ChibiTankSketch

Tanks are hard to draw - for me, anyway. My early years of doodling in school mostly consisted of animals, monsters, and videogame characters. Cars, motorcycles, guns, swords, and the like never really made their way to the page.

Chibi-tank is a bit of a compromise. It's got ears, choro-q-like proportions, and a cute bunny decal on the front. Vectors coming soon.

KoiSketch

Another 'sketch-only' post while I orient my new workflow schedule. Would it be better to jump headfirst into learning Illustrator, or split my time dabbling in it while making work in Inkscape? I have no idea.

NannerFlowers

Some weird things happened during the sketch process the past couple days. A lot of giant monsters invaded the pages. I wrote down the word "kaiju" to remind myself to draw something Godzilla-like. I proceeded to follow-up with the word "koi" - a reminder to do some research on koi fish for a future sticker. I ended up drawing a bunch of giant monsters destroying buildings along with the word koiju: so I guess you shouldn't be too surprised if you see a fish monster stomping around soon.

Computer Frustrations

Giant monsters on the brain. Networking issues in the foreground. I've set up some new preferences for hotkeys in Illustrator according to my specifications - now I will go through Von Glitscha's defaults from Vector Basic Training.

I'm trying to solve some small problems so I can get back into my groove. It just seems too far from my reach.

Miasma

Clouds. Nothing to be worried or upset about really, but here they are. No shortage of inspiration - only the terrible thought that I am incapable of doing anything right. Why can't I make this look right? Why do I have to erase this so much? Why does everything I put on the page look so awful? I need to just work through it, and assure myself that I'm doing fine.

This was an experiment. I used one shape, duplicated and joined together, to create this design. I feel like I'm using up all the tricks in my bag: I need to learn some new ones.

Nannerbend and the Unlearning

An older design from my sketchbook. I'm in that weird space right now where I feel somewhat inspired but unable to produce anything worthwhile. I really don't like what I see here. I do like that I'm looking at something, however.

Adobe Illustrator CS6 is sitting on my desktop at the moment. I have a free trial for the creative cloud service - its thirty days of trial goodness are ticking down. It's a much more robust set of tools with some features I have been really wanting since I started this project. Unfortunately, it's a completely different set of features in different locations, under different names, and with different hotkeys. Illustrator wants me to push 'P' (for pen tool) rather than 'B' (for Bezier Tool). They want me to hold 'ctrl' while I press '+' or '-' to zoom. It's tripping me up a little bit.

With patience, I could probably unlearn my habits and migrate over. It might also be possible to just re-bind all of the offending shortcut keys. It all depends on whether or not I commit to Illustrator. Some things to think about I guess.

NannerRocket

NannerPirateCaptain

NannerVectors

Decided to redo NannerCascade. The addition of color really added some volume to the overall piece. Nanner E. Honda is now complete. I think it looks better than the sketch. Currently working on the pirate and the spaceship. Going through and organizing the back catalog and trying to catch up on some old sketches. We're coming up to October, nearly to the one year mark. Without a bit of work, I don't think I'll be at 365 by then.

NannerRocketSketch

Just a sketch for the evening. My head is filling up with imagery like this. Rockets, robots, lasers, and aliens, cheesy spacesuits, etc. I blame AwesomeNauts, though things like Insomniac's Outernauts and Ratchet and Clank series are equally responsible. There's something really cool about the ridiculous technology encased in smooth, candy-colored metals and the tentacled aliens who use it.

I've been really exploring a lot of 'retro' styles lately. It seems to line up with my imposed limitations, while also allowing me to look at familiar things in new ways. A new well to draw from is always welcome. Gotta keep moving and searching so I don't dry it up.

NannerCascade

Based on an old sketch of some clouds. Experimenting with composition, I stumbled on this configuration. I'm pretty pleased with the result.

In spite of the turns my life has taken as of late, I'm more compelled to press on. I can't forget my worries. I can't ignore my problems. I won't deny my joys. I won't fade. Not yet.

NannerDandelion

Probably could have been "NannerLion", but that's another thing. The dandelion seemed like a fun, Summery subject for a sticker. However, the more I thought about it, I sort of feel like that dandelion seed. Drifting along without any real control, come what may. On occasion, something really great happens and I can break free of the worry and the routine. This project is one such escape.

It's not all bad. This is the most artistic and creative I've been in a long time. I can't think of a time where my work was this prolific: I enjoy what I do.

Made with the star tool, combined with the "bend" live path effect.

NannerLight

Based on a sign for a place called the Golden Goose in Las Vegas...which appears to be a gentleman's club.

It was a lot of fun to make the shapes of the letters. It was also fun to try and emulate the effect of a bunch of fluorescent bulbs at varying states of useful. Feels like there's something missing though. I can't think of what it is...

NannerPirateCaptainSketch

I realized earlier in the day that I already had a pirate sticker. But I was really excited for this one, so I opted to see it through. Besides, the other pirate was more of a lovable crewman whereas this is a proper captain.

I like Street Fighter...

...so I'll continue to make these stickers. Gill and Chun Li turned out strange, but I think this one shows some sort of emerging style in my work. There's some neat stuff happening in this sticker. Not sure if any of that comes across at that size.

The rounded rectangle corners were a bit of a challenge. I learned a lot while I was creating them.

Quick Post Today

Dhalsim sketch refined and ready to vector. I'm pretty excited for this one in terms of the look and style I was able to achieve. I'll be working out the vector portion this evening, but a couple of other projects might bump it to tomorrow night.

NannerEyes

Some eyes from a project that didn't end up getting used. Call it digital hoarding - I just couldn't throw them out. The repeating pattern is based on a simple, seven-circle design. It's kind of chaotic. It sort of gives me eye-strain. It will probably look cool on a banana.