October 24, 2011 - Comments Off on Masterminds and Mascots

Masterminds and Mascots

Happy Halloween week everybody! I hope you all have great costumes lined up. I have a couple of ideas but still need to drop by the many Halloween shops that sprout up around this time of year to pick up a few items. Still no idea what I'll actually be doing this weekend. The morning sketches today were fairly easy and I threw in some older stuff from last week as well. The large headed robotic character near the bottom is something I thought of last night and would like to further develop.

Sad Peacock

For some inspiration in motion I highly recommend the following music video done in one take with hundreds of real customized vinyl album covers. This makes me long for my meager record collection left in DC but I own neither turntable nor amplifier. Despite the awkward size of the medium there's something amazing about their full bodied sound and the role that the album art plays in the music experience. This video seeks to explore the idea that those beautiful large album images, now lost in the iDistribution jumble, can cause us to hear the music that resides beneath that paper sleeve. I definitely feel that the simple soundtrack of this video is altered with each passing image though I recognize only a few.

For stills this week I'd like to share the work of Sam Weber. His work is very similar to last week's but each image feels slightly more developed, the palette remains much the same however. His process leads to some beautiful images. It would seem most of these artists now spend most of the process working with real-world materials and then bring things into the virtual space to Photoshop in the final touches.

Lastly just an interesting Youtube video from Occupy going on downtown. I still haven't visited but am now more interested than ever. True, some of the people there might not be the most representative of those who believe in Occupy's ideals but the democratic system they've developed there is truly inspiring. I think it would be brilliant to digitize the system and work it into an universally functioning political body. Also there's something truly moving about seeing so many people working together for something they believe in. The "human mic" is a bit silly but still very stirring.

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

October 21, 2011 - Comments Off on What are you saying?

What are you saying?

A person who is fit is capable of living life to its fullest extent. Physical and mental fitness play very important roles in your lives and people who are both, physically and mentally fit are less prone to medical conditions as well. Check out the best exipure reviews.

What is Fitness?

Fitness does not only refer to being physically fit, but also refers to a person’s mental state as well. If a person is physically fit, but mentally unwell or troubled, he or she will not be able to function optimally. Mental fitness can only be achieved if your body is functioning well. You can help relax your own mind and eliminate stresses by exercising regularly and with the help from HHC infused supplements.

Why is it Important to Be Physically Fit?

People who are physically fit are also healthier, are able to maintain their most optimum weight, and are also not prone to cardiac and other health problems. In order to maintain a relaxed state of mind, a person should be physically active. A person who is fit both physically and mentally is strong enough to face the ups and downs of life, and is not affected by drastic changes if they take place.

How Can You Become More Physically Fit?

Becoming physically fit requires a change in life style as well. You will have to incorporate a regular exercise routine in your life and also eat healthier. By avoiding junk foods, fizzy drinks, bad habits like smoking and alcohol and by getting adequate amount of rest, you will be able to become physically and mentally fit. Just by eliminating all these food substances from your life, no matter how temporarily, you will allow your body to detox and become stronger. Make sure that you spend more time outdoors in the sun, and fresh air and take part in more healthy activities. Fishing, bicycling, swimming, hiking, and even playing foot ball with your kids should be a part of your physically fit lifestyle, make sure to check out the best supplement reviews at bigeasymagazine.

What Are the Advantages of Being More Active?

By becoming more active you can increase your body’s fitness levels and also avoid health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure from developing. Exercise is also good for your joints and makes your body stronger overall. These are some of the best liver health formula benefits.

Read more: The Importance of Physical Fitness https://www.healthstatus.com/health_blog/wellness/the-importance-of-physical-fitness/#ixzz6ZqoLF3Ho
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Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism

October 17, 2011 - Comments Off on Messages and Morsels

Messages and Morsels

Many Monday meetings means many Monday sketches (is there a synonym for doodle that starts with an 'M'? Alliteration is key here).

How would a fish wear flip flops?

Many interesting finds to share from over the weekend. For our inspiring line art of the week I bring you the intriguing work of Andrew Zbihlyj. His inky works should be familiar to anyone who has read a major magazine in the past few years. What is truly interesting about his work is the combination of the unfinished pure black ink lying in direct contrast to the chosen sections of detail. The abstract ink hints at motion, form and structure while the detailed faces and characters within these monochrome microcosms give us reason to pause, linger and digest the work as a whole. I would love to see him attempt more colored, filled out works as opposed to these fantastic sparsely dense works.

House of Cards

On the tech side this great little tool will help you move into the CSS3 era with ease by simplifying and consolidating all those annoying new prefixes due to all the different browser standards/capabilities out there. It's called PrefixFree and looks to be very hand. Smashing Magazine did a great little intro article.

And lastly, for our inspiring video of the weekend we have this beautiful animation for Twining's Tea of all things. However the animation itself is simply gorgeous. It reminds me of those great United Airlines ads that looked to be paper-cut animation mixed with digital. However this takes 3D animation in a direction I thought was nigh impossible. The entire thing is almost a watercolor or pastel drawing. Simply amazing. I'm willing to bet some of the elements (the white caps on the waves, the birds and other subtle beautiful water effects) were done in 2D by hand and comped in. Regardless, this will take your breath away (watch in HD!).

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

October 14, 2011 - Comments Off on When Deadlines Allow

When Deadlines Allow

This week has been full of news and digital action, so much so we are still processing all of it (while waiting for the interminable iOS5 update to finish, it seems there is some turbulence in the iCloud). And, we are working hard executing milestone deadlines today, including some intense presentation prep from Dave (follow us on Twitter @themechanism for more on #MobileMojo in the coming days).

So instead of the normal fare here is a short TED Talk about technological magic.

 

[ted id=1211]

The Thinking Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Fridays, covering the ideas The Mechanism is thinking and talking about with our peers and clients.

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism

October 10, 2011 - Comments Off on Maesters and Meandering

Maesters and Meandering

Brief morning meeting this lovely Monday (where did this sudden heat wave come from?). Injured a finger on my left, dominant, hand over the weekend but I can still draw and type fine thank god.

Strange creatures abound

Some really interesting stuff coming out of Siggraph 2010 it seems. Some of the texturing papers, like the polished chrome one in this trailer, are simply amazing. Won't be long before we're seeing these technologies (more realistic hair anyone?) in Pixar and Dreamworks films, slowly followed by the gaming industry.

An interesting, and inspiring, link from over the weekend: this mesmerizing music video for the song "Look" by Sebastian Tellier (possibly NSFW). I'm still undecided as to if this is 3D, 2D or a mix. It could possibly be layered 2D animation but parts definitely feel very 3D ramp rendered.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aawnQPN-Y4k&list=FLipu_lHPh6Rc5uO-eXyDOzA&index=1

And lastly a truly original exploration of the power of line in 3D space using wire. Gavin Worth takes Calderesque wire sculpture to a whole other, though granted 2-dimensional, level. I feel like this would be great practice for any sketch artist. It's almost like amazing real life vector art. I especially like how the work takes on the texture of its environment (here a lightly patterned white wall). Simultaneously, the figures illustrate just how much information our brains fill in, giving these flat pieces  an extremely strong illusion of depth. Click here for more.

Nude in Profile

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

October 5, 2011 - Comments Off on In Praise of Steve Jobs

In Praise of Steve Jobs

For those of us passionate about technology and art, for those of us who thrive creatively because of technology and art, for those of us that continue to pursue education and make a living because of technology and art, the day began with much discussion about iPhones, iOS, Android, Google, Facebook, Siri, Amazon, Kindles, this one is better, that one is awesome, where is the iPhone 5 that I so wanted, this system is better than that system, my patents can beat up your patents, all in a frenzy of strong opinions.

Then as the day ends, all that passion, all those opinions, get shaken to the core with an incredibly profound sense of sadness. It's surprising, shocking even, how truly, deeply sad we feel.

At this moment this is all I know for sure.

When I wrote my university applications and essays on a Mac I didn't know who Steve Jobs was, all I knew was that this device, this computer, it gave me the keys to the American Dream.

The American Dream looks very different now, feels very different now. We use technology and art to help us endure the vicissitudes of surviving our daily lives.

Last night I sat in a small room waiting for a board meeting to start. A board meeting for an organization I volunteer my time and energy towards, spending countless hours in front of Macs creating things out of nothing to help a dear friend fulfill his vision of an exceptional concert series.

While waiting I had a quick Skype chat with one of my oldest friends, a friend who knew me when I was a child and now lives on the other side of the world. It was 1:30am where he lives and we commiserated about insomnia and made plans to connect soon again.

After he said good bye I looked at my iPad, the technology I was going to use to talk about music and art, and stared at my iPhone. My New Jersey friend walked into the room and I told him how I just had a casual conversation with my Saudi Arabia friend like it was nothing, like geography, time and space weren't an obstacle at all.

Your tools may be different than mine, your technology may be different than mine, and if we pause for long enough to notice, they are awe-inspiring

It is that feeling, that awe, that I think about when I think of Steve Jobs.

He led many brilliant people to create tools that helped me get an education, get a career. That help me keep up with my family, connect with my friends, derive joy from the things I love.

For that I am grateful.

 

The Thinking Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Fridays, covering the ideas The Mechanism is thinking and talking about with our peers and clients. This special edition of The Thinking Mechanism is cross-posted from my blog SmarterCreativity.com.

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism

October 3, 2011 - Comments Off on Merely More Mermen

Merely More Mermen

The sketching was a bit slow this morning since I had trouble falling asleep last night. However the sea theme is largely based on this strange dream I had Saturday night. All I remember is it revolving around a strangely shaped rock with sea life growing all over it (see the "Sea Chunk") and there was strange amphibious man/god throwing it about at me. I tried putting the scan on a texture to give it a bit more life. Enjoy.

The first meeting of Dwarves and Mermen

Another relaxing but exhausting weekend. I feel like my life may actually settle into a rhythm in the coming month. I've been thinking about Halloween and what I could dress as. A favorite Halloween memory of mine was a group of my female friends dressing as the Adobe creative suite; they wore all black with large square icons hung around their necks for Ps, Ai, etc. Recently one of them told me someone they met thought they were dressed as the Elements! Ha! Though that did get me thinking if any elements share the same abbreviations with Creative Suite...any how I think I'll either go as Paul Bunion (or some other fairy tale character) or a steampunk gentleman. That's why I got my beard going after all!

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

September 30, 2011 - Comments Off on The Week In Videos

The Week In Videos

 The Thinking Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Fridays, covering the ideas The Mechanism is thinking and talking about with our peers and clients.

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism

September 26, 2011 - Comments Off on Tired Doodling

Tired Doodling

What an exhausting weekend...well Sunday really. Didn't do much Saturday. But Sunday I got exercise for the first time in ages in the form of some Ultimate Frisbee. My feet are sore, my legs stiff but it feels great. Sadly, it saps a lot of my creative energy but I still managed to get some scribbles out.

Knights and Dragons

Speaking of the many wonders of sketching, the lovely Ms. Sunni Brown of TED seems to be in the know.

[ted id=1230]

And if that piques your interest, try the long form version.

And lastly, try this neat doodling HTML game Draw a Stickman, no Flash necessary!

Published by: benchirlin in The Sketching Mechanism

September 23, 2011 - Comments Off on The Right To Privacy

The Right To Privacy

Frankly I'm a bit deep fried after all the social media firestorm that was this week. Google+ goes live to the public, which is to say, it's on perpetual beta. Facebook changed their layout, again, and the crowd goes wild. Just when the crowd was calming down then Facebook announces more chances, Timelines, and other social media extras that guarantee less of your life is private. (I think team member Roma is onto something, his response to all the talk? Delivered with a devilish grin and a glint in his eye, "what's a Facebook?")

It's worth noting that all this transpired while the market plummeted, in what felt like a remake of a movie we've already seen (or if you are George Lucas remade and ruined.)

So rather than commentary, opinion and lists of updates I would like to leave you with this for deep thought:

From Exploring Constitutional Law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Law School, an overview of the right to privacy.

 The U. S. Constitution contains no express right to privacy.  The Bill of Rights, however, reflects the concern of James Madison and other framers for protecting specific aspects of privacy, such as the privacy of beliefs (1st Amendment), privacy of the home against demands that it be used to house soldiers (3rd Amendment), privacy of the person and possessions as against unreasonable searches (4th Amendment), and the 5th Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination, which provides protection for the privacy of personal information.  In addition, the Ninth Amendment states that the "enumeration of certain rights" in the Bill of Rights "shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights retained by the people."  The meaning of the Ninth Amendment is elusive, but some persons (including Justice Goldberg in his Griswold concurrence) have interpreted the Ninth Amendment as justification for broadly reading the Bill of Rights to protect privacy in ways not specifically provided in the first eight amendments.

The question of whether the Constitution protects privacy in ways not expressly provided in the Bill of Rights is controversial.  Many originalists, including most famously Judge Robert Bork in his ill-fated Supreme Court confirmation hearings, have argued that no such general right of privacy exists.  The Supreme Court, however, beginning as early as 1923 and continuing through its recent decisions, has broadly read the "liberty" guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment to guarantee a fairly broad right of privacy that has come to encompass decisions about child rearing, procreation, marriage, and termination of medical treatment.  Polls show most  Americans support this broader reading of the Constitution.
...
The future of privacy protection remains an open question.  Justices Scalia  and Thomas, for example, are not inclined to protect privacy beyond those cases raising claims based on specific Bill of Rights guarantees.  The public, however, wants a Constitution that fills privacy gaps and prevents an overreaching Congress from telling the American people who they must marry, how many children they can have, or when they must go to bed.  The best bet is that the Court will continue to recognize protection for a general right of privacy.

I can't help but wonder what the founding fathers would make of the internet, or Facebook. Would they like it?

The Thinking Mechanism is a series of weekly posts, published on Fridays, covering the ideas The Mechanism is thinking and talking about with our peers and clients.

Published by: antonioortiz in The Thinking Mechanism