Twin Brother Music Collab

Day 31:
February 19, 2017

Skype session with my twin. We're trying to finish the last music parts for my "The Lonely Wolf" song. I've only been working on this track for about a year! Ugh. We've almost finished! Worked on bass, horn stabs, and tossed a few other tasteful flavors your way. One last chorus to finish in the coming week(s).
[A little taste test of the song is near the bottom.]

This song is based on a Carmen Saldaña illustration that is below:

CLICK HERE to see on Etsy

***I did not draw this, and I do not own any rights to this image/illustration. All rights go to Carmen Saldaña. Carmen Saldaña does not endorse this song and is not connected to it in any way.***

 I was just inspired by the little guy and wrote a story about this cute, little wolf.

You can check out more of Carmen Saldaña's work here:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/CarmenSaldana?ref=l2-shopheader-name

Beginning SFX Design

Day 29:
February 17, 2017

Met up with a friend at Panera Bread to get motivated, while we worked on our separate projects. Recently, I received a rough cut of a short film I had run boom for back in early January. Decided to throw potential sound effects in the session and get the sound design & dialog editing process started!
Nothing too crazy sound-wise but still should be a fun, little project. Thanks to said friend--who let me borrow his headphones--I'm going to flip between working remote with headphones and working at my home base with monitors. Helps to keep me motivated and have fresh ears.

Day 30:
February 18, 2017

This blog post wouldn't be complete without my signature blurry, dark photo of one of my food creations. Without further ado, I present: parsley-chili-&-garlic seasoned & sautéd zucchini, mushrooms, and sweet potato chunks. Very much like what I made earlier in the week but...chopped into chunks on a skillet, rather than, baked potato style. So classy. And obviously, Havarti was involved in the aftermath.

Portly Frog smoking a Pipe

Day 28: 
Feb. 16, 2017

So sick of trying to draw the right-side of the Hare's face--I erased it for the millionth time. Pretty sure it's only getting worse. I digressed and decided to draw a frog smoking a pipe. 'Cause why not? I forgot what frogs looked like at first but sort of got there in the end. Pencil to ink.

Slow picture zoom in...

Hare Sketch & Loaded Sweet Potatoes

Day 23: 
Feb. 11, 2017

Nothing


Day 24: 
Feb. 12, 2017

Started sketching a Hare. I'm curious to how this will turn out when it's finished because I do not fully understand shading. I really hope this isn't going to turn into a big black blob of ink...

Day 25: 
Feb. 13, 2017

Using Charcoal for the first time, and wow, it's going to take me a bit to figure out how to harness its power. Starting to define the body parts. Its face I've drawn, erased, redrawn, erased, and repeated this cycle too many times. Can't quite figure it out.

Day 26: 
Feb. 14, 2017

Nothing



Day 27: 
Feb. 15, 2017

Made 'Loaded Sweet Potatoes stuffed with Zucchini & Baby Portobellas'.
As usual, late night cooking. Dim lighting. Crappy camera. Quick Picture. Blurry photo. √

I chopped and then sautéed baby carrots, zucchini, baby portobello mushrooms, and minced garlic in olive oil. While sautéing, I heated sweet potatoes in microwave till tender inside. Then let cool. I added a few dashes of chili powder and a bit more minced garlic to the sautéed mix. When it was finished sautéing, I scooped out the sweet potatoes--leaving only their skin--and then added it to the sautéed mix. Stirred everything together and let cook a couple more minutes adding a dash (or two) of chili powder [just to be on the safe side, after taste tasting a piping hot, little zucchini chunk]. Finally I stuffed the sweet potato skins with the sautéd mixture. [Honestly I hate how many times I typed various forms of sauté in this.]

Tomorrow the plan is to put a little piece of havarti on top and then sprinkle parsley and chili powder on to for looks. I will then pop them in the oven to broil for a couple minutes...Voila! This last step of course depends on waking up early enough to do before I leave for work. Ha.

Cookies, Rap, Curry, & a Lamb

Day 17:
Feb. 5, 2017

Made some 'Ultimate chocolate chip cookies' for a Super Bowl party. 
Blurry cookie dough below, 'nuff said:

Day 18:
Feb. 6, 2017

Carved out more of the newest rap I've been writing. Added two other verses. 1st verse is about being an unconventional rapper; 2nd verse is about a personal story; and 3rd verse is about a character in the personal story. So far it ends with a tagline repeated 3x's. Not sure it will be the next rap I record, this song still needs a bit more work. 

Day 19:
Feb. 7, 2017

Curry day! I made a chicken and vegetable curry on quinoa. Sautéed baby carrots, green bell peppers, and zucchini.  The chicken was cooked in olive oil. Decided to cook quinoa instead of rice. I cheated and used pre-made curry sauce...I know, unacceptable. Then I let it simmer together for what seemed like hours. 

Eating with classy paper plates and a plastic spoon. Sorry environment:

Day 20-21:
Feb. 8-9, 2017

Failed.

Day 22:
Feb. 10, 2017

Finished this little lamb sketch (reference lamb [it's a part of Jan Steen's "The Poultry Yard" painting], It's on the right side, hard to see). Honestly, mine looks more like a deer.

A couple Birds, Food, & some Rap-Writing

Day 11:
Jan. 30, 2017

Sketched two illustrations of birds. Pencil to ink.

Day 12:

Jan. 31, 2017

Nada. Zilch.

Day 13:

Feb. 1, 2017

Bored waiting between getting off work and waiting for audio training to begin. Decided to start writing a rap about being an unconventional rapper, while chilling in the Great Room at church. Later on I made Caprese-type sandwiches: Spinach, mozzarella, tomatoes sliced, drizzled with house-style Caesar dressing on leftover ciabatta bread; then flung them in the broiler for a few minutes--till the bread and cheese's edges were a little crispy. No sandwich pictures though--disappointing, I know.

Day 14:
Feb. 2, 2017

Nada. Zilch.--Part 2.

Day 15:
Feb. 3, 2017

Started this little guy, then I proceeded to fall asleep--pencil in hand, so I didn't get very far:

Day 16:
Feb. 4, 2017

Working on the newest rap with Coach K's beat, trying to write a few different songs to uncover a worth while one. Weeding out the "bad ones".
Made chicken tacos with black beans, cumin, red pepper flakes, diced tomatoes, and chicken cooked with minced garlic in olive oil. Heated white, corn tortillas straight on stovetop flames. I filled tortillas with fresh spinach leaves, the chicken/bean/tomato mixture, and finished with a dash of cheese on top. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. No pictures--I forgot.

The White Rabbit Sketch

Day 9 (part 2):
Jan. 28, 2017

Working on a sketch of The White Rabbit from Alice in the Wonderland while catching up on NCIS, hoping to finish the sketch tomorrow.

Day 10:
Jan. 29, 2017

Finished in ink. 

It really is borderline sad how long it takes me to do this. Listened to a co-worker's new podcast "Atmosphere" Epi. 1 by Nick Brengle and then a Spotify playlist for the win. Where else can you hear Showbread, Enya, Yes, Louis Prima, Falling Up, Dwight Yoakam and so many other greats all together?

Havarti-Stuffed-With-Goodness-Ciabatta

Day 9:
Jan. 28, 2017

Havarti-Stuffed-With-Goodness-Ciabatta-Broiled Sandwiches, finally baked them!

Before BROIL

After BROIL, toasty.

BOOM.

Yummy! :)

Hummingbird & Beatrix Potter Sketches

Day 5 & Day 6:
Jan. 24 & 25, 2017

Both days were a zero on the creative scale. Tried to work on dialog editing, but my old Logic refused the XML files.


Day 7:
Jan. 26, 2017

Little red-throated Hummingbird sketchy sketch, to fulfill the challenge for today. Sketched in pencil then traced in ink.

Day 8:
Jan. 27, 2017

Sketched a few Beatrix Potter characters, as per usual pencil then traced in ink. I'm going to be doing a lot of sketching in the coming days.

Stepping stool sketch & Ciabatta havarti spinach Stuffed Sandwiches

Day 4: Jan. 23, 2017

Rainy, blustery day? Work on sketching real-life objects while laying on my bed. Drawn with pencil, then outlined with ink. Pictured is the "real stool" with a shot of my illustration of the stepping stool. This took a while to do, an embarrassing long while. My eraser is a nub at this point.

Dark, blurry pictures but sautéing some spinach, minced garlic, and mushrooms in olive oil with a few grinds of cracked black pepper and Italian spices. This is the "stuffing" that will go on the ciabatta bread buns along with a piece of havarti cheese, a couple thin slices of tomatoes, and some parsley. Broiled in the oven. However, this step will have to wait for tomorrow morning.

Re-Mixing "Video Guys Rap" & Doodle-ly Sketches

Day 1 of Creative Challenge:
FRI Jan. 20, 2017

Who knew my old slider cell-y phone had "photo effects"?

Re-doing an older mix of my song dedicated to the Chop Shop video guys. Listening back to it a couple weeks ago I realized it could be updated to sound, well, a lot better. Decided to try mixing with headphones at a public library near by. Attempted to work on dialogue for a co-worker's short film but had the wrong final cut file format for Logic. XML file, where you at homie? Practiced guitar for 20mins, working on riff speed and scales.


Day 2 of CC:
Jan. 21, 2017

Kept it quick & simple while researching new music. I just did some basic, but crappy, doodles as well as tried to figure out what to change my brand logo to--what kind of lettering, etc. Will continue to process better sketches in the coming months. I should note that some of the critters this time are my attempt to draw a few of the animals from "Draw 500 awesome animals" book. Made Baked-havarti-parsley sweet potatoes, no pictures though.


Day 3 of CC:
Jan. 22, 2017
Nada. I failed. Too busy at work & pet-sitting to even care.