Season's greetings . . .

Here's hoping you have a silent night. . . .

Elder Condie thought the original image's snowman was creepy, so I gave him a reason to think he was creepy.

Story goes:

Once upon a time, there was a snowman . . . 

was . . .

Posted by Stephen Anderson

 A parable about wholesome music

I remember one particular assembly before a big game. The cheerleaders had planned a special class competition involving cream pies. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that some of the athletes, you know the type, the ones who all sit together and won’t cheer except on rare occasions, got an idea to liven things up by throwing some of the pies at the cheerleaders. Somehow the activities the cheerleaders had planned were left in a barrage of pies being thrown, hairdos being ruined, and the student body cheering for the athletic culprits. I must admit, it was quite an experience.

Very little was said to these young men, that I am aware of, by the cheerleaders. Each girl allowed the boys to think they had really gained the upper hand and gotten away with a fast one.

The pies were soon forgotten, and another pep assembly greeted us a few weeks later.

This time, as we entered the gym, there were 12 caramel apples on center court. Big, beautiful, brown caramel apples, waiting for someone to eat them.

When everyone was settled down and the band had ceased playing, the head cheerleader walked to the microphone and began to explain that morning’s class competition. From the small piece of paper she read the names of six football players and challenged them to a candied-apple-eating contest. As each name was read the responding young man came down to the basketball court with confidence, raising his hands as if in triumph, knowing that he could eat an apple faster than any girl.

Myself and another teacher were called upon to judge this historic event. The cheerleaders explained the rules to me, and I then explained them to the young men. The young men, however, were not overly concerned because each was proficient in eating and eating quickly. 

The only two rules were 

(1) every apple on each team must be completely devoured and 

(2) the girls were to be allowed a ten-second head start.

After hearing the rules, the young men decided on a game plan: they would not chew—just bite, swallow, bite, swallow, until each apple was gone. With such strategy the contest began.

The whistle blew, and the girls began to eat with great care and deliberate actions. The boys, on the other hand, stood watching, waiting for their winning opportunity.

When the second whistle blew, each young man, without any hesitation or forethought, lunged toward the caramel apple before him. With no table manners evident, they began to devour them with great haste—bite, swallow, bite, swallow. Then suddenly, in unison, as if a light switch had been turned on inside each boy, heads raised in shock and disbelief as they realized they were not eating candy covered apples but candy-covered onions! The crowd roared when they realized what had happened. The cheerleaders, on the other hand, stood calmly, hands signaling the peace sign in recognition of their sly plan to deceive the football players.

By now these poor boys were looking as white as sheets and trying to get rid of the large bites of raw onion which were now floating throughout their systems.

I’ll never forget it! Those poor guys smelled like onions for quite some time, and it was not an easy task to rid themselves of the stench.

Since then I have told that story hundreds of times while speaking about music and its effect upon our actions, feelings, thoughts, and spirituality. In doing so I have thought very seriously about what happened that day at Timpview.

The cheerleaders had made the onions appear so much like the apples that the football players could not tell the difference until the onions became a part of them and it was too late.

No one ever dreamed that those “sweet” young ladies would be so mischievous as to use some thing these young men loved so dearly—food—to get back at and deceive them.

When I ponder that story I always ask myself, “Would Satan try to do the same thing to deceive us?” Would he use the things we love the most to deceive us and bring us down to destruction? Could he even use music, which most of us love dearly, to deceive us?

In Doctrine and Covenants 50:2–3 the Lord told the Prophet Joseph Smith that one of Satan’s major objectives is to deceive us: “Behold, verily I say unto you, that there are many spirits which are false spirits, which have gone forth in the earth, deceiving the world. And also Satan hath sought to deceive you, that he might overthrow you.” [D&C 50:2–3]

by Jack R. Christianson
New Era April 1984

Posted by Jonathan D Lisonbee

Story Idea?

Stephen likes it.  It's long, but it's beautiful, and we could use all sorts of symbolic imagery as the boy said in the story, the "birdies."  It seems like it would be a fun project to work on.

Free the Birdies

by Lloyd Glenn

"I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak today regarding the topic assigned to me, the importance of Temple attendance. Brothers and Sisters, throughout our lives we are blessed with spiritual experiences, some of which are very sacred and confidential, and others, although just as sacred, are meant to be shared. 

"Last summer my family had a spiritual experience that has had a lasting and profound impact on us, one we feel must be shared. It's a message of love. It's a message of regaining perspective, and restoring proper balance and renewing priorities. 

"In humility, I pray that I might, in relating this story, give you a gift my little son, Brian, gave our family one warm summer day last year. 

"On July 22nd I was en route to Washington, D.C. for a business trip. It was all so very ordinary until we landed in Denver for a plane change. As I collected my belongings from the overhead bin, an announcement was made for Mr. Lloyd Glenn to see the United customer service representative immediately. I thought nothing of this until I reached the door to leave the plane and I heard a gentleman asking every male if they were Mr. Glenn. At this point I knew something was wrong and my heart sunk. 

"When I got off the plane a solemn-faced young man came toward me and said, 'Mr. Glenn, there has been an emergency at your home. I do not know what the emergency is, or who is involved, but I will take you to a phone so you can call the hospital. 

"My heart was now pounding, but the will to be calm took over. Woodenly, I followed this stranger to a distant telephone where I called the number he gave me for the Mission Hospital. My call was put through to the trauma center where I learned that my three-year-old son had been trapped underneath the automatic garage door for several minutes, and that when my wife had found him, he was dead. CPR had been performed by a neighbor, who is a doctor, and the paramedics had continued that treatment as Brian was transported to the hospital. By the time of my call, Brian was revived and they believed he would live, but they did not know how much damage had been done to his brain, nor to his heart. They explained that the door had completely closed on his little sternum right over his heart. He had been severely crushed. 

"After speaking with the medical staff, my wife informed me that our Bishop and hometeacher were there and were waiting for the doctors to give them the go ahead to administer to Brian. She sounded worried, but not hysterical, and I took comfort in her calmness. 

"The return flight seemed to last forever, but finally I arrived at the hospital six hours after the garage door had come down. When I walked into the intensive care unit, nothing could have prepared me to see my little son laying so still on a great big bed with tubes and monitors everywhere. He was on a respirator. I glanced at my wife who stood and tried to give me a reassuring smile. It all seemed like a terrible dream. 

"I was filled in on all the details and given the guarded prognosis. Brian was going to live, and the preliminary tests indicated that his heart was okay - two miracles, in and of themselves. But, only time would tell if his brain received any damage. 

"Throughout these seemingly endless hours, my wife was calm. She told me that the Bishop had given a blessing so powerful and so reassuring that she felt that Brian would eventually be all right. I hung on to her words and faith like a lifeline. 

"All that night and all the next day Brian remained unconscious. It seemed like forever since I had left for my business trip the day before. Finally, at two o'clock that afternoon, our son regained consciousness and sat up uttering the most beautiful words I have ever heard spoken. He said, 'Daddy, hold me,' as he reached for me with his little tiny arms. 

"By the next day he was pronounced as having no neurological or physical deficits, and the story of his miraculous survival spread throughout the hospital. You cannot imagine our gratitude and joy. As we took Brian home we felt the unique reverence for life and love of our Heavenly Father that comes to those who brush death so closely. In the days that followed there was a special spirit about our home. Our two older children were much closer to their little brother. My wife and I were closer to each other, and all of us were very close as a whole family. Life took on a less stressful pace. Perspective seemed to be much more focused, and balance much easier to gain and maintain. We felt deeply blessed. Our gratitude was truly profound. 

"Almost a month later to the day of the accident, Brian awoke from his afternoon nap and said, 'Sit down, Mommy. I have something to tell you.' At that time in his life, Brian usually spoke in small phrases, so to say such a large sentence surprised my wife. She sat down with him on the bed and he began this sacred and remarkable story. 

"'Do you remember when I got stuck under the garage door? Well, it was so heavy and it hurt really bad. I called to you, but you couldn't hear me. I started to cry, but then it hurt too bad. And then the 'birdies' came.' 

"'The 'birdies'?' my wife asked puzzled. 'Yes,' he replied. 'The 'birdies' made a whooshing sound and flew into the garage. They took care of me.' 'They did?' she asked. 'Yes,' he said. 'One of the birdies came and got you. She came to tell you I got stuck under the door.' 

"A sweet and reverent feeling filled the room. The spirit was so strong and yet lighter than air. My wife realized that a three-year-old has no concept of death and spirits, so he was referring to the beings who came to help him from beyond the veil as 'birdies' because they were up in the air like birds that fly. 

"'What did the 'birdies' look like?' she asked. Brian answered, 'They were so beautiful. They were dressed in white, all white. Some of them had on green and white, but some of them had on just white.' My wife thought this was intriguing because Brian had no clue what the color green was. 

"'Did they say anything?' 'Yes,' he answered. 'They told me the baby would be all right.' 'The baby?' my wife asked, confused. And Brian answered, 'Yes, the baby laying on the garage floor.' He went on, 'You came out and opened the garage door and ran to the baby. You told the baby to stay and not leave.' 

"My wife nearly collapsed upon hearing this, for she had indeed gone and knelt beside Brian's body, and seeing his crushed chest and unrecognizable features, and knowing he was already dead, she looked up around her and whispered, 'Don't leave us, Brian; please stay if you can.' 

"As she listened to Brian telling her the words she had spoken, she realized that his spirit had left his body and was looking down from above on this little lifeless form. 'Then what happened?' she asked. 

"'We went on a trip,' he said, 'far, far away.' He grew agitated trying to say things he didn't seem to have words for. My wife tried to calm and comfort him, and let him know it would be okay. He struggled with wanting to tell something that obviously was very important to him, but finding the words was so difficult. Finally, his eyes alighted on the picture of the Oakland temple that hangs in the room and he ran to it. 'I went there!' he shouted. 'There, Mommy,' he pointed to the temple. 'And I went to other ones like this. There are lots of them. They are everywhere, and I went to some of them with the 'birdies'. We flew so fast up in the air.' 

"To which my wife said, 'That's one of the temples.' 'YES! YES!' he shouted. 'I went to the temples.' 

"'They're so pretty, Mommy,' he added. 'And there are lots and lots of 'birdies' in the temple. Lots of them are in cages and they want to get out, but they can't by themselves. They need us to let them out of the cages. Mommy, I have to go to the temple and let them out. They are so sad and they need me to let them out. Mommy, you have to go there now and let them out. And Daddy too. And everyone. We have to let them out of their cages.' 

"My wife was stunned. Into her mind the sweet spirit enveloped her more soundly, but with an urgency she had never before known. She thought of the spirit world, the spirit prison to those who have not had saving ordinances done, and she knew that such spirits were relying on us to do these ordinances for them. She thought of how Brian had said some of the 'birdies' were wearing green and white, and the significance of that swept her with longing and understanding. 

"Brian went on to tell her that the 'birdies' told him that he had to come back and tell everyone about the temples and the 'birdies' in their cages. He said they brought him back to the house and that a big fire truck, a little fire truck, and an ambulance were there. A man was bringing the baby out on a white bed and he tried to tell the man that the baby would be okay, but the man couldn't hear him. He said the 'birdies' told him he had to go with the ambulance, but they would be near him. He said it was so pretty there and so peaceful, and he didn't want to come back. 

"And then the bright light came. He said the light was so bright and so warm, and he loved the bright light very much. Someone was in the bright light and put their arms around him and told him, 'I love you, but you have to go back. You have to play baseball, tell everyone about the temples, and slay the alligators.' Then the person in the bright light kissed him and waved bye-bye. Brian got in the ambulance with two of the 'birdies'. The ambulance doors closed after the people got in, and he said, 'Then I saw my beautiful, beautiful 'birdies' waving bye-bye. Then whoosh, the big sound came and they went into the clouds.' 

"The story went on for over an hour. He taught us that the 'birdies' are always with us, but we don't see them because we look with our eyes, and we don't hear them because we listen with our ears. But, they are there, and you can only see them in here (he put his hand over his heart). They whisper the things to help us do what's right because they love us so much. Brian continued, stating, 'I have a plan, Mommy. You have a plan. Daddy has a plan. Everyone has a plan. We all must live our plan and keep our promises. And the 'birdies' help us do that 'cause they love us so, so much.' 

"In the weeks that followed, he often came to us and told all, or part it again and again. Always the story remained the same. The details were never changed or out of order. A few time he added further bits of information that clarified the message he had already delivered. It never ceased to amaze us how he could tell such detail and speak beyond his ability when he spoke of his 'birdies.' 

"Everywhere he went, he told total strangers that they had to go to the temple. Surprisingly, no one ever looked at him strangely when he did this. Rather, they always got a softened look on their face and smiled. 

"Needless to say, we have not been the same ever since that day, and I pray that we never will be. My wife and I have gone to the temple repeatedly since then, and always Brian is waiting to hear how many 'birdies' we set free each time we go. 

"Brothers and Sisters, of all the messages Brian could have brought back, he brought this one -- We must go to the temple and free the 'birdies.' I testify that the things I have shared with you today are true. They are of sacred worth. They are of eternal consequence to us all and to the spirits who await the work only we can do for them. 

"May we all go to the temple and free the 'birdies' -- for this truly is the Lord's work and His glory, to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. I leave you with this message in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Posted by Stephen Anderson

Mormontallica

A new church logo maybe?


Posted by Jonathan D Lisonbee

A word of warning. . .

Jonathan, the charitable soul that he is, thought he'd reach out with a loving had of admonition. . . .

Posted by Stephen Anderson

Self-Caricature

Something more recent to come . . .

This was in part of a photo shoot we did for the New York Times Magazine.  You can find the article [HERE].

And a more recent traditional painting . . .

Posted by Stephen Anderson

10 Phrases Designers Hate Hearing (And What We Wish We Could Say Back)

Posted on April 7, 2011

Sometimes it really feels like the design business would be amazing if it wasn’t for all those darned clients. Unfortunately, we usually have to bite our tongues when a client makes a stupid request that’s going to make our lives harder. Here’s a little catharsis for you.

“I can’t really explain what I’m looking for, but I’ll know it when I see it.”

That’s OK, because I’m also a part-time psychic, so guessing what you want based on no information shouldn’t be a problem. Oh, wait I’m getting a premonition… I see this project costing you huge amounts of money.

“My wife/daughter/nephew/friend has an eye for this kind of thing. Maybe they can help you design it.”

Perfect. I’ll just add my babysitting charge onto the quote I provided you, then we’ll be ready to get started! Just so you know, my babysitting rate is actually 3 times what I charge for design.

“Can you give me the design as a Word document so I can make changes myself?”

You know, you’ll never believe it but not one of my design programs has a function to export to Word. It must be some kind of conspiracy because Word is clearly the best tool for the job. Oh, that reminds me: I ran into your mechanic. He wants you to call him because he has some questions about your request that he rebuild your engine out of Lego so you can do your own repairs.

“I started doing this myself, but ran into problems, so it shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to polish up what I’ve done.”

I always say the most rewarding part of my job is trying to salvage someone else’s mess. Just give me a moment here, I need to phone my electrician to tell him how easy it’s going to be for him to fix my home wiring job. Oh, that reminds me… I need to call the fire department too.

“I’ve been meaning to call you for weeks now. The deadline is tomorrow.”

Oh, good. It’s so handy that the universe works in such strange ways that a project magically takes less time if you leave it until the last minute. I also had a feeling that you might call, so I told all my other clients to take a hike so I could drop everything to do your project.

“I’m not an artist, but here’s how I would do it.”

Thank you so much. It’s really a pain for me when I have to use my skills and professional judgement on a project. In fact, I find that the most effective way to get anything done is to hire a professional, then tell them how to do their job. Later today I’m going to tell my doctor how to perform my colonoscopy.

“I can’t afford a logo design right now. Can you just design me a business card and come up with some sort of logo while you’re at it.”

No problem. I’ll get on it right after I order my lunch. I can’t afford a hamburger, so I’m going to order a pickle, then ask them to just throw a hamburger underneath it while they’re at it.

“I don’t have a copy of our logo, but you can get it off our website”

No worries. I don’t bother keeping track of things that are important to my business either. That 100 pixel wide gif from your website will look awesome in the billboard I’m designing for you.

“Sure, I supplied the text and signed off on the proof, but you really should have noticed that obvious typo. I really think you should pay for the 100,000 copies of the brochure that are already printed.”

You must have noticed our free scape-goat service where we accept responsibility for all our clients’ mistakes. It’s very popular and has made us the top charitable organization in the country. On the downside, we’re $50 million in debt.

“We haven’t actually got the content for the brochure done yet. Can you just go ahead and design it, then we’ll give you the content afterwards?”

That’s a great idea. I’ll just block out some space in random sizes, then if you give me too much I’ll just remove random words and images until it fits, and if you give me too little I’ll just fill the space with pictures of my butt and a collection of my favorite curse words.



Posted by Jonathan D Lisonbee

Run Blind Mouse Run

This run cycle was done like ten years ago.

Yikes.

Posted by kevinzico

New Reel.

The cause for my absence from the world.

Posted by Stephen Anderson

Oral B Ogre

I thought I would make my first post with a recent freelance project that I did.  Crazy deadline.  Lots of problems.  Good Experience.

Posted by TimH

concept for dog vs. squirrel

Just getting this out of my head

Posted by kevinzico

wolverine dance cycle

Posted by kevinzico

To This Day

This is an interesting mix of animation styles.


Posted by Jonathan D Lisonbee

Some cool animation stuffs

I think I showed this before or referenced it. Rather than picking a medium like clay to animate in I think it would be cool to use found objects in addition to other materials.

I love 2D elements in 3D environments

Minimal animation but amazing concept

Posted by Cheryl Johnson

Ensign story

I shared this story at our last animation meeting, and promised to post it here.  It's pretty short so I'm going to post it the entirety.  It's called, "Make Our House Invisible" by Alice Flade.

"At the end of World War II, when I was 19 years old, enemy troops came to occupy my hometown in Europe. One evening my parents and I were sitting at our table when we heard a loud noise. We looked out through the blackout curtains, hung so that bombers couldn’t detect our house at night, to see enemy troops—along with their motorcycles, trucks, and tanks—coming into our village from two different directions. I was very frightened.

My father, always a faithful man, said simply, “Don’t be scared.” In the face of what was just outside our house, that was an extraordinary statement. We all knew that the soldiers would likely invade the neighborhood to pillage people’s homes. Father suggested that we kneel next to the couch and pray for Heavenly Father’s protection. He prayed, “Father in Heaven, please blind those soldiers. Make our house invisible so they won’t see it.”

After he prayed, my mother prayed. Then I prayed. Afterward, we returned to the table and cautiously looked out the window. We watched soldiers storm into every house on our street. Ours was the last one on the street. They approached our house but then passed our front gate and went to the next street. We watched them enter every house that we could see from our window.

After an invasion of about two hours, someone blew a loud whistle, and the soldiers returned to their vehicles. As they slowly left, we were tremendously relieved and knelt again, thanking Heavenly Father for His kindness and protection.

The next day I learned from a distraught friend that the soldiers had done terrible things in every house she knew of. When I told her that they had not come to our house, she was shocked. She said she had watched them go in our direction and that she knew of no homes in our sector that they had not entered. Our house was the only one the soldiers had left alone.

I know that Heavenly Father hears our pleas and answers them. Sometimes it seems that we might not ever receive an answer, and we wish that He would answer sooner. But I know that in our home 65 years ago, He answered right away."

Posted by Heather Dixon

Mexico and real Mexican food

Notice that there is a volcano called Popocatepetl (po-po-ca-tay-pe-tl) in the background that is bound to erupt someday

This is a papaya tree that just decided to grow one day in the front yard

Papaya tree at night, Christmas style!

Woo!

Sadly it fell and is now not alive. The papayas were too heavy.

I call this tree the green hot dog tree. Nobody knew what the green hot dogs were. but they did have cool seeds inside of some kind of avacado-like pulp. And they hurt when somebody hits you with them.

This was lunch after Church on one Sunday. Good steak, beans and a nopal cactus salad

Dang good freshly squeezed orange juice with sopes (so-pays, which are like pizza dough but made out of corn) and green sauce with cheese and beans.

The oranges in Mexico are very much sweeter than the ones in USA, even out of season.

Chicken and rice with bread and salad

Cream of mushroom soup and salad, and I think that that was chicken with melted cheese in the pan

This was Christmas dinner. The big pot has mole (mol-aye), which among other things has: shrimp, spicey chiles, and melted choclate. The pitcher has ponche (ponch-aye), which is like wassail, but with more fruit and sugar cane. The sugar cane is bitten but not swallowed. When you bite it the sugar comes out. The biscuit looking things are shrimp patties. And there's a dish of green chiles and Wonder wheat bread, which you can dip into the mole.

More mole (mo-lay) and a pot full of bacalau (ba-ca-la-ow) salad. The salad has fish, olive oil, nuts, olives and is very healthy and tasty.

Christmas turkey

You can't miss the buses in Acapulco, they have flashing lights and the coolest top 40's songs playing. As well as famous religious people's names, like Maria.

Pork with pineapple and other spices

Cool plants!

Spikes grow on this tree!

More cool plants

Love the color of this flower which name is Aztec and I can't pronounce

Happy meal! Lentil soup which plantains and tostadas and sour cream

The light switches are different

There is the spikey tree from far away

Adios!

Posted by kevinzico

How to Draw Superman

The first thing I do when I start drawing any figure is draw a plumb line. It's just a straight line to help keep me from slanting the image as I go along. I'm using a non-photo blue pencil to reduce pencil lines in the final black and white scan, but mostly it's just a nod to my old animation idols.

Since a straight on schematic type drawing isn't very interesting or dynamic, I'm adding a few perspective lines so Superman won't end up facing straight forward.

 

I now start blocking in the basic figure using heads for measurement, so the proportions will look right. I plan to do a little twist in the torso with the right shoulder and right hip drawing toward each other. Hopefully this will help give the appearance of movement in flight to the body.

 

Next I start laying in the basic muscle groups mainly using circles, and then use that as a guide as I darken in the final muscular structures. You may notice that I've decided to make his arms and legs go off the page. This is because I suck at drawing hands and feet, so I'm not gonna'. If you use this avoidance method make sure the drawing goes off the page on at least 3 sides.

  

 I'm still just adding circles to lay in the muscle structure for the legs. I decided to raise the right knee to give it more of a flying pose. Sadly I didn't quite nail it, and it looks like a chubby babies leg. Since 75% of comic book drawing is foreshortening it's really important that I get this right, so I'm starting over.

 

Okay, this foreshortening solution seems to be working a little better. I added a few more details like the cape and the "S" emblem on the chest. For a great tutorial on drawing Superman's emblem check out this site. I also added in the cape and started drawing the head.  The Head's not what I want. It's too big for one thing, and doesn't really look like superman. Maybe I'll try having him look up and to the side more, so he can see where he's flying.

 

Alright, that's a little better. It still doesn't quite look like superman and it won't win me any awards, but it will work for the purposes of this tutorial. After looking over the blue-lines, I think it's about time to start inking.

  

I'm using a #0 squirrel hair brush and Higgins Black Magic ink.

  

I'm just tracing over the blue lines taking advantage of the line variation in line weight that the ink brush method provides.

 

I'm going from the top to the bottom, so my hand doesn't accidentally brush over wet ink and smear the drawing.

I've finished inking the main body and now I let it dry for a few minutes before moving on to inking the cape.

 I look over the drawing to make sure there aren't any major problems. It looks okay, so now I use a scanner to scan it into the computer.

 

I use the black and white setting on the scanner which gets rid of most of the blue lines. I then pull that drawing into photoshop and add two more layers. I call these layers "Flats" and "Shading". I'll use the shading layer for both my highlights and my shadows. I set the layer with the Inked artwork to a 'multiply' transparency and lock it.

 

I start with the flats layer and, using the paintbrush, I lay in flat areas of color. It all goes in underneath the drawing layer because on multiply the white background won't show up.

 

With the flats laid in, I add the highlights and shadows to give it some depth... And Superman is done!

Now that you've got a nifty Superman drawing, you can draw a city scene in the background for our hero to be flying over and maybe add the Superman logo in the background for good measure.

Posted by Jonathan D Lisonbee

Andreas Deja and crayons

Not sure if those are crayons he is using but if they are then I want to make an animation colored with crayons.

The flower cart

This is from the July issue of the Ensign from 2011, called When I see my brother again.

A little girl laughs and runs and plays with other little girls and boys in Mexico. Her mom calls for her to come home for supper. As she enters her home she embraces her little brother who is laying in bed. Her and her family bow their heads to bless their food. Mom feeds the little brother. After eating the little girl wants to go and play with her little brother outside. Mom shakes her head no. She shows her daughter the immobile legs of her brother.

The little girl has grown, and walks with her friends to her home. As she enters, she sees her little brother laying in bed, who also has grown. She gives him a big hug, and helps her mother set the table to eat. They bow their heads to bless the meal. She helps her brother eat.

The teenage girl walks home from school, shivering. As she enters her house she sees the empty bed where her brother always laid. Above it on a shelf are some pictures of him, celebrating his last birthday. She lovingly picks up one of the pictures and touches the face of her brother.
She helps mom set the table and they all solemly pray for the food. Later, the girl gets up from kneeling by her bedside and lays down to sleep.

As she falls asleep, the face of the teenage girl fades away to reveal a cloudy hazy place, where she is slowly walking. She struggles to see what is in front of her and only manages to see a hazy square object. As she gets closer she sees that it is a cart that is filled with beautiful flowers. Standing beside the cart is a Young man who is dressed in White. After a few moments the teenage girl recognizes him and is overjoyed. He is her brother, who is smiling and standing. As he starts to talk to her we see Jesús lifting up her brother, from his bed. Then they start to run and laugh and play. The girl wakes up, and as she gets up from her bed, sees one of the beautiful flowers, that was in the cart.
Above the flower appears...
"The spirit and the body shall be ^areunited again in its ^bperfect form"

SO this is the same story as the Happy Holy Day story, with the major difference being that it takes place in Mexico. Maybe if the Happy Holy Day story doesnot get picked up, we can do this for the Day of the Dead, which takes place in October. Think of it, a spiritual day in OCTOBER. It could be a big hit! YEAH!!


Posted by kevinzico

Happy Holy Days

So this December's Ensign has a really cool story. It's about a girl that would go with her family to visit her grandparents who lived in another state.

Mom would heat up bricks to warm the kid's feet, because there was no heating or air conditioning in their  car. They would sing Christmas carols because there were no radio in the car either. When they would arrive, grandma and pa would make yummy warm popcorn balls with honey and they would enjoy Christmas with the grandparents.

This particular year was different. All the kids had to seat in the front seat of the car between mom and dad. The back seat was filled with a little white coffin. This girl's little brother got pneumonia and didn't recover. Along the way to grandma's house all the kids weren't as jolly as they had been, so mom and dad's beautiful harmonized singing filled them with the holy Christmas spirit. When they got to their grandparents' house, they were solemn  as well. They too had the experience of burying some of their children.

After the funeral service, this little girl looked at a nativity scene. She saw the little baby who was born in the manger, and realized that that little boy lived and died and lived again so that one day she could play with her little brother again. The yummy popcorn balls remind her of the greatest Christmas gift Heavenly Father has ever given, His son. And she feels happiness.

Maybe we can plan on doing this for next year.
I know that this is a little sad, but so is the famous Christmas Carol. And what better gift can we give, than the gospel message that Jesus came to bind up that which is broken, to heal them that are bruised, to preach deliverance to the captives, and give sight to the blind?

I'll work on getting a script, just wanted to write this out.

Posted by kevinzico

Near the Edge

Speaking of football players...

A long-time friend of his, an all-star football player and robust athlete, was stricken with cancer that left him in a wheelchair. One day, as President Monson was swimming at Deseret Gym, "there came to my mind the thought, 'Here you swim almost effortlessly, while your friend Stan languishes in his hospital bed, unable to move.' I felt the prompting: 'Get to the hospital and give him a blessing.' "

He quickly dressed, went to the hospital where the nurse told him that he was getting ready for his therpy, and then found his friend near the edge of the deep end of the pool, totally despondent. "It would be so easy to propel the hated wheelchair into the silent water of the deep pool. Life would then be over. But at that precise moment he saw me, his friend." President Monson took him to his room and provided a blessing. "One day, a year or so later, there was a knock at my office door, and in walked my friend who had been told he would never walk again. . . . He expressed to me his gratitude for the inspiration which had come to me that day in the swimming pool at the Deseret Gym.

This could be awesome!

Posted by kevinzico

Steve Young?

Is there a way to contact Steve Young and ask him about an experience he may have had where his moral was challenged in his time as an athlete and he overcame it?  Either that or some other athlete.  Could be cool as it would appeal to another demographic . . .

Posted by Stephen Anderson

Johanna's Light

 Johanna Adrianna Gobel Tonks was Born in Dordrecht, South Holland, Netherlands on 1886. She and her sister had to hide their Book of Mormon under the mattress up in their attic bedroom. The oil for their little lamp would burn just long enough for the sisters to read one chapter of the book every night. Their mother, suspicious of all things Mormon, said one evening, “No more light for you girls up there.” Somehow Aunt Jo managed to get some matches, and she and her sister were able to continue reading that precious chapter nightly, even though the oil should have burned out long before. She stated, “No one in this whole wide world can tell me the hand of the Lord wasn’t over us.”

Jo could not get baptized until she turned 18, and that happened while her mother was away helping a sister.

When her mother came home one week later, and was told that she did get baptized,

Her mother replied, “I cannot live with a Mormon. You leave the house now.”

It was 11:00 p.m. and raining terribly, and Jo went walking with her light shining...never to return to that house again.

Here's some concept art for Johanna's light, based on Van Gogh's painting
What would be nice to add to the story blurb is a contrast of scenes between she getting baptized and entering the water with when she steps out into the dark rainy night.

Posted by kevinzico

Color Resource

This is an excellent resource for choosing color combinations.  

https://kuler.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/

3D Camera Mapping Tutorial

This tutorial uses camera mapping within a 3D software package.  It may be useful if tailored to work in Maya.

http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/camera-mapping/

Cinemagraph tutorial

Good tutorial on creating a cinemagraph.

http://vfxhaiku.com/2011/05/how-to-make-a-cinemagraph/

Tilt Shift Lens Effect

Tutorial for a tilt-shift lens effect using photoshops lens blur filter.  This may be out of date since Photoshop has it built in now, but thought it would still be good reference in case there is something from the tutorial that can be applied in other ways.

http://www.tuaw.com/2008/10/07/how-to-use-photoshops-lens-blur-tool-for-tilt-shift-fakery-par/

Motionographer.com

This is another site that is filled with ideas and inspiration, all relating to animation and motion graphics.

http://motionographer.com