Digital Doorway: brainstorming...

So I'm not dead, first off. It's been over a year since my last post to this blog, but it's been a very busy year!

The doors and windows went well. I completed several windows and one door, but they're difficult to photograph. Hopefully I'll manage that eventually.

I am continuing to work with windows and doors as my "thing" these days, as I've found I really love their aesthetic and the opportunity they provide me to break down the chasm between digital and traditional media.

This semester (yes, I'm still doing the college grind), I've got a digital arts class in which I have the freedom to design and execute whatever I want in terms of an art piece. This class is apparently going to have a show/exhibition sometime in May, location TBA, so I want to make sure what I do is show-worthy.

My current plan is this...I want to set up a rear-projection behind a door against a wall. The door would have no window in it, but when someone opens the door, an image would be projected against the wall behind the doorway. Every time the door shuts, the image will change, so that when it opens again it will be different than the last time it was open. I would use as many "scenes" as I could, at least seven, but preferably at least ten. The more, the better.

Basically, what I've figured out so far is that I'll need to construct a space to back the door, or a false wall. I'll need to pick a windowless door (plenty of those on craigslist) and frame it into the backing projection box or wall. The projector and rear-projection screen would set up behind it, and a sensor will feed into a Max/MSP patch that activates a change in images for the projector.

Obviously, this will take a lot of work, but I am pretty sure I can figure it out. I'm good at making things do what I want.

A means of encouraging people to open and shut the door repeatedly? Hmm... Well, I think I can use woodburning to encourage them to open the door. It's how to get them to open and shut it repeatedly that's the trick.

More on this—including sketches—later.

Stingers 'n commenting service...

Here's a quick screenshot of some of the wasps I've been making for the window project (there are a bunch more and this was saved yesterday before I drew even more of them).

Also, I'm mostly just making this post to test a comment service from Intense Debate. So feel free to comment and help me test, guys.

Back to my busy snow-covered day...

Play your cards pretty...

Here are another couple PE sketch assignments from the summer. This time, both are digital drawings/airbrush doodles and both are Davina Falcão's characters. The chick is Lusiada (obviously) and the fellow is Aspis.

I sort of want to tweak Aspis some more at some point, but I'm very happy with the way Lusiada came out. I was aiming for a sort of...trading card look, if that makes sense.

Davina was happy enough with Lusiada's "card" that she has said she'd like to commission more in that style when I open for commissions again. Woo!

Horned people posin'...

More PE sketch assignments from this summer. Here are a pair of Unavisi (invite-only character race designed by Brianne Goetz). Davina Falcão's fella Atthis in graphite and pen and Amy Clark's Yew with a juvenile gryphon sketched in Photoshop.

Ladybug jelly!

Alrighty...here's a quickie animation done for my Drawing 4 class this semester. I plan on making this one longer in my free time over the next couple weeks. Currently it's only about 77 frames long and has no sound.

And to the left are the ladybugs I originally drew in my sketchbook at the start of this little project. I think it should be fairly obvious which one was used in the actual animation...

Broody dudey...

Another thing from PE assignments this summer, Amy Clark's Conan. Broodin' boyo. More PhotoshopCS3, soft brushes and mucking with color.

Pirates! Arr!

I woke up today with a horrendous migraine. At first, I decided I could walk it off and started getting ready for school anyway. Biiiig mistake. After scraping myself up off the bathroom floor, I downed a few extra-strength excedrin and went back to bed, curtains drawn. I felt like crap pretty much until noon. I'm sort of annoyed because there was Stuff To Be Done today both in my Web Art class and at the tutoring gigs I do (had to call my tutorees and let them know I'd be a no-show).

Anyway, in light of that failure on my part, I figured I should post some of the art I did over the summer for the Private Exchange. The exchange(s) these were for were a "sketch" level so I didn't really get too involved with clean lineart or developing color or even using a print-quality dpi. Um. Sooo...let's start with a couple of pirates! Swashbuckling ahoy!

Daerik (left) and Jessie (right) are characters belonging to Amy Clark, aka phoenix_element. Drawn digitally in Photoshop CS3.

When 10-year-olds make children's books...

When I was around 10 years old, my youngest sister was still "my" little girl. I took care of her and she depended on me. She would have been around 4 years old then and still prone to running through the yard stark naked. Ah, the freedom of youth! Heh.

In any case, among the many things I did for my baby sister back then was telling her stories to get her to fall asleep. One day, instead of telling her a story, I made her a storybook. On lined notebook paper, using a cruddy black office pen, I doodled out a short children's story called "What Are Monsters Afraid Of?"

She kept it in her sock drawer, right beside her bed, and it got a lot of wear and tear over the years from readings and rereadings and the occasion in which someone would show it to someone else to say "look what Kate made when she was 10 for Chloe." The storybook, if you can call crumpled notebook paper held together with pieces of yarn that, even survived the family's relocation from Texas to Colorado when I was around 15 or so and then another couple years until...

When I was in high school, I'd say maybe 16 or 17, my rather dinky little art class was asked to make books for a project. I immediately thought of "What Are Monsters Afraid Of?" and went rummaging through boxes until I found it, curled up and smeared in spots from water damage. Rather than bring my more matured storytelling or design skills to the table and remake the story, I chose to simply copy the drawings and designs and wording that my 10-year-old self hadoriginally created. Only, instead of cruddy office pen on lined notebook paper with yarn for binding, this time it was drawn in Photoshop, printed, and bound neatly in a cheap little presentation booklet.

Sadly, I think much of the charm of the original was lost in this remake, but nevertheless thought I'd share what my 17-year-old self copied off of my 10-year-old self.

So without further ado, meet my monsters. I am especially fond of the coverpage monster, who in my head has always been "socked aardvark" even though he in no way resembles an aardvark. I cannot explain my own logic.



























The monsters, in order of appearance, are called (in my head, at least)...
The Socked Aardvark
Ground-dwelling Batsnake
The Green Slimer
Flying Googleye...
...and the Bedcrabs, which in my mind travel in groups of three or five.

Also featured in this story is Superbear, a filler character I often used in the stories I told my baby sister. Superbear never really got his own story, poor little guy.



Also, when I was redrawing this, I had a brief encounter with Creepy Bouncy Sun, whose smile is unnerving and whom nobody trusts. I highly suspect that he may in fact be a pedophile. Naturally, you can see why CBSun was replaced with the pleasant sun who occupies the cover page instead.

Aboidoodles crosspost...

Crossposted with Aboidoodles (another art/project blog of mine and my buddy Tam's that gets images this one doesn't, bwahahaha). Head over there to learn more!

All bottled up...

Ummm...just a digital speedpainty sketchy thing done to the prompt of "transparent sphere."

I know, I'm a weirdo. Woo!

The symbolism of tire swings...

Just a quick digital thumbnail sketch of an idea that popped into my head this morning for a piece. I hope I can get time to work on it...

Commish Wip: "Watching Over You"

I don't know what it is about coloring this one that is just MURDERING me. Ugh. I have no idea what it is at all, but it's like pulling teeth to finish it.

If you give Davina a cookie...

My buddy Davina abruptly informed me that "I need a cookie...with chocolate..." Since I'm teaching myself how to be more painterly with Photoshop, and needed a warmup for a commission I was working on anyway, I gave her that cookie with chocolate.

...sketchy deliciousness? Gosh, I'm so boring.

Commish WIP: "Watching Over You"

Something I'm working on that is stupidly overdue.

I have developed a new way of coloring that I'm much happier with, and you can sort of see it in action here. However, keep in mind that the colors seen here may drastically change before this is done (I'm going to adjust both skintones a lot, for example).

Right up my alley, or at least 'til I turn back down...

Man, making that deal of "a post for a post" to encourage Riss sure is comin' back to bite me in the ass! lol

Ah well. So! Speedpainting that I got bored and abandoned a while back. Oopsie! Ref'd from random photograph found online (god knows where)...

Three for the show! (Death, Presidents, and Sap.)

A page from my sketchbook in chalk pastel and charcoal, done on a homework prompt of "draw something you think is dead."






A page from my sketchbook of brainstorming I was doing for a piece involving Abraham Lincoln (whose 200th birthday anniversary is this year, wacky). ...also, I drew Abe Lincoln on a Chipotle burrito's foil wrap with sharpies, and later tore it off and pasted it in the sketchbook. I'm a doofus, but I have fun.



And some sap drawn for a friend (and partially for myself) involving her character Seville and my character Sugar Maple. They are Unavisi, which is a race and a project designed by our mutual good friend Brianne for her friends to participate in by invitation only.

Drooly wallpaper...

The hyena here is my buddy Shawna's changeling Chisulo in his animal form. The three-tailed fox is my kitsune Lark in her animal form. They are thieves and friends, and generally are an entertaining pair, that's for sure.

Because making Shawna laugh is always fun (and because she deemed "that is. so. cute." about the sketch), I made a 1260x800 wallpaper just for her, after cleaning it up just a little and messing with Chisulo's head angle a bit.

"Do not DARE drool on me..."

Lalalalala, oh whatever could Kate be up to. >_>

Wow, that is ultra scribbly and probably completely illegible. Heh.

Illuminating skin...

To encourage a friend to draw daily and utilize her blog more, I made a deal that for every post she made, I would make one too. Well, the last few days have gone bonkers-like, so I am going to count this one post as being for the two she has made thus far!

The art group I am a member of, Private Exchange, has one exercise in which people can follow prompts for speed paintings/sketches. In need of a warm-up before commission work, I looked to see what the latest prompt was the other day: cloudscape.

Though there's not much in the way of clouds here, I like the result anyway.

Approximately 20 minutes in Photoshop.



Here is a WIP from a large charcoal piece I did on Monday. I'm afraid I don't have a photo of the finished product at the moment, but I thought I'd show this anyway. This piece has special personal significance to me.

Strathmore 300 series bristol board, soft vine charcoal, and General's charcoal 2B, 4B, 6B. Also, a tiny touch of acrylic and india ink for the ember and its reflection in her eye.

The entire thing is about 17.1"x28". I'll have to remember to post the finished product and its story later.

Improving me: (#1) Movement!

Crossposted from Aboidoodles: I have a lot of weaknesses as an artist. One of them is that I don't do movement much. Action. People (or things) in motion!

So I confronted that by having Dre, in my head, stealing something or breaking in somewhere or perhaps just getting up to general mischief, and ending up having to run around and jump over things to escape people very intent on SHOOTING HER. ...naturally she thinks this is fun as all get out.

So here's a sketch of Dreor showing her athletic, trouble-loving side.