Stanimation Productions

Creating Things

2011-11-07T23:23:00.000-08:00

A writing inspired by Kesha's song: "Take It Off"

2010-10-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

"There's a place downtown, Where the freaks all come around. It's a hole in the wall. It's a dirty free for all." Kesha -Take It Off. This story in no way portrays people that actually exist. Any likenesses are completely coincidental, not intentional.

Drake was 18 when it happened. Suddenly he was alone in the world, and there was nothing to live for anymore. He would sleep all day, and at night he would drink until he would throw up, and pass out. He would wake up in strange places with intense headaches, and a foul odor of cologne, bile, and liquor wafted from him for all who dared to get too close to experience. Flowers withered hopelessly away..And dogs howled and barked at him. It was during this dark time of his life that he heard about a place from a demon disguised as a friend where there were no rules, and people just did as they liked until the sun rose.

Drake was falling fast down a hole to his eventual demise. There was no turning back. The gravity of his depression had too strong of a grip on him now. It was only a matter of time until the end. After a cup of Top Romin Noodles, and some Spam that he stole from a local grocery store, he began his nightly ritual of drinking a few shots of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum. That was his beverage of choice. That, and half a pack of Marlbro Red Cigarettes. The smell of the smoke made him feel awesome, and combined with the booze he could do no wrong. On the bus downtown he saw his accomplices, Jajhul, Randy, Desire, and Leah. Desire was going out with Randy, and Jajhul was going out with Leah, but the ladies were bisexual, so they would go down on each other from time to time too. There were no rules. It was a secret society for the lawless, living without any reservations for tomorrow. On the bus they smoked a little weed. Nobody dared to do anything about it, because they were either scared of them, apathetic or too high to care. When they got to the Avenues, Drake was the first to pull the wire. The bus stopped at the next block and they exited through the back exit without paying.
It was dark except for a few street lights, and the few cars that were there had smashed windshields. One car was completely engulfed in flames. People stood around the car with bottles in their hands shouting out cuss words, and hollering out at one another in celebration of what had created. They walked past the burning car to a place surrounded by a weather beaten wooden fence. It was so weak, you could kick it down, and there was all sorts of tags and graffiti sprayed on in vibrant colors on there too. A big man stood in front of the gateway past the fence. He grinned a shiny gold tooth grin and shook their hands with his ring covered fingers. They all walked past him except for Drake. He got pushed back.
"Why you not let me in bruddah?"
"Cuz you a punk!"
"Fuck you! I ain't no punk. Who be say'in dat?"
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit....Tell you what...Come back here with some pussy, and I'll let you in."
"Oh, so that's how it is?"
"Straight."
Drake shrugged up his shoulders tight, and threw himself away from the man as though to contain his desire to slug his fist through the bouncer's sternum. "Drake muttered obscenities as he bee-bopped his way past the line of pimps and hookers waiting to get in. He turned up the next street, and lit up a cigarette. Smoking helped him think with what little brain cells he had left. Then he saw a little bar lit up with neon signs. There were pool tables inside, and half way decent women accompanied by some well to do college kids. He flicked his half smoked cigarette away to the street where it bounced and sparked in a dance of orange light. He wore a New York Yankees baseball cap on backwards, a black hooded sweatshirt, big baggie jeans, and All Stars Sneakers. The room was filled with noise, and laughter. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, but when he made his way to the bartender people gave way as his obnoxious smell forced them to scuffle to one side. The bartender was a young lady in her late twenties wearing something that revealed her perfectly tanned cleavage. Drake made eye contact with her, and said "What up?"
"You gunna buy something?"
"Why you gotta be like that?"
"Buy something or I'll have Jimmy over there throw you out."
Drake attempted a flirtatious smile.
"Damn girl. You cold!"
She could see that he was having a difficult time by the sadness in his eyes. There was even a tear that rolled down his cheek.
"Ooooookay...Uh, One drink"
"Thank you.." He uttered with intense emotional pain in his voice.
She went over to the bottles and quickly assembled a Hurricane with twice the recommended shots in it. Something about his plight reach out to her, and so she played the roll of pharmacologist and administered some medication; medication being the alcohol.
He knew he was walking on eggshells in this civilized little place, and as the booze numbed away his sorrows, an idea occurred to him. If he was going to get past the bouncer, he had to win over a lady here. He eased his way back from the bar with his drink in hand. He spotted a dyed bleach blond headed Asian waiting for her turn at the pool table. He put his harm up against the wall there beside her head and said, "Try some of this honey, I think it's spiked with a little something-something..." She laughed a nervous laugh and turned away back to her friends by the window. He knocked back what was left of his drink. It slipped out of his fingers and broke on the ground. He strolled calmly outside. Then he watched her from the window. She saw that he was watching, and she nervously chewed on her lower lip. He saw that she was into him, and waited for her by a parked car. When she came out for a smoke, he was just by the door, standing by the wall, and whispered to her ear, "I know where the real fun is.."
She took a Marlboro Light out from her little black leather purse, which had chrome metal studs adorned around the edges. There was the ring of his zippo lighter giving birth to a flame that ignited the dry tobacco of her cigarette into an animated cherry, dancing with the life of orange embers. There was the sound of the wind transporting the nicotine through her capillaries from her lungs, and her eyes lit up with intrigue.
"Where is this fun place...Excactly?"
"It's not far..." He walked past her with his hand outstretched. Her hand reached forward as though against her will. Something within her...Something animal compelled her. He took hold of her hand, and they walked silently to the fun place. The bouncer gleamed at them, as they were aloud to walk through. Jajhul spotted him first, "There he at! I was going to come looking for you!" He was full of shit. They all were. Drake kept walking and ignored them. They were all dancing now on the floor covered with glitter, just like in Kesha's song, and that song was playing. Pelvises were grinding against asses, and hip hoppers where hipping and hopping. Couples made out in the shadows, and junkies sniffed their lines off pub tables. The base pounded so intensely he could feel the beat rattle his bones. It was awesome. In the distance people broke bottles and lit things on fire, and in the bathroom there were orgies and overdosed half dead junkies, on the way out of this world...Never to return. Drake and the Asian lady made their way over to a table full of drugs and booze. Her eyes widened, and narrowed as she looked at Drake flirtatiously and motioned for Drake to come closer. "My name's Yuko," she said.
"Cool..Cool.."
They had to speak directly into each others ears to be heard.
"This is the part where you tell me your name" Yuko said with a smile.
When she spoke, he could feel her warm breath against his ear.
"Drake."
She poured herself a Gin and Tonic. "You're so quiet!" She exclaimed.
"Not quiet.. Just soft spoken. So...What do you think?"
She looked around. Leah and Desire where tongue kissing on the dance floor as Jajhul and Randy watched. Around them, people had their hands in air, jumping up and down to the beat.
"It's nice..But I know someplace better."
He looked at her, and he could tell by the spark in her eye what she meant by what she said.
"Lead the way."
She grinned with excitement and lust, and took his hand. They walked to her car. She was about to get in, when he stopped her.
"I'd better drive tonight."
She smiled and let him have his way.
She got on all fours, and crawled over the stick shift to the passenger side seat. When he fired up the ignition, the seat belts automatically swung back over their bodies. She put her hand on him. He was hard. They made out, and he started unlocking her bra. She pushed him back slowly, and said "Wait until we get there.."
They got on the highway, and headed south. Drake had to focus in order to keep the car on the road in his inebriated state. It was 4am. Nobody else was there except the two of them. She pointed out the way, and he took her there. They pulled into the parking lot of a cheap motel. They stopped at the front door, and made out as she turned the key.
Just as they were about to enter the room, several police cars stormed in the parking lot with screeching tires. Doors swung open, guns pointed out. Drake was shocked. He was totally caught off guard. She set him up from the beginning. She had been working undercover with her friends. She kneed him in the crotch, and pushed him down against the ice cold concrete, where she cuffed him so tight it broke the skin.

They told him that they were arresting him for theft, drug and people trafficking, and assault with a deadly weapon. When he got to prison Jajhul, Randy, Desire, and Leah were there too. They had 10 years to do with no parole. During the prison time Drake received rehabilitation for his drug additions. He even learned a trade in construction. A therapist helped him work through his problems. It wasn't like any prison anyone has ever seen before. It was a special place funded by some very wealthy politicians with ambitions to drastically lower crime rates by the beginning of 2013. Finally...There was hope.

The End

Written by Stan Levine on Ocotber 13, 2010
www.stanimation-productions.com

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Creating Things

2010-09-28T23:26:00.000-07:00

Click on Creating Things to be redirected to my blog about how I create things on my website at www.stanimation-productions.com

Creating Things

How to Draw a Spider Tutorial

2010-07-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

How to Draw a Spider Tutorial

The Dragon Story: A Hero's Test

2010-07-17T00:22:00.000-07:00

You take a torch from the wall and proceed down the corridor that narrows after a larch archway. The Archway has statues of serpentine figures on each side, and there is something carved into the archway above you in a language you do not understand. A locked gate in front of the archway opens with Elinane's key. The further you walk, the colder it gets. The air is damp and it smells like sweat and rotting flesh. Then you get to a large wooden door. It's also locked, but Elane's key opens the lock. You try to open the door, but it won't open, because it's too heavy. It has to be heavy to keep whatever is on the other side from breaking in. You have to push with all of your strength just to open the door wide enough for you to squeeze through. A gust of wind rushes past you. It howls through the corridor and pushes the door shut. It slams back behind you fast, and it makes a banging noise that echos through the darkness below you. You hold your torch out in front of you to see as much as its light will allow. All you can see is a stone stairway going down into the darkness below. You draw your sword in your right hand while your torch is held in the other. The stairway is steep and it curves to the left. You have to watch your footing, because one false step could be your last. At the same time, you have to stay aware of your surroundings. You have to be ready for whatever hellish creatures might be preying on you at this very moment. You hear the flapping of wings around you, and then they fade back into silence and darkness. Then you hear a scream. You kneel down to protect yourself. Then your torch allows you to see very dimly at the edge of its capacity to illuminate, a grayish brown gargoyle-like monstrosity blocking your path, ready to pounce on you with its sharp claws and fanged teeth.
Come, and get your throat cut you fowl creature!” You shout at the monster who stands in front of you with malicious intent. It hisses at you and pulls back into a defensive stance. One arm is held forward over its face, while the other is held back, ready to strike. This is the first test of your abilities. Do you have what it takes to defeat the evil wizard Zihair? There was a time when you were a child. You were riding a pony around the country side, when it slipped on a rock, and broke its leg. Your father told you that the pony was useless now; that it is doomed to live the rest of its life in pain. He said “It would be better that the pony die today, than be disgraced by a life of agony.” Then he gave you a mace, and told you to put an end to the poor ponies miserable existence. You took the mace. Its spiked steel ball felt heavy on its wooden handle in your little hand. The pony lay on the ground looking at you with big innocent eyes as if it didn't understand what was happening to it. You knelt by the pony, and stroked back its main. It's eyes flinching in pain, and looking to you now for hope. You looked one last time to your father, looking for an answer, but he just noded back at you. There were no more options left for this poor soul. Without realizing it, somehow you found your arm lifting up the mace up to strike. Against all better judgment, you swung that mace down that day. An innocent life was extinguished like a birthday candle blown out when the borrowed mace crushed that pony's skull. Now the beast's teeth and claws reach out to destroy you. It's gray veiny hand reaches out to claw at your ankles in an attempt to knock you off balance, but you jump up land on the creature driving your sword through the back of its neck, into its brain. Black blood spills from its head, flowing over and down the stairs below. Its hand reaches back to claw your ankle still, but with a twist of the blade, it drops lifelessly to the steps it rests on.
You pull your sword and wipe it clean, while watching the beast for any sign of life. You have heard stories of creatures like this from your grandpa as a child. They are tricky, and have no respect for life other than how good it tastes in their bellies. You back away cautiously, before continuing on your way deeper into this chasm of chaos. Giant poisonous spiders are easy to push past by burning them with your torch, but every now and then you have to slay a snake or two. The snakes are everywhere. They slither out of the stone dungeon walls along side of you, but that's not half as bad as when they drop down from the darkness above you. You pass by the bones and rotting flesh of all the fallen heroes who came before you, before you reach the depth of the staircase. A red light illuminates a path before you. It is a narrow stone path that turns to the right getting brighter until you see its source. It looks like a red star burning bright on a wizards staff. A hooded figure holds the staff with its hard bonny hand.
Who are you?” You ask this mysterious encounter.
“I am Nathaniel the Conjurer.”
"I am.."
"I know who you are. You are the son of Rasurfaut. If it were up to me you would be dead, but the dragon has other plans for you."
"How do you know about my dealings with the dragon?”
"That is for me to know. You need to come with me now if you wish to stay alive.”
Nathaniel turns and walks down the corridor. The red light from his staff shines all around you. The passageway ends near an underground stream, and continues on the other side. Nathaniel mutters some strange words and some of the water in front of you turns into a path made of ice. You walk across the ice path, being careful not to slip. The path continues up a long flight of stairs headed north to a wall. The wizard puts his hand on the wall, and walks through to the other side, and you follow after him. The wall appears to be an optical illusion, but when you reach back to touch the wall after you're through it feels hard like stone. Nathaniel the Conjurer laughs silently to himself as your jaw gapes at his awesome display of power. Now you are back in the dragon's lair.
“Congratulations hero. You passed the test. You are ready,” says the dragon before you.

The Art of Igor Lukanov

2010-07-15T16:59:00.000-07:00

The Art of Igor Lukyanov is something you won't want to miss.
As an artist I am always observing other artists to see what techniques they use.
I learn from them, and they influence me in my own work.
Igor does a variety of styles. In this video, I have seen photo realistic portrait studies of animals and people, as well as caricatures and graphic design. Igor demonstrates in this video that he has worked for people as a commercial artist, while continuing to refine his talent as a sketch artist.
If you are an artist, or if you love art, you won't want to miss what Igor does next in his career and journey as an artist.

COFFEE KICKS ASS!

2010-07-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Plungerman: Plunger Avenger

2010-07-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

How The Heart Works

2010-07-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

How to Draw and Paint Roses

2010-07-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

Time Travel

2010-06-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been late for a meeting, and wished there was some way you could have more time?
Have you ever noticed that when you are really busy, it seems like there is never enough time, and when nothing exciting is going on, or if you're stuck at the red light time seems to slow down?
Time is experienced by the minds perception of internal and external movements. The sound of your heart beats, and your eyes see the sun changing position in the sky as people walk past you like a swarm of bees rushing against the clock as if their lives depended on it.
Time is a confining prison that we mortals are all bound to from the day we are born. Every moment of our existence depends on time for survival...Or so it would seem.
Space is something that is difficult to describe. It's like a man standing behind a curtain. You can't see the man, no matter how hard you try, and as far as we know the man can't see us. We humans are all blinded by the curtain of space-time, but if we were able to see the space between space, without time, we would perceive a place of consciousness where every event that has ever happened, ever could have happened, ever will happen, and ever could happen would be knowable by a stream of eternal consciousness. Thought is not something you can see with your eyes, smell with your nose, hear with your ears, or touch with your skin. It is sensed through your mind. When you think about an experience or an idea in your mind, it is processed and understood in a place outside of time, and from behind the curtain that we will never see.
Now imagine that there are beings that exist without time and behind space that can travel to any place instantly through consciousness....Any place, but the place on the other side of space where we exist, unless they exist by taking possession of the living through the mind.
Time travel would then be possible by the act of tele-projection through mind.
Mind for all purposes of this blog article does not pertain to having a brain that is dependent on a body in world that is dependent on time. Mind is the existence of consciousness. Consciousness can exist in many forms. There is animal consciousness, human consciousness, and eternal consciousness. When we are at peace, in our sleep, or in a meditative state, we can experience glimpses of eternal consciousness, but it is difficult if not impossible to ever possess eternal consciousness. Eternal consciousness is a continuum of all consciousness with out time, where as other forms of consciousness are confounded to limits of perception in a living body, existing in time.
Like I said before....It is very difficult to explain, and perhaps it is impossible to explain because of the fact that my mind is currently confounded by the limits of time.

A Dragon Story Continued By Stan Levine

2010-04-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

Your heart pounds like a rabbit hopping inside your chest as the dragon studies you with his large snake like eyes. It almost looks like it's smiling as it smells your fear.

You concentrate on deep breathing, and after a while your heart returns to a normal resting rate, but your body still shivers.

Then the beast speaks. His voice is low and resounding.

“A bit nervous are you? And where you should be little man. Look around you. What do you see young traveler?”

You look around, and see large rock walls, gothic arches that expand so high the ceilings hide behind a layer of darkness. Torches light up the space around you for about a hundred feet in all directions. The torches rest in holders that have been mounted on the rock walls. A wide open corridor about 20 feet wide expands away from a room. A pile of bones, weapons, armor and gold rests 30 feet away from the dragon of who's hand still rests underneath you. You try to get up, but the hand pins you to the cold hard floor, bruising your butt.

“OOOW!”

“You don't move unless I say so in this place. What do you see?”

“I can't see much with your hand pinning me down.”

“You little fool! I could swallow you whole!” The dragon snarls.

“Normally I would have killed you by now, but because I can see that you have never killed anyone in your life, I have decided to wait and see if you can be of any use to me first.”

“Please don't kill me!”

“QUIET!”

You shudder in your leather armor. Cold sweat drips down your brow. The dragon tells you about this dreadful place to which you have fallen.
"It is all that remains of what was once a great kingdom, ruled by a just king that was well respected and liked by his majesty.
Being respected and liked was unheard of now days. People used to think of the common good in their speech and in their actions, but over the years invaders grew stronger and eventually over powered and killed off most of the good people of this land.
The invaders were highly organized. Once a land was seized, the invaders would tax the towns people until they became bitter and poor. The tax money was said to be necessary in order for the king to provide security and he promised to provide a comfortable lifestyle for all who lived among his ruling hand. They never saw the day King Rasurfaght lived up to his creed.
The separation in classes become so distinct that before long everyone was either dirt poor or obscenely wealthy. The nobility would flaunt their gold knitted garments, and drink the finest of imported wines and ales in front of the poor who dressed in clothes that were two sizes too long, or torn around the knees and cuffs, and hand woven from rags. Contempt grew stronger every season among the peasant class, and a revolution seemed inevitable. The Nobels were advised not to leave their homes without protection, but all of there hired armed guards were not enough, because they lived a comfy life. The peasants had to fight among each other for survival everyday, while the highly paid guards spent most of their time drinking ale and eating freshly killed wild boar. If it wasn't for King Rasurfaght's powerful sorcerer, his kingdom would surely have fallen to a heap of rubble. Zihair was a sorcerer of dark magic who was loyal to King Rasurfaut

and his father before him. Zihair wasn't always a practitioner of the dark magic. He used to be loyal to the same ruler I served under many years ago. Several hundred years ago, before Adam, and his father Ben, we were loyal to King Joseph Rasurfaut, and he was the last of the just rulers of this land. Zihair was passionate about his craft, and only used it for good. Then his family was murdered before his very eyes by the invaders. His inner light grew dim, and his heart morned his losses. Out of that grief grew something ugly. He started studying dark magic from a spell book he took from a duel long ago. When he was ready he had his revenge with an army of ghouls he conjured from the dead. The dark magic consumed him, and an insatiable lust for power and influence took hold of Zihair. It was him that organized his own secret army, who assassinated King Joseph by giving him a cursed magic potion to quicken his aging process. Ben was still a child on the brink of manhood. Zihair was able to use his dark magic to influence King Ben to turn the entire Nobility against the Peasant Class, but there is still hope. Before King Joseph died, he sensed a great evil among his kingdom. He sent a messenger to a land far beyond the forrest, across the great sea to deliver a dragon egg to a woman named Eilana. Eilana was his sister who was kidnaped by invaders when he was a child, but a falcon delivered a letter one day to inform King Joseph that she had broken free of her bonds. Eilana raised this dragon who stands before you now."

The dragon's tale is long and difficult to follow. You are not sure if you can trust this one, but if you show any sign of trickery it will be sure to put an end to you. You have to go along with the dragon's game for now.

A white flickering light shines from the corridor as Eilana approaches.

“I see we have guests.”

“Yes, he just dropped in, so to speak.”

“I didn't realize dragons were capable of humor,” you dare to say.

The dragon gives you a sideways look and says “Call me Joe.”

It isn't long before the three of you have become close friends.

“It is sad and immoral, what Zihair has done to the kingdom.” Eilana says looking to you for an answer.

“Can't you just break into the castle and eat him?”

“It's not that simple. Zihair is a powerful dark sorcerer. He hides during the day in his cave several levels below the castle's thrown room. He only comes out at night to feed and walk about with his invisibility spell.”

“We could still track his foot prints”

“Yes, but if he caught you in the act, he would pull you in with his attraction spell and slit your throat with his silver dagger.”

“That's a risk we're going to have to take. Someone is going to have to take it to restore sanity to this land.”

“You are far too inexperienced to handle such a mission, but I admire your ambition. Tell you what,” the dragon speaks on. “Down that corridor, there is a door.” Eilana hands you a key from around her neck and says “take this key to open the door. There will be hundreds of stairs that will take you deep underground to a place in this dungeon where monsters of unspeakable peril await you. If you can slay these monsters, and bring back to us their bounty you will have proven yourself worthy as a soldier fit for such a battle against the evil sorcerer Zihair.”

“Fine,” you say confidently. “I'll do it!”

“Good luck my friend,” The dragon says.

“Here,” Eilana motions. “Take this potion of healing. It will help you on your way. I hope to see you again,” Eilana says and kisses you on the cheek.

Your eyes sparkle as you find Eilana very attractive in her white gown, and full figured shapely body. More than her body, something about her personality; a loving warmth draws you in. You vow to defeat any opponent you meet down that hell hole, for you now you have two motivations: To prove that you are a worthy fighter to Joe, the dragon, and to woo the heart of the fair princess Eilane.

You wave good bye to your friends just before you set on your adventure down the corridor, past the door, to the perilious dungeons below!

A Dragon Story by Stan Levine

2010-04-27T05:33:00.001-07:00

You have spent your youth in the protection of these castle walls. Everything has been provided for you until now. Today, you are faced with a challenge. Where will you go, and what will you do with the rest of your life as a man? Your cat watches you with worry in her pretty blue eyes as you head for the huge iron gates with only enough water for a days travel, a light weight shield and a short sword. As you walk through town people brush past you without acknowledging your existence. The people of this town hold you in contempt, for inside your body flows the royal blood of those who have oppressed them into submission. Sweat flies off the brow of an iron worker as his powerful arm wields a hammer down over an anvil. A boy not that much younger than yourself struggles to haul his master in a chariot full of food that he will never taste. His back gives out, and he collapses in the street, and a bearded man in robes steps off, and kicks the boy in the rib cage. The boy recoils in pain and screams to the gods for help, but they do not answer. An archer is given the signal, and death is delivered to the poor soul from the sky by arrow.

For the first time in your life, you are seeing the real world, outside your sheltered home. You want to return to safety, but if you run now, you will never know what great adventures await before you. If you run now, you will die an old inexperienced man with a sea of regrets. You push on with your leather boots, and an old gypsy eyes you with an evil grin, as if plotting your demise in order to get her brittle old hands on your boots and your gold.

Soon you reach the outskirts of the town and you see large redwood trees all around you. It is said by travelers who have visited the castle over the years that strange creatures live in the darkness of these woods. The horizon is a light orange color indicating that there is only two more hours of daylight at best. It looks like you're going to have to find a cave, or some sort of shelter for the night, or risk being murdered by the thieves that rome about the road at night.

The shadows grow longer each minute, and you can't seem to shake off the feeling that eyes are studying you from every shadow of every rock and tree. Now the sky is dark blue and the first of the stars reveal themselves upon the curtain of night that steadily sweeps overhead. The road becomes hard to see. As your eyes become accustom to the moon light, you gather enough information you see the shadow of a strange looking man in the distance. You stop and double take with a reaction of terror in your body as you realize that you just saw the shiny yellow eyes of an orc before you just twenty odd feet away. It stands there waiting to see what you will do. You can't think. Terror fills your blood, and you are now running as fast as your legs will carry you into the darkness of the woods. The orc screams out a war cry that bounces off the trees, causing several flocks of sparrows to flee to the sky.

Twigs scrape against your body, but your leather armor saves your skin from spilling a trail of blood behind you. The orc is a skilled hunter with an insatiable thirst for royal blood. It can smell your leather as the razor sharp twigs of foliage shave off bread sized crumbs from your armor. The orc is on your trail. Other creatures of the night can be heard stirring from the darkness of the tree tops as you run closer to your destiny. Suddenly the ground gives way from under your foot, and you feel yourself falling. A hot wind rushes past your ears as you continue to fall deep into the earth. You can't tell where the ground is, and you kick and flail your arm about, hoping to find something that can save you from being crushed by whatever awaits below. A soft fleshy surface rushes up from underneath you, and a bright hot light of flame blazes above your head. Slowly unfolding yourself from your fetal position, your head raises, and your eyes meet face to face with a yellowish green dragon!

TBC

The Jenisipicellah By Stan Levine

2010-03-16T02:39:00.000-07:00

Friday 19th March Your character doesn’t make impulse purchases, but one day at the market they felt compelled to buy… what?

Harold was a man in his late twenties. He was very good at fixing things, and had always wanted to run his own business as an engineer. He dreamed of making rocket ships that would fly to outer space,so ordinary people could live extraordinary lives. They would buy their rocket ships and fly from space station to space station, and moon port to moon port all over the solar system. Yes. Harold was full of ideas, but he didn't think like ordinary people thought. He was labeled lots of things, but nobody could accurately diagnose what was exactly wrong with him. Harold worked as a mechanic during the day, and as a roadie at night. He new just about everything related to technology. He could create video games and programs on his computer at a coffee bar, or tune his Honda Civic so tight it would jump up in the air with the slightest tap of the gas pedal. Harold was a genius, but he had no friends. Everything had to be a certain way, and he always had a schedule to keep. If things didn't go the way he planned, he would get very violent and throw things at people.
It had been a week since Harold was released from the county jail for starting a fight at the DMV with one of the clerks there. Now he was at the local pharmacy enjoying his first moments of freedom. He had just earned $2,000 for a video game he single created and sold online. It was a Massive Online Role Playing game called Kinork, where players choose from a list of adventurous characters and embark on an epic journey through the treacherous make believe land known as Kinork. The players would interact with each other and encounter dangerous monsters that guard hordes of treasure. His game was a big success, and every week subscribers all across the globe would pay for their game time on his website. Some might thing Harold was living the dream, but to Harold he considered himself a failure, and a very lonely man with no friends and no family. As he walked through the drug store he browsed at magazines, books, toys, candy, and gift cards. He just wanted to find something intriguing to take his mind off the depression. It was a hot sunny day. Just then, Harold got the idea to lie naked on the hot sidewalk, in an attempt to burn his body to death. He was on his way to execute his plan when he saw the Jenisipicellah. That's what it said on the dark blue packaging. It was a square box, with a glowing red sphere bulging out of it, encased in plastic. Harold pick up the box, and he heard a low pitch ring tone, and there was a vibrating sensation that ran through his arms and in his head. It was the most amazing feeling. He read the back of the packaging to find out more about the Jenisipicellah. It read, "The Jenisipicellah is a product guaranteed to change your life. It's use of zero-point energy allow you for the first time in history to grant any which you want, and as many wishes as you want." Harold was never a religious man, but now he began to wonder. In all his life, he had never thought it would be possible to create something so advanced as this, and he beat himself over the head for not thinking of it first. He turned the box around and around in his hands looking for the price, but there was no sticker, not even a bar code. Harold took the Jenisipiceelah to the check out counter and asked the customer sales clerk how much it was.
"Excuse me sir, can you tell me how much this is?"
"Hmm...Let me see here...Hey, where did you find this?"
"It was right near the exit on that shelf right over there." He pointed, and he wondered what would happen next.
"Hold on a sec," The sales clerk picked up the phone and asked the store manager for help. A moment later Mr.Norvinast, Store Manager for Rupiton Pharmacy appeared. He was a short white man in his late fifties. He had piercing blue eyes that peered at you from his fat head. Somewhere from under a giant barbell mustache lips began to move.
"What's this?"
"I don't know, he said it came from that shelve over by electronic appliances, but I can't find a price sticker or a bar code on it."
"Interesting..." Mr. Norvinast turned the box over and over in his hands, looking at the packaging.
"Well sir, it appears that this item can not be sold."
"What!?" Harold exclaimed in outrage. "That's ridiculous! If you can't tell me how much it is, then I get it for free. That's how it's supposed to work!"
"Well," Mr. Norvinast said, "It Ain't work-in that way today buddy."
Harold reach out in a fit of rage with is hands. He grasped onto the glowing red orb, and wished with all his will that the manager would die at that moment.
"Let go!" The manager yelled. Harold managed to pry the box free of the store manager's hands.
"Stay away from me man! I got the Jenisipicellah, and nobody, not even you can stop me now!"
Harold ran out of the store as the manager yelled for security. Mr. Norvinast tried to chase after him, but clenched his chest a block later and collapsed to the ground.
"It works...." Harold thought. "Fascinating." He marveled at his most victorious find, until a bus hit him. The Jenisipicellah was thrown out of its box from the impact, and it bounced down the road where it continued to roll. It rolled down a hill and into the hands of a child.

The End

Samson Rebirth

2010-02-23T02:59:00.000-08:00

Samson Rebirth
14" X 18"
Acrylic on Canvas Board (unframed)
By Stan Levine
$475

Samson was my brother's dog who recently passed. I used a photo reference I found on Facebook to paint this pet portrait. As I was painting Samson, I felt his presence around me. It was almost as if my painting somehow invoked the spirit of the dog around me. I could even smell his distinct canine smell in the room. Samson is a very loyal dog who protects the innocent with his strong canine powers.
I began this painting by mixing a cool gray color with Mars Black, Titanium White and Cerulean Blue. Since the dog has warm colors, using a cool gray for the background colors created a sense of depth in the painting. Samson's head rests over a car seat that has pattern woven in it. If I wanted to I could have spent several days carefully carving in each weave of the seat with a tiny brush, but if I did, the level of detail would compete with the dog. In a painting it's important not to make each detail crisp and clear or it will end up being boring or too busy. It's important to have resting space and a focal point in a painting. Just a dash of dark cool gray with light cool gray right next to it creates just the right effect of hinting at the weave in the seat rather than spelling out every detail. The next step was to blog in the shape of Samson with a light reddish orange color mixed with Cadmium Yellow, Quinacridone Red, and Titanium White. Then going over that with Red Oxide mixed with the white and gray to create the warm grayish browns of Samson's beautiful fur coat. When you paint it's important to have fun, and to be in the spirit of what you're painting. When I explain how I paint it may sound technical but I don't really have a definitive process for painting. I use my instincts which is something I've developed over time through years of training and experience. A painting is an inward journey. Each stroke of the brush is a choice, and with each decision a step forward is taken on that journey to wherever the painting leads. I always start with the big shapes, and gradually add in detail from general to specific. The last thing I painted to complete the painting was Samson's eyes. Eyes are the window to the soul. If you mess up the eyes, the whole painting will be off. I studied my photo reference, and thought about the shape and the color. Then I started the eyes with a reddish brown of his iris, added the pupil, and surrounded the iris with the lines that shape the eye lids. Then I added a light touch of Titanium White to create the shiny part. It's important to notice details, but it's also important not to get lost in them. When something looks good in a painting, I move on to the next area. If I focus too much on one area, it gets all over worked. I got to keep the brush moving to different areas, and after I've touched up other areas I'll stand back about nine feet and see if I need to revisit any areas. As the painting nears completion, it become more important to know exactly what I want to do before I do it. Playing around on a painting that is near completion can mess areas up that were working well. When it's hard to know what to do next, I just do the first thing that comes to mind and react. After a few hundred tubes of paint I'll figure it out, and if I don't I just got to keep painting and remember to feel the spirit of what I'm painting and enjoy the creative process.

Funny Faces by Stan Levine

2010-02-22T03:03:00.000-08:00

These are custom made emoticons for you to use as avatars to express your mood on your social networking sites.

To get your "Funny Faces," contact StanLevine@stanimation-productions.com for details.

New Orleans Railroad 36" X 36" Acrylic on Canvas

2010-02-17T18:18:00.001-08:00

New Orleans Railroad
By Stan Levine
36" X 36"
Acrylic on Canvas
$700

A Portrait of Wes

2010-02-05T16:01:00.000-08:00

To begin this acrylic portrait painting I first gathered all of my colors to decide which colors to mix in order to get all the colors I need on my pallet. I use Liquitex Professional Acrylic Artist Color s.

Here is a picture of my pallet with the colors I will need for this portrait painting. Portrait paintings can be very complex because skin changes color as it rolls over underlying forms of tissue. In some places skin may be rosy pink, or blush red, while in others pale peach or light brown. To get the skin colors in my portrait painting I used cadmium yellow deep hue, red oxide, quinacridone red in small amounts mixed with titanium white. Wes wore a blue plaid shirt in my photo reference, so to get the colors for that I mixed cerulean blue and some bright aqua green with titanium white. A little transparent burnt umber, prism violet and some mars black helped render hair and shadow areas. I mixed my colored together with a up and down dabbing motion of a pallet knife. To test out the color, or to thin the paint out a little, I smear the paint across the pallet a little. Then spray a little water on it to thin it out.
I began the portrait painting by painting the background a light yellowish peach color. Then I started blocking in the general shape of Wes's plaid shirt using the light blueish green color because if you squint your eyes you can see that the shirt is predominantly a bluish green color. Then I used my light flesh tones to block in the shape of the arms and head. Gradually working in the big shapes, I began to build in detail from general shapes of color to more specific subtleties.

Then I took a break to let all of the color completely dry. When I returned, I began adding another layer of details. To get the seams of the jeans I used a small flat end brush to apply bluish white, then right next to those seam shapes, I applied a shade of blue slightly darker than the local color of jeans. Once I got the figure to the level of detail I wanted, I added in the plunger in his hands. The portrait of Wes holds a plunger to reenact a humorous moment in his childhood, so it was important to suggest humor using light happy colors in this painting. I used the dark grayish, bluish purple color to create a drop shadow against the yellowish peach background. The plunger handle is cylindrical, so I used the appropriate colors to build in a half tone and a highlight to give the plunger a dimensional look in the painting. The actual plunger is bowl shaped, so to render that I thought about how I would render a sphere, then modified it to create the plane shifts where the light would curve towards and away from the light source.
Here (above) you see the finished piece. A Portrait of Wes by Stan Levine 18" X 14" on acrylic canvas board.
My link to buy Liquitex paint is my associate account's link to www.amazon.com. That means that if you buy acrylic paints for your paintings from that link, I will make a small percentage for promoting the product on Amazon.
Thank you for viewing my blog.

Happy painting and peace be with you,

Stan Levine
www.stanimation-productions.com

Bl99ding Into The Sunset-Asocietyred

2010-02-03T05:40:00.001-08:00

My Favorite Comics

2010-02-01T05:03:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Comics
By Stan Levine
Stanimation Productions

I was drinking Jamaican Me Crazy Coffee With a little International Delight French Vanilla Coffee Creamer in it, while reading the Sunday comics out of the Contra Costa Times. The links listed above are my Amazon affiliate links, which means that if you buy the products advertised in my blog, I will make a percentage. One of the comics that I really enjoyed was the "For Better Or For Worse" comic by Lynn Johnston.

This image above is from www.gocomics.com . What I like about this comic is the rhythm in the pose of the father who is running with the shovel in the second box. You can see how enthusiastic he is about playing in the snow by the action line. I also like the way he enters the house at the end to find his family on the couch. I like the level of detail in that frame. you can see all the books on the shelves, and the dog sleeping on the lower right corner. I like the overall composition of that frame, and I think it tells the story well.
Another one I really enjoyed is "Non Sequitur," by Wiley Miller.

From www.gocomics.com . If you like this comic, you can buy a "Non Sequitur: 2010 Day-to-Day Calendar," from Amazon by clicking on my affliliate link. What I like about this comic is how the comic tells a good story in just 9 sequential images. It's like a storyboard, and the punch line at the end is witty and funny! I also like the way Wiley Miller drew the airport limo. It looks like it's in motion by the way the wheels are all wonky and in the air with the exhaust fumes putting out that back. It's reminiscent of Bill Waterson's work in his "Calvin and Hobs," comic book. I also like the overall layout of "Non Sequitur." They're were a lot of really funny and well composed comics on Sunday, January 17, 2010.
I love starting out my day with a good cup of coffee and some true funny and well composed comics from the local newspaper.

Drawing Tutorials

2010-01-29T06:48:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wanted to learn to draw, but never thought you had the patience?
Well, now you can learn to draw the easy way for free!
On my new website at www.stanimation-productions.com I have a blog all on creating things by Stan Levine. My first drawing tutorial will show you how to draw this spider!
I plan on developing my drawing tutorials further. In my next tutorial I will be showing my step by step process for how to draw in perspective. I will start with the fundamentals of drawing, and gradually build your confidence and your skill up to being able to draw anything you want.
Remember, drawing takes patience, time and focus. You may not be able to draw what you want over night, no matter how many tutorials you read on the internet. It takes experience and dedication to develop the artistic skills needed to draw what you want. In my drawing tutorials, I explain the psychology of drawing. It is very difficult in not impossible to draw specific things the way you want them to look when you are upset. You have to have a clear and focused mind to draw something accurately. When you are upset, the best thing to do is to take a break, and do something that gives you pleasure. maybe put on your favorite song and dance, go for a walk around town, or a drive to the hills. Give yourself time to clear your mind of any negative thoughts. Once you find your happy place, you can begin to draw again. If you are beginner at drawing, I recommend drawing circles. Try drawing circles of different variations. Draw ovals, ellipses, and peanut shapes. Then draw spheres, cones, cylinders, pipes and cubes. From those basic shapes you can sketch just about anything. Once you have mastered drawing the basic shapes and can visualize them from any point of perspective I think you will find that the confidence in your drawing will increase.
I've been working on my drawing since I was a child. When I was about ten years old, I attending drawing classes around the community. One of my classes was taught by the famous cartoonist Ben Edlund, creator of The Tick. I also took a life drawing class at the Lyndsey Wild life museum, where the children gathered around live animals to draw them. Later on in my career as an artist, I attended the California College of the Arts in Oakland. It was there that I studied drawing under Eleanor Dickinson. After I graduated from CCAC, I attended the Academy of Art University where I studied under Ruben DeAnza, and studied animation from Jason Patnode, Linda Bell and Misha Klein.

Kiss Unfinished By Stan Levine

2010-01-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

Kiss Unfinished By Stan Levine

36" X 36"
Acrylic on Canvas
not for sale

Concept Art

2010-01-24T12:20:00.000-08:00

Here are some new illustrations I've been working on for a fundraiser. They are design concept drawings for a sign that will say "Hurricane Bar."

The fundraiser is Mardi Gras Night. The sign will be made from a light weight, sturdy material like foam core, and suspended over a table where drinks will be served to participants of the fundraiser. Here is a 3D view of the sign that shows its dimensions:

The proposed dimensions are 6 feet long by 3 feet wide and 1 foot high. It is estimated to weigh about 4 lbs. I'm thinking a strand of 8 Gage wire (thin) woven through the base should be sturdy enough to hang the sign from against a small finishing nail in the wall.
Here is a sketch that shows how I propose to build this sign in steps:

The first drawing on the upper left shows the base of the structure. The upper right shows how a 1 foot foam core wall will be built to be glued around the base. The lower left shows how an artist's blade or craft knife can cut through the first layer of foam in the foam core which will allow the board to bend. The closer the cuts are to one another the more flexibility the foam core will have to bend around the rounded edges of the base. The lower right illustration shows the wall glued to the base. Then internal wall are build inside to create negative shapes that reveal the letters of the words "Hurricane Bar." Then a small battery operated light is used to illuminate the sign; giving it a neon look. Blue tissue paper will then be carefully glued on top, over the walls. When the light shines against the paper, it will glow blue from the outside of the sign. I may want to paste the tissue paper over a foam core frame; giving the sign a service door so that the light can be turned off and on again without having to rip and repair the sign.
I have really enjoyed the creation process for this sign, so if you would like me to make a sign like this for you please let me know.
I am also interested in doing concept deigns for things like tree fortresses, Japanese Gardens, time machines and space crafts for movies. So if you are a movie producer and have a need for that sort of illustration work please let me know.

This Weeks Accomplishments

2010-01-23T08:43:00.001-08:00

A Still Life
Acrylic on Canvas Board
16" X 20"
By Stan Levine

A political caricature commenting on the Tiger Woods Scandal.
9" X 12"
ink markers and color pencils on white paper
By Stan Levine

A caricature of Roseanne Barr and John Goodman from the Roseanne Show in the setting of American Gothic by Grant Wood.
9" X 12"
ink markers and color pencils on white paper
illustrated by Stan Levine

Last week I was hired by Kevin Birtchnell in San Francisco to draw caricatures for his birthday party. It was a good turn out, and my caricatures entertained the party guests. Yesterday I donated 10% of my profits from the caricature gig to CARE.ORG
I have decided to donate 10% of all the profits I make form doing caricatures or other art related jobs to charity.

I provide caricatures, illustration and of course custom commissioned art work. If you're looking to hire a freelance artist, why not e-mail me explaining what you need? My prices are reasonable, and because 10% goes to charity you can feel good about using my services because they help people in the world.

Peace,

Stan Levine

What I'm Working On This Week

2010-01-13T04:08:00.000-08:00

I started this week out by copying an illustration from "The Art of Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones," written by Mark Cotta Vaz using prismacolor pencils. This graphite illustration depicts a scene from the planet Kamino: Tipoca City. The original illustration I copied from was created by Erik Tiemens. The book specifies the scene number as "scene/s: 061/062", and it is on page 60 and 61 of the book. I have always been a Star Wars fan. I have collected all of the main character action figures. At one time, I had them glued to the dashboard of my car. I guess I was that much of a geek! When Star Wars Episode I the Phantom Menace was released back in 1999, I was one of those idiots ( and I use the term idiot endearingly here :-) ) standing there in the sun in a line half way around the block, waiting to get tickets for myself and my family. One thing about Star Wars I've learned that not everyone knows about is that the scream of the storm trooper who gets shot by Hans Solo on Endor, in Return of the Jedi, was used again and again in a large variety of feature films. That scream has become an inside joke at ILM among the sound designers. I like to occasionally copy Star Wars art as a way of studying that genre of art. Who knows...Maybe someday I'll have a job drawing for Lucas. One thing you should definitely know is that I don't sell my Star Wars art. It is strictly displayed on the internet as a way of keeping potential employers up to date with my progress as an artist. I'm just trying to show that I can draw in a variety of styles, so basically this is just fan art.
Ok, the next thing I want to share with you all is some caricatures I've done this week.

This is a caricature of Tim Allen. You know the guy from that TV show, Home Improvement. The hand holding the wrench looks a little crazy, but isn't that what caricatures are all about?
Finally, I have one last project to show you. This is a work in progress.
Wow! Cool huh? This graphite value study took three hours, and I rendered it from life! I usually just use photographs that my wife takes on our vacations to do my landscape paintings, or stuff from magazines or concept art books to do my sketches. I really enjoy drawing from life, because I think it captures something that I would not otherwise be able to notice about the subject. I plan on developing this further into an acrylic painting, using my value study and a photo reference. While I like to draw from life, I prefer to paint from photo references, because the subject never stays completely still, and the lighting can sometimes change.
Once I complete the painting, I'll upload it so you can see.

NEW PAINTINGS by Stan Levine

2009-12-28T03:04:00.001-08:00

NEW PAINTINGS BY STAN LEVINE

Chicago
16" X 20"
acrylic on canvas
unframed

Broadway Plaza
36" X26"
acrylic on canvas
unframed

Duffy's Tavern
18" 14"
acrylic on canvas
unframed

John Muir Beach Overlook (stretched)
18" x 14"
acrylic on canvas
unframed

SOLD!
Sunset Painting
24" X 48"
acrylic on canvas
unframed

A Bench Portrait By The Grand Canyon

18" X 14"
acrylic on canvas
unframed

Sketches

2009-12-14T01:10:00.000-08:00

SKETCHES BY STANLEY LEWIS LEVINE
Now available for hire!

This one is called "Death's Skull." I drew it with a number two pencil in a short time of less than 10 minutes. This kind of sketch would be great to promote your heavy metal band, or maybe it would make a cool tattoo. It could even me modified to make a decent political cartoon.

This one is called "biker Crash." I drew it with a number two pencil. A few years ago I used to ride a motorcycle, and I've been through a few accidents but luckily nothing serious. Although, I will never be able to straighten my left arm due to a injury to my elbow. This kind of sketch would be great for your graphic novel, or comic book. It's got a ninja throwing those those throwing stars at the motorcyclist. Ninjas vs bikers sounds exciting, and action packed. Keep tuned in to what I do with this, because I'm definitely going to do something with it at some point.

My wife and I took a family trip to Disneyland. Our son had never seen Disneyland before, and he was looking forward to this trip for a long time. One thing I hate about Disneyland is the crowds. Being surrounded by a throng of people I don't know gives me anxiety because they sometimes trample you down, or infect you with swine flew (the H1N1 virus) causing bodily injury. This is an graphite illustration I made of my wife and I in the hotel room. She is a writer, and I (as you can see) am an artist. We needed a break from the crowds, and just sitting there for 4 to 6 hours during the hottest part of the afternoon drawing this hotel room scene really helped me relax.

This is my study of Frank Frazetta's "Death Dealer VI." I made light circular motions with color pencils on white paper to achieve the painterly effects. This style of illustration is create for comic books, storyboards, or anything involving an action scene. The use of vibrant colors really works to achieve the effect that something is interesting is happening. The elements in the illustration come to life, and pop right out of the page!

This is an illustration I made using Flash Professional 8 that was published on Ronda Levine's blog where she wrote a story about how Santa Clause bought a woman a "Cheezeborger," somewhere in Michigan. This style of illustration is great for adding original looking graphics to your website. It might also work for a children's book.

This is a Sharpie pen drawing of my son sleeping on the airplane on the way to New Orleans. This style of illustration might work perfectly in your magazine. What do you think? Don't be shy :) I haven't had that many publications, so if you need an illustration that will be published in your magazine I might not even charge or if I do very little...Like $5 or whatever you can afford.

I drew this one in here in my little sketch book I take with me wherever I go with a little black ink pen.
I live with 2 cats. This is what Stripes, the orange tabby cat does. He chases his tail. It's so funny! This style of illustration is create for your comic strip, so if you have an idea for one let me know. I like to collaborate with other people out there as long as they are serious, hard working and dedicated to whatever creative project they need my help working on.

This is my study of Anikin Skywalker's podracer from Star Wars Episode I. I used a reference to accurately copy this illustration using pen and inks from "Star Wars Episode I Incredible Cross-Sections." This illustration demonstrates that my drawing skills are adaptable to any style. If you're a job recruiter from Lucas Arts or ILM, looking for a sketch artist to storyboard or come up with some concept drawings for the next Star Wars movie look no further! I am the man for the job.

I am a very prolific artist, meaning that I draw at least one sketch a day. I did this one on a little piece of scratch paper at the kitchen table one afternoon. Another great example of my cartoony sketchy style I like to use to show humorous situations.

This illustration style would be great for animation or a kids coloring book. It's pen an inks on white paper.

A little water color painting of some frogs I made in my little sketch book.

This is Mr. Stripes doing what he does best...He's an orange tabby cat, part Siamese. I drew this one with color pencils on white paper.

Well...That's all for now. I got to get back to work!

The Everly Brothers Caricature

2009-12-14T00:49:00.000-08:00

This is a caricature I, Stan Levine did of the Everly Brothers. I do illustrations for comic books, magazines, or even party events for very affordable prices. If you are an employer for a magazine or book, and are looking to hire an illustrator, I will actually do one illustration for FREE, as long as my work is going to be published either in a magazine, book or website. I value the exposure people out there give me of putting my work out there for people to see. Party Events are a hassle. I enjoy working in the comfort of my home, but for party events I sometimes have to drive an hour a way. For that reason I charge $50/hr to do caricatures for party events plus a $50 travel fee if I half to travel half an hour out of my way. If you're someone who would really like to have a custom portrait or caricature of yourself, or a friend, but don't have all that much money to spend, you can e-mail me a jpg file. Then I can just use that to draw your portrait for the bargain price of just $10. You can use your credit card on Paypal, where I will instantly be able to receive your payment.

The Adventures of Froggie

2009-12-14T00:46:00.000-08:00

The Adventures of Froggie

This is the finished comic book cover for "The Adventures of Froggie," a story that originally started out as a flash animation on Youtube at the Stanimatorblue channel. The story is about a frog that seeks adventure in a strange land where anything is possible.

Metropol Updates

2009-11-28T08:40:00.000-08:00

The art of animation is painstakingly slow pasted. It can take up to an hour to get one frame looking just right. I began this project with a storyboard, scanned in and keyframed in as an animatic on a timeline in Flash 8. Then I began rendering each frame using various tools the software provides. There are oval and rectangle tools. The Oval tool comes in handy when I need perfect circles for something like wheels of a car, or eyeballs. The rectangle tool comes in handy when I need large areas of color blocked in at once. I started out using this tool to create buildings. Then I had to use the transform tool to skew each shape, so I could make the buildings look 3D by putting them in perspective. Granted, a 3D application like Blender would do this much easier and faster, but jumping around from one program to the next only slows down my mental process. I like my work to be as spontaneous as possible. I like to keep my paintbrush always moving. Have you ever watched the Bob Ross show on KQED? Bob Ross is a painter that demonstrates how he can create entire landscapes in an hour using a paintbrush that looks like something you might paint a barn with. It's impressive and fun to take a tool and see how much detail you can get out of it with as little effort as possible. Being able to do that using Flash 8's digital tools for creating animation speeds up the process saving time. Using the line tool (keyboard shortcut being the "n" key) I can block in shapes of buildings in less than a minute without having to edit the shape with the transformation tools later. The paint bucket tool also saves the time that it would take a traditional animator to hand paint each drawing. Flash 8 has linear and radial gradient shaders to help render things with realistic lighting. The gradient transform tool ("F") allows me to stretch and move a selected area of gradient shaded color to create the desired effects. In the song Collsion by Metropol, the lyrics speak of an untamed woman who can't be controlled that is sought after because a man is driven by an uncontrollable desire to make her his bride. Given the romantic subject matter I decided to give this animated music video a narrative theme. A cartooned digital drawing of Ray, the lead singer, seeks her out. She gets away in her Porsche, and he chases after her on a motorcycle. I don't want to spoil the whole story, so I'll stop with the details there. Basically though, he pursues her, and she evades as the lyrics of the song suggest. Here are some screenshots taken from today's progress:
The oval and radial shader tools came in handy on this rendering of Ray's desire...
I really wanted the Porsche to look awesome, so I spent a lot of time on that. The fleur de lis on the hood of the car is a jpeg file that I downloaded from The Grace Collection of battle shields. Should there be any copyright infringement issues, I can always trace over it to create my own later. I drew the car using the pencil tool, and used the oval tool for the headlights. My inspirations for the car were the Bat Mobile, and various sports cars I've seen in Road and Track Magazine.

I began the animation by rendering in backgrounds for the first scene, but the part where the camera zooms out from the parking garage over the city took the longest. The whole town had to be built, and I wanted for there to be cars rolling up and down the streets as Ray's desire's Porsche can be seen racing through the parking garage levels before making a right turn off screen. It saves time to reuse as many elements as possible. A traffic light or a street light can be grouped, copied and pasted as many times as needed. Then I transform them to face the right direction. The buildings are all in groups in a graphic symbol. In Flash, I can select any object and make it a symbol, which is something that gets placed in a library of images that can be reused as many times as needed. Symbols can have individual animations in them. For example, I could took my drawing of Ray's desire and made her a symbol. Then I can click to enter edit mode of that symbol, and make groups out of her arms and legs. Then I can move and keyframe them on the symbol's timeline to create a walk cycle. Then when I click and drag the lady from the library to the desired keyframe on the main timeline of my scene, I get an instant walkcycle. The walkcycle is built into the symbol. If I need a character to move somewhere on screen, I can copy and paste the keyframe containing the walk cycle symbol, select both keyframes and motion tween them. Flash 8 has a motion tween tool that allows me to create smooth animation very quickly with little effort, but it tends to make the animation too robotic looking. If I really need for a character to emote, I might use a combination of motion tweening and hand keyframing. In some situations like for lip syncing I keyframe all of my character's movements by hand.
Hand keyframing is when I have to spend hours moving things a tiny bit, then creating a new keyframe and move it a little more, before the illusion of realistic movement starts to happen. The process is very rewarding, but painstakingly slow. As an artist I prefer to paint and draw than animate. I like to draw cartoons, and paint with acrylics on canvas, so I am actually phasing out of animation. I am interested in producing or directing an animation or a feature film at some point. I want to spend more time cartooning, maybe even screen writing to come up with lots of ideas. Then try to find people to promote them, so that big animation studios can give my ideas the craftsmanship they deserve. Does that make sense?

Well, That's all for now. I got to get back to work.

Metropol Animated Music Video Production Update

2009-11-24T19:18:00.001-08:00

Here are some storyboards and concept artwork to show my progress for the Metropol Animated Music Video:

Well, that's all for now. I got to get back to work!

What's Next

2009-11-23T17:03:00.000-08:00

The Next Stanimation Production

Well, I just finished a 36"X36" acrylic painting on canvas of the Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek, California. It's always a feeling of relief when a project of that magnitude is finished. It's like a weight lifted off my shoulders, because it takes a lot of time and patience to do quality work. Sometimes I feel like it's never going to be finished, and I have to be okay with that. People always wonder how do you know when a painting is finished. I have to be very patient. Even when I think it's finished I have to be very reluctant before signing my name on the finished piece, otherwise it will be rushed, and I will have sacrificed quality. There's just no point in doing anything in the first place if it isn't going to be the very best job I can do. I want my artwork to reflect the very best of my ability, so that I can look at it a year or so from now and see how I've grown.
So I've got the Metropol animated music video to work on, but I get frustrated, and I lose my focus and my patience when I work on one project for more than 6 hours at a time. It's good to have multiple projects going on to keep my job exciting and fun. The other thing I'm developing is the next Adventures of Froggie Animation.
Froggie is a frog that lives near a pond in a land surrounded by adventure. Up till now, the entire animation has revolved around Froggie and his quest to find the Raspberry Shrubs. Recently I asked myself, what will happen after he finds the Raspberry Shrubs? The entire story will come to an end leaving no room for a sequel. I will definitely have to develop this animation more to ensure it's marketability. Many successful animations revolve around a fully developed world. Matt Groening, creator of The Simpons, invented the town of Springfield. So I have begun the task of putting Froggie in an imaginary world. I haven't thought of a name for it yet, but in this land there will be many challenges. Froggie, our little green friend starts out as being a very self-doubting character, but when faced with a challenge, and with the support of the friends he finds along his journey, he will inspire us as he finds a way to overcome. There will be PIRATES! NINJAS! OUTLAWED BIKERS! DRAGON AND WILDEBEESTS! to confront and subdue in a land that was once a good place until it was invaded by these troublesome enemies.
There was once a railroad that could get you from the big city streets out to the outskirts of a empty and dry desert land, but it was broken. The people of this land depended on the train system to transport their goods and services. Now with a broken economy, many people are hungry and desperate. Deep within the heart of this land, the forest critters and Froggie gradually become aware of the collapsing world around them. Despite how small they are, they are filled with optimism. I anticipate this production to be a very successful and entertaining story that many even have a shot at an award from the Sundance Film Festival. I've just got to keep developing my ideas and go from there. Another thing I've been working on is my graphic design skills on Zazzle.
to upload and slap on my design work to t-shirts and other merchandise. I've also put high resolution photos of my paintings and illustration work on merchandise. So far, nothing has sold, but if nothing else, it's entertaining. I like to come up with goofy, humorous ideas for shirts. Even if nobody buys them, it keep me creative and inspired.

Well, that's all for now. I got to get back to work!

Animation By Stanimation Productions

2009-11-23T16:24:00.000-08:00

What is Animation?

I have lots of ideas. I am currently working on an animated music video for a band from Spain called Metropol. They saw the music video I did for Asocietyred, and decided that it would be great if I could make a video for them to submit to MGM for consideration on a record contract. So far, I have the animation storboarded and in Flash Professional 8 in animatic format. For those who don't know much about animation, allow me to explain what it's all about. Animation is a kind of video that is all hand drawn. Video and television is about 30 frames per second (29.7). That means that when you're watching a movie on a DVD you are actually watching 30 still images every second flashing before your eyes. Your brain processes the imagery and give you the illusion of movement. In film, a special camera is used to expose celluloid to light at 24 frames per second. The camera has a motor that pulls the film around a spool, and a predetermined shutter speed opens and closes to expose the celluloid to light. The Disney animators used to take pictures of their drawings and hand paint the film, which was a very tedious process. Now days the use of computers has greatly sped up productions time. The use of CGI (Computer Generated Images) 3D animation has introduced a stop motion meet cinematic style to the medium. In a 3D animation, the animator can position a character on the screen in 3 different directions: X, which is side to side, Y, up and down or Z, forward and back. The CG camera that captures and exports images in a variety of formats during the rendering process, can be placed in any position, and at any angle without the use of expensive equipment that would necessary to film a scene with actors and props. Personally, I like the style of Ray Harryhausen where creatures in animated movies where sculpted and engineered to perfection. I am also inspired by Chuck Jones's 2D animation style used in the WB comics of Bugs Bunny, Wilde Coyote and the Road Runner. I feel that the computer kills the life and spirit of the artist; taking away from the inspiration I need to stick with the project to the end. While I am using computer software to 2D animate my music videos, there are some things I hand draw using the pencil tool (part of the software that allows the artist to hand draw vector lines on the screen). Vector lines are resolution independent. Computer Graphics that are raster images can get distorted when increased in scale, but vector graphics use an algorithm to preserve the crispness and overall quality. In my current animation project for Metropol, I hand drew the storyboards with a graphite pencil, and scanned them into my animation software. Now I have to go over each frame to clean up my line work, and add color. Like a painting, I start with general visual information, and gradually build it up on a time line to the finished product. Storyboards are like a comic book only they have notes around the boxes that contain camera angle information. I like to start out with a plan, before I begin any a painting or an animation, but sometimes when I sketch I just draw the first thing I think of. In animation, an animator can decide weather to draw the major key frames that were pre-planned from a storyboard, or just draw the frames surreptitiously, adjusting scale, position or rotation of the character one frame at a time until the illusion that the character is alive is achieved. Each of these animation styles has a name. Drawing just the key poses, and refining the in-between frames later is called pose-to-pose, and drawing the frames one after another is called straight-ahead. Ideally a combination of these techniques is used to create realism. The Disney Animation Studio actually developed 12 distinct techniques to create realism in animation called the 12 Principles of Animation:

1. Squash and stretch

2. Anticipation

3. Staging

4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose

5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action

6. Slow In and Slow Out

7. Arcs

8. Secondary Action

9. Timing

10. Exaggeration

11. Solid Drawing

12. Appeal

Learn more about these techniques at http://www.animationtoolworks.com/library/article9.html

Well, that's enough animation talk for now. I've got to get back to work.

New Painting from Stanimation Productions

2009-11-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Broadway Plaza
36"X36"
acrylic on canvas
by Stan Levine

This painting took about three weeks to paint. I used a photograph by my wife, Ronda Levine who is a freelance writer and editor. I originally began the painting by covering the whole canvas with a sky cerulean blue. I often chose the basic atmospheric color for the painting to set the mood, and as a way of just getting into it without having to make any big design decisions so early in the project. I always begin with general elements in a painting before polishing in the final details. When I was a student at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now known as the California College of the Arts) in Oakland, I took a photography class with Chris Johnson as my professor. Having the experience of watching a photograph develop in the chemical bath has helped me to conceptualize my process with my artwork.
The painting got increasingly difficult to complete, because once all the basic shapes are in place, the challenge of capturing all the little nuances of the light and shadow that coats over all the shapes of various components in the painting. It was especially difficult to understand the spots of light that appear to be caressing over the shadows of the buildings on the lower right hand corner. It took many hours of patience, focus and experimentation to get the painting to a finishing point. This is the sort of painting I can see fitting in well on the decor of someone's dining room wall, or perhaps on the wall of a nice upscale restaurant.

Well, that's all for now. I got to get back to work!

Duffy's Tavern Acrylic Painting by Stan Levine

2009-10-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

This is a painting of Duffy's Tavern, located in Chico California. Chico is a little college town where my wife went to school to study Philosophy.
The acrylic painting on canvas is 18"X14."
It took about 2 days to complete, and I used a photo reference that my wife took with her Nikon digital camera. She is always taking pictures with her camera when we go on trips, and I like to paint landscapes using her photos as references. See my Mt.Diablo collection on my website at www.stananimation.net.

10 secons sketches

2009-10-18T21:12:00.000-07:00

Outside the art studio; out in the living world things move really fast. You can't ask the businessman who is already late for work to pose for a 10 minute life drawing. The solution is to get good at doing fast sketches with a black Sharpie Marker. I like these markers because they are permanent, and that forces me to make strong decisive lines in each drawing.
On the left is our cat, Lady Light. She is a Siamese kitten perching at the window sill, but she won't stay there for long. She likes to jump up and paw at things she sees outside the window. Lady Light never sits still for more than 10 seconds, unless she is sleeping. Even then, if you try to draw her when she is sleeping, it always seems like she can feel you studying her. She will wake up and run away to find a place of peace where she can rest undisturbed. To make the 1o second drawing you must have the awareness of a sniper. You have see your subject in the moment of whatever it's doing in that very instant that it's doing whatever it's doing it in. Your mind must be like a camera burning the image from your eyes into an everlasting impression in your mind, that lasts long after the cat has left the stage. You have to see the anatomy, and the size and shape relationships to get the feeling of the spontaneity of the subject's action in the drawing.
I will be doing a series of 10 second sketches of my cats in the months to come, and try to capture the essence of their personalities as a starting point for what may evolve into a series of acrylic paintings, or perhaps even a 2D, Flash animation.

Fiction Friday Challenge #122

2009-10-16T15:05:00.000-07:00

[Fiction] Friday Challenge #128 for October 30th, 2009

A couple of adults get dressed up for some Halloween fun but the night doesn’t go as planned…

I remember when I was 19 years old some friends came over to my parents house to party. We played Dungeons and Dragons and drank shots of Tequila. My dad was worried that the police would arrest him, but my mom was like hell it's Holloween, let the boys have some fun. Then we went out to the local cafe. One of Dave's friends drove my car, and I was in the back rocking my head like I was at a rock concert to some alternative rock station. Everything was all blurry, and they thought it was cool that I was drunk. I had never been that drunk before in my life. When we got there, my friends were out in the middle of the street directing the traffic. I was seeing doubles, and had to sit down. My head felt like a watermelon that could not balance on my shoulders. I put my head down in my arms on the table thinking that I could just pass out for the night here, but even though my eyes were closed I could still feel the world spinning. I felt like I was being flushed down a black hole. The spinning kept getting faster and faster until I just had to open my eyes again to get it to slow down. At some point I just knew that I was going to puke, so I got up and made a mad staggered rush for the bathroom in the cafe. Brown bile spilled out of my gullet into the toilet below me. I was on the floor now. My body was numb. I didn't care what was on the floor. My life was over now. I was so drunk and sick, I thought I might die. The door flew open and everyone was standing there shouting PUKE! PUKE! PUKE! I was touched that my friends thought I was cool for puking. I was glad that I could provide entertainment for them. I stared into the toilet water looking for answers as to what my destiny would be. I began to hallucinate. There were little animated cartoon men dancing around the bathroom, and in the toilet water a reflection of God appeared. In my head I could hear him speak. He said that I need to be careful about the decisions I make. That the course I am going is not where I am supposed to be. Then everything went dark, until I woke up the next evening on the couch of Dave's apartment. "It's about time you woke up man. We thought you were in a comma or something. Scared the sh*t out of us." I was alright...I thought. I went to the bathroom to put some cold water on my face. I looked in the mirror. My skin was pale. "Here man," Dave said. "Have some of this." He had made some Top Romin. Eating would be good. I felt better after. Everyone was smoking. I knew I shouldn't smoke, but I liked having friends that thought I was cool. It would be cool to smoke. Smoking was cool. I took that first cigarette that day, and lit it up with a Harley Davidson Zippo Lighter. It made a cool sound when the lid flew open. It was like a sword being unsheathed for battle, before the flame jumped up with a WOOSH. The paper crackled and turned bright orange, as I inhaled my first drag. The smoke invaded my lungs like a blanket being stuffed down my throat. I coughed for a few minutes. My friends laughed and took their drags all cool without coughing. I vowed to myself that one day I would be able to smoke as cool as them. Then a short fat woman took my arm, and forced me to make out with her. All the guys were watching. If I pushed her away, I would look gay, so I had to go all the way with her. She took me to her room. Their were candles everywhere. She was actually beautiful in the dark with the candles lighter up her skin all golden brown. Her head went down on my neck, and I felt pain. I tensed up, and endured for the sake of maintaining my cool. When she came back up to look at me, there was blood dripping from her mouth. She backed away naked and laughing. She was a vampire! I could see her sharp fangs, and she laughed at me pointing at me as if to remark at how innocent I was. I groaned and closed my eyes to sleep it off. The next evening I woke up on the couch again. My parents must have been worried sick about me. I looked for a phone around the apartment, but there was none in sight. All I saw were empty cigarette boxes, beer cans, and wine bottles all over the floor and counter tops. The place seem to be empty except for one man. He had long dark hair, and wore leather. With an out stretched hand holding a box of Marlbro Reds, he offered me a cigarette. I took one, and he lit it up. I didn't cough this time. "You've come a long way bro." The biker remarked. "Come on. I want to show you something." I followed him out to the parking lot where he stopped to stand by the coolest motorcycle I had ever seen. It was all black and shimmery, with Japanese letters near the speedometer. "What does that mean?" "It means warrior." He remarked. He offered me a helmet. I strapped it on. The bike started up with a roar. "Have you ever ridden before?" "No." I remarked. "Hold on tight, and what ever you do, keep your feet on the foot pegs." "Ok." The world blazed back as cold air rushed in through the helmet. My body was shaking with adrenaline. There was a tall bearded man on the street giving us the middle finger. We stopped. The biker drop kicked him in the chest, and the bearded man hit the ground with a thud. "Kick him." The biker advised me. "I don't want to." "Don't be a wuss." I didn't want to look weak in front of a warrior. We beat the man to death and drank his blood.
All this from one drink of alcohol. Let this be a lesson to all of you. Drink responsibly, and remember: It's not about being cool. It's important to be you, and stick to what you know is right.

What I've been working on

2009-10-16T14:34:00.000-07:00

Sunset On Civic Drive
9"x12" pastel painting
I made this in about 10 minutes. It was hard because the sun was setting fast. It's weird how time can pass so slow when you're not doing anything, and so fast when you're racing against it. The light constantly changed like somebody had with remote control on the sun was pulling the sun down like a dimmer switch on a dining room light. I didn't have time to show every detail. My main objective was to capture the way the light effected the street and the general street scene. I feel that I was highly successful in this painting. One of my finest works yet.
This one on the left here is the overlook on Muir Beach. I used a photo reference that my wife provided from her wonderful photography that she does on our romantic getaways. The painting is acrylic on canvas 18"x 14". Painting is something that comes naturally to me. I don't have to think too much about it. I just mix the colors and brush them on. I like to paint because it's exciting to create an imitation of life, or even to invent something purely fantastic from my imagination. Sometimes when I paint things don't go as I expect them to at first. Then something happens by accident that I like. I think, wow, I really like what's happening here, and I'll just try to create more of it. I like to move my body and have music on when I paint. I like to feel excited about what I'm doing and make it a fun enjoyable experience that will show long after I'm finished within the painting. Can you see the fun I had with this Muir Beach painting?

A month or so ago my mom asked me to paint something for her bedroom. She gave me a bag full of fabrics I could use as references, so that I could see the colors of the room. I wanted to make sure that I got all the colors in the room in the painting. Originally she wanted me to paint a Japanese Geisha sitting by a cherry blossom tree, but by the time I got the sunset in over the water with the land form in the foreground, it seemed that including a Geisha and a cherry blossom tree would make the painting too busy. I'm going to bring this painting over to my parent's house tonight. They will hang it up, and see how it feels in the room. If you need a custom painting for your house send me an e-mail, and we'll talk about it.

Love Remembered

2009-09-26T02:50:00.000-07:00

[Fiction] Friday Challenge #123 for September 25th, 2009

The house lights dim, the curtain goes up… you’re on.

Love Remembered

I can't think of what to say.
I forgot my lines, and everyone is staring at me waiting to see what I'll do.
My scene partner says "Ray what the hell is wrong with you?" In an annoyed, frustrated tone. I begin to improve the scene with the first thing that comes to mind.
"Uh..you're fat."
Her eyes widen as if she was a cat whose tail had just been stepped on.
"How dare you....How dare you call me fat. You're stupid!"
"I hate it when we fight."
"Me too."
"I love you."
"really?"
"Are you sure you wouldn't be happier with someone else?"
"I'm lucky I have you."
"Where's that coming from?"
"I'm a failure. I don't know why you married me."
"Please don't talk like this. You are talented."
"No I'm not. I'm stupid remember?"
"I didn't mean it. Come on let's have a drink and watch a movie honey."
"Yeah. A good drink will kill the pain."
Then we hug for what seems like an eternity. Her hair spray smells like coconut. I'm in love for real now.
"I love you."
"I love you too.
We kiss. Then I say "scene."
The crowd applauds, and what was once an anxiety attack is overcome by a sensation of excitement and accomplishment.
I had forgotten my lines, and had put on the greatest performance of my career.
After the show a fellow actor/friend approached me and said "Joey, your performance was outstanding! Would you be interested in trying out for the part of Dr. Drake Remoria in "Days Of Our Lives?"
"Ha ha..Good one Jim!"

Fiction Friday Challenge #122 Picture Prompt

2009-09-16T04:00:00.000-07:00

Fiction Friday Challenge #122: Picture Prompt: Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh

It was a calm sunny day that dwindled away they way ice cream melts in your bowl. What was once solid and full of texture became a sweetened liquid stagnant without motion. All the townspeople turned off their lights, and tucked the young into little beds. Just as Papa closed his eyes to rest for the night he heard a howl of wind rush up against the windows. It whistled and rattled around the house like an angry demon looking for a way in. One by one, the lights of the town turned back on illuminating a soft yellow glow from each of the little houses of this once sleepy quiet town. The wind danced and raced around the stars and through the sky like wild kittens at play. The towns people watched from their windows with growing curiosity. The dogs barked and a child's frightened eyes peered cautiously out from under the shelter of his mothers arms held tightly around his fragile body.

Stanimation Productions New Update

2009-09-11T08:25:00.000-07:00

On July 24, 2009 a heavy metal band from West Virgina messaged me on my Youtube Channel, Stanimatorblue to request that I collaborate by using their music in my animation. I recently responded by creating an animated music video to the song "Bl99ding Into The Sunset" It's a song about mortality,and the perpetual angst of not knowing what the purpose of ones life is.

On September 2, 2009 I entered an animation into the Aniboom/History Channel People Speak Animation Competition. The voting process has begun. The winner gets a cash prize of $35,000, and a further development deal with History and Aniboom. So far, my entry, "Brother Can You Spare A Dime," has a two star rating, and 68 views. Your vote could really help me out here, so please watch and vote. Than you!

On Labor Day, 9/7/09, I was invited to the Congregation B'nia Shalom Labor Day BBQ to draw caricatures. My wife video taped me doing one of the caricatures of a little girl with her parent's permission of course to be part of a series of video demonstrations of my drawing talent.

These videos can be viewed on Youtube on the Stanimatorblue Channel.

My wife and I also found a great book called How To Draw Dragons And Other Mythical Creatures by Emmett Elvin, available at Barnes & Nobel $7.98.

I have never seen a better book on the subject matter for such a great price. Emmett explains how to draw different kinds of dragons, a centaur, a chimera, Medusa, a phoenix, and many more classic mythical creatures using a step by step process that is illustrated in detail. The first step of drawing a dragon is to draw what is called the"line of action." This is like a stick figure only it should be drawn in the pose that the dragon is going to be in the drawing. Then he draws basic shapes over that. A sphere for the head, a cylinder for arms, and cone shapes for claws, etc. Then Emmett explains how to draw the details of each part of a dragon's anatomy.
As a caricaturist I draw with a sharpie marker; without the ability to erase. Emmett's process seemed counter intuitive to me at first, because I have always just drawn what I vision in my minds eye without all the planning and the construction lines. Using a number 2 pencil, I followed along with the exercises in this book. My first dragon drawing looked really messy, and I thought "This doesn't work. I'm going to just draw it my way." Then I ran into the problem of losing the pose. With caricatures all I draw is the face, which is far simpler than dragons. In fact, a caricature of anything is far simpler than the style of illustration Emmett demonstrates in his "How To Draw Dragons And Other Mythical Creatures," book. I found myself having to draw the line of action, and the construction drawing before adding in the details in order to get the super detailed look for the dragon drawing that makes it look convincingly real. I have uploaded my dragon drawings to Flickr here:

Then I used tracing paper to clean up my lines before scanning it in to Photoshop CS. The magic wand tool allows me to select all the negative space around the lines, so I can create a PNG file to import into Flash Professional 8. There's something about Flash that I find far superior to any painting/design application I have ever used before. The pencil tool has three modes: curved lines, straight lines, and freehand mode. Using the curved line mode makes each line so precise, you would think I used french curves to draft them in. The paint brush tool has a "paint behind" feature that will paint behind lines and brush strokes as if they were on a separate layer. Sections of your work can be grouped and pushed back and forward within layers. All of these features, not offered in Photoshop saves hours of time.
After importing my PNG of the cleaned up illustration of my dragon attack scene, I created a new layer and traced over the PNG with the pencil tool. Then I locked that layer, and made a new layer to add in color. The fire spraying out of the dragon's mouth lights up the knight's shield. Making the fire a "movie clip," allows me to access filters where I can blur the flames make them look more convincing. The knight's shield casts a shadow over him. Making the knight a movie clip, allows me to adjust brightness. Toning his shiny armor down gives me the look I'm searching for in this illustration.

You won't find this exact illustration in Emmett Elvin's book, because I have used the lessons I've learned from it to create my own original illustration. I have a hard time with just copying a drawing out of a book, unless it's my first time drawing in a new style. It took several attempts to achieve this level of proficiency in this illustration. I intend on developing my skills more with an ambition to use my skills to draw for role playing games online and children's book illustration.

I am always trying to hone my creative talent into something that will have commercial and public appeal. When you have a wedding how do you proclaim your love for your solemate so that it's perfectly clear to everyone how deeply in love you are to each other? A caricature can exaggerate the expressive features of your face such as eyes, lips or hair, but especially the nose or even the ears! Drawing these features in a way that says who that person is makes it clearer than it could ever be in any photographic medium without computer aide. When you have a caricaturist perform at your party event, you get to see the magic of the artist's creative process.
How do you show your grandfather how much you appreciate the fact that he is still alive on his 80th birthday? Giving information, music selections, photographs, and family video footage, I can create your very own custom 2D animation. This is like a caricature, only it comes to life on camera to tell everyone your grandfather's story or any story for that matter. Animation is the best way to show someone what's on your mind.
Stanimation Productions aims to provide all of these services (caricatures, custom illustration, design, and 2D animation) to help you reach your goals with your family and at the workplace for affordable prices that compete with the more well known studios in your area.

Myrial the Mermaid

2009-08-23T02:46:00.000-07:00

The assignment from http://writeanything.wordpress.com is to write 500 words based on this picture. I like doing these sorts of writing exercises because they help me to tap into my creative side, which is really valuable to my career as an artist.

Myrial the Mermaid
By Stan Levine

Eveleen was seven years old. She lived out in the country away from town with her grandparents in a little cabin by a lake. Eveleen was never aloud to be near the lake without an adult. The lake was cold, and people had drowned from hypothermia from being in the 20 degree water too long. Eveleen loved to swim. She could see the lake from the window in her room, and she liked to watch the sunset over it every evening. Sometimes she would wonder if there were mermaids that lived in the lake, or maybe even sea serpents. She had heard about the legendary Lockness Monster from her chapter books that her grandparents got for her from the library. Eveleen wasn't afraid of these things. She thought it would be cool if she could actually meet a real mermaid.

One evening as the sun set, she watched the lake from her room. Eveleen's grandparents had gone to bed early as they often did in the summer, because of the heat. Then she saw a tail splashing out of the water and what looked like a grown woman swimming around near the dock at the lake. Eveleen's heart skipped a beat. She knew she wasn't supposed to be at the lake alone, but she was compelled what she had just seen. She had to know that she wasn't just imagining things. Eveleen had thought she had seen mysterious things going on at the lake before, but every time she had been mistaken. Eveleen had developed a reputation for making up stories about the things she had thought she had seen at the lake, but this time she was prepared. She had brought with her a video camera that she bought with the money she had saved up over the years. She ran with a little awkward wobble as she wasn't the most coordinated of six year olds. She had the video camera recording at the dock by the lake when the mermaid surfaced right in front of her.
"Are you video taping me?" The mermaid asked.
"Yes," said Eveleen. "I hope you don't mind."
"Actually I do. I would appreciate it if you would put that away, and please don't show anyone."
"Aww...It's just that I've been telling people about you for years, and nobody believes me. Can't I have something to show them that I'm not just making all this up?"
"My name is Meryal, what's your name little lady?'
"Eveleen."
"Eveleen, I understand that you want to prove to people that you're not crazy; that you actually have seen a real live mermaid, but please take a moment to consider how this would affect my life. The last time someone got video footage of a mermaid, a group of scientists hunted down my mother and made a public spectacle out of her. The government had her locked away for years. I never did find out what happened to her."
Eveleen began to cry. "Oh..I'm so sorry! I didn't realize...My bad." She put the camera away in her bag.
"Tell you what." Meryal said."
"Don't tell anyone about me, and I'll give you the ability to breath underwater."
"Wow! That would be awesome!"
"Swear to me that you won't tell anyone about seeing mermaids, or show anyone you video...I don't want to see my fishy tail flappin about on Youtube, or I'm going to have to leave my home here and you would never see me again."
Eveleen was a lonely girl. There weren't any children to play with by the lake. It was just her grandparents and the other old people they knew. It was awesome to have a friend closer to her age. Eveleen promised not to tell anyone what she saw. Then Myryal held out her arms and said, "hold my hands, and I will give you the power to breath under water."
Eveleen was so excited about this opportunity that she threw all caution to the wind. She was not aloud to be by the lake alone, and she was definitely not aloud to talk to strangers by the lake, but Myrial was a nice mermaid.
Eveleen reached out to touch the mermaid's hands. Myrial gently grabbed onto Eveleen's hands. They were warm. Myrial drew Eveleen towards her. Then the mermaid's jaw unhooked, and her mouth got really big. Razor sharp teeth raced towards her, as the hungry beast pulled the child in. Blood splattered and sprayed all over the dock, and turned the water red. In the morning the patrolman found what was left of Eveleen's body. Her grandma was so upset, she had a heart attack and died. Eveleen's grandpa was stricken with rage. He was going to find out who did this to his precious grand daughter. Mr.Gratochia, Eveleen's grandfather had a lot of fishing friends that he assembled together to hunt down Eveleen's killer. They had all sorts of guns and explosives. They searched all over the lake with bait and traps, but they couldn't find anything.
Mr. Gratochia was getting very aggravated. Everyday after work, he would meet with his fishing friends at the bar, and drink until he passed out. His friends would have to carry him home, where he would wake up the next day on the porch with a headache.
That night, he decided to go hunting for the monster alone. He sat by the lake in a lawn chair on the dock with a twelve gauge rifle on his lap. As the sun set he saw a tail flap out of the water. He had already finished a bottle of peppermint schnapps, so he was slow on the draw. When he stood up, he lost his balance. The rifle went off in the air, as he fell back into the water. The mermaid devoured his fallen soul like a mad dog. His body flopped around like a rag-doll under the water, before the patrolmen found his body washed up with teeth marks all over his neck with his head missing.
A marine biologist was hired to study the bite marks. Dr.Green could not identify the animal that had killed Mr.Gratochia. Dr. Green took a special interest in this case. He had done a lot of research, and discovered the history of unexplained deaths that had occurred over the years by the lake. His reports convinced the military to set up explosive charges all over the surface of the lake. People around the lake had to evacuate. The government had seized the town by the lake. After the explosives went off several creatures were found, one of them was Myrial the mermaid, but nobody would ever know because the town had been closed off from the world by the government. To this day it remains as a secret base somewhere off the coast of New Mexico.

The End

Hide and Be Seeked

2009-08-22T03:56:00.000-07:00

Hide And Be Seeked
By Stan Levine

"One-Two-Three-Four-Five-Six-Seven-Eight-Nine-Ten. Ready or not, here I come!" I called out to the hiding children at Mathew's house. It was his birthday party. He was seven today. I was younger than him. The house was quiet. Some of the lights had been turned off, and it was dark. I didn't like the dark, because it was scary there. I could see shapes moving in the dark. Somewhere in between the space between space, i could see little tiny speckles of light clomping together to form shapes. I could see shadows of strange people lurking behind furniture. I walked into a bedroom, not knowing whose it was. Mathew had two older brothers, and a younger sister named Sally. Sally would have been my age, if she hadn't died of cancer last year. Suddenly the door gently closed shut. The room was pitch black, and I panicked. "Hey! Who closed the door?" There was the sound of laughing. "It's not funny! Open the door!" I screamed. The room got cold. I stumbled around blindly feeling out with my hands in front of my body for a wall. I had lost my orientation in the dark, and had no idea where the door was. "Don't be scared." The voice said. It sounded like a little girl's voice. "Let's have a tea party." It was Sally. I collapsed to the floor on my knees, and buried my head in my hands. "MAAAAAAAAAAAATHEEEEEEEEEEEEW!" I screamed in tears. Then something heavy fell, and shattered on the floor. I peaked out from a small crack I made between my fingers from my eyes, and saw the light shining out from beyond a door. I mustered together all of my courage and ran for it, but the door wouldn't open. I was trapped! "It's lonely here...Please don't go." The voice said. I stood still, and looked slowly over my shoulder. There was a glowing blue light hovering over the bed. "Come play with me." Then the furniture started to move again. "EEEEEEEEEEE!" She screamed, "Hide! They're coming for us." I dropped to the ground and crawled as fast as a lizard under the bed. There was stomping and howling and things in the room rumbled about. "It's Fred. He's a big Meanie. Don't let him find you, or he will hurt you to get to me." After a little while, the noises stopped. My heart pounded in my chest. The blue light glowed from under the bed. I saw her face. It was Sally. "Sally...Is it you?"
"Yes. It's me."
"What's it like....Being dead?" I had never spoken to a dead person before, so it took a little while to find the right words.
"It's cool. I can hear my Mommy's thoughts. She misses me. I'm sad here, and I'm afraid of Fred...That Meanie. Thank you for playing with me."
"Um..Sure."
Then she started singing some nursery rhyme as she disappeared. The door opened, and I left the room. Everyone sat around in the living room watching a movie when I walked in. Mathew said "Hey Ben, Where were you? We all got tired of hiding and we couldn't find you."
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The End

The Cave

2009-08-15T02:52:00.000-07:00

It was a scorching hot afternoon. The air quivered from the burning hot pavement devouring the moisture in the air. The best place to be on a day like that is a swimming pool, and that's where I was. I stayed underwater with my snorkel, viewing the blurry blue world, floating around. It was hard to move. Moving always in slow motion. Like a dream, deeper I swam. The deeper I sunk, the darker the blue world got, and the sound of bubbles escaping from my mouth tickled my face. It felt like flying. I forgot I was in water, and I began to breath in as if I had gills. There seemed to be no bottom to this pool, as I sunk deeper until the water was almost absent of all light. Then I could feel a current which seemed to pull me towards a cave ahead.

"Should I enter the cave?" I thought. "How do I know if I'll be able to find my way back home?"
Do you think I should enter the cave?
Would you enter the cave if it was you?

You decide.
If I get enough comments encouraging me to enter the cave, I will continue this blog. We will find out what happed if I had entered the cave.
If there are no responses or responses that discourage me from having entered the cave, then this is the end of this story.

Fiction Friday: "Hello Jones"

2009-08-15T01:08:00.000-07:00

So there I was in this bar. I can't remember the name of it, but it was on the corner of somewhere near Hyde St, San Francisco. The place was so packed that I had to press my shoulders up against people to get a drink. There were a few couples, and some ladies doing their night out thing. There was a straw-haired woman who gave me a glance from the corner of her eye. I walked up and said what I always say; my opening line,
"How's it going?"
"Good."
"What's your name?"
"Versilie."
With all the noise around me, I had no idea what she had just said.
"That's pretty. Where are you from?"
"I'm from the midwest."
"That's cool. Are you a student?"
"Yeah.."
It was like pulling teeth to get a conversation going.
"What-cha studying?"
"Micro-biology."
"Okay, now were getting somewhere!"
"Excuse me?"
"Oops...Did I just say that out loud?"
"Yeah. You did."
"So what is micro-biology?"
"I got to use the ladies room."
I began to think over the conversation in my head. She came here to relax, not to regurgitate meaningless jargon that she's been learning from her classes at SF State. When she comes back, I've got to get her talking about something she would actually want to talk about, or even better, just ask her if she wants to come back to your little studio apartment for a drink.
I waited by the bar..in the bar. Amusing that I'm by the bar in a bar...How many of these Jack Daniels have I had? I tried to count, but lost track after four. Suddenly, I realized that I had to pee. I walked back past the tables in search of a restroom. There were guys playing pool. A brunette hung her breasts low over the pool table to take her shot. Her boyfriend glared at me as if he was ready to snap his stick over my neck and use the two broken halves as stabbing weapons into both of my eyes. I decided to avert my eyes, that I would continue to enjoy seeing because I like being able to see. The Men's room was clearly not anywhere around here. Then I saw these stairs that went up to this balcony inside the bar. "This is a cool place." I remarked. I used the urinal. Washed my hands. "Damn! No paper towels." I waved my hands back and forth in the air to dry them. It helped a little but not enough. The sensation of having wet hands was really bothering me. "What do I do now?" I thought to myself. "If I dry them on my pants, then people will think I wet myself, and if I don't dry them, I might have to shake someones hand, and then they'll be grossed out by my wet hand. I continued to wave them back and forth, when the toilet flushed from behind a urinal. A moment later, the stall door opened, and this little thin guy dressed in black jeans, and a t-shirt walks out, and sees me waving my hands.
"Dude...Chill out man." He remarks.
He's right though. Why sweat the small stuff. So what if my hands are still wet. No. I remember one time when I had to shake someone's hand when they came out of the bathroom. It really bothered me, but am I the only one?
Feeling very awkward at this point, I decide to just bolt out of the bathroom, and when I opened the door, there were people everywhere. I can't squeeze through. I looked over the railing, and tried to measure the distance to the floor. It's dark, so I can't be sure. Maybe 9 to 10 feet. I can do it. I climbed over the railing and jumped down. The wind rushes past my face. The world is a blur as the darkness of the unknown distance to the floor rushed towards me. I felt the tile floor make contact with my running shoes. I flexed up my legs for the impact. The crushing force is so great, I fell over to my hands. Everyone stoped talking. The bar was silent. Everyone looked at me.
I didn'tt know what to say at that point. All I could think is that I've got to find a way out of here and fast. A bouncer blocked the exit. There was an open window next to the exit. I ran to it, and hurled my body through it. My body moved with the strength and agility of a cheetah into the darkness of the night. I turned left to continue my escape, but the back handed fist knocked me down to the ground. Three men dressed up in armani tuxedos stood over me. One took off his Rayband sunglasses and said
"Hello Jones!"

Ninjas At The Opera II

2009-08-10T00:52:00.000-07:00

Hello. My name is Adam Rock. I'm a computer programmer who just witnessed my wife, Celcelia kidnapped by ninjas at an opera. It's about 11:30pm now, and I just got a text message instructing me to go to the corner of 10th and Howard Street or the next time I see my wife could be in a body bag surrounded by police. Celcelia works for a secret task force team in the U.S Military. She is a highly skilled soldier, but it seems that her identity has been compromised as she has just been abducted by what I suppose are some of her competitors from her job. "Why couldn't I have married a doctor, or someone who lives a less risky life style?" The thought flies through my mind. "Cause then you'd be board in your cubical, living your fantasy life through video games....That and the fact that she has a rock'in tight body!" I get to my car. She's a black Suberu Impreza. She's not the fastest car, but she's got torque and she turns like she's on rails. I turn my key, and she fires up, like a demon waking up from the dead. The opera is all the way across town from 10th and Howard, so I've got to step on it. The wheels spin a little before bolting out of the garage so fast, the car lifts up into the air about half a foot. Oncoming traffic honks and wheels lock, sending white smoke and the smell of burning rubber into the warm summer night air. I turn, and the whole car drifts sideways, but I never loose control. There's some traffic up ahead, so I have to drive up on the side walk and run over a whole bunch of chairs and tables seated outside of a restaurant. A police car observes this from the other side of the street. I see its lights lite up like a Christmas tree in my side view mirror. I turn down an alley near 10th and Howard and stop. I climb up on top of my car, and up on a latter on an apartment building. I find an open window along side of the latter, so I jump out to it, and climb up and through it. A young couple are making out on a red leather couch. "Don't mind me, I'm just walking through!" I shout out as I leave their apartment. 10th and Howard is just on the other side of this building. I take the stairs down to the ground floor. I open the door slowly to scope out the scene. A dark shape moves in the corner of my eye. Something hits my head, and everything goes black. In the darkness of my unconsciousness I hear voices....
"Tell me where the nuclear missiles are or your husband dies."
"They are heavily guarded, so even if I tell you it won't make any difference."
"You're going to help me Mrs. Rock, or my minions will torcher you."
"Go ahead and torcher me. I will never succumb. "
"As you wish..."
There is a silence.
My eyes start to lift. At first everything is bright and blurry, and the room is spinning. Then, gradually the room comes into focus. I am on a cement floor, and Celcelia is tied to a wooden chair. There is a white table in front of the room, and a mirror on the wall. Our captor is dressed in black robes. He is studying the contents of a case on the table in front of him. He walk over to my wife with a shot to drug her. Gunshots echo from somewhere outside the room. The ninja stops in his tracks. He unsheathes his sword, taps a few of the numbered keys on a console on the wall. The door unlocks, and he exits the room. I stand up, and untie my wife. We kiss. It feels good. Real good. Like the first time.
"I love you.." It escapes from my lips.
"I love you too!" She answers. "Are you okay?" She asks.
"I am now."
"I want you so bad..."
There are more gun shots, and sounds of fighting outside the room. We start making out, and wind up on the table making hot passionate love. The sound of people on radios are heard just outside the door.
"Is there anyone in there?" A woman's voice shouts.
The table is making pounding noises on the ground from the passion of our love dancing.
"No, that's just the sound of my jack-hammer!" I joke.
My wife breaks up into hysterical laughter. I can feel her body bounce as she laughs. I am so turned on.
"Well....Stop jack-hammering. We're coming in!"
There is a bang on the door and several people in SWAT gear barge in.
Someone on a radio announces that the area is secure.
We're safe....For now.

The End

Ninjas At The Opera

2009-08-08T03:32:00.000-07:00

Dark cobalt-gray clouds swept past the bright yellow moon above the opera-house one warm summer night. A throng of theater junkies, and connoisseurs of great live performances lined up around the block like penguins in their tuxedos and black dresses. The usher showed my wife and I to our seats in the middle of a row towards the back on the ground floor. As soon as everyone was seated, the lights began to dim, and the orchestra began to play. The curtains lifted and the performers began to throw their strong powerful voices into the air like thunder. The couple in front of us leaned back, and the man put his arm around his date, and grabbed onto my wife's nee. My wife is a freakishly strong woman who studied martial arts ever since she was nee-high to a grasshopper. She had served in the Army, and had been transferred to a secret division of the US Government that cannot be named. She reached over with her hand, and pressed down on one of the veins on the top side of the man's hand. The man jumped a little, and pulled his hand away. He gave my wife a look, which was returned by a sinister glare of vengeance. The man whispered something to his partner, and they both stood up and left silently into the darkness of the theater. During the intermission we stretched in the isle. I never did like crowds. All those people rushing about at once made me fearful of being trampled to death in the event of a disaster, but I really had to use the bathroom. The pain in my side felt as though my insides had been lit on fire.
"Cecelia, I've got to use the bathroom."
She was well aware of my phobia of crowds, and she walked with me to find the Mens Room. When we found it I walked in cautiously. I had to maneuver around a blind corner to get to the urinals. Just as I approached the corner, a man dressed in all black robes with a sword strapped to his back rushed out at me. I swiftly glided back against the wall to dodge the shadowy figure, and he flung his leg around at me with a round house kick. I blocked his kick using moves my wife had taught me, and flung my hand out so fast my clothes made a rippling noise, breaking his neck on impact when the base of my palm impacted on the back of his head. The masked warrior collapsed in a heap on the carpet, and I stepped around to continue my quest to the urinal. The bathroom seemed unusually empty. I had anticipated at least twenty people lined up against the wall breathing over each others necks waiting to use the urinals. I hate public restrooms. They have got to me one of the most unsanitary places to be in public, but they are a necessity. Trying to put the incident of being attacked aside for the moment I forced my sphincter to relax, and relieved myself of the bottle of water I had drunk an hour before the show. But my adrenaline levels were pumping my heart like a fat kid on a trampoline. Who was the masked attacker? Is this part of the opera? Is this some sort of retaliation for my wife's aggression towards the man with the wondering hands? As these questions race through my mind, the light against the tile walls moves. My eyes focus on the reflections on the wall, and I see five masked human figures carrying various ninja weapons. They are stalking closer to me as I finish off. His sword is posed to decapitate me, and I strike with my foot as I zip up my zipper. The ninja is flown back, and passes out after smashing his body against a mirror behind him. The other ninjas side step to avoid being hit my their own. The remaining four are surrounding me. The one to my right is twirling nunchuks around, the taller one next to him has little stabbing weapons called sais. The next one over has a staff ready to strike, and the last one on the left is getting ready to fire a crossbow. Just then there is the screaming war cry of my wife. She comes down from a jump in the air, snapping the crossbowman's neck. The one with the staff strikes at her head, but she ducks, and moves in with an uppercut that breaks his jaw. She grabs his staff and pivots it under both of his arms. With a twist, I can hear both of the ninja's shoulders being dislocated. He drops to the ground in agony, as the one with the sais and the one with the nunchucks hide behind a stall.
"Are you okay honey?" She asks
"I'm alright, but what the hell is going on here?"
"I don't know but the intermission is almost over. If I miss a second of this opera, I'm going to be really pissed!"
I walked over to the exit, and she took the staff, and threw it so hard it went through the aluminum metal of the stalls, and knocked out the last of the ninjas that were in hiding. The two of the remaining ninjas collapsed into each other by the blow of the staff. One had fallen to a resting place on the toilet seat, while the other one hit the cold, urine-wet floor, knees first before falling face first into the other ones lap.
We had just made it back to our seats in time as the orchestra began to play. When the show ended everyone stood up, clapped, hollered and whistled out to the performers. My wife and I stood there with them clapping along, but all the time watchful for more ninjas.
There was a chandelier above us that neither of us noticed. The crowd began to move towards the exits. Just then, a shadowy figure swung down from a rope, picked up my wife and disappeared somewhere up and beyond the balcony.
I shouted my wife's name only for the chatter of the masses to swallow up my cry. I stood there in panic now, as there was nothing I could do, but I knew that she had a dangerous job, and that she was a highly skilled professional. I just hoped that she would be okay.
Then there was a call on my cell phone. It was on vibrate, and it buzzed like a pack of hornets. I grabbed it out of my jacket pocket. There was a text message.
"MEET ME AT THE CORNER OF 10TH AND HOWARD STREET OR THE LADY DIES" it said.

TBC

Inspiration: Where Does It Come From?

2009-08-04T03:46:00.000-07:00

I recently became a member of a social networking site for artists
www.amateurillustrator.com

http://www.amateurillustrator.com/galleries/index.php?cat=16706

Last week, I was just getting to know the other artists on this site through the forum, and I was introduced to Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity, a podcast on www.ted.com. Elizabeth said in the video that creativity comes from a divine spirit. The Greeks called it a daemon, a sort of muse that would be the source of inspiration to an artist's work. Sometimes I'm up until the break of dawn working on a creative project that I feel will be a success. Then I publish it to Youtube, or send it to be reviewed by a potential employer. If I am rejected, rather than excepting full responsibility, and spending the rest of the week in depression I just accept the fact that the divine breath of the angels of genius wasn't strong enough to make it work. If it becomes a phenomenal hit, and sells for a thousands of dollars, rather than put the pressure on by expecting the same results on the next project, I just give thanks to my daemon for giving me the inspiration to have done such a great job, not knowing if I will ever do such great work again. I have to accept that its just not something in my power to produce every time I pick up that paintbrush; that I alone can not be a great artist, but it is something outside of myself that I have to tap into to achieve success. All I can do is be here at my easel everyday ready to create whatever comes to my mind, and I hope that whatever it is, has genius in it. In a sense, being an artist is a spiritual journey. A quest to be part of that act of creation that defines all things in our imagination.
So now you might be thinking something like, "Okay...So how do I do that?" It's not something we can control really, but it helps to be open. The first step is to believe that anything is possible. The more open we are to new situations and ideas about things, the greater a chance we have of finding inspiration in our work as artists. Being inspired is like being possessed. When Michael Jackson danced his heart out on that movie screen, there was something Godlike in him. Great art comes from powerful creative energies that we allow to take over our bodies. Once the spirit takes you, you are no longer in control of when you eat, rest, or speak. You must surrender your will to the spirit as you are working, because it won't be there for long, and there's no telling if it will ever be there again, but if you are always welcoming the creative energy in your life by forcing yourself to see things in different ways than you would otherwise, then there is a strong chance that you will find brilliance in your work, and become a great artist.

Happy hunting! :)

Santa in San Francisco

2009-07-31T05:47:00.000-07:00

One day Santa Clause decided to visit San Francisco. He had heard that people where naughty down there. Every year he had entire books filled with the names of kids that wouldn't behave. He had a special computer that could see what all of the pigeons could see, so he used the birds as spies. Eight year old Billy would beat up the little kids on the playground at school, and seven year old Sally would always be putting her gum in other kids hair in the restrooms. Santa had had enough of it! He came down from the sky on his sled with his reindeers ringing the bells like a troop of soldiers at war. He tied them to a tree in the parking lot and stormed into a classroom and shouted "I've had enough of your misbehaving!" The teacher was right in the middle of teaching a math lesson when he barged in. The classroom got quiet. You could hear the sound of the clock on the wall ticking, TICK-TICK-TICK. The ticking echoed a little, and it reminded Billy of the sound the paddle would make on his hind when he got sent to the principal's office once a week. Santa's cold blue eyes combed the room for any eye-rolls, and he locked onto Sally. Her jaw dropped in disbelief as he approached her slowly. He big black boots made a hard knocking noise against the tile floor.
"Excuse me sir!" Said Mrs.Grophslonovich. "Do you have permission to be here?"
Santa stoped dead in his tracks. He was totally caught off gaurd. Nobody in thirty years ever challenged his authority to go anywhere. His head turned around slowly.
"Excuse me?" Said the white bearded giant.
"You can't just barge into a classroom without permission. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Mrs.Grophslonovich siad authoritativly.
"Alice," he called her by her first name. "I know all about you..." The color in her face lifted like an eraser just wiped it all away. "You would best not interfer with official Santa business if you know what's good for you."
"Oh, my God!" Alice remarked. "Ms.Caddle get security," she said gasping for air and swallowed her heart into her stomach.
"Yes mam," the teacher assistant stood up from her chair and head to the door.
When she had left, Santa walked up to Alice, and she watched and she steadily pivoted around him to be closer to the kids. Santa now stood alone at the front of the class, where Mrs.Grophslonovich used to stand to teach her pupils.
"Listen everyone...." Said Santa. "I know all about the bad things you have been doing every year. I have tried to encourage you to improve your behavior by not giving you the presents you ask for Christmas each year, but somehow you keep getting them anyway." The class started to laugh at Santa now, for they all figured he was just some duranged psicho in a Santa suit.
Then Santa brandished a gun, and shot everyone in the classroom. The gunshots echoed all through out the playground. The birds took off flying to save thier lives. The children all lay in a lifeless heap on thier desks. Blood flowed from thier bodies collecting into pools on the cold tile floor. Santa stood there to whitness the aftermath of his actions. "My God! What have I done! My children! My children!!!" He shouted. Just then a police officer cocked his gun at Santa's head, as he had snuck silently in. "Drop it or I'll drop you!" The San Francisco Police Officer shouted at Santa Clause. Santa turned around, and put his hand out to grab the gun out of the officer's hands. The gun fired, and Santa droped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
The police officer had killed Santa, and that is the true story of how Santa Clause died.

The End

Making Pancakes...The Movie!

2009-07-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Making Pancakes
by Unknown Author

"Six year old Brandon decided one Saturday morning to fix his parents pancakes. He found a big bowl and spoon, pulled a chair to the counter, opened the cupboard and pulled out the heavy flour canister, spilling it on the floor.

He scooped some of the flour into the bowl with his hands, mixed in most of a cup of milk and added some sugar, leaving a floury trail on the floor which by now had a few tracks left by his kitten.
Brandon was covered with flour and getting frustrated. He wanted this to be something very good for Mom and Dad, but it was getting very bad.

He didn't know what to do next, whether to put it all into the oven or on the stove and he didn't know how the stove worked! Suddenly he saw his kitten licking from the bowl of mix and reached to push her away, knocking the egg carton to the floor. Frantically he tried to clean up this monumental mess but slipped on the eggs, getting his pajamas white and sticky.

And just then he saw Dad standing at the door. Big crocodile tears welled up in Brandon 's eyes. All he'd wanted to do was something good, but he'd made a terrible mess.. He was sure a scolding was coming, maybe even a spanking. But his father just watched him.

Then, walking through the mess, he picked up his crying son, hugged him and loved him, getting his own pajamas white and sticky in the process!

That's how God deals with us.. We try to do something good in life, but it turns into a mess. Our marriage gets all sticky or we insult a friend, or we can't stand our job, or our health goes sour.

Sometimes we just stand there in tears because we can't think of anything else to do. That's when God picks us up and loves us and forgives us, even though some of our mess gets all over Him.

But just because we might mess up, we can't stop try ing to 'make pancakes' for God or for others. Sooner or later we'll get it right, and then they'll be glad we tried...

I was thinking and I wondered if I had any wounds needing to be healed, friendships that need rekindling or three words needing to be said, sometimes, 'I love you' can heal & bless! Remind every one of your friends that you love them.. Even if you think they don't love back, you would be amazed at what those three little words, a smile, and a reminder like this can do.

Just in case I haven't told you lately... I LOVE YA!!!
Suppose one morning you were called to God; do all your friends know you love them?
Send this to everyone you love, and send it back to the person who sent it to you.. And never stop 'making pancakes."

This is the story that has made its way all over the internet. It's on Facebook, blogs, chat forums, and now it has come to Youtube!

Here is a link to the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px19H8n-Sh0

Making Pancakes is now on Youtube on the Stanimatorblue Channel.
There are also some great merchandise available that features the artwork of this heart warming story on Zazzle.com. Here is the link for that:

http://www.zazzle.com/making_pancakes_t_shirt_2-235062493931808480

I am a freelance, independent artist. This is what I do for a living. The work I do is the "Pancakes," I bring to you. If you like my work feel free to download it if you know how, but please make a donation. Your donation is a most cherished "Pancake." Give what you feel is right. A pancake for a pancake.

Thank you for your support!

Click here to make your donation

Stan Levine

Domain Confusion

2009-07-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Hello Stanimation fans!
I recently discovered a domain name problem that I wish to disclose to everyone to avoid any confusion this may have caused my loyal clients. When I search for "STANIMATION," there are many results, but there are 2 that are very similar in name. Let it be known that www.stanimation.net is not my website. It is Stanislas Hebette's from France does CGI (computer generated Imaging) 3D modeling. Although I am familiar with the tools and techniques of his work, this is not what I do. My website is www.STAN ANIMATION.net (only without the spaces.) www.stananimation.net. You will know if your at the right website if you see the blue and orange circular design on the Stanimation Productions homepage. When you search for stanimation, look for Stanimation Productions. Stanimation Productions takes you to www.stananimation.net. STANIMATION goes to the wrong site!!! If you see a whole bunch of CGI work and French writing then you're looking at Stanislas's site, not mine. Please make sure you have the right website when looking for my work, or you will be wondering why you can't find my Mt.Diablo Paintings, caricatures, or 2d Flash animation. You won't even be able to find this blog! If you look at the Google Search Results for "Stanimation," you will see a BBB Review of Stanimation Productions in Walnut Creek, CA 6th down from the top of the first page. This is a hyperlink to the Better Business Bureau Reliability Report for Stanimation Productions. My freelance illustration business has been a BBB Accredited business since 12/04/2008. It has an A- rating, and it has no customer complaints. BBB assigns ratings by evaluating businesses in various categories. Click here to learn more about BBB Ratings.

Buy a 2010 Mt.Diablo Paintings Calendar by Stan Levine on Zazzle!

2009-07-14T17:04:00.001-07:00

Mt.Diablo Paintings by Stan Levine 2010 Calendar by stanimator
More Calendars from zazzle

Bench Portrait By The Grand Canyon

2009-07-07T04:23:00.001-07:00

A Bench Portrait By The Grand Canyon

This is an acrylic painting by Stan Levine (me) 18"x 14." I have painted with acrylics on a variety of sizes, but I am most confident painting on this size of canvas. I always use a photo reference when I paint, because it helps me to create the illusion of realism. While some aspects of my work are photo-realistic, others are more impressionistic. The couple sitting on this bench is my wife and I on our honeymoon. We met in high school when we were very young. I was only 17, and she was 15. We fell in love, and we wanted to get married, but our parents thought it was too soon. Our relationship continued to intensify until our parents were forced to break us up. We each went on our own separate paths. I went to the California College to the Arts in Oakland California to study film, video and performance art, while Ronda, my wife studied philosophy. It was later on in our lives when we re-connected online, and later rekindled our relationship when I had to honor of flying out across the country to see my true love for her 30th birthday.
Sparks flew, and a year later we got married. We went to the Grand Canyon of Arizona from Las Vegas using a hired tour guide. It was a very strenuous 6 hour drive with very little stops except one at McDonnolds for breakfast. Lunch was not until we actually got to the canyon. Ronda was feeling faint. Then it got cold fast as the sun set. It was beautiful, but a very exhausting trek. The Grand Canyon is a very dangerous place to stand. Many people have died and continue to die at this tourist hot spot. The canyon itself is so beautiful, that many people seem to be drawn to its edge to get a good photo and for the adrenaline rush of having that human experience of standing as close as possible to the edge of what would seem life itself; a mystical and spiritual place where life ends and something else begins.
Ronda took many photos of the Grand Canyon, and I really like the subject matter because it deals with something that is very beautiful and deadly at the same time.

Before I begin a painting, I like to start by drawing a pen and ink illustration. This process helps me to plan out the composition, and make decisions about value that I will later use in the painting when I mix the colors. In this painting, the background is far away, against the horizon. The colors are desaturated by adding gray to the orange, and cobalt blue. The foreground consists of the bench and my wife and I. The colors used for these elements must be sharp and in focus. This is achieved by keeping a high level of contrast. Light colors are accompanied by dark colors and shadows to help the forms to pop out in 3 dimensions, and there is more detail placed here as well. The hardest part of painting is knowing when its finished. Sometimes less is more. In the photo reference, and in the pen and ink illustration, the bench is chained into the ground, but I chose not to show this in the painting because I thought it would crowd up the composition too much. Paint is powerful in that it expresses energy with color and texture with brush strokes. If it gets too busy, it can be disturbing to look at which is ok if that is the intention. In this painting I was looking for a sense of balance. I want to show you a glimpse of the canyon's beauty, while holding you back by putting my wife and I on the bench as the center of focus. My wife's posture conveys warning, while my posture conveys protection and safety. The space on the right gives us a way out, so we do not get the feeling like we are trapped. There is a great flow of elements, color, and value in the composition. I have another photo reference lined up for another Grand Canyon painting that I hope to get started on in the near future.

An Artist's Writing Exercise

2009-07-03T03:42:00.000-07:00

My wife found these exercises in a book called "How To Get Started Selling Your Art," by Carole Katchen.
The first writing exercise is to confront your fears. So here it goes:

1. If I become an artist, I will have to: live a life that lacks structure. I won't know when I'll wake up or when I'll go to bed, or if I'll have the money to keep the lights on at the end of the month.
2. If I become an artist, I will only: be viewed upon by others as an unemployed bum taking up space and valuable resources in a overpopulated down sized economy.
3. If I become an artist, I will never: build a space shuttle, or be anything else that would require a different skill set, because being an artist will be the prime focus of my professional life.
4. If I become an artist, no one will: No one will truly understand the way I view the world as I exist in it. I will be alone in my perceptions and in my process of how I create the art I make as a physical form from that which was once only a thought of mental visualization in my mind.
5. If I become an artist, everyone will: Everyone will expect me to die of starvation in my car that I'll be living in alone with water bottles filled with my urine.
6. If I become an artist, people will think: That I am some kind of criminal conspiring against them in some unknown way, or that I can't be trusted because they won't consider being an artist a respectable occupation.
7. If I become an artist, people will be afraid: That I will murder them and chop them up into tiny pieces and stuff them into a 'Hello Kitty' suitcase, or that I will end up as a male prostitute on Hollywood Blvd.
8. If I become an artist, I will lose: my sanity when I become famous, trash hotel rooms, and that the power of popularity and influence over people will corrupt me into something ugly and perverse.
9. If I become an artist, I will have to give up: Any hopes or dreams that I had of anything else I ever wanted to do for a living.
10: If I become an artist, my friends will: laugh at me and vandalize my property.
11: If I become an artist, my family will: lecture me until they talk me out of it, and into some lame minimum wage, no brainer retail job, or they will expect me to use my artistic talent to serve them for free at every occasion in their lives.
12. If I become an artist, my life will be too: chaotic, stressful and uncertain.

This next writing exercise is to consider how you'll feel if you don't become an artist.
1. If I don't become an artist, I'll never: realize my full potential.
2. If I don't become an artist, I'll have to: go back to school for another 3 to 5 years to learn another trade.
3. If I don't become an artist, I can: beg for money on the streets for a living, or just do nothing except sleep, eat and watch tv all day while my wife does all the work.
4. If I don't become an artist, I might: end up working retail for the rest of my life wondering what I might have achieved had I became an artist.
5. If I don't become an artist, I'll regret: not doing what I truly love to do for a living.
6. If I don't become an artist, I'll be glad: that I'll have a chance to find another career doing something more conventional.
7. If I don't become an artist, I'll think: that I'm a total loser for quitting on a dream that I've had since I was a child.
8. If I don't become an artist, I'll wish: that I could be 15 years younger, so I could go back to school and learn a trade in computer science.
9. If I don't become an artist, I'll always: feel that if I had that I would have been happier with myself.
10. If I don't become an artist, I'll be able to: have lots of time to rethink my life and decide what I want to do for a career, and how that will affect my life and those around me.
11. If I don't become an artist, I'll never be able to: look at a movie, a painting or any work of art without being reminded of the opportunity I gave up.
12. If I don't become an artist, I'll feel: really really bad! :(

Wow, so I guess I should continue the art thing. I really like being an artist because it allows me to use my mind in a way that makes me think about things in ways that I wouldn't in any other situation. When I create art, I always feel like something wonderful is happening.

The Mt.Diablo Collectors Series is Completed!

2009-06-24T23:35:00.000-07:00

This is one of 12 Mt.Diablo Paintings titled "Deerhill Road" 36" X 48."

"Deerhill Road," reaches through Lafayette, California. Many painters have found their inspiration at the vista points along this stretch. However, many of the artists do not include the freeway scene in their painting, opting for a more natural look. Stan Levine successfully meshes the serene landscape with the business of everyday life in California's East Bay.

Mount Diablo is viewablt from almost any location in the East Bay. Having lived in the area for 30+ years, Stan Levine was inspired by the beautiful sites of this "Devil's Mountain." After hiking many trails and searching for the perfect view, he created this series of twelve paintings. Six of these paintings feature views of the mountain form around the East Bay while the other six feature views while hiking the mountain itself. Each painting started out as a pen and ink drawing before Stan put the paintbrush to the canvas.

You can buy a 2010 calendar that features these paintings from zazzle.com, or if you just want to buy a framed print of one or two of these paintings you can do so at Deviantart.com. The original paintings will be exhibited at a gallery in the near future, and they too are for sale. If you are interested in purchasing an original painting of Mt.Diablo by Stan Levine, visit www.stananimation.net, and click on contact to send me an e-mail.

Mt.Diablo Paintings by Stan Levine 2010 Calendar by stanimator
More Calendars from zazzle

The Adventures of Froggie Continue

2009-06-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

The Adventures of Froggie Continue

"The Adventures of Froggie," is an animated short created and animated by Stan Levine that has just been updated with the sequel to where we left off last time.

Check out "the Adventures of Froggie," created and animated by Stan Levine, copyright 2009, on Youtube.

Join the Stanimation Productions Fanclub

2009-05-29T01:10:00.000-07:00

When you join Stanimation Productions Fanclub, you will be first to know of any new developments that are going on within the company, and you will have a direct influence on what goes on within the company as you share your thoughts and opinions with each other in the various discussion forums.

It's free, so what are you waiting for? Join today :)

http://stanimationfanclub.myfreeforum.org/

First Publication!

2009-05-21T14:42:00.000-07:00

The political cartoon I was commissioned to draw for Kyle Newton at Galaxy Web Designs was recently published online. Here is the link:

www.ecigwars.com

This is my first of what will be many publications of illustrations I will be doing for the web and for newspapers and magazines.

At some point I hope to have a syndicated comic strip in a newspaper, books and an animated television show. So stay tuned to this blog of Stanimation Productions for the latest news of my career success!

Mt.Diablo Landscape Paintings

2009-05-17T02:32:00.000-07:00

"A Rainbow On Mt.Diablo"
18" X 14"

This is the 10th of 12 acrylic landscape paintings I have been developing that feature the East Bay's Mt.Diablo. This painting took 3 hours to complete from start to finish, and I have documented my process on video tape. The video will be edited into a 5 minute montage that will give fans of my work a glimpse of how I created this beautiful landscape painting. The video will be viewable for free on Youtube at a later time. There are only 2 more paintings to go. The next one will be another 18" x 14," but the last one will be the grand finale panoramic view painted on a 36" X 48" canvas. These Mt.Diablo paintings have recently gained recognition as my work was mentioned by Associated Content Writer, Ronda Levine published an article mentioning it among other famous artists that enjoy painting Mt.Diablo.
Mount Diablo State Park
This article by Ronda Levine describes Mount Diablo State Park, located in Contra Costa County, California.
http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/1721828/mount_diablo_state_park.html

See the making of this painting on Youtube:
Painting Mt.Diablo

The Chinese Zodiac Trading Cards

2009-05-15T23:30:00.000-07:00

In December 2008, graphic designer Cedric Cheng and I meet at a near by coffee shop to work on a project together. The concept is to create a collectible trading card and market it to potential consumer hot-spots. I volunteered my illustration talent for this project by providing illustrations of all 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals, while Cedric worked on the design of the trading card itself.

Introducing The Chinese Zodiac Trading Cards
created by Stan Levine and Cedric Cheng

For more information about Cedric Cheng, check out his website at: www.cedriccheng.com
http://www.cedriccheng.com/index2.html

Mt. Diablo Landscape Painting Number 9 Completed

2009-05-11T16:16:00.001-07:00

"A Path On Mt. Diablo"
18" x 14"

This is the 9th of 12 Acrylic Landscape paintings to feature Mt. Diablo in a series. I began painting number 9 on Thursday, May 7 2009 with a thick coat of Gesso. Then I mixed all the colors I would need before beginning the painting. I added a layer of brown and rendered the trees lines with green. To get the mountain shapes in the distance, I used a dry brush lightly coated in green, then grayish blue, and white. I really enjoy showing the subtleties; like the way the atmosphere reflects its sky blue light in the cast shadows on the ground. I always learn something new about painting as I explore different ways to use my brushes and paints to define light and forms in each painting. As the painting gets closer to completion I stand back try to get a sense of the mood of the painting. I ask myself, "what does this painting need..."
It might be that the shadows need to be darker or lighter, or more of a highlight on the edges of the trees to show that the sun is on them keeping them warm and happy. But if I want to communicate a sense of danger or anxiety in the painting, I might consider a different tactic, such as the way I painted "The Cliff Edge of Mt. Diablo."

Mt.Diablo Painting # 7 of 12 Completted

2009-05-04T14:52:00.001-07:00

The Cliffs Edge of Mt.Diablo
24" x 30"

I started out with a thick layer of gesso. Then I covered the whole canvas with a light viscosity of cobalt blue, medium gray, and a little titanium white. Then I blocked in the land formations by adding orange to the blue, and green mixed with gray and a touch of yellow. Once this completely dried, I blocked in the foreground cliff edge shape in a light brown color, and gradually added more shapes in from lightest to darkest. The little rocks and fine details were finessed in last. I always begin every painting with big, general, non-specific shapes, and work gradually into more specific shapes. Every Mt. Diablo painting was painted using a photo reference that provided by my beloved wife, Ronda.
Ronda Levine has superb eye for color and composition. I often consult with her on my work, and she always provides me with a brutally honest critique of my work. I see constructive criticism as something that can be hurtful at times, but in the long run it is a priceless gift to the artist that strives to achieve a masterpiece of perfection. Visit: http://www.writingresearchediting.com/
to see Ronda's website and learn more about how she can help you with her talents as a writer/research specialist and editor.

e-portraits

2009-04-28T18:33:00.001-07:00

e-mail me a photo of someone, a friend, your pets, a car or your motorcycle, and I will draw it for you, scan it in, and e-mail back.

This service costs $2.00
Please inquire by e-mail for details.
Visit www.stananimation.net for more information.

What is Stanimation Productions???

2009-04-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

I am a fine artist that dapples in commercial art every now and then. My paintings serve to enlighten your surroundings wherever you may be...In the office, they may help promote teamwork, determination and hard work, and at home a sense of peace of mind, rest, love, and harmony with family and community. As a commercial artist, communication and entertainment are the purpose of my creative work. Animation can provide you with a way to create effective training videos, tell your story, share a joke, or send that special greeting card to a friend. Illustration can help you advertise your products in a unique and effective way, putting you above your competition. Caricatures at parties entertain the masses. Books and magazines can become more vivid and stunning with the perfect drawings. Comics are a great way to share humor with loved ones.

My name is Stan Levine, and I am the sole proprietor of Stanimation Productions. I am a multi-talented freelance artist capable of providing you with all of the above services mentioned. My prices are friendly and affordable.

Learn more about how Stanimation Productions can enlighten your world.

Visit www.stananimation.net

Mt.Diablo Paintings

2009-04-27T16:14:00.001-07:00

This painting is called "A View of Mt.Diablo" (18" x 14.") This is a finished landscape painting of Mt.Diablo from a bench on top of a hill near by in the town of Lafayette.
This is one of 12 landscape paintings that feature Mt. Diablo with acrylic on canvas. These paintings are worth thousands of dollars, but you can buy a poster print for $40.00 with free shipping. Visit www.stananimation.net for more information.

A Street View On Mt. Diablo Boulevard
24" x 3-0"

If you've ever driven to Walnut Creek from Highway 24 East, then you've probably been here before. Massive concrete shapes ominously hover over us on stilts. A dry Mt. Diablo stands in the distance begging for rain as cars swarm back and forth into the dusk of a slow and dramatic sunset.

Clouds Over Mt. Diablo
18" x 14"

Mt.Diablo Paintings

2009-04-27T15:59:00.000-07:00

This is a work in progress called "Foliage Against Sunlight." For the most part, I consider this painting finished, except for one area where the paint got a little too drippy. The dripping paint technique is meant to hint at the subtleties of the way the tiny twigs intertwine with each other off the branches in the distance. While Leonardo De Vinci would have taken the time to graphically illustrate every twig in the woods, I have a more impressionistic approach in my paintings. My philosophy is that it would be more more effective in our modern times to take a high resolution photograph than to attempt the time staking task of painting every twig in the woods. The brush strokes and various inventive techniques I use in my paintings hint at details. They capture an essence of the subject matter in a way that is interesting to look at.

Science Illustration by Stanimation Productions

2009-03-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

Science Illustration by Stan Levine

Here are some samples of illustrations I have done for a science curriculum

In the above illustration (created with Photoshop CS) the student must identify all the parts to an animal cell.

Here is a fun illustration that is intended to encourage children to learn about the scientific method. This illustration began as a pencil sketch. Then it was scanned in, and recreated with PhotoshopCS.

2009-03-31T00:12:00.000-07:00

Meet Merdoc the Lawful Magic User. This is a character design that would be used for a role playing game. You can see more of my art work on http://www.flickr.com/photos/stanimationproductions
or

visit my website at www.stananimation.net

2009-03-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

A Caricature of Ray Charles!

New Caricatures

2009-03-31T00:08:00.001-07:00

NEW CARICATURES FROM
STANIMATION PRODUCTIONS

Here we have Good ol' American patriot Willie Nelson!

Art Commissions

2009-03-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

A R T C O M M I S S I O N S
By Stan Levine

There are many reasons to purchase custom made art from Stan Levine. Maybe you are decorating your home, and need a custom made painting. Using provided swatches, Stan can paint something that will go nicely with the decor of your home. Maybe you are an art collector. Originals of Van Gogh, or Renoir are very hard to find, an very expensive. Stan can paint an interpretation of any painting using acrylic on your choice of canvas. Maybe you just want something special done to show them how much you care. Stan is a talented generalist. He is proficient with a variety of traditional mediums and software.
Here are some work samples and testimonials:
Dave Hill is a client of Stan Levine, sole proprietor of Stanimation Productions. Dave is a collector of paintings and art work featuring "Rita," from the animation Jungledyret Hugo.
He asked me if I could paint this collectible work of "fan art," and I got it done in less than a month. When Dave received his art commission, he responded back by e-mail "Stan, I have received my painting, and would like to thank you again, you have done an EXCELLENT job man. I will be proud to display this and tell people that my friend created it. Splendid work Stan. Thank you."

The very next month, I got an e-mail from Andrea Van Petegham, who asked me to create this (above, left) charcoal drawing for an Oakland Police Officer who had lost his partner in battle. The title for this custom art work is "Never Forgotten." When Andrea received her commissioned art work, she e-mail me back with these words: "Hi Stan, I just wanted to let you know that I got the drawing, looked great! Thanks again, Andrea."
It might be a painting to help balance the decor of your home, a drawing of your favorite comic hero or celebrity, or just something small like a greeting card to let someone know you care in your own way, or a business card design that will stand out and get people you meet to remember you and what you can do for them. Whatever the reason, Stan Levine can accommodate your needs with his highly trained, skillful artistic abilities.
You might be wondering, if Stan is so skilled, why doesn't he work for Pixar/Disney?
Pixar and Disney are mainstream entertainment studios that provide art that has a commercial interest. I, Stan strive to provide art to represent us as real human beings, not commercial puppets to be pushed and pulled by the strings of endorsed product placement. I am in business for the general public. Commercial art has a tendency to be redundant in nature due to its formulaic methods that were developed by tight pocketed unimaginative business people.
I run my own business as a freelance artist to manage my time as I see fit, to provide each client with a hand crafted unique product that stands out from the ordinary.

By now you are probably utterly bored or completely fascinated.
Visit my website at www.stananimation.net
to see actual work samples, and enter the world of Stanimation Productions.

The Mt Diablo Collectors Series

2009-03-03T17:01:00.001-08:00

The Mt.Diablo Collectors Series is a set of 12 unique acrylic landscape paintings on canvas. Thus far, there are only 5 completed. Each one touches on the subject of Mt.Diablo, a gargantuan display of erected earth that towers over the town of Walnut Creek. Diablo is Spanish for the word "devil." Many years ago, the Miwoks lived in tribes around the mountain. The Spaniards were hunting down the Native Americans up Mt.Diablo, but the Spaniards never found them. The Native Americans are said to have mysteriously disappeared by some trickery of the devil. Mt.Diablo is believed to be a point where creative forces, in the form of an Eagle fuse within the mountain. It is also believed that a Grandfather Coyote is responsible for giving life to the Indian people at Mt.Diablo.
Being Jewish, I can relate to this story because in the Torah is says that the Judaism began at Mt.Sinai, Israel when Moses was given the Arc of the Covenent. The connection between these two events is the mountain. Mountains are points sacred places of inspiration and creativity.
As an artist, I am genuinely inspired by Mt.Diablo because it is the mountain that stand above my birth town of Walnut Creek. When I look to Mt.Diablo, I can see along its contours edge, the wingspan of an Eagle. When I look to the trees around me, I can see within the contour edges of the leaves animal spirit shapes. There is a fantasy land hidden just beyond the shadows of the substance that surrounds us. A place where the trees are alive; dreaming of a time when fantastic forest creatures chased each other in a sort of boyish game of "Tag." In some places they even battled each other for superiority over the land. Each tree would stretch it's trunk as high as the rain would allow, but at the end of the day, Mt.Diablo would rule over the trees and the forest people with it's supreme hight, and Condor- shaped horizons.

A Caricature by Stan Levine

2009-02-27T16:35:00.000-08:00

Caricatures by Stan Levine

A Caricature as defined by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caricature is "A caricature is either a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness, or in literature, a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.^{[1]"

Often times a Caricature sketch artist will be hired at a birthday party, wedding or other celebratory event to draw the guests. It is amusing to see what you would look like as a cartoon. In the past, caricatures have been used to insult or belittle people in some way in the media, but I think people are taking the caricature too seriously. A caricature is meant to generate laughter at no expense to ones feelings. My caricatures are designed to capture a true likeness of a person in comical form. In a sense, the expressive exaggerated lines capture an indescribable essence of a person's personality or spirit. This is not to say that a caricature steels away the participant's sole. The sole is forever transforming in time, so it can not be indefinitely captured in a drawing, but it does hold the footprint left behind in the artist's representation of the participants sense of being or sole if you will. The caricature hold the impression that the sole makes on the artist for that moment of time that the artist has to draw the participant, but after that moment the participant leaves the focus of the artist, and the sole moves on within the vehicle of the participant to leave its impression on everyone around them by their words and actions.

I charge $50 an hour for caricatures at parties, but you can special order your caricature from me for as little as $1.00 by sending me a photo by e-mail. Just go to my website at www.stananimation.net
to place your order today.}

Stanimation Productions

2009-02-27T05:08:00.000-08:00

WHAT IS STANIMATION PRODUCTIONS???

Hi,
My name is Stan Levine. About 30 years ago a man could obtain a successful career simply by obtaining a college degree. Things have changed. I have three degrees from two different colleges, and one Trade school. I am a talented artist, capable of creating art worthy of what is used in todays award winning commercial films and video games. Whether or not anyone finds a job is just not based on your credentials anymore. It's based more on your reputation; how cool you are and who you know. This trend of hiring your buddies rather than people with good work ethics who are reliable has led us to the falling economy we find ourselves in.
We can make a difference.
We can fight the corporations and help our economy by giving business back to the underdog companies; the mom and pop hardware stores and Joe the plumber.
In 2007 I decided to go into business for myself as a freelance illustrator/animator. Freelance is what I think will be the trend for the future.

So check out www.stananimation.net
and read more of my blog to understand more about what I have to offer you as a freelance artist.