To see more studio work click here.

To see more studio work click here.

To see more studio work click here.

Too see the image in higher resolution click here. Too see [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/716/tractors-old-and-new/ Discovery Channel and National Geographic are neat. I like to see the specials on different cultures that showcase where they live. Here’s some ideas from projects that were the result of that curiosity.

Too see the image in higher resolution click here. Too see more sketch work click here.

Too see the image in higher resolution click here. Too see more illustration work click here.

Too [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/710/invasion/ Here’s the new version.  I made some changes to the staff of the female warrior to echo the stern of a norse ship, as well as adding some scrollwork into her armor. I changed the male warrior’s helmet to harmonize better in shape with the other’s head symbols, as well as making minor changes [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/709/norse-warriors-concept/ Where did 2009 go?

I’m not really sure, but it feels like I’ve blinked and another decade has passed.

The wife and I packed up everything and visited the family on the east coast. For the first time in years, there was snow on the ground, and not just a light powdering either. [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/708/holiday-time-and-sledding/ Martial arts primates in defiance of their master?  Oh yes, and the spot does thicken.

Lo Wung, 42, taught the monkeys so they could entertain crowds outside a shopping centre in Nshi, in eastern China’s Hubei province.

But the money-spinning primates turned the tables on their trainer when he slipped during a show, with one quick-thinking monkey [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/706/taekwondo-monkey-in-trouble/ Skunks have faces that look like they are pushed to the end of their head, so I drew one. He can open canned food with his head in a pinch, jackhammer style. Don’t let this fellow raid your kitchen pantry, you will be left with nothing. Nothing, I tell you.

To see more [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/705/skunkman-with-triangle-head/ Up in the frigid skies of northern Norway, residents witnessed a unique light show, one that had never before displayed in their evening skies. The official story has been confirmed as a Russian missile gone awry when tested fired from the Dmitry Donskoy submarine in the White Sea early on Wednesday, failing at the [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/704/blue-spiral-light-hovers-above-norway/ Silent films are something I’ve always enjoyed. The exaggerated acting and poses are what appeal to me the most.

So that leaves one to question, “How would a contemporary sci-fi picture translate into this medium?” An acting troupe from Asia has replied humorously, Russian subtitles included. That Charlie guy sure knows [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/700/the-matrix-1905-starring-charlie-chaplin/

St. Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech Republic, is honored with many statues around the country. But the sculpture of St. Wenceslas Riding a Dead Horse in Prague turns those monuments — literally — upside down. Hanging in the gallery of a shopping and entertainment complex, it was created in 1999 as a parody [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/697/st-wenceslas-riding-an-upside-down-horse/ Back in 2003 I humbly started version 1 of this website using frontpage and html. If you look at the dates on the right hand toolbar of the blog, you’ll see that I’ve started migrating old posts from the html days into the new website format. By the end of this weekend I’ll [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/561/migrating-all-old-blog-posts/ Here’s an interesting piece of technology developed by a group of scientists. It’s able to fetch information from the internet to dynamically composite images. All it takes for it to happen is your ideas communicated in the form of sketching.  Below are storyboards from the proposed technology, showing how input equals output.

To get [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/546/photosketch-internet-image-montage/ Wouldn’t it be rad to sit on one of these while you played your favorite games or watched a fantastic movie? Better yet, don’t tell you family about it and invite them over for dinner. “Hey dad, check out the majestic mammal hibernating near the footstool.  It keeps the robbers away.”

You are looking [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/553/sleeping-grizzly-bear-bean-bag/ There’s a science museum close that the wife and I have had the pleasure of visiting several times. We are both geeks and love going to these places. That’s why it was totally awesome to hear about this world touring BBC dinosaur show, “Walking With Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular“, that was going [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/551/time-to-see-some-dinosaurs-arena-style/ Most everything in the natural world takes on a new personality when slowed to frame rate that allows us to focus on the nuances of the moment. Metallic objects appear as heated butter, shearing at imbalanced angles. I wonder how they were able to hit the moving bullets with other projectiles.

Germany’s Werner Mehl [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/549/1-million-fps-slow-motion-impacts/ Say hello to the piglet squid, a curious critter of the sea. Here it is in normal “piglet” form.

Mr. piglet undergoes a transformation when it fills itself with surrounding water. ….it starts to look like a certain friend of Jim Hensen, eh?

The Banded Piglet Squid (Helicocranchia pfefferi) is a small squid of the genus Helicocranchia. Adults of [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/543/piglet-squid/ I’ve always wondered where sounds were engineered / manufactured from. Now I know.

Neurosonics Audiomedical Laboratory footage.

Fig. 1: Technical description.

Kingdom of the unreal but also a higher state of being, ultimately free of the limitations of the material world through the agency of science, technology, and imagination.

The main tank called the “Kuroshio Sea” holds 7,500-cubic meters (1,981,290 gallons) of water and features the world’s second largest acrylic glass panel, measuring 8.2 meters by 22.5 meters with a thickness of 60 centimeters. Whale sharks [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/532/kuroshio-sea-the-2nd-largest-aquarium-in-the-world/

What it was, I’m not entirely sure, but starting about two weeks ago I heard some horrid coughs at work. “Holy crap..”, I thought. “Someone is hacking up a black lung in the other room.” By that evening I had light coughs, but I still thought nothing of it. By the [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/531/swine-flu-the-biting-pig-bites-back/ Are you a fan of Gundam? I sure am, and wish I could see this guy in real-life. Standing at 59 feet tall at a scale of 1:1, this is an actual sculpture that will be on display in Tokyo through July.

Check out video of the installation here.

It’s still a huge mystery to me how he controls his shaping tools on such a minuscule level and paints the characters. He describes losing a past work in progress by accidentally [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/527/sculpting-in-the-eye-of-a-needle/ For a while now I’ve been meaning to do a whole revision on the website. This will be the 8th major version. After getting back from the studio on friday, I had a quick dinner, then proceeded to put a good night’s work into getting it done. By 5am on Saturday I [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/526/version-8-up-and-running-and-burning-robot-breakers/ For the past couple of weeks I’ve been racking my brains and putting together some designs for my friends at PFOM and Silent Stage Gallery.

It’s been good times looking at different source material for a new direction to take my personal work in.

The pure weirdness of the story and character design caught my eye immediately. The two day sale was enough to convince me to purchase and give it a shot. [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/517/the-unique-and-bizarre-world-of-zeno-clash/ Here are six different ideas I explored in rough thumbnail format. I tried creating different dominant shapes as well as themes and lighting. The challenge was starting with the same blank space as the foundation for each concept. I’ve titled each of the sketches according to their separate stories, all scifi in [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/516/six-different-scifi-themed-thumnail-sketches/ This year’s Sasuke 22 (Ninja Warrior in the US) was one of the most exciting competitions of all time. Yuuji Urushihara, the humble shoe salesman, was mere seconds away from making Sasuke history! It seems the tides are turning with the well-known Sasuke All-Star veterans being tallied out early in the first round [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/515/sasuke-22-ninja-warrior-22/ Here are some detail concepts of the bansula egg and crytrog door.

The door is ceremonial in presentation, and runs off a plasmid life-force that is held in stasis by the sacred yaggridisl stems. They power the door and allow them to be used as conventional entrances between rooms and gateways to other rooms in [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/514/bansula-egg-and-crytrog-doorway-gateway/ SNK ups the ante of hand drawn sprites in its new 2-D fighter. This looks to be one of the best looking King Of Fighters yet. Nice artwork and animation.

I’ve lived in different parts of the country and never saw the brand before, so I assume it’s probably a local one from local farms, hence the awesome taste. The natural stuff tastes more like the food I remember eating [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/511/chocolate-milk/ I’m a sucker for awesome puzzle games, especially ones like this. The animation and game play look really fun and exciting. Who would have thought barfing rainbows into each other’s mouths could be such a jolly good time?

I just saw UP with my wife over the weekend. This has [...]]]> http://www.tragnark.com/509/up-the-motley-crew-of-carl-russell-dug-and-kevin/