Bad Drawing #136! sort of... it's there... but there's also PROPS!

So the last time I did a post it was Christmas... So let's start up again with another holiday!

I'm really using this holiday as an excuse to go on about my new found hobby, "lightsaber building".

It actually goes a bit further than that... I'm actually just finding the idea of building props interesting. Maybe it's my love of old school FX (over this new fandangled CG stuf) that has brought it on, but I can't get enough of it.

Being a pretty big movie nerd doesn't exactly help... It's like introducing an alcoholic to the art of home brewing.

Anyway, as much as I love reading about and looking at pics of prop building, I'm actually terrible at modeling. I'm not a good painter... and I'm terrible at cutting, glueing, shaving, etc.

But I came across this guy's site where he made a replica of Luke Skywalkers lightsaber out of mostly original parts, and it seemed something I could feasably do. So I started researching the build. I'm now obsessed with collecting a build of each of the Original Trilogy hilts...

Finding parts for these ranges from easy to hard... cheap to ridiculous. The first one I'll be toying with is the middle one (Vader), built from this old timey camera flash...

 ...and a kit I found on another site... Turns out a lot of the lightsaber hilts were built from old 40's camera flashes. This isn't the EXACT flash that was used - if I wanted to make it authentic, it would cost thousands of dollars... this was 40. It will do. I'm not THAT obsessed.

So while getting ready to start this build, a Star Wars vs Star Trek art show in Vancouver was announced...

This is the same place that had the "Big Lebowski" show...

I wanted to take part, and decided it would be my first attempt at a lightsaber build. But a hardware lightsaber. I would just go to Home Depot and see if I can make one from parts I find there... I came home with these parts...

Yup, There's your bad drawing... Drawing #136 - lightsaber plan!

Yeah it's pretty much just sink parts. So I had to figure ways to make that a little less obvious.

I painted up the middle "clamp" piece, and used a Coke can to cover the tags that were stamped into the metal.

The other problem was the front end "emitter" which, of course, looked like a sink.... cuz it was a sink.

so on May 4th, it was finished... with paint and little LED's (non working)... and ready to go to the art show...

 That's the bottom of a light bulb glued into the front end

 The grips are made from cut-up bungee chords...

I will add pics from the show, including my wife's knited pieces (which are awesome), after Friday. For real. I'll update again in less that 6 months.

There will also, probably, be a lot more nerdity as I take on prop projects over the next while... including props for a series of shorts we're getting started on here at House Of Ten.

Hiatus over! More bad drawings to come!

Wedding Invite! Bad Drawings #101 - #135!!!

Finally! Okay so it's now uploaded... And full of bad drawings. 35 to be exact!



All the drawings are mine, but it was Ar who colored them... So yeah... I can't begin to cut into it... there's just too many. But there ya go, 35 at one time! Bad Drawings #101 - #135!!

"The Dude, Pinned" BAD DRAWING #100!!!

Okay, yes, I have actually drawn since Bad Drawing #99... but I wanted to hold off so #100 would be one worth mentioning...

I know I SAID #100 would be a video, but I haven't been able to upload it yet, and since I'm tired of waiting to post a #100 drawing, I'm going to forgo the video and post a drawing I did for a local art show...

"Holy Shit, you got in ANOTHER art show?!?!"

Calm down chappy. To get into the show, all I had to do was something in the theme of "The Big Lebowski"... So I could have sketched a bowling ball on a napkin and made it in.

Anyway, "A Million Bad Drawings" is in another show, and that's worthy of a #100 post in my books.


So what's the piece?

DRAWING #100! "The Dude, Pinned!"

It's like a trophy for being awesome

So the idea for this piece came to me as I was in the closing sale of Zellers and found an old bowling pin from their cafe's wall. I bought it for 10 bucks thinking "I can do something Lebowski with this".

My art work shop... the dirt covered common area of our condo...

I took the pin home and spray painted it white... I wanted to get rid of the AMF markings, and knew I would have to seal the hole that they put in it to screw it to their wall...

 The back was cut off to have it sit flush to the cafe wall...

I also bought a plaque to attach it to - make it like a little trophy you can hang over your bed.

I sketched out a test drawing to be used on the pin... one that I could transfer on and then ink over... I wasn't completely happy with it... face was a little short and wonky, the shirt collar was wrong... but I figured I could fix all that when I transfer it onto the pin.

The fingers in this version look MUCH better than the flat ones in the final...

I then redid the pin striping on the bowling pin...

Thanks "American Restoration" for showing me the best way to do this...

...and stained and sealed the plaque.

Finally I transferred and attempted to ink "The Dude" onto the pin. Holy shit what a pain. The pen I usually ink with smudged when I did a test. I wouldn't be able to seal the final inking. So instead of my nice smooth pen, I had to use a black Bic. It was shitty and bumpy. Oh well.

Augh... those fingers! In my defense the ink would NOT TAKE to that side of the pin... no idea.

I finished it up and sealed it. When I sealed it, the ink turned purple. It was weird, but looked kinda cool. Ah well.

When I dropped the piece off at the gallery they asked how much I wanted to sell it for. I couldn't answer.

They take 50% commission, which seems CRAZY. So in order for it to be worthwhile to me, I would have to put it up for $400... which is nuts. But 50 % is pretty standard for gallery commission, so it's not really surprising.

When I did the "Deighton's After Dark" art shows I took NO commission. I didn't even consider it. It was just cool to have a night to show peoples art... Help the artists out (cuz artists are notoriously broke). I figured I didn't put any work into the art, why should I take a cut? However, I wasn't renting a space, and all money was made on the bar... so different worlds... ah well.

Anyway, it is unlikely people would pay $50 for this, so I just left the price blank. Maybe I'll change that when I get to the show, I dunno.

SHOW INFO!

HOT ART Wet City
Pop Up Gallery

presents

FK IT DUDE

Featuring art inspired by the Coen brothers film "The Big Lebowski"
Opening Night Party Friday September 21, 2012 from 7-10pm
752 East Broadway, Vancouver BC

Art submission deadline Thursday September 20

 

http://hotartwetcity.com/fk-it-dude/

There you have it. Bad Drawing #100!!

999,900 to go!

More BAD coming...

This is DONE! I may now have some more time on my hands, so hopefully we can get back to some BAD DRAWINGS!

The 100th bad drawing is coming..........

Welp, the big 100th bad drawing post is coming... probably tomorrow... And it's a doozy.

The 100th post will be a video... the video that's been mentioned a few times... the video that is my wedding invite!

Did I actually improve at all during that drawing task? Well we'll get to that...

That 100th post will mark a new era... I have tons more I will be posting...

And a few ideas that will hopefully keep me drawing more... cuz until just this last week, I don't think I've picked up a pencil for a month.

Time to upload the vid to youtube.

Bad Drawing #99 - "Wedding Character Designs That Never Were"

So I finished the drawings for the wedding invite last week, and will post something about all those soon. I guess it will fall under the "100th Bad Drawing!" milestone (or "Milly stoe nay" as I like to pronounce it)

Until I get to all that, here is a quick doodle I did at my desk today for shits and giggles. I was thinking back on what I had done for the invite, and thought that overall it was way too complicated for my drawing capabilities, and therefore the characters ended up looking like they came from a Vancouver film school animation project.

 So I tried to do the drawings super loose and shitty, and came up with this:

So looking back at what I've done, vs. what I could have done, this loose version probably would have taken a lot less time, and I wouldn't feel the need to make excuses for the shitty drawings in the final project... cuz they would be purposefully shitty.

Oh well.

 I probably would have over thought it any way and ended up with the same VFS looking project in the end.

Bad Drawing #99 - "Wedding Character Designs That Never Were"

Bad Drawing Update!

I've been crazy busy trying to get this wedding invite done, and will soon update with some more bad drawings, but for now, here is a nice little preview of what's to come...

I had to take individual photos of the drawings to use as place holders in my video edit while my Girlfriend, Arlyn, colors them... So much work... so many bad drawings.