Since I work in the Old Town part of Fort Collins, there are a number of ways that my coworkers and I amuse ourselves other than "I'm a cop, you idiot". We walk to Goodwill and check out their wares, play shuffleboard at Washington's, eat at Big City Burritos, and last week, tried to make Mountain Dew glow. We were much ashamed to discover this phenomenon, which we saw on the honest internet, was a hoax. We didn't find out in time to prevent the CEO of Visible Productions from stumbling in on us mixing ingredients together in a dark conference room.
I was also able to reprise my previous well-known role as hilarious self-effacing jackass this week, as some photos that were taken of me, modeling physical therapy poses for an illustrator's reference, were discovered by my fellow animators. They were considered so outrageous and got such an extreme response that a female coworker who had volunteered this week to participate in a similar photoshoot has now decided she will not. Nobody blames her. Do somethin' funny, Boozer! Now I really feel at home. I believe you can see some of these photos on the internet.
Outside of work, life is comfortable but unfruitful. Almost everyone that I know in Colorado lives in Denver. Originally, I thought I would be going there all the time, but Bobby and Missi's house, for instance, is seventy miles away from mine. This can result in a lonely week. However, this also leaves a lot of time open for long-term art projects and pizza(see step eight).
There is one project in particular that I committed to work on that I subconciously work to avoid. Its a painting of medivac choppers in the mountains of Vietnam for my uncle. The very fact he commisioned me to do this for him is very rare and special, but I'm so afraid of failing to do this well that it is hard for me to start. Creepy puppets and tapirs and such are easy for me to produce creatively,
but this one is difficult. For one thing, I can tell he has a specific image in mind (probably a specific event) that it is difficult to describe. Secondly, the Bell Huey helicopter is a very technical creature, not organic like the ones I usually draw. Lastly, creating a interesting composition for this one has proved difficult. If I want to finish this project I need to stop watching youtube. Other than behavior modification, I have some reference photos I have taken of aforementioned helicopters from a military museum I spotted from the interstate while passing through Nebraska on the way to Colorado that I hope will help me. In addition, I'm entertaining the notion of creating primitive models of the helicopters in 3d software to get the perspective right.
Last weekend I made a shelf that fits inside the alcove in my apartment, where my computer now resides. Here's where it was before.
Now, I've cleaned it up. Even though the cords and stuff look messier than before because I can't hide them anywhere while my laptop is on this countertop. I want to get another monitor to hook up to my computer in the future the serves the dual purpose of improving my workflow and hiding those cords.
If anyone wants to comment on the structural integrity of this shelf, let me know because I don't want it crashing down on my computer. The scanner isn't very heavy, but I'm playing it safe.
