Merry Christmas!

New stuff from RHP:

Season's Greetings

Is that right: do you put an apostrophe before the s in "season's"?  That's the impression I always got when people wished somebody "the season's greetings", but maybe I'm wrong . . .

Anyway.  I can't sleep.  Again.  So I decided to post a quick something because I'm really excited about it and I'm a geek.

It's finally here! Now I just have to wait until NEXT CHRISTMAS to see it.  And then the Christmas after that for the second part.

Yeah.  It's so worth it!

Also, new doodle:

Technically it's for S&C, but I've been trying to put together a Christmas card in a more "cartoony" style and the concept sort of bled over into what you see above.  Done in Illustrator.  I always seem to head over to that program when I want to do something "fun" and "quick" and "mindless", and it always turns into something not quick and finicky and draining (sometimes in a good way).  But I did have fun - and that was the main point.

Some Sketches of Maid Marian

A character sketch of Maid Marian from my Robin Hood Project.

Robin Hood from RHP

Some portrait sketches for my Robin Hood character for RHP.  I was trying out different drawing mediums on Strathmore Velvet Grey pastel paper.  I'm leaning towards the Prisma - which is what you see in the top corner drawings.

Concept Poster for Silkwood & Co.

Just a concept sketch for a poster for Silkwood & Co.  I'm working on the final, but don't know when I'll be able to get it up.

The drawing is done in charcoal.  I put down a layer of charcoal powder in my sketchbook (and I'm glad I was able to scan it in quickly, 'cause I haven't been able to spray it and the stuff is smudging and getting everywhere!) and pulled out the lights with a kneaded eraser and went back in with a charcoal pencil for the darks.  I scanned in the drawing, found a picture of old paper, pulled them both into Photoshop and set the charcoal drawing to "multiply".  Then I played with the levels and the color balance until I liked how it looked.  I added the type in InDesign.

I'm not sure if I am going to keep the font/logo you see in this one.  I've been playing with several other styles.  I'll try and put something up with those soon and you can let me know what you think!

Aiming for the Moon, But I Think I Still Fell Short of Stars

Nothing got done this weekend, unless you count me finishing my new sketchbook and taking reference photos for Silkwood & Co.  I suppose that's something, but compared with the oodles and oodles of art that I was hoping to do stuff with this week, it falls kinda short.  Especially when you compare it with what P.J. Lynch got finished with this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!


I know I haven't updated in a long time and I have every intention of making it up to you!  But you're going to have to wait for this weekend.  I plan on spending as much time as I can on putting together some new sketches over the holiday weekend and posting them before I head out of town next week.  


In keeping with the the spirit of this holiday season, I thought I'd share a little bit of history:




By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.


Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.


By the President: Abraham Lincoln


William H. Seward,
Secretary of State


Have a great weekend everyone!

Photos From Washington

Driftwood piled up on the beach.

Our first view of the sea stacks.

Mark after his failed attempts to build a fire.

The Olympic National Forest.

Me making breakfast in the rain on the second morning on the trail.

The four of us.

Real Life Applications

My brother sent this to me today:

And I thought the point behind the piece was awesome enough to warrant better design.  So I made a new one.

There are still a couple of things I want to change, but it was a fun stress reliever for this morning.  Illustrator and I are finally getting along a little bit better after last holiday's fiasco with the Christmas video for work.

Flash and I still hate each other, though.

Recent(ish) Doodles

I've been working for a while (try several years) on a Robin Hood visual development idea.  Recently I committed to putting in some serious hours developing the idea and posting my progress on another blog I have.  Anyway, here are the first little contributions I've made.

I haven't quite figured out the "look" of everything yet - that's one piece I'm working on right now (as you can see).

http://robinhoodvisdev.blogspot.com/

iPad Comics

These are just for fun. I got this awesome app for my iPad and I've been spending too much time turning my photo library into comic book pages. The first one is a conglomeration of photos from Alaska that I threw together to make a story. The second was for my brothers birthday. He loves Olan Rogers (check him out on youtube).

Platoon Logo Designs

My brother asked me to come up with some logo ideas for his platoon and company. The mascot, or whatever you call it, is "warpig" and "wolfpack". Don't remember which ones for the platoon and which one's the company.

Yes. I can hear you sniggering. I didn't come up with the names. Remember, they're a bunch of teenage boys who have been stuck out in the summer heat in Georgia for weeks now. Give them a break.

I haven't heard back from him on what he thinks. I hope he likes something; he's asked me to do things like this before for his airsoft teams and I've kind of dropped the ball on him several times . . .

Illustrator Doodle

One of my co-workers is moving to California. I threw this e-invite illustration together for her (and her boyfriend's) going away party.

Sketchbook Project 2012

I have signed up for the Sketchbook Project 2012! Sign up, they send you a sketchbook, you fill it and send it back next February and it goes on "tour" all over the world. Well, sort of. The US and Canada. The Brits and Aussies are the only ones who get their work shown in their own countries, but still. It's a cool exercise and a tool for motivation.

Here's the link to the project:

http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

And here's a link to my profile page:

http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/umbarthule

I'll be scanning some of the pages as I go so you can get a little preview.

I Know, I Know

I dropped off the face of the earth for a while there. Well, okay, for a long while. But for the present, I'm back. And I've got some pictures from my trip to England and Scotland! I was experimenting with a polaroid program and that's why they look so cool.

The first one is from York Cathedral in, well, York. The second one was taken on a hike in Ambleside in the Lake District.

I've also been up to Washington State. My siblings and I went backpacking along the coast (in the rain and cold). I'll put some pictures up from that soon as well as some of the art pieces I've been working on.