VISITORS

This is something I have been working on this week and it fits the Illustration Friday theme. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are just VISITORS in the fiery furnace. They won't be staying long. Got places to go... things to do...

This was more fun 'n games with Photoshop. I threw in some brick texture from a building I took a picture of downtown. The idea here is that the guys are "cool" in the furnace, hence the blue colors and shades. Also gets that blue/orange thing going on, doncha know. A great color combo.

I'm still working on finishing the 100 animals that I posted sketches of. It's turning out to be a loooooong process...

stay tuned....

hockey player

Well, I took another stab at making an image with Photoshop tools. The good news is... I keep learning new things each time I try this. At this point I am more focused on just making the shapes than I am with designing the image. So this guy is a bit wonky.

Isn't wonky a fun word?

CAPTAIN (kangaroo)

Well, the Illustration Friday word for this week did NOT inspire me to any funny business. However, I am still interested in figuring out how to use Photoshop to create stylized images... so I took a crack at making Captain Kangaroo. And yes... I am so old I do remember Captain Kangaroo. (sigh)

I know it may not look like much, but I struggled for about 2.5 hours in making this. The learning curve for me is very steep. I feel like I am groping around in the dark. I tried something different this week in making the image. I used the pen tool. It worked really well for me. With a lot more practice I think I could get the hang of this.

While thinking of the word CAPTAIN, I remembered a movie I liked a lot. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is a fun sci-fi adventure film that came out in 2004. It was created on a bunch of Macs. If you like action/adventure films... check this one out. It has some great flying machines and robots. There is nothing better than flying machines and robots!

Oh... you can click on the Captain to see what he is like on steroids.

EMERGENCY

This was mostly an experiment. On a whim, I sat down and armed with only the Photoshop selection tools, the paint bucket the dissolve brush, and a desire to try someting different, I tried to make a picture. I have never done this before so it was a real challenge to try to make a picture this way. It would be a slam-dunk using Illustrator... but I wanted to see what I could do with Photoshop.

I found it hard to do what I wanted to do. With a little more practice and experimentation, I might figure out some things. If anyone knows of a tutorial anywhere that demonstrates how Photoshop is used like this let me know.

Click on the image to see a larger version... if you dare.

Thanks for dropping in and looking.

animal 100!

Animal #100... a zebra with a balloon! A bit anticlimactic, eh? Actually, on the page the zebra appears on, I have to draw 100 balloons. Oh, joy. I just couldn't face that. I am thinking I will make a group of 5 balloons, and then copy and paste them around till I have 100. Photoshop to the rescue.

I actually just got the sketches back and see that there are quite a few changes on them. Mostly larger balloons for the text to go in and things like that. Out of 100 spots, you have to expect they will want to make changes on some of them. That's just how it goes.

Since I switched to the new Blogger recently, I now have the option of Labels. If you go to the sidebar and click on ANIMALS, you can see ALL 100 animals on the same page. Cool beans!

the humor of Publix #8

I am not rich... but I am fairly crispy...

animals 96-99

We are almost done! Here is a chipmunk putting beans in an egg carton. I have to draw an egg carton from time to time. I do't like to draw egg cartons. I always have to go find one and look at it. Next we have a worm on a clock and a seal clapping. I like the excited hedgehog the best of these.

the humor of Publix #7

sa-Wheeeeat!

animals 92-95

Today we have a counting octopus, a llama with a party horn, a roaring lion and lizard that collects candles. I have a collection too. For some odd reason, when I eat an ice cream bar on a stick, I lick off the stick... really good... (lick, lick, suck, suck, lick, lick) and lay the stick down. I was cleaning up the top of my desk recently and found I had two fist sized bundles of little wooden sticks. Wonder what I can build with them?

the humor of Publix #6

Creepy crawly goodness! Pretty clever doncha think? I would certainly rather have these crawling around my house than the OTHER kind. If I stomped on one of these, I could just sweep it up and put it on my ice cream.

animals 87-91

We are breaking into the 90s today. How exciting! 90 animals that is. Temperature wise, it is going to hit 100 degrees today WITH humidity. Ah... summer.

Can you stand on one foot with flamingo for 87 seconds? Give it a try. Or you can do math problems with spider, or try on hats with horse or check out the calendar with crocodile. And then there is bee. Bee is busy (bees are always busy, right?) buzzing around 9 flowers with 10 petals each.

Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting instalment... same bat time... same bat channel...

MISSING

SocMo has found his MISSING dart board, but can't remember where it was hanging.

If you are visiting from Illustration Friday, I am still posting more animal sketches every day plus some fun cracker boxes. Cracker boxes? Yep. CLICK HERE to take a look.

the humor of Publix #5

and... we're back! That's what they say on TV, and I wanted to say it too. One more time...... aaaaaaand we're back!

If you are just joining us, I am posting some boxes I have found in my local grocery store that have funny labels on them. Of course, today's box makes a reference to that classic movie, Casablanca. Humphrey Bogart looks at Ingrid Bergman in the last scene as the plane is waiting to leave and says, "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" My favorite part of the movie.

animals 83-86

Yep, I'm still posting new animals every day! But I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Today we have an inch worm, a marching dog, a rhino... and Marty Feldman. Wait... that's not Marty, that's chameleon licking a sucker. My bad.

the humor of Publix #4

These cookies are nice and crisp and leave you with just the right amount of ginger hotness in your mouth after you eat them. So you combine ginger snaps with snapping turtle and get the clever box humor. Speaking of turtles... there is a short video on Youtube about a little boy at a fair. It is turtle related and you HAVE to watch it. Click here to watch the video.

animals 78-82

Did you know that moles love mini-marshmallows? Did you know that owls use the US postal service to mail their letters or that walruses whistle while washing? Did you know that Koalas like frosting on their cup cakes? Well... now you do. And the bear with sissors?... don't ask....

the humor of Publix #3

I like this one. I wonder if Billy Graham lives in a house like this?

animals 74-77

So, for some reason I hit a block on drawing a rabbit. I drew it over and over but couldn't quite get a rabbit I really liked. At some point I always decide to just go with what I've got. But then... the next animal was a Yak with a yo-yo. I looked up Yaks in my big book of animals, and this is the first thing that popped outta my pencil. And I liked it. Bingo! I LIKE when that happens. The next guy is a platypus. Does it look like a platypus? Again, I don't see any of these flattened on the highway so I don't have any first hand experience with them. The toucan has a big jar of marbles. Don't ask me why. It's obviously a toucan thing.

the humor of Publix #2 - revenge of the cookie

VANZILLA stomps through the city causing death and destruction till it meets its arch enemy.... HungryDoug. HungryDoug makes quick work of the giant cookie, but afterward, runs screaming through the streets of the city... his speech is strangely out of sync with his mouth.

Beware of sequels...

animals 69-73

Another day.. another batch of animals. Today we have one weasel clapping, one shark with cookies, one eagle with tape measure, a bunch of ants, a mouse tossing jellybeans and a partridge in a a pear tree. Just kidding about the partridge.

Does anyone ever draw a mouse and NOT think of Mickey?

M-I-C... see you real soon
K-E-Y... why, because we LIKE you!

M-O-U-S-Eeeeeee

the humor of Publix #1

The closest grocery store to me is a Publix. I find myself dashing off to Publix often for milk, bread and eggs. Normally I don't buy store brand items, but recently we found that the Publix animal crackers were very good! Then I started noticing the packaging. It is a very clean package design and... PUBLIX HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR! I like that! They are winning me over. I am a sucker for a good package design with a funny twist to it.

I noticed that the animal sketches are a bit drab looking en mass, so I have decided to brighten up the blog with a sample of Publix humor for a few days. I am working my way through the cracker aisle at the moment. Read the small print under the picture. And... you can click on the image to see it up close and personal.

animals 65-68

Hey, I just found out how I can change the post date on these things. Now I can do them ahead and pop them in the freezer for when I need them. Cool! Now I don't have to write these pitiful comments early in the morning before my brain is on. Woo Hoo!

Today we have a Puffin... and the Puffin is picking soccer balls out of the soccer ball field. Yea, I didn't know they grew in fields either. That is why being an illustrator is such a great thing. You learn all kinds of amazing facts along the way! Like... did you know that if you are wearing a jersey with the number 66 on it and you did a handstand, it would look like a 99? Isn't THAT amazing? Gorilla taught me that trick.

We also have swan sweetly singing as she swings. Say THAT fast. Iguana is trying to figure out how many 10s and 1s there are in 68 by using dimes and pennies. Heck, I didn't know iguanas had bank accounts. Now don't you feel smarter today?

Have a good day now. And hey... let's be careful out there!