Catching Up

Shame on me. Fully neglecting the Botched Blog these many weeks. I barely turn my back and its October already! Summers these days don’t seem to hold the same boundless mystique they did in lets say, third grade, nor do the appear to last nearly as long as they should, but fall is my favorite season… so I suppose can’t mind too much.

On the DR front, the last few weeks of summer were held firmly in the grasp of HP’s Business Technology Center. The BTC was a rather large program we developed as vehicle to showcase, well… HP’s Business technology. I functioned in the capacity of creative lead on this one, (attempting) to oversee how all the creative components come together… ui design, video, motion graphics. This was probably the most technically challenging launch I’ve been involved with, but it was great to see how the team(s) really came together in the end.

Sandwiched in there with all the hectic activity of the BTC, there was also a bit of training for the Best Buddies Ride. I found the only way to get in some riding time (without having to wake up two hours early everyday, that is) was to actually ride TO work. Turned out to work quite well… and I wish I would have started that earlier. I was able to put in about 600 miles over the course of the few weeks prior to the ride… which helped immensely. And the ride itself? Awesome! Great weather, perfect riding conditions, beautiful scenery. I could have done without all the climbing, though. It was really hard, but really good.

In studio matters, things haven’t been entirely silent. Not quite as noisy and rambunctious as perhaps I would like, but then I am getting older. Being the perpetual procrastinator that I am, I had the bright idea to set the goal for myself of making birthday cards for my family… you know, in an effort to get me making images of some sort. I’ve been a bit late on a few of them, but so far, so good. Here’s a brief sampling:

And in the world of images, I stumbled upon a fantastic book on John Howe, the fantasy illustrator. Not only does it contain his insights, inspirations, methods, materials, reasons, and general ramblings about his life-long pursuit of illustrating the fantastic, but it also contains a glimpse or two of his studio workspace—which, I have to say, is the reason I initial bought the book. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something irresistibly intriguing about seeing other artist’s environments, set-ups, or workstations— be it a drawing table scattered with sketches, drawings, half-finished paintings or what not, or a table with monitor, keyboard, wacom tablet, and shelves full of reference materials… I just can’t look away! So don’t even get me started over at On my Desk!

And while we’re in the link department, go check out http://icanhascheezburger.com/, please. It will make you smile a lot.