Stop A Thing - PSH

My Year In Bicycles

I’d say my cycling enthusiasm level is now “avid.” It’s been about a year of serious riding for me (or since I was convinced to take my roommate’s 80s Schwinn road bike after he left for another coast of America). The bike was impossibly small for me and he’d kept anything related to comfort free of what he called the bi-cycle (top right).  I believe the frame was 51cm, with a plastic seat (I have to call them saddles now that I’m avid), and awful, bare drop handlebars. These words may mean little to you - simply put, the bike was a pain in the ass. And hands. And back. But, I speak of the bike in an ungrateful tone, which is completely the opposite tone I’d like to be speaking of it in. The bicycle was my entry into the mania that now permeates my everyday life. I returned the borrowed mountain bike (top left) I’d had for several years (having ridden it a handful of times [which was also far too small for me]) and set out every late-spring day on that little red beast to try to get my confidence up riding in the city. I’m getting ahead of myself however, I had to ride every day just to learn how to deal with something so foreign. The first time on a road bike is extremely unnerving and seems wrong - the way a lot of things you’ve never done and go against your basic human understanding of ‘how the world should work’ feel wrong. Two skinny inline wheels should not stay upright, especially when adding a skittery, lanky 140 pounder on top. Once you’ve given into the magical psuedo-science keeping a paper thin bike upright, you have to deal next with the posture a classic road bike thrusts you into. Riding on the top of drop bars is not comfortable, especially for a person with wide shoulders and lanky arms (me, I’ve already mentioned my lank) - but what’s worse is the leap of faith you must take to enter the lower part of the curved drop handlebar. If flashes of your face grating against the sidewalk don’t instantly pop into your mind, you’re a brave person with a brain problem.

Suffice it to say, I learned to ride the bicycle without too many issues - and through daily riding and an ever increasing interest in how the parts worked, I was well on the way to my present compulsion, need, and desire for all things bi-cycle. After taking the Schwinn to a bike shop and complaining of outrageous back pain, I was told the bicycle was about 4 sizes too small for me. They set me up on a monstrously large bike and it fit and was a revelation to my atrophying back. So I got a new bike (not pictured) and donated the Schwinn to a friend who still rides it lovingly to this day. My new bike was a low-end fixed gear that was promptly stolen after 3 months of use outside a bagel shop. I hope someone is enjoying it (or its various stripped-off parts) - I did, for the short time I rode it as it gave me a brief but thorough look into the world of fixies - a dangerously associative world I may not have escaped if my ride hadn’t gotten jacked. Despite thinking not all that highly of the New York fixed-gear order, I got another fixed-gear bicycle (bottom left) - but a nice, proper one. It was not long before I threw a freewheel on there though, and indulged myself a little coasting. The rest of My Year In Bicycles involves a lot of conversing with my old roommate who bequeathed the Schwinn to me about bicycle parts, trips we’ll take, and bicycles we need to buy. We’ve both begun a small collection at 2 a piece with a 5 bike plan in the works. My latest acquisition is an old French road bike (bottom right) from the mid 70s that I rescued from a Salvation Army and cleaned, painted and rebuilt as a fairly faithful restoration. I’ve begun training on this monster for a long trip myself and the Scwhinn’s original master are planning. I will always think very fondly of that little bicycle and the awfully wonderful time I had riding it.

Recently I was asked to complete a few videos for a company that makes official information about buildings and construction projects available to the public. Above is the main overview video addressing the problem of blight and how the software addresses it. It was a fun project and I’m pleased with the results. It allowed me to utilize a style that was fun and capable to telling a procedural story. 

I took this project through all stages, completing storyboards, illustration, animation, recording voice-over, sound and music.

Bird 3: Double-crested Cormorant

Chugging along on birds. Here is a bit of beak detail for the big water bird. I’ve made all these birds pretty happy looking - this guy wins for that so far.

Graphic Booklet: Male Emotions

Further character study for the graphic booklet’s male character. I needed to simplify my typical facial style to pull out the highs and lows I was looking for. Since the character has very little to say in the story, I needed a very expressive, cartoony body capable of movement aplenty.

App Guy

Been putting some megahours into the app. This is a guy, with hair like a melted fudgsicle, that you will be able to make in my upcoming app! If this looks like you… awesome. This guy is a killer guy. I can’t even tell you how many combinations of faces there are going to be, but it is thousands upon thousands. More soon!

Process Post: Cover Art

Again, a view into the way I work for better or worse.  Process of the cover art for DJ Lani Love’s winter mixtape Snow To Stars.  Projects for Lani always get me to work in a more sleek, hip fashion.  Not much room for smiling pixelart or batmen, but I’d like to think I can do cool too. You be the judge (I’ve decided this is going to be pretty cool if I stick to it, but your confidence is highly appreciated).

Step 1 & 2.

Left: Extra rough sketch for the basic layout and concept. I went with the snow and stars.  Right: Less awful rendering of Ms. Love. Coolness tip: head slightly raised, shoulders slightly back? Coolness. Who knows why.

Step 3 & 4.

Left: Serious cleanup of the face and hair with a rough shape for the space-blouse.  Right: Her hair loaded the right side of the frame unexpectedly - so the sweet gloves and dropping the collar for a bit more asymmetrical balance.

Step 5.

Clean it all up.  Next step will involve the tough decisions of shading, color, text, etc.  

6:28am

A mini comic I thought up in the shower, where most of my good ideas come from. This poor guy just got his sunrise / magma flow times mixed up.

Another pixel-rocker. Though the project that houses them is a ways off, I'll keep 'em comin'.

My sister has this dog named Mabel, she's a real piece of work (the dog). I made this for her (my sister).

Arkon

A little morning warmup of Arkon: King of Polemachus! Some pencil practice, digital ink practice and new photoshop color technique practice. Arkon based on Mike Del Mundo’s insanely awesome Weirdworld design.

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