IF: Expired Roll

I know...this seems inappropriate...but don't say you haven't been there and felt that same sense of panicked frustration...

Park doodle

This weekend was the first warm and sunny day in months...so we were actually able to go outside and roam free. We had a whiffle ball hitting contest...which only resulted in two of the three kids crying..one for the catcher getting a touch of bat to the face...one when the other took a babe ruth swing and the whiffle ball took a chunk of finger (I told her she must not have been swinging her hardest or it would have taken her finger off and she needed to do better next time.) Then we played freeze tag...after about 45 minutes in I started getting the gimp leg for some reason...probably old age...and those tricky kids kept managing to tag me right next to a bench...at which point I would sit down and doodle for 5 minutes here and there. And of course having raptors on the brain I did this...

Top Secret III

One dino outlined. I've seen lots of good work where there is no variation in the stroke of the line, but I always like to use the expand stroke feature to add a touch of visual interest.



The next step will be to add the flat fill color and do any additional linework adjustments or additions.

TOP SECRET II

I was planning on the second portion of the layout with my turtle...it started out I was going to just use a big dinosaur head and thought it would have worked out okay...


But I wasn't really happy with it...as a matter of fact the more I looked at it the more I thought...wow...that stinks...and after watching DinoShark on SyFY this past weekend I am pretty sharp on what terrible is...

While in the middle of talking to a student a new and hopefully more exciting idea hit me...the finished pic just popped in my head. So I spent a couple of day sketching it out and figuring placement of characters. I did some rough drawings and cut them out in photoshop to work out a bit more of the details. I wasn't worried too much about the arms at this point only the general mass of the group.


Once I got that generally sketched I decided to draw all the characters involved even though there tends to be a bit of overlapping with the composition. It may seem like more work now, but I've learned it is better to draw everything and be able to make slight or even major adjustments...in times past when I would on draw the visible areas I've gotten caught when I've had to move objects...for the most part I believe I am okay with these although I'll have to upgrade the detail work a bit.





The final product will be zoomed in, but by doing all the creatures I think I will be able to make a poster where I can have it zoomed out and show everything...trying for dramatic compositions or doing the cards makes me feel like I'm not keeping in practice with creating the whole...then you get accused of not being able to draw anything but floating heads and half bodies...of course I now have to go back and finish the lower portion of the turtle that is a floating half body...the one episode of Star Trek the Next Generation I accidentally watched they gave kids a 'wand' that could read their mind and some sort of laserish light would create the art merely by their thoughts...can't wait for that Wacom update to come out....

TOP SECRET

As previously stated I'm a bit behind on all kinds of things. My Styraco is still moving very slowly, I have a bunch of new sketches to help finish out my playing cards...but this is the item on the front burner...this is a part of an item for a project the class and I are doing as a group...It lacks shading and color adjustment at this point...hopefully this afternoon will get the rest of the image complete and then be able to get to shading...when everything is complete I'll post and explain what the entire project is about.

And Detlef...if you read this...nobody can comment on your blog because no word is showing up to prove the poster isn't a spambot...

Paper Doll

They chose Willy Wonka for the prom theme...so of course he had to have an outfit that was appropriate for this completely inappropriate image...I'm sorry...I know I should be ashamed...and somewhere deep inside me I am...We did a test prototype of the real thing...there are some bugs that need worked out...

Pointillism Styraco

Click to enlarge...Excuse the poorly executed paneling of the item...It took about 10 scans and I just threw it together without trying too hard to make it blended and pretty...so obvious blotches are the effect...those aren't really there in really life...

So where I stand on this...I usually spend a couple of hours here and there throwing in the points...it takes a long time because I am trying to establish some sense of form after the first fill-in...(towards the rump you can tell the difference of the flat fill vs. the front where I've established some value range)...if I'm not careful I will just end up with flat expanses that don't flow properly because I was mind numbingly filling in space...


Once I get the dino finished and the other bird I will work at filling the background...I have it loosely sketched in and planned out but it definitely needs more development...hopefully this will balance out some of the areas that scream out (the solid black areas on the birds).