Act now!
*edit* I scanned this from a 1965 Life magazine – an issue commemorating the first American space-walk – that I picked up at Aqua Books the other day. But if this offer existed today, I would be first in line. A trip in a bushplane is another one of my life-long wishes.
... everybody's got one. That's the inspiration behind my submission for Illustration Friday's fun theme of opinion. And really, there's not a whole lot to say after that. I went with this variation after doodling a few concepts while watching Patrick Roy Night on Hockey Night In Canada (after a pre-psychotic Theo Fleury, Roy was my favourite player growing up). Perhaps he served as a subconscious inspiration, as Mr. Roy let fly more than a few of his opinions over his career. After scanning, I cleaned up a few errant sketchy bits, removed a shticky speech bubble, and then added the subtle background and typography (Rosewood Fill is the face; overused, but I still enjoy it). There's plenty of ink detail, lost in this view, that can be seen larger here on Flickr.
Illustration Friday's theme of pretend painted an image in my head fairly quick – that of a half-mechanical "pretend bird" caricature, featuring a spring-loaded musical note shooting from a wide-open beak. Early doodles on a piece of grid paper reflected this, but somewhere along in the process my allegiances switched from the original concept to what you see here – a far less literal interpretation featuring the original musical note which now may or may not appear spring-loaded anymore (nor the bird mechanical). But since my intentions were honest – and I mostly devoted myself to the cause – I figured I'd still enter this under Illustration Friday's theme. I'd be more worried if I never diverted from an illustration's original course.Drawn in varying thicknesses of Pigma Micron pen (mostly the .005 and .05 nibs, brush pen and Graphic 1 pen), then scanned and coloured in Photoshop. The musical note and surrounding circle were created in Illustrator and stitched into the line art before colouring. For a bigger and better look at the detail, please click here.
Top row (left to right): Pop Wagner, performing in a weekend house concert; barite rose, from my rockhound days as a kid. Middle row (left to right): home sweet home on my Wii control; patterns in stained glass. Bottom row (left to right): back off, get yer own tasty sammich; extreme salt shaker action.-----
With the money I earned from leasing this photo to the City of Winnipeg to use on their website, I treated myself to an EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens for my Rebel. And I am absolutely loving it at the moment; I've barely even scratched the surface of what it can do to improve my game. It's just fun to see things around the house – little things, particularly – in a whole new light.
Some of these are available for closer inspection on Flickr.
In honour of Illustration Friday's current theme of wise, I present this (mostly) digital concoction of my wife – one of the wisest decisions I've ever made. Based quite literally from my favourite photo of her, it was an exercise largely in texturing and layering, and trying something in the way of a technique that perhaps I'm not so comfortable with – probably why it took me the larger part of an entire day to get it down pat. She's currently in Montréal on a five-day, work-related conference, and shortly after she returns it'll be her birthday. So... happy birthday, jellybean.
Don't you be so mean, my beauty queen, my movie screen
Don't you be so mean, my jellybean, my Boston Cream
Blow November blow, my sweetheart home, before the snow
Blow November blow, my sweetheart home, before the snow
– "Don't Be So Mean, Jellybean" by Justin Rutledge (though I'm not sure he came up with it).
There's a bigger version of this available for gawking, right over here. Please take a look.
Thanks to my now-married friend Allan – and the iTunes gift card he bestowed on his groomsmen earlier this fall – I was able to unabashedly walk into Apple's virtual shop recently and haul ass with a basket of all manner of aural goodies. I'm working on being more in tune with tunes; this list of music that I'm currently appreciating muchly comes thanks to a few sources: CBC Radio 3 and NPR podcasts, the recently (and nicely) reformatted CBC Radio 2 late-night programming, my occasional Illadelphian music hook-up Melissa (and husband) – and of course Al, who provided the coin as part of a most incredible gesture. Thanks again.
Singles
"Hey Modern School Girl " – *The Awkward Stage, Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights
"The Sun Will Set" – Bombazine Black, Here Their Dreams
"Frenchy's" & "The Pulse" – *Holy Fuck, LP
"Acid Tongue" – Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue
"Hello Tomorrow " – Karen O. & Squeak E. Clean (single from the 2006 Adidas commercial)
"Body Of Years" – *Mother Mother, O My Heart
"Cocaine Cowgirl" – *Matt Mays & El Torpedo, Matt Mays & El Torpedo
"All The Old Showstoppers" – *The New Pornographers, Challengers
"Life In Parentheses" – *Novillero, A Little Tradition
"How Can You Be Sure" – Radiohead, Fake Plastic Trees (single)
"Believe In Me" – *Sloan, Parallel Play
"Time Machine" – *Sweatshop Union, Water Street
Albums
Summer Rains – The Ditty Bops
*Ongiara – Great Lake Swimmers
Till The Sun Turns Black – Ray LaMontagne
Time Without Consequence – Alexi Murdoch
* Canadian content!
