Moved!

At first I thought I would move my office last and not bother my family and friends with the "stuff" that is so difficult to move. Well, it took the better part of a week and a half to move it unfortunately. Family came over and we moved most of the belongings we have on a Saturday a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately enough it was before the snow fell, and it was a nice day to say the least. We were all surprised at the good weather. Now that being said, when I moved all the paintings and artwork that is so difficult to move tonight...it was snowing and blowing at around 10 degrees above zero. Thank goodness my friend Brent helped with some of that. It takes forever. The kids have had a hard time keeping out of the things laying all over the new house. It is a REAL mess. I ought to take a picture of the before and after to give a better idea perhaps. Last Sunday, we had a bunch of friends over for dinner and games. That was pretty nice actually, and would have been even better had we had the whole house together :) We are so fortunate to have found this home. We don't know what the utilities will amount to yet, but at 400 a month, we could not argue for a 3 bed home of our own. It is pretty old and is settled in quit a bit. We are warm and have a roof over our heads. I hope we can afford the expenses of life. Well, I am really tired, so Sleep must take priority here. More to come I'm sure. Later all.

A better explanation

So, for anyone wanting some better details of what is going on, to avoid redundancy, look at my wife's blog http://williams-zoo.blogspot.com/ to see our current situation. Other than that, I am really stressed and upset most of the time. I really hate being sleepy all day long and missing the sunshine. My life feels really ridiculous right now, and I feel pretty depressed about it right now. I'm not quit sure what to hope for except what I know I want for my wife and kids to be provided with...which is my responsibility. I've been sick for about two weeks now to one extent or another, and I have some nervousness about work since the biggest shopping days of the year are coming, and Graveyard freight is going to be a monster, and the people I work with will also be edgy I imagine. As incredibly uncomfortable as I am, I plod on regardless. I know few people who are having it easy at this time in history, so I know I'm nothing special. I just worry that I will fail this test of my faith...I'm so far passed my limits, which I passed during the summer and went beyond months ago. Here is hoping I survive, that we all survive without losing our minds, or worse. Take care everyone...please take care.

Struggling

So, after two weeks of the world being turned upside down...or starting to go in that direction, things still have not fallen into place quit yet. My wife and I found out two weeks ago that our landlord was going to cut his losses and move out of his house ( which we live in also), try to sell, but otherwise rent out both levels of his home to siblings. His house is poorly zoned for only 1 family, so siblings is the only way. Regardless, it put us both in a serious pinch. Mere days before that my wife found out that she was accepted to school again and finally wanted to go and finish. The day after we found out, Nadia had our third child, Shannon Alexandria Williams. So, with an infant, 5 weeks roughly, nowhere to move to, and no time to do so...........we have just kinda sat here. Of course we have looked for places to move to, but every single one is beyond our capacity to pay for right now. We could have moved in with my folks in the little town adjacent to where we are, but all they have is one little room for the five of us to live in, and they also have a cat and a dog. As concerned as we are with the newborn and the animals, firstly, Nadia is allergic to cats! We've had our own place for so long though, and we already have lived with my folks once already...She won't do it this time. On top of that I was just in the process of going from nights to days at Walmart. I have had a really hard time adjusting to Graveyard shift there. Not that I have any trouble while I am there with the people or the tasks I have, but I really end up as a true grouch during the day...and I sleep poorly, and all day when I am home. I miss my wife literally, and she misses me even though we are in the same household. She is also taking care of three now, and I worry about not being able to help her at all...either in the day or the night when I am not even there. (sigh) We started to work for Meleleuca days before the news also. For anyone who doesn't know, Nadia was working for them before I got my Job at Walmart. She was in the call center working part time while I took care of the kids at home. When she stopped working to come home and be mom, we lost the products we used to get from Meleleuca, so we signed up as preferred customers to recieve them. We save money by buying from them and they are safer for the environment and our kids. Also, we can refer famiily or friends to use the products and actually make money for the advertizing. Potentially it can be a complete income with enourmous possiblities......we are just so short on time and energy. Just like today, I could have gone out and talk to some family, friends, anyone and told them about the Meleleuca Products, but I came down with a serious fever and flu. So I was in bed all day long. We are about to the end of our patience and hopes. With the economy so far down as well, it is dangerous for everyone it seems. Good luck to us all, and God bless.

Alien Friends

Just an update on these guys. I was hoping to finish them to enter into the CGSociety's Expose 7 but won't be able to since we must move in two and a half weeks. Will post progress as I go...if I can find an internet connection after we move. Later

Tracked Down

This is the image I did for the CGSociety Uplift Universe Challenge this summer, but with some new work to the ruins in the background that were sadly underdone. I may also rerender the tree roots, but so far I am much happier. I am entering it in the Ballistic Publishing Expose 7 soon, so keep a watch out for me! :)

Happy Halloween!

So, for Halloween my son said he wanted to be Optimus Prime. After some thought, I decided to go ahead a try it. I found the toy transformer and overlayed my son and the toy as seen here to get an idea of what I might be able to do. Originally I was going to use cardboard, but changed my mind to blue construction foam.


Here you can see the first stages of the costume in blue foam. I was uncertain how to finish the effect since blue foam dents pretty easy, and on a 4 yr old it wouldn't last long. My wife suggested Spandex over the foam in the color of the character.
As you can see, the spandex was a great idea. We got a red long sleeved shirt and gray sweats to go underneath. Nadia sewed the blue and red spandex to go over the foam (amazing skill I tell ya) to finish the effect. I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to get a box form for the chest with so little time left, and I wasn't sure how well it would hold up to him sitting back on it. So, I decided on a chest plate. Nadia simply applied velcro to the back of the plate and front of the shirt so I was removable but would stick. My daughters outfit was simpler, a ballerina. As you can see, they are both really happy :)All in all, he loved it even though I didn't finish it. He would really like me to make the head/helmet still. I have plent of foam to do it, just not a lot of time. We'll see. The bottom one has the fabric colored windows and arms, also with autobots icons on each shoulder I printed off. I hope it is a good memory for them both. I pretty much slept through most of halloween since I work graveyard, but I was able to at least make this much of his costume. :) I don't know how we're going to scrapbook this one?

New Title image

So, some of you may notice my title image has been implemented here.  If not, take a closer look...it used to be blue like my brushdragon site :)  I may refine the rest of the blog, but for now, it is good, or maybe I will change the whole thing.  Who knows, stay tuned!

Brown Background:

So, I thought I would try a dark brown background instead of the black...I think I am tired of the really dark blacks. I would like to add more light to the image I portray through my website.

LOTR inspired

So I was toying with a new color for my website...a lot of work if i did the whole thing of course
but something warmer for a change and inviting. I was looking at LOTR images and wondered at the warmth of the one ring and the idea of gold. This is two of the versions that I liked best. What do you think?

Almost 2 years !

Wow! My wife started her own Blog and of course we added a photo of the family. This isn't the one on hers, but I like this one also, and thought that I could add a photo to my Blog. I can't believe it was two years ago almost...Post-Christmas of '06' ! As I went through the pictures of the kids, they sure have grown. Elizabeth is older now than Taylor was in the photos, 3 years old, while Taylor is 4, pushing 5 soon. The last year was a real struggle for me and the kids at home while Momma worked. I tried and tried to put a portfolio together, while being Mr. Mom. We had some difficult times, and we missed momma. Nadia just put in her two weeks notice though, and will be home for a while before our third child is born to prepare. I work Graveyard shifts at Walmart now though, and while I like the atmosphere and the people I work with, I break my body up with the freight. Not seeing my wife much is also a downer, as well as trying to sleep in the house while the kids are screaming all day long. I'm good until I can find a job in the day that will switch my work/sleep hours. I've been hoping for the local computer repair center to hire me with anything. I have several little graphics jobs I do for them, it would just be nice to have something more steady from them. Time will tell. I have also redone some of my blog layout. Now I just need to get a link to my wife's blog on here. Later everyone. Take care.
Shaun

Wings

This is interesting. My wife has been an avid reader of the "Twilight" series, and has read some it them to me. Not that this looks like "hey a vampire!" or anything, but well, that's why I'm weird I guess...um, so yeah. I also have been toying with the idea of big white wolves (werewolves perhaps?) on each side of him as his subordinates, or maybe white tigers. Had I kept on at the pace I started with, I may have made it into the August 7th Exotique call for entries from Ballistic publishing. What an opportunity that would have been. Anyway, some more work I have been whittling away at. Enjoy.

A self portrait

So I had this idea for a new page on my website with a different self portrait. Its kinda at that "so close you don't want to finish it stage" of its progression. I will probably finish it sometime, but as to what I will do with it...maybe the website, maybe not. :)

CGSociety concept sketch of aliens

Oh, and here is the pen sketch that started it all. Most of these posts are an old project, but just so no one thinks I died...this should suffice for now. I hope.

concept beginnings for cgsociety contest

These gentlemen are some designs for aliens that I did coming up with ideas for the CGSociety contest last May

For an easier link to my CGSociety page:
MY CGSociety image entry

CGSociety Entry

I have been working on a piece for the CG Society website challenge lately. Here is the link:
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?postid=5089354#post5089354 to see my entry.
Things have been slow, and my computer has been having the fits too...I'm actually working photoshop on my wife's laptop now. It is a faster machine, and PS doesn't crash-or crash the computer like it does on mine. :)
Otherwise, Mr. mom for the most part right now. Elizabeth will be 3 in June! The phrase about kids growing up has caught up to me...it had to happen.
More to come in the future.
Later

To Paint

The day finally came, and I had to get this car done! Unfortunately, I had to use acrylic instead of the enamel that I had, but the finish still had a bit of a shine to it. Acrylic dries faster thank heavens. I didn't go into a lot of detail. There aren't any racing stripes like there is on the Bumblebee from the Transformers movie, and I was going to give a little black to the grooves in the body of the car. Sorry there are no shots of the wheels. They didn't go on very well, and came off too easily! Still, a little black, silver, and red, with a lot of yellow, and BAM! a Chevy Camaro made of pine. I definitely would invest in serious carving tools for this project...definitely better tools than I had...stronger...sharper... oh well :) Can't have everything. As it was, the car was a hit. No, it didn't win anything, but everybody knew it was Bumblebee. It was 7.07 oz, so I couldn't race in the regular races. No problem, I was just glad I could go, and that I had a car with wheels on it. The thing that I think would have done a bit more justice to it, more so than the racing stripes, would have been the Autobots Logo on the hood. Time was against me though. I am thinking of resanding it, repriming it, and doing it the way I had intended with the enamels. If I do, I will post that here. Enjoy folks! Now for the clean up.... :( Later

This is the basic beginning that I had. I started with the standard block for the pine wood car. I then added a sailboat kit and a birdhouse kit to it. The bottom of the boat is on the top of the block, and the sides added to the car are the roof of the birdhouse. All in all, it added the amount that I needed to reasonably carve the Camaro. You see the side template above that I used to approximate positioning of the design. I used a photo which I then filtered to look like a simple line drawing in Photoshop.

Pine Wood Derby

I am also in the middle of making a Pine Wood Derby car. The Elders Quorum at church is holding a race the day after the Scouts do theirs. My wife said that I should make "Bumblebee" from Transformers the movie, so I am making the 2006-9 Chevy Camaro concept car! I have some photos I will post later, but Nose to the grindstone for now....I only have 2 days left! And there is dust everywhere. Man, I really wish I had a heated shop out back.
-Later

Sands of Time

So this one is in blue pen. I bounce between this pen and the pencil quite often. I really miss using the old blue colored pencil though, so maybe one of the next ones will be that instead!
Anyhow, a couple of hours at most, 9x12 sketchbook, during church. I ever I get a little tired, this is the kind of thing that helps me stay awake, and I can still pay attention as well. Bonus. I will possibly color this one in Photoshop. It'll have to wait for a while though. And what color scheme to use? Mood? Time of day? All things I need to consider. Enjoy, and take care.

A while back I was doing a project that was driving me crazy, so I started this guy to blow off some steam. Even he was driving me crazy by the end. The other image still isn't done either. This is entirely Photoshop, from sketch to finish. The idea was a dragon with a flaming beard and mane, which raised issues of how to show structure of the bottom jaw, and also just how to work with the lighting it would cause. In the end I tried to make him look like he had internal heat as well with the designed veins of yellow. I couldn't decide if I wanted him in a dark forest or a dank cave, so I didn't really do too much detail there and just left it to the imagination...but it is dark for the contrast. as to where the blue secondary light is coming from...I don't know, perhaps it should be a night sky with the moon. I have done too many moon scenes lately though. It was a real challenge and took my altogether far longer than I expected for a vent piece. I enjoyed that last few hours pulling it together to the end though. Normally I do a pencil sketch of my dragons first, and paint from that structure...this was a different way for me, and the original drawing is a far cry from this finished painting. Enjoy. I hope the contrast and color are a nice reprieve from the graphite renderings. Thanks as always.

Sketch 12

So I get the idea of adding more characters into my work, and I only add a sword? This is obviously a loose reference to the sword in the stone concept. It was fun, it took forever, it's done. No reference material was used here, just pure guts. The sword was fun to design, but it is likely not possible. Oh well, imagination counts for a lot here then doesn't it? As I mentioned in previous posts, these are my anchors to sanity. So enjoy them, critique them, and remember to give me credit! I suppose I should eventually create a way for selling prints, but for now this is the best I can do. Take care!

Sketch 11

This is the new book I started this year utilizing a little more room for sketching 9x12. Consequently, they take longer to do. I only do them here and there while taking care of my kids anyway. The chance to sharpen my pencil skills and my imagination are a must. With these I get a chance to breathe the air of art in and avoid suffocation from reality. As these are just landscapes, I am beginning to want more life in them by putting characters within. I hopefully will integrate that soon. For a side note, I did use a photo of a tree to get the basics. From there, its all original, since one of these babies doesn't exist outside of my head. As always, Enjoy!