ICE!

Oklahoma got hit by a major ice storm. This in turn (combined with the constant Oklahoma wind)destroyed many trees, which fell and snapped power lines all across the state.

At one point over 50% of Oklahoma had no power.

The Sackett house was one who lost power. We were without power for 24 hours. I was annoyed until I talked to people and realized we were lucky, most people werew powerless for longer, some people MUCH longer.

Today, the high is going to be 66 degrees, 4 days before Christmas!

Only in Oklahoma!

The End.

For the last 6 weeks or so Michelle and I have been on what I have been calling 'The Sackett World Tour'.

Thankfully it is now over.

Basically, the 'tour' consisted of a series of weekend trips to Dallas, New Orleans and Omaha. I've been in 6 states (Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Kanasas, Nebraska and Iowa) and I gotta say I've had a ball. I love to travel and meet people and I've been able to do it in spades.

But now the fun is over, it's time to look sharp, stand straight and get back to work!

She Passed!

In an earlier post http://scottsackett.blogspot.com/2007/11/dallas.html I mentioned we went to Dallas so Michelle could take a test to become a Certified Lighting Consultant. As you may have guessed from the title, she passed. This is very cool as the test was very hard and she was sweating it.

Awesome!

This weekend we went to Omaha to go to Michelle's office Christmas party. (Yes, it's 1000 miles round trip!) The home office is in Omaha and so we got to check it out.



I saw this in a guy's cubicle and I thought it was awesome!

More Iron Man

I've been messing with Painter lately. This is the final of the Iron Man I posted a few days ago.

I haven't painted since colleg and it was never my media of choice, but I really enjoyed messing with this. Once I got the hang of how you get the paint to blend.

Painter seems to replicate the painting experience pretty good, except for no painting brushes or no smell.

Cleaning the brushes I didn't miss, but to be honest the smell of paints I did miss. It always made everything seem more 'arty.'

Btw, I didn't paint the background, it's a photo I swiped off the web.

Real Old Time Hockey

Okay, last post I bemoaned how we seem a little softer nowadays. Kids can't leave their houses without cel phones, metro sexuals are all the rage on tv, Rocky Balboa owns a resturaunt, heck even Han Solo has turned wimpy.

Then I found this video. All I know about hockey is from EA Sports and Slapshot, but this video ROCKS!



btw, I got the link from http://www.takeshimiyazawa.com/

RIP Evel Knievel

Iconic daredevil Evel Knievel dies at 69
By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Evel Knievel, the red-white-and-blue-spangled motorcycle daredevil whose jumps over crazy obstacles including Greyhound buses, live sharks and Idaho's Snake River Canyon made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.


**************************************************

Having grown up in the '70s, Evel was one of my heros when I was a kid. I still remember seeing him jump on ABC's Wide World of Sports.



While Evel may have been a drug-using, womanizing, boozer-thug, he was constantly aware of being a role-model and he was always throwing out inspirational sayings.



This is one of my favorite: A man can fail many times, but he's never a failure unless he stops trying.



One thing I miss from my childhood is the sense of rugged individualism we had back in the '70s. Nobody embodied that more then Evel Knievel.

Digital Iron Man

Wacom is releasing some sort of new digital pad thing and looking at it has got me thinking about working digitally lately.

The idea of a digital sketchbook you can carry about and draw on seems pretty cool.

So I busted out my Wacom and painted and drew this. It's pretty rough, but I kinda like it.

I kept my blue line layout so you can see the process.

Obviously, I've got a long ways before I'm going to put away the pencil & paper, but this is something I'm going to keep working on.

Maybe by the time the technology is to the point I can buy a 'Digital Sketchpad' my skills will be up to the task!

My work on television

The other day I saw a new commercial for a local hospital and I realized it was the first storyboard job I drew over a year ago. I had kinda wondered why I hadn't seen any commercials I had storyboarded.

I figured maybe I had done such a poor job they didn't sell the concept. I guess really I didn't realize how long it takes to make a commercial. Since I draw the concept boards (instead of shooting boards) I am at the very front of the process.

I really enjoy drawing the storyboards, almost as much as I enjoy drawing. I'm not sure which I enjoyed most about this job, the actual work or the fact in one evening I made enough garbonzos to pay for my trip to the San Diego Comicon in '06.

New Orleans

Some Photos:


Looking up in our hotel lobby.




Next door was a hat shop.


Across Royal street was The Pearl.




Just up Canal street was the Ignatius J. Reilly statue. When I first went by the statue, it was night and there were some guys in suits looking at the statue. They couldn't fugure out what it was for (despite the plaque). When I told them, one guy said he had always thought it was a tribute to the homeless!


Typical French Quarter architechture.



Night falls on Burbon Street.










"It seemed like an ordinary day... until I had coffee with Jesus at the Cafe Du Monde."


Michelle looking angelic at the Cafe Du Monde.


Statue at cemetary.

Houston, we have a problem!

Well, I believe things tend to go in cycles.

(Problem #1)
A few days ago at work, we moved downstairs. One thing about moving downstairs is we now have carpet and are on the route of the costodians. Which is cool, now I don't have to empty my own trash, which was mostly filled with used teabags.

Except, the second day downstairs I arrived to find my headphone cable wrapped around the wheel of my chair. After I unwound it, they were dead (Jim!). No big deal, except my day is loooooonnnnnnnggggg without aid of an audiobook or podcast. I played jazz low on my speakers, but it wasn't the same.

(Problem #2)
Last Thursday evening, the night before leaving for Nawlins, I was trying to download a podcast onto my phone. My pc locked up and when I restarted it, it rean really slow. I monkeyed with it until 1 am (we were getting up at 3am) and finally gave up in exhaustion.

(Problem #3)
Monday morning, after coming home, Michelle woke me up with the dreaded phrase: Well, it seems we have a problem!

Now this could be anything from whiskers in the sink to the roof is on fire, either way it's not good.

Yesterday, this signaled a leak in the waterbed. This is very bad as our waterbed is upstairs and this could be a huge disaster.

Sometimes it seems like everything is going wrong!

Well, Michelle talked to Dell and the figured out it was the hardrive. So I've installed and new one. And she got a new mattress, which we've put on the bed. And tonight, I picked up new headphones.

One thing I've learned is sometimes you gotta roll with these things. And some times thes things work out better.

The new hard drive was a 320 gb on sale. It cost me $80, but it's much bigger then my old one. And I seem to be mostly working, I just have some kinks to work out.

The mattress cost $35, but we got it installed just in time. Last night, the bed was still pretty cold, but our house was pretty warm. Tonight, it's turning cold and the bed should be fully warmed up by the time the weather turns. If it'd happened a day later, we'd have been sleeping on the floor!

My headphones cost $14, but my new ones were black, instead of white. And they came with a nifty zipper pouch, so I'll bring them home with me.

I guess the moral of this is sometimes things are gonna break and bad things are gonna happen. But the best thing you can do it to keep on going, fix the problem and make the best of it.

And who knows, you may end up with a bigger harddrive; you may even end up with a nifty zipper bag!

**********
I should have posted about Nawlins. It was awesome. I'll post about it next time!

page one

Dallas!

This weekend Michelle & I went to Dallas for her to take a test to be a Certified Lighting Consultant. Actually, we went to Arlington, but to me the whole Dallas/Fort Worth area is Dallas.

On the way down we stopped at the Gainsville mall and I saw this:

Marvel Team-Up with Superman and Batman? Wonder if this is a counterfeit?

Then we went to the Grapevine Mills Mall and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. I'm not a huge fan of their food, but I love the theming. I love eating in a fake jungle!

The one in Orlando really puts this one to shame, but hey I was in Dallas, not Florida!

Before Michelle took her test, we went and ate at a Chinese Buffet. Actually it was the Jumbo Super Buffet. It was a HUGE buffet.

They even had octopus!

And I did not try it! I try and be careful what I eat when I'm traveling, but to be honest, I'm not sure i would have tryed it at home.

I saw them building the new stadium for the Cowboys. I'm not a NFL fan, but the construction was pretty cool. The photos don't show it, but it was HUGE!

I also hit a few half price books & a comic shop down there. I got a books on Googie, Milton Caniff and Chris Ware. I also went to an art store in Arlington where I hung out and shot the breeze for a while; everybody there was pretty cool & I bought a couple of pencils.

300 mph

I've been lazy about posting art, but here's the first 2 panels of 300 mph.


I had some luck in Chicago (Read about it here) and I am hoping to capitalize on it with 300 mph.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three

These days with union wages, insurance costs and litigation risks it seems like few movies are shot on location. Now days we tend to rave about the realism when a movie is shot on greenscreen and the CGI backdrop of New York City looks 'just like the Real Thing."

It wasn't always like that.

Back in the '70s, a movie like Serpico or The French Connection would be shot in the streets of NYC, in all the grit and peeling paint of the real thing.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three was shot in (and under) the streets of New York.

(The Pelham 123 refers to a subway train that left the Pelham station at 1:23. Cars are assigned the name of the station they left that morning)

Four heavily armed men has hijacked the Pelham 123 train. They have 18 hostages and will start killing them if they don't have one million dollars in an hour.

Yeah, I know one million isn't a lot nowadays (I think that's my credit card limit) this was '74, so go with it.

The transit authorities are puzzled. Why would anyone hijack a subway train? And how do they plan to get away? As pointed out several times, they're on a train, in a tunnel, underground. But one of the cool aspects of this movie is seeing the criminals plot play out and how the various criminal personalities interact.

If this sounds like a Quentin Tarantino film, it was an influence on him. The gang goes by color names (Mr. Grey, Mr. Brown, etc.) and while it's never explored, they don't know each other, both of which are similar to Reservoir Dogs.

The Transit Authority Police Chief is played by Walter Matthau, who does a great job as a harried bureaucrat who's really over his head.

If you're looking for something beyond CGI sets, kung-fu wire tricks and hair gel heros, something with a real plot, real story and yes, real locations, I suggest you seek out "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three." I give it 2 thumbs up!

p.s. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is rated R. As far as I can tell its for profanity; the was no nudity or gore. Nobody got their ear cut off.

p.s.s. As I was stealing er, gathering graphics for this review, I read they are remaking this movie. I'd see this before watching the new version. I hate remakes!

1:47 a.m.

Late night shot of my studio.

Nawlins!

I just found out we're going to New Orleans!

Michelle is going for a meeting of the Illuminating Engineering Society and of course I'm going along.

The down side is this is the same weekend as Wizard World Texas which means I'm going to one less convention this year.

Still I've talked to the people I know and it seems none of the publishers I want to talk to are going to be there. Besides, I owe Michelle since she didn't go to Chicago with me.

I've only been through New Orleans a few times & I've never stayed there.

I'm looking forward to going to New Orleans. One of my favorite books, A Confederacy of Dunces, takes place there and I'm hoping to check out some of the locations from the book.

There is even a statue of the main character and I think it's not to far from our hotel.

We're staying in the French Quarter and from what I've seen online there is a lot to see nearby, we'll see.

I wish I didn't have to miss a comic convention to go, but I'm hoping to make the big NYC con next year so that should make up for missing this one.

The End!

Today I watched the final episodes of 'The Structure of Man'. I've learned a ton of things, I am 100% confident with drawing the figure.

To test myself, I went through some old drawings in my sketchbook and 'fixed' them. Drawing over the top, I fixed the figures. And I could see my problems, what I was doing wrong and more importantly, how to fix it.

I would recommend 'The Structure of Man' video series to anyone struggling with the figure. I'll be honest, it's long and the instructor has kind of a flat tone that can be tiring to listen to. The series is WMV format, so you'll have to watch it on your computer. Also, since the series build on top of itself, if you don't watch all 43 hours, you won't get the full benefit.

But if you're to commit the time and do the work you will learn the figure from this series. I think I leaned more from this then I would from a college figure drawing course.

If you are commited to learning to draw the figure, have exhausted all the books and are still lacking something, give 'The Structure of Man' a shot. You can watch the first few videos online and pretty quick you'll know if this is for you.

300MPH rough sketch

Another drawing in the new sketchbook.

This is a rough sketch I did to prepare for 300MPH. What does this have to do with 300MPH? Well, if you live in NYC you may recognize this scene and the file name is a clue.

More soon!

New Sketchbook

I bought me a new sketchbook. I think it's 3 x 5, about the size of a Moleskine, but it cost $2, has a hard cover and a pencil loop.
Here's the first drawing. I grew up on route 66 and I love old cheesy motels with neon and wood paneling. Well, at least I love drawing old motels.

Figure Drawing Studies

Here's the torso muscles section of "Structure of Man' (the figure drawing videos I am going through).

Basically, I drew a skeleton and we went through and layered on the muscles in 4 views.

However the coolest thing is the drawing on the lower right.

Starting with a flow line, we roughed in a figure, no real measuring. This was cool because at this point I felt line my head was ready to explode from all the muscles.

But when I started drawing, everything kinda fell into place. This shows me I am heading in the right direction and all this time I am spending are going to payoff.

House of Pain

Where I work. My desk is in the center , behind the fan.



Speaking of work, today at break there were a bunch of emergency vehicles in front of the other building.

A lady in the other building stopped breathing. A co-worker administered CPR and saved her life. They think she may have had a heart attack, passed out and hit her head.

Not trying to make light of her situation, but this is a reminder that we never know how much time we have. I doubt she left for work thinking she would end up in such dire straights.

As a Christian, I would urge you to consider this in a spritual light. However even if you have no spiritual beliefs, you should still consider the fact that the end can come sudden. Life is very precious. Are you spending it well? Are there unsettled issues in your life?

Structure of Man update

More stuff from my studies.

End of an Era

They are tearing down the 7-11 by my parents house and replacing it with one of those shiney corner ones across the street. This is kinda sad because I have been to that 7-11 thousands of times.

All the late night Icy's after cruising around with D. L. or countless hours playing video games.

I know there is a brand new one across the street, but it's not the same!

King of Kong:A Fistful of Quarters

Don't Get Chumpatized!

I am a video game kid. When I was a kid we had a Pong game (battery operated!) for our TV. I clearly remember when my brother and I saved up our half to buy an Atari 2600 (it was $150, Mom and Dad paid half) . I was a teenager in the heights of the '80s videogame boom.

The King of Kong is the documentary of the rivaly between two men over the title of world champion of Donkey Kong.

Owning the world record in Donkey Kong may seem like a trivial 'geek culture' goal, but The King of Kong is more than that.

The story starts off with Billy Mitchell, current holder of the Donkey Kong record and undisputed 'Gamer of the Century'. Confident and successful, the mullet-wearing Billy has it all. He even has his own brand of hot sauce!

"If all this can happen to me," says Billy "I know some poor bastard out there is getting shafted!"

Enter Steve Wiebe! Steve is a guy who just never got a break, always came up a little short. When Steve was laid off his job, he turned to video games, specifically Donkey Kong. When he heard of Billy Mitchell's 20 year old record score, he thought, "I can beat that!"

So He bought a Donkey Kong machine and started to practice. And practice. Until he beats it!

But that is just the start, this film has so many twists in it you will be constantly suprised. This is a rivalry story on par with any Rocky or Karate Kid. You will find yourself enjoying an interesting cast of characters, including someone called 'Mr. Awesome'.

And in the end you'll have to remind yourself 'This is a documentary.' You couldn't make this stuff up!

So if you're a video game kid or just someone who enjoy a good rivalry, my suggestion is to save up your quarters and go see The King of Kongs!

http://www.billyvssteve.com/

Monster Hunters

Got the cover back from the colorist. He did an awesome job!

The colorist is Mykal Adams and you can check out his web page here: http://geckodojo.com

What is 300 MPH?

Coming Soon!