Gargoyle Hiatus

My most complicated vector yet. I'll have more to say later.

Third

Week three. First repeating pattern. Searching for a more elegant way of creating patterns. Tomorrow's piece is already in the works. Should be more complicated than these tend to be.

Resistance

I wanted to draw, but I wasn't sure where to start. I wanted to make something cool, but it never quite turned out right. I had ideas, but I didn't think I had the means to make them work. I was experiencing what Steven Pressfield refers to as "resistance".

Normally, I would have accepted any excuse to stop working or trying. I would suddenly get a headache or get really tired. Sometimes a paralysis would set in as I weighed and considered future actions rather than acting in any way. Now I know the cost of giving into resistance - regret and stagnation.

I made a mark and I ran with it. Before I knew it, I had a usable sketch. Soon after, I was making my shapes, refining my nodes, applying color, scaling, and setting clip paths. I made something. I proved resistance wrong. I won today.

The Horror

Wanted to get a quick one out there. The important part of this project is doing the work, even if it's not always fantastic. Metroid is 25 this year. Consider this just one of my tribute pieces. Oh and enjoy the behind the scenes look (every detail is a fully editable object, which makes revising and changing these things easy if you know what you're doing).

Metroids are horrible creatures. They haunt my nightmares. In the original game, you didn't even encounter a Metroid until the final area. And thank goodness for that, because those mutant jellyfish will hunt you down and drain your health with a fierceness. Your only defense against these beasts is to curl into a ball and constantly blow yourself up while praying you have enough of a window to hit them with your ice beam. Later games in the series made them even more menacing by mutating them or sending you into abandoned laboratories full of the things.

*Shudder*

Girlie

A really stylized Medusa for Halloween. The snakes were fun. I really want to re-do the face. Still pleased with the overall design of this one: it went through a lot of revisions throughout the day.

NannerBeard

Pushing against the borders - an epic beard. Inspired by classic wizards, lawn gnomes, and Olaf the Stout.

This blog was inspired by Noah Scalin's 365 project and the book he based on it. But I wouldn't have even known about the project if it weren't for The Accidental Creative. It's worth a look for anyone who considers themselves creative and who has or is currently going through what we call a "creative block". I've gone through a lot of blocks during my life and I've read a lot of books about getting over them. Todd Henry distills all of that knowledge and quite a bit of his own into his website, podcasts, and a great book.

'Spec Knucks

I wanted to break away from the usual today. I had to find out what sort of things the calligraphy brush would let me do. I decided to go outside my usual style and workflow to do something ridiculous.

This piece was inspired by Cartoon Network. I loved that channel growing up - coming home from school and watching Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, and Samurai Jack followed by a healthy dose of Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, and Gundam topped off with some Sealab 2021, Home Movies, and Aquateen Hunger Force. Watching it now reminds me of those old times - only better.

I seriously recommend Adventure Time, The Regular Show, Gumball, and the new Looney Toons to anyone reading this. It's like someone decided to take the wit and sarcasm from adult swim and add it to the regular daytime cartoons. Here, you can even watch them from your computer.

Anyway, watching a lot of The Regular Show inspired me to create this fist-bump sticker. Enjoy!