A few of you have asked for a breakdown of my working processes, so here it goes.

Step 1: The client called and asked me for some ideas, I met with him and thumb-nailed this (1 of 4) sketch of a middle aged mom making a big print. The sketch is digital, using Sketchbook Pro. The concept (for the most part) was approved on site.

Step 2: I tighten the sketch in Sketchbook Pro and send the file to the client for final approval. (Or for changes as the case may be.)

Step 3: I take the sketch into Illustrator, (for this particular illustration) and using a custom variable brush, pen and tablet, vectorized over top of my sketch which is on a layer set to 20% opacity. I keep the “inking” on one layer and my “color” on another layer. In this piece I also created a layer for the photo print so that I could drop that down in value. I also added a visual cue (the arrow) to connect the camera to print concept. I created a “print big” graphic also in illustrator and dropped in the branding to finish it off.

That is basically it. The client liked the “print big” graphic so much they have adopted it for a number of advertisng graphics they are developing for the first quarter of this year.

I am working on an ad graphic for Digital Color Print Center that is slanted towards 30-something moms. Digital Color is a great outfit for very large prints. I have used them a number of times for show booths, custom display graphics, ad boards, and the like. Funny thing is they started out as a place to create large canvas art prints. The advertising service bureau aspect of the business was sort of an unexpected market niche that took off under its own power. So in an effort to explore this original idea and capitalize on the growing digital photo market they asked me to create some fun graphics that show the power of their art canvas product. Basically you can take almost any digital camera photo and blow it up to a wall size art print on canvas. The finished product is museum wrapped around stretcher bars and is ready to hang. it is actually quite visually stunning and strangely enough … affordable.

The graphics are not meant to replace real shots of the product in use, but instead are an eye-cathcer that simplifies and distills the experience while giving it some sizzle. I presented the thumbnail this afternoon and the client like it. There was some concern over the tag “Digital Diva.” Is there a negitive connotation there or has the mood of the phrase moved to express a more hip, powerful, and experienced woman? I see it as the later. It helps that I am in love with the alliteration and that we are talking about some others (Graphic Grandma, Dorm dude, Pixel Picasso).

I am illustrating a children’s book, one of my favorite things things to do. It is a very simple story about a boy who likes to play in the mud. The story is written in Spanish which of course I can’t read, but a translation was provided. I gotta say that drawing all that dripping slurpee mud brings out the boy in me. I wonder what the Spanish word for ewwwww is?

I am also currently working on a website e-commerce site and a set of corporate presentation kits for Intermax, and a POP display for the local library, a logo for a Zen Buddhist fellowship, and of course I have grading falling out my ears that needs to be finished.

My MMORPG has taken a back seat to my real life. I hate when that happens!

I’m not a real fan of tattoos. I’m not exactly opposed to them as a whole, I am just not convinced of the over all benefits of getting one. I get tired of wearing the same shirt too often … so it figures. Anyway. from a graphic art and illustration point of view how cool would it be for someone to love your art so much that they want to wear it always? For this reason I have crossed the line (form time to time) and have created a few flash sheets for a couple of tattoo artists who requested them. So in this vein, I give you something cool and tattoo oriented to look at. My only question is; In 50 years will it be a walrus? Connect the dots?

I did a digital illustration demo last week with my tablet and pen. (Not school related.) One of those watching me asked, “Why are you doing that?” I looked at my hand as I drew and noticed, as those watching did, that I rotated the stylus a quarter turn every couple of strokes. This particular maneuver is a carry-over from my analog days of color pencil work. In order to keep a workable tip edge, it is common to rotate the pencil as you draw. This of course is completely useless in the digital world as your pencil never gets dull. But having no place to put it, my brain was content to keep running on auto pilot rotating my virtual pencil tip, keeping the non-existent lead nice and sharp.

A client asked me “You remember disco, right?” They said it with such conviction. Like one look at me and the leap to faux satin shirts and angel flight plants was a natural presumptive jump. OK, the truth be told, I did own all of Donna Summers albums (those black vinal bones of music past). But honestly, Didn’t disco die an awful death ushering in new wave and techno punk?

Based on this assumption I was asked to create a John Travolta type disco scene. I drew the thumbnail with Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and vectorized it in Adobe Illustrator with custom brush settings. I used my (new — wahoo!) Wacom Tablet for this as my old tablet developed a dipping skipping error that was driving me nuts. It took me longer than I wanted to (5 hours) finish the task because the end product will be 4 feet wide by six feet tall and I felt compelled to clean up the lines a bit.

The girl that I used as scrap for this piece had a weird foreshortened elbow. Looking at it now, It still bothers me. I am hoping that tomorrow it looks better. (The prayer of every artist.) Chances are I will need to come back to this and fix some of the geometries there. Oh well.

All in all, not a bad gig.

I have made my ebook a priority and decided to take it live on Oct. 31st. Of course that means setting up a real domain and doing site transfer from one place to another. No biggie right? Wrong. My test site was built using ComicPress 2.1 and version 2.5 has new CSS base code. So I had to go through each line of code and rework it to match what I had before. Not impossible, just a pain in the backside.

Anyway the new site is up and working. I am sure I will be tweaking it indefinitely but it is a start. Now I can concentrate on drawing a few posts as my posting cushion.

Oh yeah, the new (and final) address is: www.ArtisteGullible.com

With school starting, and work piling up, and my personal “things to get done” list getting longer, I find myself a bit behind in so many areas. Yet the sun continues to rise and set and oddly enough I find myself in Idaho Falls promoting Bitterroot Mountain publishing and in turn promoting my online ebook Artiste Gullible and digital illustration / book jacket design skills

Speaking of Mr. Gullible, I have decided to release him to the real world on Oct. 31st, under his own domain and host. I have figured out as much as I can hidden under this domain (vanettenstudios.) and I think I am somewhat prepared to move forward with a general public release. Of course after attending a few of the writing meetings here at the conference I am tempted to rewrite whole sections of the story line. The nice thing about the web is I can truly edit as much as I like.

I try and teach my students to think outside of the box. In this way We are prepared to accept the unimagined or unexpected. This YouTube clip however, brings the idea of graphic design print mediums to a whole new level. Printing on and through water, using the material itself as “fluid” sheet of “paper”  that composes itself and then decomposes itself in a never ending circle of recycled media.

Just watch it … way to hard to explain.

YouTube

I wanted to wait until the show was over before publishing the Intermax graphics, and it is officially over; So here they are! We ended up using the graphics on a large 3 x 10 foot booth header, on 6 separate direct mail postcards (which they also handed out at the show,) A large poster, and web graphics. We are currently working on yard signs for conversion points, and some integrated message sheets for sales calls and media kits. All in all it has been a good project to work on this summer. Lots of fun.

On another note, School started on Monday and I have two full sections of illustration students who I am teaching this fall. It is always exciting to start out a new year.

I am beta testing a new to-do list called Things which is based on the GTD (getting things done) paradigm. So far I like it a lot. If has a few glitches but it functions much better than Apple’s and I can organize it by client and sort by tags. My To-do list the last couple of months has been enormous, so organizing and getting things done has been a major chore. With school now taking a place on my studio stage, staying organized and on top of the work curve is vitally important.