I introduced Old Thrubby in an earlier post and mentioned The Collaborative Project.
Here's a taste of things to come.
Tuesday 25 November 2014
Monday 24 November 2014
You Can't Park that There Mate!
Are you fed up with starships whizzing overhead and knocking your chimney pots off?
Well, you need these signs.
That's not a congestion zone sign but a speed limit sign. Scifi aficionados and physicist will know what it means.
What about the rest of us Awa Rich?
What's the most famous E quation in the known universe?
E=mc2 Awa Rich.
So, E is for?
Inner G Awa Rich.
m is for?
Mass Awa Rich.
and c is for?
Catholics? Candles? Critical Awa Rich?
Noooooo, c is the speed of light.
Jokes are never funny when you have to splane them Awa Rich.
It was funny at the time, you had to be there, and be me.
Well, you need these signs.
What about the rest of us Awa Rich?
What's the most famous E quation in the known universe?
E=mc2 Awa Rich.
So, E is for?
Inner G Awa Rich.
m is for?
Mass Awa Rich.
and c is for?
Catholics? Candles? Critical Awa Rich?
Noooooo, c is the speed of light.
Jokes are never funny when you have to splane them Awa Rich.
It was funny at the time, you had to be there, and be me.
Saturday 22 November 2014
That's Me in the Corner
During a conversation at the illustration class on Friday morning, Olivia said that her son plays the guitar and wants to form a band. I let it slip that I used to be in a band at school. Linda chipped in with "Show Olivia that photo of you" It wasn't on my iPad so I've dug it out for your amusement.
There were a couple more with the rest of the band - Sue on drums (yes we had a female drummer) and Paul on Bass (doing his Michaelangelo's Adam pose). The only one I could find is of me (on the left) and Chris (who wrote songs and sounded like James Taylor).
There were a couple more with the rest of the band - Sue on drums (yes we had a female drummer) and Paul on Bass (doing his Michaelangelo's Adam pose). The only one I could find is of me (on the left) and Chris (who wrote songs and sounded like James Taylor).
 |
| Who's that girl? It's me y'daft bugger - it was the 70s you know! |
"A Beautiful, Beautiful Baby"
I finally got around to doing something I've been meaning to do for ages. Sometimes a stupid joke gets stuck in my brain and I can't shake it loose. Probably a sign that I should exorcise it by exposing it to the light of day.
If you live in London and use public transport - the only way to travel in the CAPITAL Awa Rich - you'll see women wearing badges that say Baby on Board. A quick search around the internet will reveal lots of people having fun with this. Journalist Christina Kenny, on her D for Dalrymple blog, has a few words to say on the subject and Em at Faire Do's Blog made a few of her own.
No one, to my knowledge, has made a badge like mine. A baby on board badge might get you a seat on a crowded tube but mine will get you a whole carriage!
I can feel a movement coming on.
I hope it's not that alien Awa Rich! There are enough DLCs around here already.
* DLC Dubious Looking Character
The title is a line from Alien Resurrection - probably my favourite of the Alien films, I like Jean Pierre Jeunet's wry humour - spoken by Brad Dourif, just before the the new born alien hybrid bites the top of his head off like a boiled egg.
If you live in London and use public transport - the only way to travel in the CAPITAL Awa Rich - you'll see women wearing badges that say Baby on Board. A quick search around the internet will reveal lots of people having fun with this. Journalist Christina Kenny, on her D for Dalrymple blog, has a few words to say on the subject and Em at Faire Do's Blog made a few of her own.
No one, to my knowledge, has made a badge like mine. A baby on board badge might get you a seat on a crowded tube but mine will get you a whole carriage!
I can feel a movement coming on.
I hope it's not that alien Awa Rich! There are enough DLCs around here already.
* DLC Dubious Looking Character
The title is a line from Alien Resurrection - probably my favourite of the Alien films, I like Jean Pierre Jeunet's wry humour - spoken by Brad Dourif, just before the the new born alien hybrid bites the top of his head off like a boiled egg.
Sign a Day
My current Illustration assignment grew out of a long ago project - to create fridge magnets depicting pairs, things that go together in the minds of Ymns.
You're talking that Jargoon again Awa Rich. Splane please.
You'll have to read Mitch Benn's book Terra. Just say the word, it sounds like...?
After a few preliminary sketches I remembered the HazMat labels that were everywhere in the lab I worked in back in the early 70s. I'm sure you'll recognise them from the backs of trucks.
I used the HazMat design because it's bold, simple and easily recognisable. So whoever created the original design did a good job. You see one of these and you immediately know what kind of peril you're in.
I created these using iDraw, a vector illustration app for the Mac and iPad. It works like Adobe Illustrator but at a fraction of the price.
An advantage of vector graphics is they are scalable. if you enlarge them they don't go frilly around the edges like bitmapped images.
That's what the kids call pixelating intit Awa Rich?
A disadvantage is - because you are plotting points, joining them up with lines then filling the shape with colour - creating them can be very time consuming.
Vector graphics lend themselves well to diagrams, plans and cartoon images. Some artists manage to create realistic looking images. Lots of practice I guess.
The images for the fridge magnets were not depicting hazards unless you're a moth Awa Rich! but it got me thinking about hazards in a different way. Particularly the way people will exaggerate a trivial situation for effect.
Sometimes people can go beyond exaggeration.
Christmas can be a hazardous time, so last year, in a public spirited gesture I sent this to all my friends and relatives.
This is all old stuff Awa Rich. What about the new stuff?
I'm just setting the context. Patience is a virtue.
But prudence is a bitch! Do you know how long I've waited to work that one in Awa Rich?
When opportunity knocks norl that!
You're talking that Jargoon again Awa Rich. Splane please.
You'll have to read Mitch Benn's book Terra. Just say the word, it sounds like...?
After a few preliminary sketches I remembered the HazMat labels that were everywhere in the lab I worked in back in the early 70s. I'm sure you'll recognise them from the backs of trucks.
I used the HazMat design because it's bold, simple and easily recognisable. So whoever created the original design did a good job. You see one of these and you immediately know what kind of peril you're in.
 |
| Fridge Magnets |
An advantage of vector graphics is they are scalable. if you enlarge them they don't go frilly around the edges like bitmapped images.
That's what the kids call pixelating intit Awa Rich?
 |
| Enlarged Bitmapped Image |
 |
| Enlarged Vector Image |
A disadvantage is - because you are plotting points, joining them up with lines then filling the shape with colour - creating them can be very time consuming.
Vector graphics lend themselves well to diagrams, plans and cartoon images. Some artists manage to create realistic looking images. Lots of practice I guess.
 |
| This one took me all afternoon! |
The images for the fridge magnets were not depicting hazards unless you're a moth Awa Rich! but it got me thinking about hazards in a different way. Particularly the way people will exaggerate a trivial situation for effect.
Sometimes people can go beyond exaggeration.
Christmas can be a hazardous time, so last year, in a public spirited gesture I sent this to all my friends and relatives.
This is all old stuff Awa Rich. What about the new stuff?
I'm just setting the context. Patience is a virtue.
But prudence is a bitch! Do you know how long I've waited to work that one in Awa Rich?
When opportunity knocks norl that!
Friday 14 November 2014
Old Thrubby - Gone Native
In this morning's illustration class at Putney School of Art and Design, Olivia was showing the dummy for her new book. It has a monster in it. A very nice monster.
Inspired by Olivia's monster
There's another book title Awa Rich!
and thinking about one of the characters in The Collaborative Project, I drew this during the show and tell session.
Inspired by Olivia's monster
There's another book title Awa Rich!
and thinking about one of the characters in The Collaborative Project, I drew this during the show and tell session.
Will you stop leaving all these scary characters lying around Awa Rich. It's alright for you, I have to live here!
An Experiment
Or as they say in a Merika "a spearmint" Awa Rich! To think of all those spearmints it took to land that washing machine - or was it a fridge? - on a comet. It boggles the brain Awa Rich.
I've started collaborating on a creative project with a friend from the Putney Illustration class.
This all sounds very sensible and serious Awa Rich
Not really, we're just playing a game.
That's not going to keep cake on the table or a roof over the cake is it Awa Rich?
Dunno, all the sensible, conventional ways I've tried in the past haven't worked so - if what you're doing isn't working then try something else.
The thing we're working on - though it feels more like play, and therein lies the cunning part - is a story, or a cartoon strip, or an illustrated book, or a blog, or a website, or a podcast, or a movie. It might end up being any, all or none of those things.
At the moment we're throwing words, photos, drawings, bedsteads, bicycles, old bathtubs and all sorts of things - anything we think of that's even vaguely related to the idea - into a big heap. Then we'll rummage through the heap and fit things together and see what we can create. We're shaking our headsheds to see what falls out and making some contraption from the bits.
Although we meet up once a week in the class, most of the time there is spent on class projects. So, we're using the internet. To begin with we're sending ideas back and forth via email and I'm collecting them - building the heap - in Evernote. Every week or so we'll review it and assemble all the good bits in a Google Docs folder.
That all sounds very organised to me Awa Rich
Yep, it's something I've wanted to play with for a while. I've only used these internet collaboration tools to instruct other people how to use them but now I have an actual project - which is a different experience.
For instance. Last week while checking the spelling of a name I discovered a treasure called Don Marquis. An American author, poet, playwright and newspaper columnist working in New York in those insane between the wars years.
I'm reading Hermione's Group of Thinkers, a satirical view of fashionable, overprivileged New York society - written from the point of view of Hermione, a young socialite. It's hilarious.
Also - the real diamond in the rough - Archy and Mehitabel. Archy is a cockroach who was a free verse poet in a previous life, and Mehitabel is an alley cat who was once Cleopatra, amongst other queens. They comment on life in a sometimes philosophical, sometimes satirical way. But always amusing and thought provoking.
The Archy and Mehitabel books are still in print and others can be found for free on the internet. This stuff is priceless, go get some now! May the Google be with you.
I've started collaborating on a creative project with a friend from the Putney Illustration class.
This all sounds very sensible and serious Awa Rich
Not really, we're just playing a game.
That's not going to keep cake on the table or a roof over the cake is it Awa Rich?
Dunno, all the sensible, conventional ways I've tried in the past haven't worked so - if what you're doing isn't working then try something else.
The thing we're working on - though it feels more like play, and therein lies the cunning part - is a story, or a cartoon strip, or an illustrated book, or a blog, or a website, or a podcast, or a movie. It might end up being any, all or none of those things.
At the moment we're throwing words, photos, drawings, bedsteads, bicycles, old bathtubs and all sorts of things - anything we think of that's even vaguely related to the idea - into a big heap. Then we'll rummage through the heap and fit things together and see what we can create. We're shaking our headsheds to see what falls out and making some contraption from the bits.
Although we meet up once a week in the class, most of the time there is spent on class projects. So, we're using the internet. To begin with we're sending ideas back and forth via email and I'm collecting them - building the heap - in Evernote. Every week or so we'll review it and assemble all the good bits in a Google Docs folder.
That all sounds very organised to me Awa Rich
Yep, it's something I've wanted to play with for a while. I've only used these internet collaboration tools to instruct other people how to use them but now I have an actual project - which is a different experience.
This is the process at the moment
- Use a familiar medium - email - to send thoughts and ideas between those involved.
- Bag 'em and tag 'em in Evernote.
- Eventually move all communication to a shared Evernote notebook when everyone involved is familiar with it.
- Review and select the good bits in Evernote.
- Transfer to Google Docs for review and proof reading.
- The content can and will change over time as we throw ideas into the pot.
- We can create many results - there's no particular goal other than to generate ideas, manifest them as words and pictures, and have fun.
- If nothing else I'll have a reproducible template procedure for doing this kind of work, but I expect there'll be a lot more than that.
For instance. Last week while checking the spelling of a name I discovered a treasure called Don Marquis. An American author, poet, playwright and newspaper columnist working in New York in those insane between the wars years.
I'm reading Hermione's Group of Thinkers, a satirical view of fashionable, overprivileged New York society - written from the point of view of Hermione, a young socialite. It's hilarious.
Also - the real diamond in the rough - Archy and Mehitabel. Archy is a cockroach who was a free verse poet in a previous life, and Mehitabel is an alley cat who was once Cleopatra, amongst other queens. They comment on life in a sometimes philosophical, sometimes satirical way. But always amusing and thought provoking.
The Archy and Mehitabel books are still in print and others can be found for free on the internet. This stuff is priceless, go get some now! May the Google be with you.
Wednesday 12 November 2014
Microsoft Office apps for iPad are now free
Well they always were but you could only view documents unless you paid for the Office 365 account subscription.
Due to the all out turf war between Microsoft, Google and Apple over the office productivity applications territory, MS now allow Office apps on the iPad to create and edit documents and sync with the mothership via DropBox and OneDrive (MS equivalent of DropBox)
If you're a Microsoft Office user - and find yourself in situations where an iPad is more convenient than a desktop or laptop computer - you can now get the real deal.
I've had a quick play with Word and Excel and they both look and work well. I'm not even going to look at PowerPoint as Apple's Keynote knocks it into a cocked hat. If you've ever seen a PowerPoint presentation side by side with a Keynote presentation you'll know what I mean. PowerPoint looks like 1960s television.
Slight caveats:
1. You have to create an account - just like setting up a new email account, takes a couple of minutes. If you already have a Microsoft account of any sort then you can use that.
2. Excel doesn't do 'compatibility mode' so some older spreadsheets won't open. They must be saved as .xlsx files or converted in Excel on your 'proper' computer. That done, it works just fine.
3. They're not the full monty so some features are missing. Partly because of the operating system and partly because they're free. If you buy an Office 365 subscription you get some extras plus you're buying office for all your computers (depending on which option you go for).
I'll keep you posted once I've had more time to play with them and heard what other people have to say about their experiences.
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