christina's journal

Doing some more work for Iliana. This one is supposed to illustrate the verb ordenar – to order.

I’ve been looking for a forum to show works in progress and get constructive feedback. RB is not really for feedback, being a sales site, and the istock forums are mostly oriented towards what sells. IllustratorWorld looks good, but I can’t register with their forum – keep getting error messages about not being able to find my mail server. I’ve contacted the owner but no action as yet. BlenderArtists does have a forum devoted to traditional art, with quite a few people of different ability levels, so I’m spending more time there these days. The istock race thead I’m in is mostly a size thread – I got x number of dls today/I just sold an XXXXXXXL for $xxx, etc. A bit boring really. Anyway, crazychristina’s vector thread on BA can be found here.

I’ve been working through a drawing tutorial produced by CartoonSmart. This one’s a freebie, although I have purchased a couple of others. They look good. I didn’t quite finish this – hat, hair and some minor details missing, but I think I’ve done enough for today. This one was in Flash. I guess I could have used Illustrator but in some ways its easier to follow along with the same program as the instructor even though I’m a bit less familiar with it. Come to think of it I actually did start doing vector illustration in Flash as a student so many years ago.

This kind of work is really not hard but it is a bit time-consuming. I think it will be a while before I’m whipping off drawings in minutes. Coming up with ideas to draw is still not second nature, but I guess there are other things I do that require an endless stream of ideas, such as thinking up examples and assessment tasks for teaching programming courses. Pretty similar really – a few basic types, the details change.

I’m slowly getting the drawing thing together. Sorting out the different styles of character drawing, the different techniques appropriate to each, and finding good instruction on what I want to do. I’ve got quite a few resources now, but almost none of it quite right. Adapt, adapt, adapt. I need to find a good workable style using the application of my choice. Seems that deciding what to draw is the least of my problems at the moment. Anyway, I’m working on drawing cool characters with Adobe Illustrator. Not such a big task, is it?

My biggest problems for the year always occur around now. Whether it’s trying to get a passport in time to travel overseas, moving house with a bad back or some other issue this is always the worst time. Plus the heat. I’ve been offered an ongoing position at RMIT. Contract in the mail, to be signed by 30th December. Sent a week ago, hasn’t arrived. RMIT shuts down between Christmas and New Year. Looks like I won’t be getting paid in January. I hate this time of year.

Update – contacted personnel (known at RMIT as People and Culture). Accepted contract by email, to be confirmed by hard copy when available. There’s a postal strike apparently. Just to keep me on my toes. Anyway, one less worry, for the moment. Guess I’d better prepare for Christmas.

I’m on the verge of 600 files online on istock. Still need a few more downloads to reach 500, but should be there by Feb. I’m happy with the way my illustration is progressing. My technique is improving daily and I’m starting to produce some interesting results. I won’t rush the istock vector application, just enjoying drawing at the moment. Pretty excited about it all actually. I’ve started uploading work to RB again, seems the best outlet for where I’m at now.

Here’s another. Hudson (redmonkey8 has shown some interest on the istock forums).

Another cool character from Cartooning for the Beginner by Christopher Hart. I’m still exploring different ways to vectorise these characters. Quite apart from drawing characters, rendering them in Illustrator is a challenge in itself. In this illustration the shoes have been rendered with a different technique from the rest of the figure (apart from the gradient on the soles). Line weight and consistency are major issues.

And here’s something a little darker and a bit more retro. Retro Goth.

Another figure from Christopher Hart’s book.

More drawing, getting more confident. I’m enjoying it.

I’m working through lots of Illustrator tutorials and books. Slowly developing a good technique for drawing characters. As with most software there are too many options, and I haven’t developed a personal preference yet. No doubt I will. I should be back into production shortly. I really like cartooning in Illustrator, and I intend to become really good at it. The pic above is a rework of an example from one of my books, and I think I’ve done a more sophisticated job this time.