Creators

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how incredibly magnificent the world is. I constantly look around me and marvel at the beauty, ingenuity, and uniqueness present in all of our physical surroundings. Every time I try to think about how God did it, my mind is blown so far out of proportion that I usually give up the thought completely...and ultimately the only conclusion I ever come to is that my feeble brain simply can't comprehend it all. But then, once I give in to the fact that I can't understand exactly how God did it, my mind is blown even farther when I think about the fact that God has put in every person the ability to be creators themselves - the ability to replicate His creation to some degree.

How awesome is that? The fact that we can take God's creation and use it to create things ourselves. Certainly, we aren't able to create anything completely "new" in the sense that it doesn't fit into the physical ruleset God placed into the universe we live in...but we are able to take great joy in the ability we have to mimic and expand upon everything He has done. To know that I have this ability inside of me is one of the most unbelievable and exciting things I've ever felt. That I have the ability to create...and in creating, I have the ability to explore and dream of new possibilities that are further revelations of the greatness of God's creation. As an artist, whenever I draw, this theological context always seems to sit happily in the back of my mind, silently supporting and enhancing my creative prowess. I think it's one of the main reasons I love art so much.

Recently, I've been studying the human figure...specifically, the face. As I delve into its features more deeply and completely, the human form consistently shows me how brilliantly constructed we really are. There are a staggering amount of mathematical proportions that go into the face's framework. And in all of the mathematically precise logic, the face is molded into an incredibly organic, soft, and breathable shape that can be one of the most pleasing and familiar things to the human eye. It's funny - I used to be afraid to draw people and faces, because they were so complex...but now that I'm starting to get into them, I'm constantly in awe of the level of detail, precision, and beauty to be found in the human form. In fact, the extreme level of complexity present in the human form's architecture is something that now makes me even more excited to continue studying it. It has truly captivated my heart.

I suppose that through my artwork, I'm coming to a greater understanding of the fact that we are literally the pinnacle of God's creation. I can almost just imagine God creating the first man, sitting back, looking at what He had done, and smiling with an air of satisfaction at his ultimate craftsmanship. The same thing happens to me when I draw something I know is good. I believe that you've probably felt it in something that you've created as well. Inevitably, I am constantly more appreciative of my own God-given ability to be a creator. We are ALL creators in some way.

Here are a few of my face drawings from the past week and a half...all freehanded again. Hopefully they're a little better than the last ones I posted. =)

Now a couple of non face-related drawings.

This is an image I've had in my head for the last 3-4 months. I finally took some initiative to get it on paper. Just a quick sketch that will act as a blueprint for the final drawing. =)

Wall-E is coming along nicely. You can compare this picture to the last picture I uploaded of him a couple weeks ago. I think he's much cleaner now. Haven't gotten to the detail stage yet...still just blocking in colors and shapes at the moment. I'm going to continue working on him to get better at digital painting.

Man. How could any artist possibly not be astounded by the craftsmanship of THE master artist? It's just too amazing...haha...

California Update

Phew! It's been a while since I've given an "real" update on my life out here in California. I think I'm about due, and I have some exciting new things to share. =)

Last week was incredibly busy, mostly due to a very intense (but suprisingly fun) work schedule. After many hours of effort by our wonderful development team, I'm very pleased to announce that Graspr.com has officially come out of "Beta" status. As of last Thursday at 6AM PST, we went live with a bunch of major site updates that will hopefully put us more into the public eye. Graspr.com now has a completely new look and feel; a look and feel that I personally designed...and am still working on. I'm very proud to have my work on display, since this is one of the first times I've ever had any large-scale professional work published for many people to see. Also, we launched our online editing studio - the "remixing studio" as it's lovingly called - which allows people to do very casual video editing right on our website. Simply upload some video clips to your account, hop into the editing studio, and start mixing and mashing your clips together by adding fancy transitions, subtitles, slides, and music. The editing studio is part of our initiative to build a collection of on and off-site tools that will hopefully make the creating and sharing processes much easier and more enticing for our users. Finally, on the marketing side of things (which I am not as knowledgeable about) we spoke to several major press sources to declare that we are, in fact, out of our beta mode and officially launched as a more complete competitor within the how-to videos field. For more information on all of this stuff, you can view our blog entry related to the new site updates here. Also, an official press release on our launch can be found here. =)

So that was work. Work was crazy. What about the non-work related sphere of my life? In general, the last couple weeks have given me two fairly awesome weekends that have pushed me a few steps closer to feeling more at home out here on the west coast. Being the kind of person who often feels the need to "get out of the house," I decided to do a little exploring after July 4th. I'm very big on exploring. As a result, I ended up hanging out at this place called Capitola beach. It's a pretty chill little town that carries all the amenities a beach town could ever ask for - surfers, coffee bars, restaurants, a pier, you name it. Overall, it was very quaint and had a nice California vibe to it. I wanted to relax a bit by myself and take it all in at my own pace, so I made the trip solo. I took my art pad with me, and basically just sat out on the beach and drew people for a few hours. It was great.

Here are a few quick pics from the trip:

Capitola's beach was really cool, although it was a little crowded due to the July 4th weekend traffic.

My essential beach stash. It's just about everything I could possibly need for a beach trip. The only thing missing from this picture is a frisbee. =)

A couple guys I practiced drawing. I was really diggin' the whole skateboarder/beach look.

In addition to the beach-drawing segment of the trip, I found a great coffee bar that served awesome coffee-flavored things and had free-wifi. I stayed there for a bit and did some work. A nice place to work, if I do say so myself.

People were actually very kind when they saw me drawing. Even if the drawing I was doing wasn't very good, they would still take time to say they liked my drawing, and that they thought it was cool I was drawing people. Although, I would personally try to be as stealthy as possible for the people that I was actually using for reference. It was a great exercise, and I'm definitely planning on doing that sort of thing more often, since drawing from life is one of the best ways to improve your figure drawing skills.

Last weekend, I also had the opportunity to do a couple of fun things. For starters, I decided to brave a 1 1/2 hour line at the Apple store in Palo Alto to get one of the new iPhone's. I've had an old Nokia cell for about 5 years now, so I've been waaaay overdue for a new cell. Needless to say, I'm heartily enjoying all of the capabilities that the new iPhone has to offer. I've made good use of Google Maps, GPS, and the speaker phone. I've also browsed the Internet, and uploaded my entire iTunes library to the phone, which I may or may not use as a replacement for my iPod in some cases. I'm also getting a kick out of being able to create custom ringtones. So much fun. =)

Here's a comparison of my old phone to the new iPhone:

My trusty brick phone was a trooper. He will always hold a special place in my heart.

In an effort to continue meeting people and be involved in local activities, I went out to the Stanford campus to play Ultimate frisbee on Sunday afternoon. It felt awesome to get back to doing something athletic, and I met some great folks in the process. I'm going to hopefully be playing with them on a weekly basis from now on. Ah...Ultimate frisbee. How I love thee.

Anyways, that's about it for now I think. I'm gunning for another art update sometime this coming weekend, so check back soon. =)

Peace dudes.

Fireworks

Today was a special day for three reasons. 

1. It marked the day that I celebrate my country’s Independence. Happy July 4th everyone. 

2. It marked the realization that I’ve been in California for a whole month. Pause for a second. I’d like to take a moment to reflect on what I just wrote. I’ve been in California for a month. A MONTH. Good grief, that’s amazing. 

3. It marked my coming to grips with how important it is to make other people feel wanted. To make them feel like they’re a part of something special. To make them feel loved. Let me explain.

Throughout the entirety of the week, I’d been taking in information from various sources (idle talk at work, family plans back home, status messages on Facebook, etc) about what people would be doing for their 4th of July celebrations. And as I looked at what everyone else was doing, I felt a slight tinge of jealousy; a wanting desire to be a part of something special myself. But as it stood, my 4th of July was turning out to be a series of things that “might” happen. And realistically in my mind, it was going to be a series of things that probably wouldn’t happen. On Thursday evening as I drove home from work, a startling realization came to me. I had nothing to do for July 4th. I might not get to see fireworks or hang out with friends. July 4th just might not feel like July 4th. It might just be a “rather uneventful” day.

I was a little shaken. I thought, “Is this ok? Is it ok if I don’t get to see fireworks or be a part of a July 4th celebration?” Yes, of course it was. But it didn’t feel ok. So what was the deal? We can actually take a moment to do some psychoanalysis on my thought processes here. Notice that I immediately jumped to saying, “if I don’t get to see fireworks.” That most certainly wasn’t true. I COULD have seen fireworks if I really wanted to. But apparently that wasn’t the issue. The issue was that I didn’t want to see fireworks by myself. “Social acceptance” is the term I believe. I felt…lonely. And nobody likes to feel lonely.

Fast forward to this morning (the morning of the 4th), and I’m waking up to the sound of my cell phone vibrating silently on my clothes dresser. Who could that be? It was my friend Luke Brodine - Luke and his wife Sara are two very wonderful people that I met through a church I visited the second week I was here. It turned out that Luke was calling to invite me to lunch. Awesome right? It certainly deserved a big “thanks God,” that’s for sure. We enjoyed a great lunch at their place – hotdogs, potato chips, and baked beans. True American food. We ate, we talked, and we watched the semi-finals of Wimbledon. It was fun. But I still couldn’t help but think about the fireworks. July 4th needed fireworks. Maybe they would want to go? So I asked them. And as luck would have it, they said they would like to go with me. (That was another big “thanks God”)

The Brodines are actually new to the Bay Area as well. They’re originally from Clemson back in South Carolina. Remember the southerners I wrote about a couple entries back? Well, there ya go. Anyways, since we're all new to northern Californian July 4th hot spots, we really didn’t have a clue regarding the logistics of seeing a fireworks show. Ultimately, we ended up winging it at this place called Shoreline, which is where the Shoreline Amphitheatre concert venue is located. Although I have yet to see it from the inside, I hear that the theatre is a pretty cool setup. $75 would have gotten us an up close and personal listening experience with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and seats closer to the fireworks. But we didn't do that. $75 was a lot of money. It was actually more like one of those "Ha, yeah right" moments. However, we DID sit outside the amphitheatre in a rather large dirt field. From our vantage point in this field, the amphitheatre was situated directly in front of us, and looked almost like a series of circus tents whose canopies peaked over the trees. To avoid getting our butts covered in soil, we found a few blocks of broken cement to sit on.

The fireworks started around 9:30. We had a flawless view. As I sat there in that dirt field amidst a bed of weeds and thorns watching the fireworks illuminate the night sky, I think I started to get a little teary eyed. Yeah, it was a little uncomfortable. But I was with two great people, and I was watching a fireworks show. I had been given everything I could have possibly wanted for a July 4th celebration. All of my fears of loneliness and isolation had been calmed. I had the company of two other people – two Christian people that not only had selflessly befriended me, but who also sympathized with my situation of feeling somewhat alone.

You see, we all have social urges placed inside of us…we want to feel like we’re “wanted,” like we’re a part of something special. Like we're loved. The fireworks thing today really caught me offguard. I found myself scared, and praying that someone would be there to just be with me. Nobody wants to go through life's special moments by themselves. I certainly didn’t want to see fireworks by myself. I was so fortunate to receive God's grace in this moment. He allowed me to enjoy July 4th with Luke and Sara – two people that I barely know but can feel a bond with – and it was so much better because of it.

It breaks my heart to think of all the people in the world who don’t have a feeling of being part of something special...who don't have a feeling of being loved. The Bible tells us that God and His angels rejoice at our joy in Him. And I can’t help but think that the same context applies to our interactions with other people here on earth. God created us to be socially wanting creatures, because that is the design that He ultimately embodies. He wants us to want Him. And when we want God - truly want Him - and rejoice in Him, He takes joy in that as well. It’s a perfect circle. Am I saying that God needs to feel wanted by us? Certainly not. God doesn't need anything from us. BUT, I am saying that God has designed us to feel a need for love and social acceptance, and to give that same kind of love and social acceptance to others...because it is a design that reflects the type of relationship we should have with Him.

So what's your fireworks show? How could you make someone else feel loved?

Here is a verse to close:

"The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy."

- Zephaniah 3:17