The Simplicity of Black and White

Been working on images for the volunteer information cards at work. I've forgotten how quick and simple black and white can be, plus I really like working with the ol' croquil and ink bottle. Some microns tossed in as well for the stippling. It's a fairly pleasant way to fill the hours. Besides, I can eliminate any major ink smudges with the erase function in PS. Here are just a few of the images.

Dead things don't move as much

K and I went to the World Museum of Natural History in Riverside this past weekend. Unlike drawing from life, all the animals there kindly sat in the same position for hours on end (not that I have a thing against sketching from life; this was just a different take on things). K is a much faster artist and therefore got a ton done, in the two hours we spent there.

On the other hand, I concentrated on one kingfisher specimen with some beautifully colored plumage. As far as I can tell, it's a White-throated Kingfisher, Halcyon smyrnensis from Asia, but since that's only a guess from googling, I can't tell you for sure. Not many of the animals there had labels, and I don't have a bird guide to Asia. Some well done taxidermied animals there. Will have to revisit. Some minor post work done afterwards.
Colors changed from the scan.

Work-art

A rendering of a 4 year grant project from work, started by my old coworker
and rerendered with his initial thoughts by me.
So, actual size is 4' x 2', made in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
Includes elements of scanned sketches, actual photos, and token Sketchup models.
Right, so my workplace owns this one.
I might post a detail at a later point.

Diversifying the Portfolio

Haven't put up a werewolf in a while. This one's been sitting in my unfinished folder for a while. A few things off with the anatomy, but overall, I rather find him quite dashing. Titled simply: Jump.

Still more to do on the pic, some polishing needed, but rather like this one. Done in Painter with a somewhat imagined background and based off an old sketch I did while at my old job.

In Comes Some Art

So some stuff from Corel Painter. I will post here first and throw them up on DevArt tomorrow or so. Keep in mind that they are stuff a little rough around the edges, as they are from my vastly huge unfinished folder. These just happen to be a little more finished than the others.

So, it's been a while, but it's time for me to go to bed, early work mornings.
I shall leave you with a direct cut and paste from
my LJ


So, this weekend was another trip to Disneyland with my annual passholder cohorts, Mary and Kathy. Mostly to celebrate Kathy's b-day a bit late with dinner at the Blue Bayou. First time there, good food, nice dessert, disappointingly no pin. It was insanely crowded in the morning, but did die down toward evening. Seemed like we did a lot of running around getting Fastpasses this time, less riding rides.

This weekend was also spent putting together my new bike; yes, as in the pedal-it-yourself kind. Why do I need a bike in LA? Well, I'm just more green like that. Besides, it's a good way to attempt to destroy flabby thighs. Anyway, a softer seat and breaks that actually work are also definite improvements.

I finally finished the double trouble paintings at work and now we just have to get someone to take photos of them, so they can be blown up 4x their size. But, since that's done, it's off to the project that I shoved on the wayside while trying to get this project done. Back to the shorebirds. At least they're more fun to draw, and smaller too. Making myself blind in front of Google Earth, trying to see where the "rivers" come from wasn't much fun. Besides all that city gray was kinda depressing. Anyway, I probably only have a few more days to finish the current shorebirds paintings and be bombarded with more requests.