Concept...

Haven't posted a sketch in a while. Inspiration struck while I was filling out forms. I was thinking I wouldn't be able to get to the sticker tonight, but I got this idea. Look for it tomorrow.

BlamNanner

Been sitting on this one for a while. Really like the way the text turned out. Snapping has really helped me create these three-dimensional-looking letters. I created some cool half-tone to complete the overall look of the sticker, but the pattern got all wonky thanks to anti-aliasing issues. I don't know what I'm going to do if Inkscape won't allow me to create seamless patterns. There has to be a work around or an add-on to disable this 'feature'.

NannerRoll

Does it look like Rick Astley? Man, I hope so. I'm having a rough time with this style in vector form.

I doubt it...I guarantee it...

Finally posting the finished versions of these stickers. These are based on one of my favorite podcasts - IGN's Podcast Beyond! As the hosts read off the news stories of the week they decide whether they are news-worthy (saying "I guarantee it" like the Men's Wearhouse guy) or not ("I doubt it" from some furniture commercial on the East coast). There you go, Greg Miller - I plugged your podcast. Might I also just say...BEYOND!

It was difficult to just start messing around with these designs. Knowing what I know now about how type is created and judged, I felt like I had no right to work with it the way I had been. Of course, that's a bunch of lies. I know what's wrong with the type on the "I doubt it sticker". I'm aware that I built all of the letters haphazardly, disregarded baselines, ignored stem widths, didn't tweak each form for consistency, created mismatching serifs, and spent little to no time kerning between each letter.

The thing is - none of that matters. I'm not getting paid to create this work. I only get an hour or two, tops, to make these stickers on my own time. The work doesn't represent me. It's not a reflection of my abilities or work ethic. I'm not charging you, the viewer, to look at what I've done. These little projects are for me. They animate and motivate me. That's all I could ask for.

NannerStache

I have a moustache-related project, so here's a moustache-themed sticker. I know this is kind of a popular motif right now. I'm also aware how dumb and simple this seems (it literally took 15 minutes to put together). But there's something charming about this concept to me - when placed on a banana, it gives the fruit a moustache. Please to enjoy "The Brimley".

I will be finishing the stickers from the last post soon I hope. I was excited to work with type after reading The Logo, Font, and Lettering Bible. But then, something happened - I flinched. I got overwhelmed by all of my potential mistakes and I couldn't follow through. I let resistance, once again, tell me I wasn't ready to challenge myself.

I would like to think I'm over it: that knowing my tendencies and knowing about resistance would keep me from worrying. But I'm not. Being creative means overcoming resistance everyday. It means telling yourself (and sometimes others) that it's time to put everything aside and just create.

In progress...

Running out of time. This is part of a pair. Explanation coming soon.

NannerKnight

Something special happened when I started working on the vector portion of this design - it all sort of clicked together. I found myself rushing forward where I would normally stumble. I used guides and snapping in ways that were previously unknown to me. I produced something cool in about 45 minutes.

NannerMoai

The famous 'Easter Island Head'. Simultaneously, a tribute to Easter Island and Konami. Seriously. Play through a few Gradius or Parodius games and you'll start to see what I'm talking about. I think Konami's Wai Wai Racer had a playable Moai head as well. Weird.

MegaNan...ner

Megaman's 25th anniversary is this year. I didn't really get into the series until the third installment - but that one game made me a fan for life. The series has had some great successes and some big missteps, but none of the bad can outweigh the good overall.

Not sure how I feel about the design of this one. I wanted something simple, but I feel like it's lacking an overall weight. I refined an earlier sketch, but I still feel like this could be taken further. Hmmm...

NannerCheetah

An interesting print. The challenge this time was to use the pen tool to create really rough, funky shapes. I supplemented the blue shapes with some white calligraphy pen set to ridiculous width. This looks like it will 'read' better from far away or printed at actual banana sticker size. On the monitor at regular size, it doesn't really invoke the cheetah spirit...

I've realized that each one of these posts is a snapshot of my current progress and feelings. At this point in time I'm starting to really get what Inkscape is all about. I want to experiment more and take risks. I also want to play Skyrim. That game is breaking my will. But I recognize that, which means I can't deny I would rather be doing my art.

D20...nanner

Requisite gamer symbol - the twenty-sided die. Originally, I wanted to do something more dynamic with this piece. It seemed like such a simple, done-to-death, concept to me. But then I thought about how this would be put together, and I decided to just try and make it look good.

I've learned a lot about Inkscape's features through this project. This has allowed me to go back and look at previous work with an eye for what I can do better. I just learned about snapping, (allowing me to set parameters for lining up objects, center points, and individual nodes) and it changed so many things for me. This one little concept will allow me to build more complicated artwork with multiple objects.

NannerZebra

NannerPaisley...finally

Old ideas are old...

I had a pretty good idea earlier in the week. That idea progressed to tonight, then didn't turn out at all. This is one of the first things I ever made in inkscape. It's not great, but it felt like I needed to do something with it.

NannerWhal

The unicorn of the sea: the narwhal. I'm learning to tie a necktie. That's about it.

Double Feature

An experiment with castles for a project I'm working on. I hope I get some more updates in this week.

NannerDesigns

I have a few creative projects on my plate at the moment. I've been thinking for a while now about building up a library of cool flourishes, elements, and textures for my general use. I had the idea for this burst today, and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

2012

Looked at a tin of Trader Joe's mint hot chocolate, said "I can do that", and did it. It's cool to see how such simple operations (stroke styles, star creator, and combining squares and circles) can lead to such dynamic designs. Happy new year. My resolution? To be done with this project before 2013 (hope I don't get that far behind).

My Top 5 Videogames of 2011 PT.5

Monster Tale. A really under-the-radar DS platformer with Metroid-vania gameplay and light amounts of Tamagotchi monster-raising. It also has a sweet combo-system, purchasable upgrades for your character and your monster, a great soundtrack, and some of the best animation on a handheld this year. Track it down at any cost, or it may become rare (like Shantae).

My design is based on Chomp, the adorable little monster that follows and serves you throughout the game. Cookies and candy serve as powerups for Chomp, allowing him to get stronger and eventually change forms - hence, the cookie. I'm really starting to pay attention to the way other artists build their more complicated vector forms. There's still a lot of things I want to learn.

My Top 5 Videogames of 2011 PT.4

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition. I love fighting games. I am in that most dangerous position of knowing a lot about fighting games but not having enough time to back it up. I know about kara-throwing, and a bunch of other weird sub-systems in Third Strike. Unfortunately, I still have problems timing my post-karakusa fierce-to-hayate combos or parrying Chun-Li's Houyoku-Sen super-art. Still, this is a really fun game with some seriously amazing 2-D sprite-work and an excellent cast of characters.

The design I used is based around Gill, the final boss. He's a jerk. If you try wear down his life while he has a full super meter, he resurrects himself. It's pretty infuriating.