Going 3D

While working on the book today I used some 3D software for the first time. I used Google's SketchUp to build a room with a window in one wall so that I could see exactly how light would fall across a figure I have sitting on the floor. It was pretty intuitive and fun, and helped out a lot with the lighting, but I don't think I'll be changing careers to 3D modeling any time soon.

You can try it for free at Google SketchUp.

Favorite artists

People often ask what my influences are, so I thought it would be nice to put up a few artists that I admire very much every week. I thought it would also be good to mix it up between western and eastern artists. I will try to provide links to their websites if possible.

This week my western artist is Justin Sweet http://www.justinsweet.com/
And my eastern artist is Japan's Katsuya Terada http://cacazan.com/

Hope you enjoy their work as much as I do,

Jim

Getting in the mindset

I've been reading lots of manga and watching tons of anime (which I do anyway, but now I can pretend like it's work).

Here's some things I've read or watched lately that I thought were quite good.

Solanin by Asano Inio

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

Girl in a Box by Sujata Massey

Burma Chronicles , Pyongyang, and Shenzen by Guy DeLisle (not manga, but really good graphic novels)