I've been playing around with the new Muro over at DeviantArt, and came up with this little number (click the DeviantArt logo below to view it in large format):
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Friday, May 20, 2011
Everybody Draw Mohammad Day, May 20th, 2011
It's been awhile since I've posted anything, and as usual I will start off with my submission to this years Everybody Draw Mohammad Day:
And in the meantime, enjoy the other submissions from the Flickr group:
And of course, the Thunderf00t Call to Arms!
And in the meantime, enjoy the other submissions from the Flickr group:
And of course, the Thunderf00t Call to Arms!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
I WON!! I WON!! I Shot the BB Gun!!
A little over a month ago, I ran across this site called pixelelement. I don't remember why I visited (probably looking for freebie vectors) but I saw that they had a contest to win some vectors and brushes from a wonderful site named Designious. I did a quick peek around their site (and took some copies of their freebies... after all, I was in the neighborhood) and thought it would be awesome to see if I could win. Their art was very clean and impressed me with
I don't normally enter blogging contests, as I tend to get spammed pretty heavily afterwards, but I felt confident enough in Google's Gmail spam filter to post a paragraph. After completely forgetting about it, I all of the sudden received and email congratulating me on my win. After a minute of little happy dancing with a dose of "squee" added I collected my winnings.
Now just to find a project to put them in!
I also have spent this past week helping my wife's new boss, Michael Strickland of the Michael Strickland Design Group, one of the oldest design firms in Houston, to his new offices... across the hall from his old offices. I need to congratulate her as well by sending flowers.
I don't normally enter blogging contests, as I tend to get spammed pretty heavily afterwards, but I felt confident enough in Google's Gmail spam filter to post a paragraph. After completely forgetting about it, I all of the sudden received and email congratulating me on my win. After a minute of little happy dancing with a dose of "squee" added I collected my winnings.
Now just to find a project to put them in!
I also have spent this past week helping my wife's new boss, Michael Strickland of the Michael Strickland Design Group, one of the oldest design firms in Houston, to his new offices... across the hall from his old offices. I need to congratulate her as well by sending flowers.
Friday, August 13, 2010
An update on Nina...
Back on May 14th, I posted a pic of my sister-in-law Nina, who recently passed away, and how I was working on restoring a picture of hers that was in incredibly bad shape. Well after quite a few technical issues, mostly a major computer crash and restore, and just the average workplace projects getting in the way of everything else, I've reached the home stretch of getting her photo done and just needs some more fiddling with some color correcting and nitpicking on the really tiny defects.
I pretty much had to repaint several portions of her face, including the eyes and browridge (there is still some discoloration over her right eyebrow), but the hair has been pretty easy to patch and paint and the background is being discarded for something a little different.
While most people would just created a background using the "Difference Clouds" filter in Photoshop, I opted for something a little more random and the ability to add some color. This background image was created with a program called Filter Forge, using a filter called Stormy Clouds. While it's a little pricey ($399 at the time of this writing, but they have discounts and occasional sales), you can download a 30 day, fully functional trial version and access to over 7000 filters created by a growing user base. While the casual graphic artist probably won't use it often, you 3D modelers will find the ability to quickly build textures, complete with bump and displacement maps, indispensable!
I'm also going to include with his post are a couple of line art drawings I've been doing for a little while now. I have a store in Second Life where I sell emblems for superhero costumes. These two pictured here are of bat symbols and lantern symbols for those who do the superhero roleplaying in the sim.
I'm looking at maybe trying to get posters and t-shirts made, but there may be copyright and trademark issues.
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| From Fuck Pencils! I Design with a Mouse! |
I pretty much had to repaint several portions of her face, including the eyes and browridge (there is still some discoloration over her right eyebrow), but the hair has been pretty easy to patch and paint and the background is being discarded for something a little different.
While most people would just created a background using the "Difference Clouds" filter in Photoshop, I opted for something a little more random and the ability to add some color. This background image was created with a program called Filter Forge, using a filter called Stormy Clouds. While it's a little pricey ($399 at the time of this writing, but they have discounts and occasional sales), you can download a 30 day, fully functional trial version and access to over 7000 filters created by a growing user base. While the casual graphic artist probably won't use it often, you 3D modelers will find the ability to quickly build textures, complete with bump and displacement maps, indispensable!
I'm also going to include with his post are a couple of line art drawings I've been doing for a little while now. I have a store in Second Life where I sell emblems for superhero costumes. These two pictured here are of bat symbols and lantern symbols for those who do the superhero roleplaying in the sim.
I'm looking at maybe trying to get posters and t-shirts made, but there may be copyright and trademark issues.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Happy "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day"!!!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Current Project... and some websites...
THIS! IS! THE! COOLEST! WEBSITE! EVER!!!!!!11!!
On a more serious note, I did run across this site this afternoon and thought I needed to share: http://dribbble.com
From their site:
But to keep with the theme of current projects, I'm posting one of my own:
This is my sister-in-law, whose picture was torn up but is now my hands and is slowly having work done to have it repaired. I have done some work to her left eye, which had the most damage, and the rest should start falling into line. It's a large file (1200 dpi) so it takes up a lot of resources on my computer. Doing the tool strokes fill up the buffer pretty quickly, so my undos are limited and I have to save often in case of crash. But when this is done I should be able to print in a high enough resolution to make the family happy.
On a more serious note, I did run across this site this afternoon and thought I needed to share: http://dribbble.com
From their site:
What is Dribbble?
Dribbble is show and tell for designers, developers and other creatives. Members share sneak peeks of their work as “shots” — small screenshots of the designs and applications they are working on. It’s also a place to talk design, give and receive feedback and iterate toward better work.
What are “shots”?
Shots on Dribbble are small screenshots (400×300 pixels max). A shot can be a fragment of a work in progress, or an idea to generate feedback, or an iteration on a previously uploaded concept.Whoa! Before you go rushing over there to sign up and join the bandwagon, they are strictly an "Invite Only" place (elistist bastards!!! Unless of course you were going to invite me to join, in which case I for one welcome our Dribbling overlords!), but it is an interesting place to see the process of people who are in the field. You may not be able to join up, but you can certainly follow many of the designers and designs. I'm always interested in watching how people develop their ideas and getting them to a final stage. I hate to admit it, but most of my projects never really finish, they just reach a point of abandonment usually brought on by a deadline.
But to keep with the theme of current projects, I'm posting one of my own:
This is my sister-in-law, whose picture was torn up but is now my hands and is slowly having work done to have it repaired. I have done some work to her left eye, which had the most damage, and the rest should start falling into line. It's a large file (1200 dpi) so it takes up a lot of resources on my computer. Doing the tool strokes fill up the buffer pretty quickly, so my undos are limited and I have to save often in case of crash. But when this is done I should be able to print in a high enough resolution to make the family happy.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Who, What, When, Where, Why, How?
This being my first post, I thought I would explain a little bit about the blog name, as well as the current work on the title graphic.
The past several years, I've been taking design classes at Houston Community College, in the Digital Communications department. Upon graduation, I began teaching those same graphic design classes. The one class I always would see students puzzle over was having to take a basic graphic design class, in which students use black and white construction paper, scissors, and glue, in an attempt to learn graphic design principles (i.e. symmetry, implied shapes, positive and negative space, etc.). As a textbook, I like to use "Graphic Design: The New Basics" by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips, and it uses many examples of designs strictly in a black and white format. The class itself is very much like an art class in that you don't really need hours of studying dates and names or giving out pop quizzes. The teacher gives a lecture on the design principle, discuss and questions, and the students proceed to create their art by cutting out shapes and gluing them in an attempt to create a piece that resembles what they learned in the lecture.
But there are always a handful of students who claim "I just thought this was a Photoshop class?" While it's true we teach pretty much the entire Adobe suite of programs, we still need to learn how to create an image with aesthetics in mind. Since most students go on into design careers, we also need to learn to create images and campaigns that work. Critiques follow and the students learn what to do for next time.
So I would then get the inevitable "I don't need design skills. I know everything there is to know about Photoshop." To which I would reply, "...And because you know how to hammer a nail into a 2x4, that qualifies you to single handedly build the International Space Station." The usual smart assed comments about floating drywall then proceed to come up. Having to explain that slapping a drop shadow on a chromed "Hilton Hotels" logo written in Times New Roman does not a logo make (well, it does.... just a terrible one!).
The point is Photoshop is just the tool. No different than a pencil, paper, pen and ink, paintbrush, watercolors, rulers, and erasers. It's absolutely worthless unless the person wielding the tool can use it competently.
So the idea of " Fuck Pencils! I Can Design with a Mouse!" came about. It's actually been floating around in my head for a while. I attempted to originally create this blog with Wordpress on my own webserver, but since I began running across many Blogger.com sites (my wife's included) this just seemed so much easier.
Now on to the graphic...
I had the idea of a cartoon mouse being caught in a trap, a cartoon mouse with a USB tail. The concept being that an analog device capturing the digital character is somehow ironic. This is also the first image where I did the original sketch in Photoshop. I'm used to whipping out my sketchpad or notebook and doodling furiously to get the look down. With this concept, I already had it in my head how I wanted it to look so I whipped out my Wacom and doodled furiously on the workspace. One layer to do the rought sketch, another layer to refine the edges a little more, and then dropped it into Illustrator to sharpen the lines even more. It's still a work in progress and I will be adding, editing, creating, and recreating it as this blog matures.
EDIT: I forgot the add the Sketch Block font in the title was courtesy of Lukas Bischoff at Artgill.
So what plans do I have for this blog? Mostly just rants, observations, and the occasional design piece I've created or ones I think are in need of critiques.
I look forward to your patronage.
 |
| From The DoLittle's Design Album |
The past several years, I've been taking design classes at Houston Community College, in the Digital Communications department. Upon graduation, I began teaching those same graphic design classes. The one class I always would see students puzzle over was having to take a basic graphic design class, in which students use black and white construction paper, scissors, and glue, in an attempt to learn graphic design principles (i.e. symmetry, implied shapes, positive and negative space, etc.). As a textbook, I like to use "Graphic Design: The New Basics" by Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips, and it uses many examples of designs strictly in a black and white format. The class itself is very much like an art class in that you don't really need hours of studying dates and names or giving out pop quizzes. The teacher gives a lecture on the design principle, discuss and questions, and the students proceed to create their art by cutting out shapes and gluing them in an attempt to create a piece that resembles what they learned in the lecture.
But there are always a handful of students who claim "I just thought this was a Photoshop class?" While it's true we teach pretty much the entire Adobe suite of programs, we still need to learn how to create an image with aesthetics in mind. Since most students go on into design careers, we also need to learn to create images and campaigns that work. Critiques follow and the students learn what to do for next time.
So I would then get the inevitable "I don't need design skills. I know everything there is to know about Photoshop." To which I would reply, "...And because you know how to hammer a nail into a 2x4, that qualifies you to single handedly build the International Space Station." The usual smart assed comments about floating drywall then proceed to come up. Having to explain that slapping a drop shadow on a chromed "Hilton Hotels" logo written in Times New Roman does not a logo make (well, it does.... just a terrible one!).
So the idea of " Fuck Pencils! I Can Design with a Mouse!" came about. It's actually been floating around in my head for a while. I attempted to originally create this blog with Wordpress on my own webserver, but since I began running across many Blogger.com sites (my wife's included) this just seemed so much easier.
Now on to the graphic...
I had the idea of a cartoon mouse being caught in a trap, a cartoon mouse with a USB tail. The concept being that an analog device capturing the digital character is somehow ironic. This is also the first image where I did the original sketch in Photoshop. I'm used to whipping out my sketchpad or notebook and doodling furiously to get the look down. With this concept, I already had it in my head how I wanted it to look so I whipped out my Wacom and doodled furiously on the workspace. One layer to do the rought sketch, another layer to refine the edges a little more, and then dropped it into Illustrator to sharpen the lines even more. It's still a work in progress and I will be adding, editing, creating, and recreating it as this blog matures.
EDIT: I forgot the add the Sketch Block font in the title was courtesy of Lukas Bischoff at Artgill.
So what plans do I have for this blog? Mostly just rants, observations, and the occasional design piece I've created or ones I think are in need of critiques.
I look forward to your patronage.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Test Post
Just to check out the look and see if it works or not.
EDIT: Playing with editing a previously published post.
EDIT: Playing with editing a previously published post.
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