Illustration Friday - Shades

Whoo! Just under the wire yet again for this week's IF challenge.

Couple of rare birds, maybe? yuk  yuk yuk (how often do owls wear gigolo sunglasses, hey??!)

Ack! I submitted this on thursday night but somehow...SOMEHOW!...the link I entered was directing folks to a famous author's site - Dan Santat. Oops! So here's last week's which could almost qualify for this week's challenge word ('swamp'). But I'm not going for a double-header here. I'll be concocting something new for this week!

Trying out some different things with Photoshop this time around - namely, working with a chalk brush for much of the image. And playing around with some furry effects. Had fun doing this one!

Next comes more learning about how to render water - there are so many ways! I need to just spend some time with different methods. Copy the masters :)

Like Kazu Kibuishi, Jason Brubaker, Dani Jones,Rad Sechrist, and more. Can you tell I've been reading the Flight series? I found Flight Explorer in the children's comic section at our library and I practically sleep with it!

Also need to learn how to create more of a sense of light. Also.....!...I wanna learn how to use Illustrator. Next level for me. And! Learning how to create shapes that meet without linework. I'll always love cartoons and comics. And I've done a little bit of painting, traditional and digital. So much to explore!!

I started watching the Comics are Great podcast this morning where Jerzy Drozd and Dan Santat are talking about Fear and Courage. I left off to work on the above illustration - just after Dan said he taught himself to draw by copying comic books.

YEAH! That's what I'm talking about!!

Why can't I see my brush tip shape?

If you're noodling around in Photoshop and your brush tip shape inexplicably (?!) changes to a leetle tiny point, the caps lock is probably on. Toggle it off and regain shapes for brushes and all the other shapes associated with the various tools. My keyboard is an old one for Mac (pretty turquoise! with a full ten-key keyboard, which is what I want) that I bought used through NextStep Recycling and the caps lock key sticks or spontaneously decides I need to work in UPPER CASE.

I had wondered if that was the case with my brush tip suddenly 'disappearing' when I typed my question into the browser bar's built-in search engine and my query was ALL IN CAPS.

Here's a web page I found right off the bat to confirm what happened.

The Annoying Phantom Brush.

Happy painting and stuff!

Greeting Cards are now for sale!

Yoo! I did a print run last week and five greeting card designs are ready for you browse and purchase!

I created a Page for them (right up there) where you can click on a Buy Now button.  I've included descriptions and stuff - and you don't need a PayPal account to pay - y'all know you can click through and choose to pay by credit card. Alternatively, you can email me with a list of the items you would like to purchase and I'll send you an invoice direct via my PayPal account. This works well if you want to order a variety of cards. The way it works now (learning all this tonight so bear with me) -- you click on Buy Now and are directed off-site to pay. Every time you want to order a different card. Easy enough but with an invoice, you will receive ONE itemized list and you can pay from that.

Alternatively......and even better really....I just re-opened my Etsy shop. Click on that banner over there! It would really help me build business if you order through Etsy.

Here's a few shots of a couple of the cards in 'real space' so you can have a sense of their scale and cute factors :) I also had fun creating a logo, printed in living color on the backsides.

Illustration Friday - Yield

Here's this week's installment for Illustration Friday!

Yield to your little monster. The monster just wants to help. And to be friends. Really. No matter what monstrous monstrosities the little darling devil-may-be.

Yeah I'm learning stuff in Photoshop! Trying out several different techniques. I realize this one is pretty busy but hey. Monsters like busy-ness. Uh...this one does!


**I will be designing cards for this one....I really need to re-launch Etsy, or sell through this site....or build that website I keep saying I will! If anyone is interested in purchasing cards or prints just email or message me - thanks!**

today I made a cloud

This is one of the things I busied myself learning today: one way to make a cloud! Of course I had to add some mauves and pinks. I even learned how to make my very own cloud brush, woo!

The tutorial I followed is here. There are many ways to make clouds, as you may well know if you've puttered around in Photoshoppe. I'll be morphing this one to fit an illustration I'm working on.

This morning my back went out! Suddenly, without warning, as I was doing my normal stuff around the house. I could barely lift a frikkin' teacup to my face. No, seriously. So I stayed home. Luckily I haven't been bedridden and have been able to sit on my arse-end for lengths of time to mess about with colors and clouds. I was doubtful I would even be able to do that....so I do count myself fortunate.

I even made split pea soup. Good for what ails ya. Especially when it's raining and gusting 40mph winds outside.....yeesh.

A good evening to you all; I'm closing up Shop and going horizontal with a movie and some ibuprofen :)

Illustration Friday - Intention

So on sunday it was my intention to be super woman super productive. I did some stuff and laid groundwork for being more productive the next couple of days.....but as for sunday, I did a good amount of schlepping and chillin'.

Learning Photoshop! Learning about every goshdangiddy thang!!

I live in a small studio. That is why I look so biggg :)

 

Illustration Friday - Capable

Wooo just under the wire! Here is this week's Illustration Friday, uh, illustration.

After working for several hours on the Paid Assignment for NextStep, I switched gears to do this. Oh man I'm so glad I did! For anyone who has ever, say...learned to play an instrument: do you remember when, after hours and more hours of learning how to place fingers and read sheet music that one day you suddenly start doing it without thinking so much about it? Well tonight was like that with Photoshop, which I'm just now learning. Everything I've learned up until now finally gelled and I was loosened up and I had a LOT of fun coloring this.

When I drew it, I didn't have the plan that it would be a frog stretching across that ravine (or whatever you want it to be). But it seems appropriate and so I'll insert the metaphor of a frog who doesn't realize she is built to leap. Or hasn't dared. Or, you know......that sort of thing.