botaday: 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Hectavon

This is the first drawing I've worked in inkscape where I have begun to come to grips with the intricacies of the Bezier Curve tool.

In the image below, you can see how the tool can create really clean curves.

It requires dragging with the tool and then releasing the mouse button.

When the button is released, you are left with the Bezier handle (the straight line on the right) and the new line (the curve on the left)

I used this technique to create the shadow on the hectavon's beak.

There are tons of inkscape tutorials out there, so I'm not going to go into great detail here, but for me, this was a very important discovery - that I could draw a curved line with a very nice, clean edge.

In other words, there is no way I could draw a similar line freehand.

If you look, I used this to add shadows to the hectavon's feet as well.

Enjoy!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Disarmament

I was confounded for the longest time because I thought I was a cartoonist.

The problem is, I don't have any stories.

I have a lot to say, but what I have to say doesn't lend itself well to what I like to draw.

For people whose words line up more elegantly with their pictures... More power to ya!

Monday, December 26, 2011

OW

When I take a step back and actually look at it, I HAVE the artistic environment I always wanted.

Years ago I learned to airbrush so I could apply graduated tones to ink drawings.

The things that were inside my head back then are the things that I can produce on a computer almost effortlessly today.

Well, not effortlessly, but the effort is such a fascination that, even though I may lose hours of time making it happen, it feels easy.