A Book For Children and Grownup Children

It's been a dream/goal of mine for a while now to make a children's book and it turned out that this was the year to do it. I've spent the last few months writing and designing, and I'm excited with the progress so far. I completed the rough draft last week and am now working on tieing down the designs and working out the colors. After that I'll have to figure out how to get the thing published and out into the world, but let's take things one step at a time.

The story deals with self esteem and bullying, and involves animals flying around in hot air balloons learning that it's better to be nice than be a jerk. My hope for the book is that it would be a kid-friendly product that also appeals to adults. My fear is that it will miss both audiences- too grownup for kids, too childish for adults. But at the same time, I'm trying hard not to make a "product" to please people, but just do what I do and create a piece of art that I'm proud of. So far I'm pretty pleased. It's just hard when you know that if you create art that's ALSO a successful product, your art can actually buy you groceries (and pay for art school. Ah, irony.)

So, speaking of art- here's a sneak peek. The first is a page of character designs that I finished yesterday. My thought is that they're cute. Maybe too cute. I was hoping for illustrations that weren't quite so cutesy in order to be a little more appealing for the grownup types. The second is a rough page layout. I'm particularly fond of Fox in this one, not sure why. So my aim right now is to make the final product fit somewhere in between these two examples- a little less Nick Jr and a little more Riccardo Guasco. Hopefully by just cleaning up the lines in the rough, and adding some color and a LITTLE more shading, it will pull together into something worth looking at.

25 More Root Beers

A few years ago I started documenting my opinions on various gourmet root beers. In retrospect, I kind of wish I would have used a more practical rating system (or ANY rating system for that matter) but I guess the purpose was more artistic than scientific. So if you're wondering what the "best" root beer is, this won't really help. But if you're wondering which ones taste more like vegetables and which ones taste more like cleaning supplies, I've got you covered. And if you haven't seen the original post, please start here.

TOWER: Nice mild spice. Tastes like licorice and moonlight.

THOMAS KEMPER: Distinguished, but slightly off; like a leather couch in a dorm room. Definitely on the spicy end of the root beer spectrum, versus the sweet end.

BEDFORD'S: Black Cherry & Pistachio. Unique and delicious.

THE POP SHOPPE: Sugar, Spearmint, Windex, Ham.

DANG! THAT'S GOOD: Actually, I'd call it "Dang, that's root beer." It was good, but it wasn't extraordinary in anyway. Definitely not impressive enough to name it after an exclamation.

OOGAVE: Oh, Green Tea, you shouldn't be ashamed of what you are. There's nothing wrong with- What? You're not Green Tea, you're Root Beer? Oh. Um. So... Hey, did you see The Office last week?

STEWART'S: Sugar, mixed with brown sugar, mixed with caramel. Opposite Thomas Kemper on the sweet/spicy flavor spectrum.

VIRGIL'S SPECIAL EDITION BAVARIAN NUTMEG: Really good flavor, but not as special as I was expecting. "I'm searching for the nutmeg..." -Jenette Cementina

BAWS GUARANA G33K B33R: Nice brown sugar taste but also slightly watery. And there's something slightly... mediciny about it. Maybe that's the G33K.

A&W: "Clear", with a faint scent of fireworks.

TRADER JOE'S VINTAGE: Sugary opening, leading to the mellow butteryness of a Ritz cracker.

ZUBERFIZ: A Necco Wafer dreaming about lemons.

PITHY LITTLE SODA WORKS: A handsome man in a plum colored suit sits alone in the corner booth of a darkened bar eating a steak.

APPLE FARM: Molasses, Brown Sugar... and Beer. This one might require a second taste with the assurance that it hasn't fermented...

CENTRAL COAST BREWING: "Old" + "Dry" + "Soap" + "Chai".

MYERS AVENUE: Tastes like a cinnamon roll dipped in cough medicine. But not soaked or anything. Just dipped. Briefly.

CHICO SHINE: Smooth and Honey-y

RED ARROW: This root beer makes me want a hamburger.

MARGO'S BARK: Sharp black licorice with a hint of ash tray.

JOE'S: Smooth and sweet, reminds me of the Toasted Marshmallow Jelly Belly.

ITHICA: Rosemary and Cola.

SQUAMSCOT: Cream Soda in disguise.

SO DUH ROCKIN' ROOT BEER: Tastes like a spice rack. Is that numeg? Cloves? Oregano? Bonus points for uniqueness, except I can't tell if I want to drink it or sprinkle it on pizza...

FOXON PARK: Cotton candy and lemon. And kinda... woodsy? But less like fern covered forest and more like potpourri meant to smell like a fern covered forest.

RED RIBBON: Black licorice dipped in blood, wrapped in iceberg lettuce.

For my friend, Ray Cauley

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Blue Whales off the Coast of Dana Point, California
September 18th, 2011


We followed the spouts,
chased the fanfare of mist
until we were met with teal shadows,
moving masses below the surface of the ocean.
And as our vessel swayed and bowed,
the shadows split the breathing sea.
Then rose mountains of slate
silently sweeping the horizon
then gliding below again.


With powerful force and powerful grace
they entered our world of air
as if the arcs they drew across the level sea
were not a necessary interruption,
not the methodical mechanics of biology,
but a dance;
every breath a pirouette,
every rise and fall, the movement of music seen.


One by one they would make themselves known,
a blast of warm breath, then the surging ballet.
And then,
without remark or report,
they would aim once again for the deep
and the smooth curve of grey,
flexing now toward its home,
would wheel the entire, vast length of spine.


At times a powerful tail would breach
and splash a punctuating farewell.
Others would simply and silently glide away,
the pulsing tail a discrete continuation
of the body's contoured dance.
But no matter how the creatures left the stage
at the meeting place of our two worlds,
the resulting effect was always the same;
for as the thrust of their tails sent their billowing mass downward
the surrounding sea was sent up.
And where a moment ago fought endless ripples,
the agitation of wind and tides,
soon emerged a glassy calm
that expanded and remained
well after the whale had left our sight.


And how fitting a footprint that this life should leave
as it graced our time with its spirit,
that the world it left was made more peaceful
by it simply being there.



For Ray
6/17/1980 - 9/18/2011

New Jobs, New Songs

I am pleased as punch to announce my retirement from joblessness! In January, I started work at Sony Computer Entertainment, doing facial animation on games for Playstation 3. That's right- a real life, gettin' payed to animate, actual job, job! I realize that the announcement comes a little late, but, you know, I've been busy. Working.

That being said, I actually had some time off a few weeks ago and I had the opportunity to play around with some music that had been floating around in my brain. Every once in a while a melody or a riff will pop into my head and I won't have anything to do with it. Most often I'll sing it into my phone and record a message for myself in hopes that some day I'll have some time to actually get onto my computer and do something more with it. Well, that time came a few weeks ago. I had six songs to do, and my plan was to just get them off of my phone for when it goes to phoney heaven, which will probably be soon. I got through the first five quick enough, but when I got to the last one I got a little carried away and just couldn't stop. And now, as far as I can tell, it's a finished song. So in honor of my new job (and the Spring Break it provided me) I'd like to present to you Phone Song Six.

Phone Song Six by Wheres Boo?

I realized after the song was done that it sounds an awful lot like a song I made a long time ago called Frogs of Industry. So if you want, you can call this one Frogs of Technology. Seems like a logical progression.

Miscelaneousness

Some exciting changes are coming up and I'll be posting the news soon but before I get to that I wanted to put up some recent artwork before it gets lost in the shuffle.

The first is a t-shirt design that I did for my sister when she interned for a non-profit that helps homeless families. Their slogan was "Every family deserves a home."




And this is a design for a tea tin that I made her for Christmas. They're tea birds. Get it?




My other sister wanted a recipe box for Christmas so I designed this one for her. Please excuse the crop marks...



This is the back.



And last but not least, a little bit of Grove. Meet Rocco the possum. This isn't actually a finished picture because I decided that I wasn't quite happy with the character design. However I do like the drawing enough to post it. So just pretend that there's a Grover walking past him, carrying a tall pile of fruits and Rocco is helping himself to one (which isn't really in his personality, adding another reason to not finish the picture.)

The Conscientious Jogger

For the last month or so I've been working on some animation. The Grove has been a fun adveture, but it's such a long-term project and at the state that it's in right now it doesn't do much for my job situation. After many months of rejections and closed doors I realized that it was time to get out of the Grove and update (and hopefully upgrade) my reel to give myself a better chance at actually getting a job. I decided to just scrap my old reel entirely and create a short film that showcased my animation skills, and hopefully told an amuzing, memorable story; something that would say "Hire me." The result is The Conscientious Jogger.

The Conscientious Jogger from Jacob Cementina on Vimeo.

The Window

Yesterday I read a peom that was written by a long time family friend and I was immediately inspired by it visually. Then, for whatever reason, I didn't draw an illustation for it, but instead illustrated it with another poem.
The original poem was written by Tim Blair, and can be found here.


The Window
(For T)

At the country farmhouse of my youth
There was a window nestled in the gable
And to the dusty attic I would climb
To view the tree that grew beside the stable.

The noble oak had always stood for truth;
For when my father’s father bought this land
Its tempered roots had long been steeped in time
And so for age and honor it would stand.

The farm was thus established by the tree,
Foundations laid around the roots and leaves.
The tree would shade the house’s Western face
And greet the window underneath the eaves.

My father’s father often came to see
The view from up among the branch’s reach.
This attic window came to be a place
For him to learn and for the tree to teach.

And as the leaves turned gold, and back to green
Old age and certain wisdom came with time.
And soon he kept a cotton cloth upstairs
to rid his view of country dust and grime.

Throughout the years retreat became routine,
Routine became tradition passed to kin.
The faithful cloth was given to his heir,
Who, soon enough, would pass it down again.

So in this way I learned to love the tree
And grew up gazing through a dingy pane
Because I wiped the window with the cotton
but never questioned why the filth remained.

Then came the day that I began to see
The dirty cloth itself hindered my view.
So with the vision lost but not forgotten
I thanked my father, and his father too
Then slid the window open and crawled through.