NannerBrowRaise

This was a weird sketch. not sure how it ended up here or progressed to the point it did. I think I set out to make a pirate bunny or something. The eyebrow shapes were really fun to create and tweak for the right expression. There's something just a bit off about the final composition - something that keeps me from looking at it for too long. I think it might be eye-exhaustion from all of the white space. Hmmmm...

Ukiyo-e Honda

Lots of ukiyo-e inspired stuff as of late. I want to look elsewhere for inspiration and travel out of my comfort zone a bit. Don't let me go back to the Japanese well for my next community project.

This E. Honda is kind of interesting. Not sure if it reads as the popular Street Fighter character in this particular style, but it was a lot of fun to make. The final sticker will be cropped in quite a bit and hopefully I'll be able to livetrace the hair to duplicate that effect.

I put a lot of pressure on myself to come up with something new tonight after that long hiatus. It's not a healthy way to work. In fact, it's a quick way to kill one's motivation to do anything. I don't work well under that kind of stress. I try - but I get too caught up in everything.

Stickers stuck...until tomorrow

My community project for vectortuts+ took a bit longer than expected. Hopefully, I made the deadline. This time I at least remembered to link to the daily project.

My 'studio' has recently suffered under scorching July heat. Rather, I suffered because of it. Looking into some ways to keep cool and continue to do the work...

DeepDive

A preview of a sticker to come. I think this weekend will be a good time to catch up on relaxation and stickers.

NannerShatter

This is...this is me right now. Beyond surface thoughts, past the dumb jokes and forced smile, I'm struggling to hold it all together. Today was a harsh reminder of that fragility. To those who look at these pieces and support me, to my very best friends at work and in life, and those few who know me well enough to see this truth: you all help me keep it together more than you'll ever know. Your late calls, unexpected road trips, and strange/awesome/nostalgic conversations force me to remember my feelings.

The effect was created by drawing sloppy triangles over the standard oval and using the 'divide' path effect to break it apart. Each piece was given a white stroke, nudged, and rotated to get the desired result.

Once again, my brain scoffed at the simplicity and theme. I had no desire to create a 'bummer' sticker. Presenting it in such a cliche (in my mind) way nearly made me throw the idea out entirely. I stuck around to see how it would turn out and to get some experience with the 'divide' effect. I actually like the result - even if it is a little sad.

NannerGameBoy

I love the Gameboy. In my lifetime I have owned one original Gameboy, one Gameboy Pocket (a transparent one), one indigo Gameboy Advance, and a red Gameboy Advance SP. Thinking back on that now, one of my very first experiences with vector stuff was a technical illustration of that Gameboy Advance SP.

Occasionally, I get an idea for a sticker that seems too simple or over-done. I try to think of a new way of presenting it or stretching it into a "better" idea. But that doesn't always work. What I'm starting to learn, however, is that if I don't do anything with that idea it tends to corrupt my ability to generate new ones. Tonight's sticker was one such idea.

I was having trouble with my original idea, so my brain replaced it with this one. "No.", I thought. "I can't learn anything from this, and I'm not saying anything with this." Then I remembered my other stickers: I'm not making a statement with my pigeons, Pokemon, or monster faces and I learn something every time I open Inkscape.

Tonight, I finally made a custom swatch for my stickers so I can access those particular variations of blue and yellow. I used the rectangle tool and uniformly rounded the corners to the specifications of the original Gameboy model. Then I converted said rectangles into free paths so I could move in the bottom-right-hand corner points of the outer-shell and the blue area surrounding the screen. Rounded-rectangles also form the speaker, directional-pad, select, and start buttons.

So I actually learned a couple things and came up with a pretty cool design. Take that, brain.

NannerSplosion and some Art Directing

   

 

My last attempt at creating some pop-art comic explosion elements was pretty successful. This time, I opted to focus on the explosion part of it all and leave the text by the wayside. Feels like a success to me. Speaking of explosions - I had better start thinking of a cool sticker for the upcoming holiday (one of my personal favorites, by the way).

The mouth on the chocobo girl was really bugging me. It's such a small thing, but it is the difference between really liking and loving the piece. Now I feel like I have something to be proud of.