Friday, May 21, 2010

The Bounty Hunters that did not make the cut.

Rejected Bounty Hunters: 11 x 8 inches, Graphite, Pen, and Digital texture.

Finally and triumphantly, I complete another ChaDes Challenge. It has been along time but I think I made up for it in effort.

The Challenge was to design characters that were rejected by the Galactic Empire to be hired as Bounty Hunters. See the challenge here.

I found these characters to be some of these least threatening and goofy characters in the entire Star Wars Universe.

Thanks for stopping and, if you get a chance, please tell me what you think.

Friday, May 7, 2010

IF: Fearless

Updated image 5/13/2010: Now I need a background. I may mess with the wolf's tail to make the tail between the legs more obvious. Click on the image to see more armor and hair detail.

This is a drawing I was working on about a year ago that I never finished (please click on the image to see details). It is a supposed to be a metaphor, or symbolic, for wearing the armor of God and the attitude we should have facing our enemy. When my son got sick, last May, my attitude was adjusted and it took me a longtime to feel anywhere near this strong; maybe that is why I have taken so long to return to this drawing. I always liked it and hopefully I will be able to finish it soon.

14 x 9 inches, graphite and pen on watercolor paper.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Walk to Work: 2010

A couple years ago I created a post about my commute to work, here. This is my new updated version for 2010. You will notice some differences from the previous version. I recently created a new trail through some bamboo to make my walk even shorter. The previous version was also created during Fall and this version is set in Spring. I hope this version makes sense and that you enjoy it.

This is where I walk out my garage and walk to my neighbors fence.

I cut across a little bit of my neighbors yard to get to the drive-way of the next house over.

This is one of the houses at the end of my cul-de-sac. My neighbors graciously let me go through their yard to cut across to public land.

This is where I cut from the neighbor's yard to an easement.

Starting down the "deer trail" down to the stream bed.

Recently a storm knocked down a rotten tree that cut across my path. I had to start stepping or jumping over this tree. Being He-man I attempted to lift the tree a bit to make my movement easier; actually the huge rotten stump was relatively lite considering it's size. It is now even easier to get to the stream bed below.

This is where I have to cross the stream bed. Sometimes it's easy to cross but other times, such as after a big rain storm, it can be difficult to cross.

I also want to point out "The Monkey tree." It is a Magnolia tree that is more than 100 feet tall and looks to be one of the greatest climbing trees of all time. Note to self: climb The Monkey Tree soon.

"The Monkey Tree."


Here is the way out of the stream bed.

This is a 200 yard stretch behind the local 4-H building.

At the end of this path I veer a bit to the left.

Here is another stretch, about 150 yards, across a nice lawn. I got permission from the property owner to cross this business's' property.

Here I veer to the right to embark on my new trail.

I must walk between these two bamboo shoots to avoid some Poison Ivy.

Here I must cross a rotten, felled, tree across a 5 foot deep stream bed. I step on one end of the log, hold a bamboo shoot for balance, and jump to the other end of the log. I do not want to find out how rotten the log is by stepping in the middle. After this I enter a thick bamboo forest.

This a little turn in the forest.

This is where I have to jump or straddle over a log.

Most of this trail is fairly natural. It was caused by falling trees and, probably, animal trails. This is the section I really had to hack through to make this trail work.

This is where I exit the bamboo forest and enter a new property. I have asked and gotten permission to cross this yard too.

When I come across this corner I can see my place of employment about a 100 yards away.

This is where I enter to start my work day.

I appreciate all the people along the way who have let me cross their yards in order to give me such a wonderful commute to work. This has to be one of the most pleasant commutes in the country. Let me know what you think.