Showing posts with label Artwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artwork. Show all posts

Sunday, October 18, 2020

(Ab)Using What You Got

I like to use random ideas. Generally, I hate spam but spam comments have caused some of my better writing to come to the forefront. In this week's version, "a better life with Spam", I'll post images of artwork based on Artificial Intelligence. 

This was a project I started a few months ago. I like the unicorn but needed to figure out where the rest of it was going. 


Queue up the spam suggesting Artificial Intelligence gets things done more efficiently. Since I was lost on this image, I didn't know how to proceed. I upload it to Deepart.io and the results are lovely. 


I've tried redoing this image in oil paint, but that seems wrong. I think I will try colored pencils, which isn't my favorite choice, but I think it could work. 

On a side note, I generally don't delete spam. Some of it is amusing, such as the guy at a consignment shop that tried to imply that his goods were magic items to tie into my 52 Weeks of Magic posts. Classic. 

Let me take a second to shout out Fat Goblin Games, 3dMakerworks.com, and Goblin Clan Miniatures. These 3d printed products came to my awareness via a spam link. They have suspended their affiliate program, but they are so nice, I can't help but suggest them for your table.  

Having said that, I have noticed an uptick with tech-themed spam which has been deleted. The problem with tech products and spam is they can do nasty stuff with your data. I will implement a policy of report and kill from here on out. If you have noticed missing comments, that is why. 

My apologies, but I can't host something dangerous. 

As always, if you have a product or website you want promoted, post a link in the comments or hit me up at Facebook, Twitter, MeWe, Dice.Camp or Mastodon. I am always looking for new stuff and content for my site, I would love to do a write up on you. 

Sunday, August 16, 2020

#RPGADAY2020 17. Comfort

I feel pretty comfortable running ahead a day. The 17th prompt is #Comfort. 

For me, comfort is drawing. 


The paper is a kid's drawing pad and the pen is from Walmart. I'm going without my glasses, while holding a phone. I wish I had started filming at the beginning. Not optimal, but whatever is? Gaming and play is never optimal until you look back on it. 

The idea came and simple tools made it flow freely from brain to paper with no constraint. It's not perfect, but I like it.  

Finished? No. Completed, yes. 

Friday, April 10, 2020

Inkscape again - Fighters on the Horizon

I'm still tinkering with that limited color pallet and funky looking ships.

I like the design, but need to fix the colors.



The Continuing Adventures in Inkscape - Rocket's Pale Glare

I have to tell you, I've been watching Disney videos again and it's effecting my style.



I wanted to keep the color pallet simple and stuck to 4 colors and two shades of purple, green and grey and blues.


It was kind of fun. I took the idea of rockets and skinned them off in the vein of it's a small world. I'm not sure what color background looks correct to me.


Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Morphing Styles - Emily Revisited

I've been rocking out so much work, my hands hurt. Better than being bored. I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from my wife, Kitty and my daughter, Cat. 

The first image I did over the weekend was actually sparked by a class I'm taking, Children's Lit. It's Prince Philip and Aurora under a tree. After I got my groove on, I started taking requests. That lead to Alice then Ariel. I've been working entirely in ink up to this point. Well, not "entirely", I sketched out the designs in pencil first and then diligently erased the lines.

The final request was from Kitty and was really outside of my comfort zone. It was Marie from Aristocats. I love the artwork in this movie, it's classic 1970's stuff. In many parts of the film you can still see guide and the sketch lines under the colorful animation.

I don't remotely work in this style but decided to give it a shot. I worked with only two pens and 4 colored pencils. I can't say that I am entirely comfortable with the colored pencils, as I am more of a charcoal or ink sort of guy, but I really enjoyed the process.

I don't even own a set of colored pencils, I raided Cat's school supplies for them. I worked until about 2 am last night to get it done and framed.

I have to say, framing up 3 of four pieces of art in as many days feels good. But now I am Disney'ed out. I want to get back to my own favorite subjects.

A few weeks ago, I accidentally closed an open pen in my sketchbook, marring a favorite drawing of a character named Emily. I did have a photo of the sketch which I thought would help recreate it. I was going to throw it on my lightboard and go at it. But I was still feeling adventurous and decided not to redo something that I felt was done. Instead, I set out to create a new pose of Emily, in the classic Rosie the Riveter style. To enhance the retro feel, I replaced her 1980's styled space suit with one from the Mercury missions.

I had thought that this would be another ink job, but as I worked with my daughter's colored pencils in reach, I decided to give them a try. It's missing something, so I know I be reworking her again. But the process was very enjoyable.  





Saturday, March 21, 2020

More Pen Work

What do you think is going on? My wife has asked for a new tattoo, I've been doing starship deckplans. How could those to things come together.

Perhaps, one is warm up for the other. 


Maybe I am thinking of a new project.


Or two.



Thursday, March 19, 2020

New Artwork

Not much to say, these are inked artworks for my wife. The first image has a circle scribed around it. Not sure why I did that but Kitty says it needs to be inked. Not sure how to handle that one. We'll see.


Next up is Ariel. It's a pretty simple design. Kitty wants it as a tattoo, so I may redo it so that Ariel's back is arched more to be the cap on a shoulder sleeve. Again, we'll see. 


Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Sketching With a Heavy Hand Tonight

I'm doing a series of sketches based on my game play of Star Smuggler. Click the link to read the review and download a copy. 

I am sick of the vector art right now. My hand has gotten heavy from a lack of practice plus I am using a mechanical pencil which requires a very light touch. This is probably not helped by the fact that I have been using a Wacom Bamboo for a few days in a row.

Many of these characters are based on what I have seen the TV show Rebels on Disney+, plus a bit of Robotech and reality thrown in. This woman is what I think Emily, the Pilot/Navigator of the Antelope looks like.

Her uniform is sort of based off of a British Submariner's fire fighting kit, mixed with a police officer's bullet proof vest. 

As a pilot/navigator, she doesn't often carry a weapon, therefore doesn't have any holsters. By the Star Smuggler rules, there is barely enough room for her and one other person in the cockpit, therefore she very little in the way of gear that might hang up on something. This is inline with real world tankers.

This guy on the right is also a pilot. He is wearing the minimum amount of kit for flying in space. He is wearing a dress uniform which does have the capacity to accept a helmet on the neck ring, but while one duty, he would be completely suited up in a space suit. He holds his glasses in his left hand. His helmet does have a prescription visor and a HUD, but in his dress uniform, the helmet is mostly for show.

He has a logo on his chest for his unit. The armor like piece on his chest is merely a high-tech unit sash for easy identification, plus it pulls his neckring down tight. Notice that he is fully gloved like Emily above. Unlike Maverick and Han Solo, pilots don't like freeze or fry their hands off while flying.

I will likely add some sort of ceremonial pauldron to one or both shoulders. This guy's outfit is for show, so he'll need to be reworked in mission ready suit.

Deadeye on the right is dressed for combat. He carries a heavy side arm, with some sort of explosive rounds. Unlike the two characters above, he is mission ready.

The cap that he wears over his helmet is cloth, meant to deaden the sound of his gun should his high-tech "ears" fail him. He has heavy body armor plainly visible, but also wears a bulky fabric vest for storage on top of it.

The backpack contains a very limited amount of air and re-breathing apparatus, an evaporative cooling unit and a small short range radio like the Apollo astronauts.

Unlike an astronaut, he has only limited capabilities in a vacuum. This armor is mean for planets with low atmospheric pressure or extremely polluted air. The fabric portions of his suit would probably be a hindrance in a vacuum. Exiting an airlock would probably cause frost to form and perhaps particles of ice to drift around him in a cloud. His undergarment is skin tight to prevent it from balloon in low pressure.

The next person only has a nickname: "Delta Vee". This is my motorcycle's name. Yes, I named it. Like the motorcycle, her clothes are going to be black, teal and purple.

She has three different logos on her uniform. The larger of the two is based on Kingdom Hearts. When I redraw her, this heart area will be more padded or quilted keeping with the idea of softgoods. I think the center will be black, the striping purple and the rest of the outfit, teal.

Zoom in a bit closer, you can make out the second heart on her shoulder. Emily has a braid of some sort on her shoulder, while this woman has embroidery. Between her neck and chest is her knickname: Î´V or Delta V. This should be an upper case Delta, Î”, to match the Rocket Equation, but I like to soft lines of the lower case δ. I might use a more scripty V to match the δ.

She is probably a mercenary or pirate, with a military background. She carries a light side arm, with a sideways magazine owing to the fact that she is pilot. Should she be trapped behind or worse, in a downed fighter, her pistol needs to clear obstructions like Sten type gun. She is probably not the best shot with a pistol, so she carries a lot of ammo with an extended mag. She might not carry many magazines, but what she has is enough for a slow shooting pistol.

In this iteration, she has a cape. I am not sure if that will stay with her in subsequent drawings. Perhaps she wears in when traveling, but not in the cockpit.


Sunday, January 19, 2020

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 019


Emily reporting for duty. 
We get things done quickly today. I make some great rolls and get my Life Support Units and U-Suits by mid-day. Annoyingly, I also get a roll for a ship and a boat again… I can’t afford those. I buy 10 Life Support Units and 5 suits. More than what I need at a price of 60 secs. I have 690 left.

Since it’s mid-day, I am going to take on some financial tasks. I pay the crew for the week early, leaving 620. I also make an early payment on the ship so I have 320 credits left.

If I don’t change things, I will either become wanted for not paying on the ship next week or lose most or all of my crew.

Our assets are:

1 Antelope starship, which I owe 119,300 secs. in principle.
1 Stasis pod 2 CU,
15 Fuel Units,
24 Repair units,
10 Life Support Units
1 U-bot,
2 PS-bots,
6 Skimmers,
1 Damaged Skimmer,
7 U-suit,
and the ship is fully fueled with 6 hypercharges.

I have 320 secs. in my pocket.


Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Progress continues...

I'm still working on my Inktober project in January... I know, it's lame.


New Markers, New Drawings - Uncle Sean's Cabin

This is a tiny cabin based on many of the cabins at Schoellkopf Scout Reserve.  SSR is a wonder campsite located in Wyoming County, NY.

I have been there several dozen times over the years and it is full of fond memories. On my most recent two trips, we spent time sprucing up the cabins and campsites. I often paint during the day and sketch at night.

This cabin is a cross between Phillips Cabin and Schoellkopf Cabin pictured below. It could probably be used for a hunting lodge in a D&D setting. In my campaign, it's a structure due east of the city of Nace.

While it looks tiny, 25 by 25 feet square in the wilderness is quite spacious and homey.



New Markers, New Drawings - The Stargazer's Tower

This whimsical tower was the home of an astronomer and astrologer. The man retired many years ago, after serving in the war against the elves. Although it doesn't look like it, the telescope can be replaced with something ol' Harvey called a "Cannon" or perhaps, "Canon". No one is sure. Whatever it was, it helped the magician stop the elves from entering the valleys his tower looks down upon.

In recent years, the tower has been inhabited by 12 students of the stars. They don't seem to be much good as magic users, but the men and women who live here are pretty special when it comes to observing the stars and laying horoscopes.

One of them is even familiar with the foreign principles of card reading, while another has invented a game where the players pretend to be tradesmen in the distant future, trading in luxuries on a "stock exchange" and "social medias". Whatever those are...

Monday, January 13, 2020

New Markers, New Drawings - The House

I was trying to draw a Roman villa and it came out more like a Frank Llyod Wright. Buffalo is loaded with Frank Llyod Wright homes. They are beautiful and I drive past many every day. 


Sunday, January 12, 2020

New Markers, New Drawings - Long Barn

My friend Sarah got me some new pens and I have been trying them out. They work great. The text on the side was quickly scratched out as the ideas came. The text of this post is somewhat better.

The Long Barn is a storage barn for fodder. Its low to the ground and only has one level.

The long low barn is used for storage of hay and feed.

In spring, it is often used for weddings. The bride's guests sit on benches or bales of hay and alfalfa. The new husband and his groomsmen eat outside. The south end of the barn has doors which open for dancing in the yard.

In this way, the newly joined families get to know one another.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

The Troubleshooting (artwork) Post

I've been messing around with svg art using Inkscape. For whatever reason, when I upload these images they look fine on a desktop device, but are dark grey on a black background on mobile devices. I think I either uploaded some .pngs or perhaps forgot to flatten the image when going to .jpg.

Anyway this a test of 2 Skimmer ground cars.


These are 3 Greek soldiers. 



These figures have been a part of my Strictly (Duke) Springer posts, which I hope to fix soon. 







I'd like to scale them down to 1/4 and 1/2 sizes for counters. 

Sunday, November 17, 2019

Cleaning up and decorating

I'm cleaning up after making a mess with styrofoam this morning and getting some artwork ready for my new game room. Little touches right now. 


This is a book by Nate Treme and you can get it from his website. I am not sure if there are any physical copies left, but you can print your own. It's great, check out my review, here.

Right now, I just caught a newsflash that The Midderlands Expansion by Monkey Blood is free today. I was going to take a pass on it, but the article mentions that it contains a new map. Ah... more artwork for my game room. Check it out, but hurry!

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

#Inktober2019 collision - D&D meets Ink

This is an inktober2019 collision. I've been working on a map of a Roman themed city called Nace for a D&D campaign. The characters found a villa, but I really didn't have any idea of what it looked like. 

I tried a couple of sketches and mostly liked the results. I don't know why my scanner is clipping the edge. If I get time, I will update these scans.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

#Inktober2019, Artwork for Timeout.

Inktober is on. I have been binge watching TV while working on my main project for the month. I can't say I am getting a lot done, but I am learning.

My main project is a copy of New Mutant's #50, in stippling. One of the issues with this design is, I need a background which I pictured in black. In stippling. 8.5x11 mostly back composition in stippling.

Mmm. What did I do?

Anyway, my binge watching has been BSG. Being a space show, everything in the background is grey or black. I gave myself a timeout project which includes an all black background. I used BG 5 and 9 plus 120 black for these ships. I am not good with tones and color, so again, I am learning.

It's super rough, you don't even need to enlarge the image. Smaller is better.