three

They range from 4-5 years ago all for the small publishing company I worked for in high school and college. They're not stupendous but they've still got some measure of charm over me.

Check out another two posts detailing past dives into the past:

more dredged from the archives

old!

fueling the hype machine:

The company I work for has begun another foray into the print market, first with Beowulf, now with Zines.

The first Zine released by Portland is by Chris, the second to be released sometime in the June/July vector of the calendar is from me.

32 pages, full color.


It's called Ticket. Not "Picket" as my ridiculous handwriting might lead you to believe.

Here's hoping it doesn't come off esoteric or unintelligible. Those of you who frequent this blog will likely recognize the protagonist as Lily von Silvie Lenore, someone I've had with me for the past 6 or 7 years.

Lily von Silvie Lenore
Curious Events

Curious Events is a small book I made, printed and simply bound, for my wife (then girlfriend) and is one of my most closely guarded works. Ticket is a continuation of that story.

To me, Ticket is sort of like a postlude to the Curious Events story. There are four stories in my (yet unreleased) "Library of Curious Events."

Not necessarily essential to the overall story but more of a distillation of the tone and feeling of the books. Another enjoyable visit, for me at least. Curious Events in the abstract -- if that makes sense.

From the teaser itself:

Ticket is a story in pictures and a collection of all things Cory loves to draw. From windmills flying above grassy hills to massive birds landing in Grecian vineyards, Ticket follows the story of a girl, her hat, and the curious events which transpire.

zune clips

Here are three clips of animation that were not used (exactly) in the final Zune Arts film.




Here's a little clip of something I made early on for the Zune piece. This ended up not being used exactly in this form. It was modified a little.

* * *

This one was used -- the walk cycle. I made this and dropped it in frame by frame into the final animated background. It was tedious. As you may imagine.

* * *

This was the second test I did for the piece. Here is the first. This one is more crude and a little more "arts and craft" looking but it worked for what it needed to be.

All music courtesy Ben Kammer.

zune cut outs done

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Just put these all together this morning. I'll have them in the mail tomorrow.

Helen of ...

Zach Franzen, Proprietor of the Portland blog decreed this Friday's topic to be "Helen of ..." Fill in the blank.

Somehow work inspired-ish by "the face that launched a thousand ships" failed to bring in the number of submissions you might have imagined, and turned out to be more of challenge.

Here's one of my doodles.


Click over to the Portland blog to see the rest of the entries as well as my other one.

ZINE

Ever hear of a "zine" ? -- you know like a magazine -- Zine is a new word for me. But I do know it's not indie cool to say a full word. No, no. You'd be mistaken if you thought that.

It's indie cool to take a perfectly normal word and remove letters from it (or in some extreme cases add letters) -- it's indie cool to say zine. Nerds.

art by Chris.

But! Portland has released its first Zine -- Sweet Ride, by Chris Koelle.

You can check it out on the Portland blog here.

32 pages. $10.00

Essentially, Chris took a bunch of old pictures of people and bicycles and drew them. Oh boy! Short pants with lots of wrinkles.

There are also originals available for purchase. $40.00 for an original + a zine.

Cycle your way across the internet over to the Portland Store and pick up a signed, limited edition. If you are into that sort of thing.

* * *

They just got into the studio here the other day and they look and feel very, very nice.

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Here's a quick musical tour of the book. If you're not yet convinced:

*** This etymological update from our anonymous correspondent:

sold!

I did several paintings a year ago right before we bought our house.

The above has sold but you can click below if you please, and see what others are available.

Let me a comment if you are interested.

watercolors

Mole and the Singing Cow

Here's a painting from sometime ago. It was one of my first commissions.

And the only work of mine (that I know of) to receive the dubious distinction of burning down with a house.

But thankfully it had since appreciated in value and the patrons were able to claim a nice sum on their insurance.

new girl and question [edit]

I'm sure that anyone who reads this blog with any amount of frequency has developed a discerning and perceptive taste. Or not.

In any case I am in need of those with discerning and perceptive taste (or at least an opinion) to help me out.

I'm presenting for your consideration these two different takes on the girl piece:

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The positive point of the first one is I like seeing all the sky and getting her whole figure in.

The negative point is it was difficult to make a cut-out so small, and the details did not translate well at all. Her face looks bad. I made several and went with one that sort of worked.

---

The positive point of the second one is that the cut-out is much, much better. I got the detail I wanted and it mostly looks just how I want it.

The negative point is that it takes up a lot of the background and I don't get to enjoy the watercolor as much. Also the hair is so long, but I'll bring it out of the mat like I did this one.

I do like the negative space created by her arm in the lower right.

Any feed back would be helpful. This is just one of those conundrums.

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Thanks to everyone for their comments. Because I can't resist making things more difficult, here's another idea:

more Zune cut-outs, framed.

I haven't been working on these three days straight, as the length of time between the first post and this one might make you think. I've worked on these as I've have a few minutes here and there.

They're nearly completed. I do have another idea for the girl though.

paraphrenaliae

Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, Mark Johnson. I'll never tell.

Click above to visit Mark Johnson, our lead interactive designer's blog and see the dry-erase creature in a larger format.

more from Zune.

Those of you who frequent my blog (where ever you are out there) will remember around December of 2007 the Zune Arts film "Le Cadeau du Temps" --check out the side bar to catch you up if those French words are unfamiliar.

In any case, the good people at 72andSunny, the agency behind the Zune Arts campaign, were awesome and sent four free Zunes our way a little while ago.

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And by way of a thank you for the Zunes, I'm putting together some paper cut-outs and watercolors for them. They don't know. So don't tell them.

Swashbuckler!

I'm sure many of you have seen this already but if not here goes-- the studio I work for has (for the last couple Fridays anyway) put together a post of themed pieces.

This past Friday's topic was "swashbuckler" and you can see my entires below.

Click over to check out the varied and sundry submissions. And to play Mark's game. Our lead interactive designer has made a little flash game that is addictive.

Swashbuckler.

Illustration Friday: "Primitive"

circa 3rd or 4th grade. I used to do cartoons as a kid as well as many other things.

I think the alligator with horns and muscles at the end is one of the shining moments in my young artistic career.

Primitive, unlearned drawing maybe, but then as now it beats learning my multiplication tables.

"This the Dauphin speaks..."

Sneak preview of my second "swashbuckler" for Friday's post.

More of a Musketeer. Not exactly the heroic type, but he's trying. Really.

"Bury me where the arrow falls."

The Ghost of Robin Hood.

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Here's two versions of one of my entries for the now standard (I guess) Collaborative Friday Portland Blog Genre Post.

Zach Franzen, proprietor of the Portland Blog, has instituted this Friday's topic to be "Swashbuckler."

Enjoy.

screw Wii Fit.

Have you guys heard of Wii Fit? Well screw it! Who needs it!

Look, Nintendo has already released a work out device even better than that. And they released it three years ago.

You know exactly what I'm talking about-- the Nintendo DS. That's right. All you need is a DS and Tetris and a treadmill.

Behold, I have found a way to make the work-outs work for me.



It works. Somehow, it works. It corrects posture, it makes the time fly lightning fast, and it works.

I don't really mean screw Wii Fit. I love Nintendo and I'm sure it will be cool. But a DS and Tetris and a treadmill is all I need. Woo!

The Tragedy of Dominic Suber: Part Two

What are you doing here? Go listen to part two of Zach's (Zach of the Portland Studios blog fame) three-part story of Dom Suber!

Part Two
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What? Oh come on, get yourself up to speed--
Here's Part One.

some first client work for PS

Here is some of the first client work I did for Portland. I did these really cartoony versions that I tend to like but these second versions are cool too. Either way we ended up with the more "cooler" version if I remember correctly.

I like the cartoon ones because of things like this after the fact. I ought to do a whole alphabet of angry things and letters.

Chimney Sweep

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watercolor ... in stages!

Remember this one? Here is a tiny explanation of it.

Behold-- some time tomorrow, a bunch of pictures chronicling the painting of this drawing.

I wandered around my room while the paint dried, took pictures, played Tetris, and cleaned brushes.

Meanwhile, Bill Murray was busy being genuinely awesome.