Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Illustration Friday 122206 : Peace

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Nothing editorially clever here (as I'm once again too oomphless to come up with anything original), but another bit of hand practice...

Friday, December 01, 2006

Illustration Friday 120106 : Might

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The doctors say that George might survive; then again, he might not.

Yeah, it's a stretch, but I'll be in overdrive for the next two weeks, churning out RLOs before our long pre-Christmas weekend in Brussels, and any spare time will be spent trying to get my much-neglected house in order. (George, by the way, makes a guest appearance in the soon-to-be-completed Bacteria and Viruses Compared RLO, as well as the upcoming Volume of Distribution.)

Monday, November 27, 2006

Illustration Friday 112406 : Invention

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The mother of all does-everything-but-wash-the-dishes inventions - do you really think your mobile/PDA/camera would exist without it?!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Illustration Friday 111006 : Clear

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Snow, ice, and slush are facts of life for much of the year in upstate New York, and I spent many, many hours attacking sidewalks with snow shovels in an attempt to clear a footpath around our house. Surprisingly, now that I live in the "balmy" English Midlands, I actually miss it - we've had only one all-out blizzard in the last 16 years, and don't even own a snow shovel!

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Illustration Friday 110306 : Smoke

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Having grown up in a house with two heavy smokers, I've always found the notion of ingesting any sort of smoke wholly repugnant. But there's something extremely seductive about the scent of (unlit) pipe tobacco...

Friday, November 03, 2006

Illustration Friday 102706 : Wind

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When I was in the Third Grade, we were all given "music aptitude" tests to see who would be allowed to learn an instrument the following year. Anyone who scored 90 or better got to join the chosen few, but yours truly only managed an 89. For some now unknown reason, I had my heart set on learning to play the flute, and was bitterly disappointed. So disappointed that my mother actually wrote a letter to the school to ask if there was any possibility of my being given lessons should anyone else drop out of the program. Well, this was in the early '60's, and flexibility was an unknown concept; despite almost half of the "instrumentalists" in my class quitting their lessons by the end of the Fifth Grade, I never got a chance. (Many years later I tried to teach myself to play the tin whistle, but never got very far. Like learning languages, it's just so much easier when you're young, and learning alongside others.)

Anyway, this really isn't a finished illustration - the relative proportions of the head and hands are wrong - but I've run out of time...

Monday, October 23, 2006

Illustration Friday 102006 : Ghost

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Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and Nigel ran into the room, looking as if he'd seen a ghost...

Monday, October 09, 2006

Illustration Friday 100606 : Trouble

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Macho posturing often leads to trouble, something that's all too common here in Nottingham, a city with far too many bars and clubs. Not a week goes by without news of another two or three young men (and sometimes women) being knifed, shot, "glassed" or punched...

Saturday, August 26, 2006

Illustration Friday 082506 : Run

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Running man in a running stitch. Not much more to say, really...

Monday, August 21, 2006

Illustration Friday 081806 : Match

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Thanks to an eye infection that has put my contacts on the shelf, this was done with my nose six inches from the screen. I sure hope things settle down in the next couple of weeks, as my glasses aren't much use for computer work...

Anyway, so here's a very literal interpretation of this week's theme.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Illustration Friday 081106 : Play

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Forty years ago, back in the days when I messed about with charcoal pencils and India ink, I had a helluva time drawing hands. (It was the era of Get Smart, and my attempts were often met with a derisive chorus of "The Craw! The Craw!") These days, it's only marginally easier, which is why I need all the practice I can get. (Have to put together an RLO on "glove use in infection control" shortly, so hands loom large on the horizon.)

Apart from a brief but intense addiction to Solitaire on my first pc in the early 90's, I'm not much of a card player. (Over the years, friends have attempted to teach me Bridge and Poker, but soon agreed with me that my talents lay elsewhere.)

Friday, August 11, 2006

Illustration Friday 080406 : Capture

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Well, maybe this'll appear on the IF web site for all of 30 minutes before the new topic for today is posted. Better late than never, I guess...

Friday, July 28, 2006

Illustration Friday 072806 : Clean

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In theory, at least, there's no place cleaner than an operating theater. This scrub nurse was part of an animated sketch I put together for work. Eventually, she may find her way into an actual RLO.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Illustration Friday 072106 : Opposites

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Sweet and sour are opposites, aren't they? My normally astute husband didn't get it, mostly because he didn't recognize the lemon as a lemon. ("That's never a lemon!") Ah, well, everyone's a critic...

The bee has been borrowed from an animation I'm working on at the moment ("The Inflammatory Response" - I'll post a link when it's done for anyone who wants to know why bee stings hurt and infected cuts turn red!)

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Illustration Friday 070706: Skyline

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The Brits among you may recognize this as the Tyne Bridge - the famous Newcastle landmark that has recently found itself in competition with the newer, ingeniously-designed Millennium Bridge, and the Sage Gateshead, a futuristic concert hall, both only a couple of hundred yards away. To anyone familiar with Newcastle, the detail of the arch and the distinctive lamps will be enough to identify the location.

This is a manipulated version of a photo I took a few months ago.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Illustration Friday 063006 : Sticky

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Sigh. I ran out of steam again. Started to work on this last weekend and was happy with the shell, but had no time at all this week, hence the (all-too-phallic) snail's resemblance to one of the unformed pod people from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

We had a slightly surreal close encounter with a slug a few months ago. It apparently climbed up the front door, came through the letterbox (in British houses, actually a hole cut in the door), squeezed itself past the metal barrier, descended to the hall carpet on the other side, then made its way under the radiator and over 6 pairs of shoes before crossing the threshold into the living room, where it had slimed its way a couple of yards along the living room skirting boards before we discovered it, looking very sorry for itself. Its epic journey from the front yard was reversed in a matter of seconds. Kind of sad, really...

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Illustration Friday 062306 : Rain

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Spent last week away at a conference, so never got 'round to completing anything for "Dance", and now I find myself exhausted by trying to catch up with all the *real* work that I'd left undone. So, that's my excuse for a rather uninspired bit of doodling. I hope to have my oomph back for next week's challenge...

Friday, June 16, 2006

Illustration Friday 060906 : Jungle

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Haven't had much chance to look at the links on IF this week, but I expect at least two or three others have done something very similar to this... If I'd had more time, would have liked to try my hand at vines and tendrils, and some dappled light.

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Illustration Friday 060206 : Portrait

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My favorite portrait of all time was painted by Velasquez, and lives in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Its subject, Juan de Pareja, was also a painter. I discovered him in the late 70s, when I was living in Manhattan, making a monthly pilgrimage to the Met to escape my coursework.

For years, I had a postcard of this painting on the bookshelves above my desk. One very hot night 20+ years ago, when it was impossible to sleep, I unearthed an old set of watercolors and pulled an all-nighter painting my homage. My only light was a pre-halogen desk lamp with a very yellow glow, so I didn't realize until the morning that I'd been rather heavy-handed with the yellow paint!

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Illustration Friday 052606 : Cake

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Well, this week at least my effort should make it onto the Illustration Friday web site (if you're feeling generous with your time, you can check out last week's neglected entry here).

This is the result of playing with Illustrator's 3D tools. Still need to work on perspective and shadows, but I'm pleased with this as a first attempt to create something more complex than extruded boxes.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Illustration Friday 051906 : Sorry

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Only time for a quick "sketch" this week. What do you think he's feeling sorry about...?

PS- I can now (Friday the 26th) reveal that he's terribly sorry about the technical hitches that prevented him from making an appearance on the Illustration Friday web site, despite a dozen or so attempts in the wee hours of Thursday night/Friday morning to upload the link.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Illustration Friday 051206 : Angels and Devils

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This could also be filed under Memories of a Sixties Childhood: Drake's Devil Dogs, and a glass of pure, unadulterated, whole milk. (Neither of which I've ingested for many, many years.) Personally, I preferred Snowballs (and, of course, the cake was completely expendable, and besides the point.)

I had a very clear idea in my mind for this illustration, but at present my abilities and time are both severely limited. I know I need to work on 3D perspective and gradient meshes. Tips and pointers always welcome!

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Illustration Friday 050506 : Fat

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No, these aren't my feet (thanks for asking). Nail polish (pink or otherwise) isn't part of my personal grooming routine, and I haven't owned a light blue towel in 30 years...


This illustration is from an RLO that I'm working on at the moment.

Friday, May 05, 2006

First post

OK. I surrender. Having resisted blogs and blogging all this time, I've finally found a good use for one, courtesy of a web site called Illustration Friday. So, I'll use this space to post my responses to IF's weekly challenges. Who knows, maybe I'll use it for something more 'verbal' eventually...