Lights Out

This is the online version of my illustration for the "Your Life" section in the April 20 Sunday edition of the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times and all those other papers churned out under the Bay Area News Group banner.

The story, written by DeAnne Musolf and posted online here, examines the the problematic effects on sleep which may arise from too much exposure to our personal electronic devices before going to bed, particularly the effects on our kids.

Open this link in a new window to see a pretty danged huge version of this image.

My daughter -- bouncing in the sunlight on her second birthday as I type this -- has a stunning mastery of the iPad, which her mom and I worry about. We're limiting her time with it and try not to use it when she's around. I fret she may be developing an addiction but then again, I am the one standing inside the closet, out of sight, checking my email...

After I read the story and my rough was approved, I planned to photograph my daughter holding the ipad and use that image for reference. But long before going home I refined the rough and drew her from memory. The illustration was 90% done before shift's end and it really looks like her. I guess I've been studying her without realizing it.

Here is how page designer Jennifer Schaefer designed the page layout.

My initial rough is below, left. Obviously, for the sake of story placement, I lost the window along the way and attempted to evoke the the impression of night rather than showing it directly. On the right is a screen capture of how it looked after cleaning up the rough and experimenting with a color scheme.

Drawn, colored, painted in Photoshop!

That's all for this time! 

Selecting Your Stuff

Sorry I've posted this a little late, but Angela Hill wrote another nifty story, this one discussing the stuff we have and probably don't need. Angela's story is here. It's a few weeks old, but timeless.

My illustrative accompaniment is a play on Charles Shulz's Pigpen character. We go through life and the possesions that we accumulate and drag around with us can seem to be a cloud of debris that eventually ends up somewhere else by way of garage sale, thrift store or garbage truck.

Open link a new window for a monster-size version of the illustration as it ran online;
a moderately large monster, that is. Not King Kong, more like Mighty Joe Young, but still big enough to intimidate!

Hopefully it's not too oblique a reference. I think that the people who still read newspapers are people who grew up reading Peanuts during it's initial run, and they will make the connection.

Every once in a while I try to cut down the clutter in my life. This morning I stared for a full minute at two shelves full of old magazines that I don't need anymore, but I have one of those annoying emotional attachments to them. Several years ago I had about seven shelves of old magazines and because of a de-cluttering frenzy, I'm down to two. And you know what? I haven't looked at them once since I selected them for saving. I might be on the brink of another severe de-clutter.

Here's how it looked in the paper on a page designed by Jennifer Schaefer.

Back to the illo: I tried to keep it loose and light, not only because it was a busy work-week, but because I really liked the rough I submitted for approval. I don't show it because it's pretty much what I ended up with. I wish I had stuck with the original figure (shown below, left) and gone with her. Sometimes drawings that are modified with the intention of making them "better drawings" can end up losing some of their charm. The second one walks more like a real person, but the stiff spine and simpler face of my first effort appeals to me more.

The initial character sketch and her eventual replacement.

Drawn in Manga Studio, colored in Manga Studio and Photoshop.

Off to Tech Heaven

Here is an illustration I did for work in February. I had totally forgotten about it. I happened to be in the office where the writer works and she stopped by and said that she really liked the illustration I had done for this story... and I had no idea what she was talking about. God, I felt like an idiot. It took a few seconds -- loooong seconds -- before I pulled up the vision in my head and was able to stammer out a few words that indicated, in a sputtering fashion, that I was indeed the fool who drew that thing a few weeks back.

Open the link in a new window for a HUGE version of this image.

It was a very quick turnaround so I didn't spend an overlong amount of time with it, and in this instance I never saw it in the paper. I usually follow up and check on the stuff I've done to see how it printed, but I sent the image to the page designers, made a version better suited for online presentation (above) and sent that to the web folks; and then I pretty much blotted out the memory.

It seems strange that I lost it so soon, because I really connected with the story when I read it, and here is the link to Michelle Quinn's story. I mourn the demise of my G4 iMac and my 3rd generation iPod. Well, I still have them but they can only talk to each other, and the iPod is forgetful and can't hold a charge for more than 10 minutes. But I think of them as my favorite tech devices, particularly when it comes to interface and usability. They sit next to each other in a corner and every time I look at them I wish they'd make new iMacs like that, and update the iPod classic to look like that one. I should just throw them away but I'm still in love.

Here's how it looked in the paper!

So, I can't really explain why I lost track of it. I kind of like the drawing, too. Weird.

I drew it in Photoshop, colored it therein, too.

Here's my first rough, for those (like me) who like to see these things.

The End.

New Wave of Mobile Messaging!

Here's an illustration that ran in the Bay Area News Group papers a couple of weekends ago. The excellent story by Troy Wolverton is here! It doesn't really feel like an illustration to me, but that's the case whenever I work in vector. All I did here was trace app icons, create a wave and arrange them until the editors said "good enough!"

I'd say my lack of enthusiasm for vector art is an old-school bias against these new-fangled computer-thingies, but I draw freestyle in Photoshop almost exclusively, having neglected pencil and paper for several years now. Something about adjusting lines with little handles makes it feel more like putting a model together rather than drawing. But at least you don't have to wait for the glue to dry! That always put me off model-making. Anyway, where was I?

Open in new window for giant size image.

Here's how it looked on the page designed by Daymond Gascon:

Don't bother clicking. Doesn't get any bigger.

That's about all I have to say this time 'round. Except for...

The End.

Just Messing Around

Trying to get back into the habit of having fun and enjoying the process of drawing and painting characters out of my head. I haven't been feeling the joy lately. So, this weekend I goofed around and whipped up these three characters based on heads I doodled for fun last week.

Open in a new window for a pretty large version.

I gave myself until last night to finish them, but I cheated a bit this morning because the lady on the right had no legs. Much better now. I'll probably tidy it up later and re-post because I can see a bunch of simple things that annoy me. Looks like I wasn't up for drawing shoes at all, doesn't it? Weak-ass crap that is.

Again, just for fun! Figures drawn mostly in Manga Studio 5, tweaks and some drawing added in PS.

Coping With Fear

This was fun to do! Here’s the story by long-time colleague Jessica Yadegaran.

Open in a new window for a very large image.

This illustration was pretty much done straight from the initial rough. I tried to keep it cute –– as I often do –– but I tried to be cute in a different way. I'm trying to diversify my cartooning styles. I've been flattening things lately, leaning more toward an animation flavor rather than my Mad Magazine tendencies. Everything I do would look like a poor man's Jack Davis if I just sit back and scrawl.

Rough drawing on the left, line work and flat colors right. I made that blue guy less interesting as I went along, didn't I?

In preparation I spent time looking at lovely animation-style art on Pinterest and tried to lean on other artists’ tendencies rather than my own. I drew these character’s bodies while looking at other artists’ cute kid drawings.

In retrospect it looks like I drew my inspiration from artists who draw a little bit like me. I’ll be darned but the proportions of the final figures look almost spot on with my roughs. Oh well.

And my characters’ hands look like the kind of hands I’d draw, too. I was purposefully trying to do them differently but they looked wrong when I tried to steal their style from other artists.

Here's how it looked on the page. Ace designer Jennifer Schaeffer
always makes good-looking pages, no matter the dross I toss into hopper.

Drawn in Photoshop.

Just A Head Scribble

Found a little bit of time tonight to mess around with the painting tools in Manga Studio 5. I really like the oil and india ink brushes. This is about a 10 minute scribble out of my head.

I appear to still be mired in a catastrophically huge art-slump. I'm not very happy with my artistic output on the job, and the necessary time and energy for personal art isn't quite happening right now. I should try more of these 'round midnight scribble sessions and see what happens. This is kind of fun.

2013 Hasn't Been That Great For The Blog, Has It?

Is the blog still alive?

It’s obvious the habit has been broken. The blog began its eighth year in February, but 2013 has been the least productive by far. I’ve managed less than 30 posts and about half of the images are accompanied by tedious complaints about how I’m not finding time to draw or blog. Kind of like this one, I guess. Who wants to read that crap?

Back in September I was very depressed by how it was going. I started preparing the blog’s formal obituary notice – if it's no longer any fun why not just kill it? – but I haven’t had the heart to finish it. I occasionally look in on the blog as though it were an old, sick friend. I smile and check the pulse. “Hey, 13 visitors today. Oh! And 45 last Thursday? That’s not bad, eh?” And the blog coughs, and mumbles something I can't make out. I pat it gently. “There, there, you’ll be alright.” And then I make sure the “Do not resuscitate” tag is still tied firmly to the toe before quietly moving on to another web page.

Here are a few heads I doodled up in Photoshop the other night. Just goofing around.

Very good and pretty bad

I have a 20 month-old daughter and she has been alert, mobile and needing a father’s attentive eye during the morning hours I used to fill by creating personal art. She is transforming into a person, and the days of dropping her into a crib and rocking her to sleep are long gone. We go for walks every morning. She sits in the stroller and points at cars and trees and dogs; or she’s exercising her little legs at the park, running about in a wobbly manner and terrorizing the ducks who inexplicably don’t hear her coming. This is not a complaint. She is some of the best fun I've ever had and it's a joyous privilege to have this time with her.

My job, on the other hand, still affords opportunities for illustration but there has been a decline in the type of assignments I enjoy. As the newspaper business continues to change, I can foresee a time where creating art will be such a small part of what I do that I won’t be able to think of myself as a working artist anymore. To be honest, I’m feeling that way now and I'm struggling with finding a solution for the disappointment.

I’ve done a few illustrations at work since my last blog post, but I haven’t been happy with them. It has been extremely frustrating, but it has ignited an enormous urge to do work that I have more passion for. I have two small projects I’ve been cultivating during bouts of insomnia for the past year and I hope to show new stuff soon.

From slogging to blogging

The blog isn't quite dead. Why should it be? As long as I still have a hope that someday I might become a real artist, then there's no reason why I can't just wake up the slumbering blog when I want to play with it. I've found it's always a matter of momentum when it comes to this habit. Post three times in a week and a fourth becomes easier. Skip November and missing December is a piece of cake.

I'm confident 2014 will be a huge uptick for the blog and – with a bit more concentrated effort – my professional life will begin to achieve the kind of fun I'm having in my home life.

The End of 2013

Disjointed Connections

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.

The End.

Always On

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.

The End.