Random Art: Not Mighty Oaks, But Mighty OK Is Fine By Me

Posted on August 10, 2016 by geelw

So, yeah. I haven’t been drawing a lot lately. A few people bug me about his, but it’s that eternal struggle thing, I guess. The old self-taught artist with no big ego who’s tried and failed miz-er-ah-blee* at a few things while having successes in others stuff. I think they call that “life” or something like that? I’ll have to look that up one of these days.

Anyway, some room was recently made in the upstairs vault and mouse in hand, I knocked these out within the past week between a few actual money-making projects. Full of imperfections, like that “life” thing I keep hearing about, but I’m still working out the ins and outs of digital art. I could use a good tablet, but funds need to go elsewhere for the tie being, as this year has been lousy for me and tech stuff falling apart, going missing (Phill Katz, I haven’t forgotten you) or just giving up the electronic ghost entirely.

This one? Ugh, but it was my first attempt at really trying out the revamped MS Paint in Windows 10. I don’t like that they changed the interface and added effects to the brush strokes, though. If I wanted to do watercolor or oil work, I have a bunch of aging art supplies stored here. Ah well. Perhaps I’ll change my mind with some more experimentation. Art classes would be great, but those cost money I don’t have at the moment.

That one? Better, but “done, with errors on page” as they say.

*or is it miz-er-ah-bleh? I don’t speak French other than a handful of none too helpful phrases. 😀

-GW

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READS: Star Wars Works Spectacularly As A Scrolling Infographic

Posted on May 25, 2016 by geelw

Many movie fans all know what follows this memorable opening image, but thanks to Zurich-based artist Martin Panchaud, we now have quite possibly the best illustrated retelling of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope to date. While not flawless (there are a few incorrectly translated lines), the scrolling infographic absolutely nails the storytelling beats, but from a top down perspective and using colored dots for human and alien characters. If you’re a big enough fan of the film, I’d bet you’ll be hearing that phenomenal John Williams score in your head at all the right moments. Go check it out (if this hasn’t been forwarded to your own inbox already today).

Also, someone call Guinness (no, not the ghost of Alec, silly!)- I think at 123 meters (or 403.543307 feet), it just may be the longest infographic you’ll see for a while. Anyway, go revisit a classic film from 1977 in a whole new way.

Random Art: Paintree Country (Or: Look Ma, One Hand!)

Posted on August 23, 2015 by geelw

In the short list of crazy injuries I’ve had this year, throwing my left shoulder out is probably the most annoying for a few reasons. Thankfully, it’s the left side and not the right, as I tend to type faster with my right hand. It’s also a good thing that I can “draw” with a mouse while recuperating in any position. This sketch was actually an old incomplete one that I dug up and tinkered with while waiting for some medication to kick in. At some point I need to get knocked down by a big dog with well-manicured paws who would proceed to jump up and down on that one spot that hurts I can’t reach. So I’ll stop typing for now, go lie outside on the sidewalk for a few hours and see what happens.

Back in a bit.

Random Art: Good. Buy Roux, Be Tuesday…

Posted on December 23, 2014 by geelw

Let’s see now. Went to sleep at 3, got up at 6am to do laundry. It’s dreary and rainy out now, but I need to try and get some work in on the site down at the library at some point including a massive game download that should take about 5 hours. However, I also kind of need to hang out here and wait for some packages, as I missed UPS last night by a few minutes (oops!) and I have a few other things coming in via regular mail as well.

Hmmm. Oh, and I need to do a bit of grocery shopping at some point, as there’s some chicken broth I made taking a snooze in the fridge and I’d like to turn that into a decent soup for the rest of the week. Or maybe I could make a really big pot of gravy? Nah. I’m not much of a gravy guy. Eh, let’s see where this all ends up. It’ll probably be just a few types of mushrooms and something green going in that pot before I toss in some rice noodles.

Okay. off to grab a cup of coffee and go through some files. Go have a tree or something. I did this MS Paint last night while taking a break from poring over a ton of ideas I’d written down. My brain seems to not like resting during the winter, so I have too many ideas that I sometimes write down and discard to make room for new ones. I think it’s the bad ideas that get tossed. Or at least I hope that’s the case…

Ten One Design’s Pogo Art Contest: Draw Something Cool, Win Cooler Stuff.

Posted on July 23, 2013 by geelw

Hey there- got an iPad? Do a bit of art with that thing? Feel like showing off your skills for fun and prizes? OK, here you go: Ten One Design is running its third annual Pogo Art Contest for digital artists armed with iPads and any model Pogo stylus to draw that potential masterpiece with. Entries are due by August 31, 2013, but before you get all doodly with yourself, here are the categories they’re accepting art under:

Current Events

· Satirical or thoughtful explorations of world events, politicians, daily news and journalistic expressions

Wildly Creative

· Thinking outside the box, pioneering digital artwork that has never been seen before, using an application not intended for drawing purposes, application mashing with multiple programs in a unique way or even collaborating with multiple artists

The Way You See It

· Realistic, impressionist and representational artwork of a person, place or thing

Obviously Abstract

· Nonrepresentational interpretations of reality, exploring forms, space, depth and colors

Now, I probably won’t enter (hey, I’d be a ringer here as I’m reviewing a Pogo stylus for the site and I use a different capacitive screen device that Pogo I got works on just fine), but I won’t stop YOU at all. So get creative and go show off your digital art skills. You just may walk away with some nice gear…