Topic for 1/28 - 2/11

Yay, my turn!  I love this tag-team topic idea.  Let's try something a little more open-ended for this week's topic:

TEETH!


And by the way, thanks you guys for getting this thing started again!  It's great to be back in the swing of things.

(The next topic will be posted around Feb 11th by the fabulous Mrs. Criddle!)

Jaqai Mickelsen - Kaiju

Charles Eubanks - Kaiju

When I think of gigantic, overgrown creatures, I don't need to look much further than my own dear cat Thaddeus.  If he were to emerge from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, he would not need to travel far to find his favorite dish.  And he would not be much larger than he already is.

K. Marie Criddle - Kaiju

Honest, I don't have much experience with kaiju and I'm not sure what object he might be based on (except perhaps the unholy union of a sumo wrestler and an angry unicorn) buuuuuut...for scale, that's King Kong on his horn.

Peter Hong - Kaiju

I think you know where I got my inspiration... ;)

Adam Heine - Kaiju

Sometimes these two forget they're supposed to be fighting and they dance instead. It's . . . awkward for everyone.

If you would like to vote for Godzilla and Ghidorah, you can dial 1-888-TEMPO-06. That's 1-888-TEMPO-06. Voting will be open for two hours after the show.

Topic for 1/15 to 1/28

We're back!

This week we're going to tackle a topic near and dear to my heart.

KAIJU

What the heck is a kaiju? Well, technically it's just the Japanese word for monster (which we've done), but in English this word has come to mean a very specific kind of monster, the kind that grows to enormous size and goes on a meaningless rampage through human cities. Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, King Ghidorah, and America's own King Kong all fall under this banner.

If you need inspiration, I found this note in the Wikipedia article particularly enlightening: "Kaiju are typically modeled after conventional animals, insects or mythological creatures; however, there are more exotic examples. Chōjin Sentai Jetman features monsters based on traffic lights, faucets and tomatoes; Kamen Rider Super-1 includes a whole army of monsters based on household objects such as umbrellas and utility ladders."

So let's wreck some major metropolitan areas!

[Charles, you've got the next topic, on or around 1/28.]

Peter Hong - New Year's Resolutions

Patience. This has been a resolution/goal for many years, and so far, I'm not off to a good start!

Charles Eubanks - New Year's Resolution

I have a tendency to avoid drawing unless I can carve out a large chunk of time for it... which is becoming harder and harder to do!  So this year, I resolve to find more little time slices, and just have fun with it!  These sketches were done with crayon on paper, without any fuss or planning.  Just hangin' out with the kids and doodling.  See?  Fun!

K. Marie Criddle - New Year's Resolution

This might require some explanation, too! In December, I put into practice Jerry Seinfeld's idea of "Don't Break the Chain"...basically a work ethic developer that says that for any endeavor you set out on, you should make a calendar that your can mark every day. For example, every day that you write or draw or whatever, you can put an X over that day...after a few days it becomes a chain (habit) and the longer it gets, the harder it will be to break that chain. More info here, I don't think I'm explaining it very well.

Anyway, I've made three calendars for myself: creative, spiritual and physical. I get to put down Xs when I draw or write that day (creative) and an X when I read my scriptures (spiritual) and an X when I go running or get to the gym (physical). A few days down and no chains have been broken yet!

So the picture (it's not me, I definitely have calves) is a bit of a representation of that, if not a bit obscure. Don't break the chain (of really long hair? wait, this might have been an excuse to just draw hair...)

Happy 2014!

Adam Heine - New Year's Resolutions

So this one requires some explanation.

First, what it is: a silhouette version of this picture, which is me and our now-teenage daughter back when she still liked me (or at least tolerated me enough to sit for a picture together).

Our relationship has been hard for the last couple of years, and I've been learning more than anything how to give her space and forgive her crap. These are both mostly for my sake, because I've also learned that basically nothing I do will change her heart. Nothing will change her heart at all unless and until she decides she wants to change.

So today is her birthday, a day she loathes because she is forced to endure the attentions of the family she doesn't always want to be a part of. This is a part of my present to her. It says: "No matter what happens, you'll always have Dad's love."

She won't like it -- she hates being reminded that I love her -- but her liking it is not the point. My resolution (which is not so much a new resolution as an ongoing one) is to keep loving her and forgiving her no matter what she does.

Topic for 1/1 to 1/14

Happy New Year, everyone!

It may be just another day, but lots of folks use times like these to reflect over the past year and voice their hopes and wishes for themselves for the next. Whether or not we meet these goals set in moments of determination and resolve is another story. ;)

So let's begin 2014 with a fitting topic (inspired by Charles!):

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS!

I've really missed drawing on this blog with you guys. :)