Civil War Medicine
March 21, 2009
This is my "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (at least until the next thing comes along that I like so much that I consider it that). This is a site that I poured many hours into and still enjoy the hell out of it every single time I view it.
Seriously.
Anyways, this update is also going on my "Web" page (get it?). So you can look at it there as well. Also, a big shout out to Carole Murphy for giving me the opportunity to do the design of the site, another to Steve Mewha for recommending me to her, and Lisa Bollinger for the awesome graphics.
- Mario
Another Overhaul (part third time)
March 14, 2009Well, it's possible that some stuff should remain up to the viewer as to whether or not they should read certain blog posts. So I've decided to categorize all the posts. So now we've got art (the main one that all website updates and artistic endeavors will go into), entertainment (maybe a book or movie review, this may not even stay here if I'm lazy enough), and an option to view all.
My next endeavor is to start posting recent works that I've done, like Civil War Medicine. But that deserves a whole blog post of it's own. Maybe tomorrow.
- Mario
Another Overhaul (part deux)
March 9, 2009Yep, I really overdid the changes this time (please ignore the fact that I haven't made a post in almost a year). But I'm really in the process of changing every single page's header and style to match screen resolution better.
- Mario
Another Overhaul (part one)
April 23, 2008I worked on the header some more and finally achieved a look that I'm satisfied with. Those eyes are hypnotic. Not only that, most of the page should run smoother now thanks to some tips that I obtained from Carlos Aleman, and for any aspiring artist out there looking for tips, I recommend his site as well. I found his site by accident, but sometimes the best things in art (and life) are accidents.
- Mario
LOST... in translation? (and other random stuff as well)
April 17, 2008So I jump-started my LOST comic idea, and here are the opening results thus far. Charlie Pace and Desmond Hume, everyone's favorite British Rocker and Scottish Islander, in comic form. This is the prototype image I'm going with, so bear with me if it's not perfect (especially with Charlie's hands). But as of right now I love the look for both images. What I need to do now is get my sketchbook and try to do more poses for the comics. And actually get storyline ideas.
At the same time, I'm busy studying more ways to use 3D art in such programs as Autodesk 3D Studio Max 9, which is what most major movie and video game companies use for their art. Hopefully, this leads to more 3D Art appearing on the 3D page as opposed to the only two animations on there right now.
I'm also trying to do some cartoon like drawings, either as a comic book or possibly a Flash animation. Here is a sample of what I've started to do so far. It's not much, but I loved the cartoon version of me, which led to the image in the header.
- Mario
Meeting the Man before the Second Coming (not Jesus)
December 5, 2007Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its 5-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and… wait, that’s my letter to William Shatner. Sorry.
Anyways, I’m sure many of you out there have had those birthdays; the one you claim is the greatest one ever. Odds are any readers over the age of 21 would claim their 21st as their best. I did to until recently, even though my 21st consisted of me nearly wetting my pants and having a heart attack simultaneously at the sight of most of my friends and family yelling “SURPRISE” inside of my dad’s bar. I never had a surprise party before, and let me tell you, it is one of those events that leave you feeling good inside afterwards. This was true here, especially after I got over the initial shock of people scaring the living daylights (not the James Bond movie) out of me.
After I had my face shoved into a cake and had a few beers with my father; my friends and I took our adventure downtown, where I was treated to a night of free drinks. How can a night like that possibly be topped?
Well, meeting one of your favorite entertainers can easily top that, no matter how many free drinks you were given.
Let’s fast forward to October 29, 2007, the day of my 23rd birthday, where I had just received the news that television personality, actor, rock star, and former wrestler Chris Jericho was going to be signing copies of his book, A Lion’s Tale: Around the World in Spandex, in the Barnes and Nobles at the University of Pennsylvania. I figured that this would be a decent way to spend my birthday; getting my copy of his book signed and getting to shake hands with him. But I was wrong on how decent it would be. Dead wrong.
I figured the meeting would go something like this; I walk up with my book, we shake hands, he asks how I’m doing, then I move on so the next person can meet him. Basically, my idea of what meeting a famous person was always like, similar to the times I met both Eric Idle of Monty Python, and Triple H, another wrestler.
Instead, it turns out my obsessive need to always have an eye-catching shirt or hoodie actually paid off, thanks to one Joe Gariffo, who bought me a hoodie with “No Time for Love, Dr. Jones” written across the front. I hope I don’t have to explain the reference. Seriously.
As I walk up to Jericho while he is saying goodbye to the person in front of me, he glances over and sees the phrase on my hoodie. He gets a huge laugh out of the phrase and asks me where I got it from even before I got a chance to sit down. I explained that the hoodie was a gift from a good friend of mine to celebrate my birthday today and even told him the website where he got it from. Jericho and I then geek out and proceed to have a five minute discussion about the new Indiana Jones movie. He even gave Shia LaBeouf his seal of approval. And for some reason I felt the urge to tell him I was going to a costume party as Indy. Jericho laughed, signed Happy Birthday in my book, shook hands with me, and then I walked away.
It was a total geek out moment for me that night, as I talk about my favorite movies with my favorite wrestler (did I not mention that Chris Jericho was my favorite wrestler?). Seriously, it is definitely considered my favorite birthday by a large margin, and I still can’t believe that wearing that hoodie sparked such a geeky discussion. Awesome.
- Mario