Today's first sketch. I feel that I have learned some things from it. This is a sketch I started this morning of my eight year old niece Ayla. At first, I was okay with it. Here is where I started learning. I showed it to her when she got home from school and I was given a lesson in constructive criticism. But, she is right, it's not perfect. In fact, the more I look at it the more flaws I see. But would I see them if she had reacted the way all of my friends have when I have shown them the sketches I did of them? :) Not all of learning how to be artful is simply in the art you create and it's quality.

So I'm pretty pleased with myself, I managed to produce two sketches today that I am happy with, and the likeness to the original photos is very good, I think it's safe to say I am getting better at this, faster too. If nothing else, I am slightly irritated with the fact that my scanner seems to pick up smudges on the paper that I can't see in natural sunlight coming in the window but that's easy to clean up with a big ping eraser. Top left is Eizu, making an awesome face. I'm pretty sure he realized somebody was about to take his picture. He is actually holding his camera in the original photo. why? because Eizu is usually the one taking pictures of everybody. So not many photos exist of him that he didn't take himself where he isn't making a silly face. So this one was perfect to as one person put it, "Capture his essence". Second is a friend of mine from New Zealand named Ashes. There are green bits in her hair, and I thought about lightly coloring them but decided against it. I was worried it might take something away from the pencil work.

Draw draw draw..

For the second day in a row I have started and or completed a drawing that I am happy with, and the people I am drawing are also happy with them or at least they seem to be. These people are my friends though so they might just be being nice hehe. Here is the slightly contrast adjusted sketch I did of my friend Jessie, who also lives in Australia. I would take the time to say more but I'm probably going to be late for work again. Thank god it's my friday!

I know I said a while ago that I was going to start sketching again, and yes I have started though it took me longer to get motivated to do so. I have started working on a few that I have promised people for a long time I would do. The first is of my good friend Anna from Australia. This one is a scan-in that I modified slightly simply to sharpen the lines a little better than the initial scan. I still have a little bit of work I want to do to this one as some of the lines need some work and I think it needs more shading. Not a bad start though. Bottom right is the original reference photo that I worked from. I tend to pick out a photo of my friends from their facebook profile or something similar. That way, even if they know I am working on a sketch of them, they usually don't know what it will look like until I ask their permission to display it on the web. Also I accidentally woke Anna up sending this picture to her over pingchat. Her response was simply "Thanks Steve, pretty sure I'm awake now :)". I really need to start checking people's local time before I make their mobile devices start making noises as it was about quarter to six in the morning in Brisbane. Oops :-/

I have been visited again by a salamander while at work. From my personal take on this event, at least for me it seems like these guys carry a bit of an omen with them. The last time when I was visited by the larger one below in a previous post I was later written up at work for something. Not at all related to the salamander of course. Also the last one was released. This one I am going to try and keep as a pet. I shall name him Omen.

Currently I am working on a project for a portable power source that will provide 110vac, 5, 7.5, 9 and 12 volts DC. Ideally for up to 24 hours without needing a charge, but we will see how that goes. Currently I am working with some 12v 17ah and 12v 1.2ah Sealed led acid batteries similar to the ones pictured. Because the idea is to make this portable and easy to carry, I will have to balance weight and battery life. While i want as much power as possible for as long as possible, carrying 80 pounds worth of batteries is not an option. I hope to have a photogenic prototype soon, but for now, it's ugly, so you get a generic picture.

Not much going on at work today, but I was visited by A salamander which passed some time. He was named Robert by a friend of mine and I later released him.

G+ FTW

Yet another thing facebook doesn't have. Links to everything else I use on the web. Maybe that's because Google already owns 70% of the web.

"90% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

I'm back..

I sort of fell out of my chair for a while there, not like it matters, I have one follower who probably isn't paying attention anyway. while I was out of my chair life went on, I ruined an iPhone and cut off my mohawk, these are both things I hope to recover from eventually.

I have plans for a few new sketches soon but I don't know how soon as I really only make time to work on them when there's nothing else to do it seems.

Just felt like posting. It's like talking to a wall, or writing in a diary that nobody will ever read...

Finished a sketch, time to start another.

I have been meaning to update this sketch for a while, just haven't had the time to get it to my flickr account and then here. I've actually been a little more busy than normal at work which is a really flimsy excuse, but hey, I'll use it anyway. As with all of my sketches, what I call done is pretty rough, but done enough for my liking anyway. So here is the "done" version of the sketch I posted a while back of my friend Ashlie, this time scanned rather than taken from my phone.

Next is the version of the sketch that I modified. Not 100% pleased with my scanner or the darkness of the lines, I decided to open the first image up with Gimp and played around a little with contrast so it almost looks like some of the lines were done in charcoal, but some of the lighter lines show up a little better too.

Ben Newman iPhone case.

This is something I was very happy to see in my post office box late last night. What seems like an eternity ago, I got written permission from a favorite artist to use his painting "Engine Driver" as the artwork for my new iPhone case. I was pleased to get his permission on the one condition that I provide him a picture of the phone case. You can see the actual painting, and several other very nicely done and interesting works by him at his blog.

I want to try to get a better picture of the case for him though because due to lighting, and I think a bit due to the quality of the camera, the colors of this picture look a little weird to me. I assure you they are way more brilliant than they appear here. Head over to Ben Newman's art blog some time and check it out. You might find something you like also. Fair warning, you may find that you like some of his artwork a little too much ;)

Oh by the way, the image was put on the case by a company called casemate. Around $40 usd assuming you have it sent standard post, they ship out of Georgia. Maybe it's just me but it seemed like it too an eternity to get here, though I think it was around 8 days.

If you do decide you too would like to use any of this artist's work in any way, be respectful and ask first. He probably won't care either way, but it is always nice to be asked.

New sketches..

As I may have mentioned before, I am starting some new sketches and what I mean by that is I haven't sketched much for a while and want to continue to improve. With that in mind, I am trying to learn as I go, sketching all sorts of things, some from photos, some from actual objects and some just right out of my head. To the left is a sketch that I simply titled "Sitting Under a Tree". I know it looks like an upside down tree, but really I was upside down to it. Sitting outside in the dark at work, my back against a tree looking up. Just did the initial shape of the branches over a cigarette and the rest later.

To the right is the next sketch I have been working on. Yeah, I know... I'm not an artist. This one is just something I thought up, and I explained the meaning in a previous post. This sketch I have simply titled "Pity".

Finally, the third sketch that I am still currently working on is from a photo of my friend Ashlie. She modified the original photo a bit to make her eyes look black and a few other things. This is actually a picture that I stole from one of her photo galleries on Facebook, so until she sees this blogger post, she has no idea which one I was working from.

There is still more I would like to do to all three of these sketches, so I'm not calling them done yet. Having said that, they may never be called done. That's why I have gotten into the habit of signing and dating my sketches the day I start them.

Sketches.

I'm going to be working on several sketches to try and get better at drawing because I haven't in a while. This one is just a doodle that I dreamed up (Literally) and utilized some downtime at work to get started on. I don't fancy myself much of an artist. Good thing right? This is my own tribute to the people that seem to thrive on pity, always there to tell you how horrible life is, begging for you to build them up and tell them they are going to be okay and how great of a person you think they are. We all have rough lives. Deal with it.

Shedding...

Every so often I get feeling like everything is the same old routine over and over and I decide it's time to get rid of it for better or worse, sometimes by a drastic change and sometimes by a subtle one. I'm starting to feel like it's time to do that again and so it has begun. I feel like a dried up lizard shedding his old skin and coming out new and shiny again. If anything shiny comes out this time I'll try and use a little ambition and put it here...

Support a local artist (Local to me anyway)

A local band from the city I live in is ready to make their first full length album, all that is stopping them currently is personal economy. Due to being college students, the members of Soul Theory and myself ask for your help. Pledge a dollar or more. If you can't pledge, please post a link to their kickstart on social networking sites that you might use and help us get the word out.

Thanks, and here is a link to the pledge site. Near the bottom right of the page there is also a link to the band's reverbnation profile where they will periodically upload tracks and samples for your listening enjoyment.

www.kickstarter.com/projects/soultheory