Bottled Sky

This little fella is my interpretation of this week’s Illustration Friday topic, suit. Tigers are such handsome animals, and I thought a cartoon tiger would look cute in a suit. It was partially inspired by a Calvin & Hobbes comic strip where Hobbes dressed up in a tie for Susie — but mostly I just wanted to draw a tiger in a suit

As usual I drew the outline on paper then did the coloring on Photoshop. The original sketch was a full-body picture, but I had to stop inking because the pen dried out, and the only other pen I had was twice as thick. Methinks I need to buy more pens.

It looks like my plan to rid myself of designer’s block worked. I made five layouts in the last two weeks and am now more than halfway through my huge backlog of design projects. Go me!

The first three designs are grossly belated birthday gifts for my college friends. I was broke last year, so instead of buying cheap gifts that I wouldn’t want for myself, I promised to make new layouts for those who had blogs or LJs. I’m still broke, so the question is, what will I make for them this year?

Anyway, the fourth is for our group blog, and the last is a streamlined, resume-appropriate version of my portfolio. Check them out! Links and screen shots (as well as a few web design questions that I’m hoping you coding gurus can answer) are after the jump.

Continue reading Finally Making Progress »

What do you get when you combine copious amounts of instant coffee with an ill-conceived plan to rid oneself of designer’s block? A new theme!

I’ve been in some kind of design funk this past couple of months, and I’ve had just about enough. I figured that the best way to crawl out of it was to impose a deadline, so I decided to force myself to participate in the Spring 2007 Reboot with only one-and-a-half days left. As you can see, I somehow managed to squeak through, albeit several hours off target. I blame my fandoms for distracting me

Anyway, this layout is entitled “Breathe” — as in “breathe easy” or “room to breathe” and not “the exagerated sound Darth Vader makes when he exhales.” I was experimenting with different drawing styles when I came up with the illustration I used for this layout. I loved how the swirls in her hair turned out, so I decided to make a theme out of it.

This is actually my second attempt at creating a layout around that drawing. I started working on the first version almost four months ago, but I lost interest in the design before I could even finish it. It looked quite different from this one — all soft and quiet with its pale pinks and minty greens. Hmm. Now that I think about it, maybe the reason I lost interest in the first version was that it wasn’t anything like me. Needless to say, I like this one a lot better, or it would have ended up in the reject pile, too.

Let me know what you think! Like it? Hate it? Found bugs crawling about?

As for my designer’s block, I’m cautiously optimistic that I’ve broken through it. I definitely won’t be ready for another caffeinated cramming session anytime soon.

My computer mouse has gone bat-shit crazy. The left button is sticking, so almost every left-click behaves like a double click. It opens multiple windows and accidentally closes others, deselects things right after I select them, resizes windows at inopportune moments… the list goes on. It’s ANNOYING (note the angry caps locking).

We bought that mouse not even a year ago. The one that came before it lasted a good several years before croaking, so in my mind it has no business malfunctioning so soon. I’m going to have to buy a new one, unless one of you knows how I can fix it. Any suggestions?

Speaking of mice, here’s a cat drawing I made for Tracy. (Yay for segues that really aren’t!) I used it for a thank-you card I sent her in January. I love it when cats purr

I’m not what anyone would call a romantic, what with my commitment issues and aversion to all things mushy. I’ve also never done a grungy illustration before. Therefore I thought it would be a good exercise to try to create a cute and goofy Valentine using a slightly grungy style that hopefully a non-romantic wouldn’t find too repulsive. Here’s what I came up with:

His name is Rob, and he’s in love with a fellow robot named Brenda. He fashioned that Valentine himself out of an old refrigerator door. He’s hopeful that Brenda will like it and that they will have many little robot children and live happily ever after. The end.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!