Nineteen ('End of Day' Update)

Looking back, I think I had a real satisfying birthday. Nice, quiet, not too much mayhem & mischief.... just the way I like it. Had some family over, ate some pizza, had some cake.... you know, traditional American birthday (sans Pin the Tail of the Donkey).

Got some real nice stuff: A couple bucks from my sister, aunt & cousin (which is goin' towards my excursion to San Diego in a few weeks), a nice new digital camera (to take some nice pictures of my excursion to San Diego in a few weeks) & even a nice little Magellan GPS gadget (not for my excursion to San Diego in a few weeks, but it'll help me when I'm drivin' around once I get back from my excursion to San Diego in a few weeks) ....Even my cats, Lucas & Cookie, got me a nice card. Sure, they only gave me an old, tattered dollar they found under the washing machine in the basement, but it's the thought that really counts. Besides, it probably was really hard for them to write out the card, tape the dollar to it & seal the envelope, what with no opposable thumbs to work with.

I briefly showed the family my puppet, & they enjoyed every minute of it. I had him lip-syncing to 'Rocket Man' by Elton John, 'Jump in the Line' by Harry Belafonte (complete with faux dreadlocks) & 'Sex & Candy' by Marcy Playground. They were either on the floor laughing or staring on with complete fixation. I should record & post a few videos of Cannibal Chicken singin' up here, shouldn't I? I'll get around to it.

The best thing that happened today was the cake! I gotta tell you what happened... you won't believe it!!!:

The family sang "Happy Birthday" (at least it wasn't at Friday's) & I was trying to think of a decent wish to make when I blew the candles out. But my ma, cousin, sisters & aunt were gabbin' like a bunch of ol' hens, so I couldn't think straight. Finally, I decided to make a bullshit wish that when I blew out the candles one would stay lit. So I blew out the candles & miraculously, ONE STAYED IT! You coulda knocked me over with a packing peanut! It was the most amazing thing that could possibly happen.

Sure, I wasted a perfectly good wish, but at least I know that my next birthday wish will come true. Besides, it gives me enough time to think of a decent wish for my 20th birthday. 364 days should be an agreeable amount of time to think of one, don'tcha think?

After all the guests went home for the night, I went upstairs & worked on a little Photoshop coloring (which I'll probably post later on tomorrow/today) & ate another slice of birthday cake. Boy, nothin' hits the spot like a slice of devil's food cake with cream cheese icing & a can of Vanilla Coke to wash it down. YUM-E-YUM!

Well, I'm off to buy cigarettes (not), have a good night, folks!

Nineteen...

An Animated Card for a Sweet 16...

A few weeks ago, I got a Sweet 16 invitation from my friends Sierra & Michelle, who I knew from the Cartooning classes at Hofstra since way back when I first started there. The strangest thing about the whole thing was that I was actually invited somewhere!... but that's beside the point....

At the time, the party was roughly 2-3 weeks away, & I blew the first two still trying to decide what to get them... then it hit me. Instead of actually going through the trouble of buying a present, I thought it would be nice to actually make them something instead. But what...? At first, I thought I'd make a nice watercolor card for each of them, but then I thought "Hey, why don't I animate something for them using FLASH? That'd be easy!" WRONG! Well, I decided to do just that anyway. The idea of what the story popped into my head almost immediately & I sat down & started working.

The thing I like about Flash is that you don't need an X-sheet to time your animations (kinda) & that it's easy to go back & insert/fix/remove a frame. God bless the undo key! Now if I only had a Cintiq, then I'd be set for life.

It took me about a week to animate. For the fluid motions, it was done all straight-ahead. The only thing I hate about my animation(s) is the timing, everything goes too quick. Compared to my 'Blog Anniversary' piece I did back in March, I can see that I've definitely improved with the program, & I'm looking forward to doing my scenes for the upcoming flash film that I'll tell you about in a future post.

Since I can't post the film directly on Blogger, here's a link to it on deviantArt.com. I hope you guys enjoy(ed) it!!!

By the way, the girls loved it.

HAPPY 16TH BIRTHDAY, SIERRA & MICHELLE! I HAD A WONDERFUL TIME!

A Birthday Card for a Friend

Here's a scan of a birthday card I made for my good friend A.J., who is a Illustration student here at SVA. You can see some of her work on her deviantART page HERE. She's really got some amazing work that reminds me of a cross between Dali, M.C. Escher & Dr. Seuss. Very detailed stuff!

I drew the card in pencil, inked it with a Rapidograph & painted it with watercolors (well, technically I used watercolor pencils, but they come out just as good). I really like to use the watercolor pencils because not only does it bring a splash of color to whatever I'm drawing, but it gives it that watercolor look that I've always had a love for. Sketchy & sloppy, yet beautiful & graceful.

The birthday celebration was a big success! We ate at a nice Thai restaurant over on Saint Marks Place (I forget the name), gabbed for a few hours & at the end of the meal, we ate not one, but TWO cakes! But after a huge plate of basil fried rice with shrimp, 2 cokes, a slice of strawberry shortcake & tiramisu, I felt like I was gonna bust out wide open! Eitherway, it was a nice end to a great day!

Happy Birthday A.J.! Count this plug as your 2nd birthday present!