Back on the East Side

I am in the middle of a trip back to my homelands on the East Coast. Been a good trip so far, though I find as time goes on, more and more familiar sights are gone or altered almost beyond recognition. I feel more at home in the snow and cold at Christmastime than I ever could in the moderate temperatures and fog of the Bay. It just doesn't feel like Christmas ever comes there, but then, I suppose if I had grown up that way it would seen natural. The cold, gray, diesel-y rest stops of I-95 just kind of put me in the mood for good times with family and friends. Yeah, I'm a kook. What else is new...

Still Alive...

Both the blog and I, that is... Here I am at 2:30 in the freaking morning, online since I cannot sleep. My sleep schedule has been kinda messed up the past couple of weeks,so most of my productive time is late at night and I doze half the day. As long as the same amount of time is devoted to my work as before I figure it evens out, at least as far as TCB goes. I do want to live among mortals again, so i am going to have to just force myself to stay awake all through the day for several days , and if I still don't go to sleep until 3AM, fine, but I have to wake up at 8:00am the next day either way. Evnetually my body will get the message and get me back to normal time, I hope.

Anyway, part of what I have been doing these late nights is working up some new character designs. I am almost done refining one of them, so I will post it here soon.

Not sure if anyone is reading this blog yet, as I have not added a link from my main site as of this date, but for those who are out there, keep an eye out, things should get more interesting around here soon.

Ratatouille the 3rd (time)

I recently saw Ratatouille again, even though it will probably be on DVD any time now. I really enjoy seeing movies in a theater, especially animated ones, and the DLP was a nice plus. Digital projection doesn't impress me that much with live action, but seeing 3D animation in digital makes it even more lively and vibrant. Of course, I live for rich colors, so that and the clarity of picture are enough to make me overlook the downside of slight "stairstepping" on some diagonal fine lines that will surely disappear with upped resolution in the future.

Anyway, I got to thinking about Ratatouille not because of the presentation but the film itself. One thought that keeps popping into my head is that I actually enjoyed a film set in France and focused on haute cuisine more than a story about cars and various aspects of car culture, especially vintage cars and ways of life. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I am far from a "foodie", despite living in Northern California for many years. As for cars, they are my biggest love after animation, and I'm rather nostalgic at heart, so a story about old-times and old-time cars would be a "slam dunk" for me. Don't get me wrong, I really loved Cars, and saw it in theaters thrice as well. Somehow though, I just felt more involved with the characters in Ratatouille, and was more excited, sad and overjoyed with them. I honestly was not overly excited in the run-up to this film, and didn't go to see it until it had been out for a couple of weeks. The character designs appealed to me, but I wasn't sure how much story could be wrung out of the premise. Suffice it to say, before the film had even ended, I was sold on it.

There are some other upcoming animated films that I have had similar doubts about, but this film has reminded me that amazing stuff can spring from relatively austere sources.

Gotta start somewhere...

Hello all, my name is Kevin Wood, and I am probably the last person on Earth to get around to starting his or her own blog. Odd, since I enjoy reading and discussion so much, and am always reading other people's blogs and commenting on posts and articles. Maybe I'm averse to attention, or at least careful about what elements of myself I draw attention to. Yet I strive to create artworks that will be noticed, perhaps inspiring others and provoking thought. Of course, being paradoxical is all part and parcel to being a creative person. Maybe I'm old fashioned, not quote ready for the uber-candid zeitgeist of today's online world. Jeezus, my first blog post and I'm already using "zeitgeist." Next thing you know I'll be paraphrasing quotations mis-attributed to famous thinkers and going off on stream-of-consciousness rants. Well, two out of three ain't bad for a start. Anywhoooo, enough verbal effluence...

In the coming months/years/eternity, I'll be posting (at an almost perfectly intermittent rate) my thoughts on art and life, sharing other cool creative stuff I come across online, and responding to comments I receive. I hope this will be a fun, open site for anyone interested in art and animation, or really anyone with something to say.

I'll conclude my first post with a link to my website Funkybat.com. (Yes, many of you have probably come to this blog FROM Funkybat.com, but some of you may not have, so there it is!)

Good day and good blogging!