Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year!

Entangled

Thomas Jefferson said: "Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none." Unfortunately, we've strayed so far from his advice that I believe the snake is about to swallow us whole.   Have a nice day :)

Pencil Sketch on stenographer's pad.

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving cartoon is also avialable as a t-shirt or greeting card from my Zazzle Store.  Just sayin' :)

Technorati Claim

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Just short post for Technorati.  Regular readers may safely ignore.  Thank you.

Sketchbook Mobile

So I downloaded the Sketchbook Mobile app for my iPhone today.  It had great reviews at the app store and was only $3.00; how could you beat that?  Well, turns out you can't.  This is a great little finger drawing program that may eventually replace the need to carry a Moleskine notebook.  These are a couple of quick sketches. 

The top sketch is my first effort, the bottom is my second effort.

Don't judge to harshly, I am still getting used to the tool.

Illustration Friday: Music

Hello IFers! Long time no see. This week's entry is a photo illustration of a poster I designed for my son's band The Aquards.

I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving this week (or, just their Thursday).

Your feedback is always encouraged.

Instant Karma and my cartoon for Fox Animation

I am in a contest to win a development deal with Fox Animation and need your help to win. Please view and rate my animation by clicking on the link below. Much good Karma will come your way.

To see it, and rate it, please click here or cut and paste this link into your browswer http://www.aniboom.com/animation-video/393121/Happy-Halloween/

Illustration Friday: Shaky

The little fellow is quite shaky being out in the woods alone at night. There is something disturbing going on here, but he cannot quite put his finger on it.

Two week in a row I have an IFriday entry---whoa. I rock. This pencil sketch was done in a Strathmore 400 Series sketchbook with a Papermate Mega Lead .7mm mechanical pencil.

Your comments are encouraged.

Illustration Friday: Worn

This fellow with the worn jacket was drawn during a down period at the office. I used a .05mm OfficeMax mechanical pencil in a Pastel Rose steno book. As an aside, does anyone actually do stenography/shorthand anymore?

Illustration Friday: Parade

This week I included the original pencil sketch—most of my stuff starts out as some type of pencil sketch—sometimes vague geometric shapes that only make sense to me. Other times the sketches are detailed like the one with this entry.



I take the pencil sketch into one of four apps (Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash) depending on what I want the final piece to look like and trace over it. More often than not, I will modify the final from the sketch as I go.



This is the AI art board with the layers pallet opened up showing the number of layers this screen. I like to keep each element (eyes, head, hair, body) on it’s own layer and then grouped by major element (skateboarder, girl, balloon boy) in a super layer. (Click for larger image)



And finally, the completed version. For the record, I did the pencil sketch with a .5mm Techniclick II mechanical pencil in a Moleskine notebook. The final version was created in Adobe Illustrator CS.

Your comments are encouraged.

Sketchbook: Things I Sketch While Watching TV

Illustration Friday: Hierarchy

Hierarchy.

Interesting choice of word to illustrate—and by interesting I mean—wtf? But hey, it certainly was a challenge to come up with something unique to represent the mundane.

The only thing I could think of was one of those organizational charts that list the boss in the big box at the top, and then the descending echelons of minions, lackeys and worker bees. The chart where people hope that they are at least as high (if not higher) on the feeder scale than the schmuck who wants you to buy his daughter’s Girl Scout cookies.

Anyway—I’ve seen (and designed) enough of the ‘org’ chart that my mind automatically goes there for ‘hierarchy’ and refuses to leave. Thus, I bring you the little doodle below. For those who keep track of this stuff: this ‘toon was created Illustrator CS3 though it probably could have been done just as easily in MS Paint.

I appreciate your comments.

Things I Draw During Meetings

So I was in a meeting today and my boss mentioned how the gremlins in the machine caused a system failure last week. She went on to talk about IT things--I sketched this out while she was talking. Materials used: .7mm Mechanical Pencil, generic stenographer (no, I don't take shorthand) pad.

Illustration Friday: Talisman

Torchwood Season Premier

One of the best sci-fi shows ever is returning this summer. It's only going to be 5 days long--but it's one story. Check out the preview.

New Political Cartoon

But you have to go here to see it: http://shamelesshacks.com/?p=1046