I’ll tell you what Gunther von Hagen does… he plastinates the hell out of your ass and puts that bad boy up on display for the entire world to see.

I had a chance to slide by the Body Worlds exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science yesterday. And to say that it was pretty damn fascinating would be an understatement. I was blown away.

When I was young, my grandfather gave me a set of his medical books as I began to show interest in drawing. A majority of those books contained intricate and detailed illustrations of the human body, and they were my first exposure to human anatomy. I remember one book in particular which contained a large volume of medical drawings done by da Vinci… I particularly enjoyed this one the most, partly because at the time I was incapable of creating work with anything other than a pencil and the drawings just simply looked cool. Being as young as I was, I didn’t realize the importance of understanding human anatomy, especially as I was slowly developing the unconscious decision to become an artist. Like most kids, I grew up just happy drawing Transformers and anatomically impossible comic book characters.

Seeing the Body Worlds exhibit yesterday took me back to the first time I opened up those medical books. It was like being an intrigued 11 year old all over again. I even broke down and bought a book about the exhibit which contained even more images of work not shown on display. It was the best $25 I’ve spent in quite a while. I’m definitely going to have to make another trip before the exhibit leaves Denver in July. By then the crowds will probably taper down and I might be able to squeeze in some drawing time while I’m there (since they don’t allow photographs).

To learn more about Gunther von Hagen and his Body Worlds exhibit, check out www.bodyworlds.com

... or atleast thats what Production IG founder Mitsuhisa Ishikawa thinks.

My boy Ig and I rolled up to Boulder on Friday to listen to Mr. Ishikawa talk about his company and Japanese anime. I didn't really know what to expect because I'm not really an anime buff, but I do appreciate and enjoy watching anime. I gotta tell ya, Production IG puts together some pretty bad ass shit... any one who has seen Ghost In The Shell can attest to this. But what really got me was how cool Ishikawa was... he really was just a totally cool laid back cat. Hella humble and pretty funny too. Shit, anyone who can make fun of Colorado's baseball team in broken English and make me laugh gets a thumbs up from me.

Anyway, long story short, Ishikawa said something that really hit home. I'm not really going to elaborate much but it's something that was very inspirational for someone like me who is trying to make a living painting pretty pictures. This planet needs more people like him. If you ever have the opportunity to see the man speak, don't pass it up. - J

I was a sketchin' fool this weekend. Knocked out a few drawings and even worked on some 3D poop for the CGTalk Challenge. I posted most of this work on my site.

One thing I wanted to mention is that I've been messing around with a random theme generator called 3CH that the Ubisoft peeps put together. Really crazy little tool to have around if you have a hard time coming up with ideas to sketch. A lot of the topics generated from it are pretty fucking out there but still dope to have. If you're interested in trying it out you can snag it here.

There's also a thread dedicated to 3CH concept art located here. Check out Ubi guys sketches... those guys are fucking killing it with their skills. Murder! - J

I guess I'll start by giving you an idea of the Hate Chimp experience:

I am a ballsy individual. I wear unwashed jeans until they break and believe that the less you bathe, the warmer you'll be. I am a closet trichotillomanic and randomly yell at annoying tv advertisements. Occasionally, I voluntarily attend a class where getting hit with bamboo sticks is considered a recreational sport. I sign happy faces on my credit card receipts and bite my pets because I believe they shouldn't have all the fun. I enjoy snot-rockets, smelling belly buttons, peeing in the shower and farting out loud. I have a difficult time remembering things and suck at face recognition. I believe driving is just a bigger version of chess. If I had a million dollars, I'd ask NASA to shoot me into space. Things that hover over me make me uneasy and irritable. MY OBSESSION FOR ART AND MUSIC IS UNPARALLELED. I am quite possibly one of the most influentual people you'll ever meet.