Hero-Clix I MUST own!

So for those of you out there who don't know I DO have one real addiction problem. Games.

Now in recent years I've managed to bring this problem mostly in check. Back in my late teens and early 20's collectible card games were one of my big socializing past times. However as I learned when a card game goes belly up (as they all eventually do... it's only a matter of time for you Magic players!) all you have left is a bunch of worthless coloured pieces of cardboard. So it was easy enough not to allow myself into that trap after most of my major games went under in the early 2000's (Star Trek, Star Wars, and Babylon 5).

I was clean for a good 2-3 years until a new game was launched to PERFECTLY coincide with my new comic obsession, and that game was Heroclix. What made this "dangerous" was that unlike a card game (of which many had been made around comic characters) this game left you with little superhero figurines, and if there is something I can't resist is toys!

Heroclix has been around for 5 years now, and as a result they've finally made nearly every comic character I could want or ever hope for. In fact the last few sets have been easy to avoid, minus 2-4 figs out of a set of 50+, due to the lack of characters I want...

Till the latest set which has ONE character I thought I'd never see ever. That is till about 3 weeks ago when Mike sent me an email with this attached...



They're making a freaking Batman Beyond fig!!!

Even better he is a common figure so though I still have to buy him, he'll only be a buck!

Trying to make the world a more interesting place

Glendon over at The Flying Trilobite has a great post about what inspires his art. Which got me thinking about my own "art". What makes me think or and do this stuff...

For starters Glendon is a MUCH better artist than me. Not only does the quality of his work prove this, but also the fact he has a much better rational for why he creates. I just wanted this stated before you head over there and look at his and than laugh at my stuff. I'm aware of the difference in ability believe me!

Unlike Glendon I do not have a central premise (in his case using modern science as an inspiration for artistic expression) for why I do what I do. Heck I don't usually even think about the emotions or symbolism of what I do. So why do I do it? Isn't that the point of art, to connect to others humanity through emotional stimulation through communal recognition of patterns and symbols?

Does this then mean I'm not making art. Am I rather simply creating stuff to fulfill some sort of useful function. Like how a trade or crafts person create things for use by people to help them live their lives. Or yet still does this mean I am truly crazy and bizarre, and that I make stuff for no reason at all?

I think the answer has elements of all three possibilities. One of the key issues I have, that Glendon does not, is that I am not particularly talented with any medium as of yet. Meaning that I have an immediate barrier to trying to communicate what I have inside to the outside world.

The only medium that I can conjure anything remotely descent with is 3D computer graphics. I started tinkering with these back in high school ages ago, when the dream was to do movie special effects. Sadly it wasn't to be, but I stuck with the 3D stuff as a hobby all this time.

The big break my talents got (if they could be called talents back then) came when Prehistoric Insanity started up, and we started making the summer movies. Here I had something more than ideal fidgeting to apply the program too. Which of course had been the purpose for my tinkering, and frankly the $1500 camcorder I bought a couple years before this (that hadn't gotten much use).


This logo made in 2003 for Prehistoric Insanity was the first time I made something for actual use with my 3D program. Not that the logo was for anything other than a flashy beginning to an otherwise crappy sketch video (to check out the only worthwhile clips click here), but my efforts to get something sort of looking like Finding Nemo (a movie that still hurts my 3D mind to watch) caused a drastic improvement in my abilities and product on Ray Dream (my program of the time).

Thinking back on this experience it gives me insight into my own artistic muse. That is simply to make stuff that looks "better" than the last thing I did.

Not the best thing to admit, but one of my key reasons for making stuff is simply to practise!

Lame I hear you saying, especially compared to Glendon's personal profound philosophy and methodology, and frankly I kind of agree. Yet it has gotten results!

Sadly I've lost a lot of my older work with the move to New Zealand, and the switch of computers it brought. Here I present to you a fragmented history of my practise muse driving me to render a better virtual Dinosaur.


Though there was a earlier version of this T-Rex, you get a pretty good idea of what my first Dinosaur looked like from this clip of the UNOFFICIAL Training Video.

With this as my starting point you can see my practise muse at work as I kept coming back to the Tyrannosaur throughout the years.


A huge step in my 3D Dinosaurs came in 2004 during my second year as an science interpreter at the Tyrrell. Without the need for staff training, I was given projects to keep me occupied for the slow first two months of the summer season.

With the education department starting to contemplate the transfer to digital media, they were very interested when they learned I could "do 3D stuff" with the computer. We decided a good use of my time in the office was installing Raydream on a terminal and me creating this little fossilization animation. Which I understand they still use to this day.

You'll note this is a totally BRAND NEW built from scratch T-Rex from my first, which I built on the museum's computer.

In 2006 a big change in how I made 3D stuff came in the form of Raydream becoming a new program called Carrara. I reluctantly swapped over, and to be honest despite that initial steep learning curve, it was one of the best decisions I've made.

This was one of the early products. A slick yet again new build Tyrannosaur (actually this was meant to be an Albertosaur, but that'd be splitting hairs).

Than in 2007 came the break through of where I might claim some skill at CG. Larry the Tyrannosaur. He was both a rebuild of parts of my Carrara T-Rex (he has a whole head for example), but also my first dabbling in photoshopped textures. Something I'd never done before.

With the lessons learned from this models use, and my much improved photoshop skills it was time for a new version.

So here is the current product of my practise muse. A pretty big improvement from my early days I'd say. Still it's no Jurassic Park either.

I thought another good example of this practise motivator for my art would be my efforts with virtual Trilobites. If even just for Glendon's sake ;p

So do I actually make art? I'm not sure. I definitely don't have formal training in it beyond high school. During this time my teachers would yell at me for drawing nothing but Dinosaurs and Spaceships. Which really hasn't changed. So were my teachers right? Am I not doing art.

Quite probably not. At least outside of the context I intend for them... Oh you weren't expecting a twist?

You see I have a practical function for my 3D much like the aforementioned trade or crafts person. Remember I wanted to be a special effect guy when I grew up, and though I didn't manage this in reality, I still pretend at it in my spare time.

As one of my favourite past times both at work and off time is conveying to the world just how boring I think it really is, Dinosaurs and Spaceships suddenly fill a key artistic role.

They symbolize to me the wonder and awe I used to hold for life and everything contained in our universe. Sadly I find myself typically surrounded by a world that wants things to be dull and small. Now Dinos and Rockets are almost sad reminders of how dull real life can be. So another of key my inspirations is trying to use these sci-fi sorts of things to remind me life had or has potential (see the dual temporal nature of my symbols) to be as awesome as I know it should be.

In my head things like this should be all the more common place!

Another thing that really drives my creative process, and is definitely a muse is the music I listen too. This will probably get a post or two of its own later, but for those of you out there who didn't know I listen to pretty much nothing more than soundtracks.

The reason soundtracks? Being that I have a very narrative/story driven imagination this music fulfills what I need... Though it has been argued as this is all I have ever listened to that is why my brain works this way, but its a chicken and the egg sort of thing for me.

Often it is nice to make the things that I think of when listening to some key pieces of music. This submarine was almost solely inspired by James Newton Howard's Lady in the Water score. Peter Bond jumped on it the next day, and we nearly made a movie about it, but it started solely as something coming from my headphones.

I have recently been trying to use my new "skills" for a legit "art" purpose. This is a sample page of the children's book me and my buddy Scott made last year. Still waiting to see if we can sell it successful.

Also I see something to bringing prehistoric animals back from deep time through this. I think this Anomalocaris could actually make the cut against any other out there. Granted just from this angle and in this lighting mind you.

My imaginary friend has also become a real inspiration. Which takes elements of my present and former life and makes them more exciting and fun. My current favourite has been the turning the Tyrrell's statue Albertosaur "Lillian" into Traumador's current crush.

So despite my lack of a single inspiration or a coherent post, here's looking to the future, and the almost art I'll be churning out! (This last picture being the spaceship from my most recent movie project Delta Patrol. Check out its production here).

Comics Again

Probably the closest I've had to an addiction problem (which wasn't CLOSE to a problem at all) was my 4 year stint as a full time comic geek. I gave up my "geek cigarettes" in time for the move to New Zealand, and apart from 4 issues of Warren Ellis Ultimate Human and 1 issue (of 3) of the horrible Serenity sequel series Better Days, I haven't bought any since.

On this latest trip to Canada (this past August) one my big to do things was to clear as much of my stuff out of the parents' place as possible. As my comic collection took up a LOT of room it sadly hit the cutting block.

Naturally I was not pleased at the prospect or the inevitable outcome. Fortunately I found a great two prong approach to make this sacrifice a little less painful. It turns out my comic collection (and I'm sure most other people's) can be broken down into two categories:

Comics of experimentation or short term interest or those that are keepers. Turns out about a quarter of my comics were those that I thought I'd try out and pick up anywhere between 1 to 6 issues. Than there were series I bought at the time due to moderate interest, but now I could care less for. All these books, nearly 1/2 of what I was holding on to, went to a used book shop and fetched me a mighty $25. So if you're holding onto all your comics as your retirement fund maybe time for a different plan.

As for the books I really enjoyed and still re-read I didn't wish to get rid of them so heavy handily. The night before I was going to lug the last half of my comics to the used book store I was fortunate enough to have a coffee with a friend who hearing I had the first 60 issues of Ultimate X-Men insisted she'd take them. I made the terms be she take ALL my keeper comics. This was better solution for me. It meant my collection would be definitely enjoyed more, won't sit on a self collecting dust in the used book store, or worst of all just be thrown out.

At the same time this left me comic-less (minus my trade paper backs). Till my friend Mike hooked me up with digital backups. Now I point out here that if I were to have digital copies of books I didn't owe this would be piracy, but 90% of the stuff on my removable harddrive are issues I legitimately bought. The remaining 10% are those issues of things I couldn't track down (mostly old back issues).

So I have comics again! For the first time in nearly two years! I'm loving it frankly. Even if on the computer their a little more tricky to read.

Figured I'd run you through a few of my favourite titles.

Warren Ellis' Planetary the series that started me reading comics. The funny thing was back than I didn't get the referencing to other comics that this series was based on. It was just a compelling conspiracy story. The other funny part is this series has been running for nearly a decade with a whooping 25 issues... The last issue of the whole series has supposed to be coming out my whole time in New Zealand. Meaning the instant I move back to Canada the last issue will finally come out! Hopefully I move back than...

Frank Millar's The Ultimates (avoid Jeph Loeb's current run like the plague!) the title that got me buying comics in the first place. The first 6 issues of both series are among the most realistic and believable superheroes in comic history. Hard to believe their based on the regular main stream Marvel Avengers, one of my least favourite groups of comic characters ever.

The Birds of Prey, specifically the Gail Simone run but I really like Chuck Dixon's as well, was the ongoing book I looked forward too more than any other. Well written female characters are rare in comics so this book was a treat, and to be written by a good female writer made it all the better! I also loved that the main hero of the book is superhero of information who doesn't actually fight bad guys in person.

One of the biggest surprises when I really delved in comics. Sean Mckeever's Sentinel. On paper it sounds like a rehash of the Iron Giant. A geeky kid finds a broken Sentinel (X-Men killing robot) fixes it to fill in the void of his life. I ignored it till Mike insisted I pick it up.

Holy crow! It was one of the most character driven books I've read. The Sentinel turns out to be "fun" substitute for a gun in a kid friendly but yet dark examination of school shootings. Of course the main character doesn't go that route, and after the first 6 issues the book delves into all sorts of other teenage issues. Trust me its is worth picking up the two nice little complete Marvel published digests of this series!

Since I'm on the topic of comics I can't suggest stuff without a cross-over. Typically these involve a central cross over book with tie ins in the other normal books. My pick for best cross over doesn't have the tie ins (both fortunately and sadly). The Ultimate Galactus Trilogy by Warren Ellis. Made up of 3 "different" series that all lead into each other as the Ultimate world learns of the most dangerous threat to the planet it'll ever face!

Though the first story Nightmare is quite forgettable (other than the last few pages which set up the main point of the series) Secret and Extinction are amazing. Not only for the pacing and delivery of the story, but the direct tie-in and referencing of established Ultimate continuity (especially Ultimate FF). Something modern Ultimate books don't do anymore.

Since all the comics I'm suggesting are of the new millennium I figured I toss in a retro comic. Classic Suicide Squad by John Ostrander is more fun than you can shake a Manhunter at. The premise being that with the huge cost of containing super villains in prison the US government decides to get some worth out of the investment, and starts bribing or forcing these captured super people into the most dangerous of missions for the state. The book lives up to its name. Lots of team members die, and thus its a real diverse book as the line up changes arch to arch. Yet at the same time the regulars who manage to survive (even just for a few storylines) became some of DC's best villains in the pages of this book.

So it's good to have comics again. I do sort of miss not getting new ones, but most of my favourite aforementioned books are either gone or headed up by different writers (in the case of The Ultimates, Jeph Loeb has managed to turn my favourite book into an outright joke!) so I'm safe from getting back into the habit anytime soon.

The Ball

Yeah well its nearly two months since this event happened, but I thought I'd throw up the pics from it finally.

So at the end of July the hall held its annual Ball. For those of you who don't remember last year's was where me and Rhonwyn first met. So this occasion had a bit of significance. Even if it didn't coincide with our one year anniversary at all (last year's was in May as opposed to this year's in late July).

One of the few pictures of me in my rented suit (on my camera anyways). It was an India style suit, and I have to say when I get around to buying a new suit it'll be one like this. I very much liked it.

The lovely ladies Rhonwyn, Clare, and Amber.

Of course the loveliest of all was of course this little lady... though I should go and photoshop out the red eye. Just too much on the go these days.

Preview of Drum to Come

So been on a vacation in Drumheller for a week now. Sadly my trip ends in less than 36 hours. In fact functionally I've got just over 24 hours to go.

Due to a number of factors I'm only giving you a taste of whats gone on up here. I will be posting a lot more soon. PROMISE!

Among the most key is catching up with the peoples that made my life here in Drumheller so memorable. As of today I've managed some quality time with everyone I sought out (though maybe not the amount of time I'd have liked)

Discoveries everywhere. Though to be honest the best weren't mine, but I was along for the ride at least.

Some very unexpected adventures. This photo was taken from one. Bet you can't guess where it was taken from ;p

And of course Traumador had a TON of adventures up here. Of which this picture doesn't even come close to conveying. Seriously some of the best Traum photos and adventures ever will be coming from this Drum expedition.

Plus find out my current obsession. All coming soon once I return home, and nothing more adventure wise is occurring.

Projects A Plenty!

Oops. With life being as crazy as it tends to be it's not like I don't have enough trouble posting stuff on this blog as is.

Add into that normal mix something a tad drastic like flying halfway across the world, and well I just haven't had time to do it!

I do have lots of "real" life to report, but its just not as fun to write about frankly. So you'll have to wait for all that stuff later.

I will however note that though this blog has been silent for a bit, my other two (yeah I'm a bit of a blog junkie...) have been bustling with activity.


For good reason too! With the trip to Canada I've been able to retrieve a number of key computer files that I'd been separated from for over a year. Meaning that the last remnants of the Drum years are ready to finally be put together and shown the light of day...


Though this movie was shot in 2004, and finally completed in early 2006, Hardcore Apocalypse After Next Tuesday has long been overdue for an Internet debut... Why I'm punishing the world with it I'm not sure, but it will clearly demonstrate how the Prehistoric Insanity crew improved heaps over its 4 summer existence.

Check out the teaser at Prehistoric Insanity. Also keep checking in there as the movie should be up by mid September!

That project being of course our Sci-Fi (I've always wanted to make a space movie, and now I finally will!) movie Delta Patrol. It is looking very promising folks!

Granted the break of nearly 2 years on filming it means that its been a bit of work to get back into the editing process. I'm aiming to work on it for at least an hour each week. With the promise of a blooper every Sunday night.

Check out the progress by checking, once again, Prehistoric Insanity.

Of course as the sole member of PI Digital I'm ever busy. Not only with all the models from Delta Patrol but also my other on going project Traumador.
If you've lost base with what's going on with Traumador nows a great time to get back up to speed. Not only is the fact he is in Australia exciting enough, but he's just re met Lillian the girl of his dreams! Will Traumador finally find love and happiness? Find out as this is my attempt at making a friendly entry point into Traumador's life.

Of course there's lots of CG to do for these posts. Especially with my current goal of getting a CG Dino or other critter into ever 5th post at most. I'm also hoping to get some more Vlogs going again too.

The point being I like a full plate! So this blog may get ignored from time to time, but I promise I'm back onto my goal of at least one post a week... after August. Sorry just being home is very hectic at moment, but I'll try my best!

The Dark Knight... Pure Batman!

(I don't give too many spoilers... that's for you Peter so read this!)

Well just saw The Dark Knight (stupid late release in New Zealand!), and it was simply awesome! Definitely in the best superhero movies of all time, and my favourite movie of this year (though Kung Fu Panda put up a fight against both this and Iron Man).

First off I'll say Heath Ledger's Joker is indeed the awesome, and is everything I could want in a non-Mark Hamil Joker (the Bruce Timm cartoons still being my favourite super hero thing ever. better than the comics and any movies... though this movie nearly does it in parts!). Even if not for Ledgers death I'm sure his take on part would be getting a lot of praise... Just maybe not the over the top oscar talk it has been getting.

This emphasises the only problem with the movie. It has been over hyped. ALOT!

Yet unlike the Star Wars prequels it didn't leave a bad taste though, and in fact had me really into it for the most part. It just wasn't a surprise like Batman Begins was.

So if you haven't seen Dark Knight don't go in expecting the greatest movie ever when you do. It has flaws. Batman Begins was a much better product overall, and could be argued as being better than its sequel due to this. However when The Dark Knight was hitting its stride it was way cooler and more fun!

What I enjoyed the most is that unlike most Superhero movies that start strong and than kind of putter out towards the end, The Dark Knight started weak and got better all the way to the end. I LOVE where the third movie is heading... Though I will admit using just Batman mythos characters I'm not sure who the bad guys will be (in a way. I have my suspicions but that'll have to wait).

Rather than give a bunch of spoilers or ramble about stuff I'm sure is being talked about everywhere, I wanted to say my favourite part was not actually the Joker. Which is "funny" (pun intended) as he is my favourite comic book villain, and Ledger's version is great. Given all the hoopla going on everywhere else I wanted to emphasis the other thing that worked in this film, and that was...

The Dark Knight himself!

In Batman Begins we got a very select sampling of the character of Batman. For the Dark Knight they pulled out all the stops and give us tons of the classic essential moments in live action.

There's the night club confrontation, jumping on a moving car, using normal materials around him to turn an impossible situation around, and many more I won't spoil. When you watch it though pay attention to how every time Batman appears in this movie he is covering a lot more of the classic Batman spread than the first film.

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I'm sure one of the most underrated scenes by most people is the detective work that he does early in the film. Something I felt was sorely lacking in the first film.

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Perhaps the only aspect they didn't do enough of was gadgetry. My buddy I went with didn't like how he didn't adapt to a few things despite hitting them ALOT through the movie. Also the one big gizmo towards the end, though cool, was kinda a let down). I add I hated how *spoiler* he didn't use a SINGLE batrang in the whole film BOO! I love those things!

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At the same time in the first movie it was a VERY gadgety Batman, and it was cool to see in this film him not having to rely entirely on high tech stuff to be a hero.

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So yeah definitely go see the Dark Knight, and pay attention to all the cool Batman moments in addition to the Ledger stuff you've no doubt being hearing about non stop. Just remember it isn't perfect!

Well Work is Work

I've managed a steady gig for the last two weeks, and its been going well. It'll be good to FINALLY get paid.

At the same time its work LOL. Not that playing with kids all day is a new thing to me. Sadly I'm getting older though and I am feeling tried at the end of the days. Maybe it was good I graduated from the summer camp league.

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As I've only been averaging a few hours after work I'll have to update on stuff at the end of the week.

The Lovely Ladies in My Life

Well thankfully my New Zealand Immigration problems have resolved themselves for the most part (okay and by resolved "themselves" I really mean I resolved them through sheer angry force).

As I was down in the dumps last week the lady folk in my life (currently the majority of my New Zealand based social circle are female) went out and were very thoughtful.


Rhonwyn and Clare bought me this Iron Man action figure (seen riding the beginning of my New Zealand Styracosaur collection) as a morale boost present. It did the trick. He even shots that blue thing off his arm!

Hulking Out...

Well given my recent problems with New Zealand Immigration (mostly solved now thankfully!) I've had a lot of rage and anger.

Now if there's one thing I tend to do is bottle these up and release it when there's a lot more of it stored up. Due to this tendency I've had a soft spot for the Hulk ever since I got in comics earlier this decade.

In fact it was this issue of the Ultimates, the one where the Hulk comes out in style to do battle with the Ultimates, that was my first comic purchase. Until than I'd been borrowing my friends copies of things to read. It is still among my favourite single issues of any book, and definitely my favourite Ultimates issue.

So great was my love of this issue, and Ultimate Hulk that I did something I've never done for any other Marvel character. I actually picked up regular Marvel Hulk for a while... Even more surprising I enjoyed it for that while (till the last few issues).

So how did The Incredible Hulk pan up to my expectations

Well in one word it SMASHED all my doubts.

This movie was so much better than the last Hulk movie.

At the same time it had a few things I wasn't crazy about. To be honest I liked Eric Banna as Bruce Banner a lot more than Ed Norton. Don't get me wrong Norton does fine in the role, and is watchable. I just liked Banna more (partially because he can act and be different in movies unlike Norton).

Otherwise the movie was spot on what it needed to be!

The part I enjoyed the most was how his origin mixed elements from most of the Hulk's incarnations. They had bits from the 60's comic, 80's TV show (actually there was a TON of hat tips to the show throughout the movie if you missed them), and most important the mission statement of the Ultimate verse.

In the Ultimate universe of Marvel 90% of heroes (and many villains) owe their creation and origin causing events to a Super-Human research and development. I'm really digging the way these new Marvel Studio movies are grabbing key Ultimate concepts, and building their Avengers along the same lines as the Ultimates (who are of course the Ultimate Avengers, just Mark Miller thought Avengers was a dumb name for the team as their not "avenging" anything).

Liv Tyler as Betty Ross was much better than I expected. In fact she comes across as rather intelligent which I didn't think she could do.

William Hurt as General Ross was the number one human highlight of the movie. He struck the balance that made Ross a great villain, but one we couldn't quite hate.

The Hulk though takes the cake as the best thing about the movie. Which is the way it should be. Sadly in the last Hulk motion picture the Hulk took a background role. This movie he has plenty of fights, and their extremely satisfying!

The end fight is everything I love in a fight. It also has the my favourite use of a Comic characters catch phrase in a movie for "HULK SMASH!". I won't ruin it for you, just go see it!

Tony Stark coming to General Ross at the end about the Avengers wrapped it up nicely, and definitely has me excited for Avengers, as I think it'll start off with the Avengers trying to take down the Hulk just like Ultimates #5.

Stark's appearance does require one to quickly compare his movie to Hulk's. Sadly I have to say that Iron Man was still a bit better. I'd say the key reason is that Bruce Banner just isn't as fun to watch as Stark. Especially given the casting difference too. Ed Norton is Ed Norton (sadly in 2005 I was forced to watch EVERY Norton movie made up until that point by my roommates) you're not getting anything too interesting. Downey on the other hand was too much fun to watch.


My finally thought is related to the future Hulk villain they set up in the Abomination's creation. The funny part was Mr. Blue was taken directly from the regular Hulk I was reading in 2003 so this movie was tailored very heavily from ALL the Hulk I'd read. However as clearly their setting up the Leader, the next Hulk movie enters territory of the character I hardly know (the only Leader story I read was so bad that it caused me to dump reading regular Hulk).