Birthday come early.

Well my birthday has come early. I have a tradition that in January I treat myself to something I always wanted. This is my birthday gift to myself. Celebrating me and one more year of life done and the enigma of death looms closer and closer... eeep. All that aside I'm pleasantly happy with the latest Wacom Intuos 4 Medium Tablet. It came with Corel Painter 11 at a fantastic deal that I couldn't let slide by.

So that means I get to experiment with AVP. The last image in this post the Blue fella is a first attempt at the Tablet using the grip pen. Needless to say I got a steep learning curve to climb and quickly. Thankfully this is why I made AVT in order to get better at drawing by using the tools of the trade. I'm almost ready to download Z-brush's month long demo to dive into deep artistic waters.

To everyone visiting a happy holidays. To everyone else not gobbling down PC dong, Merry Christmas. Have a great New Years and see you in 2010.

Kevin164

Update 2 complete.

This has been a long road this project. Started in April of 2008 it was supposed to be a simple 50 panel exercise, but I'm a story teller at heart. So, here we are 200 panels and plus later. I've grown fond of the characters with telling their complete tale. I've listed the chapters left to go and I have the bones and marrow of where I'm going with plot.

I'm getting closer to the third sequence with a two year old, a job, while trying to be a good husband on top of the whole endeavor. So with the update completed I can now move onto the final chapters of the second act, then into the third and final outcome. I made the necessary change to the relationship between Nexus Valor and Gear Break. I've toned down Dead Bolt and KillSwitch since both were too gung-ho. I wanted more solid personalities out my Tankbots. I finally found a name that I liked for the sister of Gun Start and Short Stop. She's had more name changes than Prince. Overall I pleased with the decision on taking the time to go back and fix the Drop Sequence. It was worth the extra work.

Now it's time to get going and finish this project. I'm pushing myself to be finished by November of 2010. Another game conceptual project is looming on the back burner and a children's book for my son is in order. Both are calling me to flush them out. Anyways to anyone visiting I hope your enjoying the story so far.

Kevin164. 11/16/2009

Tweak, Polish, and Beat into a story. Update 2 begins.

Well, I've been dead in the water with the AVT storyboards for the last two months. Why? Because I've been updating all the prior storyboards. Well the first part my statement is a lie. I've been extremely busy on AVT. I practically have the second act finished in Black and White. A few extra filler boards for the action and we are ready to move on to the meat and potatoes of what I think will blow people away when I get planet side in the story.

In fact I think I've over done it. It's a nightmare of sheer volume of work sitting on my hard-drive that I'm going to have to color and finish before I can up load it. Then I decided to UPDATE EVRYTHING!!! What the hell am I thinking?

...and yet... I managed to get the Drop Sequence fixed. I hated that series of boards. When I first started it I really wanted to stop and do something else with the story. It was long and tedious and really didn't serve any purpose. I knew that I needed it to establish the main character. It would tie into the last part of the story about who he was and where he was going. It was important set up for the final act. It looked horrible. I was embarrassed by it. It took forever to finish and I hated it.

Then UPDATE 2 happened and I have made the jump in my art. See if you keep drawing you get better believe it or not. Art is like weight lifting you can only get stronger by doing it every day.

I got better. I can see it in the last few sequences. I'm getting more comfortable with the characters and how I draw them.

Wait till you see the Humans, Aliens, and Jockey Pilots that will populate this story in the third act. I'm biting through the midnight hours to get you all there, and when we go I plan to make it worth the wait.

See you

Kevin164

Nearing the 200 mark on AVT.

I've been terribly busy laying the ground work in the yard for my wife's sod experiment over the last month. Also I've had a change in shifts at work making art for the Storyboards slow to a crawl. Graveyard usually allowed me time to draw from 2:00 am to 5:00, since I am pretty much alone. I now work the evenings... so opportunity to draw has been cut short. I want to keep a professional appearance for my employers especially since I am now a point man dealing with the public during this shift. Time to draw has been nixed, especially at my own home till this bloody backyard is finished.

Basically I am up at 5:30 am digging and pulling vegetation that frankly does not want to be parted from the dirt it has so lovingly infested. This frantic dance between me, a pick axe, and shovel happens till the temperature reaches African-Safari HOT. By then I'm ready to call it a day. I'll crawl inside looking like some poor Virginia coal miner punching his shift card at the mine only to find my son ready for chow and a day's adventure. All I want is a shower and my bed.

So basically I'm screwed for a while when it comes to the blog, Twitter, and my Portfolio work. Sod should be in this next week and I can have this nightmare honey-do list behind me till the next one crops up. I need a road trip to the coast. I need to see the ocean again.

Sigh.

AVT: Rescue and my Movie Theater in the head.

I have a movie theater inside my mind. It's rather nice and extensive. We are talking IMAX meets Carnegie Hall. This place has saved me many times on rather boring days in jobs that I rather not be doing. Mostly yard work. The one thing I have the misfortune of is that I have enough artistic talent to make and impression, but not enough to garner employment. It's frustrating and I find myself working harder to shore up my failings in anatomy and perspective. I know that I can do the job, I just need that "break into the business" start.

The other thing is that I observe movies that I want to see in my imagination very clearly. I mean I'm there and it's a blast! I just can't get it on paper for everyone else. AVT: Rescue is my first attempt at trying to convey what I'm seeing. For me its beyond frustrating, like looking at a third grader's renditions of Monet, while compared to the designs of flashes of metal and life crossing my big screen.

I'm driving my wife crazy trying to finish it. She considers it a waste of time deep down. She loves me enough to placate my obsessions, but we have a toddler now, so having her husband wasting hours into the witching hour and beyond can get old quick. She's an artist as well. A good one, but Princeton killed whatever it is that COMPELLS us to create something. Being a student of the Ivy League of Hard Knocks I have regained some of that compulsion to share again in 2006. The fights between us over this are getting unruly.

So besides my Dad, who I love and haven't called lately. Sorry POP! I hope anyone else who's getting to see this endeavor is enjoying my hard work and sacrifice. Not that Hasbro or 20th Century Fox disapproves or approves all of this, because in short this one of a million fan fictions circulating the Net.