nocturnus rising

Illustration Friday: Fat [MAN]

2006-05-12T00:04:00.000-04:00

Considering current events I was compelled to illustrate a simple political message. Since this is Mothers Day weekend and most people are not aware of the true origins of this particular holiday The message should be clear. I hope more mothers will be able to hug their sons and daughters this year.

The image depicts FatMan. Unfortunately the parachute tail should be square.

Illustration Friday: Spring

2006-04-07T02:46:00.000-04:00

This is probably my fastest submission. (I had the idea immediately when I received the topic.) For the past two Sundays, I volunteered here and here. I had the pleasure of seeing and listening to American Robins on the way home.

I have been reading, "The Natural Way to Draw : A Working Plan for Art Study" and, "Keys to Drawing." I am looking forward to adapting some lessons to improve my digital skills as I develop my analog skills.

On that note, I found this Interesting Reuters article (something to debate another day).

Illustration Friday Remix: Night

2006-03-04T23:59:00.000-05:00

Occasionally I will revisit some of my previous posts to examine how changing some elements will improve the message. In this case, I am revisiting my first illustration friday submission. This time it is a vector image stressing the flare tool. At the moment I will not consider the reflection of the sun in the water. I imagine I am losing some of the emotional impact of the first submission for an effect. With practice, I hope the loss will not be as dramatic. I am pleased enough with the result to make this my first masthead.

Illustration Friday: Insect Take One

2006-03-04T15:54:00.000-05:00

Submission for illustration friday best viewed at full zoom or larger. I wanted to, "restrain" myself to keep a, "check" on my artistic, "expression." I think I will attempt additional submissions on this topic but on a different slant.

ifri-tea001

2006-03-03T02:38:00.000-05:00

I hope I get this in before the new topic is posted. I actually did most of the work for this image on Friday, February 24th. I sketched my hand upside-down; scanned the image; an traced the scan in Illustrator CS2 (after some experiments with color blends). I could probably do more to the image but I need to close this and move on to another project. This image and the two simple submissions are examples of my efforts to gain some mastery with color blends.

Illustration Friday: Simple II

2006-02-13T23:34:00.000-05:00

This is my second attempt at the illustration friday topic: Simple. As mentioned here in my previous post. I will miss the simple pleasure that is Cheese (depicted here) during my eight-week detox.

Illustration Friday: Simple

2006-02-13T20:59:00.000-05:00

This is my third attempt. I am not sure why the transparency looks so unacceptable. In the future I think I will need to look at where I post a specific type of image. Please read my first attempt for details.

2006-02-13T20:50:00.001-05:00

I am not sure why the previous post did looks so bad but here is a second try please read the previous post for details.

Flickr

2006-02-13T20:50:00.000-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Illustration Friday: Simple

2006-02-13T20:49:00.000-05:00

ifri-simple001, originally uploaded by smith_cl9.

Finally I have returned from my self imposed down time. I have been reading most of the past two months. I need to start transferring some of my Ideas to lucid images to upload. On a positive note, I have found that one great source of inspiration for me is to work on lettering. I have always worked on calligraphy (although as my lettering abilities improved I have not improved my penmanship). The combination of the Illustrator brush tool and WACOM tablet is perfect for my left-handed affliction. The typeface used here is my personal favorite, Carolingian minuscule. I will be trying to transfer some typefaces into a paddoc.

For this Illustration Friday Submission. I was thinking about my impending eight-week detox (starting and extending past lent) which is mentioned here. This is the same detox Morgan Spurlock used to recover following the thirty day McDonalds Binge. This is my second time detoxing. During my first detox (September 2005 until my birthday 2005) I found the only thing I truly missed was cheese. When I finish this spring detox, I will probably celebrate will a porterhouse (depicted here) a true, SIMPLE pleasure.

Illustration Friday: blue

2005-12-03T02:10:00.000-05:00

Illustration Friday: blue, originally uploaded by smith_cl9.

This is what I do to start my stretching after a swim. My initial thoughts for the topic this week, "blue" was the same as what I was going to submit for, "free." I think this is more appropriate here. I need to work on my anatomy but I also wanted to mix sharp shading for the foreground and the mesh shading for the waist up. This is my fourth drawing with Illustrator CS2. I was going to submit a drawing of Sade but I really need to work on that one. I am glad I finallygot over whatever has been holding me back the past month and posted an illustration this early.

Illustration Friday: Small

2005-11-29T00:29:00.000-05:00

This is my submission for Illustration Friday's topic: Small.

Back on Saturday, November 12, 2005 I was fortunate to attend a USA Masters Swim Clinic. (The page is from another stop on the same tour.)

The Clinic was facilitated by Dara Torres & Rowdy Gains
This was great opportunity to get some useful tips that will dominate my winter training program. I have used the past three weeks to focus on, "the feel" for my freestyle with my hips initiating my stroke. The item illustrated was one of the gifts. It is a miniature of a lifeguards buoy. I always say my pool is a great place for swimmers here in NYC.

As an extra bonus, Dara & Rowdy remembered me from my days with NYC 2012 If you know Dara and or Rowdy, please let them know there is a dedicated NYC 2012 Volunteer that will never be able to thank them for the time, tips, and stories you shaired at the clinic at Asphalt Green

Changes

2005-11-28T17:23:00.000-05:00

It appears there are some changes in the options available for uploading pictures. As posted on this Drawn! and this Boing Boing article, Flickr! is enforcing some restrictions to their posting policies. My blog, in the short term, exists as a means of documenting my development as an artist. I am making a serious effort to post my progression and will probably include most of my posts as uploads of scans, conversion of scans (using illustrator CS2's Live Trace & practice with the pen tool). As I see things, I need to look at other options for uploading me work.

Back in September, I visited Digg and found subVariance on my first day under the Design tab. For the short term, I will post some of my work here. My standards are low so I might give them a try. I posted my Illustration Friday Night image there and a pre-instruction drawing for Dr. Betty Edwards', "New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." Here is the image. I plan to make a vector drawing of this for use as my icon.

ifri-night

2005-11-10T16:48:00.000-05:00

ifri-night, originally uploaded by smith_cl9.

This is my first attempt to post an image from my Flicker! account.

I have been so busy the past month that I have been unable to start posting contributions to my creative outlets. Thankfully, I finally have some time (now that the Marathon is over). I was hoping to make this week's Illustration Friday topic: "NIGHT" my first creative post.

Flickr

2005-11-10T16:29:00.000-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Starting

2005-11-10T15:32:00.000-05:00

This is my first post. More will always follow.