Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas...if that's what you're into. Otherwise, happy Friday!

Tomato Killer

I recently signed up for NetFlix again. I love being able to catch up on TV shows I missed the first time around. I think I've been watching too much Dexter though.

Blues Guitar

I go through musical phases. Lately I've gotten back into the blues. I've been thinking of doing a series of drawings of blues guitar players. This is a test using a brush pen and Adobe Illustrator, loosely based on Lightnin’ Hopkins.

I recently picked up a Pentel Pocket Brush which I've been playing around with for line work. Drawing lines with a brush still feels a little awkward to me. I'm just so used to a pen. I'm starting to get the hang of it though.

The original lines were scanned and traced in Illustrator and then the tones were added behind them. I scanned the drawing at 1200 ppi and then knocked the resolution down to 300 ppi before importing it into Illustrator. I scanned it at a higher resolution just in case I decide that I need the detail for any reason, but I like the way that the downsampling and loose Live Trace settings round off the lines.

Motion

Photoshop has been able to handle video for a couple of versions now, so I figured that I would start looking into it. Here is a short clip in which I was trying to replicate the style of my still images in motion.

Cut ‘n’ Paste

I bought a box of Staples inkjet shipping label paper with the idea of using it to make covers for my notebooks. It didn't work so well for that, so I figured that I would see what else I could do with it.

Click the pic to see more.

Sticky Stuff

I decently discovered the Inkpress Adhesive Vinyl printing paper, and I've been trying to think of places to stick my images. My iPod Touch seemed like a good candidate. It doesn't fit into my speaker dock with a case on it, but it's too slim and slick to hold comfortably without one. I coated a print with matte finish Krylon UV-Resistant Clear and stuck it to the back. So far it seems to be working out really well. My iPod is easier to grip, and it fits in my dock now. The print has held up well, and I can also still fit the clear case that I have over the print if I want to do so.

I was really surprised at how good my images look on this paper. I may end up printing out my portfolio on it. I'll just have to stick the prints into my book.

Exposed!

I found a tabloid in the trash at the studio. The lowbrow content and crappy printing make these things great material for extracting grungy design bits.

Has a better headline than “Licks Like True Love!” ever been written? I doubt it.

Antiquated Art Supplies

I go through art supply phases. Some things I get really into for a while then put them down and never pick them back up. Others I keep going back to. This is one of the latter. It’s a ruling pen that I found in an Italian flea market when I was over there years ago.

Ruling pens are intended for drawing straight lines against an edge, but when used freehand, they can make very expressive lines for drawing or lettering. Their design allows them to be used with many different media like india ink or watercolor. I mostly use black gouache because that gives the sharpest lines. Sometimes I do like to use watercolor. You can get interesting color effects by loading pen with two different colors. The lines will change colors as the paint flows out of the pen.

I don't know how old the pen is. It has been suggested that it is from the early twentieth century, and it was well broken in when I got it. I've tried newer ruling pens, but they don't have the same feel. I don't know what I'll do when this one finally wears out.

Written Letters

The other day I was looking for inspiration on my bookshelves and stumbled upon “Written Letters” by Jacqueline Svaren. I bought it for a calligraphy class that I took in college. I used to regularly practice calligraphy, but I've fallen out of it in the last few years. I've been trying to include more type and hand drawn lettering in my work, and I've been thinking of getting back into practice.

The Gothic scripts were always my favorites, so of course those pages get the stains. Here we have a particularly nice stain of Higgins Sepia. Sepia is a good choice for a stain since it doesn't obscure the content of the page too much like a black ink would. The different color of the feathering around the edges adds a complexity to the stain that takes it beyond your standard ink spill.

Sunflowers

My Dad planted sunflowers on his land in Marshallville, GA this year. It was too good of a photographic opportunity to pass up, so I went down there last weekend to shoot some pics. The big, yellow flowers are much more photogenic than the wheat that he usually plants.

Here's Dad out in the field with his morning coffee. He brought his Waffle House cup to match the flowers.