Wonders of the West

The Delicate Arch

Its over. After 3 long, tiresome months, our semester is finally over. To say we learned a lot would be a gross understatement. I still have not fully processed all the techniques I learned while attending Gnomon, they are all scribbled in my notebook waiting for a time I can internalize them properly.

On Monday the 30th, I began my drive home to Maine. The first stop was Zion National Park, located in Southwest Utah. It was an amazing place. The entire park is literally located in the belly of Zion Canyon, a sweeping trench of beautifully colored walls, with a green-blue river running through its heart. It is a truly majestic area, forcefully shoving the wonders of nature into your face at all times. While I was there, I decided to hike the 'Angels Landing' trail, a steep climb up a 1500 foot cliff face. The trail begins as a series of switch backs, eventually giving way to a series of narrow rock path ways that cause you to hop and climb along the top of the mountain, all the while facing 1400 foot drops to either side of you. The last mile or so of the trail has you holding on to chains for dear life, as you scramble up and over steep rock faces all the while facing certain, erm, discomfort should you misstep. All of the sweat blood and tears (well maybe not tears) are well worth is once you summit. Angels Landing provides a 360 view of the Zion Canyon, a truly breathtaking sight.

From there I made my way to Arches National Park, located in the Southeast area of Utah, near the charming adventure town of Moab. While not as much of a hiking park as Zion, the views were no less, if not more impressive. The park is filled with iconic Arches. The size and beauty of these arches cannot be portrayed through photographs or video sadly enough, although I tried my best. They are a monument to the power and artistry of mother nature, cementing her position as the worlds greatest sculptor. The sunset is an especially magical time in Arches. The dipping sun causes the rocks to glow an intense red, which contrasts nicely with the pure blue skies of the west. The La Sal mountain range provides a constant backdrop for the majority of the arches, adding yet another layer of beauty to the scene. This is a place I can only hope all of you get to experience at least once in your life. I intend on returning to the area as soon as I can so experience the rest of Arches, as well as Bryce and Canyonlands National Parks which are also in the area.

I am currently staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Crested Butte, Colorado, a small but charming ski town that I visited as a young boy. It is always interesting to return to places from your early childhood to see how much you can remember.

From here I am traveling to (?), Kansas, and then to stay with a friend in Ohio,then to another friend in Mass, and then finally back home to Durham, Maine, which hold a unique beautiful landmark of its own, my bed.



Arches National Park


Arches National Park


Northern view from Angels Landing

Trail down from Angels Landing


Zion National Park

Long Time No Post

I apologize to everyone for the lack of information as of late. We have all been pretty swamped with work. It's been hard to find much spare time to do much of anything. In fact the opening day showing of Watchmen we attended was the first thing we had done for fun in.....months. The semester is starting to wind down now, just 3 more weeks to go. It's truly amazing just how fast the time has passed out here. It is as if the concept of time has somehow been skewed and distorted around our ultra busy lifestyle. It is somewhat saddening to see our time at Gnomon begin to draw to its conclusion, but I am anxious for the East Coast and Maine. Due to one of my classes originally being scheduled for a delayed start, I am now driving back to Maine alone, as Josh had assumed I would be staying here longer then him and James. While this is slightly disheartening news for such a long journey, I am excited to make it alone. With no pressing engagements to return to, I am planning on taking my time and really soaking in some of the wonders of the West. I am planning on spending at least 2 nights in Zion National Park, Utah, hiking and photographing the area. Perhaps a night will be spent in Arches National Park as well. It's hard to say at this point. I will spending time with my Aunt, Uncle and two little cousins in Crested Butte, CO as well, shortly after my visits to the National Parks, another stop I am looking forward to. Traveling the country alone is something I have secretly always wanted to do. The romance and mystery of the open road will be a great adventure to partake in.

The weather out here has been spectacular lately. The average temperature has been between 60-70 on most days, even high on others. Oddly enough I find myself pining for the damp, wet Maine spring. There is something uplifting about seeing the world coming back into fruition after winter, something that is not present here in the land of perpetual sunshine.

As far as work goes, we have all been hard at work. Josh is well on his way in his final animation, James is busy modeling a car and his video game character, and I am busy with my lighting, my character and a whole bunch of speed sculpts for my Zbrush Texturing class. However, speaking for myself (and I would assume the others) I have learned so much that I haven't even had time to digest it all. I am looking forward to the summer so I can really apply the techniques I have learned to my personal work.

I attached a photo I took at Santa Monica Beach during my mothers visit, and a 3 hour speed sculpting exercise I worked on for class. Ill get some more work from the guys pretty soon, I promise.

Josh's Animation

Here is an animation Josh has been working on. Im sure he would appreciate any feedback or suggestions!

Tarons Art Opening at Gnomon.

This past evening, James and I had the opportunity to attend an art opening in the Gnomon gallery of works created by the artist, Taron.

On display was a large variety of 3D canvas prints. His work in many cases was both beautiful and disturbing all at once. I believe that his renders and presentation took his art from the "digital media" realm to that of fine art, a task any digital artist will tell you is not an easy one to achieve. In addition to his digital work, Taron also had on display a few of his traditional paintings, and a few images from his sketchbook. After viewing these images it is immediately evident that he is almost as well versed in traditional as he is in digital arts.

I have included a few pictures (it is a shame I did not think to take more), of the gallery for your viewing pleasure. I encourage all of you to take a look at more of his work, which can be found at .

Thank you for reading!


*Click for larger versions*

More Work

Here is some work from all of us. Some stills from James' modeling class, a video from Joshes dynamics class, and a Zombie that I am sculpting to eventually texture for my texture painting class.

*click for larger view*

Gesture Studies

In the past couple days I've been working on some Zbrush sculpts. These are simply gesture/anatomy/and proportion studies. My teacher, Ryan Kingslien creates a lot of digital "fine art sculptures", basically pieces that have no practical purpose besides looking nice (hopefully!). I have tried my hand at this concept, applying the knowledge I have gained thus far in his Zbrush&Anatomy class.







*Watch videos in High Quality for Audio*
Dancers:

Ballerina:

Dramatically Posed Man:

Work updates.

Hey everybody. Here is some work we have done in the past few days. First is a walk cycle that Josh animated for his character animation class. I also included a few Zbrush images I made. The first is the beginnings of an anatomy study for my zbrush&anatomy class. The second is my entry for a sculpting challenge on threedy.com. and the last is a head study that I worked on with some guidance from Ryan Kingslien.

Enjoy!