New Calendar

Like clockwork, June brings a new calendar. Below I've posted some of the best new comics.

New Website Testing Grounds

I've been working on the new JMSpark and have a place I'll be uploading to on a regular basis. The link is:

http://www.jmspark.com/NewTesting/

Hopefully once a week the content will be updated with my progress. What I'm really experimenting with is something I'm calling a "malleable layout". No matter what your browser size, the flash content will rearrange itself to fit. Below is an image with some sample layouts. Right now the options buttons in the upper right open and expand. Some of the content inside them works as well. And yes, I know flash isn't on the iPhone yet, but I can prepare.

Christmas Card 2008

I started the blog last year with something about the Christmas card. Posting again this year with three stills.

Autumn Photos

Some photos from the fall, like I had photos from the summer. Will try to upload 2 more when blogspot feels like playing nice.


I'm a Rockstar


Posting up on Ginger.

Class - Pastel Beach

Tried a pastel. Really wanted to focus on trying to blend color gradients. Unfortunately, I used the wrong kind of paper, and I used the thick pastels to do the palm leaves when a charcoal pencil was sitting right next to me and I didn't realize it. Oh well. Next time I'll know better. Other than that, I was happy with the sky and the clouds. About 3 hours.

Site Redesign Styles

Wasn't that long ago I released a new version of my site, www.jmspark.com, but I'm toying with beginning the transition of it away from a portfolio site. Here are some of the styles I was playing with today.

Class - Pencil Still Life

So, I've started taking some local art classes here in Catonsville at a place called Staub Art Studio. I go every Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:30. I'm really using it for two reasons. One, it forces me to do some artwork once a week. Not only that, it forces me to work on something for the sake of doing it, not for some big goal or project. It's no pressure work. Second, it's time I get back into art at a level I haven't for a while. Techniques on shading, blending colors, representing light, etc. would be really helpful in helping me reach another level in the digital stuff I do.

So, here was my intro piece, pieced together from four scanned sections. I wasn't thrilled with the goblet or the sheet shadows, but, eh, first time doing something like this in years and years.

Trench of Love

I love my fiance. She wanted a fountain in the front yard, which required a trench that ran to the outlet. This is a trench of love.

...and I wonder why I can't get any art work done.

New Studio

With the new studio painted and set up, I thought I'd post some pictures.



Drawing table. That's a flying DeLorean in the upper right.



Stephanie's easel and painting area.



More toys!

Mirror Me

In the house I set up a studio with a full body mirror hanging horizontally above my drawing table. Today before starting work I did a sketch of myself from the mirror. I don't know why I'm a "deer in the headlights". I think it's because I'm realizing how much older I am since the last time I tried to cartoon myself from a mirror.

Summer Vacation

As the summer closes this weekend, I've posted some of my summer vacation pictures from last July to South Carolina. It's been a long summer, what with the house and all. Finally back to working on my own projects, which are slowly coming together. The blog will pick up.


Duke ready for takeoff.



Stephanie and Ginger in the water.



Baby's first hole.



After much struggle, the kite was in the air.



An 80 pound fish caught by...me. Yeah. Sure. That was me...



Me and some complex looking food. I am so happy to be eating it.

The Census Atlas

In a little diversion, back when I was a cartographer (map-maker) at International Mapping I spent three years on and off working on this book for the Census Bureau all about statistics from the 2000 census. The bureau hadn't done something like this for I believe it was 90 years. Even though I've been away from there for three years, the book showed up today, and on my birthday no less. Here are some pictures.

More Little Jims

I've put the tool I'm prototyping on hold for a little bit to work on the animatic sketches. I've got about 5 pages of these little Jims so far and these will all go into the tool with audio to get a feel for the flow before I start animating. Still playing with a design for my cartoon self, but certain features are becoming more and more consistent as I go on.

From the Attic

Last weekend I went up to New Jersey to help my mom and my brother clean out the attic. We found a whole bunch of boxes with stuff all four of us Miller kids had made in school from nursery school on. I pulled a couple of nuggets out and scanned two of them for the blog.





This was from kindergarten and it must have been my ideal zoo. Animals, dogs, dinosaurs, and even Care Bears in the clouds.





I don't know what the gold star was for. Dimetrodon lived about 100 million years before Apatosaurus and was much smaller. Just another example of the sliding science standards in our education system, although this was while I was in Catholic school so I give myself credit for not having them being ridden by Adam and Eve.

New Website

My new website is up and running. The content has been updated to include k12 work and the site in general has been reformatted.

http://www.jmspark.com

A Little Jim

Here's a sketch I did of myself for a prototype I'm working on. I'm going to use myself as the main character. It'll be good illustration/animation practice in flash.

Christmas Card

Made my first personal Christmas Card this year. What a process. Below I posted a step-through of how one of the pictures of my fiance came about (yes, she's holding a taser). I still feel like I'm having a lot of trouble inking.

Newer Liz

A newer Liz based off some feedback. Really like this one.

The Life of Liz

My next project, something I've been planning for a while, is an interactive graphic novel called "The Life of Liz." It started out as an animated short and has evolved since then. The idea is that the internet is a medium with unique story-telling capabilites that haven't been fully explored. A short or a static graphic novel are formats created for other mediums forced into the online format. The goal is to create something unique and interactive that can involve user participation as well as animation inside otherwise still frames.

After a long long time, I think I finally have my Liz.


What do you think? Below is a little history of everything that's gone into getting this far, starting with the very first version in 2003. I think you can click on it for a larger version.


That's all I'll say for now. More to come I'm sure. The next step, assuming the feedback on the above Liz is A.O.K. is to move into a character spec sheet and get a bunch of angles down.

First Post

So now I have a blog. I've noticed other designers have them where they can just dump stuff up every now and then for people to randomly go look at. Now I guess I can be one of them. I've got some prototyping stuff I'm working on, some character designs, a new website (http://www.jmspark.com), and who knows else what I'll find to put up here.

The first thing I'll link to is a little "flash puppet" I've been working on trying to make a smooth, natural walk cycle. I'll spare you the details, but take a look and post some comments if you'd like. I know there are some kinks, and I'll return to it one day, but this is what I've got so far.

Here's the link:
http://www.jmspark.com/Working/Running_Man_03.html

I'll write more later...I guess. And that is that.