Volkertron

Brother Ali

2012-02-02T16:32:00.000-08:00

2-2-12

Brother Ali,

this gentlemen gives me so much strength. Is there anyone cooler??

the answer is no

thanks for dropping by,

-Tamte

drawins'

2012-01-31T16:02:00.000-08:00

1-31-12

some concept for the "bad guys" of a personal comic project in the works.

also, Moonbot got nominated for an Oscar! Wow, what an honor.

:)
-Tamte

The Numberlys!

2012-01-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

1-17-12

If you read this blog chances are you already know about Moonbot's latest app experience, "The Numberlys" but if you haven't check it out, and drop me a line (adam@moonbotstudios.com). I'd be interested to hear what you think. The App store comments seem to be fairly polarized, and I'm having trouble discerning whether the reaction is wholly positive or not.

The Numberlys

there are some things I am proud of in this story/game/app whatever, and like any project some things I wished we had time to tweak before publishing it. Moonbot allowed me some more creative control than I've had on previous projects, and I really feel like I had my fingers in a lot of how it turned out. For Moonbot and the fledgling Moonbot Interactive (a whopping 4 employees, plus an intern) it was an awesome learning experience, and the guys I was fortunate enough to work with on it helped me grow a bunch.

When we began planning the app out in the beginning, we knew we wanted games and some cinematic elements. When just storyboards weren't enough we actually ended up making it into a 'dummy book' model instead. This was before we had started prototyping some of the games, but I kept one as we were cleaning house the other day....

"The Numberlys" in 37 printed pages (interactions and story beats denoted)

also early on, we decided to go with a vertical format, which I think is one of the apps biggest creative triumphs....but it was hard to get used to boarding in.

Most of the decisions we made about game design had to do with pacing, or theme. It's one of the areas I wish we really had had more time to buckle down, and fine tune things.

Each letter needed to get it's due, because letters were a brand spanking new revolution for the Numberlys and their world. The idea seemed to work narratively, but it's something we are catching flak for on the internet, it seems like people are unhappy that they are asked to play through every letter as a game. However, for lack of being able to find a skip feature that gave us the same feeling of achievement, and the unexpected draw of a non-artist audience over the age of 10, we shipped it as it was....I'm biting my lip on this one with a little bit of confusion as I sort through if there was a better choice for that one or not. The app market is a funny place.

Here are some early previs boards I did, trying to figure out the space the games could be played in, and how complex they were going to be.

The Numberlys - gameprevis from Adam Volker on Vimeo.

I also wanted to share some of the storyboards I worked on. The following is a sequence that the incredibly talented Joe Bluhm did the first pass on, and then I took over. I remember thinking a lot about whether when jellybeans rained from the sky the Numberlys would be ecstatic or terrified.

The Numberlys - Storyboards 'Parade' from Adam Volker on Vimeo.

For the last of the musings....

all in all I had a lot of fun working on and boarding on this project. There is a lot in store for Moonbot and video games in the future, and I'm loving the chance to get my hands dirty experimenting and messing around.

that's all for now, I promise....no more....NO MORE!!

thanks for stopping by!

-Tamte

2012-01-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

2012

Holy Freekin world it's a new year,

There is a lot happening for me this year, video game wise...comic wise....work wise. I'm very excited. I'll post the details once things get concrete and I can legally talk about it, but it's gonna be big, even if the world does end in Dec.

I was in Austin over New Years and saw some old friends....got reinvigorated, and I can't wait to watch everyone grow and realize themselves as the super talented badasses I know they are!

I did this drawing at Zilker park too :)

talk to you soon internet, thanks for hanging out with me,
-Tamte

Moonbot Interactive

2011-12-20T07:54:00.000-08:00

12-20-11

Howdy Internet, and Happy Holidays

It seems like it has been a long run when it's actually been a short one. Recently, a few of us left the mother ship (across the hall), and set up shop behind the glass door reading "Moonbot Interactive". Though nothing has really changed about our working method, it seems to be a declaration of a direction. As we are about to ship "The Numberlys" which is Moonbot's next app/film/game/whatever experience, It's nice to be digging through my computer and find reminders of where we were.

Moonbot Interactive - empty office from Adam Volker on Vimeo.

We have done some nesting, but it's been a great environment to work in. It still feels like a couple of kids in a garage, which is something Brandon Oldenburg, one of our directors always says when he references Moonbot. We've got big plans, and as things for 2012 start to block the sun on the horizon I'm excited about where we are heading, I hope we can keep the vibe we've got going with everyone at the studio.

thanks for dropping by! smiles for now :)
-Tamte

Tower of Babel 2 - (codenamed TOBii)

2011-11-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

Hey guys!

In our off time, my buddy Bo and I (collectively known as "Team Blue Shirt" Copyright Meg Deane, 2011) have been working on a side project iOS video game to be released sometime in our future....after today

TOWER OF BABEL II

It's a sequel to the Tower of Babel 1 story. You know, the one from the bible. It's a tower building rock/paper/siccors game where you have certain types of materials Stone/Metal/Wood and god hits you respectively with Lightning/Rain/Fire to try and stop you from building a tower high enough to make it into heaven, and subsequently....his super exclusive badass shindig. The set up goes something like this.....

Tower of Babel II - prologue boards from Adam Volker on Vimeo.

we have gotten to a playable beta, but we've since been distracted from heading into full swing on this guy, due to work and other constraints. Hopefully sharing some of this publicly will help me get off my ass and make some assets for Bo. I am determined not let this become one of those shelved hobby projects that never makes it to fruition. However,

...right now if someone asked us how development on the game was going, my response would sorta have to be.

Thanks for dropping in, more on this as it develops/when it develops!

-Tamte

treebird

2011-10-29T15:15:00.000-07:00

pictures from COLOMBIA 2

2011-10-08T16:49:00.000-07:00

10-8-11

I have some more photos to share....what a beautful country

i love you internet, have a good night.
-Tamte

pictures from COLOMBIA

2011-10-06T17:44:00.000-07:00

10-6-11

Buenos dias,

I had spent a solid two hours polishing the stone that is my espanol on a bartender at our hotel with Jamil while we drank 'Club Colombia Roja"

to sabes, para ninos

The presentation is LooooooOOoooOmmmmmiing.....

see you again soon,
-Tamte

Traveling

2011-10-04T20:24:00.000-07:00

10-4-2011

Hey folks,

I'm leaving cozy Shreveport tomorrow for South America! Short notice I know, but my good buddy Jamil and I have been invited to give a 3 hour speech (to be translated into Spanish real time) down in Bogota Colombia at their Siggraph animation festival. My biggest fear is that none of the jokes I tell to mask my nervousness will land.

LINK To SIGGRAPH STUFF

We've spent a few nights compiling our thoughts and talking about what we want to say while we are south of the equator, and I'm pretty freackin' excited. Working on Morris Lessmore has been a blessing in a lot of ways, and this happens to be another gift it has given me. I'll check in with more once I return. Wish me luck, and let's hope that I say something worth hearing.

some drawings as well....

Tyler can be oh so generous

the last gas station for 84 miles

Burnout Takedown


the only car on the road

Thanks for stopping by, the internet continues to amaze me,

-Tamte

Dominic during dailies

2011-09-27T16:55:00.000-07:00

9-27-2011

Lifting my head up for a minute

2011-09-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

9-10-2011

Hello,

I've had my head down on various things in the past few months. Reading and sketching mostly. I've been writing stuff too, but it all has to go through my head at least a few thousand times before I feel confident enough to share it. I'll make an attempt to make up for my lack of posting by making this a bigger post. I've got some figure drawings to start with, it was one of those sessions that started out with me drawing the model and then I ended up just doodling other things.

the other thing that is taking up my time recently is traveling/reading. I've reached the age in my life where all my highschool friends and acquaintances are getting married, and I've had to act fancy a lot this summer. It's fun to do, but my vocabulary is straining trying to explain in new ways what I've been up to for the past 6 or so years. The reading I've been doing is all inspired by the film "Midnight In Paris" which I went to see multiple times at the theater, a few of us guys from the studio got really into Hemingway. I should thank Woody Allen for reigniting a passion for literature I didn't really know I had. I think I've read 8 or so books since the film came out.

I was asked by a soon to be relative (mother's fiance's son) to do a wine label for his home brewed wine that he is giving away at his wedding. That's been fun! (maybe I'll get comped a bottle or two for the job....crossing my fingers)

to caboose the train of wedding thought that has been the end of my summer. I went to a wedding in Florida, which was the most beautiful thing I've been part of in a long time. At the time I was reading "The Great Gatsby" my new favorite book, and I kid you not...this wedding felt like a Gatsby party. I was totally smitten, attendees who noticed a bearded lanky boy laughing to himself about nothing at all....that was me.

...a very inspiring friend of mine suggested that I draw some of the characters from the book, so I gave that a try too.

Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby

I've had this wanting to tell some classy story in 'short' form or comics or something. But for the meantime I'm going to need to take some more lessons from Fitzgerald.

oh and my day job, that happens too...

thanks for dropping by!

-Tamte

from the white book again

2011-07-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

7-16-2011

Hey people,

I am not sure how long I have been blogging....and maybe I should be more educated about it, but I don't know where I stand in the giant universe of passive internet art sharing, but I am assuming my cut of the traffic is very small. Which plants the desire to thank everybody who checks in on me and the art that I do. So for whatever reason you read my ramblings and look at the pictures I make. Thanks. :)

I have more to share...

I just spent a week at home in MN with really old friends, and it reminded me of how much I love to draw, and how much longer I have to do it.

thanks for comin in,
-Tamte

from the white book of sketching

2011-06-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

6-20-2011

INTERNET!!

things I learned this weekend....

apparently taking photos of your food is big in Japan
ghost chiles only grow in the dragon cemetery
gatorade has an INCREDIBLE amount of salt in it
walking through texas in the summer, even when it's windy is like sticking your face in an oven

thanks for dropping by,

-Tamte

More Drawings

2011-05-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

5-17-2011

Hello,

I had some left over Goku and Eva in my head from who knows how long ago that I had to get out. It feels good after a long weird work day, to put some Brother Ali on and see how much ink I can put on paper.

thanks for dropping by!
-Tamte

Some sketches from the drive

2011-05-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

5-3-2011

Hey guys,

Just got a chance to visit Austin, see some people and celebrate the marriage of two wonderful folks! Anywho, on the way back, we netfilxed the shit out of this show called EVEREST (REST....rest...rest) and I got really into it. There is a lot of modern age mythology around that mountain, and I think it is just chock full of story potential. There aren't many things left that have a true level of majesty and magic surrounding them, but Everest is definitely holding it's ground on the epic scale.

Here are some of the drawings I did.

thanks for dropping by!
-Tamte

that Zelda drawing I did

2011-04-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

4-1-11

April fools is treacherous, this post is serious, and in no way a joke...

thanks for stopping by,
-Tamte

Master Sword

2011-03-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

3-22-11

CGHub Drawing Jam

I couldn't help myself, I had to throw my hat in the ring,

-Tamte

Helpless

2011-03-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

3-16-11

I'm not sure how to react to what's going on around the world. Specifically, the tsunami that has recently hit Japan. I'm awestruck. I was at a bar watching news footage with folks from work, and we all stopped to witness the catastrophe that the people of Japan are enduring. We went back to drinking afterwards. I had a relatively normal night. I've got it pretty good.

I've been thinking about it all morning.

Dice Tsutsumi, is promoting a charity he has worked with before to help the Japanese in their time of need....

http://www.simplestroke.com/wp/?p=866

he's got the right idea,

-Tamte

Choice of Moment

2011-02-25T16:11:00.000-08:00

2-25-11

We are doing a bunch of story boarding at Moonbot for a feature film that is ramping up, and I've been learning a lot of the process from a new friend and mentor Stanley "Teach" Moore. I think that there are lots of rules in boarding that really helped clean up my drawings. I found that they tied my narratives together better, and honed in on action in my sequences. I'm drawing cleaner.

With that said I think this is an oportunity to tangent onto another sequential art form very dear to my heart...

COMICS!

I was perusing through Jeff Smith's "Bone", and breaking down some of the choices he made. I wondered what he was thinking when he drew them, and if some of the same things I was learning about boarding could apply to comics too, so I started messing around. Here is what I came up with.

DISCLAIMER:

Let me say that I am a big fan of Jeff Smith's work. These changes only reflect my personal opinion, and were done purely for the sake of exploration...

I took these two pages and picked a few panels that I thought could have played out differently.

for example:
the first panel,

a rat creature is running
it is night

These are the things that this drawing tells us, but as far as why the rat creature is running, or how important what he is doing is? I dont really get any of that from this drawing. I feel like this moment is somewhere between, epic/ominous/important, but not specifically any of them. This rat creature could just as easily be running for the bus stop as he is delivering an important message (which is the actual story point in the book)

so....

what if we moved the "camera" down to his feet/hands?

what does that get us? Well for me, it feels faster now, and because I don't get all the information in the frame, I feel a stronger sense of urgency.

what if we pulled the camera further out?

what does that get us? I feel more removed from him. Does that make his task more secretive? Maybe. I feel like he is traveling farther, and that this mission is on a grander scale, because we see more of the environment.

what if we pushed the camera in?

what does that get us? Again, I feel like we are traveling faster, we are on this mission with him, and since we are closer, his eye line becomes more important We know he is looking forward, and off screen. This makes me ask. What is he looking at? Where is he going?

what if we messed with the values (his relationship to the environment)?

This feels more ominous, and secretive. What if we had a second panel, to imply some motion...

To me, you could stand to push the original drawing in a number of directions, that would clean up the narrative, or at least be more specific.

example two:
panels 4 & 5,

I think there are some successful things going on in this moment to moment action. It's cool that he left out the dialogue. We begin to understand more about why the rat creature in panel one was running. Information is obviously traveling by word of mouth. It's implied, and I dig that. But I tried some stuff.

What if the "camera" was rat creature P.O.V.?

what does that get us? We've taken away the exchange that happens between the panels, but we see him moving faster. These weren't successful explorations, but w/e they were fun to try.

example three:
panel 7

this drawing has some nice posing for each of the characters, but perhaps we could push the framing to sell the idea with the composition too.

What if King Dok took up more of the frame?

this makes King Dok, a much imposing figure, and even gives us a new layer of information. This composition tells us that the information traveling through the "word of mouth" pipeline, is NOT good for our rat creatures.

I know that you can't treat comic panels as finitely as you can storyboards. There are a lot of large scale sweeping narrative choices in this book that I am only beginning to understand, but I thought it would be fun to break down some stuff and try a few iterations....

again, I'm not saying that these panels are better, just messin' around.

thanks for dropping by,
-Tamte

a new drawing

2011-02-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

2-15-11

I'd like to share a new drawing with you. I'll probably treat this one similar to the piece I just wrapped up. Hopefully, I can explore some colors I haven't tried before.

the elephant in the room

I've been letting the blog slip a bit, and I'm sorry about that. I have a big announcement to make in a few posts. I know, I know, everybody says "I'm in the kitchen cooking up some new stuff" or "I've been buried in work, but I can't share it". Well, I'm saying it to, what of it?

All of my buds are just Soooo positive this drawing is from some past experience in my life.

....and yeah they're right. So if you're out there Jamie Harff then this is for you.

;)
-Tamte

fruits of a long night

2011-01-28T07:57:00.000-08:00

1-28-11

Hey dudes,

Here is the piece I was working up the other night. Hope you dig it!

Austin

:)

-Tamte

Wokring late nights

2011-01-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

1-26-11

working late nights with a couple of the dudes, at the studio....

:)
-Tamte

Sketches teach you things - 2

2011-01-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

1-11-11

This morning at 11:11am on 1/11/11 I made a wish.

Here are some sketches

thanks for dropping by!
-Tamte

practicing poses

2011-01-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

1-8-11

some messing with flash. I know I am no animator, but I had fun messin' around

I'll get better at posting videos, I promise
-Tamte

Sketches teach you things

2011-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

1-4-11

Some more sketches from the spectrum sketchbook.. I've been practicing drawing clearer and cleaner, and simplifying the subjects.

thanks for stoppin by!

-Tamte

another

2010-12-16T18:25:00.000-08:00

12-16-10

You know the holidays are approaching after all.

thanks for dropping by,
-Tamte

More Morris Stuff

2010-12-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

12-13-10

Hey dudes,

We did a lot of tweaking to the backgrounds on "Morris". With around 216 shots and a pretty small art department we had our work cut out for us. We had done some work on a color script before we really dived into the plates, and tried to focus each color space to fit the short narratively. Ultimately though it was up to the compositors to pull it all together, and I was honestly surprised how well the 3D and 2D meshed together. But I'm getting redundant.

You don't often see the backgrounds of this stuff without the characters and whatnot. (unless you follow this blog) Here are some shots from the film that I worked on. I think that no single plate was done by one person, and they are all about half paint and half footage. Hopefully we made it difficult to tell the difference.

:)

Thanks for dropping in!

-Tamte

after work doodle

2010-12-08T17:32:00.000-08:00

12-8-10

Something I drew while out at lunch that I wanted to sketch up in my free time. :)

I'm putting some more Morris stuff together, thanks for dropping by!

-Tamte

Morris Stuff

2010-11-12T09:42:00.000-08:00

11-12-10

Hey dudes,

We are previewing the short today!!!

...that means I can share a bunch of work I did on it. There is tons to show, and I'll be sharing more int he next week or so, but I grabbed a few things that I really dig for now. It was a great challenge designing for miniatures, and then learning how to build them (eeek). I can tell my mother that all those years spent in middle school playing Warhammer 40k weren't wasted. What I put together is sort of a concept to execution of the backgrounds we made for the short. Since we were mixing live action miniature and cg the real challenge fell on our tech department to bring the film to the final look, and I can't unfortunately share any of THAT yet, but I have a bunch of art.

so enough of me rambling, I've done a lot of talking about this thing in the past few weeks. Check out the stuff, hope ya'll dig it! Here is what has been eating up my life for the past year and a half. To give you sort of a scope of the work, these plates (backgrounds) represent three of the over 200 shots in the final film.

Library Interior

Book Bed

NOLA set

The website is up and everything too.

http://morrislessmore.com/

thanks for dropping in!
-Tamte

sketchings

2010-11-10T18:11:00.000-08:00

11-10-10

Hello,

I bought a sketchbook recently, and I've noticed my pace is slowing down, I used to sketch so much that I would go through a book in three months or so, and now it takes me longer. I don't know how I feel about that, but I do know that I love getting my hands on a new one. it's like a chance to do anything! More of the art effort goes into work these days, than play.

throughout the sketchbook I painted a color gradient, then I've been going back and drawing through the different color changes, adding paint and whatnot. Maybe I can push myself to experiment with palettes and break my comfort zone a little.
Right now I am in the Red-Orange section of the book (approaching yellow)

On top of the sketch newness excitement, we are reaching a milestone with Moonbot's short film Morris Lessmore, and we are previewing it this weekend it Shreveport, as well as simultaneously having a gallery show of all the miniatures and production art etc. It promises to be an eventful weekend! I hope to be able to share more of that stuff soon, there is SOOOOOooo much of it,

:)
thanks for coming by,
-Adam

Traditional large and small

2010-10-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

10-23-10

He leaps out of the abyss, and....sort of sticks the landing. Writing this post I feel like I'm sort of in an orange mood.

Here is the progress on the traditional piece I've been working on. I really wish the desk I taped it to wasn't so heavy and I could move it away from the window to get that glare off of it. I feel like it may be time to move this into the digital realm. I want to really get in there and start making subtle color adjustments and do some paint noodling. Plus I can't for the life of me paint that kids face the way I want it to look. !!!!

On top of some other things at work (the short is really looking cool) Moonbot has been working on a 13' x90' mural in the local community. We just had a big event where volunteers came out and helped us put some paint on the wall. That was fun. Here is what we got done today... not the final design, but it's coming along

thanks for dropping in,

-Tamte

seeing you again

2010-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

10-6-10

hey folks,

I've been hanging around with all these animation folks, and seeing the way they problem solve 'movement' has been really inspiring. I think there are a lot of correlations between the choices made to make story boards, animation, and comics. Links I'm only beginning to see, but each philosophy can definitely inform the other. After some messing around I cam up with this.

I wont say much about the subject matter. Just some stuff I had to get out of my system.

thanks for dropping by!

-Tamte

Space Painting in Progress

2010-09-29T06:57:00.000-07:00

9-29-10

Lot's of fun stuff around the internet recently.

Apart from that I've been carving out some "me" time to work on painting this, and that has been gratifying. The painting was too big to put on any other surface I had, so I taped it to my desk before I got started. Right now it's a combination of acrylic, pencil, and marker, but mostly paint. Here is a close up in progress...

and the color exploration stuff...

more of this guy later, thanks for dropping in,

-Tamte

influence map

2010-09-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

9-13-10

these have become sort of an internet Ma Na Ma Na, so I decided I would bandwagon. Sort of helpful to boil down what's driving you artistically.

here is a link to the template if you want to make one

link

thanks for dropping in, see you soon!

-Tamte

I Made T-shirts!

2010-09-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

9-1-10

Howdy,

It's been crunch time here @ Moonbot, but all excuses aside.

I was home (MN) for a very brief trip back in July, and I spent some of it in the woods. I'm about 90% positive that everyone who lives in MN has a place or a friend who has a place known affectionately as "The Cabin" or "The Cottage". Maybe it's because of the prevalence of lakes, or maybe it's cause midwesterners yearn to shanty up in the woods and drink beer. Whatever the reason, I've been going to a town called Luck in Wisconsin to unwind for years now, and this last time I was motivated to give something back to it. So I decided to design a t-shirt for me, and my buddies that was simple, but encapsulated what this place means to us..... Here is a step by step of my design process

the two drawings I did "on location" slightly inebriated

Since we use this place to unwind, I felt it would be appropriate to make the building into a "reset" button.

variations on the design

pretty girls are really good at making your work look better

....and then they showed up in the mail!

ahhh the rapture of closure.

thanks for dropping in, I'll see you soon

-Tamte

another in progress

2010-08-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

8-6-10

Hey folks,

This is another sketch from the book on it's way to becoming a painting. I like working in B&W early on in the process. Not only does it give me an original that looks way different than the final, but it helps me break down the shapes as to where I want light and where I want dark, and I can use it as a guide as I pick colors and move on to the final.

good thing he's been practicing to hold his berath

thanks for dropping in! See you soon

-Tamte

A Quick trip to the Midwest

2010-07-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

7-26-10

Hey all,

It was my birthday recently, I am now officially as old as the day is long. On top of that, I had the fortune of being able to be around my family while it happened, and I'm very thankful for that. I also had time to draw things outside of work! A luxury that seems to come less and less often.

I also had some time to do some reading and some guitaring...thanks for stopping in.

(it's all I use it for anyway)

(airport voyeurism)

(sam at work)

Hi Karrah,

-Tamte

sometimes, in Shreveport

2010-07-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

7-12-10

I've been remembering recently that life is full of adventure, and as I try to learn everything about making an animated film start to finish, I'm also trying to remember to slow down and have a little fun from now and then.

thanks for dropping in!

-Tamte

personal space

2010-06-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

6-14-10

this is a personal sketch I did after work, Not too much of this kind of stuff going on anymore, so it was nice to let my brain go.

thanks for stopping by,
-Tamte

Life drawing, again

2010-06-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

6-8-10

Life drawing from Artspace downtown Shrevesdale.

drawing hands is still freaking hard to do! thanks for dropping by,
-Tamte

Filling in the gaps

2010-06-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

6-5-10

Welcome, to this internet place I write for...

I've been reading Esiner's book on comics, and rereading Scott Mcloud's book on the subject as well. (both are great, and worth reading if the medium interests you). Among the seemingly infinite sentences of advice these two throw at you in their comics about comics something jumped out at me, and I felt it was worth blogging.

How comics specifically rely on reader participation to tell the story.

Other mediums employ similar concepts, games establish places and let the user decide how/when to experience them. Film draws on human experience and culture to connect audiences with narratives. The list goes on, but I think since time and space are the same thing in comics the gutter does reader involvement in a unique way.

Each of the two authors mentioned above contends that people want to anthropomorphize things.

taken from Scott Mcloud's "Making Comics"

taken from Will Eisner's "Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative"

Though I may disagree with the specifics of what makes a 'bad gun' I think the idea of iconizing is intriguing.

However, I think it go much further than people assigning attributes to what is actually on the page.

In Metal Gear Solid, Ashley Wood uses color to communicate that we are looking through the eyes of a specific character. We would probably still understand what is going on if it wasn't colored. However, it does imply a lot about that character's personality, the reader draws tiny conclusions about him/her, and adds it to what they already know about the character. The story is enhanced because of it.

taken from "Metal Gear Solid" written by Kris Oprisko, artwork by Ashley Wood

Now I know that this specific example isn't uniquely comics, but what if the arrangement is changed...

altered, but

taken from "Metal Gear Solid" written by Kris Oprisko, artwork by Ashley Wood

The story changes based on arrangement, but also on size and negative space. THAT is what makes comics special.

If the goal is that the reader really walks away knowing your world, and feels like they were a part of it I think that the author needs to engage their brain and encourage their participation.

...just something I've been thinking about

EDIT: some story guys who've worked on films, cartoons, comics etc talk about sequential storytelling.

LINK

thanks for dropping by,
-Tamte

Robbing

2010-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

5-25-10

"Although it didn't always show on their faces, the men of the hood were merry indeed"

I've been doing a lot of reading about comic book making theory, and I think there is some stuff worth blogging....soon.

A bunch of new guys show up here at Moonbot soon, which is super exciting. I've been spending the past few weeks preparing welcome packets and prepping backplates, and developing pipelines. THEY BETTER LIKE IT!

if any of that interests you at all, you might like this blog.

http://www.xqa.com.ar/visualmanagement/

till sequentialness...thanks for dropping in,
-Tamte

A typical Saturday night

2010-05-17T15:40:00.000-07:00

5-17-10

don't laugh...it's hard

-Tamte

Drawing nothing for no reason

2010-05-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

5-13-10

feels good,

-Tamte

Nude People 2

2010-05-03T08:18:00.000-07:00

5-3-10

Hello,

Here is another round of drawings from the local life drawing sessions going on downtown shrevesdale. The last session was the first time we had a male model.

With work work being everything, but art these days I am thankful to have these times to let loose and explore what I personally like about drawing.

thanks for dropping by,
-Tamte

more than art

2010-04-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

4-26-10

Howdy,

I've been doing more than art recently, and my internet presence has been deteriorating because I'm not sure how to post presentations I'm making on development pipelines, or all the emails I've been writing back and forth to potential hires, or the mounds of notes I have on the story I'm developing. I've been busy, but this blog isn't the venue for lots of it. I'll add that to the list of things I'm going to fix. I guess being part of a start up means, that sometimes the needs and hats I wear wont be artistic ones. I actually enjoy some of the organizational stuff.

It reminds me of what it was like to get "Illest of Ill" off the ground. I guess it's all preparation for something.

However, some art slips out the side when we have story time at Moonbot and we are talking about the comic I'm writing...

I blacked out the names of the characters,those seem to change the most frequently. The character design process here is like a bouncing ball. Everytime I approach it, the bounce is shallower and closer to the final design. That last batch of drawings/notes Bill and I did were mostly about her silhouette and her legs. A woman's legs are truly a thing of wonder, I can't seem to get everything I want to into that line.

art is so much freackin fun!!

thanks for dropping by,
-Tamte

Nude people

2010-04-13T07:10:00.000-07:00

13-04-10

Heylo, (ODST)

I've been life drawing more frequently, since Moonbot partnered with Artspace Shreveport, and got some sessions going a few months back. It's been great to really get those muscles going again. I've been feeling more confident about letting my marks be what they are instead of trying too hard to control them. I don't know if the quality of the drawing is improving, but they are getting more honest, and I appreciate that.

A guy I knew in Austin has started a blog called "Babe Lab" which really intrigues me. It's dedicated to the study of pin-up art, and generally what makes a drawing sexy.

It's just as much the artist's responsibility to handle the subject matter in a sexual way as it is for the subject matter to be sexy. It comes to mind as I monitor the life drawing sessions, and am responsible for interacting with the model. What's appropriate to say/do around the model and what isn't. To my surprise most of the models make jokes about being naked in front of people. It still confuses me a little....

The line is easy to see, but isn't hard to cross.

A while back Paul Pope said...

"A drawing can never be pornography. A drawing is an visual description of an idea and not a documented depiction of an actual event."

We had a preggers model, which was cool. hope you dig the drawings!

thanks for stopping by,
-Tamte

Ringling Trip

2010-04-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

05-04-10

Dudes,

Moonbot just got back from an incredible trip to Ringling College of Art and Design. It was flattering to receive all the portfolios (a record 94 submissions!!) and put names to faces of many internet personalities. The interview process is an odd one, and I am lucky to be on the other side of the table so quickly. It's really not as big a deal as I thought. I think there is a mental shift happening about how people work together, and it was great to get that reciprocated at Ringling. Let me also say, that some people I wanted to interview we didn't get to. Sometimes, it's just not up to me.

Also, if you didn't get an interview it is NOT a direct reflection of how successful your work is. Not everyone is right for the same job. That being said, it was difficult to narrow down the submissions, and we were humbled by the response we got. Thank you guys!

also, I think it's a professional gray area tweeting about the interviewing process. Stuff on the internet gets out pretty quick... <:(

all that boring business stuff aside, here's a doodle with some quick Photoshop color.

"the unveiling"

thanks for stopping by,
-Tamte

back to the grind

2010-03-22T15:34:00.001-07:00

3-22-10

Art directly affects my mood. It seems silly that this morning I was elated upon finding out I had made it into Spectrum, then mopey after Photoshop crashed on me at work. Seems I was unable to make a confident mark for the rest of the day. Now I'm anxious about catching up, and guess what! The work is suffering for it.

I'm a fifteen year old girl.

the other day I had the "frustration/fear of falling behind" feeling and drew this

"Blue Light District"

While I was thinking about this...

(appreciative concluding statement)
-Tamte

Dazzling Prancer

2010-03-15T22:02:00.000-07:00

3-15-10 (still)

Sup,

so, been burning the midnight oil on this one for the past few days. I feel pretty confident about showing it. Unfortunately, the deadline for the competition over at cghub.com is past. (way to go adam!) Either way, I learned loads doing this one.

"Dazzling Prancer"

off to the next one. thanks for dropping in!
-Tamte

RGB

2010-03-15T15:22:00.001-07:00

3-15-10

"R-G-B"

lunch doodles, :)
-Tamte

Life Drawing

2010-03-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

3-13-10

Hey folks,

The Moonbot guys and myself have gotten some local life drawing sessions going. It's been great to see all the local Shreveport art folks come out the woodwork to do some drawing.

thanks for stopping by
-Tamte

EDIT::

after doing some internet trolling I stumbled upon these art sites.....you know how sometimes you forget what the internet is like. Well these were a nice cage rattling for me. I'm floored.

cool stuff

http://www.julienblanc.com/

http://rakgadjet.fullmecha.com/

http://nyayay.hp.infoseek.co.jp/

http://abra.x0.com/abra/home.html

http://www.tartelin.com/

http://tomatika.daa.jp/

competitions etc

2010-03-11T15:04:00.001-08:00

3-11-10

Dudes,

Good day today. I have some in progress stuff to share, but first off...

DIBS

does anybody else play that game? It's high time it is taken to the next level. An unofficial way to copyright something. You know 'TM' and 'Copyright' well we're going to bring DIBS to that level of claimancy. Through the web, through art and through the most effective time tested marketing technique, human interaction.

more on that later. I've got some art to share. Here is some process for an online competition piece...

"Dazzling Prancer - sketches"

"Dazzling Prancer - WIP"

I've also been revamping my website (with help). It's been a trip over the past week watching it break and fix as we firefight the design/interface.

adamvolker.com

If you follow the blog (thanks), but you will have likely seen all the work. Everytime I put it all together I realize how much I still have to learn. ::sigh::

thanks for dropping by!
-Tamte

Brushing off the dust

2010-02-24T07:05:00.001-08:00

2-24-10

Howdy,

Sorry it's been a little quiet around here. Moonbot is getting a new website (or finally getting one at all) Morris Lessmore is getting a website, and so is yours truly. Most of my attention lately has been focused on designing my new website. It's always a hard thing for me to do. Since I feel like my graphic design sense is a weaker part of my artistic toolbox.

We have been getting a bunch of development art ready for our various properties. Including my own!! we have a few Moonbots out in LA at this very moment promoting our stuff and trying to garner some support. Wish us luck, I think it's looking pretty cool.

Here is a personal painting I have been mulling around with. The second comp came about after drawing the first one and thinking there might be a cooler idea in there. I'm just playing around, but I'd be interested to listen to any thoughts if they strike your brain and you feel like sharing...

"dog catchers"

...and a painting I did for a Bill a while back. Hope ya'll dig it

:)

thanks for dropping by
-Tamte

IP Developement

2010-02-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

2-5-10

What up interweb spiders,

I've had a whirlwind of work experience in the past few years. Fortunately enough I have a job. On top of that, I have one that not only allows me to work on cool properties, but develop my own. I know I have talked to many of you 'Ringlingers' about this story idea...dreams and whatnot. If I'm lucky Moonbot might let this pop up into the production limelight, but for now I made this image to pair with the growing verbiage that is my story.

Hope you enjoy it :)

participation appreciated,

-Tamte

Making Miniatures

2010-01-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

1-24-10

"from the stage"

Howdy :)

We've been working till midnight or so for the past week at Moonbot. Actual shooting for the short begins next week, and it's very exciting seeing everything come together. Here are some teaser photos....more stuff when I have time

wish there was a bank I could save up hours and use them when I need um.

"from the hall"

This is what has been eating up my time for the past few days. Busy, busy, busy, but I'm learning how to make kick ass doll houses. Also, if you ever need to make a clock tower Hobby Lobby is a great place to look for modify-able supplies.

"Trying to bring some Windsor Nemo out of the panels "

I can't wait till the actual shooting begins, it's going to be a jam packed last few days of January.

-Tamte

Nucleus and Idea Incubators

2010-01-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

1-19-10

Howdy,

There is currently a show at Nucleus gallery about airships. "Lift Off: The Art of Airships" (frickin awesome idea in my opinion!) Some great stuff has been contributed, and it's become a popular blogging topic as well. I had the opportunity to be part of a related online venture through the Nucleus Gallery with a similar theme...

"Tether"

"Breaching"

Both of these original 5x7 inchers are on sale over at the nucleus website (here) and (here). Another awesome adventure coming through the grapevine, is a website called

"Kickstarter.com"

which is a place where people can support the production of each other's ideas. If you have an idea for anything...movies, books, t-shirts, organizations etc you can get it started there. People pledge money to support your goal. It's like when you had to raise money for your hockey team and your coach drew a big thermometer on the wall and you slowly filled it up by selling wreaths and Christmas cookies door to door...

anyway, go plant a seed er somethin'. Thanks for stopping by!
-Tamte

Dark Lantern Finished!!

2010-01-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

1-17-10

Hey folks,

look familiar? (dis paintin's sketches)...maybe yes? maybe, no

" Dark Lantern"

I worked on this longer than I usually do, and it felt good to buckle down and think through it. It's boggles me how I can spend 15 hours trying to fix a friggin' hand and then spend only twenty minutes on my favorite part of the painting....

"I mean, wtf....seriously"

I want to be using that part of my brain while I paint the whole damn thing. Searching for a focus somewhere between hyperconcentration, hypoconcentration, and boredom. The bermuda triangle of art. That's where I do my best work....maybe that's why it's so hard to find.

all bad jokes aside, I'm happy with the result. Thanks for swinging over to check it out!

now, I'm off to reinvent my website

-Tamte

P.S. (to all you comic buffs out there, the moonbot-ers are doing some comic work for a film in town based off this dudes work....FLECTCHER HANKS COMIC GENIUS)

Sketchbook

2010-01-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

1-14-10

'ello,

Thanks for all the comments on the 'Dark Lantern' piece. I'm trying to wrap that up to submit to spectrum (the 22nd of Jan). I got some great feedback from the bossman, and I'll have the finished painting up soon.

In the interrim I am spending my days painting miniature books for work. The Moonbot crew are building our miniature sets for our short "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore" There are a few things to check out at the blog over HERE.

I dont' have much to share right now, but a post without art would be wierd...

thanks for coming by!
-Tamte

WIP-Dark Lantern

2010-01-05T07:25:00.000-08:00

1-5-10

Here is a shot in progress of the painting I posted the sketch for a while back.

the screen grab looks a little desaturated, but oh well.

:)
-Tamte

A bust at Bills

2010-01-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

1-3-10

A NEW YEAR, wooohoo!! "Technically" not a new decade, but I'm excited to see what comes of that anyway.

"ceaser dun got his head chopped off"

I woke up today to get in some early landscape painting. Feeling a little nostalgic for the days when "this girl" would bang on my door in the early morn to go landscaping. Unfortunately, I planned poorly, my fingers started to go numb, and so I ended up drawing busts in Bill's kitchen. Who would have thought that it could get that cold this far south? I still feel like I got something accomplished so that's good... :)

thanks for stopping in,
-Tamte

Nearly the Holidays

2009-12-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

12-18-09

Hey Folks! Thanks for stopping by.

I've been knee deep in exciting stuff the past few weeks. Director/Writer James Gunn (Slither, PG Porn <----brilliant) is in town shooting his next gritty tale of humanity.

SUPER

I, myself am not a 'twooter', but the cast and crew have a group twitter that you can follow. (if you are so inclined)

SUPER TWITTER!

working on set has been a new experience, and I finally learned what the rest of the Moonbot movie vets meant when they said "hurry up, and wait". A new and exciting experience to say the least. Plus now I can say I met a couple movie stars. I'm sure that will come in handy at a cocktail party sometime in the future.

Otherwise "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore" is moving along well, and as we put together a packet for Moonbot's development slate the excitement mounts!

On a personal level, I spent the past weekend watching the appendices on the "Lord of the Rings" DVDs. I had forgotten how much I love those!!....(and did some drawing)

"Some Golems"

"The lost castle of the Mt. Memory"

also, here is the process of a painting I am working on...

If you don't hear from me again here, Happy Holidays!
-Tamte

...If your in the area

2009-12-03T17:39:00.000-08:00

12-03-09

thanks for stopping by!
-Tamte

Doodling etc.

2009-12-02T07:27:00.000-08:00

12-2-09

Hey Folks,

"..just promise me you wont turn into a business man"

I've had this desire recently to add more cartooning or 'caricature' to my work. It's most likely a residual effect of being around Mr. J Bluhmers, but whichever the source well my belly is stirring. When I say cartooning I don't mean like Kirby, or Eisner, or Avery, or even theme park style. Caricature as an interpretation, I'm fairly certain it's a feeling every artist has had.

Do I draw realistically or do I draw the way thats comfortable? Or inbetween?

Maybe I'm misusing the word caricature, but I'm going strive to do more interpreting with my drawings than representing. With a hope of achieving a balance between believably fabricated, and imagined abstraction.

I know my verbage is only grasping at cohesivity, but since it's still fresh in my mind...I'm thinking as I am writing.

hmmmm...

Thanks for stopping by everyone!
-Tamte

Girl, you have no faith in medicine

2009-11-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

11-18-09

Acetaminophen, you see the medicine

...oh girl
-Tamte

EDIT: I had so much fun with this litle guy, I did some more noodling during lunch!

an in progress adventure

2009-11-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

11-16-09

"I bought me a chrysler it's as big as a whale, and it's about to SET SAIL!!"

Things have been good at Moonbot, there are some cool movies coming through town that we are working on. I can't say much, but we started a studio blog!

MOONBOT BLOG

It aint much to look at yet, but we've got some big plans.

I finally found the perfect model for the upwards rain painting, and I got some great photos to get that campaign started. I also had her sit for a quick preliminary acrylic sketch

"Shelby as Kathleen"

"Then it went dark, not because it was late, but because frank fucking pulled the sun out of the sky"

on a side note, it seems the most popular thing to say when having a movie discussion at the studio is

"Holy SHIT!?! You haven't seen....."

so I've been playing catch up on my movie lore, some of my favorites so far.

"M" (1931)
"Island of Lost Souls" (1933)
"The Visitor" (2008)

(plus I watched , Gone With the Wind, Casablanca, and Fargo for the first time)
I don't know why it took me so long.....for shame. Thanks for stopping by,

-Tamte

Sketchertizing

2009-10-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

10-28-09

I've been wondering/discussing recently the point of keeping a sketchbook. To be honest.....sometimes I forget that drawing is fun, and I try to draw stuff that is cool instead of letting the pages be uninhibited meanderings. Along the way my mind switches gears and all of a sudden my sketchbook becomes fine art, and personally I find my work suffers (plus drawing with that brain hurts)

I know a few artists who keep sketchbooks as their art and that's all they do. I'm not lobbying for one way or the other just a passing thought.

...
...
...

...
...
...

...it's gone now...now, upwards rain. That's something worth thinking about!

"up-pour"

thanks for dropping in!!
-Tamte

some much needed warm up

2009-10-21T16:32:00.000-07:00

10-21-09

Folks,

I'm still arting I promise....thanks for checking back in periodically

running with fire

-Tamte

Mural Painting

2009-10-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

10-13-09

joe demonstrates the finer points of core shadows

Hey Folks,

The animatic is finished and we are ramping up for production, and a little bit of relaxing. The attitude here is infectious (in all the best ways) and as we plan to bring more people on board, buzz words like, Moonbotradio, new studio space, and minatures fly around the studio.

On top of that Joe and I were commissioned to paint a mural at Shreveport's next hot spot. It's called "City Bar", and it promises to be a pretty killer place. Riding the wave of psuedo art-deco and Dick Tracey this is the digital comp that Mr. Bluhm-ers and myself came up with.

it's been a new challenge for us. wish us luck!! Thanks for droppin' by

-Tamte

sketching

2009-09-24T17:49:00.001-07:00

9-24-09

....vikings?

-Tamte

BRAINSTORMING AT WORK

2009-09-22T20:14:00.000-07:00

Hey internet,

Ever since my buddy took me to a local Sarasota gin drinkery (in 2005) to sing in front of people I will never know I have been in love with KARAOKE. A lost American art form and a personal passion of mine. One, that even though it pains me to say.....is drastically misunderstood.

....interested? perhaps not.

willing to read what I have to say anyway? perhaps yes.

I have had a long relationship with dive bar singing, and I think that what I love most about it is that you can still own the crowd even if you SUCK.

I hypothesize to you that the key to a good performance is not musical talent, but the ability TO ROCK! You have got to f&%cking feel it in your bones. Music icons of this day and age prove time and time again that you do not need talent to pull in an audience OR even better yet....PUT ON A GOOD SHOW. Millions of people put on incredible performances in shitty bars across the world every night just by wanting to prove that the singing they do in the car is just as good when they are drunk with a microphone. These high caliber performances are a crime of passion and intoxication....and I say that's fucking badass!!!

To take it to the next level I propose that everytime one of you blog passerbys feels the urge to take the stage why not do so with a custom made guitar. Made from a household material such as cardboard, plywood etc.....(see illustration below)

As a proposition....Why not go to your local dive bar....take the stage and perform with heart that even the Grinch would envy. Melt some faces, and walk away a local legend!! Celebrate the pure passion of performance, and watch women weep with humility while the sea of rock ebbs from your body.

(customization is encouraged)

I am currently doing some focus testing around the ARK-LA-TEX bar scene with the Moonbot crew. SO, if you see a sold out show in the area for "BAD MITTEN" be sure to stop by and witness the spectacle!!

"band poster"

and go kick some ass out there!!!
-Tamte

What's going on Volkertron?

2009-09-21T18:51:00.001-07:00

9-21-09

Hey ya'll,

There is a reason for the static on the airwaves here. The hours are getting thicker, but the work is a laugh a minute. Myself, Brandon, Joe and Bill are all boarding our asses off for the short "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore" We've produced some incredibly.....'quick' drawings which will hopefully make their way online sometime.

I'm learning loads about boarding, and constantly impressed by the talent surrounding me. Joe and I are currently still doing cleanup this evening as we approach our Oct 1st deadline for the animatic (eeek!!) He are some photos of the space with all the laptops set up (and Mr. Bluhm cranking away)

joe has a similar photo of me without shoes here

thanks for dropping in people,
-Tamte

the idea faucet

2009-09-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

9-14-9
-Tamte

Colaborating

2009-09-02T15:28:00.000-07:00

9-02-09

We have been referencing a lot of Vaudeville for the "Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore" short currently in production here at Moonbot, and I am finding If I immerse myself deep enough, things starts to come home with me....to the movies......to the bathroom....to the bar...

"napkin drawings"

hahaha, MAN I LOVE ART!
-Tamte

That there painting I was working on

2009-08-30T15:51:00.001-07:00

8-30-09

Hello, and welcome Cigars and Cigarettes!

This here painting I did for a community project I am happy to say still exists in Sarasota Florida. Look for it in print around those parts in early October...

"Giants Fishing"

I watched Fargo for the first time, and I have to say it made me real proud to be a Minnesota boy (ex-minnesota boy I supose), also I've been musing to all the Rhymesayers guys (Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Doomtree). Sometimes it takes a new situation/lifestyle to understand what you've left behind. This piece is based on the fear that one day I will turn around and everything I know will be gone. To be obtuse "up in smoke" I'm just crossing my fingers that I haven't burnt any bridges. Hahah, now that i've said it aloud it sounds depressing, but it's more contemplative. Thanks for dropping in and checking out my stuff!

...til something else interesting comes up,
-Tamte

W.I.P.

2009-08-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

8-26-09

....a crop of a painting in progress. Thanks for dropping by!

-Tamte

Dwarfed Ideas

2009-08-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

8-21-09

"why were the kids so mean to the Trix rabbit? Fucking rabbit, get your own damn cereal! This is for KIDS, get the fuck outa here....you addict. We are gonna eat ALL of it right in front of you"

if you stop by to read my blog, I appreciate it. Thanks!
-Tamte

ps: I did end up getting into the Gallery Nucleus exhibit of the Terrible Yellow Eyes blog. YAY!!

Odosketch!!

2009-08-17T16:01:00.000-07:00

8-17-09

somebody at a group blog I am part of called "Doodles&shit" turned me on to this online sketch program where it records as you doodle. The brushes are pretty neat and the end result is fun and enlightening to watch. Anyway here is a little ditty I did

(you have to refresh the browser to watch it again)

go check out the website!

http://sketch.odopod.com/

(yay! for free promotion)...fun stuff,

-Tamte

Recapping

2009-08-16T16:19:00.000-07:00

8-15-09

"sketchbooking, and notes on 'the hero's journey'"

hey guys,

Siggraph was a fun time, I competed in an art contest and won myself a copy of PS/CS4. (yay) A good time was had by the whole Moonbot crew. We also had some GREAT food....

"BO, BJ, AV, JB"

"moonbot NOLA"

(needless to say, we were having a great time)

On some other cool notes, the "Terrible Yellow Eyes" blog/birthday present is going to be showing a collection of the work at the Nucleus gallery in the greater LA area. Only a portion of the work is going to be selected to be shown so I might not get to be present, but the potential is exciting! Here is a link for more info about the show

Gallery Nucleus

(and here is a reminder of my contribution)

thanks for stopping by, more art to come!
-Tamte

Siggraph '09

2009-07-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

7-31-09

Welcome,

Recently, in Shreveport there has been some tasty stuff cooking, it smells good, and now I can finally share some of it!

We are poised at ground zero of the creation of a brand new Animation/VFX company dubbed "Moonbot studios", a division of a larger fledgling entity named "LouD Village".

"siggraph promo flyer"

Though currently small, the projects already in production have a lot of promise and energy. The team is a tight group of industry vets united by a common interest to create something new, potent and interesting.....that and the general creative jitters! I feel like this could turn into something great, and I am honored to be involved.

Since the state of Louisiana began providing the film industry with huge tax cuts. There has been an influx of films coming to places like Shreveport to make their movies, and the number is growing. While our new studio works on it's debut animated short we are planning a trip to SIGGRAPH 09 in New Orleans to promote/recruit.

...SO, if you are planning a visit to the convention make sure to stop by booth #2900 and chat one of us up. We would love to talk to you about what we are working on, where the best creole food is, the best hot sauce, and you can get yourself a caricature by the unimitatable Joe Bluhm. I hope to see you there!

...and here is an unrelated drawing as well

"pumping station"

thanks for dropping in,

-Tamte

The light of Day

2009-07-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

7-22-09

Hey folks,

It's been awhile, I know. I am up in MN on a little mini vacation. The first of the six books is DONE!!! wooo!! (knocks on wood).

I did some soul searching in the woods, some sailing, and some djimbe druming and came back with a much clearer head. I am without scanner, so not a lot of new stuff. However, I can share some things that I think have cleared NDA status. It's a weird cycle I am still getting used to, I have all sorts of new stuff I am dying to pollute the internet with, but since it's illegal to show it.....I'll wait. This work I'd like to share is about six months plus old. I would mention the projects by name, but sorting it all out makes my head muddy.

Anyway, here is some art stuff I hope you dig from a company I used to work at that may/may not have filed bankruptcy.....

There is more, but we will leave it at that for now. I'll be back on the comics and sketches stuff once I get back to eating gumbo and po'boys.

Thanks for dropping in guys I appreciate the support!!
-Tamte

B&W Art final

2009-06-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

6-29-09

Here is the final piece for the artorder.blogspot challenge. I had to jump some weird compositional hurdles, problems created due to my own negligence. I'm unsure how I feel about the splotchy half-tone I used. I originally had a regular half-toned dot grade, but thought it really stifled the energy I was going for.

...anyway, here is the piece.

"Why you gotta be like dat gurl?"

Thanks for dropping in! Wish me luck in the competition.

-Tamte

online art contests

2009-06-21T19:34:00.000-07:00

6-21-09

I'm comin' up for air here....*gasp*

I'm hitting that stride where I actually produce less, but feel like I have been working all day/night without stopping. Here in Joyce-landia we are doing what would be called "crunch" in another industry, and twilight starts to shine over the production of book one-of-six on the Guardians project. Once It's done i'll make sure I spam this blog with all the promotion I am allowed to. The project has been officially announced to the world, but it's NDA status is complicated. (Less on that later)

The Artorder blog has another online challenge I wanted to be part of. It's a B&W illustration bout vampires. Here are the thumbs I have so far. Pretty excited about where it's going. Let me know what you guys think.

"I vant to suuhk your bluuud"

thanks for stopping by,
-Tamte

***Edit*** a friend reminded me the format for the final has to be 3" x 6.75", so....blegh I'll have to make some changes

A Pause for Projects

2009-06-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

6-15-09

Dudes,

I am putting the 1PPW comics on pause to spend some more time on a larger comic project the details of which I will disclose at a later date....

here is some sketchbook stuff in the meantime.

"Blue Door"

(I've been drawing cliffs recently....could be Pixar's fault)

:)
-Tamte

1PPW//7-One Page Per Week

2009-06-08T22:37:00.000-07:00

6-9-09

Hey Folks,

sorry this is a day late....I bought an X-box 360 this weekend.

"Ritual"

I did some experimenting with a halftone. I think I am getting closer to where I want to be, but there is still a lot of ground to cover. I have to start writing these, BEFORE I start drawing them. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like it!

...trudging along,
-Tamte

Terrible yellow Eyes

2009-06-04T19:07:00.000-07:00

6-4-09

Hey dudes,

Some cool stuff happening in the past few days! I was asked by the very cordial Cory Godbey to join his collective birthday gift for illustrator/writer all around awesome guy Maurice Sendak. He has been gathering artists to contribute to a blog titled "Terrible Yellow Eyes", and on June 10th (Mr. Sendak's birthday) he is going to send all the work over as a collective birthday present.

frickin sweet right!?!

There is some really cool stuff over at the blog. He has some work from some heavy hitters, including Bluesky's Jake Parker and Mike Lee! Needless to say, I am very honored and excited to be part of the big 'ole internet art hug headed Mr S's way.

Here is the piece I did, hopefully ya'll dig it....cross your fingers for me (hopefully Mr. Sendak likes it)

"Where did you say those wild things were?"

thanks for stopping in!

-Tamte

1PPW // 6 - One Page Per Week

2009-05-31T17:21:00.000-07:00

6-1-09

Hey guys,

First off, thanks for coming over and checking out the stuff.

Secondly, I gave the "OPW"s a slight overhaul. They are now called my "1 page per week" comics. It's a slight difference, but an important one. I'm hoping it wont confuse the three or four of you who are checking my progress on Mondays. This way I can brand them a little better, and the logo doesn't look as much like the word "POW".

I got the idea for this one while I was shopping for groceries, and it reminded me of when I used to work at Cub Foods, back in MN. I hope you guys enjoy it!

"cages"

ALSO..... here are some recent sketchbook pages.

Demon

Brokeback Mountain

:)
-Tamte

working on stuff

2009-05-29T10:50:00.000-07:00

5-29-09

Hey people!

thought I would share this link

Dreamworks Teaming Up With William Joyce For The Guardians of Childhood

:) thanks for stopping in!

-Tamte

Interactive Entertainment

2009-05-26T17:36:00.000-07:00

5-26-09

To whomever you are, thanks for stopping by. I've posted art at the bottom, so if you don't want to read my ramblings you can scroll down :)

Recently I have been trolling some articles (thanks to "googlereader") about a game called "Six Days in Fallujah". I suppose it IS MY FAULT for prompting the good folks over at google to alert me anytime the name "Tamte" was mentioned online, however...I didn't expect to get so many emails. "Peter Tamte" (coincidentally a relative of mine) and his team over at Destineer/Avalanche set out to make a documentary-style video game based on the battle of Fallujah in the Iraq war.

It's a sensitive subject, and I do have some thoughts about it, but I think G4-TV's Adam Sessler has summed it up well, and his video is here--->

Fun Vs Art-"Six Days in Fallujah"

(if that interests you at all, I recommend you check it out)

My brain churned, bubbled, and ultimately sputtered to a halt. Then after a few weeks I had a conversation that brought back to life what I really wanted to talk about, AND SO....to my point.

"the ability to say no"

I'm often upset by how little thought is put into the bigger picture, mostly pertaining to large scale art projects in the entertainment industry, be it games/film/comics/commercials etc. At a certain point the budget of an idea passes the 10million mark, and the project starts to function less like a creative force and more like an oil tanker. It also seems that this is the stage where the "why" question becomes discouraged or tabooed. I am not discouraging large studios as a production model, I have seen them be effective, but I think that at this stage more than ever it is important to have the exact right people in exactly the right positions. It's easy to get caught up in daily tasks as an artist, or a designer or a programmer, but why is the initial drive lost? How does this happen? Like seriously, somebody fill me in?! Is it the art director's job or producer's job to keep everyone oriented in the same direction? Who's job is it to keep an eye on what made the idea good in the first place?

Maybe my frustration is born out of ignorance, and the answer will come at some later stage in my life I dunno. But it's been eating away at my artistic conscience. Doesn't everybody want to fight for interesting and new things? Instinctually my first thought was "put me in charge! I would do it right". Which I realized immediately after wasn't the truth at all. Then my brain spun full circle...

"If I was in that position, could I really see the bigger picture?"

Would I be able to say "no" if someone offered me a job that I didn't feel qualified for if the creative freedom and the pay was substantially better than the job I had? Would I be able to say "no" I was asked to work at a company I lusted after, into a position I didn't? If the right idea gets the right circumstances it moves mountains. Who's lives/ideas would I be messing with if I stepped into a role I wasn't ready for and floundered about attempting competency. Would I rise to the challenge? I have had the opportunity to work under some incredibly skilled art directors, but I've also seen good projects go under due to poor circumstances. But what really gets me in the gut, as an indicator of the dominating point of view is seeing the idea that drove "Six Days in Fallujah" die.

Now, the "dragon-riding post apocalyptic magic ultra-grenade" games will always hold a special place in my heart, and I don't want them to disappear. I'm advocating a change in focus, and critical thinking on a larger scale. I mean shit, I love using the latest technology to sit around drinking beer talking smack to kids in Europe. As illustrated in this painting of my Austin buddys and I playing "Halo" and drinking beer.

"pwning noobs"

...I don't have a doubt that what I am looking for is out there, I just didn't expect to have to look so hard to find it.

-Tamte

OPW/5-One Page Weeklies

2009-05-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

5-25-09

Hey Folks,

I spent the weekend down in Austin visiting some games industry friends. Man I miss making games and that whole world. After some more exploration I will probably end up going back to that industry, I think there is a lot of territory left to blaze. I could get into my opinions on game development, but I think that energy is better spent in another post.

Here is OPW 5!! The story is a little more complicated, and was a fun challenge. This week I really tried to avoid redundancy by only using words to supplement the drawings. In my head I made up a little rule

"never use words and pictures to explain the same thing"

that thought had never occurred to me until this week...

"Duty"

thanks for stopping in,
-Tamte

OPW/4-One Page Weeklies

2009-05-18T07:45:00.000-07:00

5-18-09

ello,

This one is a little simpler than last weeks. While I was doing it, i really tried to get a variance in composition, and some more 'aspect to aspect' transitions. Anyway, hope ya'll dig it.

"Pals"

thanks for sayin' hey
-Tamte

Hyenas

2009-05-15T19:14:00.000-07:00

5-15-09

-Tamte

Devolution

2009-05-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

5-14-09

Hey guys,

Another Artoder art piece. This one is about devolving a creature and showing it's ancestry (what a cool idea right!). The challenge kicks off next Tuesday, so it's not going to "officially" enter the ring until then. I thought I would share it here since it's done. Hope ya'll dig it! Oh!! and the winner is based on votes, so when Tuesday rolls around do the internet art community a favor please and go vote!! (on Tuesday)

"Ancient Gnomes"

till next time
-Tamte

OPW/3-One Page Weeklies

2009-05-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

5-11-09

Hello!

Today commemorates the third cycle of these weekly comics. With this one I was trying to grasp a subject matter that is a little more serious and subtle. Hopefully the read is clear, I am not sure yet what is appropriate to leave out, and what is necessary to include. I guess that's part of the trial and error process. I'm also wondering if I am relying to heavily on the title, and whether the comic would work at all if I took it out(?)

OPW-3

"Four Senses"

Thanks for dropping in.
-Tamte

Process sketches & Alberto Breccia

2009-05-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

5-9-09

Hey Internet,

first off, these sketches are for another online art contest over at Artorder. The challenge is to devolve the "gnome" creature from the D&D franchise. After reading the brief about the gnome species, I thought it would be cool to make their ancestry satyr-ish. As I cook up a painting in that stew I thought I would post some exploratory sketches.

ancient gnomes

The other thing that I just COULD NOT pass up sharing was a long existing (but recently reignited) love for Uruguay-born Argentinian comic creator Alberto Breccia! This is one of the guys that is teaching me how to simplify pictures to two tones, while still doing amazing things with lost edges, and implied detail. On top of that, he injects a refreshing variation in composition to his comics. I thought it might be cool to share the work of someone who has had such a large influence on my work. Hopefully, you guys enjoy this stuff too! I would definitely recommend picking up something with his stuff in it if you are a comic book fan.

Alberto Breccia

SUCH beautiful work, I only wish I could read it!!! hahaha. Thanks for stopping in.

till next time,
-Tamte

The "Boll Deevil"

2009-05-05T10:19:00.000-07:00

5-5-09

Art Challenges are WAY too much fun!...a good way to promote AND bulk up your portfolio (one stone/two birds)

The D&D art contest I participated in over at Artorder is all wrapped up. There was some solid work submitted, and I had fun looking at the other 'gladi-arters'. On a similar totally sweet note, I got an honorable mention for the humor in my piece. I think I'm going to keep doing some of these, and indulge the sci-fi/fantasy nerdy prepubescent Adam Volker I've nurtured lately working on these kids books. You can go check out the piece in the arena with all the others at the Artorder blog, or keep reading and find it below...

"Boll Deevil"

(you have chosen, wisely)

thanks for stopping in!
-Tamte

OPW/2-One Page Weeklies

2009-05-04T07:27:00.000-07:00

5-4-09

Hey dudes,

Here is the second installment of OPW (One Page Weelkies). I had loads of fun doing it, but I'm worried it got a little too wordy, SoooooOooo I am posting it with AND without words. I'd be interested to hear how (if at all) you guys think that affects the story....?

I am also starting to see a formula with these first two weeks, where my last panel is kind of like the punch line of a joke. I think for next week I am going to try and hit a totally different mark. I still see a lot of room to grow here, so as I work through this GOLIATH of a medium please excuse my poor handwriting/grammar etc.

Let me know what you guys think!

OPW-2

'Tradeships'

'Tradships/sans type'

....wow....it's May already, and I've been out of school for exactly a year now.

I appreciate you spending some time here.
-Tamte

Process sketches

2009-04-29T13:43:00.001-07:00

4-29-09

Greetings,

Here are some preliminary sketches for an art contest over at Artorder. I feel like they mark an important step in my quest for developing a personal working process. Something I feel should have received more attention while I was at school.

Boll Deevil

Also, to further enhance my....nomadic-ness?....I'm taking a weekend trip to Sarasota FL, starting tonight to check out the senior Illustration show on Friday. Exciting stuff!! I'm stoked to see everyone's work, and catch up with all the teachers/friends/beaches/karaoke dives etc I left behind on the sunny gulf coast!

Thanks for dropping in,
-Tamte

OPW-One Page Weeklies!!!

2009-04-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

4-27-09

Hey folks,

I've been swooning over comic books (again) recently. After a few catastrophic attempts jumping into the deep end I decided that my skills as a sequential storyteller were laughable at best. So, I'm scheduling in some weekly practice, with an excercise I am dubbing 'One Page Weeklies' (OPW)

The idea is to practice comics, and stop myself from being an idiot when I say things like "oh yeah, I LUUV comics.....what was that?....uh, no...I have never actually done one".

Every week on Monday I will be posting a single page of comic...trying to keep the following in mind.

Objectives:

1. Attain a level of sequential storytelling competency
2. Experiment with the medium
3. Improve poor grammar
4. Develop a skill set to apply to larger comic projects
5. Have some of that 'fun' you've been hearing about

I'm interested to see what kind of storytelling I can pull off in just one page...Also, these will help regulate the posting on here.

So here is the first installment of what will be growing weekly!!

OPW-1

'poor planning'

thanks for sayin hey!!

-Tamte