University of Michigan.

My goal is to have 100 followers by the end of the year. CAN IT BE DONE? Let's find out. If I can get to 100 followers, I'll do something. You can name it. Maybe I'll draw a small head of all of my followers. Leave a comment with suggestions.

Remember yesterdays post about Taris and The Horse Head? Well, TARIS SAW & READ THAT POST. At first I was mortified, and embarrassed is an understatement, but you know, it is what it is. I guess the reason I'm saying this is because you never know who's going to come across what you write on the internet so you should probably be mindful of what you say. I don't regret writing what I did (it wasn't bad; I just look like a creep), but I thought it was funny. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? No shame though; Taris is still great.

Last week, I went to Biology class with my dear friend, Matt Benyo, at the University of Michigan. It was interesting. I had never been in a lecture with so many people. At CCS, we had like 28 students TOPS, but not at U of M. I was nervous because we sat in basically the front row AND the teacher came over to ask if they already had 172 or something and apparently that doesn't ever happen (the teacher coming over I mean). I sat there and wrote things down and kind of doodled. I felt out of place. I felt like an impostor because I've been done with school for what feels like forever, but it also kind of made me miss being in a learning environment. I was feeling really good about the fire extinguisher that I started drawing, but then class ended and we left. On the right page, I found a bunch of great quotes. I hope they shed a little inspirational light on you as they have me. (Click to enlarge for fun details).

The Horse Head.

This is my last Real Steel post. One day, I drew some meeps. I also drew that lizard (which is actually a bearded dragon named DaVinci). However, what makes this ENTIRE sheet of paper, is that horse head. It was drawn by the one and only Taris Tyler. Taris is Hugh Jackman's stand in and if you go a few entries back to the Lady Gaga post, he's the first two photos. I had been drawing the meeps when I caught Taris watching me draw and I asked him if he could draw. In his adorable australian accent, he said he couldn't, but I assured him that everyone could. Finally he said the only thing he could draw was a horse head so he drew one. For "not being able to draw", I was impressed. I like the horse bangs best. After talking to him and seeing him draw, that's what really got me. He was SO CONFIDENT and confidence is one of the keys to my heart. Taris, I don't care that you're 14 years older than me, can we just hold hands and draw horse heads all day? I'll probably never see Taris again, and it's bittersweet, but the horse head lives on in my heart.

I'm Rusty.

When I started drawing on set, I hadn't drawn in at least a month. Shame on me, I know. These sketches are meh. I ended up drawing one of the robots in the movie, but I'm pretty sure if I post that, Dreamworks will sue me. Sidenote: There was this one extra named Judy and she looked like she could've been in Hocus Pocus and her hair looked like a toucan's. I should've drawn her, but I'm convinced she was a witch and I feel like if I had tried to draw her, she would've hexed me.

Guess Who's Back...BACK AGAIN.

Not Slim Shady; me. After a brief hiatus, I'm back. I need to begin with some sort of explosive introduction which is why I'm going to post this picture of Christian Barr. He hasn't updated his blog in awhile, but that's okay because who has?I worked on Real Steel which is a movie staring Hugh Jackman about Robot Boxing. Some people might think this is right up my alley; it's not. I have a penchant for robots, but not rock em' sock em' robots. I was an extra in this film and if you've never worked on a movie set with extras, I'm going to highly recommend that you don't. It's like being in a room full of phonies that want to be famous. They've been in HUNDREDS of movies and they know EVERYONE and EVERYTHING and they know that Hugh Jackman bought a house here in Michigan. News flash; he didn't. I did, however, have my miserable parents working with me and two friends (now bffls) Matt Benyo and Nathan Bou. Not everyone was bad though. I made a few friends on set and they were AWESOME. I was asked more times than I can count if I got my tattoo for the movie (are you kidding me?) and the hours were insane, but it was definitely an experience. It lasted for 11 days and we had to wear the same outfit for the 11 days and come hair and make up ready which meant dressing to the nines at 6 in the morning. Not fun. However, Real Steel will be coming to a theatre near you November 2011. Try to find me. I'm the one with the HAIR.

I will be updating with sketches from the movie set and what not. I also spent a few days out in Ann Arbor and one day I went to U of M. It was a biology class. I did some drawing in there and wrote a few notes. I will post that too. I am home now (UNFORTUNATELY) and I made a small to do list. I rearranged my bulletin board and made it presentable. Sometimes I like to capitalize on mundane activities:In the coming posts, I will talk about The Spice Girls, my problem with showers, halloween, and other fun things. If you feel like this entry was a let down, you need to look at that picture of Chris again. Stay excellent.

Custom Shoes: Joe A!

I'm going to get back to updating everyday on Monday September 27th. Mark your calendars and plan accordingly. I just finished up another pair of custom kicks for my dear friend Joe Alvillar. This was the first pair of Converse I've worked with and doing it on hi-tops was both a challenge and a blessing. I enjoyed the extra canvas room that other shoes don't provide, but working on top of the gesso (as opposed to just drawing on top of the leather Keds) was a challenge. These took me FOREVER (mostly because of the design alongside the lace holes). I also feel compelled to really design the tongues even though you don't see them. I'm sending these out to Joe today. I hope you love them, dude! If you're interested in your own pair of custom kicks, you know who to call (not the Ghostbusters). CLICK FOR DETAIL!

Paws Up, Teeth Out.

I saw Lady Gaga on Saturday 9/4 at The Palace. Shout out to Hugh Jackman for convincing Matt (he's the cutie in the bottom right picture) and I to do so. We were on the fence, but we finally decided to do it after Hugh's speech about Gaga's show. He said that there was a real passion at her show that you could feel and it was unlike any other concert he had been to. PLUS, we knew Taris was going (Taris is Hugh's stand in and I have a crush on Taris). So, we figured we'd go and run into Taris and all would be well. All was well because we DID run into Taris. We talked to him for a few and then I asked him if I could get a picture with him. I was so happy I didn't even care about the concert, but we made our way to our seats and I was impressed by how close we were having only bought our tickets a mere 4 hours before the show started. I like Lady Gaga, but Hugh was right; Lady Gaga was INCREDIBLE. You really CAN feel the passion behind her words and music. She plays her heart out. The thing I enjoyed most was how empowering she was as a person. She said you can be anything you want to be. How true that is. She's an exhibitionist and I couldn't get enough of her. If you're ever on the fence, GO.Also, I'll start updating in a few days. I miss you, friends! I'll return back to the blog once I'm finished with this movie thing (that I can't wait to tell you all about).