Family – Page 85 – Robot Claw

The Perfect Storm

February 25, 2011

As I type this, it is snowing heavily outside. We have had a great deal of snow this season, so much so that there was still a heavy coat on the ground after a few relatively warm days. But today it has returned with a vengeance. I went outside just now to take some photos.

The snow is very thick and heavy. This will be difficult to remove, even with the snowthrower. I don’t know when it began to fall, but it is already 4 or 5 inches deep (over the top of my boots) and shows no sign of slowing. The trees and bushes are burdened by the weight; the plough has not yet cleared our road. I can only wonder what KLS’s drive to work was like.

The entire season I had not ventured into our backyard due to the very thick (~2 feet) coat of snow. Just now I did.

It is utterly silent when the snow falls like this. The only thing I could hear was the crunch as I stepped through the drifts, and occasionally the sound of a flake falling into my ear as I looked up to take a photo.

Everything is coated with snow. From the smallest stalk to the tallest tree. Even the power lines are weighed down with a thick coat. There are no signs of the squirrels or birds or any other creatures that up until yesterday had carpeted our backyard with their footprints in the snow.

It isn’t very cold, maybe just about freezing. As I explored the snowfall increased in strength, and even began to get uncomfortable. I could feel it freezing over on the top of my head.

The above is a closeup of our cherry blossom around the side of the house. In only a couple of months that will start to bloom, and shortly afterwards will be laden with flowers. Right now the branches are weighed down with snow, and the trunk is 1-2 feet deep in snow and ice.

As I was heading back inside I stepped closer to the two bushes you can see in the above photograph. All of a sudden a sound – the flutter of wings. I meekly peeped, and could see birds inside. They are safe there in the dense foliage, under their snow-cap. I couldn’t make out what types of birds they were, or even how many. A few little ones. I hurried away.

This is the best kind of weather. This is Earth at it’s most beautiful.

Although I have seventeen American winters under my belt now I still love the snow, especially an impressive fall like this one. I wish all my Australian readers could experience exactly what this is like.

I Can’t Draw

February 15, 2011

There are a lot of things I can do well, and even some I can do very well. You may have noticed I don’t have a problem boasting about such things here on the blog.

So now it is time to boast about something I am really, really bad at. And that is drawing.

As an example, I was driving around on the information superhighway the other day and found this remarkable image on the website of a freelance designer:

It’s just a little something he (oil) painted in his spare time. It’s a homage to Monster Hunter, and – as you can see – it is a pretty stunning display of artistic talent.

By comparison, here’s a picture of a monster I once knocked up in my spare time:

I drew the above when I was about 19. It stayed on that blackboard (which, amusingly, was on the wall of a house we lived in) for about four years. Some of them after I left Australia. I was quite proud of this creation. It was one of the better monsters I had ever drawn.

To quote Jeremy Clarkson: ‘If I’m honest… it’s terrible.”

Here’s another piece of art I found online. To stick to a theme it’s another example of Monster Hunter art. This time the artist has lent his talent to designing a hypothetical set of armor for the character:

It’s what I would call the ‘complete package’. Egyptian themed armor, that not only looks incredible but is also accented by the sketches on the right that suggest the origin of the parts required to make it may be a scarab-inspired beast. It makes me wish this armor was actually included in the game.

I could spend a million years sketching and never rival the above. And believe me, I have tried. For instance here are two snaps of ‘character designs’ of my own. Specifically, different suits for cats:

Each of these are about ten years old. One was on our fridge for aeons, the other was a relatively recent addition after being found as a bookmark in an old book. In each case they represent the limit of my artistic ability when it comes to designing clothes for felines.

And – let’s face it – each of them is spectacularly awful.

So what of CG? Maybe my talent lies in computer assisted drawing? Maybe I can create something like this next (again, Monster Hunter themed) offering, which the artist admitted to knocking up “in a few hours” as a contest entry:

December 16 2001 was the day I began my career as a CG monster artist. It was also – not coincidentally – the day that career ended. Here are the only two works born in those fated few hours:

The top is (of course) Cthulhu. The one at bottom is… well it’s apparently Snakus Godus.

It is very difficult, as I sit here and pen this, to come up with a phrase to describe how truly sad and pathetically wretched each of these illustrations is. And yet there must have been a time when I thought otherwise. As evidence I produce the following image:

Yes good friends, that is a Snakus Godus t-shirt. In a rare moment of restraint I shall omit further details of this nigh-legendary item.

In my life I have failed utterly at drawing. I have failed at painting. I have failed at sketching. At character design. At CG art. At photoshopping. At sprite design. And at sculpting. I have nothing resembling an artistic bone in my body.

But I’m ok with that, because I like to think it gives me a greater appreciation of those that can draw. Such as my friend SFL, who created this:

A bear by a tree. Simple, artistic, beautiful. And something I myself could never create 🙂

The Hanged Man (live)

February 15, 2011

This post is for MMN.

This is the only photo I have of The Hanged Man live. Click on it to get full size.

Where and when was this taken? The year was likely 1992 or 1993 (certainly prior to May ’93, when I left Australia). As for the venue, I have no idea. It may have been taken during the “Roberts Amazing Love Affair” concert in June 1992.

Matthew: please theorize in the comments. And send Craig a copy, since he looks pretty cool in this shot 🙂