Yearly Archives: 2010

I always sucked at drawing and coloring. At least I thought I did. I’d meticulously wield my crayon in an attempt to color the areas strictly and absolutely inside the pre-printed lines, as those were the rules. Some other kids did this really well. Inevitably, I’d spaz out and my crayon stray into the inked DMZ, and break through to the forbidden zone. Discouraged, I largely gave up drawing as whole, as I didn’t think I could do it well. I was too self-conscious about what other people thought about my inability to do it the way it was supposed to be done. I gravitated toward something that would make me much more popular as a kid: learning to program in BASIC on my Commodore VIC 20.

But, drawing and coloring (or programming) are something that come from within you. It’s an interaction between brain and hands, where your motor skills execute something from the creative side of your being. Applying rules to this is asinine. A thousand people will color and draw a a thousand different ways. We should celebrate the differences.  It took me years to realize this. Now, as I coincidentally approach that “old-ish” age of 40, I just don’t care any more.

So many things in life are an execution of your creativity and personal self: the words we choose, the thoughts we express, and the connections we draw between experience and the daily things we see in the everyday world. The Internet has obviously exploded with a myriad of ways for people to express this, from blogs, to Facebook, to a huge one called Twitter.

If you follow me on Twitter, by posts vary from the random questions, what music I am listening to, technical responses, new products I’ve developed, blog posts, pictures, and thoughts on everything from waffles to Maya MEL Scripts. Why so varied? Because that’s who I am. My brain is a flurry of activity of personal life, family, observations of the world around me, programming, art, and what’s for dinner.

I use Twitter to reflect who I am.

And that’s who I am interested in. I am curious about the connections that other creatives draw between themselves and the world around them, as well their newest project, latest creative inspiration, favorite new beer or random thought about anything. To me, Twitter isn’t an RSS feed from your blog, or a repository of blatherings about your book/DVD, website. It’s not a place to apply rules, or to “stay on topic”. What topic? There are no topics. Each feed is a stream of thoughts from someone that has ideas you’d like to hear.

It’s not that it’s specifically about “Twitter”. But, right now Twitter is king, and it’s a great place to connect with the 3,000 or so people that would like to hear what I have to say. I have a lot of different things to say, and you’ll hear a wide variety of them at twitter.com/graymachine

I know it’s been quiet around here. Too quiet. Rest assured, I’ve been busy on lots of things, some work related and some personal. It’s largely kept me from tutorials and other cools tuff for about 2 months now. But, I am getting back into the saddle, guns ready, and riding on my trusted steed, ready to start shooting at things.

So, here’s a fairly large tutorial I am working on. This is a scene using footage from a stock company, because I suck with a camera. It was tracked using the Foundry’s new CameraTracker, and I added lots of flying saucers, lasers and flares and shockwaves AND lightning bolts! I mean, what else do you need?  As to what happens to downtown LA after the laster blast, that is to be determined. For now, it goes to white.

I expect to record the tutorial next week to put it into the queue for RGTV.