Blog, Banana, Brainssss...

Illustration Friday Match

2006-08-20T01:36:00.000-07:00

Did you know they used to call matches Lucifers?

You don't say...

Yeah, and 'Lucifer'? Means Light Bringer (lux + ferre).

'Match' on the other hand? Comes from the Greek word for mucus (myxa).

Huh. Wouldn't have guessed.

So much to learn, so little time...

Tell me about it.

Illustration Friday - Play

2006-08-16T03:46:00.000-07:00

If I could be any vegetable?

Why, I'd be sauerkraut-

It was my only toy as a child.

reg_and_vic.png

2006-08-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

reg_and_vic.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

This time the svg came out to 128 kb while the png was only 44kb. That's probably an unfair comparison since Illustrator shrunk it under 800 pixels wide, but I guess it still shows that the complexity has to be limited in order to keep the file size down (well, 128 is still small).

Follow-Up to SVG Test

2006-08-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

Well, it looks like it the SVG displays on the three WebKit-based applications I have, although DEVONthink displays it really big for some reason. Flock doesn't seem to have any way to use the Plugin so it won't display SVGs.

Firefox seems to display it okay (using the Adobe Plugin, not the native support).

Here's another way to get images in there, if I ignore the compatibility problems.

Test To See If I Can Put In a Link To an SVG File

2006-08-11T01:23:00.000-07:00

Sparkplug

Sparkplug Test

2006-08-11T01:21:00.000-07:00

I ran into this browser, Flock, that has a Flickr uploader built into it so I'm trying it out here. This is actually an image created as an SVG test (I wonder if you can display those here?) I'll try next post.

Capture.png

2006-08-06T20:05:00.000-07:00

Capture.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Started in artRage, finished in painter 7.

palmToPalm.png

2006-08-01T00:26:00.000-07:00

palmToPalm.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

My second artRage piece, touched up in GimpShop. I was going to make this a six part series but this is taking too long so I guess it stops here.

sekiryu.png

2006-08-01T00:25:00.000-07:00

sekiryu.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

This is another ArtRage piece, this time finished up in Inkscape instead of the Gimp. I think it suits my style a little better at the moment. For reasons I can't figure out, the file turned out huge, even though it has a limited palette. I'm going to have to figure out exactly how png works to get the size down.

grouper 2.png

2006-07-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

grouper 2.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

My first attempt at an ArtRage piece, done from a pencil sketch using the sketch as paper texture. Finished in Gimpshop.

Also my first use of DoubleCommand to switch the ⌘ and ctrl keys (makes a huge difference).

I also made my first documentation of what I did using ComicLife. That was actually harder than I thought - not using the program so much as figuring out how to lay things out. I ended up just randomly moving things around until they lined up with each other.

Since I was trying everything out on this fish I also used Lightbox JS to create the slideshow (it's what the plasq site used to display their ComicLife gallery).

That's a nifty little script. It made me realize that I really haven't been paying enough attention to the size of my images, though. I'll have to re-size everything so it fits on the screen.

ball and cube

2006-07-24T02:30:00.000-07:00

ball and cube.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Note to self, don't let the flickr uploader resize the image, the file gets huge. This is a pencil on watercolor thing. just wanted to mess with the Gimp after so long away from it.

skyline

2006-07-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

skyline
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

A skyline. Watercolor, pencil, photoshop.

sticky.jpg

2006-07-06T22:45:00.000-07:00

sticky.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Watercolor on gessoed watercolor paper on left and watercolor on used typing paper on the right. Kind of a circuitous illustration of 'sticky' with the cliches left in and the actual stickiness taken out.

hand.png

2006-07-05T02:22:00.000-07:00

hand.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

A sketch that started out as an abstract geometric shape and built up to a hand.

dancing-man.jpg

2006-07-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

dancing-man.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another watercolor sketch. This one done watching Adult Swim.

cleric-a.png

2006-06-27T03:58:00.000-07:00

cleric-a.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Kind of a Loomis dinkus head (or whatever he called them), re-thinking the guy drawn from the letter A with a nicer face.

cleric-and-wanda.png

2006-06-27T03:57:00.000-07:00

cleric-and-wanda.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Figures pulled out of the texture of the paint, with white gouache to pull them out (blue added in photoshop, though).

cleric-b.png

2006-06-27T03:55:00.000-07:00

cleric-b.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

A re-drawing of the A figures trying to make the face more of a mask.

clerics.png

2006-06-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

clerics.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

A sketch doodled around the letter A.

head-one.png

2006-06-27T03:53:00.000-07:00

head-one.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another face as mask.

just-a-sec.png

2006-06-27T03:52:00.000-07:00

just-a-sec.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

I think this was inspired by Oedipus Rex (the opera).

smokey-mudge.png

2006-06-27T03:51:00.000-07:00

smokey-mudge.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

This was something I found on the back of one of my pages so I don't really remember what it was but it looks creepy so I'm keeping it.

two-heads.png

2006-06-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

two-heads.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Two faces that popped out of a doodle.

vetruvian-cleric.png

2006-06-27T03:49:00.000-07:00

vetruvian-cleric.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

An attempt to make a head using the golden rectangle.

two guys.png

2006-06-27T01:29:00.000-07:00

two guys.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

A sketch I did while watching "In Good Company". Pencil, gouache, watercolor.

velazquez charcoal.png

2006-06-25T03:24:00.000-07:00

velazquez charcoal.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

After a long absence, back to the charcoal, this time with watercolor pencil added to get the black darker and to add the sienna lines.

fat_ii_c.jpg

2006-05-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

fat_ii_c.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

I decided to simplify the 'fat' illustration.

fat

2006-05-12T00:16:00.000-07:00

fat
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

For the Illustration Friday theme 'Fat'.

mermaid_ii.jpg

2006-05-04T23:52:00.000-07:00

mermaid_ii.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

My submission for "Illustration Friday's" 'Under The Sea.'

mermaid

2006-05-04T01:02:00.000-07:00

mermaid
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

The First Part of my Illustration for "Under the Sea." I was supposed to put her underwater and have a diver. We'll see tomorrow if I feel like adding to it.

lilacs_iv

2006-04-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

lilacs_iv
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

An attempt to improve the image through cropping.

lilacs_vi.jpg

2006-04-30T21:07:00.000-07:00

lilacs_vi.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another variation on the pencil coloring method.

oniman

2006-04-29T23:39:00.000-07:00

oniman.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another from the sketchbook. Same day as the Spotted stuff, but not related. I was just running out of ink and used it up before I went to the store to buy pens.

spotted iii

2006-04-29T03:51:00.000-07:00

spotted iii
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another Spotted Piece. Intended to be the first part of a sequence, ending with the middle guy getting it for being spotted. I don't know if I'll ever get around to putting it all together or not.

Spotted II

2006-04-29T01:19:00.000-07:00

spotted_II.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another sketch I had in my notebook from the 'spotted' theme.

spotted I

2006-04-23T01:30:00.000-07:00

spotted I
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

One of the sketches I did for Illustration Friday's "Spotted."

theMudge

2006-04-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

theMudge.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another pencil to Photoshop experiment. I think I'm going to need to find a book or something.

Maybe I'll try something closer to what the comic book people do and use the lasso with gradients for the layer masks.

I was going to call this Amish Serial Killer, but I don't want to offend the Amish (or C. Everett Koop, my second title reference choice).

speed

2006-04-10T03:38:00.000-07:00

speed
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

It grew rather further from the theme as it progressed, but it was fun to draw.

I think I'm getting a better handle on how to use Photoshop to colorize the pencils, but now the visible lines are bothering me. I either need to switch back to charcoal or figure out how to smooth out the pencils. I need better backgrounds too.

I1i.jpg

2006-04-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Dead Things
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

This was an attempt to refine my Photoshop experiments, apply perspective to shadows and finally finish something the same day I started. Not really a success, but if I post this in the next minute or so, at least I did something.

Spring Again

2006-04-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

Spring Again
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another stab at coloring the pencil sketch.

Spring

2006-04-02T03:40:00.000-07:00

Spring
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

In Spring, a young man's (or a souvenir on a shelf's) fancy turns...

Some Sketches

2006-03-31T00:32:00.000-08:00

Some Heads done while reading Andrew Loomis' Fun With a Pencil.

A sketch for something I was going to do in Shade before I decided to get back to drawing.

A doodle for an idea about a royal court of puppets run by frogs.

I don't think there was any meaning to this one. A couple of people sunbathing on the beach, perhaps.

Another doodle of someone in a mask. It's a Julie Taymor thing, I suppose (my fascination with masks, I mean).

Something from the sketchbook. The murkiness is from when I was dripping paint on the pages. I've moved on to quarter sheets of recycled folder paper instead of a sketchbook. I haven't gotten around to toning any of them yet.

I don't know if that was really supposed to be Homer (the poet) but I kind of think I was working on a stylized beard and curly hair in the mask. I don't know about the dog with the teeth. Some kind of oral hygiene thing.

A head done while reading Andrew Loomis' Fun With a Pencil. It really is a great book. The publishers are doing us a disservice by not re-publishing his books or releasing the copyrights.

The image that gave me the idea about royal puppets and frogs. I seem to have a bit of a thing for big teeth.

monster

2006-03-30T23:10:00.000-08:00

monster
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

For the Illustration Friday Theme "Monster." Kind of abstract - based around the idea of a monster being something different and feared, more so than malevolent.

I Thought I Was Tofu, They Said I Was Spam

2006-03-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

This is just a test post now that blogger has declared me not-spam and got rid of the "403 Forbidden" page for this blog. Hopefully now flickr won't have a problem posting to it as the verification echoing seems to have gone away as well.

I wonder what it was exactly that made them think this was a spam site? No porn, no pyramid schemes... I guess my drawings just have that spiced ham gel oozing from them. Shlurp.

Devil's Tattoo

2006-03-16T03:59:00.001-08:00

devilsTattoo.jpg
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Looking up the word tattoo I saw the original meaning was having to do with a drumbeat which lead to the Devil's Tattoo (drumming your fingers) and (possibly) Beating the Devil's Tattoo as a reference to DTs (listening to the Blue Devil).

A Continuation of The Shade Test

2006-03-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

After deleting the torso and hips from the figure the Renderosity calculation went down to about a half hour. Still slow, but at least reasonable. The shadow is nice, but overall the image is much darker, I clearly need to read the manual to figure this out.

The second image was rendered with Path Rendering for the Global Illumination (and the Distant Lights turned down to compensate).

Both of them introduced artifacts on the legs, the solution to which I didn't feel like spending the time to figure out, since I was just trying to get the rendering to work on this pass.

Testing Blogger's Image Hosting

2006-03-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

This is a Test I did rendering a Poser Figure in shade (my MenuMaster is going crazy and I can't type capital s's right now).

I wanted to test Renderosity and Path Tracing on a Poser figure but on my G3 iMac it was taking way too long so I just rendered it with Ray Tracing.

This is also the first time I'm trying to upload an image directly to blogger so it's a double test.

Giving Up On Yahoo Photos

2006-02-13T16:12:00.001-08:00

My experiment in using Yahoo failed, as their image links appear to be dynamically generated so I posted these at Image shack instead. Requires a little more work than flickr but there seems to be fewer restrictions. And they have a nicer logo (albeit a rather incongruous one).

A Test of the Yahoo Photo Album

2006-02-13T01:37:00.000-08:00

This is just a test to see how the Yahoo album system might be used. It doesn't seem quite as useful as flickr, but it doesn't have any storage limits so it might be useful for all those sketchbook images that I felt wasteful putting on flickr.

--
The Yahoo thing didn't work so I re-posted this on image shack. Maybe I'll post sketches there and save flickr for other stuff.

Illustration Friday "Cat"

2006-01-24T20:56:00.000-08:00

cat.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

For Illustration Friday - 'cat.' Continuing my experiment with using index cards for the under-drawings.

For some reason when I shrank the original Photoshop file and converted it back into PNG, the result was larger than when I converted the larger Photoshop file into PNG. This was compressed using Graphic Converter instead, to try and make up for it, but I think I was too aggresive on the indexing, as there is more dithering than there was previously.

Illustration Friday "E Is For..."

2006-01-22T21:42:00.000-08:00

head_halftoned.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Didn't do it in time, but this is my entry for "e is for..." In this case I was thinking of e is for emperor:

"Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream."

--wallace stevens

Illustration Friday "Sea"

2006-01-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

SEA_SKETCHCrush.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Inspired partly by looking up the etymology for Sea and seeing that it meant "sheet of water" at one time and partly by something I saw while sitting in a coffee shop after my apartment was flooded last week.

festivus

2005-12-23T19:57:00.000-08:00

festivus.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Festivus is not over until the head of the household has been pinned.

Festivus for the rest of us.

chimp_colorized.png

2005-12-21T20:17:00.000-08:00

chimp_colorized.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Just your typical chimp, imagining he had a leisure suit so he could score with the ladies at Union Jack's.

blue

2005-12-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

blue.png
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

My entry for Illustration Friday's theme "blue."

illoFridayStrength

2005-11-18T03:14:00.000-08:00

illoFridayStrength
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Technically much too late, but my first post to Illustration Friday.

herkules

2005-11-09T00:40:00.000-08:00

herkules
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

A complete rip-off of Ludwig Hohlwein, but I wanted to try Painter and didn't have anything on hand.

Tessel_man

2005-10-28T02:38:00.000-07:00

Tessel_man001
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

My first attempt at a tessellation. Amazing what a little geometry can accomplish. I'm disappointed that we didn't learn more of it in school.

Yak_Man_Gimped

2005-10-26T03:12:00.000-07:00

Yak_Man_Gimped
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Heavier on the touchup because the sketch was mostly black and I didn't like the composition. The blue border was to give it a little breathing room (and make it a golden rectangle). Still have to watch those borders.

Fish_Head_Gimped_Plain

2005-10-22T01:04:00.000-07:00

Fish_Head_Gimped_Plain
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

I think this was actually stronger before I added the geometry, but since it's just an exercise I wanted to practice making it a Golden Rectangle.

Dark_Dancer_Gimped

2005-10-21T00:23:00.000-07:00

Dark_Dancer_Gimped
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another stolen sketch. I struggled much more with this than the previous two. Next time.

Black_Eyes_Gimped

2005-10-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

Black_Eyes_Gimped
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Charcoal colored in GImp.

Mongoloid_Yellow_Turban_Source

2005-10-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

Mongoloid_Yellow_Turban_Source
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Inspired by a trip to the PMA on it's last free day, I thought I'd try something traditional again, but then I couldn't help but mess the eyes and nose up.

bugWoman

2005-10-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

bugWoman
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another Thriftlodge thing. I think the less I do in Gimp, the more I like the outcome. Not enough practice.

toothHead

2005-10-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

toothHead
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Thriftlodge again. Something about that place...

cow man

2005-10-10T01:57:00.000-07:00

cow man
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Another Thriftlodge sketch.

purseDogMan

2005-10-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

purseDogMan
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

One of those inspired by my stay at a Thriftlodge in Portland.

Blind Buffalo

2005-10-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

blindBuffalo
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

According to a note I wrote it's a water buffalo.

The blind, hermaphrodite water-buffalo mourns her vestigial udder.

Beanie Man

2005-08-21T02:17:00.000-07:00

Beanie Man
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Original image stolen from National Geographic so I'll call this a study.

Brain Worms

2005-08-21T01:38:00.000-07:00

20050820Sketch
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

This one was drawn in a Los Angeles hotel room. Has nothing to do with LA. It's just about my brain worms.

Bus Stop Doodle

2005-08-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

Bus Stop Doodle
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Done while waiting for the bus.

08092005sketch

2005-08-09T23:26:00.000-07:00

08092005sketch
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

This is a sketch of a Cambodian (?) sculpture I saw at the Academy of Art.

Potato Man II

2005-08-08T15:37:00.000-07:00

Potato Man II
Originally uploaded by cloisteredMonkey.

Testing the flickr blog this feature on a doodle. The flickr export from iPhoto converts the files to jpeg. I don't know if I like that for the sketches.

Asshole Rabbit

2005-08-02T23:34:00.000-07:00

Just another old sketch with some gimpShop work.

Hatman CBBG

2005-07-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I don't know...

Tax Books

2005-07-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

This is a really old one.

Eyeball Sketch

2005-07-10T18:25:00.000-07:00

First, Something Old

2005-07-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

This is an old image from a while ago (maybe 2001 or so). I think it has something to do with a David Mamet play I read.

First Post

2005-07-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

What is this going to be? A place to link to whatever sketches I upload. Not a diary. Not a place for links and commentary. Just sketchblogging.