Rick Parks

Many years ago ... I'm talking ancient history here, I worked for Westwood Studios as a video game designer. It was a great job, although I was too young and stupid to realize it at the time.

At Westwood, I got to know a fantastic artist named Rick Parks. The hand painted artwork he was doing on the Amiga was absolutely stunning. You have to remember this was in VGA (256 colors 640x480). His traditional work was just as good.

He also pioneered some of the first 3D animations in computer games. I worked with him on Dune II. He created a flying ornithopter using the first generation of Lightwave for the Amiga and Deluxe Paint.

I've not been successful finding any of Rick's traditional artwork on the Internet and quite frankly it's hard to find much information about him. But Rick was a great guy ... funny and witty with a good heart. He was also one of the best artist I have ever met.

I miss ya Rick.

Joseph Hewitt - Ode to Rick Parks

Getty out of here

Last week I finally visited the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. I knew Vincent van Gogh's Irises was there, but I didn't realize the amount of amazing and famous art I would find. It was a little overwhelming.

In one room, I stood three feet from Turner's Long Ship's Lighthouse. It was me and the Turner in an empty room. Every once in a while a tourist walked by, hardly noticing the painting. I wanted to yell, "Hey idiot - you just walked past a frickin' Turner!"

As I'm walking down a hallway, my eye catches a small painting of a ballerina. I thought - it couldn't be a Degas. Sure as hell, it was a Degas ballerina - Dancer Taking a Bow.

There were also a number of Monet's, my favorite being, Wheatstacks, Snow Effect.

I wish I had done more research before I left. I think I would have appreciated the experience a lot more.