Digital illustration for a Troy Woverton story that ran in the Bay Area News Group newspapers' Technology section on Monday, Oct. 13. Click here to read the story.
Open in a new window for a much larger version.
Without purposeful intent I've been experimenting with a flatter style of illustration lately. My next effort will also be that way, but intentionally so. I've been feeling bored by my work and this is a strategy way to revive my interest in drawing.
Here's how it ran in the paper!
I have enjoyed the process. I'm not completely happy with the pieces so far but I feel like I'm learning something new, and it's refreshing to be surprised by what I have when I finish.
Here is an illustration that ran today – Monday, October 6 – in the San Jose Mercury News Technology section.
The story by Patrick May (click here for the link) is about coping with the stress brought on by our reliance on today's popular personal technology. In the article Patrick considers a variety of our anxieties and their causes. We just can't get away from it all, can we? Not that I'd want to, to be honest.
Drawn in Photoshop, this version of the illustration ran online.
The tech-worry I have right now is upgrading my iPad2 to iOS7; I'm holding on to iOS6, thank you. I mean, what if it jacks up my favorite games?
This version, a bit taller and with the tech-devices flipped, ran in the paper.
I just found this on an old computer of mine. I don't think it has ever been seen on a screen other than that of a Lime Green 233 mghz tray-loading iMac back in 2002. And now, dear internet, I give it to you:
This is an illustration for a story about accessing the information that companies have gathered about you as a result of monitoring your internet activity. Or something kinda like that. For the full scoop read Brandon Bailey's story on the San Jose Mercury News website right here.
Click to open in a new window for a HUGE file to view.
Above is the final art and below is the rough. Drawn mostly in Manga Studio and colored mostly in Photoshop!
I can see the attraction of creating animation. It's never really grabbed me before, but now? I think I've been pleasantly grabbed. There's a better way of putting that, but I can't come up with it before coffee.
My creation is a humble creation, yet getting this far has taught me a lot. Because of the research I've done to learn how to make this, I also am aware that animating in Photoshop (and in old Photoshop CS4 to boot) is not the way to advance this skill set. However, since I have nothing else at the moment, I'll probably just muck about in the old sty for a brief period and build on this ever so slightly.
The idea behind this effort was to make a quick, animated logo for my website -- with this little animation and animated text -- but that was way too complicated for my first attempt. I can see how to do it now, but I don't have the time at the moment to make that happen. So, this is what I've got today.
An experiment! This is my first shot at a short process video, created in Photoshop. A week or so ago I discovered that you can make movies in Photoshop! Who knew? Why don't people tell me these things?
It's not a perfect attempt. It is, after all, my first try at something like this. It wasn't hard to do but there has been the usual "trial and error" nonsense that slows me down every time I try to learn something new. I'm able to post this today because of determination, stick-to-it-iveness and that bout of insomnia that lifted me from bed at about 4 am today.
This is a 30 second overview of how I created this illustration. The scribbles were done in Photoshop, the final line artwork was created in Manga Studio 5, and then back to Photoshop for the color.
I blogged this illustration last month, so you can scroll down a few entries to see it or click here.
I'll probably do a few more of these on account of my newbie's interest, but that's likely to fade pretty soon. If you find it helpful or interesting, throw a little feedback my way! Comment here or tweet me or email me or whatever. Just a few nods of the head will probably light a fire under me for a while.
The End
p.s. I'm not very happy with the resolution on this thing and, being a rookie YouTube movie uploader and movie embedder, I'm not sure yet how to fix it. I'll get there, tho.
How come the little button thingies to make it larger aren't there? Crap. Oh, well.
New drawing. Nothing grand, this is just an example of me goofing around in short-burst spare moments with an eye on trying to build up a stronger backlog of character design work.
Drawn in b&w, colors stained in haste. Then, about 20 minutes of touch up work before giving up on it
I know I should have created a more suitable couple of weapons -- not that there's ever anything cooler than a Colt and and Winchester -- but I gave myself a time limit on this and I wasn't going to make it. The guns were almost completed for another drawing I abandoned earlier, so dropping them in here was a quick & easy cheat.
Today I did a few drawings in Manga Studio 5. I'm practicing with it, and really starting to like it. I spent some time exploring how to modify the drawing tools, and they're much more customizable than I had previously thought. I didn't do any finished art, mostly just drawing experiments, but I finished off this doodle to give myself the feeling that I actually did something.
Drawn in Manga Studio 5, most coloring done in Photoshop.
One of the first comics I owned was the first issue of "Beware! The Claws of the Cat"with art by the great Marie Severin, featuring Wally Wood laying down his always lovely, always overpowering inks.
My original copy was lost decades ago but I picked up another one and it's even better than I half-remembered. I spent a lot of time with that book when I was a kid, and there wasn't a panel in there that was unfamiliar to me all these years later.
This was an experiment in trying to emulate that Wally Wood feathered line digitally. I hit it in some spots, didn't too do well in others. Fail and learn, fail and learn.
This illustration has been on slow-cook for a month or so, and I'm glad it's finally run. Originally I'd intended to have each guy driving his own little car, except for Mr. Caldecott who would be standing in a hole. It quickly became clear that it would have to be larger to accommodate such illustrative silliness, so I scaled back the nonsense.
I'm including a few super-huge character shots below for the art wonks who occasionally look in. I tried to keep the digital painting technique kind of loose and watery. I'm pretty happy with the way most of the caricatures turned out.
I only have a few short hours a week to spare, but I gave myself a Friday deadline for this horrible little thing and I''m sticking to it. I committed a coloring job that is much simpler than I hoped for, but it's all I've got. I tell ya, 1-year-old Evelyn has been an attention hog this morning, so a lot of the coloring was done with a cute little brute squirming in my lap and fighting for control of the wacom pen.
Drawn and painted in P-Shop. Open in a new window to see a very large file exposing all of the bad technique!
Working on the drawing earlier this week, I daydreamed a story for this, and I kind of like it. I'd hoped to write it up and include it here in the manner of a summarizing blurb on the back of an old sci-fi novel; you know, one of those blurbs that give away the ending!
Out of time though. Off to work in short bit. Maybe I'll do it over the weekend. Maybe I'll never do it. You know how these things go...
