Heads & More!

Still no real work; still too busy. But, here are a couple of heads drawn with pencil and smothered in Photoshop.

And, for the kids, here's a not-very-good Spider-Man:

Pencil & pen on paper & photoshopped.

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Cartoons for Work!

I've been constructing a graphic at work for a feature on what it takes to get ready for college -- starting in the 8th grade! I sure could have used a similar list of clues when I was in junior high-- not that I would have had the sense to take them to heart
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These are simple illustrative accompaniments for items on a very long list; they're scattered around the graphic where appropriate.
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These started as pencil sketches which I inked and colored in Illustrator. That is not my usual way of working but there was talk of the online department creating a flash version of the graphic and I thought it might be easier for them to work with Illustrator files. It sounds like they're not using the illustrations though. Oh well.
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That's all right. I'm a little burnt out on looking at similarly slick computer cartooning, but this approach is appropriate for the presentation.

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Smoking

Here is a doodle that happened on a piece of paper tonight at work. I feel like I've seen this guy before. I hope I didn't steal him from somewhere.

Took him home and colored him up. He is smoking. Don't smoke if you can help it.

Some Heads

More baby-steps toward doing some real work. These are little heads I scribbled on a piece of paper last week. Tonight, I sat in front of the old iMac, listening to BBC radio drama via internet (the Barchester Chronicles), and painted up these here homely sketches.

Pencil, smothered in Photoshop!

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First Step to Recovery

I'm trying to get back into the ArtBlog habit. This probably doesn't count.

I drew these heads back in January. I scanned the page in June. I colored the top two heads in July. The rest I colored just now. It counts as a post, certainly, but I don't think it counts as new work. I'm not sure. Is there a rule book for this?

Pencil, pen & Photoshop!

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Quick & Feeble Post

After a long and horribly busy stretch I have this!

This -- and that lame scribble in the previous post -- is all I have accomplished in the past month or two.

...Look! See! One hastily crafted sketch, which I then-- with similar haste-- colored in Photoshop.

...There is no point. He is simply a ridiculous, aimless doodle. I felt I had to give him a pistol so he might be taken seriously.

...I foresee spare time in the weeks ahead and I'm hoping I can remember how to draw. If so, I will share.

...Pencil and brush pen on inexpensive Japanese calligraphy paper-- the kind whereupon, with each stroke of the pen, the ink spreads out in willy-nilly fashion!

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Daydreams of Rubens

It has been a looong time since I made an appearance here. I have been-- as the saying goes-- very busy.

The workload at my place of employment has been exceptionally demanding and sadly vexing of late; and I've taken on a second job, which is thoroughly enjoyable, but it is close to being a full-time job as well. I don't mean to be mysterious, but more on that in a later post, if I ever get around to posting regularly again.

This drawing is my first spare-time drawing in a month. I was thinking about Rubens, and those grand compositions of bulky, writhing bodies and shapes. Not quite bulky enough but I think my intentions come through! Jacked up left hand though.

Pencil, pen and photoshoppery.

Those Crazy Kids

This illustration accompanied a story by Contra Costa Times writer Jackie Burrell about "sexting." Sexting is catching on with the teen and tween crowds and Jackie's story discusses this trend and some of the potential repurcussions. It's one of those sensitive topics that makes me flinch.

I don't mind sensitive topics. It's professionally satisfying to come up with (hopefully) tasteful ways of illustrating things that most people don't want to see illustrated. Sometimes though, the subject can seem too fraught with perils impolitic, or it is a topic that is a personal turn-off.

Well, when this assignment was pitched I tried to look like I hadn't been listening. Hm? What? Oh, yeah, well, I think... just a sec, I have to run out to my car. Etc.

I didn't have to squirm overmuch because Chuck Todd -- King of the Graphics Department and all around stand-up guy -- said that he had a few ideas for an illustration and would be happy to do it. Whew.

Time passed, I gave it no more thought. Not my assignment, not my problem. And then, one day, there was a workload siege. The department was attacked from all sides by brutish assignments and marauding chores. At the wrong time I slew a rogue project and paused to wipe my brow and clean my blade; for that briefest of moments it appeared I was not doing anything. So, Chuck Todd -- King of the Graphics Department and artful dodger -- turned to me and said "I have no time for this! Here! This is my idea! Quick, man! The deadline, she approaches with shredding claws and tearing teeth!" Or something like that.

I took a quick picture of his thumbnail with the iMac-cam

and made my drawing using Photoshop!

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Surrounded By Cows

This is an illustration for a collection of stories from our readers about bad camping experiences. One of the readers' submissions told about sleeping out under the stars in a field, and upon awakening in the morning they found themselves surrounded by cows! I think that's a great title for an adventure story.

I'm not happy with the composition on this one. It's not well-designed and there are several awkward overlaps in there that flatten it out. Bleh.

As an excuse I offer there was not much time to work on this, although such simple illustrative concepts should be second nature by now. Ah, well. Here is the original quick sketch: (Don't blother clicking on it, it doesn't get any bigger...)

I doodled it quickly on paper and then held it up to the camera on the iMac, and then drew on top of that in Photoshop!

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I'm back...

This is an editorial illustration that ran in Sunday's Contra Costa Times and several other MediaNews newspapers. Drawn in Photoshop!

The column -- by Brewster Kahle for the Washington Post -- considers the potential outcome and effects of an impending ruling in a lawsuit filed by authors and publishers against Google. Google has undertaken a book-scanning project that appears to be stomping all over the toes of copyright laws, and its possible they will make money off of some books and have total control over works that, by law, are not theirs. Google's really getting on my nerves lately.

This is my quick and simple concept for this illustration. My original idea for the "Google-key" was to replicate thier logo with one, long piece of iron bent into that shape. I had only a couple of hours to work on this so it was a compromise for completion. The drawing is alright, I guess-- I had fun drawing the book!

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Sorry it's been so long since I've posted -- I hope someone is still out there looking at this once in a while. I've been exceptionally busy at work and pretty burned out by the time I get home; I'm really hating most of my "computer-time" lately. Hopefully, it's just a phase.

I have another silly little illustration to show (I'll probably blog that tomorrow) and I have a personal project in the works that I'm enjoying, so I think I can find some more enthusiasm and pick up the pace around these parts. Stay tuned.

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