January 20, 2006 by Collin
This is the first illustration I’ve made for this Friday’s topic. I’m also considering another “cut paper” design or two, as well as possibly finishing the sketch I started of the kitten in the sandal.
Here you go, and as always, comments are appreciated (click for full size):
Category Adrift | Tags: | 11 Comments
January 19, 2006 by Collin
Messing around a bit more with the “cut paper” look in Photoshop. This time from a photograph of a car.
Here’s the photo:
And here’s the result of my experimenting (click for full size*):
*The full size might not actually load up. It’s showing up for me as a broken link. No idea why. It says there are errors, but I haven’t done anything differently. If it stays that way I’ll see if I can fix it later.
It the silly things that’ll get you. I couldn’t understand why the smaller sizes would display in flickr, but the original image wouldn’t. flickr said there were errors with the image. The answer was one I knew, but it took me a while to realize what it was. Here’s the problem: On the Windows operating system, a JPG cannot be CMYK. I forgot that I’d been working on the original image in CMYK and didn’t convert it to RGB before uploading it. Apparently, when flickr resizes the image you’ve uploaded they automatically convert it. They just didn’t bother to tell me what was wrong with the original. Anyhow, it’s all sorted out now and the clickie-for-biggie works.
And look at that. The Illustration Friday word of the week is “Cats”. Hmmm. I have a few ideas. I may post multiple pics this time. Until then I hope you all have a great weekend!
Category Adrift | Tags: | 7 Comments
January 18, 2006 by Collin
You remember. Way back when. I had asked for monster drawing submissions that I would redraw in my own style. I started with Derek’s axeman, then I did Heather’s alien creature until the fur drove me off. Then I said I would be working on Jared’s interesting drawing that he sent to me on December 12th.
Well, after a few starts and stops, it’s finally finished, a bit over a month later. The next one I’ll do will probably be in a different style, as this one is very time consuming and mentally draining.
So, without further babble, I present to you Jared von Hindman’s drawing “Aggressive Genital Display”:
And my version of it (click for bigger):
Next up – if I do it – will be a re-drawing of one of my, as of this very day, 6-year-old daughter’s drawings.
Category Adrift | Tags: | 8 Comments
January 17, 2006 by Collin
Rather than create a new post, I’ve caught up on replying to all the comments for the posts on this page. I do have something in mind involving a local church and their flagpole, but it’s going to have to wait for another day. Sorry.
Category Adrift | Tags: | 2 Comments
January 16, 2006 by Collin
I’m keeping with the “cut paper” look again for this one. I want to develop that style a bit more. I’m considering working with Heather on rewriting and illustrating a public domain fairy tale in this style and posting it a page at a time online. That’s a bit down the road though, after a few other projects that I’m trying to finish. In the meantime, here’s my take on this week’s Illustration Friday theme. As always, comments are appreciated:
Category Adrift | Tags: | 13 Comments
January 12, 2006 by Collin
Okay, since this is the last day for the Illustration Friday word of “Sea”, and I posted my picture on the first day, and I received a few comments from people who liked the look of the piece, I figured I would take a few minutes and break the picture down so you can see how it was built. Like a peek under the hood for the art curious. I’m only posting a few of the images here because there are 67 of them total and that would be just silly. If you would like to see the entire series, click on any of the images and you’ll be taken to the flickr photo set, or click here. If you choose to view it as a slide show, I recommend setting the speed for 1 second.
This isn’t so much a step-by-step as to how I made it, but rather layer-by-layer from the bottom up.
And there you have it. I probably won’t be doing the next IF word until the early part of next week.
Category Adrift | Tags: | 6 Comments
January 11, 2006 by Collin
On the way in to work I usually take I-25 South and hop off at Bijou. There’s a wee little hotel there that is available for conventions and they usually seem to host things like “Three Toed Midgets Anonymous” and “Drunks Without Cars”.
To give you an idea of the neighborhood they have a Denny’s across the street to the south, a fenced off, out-of-business gas station to the east and a plasma donation center to the west. Suffice it to say, not the top resting spot in the Springs. They used to be called the ‘Le Baron’; I can never remember what they are called now. It’s just as well. Less chance of being sued for slander.
This is also the area where I saw a drug deal go down while I was at the 7-11 – next to the Denny’s – and got heavily stared at by the dealer’s accomplice who was sitting behind the wheel of their Lincoln Town Car.
So. Guess who’s coming to convene this week? C’mon. Guess.
Well, if the marquee is to be trusted, it’s the CSI. I almost can’t think of a better spot in Colorado Springs for a passel of crime scene investigators to gather than that. Heck, they might trip over a few bodies just trying to get in the door. Kind of a working vacation, I’m thinking. At least it should give them plenty to talk about between seminars.
CSI-1: “Well, you can tell that he was mugged from behind and then stabbed repeatedly in the kidney with an ice pick.”
CSI-2: “Are you daft?! It was obviously a ball point pen. See? There’s blue ink lines leading into each of the holes. Idiot.”
Further up the road, a bit beyond the tattoo parlor where my brother got his tat, I saw a guy that caused me to do a double take. It also brought a song to mind that I’ve decided to share. Lucky you.
Weird Al watch out.
And that should just about do it for today’s post, unless something momentous happens. The rest of the week may be post-less since I’ll be taking the next two days off to spend taking care of my kids while my ex goes in to the hospital to find out if she’s going to be able to get by with an angioplasty or if she’s going to require a heart transplant. Have a great week everyone!
Minor addition…
I got my haircut on the 2nd. Really cut. It’s damned short. My beard is longer. There’s probably more hair in a random hippy’s armpit than there is on top of my head. So, today someone who hasn’t been around for awhile sees me and says, “Collin. You cut your hair.” It was stated in such a way that I felt it should be news to me or something. As if, perhaps, I’d done it in my sleep and just hadn’t realized it yet. I had a nearly overwhelming sensation that I was supposed to quickly reach up to my head with both hands and feel around while a look of horror spreads across my face and then I was to run off screaming like a girl. But, because of who it was and who I am I just said, “Yep!” and kept walking.
Even more baffling is when people form it as a question. “Did you cut your hair?” Okay. Let’s see… on Friday I looked like an English sheep dog on two legs. Today you can see my eyes. By Jove, I believe I did! Well done Watson, here’s a biscuit.
And I realize that my observations are nothing new. I’m reasonably certain that George Carlin and a host of other comedians have talked about the tendency of people to state the obvious before. But it’s still amazing when it happens.
Here’s a tip to everyone who comes across someone who has obviously cut their hair and you find yourself starting to ask them if it was really cut or tell them it was as if they didn’t know. Instead say, “Hey! Your hair looks nice!” even if it doesn’t. ESPECIALLY if it doesn’t, because odds are they have been worrying about it all morning and a little false assurance goes a long way. Do NOT say, “Did you lose a fight with a lawnmower?” or something equally pithy because it’s not funny. It makes you look like an ass, and, if there’s a God, it’ll get you kicked soundly in the fork.
Category Adrift | Tags: | 9 Comments
January 10, 2006 by Collin
or “There’s Nothing New Under the Sun”
The other weekend – no, not that one, the OTHER one – Heather and I stopped by the ultra-depressing Media Play “Going Out of Business” sale. I took the opportunity to expand my DVD library a tinch. Among the titles I picked up were ‘The Ref’, a movie I’ve enjoyed for years, and ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’, a movie that was also surprisingly fun that came out last year.
I noticed something about the cover art. See if you can catch it.
Here’s the considerably older ‘The Ref’:
And here’s ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’:
Notice anything… mmmmm… derivative? No? Are you sure? How about now?
Yeah. It’s probably just me. Too much stress must be causing me to see things. Just in case you would like a closer look at the last one, you can click on it for the bigger version. Have a great Tuesday everyone.
Category Adrift | Tags: | 7 Comments
January 9, 2006 by Collin
Over the weekend I found this site: OTRFTP Server.com. They have “over 32,000 old time radio shows and counting”. I don’t know how many of you might be interested in radio shows from the 30s, 40s & 50s, but I was terribly interested.
Back when I was a wee tot, one Christmas I received a record player* and three albums of “Old Time Radio Shows”. They were Blondie, Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, and Inner Sanctum Mysteries.
Blondie was okay, but I loved the Richard Diamond and Inner Sanctum albums. The episodes on Richard Diamond were ‘The Stick Pin Caper’ and ‘Juice Bar’. Inner Sanctum had ‘Til Death Do Us Part’. I have no idea how many times I listened to those two albums and in my entire 37 years those were the only episodes of either of those shows that I’d ever heard.
Until this weekend.
I shelled out the $7.50 to buy one credit which allowed me to download 1 GB worth of old radio shows (approximately 150 shows) solely because they had 90 episodes of Inner Sanctum and 52 episodes of Richard Diamond available. I grabbed them all, much to my son’s dismay because he wanted to play “Command & Conquer: Generals” on my computer and usually I don’t do much with it during the weekend. Instead I subjected him to Old Time Radio. He’s probably better for it.
After I got them all downloaded I dropped them into iTunes and sorted them out so their names were fixed, etc. I found that there were some files that were named slightly different but were actually the same program. Irritating. Still, it gives my ‘collector genes’ something to play with for awhile.
So far the quality is pretty decent, considering the age of the recordings. The episodes of Richard Diamond – written by Pink Panther creator, Blake Edwards – range from 1949 to 1953 and the Inner Sanctum’s episodes range from 1941 to 1954. Of the two, the Richard Diamond episodes sound consistently better, but to be fair I’ve only listened to three of the Inner Sanctums and four of the Richard Diamonds. I’m hoping to find some programs “out there” that will allow me to tweak the sound quality a bit and hopefully improve the ones that aren’t so good.
If you are interested in giving this place a shot, and are on a Macintosh, I highly recommend the donation-ware FTP program Cyberduck. If you are on a Windows PC… um… I’m sure there are ways for you too.
Also, if you have any suggestions of old radio shows that you liked, let me know.
—
* To you youngsters out there, a “record player” was similar to a CD player only it used needles and heroin to make the music happen. We also had to wind our watches back then or time would stop. You punks have it so easy now.
Category Adrift | Tags: | 4 Comments
January 6, 2006 by Collin
Derek was saying that he tends to get a large amount of visitors after posting his Illustration Friday“ drawings, and it turns out that he posts his at the tail end of the week, so I decided to give this one its own post rather than appending it to the previous post. I don’t want Ray to take more of a hit than expected.
For my first attempt, not too bad. I guess. I thought that the word that I would be doing was “flavor”. It turns out that word expired on Thursday. Surprise! Still, considering I didn’t have a concrete idea when I started I think it turned out well.
I built it in Photoshop. I wanted to get a ‘cut paper’ feel on this one. You can click on it to see a larger version. What do you think?
Category Adrift | Tags: | 8 Comments