After watching "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" this Monday, I have had apes on my brain! I was expecting great things from this film, but it went far beyond those expectations both in storyline, and visuals. The breathtaking home of the apes, and the various types of apes they created has taken the art of cg characters/environments to a whole new level in my opinion. The truly moving aspect of this movie is the emotions they bring to the apes, not only in their expressions, but their language. You truly believe these are a family of apes thriving in this post apocalyptic world. I must admit I was cheering for the chimps the whole time ... sorry human race. That said, the ongoing battle for power between Caesar and Koba was truly a striking portrait of true leadership vs. fear mongering. I could go on and on about the film, but in the end I recommend you go and support the brilliant artistry of this film. I put the soundtrack on and tried to capture some of the emotions I saw in Caesar and Koba. Question is, whose side are you on?
Trail West Lodge map
This was a very meaningful project to be part of, because Trail West Lodge and Young Life have been a huge part of my family history. Trail West Lodge is a Young Life family camp in the epic mountains of Buena Vista, Colorado. This year Trail West Lodge is celebrating 50 years of Young Life ministry to families. What makes this truly unique is that my family has been impacted by, and been part of this ministry since the 60's.
My grandpa Flowers ran the horse ranch (Rancho Caballo) for Trail West as well as the horse program at Frontier Ranch. My grandpa Chisman served as director for both Frontier Ranch and Trail West Lodge (Fort Chisman the large fort in the illustration was named after him!). My father ran the horse ranch after my grandfather, and now my younger brother runs the horse ranch. My mother ran the gift shop at Trail West Lodge when we were young. For my 2 brothers and I, Trail West was the greatest daycare we could dream of! My mom would run the shop, hooking us up with ice cream cones, we would play in the game room for hours, go swimming, and enjoy endless adventures in the aspen grove. Of course, living on the horse ranch provided more memories that I could try to fit into this space. My parents were also Young Life leaders in Buena Vista and this provided us with countless nights of laughter, learning about the life and love of Christ at the weekly Young Life Club gatherings.
The legacy of Young Life continued into my own career and story when I moved to Denver to attend Rocky Mountain College of Art. I served on field staff as a WyldLife (ministry to middle school students) while I attended college. After I graduated, I took a job with Young Life as the lead designer in the Creative Services at Young Life headquarters in Colorado Springs, CO from 2000-2010. I could go on and on about the memories, impact and legacy of Young Life in my families lives, but instead I recommend you check out younglife.org and perhaps you too can connect with Young Life in your area of the world as see what adventures await you! Or perhaps you already have a connection to Young Life, and I would LOVE to hear that story too.
HAPPPY 5 YR. BBBIRTHDAY DRIBBBLE!
Over the past several years Dribbble has been an incredible game changing community of creatives to connect with on a daily basis. I find endless inspiration in the work that is posted each day, and am wildly motivated to post work that is equally inspiring! Most of all this community has been a place to authentically encourage and be encouraged by fellow creatives that I admire, and have really blessed me with their words of appreciation. Truly a place where iron sharpens iron! You can check out all my shots here: https://dribbble.com/luke-flowers
Thank you to the team at Dribbble for creating this unique community that continues to grow and connect creatives around the globe!
Dragon Puppy
This year I helped teach watercolor nature studies in my daughters 1st grade class each Friday. This week they had their year end field day and asked me to create the t-shirt art for their team. The class came up with the idea of "Dragon Puppy" as the mascot. I sketched up the fun lil' fella in class with the kids direction, then created the vector version for the shirts.
As a gift to end the year and celebrate our art class together, I painted this final piece and gave each student a print as a thank you for all the inspiration and lessons I learned through the year with them. It is always refreshing to see the creative freedom and uninhibited imagination of children as they create!
Nursery Rhyme Time
Wrapped up the series of 8 nursery rhymes last night for the kindergarten diploma project. Fitting to end on Hickory Dickory Dock as that was about the time I was wrapping up the work!
