JFlah's Blunders

I sketched this rabbit with his umbrella a while back and just got around to digitally coloring it. I have a "clean" un-textured version, but I think this one has more visual interest - what do you think?

I very much enjoyed listening. Check out this instrumental version Lincoln Brewster's Christmas carol medley. It's got a great rock-out feeling to it that made me smile. Click on it and see what I mean. Singing electric guitars, rhythmic but not overwhelming drums, some voice synth at the edges...

So, I finished the preliminary flat zoetrophe 10.7.3.1 tract this week. It's super simple and I used the design elements from a previous brochure for each "explanation" page. Each animation could only be six frames long. I have a new admiration for those people who do animation and do it well cause I now know that's definitely not my calling. So, yeah, it was a challenge to get it animated, but the main challenge this week was to get the booklet printed. I don't know what buttons I pushed to cause such a problem, but for some reason InDesign was printing the booklet out of order even though I had set things up like I have always done. I'm still scratching my head about that one. It took me over an hour to figure out what the problem was and to finally print out the few copies I needed, but if I want to save the booklet as a pdf, I'll have to re-order the pages again. - sigh- the joys of modern technology, right? The animations turned out pretty fair. B...

I've been enjoying Barlow Girl's music for a long time now. I love the harmony and the quality of their voices combined. The video includes two of my favorite Christmas songs. I have too many "favorite" Christmas songs to count, but these two songs are in my top twenty.

Sketched these characters a while back. I absolutely LOVE drawing the Grinch. He's just so sour.

Illustration Friday's Topic was "Whiskers" Unfortunately, the first thing that popped in my head was "cat" but a LOT of people think "cat" when you say that word so... yeah, did the next best thing...

This is my favorite "new" Christmas song this year and I wanted to share. I hope you enjoy it too.

First thing that came to mind was a speedy snail for Illustration Friday's topic, Zoom. I sketched then digitally colored it in Photoshop.

I found this screen capture of Erik Johansson working digital magic on PSDtuts+ while I was doing some research for a project. It's so creative I had to share.

  My sister sent me an article this afternoon that got me riled up again. It is so hard to reconcile facts in my mind. I mean, we’re living in a time where this "democratic" government is forcing people to do the things that go contrary to what they believe and in my mind (and in the minds of a great many others) that isn't the "freedom" that this country was built upon. I'm speaking specifically about the government mandating that tax payers have to fund abortions whether or not they personally support it; and businesses being told that they have to do the same or face huge fines...    I’m telling you, you may as well call Obama “Hitler” or “Stalin” cause he’s leading this country in that direction as fast as he possibly can. That's what Hitler did when he was in power. To shut down businesses that didn't step in line with what the leaders wanted them to - they just passed regulations that put those companies out of business - stupid s...

Ok, so I'm having some post-election day blues. I'm really disappointed in the election results - as I'm sure anyone who has read anything I have to say about the current dictator in office can imagine. I was thinking it's like I want to go to a land like OZ - a place with lots of bright colors and a kindly man behind the curtain and a cool horse of many colors. Sure OZ has its problems, but it's so much better than the reality of "home" right now. Today I was able to continue working on a tract for the children's minister. It's another 10.7.3.1 thing, but this time it's got some optical illusions in it. Have any of you heard of a zoetrope ? If you haven't heard of one, and you've seen any animation at all, you have seen one. They're usually made where they have a large cylinder that has small slits in the sides around the circumference so that you can turn the wheel and see inside while it spins. On the inside walls of the cylin...

Thankfully I voted early. From what I hear, there are long waits to get into the voters booth today. I pray that every registered voter will cast their vote and that (God willing) the dictator will be overthrown. I had heard about this before, but someone was speaking about it on the radio yesterday - making it clear who Obama was. They were talking about one of Obama's first executive orders once he got into office. He personally revoked several orders and started sending U.S. money to Mexico to fund abortions. That's Obama - consistently putting action behind what he believes in - murdering innocents in the name of money and power. ( Here's the official executive order And, here's a list of all of the 141 executive orders he's pushed forward during his term at this point). With the new health care bill stating that employers (and tax payers) will be forced (regardless of their convictions) to fund abortions... Everyone knew who he was before he got into off...

Beautiful sketch I saw on etsy - click image to visit artist's site. I took a "real" vacation this year. I went to Atlanta. While I was there I visited the Margaret Mitchel museum. The tour guide was so knowledgeable about the author of Gone with the Wind (and kindly answered each of my questions) so I found that I wanted to re-watch the movie. I know it's a classic, but it's not one I have ever liked. I saw it while I was a teenager and remember not liking it then - I just couldn't remember the specifics of why I felt that way about it. After watching it again, I remembered. I dislike every one of the characters (save Mrs. Ashley, Scarlet's selfless friend - though, no one I know is that kind and selfless so that character seemed a little plastic to me). Scarlet was more heartless than I remember her being. She was the epitome of selfishness in everything she did. Even Mr. Ashley didn't glow in this, though he seemed more respectable than Mr. Butl...

This afternoon the student minister asked me to put some Elvis hair onto a photo of the preacher for their Elvis hair contest that they're having tonight at the 50s Nite youth event. It took about an hour and a half and ended up with two fun options for them. Source File 1 Source File 2 I found these two images online and used them to make the final once I found a decent photo of the pastor. Last Source File Elvis Reginald 1 Elvis Reginald 2

I donno about most of you artists out there, but one of the TV personalities that made painting seem like something I could do was Bob Ross. Today the Google doodle was of him - apparently today would have been his 70th birthday. I loved how he could make a quick decision and say things like "this is where a tree lives". The way he simplified his techniques made oil painting sound like so much fun. Maybe that's why I prefer it over acrylic even now.

In addition to the preschool logo, they asked for a nursery logo too. Since they have a "take a train ride through the Bible" sort of thing going in that area of the building they decided on "Nursery Depot" as the name. Here are some preliminary sketches. Here are some of the glorious failures... Here's what they settled on.

Sometimes I leaf through my sketchbook and find things that could do with some color. Here's one of those. I sketched it several years ago when I was working out a few wardrobe ideas for a book I was working on at the time.

The original sketch for "Hang a Star". I love to draw snowmen and little animals in scenes. Here's the completed illustration - colored digitally in photoshop.

Did this a few weeks ago after studying a photo of AHepburn with her hair pulled back in a pony tail. It doesn't look at her, but I got the hair down.

Was just a doodle I scanned and colored in photoshop. Not sure why he doesn't have arms - just thought he looked cute without them.

Check out this article: Obama's Real Unemployment Rate: 14.7% And then tell me you don't think something stinks in Denmark... to borrow a phrase from Shakespeare. That article shines some light on the figures. Specifically how many people of working age are still unemployed, how many people have just come of working age, how many jobs have been created throughout the whole of Obama's reign and other such things that most of the thinking public already know, though we may not have the number data in our heads. We know this because we still have our adult children living under our roofs, or we are those adult children living under our parents roofs regardless of our college educations. We know this because we're having to accept part time jobs (or accept jobs that are, let's face it, "underemployment") because we've given up finding a full time job within our field, or for that matter, within any field - some money is better than no money. Here...

I did some cut paper designs for my sister's baby shower a while back and thoroughly enjoyed myself (especially since they were inspired by Alice in Wonderland). I came upon this man's work today and was stunned. It's beautiful and makes me want to do some more cut paper pieces - though I'm not sure what I'd do with them once they were done. Carlos Meira , currently working in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, does some amazingly beautiful paper work. I have seen things similar to what he does but nothing done so masterfully. Check out the video to get a peek at how he creates his magical scenes.

I sketched these critters a while back. I colored them digitally while listening to Mustang Man by Louis L'Amour.

Not the most successful attempt, but I sure learned a lot.

Lily Annison - Sketch didn't turn out looking enough like her for me to be happy with it, but I enjoyed doing it.

Here's another screenshot from The Last Templar movie. The lighting was strange and the angle of the head was difficult to get right, but the result was encouraging. It's not perfect, but it was one of the sketches that actually had a strong likeness to the original.

A short while back they asked me to make some classroom signs for the new Sunday school classrooms. The rooms had cute names and they wanted cute signs to fit. Here're a few I ended up with: I made most of these from scratch but for some of it (background elements mostly), I found inspiration online.

Old Man Sketch - Ran out of room for his chin so I kept sketching onto the sides of the previous pages... turned out very interesting and surprised me by looking very much like the man. If I keep sketching like this, I may turn into a "real" artist sometime soon.

Can't help myself - drew another turtle. Didn't make it into digital form though... I've been struggling with this logo for a while. It's a good kind of struggling, of course, but you know sometimes things just don't come together quickly and you have to wait until things start to flow. Well, thankfully this week ideas started coming. Here are some of the sketches I did in prep and then an image of the proofs I'm sending. Alligators are hard to make "cute". I didn't give this one any visible teeth, though I wanted to. Anyway, on with the images, right? Here's one of the first few gator sketches - it was too grown up for the preschool logo so I put it aside. Here's the concept they liked most. So, after a lot of sketches and some head scratching, I ended up with a wooden sign type thing with a gator on top. I thought putting the frog peeking around the side would be cute. I'd have to add some of the usual swamp grass...

I did this one a week ago. It's from a screen shot from a movie called The Last Templar.

Ran across this and had to share. It's so creative and the graphic designer in me loved it. When I see things like this I want to push my typography treatments further, and though there's not much use for that in my current work environment I begin to think I should do a few of those kinds of images anyway. Text Me Bluebirds by Kristin Stein

I've been reading the "Redemption" series by Terri Blackstock. ( Last Light is the first of that 4 book series.) Basic synopsis is that it's about a series of events that occur after the world's electronic gadgets are destroyed by "pulses". I don't want to give much away if any of you think you may like to check the story out, but I can say that near the end of the fourth book, I found my eyes tearing up and my nose running while I read the events leading up to the end of the series. I kept having to clear my eyes so I could continue reading. If you're looking for a few good books to read, I would recommend the series - though not perfect, it taught me things and challenged me in ways few fictional books have. Candle Light by Marie Toutoule Some of the things in the story surprised me, particularly by how believable they were. The main thing was how she depicted the Christian characters and their individual struggles - it was realistic - n...

In doing some research today for a slide I was creating I ran across Jean Francois Rauzier 's work. It's utterly amazing the amount of insane detail that he includes in those photo collages. It's like he is able to somehow open a window for us to experience a surrealistic and surprisingly detailed dream world. Here are two examples of his remarkable work. Click on the images to see them on his site where by clicking on the image you can zoom in and check out the magnificent details he's added. Dedale by Jean Francois Rauzier La Pedrera by Jean Francois Rauzier

Article about Obama lying about his culpability for the national debt rising so much during his tenure: Fact Check Article He blames "ninety percent" of the current debt on his predecessor, but the truth is Obama has borrowed more money in the last three and a half years than George W Bush did in all eight years of his presidency! That man's lack of honor is embarrassing. I pray that the voting public will be careful to check out Obama's claims. He lies nearly every time he opens his mouth. He lies when the truth would serve him better. If they elects that dictator again, the US won't be recognizable at the end of his second term - he won't have any boundaries. He's been biding his time during these first few years - doing things somewhat by the book but that won't be the case if he's in there another four years.

Cardinal done in red color pencil.

A few weeks ago I spent the evening with one of my sisters. She brought over her fancy camera and gave me a few photography lessons. I took a lot of photos, but if we’re talking “good” photos… I think I may have managed to get one, possibly two good shots. Original Photo taken with my sister's Cannon. This is it. I think it’s the best composition, the best contrast and clarity of focus of all that I did that night… yeah, didn’t have many successes, but I did have a lot of fun. I did a rough digital painting of the glass too. Here it is. And the rough digital painting made from the reference.  

There’s just something about snails and cute little frogs…  did this sketch a long time ago – as part of my pre-employment for Crown Craft,  it is still one of my favorites.