Joel finished up my outline today and was also able to lay in all the scales on the dragon. Later on this week I’m going back for another sitting where he’ll start shading the scales. If we keep up this pace I might actually have some color by the end of the month.
So here’s the deal on that “secret” project I talked about a few weeks back. At the beginning of April Texture was blessed with a very large RFP from the state of California (Travel & Tourism council). Typically proposals are pretty boring but with this one they also wanted an interactive piece submitted with the proposal titled “Meet the team”. We knew that we where the smallest agency competing for this work so our submission had to be unforgettable.
After an hour of brainstorming we decided that we would focus on how compatible CO and CA are. Unlike the agencies in New York and Chicago, we here in Colorado have a unique understanding of the outdoor lifestyle and mindset that also exists in California. One thing led to another and by the end of the hour CO and CA where dating and I was learning how to make giant foam costumes.
The concept, Barbie doll prototypes, costume construction, video shoots and editing, copy writing, site design and build, the 93 page digital and printed RFP… everything you’ll see here was done start to finish in 3 weeks (21days).
http://california.texturemedia.com
Regardless if we get the work or not, I was extremely honored to be a part of this and am very proud of what we where able to pull off in such a short period of time.
My work on Photo Gallery is currently in the lead for a Webby and recently won Best in Show at the 2008 IAC Interactive Competition. Awards typically don’t do much for me but this site has an above average amount of blood sweet and tears in it so it’s nice to be recognized. The site is currently displaying over 10,000 photos which is pretty impressive considering it only accepts images with verified Pentax camera exif data.
Joel was able to outline the chest piece and get through ½ of the background outline. As you’ll see from the pic of my inner arm, there was a lot more bruising with this sitting. I’ve got one more sitting to finish the background outlines and I hope to hell it doesn’t hurt as bad because I’m running out of prescription narcotics. :o)
I can’t talk about what this is for (yet)… so let’s just say that California and Colorado are dating and I had to make them some costumes. I’ve never made gigantic foam costumes so for a first attempt, I think they turned out pretty good.
Credit:
If you’re reading this blog you probably already know that my 7 year old Joshua (aka: joshie) has Autism. Being male, I probably wont verbalize a lot of the daily struggles involved with raising our little rain man - if you’re interested in that sort of stuff you should probably read my wifes blog. That being said, I’ll stand on the proverbial soap box for the length of this post and state that anyone with HBO should make a point to watch “Autism the Musical“. It’s probably the closest thing I’ve seen that illustrates the daily joy and pain of raising an Autistic child. If you do get a chance to watch it - the little boy Henry is pretty much a carbon copy of Joshua. Dinosaurs and all.
Done by Joel Long - arguably one of the best traditional Japanese artists in the USA today. This outline took around 4 hours and yes - it hurt like hell. I’m scheduled to start the background in a couple weeks when this heals and I can’t wait!
Josh and Mac have really warmed up to each other and are quickly becoming best buddies. After I finished installing the new doggie door Joshie took it upon himself to give Mac the operational demonstration and training. Bec made the comment a few days later that “Josh is probably getting more use out of it than Mac!”. Ahhhh the joy of Autism.
I’ve been a fan of mixed martial arts (mma) for a little over 7 years and personally train Brazilian Jui Jitsu and Muay Tai KickBoxing under Professor Mauricio Zingano at the best school in Colorado (Zingano BJJ). Someday I hope to be fighting but until then I can live vicariously through the top-level athletes that where on display Wednesday night.
While standing in line for the bathroom I bumped into current WEC bantamweight Champion - Miguel Torres. My first question to him was “You where an underdog in your last fight, you won the belt, you made over 6 figures whoopin Chase Beebe’s ass and you still have to piss with the rest of us?!?!”. Much respect to Miguel - class act guy and a bad ass fighter.
