break time is almost upon me

hey all
i am gonna be incommunicado for awhile. i am going home to be with my family for the holidays. i will be making work that hopefully i will share with you. i also found the connecting chord for my camera so i can start uploading some images ( so that means i can share my san diego comic con experience). i can't wait to go home and relax for awhile. i will leave you with one of my favorite images i've ever run across
count robula verMILLION

building a dream

yesterday i got the song brother can you spare a dime? stuck in my head. i watched videos of it on youtube till like 4 in the morning. i think i have a couple ideas of works inspired by it (i don't know whether to do both or just one) i want to either illustrate it (a long with a few other songs) as a comic or just do a spot illustration that i feel works with the song. i'll probably do both (or knowing me and how busy i have been) or neither.
anways i think i will put up an old drawing i did (cause the new ones are not digitized yet cause they are giant and i can't find my digital cameras connector for my computer)
hopefully these headaches will go a way
robula verMILLION
oh and the image is from something i started (for a small zine called Rice on the Other) which i have set aside ( i think i might retool it and come back to it later)

Every day that you see me is the worst day of my life

this week has sucked so far. i have been scanning a shit load of things for an instructor. i have slept very poorly. and to top it all off today, i left my keys in my studio. good thing i gave a spare set to some friends. but the spare set only lets me into my apartment and not into my studio. so i am going to have to figure out some way of getting into my studio in order to get my keys that let me into my studio. also, today i found out i have a whole email address i was not aware of and have no idea to access. this email address is apparently the email address i have for being a graduate assistant but i have no way of accessing it. this, of course, is the email address that instructors have been using recently to email me.
Ah, horseshit.
robula verMILLION

umm vote

remember to vote tomorrow. umm.. it is a shame i don't know how to use my scanner cause it auto cropped these images. both were on 9 by 12 bristol (horizontal) so there was more white space on either side of the figure and above their heads. i prefer it that way but without having photoshop or knowing what i am doing this is the best i can do for now. (if i figure out how to fix it i will edit it later)
these are zombie mccain and obama. i showed them to my drawing class and my teacher said "man you nailed these. i didn't know you had it in you but you really nailed these. you have some drawing chops." then she went on to explain how it is funny that in art school they teach you how to draw and then once you have learned how to draw they are bored by technically well done drawings. so here again was another teacher who was not sure i could draw because of the style i usually choose to draw in.
today i felt like i hate art and school. and by art i mean art taught through art history. or art that needs and desires to be labeled as fine art.
whatever, i found the dick van dyke show online so i am gonna watch that until all is right with the world. oh, man mary tyler moore was one good looking lady
verMILLION

i voted

hey
i voted yesterday. absentee style. robocop/unicorn 08. thats the ticket.
this is the second page to the fantasy epic i am working on starring me and my sister's cat. oh and i had a great dream about some of my friends and i as superheroes which was quite possibly a really good story. so i am going to start working that up. i gots lots of ideas and not enough time to do em all.
count robula
verMILLION

comics

hey this weekend a couple of my brothers and i jammed out the plot for a comic idea we had. it was so much fun. i recorded the whole conversation on my awesome (super-nerdy) digital audio recorder. i need to transcribe the conversation and then email that back to my brothers so they can edit some of the script(adding some dialog and stuffs) but i wanted to post some art. so here is a character design i did for a book that my twin is writing for me to draw (i think we may have decided on a slightly different color scheme but otherwise this is the look) oh and i colored and inked this drawing digitally and it didn't take a shit-ton (what exactly is a shit-ton? is that a metric measurement?) of time
robula

ummm today was the greatest thing ever

boy is sarcasm hard to convey in text.
i went home this weekend and saw a really good comic book exhibition at krannert art museum. it was a good weekend in which i saw three plays at the performing arts building and saw my family and ate extremely spicy frog legs.
but today
today was shit. i got up at like half past 5 this morning so that my sister and brother could take me to the bus station. i got on my bus and not 30 minutes later the bus had broken down. we were stuck there for 4 hours and then were shoved onto an almost full bus going to chicago. i got on that bus at the exact same time i was supposed to be catching my connecting bus in chicago to dekalb. so i got into chicago about 2 hours after i was supposed to have gotten into dekalb.
they refused to refund my money or to exchange my ticket for the next bus(which would not have been until 10 at night) i did not feel like being that late back here(i was supposed to help an instructor put up a still life which was actually finished by the time i eventually got into town)
i ended up catching a metra into elburn and my friends picked me up. this probably saved me some extra money because i would have had to buy another ticket for 10 pm to get back here anyways.
so all in all it took me 12 hours to get from champaign to dekalb
which in real time (or by a car) should only take about 3 hours.
yep. today was the greatest.
robula verMILLION
ps this all remminds me of the line from Office Space
"everyday you see me is the worst day of my life"

hey i just got back from wonderful chicago. i crashed with my cousin and his great girlfriend and it was fantastic. i got to see the best people and got to relax a little. here is an image from what i am currently working on. it is a fantasy epic starring me and my sister's cat narfel. hopefully i get this story going at a faster clip than the current pace i am working at.
loves to all
rob

busy busy busy busy busy ummm... busy

so i have been busy and this whole month sounds to be even more busy. i got a big crit with faculty next friday. i got some buds coming in to town tonight to go to a turkey testicle festival tomorrow. i plan on going to chicago to visit some of the best people in the world next weekend. the following weekend i plan on going home to see a comic book art exhibition at my alma mater. then the next weekend i think i have family coming in for a brief visit. all this plus i gots to make a lot of work and i got to scan a bunch of shit for myself and for a prof. i also got to set up a still life for day of the dead for a different prof. i also need to figure out a proper sleep cycle (for some odd reason i have taken to going to sleep at like 3 am or later which results in really bad mornings (especially if i have to be up in the morning)) i need to get my self more structured in my time management stuff cause this schedule is weird and barely struggling to work. i really need to get some art up on this blog.
ohhhh..... man... i am tired
rob

here we go

hey
i got my problem with niu's bursar taken care of at the end of last week. then over the weekend my apartment got flooded. so that is great. luckily nothing was really damaged. and there was some miscommunication between faculty and me about a visiting artist.but last week also brought a visit from my parents, the film burn after reading and a visit from my cousin and his girlfriend. and thoughts on new works. so hopefully i'll be posting some pictures soon.
crapula
rob

things that should be better

here is a short list of things that should be better in no particular order
moonknight
quantum leap
white paintings
imdb's plot synopsis of Roswell 1847
the american red dwarf
oh
and race relations

bill melendez rip

http://www.newsarama.com/tv/090804-MelendezObit.html
bill melendez the animation director of many of the charlie brown and peanuts specials has passed away. his work was amazing and he will be missed.
rob

that last title was a little wrrong

that last post was a little bit of me freaking out but was mostly just me being slightly mad at the state of things here at grad school. the biggest issue i have is that no one seems to know what they are doing but the other bigger problem i have is with the federal government creating a new regulation for the disbursement of financial aid. so i am now currently broke (completely). so that always makes for a worry free day. anyways i have some ideas for new work but am questioning whether or not grad school is exactly where i need to be considering i am not so sure i fit into the "fine" art world but i think i am going to plow full (or mostly full) steam ahead and just sort of ram my work down the gullets of these "fine" artists.
rob

oh holy crap i should be doing something else

hey everybody(the 2 people who read this) hope you are fairing better than i. i am currently in dekalb. i just started the grad program this week and it is one of the worst things i have ever had the misfortune to start (but i am positive it will get better if only people begin to understand what they are doing) i also started my grad assistantship which is so far worse than the actual grad school part of going to grad school (always something to put things into perspective) i really wish i had the time to post more right now but i am excited about tomorrow being my last day of class this week so i should be able to make it to my studio at some point this weekend and should be able to tell(and show) you all what went down at San Diego Comic-Con international this summer and let you all in on more of my craptastic adventure in dekalb.
meh
rob

dekalb or bust

hey all
i am going to dekalb tomorrow to hunt up some apartments. hopefully i find a place that is not too much of an expensive shit hole. i don't know. i should really be asleep now.
rob

Mo

hey
i just saw wall.e . it was great. the movie was one of the most visually stunning works i have seen in a long time.it was also a touching story. i think i fought back tears at least once. i may be a big softy (not unlike a teddy bear). anyways. i highly recommend it. one of the best pixar films i have seen and the opening cartoon was hilarious. i cried laughing. oh and my favorite line from the film was "mo"
so hopefully i can make the rest of my evening as awesome as the start was.
good times
captain out

it's not like i'm poor but i eat a lot of spaghetti

hey
i just saw the film The Fall which was quite brilliant and i just saw it with my parents and sister who came up to give me money so as i could pay rent. i wish this whole moving thing was not so damned hard(i don't even have a place to move into yet so i am getting a little ahead of myself) things will work out somehow. i need to update this more. i need to be more productive. i need to change some of my lazy unproductive habits. oh well something will get done. it always does
meh
aight blah
me

oh the humanity

i got a lot of graphic novels from the library today. i read three this evening. i also watched a couple of episodes of reaper which is quite good. the only things i seem to want to do are sleep, read, and watch t.v on my computer with my earphones in. it is like i only want to exist in fictional lands. i may need to shake some stuff up. i am going home this weekend and am excited about it. i wish it was five o clock tomorrow already so i could be done with work and going home already. oh and our air conditioning might be broken. i might need to eat something (i am not starvin like marvin girl but i think i want a snack). i am out of here
count robula

why can't i sleep all day?

hey all
i just want to be asleep. the land of the waking is a little too uninteresting. the highlight of my day is lunch with one of my best friends. after that the day just goes down hill and i spend the rest of my time wishing to sleep or thinking about all the crap i am supposed to do. i think i should stop thinking. anyway i watched three episodes of alias last night it is better than i originally thought but i am still unsure on whether or not i am going to watch the whole series. i also watched some my name is earl that i had not seen. anyways i think i should try to get back to my day job. history books here i come!
i'll see you
rob

still kicking

hey all
i am still floating around. the birthday was quiet and pleasant and last week i moved my sister home so that was pretty cool. i got some pretty exciting (at least to me) news that my thesis book is now in the university of illinois library system so now people can i-share my thesis book and check it out from any collegiate library in the state of illinois. pretty sweet. anyways i just finished up a class that i was sitting in on. it was a making comic class and was pretty good. i wish it had been a longer class instead of being a four week class for six hours a day cause it would have been nice to have it as a eight week class for like three hours a day. i hope to start updating more (a wrench was thrown into parts of my plans for that cause my scanner broke) anyways i gots some stuff to do to try to figure out exactly what i am doing with the move up to niu but that can't really even be contemplated until tomorrow at the soonest.
be seeing you
rob

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qPk4GBN9Uzo
this was one of my favorite cartoons i saw in my animation film class.
oh and i am posting this for laura
it is a new post. see. that is one this week. i got to do one next week and then maybe pick up the pace. thanks for the cd i am listening to it as i write this
you are all the best
robbie
ps my birthday is soon i am kinda getting excited

in future times

hey all
i am still kicking(haha you can't stop me---kick, kick) anyways. i have been really busy recently first setting up for my thesis show and then taking it down in the last couple of weeks. i have been a little stressed and been misplacing anger so if any of that got thrown your way: my bad, yo!
so the thesis went well and i sold a solid portion of my books and all that jazz. we had a sweet turn out and stuffs. i am excited it is over. now all i gots to do for shows really is show up to others and eats all their foodz and i guess the b.f.a. show. i also got into grad school and need to make a trip up to niu to sign some shit. i think imma do that in the beginning of may. so yeah. hopefully i will post artwork. i know i keep saying that but really it is one of my hopes.
keep on rockin' in the free world
that bearded kid

defenders defenestrate!!

i think i have learned the bulk of my vocabulary from comic books and here is another word
defenestrate: to throw someone through a window
honest to blog i am not making this up. google it.
anyways i got crit tomorrow morning at 8. i think my work is interesting visually but i don't think i could write my way out of (or even into) a paper bag
rob

a few unanswered questions

why does donald duck wear a towel when he gets out of the shower but does not wear pants?
how is mickey mouse a dog owner and best friends with a dog? is that hypocritical?
if storks deliver babies who or what delivers them?

i met Simon j. Smith on sunday. he is the director of Bee Movie and he is british. he had some funny stories and lots of information about how they had changed the way they made the cartoon movies because of jerry seinfeild's involvement. jerry was apparently involved with every possible process to give the whole film that seinfield vibe. i spoke with him for probably a total of like half an hour about story boarding. it was one of the coolest experiences i have had. i am such a nerd.
rob

lunar eclipse or alien armada? you decide

hey all
i just saw a lunar eclipse it was fucking beautiful. i took two photos of it and now i feel exactly like those wackjobs who claim to see ufos but have blurry photos of dots in the sky. hope you all gots to sees it.
love ya
rob

worst comic strip ever

hey all
i have been reading the comic strips when i shelve newspapers at work and i just now came to the realization of why i torture myself by reading the Family Circus. I apparently (oddly enough) have a optimistic outlook on comic strips and keep reading that strip in hopes that it will eventually become good or at least have one good strip ever. it is funny but i always thought i was a pessimist.
me

Silk Screening

hey all
jay ryan(one of my favorite artists and a hell of a good guy) was at my school today. he gave a little talk about how he silk screens(mostly posters for rock bands and stuff) and then he gave a demo. the demo was quite similar to the one i saw when i was a freshmen. we got to pull a print each but this time it was two colors(sweet!) i kind made an ass of myself because i was not pressing down hard enough. it is a sweet print of a cat and a dog looking at abstract art in the kranert art museum in a sage green with brown outlines and his website printed at the bottom(www.thebirdmachine.com)
anyways that was fun. i gots lots to do this weekend and not much time to do it weeeeee
rob

shits starting to pile up

hey all
shit is starting to pile up. i was quite productive yesterday so i felt kinda good. got an email today telling me i gots more shit to do this weekend than i originally thought. so yeah everything just keeps adding up on top of each other and my back is starting to hurt(literally). i think it may have something to do with sleeping on a couch but it is too cold for my attic. my shoe also has a hole in it so i should probably go buy new ones which adds to the stuff i should do this weekend. anyways it is not like i am the only one with the shit going on. somehow i do not think taking a writing intensive semester was the smartest thing i have ever done. but then again i cant really think of anything i have done that was smart.
see yas
rob

new computer woot woot

hey all
i am sending this out via my new laptop it is fancy and was expensive. had a good time with my family today and then a good evening with some friends. i got a lot of graphic novels from the library and some books for my science fiction class from the bookstore. i also got a small peanuts collection for a dollar and a new marvel history book with audio commentary by stan lee for a dollar. i watched superbad again tonight that movie is really funny. also apparently my bird passed away at home not too long ago. i guess she was so old it was not too surprising. she was not in too good of shape anyway. i am gonna go now.
rob

i just spilt an entire glass of water on my work computer

i was sitting here at work and enjoying a glass of water while trying to use paint to fix the lettering on a piece i sent to Rice on the Other. i could not get paint to look good. and then i spilled all the water on to the computer. and it is snowing (kinda blizzardy) i wish i did not have to redo the lettering stuff. i wish i could just make work that looks like the stuff in my mind but no apparently the connection from my mind to my arm has some sort of gap in it so what comes out looks like crap. anyways i got my laptop last night and i am gonna try to take it to best buy soon so that i can get a warranty and have them install security and optimize it (optimize prime it(nerd joke))
okay back to shit
peace me outy

falling further and further behind

hey all
i am falling behind. this weekend i could have been productive but i had to help one of my friends out with a problem. i am in the middle of doing another two pages of mac and c.h.e.e.s.e for rice on the other(by the way some but other than myself published some of my work). i have to get the two pages to the guy by the 31st. i think. if not he will probably put it into the next volume after that anyway. i have so much work to do this next week and i do not know if i am gonna have the time. hopefully i can post some of the mac and c.h.e.e.s.e. pages up here. anyways best to all and hopefully no one is as busy as i am
rob

sooo busy

hey all
i am sooo busy this semester. it does not make that much sense. it is my last so you figure i would have picked classes that do not take up all my time but noooo, i had to pick ones that sounded good. stupid me. classes that sound good always inevitably have work that accompanies them. i ordered a computer but i gots to wait for it to arrive.best buy did not have the one i wanted in stock.
i think i am now gonna do some comic book work while at work. take that school you are gonna pay me for doing school work. yeah!

RIP Heath Ledger

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=144093

apparently heath ledger died. this is weird. he was only 28. condolences go out to his family and i hope his daughter is okay.

i just spent too much money on a worthless machine that will be obsolete the moment i open it

i just bought a computer today. i had to order it so it wont be here for awhile which is not really helpful cause i could use it now but in order to have a useful useless machine i had to order it. now i have a couple of weeks to wait for it to show up at my house and then i hope no one steals it while i am at classes. classes are not bad this semester all stuff i want to be in. my poetry writing class may be a little harder than i was expecting but it should be fun. the first day we all had to write a poem in the first ten minutes and as i sat there listening to the class's poems i thought to myself what the hell? there were not any sad poems. no poems about destruction. no poems about death. i thought for a second i was in the twilight zone. where were all the goths with slashes on their arms or the kid who obviously was not maintaining his hygiene. i thought it was supposed to be a poetry class for people who wanted to write poems not a class for people to write how much they love being themselves. needless to say my poem was the only sad one.
my cat finally died. she was not comfortable so my folks had her put to sleep and then cremated which was oddly fitting cause the last time i saw her she was trying to shove her face into a furnace to keep warm. well hopefully when my computer arrives i can update this thing with more stuff like drawings and photos and stories and poems and the abundance of crap i have to say.
peace me out

why does school suck all the living fun from my being?

hey all. back to school this week. last semester at the u of i (barring any sort of gigantic disaster). i have been extremely tired since returning. i do not understand it. i have been going to bed earlier and earlier and nothing seems to help. i have also had heartburn for a couple of the days so far and now have a headache at work. hopefully this weekend i will get a computer and some sleep. three days off is gonna be useful.
back to work i go.