So, That was Christmas

My Christmas card this year was another in the series of warning signs, suggested by Nissa - a member of the illustration class at Putney School of Art and Design.

I created it on an iPad using Indeeo's iDraw app. This is a powerful but simple vector illustration app that does what Adobe Illustrator does but at a fraction of the price. There's also a OS X app for your Mac which syncs with the iPad app via iCloud or DropBox.

I often rough ideas out on the iPad then tidy them up on the Mac. I created this one entirely on the iPad.

Vector graphics can be tedious and time consuming to create but they have several advantages. I mentioned scalability in a previous post. Also, each item you draw remains a discrete object that can be changed easily. You can group objects and create layers, making editing easier.

When I found a problem with various components of this drawing, doing something else while thinking about it and trying out different solutions was great fun, like solving a puzzle but with something to show at the end of it. Vector graphics seem to lend themselves to iterative improvement.

I've only dabbled with vector illustration but I'm beginning to see how I can use it more effectively. The ability to create a collection of reusable objects is useful and can help cut down the time it takes to create a drawing.

The flywheel wouldn't stop spinning and I couldn't leave it alone.  There was a beautiful clear sky on Christmas eve, and a brilliant crescent moon behind the trees - so bright you could see the unlit part - Old O'Ryan marching high across the sky.

Creating the trees was interesting - here's a clue. Self similarity (for those of you who were swept along by the chaos theory fractal thing a couple of decades ago).

What that needs is a Wowl Awa Rich!

Yes, I was thinking that myself.

Bear With Me a Second

Another bear sketch.

Mess with me, y'mess with m'bear!

Wanna Rumble?

Just Bear, With Me

Last Friday was the last session of this year at the Putney School of Art and Design Illustration class. One or two people were collecting contact information and a couple of my classmates were enthusing about Facebook. I sent them an email a few days ago asking them to sell the benefits to me, as they both had sensible shoes on the subject.

I received a reply from one of them last night to say she hadn't forgotten about this but was up against the Dead Lions so "bear with me" - adding a comment about the oddness of that phrase, and perhaps there's a sign in there.

That's all the prompting I needed and a maelstrom of ideas swirled around my head - or was that just the wind in the poplars.

Good title for a book Awa Rich!

Here's a preliminary sketch - thanks for the nudge Sharon http://creativefoxblog.blogspot.co.uk

Just Bear, With Me

More Signs

Here are a few pages from my sketchbook for the Sign a Day Week thing.

The left hand page was inspired by the genuine HazMat sign for Oxidising Agent. You can see from the notes I was wondering what it might represent in a social context. I opted for Bad Hair Day.

The first one, which is more like the original, proved more popular. The second one seems to represent more than a bad hair day. And yes, I reused the flames from the Pants on Fire sign.

In the pages below you can see the original drawing for the Do Not Exceed the Speed of Light sign and some signage people experiencing distress as there is a problem with the toilets.

A couple of weeks ago I was having similar distress during the show and tell session in the illustration class. After several visits to the two occupied toilets I gave up and crossed my legs. Later, I stuck this sign on one of the toilet doors. I was delighted to see it was still there a week later.

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.

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.

Fridge Magnets

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?

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!