Dodgeball Cowboy

Puppy Odysseus

2009-03-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Here's my 24 hour toon that I made for http://24hourtoons.blogspot.com. The word this week was "puppies" so I decided to tell the story o Puppy Odysseus through song!

A handsome striped sweater

2009-02-04T11:37:00.001-08:00

Here's another sketch. I feel bad at drawing lately, so I'm trying to relearn some things.

For funsies

2009-02-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a little lunchtime doodle!

After a little daydreaming

2009-01-26T17:06:00.001-08:00

Why I Am Voting NO On Prop 8

2008-10-31T09:58:00.000-07:00

Ever since I can remember, I knew that marriage was a blessing. I saw how happy my mom and dad were, how happy their children made them, and how happy it made me to have two parents who loved each other and loved me.

I knew that marriage was important because I saw how much my parents depended on each other. Each kiss meant more than "I love you." Some meant "Thank you for working so hard to support this family." Some meant "Thank you for getting the kids to school." Some meant "Thank you for the wonderful dinner." And some meant "I don't know what I'd do without you."

As I grew up, I learned a lot from my parents. I learned to treat each person the way I wanted them to treat me. I learned to saved my money, and not to buy anything I couldn't afford. I learned to be thankful for my blessings. I learned that family is so important.

So from a young age I was certain. Someday, I want to be married, just like my mom and dad.

Maybe it would have been better if I hadn't gotten my hopes up.

When you're a little kid, no one tells you that you won't be able to get married like your parents did. They tell you that you'll get older, you'll fall in love, you'll get married, you'll start a family.

Why didn't someone tell me when I was six? Why didn't someone sit me down and say, "When you grow up, you'll fall in love with the wrong type of person. You shouldn't want marriage, you won't be allowed to have it." Perhaps it would hurt less now if I had known back then.

Why didn't someone say, "When you fall in love, it will be less special than your parents' love, so you can't call it marriage. When you meet the person you want to spend the rest of your life with, keep it to yourself, no one will want to hear about it."

Why didn't someone tell me, "When your parents love each other, it is good and right. But when you find the person you love, it won't be as good, and it won't be as right."

I've been told that God doesn't give us challenges that we can't overcome. Why then, I thought, did God make me gay? Why did God give me this desire to find someone to love and support. Why did God give me this desire to have and love a family? Why did he do these things and make me gay?

I know I am gay in every fiber of my being. It is built into me. I have tried to be different, I have tried to be "normal," because I didn't want to be the one who is left out. But it is an essential part of my being. How then, does God expect me to overcome myself?

I prayed about it, I stressed over it. I pretended to like things I didn't like, and I pretended that I didn't like things that I actually did. I got frustrated searching for the thing inside me that caused so much unhappiness. And I was weary from trying to change something inside me that, deep down, I didn't actually feel was wrong.

And then one day, I finally got it. I wasn't supposed to overcome myself. I was supposed to overcome my prejudice against gay people. God wanted me to treat gay people the same way I treated straight people. With love, respect, dignity, and equality. And God wanted me to know that it started with me. God wanted me to know that I needed to love myself as a gay person, and to stop discriminating against myself first and foremost. This burden from God that I wanted taken away so much, it turned out to be a greater gift than I ever could have imagined.

So what about marriage? If I know that God loves us all the same, how can I justify treating other people differently. How can I offer other people less than I would take for myself? How can I deny someone their love when love is the one thing God asks us to hold most sacred?

If you know how I can do this, please let me know. As it is, I can't think of a single reason why.

This Tuesday Californians are voting on Proposition 8, an amendment that takes away the rights of every gay person to marry the one they love. Don't tell someone that their love is less important, less meaningful, or less real. I am begging you to please vote NO on Proposition 8.

God Bless,

Adrian Molina

(P.S. If you also feel strongly about Prop 8, please write a note on facebook or myspace or your blog or whatever and send it to your friends and family. On voting day it will be very close, so let people know why you are voting no on Prop 8.)

Sorry haven't posted in forever!

2008-10-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

But I do have something to post now. It's a little PSA I made concerning California's Proposition 8, also known as the gay marriage ban. Hope you like it (and tell your friends!)

Thanks to Erik Benson and Su Wong for lending their voices, Alex Hirsch, Dimitri Frazao and Nick Butera for making the music, James Robertson and Dani Strijleva for keeping me motivated and giving me moral support, and a very special thanks to Ryan Dooley for being the best!

Collage

2008-04-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

I had some more free time so I whipped this together. I kinda like it, some more exploration with these dancer characters.

Love

2008-04-22T16:28:00.000-07:00

This one goes out to a special someone. It is perhaps my best piece yet.

Free time

2008-04-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've got a little free time so I've been sketching some more!

Pile of Babies

2008-04-10T16:23:00.000-07:00

So I've been working on this little painting for the last two weeks to help raise money to decorate our common area. I was pretty happy with how it came out!

Here it is in progress:

And here's the final scan:

It's 8x8 inches in gouache.

Modern dancers

2008-04-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

So I found a crappy sketch of dancers that I did a couple of months back which I had painted really quickly with some crappy crayola-esque watercolor and a plastic brush. But I thought it was still kind of funny and evocative, so I broke out my tiny sketchbook and started sketching some more of these two dancers.

I think drawing dancers is way fun, it's a cool way to get expressive with line and form and whatever. I think if I can figure these two out a little more I might try to make a painting or something.

Some older stuff...

2008-03-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

I found these sketches that I did a few months ago that I really liked but never got a chance to scan. I've got good memories from the time I drew them too, so yeah, here the are.

I hope everyone is taking care of themselves nowadays.

Lunchtime sketch

2008-03-26T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick lunchtime doodle.

Being a Girl is Way Cool!

2008-03-14T15:15:00.001-07:00

I am very tired right now.

A portrait

2008-01-09T13:39:00.001-08:00

Work was slow the other day so I decded to try my hand at a little portraiture. I used to do more of it in high school, but haven't really tried it since then. Anyways this was just a test, but it's Ryan, done on a cintiq but I tried to make it look like it was done in pastel. It was drawn from a photograph I found on his facebook.

Fun stuffs

2007-11-30T19:22:00.000-08:00

I wanted to draw something so that I didn't skip the whole month of November. These were fun.

Fun in the city

2007-10-27T18:15:00.001-07:00

Today I had a fun time hanging out with my friend James from work and his wife Dani. We went to the city to check out a really neat Mary Blair exhibit at the Cartoon Art Museum, had some tasty panuchos at the Farmer's Market, and sketched a little afterwards. Here are some of the ones I came up with!

I'd say it was a Saturday well spent!

Cut-outs

2007-10-24T19:11:00.001-07:00

Just me playing around some more, trying out new styles. I just now realized that I think I subconsciously ripped off the expression/pose/sunburny freckles on that guy from an awesome drawing Brigette did a few months back. Gyah! Sorry Brigette! Totally unintentional!

As a matter of fact, everyone reading this post should all go to Brigette's blog to see how awesome she is.

Work has been going pretty well the last couple of weeks, things are really busy,and they've got me working really hard, but I've gotten to board on some really fun sequences and I actually think I'm getting better at it. It's good when you can see yourself improving, plus I'm also having fun, so what more can I ask?

Hope all my friends in L.A. and Oregon and Austria and Scotland are doing well nowadays!

Girly sketches

2007-10-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

Playing around with a softer lead pencil yielded these:

I always sucker myself into drawing young, pretty, furrowed browed girls. I like these, but I think they lack a certain amount of specific personality. I need to figure out a way to make some of my girls more specific, maybe I need to give them other characters to interact with and work off of. I do love drawing in pencil though, it's the best!

Mini me.

2007-10-05T06:27:00.001-07:00

So I haven't been up to doing a lot of my own artwork lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping busy. Work has been going pretty well, I got to work on a fun sequence that kind of got my heart pumping, so I spent some extra time on it to make it look snazzy, so I'm happy about that.

Also I've been swimming a little lately, and I've picked up with my hip-hop classes again, so that keeps me feeling very healthy. Just as a warning though, I'm awful, probably the slowest person in the class, and I think they all feel sorry for me, hehe.

Anyways, before Ryan, my boyfriend, left for Scotland, he sent me this:

It's a tiny Bonsai tree to keep me company while he's away, hehe.

So I felt bad, because I hadn't sent him off with something to keep him company. Just recently I did make this though:

It's a tiny version of me I made from fabric and stuffing. He's also more well travelled than I, as he's in Scotland right now partying it up with Ryan. Anyways, tiny Adrian (or Adriancito) was one of his birthday presents.

Cafe sketches

2007-09-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

At the risk of sounding artsy and indie, I must confess that I went cafe sketching. And what's worse, I bought coffee. And what's even worse than that, I liked it! What have I become?!

I'll try to make my next post much less hip.

Another drawing!

2007-08-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you can't deny inspiration.

Fishing.

2007-08-20T16:26:00.001-07:00

I haven't been drawing for myself lately, but I just did this. It's some guy trying to catch fish with his very own hands! Sometimes I feel torn between the way I do draw and the way I think I should draw, and I don't know which is better. This is somewhere in between the two.

Suspicious pie

2007-06-28T18:19:00.001-07:00

I've been feeling inexplicably mischievous as of late.

Hansel and Gretel

2007-06-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

Some friends of mine are designing a Hansel and Gretel story, so I figured I'd try my rendition. I tried coloring them, but they weren't as funny. Maybe I'll post the colored versions later if I get them finished.

Telescopic placebo

2007-06-22T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here's my first attempt at this week's very challenging challenge.

Bucklestone portrait

2007-06-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

Lorelay and I decided to stay late after work and paint with gouache. I was crapping it up pretty badly because I'm way out of practice, but by the end I got a little paintly sketch of Bucklestone. I actually think it looks a lot better in just grayscale, but here's the thing the way I painted it.

Elderly mermaids

2007-06-07T14:25:00.000-07:00

Here are a few embarrasingly quick ideas in response to Austin and Vi's challenge to draw elderly mermaids.

No new news to report right now, except thanks to Diana for sharing with me the magic of kids' vocals.

A sneak peek

2007-06-04T16:36:00.001-07:00

I've been working on this for a few months, on and off. Here's a picture!

My Bucklestone Smitz thing is starting to take shape. I'm writing up a script-like thing that's helping me to figure out what kind of a story I'm building around the character. It's funny because my initial purpose was to make it incredibly action based, but it's turning into something very character based, but luckily it's not in the boring way, so I'm gonna run with it as long as it goes.

This last week has been a little stressful for me, but I wanted to thank my friends for helping to make it infinitely less stressful than it could have been. You guys are outstandingly cool!

I can't wait for Ed and Brigette and Lorelay and Erik and Nicole and Alex to show up at Pixar! Just the thought of it makes my brain wanna do a backflip! Hi-ya! I hope everyone else is spending the summer wallowing in coolness.

Alex and I were talking about the degeneration of the English language this weekend, so I'm making a particular effort to say things in a more specific (even if consequently a more ridiculous and less appropriate) way. I heartily suggest you guys try the same! Chuck your worn out axioms, maxims, and adages, and sculpt some fancy phrases of your very own! Share 'em with your friends!

Bucklestone Smitz

2007-05-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

So I think I want to do a graphic novel. Here's an image that doesn't do the right kind of justice to the idea I have. I think I want it to be a little more Jonny Quest, and a little less Hardy Boys, but tons of adventure nonetheless.

This isn't a finished piece, just practice for later stuff I want to do.

Also, I graduated for reals last weekend. It was kind of strange, because it felt like something was ending, even though I haven't been at school for the past year. I wish all of my friends the best of luck, and I'm sure I'll see all you guys around! You really have made my last four years amazing.

I want everyone to keep posting on their blogs so I can see what the'yre drawing and know what they're up to.

Oil Change

2007-05-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I changed my car's oil today. After a long time. A very, very long time. I won't say how long. But it's been long.

To celebrate:

Military uniforms

2007-05-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry everybody for not posting in forever, and thanks to all of my friends who beat me over the head for not posting in forever. This one's for you guys. I'm mixing and matching some military uniforms to try to generate ideas for one of my futuristic character's outfits.

Also, I went to the CalArts Producer's Show this weekend and I just wanted to say that I though the films were awesome! I'm so proud to have such talented friends, they inspire me everyday with their talent, their drive, and their all around coolness. Thanks you guys! And I'll see y'all next weekend for graduation!

Something quick!

2007-03-19T19:32:00.000-07:00

This dude is very angry.

Drawings!

2007-02-28T10:47:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of variations on the same two sketches.

I don't have any interesting news to report right now. Except that the chops are doing fine!

It figures?

2007-02-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

I, as a rule, try to avoid posting figure drawings, because I feel like they're not as much fun to look at as other stuff, but they're definitely more fun to look at than nothing, which is pretty much what I've drawn in the last week. So it figures that I'd put up these sketches I drew in sketch class. It's a really fun workshop, and the instructor likes us to have fun with the drawings, which is why I like to go there.

Also, work is going pretty good, I'm having lots of fun, but I'm missing my friends a lot. So this is me sending out a big cosmic hug to my friends down south!

A little something

2007-01-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

Because I know I've been delinquent in my bloggery. I'm sorry. I resolve to mend my ways!

Dandelion!

2006-11-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

"Dandelion" is the name of this song I made on my GameBoy and have finally figured out how to upload. So here it is:

I'm no musical genius, but it was fun to make.

Another one

2006-10-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

Here's another idea:

Puppet Schematics!

2006-10-30T13:50:00.000-08:00

So I'm entertaining the idea of making puppets. Here are some preliminaries:

I'm not necessarily going to make these guys, I'm just feeling out some designs. I'll post more when more is postable.

Magical Sunrise Castle Morning . . . Sunrise.

2006-10-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

I had time to do a painting because I was bored and work is slow. It was pretty fun, I made it in photoshop, but I didn't let myself use the eraser or undo, just the brush tool and all on one layer. It made the work go by much faster. It's like painting with gouache, but without having to wait for it to dry, very cool.

Go Fire Monkeys!

2006-10-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

At my sister Ana's insistence I put this together in Photoshop for a banner for her and her husband's soccer team. They're coaching an under 6 team who awesomely named themselves the FIRE MONKEYS! And this image would theoretically be on their banner. That is assuming that my sister likes it, and that it doesn't make six year olders cry.

I think the Fire Monkeys is a way cool name for an under six soccer team. It made my job much easier than if the were something lame like The Stallions or The Eagles or something. Now the Cactus Stallions or the Scuba Eagles would be different . . .

Update!

2006-09-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Time for a little bit of good news. Not that you guys are personally invested, but I managed to secure some good housing in the Bay Area. I am very excited about this, because house hunting in the Bay Area is a total pain. I'm going to live in a creekside cottage, pretty cool eh? Anyway, that puts my mind at rest to know I won't be homeless when I start work.

And I scanned a new drawing. I wrought this one forth while listening to the new Snow Patrol album, which is very pretty. Hopefully you might find this drawing equally as pretty. The character isn't supposed to be me, even though it looks like how I usually draw myself. His name is Cesar Patrick for now.

I'm going to start making a mental effort to try to not draw a halo for a while. Really, I promise I'll try. They just make everything seem more mystical. And I am a sucker for most things mystical or symbolic. But like I said, I'll try to refrain.

Painting for Jen

2006-09-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

I did this one for my good friend Jen Hager, who was kind enough to let me stay in her living room for like a million weeks when I was trying to figure out how to graduate from CalArts. Thanks Jen and Heidi and Lissa! They got some pretty cute cats while I was there named Squash and Stretch. Anyways, their living room is all tricked out with red curtains and red movie posters, so Jen asked that I paint her something red, and this is what happened.

Next I might draw a little pencil sketch or something since this blog is getting a little gouache heavy.

Baxton Auction: Back in Action

2006-09-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

So I decided at the last minute to put a painting into the Baxton Benefit Auction, and it sold! . . . to the ever fantastic Adam Muto. It's a gouache paining of Windstar the Fancy Dragon from my film.

And just in case you weren't able to make it, the auction was pretty awesome. I had my heart set on winning one of Dean Wellins' Hogarth drawings, but alas, there were some much bigger spenders than I, and I ended up with nothing. I heard that the auction made around $32,000, which is fantastic! It's all going to help out Martha and Larry Baxton, and they are two wonderful people who have all my love. Congratulations to everyone who helped make the auction happen, whether it was organizing, donating items, or big spending on the big night.

Anyways, here's what the painting looked like:

Se llaman Ilusión

2006-07-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

Here's a little sketch of a character I've been developing for a post apocalyptic epic me and my brother hope to make someday. Her name is Ilusión. As you can see, she's an expecting mother/revolutionista. She fights against desert-roving cyborg oppressors. Her soon to be born sons are Plasmon and Fusion, the main characters.

The Chosen One!

2006-05-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a development painting for a high-adventure magical storybook story I've got brewing in my head. This is my third attempt at this particular painting, I'm hoping to get better at handling gouache, but that will come with time.

As you can obviously see, this kid is the . . . chosen one? *delivered with the patented Adrian Molina confused shrug*

The wait is finally over!

2006-05-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

Here's my film:

Special thanks to Jen Hager for animating the horses running around the celtic laser. And another special thanks to Alex Hirsch for helping me remember what needs to be funny and what doesn't. And another special thanks to my teachers (Aurian Redson, Cynthia Overman, Dan Hansen, and Frank Terry) for their support!

Sorry if the animation doesn't play out quite right, it's super compressed, but most of the information is still there! Hope you enjoy it!

The winds of change are changing . . .

2006-05-16T14:31:00.001-07:00

So I was going to post my film as my first blog, but it felt like inappropriate blog etiquette (or netiquette, as they call it), so I'm posting the picture that was the precursor to my film, to generate massive amounts of interest!