Friday, February 27, 2009

Ben's Thumbs






Hey,

A brief update today:
Just finished the first round of Jon Foster and it was less scary than anticipated. Our assignment this week was to propose 12 or more thumbnail ideas for a cover to Ben Franklin's biography, and then to choose one you liked and develop it further. This week we'll be taking one of them to finish.
So, above are my thumbnails! I started out caring very little for Ben Franklin and now I kind of like him, having done a little research. The one sketch I chose to elaborate on is from an anecdote my friend Beth told me out of his Autobiography whereupon Ben is appointed to some clerical governmental position. While the other men debate and carry on their business, Ben is so bored that he begins to doodle compulsively just to keep himself awake.

Still, Jon liked a lot of the thumbnails, including Kite-Head and, surprisingly enough, Propaganda-Turkey. He liked that one ALOT.

So, I'm torn between doing something sort of 'subtle' and 'tasteful' or biting the bullet and just going straight Turkey with this. What do you guys think?

Finish next week!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Snowstorms, Tetris, and Smart-People-School





Hey all!

First and foremost: Watch the above! It's finally here, as promised...my Music Video final! I'm really psyched to have this thing hit the web finally. Hopefully someone out there will enjoy it. MAJOR credit to my cinematographer/cameraman/all around buddy Andrew Fogel and to DJ Vainglory for making this happen!
Mom, Grandma, Etc - Sorry for the brief "language". :(

It's been a little while since my last post, but I'm back and now the Spring (and my final) semester has begun at RISD! (I'M GRADUATING! MAY 30th!)

It's nuts.

Anyways. Spring couldn't be further from the truth tonight. It's actually snowing in Providence again, after a beautiful and smile-inducing few days of unabated sunshine, we're back in the dark wet cold.
Still, it's been a good week and I have been richly blessed...
if the only thing I have to complain about is the snow, then I'm doing alright.

This week marks the official beginning of my Internship with the MIT GAMBIT Games Lab. Which is AWESOME.
I'm really excited...myself and the other Interns are straight to work, but I think we're all glad to have real work to do. I do regret to say that I won't be allowed to post any of the work I do online. Which means I'll probably shut up about it, too.
So...yeah...shutting up. :)

Other news: classes have begun and I WILL be allowed to post some of that work. Which will include comic work as well as the products of a book cover illustration class with Jon Foster!

I just saw Coraline last night. And...I won't wax too poetical about it. I loved it. It was beautiful. I'm going again.
Yeah. Pay-for-it-twice-even-though-you're-in-college kinda beautiful.

Speaking of which: I haven't been this tempted to buy a console since I realized there was Gundam game on the Dreamcast.
Except then I did buy the console, and this time I'm just going to be bothering my friend Izak and using his.
One word: Flower.
Holy wow.
That game is amazing. I'll wax a little poetical on this one: It's what games could be. It's utterly gorgeous. For those unfamiliar: you play as the wind.
You blow on the flowers and they bloom.
They bloom into a musical crescendo.
...
Flowers.
Music.
Blooming.
It's like a dream about flying. I teared up. My friend Kirsten actually cried.
Yeah.

Good week.
God Bless and Enjoy the video!

-Nick

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Monk Over Matter and NYCC!






Hey all!
Back for one last "Monster" class illustration.
This week's theme was "Metamorphosis". Yes, last week's was "Transformation" and I'm just as confused as you are. Still, I decided that Metamorphosis would represent a more inwardly-driven change, while transformation could be the result of outward force or somesuch.
Anyways, I was going nuts, because I've been giving a lot of attention to my Music Video final (which should be OFF THE HOOK, by the way, and up posted up here within the week!) and I had very little time to get a piece together for "Monster". I went through a few pages of ideas I wasn't thrilled about until it was getting too late for ambition and I just had to make something or face the shame of a workless class.
The result is above, and it's the result of some personal reflection on madness and sanity. I think the themes are pretty plain, so I won't bore everyone with more chatter. I hope someone out there finds it the least bit interesting :p

Other news: this weekend is absolute madness! I'm going up to Boston on Saturday for my orientation with the MIT GAMBIT Games Lab, and then from there myself and two of my compatriots are going to get our ticket-money's worth at the New York Comic-Con! Anyone else going to be there on Sunday? Hopefully it should be fun...I've never been to a Comic-Con before!

Otherwise, next semester will begin soon and I'll be making plenty more work as classes start :)
In the meantime, accept this meager offering. I may post some of the sketch-work I've been doing over the last few weeks soon, just to keep this space active. And, of course, the video :p

Lineart here: