooking? Smells like communication-fried-mind with mashed bidagers.

Portrait with One Eye Missing
Charcoal, 2/21/07

My charcoal reduction drawing from last Wednesday’s class, using this technique. I ran out of time. The model even stayed still for a few extra minutes after the instructor called time, but it wasn’t enough for me to get that right eye drawn out.

I’m happy with the shapes around the mouth, the chin and the neck. Those values were really easy to pick out. The nose and eye were trickier for me to see. I’ll probably focus on the eyes next week.

That empty eye void is… unsettling.

Man in Turban
Thomas Eakins 1867
charcoal and graphite.
(source)

Look at your fingers right now. Are they clean? No? Well, they’re about to get even dirtier. We’re drawing with charcoal!

Creating a charcoal drawing uses the same fundamentals of line drawing. You still focus on edge, but shift your focus to include value. Like in line drawings, you look for those shapes within shapes, only now you are concerned with capturing the relationships between the value of each shape.

It’s gratifying to touch art to make art, to get your fingers in there and have a tactual experience that goes beyond keyboard keys and mouse buttons. Let me describe a process for making charcoal reduction drawings that my drawing instructor, Doug Norman, taught us this past week…

(more…)

My sketchbook page from 2-22-07, at the mall.

There’s a Chik-Fil-A in the food court, and their “Polynesian” sauce is the condiment of the gods, though I question its name. I don’t detect any specific island flavorings, but my sub-par palette is mid-western in origin. Subtle flavors escape me. It’s red and sweet. Anyway, I enjoyed a chicken sandwich with said sauce and pickle, and hunkered down for a few hours of sketching, once again with my pal Trevor.

Some good faces haunted the space around our table, and I got to practice Angela’s “Broadrange Glance” method. Good conversation with the Pitt again, which is my privilege.

The Best Case Flying Squirrels - Volleyball Team Logo

We celebrate the defying of gravity today with this Illustration Friday offering: The Best Case Flying Squirrels Volleyball Team logo. I made this cartoon for a friend in Omaha, for her and her co-worker’s team’s t-shirts, for her summer volleyball league.

The little puzzle piece on his shirt is a symbol for autism. Best Case is (was?) a center-based program for children with autism.

The Flying Squirrel sketch

I scanned in a pencil drawing and finished it in Adobe Illustrator. I don’t think I used the strokes and fills properly. Vector programs frustrate me, and I ended up with a bunch of open shapes stacked on top of each other.

A question for you Illustrator types

I’m not really even sure why I used Illustrator instead of Flash. I like Flash’s drawing tools - they’re more intuitive for me. Oh, I remember. Flash stinks at CMYK.