So I just found out that not only do the Chinese associate animals with your birth year, but also elements. So in honor of my being a fire rabbit, I decided to exercise my logo/stencil design muscles. Heres what I came up with:

Chase Scene

The base here is a photo I took on the beach this past 4th of July.
I'm fairly pleased with the result...I certainly like the idea. It just doesnt all feel coherent yet (I think).

To get past the "What should I draw?" feeling that usually keeps me staring at a blank page/screen for a long time with no direction, I decided to speedpaint to music until i got a picture I liked. The basic method is this:

1) Turn your music on to random
2) Open a small, blank photoshop document (I used 600x400) and paint it some color other than white (blue or brown work well)
3) set your fore and background colors to black and white. Only paint with these colors and only use one brush (varying in size as you desire).
4) for each new song, create a new layer. Paint only black and white on that layer until the song ends. Try to let the song choose the direction of the painting, by lyrics or mood or whatever. Repeat.

Once I hit one I liked I spent a little more time on it; 10 minutes tops.

Here are my results. I don't think they're terribly good, but it's better than a blank page, and thats a step in the right direction.

Vespa WIP

Here's a 3D personal project. Hoping to get it finished and posted on my site real soon.

Fireworks Speedpaint

Here's something new. A quick photoshop painting just to get me back into 2d.