Creativity

The well may seem to run dry at times, but it's never fully dry ...

The Flames of Desire Will Burn Your Soul

Well, scratch one off my Bucket List/ Life List/ To-Do-List. I did my first Fantasy painting and entered it in the Spectrum Fantastic Art Sci-Fi Fantasy Competition. Don't have a chance of winning and getting into the Spectrum 18 book....not competing against artists like David Bowers and Andrea Kowch. But the important thing for me was that I used my imagination and for the first time painted something that I couldn't see with my own two eyes.

I'm afraid that this painting looks a little more like Norman Rockwell's version of Fantasy...rather than something by Boris Vallejo. Guess my Dark Side isn't so dark after all...........

Dawna Boehmer       www.dawnaboehmer.comhttp://dawnaboehmer.com

3 Chairs for Captain Spaulding!

Er...actually, one chair, Harpo. For me.

My office chair, from which I do my art and computer work, needs to be replaced.

I've been looking at prices ranging from $130 to $180, and it has to be available locally. (I've already made the mistake of ordering a chair online, and boy, does my tush hurt.)

Does anyone know any local chair sources, perhaps with a staff member who actually knows something about ergonomics and/or chairs? I know, I always ask the impossible.

Lambton Wyrm almost done...

Pretty darn close.

Looking for a Replacement Restaurant for Kenwood Max and Erma's

Does anyone know what has replaced Max and Erma's in Kenwood? What would be a good restaurant to replace it?

We could start going to the location in Rookwood.

Special Edition Illustrators Lunch: Jerry Dowling's art at Grand Ole Pub

On February 2nd, we will have lunch at Grand Ole Pub in West Chester.

Jerry Dowling did a cool collection of caricatures to decorate the restaurant.

Sneak preview:

See you there!

Habitat Spy Trailer

I finally finished the trailer for Habitat Spy. I feel like I am getting the hang of Adobe Premiere Elements. Since it is not pro software, the editing is a little inelegant and a little like using mallets. Maybe it is not the software's fault...

I love this tune used as the track I bought from a royalty free site. It gets stuck in your head.

Character design and computer animation?

Got this inquiry from a local friend:

Emailing to see if someone you know has skills in computer animation, and/or character development.  I'm looking for someone who can create a character to go along with a computer program we're developing, and then animate it.  The total animation involved will probably be 3-5 minutes in length, but in segments.  I'm not sure how this would then tie in with the programming, but we'd work that out with the programmer.

If anyone here has these skills and is interested, drop me a line at tad@the-nose.com and I'll send contact information.

Thanks!
Tad Barney

Shermin the Vermin - A Day in Good Taste

"Is that all there is?" Rock on with a NEW "Shermin the Vermin" cartoon, posted today.

Still Life in Greenville, SC!

Hey, 'Nattians!
I'm getting really, really clay'd out these days...... so I've set up a painting area in a spare room. I'm soooo rusty with the oils (haven't painted since my college classes! 6+ yrs already? Yikes!) Thought I would warm up with a still life, with items found in my pantry. (All Joe's of course!)


I think this needs about 1 more hour or so--especially the background and that wobble on the olive oil bottle.
Any advice, you painters?

Stay warm up there! ;~)

Mural Survives Fire at Arthur's

In case anybody didn't hear about the fire in Hyde Park at Arthur's, here's the link to the Enquirer story. Mural intact and nobody hurt.

Coffee accesories

  Hello everybody!  Here is a set of coffee related graphics I am working on. I'm gonna try to get into istockphoto.com and sell some stuff that way. I need three pieces to submit. I'd appreciate any critiques or comments.  Sorry I haven't been to another lunch, but capital is slim these days. I also finished my first Flash based animation. If you're interested you can find it on my blog, Flyingtreehousestudio.com!

Call to Artists: Evendale Fine Arts Annual Exhibit

C.F. Payne is juring this show, deadline is March 21st.

More info here: http://www.evendaleohio.org/Pages/EvendaleOH_CACNews/02E369C2-000F8513

Show is May 13th until May 16th...

Dr. Sketchy's Cincinnati with Vikings

I just wanted to let everyone know that Dr. Sketchy's Viking theme is next month for February 10th. I know a few have been asking about a viking theme. So as requested, you have it. I know I am looking forward to it as well. Spread the word.
If you need more info about Dr. Sketchy Cincinnati, please visit there facebook page.
Also they have a meetup page.

Dr. Sketchy's Cincinnati meetup

New piece in progress

This is about 60% done I think. Based on the legend of the Lambton Wyrm from England.

"Should I Work for Free" Flowchart

There are a lot of discussions lately about the mostly poor shape of the illustration industry. As everyone knows, it seems to get harder and harder to make a living as an illustrator. On top of that, there is a steady steam of requests for free work...

This cogent diagram by designer Jessica Hische says it all: http://jhische.com/workforfree.html

Genius!

Chevette Postcards

This is a set of illustrations I did for a friend who helped remodel our kitchen, who also loves Chevettes. The star of these drawings is his burnt orange '76, shown in various famous big places across the world. I ended up making them into postcards, with small postcard-style write-ups on the back (shown here underneath each drawing). You will probably have to click on the image in order to read the captions. Or you can see them all larger on my blog: http://stephaniesmithart.blogspot.com/

David Mack: Show at PAC Gallery

David Mack has an exhibit in Cincinnati at PAC Gallery this month thru February 26th.

 The opening night is January 21 (7-10pm). http://www.facebook.com/pages/PAC-Gallery/187002179286?ref=ts

Digital Collages Sold Must Print Edition

New Illustration for the Trek Store

This is a new illustration I did for the Trek Store in Blue Ash. The concept was to have the owner and his family riding in the Trek Team car like teams in the Tour de France. The big rider for Trek is of course Lance Armstrong. Both the owner I thought it would be funny to bring the two together. Being a huge cyclist myself, I loved the opportunity for such as fun job.

Jerry Dowling: Boehner Caricatures

From Jerry: These are the beginning and final of my caricature of House Speaker John Boehner.

The final version is framed and hanging on the wall at the Grand Ole Pub in West Chester.

It's all photoshop from start to finish. There isn't much left of the original.

"Orthe" logo sketch

This is a personal logo project for a world I'm working on for a role-playing game. It's just some fun I'm using to practice my typography skills and graphic design. I drew it on a spare piece of yellowish paper (just in case you wonder :P) Any info and crits about the layout would be much appreciated. Thanks, guys :) Hope you're all having a great New Year, so far! :)

First Art 2011

Although this was technically done in 2010, this is a teaser for the 3 pager I am doing for the Slam Bang comic anthology all robot issue called Iron Giant Chef: Roncobot vs. Spambot... 

For added fun, my layout thumbnail:

New Year's Resolutions: Drawing

Happy New Year Everyone!

If one of your resolutions is to be better at figure drawing, perspective, objects, etc., it looks like Manifest has a slate of good classes starting in January.

http://www.manifestgallery.org/studio/

There are also a lot of other interesting offering in a variety of media and subject for a reasonable price.