Tag: illustration

Final Doofus

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Here is Doofus the BS fairy in the pose my father-in-law requested.  Leaning back on a bar with one leg bent back to prop his boot on the rail.  Holding a beer.  I would have had him leaning straight back on the bar with both elbows propped up on the edge, but those wings get in the way.  This is as close as I could get to that without crushing his wings.

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Can we take a minute and admire the beer he’s holding?

doofus 4 hand and mug

I just really like that beer mug and the hand position. I think it turned out nice. The glass even looks shiny. Also, it’s the one thing in the image not smeared with filth. smiley 15

Doofus: Revised

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My father-in-law had some changes for Doofus.  Here’s the revised version.  Ideally, he’d be in a different pose also (at a bar with a beer).  Maybe next time.

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Doofus: The BS Fairy

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My father-in-law is an aspiring novelist and he has this character he writes about named Doofus.  To the best of my memory, this is how he is described.  He’s the fairy in charge of BS.  This is for you, Gary.  smiley 15  For everyone else:  I’m sorry.  smiley 15

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Chinese Dragon Dance

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dragon dance - full scene with shading 500

I drew this as a sample for my art rep.  It’s supposed to be a class, led by a male teacher, performing the traditional Chinese dragon dance at a community Chinese New Year celebration.  The teacher is on drums, Steven (the narrator) is on cymbals, a girl holds the dragon’s head, and four other students hold the body of the dragon.  Genders should be balanced.  The class should be mostly Asian, but with two non-Asian characters.  The students live in a non-Asian country.  It’s for an international market, so the usual restrictions as to gestures and girl’s dress apply.  Showing children with glasses or disabilities is encouraged.

Chinese New Year is in February, so I figured it was a chilly day.  The sort of weather where some people wear their heavy coats and others stick it out with a jacket or heavy sweatshirt.

There were no specifics on Kevin.  So, I made him sit in a wheelchair.  It gave him a reason to be out in front and the seated position worked better for placing everything, I thought.

I know next to nothing about Chinese New Year traditions.  Or the dragon dance.  Everything here used references from a Google image search.   Does anyone reading this know anything about this subject?  Have I drawn anything that stands out as obviously wrong?

How do the colors look?  Anything too bright?  Does the background overwhelm the foreground?

Kiss Me, I’m Irish!

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Irish Setter 3

So, I’m trying to learn Illustrator.  Here’s today’s results.  The fonts are Chaz, Ache-Condensed, and Brandywine-Extended.  I didn’t make the fonts, but all the rest is mine.

I’m not really that happy with Illustrator.  It’s supposed to be the thing to use for vector graphics and text, but I’m only liking the vector tools.  The text tools aren’t really working well for me.  I ended up saving the image to a PDF and opening it up in Photoshop to do the text.  Now, the disappointing text tool performance might just be because it’s an old version of Illustrator.  Or it might be because I’m still learning my way around.  *shrug*  Oh well, it’s good for me to learn it, anyway.  🙂

Piñata – Final Version

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I think this is the final version.  Unless I notice something that needs changing.   smiley 15

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And here it is in black and white.pinata 4 bw 500

I designed it as a two-page spread with a bit of room at the top and bottom for cropping if needed.  It’s all done in layers, so the signature can be moved or removed and the colors can be individually fiddled with as necessary.  The center line falls about where the mom’s elbow is, so nothing important is obscured by the fold.