Jayel Draco’s News Blog

Hello,
Thanks for reading my blog,
I really do appreciate your interest in my updates.
Without your interest, it would be meaningless.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update.
Things have been quite busy.

To start with, the music video for “History Lessons” by the band Dinosaur Feathers (directed by Christopher Piazza) has been officially completed as of April 2010. It is currently expected to premiere sometime in June. The official details of it’s premiere are still being worked out. I will post more when I know more.

The formation and launch of  Creative Logic Studios has been a notable accomplishment. Creative Logic Studios is a webdesign company comprised of various free-lancers including: Amanda Kellman(the company founder), Corinne Alexis Hall, Jayel Draco, and Christopher Covelli. As a team, each member specializes in specific goal oriented tasks, working together to solve the creative needs of our clients companies. The creative needs we are more than qualified to fulfill as a team include but are not limited to:  Logo Design, Graphic Design, Branding, Website Design and Implementation,  Web & TV Commercial Videos, E-commerce, Website SEO, etc. . . This undertaking has been time/thought consuming, but has already proven to be well worth it.

A complete overhaul on director Christopher Piazza’s website panopticonnyc.com has begun and is expected to be completed in early June. The first incarnation of the site I created using Adobe Flash CS3 AS2.0, the revamp will utilize cutting edge coding and fully customized features created in Adobe Flash CS4 AS 3.0.  Expect a slicker quicker and even more unique website capable of deploying enumerable streaming HD videos with little to no load time.

I have been working with various models on photo-shoots for fantasy photo-manipulation illustrations. Some of these have been recently posted to my image gallery: http://www.jayeldraco.com/gallery/main.php, while some of them have been for semi-long-term multi-shoot conglomerate projects which will certainly be posted about upon there completion.  You can expect to see some recurring models as well as a slew of new models in my gallery updates to come.

The project “Nomi Now!” has had new progress renders posted on the newly revamped project progress site: gettingtonomi.com. As you may know, this project has been a labor of love on and off the back burner for the past few years. Please check out the website to learn more.

Well, I think that about sums up the things that I can mention in my happenings as of late. There are still more progress updates to come. Many of these updates however must remain in the proverbial “bag” for the time being. I look forward to being able to let you know more.

Again, thanks for reading
and keep rockin. . .
=j=

So Corinne Alexis Hall and I have been working steadily for the past couple of weeks building our muppet-esque costumes for the music video  “History Lessons” by Dinosaur Feathers. We were hooked up with the band when we won first place in SILVERSOUND Music Video Festival + Band Battle for our work in Cockroach Hotel (written and Directed by Christopher Piazza). Dinosaur Feathers won first place in the Band Battle part of the festival. The two first place winners where hooked up and given a budget for a video which would headline next years festival in August.  The Video for “History Lessons” was conceptualized, written and presented by the talented Writer/Director Christopher Piazza. I can’t say too much about it, but I’m quite certain it will be well received.

Yesterday with our costumes complete we started our day in Monroe, NY accompanied by a small crew of 8 at 5:30 AM. Outside in the snow all day until sunset Corinne and I Puppeteered our hearts out for the camera. With special thanks to the work of “super-on-it” Assistant Director Sara Blake, the first day of shooting was completed on schedule with time for a few extra shot thrown in for good measure. Today I awoke with the sharp pain of deep tissue exhaustion snaking throughout my back, arms and legs.  The pain subsides as I focus on confidence in the knowledge that we gave it our best. I also find myself comforted by the knowledge that we have a week and a half of recovery and costume repairs until the next day of shooting.

The next day of shooting will be the 23rd. A warm indoors green screen studio is where Corinne and I will do the rest of our Puppeteering for the special effects shots. The day will be divided between the filming of our puppeteering and shooting Dinosaur Feathers performing. So in theory it should be a significantly easier day for us. After that Corinne and I will have our work cut out for us as we will be animating special effects and compositing them into the video with Photoshop, Flash, and After Effects.

I’ll fill you in on how the 23rd goes.

Keep Rockin. . .
=j=

Gearing up for the big debut!

As many of you know, Corinne and I have been working over at Neals Adams’ Continuity Studios for over a year now. A large potion of the time that we’ve spent their, has been spent developing sophisticated image… manipulation techniques and employing them as “Motioneers” on “The Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic”. Be in Union Square on 10/28 at 6pm to see the world premiere!

Don’t miss the big event!

Wednesday – October 28th in Union Square, NYC
The Live Outdoor Premiere of The Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic!

Event Schedule
4:00-6:00 – There will be a Creator signing at Forbidden Planet (840 Broadway on the corner of 13th street). The creators signing will include Neal Adams, Chris Claremont, and Dan Slott
6:00-6:30 – There will be Marvel Giveaways and a Costume Contest sign up. Be sure to dress as your favorite Marvel Character!
6:30-7:15 – The Marvel Costume Contest (Contest rules can be found at http://marvel.com/fest09/rules)
7:00 – Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic Book Premiere ( We think that that means, a break will be taken between showing the costumes and Handing out the prizes, to show the premire)

Rise Up (Music Video from Astonishing X-Men Motion Comic)

Woah, so apparently someone (presumably from Marvel) took clips from ‘The Astonishing X-men Motion Comic’ we’ve been working on over at ‘Neal Adams Continuity Studios’ and made a music video with them. It’s a good teaser for our yet-to-be released work.

Click here to watch it

The first one is “Verse of MaryBlue” was a photomanipulation illustration. Which essentially means that I used photographic texture reference to create the image with photoshop. I also made the costume that Mary (the model) is wearing. Artist/Designer Corinne Alexis Hall worked with me on the set decoration, hair/makeup and photography.
This is a piece that I am particularly proud of. Many hours of tedious pixel painting, vector tweaking, and chaos math engineered fractals went into making this piece.

I chose to use a particularly moody photo from a very light hearted and fun shoot for this manip.  Mary is an excellent dancer with a high metabolism. She has an intense spirit and I’m used to her radiating intense joy, creativity and fun. It was very interesting for me to explore seeing her in a light that she doesn’t often portray. Interestingly enough not long after this photo was taken she had knee surgery and had to take time off from dancing and spent allot of time in her room while recovering. Her description of how she felt, was eerily akin to the way I was synchronistically depicting her in this “Verse of MaryBlue”.

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This Second piece is a concept sketch for “How Doyou Nomi?”, a photoshoot that I’ve had in mind for a little while now. The composition and poses here are more or less insignificant to the piece as interaction with model tends to allow for a superior organic development. I illustrated this to send to the model to give here an idea of what we’ll be wearing/doing. Even though it’s just a concept sketch, I’m happy with the way it came out, so I decided to post it. The idea of the piece is a sort of Klaus Nomi reference in the form of a glamour/lingerie/burlesque photoshoot. It will end up being a photomanipulation piece. The costume is finished and the shoot is scheduled.

Click thumbnail to view image
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Thanks for reading my blog!
keep rockin. . .
=j=