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November 30, 2005

Mo Money

I drew President Jackson upside-down. Click above for a larger view.

Posted by keegan at 03:14 AM

Keegans-Eye-View

I'm working on a series of illustrations this week for US News & World Report. Here's one of them in progress as seen from a Keegan's-eye-view. I'm always amazed at the sensation of working on a high-resolution image at 100% on my 23" Cinema Display. Based on this 300dpi piece of artwork, the size on my screen is the equivalent of working on a detail of a drawing that is 5 1/2" feet tall! I cannot wait until we have drafting table-sized displays, that we can lean on...and draw directly upon...and spill our coffee upon...

Click to see a detail at 100%.

Posted by keegan at 03:10 AM

November 20, 2005

Jack Handey - "What I'd Say To the Martians"

Jack Handey (from SNL's classic "Deep Thoughts" segment) recently wrote this gut-bustingly funny essay in the New Yorker titled "What I'd Say To the Martians". Here is a PDF of that article for you to guffaw over.

DOWNLOAD PDF - "What I'd Say To the Martians" - 68k

Posted by keegan at 05:20 PM

November 16, 2005

The Cop and the Model

Tonight fellow Invisibleman PA and I hoofed it up to East 63rd and Lexington to the Society of Illustrators to attend one of their storied Tuesday night drawing sessions. It's quite a cool scene there, though it may be a bit shocking for those used to more serene drawing environments. Grab a cold beer or a glass of wine from the raucous bar, then grab a chair and start drawing. There is always live music, and we've read reports of burlesque dancers as life models. One red feather boa was about as burlesque as it got, but both models were excellent and looked quite nice posing against the original artworks of some of the greatest illustrators in American history (NC Wyeth, LC Leyendecker, Norman Rockwell, et al). Drawing is every Tuesday night from 6:30 - 9:30, $15 at the door. There is also a session on the third Thursday of every month as well.

So on the right, I've posted a small sketch, done in the last 2 minutes of the evening, which I kind of like the most. And on the left, we have a rotund and jolly police officer, which is a sketch from my moleskine (further work done in the Lab), drawn from a picture i snagged somewhere on the web.

Why are they together? What's the story between them? Is she whispering something in his ear that's making him smile?

Click on the photo for a larger image of the cop. Sorry, no more of the lady to see.

Posted by keegan at 01:30 AM

November 13, 2005

Walk Don't Destroy Brooklyn

Just got back from the energizing "Walk Don't Destroy" march around our neighborhood here in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. Organized by the folks at Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn and No Land Grab, the goal of the march was to protest Bruce Ratner's evil plan to super-size Brooklyn. The community is rising up, and this march was a great example of the momentum that's gathering. It's not a done deal by any stretch of the imagination. Click on the photo above to see more of my pictures from this exciting day.

Posted by keegan at 04:20 PM

November 08, 2005

Ripped from the Moleskine

Here are some sketches of some women from my current mini-moleskine. This is mainly full of drawings done while riding on the subway (though not always people on the subway). Every once and a while I start a page with a thought like "I need to draw more women" and you get some stuff like this. The red across the scared woman's eyes was bleed from the scanner light. Works perfect!

Posted by keegan at 11:36 PM

November 03, 2005

More thoughts on the next-gen console battles...

Well it's been a few months since the players in the console arena have shown the first hints of their next-generation plans. In fact, Microsoft is just about 3 weeks from actually launching their Xbox 360. Sony has not shown one frame of actual gameplay footage yet for their PS3, and all that Nintendo has shown is it's very cool innovative controller.

Obviously the focus is on MS versus Sony. The battle appears to be gearing up for the showdown of the juggernauts. Specs have been leaked about, tales of unimaginable processor power whispered on message boards...But several factors are going to give MS an insurmountable lead in this upcoming battle, and I think secure them a top spot.

1. Time - This is the most obvious advantage. MS has consoles in boxes waiting at stores as we speak. Games are ready to go. Sony has a lot of slick pre-rendered footage, and not much else. Having just played my first PS2 game in a while (the amazing Shadow of the Colossus) I wasn't prepared for how bad the PS2 is looking these days. The idea that people will be playing this old black box for the next seven months or so while milions of shiny new white 360s are sitting in store windows down the street makes me think that MANY people will want in on this. For a while, I thnk the 360 will be a bit of a curiosity- I'm not planning on getting one for a while. My Xbox works fine, and most importantly, I can still play Halo 2 and it looks great. But having the 360 out there as the latest greatest thing, especially through the holidays is gonna steal some SERIOUS mindshare. And I direct you to the Joystiq article below for the clincher: By the time the PS3 comes out, MS will be able to slash the price on the 360, coming in at potentially HALF the price of the PS3, and by then the game library will be filling up nicely.

2. Online - Apparently Sony has made some comments recently confirming my suspicions: there is no planned Sony answer to Xbox Live. All the game companies will be responsible for any kind of online gaming. This is a disaster for Sony. As MS is rolling out it's SECOND generation online gaming network, Sony is leaving you on your own online, as well as misssing out on untold millions from gaming subscriptions. MS makes $50 per year per Xbox LIve account, which will be much more key to the whole Xbox experience this time around. So MS is basically getting you to pay another $50 for your console, and you are happy to do it (I happen to think it's one of the greatest entertainment values that I have spent my money on the past few years).

3. BlueRay - As the great article on Joystiq below calls attention to, the PS3 is gonna cost Sony a LOT more to manufacture than the Xbox360. Not only is Sony's fabled "Cell" processor more expensive, but they plan on launching thier high definition BlueRay optical drive standard in each PS3. These will be among the very first drives available. They will add a lot of extra cost to these consoles, and MS is just using a plain old DVD drive. MS may eventually add some sort of HD-DVD combo drive to the 360 (if BlueRay doesnt win the HD format war, which I'm sure it will), but it's not gonna matter much by then. Sure I'd love a cool new HD optical drive in my game console, but mainly, I want a good game console with good games. Anything else that comes with it is gravy.

Other Issues -
Many many game developers are comfortable with MS's developer tools for the 360, and they seem to be winning alot of people over to their simpler game development environment. Rumors of the PS3 cell being very hard to write for are spreading everywhere, and could prevent a lot of Sony exclusive titles.

And let's not forget the biggest card MS has up it's sleeve: Halo. The hype surrounding the Halo franchise will reach unimaginable levels as the movie gets deep into production, and word of the next Halo game comes forth. This will be a inter-media buzz firestorm that marketers dream of. This is right in the Star Wars/Lord of the Rings sweetspot. I can't really think of a singular property that Sony has to move boxes out the door. Solid Snake? The cars of Gran Turismo? I just don't see an answer to Master Chief. Well, maybe the little pill fella from Katamari Damacy...Or his father the King of the Universe..."ROYAL RAINBOW!!!"

Joystiq: Xbox 360 could cost only half PS3’s price by 2006

Posted by keegan at 02:19 AM