January « 2011 « deviantmonk

January, 2011

Design / Motion — 1 Comment
31
Jan 11

Nachos for Everyone

This is a fun little video I put together for KidsCOR. This last month they did a series entitled “Is That Really in the Bible?”, which looked at some of the stranger stories in the Bible. As I was coming up with the concept, I noticed that Balaam and the Talking Donkey was one of the stories they were going to be focusing on, so I decided to more or less base the art and video around that. I found this amazing image of this donkey, and decided it would be perfect. Evidently the kids really enjoyed it.

For the video I drew heavily from Nacho Libre, mostly because I think it’s a hilarious movie. Animating it was pretty simple- I recorded the voiceover, and then in Photoshop I split the donkey head into a couple of pieces- the head itself and then the mouth. In Motion 4 I layered the mouth on top of the head and set the anchor point at the very top. From there I imported the voiceover and had Motion 4 analyze the audio waveform. Motion 4 has a nice parameter where you can set any parameter of any object (whether the XYZ Position, XYZ Rotation, Scale, etc.) to Match Move to the audio wave. From there you can set the floor and ceiling as well as tell it to only move on the peaks, only with certain frequencies, etc. It can take a little fine-tuning, and isn’t perfect, but it sure beats hand-animating every single mouth movement when close-enough is all you are shooting for.

I hope you enjoy!

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

I recently finished reading Barry Strauss’ The Battle of Salamis, which is an enthralling account of the epic naval encounter between the Hellenic League of Athenian, Spartan and other Grecian city-state navies and the Persian forces under the command of King Xerxes. Strauss devotes considerable attention to describing the trireme, which was the standard battleship of the day.

In the ancient world, sea-faring was accomplished in one of two ways- by the power of wind, or by the power of muscle. Warships, for the most part, employed the latter. The triremes that were used in the battle of Salamis by both forces get their name from the number of rows of oarsman in the lower decks. Three levels of oarsman (trireme means ‘three-oarer’) combined to power the trireme, with each row’s length of oar extending further out than the lower levels. Continue reading →

Design / Theology — No Comments
29
Jan 11

Deus Caritas Est

On Thursday night I had some time to actually sit down and attempt do something art-related that didn’t have anything to do with a computer, which was a fairly refreshing change of pace.

I started with a very vague notion of using pencils for this art piece, but initially I was going to use them in a more conventional way- actually drawing with them. But as I started thinking about it I remembered how I use to draw Celtic knotwork, and in doing so would usually sketch it out on graph paper and then trace it to blank paper to finish. In the process of remembering this, I thought about how the graph paper is a lot like pixels- these little tiny boxes that we try to cram all our ideas and creativity into. Holding the pencil in my hand, it seemed as if I was just miming the same motions I would use on the computer, only with a pencil and graph paper rather than a mouse and Photoshop. Continue reading →

Poetry / Theology — No Comments
26
Jan 11

The Sixth Day

the sixth day

the earth is aroused from its sleep
by uncounted feet upon its back
as life discovers its form
in numberless shapes and sizes
the cooing and baying and roaring
resonates the gift that fills each creature’s lungs

if only to find a face
the Almighty makes the clay into a king
if only to feel the cool of evening
God makes an image of flesh and of spirit,
an earthen palace to make into a heavenly home

the divine has never been more near
than when our parents first met
to complete the likeness of the Eternal One
but soon the Maker of clay
will clay become to prove
that the distance is greatest
when it is as close as skin

creation is complete
yet eagerly awaits
to be born anew

Family / Life / Photography — No Comments
26
Jan 11

New Lens

Megan and I finally got a prime lens this week- Canon’s 50mm 1.4. We end up doing a lot of photography for Megan’s food site- The Fresh Fridge- so getting a good prime lens was an inevitability. Our apartment, while having a lovely view of a tiny forested area with a creek immediately behind it, simultaneously suffers from a lack of good natural light. Since the trees are so close, for most of the day it reduces the ambient light rather significantly, making food photography even more difficult than it normally is. During the winter months, noon is essentially the only time to get a decent picture, in that the sun is not directly on the subject, but enough light gets in to adequately illuminate things. Continue reading →

Church Fathers / Paraphrase / Theology — No Comments
24
Jan 11

Unknowable

This edition of my church fathers paraphrases comes from St. Gregory Nazianzus. Gregory was born around A.D. 325, right as the Council of Nicea was in full swing. His father Gregory had been a pagan but had converted due to the influence of his wife Nonna. The elder Gregory became bishop of Nazianzus in 329 and remained at this see until 374.

St. Gregory was close friends with St. Basil, and the two of them became extremely influential in the theological developments on the late 4th century. Gregory was well-versed in rhetoric, and brought his skills to bear upon his theology. He worked especially hard in regards to pneumatology, and was among the first theologians to describe the procession of the Holy Spirit within the Godhead by employing the term procession. Continue reading →

Poetry — No Comments
23
Jan 11

The Fifth Day

the fifth day

the untamed eternal wind
began to sweep over the rocks and the grass
as the giver of motion brought movement to our world

potency gave way to form
multiplicity stood victorious among
our first friends who would not share our voice
but would share our fate,
some who would even bear our sins

in this day is heard a new song,
lifting its melody with the lights
to give praise to the Creator
from the call of those who soar with the clouds
to those who plumb the depths of the sea;
if only to say that
the world is alive and
the world is good

the creativity of heaven’s great artist
has been bestowed upon this canvas
to brush the chaos and emptiness away
forever
to be filled with life
forever

your Spirit fills all things
and all things look to you for life
forever

Life / Photography — No Comments
22
Jan 11

Winter in the Forest

Today Megan and I went to the Overland Park Arboretum for a lovely walk. We bundled up under myriad layers of clothes, and by the time we got there I was so warm (I had on a thermal shirt, a regular long-sleeve cotton shirt and a hoodie, along with thermal socks and a rather thick hat) that I didn’t even need to wear my coat.

While we were there I had a chance to capture some shots of the forest in the winter. It was really peaceful and quiet, a kind of solitude that is difficult to find in an apartment complex.

Enjoy! (Pictures after the jump) Continue reading →

Music / Theology — 1 Comment
21
Jan 11

Miserere Mei

It is Good Friday. You bow your head in prayer in the utter stillness of the early morning, as the darkness envelops you as a blanket, the flickering of candles the only bulwark from its over-powering presence. On the tomb-like chill of the air floats the faint and lingering fragrance of incense, like the dew that clings to the newly sprouted grass, only to dissipate in the vernal warmth of the sun. For now, all is bleak and silent. As the drowsiness still hangs upon your eyes, space and distance and time and history seem to be suspended on this one moment; this awakening on your part, this drifting into the dream-like world of death for another.

A red dawn, a day for blood.

In the ever-encroaching movement of the Tenebrae, with every luminous demise the feeling cannot be shaken, as if all of our world’s sins and failures are crowding into the room to take their place beside you, or worse, to become you. Death is a cruel master, and here his whips and shackles bind all the tighter.

Soon, all is darkness, all is silence.

Then, as if in a broken vow, a note flashes forth in the brilliance of a thousand suns. As if weightless by nature, these sounds are borne to heaven, having become a surrogate for supplicants who cannot speak what their hearts may plead to express. In another breath all light will flee away, but in this dying gasp lips form a kiss to become a prayer, and await the dawn. Continue reading →

Poetry — No Comments
20
Jan 11

The Fourth Day

the fourth day

the memory in the mind of the world
will forever look with fondness
upon the day when God taught the universe to sing-
their voices carried upon the wild eternal wind
to be burning images of the light

the night was born under the borrowed rays of the moon
in the cool of the sun’s slumber;
the mimicry of God’s glory
offered itself to warm the future home of deity,
to give light to the one who conceived of its essence

this unending waltz in the heavens
ransomed stillborn time
and gave us a season for everything,
to work and to play
to love and to hate
to live and to die

the universe is vast in its array
but cannot silence the stars
who guide our ships upon the seas
and chart the path to heaven’s shores
until their song whispers its final note
and awaits its maker to sing anew

praises rise from countless stars
the sun and moon dance for you
you dance for joy over all you have made