Maybe I'll come up with some art, and maybe I won't. Feeling inspired doesn't always result in anything worthy, of course. :D

Pencil (HB, 2B) on textured tinted paper, approx 25cm long. Not quite in focus (I'm notorious for shaky camera snaps - I'll scan the finished image). It's just one of many LoTR movie-based drawings I've been feeling tempted to tackle. I might draw Pippin next...

Click to enlarge

I've started working on some icons/avatars for Majellan. This is the first draft so there's always the possibility they could end up completely redesigned. Fellow graphic artists will know what that's like (unless they've been incredibly lucky).

One company I worked for asked me to redesign a 32x32 px icon about 10 times. English was second language for the programmer I was interfacing with, he forgot to mention until the very last design revision that the company was still using Windows 2000, and there was... wait for it... a large group of people voting on each icon design during board meetings. Yes, that sure was slow and interesting.

Click to enlarge

Not an arty post

After having several tense moments last week at work where my department ended up polarized over moral/ethical discussions about various research methodologies, specifically a researcher's inability or unwillingness acknowledge "the self and the other" when conducting research, and various friends getting confused over each other's viewpoints during random conversations, a non-arty post was due.

[That was a long sentence, eh?]

I've lost a url from years back. A really good one! Consider me devastated, in an overly mellodramatic way. Hunting around the net when one doesn't know the artist's name, nor even the precise title of one of his works, is proving fairly pointless.

If the following description jogs anyone's memory, please drop me a note:

Long haired man (blonde-ish, hippy, white), possibly living in Florida or the lower US. Does murals, airbrush paintings and tattoos. Some of the posters he had for purchase on his site had names roughly like "Mermaid" and "Rose Amputee". His stuff is very beautiful in a pretty delicate hippy way, but also slightly Giger-inspired.

Ugh, that's really not much to go on, I know.

Anyone?

----------------------------------------

EDIT: found the site

http://www.davidbollt.com/

I don't know if other people have these sudden urges...

Last night I got home and out of nowhere came the urge to paint red hair. I mean, WTF? Where did that wee beauty spring from? Weird-arse brain. Anyway, I obediently hunted down some source material online and set to sketch-painting. 3 hours later and this is the result.

Acrylic on canvas-textured card, A5 (ie, surprisingly small). Click once for a preview, click again to get the full size image.






Heavily modified from the source material. I'm bleedin' paranoid about copyright issues.

Here's the latest drawing for Majellan. J is pretending to be crushed by the weight of his huge backpack (in reality it was full of lightweight clothes, but it looks convincing enough). I think this is supposed to represent endurance/strength in the game.

Pencil (HB, 2B) on A4 textured tinted paper. Click for the preview, then click again for the full size image.

My work machine is in need of some serious technical assistance - my junior IT tech skills aren't up to it at all.

After a day full of crashes, freezes, and applications refusing to start up, and for no known reason (!), I'm giving in and heading home, having done so little work. Windows <- you are not my friend.

It's so depressing having tools that don't work well.

Someone on my LJ Friends list (an artist) said the following:

"The thing with art is that you need a good business sense to survive. The problem with most artists is that they get so focused on working on their art that they never develop that. Some artists partner up (or get married) to someone that has good business skills and that helps them along (example Frank Frazetta)."

I'm so horribly crap at anything to do with business, and am frozen with fright when faced with tax forms.

A few years ago I went out with a CEO. He would rant and forcefully point out the error of my ways when it comes to good business practice. Then he ran his company into bankruptcy, and I found out that he'd done the same with a couple of other companies in Europe. Ugh, and I'd suspected that his ranting was bordering on the illogical (and was overly emotional).

I'll add my own modifier to that pasted paragraph: hook up with people who have a proven head for business, and who can understand artists like myself. I'm vague at the best of times, easily distracted by shiny things, have my head in the clouds, and just want to do my art without too much pain involved. Number crunchers and little Hitlers aren't always safe companions for dreamy little artists (read as: I am not an art factory).

Mmmm. Food for thought.

Ugh... am off to bed. My hangover from this morning has decided to linger without remorse. "Seedy" doesn't quite describe my day.

The result of doodling whilst watching box sets of Northern Exposure...

Pencil (3B) on plain paper. Click to preview, then click again for the full size image:

Just completed: a silly little bit of Frank Frazetta fan art that I've been meaning to do for myself for absolutely ages, and a Majellan illustration.

Frazetta fan art: acrylic on canvas, heavily modified from the pillow book original. Click on preview below, then click again to load the full size jpeg.





Majellan illustration: pencil (HB->7B) on textured paper.

"And it only takes the tiniest nudge of encouragement to free the moron within."

"Oh, whoops. My godless-pinko-Commie side is showing."

Finally finished. Pencil (3B - 7B) on textured paper. A few dabs of acrylic to bring up highlights here and there.

The model is Sebbal. You can see photos of him, and his armor creations, here: http://sebbal.deviantart.com/

Click to get a small preview, click that image again to reach the full size jpeg (800 x 599px).

Damn, that was a quick change. Brr-rrr.

I've uploaded to my website two new desktop pics for various screen settings. The fullview images are only available here and via my DeviantArt gallery.


Click to enlarge (click on the image that appears in order to get to the full 1500x800 px images):

 

These images were created using Bryce 5 and Photoshop CS2. Angus McIntyre provided the raw Bryce file which was heavily modified by yours truly. He's given full rights to use the file how ever I please.

To see the original file, as well as Angus' other digital art, visit his galleries: http://www.raingod.com/angus/OtherWorlds/index.html

I got the following from a friend's blog (hope you don't mind, babe). It's thoroughly improved my Monday morning.

I think some confusing people confuse confusion with being sophisticated and deep. Posers.

Here's a small photo of my latest work in progress, a dragon armor drawing. When it's finished I'll post a scan of it and a link to the original photographer's DeviantArt page.

Click to enlarge

I arrived back from lunch and ended up staring gloomily at the topographic map of Antartica's Ross Sea region I'm currently working on for a researcher. Fiddly, complicated, precise, and urgently needed for publication.

My solution to an impending attack of anti-precision hysteria:

Grab a pen (any pen), find a notepad, and sketch whatever I can find on my computer that will let me scribble. Time limit I allowed myself: 10 minutes.

Click to enlarge (full version is 700px high):

Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Now I can get back to all that precise vector work without losing it.

... BadPauly did it too. I could be a high functioning 8 year old... with an incredibly sullied mind. Or I could just be procrastinating.


( A meme thingo )