IMVU 2.0

It's June 30th and IMVU just released IMVU 2.0, the first major enhancement to its UI since it started as a tiny start-up 5 years ago. This is my third year working with IMVU and I continue to fill their catalog with virtual themed environments.

Disney & More

Back in April I had the pleasure of being the subject of a two part article on my contributions to Disney, on the Disney & More Blog. Having to go back through those old sketches I learned two things. One, the quality of those old reproductions are pretty bad, and Two, I don't have all that many prints from those days. Although I have a lot more Disney work I have done since, I am unable to show any of it. I really need to work on more public projects. You can find the articles here: Part One and Part Two

Donut

Not a whole lot more to say about that.

Robot Sketchbook

I have sketchbooks sitting all over the house. I have one in the living room that I only draw robots in. It is a mixed bag of images, the only rule is it must be a robot. It is amazing how quickly you can run out of ideas, this is when you desperately push past more obvious concepts and come up with some pretty off the wall stuff. I think this one is my favorite so far.

Virtual Coffeehouse

Working away on virtual environments, I just finished a low poly, funky coffeehouse. I was shooting for the sort of neighborhood place I would love to have near my house, a place where I could meet friends. I think the atmosphere is rather nice, not I just need to manifest this in the real world.

Best of all, I built a little gallery space in the front of the shop to display the work of local artists. Our friend Gemma graciously volunteered her work for the virtual gallery. I like the idea of an artist having a show open in cyberspace that allows you to purchase original paintings and prints in the real world.

You can see and purchase Gemma's paintings at RedBubble.

Northern Faire Tiles

I have been playing with painting tiles off and on for the past few years. I like the idea of transferring something as loose as a pen & ink sketch to a surface as permanent as a tile. This is a series of tiles inspired by some of the buildings found at the now departed Northern Renaissance Pleasure Faire, when it was located in the Blackpoint Forest in Novato, CA. I have fond memories of my years working for the Faire and can easily recall many of the structures that were icons of that yearly event. Sadly, the property is now home to a handful of Mac-mansions and a private golf course, but the ghosts of many of these buildings are still there.

I intend the tiles to be viewed in one linear row, so the eye can follow the Faire from the front ticket gate back to the Ale Stand at the “End of the World”. I have many more to do, but thought I would preview a few of the ones I have completed so far.

The Jumblies

The Jumblies by Edward Lear

I love this poem and could not help but imagine that the Jumblies look a lot like their author:


They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, 'You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, 'Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a ribbon by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And every one said, who saw them go,
'O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

The water it soon came in, it did,
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, 'How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our Sieve we spin!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
'O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.


And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more,
And every one said, 'How tall they've grown!
For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.