My 7 year old daughter is following after me with the love of art. Not only does she draw quite well for her age, she has a sense of humor to beat all. What’s really fun is to see when she gets in this humorous mode, and she just pumps out the work like there’s no tomorrow. She doesn’t care that the final piece is her finest, she just has to get her ideas out. Many times the spontaneous scribble is much more enjoyable to see than a well-drafted masterpiece because it’s a glimpse into her twisted personality. See below:
Santa Hit By a Snowball
I love the surprised look of Santa’s eyes just after being pelted by a snowball to the face.
Santa Crash
Here you can see that Santa really biffed it in a powdery mess. Only his hat and legs flailing recklessly in the air are visible after falling out of his sleigh, apparently from several hundred feet in the sky.
Santa's Fed Up
Most likely after too many falls from his sled, Santa decides to take a safer route and buy a car. Poor Vixon.
And lastly, I let the kids have full reign of an old digital camera of mine. Not only does this appease their desire to use my brand new digital camera, but we unintentionally get some wonderful shots from their point of view. I particularly loved this one, taken by the same daughter spoken of above.
It’s that time of year when I make changes to my site again. I just can’t leave well enough alone, but this is my playground, so it’ll never be the same two years in a row. I just can’t have that.
Things are still in the construction mode, so please excuse a little mess here and there.
On my wife’s birthday, my daughter (on the far right) started singing “Happy Birthday” with her belly button… the other kids wanted to get in on the fun, and this is what came up.
Any dentist that uses needles, drills, picks, cold water, abrasives, scissors, floss, anything with high pitch sounds or tastes bad is still in the dark ages as far as I’m concerned. Brushed ink lines and watercolor wash.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love drawing monsters. They can be ugly, cute, scary, cuddley… I’m guilty of the same. Here’s a fun ink wash study of a cuddley cute one, but that’s subjective.
Just in case you have a hard time focusing on those huge puzzles with a gazillion teeny pieces, here are a few that will just put your mind at ease. Then when you complete them, they can be used as little futons to take a nap upon. They’re big (20×30 inches), they’re made of thick, soft, but durable, foam, and you’ll learn the life cycles of various creatures while having fun!
These aren’t the cartoony illustrations I’m used to drawing, but it’s fun to take on a different style once in a while. Again, logo and illustrations done by me, and Giant Life Cycle Puzzles furnished by Insect Lore.
The summer days are long, and there aren’t enough rocks for all your offspring to play under. What’s a bug mother to do, send them to the compost pile? Right, good luck getting them to return for supper from that wonder wasteland… There are safer alternatives, one that even conforms to strict ASTM F963 requirements!
Introducing the Critter Carnival! This amusement park is the ultimate playground for your young larvae! Watch them play and perform in the zany carnival bug-play arena with a slide, swing, maze, tightrope, ferris wheel & teeter totter. Even a large protective dome to keep those pesky humans from squashing your precious pupae. It’s your very own one-ring circus!
Logo design by yours truly, and product by Insect Lore.
I awoke Saturday morning with the dread of covering the table with newspaper and filling the house with the smell of vinegar. I was equally dreading setting up a factory of the same old dyed Easter eggs… I just wanted to do something different, so I decided to stir it up a little, so I gave the kiddies a choice… a little to my wife’s dread. Dye or Paint? I was beaming with pride when the voting was unanimous for paint! So off I went to find the kiddie paint brushes.
Our children aren’t the kindest to their paint brushes, and a few have had to be thrown away. I’m guessing that’s what had happened to ALL of thier brushes. My wife blamed it on the Parents Against Art Supplies (PAAS… Isn’t she clever?) So I had to calm them down a little as I ran to the craft store to buy a new stash and we painted away. We painted far fewer eggs than we would have dyed, which is just fine by me, and we had a great time. Here are the results done my me, my 10 year old son, 7 year old daughter, and 4 year old daugher, in that order:
This one covers several drawing tools and requests, all listed below the videos. It’s all about giving us options to work the way we like to work, not the way Illustrator tells us to.
I have to share, while I’m on a roll, an open letter from the very talented Von Glitschka. He’s asking all Illustrator users who have features they would like to see added or changed in Illustrator to do something about it and tell Adobe. The more a feature is requested, the better chance you’ll see it in a future version! See the letter here! Iconfactory has a few things to say about Illustrator as well here. Do you agree with any of them? Tell Adobe!Let’s start a revolution and love Illustrator again!
Freehand is dead. It’s a painful truth which has forced many of us illustrators to migrate to Adobe Illustrator to earn our living. Although I have acclimated pretty good, it hasn’t been the smoothest transition as many of my Twitter friends can attest. When I learned Freehand 13 years ago, I was surrounded by many other more experienced Freehand users who trained me in the efficient ways to draw, since our employee reviews were largely based on production.Flash forward to the present. I work alone at home, training myself and stumbling through the quirks of Illustrator. I know there are ways that Illustrator can be more efficient, and I know efficient ;). But when I verbally explain to friend or forum members how things can be improved in Illustrator, I usually get one or more of the following responses:
a blank stare
a rolling of the eyes
accusations that I just can’t let Freehand die, and that I should quit being a baby
The truth is, I want very badly to love Illustrator. I use it more hours than I see my own family each day.So, I’m going to start making Illustrator videos for the following reasons:
To share with Adobe Illustrator Developers when I make feature requests. A picture is worth a thousand words.
To share with friends, so either they stop rolling their eyes, or they can share a better way of doing things with me.
To share with everyone, so maybe someone else can learn either from my techniques, or my mistakes.
Let it be known that this will not be a Illustrator bashing session. I really want to learn the best way to do things, and I want Illustrator to step up. Adobe killed Freehand, it’s high time they brought back efficiency that they took away. It’s an Illustrator Call to Duty.
It’s a good thing that Thanksgiving is between Halloween and Christmas (at least in the States it is). Acts as a buffer and gives the two extremes a bit of breathing room. The turkey always gets it in the end anyway despite his intentions to make peace.
Hmmm… this might work well for this years’ “Happy Holidays” card.
Brushed ink lines and watercolor wash.
