Two Thousand Man

Temptation Eyes – The Anatomy of Anime

Mark 2000 — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 18:49:26 +0000

Once a year I do a pretty thorough guide on certain types of plastic surgery, its gender or ethnic ramifications, and its affects on the world of illustration and animation. How are artists influenced by popular body modifications to create what many of them refer to as “ideals”? My first article was on breast augmentation [...]

Atheism in the Wizard of OZ

Mark 2000 — Tue, 18 May 2010 00:44:43 +0000

Although L. Frank Baum insisted that his classic “The Wonderful Wizard of OZ” story was merely a modern fairy tale stripped of any unnecessary morality and lessons written for children who were already taught such things in school, historians claim there are many political undertones in the book. Of course, Baum also claimed he was [...]

Super Awesome Run Cycles

Mark 2000 — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:01:04 +0000

Just finished these two run cycles for the show opening for Angry Joe’s XBox review show. They are both animated frame by frame on ones at 15fps – no tweens used. I’m particularly proud of the cape on the top character.

Steve Jobs in His Shorts

Mark 2000 — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:00:18 +0000

Gizmodo inspired me to make this wallpaper yesterday. Then they were gracious enough to post it this morning. I’m such an attention whore. Click the image for the full size version. Go here to buy the shirt.

One More Space Girl

Mark 2000 — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:53:42 +0000

Just finished this up. All in the shop. She’ll be the last for a little while as I’m up to my knees in actual, paying contracted work at the moment.

Two New Shirt Designs – “Space Girl” and “Embrace Diversity”

Mark 2000 — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 04:50:25 +0000

I’ve got two new designs up in the shirt shop. One is from the successful “Klingon Propaganda” viral campaign I did in November and the other is the second in what will hopefully be a long line of astro pin ups.

New Shirt Shop Open. Art Prints Soon.

Mark 2000 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:03:39 +0000

I’ve got a new t-shirt shop open at RedBubble.com. They are an excellent printing service. I’m actually wearing one of their shirts right now: an American Apparel T with a very vibrant print. At checkout they let you pick the color of your shirt as well as the style (Men’s, Baby Doll, Long Sleeve, V-Neck). [...]

Hot Wife

Mark 2000 — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:45:13 +0000

Hey! My wife’s hot!

Requiem for a Dexter

Mark 2000 — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:58:43 +0000

This is something I noticed a long time ago, but had a hard time getting the footage together to make my point. In comes Youtube and After Effects and any idiot with an inane pop-culture observation can post something hacked together in minutes. So here’s this idiot’s observation. Aparently Darren Aronofsky’s uber violent and relentlessly [...]

Illustrator’s Blob Brush Tool: WTF?

Mark 2000 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:08:25 +0000

Adobe Illustrator CS4 got a new tool that was recently brought to my attention. It’s called the Blob Brush and it acts just like the regular paintbrush except that it creates fills instead of lines. You can adjust the brush to be pressure and tilt sensitive, change its shape, and tweak its smoothness and fidelity [...]

Alien Soldier Concept

Mark 2000 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:28:35 +0000

Here’s a concept for an alien aggressor in the current series I’m working on for ISIS. We’re on episode 3 (Episode 2 is in post production and will be posted soon) and I needed a group of unique creatures to attack one of the main characters. He’s mostly an original concept (especially the breathing apparatus) [...]

Flash CS4 10.02 – Update Now!

Mark 2000 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:35:45 +0000

Let’s face it, Flash CS4′s performance sucks whether you’re dealing with a misinterpreted CS3 file or you just have too much stuff on screen at once. I noted in my CS4 review that several seconds could be spent staring at a spinning beachball by just moving from one spot on the timeline to another. Scrubbing [...]

Are the Arts Failing?

Mark 2000 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 22:18:48 +0000

There is a growing consensus that the “art world” – that bastion of so-called serious expression – is failing. According to a Time article I just skimmed while rolling my eyes and yawning, many traditional art institutions are losing money hand over fist. Government doesn’t want to fund them, people don’t want to attend, and [...]

Fire Everything! A Star Trek (2009) Review

Mark 2000 — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:10:01 +0000

Of all the nerdtastic entertainment I devour on a regular basis, the original Star Trek is my favorite. I watched my first episode at the age of five – it was “Devil in the Dark” – and have been hooked ever since. If I was stranded on a desert island and could only bring one [...]

The Definitive Guide to Exporting Video From Flash

Mark 2000 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:42:51 +0000

One of my biggest peeves about Flash is its various hit or miss methods for exporting video. In version 8 and earlier Flash would create a file made up of a series of frame by frame image captures with the soundtrack recorded separately and laid on top. This worked fine, except it didn’t record animations [...]

The Inflexible Professional

Mark 2000 — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:02:02 +0000

Professional graphics people are a strange lot. On the one hand they embrace many technologies as they appear. Newer and better lenses and imagine sensors, higher DPI scanners and tablets, faster graphics cards, and rarely is a favorite app not upgraded as soon as the new version is released. But like audiophiles who cling to [...]

Why Watchmen’s Ending Matters

Mark 2000 — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 19:22:16 +0000

I just saw Watchmen last night on an Imax screen. Critics have been so hard on this movie I could only be impressed by how my low expectations were exceeded. I liked it a lot, in fact – at least most of it. It was a far better film than Dark Knight was by a [...]

Ray Guns Are Not Just the Future

Mark 2000 — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 23:57:40 +0000

I’ve had a pretty deep love for tropicalismo/pop duo The Bird and the Bee ever since I heard what I believe is the ultimate song about fucking, Again and Again, two years ago in a noisy cafe. The band became a mainstay in our household when our then one and half year old began referring [...]

Sometimes I Impress Myself

Mark 2000 — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 07:55:35 +0000

Here’s a little tid-bit I worked on this morning. It’s part of the Star Squadron series. I wanted to put it up as a stand alone movie because it goes by so fast I’m not sure it can be fully appreciated with all that’s going on in [...]