The Prodigal Poster

Hey there, blogger.  I'm back again: so you know what that means!

More excuses!

Not really, though - I still keep up with drawing and writing daily.  I just haven't found it necessary to repurpose it for a blog no one reads.  Oh wait, that sounds like an excuse, hahaha.

Joking aside, let's start with some updates:
After the "invy" post, I was met with a whirlwind of events from finals week,  assignments from my mentorship, random interviews, graduation, and some how landing a full-time job the next day.

So yup, I'm an office man now!  Complete with a water cooler and everything.

Awww yeee.  Does this mean I've grown up yet?

I've always wondered why my favorite web comic artists dropped off the face of the earth when they got their office gigs - and well, now I know.  Though I'm not complaining because it's been fun.  I'm just glad I can sneak in any personal drawings at all (though a lot of it is sketching co-workers when I should be taking notes during meetings, bwahaha).

That said, "personal drawings" don't mean I have to keep them to myself - which is a habit of mine that I've come to recognize as both contradictory and pretty silly.  In my previous post, "Classic Stephan", I expressed the intent to write as a means to illustrate an honest and wholesome picture of myself to me and others.  I've gotten much better; I'd be pretty boss at any Stephan-themed Trivial Pursuit.  The thing is I've made it so no one else could play by hiding these meditations away in journals.  This extends to my artwork.

What's the point is knowing myself and drawing without sharing?  It's why I picked up a pencil in the first place!  I still remember all those the laughs I got long ago by doodling Goku farting.  Now I have the chance to connect to a bigger community by doodling my own characters farting!  But I can't really do that by keeping it to myself, can I?  To paraphrase a lecture from Animation legend Glen Keane:

 "...the key to animation is sincerity.  Sincerity takes vulnerability: honestly revealing parts of yourself; telling someone who you are.  You want to put your own DNA into the picture and connect.  Step beyond your walls and share as an artist." 

Needless to say, let's reframe the mentality of posting my content as an afterthought, and more of a discipline.  Besides, reading what few posts I do have was pretty refreshing.  Mostly because it's fun to laugh at how cringeworthy past Stephan is.  And who knows: if I continue building, I might have new friends to cringe with me.

And maybe by then I'll have actually grown up~

Later days!

Daily dose of invy

When I first found out about tumblr 3 years ago from my ex-girlfriend I resolved to avoid it like the plague, lest I succumb to it's true nature as an all consuming timesink.  Late last year I finally caved and made the effort to create one, and recently my internet awareness has seen to it that I be more active.

And, well, my initial worries are totally justified.

Tumblr is a black hole.

Spent way too long looking for this.  Point made.

But alas, it's totally the fault of my addictive personality.  The benefits of Tumblr, as an outlet for all skill-sets, far outweigh its cons.   My drawing reference folder increases exponentially after each tumbling!  Tumblr's also been great for teaching me through a bunch of humbling social awareness posts that keep me honest about having dude parts, haha, but that's subject for another meditation.  I just have to be careful about who I follow (general rule, if they just reblog gifs skip it, ehehe).

Admittedly I "like" a whole lot more content than I actually post and it gets a bit discouraging - especially to see the alarming number of artists who eclipse my talents.  Though at the same time, I can't help but to continue scrolling out of absolute awe.

So that's what I call "invy", when I admire artwork that both inspires my sensibilities and triggers my undying envy.  After all, isn't that the perk of competitive spirit humanity enjoys?

I'll use this blog series to chronicle what I like about things as a meditation of what I value as an artist, and showcase a bunch of my favorites.  Thus this won't be exclusive to reblogs.  I'll probably tackle everything from my mancrush on Ed Skudder to my burning respect for self-made artists like Donald Glover or Takuma Yokota.  Plus, it's an easy way to provide a steady stream of content.  Score~

And yes, I'm totally doing this just to justify my bad internet habits.  Tee hee.



For today, something simple to balance out the lengthy introduction:

DAYUMN.  I don't know who drew this - most I know is that it's visual development for Disney/Marvel's Big Hero 6 - but DAYUMN.  Thanks to the Little Prince, I'm super partial to sunsets, but the rendering on this is fantastic.  Blows the "bike ride w/ Big-Brobot" doodle of mine out of the water.  Hold dat, blows it out of this world.  At the same time, you really get a nice sense that they're in San Fransokyo (golden gate and Kanji blimps mmmhmm).  Can't wait for this movie!  I really hope it's not too much like my super hero inspired web series I've been developing.  Guess that's "invy" for ya'.

Updates and resolutions

Hey there internet cowboys!  It's been awhile.

I'm going to stop the whole groveling and dismaying about failing to keep this blog up to date and just do it already, haha.  So instead of stressing about form over function you'll see my content be pretty "stream of conscious".

You may have noticed the "fancy" pages bar I put up awhile back.  I finally got around to actually making the effort to display some past work in portfolio form.  It's amazing what the pressures of a deadline can motivate.  Of course I ended up not having my storyboards done in time...but I'm working on that.

Though I do have something to show for it.  I'm in Oatley Academy's Films on Paper class with the splendificent Justin Copeland.  Of course, it doesn't have the draw of an income (quite the opposite) but I've had the pleasure of meeting him at CTN before so I couldn't pass up the chance to learn more.  The first class was great, so if I keep my act together and let my passions focus my impulse this may lead to something!

Here's a couple of pieces I did for the audition that I'm actually pretty proud of:

Father Bruce and NunChuck (the buddy cop movie that could have been)

Possible taglines: "Say your prayers." Or "turning watttaaaa into wine."

Bike ride with Bro-bot 

My faults - ie the rough quality - are pretty glaring but I'm still happy to have these pieces as a benchmark for my efforts towards self improvement.  It was a bit crazy of me to try two new coloring styles that I'm not really familiar with for an audition, but I'm happy with the result.  I'll say it again: it's amazing what the pressures of a deadline can motivate.

But it's horrible to rely on that deadline high isn't it?  Channeling that focus is one of the many things I have to work on!

Merrily go,

Stephan