I just realized that I have a place where I put all of the art that I've made, besides here. There's older stuff, more recent stuff, and some stuff I've posted here. Thought I'd throw the link out there, if any one were interested. A lot of it is stuff from my last few Graphic Design intro classes, so not terribly exciting.

As my Art History 2b teacher was found of saying, "Have a go."

The end of the quarter 2.0

My final project for Illustrator was a lot easier finished than I expected. Well, the first part, anyway. I still have some boring "show that you understand Pathfinders" assignment, which I'll take care of as soon as lunch is taken care of.

So, this image is the outcome of probably about 6 to 8 hours of effort. Maybe less, even, I spread it out quite a bit. The most complicated part was drawing the ant and weirdish shapes of the robot (the leg and foot). In addition, I had to use a lot of superfluous tools that I otherwise would have ignored, like the Blend Tool or making a Clipping Mask or applying an Effect. The text is, obviously, something that I had to incorporate later, as in my original sketches I hadn't included text, or even room for it.

The Symbol Menu and the Symbol Tools came in very handy - the entire background is dependent upon a modified symbol from the "Mad Science" Symbol Palette. The stars in the background are, if I remember correctly, the Splatter Symbol from the Artistic Textures submenu. Something like that.

I'm very happy with how this turned out, even with all the extra crap I had to add. It was only minimally restricted, in that I had to use specific tools, and the subject matter was entirely up to me. That's really the most important part.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a tasty lunch to create and consume.

EDIT: I just noticed a small thing that I need to correct for. Curses! I'll post the second go and see if any of you can spot what's different.

EDIT 2: Alrighty, here it is. 1000 internet points for the first person to point out the difference!

The end of the quarter

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh. I'm so relieved that it's the end of the quarter. It was just so jam-packed of things to do, that I didn't seem to get anything thing done. Thus is life, I guess.

I still have one last project to do, but it's pretty basic, just long-winded. I'll post an update on that one later, seeing as it's pretty awesome, actually.

Now what to do for spring break? Well, I'm glad you asked. I actually have two side-projects that I have to get through before school starts again. One is pretty awesome, the other sort of meh.

The one I'm looking forward to getting done is a collaboration between myself and another gent from a forum I frequent. He wrote a sci-fi story and wants it illustrated, in order to make a video-comic of it. It's a cool story, if a bit long (ok, I'm just lazy). As this project progresses, I'll post more about it, especially the work I'm doing on it.

In other news, I'm really glad that school is out. Did I mention that?

Surpriseblogpost.

Thought I'd share with all of you what I've been working on lately. Well, as far as artsy stuff goes. I had a 7 page essay to write, but it's not terribly interesting to look at. So, I give something else that is slightly more interesting than an 8.5 page on manuscript illumination.

Fun with markers.

Markers are fun. This is a sketch page from a recent drawing assignment. I haven't touched it up in Photoshop at all, except for cropping. I used Prismacolor markers, 90%, 50%, nd 20% cool grey, and 70% and 20% warm grey; I added some accenting lines with my Micron 08 . My favorite on this page is the eraser.

Hopefully I'll have some initial Illustrator sketches for my final project for that class. The next three days are going to essentially be an orgy of drawing and writing (for an essay due in an Art History class). Of course, my Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are typically orgies of homework, but I'm actually looking forward to this particular orgy.

Sometimes really great ideas just kinda pop into your head. This is one of those times. BEHOLD: sketches for my final project for Intro to Illustrator.




It will be amazing.

Not a doodle.

Sorry, folks, this isn't going to be a usual post. Today, I have a mission. A very serious business mission. I'm just going to quote my recent Facebook note on it, though.

"There aren't sufficient words in the English language to describe my disgust with the attitude of Scientology towards psychiatry.

Now they're promoting their anti-scientific views on craigslist, inviting people to come and watch some free videos.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/eve/1051941864.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/eve/1051943464.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/eve/1040510277.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/pol/1051941028.html

Feel free, if this annoys you as much as it does me, to flag these advertisements as spam. The last one, at least, is offense on a couple of levels, as it showcases a film that tries to tie psychiatry to the Holocaust (well, the Hollcaust, but they aren't fooling anyone with their poor grammar). That seems to me to be very similar to what Ben Stein & co. tried to do in Expelled with evolution. "Hitler used the theory of evolution to justify killing the Jews!"

Hitler seems to be a very well educated man. He's very savvy in evolutionary theory, socialism, and psychiatry. And probably a few other areas I'm forgetting. Well, he's also a biographer, let's not forget that."

Again, if this is something that irritates you, click the "flag as spam" link on the page(s). Scientology is not only promoting poor science, but also poor documentaries.

If you are a Scientologist, please disregard this post.

Editor's Note: Seems that the internet is quicker than I can type. The posts seem to be in the process of being taken down. Go Internet!

Thought I'd do a small follow up to my last post, showing off my layout skills. Well, they aren't amazing, but I think I have a fair knack for layout, at least concerning magazine layout. And any commentary is welcome, as usual.

I'd also like to add that I've found a new media to like. I've used some art markers in this last lesson for Graphic Design drawing. They're great. Very nice color, saturation, and I feel like an artist when I use them. Which is a must, of course.

This assignment, in case I haven't described it, was just to create some thumbnail sketches of magazine layouts based on existing magazine articles. Not copying the original, but recreating it. I chose "Scientific American", partially because I really like the magazine, and partially because it was the closest at hand.

Brain bucket.

I love this doodle. It's from a thumbnail sketch for a magazine layout I did for my Graphic Design drawing class. (I'll post both versions of the thumbnail, to give it the proper context.)

I've also been seriously thinking about having my subject matter concentrate on science themes, such as biology, astronomy, chemistry, physics. The reason behind this is that I know that there is a lot of scientific misunderstanding out there, and not just with complex ideas like quantum mechanics or planetary dynamics. Basic stuff like what the electromagnetic spectrum is and what it means for something to "radiate electromagnetic radiation." Or what causes the seasons. Or the basic premises behind evolution (such as really small changes add up over really long periods of geological time).

I don't know how well I can actually relate knowledge through my images, but I hope that at the very least, I can "plant the seeds" of excitement about science. I came to the excitement about science relatively late in my life. Ok, I'm still young, but I've only been really interested in science and the knowledge that can come from science within the last year or so. Maybe the last two years... I forget.

I think excitement about science is integral for the success of science. Not just for the pros, but for the success of science in the greater public. The more interested and engaged people are with a certain subject, the more they'll reinforce their interest. That's one of the ways that people learn, I think, and art inspires people really well. It's something that most people can relate to and something that most people have in their lives, whether they know it or not. (I'm talking about the visual arts, not music, and not TV or movies.)

Last days.

I'm taking a break from my homework, which I'm approximately 1/3 of the way through. For this day, at least. I'm rather happy with the assignment that I just completed for my Illustrator class, however. It took me about 5 or 6 hours, not because I didn't know how to use the tools I was using, but because I wasn't sure what I wanted the end to look like. That's been a problem with a lot of the projects that I've done for my Illustrator class. There are assigned goals for each lesson, but they're more to do with "Create and use layers" or "Create a clipping mask" or such minor things.

The first project in the class involved us creating a specific object, a radio, which I enjoyed doing quite a bit. Not having to build actual objects is making me lose a bit of interest in the class, though. There are only so many abstract patterns that I'm willing to create before wanting to be done with the thing.