2013 SENIORS – IT’S TIME TO BOOK YOUR SENIOR PICTURES!
FILL OUT THE FORM HERE TO BOOK YOUR DATE
* LIMITED TIME OFFER: $50 OFF SHOOTS IN JUNE, $75 OFF SHOOTS IN MAY. BOOK NOW! *
2013 SENIORS – IT’S TIME TO BOOK YOUR SENIOR PICTURES!
FILL OUT THE FORM HERE TO BOOK YOUR DATE
* LIMITED TIME OFFER: $50 OFF SHOOTS IN JUNE, $75 OFF SHOOTS IN MAY. BOOK NOW! *
A couple recent favorites.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I have compiled all of the drawings of Jordin and me from my drawings365 blog. A lot of people have told me that their favorite part of my drawing blog is/are the pictures of Jordin and me together, and even though the archive of ALL the drawings is neat, there are a lot of pictures to sort through for those who just want to see the ones of us. Even though I also have a special fondness for every one of the other characters on my blog, I too love looking through the ones of the two of us. There are a lot of memories in them. Last night, Jordin and I sat in bed, scrolling through this post, smiling and remembering all of the sub-texts, the highs and lows that have shaped and strengthened our marriage over the last year. I still haven’t decided whether to continue the daily drawing blog after March 3rd, when my 365 days are completed, but I have really loved making and sharing these personal little memories, and I know there will be many moments I am bummed that it’s over. On the other hand, I am really looking forward to going to sleep with my wife. As a procrastinator at heart, the last year has been for me a matter of getting in bed with Jordin, snuggling, beginning to drift off, then getting back up with my sketchbook and camera phone to begin drawing. I’m looking forward to the first night in 365 days I get in bed… and go to sleep.
Enough rambling… here is a year’s glance at all of the drawings of me and Jordin. (You can click on the pictures, sometimes multiple times, to make them bigger or zoom in)
Jordie, I love you with everything in me. Happy Valentine’s Day.
The Drawings of Curtis and Jordin
EDIT: I will continue to update this post with the most recent drawings of the two of us. Soon to be… the three of us :)
If you are interested in the published “coffee table book” of these sketches, you can subscribe to the right to receive an email when the book is released, or you can follow along on instagram or facebook, because I’ll likely make the announcement there too!
Jan 2nd, 2014 – Born to swim.
Jan 1st, 2014 – Happy New Year!
What should I draw?
Us.
August 26th, 2012 – We’re pregnant. :) I have a feeling more drawings will be coming.
July 9th, 2012 – Tonight, my wife and I had a long list of things to get done. Instead, we sat on the couch, she read to me, I played guitar for a while, and then I drew a picture… in fact the first drawing on here since finishing the 365 project! In my opinion, these were all better alternatives than “the list”. And I like to let my feet float up in the air while lying on the couch. Don’t know why. Sometimes I do it with my hands too.
February 13th, 2012 – My Valentine.
January 24th, 2012 – The way home, staying awake.
January 30th, 2012 – Some place I’d like to be.
January 20th, 2012 – Sleepover with my best friend.
January 18th, 2012 – Evening in Venice, someday.
January 15th, 2012 – New reading light works well as an interrogation light.
January 5th, 2012 – nighttime routine.
December 31st, 2011 – Happy New Year from those who know how to party to the countdown in an empty theater!
December 25th, 2011 – Merry Christmas!
December 22nd, 2011 – Christmas service premier was tonight, wife and I performed as Eminem and Katy Perry. We go to a fun church. kensingtonchristmas.com
December 19th, 2011 – I love her so much!
December 13th, 2011 – Our Christmas tree.
December 8th, 2011 – There’s a light at the end of the tunnel! (Ours is Dec. 25th)
December 4th, 2011 – Home is safe.
November 23rd, 2011 – Leaving for Florida! (Drawn on my iPad)
November 18th, 2011 – Lil’ sis is home!
November 17th, 2011 – For some reason, my wife and I don’t get to play music much together. I’m hoping maybe for the Thanksgiving eve service? She’s asleep, otherwise I’d just ask her. :)
November 7th, 2011 – Budgeting.
October 28th, 2011 – Driving to Cedar Point with a bus full of highschoolers. We should’ve gotten more sleep last night. (Drew this on my phone with a nifty little free app, Sketchbook Express)
October 17th, 2011 – Cider Mill.
October 16th, 2011 – Getting messy with charcoal. Did a lot of laughing today.
September 28th, 2011 – Cold season.
September 16th, 2011 – Mmmm, wearing layers.
September 10th, 2011 – My wife asks me this every once in a while. I like thinking about it. What would your 6-yr-old self say if he could see you today?
September 6th, 2011 – It’s a very busy time of year for us. (Painted on my iPad)
September 3rd, 2011 – Out cold.
August 31st, 2011 – I wonder what my younger self would have thought if someone told me the girl on my tee-ball team would be my wife.
August 30th, 2011 – Sometimes I don’t feel like drawing at all.
August 28th, 2011 – We watched “Mao’s Last Dancer” tonight. Feeling inspired, I’m pretty sure this is what we looked like before bed.
August 27th, 2011 – Tag in the park.
August 23rd, 2011 – I don’t want summer to end.
August 19th, 2011 – Kissing on the beach.
August 16th, 2011 – In the last 48 hrs of our vacation, my wife read over 900 pages of her new favorite series. I pretend to read too, but every few sentences seems to spark a new idea and I begin thinking or daydreaming, and 48 hrs later, I’ve read a total of 12 pages from my 120 pg book.
August 11th, 2011 – I am a night owl. My wife is not. I’ve been trying to change, but then I started this drawing blog.
August 8th 2011 – Our first kiss.
August 2nd, 2011 – Budgeting.
July 24th, 2011 – Sister-in-law trying to explain the ending of Harry Potter 7 pt 2. (Drawn on my iPad)
July 20th, 2011 – I still learn something new about my wife every day. She is a professional painter.
July 17th, 2011 – Post-shower, pre-hairspray.
July 4th, 2011 – Hard night.
June 30th, 2011 – Memorizing Psalm 91.
June 25th, 2011 – New phones… with data! We are amazed. In fact this very post was done in bed from my phone. Did my drawing, took a picture with the awesome built in camera, and sent it to the blog! Woohoo
June 20th, 2011 – Back-scratching as a sedative.
June 18th, 2011 – Drawing in bed.
June 15th, 2011 – Snowboard goggles and onions.
June 12th, 2011 – Sometimes I think my wife thinks I look like Mr. Darcy.
June 10th, 2011 – The Proposal. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUmzrZ4w4f4
June 9th, 2011 – Sometimes one phone call can totally change your plans! (The University of Michigan called me today to offer a full ride and a paid staff position to get my masters. I am shocked and ecstatic. I love school and I love learning. I am going back to school!)
June 6th, 2011 – My wife keeps me company when I need to pull a late nighter. (Drawn on my iPad)
June 3rd, 2011 – There is one mosquito in the house. Even though I don’t know where he is, he knows exactly where I am.
May 19th, 2011 – Sisters.
May 17th, 2011 – My wife watched the season finale of Castle today. Those who watch it understand.
May 15th, 2011 – Happy Anniversary love of my life!
May 14th, 2011 – Will you still love me when I look like this?
May 12th, 2011 – my sleepy girl.
May 8th, 2011 – To the greatest mom ever!
May 1st, 2011 – Taking care of Kobi. (Painted on my iPad)
April 24th, 2011 – dumb fight.
April 19th, 2011 – our trip home from IKEA.
April 14th, 2011 – mmm, my perfect birthday.
April 13th, 2011 – a perfect birthday. I think I’ll finish and paint this one tomorrow.
April 12th, 2011 – almost my birthday!
March 26th, 2011 – daydreaming on the roof.
March 22nd, 2011 – a sad lunch.
March 14th, 2011 – my new favorite hobby of my wife’s.
Thank you for sharing in these little memories of ours. I can’t wait to print these and all the other drawings into a coffee-table book. Many have asked for a copy, so I will try to figure out how to make it available on Amazon. I don’t know anything about publishing, but I think that would be so cool if people could have these drawings in a book! Anyone with publishing expertise? Feel free to contact me. You can find me on facebook. Facebook is also where I will post information about the book, so “Like” the page to stay up to date! Couple more weeks of drawing! www.Drawings365.com
After getting rained out the first time, our second day out with Amy was beautiful!
I didn’t even realize until today that I missed my Tuesday blog! Clearly, I haven’t gotten into the rhythm yet. Here’s Natalie’s senior pictures! We shot Natalie’s sister, Elise‘s senior pictures a couple years ago, and their family has since moved to Pennsylvania. Natalie coordinated her senior picture shoot around a trip back to Michigan so that she could have us shoot them! We felt very honored :) And she has awesome hair too. Here are some faves.
I like shooting guys senior pictures, because I never see them done well. Why must us guys always look forced and corny?
That said, Jeff made it pretty darn easy for us. He and his sister are both very photogenic. We shot his sister Devin’s pictures a couple years back. You can see Devin’s pictures HERE.
Standing in a four-way conversation with Hugh Jackman, Shawn Levy, and Glenn Derry, I was thrilled and a little star-struck. Shawn, most notably was the director of Date Night and Cheaper By The Dozen, Hugh Jackman the Wolverine in X-Men to name a role, and Glenn Derry INVENTED the technology used on Avatar (more details on that below). These are the big wigs. I was basically mute any time we talked as a group, just taking instructions, but I got to work on the floor and watch Shawn’s every move, talk with Glenn and his assistant cameraman about the lenses they use and the amazing real-time motion tracking (more below), and even chatted over lunch with Hugh about Michigan and coffee. Bragging? Hardly. What will be ingrained in my mind as some of the most exciting interactions of my life, will likely go unremembered by these industry mega-forces. Oh well, on to the techie stuff!
My first day, I walked into the Cobo Arena downtown Detroit, where a huge artificial boxing ring had been built for fighting robots. It was surrounded by about 20 rows of fans, and behind them, a green screen wrapped around the wall. This green screen would be replaced in editing with a colosseum full of thousands of cheering fans.
A clip of Cobo Arena during production:
A clip of Cobo as the final Real Steel arena:
While shooting the fight scenes, no actual robots were on the boxing ring stage. The robots would be added in post-production. Therefore, Josh Mclaglen, the assistant director, had to wave around a baton with an orange ball on the end to show the crowd where to look and where to cheer. This is where the robots would eventually be once animated.
This all made sense to me. What I saw next didn’t, and it blew my mind.
I walked over and saw the video monitor that Shawn Levy (the director) was watching. On his screen, he saw the crowd, the boxing ring, AND the actual robots fighting, and the thousands of rows of artificial fans! It looked like the final movie. Now this may not be that exciting to those who understand how green screens work and how pre-recorded animations can be composited over live action footage (even in real time), but… THE CAMERAMEN WERE MOVING! All over! The cameramen were like ballerinas on the boxing ring, dancing from corner to corner, and the “virtual camera” that was showing the super-imposed virtual robots was following the exact movements of the cameramen! Each camera had red or white tracking points on it, and there was a huge ring of 20-30 mini-cameras around the ceiling that were tracking the main cameras!
I wish I had pictures of it. Basically, on Shawn’s screen, they were making a movie in real time. There were boxing robots, thousands of fans, and everything was being color corrected in another room in real time. It was like the director could see the final product of a mixed CGI and live-action movie AS THEY WERE SHOOTING IT!
This blew my mind for multiple reasons. First, it’s changing the way we can shoot movies that mix animation and live-action. Second, it opens up a whole new industry, where animations can be interacting with real people in real time. Imagine going to see live theater, but there are huge projected screens that have animated movie scenes that interact with the live actors. One moment, you think you’re watching a movie, the next it’s happening live, and the next, the two are interacting in real-time.
I’d like to think that this could be the future of our entertainment. I hope this is inspiring for you to think about; storytelling experiences that are as powerful and engaging as today’s best movies but are actually happening right in front of you. It’s a much advanced version of something else I’ve been very excited about. I posted a drawing a while back of my thesis concept, a live movie musical. It’s beginning to take shape! I hope it won’t be long before I begin posting about it.
Thanks for indulging my excitement in this movie. I honestly have no idea if it is good, because I haven’t seen it! I plan to soon. And by the way, my brother in law Davey was the runner up for the lead part. I was there to see the acting scenes… Davey should’ve gotten it… just sayin’
For all you EXTRA-techies, continue on for more on motion tracking and behind the scenes!
Real Steel Motion Tracking
Here, you can see the markers attached to the camera for the realtime camera tracking, which makes “realtime previs” (pre-visualizing animation during production) a reality. 
This is the device used for realtime color grading. (It’s a “DaVinci Resolve”)
This is Shawn and the mega digital camera (the whole movie was shot digitally, which is required for PreVis).
And last but not least, a pretty awesome video on the sound of Real Steel. I think I found my silhouette at 1:27!The Sound of Real Steel from Michael Coleman on Vimeo
Hope you enjoyed learning about realtime motion capture and daydreaming about the future of entertainment!
What do you think? With realtime technologies improving, will live movies someday take over?