Old Prospector

Why aren't there any young prospectors?

Probably because they're not any fun if they're not old and senile.

-Evan

Skeletal Mount Makin'

So this is something a bit different. Still creative, but no sketches or CG for you today.

This does require a bit of a explanation though. At work, in order to make my space my-own, I decided to fill it with all things Zoology and Paleontology related. I went ahead and purchased a number of specimens for my desk, with the idea to slowly build a collection over the years, and eventually turn my area into a mini natural history museum of sorts.

So I went ahead and got a number of things, and also put up posters and diagrams and whatnot on my walls. There was one problem though. Decently sized to larger specimens are, for obvious reasons, expensive. I bought a number of cool smaller things to get the most bang for my buck, and give myself a decent heads start on the collection. The problem though, was that they are not easily visible in passing, and one would have to walk right up to my shelf to really see what's there:

See? Other than the two guys on the right, you really can't see what we got here. What's that? What are those two tiny things next to the Velociraptor skull you ask? (I'm asking for you since you can't see them)

Believe it or not, there is a little Archaeopteryx skull, and some odds and ends of a Parakeet. Clearly these guys needed to make themselves more visible! (Or...rather...I need to make them more visible. Since...you know. One's dead and the other's a model.) This is where I came up with the idea to build little custom mounts for them. And that's what this post is about.

 I did a test with a really simple mount for the Archaeopteryx skull, as a proof of concept to myself:

Turned out to be a bit easier than I expected. Just a wooden base, easily pliable wire, Wire cutters/pliers, super glue, and an xacto-knife. With this working, I decided to go a bit further and try to make a more complex mount for the parakeet. Same materials. Here's the mount by itself:

...and once all the pieces were locked in place*:

*I didn't bother mounting the lower jaw because of how fragile the skull is. Didn't want to break anything, so I just set it on the base...

Thought it worked fairly well for my first crack at this sort of thing, with the materials I had available. For future mounts I'd like to do a bit more planning, and to make the armatures less noticeable. This time around I had general concepts in mind and just went for it; testing and seeing how the materials would lend to my initial ideas. But at least my guys have a more pleasant home:

I would like to do more of this sort of thing pending new specimens.

Best,

  Evan

Robosaurolophus

Wow, just looked at the date. Sorry it's been a while... I have no excuses, really...

Today, I was given a task by a friend. He said to draw him a robot dinosaur while listening to Memphis Blues. I know, it's a little random. But he gave me until he got back from grocery shopping to complete it, which turned out to be about an hour. Here is what I hastily came up with:

I call it Parasaurolophus mechanichensis

Until the next sketch,

  Evan

Jack-O-Lantern Designs: IRL 2012

Heeey now!

  Somebody actually took me up on my challenge and carved one of my pumpkins! This one comes from Ms. Stephanie McEnery!

  If anybody would like to join her in her efforts, you have two days left to carve any of these, these, or these! If you do, send me a picture and I will post it. Thanks Stephanie, for being the first! Perhaps others will follow :)

Enjoy,

  Evan

Jack-O-Lantern Designs 2012

It's that time of year again! Here are 2012's Pumpkin Designs:

And same deal goes as every year: if anybody actually decides to attempt to carve any of these (i'm not sure how well they would work in the real world), please send me pictures at evan.m.boucher@gmail.com and I'll post them up here! That goes for previous pumpkin designs as well.

Speaking of which, for previous pumpkin designs, see:

2010

2011

Happy Halloween, all!

-Evan B.

24 Hour Comics Day

Hello All!

Today is 24 Hour Comics Day (It also happens to be International Sloth Day, but we won't get into that right now). It is a worldwide event which challenges people to create a 24 page comic book in 24 hours. Many Comic Shops host people to do this, and people are also encouraged to do it from wherever they choose.

Since I couldn't make it last year, I wanted to try it this year. Met up with a couple friends downtown and we tried it out. It's been an awful long time since I've drawn a comic book...and I only got 7 pages in about 8 hours (Note to self...it's a lot easier to pump out pages when there are only a few panels per page).

My strategy was to do a stream-of-consciousness story, where I just begin and let the characters take it wherever it may go; opposed to outlining a full story from the start and trying to make the whole thing.

Anyway, below is what I have as of now. My hand has become a twisted claw at the moment so I'm taking time away from it. Might add to it later. We'll see.

Apologies for the poor quality - no scanner, just taken with my camera. Try to ignore the lens distortion and non-uniform lighting. And as always, click for a larger view:

Overall was a fun exercise. A good way to get in some quick drawing/storytelling practice. Was good to sit down with paper and pencil for the first time in a long while :)

Next thing will be the my yearly Jack-O-Lantern contact sheet, so be on the lookout for that.

Enjoy,

  Evan

My Bathroom Tiles are Watching Me - Part 5

See:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

....AND WE'RE BACK! 

Sorry for the hiatus. I had some other drawings and such I had to get done last week. But nevertheless! The tiles have returned. I decided to go with a silly one for today:

...wait for it....

BOOM:

Yeah...that's right. I went there.

I already have the next one lined up so stay tuned. Should be a bit more...errr...pleasant.

Enjoy,

  Evan