ITH* Creature

Made in Photoshop CS2. Custom brush, color halftone screen. I'm sure I'll find more of the ITH's friends throughout the year. He'll pop into Nina's story for sure.

*Inexplicable Talking Head. I've been seeing this thing in my head for a couple weeks now. I don't know why and ,more curious, don't know why I can't shake my fascination with it. So today I started my day with a short to-do list and put him on it.

I attempted to shape him as best as that nagging mind picture can get me. I don't know if any of you are like this but I can see this drawing, literally, in my head. I've learned over the years that I should shape the actual drawing by keeping my mind's eye on this image and not be distracted by my hand's inclinations.

I think I got it very close to how this fella looks. Feels good to get him out there. I was also musing on a few things overnight and this meandering phrase came around. Sounds like something he would say as he sips his red. Though I'm not sure how he could sip anything, really.

On a side note: Just been through a screening on reels of "UP" and I'm exhausted. I've been making animated feature reels for over thirteen years and it doesn't get easier. The movie's doing quite well and it's one I myself can't wait to see on the screen.

This is my decompression day. And, for those of you who know me, I'm here at work when I could have a day off. Busman's holiday. That and an espresso makes it.

UP (film 2009)

Nina starts the year

Photoshop drawing and color. Low-rez with a customized brush then scaled up. Something Don Shank showed me.


Monthly drawing? Maybe not a bad idea to have a regular drawing post, eh? I can gather enough for a calendar? The storms over the weekend had forced us to hole up in the house. I need to get the hybernation cobwebs out. Heck, need to work out.

My thanks to Claudio Acciari for continuing to post on my humble Oekaki board. He's such a consumate draftsman, it's not even funny. While you're at it, check out my very own Oekaki board. We've been losing comments to the ether lately and I've no idea what triggers it. I hope it fixes itself in the long run. I also posted the simple password for comments on the top of the page (under the banner of my oekaki page). That's just so the spam bots don't thrash my board with mindless ads for vulgar items. Sheesh.

while you're at it, maybe you want to leave a drawing on that there drawing applet--it's really quite a versatile drawing program for something free online. Most of the controls and options you would have been used to in other drawing applications are there. I can even custom make a brush. Too bad you can't save it permanently.



Claudio Acciari

OekakiBBS tutorial. I really should go through this myself(though that scary image can hinder the faint of heart).Scroll down the page for a call-out of all the tools.

Paperbiscuit OekakiBBS--in case you can't see the banner in the sidebar linking to the site, heh.

Drawing on feeling

Just close enough. Sometimes ya just gotta draw it out. Waves of feelings can make you draw. I don't have time and yet it was there, might as well. Get it out. This isn't it. But this is what showed up. Just sharing.

The Terror of Olivia Neutron Chan III

Olivia delivers a flurry of pain dealin'. That Roverbite sure was a charming pooch. Funny, too. He had to go. All images except for the compendium link to larger views, so zoom in.

Pray you are not in the blast radius. Sam Hiti's tournament of drawn fighters, Fist-a-cuffs, is a great idea because it is simple. If you were ever a kid and you had this escalating argument about who would win in a fight between King Kong and Godzilla then you know how this game works. I love the tag line.

"Fist-a-cuffs. Where drawings are voted to the death and the streets run black with ink."

Sam had called for this to be the first full-color Fist-a-cuffs. Invited artists were enjoined to "bring your 'A' game." And the new catch this time would be that no one can know who drew the fighter. No popularity vote based on the creator's rep, no brand-name recognition (in the previous FACA's this was exactly the case). This time the drawing will have to stand on its own merits.


This is Olivia's full figure glossy. She's unused to cameras as you can see.

Olivia Neutron Chan III. She has molten plasma for blood, a nuclear furnace for a heart which in turn powers her destruction-geared limbs. She fires lasers, missiles, and blares through her Mach3 Valkyrie speakers the chilling songs of her namesake, Olivia Newton John--annotating a path of ironic carnage to burbling, vein-rupturing effect.

Olivia was done by migrating between Photoshop and Painter--I'm not familiar enough with Painter to just do it all there. This is also a side of my work no one sees a lot. "Dad, that is so scary. I don't think anyone could tell this is you," my daughter Gerin says as she cringes. That's the idea.


A compendium of Smak Talk visuals from ONCIII's battles. An Assault arabesque, if you will.

Well, she fought hard and well until it was down to her and Red Raja. I must admit, if I wasn't in this myself I would have voted for that tentacled lobsterman from the east myself. There sure was a groundswell of support for the old mullusk head. Olivia was going to have to rely on her ferocity and toughness to win the crowd and hope for the best. In the end it was a valiant close to a short, head-stomping career. My thanks to all who voted for her and phooey to all of you who didn't. All hail The Chan!

Here's one more visual of The Olivia on the warpath.


Olivia likes to sing while she works. This lyric is from "Physical." Pandemic got the groove eventually. Oooh, that had to hurt.


Links:

ONCIII vs Baby Killer
ONCIII vs Roverbite
ONCIII vs Pandemic
ONCIII vs Red Raja