April 01, 2009
Ectoplasmic Deflation: Process
Yesterday, I posted a drawing that's part of the Cloudy Characters print set. Today, I wanted to show you the process. I've always admired the process posts on Dan Zettwoch's site (like this one), so here's one of my own.
Nothing starts without an idea. The brief I had from David was simply that it had to be a 'cloudy character," nothing else. I didn't want to do anything with clouds in the sky because I couldn't think of an interesting way of depicting that. Instead I decided to think of 'cloudy' as 'head in the clouds.' The economy was tanking at the time (and still is) and it was pretty obvious that Wall Street has had their head in the clouds for way too long. My initial idea was to comment on the various bailouts by having Ransom Strange™ magically inflate an empty suit:
That seemed over-complex graphically for the small image, and didn't really make much sense. But I liked the idea the lost financial capital as magical (or fictional) and evaporating as if it was never there. My second sketch was much simpler. It's just a Fat Cat deflating... blowing mystical capital all around around him:
I was happy enough with the above to work up final line-art (india ink over pencil):
Next was color. I scanned in the line art and printed out a few smaller copies. This way I could quickly play around with it using colored pencil:
 |  |
 |  |
 |
I liked the last variation best, and worked up the background line art based on it:
The final step was compositing everything in Photoshop and coloring the art based on the color pencil guidelines above. Here's the final art:
See (and purchase) the printed (letterpress!) version here... Hopefully someone will find this useful in some way.
Posted by tomk at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
March 31, 2009
Ectoplasmic Deflation
I was invited by David Huyck to create an image for a collection of letterpress prints called Cloudy Characters. The print is part of a set that includes art by Meg Hunt, Bill Fick, John Martz, Amy Crehore, Steven Weissman, and David Huyck. The set can be purchased from David's Cloudy Collections site. This is what I came up with:
Posted by tomk at 03:24 PM | Comments (5)
March 26, 2009
Cloudy Forecast
Posted by tomk at 09:28 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2009
Eyeglasses: A History
As mentioned in the previous post, I'd done some illustrations for Robyn Chapman's Hey 4-Eyes! zine. Well, here they are. It's a brief history of eyeglasses from Emperor Nero's Emerald to Otto Wichterle's invention of the contact lens. The drawings are presented in reverse-chronological order. All the research was done by Robyn.
1961 AD. Otto Wichterle and his Merkur (a tinker-toy-like construction system) based apparatus used to develop the first contacts.
1760s AD. Benjamin Franklin invents the bifocal.
1727 AD or so. Edward Scarlett invented the precursor to modern eyeglasses. These glasses were held in place by large spiral terminals that rested on the temples.
1352 AD. The first known depiction of eyeglasses. They're shown resting on the nose of Hugh of St. Cher in a painting by Tommaso da Modena. Since Hugh St. Cher died well before the painter was born and more than 20 years before spectacles were invented, the spectacles in the portrait are an anachronism.
700ish AD. Abbas Ibn Firnas invents first vision aid. The reading stone was a glass sphere that magnified whatever was underneath it. The drawing above depicts a grateful monk using Abbas' invention.
54-68 AD. Apparently the Roman Emperor Nero watched gladiator fights through emeralds. The earliest case of sunglasses?
Posted by tomk at 12:10 AM | Comments (0)
February 05, 2009
Blue Face
Ink & colored pencil, 2 x 2 inches
This drawing has been staring at me for a couple of months. Somehow it ends up in front of me no matter where I'm sitting and what I'm doing. Clearly, I don't have the right place for it. So, if someone out there wants to give it a new home, please leave a comment. First come, first serve.
Posted by tomk at 08:51 AM | Comments (2)
December 23, 2008
Season's Greetings
This is the first time ever I got around to making an holiday card. It's a little thing, 3.3" x 5.2", printed with the Gocco system. After sending them to friends and family I've got a bunch left over. If anyone is interested in getting one of these cards, just send your mailing address to me (tomk {at} robot26.com) and I'll send one off. Offer valid until supplies last.
Click to Enlarge.
Posted by tomk at 11:43 AM | Comments (0)
December 02, 2008
The Caveman Cycle
I was commissioned to do some cavemen drawings based on the caveman of my Uncivilized Books logo. The commission didn't work out, so I was stuck with a bunch of sketches of cavemen. The only thing left to do was to ink them. All the originals are about 4x5 inches in size. If any caveman fans out there are interested, I'd be willing to part with one or all of them for a small fee (I'm cheap!). Email me tomk (at) robot26.com or post a comment below.
1. caveman walks I
2. caveman rockman
3. caveman walks II
4. caveman stonedman
5. caveman walks III
6. caveman walks IIII
Posted by tomk at 03:04 PM | Comments (3)
May 22, 2008
Hungry in Little Tijuana
I've already explained what Little Tijuana is all about over here. The picture above is pretty terrible. My new cellphone doesn't do so well in low light conditions. I must've been hungry when I drew that.
Posted by tomk at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)
December 13, 2007
Little Tijuana
One of my favorite places in Minneapolis before I left for New York was Little Tijuana a little Tex-Mex place open until 3 am daily. The best part was always the paper table cloth and tons of crayons. A few months ago I decided to move back to Minneapolis. Now I can again experience the nearly forgotten pleasure of drunken crayon scribbling in the early hours of the morning. I know there are plenty other places out there that let diners doodle before a meal. For me, Little Tijuana is still the best.
Posted by tomk at 05:57 PM | Comments (2)
June 17, 2007
Wolverine
Someone asked me to doodle up Wolverine. Here's the result.
4 x 4 inches
india ink
Posted by tomk at 06:49 PM | Comments (3)
June 03, 2007
Fluidic Effect
After Fluidic Effect (1875) by Édouard Isidore Buguet
4 x 4 inches
shellac and india ink
Posted by tomk at 10:38 AM | Comments (0)
June 02, 2007
Stunned
shellac and india ink
4 x 4 inches
Posted by tomk at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)
May 13, 2006
Face Paint
watercolor and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)
May 12, 2006
Life and Death
From Art of Ancient Mexico by Paul Westheim
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2006
Are You Sure it's OK?
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 12:56 AM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2006
I Want to Destroy/Create Something
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 01:04 AM | Comments (0)
May 09, 2006
I Think Something is Wrong
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 12:19 AM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2006
Glasses
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 12:47 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2006
Ascetic
watercolor and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 12:28 AM | Comments (0)
May 06, 2006
Prelude to a Sacrifice
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 12:41 AM | Comments (0)
May 05, 2006
Allergic Reaction
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 09:20 PM | Comments (0)
May 03, 2006
Nocturnal Chill
watercolor and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2006
Scarf
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 09:04 AM | Comments (0)
April 17, 2006
Nosferatu
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
Portrait of a Girl
shellac and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 08:49 AM | Comments (0)
April 16, 2006
Girl
watercolor and india ink
2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 12:42 PM | Comments (0)
March 29, 2006
nostalgia for mu
watercolor and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
Posted by tomk at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2006
late for work
watercolor and india ink, 2x2 inches
Posted by tomk at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
March 26, 2006
afternoon
watercolor and india ink, 1.5 x 2.75 inches
click to enlarge
Posted by tomk at 01:08 PM | Comments (0)
March 25, 2006
beat
shellac and india ink, 2 x 3 inches
click to see big
Posted by tomk at 12:02 PM | Comments (1)
March 24, 2006
Sketchbook 0006
click to make larger
Posted by tomk at 12:40 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2006
benediction
shellac and india ink, 2 x 2.2 inches
click to enlarge
Posted by tomk at 10:10 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
Sketchbook 0005
click to make larger
Posted by tomk at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2006
channeling
shellac and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
clicking makes big
Posted by tomk at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2006
ascention
shellac and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
click on it
Posted by tomk at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2006
God
shellac and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
click on god to make more god-like
Posted by tomk at 11:20 PM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2006
Smoking
watercolor and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
click img for bigness
Posted by tomk at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
Irritated
watercolor and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
click to see real big
Posted by tomk at 09:09 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2006
Etherial Manifestation
shellac and india ink, 2 x 3 inches
click on pic to make big
Posted by tomk at 12:28 PM | Comments (0)
March 15, 2006
psychonaut
watercolor and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
click on image to see it BIG
Posted by tomk at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
March 14, 2006
tiny watercolor
watercolor and india ink, 2 x 2 inches
click the image to make it bigger than life
Posted by tomk at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)
February 10, 2006
Sketchbook
A recent experiment with shellac based ink (Encre Sennelier, Orange 641). Click on the image to see it bigger.
Posted by tomk at 09:00 AM | Comments (0)
February 04, 2006
Sketchbook
Posted by tomk at 11:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2006
Cosmic Cafe
Posted by tomk at 09:31 PM | Comments (0)
January 30, 2006
Sketchbook
Posted by tomk at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)