http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:ivanjs&section=today deviantART RSS for by:ivanjs en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:07:34 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/15307767/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/15307767/ Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:47:19 PDT
Well, here's a surrealist questionnaire to challenge your creativity...

@What is your favorite color?
Blue, no green! aaaaarrrrrgggghhhh!

@If color was a kind of cheese which cheese would cows eat?
Isn't that a bit like autoeroticism or something?

@If a chicken and a half laid an egg and a half in a day and a half, how many cows could obtain escape velocity in a week?
Depends on the fuel mixture and their knowledge of combustion engines.

@If a 3-legged frog is running around a race track at 127 miles an hour, and he hits a pebble, causing him to instantaneously combust, what 3 directions would his 2 eyes fly?
Up, right and upright

@Back to cheese:
Cheese-whiz or grated cheese?
Grated. I don't eat anything with the word whiz in it.

@What's the last thing you'd ever want to read in a fortune cookie?
"You never existed."

@If fortune cookies were cars, would you prefer 2 wheels or 3?
3, cause triangles are very strong geometric shapes.

@Plaid or plain toilet paper?
Plain-cause plaid is so busy, you can't be sure you're done wiping.

@If camels formed a cult and summoned a demon, which camel would gain an extra hump, and therefore achieve almost god-like status?
The one with no hump-no one would notice a camel who already had a hump(s)

@If you were locked up in a frozen pizza shaped prison for 3 consecutive life terms, anchovies or pork?
Well, obviously neither-too much sodium in anchovies, and I haven't eaten pork since The Empire Strikes Back came out.

@If you had to force one of your bad habits on your worst enemy, which one would it be?
Stinky Wheezleteats, for he is truly my worst enemy

@No, no, I mean which bad habit would you force on your worst enemy, not which enemy?
Oh. I would force my bad habit of making up worst enemies.

@Singers-
The Carpenters or Carmella back in the 2nd grade?
Have to go with The Carpenters-Carmella was hot back then, but she could never hold a high B flat.

@If 1300 rampaging sea turtles were chasing you through Krogers, would you rather visit Russia or China in your next life?
Depends whether I'm being chased through the bread aisle or going through the 15 Items or Less checkout.

@What's a good name for this symbol?

#

X takes the center square


@Finish this limerick (fill in the blank):
I once knew a girl with rickets
Who crossed a line of union pickets
The union boss shot her
And everyone forgot her
________________________

It must be night, there are crickets


@If computers had genitals, what would be their least favorite holiday?
Ted's Day... definitely Ted's Day

@If the dinosaurs were killed off with a Comet, how is it you can still buy it in stores?
Money is still important in our non-Trekkian society.

@13 years ago...
I was 13 years younger.

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/15176016/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/15176016/ Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:03:25 PDT
Went to the bathroom mirror and looked at my eye and there was a very very small piece of steel embedded in the white of my eye!!! Not floating on the surface, but actually embedded.

Talk about panic! I spent the next 20 minutes trying to dig it out when finally, it came out. No blood, no infection this morning, but man, as much as I rely on my eyes, that freaked me out for a moment.

What didn't make sense was that I had a full face mask on, covering from forehead to chest ear to ear. I have no idea how it got up under there.

Be careful with your tools out there-artists work with nasty stuff sometimes!

Yikes!!!



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14817007/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14817007/ Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:12:27 PDT [link] is a creature so foul and cruel that it took 10,000 men to constrain it! Indeed, many men lost their lives on that day, and for hundreds of generations, people sang the praises of those brave souls who captured the black and white zigawampee (not to be confused with the white and black zigawampee, a docile, loving creature who would just as soon lay in front of a steam-powered feather bed than hurt another creature).

A day I'll not soon forget...

And that's what's inside the box with the rope handles.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14582593/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14582593/ Mon, 10 Sep 2007 21:56:46 PDT
A plasma cutter let's you cut through steel sheet like cutting paper with a knife. I've been getting along fine so far with using a cut-off wheel to cut my shapes out, but it's limited to cutting shallow curves and straight lines, and I want to get into more organic pieces. The plasma cutter will cut any shape you can draw.

It's rated to cut 5/8" steel, but only if you have a spare 230 volt line laying around. I don't. So... I'm getting an electrician out to install a new panel box (yikes!) just so I can use the damned thing!

Actually, it will cut 1/16" steel on 120volts, and that works for some sculpture ideas I have brewing, but I eventually need to do at least 1/4".

That panel box can't get installed fast enough.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14284051/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14284051/ Wed, 22 Aug 2007 07:24:08 PDT I got quoted in the latest edition of the amazing Photoshop/Games Texture book, "3D Game Textures" by Luke Ahearn.

It's my favorite PHotoshop book ever (I make game levels and objects for games on the side), so it was nice to be associated with it in some way.

If you've never seen it, it teaches you insider information (using step-by-step tutorials) about game texturing using Photoshop from a guy who has been doing it for years.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14279373/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/14279373/ Tue, 21 Aug 2007 21:16:51 PDT ivanjs has 16,155 pageviews total and his 188 deviations were viewed 37,576 times. He watches 105 people, while 133 people watch him.

Overall, his deviations received 1,929 comments and were added to deviants' favourites 805,307,100 times, while he commented 1,796 times, making about 2 comments per day since he joined DA. This means that he received 11 comments for every 10 that he gave.

His deviation with the most comments is Walking the Tightrope... with 120 comments, receiving an average of 8.57 per day in the first 2 weeks, while his most favourited one is Doll House, with 805,306,378 favourites, averaging 9.21 per day in the first 2 weeks. His most viewed deviation is Walking the Tightrope... with 4,805 views.

I know my site gets average hits, but um, 805,306,378 faves? Almost a billion?????????? Yeah, they need a new calculator or something.

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/13423869/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/13423869/ Wed, 20 Jun 2007 19:07:57 PDT
The first thing I did was head to my local scrapyard and buy some used steel to practice welding on ("coupons" the old-timers tell me they're called). The first thing I had to figure out was "how the heck am I going to cut these things into small pieces?" I started off with a hacksaw-ever spent hours on end cutting mild steel with a hacksaw? Yeah, I was sore the next day...

After about 4 days of hacksawing and practicing welds, I decided my arms had had enough and started using a 4 1/2" grinder equipped with a cutoff wheel I had stored in the garage. Don't even remember ever buying a 4 1/2" grinder-must've been garage gnomes who felt sorry for me that left it there.

That definitely sped things up a bit.

The next thing I did after my welds stopped looking like metal popcorn, was to build a small portable welding table. Once that was finished, I decided I needed a bending brake (looks something like this: [link] ). Harbor Freight has 18" bending brakes for about $30, but they seem kind of "weak" so I bought some angle iron, and built my own. It's very strong, can bend 1/4" steel bars or 1/8" sheet and is so heavy and massive, it gives you that grunting macho feeling every time you use it, even though it leaves your arms feeling like spaghetti if you bend 1/4" steel with it.

Next, I bought a compact benchtop bender from Harbor Freight ( [link] ) which lets you bend steel bars with various diameter bends. It was half-price at $49. Again with the spaghetti arms when bending thick pieces.

The biggest part of learning to do steel sculpture is learning to manipulate metal. I've sculpted wood, concrete, clay and other materials, but none of them required the physical effort that steel requires. There's something primal about it that I so far enjoy a great deal.

I built a few jigs, and a scroll wrench or two, but I haven't actually done any sculptures yet (waiting on that plasma cutter after all), but I've filled a sketchbook with ideas so far. Can't wait.

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/11564786/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/11564786/ Thu, 25 Jan 2007 12:58:45 PST
I recently bought 100 small signal diodes for $14.00 (US) from a reputable electronics store based in Arizona. A 100 diodes only weighs a couple of ounces (literally like a small pack of paper clips), so I'm thinking the shipping would be a couple of dollars at most.

Regardless of whether you know what diodes are (they're very small, lightweight electronic parts) even a hundred pack doesn't add up to much weight.

When I went to check out (online store), it showed the lowest (and slowest) possible shipping cost at $11.00–remember-we're talking about only a few ounces here.

The diodes arrived about a week later, packed in a plastic bag about the size of a playing card, and about as thick as half a deck of cards. That was packed in a box that was about 9" long x 6" wide x 4" high, along with a small catalog (only a few pages thick), my receipt, and of course packing material ("popcorn").

I've ordered hard drives that didn't cost $11.00 for shipping, so how does a pack of diodes weighing a few ounces cost that much?

In contrast, I just ordered a 40-meter QRP receiver kit (it's a amateur radio receiver) from a prominent electronics company. The receiver weighs a whole 1/3 lb., MUCH MUCH more than a small bag of diodes. The shipping for the receiver is only $9.30! They're located in New York, which admittedly is a little closer to Ohio than Arizona, but still-$11.00 for a bag of diodes vs. $9.30 for a 1/3 pound radio kit. Makes no sense to me...

Guess I don't understand the shipping business...



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/11397071/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/11397071/ Thu, 11 Jan 2007 10:43:48 PST
Many graphic designers (and others) who are just starting out or doing freelance work, often do "free" or "almost free" work to build up their portfolio, to network, or as a favor to someone, but at some point, the decision has to be made to cut the cord. Even an experienced designer sometimes thinks "well, it's for a friend of a friend, so I won't charge (or charge as much)".

From a designer's point of view, this mentality can and does often turn into a nightmare with the "friend of a friend" making infinite revisions. Unless a contract was drawn up at the outset (a rarity if it's for a friend or relative), weeks can go by and you're still working on the job. Countless hours are spent on the project, primarily because of revisions. Doing a "free" or "almost free" job can take away time you could spend on paying jobs, or free time vital to your mental health.

This "work for free" trap can be found in an employer/employee relationship as well as in independent/freelance situations. Here's a workplace example...

"Ted" was hired to work at a small company 40 hours a week at an annual salary of $36,000.

He was told when he was hired that he would occasionally have to work late, but Ted was assured that it would only be a few hours a month if any, and let's be honest–how many career-related jobs DON'T occasionally require you to work a little extra now and then? It looked like a good career move, Ted was young, and he looked forward to starting his new job.

About a year into his job, one of Ted's co-workers left the company, leaving his small 3-man department with only 2 people. His employer told him that they'd hire someone soon, but in the meantime, Ted and his co-worker would have to pick up the slack and work about 5 hours a week extra until further notice. The employer reminded them that they were salaried and that they wouldn't receive overtime pay–that it was all part of being a salaried employee. Ted thought about it, and 5 hours a week didn't sound too bad. Besides, it was only for a short time, right?

So 6 months go by, and still no new employee is hired. The employer is impressed that 2 people can do the work of 3, and he doesn't have to pay a 3rd salary, so it's unlikely that anyone will be hired. Ted thinks about changing jobs, but the economy isn't the best, and he and his wife are expecting a child, so he decides to stick it out for awhile, again reassuring himself that "it's only 5 hours a week."

After another 6 months, Ted finally sees the light and lands another job somewhere else. He sums up his experience as "lessons learned", and figures it wasn't really so bad–5 hours a week for what was otherwise a pleasant and rewarding job.

But what did Ted really lose here?

If we break down his salary into months, Ted made about $3000 per month before taxes. Ted had to work 5 extra hours per week for a year (not counting 2 weeks of vacation), so he had to work 5 extra hours per week X 50 weeks, which comes out to 250 hours.

A normal work day is 8 hours, so if we divide those 250 extra hours worked by 8 hour work days, it seems that Ted worked for free for 31.25 days–a whole month.

Ted's "not so bad" mentality caused him to lose $3000 (before taxes), since he made around $3000 per month. In the end, that means his salary was actually only $33,000 a year, instead of the $36,000 promised by his employer when Ted was hired. Or looking at it another way, Ted gave up 6 weeks of 5-day vacations.

Many places give comp time to salaried workers, but if the employer was unwilling to hire a third person for the department, and the 2 remaining had to work extra hours just to make up for the lack of that third person, do you think that employer would be wiling to give Ted and his co-worker a month off each? With so much work, when would be a good time to take off a month for either (both?) employee? Then, how many extra hours would a lone worker have to work to make up for a 3-man department while the co-worker was gone for a month?

Realistically, Ted should have left the company as soon as he figured out his boss wasn't going to hire a third person. This showed a complete lack of respect on the employer's part, and who wants to work for someone who doesn't give them proper respect and even takes advantage of their "team" spirit?

Taking one for the team, and giving the company your all is one thing, but think carefully when you think "it's only for a little while", or "it's only 5 hours a week", or "this will look good on a résumé." You stand to lose money, time, time off, and will probably leave the experience with a bitter taste for management and your career.

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/9207718/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/9207718/ Wed, 28 Jun 2006 08:05:21 PDT
[link]



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/9071898/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/9071898/ Wed, 14 Jun 2006 23:05:15 PDT [link]



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/8102825/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/8102825/ Wed, 08 Mar 2006 12:29:40 PST
I guess I could have bought the download version for instant gratification, but I'm a fan of manuals, physical boxes, you know, the packaging works. No where in the ad did it say "No Manuals Included"...

[Read More]



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/7840260/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/7840260/ Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:50:06 PST
Part 3

Part 2

Part 1



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/7734297/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/7734297/ Sat, 28 Jan 2006 17:43:01 PST
Sci-Fi Modeling Tutorial-Part 2



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/7527294/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/7527294/ Fri, 06 Jan 2006 14:25:46 PST J.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/6506875/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/6506875/ Wed, 14 Sep 2005 20:26:56 PDT Censored drawing is featured in this week's Juxtapoz Reader Art gallery. For those who don't know, Juxtapoz is an art magazine catering to fine art, particularly alternative and um, weird fine art.

Check it out!



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/6322602/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/6322602/ Thu, 25 Aug 2005 07:23:50 PDT new tutorial on my site on how to get that rusty face look, reminiscent of the Dave McKean look.

Here's the link:
Rusty Face Technique

Here's a sample pic:
[link]



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/6032848/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/6032848/ Mon, 25 Jul 2005 18:05:47 PDT LiveScience.com has a great article on what really happened on that October night just before Halloween in 1938 when Orson Welles and John Houseman first broadcast H. G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" to an entertainment starved radio audience, resulting in nationwide fear, panic and suicides.

Or did it?

Many people ask (including one of my fellow deviants here)-how could this possibly have happened? How could so many people be so naive as to believe that we are being invaded by Martians? They must be stupid!

But what you have to understand is in 1938, there had never been a Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Mars Attacks, Freddie vs. Jason, or any other movie about alien invasions or monsters attacking (though there were of course things like Flash Gordon, but they were about adventure and rescuing princesses, etc., not global domination as far as I know.)

People in 1938 hadn't grown up around graphic novels, violent slasher films, death metal, punk rock, MTV or anything else like that. Their primary source of information and entertainment was gathering around a radio in the living room listening to orchestras and ventriloquists (funny, that).

So when they were channel surfing for something to listen to and suddenly came across some reporter talking about invading armies from Mars, they had never heard anything like that, especially from their trusted source of information-the radio.

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5921178/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5921178/ Wed, 13 Jul 2005 08:07:07 PDT
For this feature, I'm asking everyone to take a look at Sandra Keplinger's gallery (Staged).

Sandra's work ranges from intimate portraits to absolutely beautiful nude shots. Her photography shows a mastery of tone, light and shadow, as well as composition.

Here's a few samples:





Please visit her gallery at:
[link]

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5899141/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5899141/ Sun, 10 Jul 2005 22:19:03 PDT
Woohoo!



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5856522/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5856522/ Wed, 06 Jul 2005 12:01:35 PDT From my site, Geekronomicon.com

The ship was badly damaged, the engines almost at maximum-overwhelmed by the enemy, the captain decides to turn tail and run...

Engineer: "Captain, you've got to slow it down-our engines are overheating! If we keep this up, we'll pass the red line-anything beyond that and the ship will explode!"

So the Captain calls together all the ship's officers at a big conference table. Debates rage, opinions are uplifted and squashed, egos destroyed.

Then finally...

Captain: "It's clear to me that we have only 1 solution..."

All the officers stare at the Captain, anticipating his suggestion...

Captain: "We must change the color of the red line. Make it so!"

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5776462/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5776462/ Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:57:14 PDT
But Guild Wars is such an addiction.

This review contains SPOILERS, so stop reading if you don't want to know about some of the plot developments.

READ MORE



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5720966/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5720966/ Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:52:37 PDT Microsoft Custodian Surprised to Learn-Linux Doesn't Exist

From my site, LyzrdStomp

Yesterday, Microsoft Custodial Chief, Wilhelm Gates, admitted for the first time that he was surprised to learn that the open source operating system-Linux-didn't really exist.

"We've spent countless millions of dollars promoting fear, uncertainty and doubt to users and business owners so that they wouldn't abandon Windows to jump ship over to the free Linux operating system." he said, mopping the floor in one of Microsoft's 500 vending rooms.

"Then, yesterday I overheard some of the higher ups talking about how Linux was a hoax created by mischievous employees in the Microsoft Macintosh division. I mean, who knew? All this time, I thought Linux was the biggest threat to Microsoft's monopoly, and it turns out it was a prank."

Gates went on to add that he's switching to Mac OS X when they make the switch to Intel CPUs in 2006-

"I like the little lickable window buttons in OS X. Reminds me of those colorful urinal cakes, but without the smell."

]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5543160/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5543160/ Fri, 03 Jun 2005 14:16:10 PDT World's First Cloned Dinosaur Fails as Marketing Tool...



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5518729/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5518729/ Wed, 01 Jun 2005 06:41:16 PDT From lyzrdstomp.com
I was reminded by someone over at ehmac.ca  about Pink Floyd's Time lyrics.

If you've never heard them or never paid attention to them, they're pretty profound, especially as you creep into your 30s or 40s:

Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but you’re older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say

Home, home again
I like to be here when I can
And when I come home cold and tired
It’s good to warm my bones beside the fire
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells.

I especially relate to the lines:

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

John



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5478919/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5478919/ Fri, 27 May 2005 17:24:02 PDT From My Site-lyzrdstomp.com
Dan "Danny" Malone revealed today that music notes aren't some sort of special code which can be translated into tones and rhythms, understood by musicians worldwide. In fact, they mean absolutely nothing...

"It's all been one big bad practical joke for hundreds of years," Dan told me. "Musicians have always been quirky, kind of, you know, different. Hell, when I was in band in high school, we were like the school outcasts or somethin'. The football team only knew we existed cause we disrupted their game with our little seven minute shows at halftime and took all the attention for a few minutes. No one respected us. We were freaks!

"We're human, we want to belong, so the story goes that some druid priest musicians many centuries ago devised a plan to create a cryptic non-language that the rest of the world would be amazed by and quite frankly, bewildered by. It was the basis of the modern music education system."

When I told Dan that my daughter was taking piano lessons and could read music quite well, Dan replied with a grin, "Sorry, man, she's part of the big practical joke too."

"When they first walk into a lesson, they're told they'll never be a contributing member of society unless they go along with the big joke and pretend like the notes actually mean something. If they resist, we threaten members of their family or their pet sea monkeys. Your daughter has been the product of a perverted social engineering scheme and quite frankly, has been taking you for a ride."

"But what about all of the classically trained musicians in the world," I asked Mr. Malone.

"They're faking it, they're playing it only because they have been forced to learn music by ear and by meticulous repetition."

So, the next time you go into a music store and look at the thousands of sheets of music and songbooks on the shelves, chuckle and say to yourself, "it's just one big joke."

Ford Prefect



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5472302/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5472302/ Thu, 26 May 2005 20:59:29 PDT
A woman takes off her head, falls to the floor, slowly gets back up, and puts her head back on. Unbelievable!

[link]

John



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5409588/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5409588/ Fri, 20 May 2005 07:11:09 PDT
Things are definitely getting better...
[READ MORE] (No Spoilers!)



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5255094/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5255094/ Tue, 03 May 2005 10:29:52 PDT So there I was, watching Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy-The Movie this weekend, and what to my wandering eyes should appear? On one of the Vogon buildings (or was it a ship?)-I saw a Caution Bar.

Now, don't get me wrong-this isn't a cut against the movie. I just think it's great that of all the things aliens and humans apparently share, the caution bar seems to be universal.

This is funny to me.

Here on earth, different colors have different meanings to different cultures, so why would black and yellow (more or less) be so universal? So how do aliens, with umpteen rods and cones in their eyes (that may be quite different from our own), still come up with black and yellow for those striped bars that warn someone of impending danger?



Johnny



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5244134/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5244134/ Mon, 02 May 2005 05:10:16 PDT
Some scenes were absolutely brilliantly done (Heart of Gold ([link]) kicking in the Improbability Drive ([link]) was hysterical (the whale and petunia also), and Slartibartfast's ([link]) tour with Arthur ([link]) (was one of the most visually appealing scenes I've ever seen), but some other scenes were just OK.

All the actors did a fine job I felt (Sam Rockwell was a hoot as Zaphod ( [link])). I felt Arthur and Ford were portrayed well, though I must admit having my doubts about casting Mos Def as Ford originally.

One of the most fun parts of the movie was the Guide itself-some amazing animation was done in the Guides' descriptions of things, such as the existence of God, the war with Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz ([link]), and others.

I will definitely see it again, but it didn't leave me with that "Man, I must see that multiple times or life will end" feeling like I got with the first Matrix movie, Star Wars and Empire, and some others.

If I had to grade Hitchhikers, I'd give it an "A" for visual appeal, and a "B" or "B-" for entertainment value.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5155000/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5155000/ Fri, 22 Apr 2005 04:40:22 PDT
Want to learn about one of the most prolific fantasy artists of our time?

Frank Frazetta is an artist who inspired an entire generation of fantasy artists (I went to GenCon in Indy last year, and almost ALL of the fantasy artists there said Frazetta was a definite inspiration for getting them into art). Hell, even George Lucas has said Frazetta was an inspiration for him.

Frazetta's style stands out amongst all the slick, photo-perfect fantasy artists of the time because his work still feels like a painting-not photo manipulation as some others do. And that's primarily because of his fine art background.

Anyway, I just bought and watched "Frazetta-Painting with Fire" about the life and art of Frank Frazetta, my FAVORITE fantasy artist (I would count Geiger as my favorite, but really, he's more my favorite horror/erotic artist.)

Now, I know what SOME of you might be thinking, cause I hear it from my students: "Isn't he OOOOOOOLD school?"

Sure. What you might call old school, I call a pioneer, a man of firsts, a trendsetter. Besides couldn't you say the same for DaVinci, David, Goya, van Gogh, and all the others we hold on a pedastal? And yes, for me he compares with those great artists.

I thought I was a Frazetta fan and knew everything about the man, but after watching this, I'm even more impressed. Did you know he entered fine art school before he was 10? How many of you can draw as well with your other hand as you can with your preferred hand?

His attitude may not appeal to many people-my wife thinks he comes across a bit "I'm all that" (he definitely has confidence), but many artists (Dali and Picasso especially) come across that way somewhat.

Anyway, if you're interested, want to be inspired and want to learn about one of the greats, check out "Frazetta-Painting With Fire" at amazon.com (tried to post the link but deviantart screwed it up). Just go there and search for Frazetta-the DVD is the first thing on the list for $15.99.

Also, the DVD itself is the best made documentary I've ever seen-very professional design, editing, everything.
John



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5092703/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5092703/ Fri, 15 Apr 2005 05:15:44 PDT This week I'm going to feature an artist who is not (as far as I know) a Deviant one. His name is Dave McKean and he's one of my favorite artists.

Dave combines traditional art and photography with digital imagery into some of the most interesting work I've seen since Geiger.

When you look at Dave's work, you may think "Eh, I've seen that stuff before-he just copies off everyone". Nope. Actually, he's the one who started this whole organic, creepy look that's popular. This style didn't exist until Dave put pen, brush and pixels to work, and many people have paid tribute to him since by creating similar work.

If you feel like you've seen his work before, you might have seen his collaborations with writer Neil Gaiman to produce some of the most revolutionary Sandman graphic novels to date.

Give his gallery a peek over at [link] .

J.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5040467/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/5040467/ Sat, 09 Apr 2005 06:47:15 PDT There are an INCREDIBLE number of talented artists on here as we all know (and as evidenced by all those people I have chosen for my dwatch), so I'm going to start featuring you guys in my journal.

My next featured artist is Duck-Star ( [link]), an incredible cartoonist/artist whose heroic fantasy characters have more personality than just about any published RPG character designs I've ever seen (and I have a LOT of D&D books).

From drawing to painting, his work oozes detail, fun and personality, and I'm a sucker for detail!

What a great place to visit! Check out Duck-Star's gallery- ([link])!!!

J.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4973934/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4973934/ Fri, 01 Apr 2005 20:29:37 PST
My first featured artist is who-scared-you ([link]), a fellow surrealist who has an amazing grasp of the surreal. Some of her work has a playfulness about it that I lack in my own surrealism work, and having a surrealist understanding and that playfulness takes talent.

I highly recommend her gallery ([link] )!!!

J.



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4882057/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4882057/ Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:18:00 PST
It was in the dying moments of a reciprocal black hole in our galaxy nearly 2 billion years ago, when that most treacherous of fiends, Shaf-rock the Great Amphibiazoid, migrated to all corners of the heavens with his minions, wreaking havoc and destroying worlds whereever he went. His great fleet of giant destructor ships (numbering in the millions it is said) swept through our galaxy like it was soup. There seemed to be no end to his conquering ways, but strangely, he seemed to be looking for something.

Some say he was seeking an eternal resting place, weary of conquering thousands of worlds; others say he was simply looking for yet another primitive world to subjugate and destroy.

Then, only after he had killed over a trillion people across vast expanses of our galaxy, did he come to what would later be known as earth-earth in a very primitive form with no people, no animals, only slight vegetation, and it is said that he looked upon earth and cried thus-"At last, I am home".

No one knew quite what he was referring to, but it did not matter-for only seconds after speaking those words (in his own language of course), all his conquering horde died of gastrointestinal disease-all except the chickens they brought with them for food and entertainment.

So the chicken came first.
John



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4872664/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4872664/ Mon, 21 Mar 2005 13:49:12 PST
The tutorials can be found here: [[link]

John



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4869340/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4869340/ Mon, 21 Mar 2005 06:06:50 PST
Colored pencil has a textural quality that sort of gives it its character, and the print retained that texture beautifully.

Don't want to sound like a commercial, but if you have high resolution versions of your deviations, you should give their print services a try.

John



]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4839666/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4839666/ Thu, 17 Mar 2005 17:49:16 PST


]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4777420/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4777420/ Thu, 10 Mar 2005 13:00:11 PST

I always hate anticipating something, then when it gets here, something else gets priority...

To make it work with Apple's iApps, I need to download something called patchburn3. Without that, I can just burn data DVDs. Boring. I want my iDVD!
J. ]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4776374/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4776374/ Thu, 10 Mar 2005 10:17:55 PST
I'd hang out with my druggie friends watching them get stoned, and later join my other friends at the chess club.

I hung out with geeks, artists, musicians, and even some athletes.

I've never judged people by the labels they carry, whether self-imposed or hurtfully given to them.

When I start a new job, and people there "warn" me about a particular co-worker, I tend to be the first in line to get to know that person-sometimes the warnings are warranted, often they're not.

It's just the way I think.

J. ]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4775712/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4775712/ Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:21:09 PST

Of course, I STILL had to get up at 7:30am to go to work.
J. ]]> *ivanjs http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4775685/ http://ivanjs.deviantart.com/journal/4775685/ Thu, 10 Mar 2005 08:16:38 PST
I miss Douglas Adams...
J. ]]> *ivanjs