While I sort of understand why they’ve included a virtual cheerleader after you’ve written a post, I think somebody could have put down the thesaurus when programming it…
This is your 30th published post. Cowabunga! This post has 209 words.
I’ve been working on this image on and off now for some time. I’ve been learning how to model a car in 3D. The car I’ve chosen is Honda’s 2010 Insight. The only reason I’ve chosen that particular car to model is that’s the car I own and sometimes even drive (it’s mostly driven by my wife as I live very close to work and either walk, bike or take the bus to work every day). I figure I’m about half-way there. It’s been quite the process and leaning experience. 3D drawing programs don’t really work like more traditional graphic design programs so there can be quite a steep learning curve.
I still have to put in some tires, do a little bit more work to the grill, add a few more details to the doors, colour, texture, and light the model. I don’t think I want to try the interior. I’d like this project to end at some point! 🙂
I’ll probably post a few more screencaps as I make more progress in the coming months. I’m in no hurry to end this project as it is a learning experience only. And I want to take my sweet time and get it done as well as I possibly can.
Interesting dissection of the original series at the Comics Alliance. While I don’t quite by into the the author’s skepticism (contrary to popular belief, I have a fairly strong spiritual/mystical view on the world — possible pitfall on being an artist), but I have to admit I like where the author went with his analysis. And it’s maybe nice to know I didn’t waste all those summer afternoons watching old Scooby-Doo reruns!
Another good question would be, did the original authors and creators of the series have that in mind when they made the series, or is this a matter of a project, in this case a cartoon show, developing a life of it’s own?
Every once in a while I like to try my hand at landscape painting. Usually with mixed results. I’m more of a portrait or figure drawing guy, not a landscape guy. And I usually like to stick with graphite, conté, or pastels (either chalk or oil will do). But a guy can dream can’t he?
Anyways, this one turned out not too badly. I think my main influences would be the Group of Seven and Impressionism. And while this one is okay, I think I’m still a few paintings away from a personal style gelling. Over the years I’ve amassed quite a few small, cheapie canvases, so you’ll probably see a few other experiments gracing the posts of this blog from time to time.
This painting was done in acrylic. I try to stay away from oils because, when painting a house, a deck, or a canvas, I seem collect paint all over me. It’s just easier with water based paints. Trust me. Or just ask my wife, who is always amazed at how much paint winds up on me rather than the surface I’m painting.
I think next time, I’ll try for a simpler subject matter. I’ve always done better with a simple, iconic sort of image. And I think less planning and more spontaneity with the use of colour and form. And I may need to mute some of the background colours as well. I tend to hype up the colour in my portrait work, and while it has been very successful in that genre, it may not quite be the best for landscape work.
I’ve also included a few closeups for those who may be interested in the brush strokes.
Not too sure who turned me onto this one. But clientsfromhell.net can pretty much sum up what it sometimes feels like being a designer. Though it seems like it’s more than just designers who submit stories. I imagine just about anyone who deals with the public at large can relate.
I, of course, could NEVER add any stories to the list, as I’ve NEVER had any clients like that, or any work places like that for that matter. And if I did, I’d surely prove that I’d be a great man and rise above all that pettiness… or maybe I’m just an okay guy, and gripe just a little bit 🙂
Some pretty cool stuff on 3D printing here. Will be blogging more about this in the near future. But not right now. Waaaay too busy with lots of things going on. But stay tuned. Should have the image of the month posted for November by the end of the week.
So, I went to another meeting of the now infamous Secret Handshake, a meetup group for creatives here in Winnipeg. Since my significant other had the night off, I dragged her with me kicking and screaming 🙂
It was held at the King’s Head Pub. A nice place I suppose, but considering the size of the crowd in relation to the room we were in, it did get rather loud. I had to fall back on the old, smile and just nod trick a few times as I simply could not hear the other person speaking. Or I’m just showing my age.
But we did get to meet a few more interesting people. Showing my age or not, it was definitely a… younger crowd. But we both had fun, and Kimmy did say she would do it again should she ever get a free Thursday night. Though, she did raise a good question: how does the group afford all this? There are name tags, pins, snacks, the room itself, and other things I’m sure I’m forgetting. Will there be someone coming a knocking on my door for collections, will I be paying into a protection racket? Or is it more of the Godfather approach and one day I’ll have a phone call from someone in need if a “favour” and suddenly I gotta see a man about a horse? Or maybe there’s a fundraiser meeting and I just haven’t been to enough meetings to know about it yet. Guess only time will tell.
Oh, and if you find yourself at the King’s Head Pub, and you order something spicy, go for the mild. We both ordered medium, and just a little too spicy. And we both enjoy a meal with a bit of a kick to it.
Along with some snow, I few other things came my way at this weekend.
Firstly, there was a fundraiser at St. Luke’s. Seems every Tuesday morning, they run a soup kitchen of sorts. Friday night they had an Irish folk music group perform a concert as a fundraiser for that cause. One of the players also attends the youth group that Kimmy helps organize, so it was sort of a double whammy for us. The group is known as Rinn and they can be found here. They don’t seem to mention on their website, but as they explained at the show, Rinn is a Celtic word for “foot”, and they chose that name as one of the flautists (or flutist, if you really must) raisers her foot every time there’s a changeover in music. Not being a musician, I have no idea why they need something like that, but I’ll take their word for it. Anyways, it was a fun night, with good music. Good enough that we bought their CD. Kimmy has a soft spot for Celtic style music, and I must admit I don’t mind it much either.
And then on Saturday, a former boss of mine had an art opening in one of the many little galleries in the Exchange district. This one was the Mayberry. You can find Peter’s work online here. It was interesting to see his work. I’ve known Peter was an accomplished fine artist since I started working at Pollard Banknote almost seven-and-a-half years ago, but I’d never really had the chance to see his work. Now that he’s “retired” and pursing a career full time in fine art rather than commercial art, I thought it would be a good time to see his art. Was very interesting. Since most of the work on display were fall scenes, there were a lot of gray, monotone pieces with shocks of bright colours in them. And once you got a little closer to the pieces (some of the canvases were quite large), you could see the little dots of colours he was using. Very similar to a halftone dot used in commercial printing or a very controlled, simplified offshoot of Georges Seurat. Or as my photographer wife puts it, “Tiny little elves!” And speaking of Kimmy, as per usual, her favourite piece was, of course, the most expensive one! Not that I can really afford the prices he was asking (not that they weren’t worth it). Oh well, we have plenty enough art on our walls at home anyways. Any more, and we’ll have to start charging admission to people.
Who knows, maybe someday I’ll be in an exhibit someday…
As of sometime last night, I had real, solid, tangible proof that I am the greatest husband of all (sorry to everyone else, but I DO have physical proof). It’s just too bad everyone will just have to wait until after Christmas as to what I’m driving at, since my wife is an avid subscriber to the blog. But things definitely have some possibilities…
(Retro guy courtesy of me.)
Quite a while ago I was playing around with a free 3D program called Blender. So last winter I was learning how to use the program. It turned out pretty good, so I’ve finally gotten the nerve to post it. There’s quite a few things I think I’d do differently if I ever had to do that again (and I might at some point!) but otherwise I think he’s good to go. He’s a moveable, mostly fully rigged model, though not really animate-able as I am not an animator, and that stuff seems quite complicated. It’s one thing to make the model, quite another to get the damn thing to move!
Eye Opening Design 