Art & Design Jamboree [Archive]

Spectre-7

10-25-2009, 07:13 AM

The render farm (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=654) died a pretty swift death, so I thought I'd try something a little more inclusive... No prejudice against any medium or style here; I just want to see some of your work, so come on in, grab a seat and get with the posting.

To kick things off, here are a few of my... ummm... things... most of which haven't previously seen the light of day. Here's one you mighta seen, though.

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/rw_logo_inscribe.png

It bears a passing resemblance (I suddenly notice) to the thingy-doodad I use as my signature:

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/s7_logo_teal_sm.png

Here we have an old proposed logo for In-Game Chat. I think he's sort of charming, but perhaps not too surprisingly, he went over like a lead balloon.

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/igc_shocker_sm.png

The robot below was supposed to be a new logo for my blog. He's been gathering dust on my hard-drive for about a year now. I thought a new logo might motivate me to post more, but good ideas don't always pan out.

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/Roblog_0910_dsp.jpg

Next up is a jacket design for a book I started writing earlier this year. Unfortunately, when I got into the design aspect, I completely forgot about the whole writing part. Someday, I hope to finish writing chapter 4.

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/avarice_jacket_0910.jpg

...and finally, this is a pic I've been working on piece-by-piece for the past week. Yesterday morning, I realized I had a mostly finished model of Domo-Kun, and decided to put together a setting to go along with him. I still can't figure out why I did this exactly...

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/domo_kun_poster_release.jpg

So.... Your turn to show off. Have at it. :)

hunterx280

10-25-2009, 10:40 AM

Cool stuff Spectre. I've always loved digital art but found I was never artistic enough to make anything. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

Thanasimos

10-25-2009, 08:15 PM

Spectre, I bow to you. Is this your dayjob?

Recently I did this. It's probably not my best work, but it's pretty damn good coming from me. I should probably draw more than once every few months or so -- I think I might turn out to be okay.
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1738/tellydesktop.png

In my goal to draw the angriest couch ever, I believe I succeeded. There are some things I think I'll go back in and rework if I ever have another free day, but those are few and far between lately, so for now it's done.

Spectre-7

10-26-2009, 01:49 PM

Cool stuff Spectre. I've always loved digital art but found I was never artistic enough to make anything. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread.

I've always figured that the most fundamental thing in art is having the interest. Interest will lead you to work at it, and working at it will eventually pay dividends in "being artistic." If it's something you can get any enjoyment out of, even while failing at it, it's worth pursuing... and getting your feet wet is usually as close as a weekend painting course at the rec center.

Spectre, I bow to you. Is this your dayjob?

Thanks! :D It's sadly not the day job. Sometimes I think of pursuing it further, but for the time being, it's mostly just a hobby and a bit of freelancing.

In my goal to draw the angriest couch ever, I believe I succeeded. There are some things I think I'll go back in and rework if I ever have another free day, but those are few and far between lately, so for now it's done.

I think you succeeded, too. That couch reminds me a bit of my parents. I'm also loving the look on the teddy bear's face... He almost looks disturbed about the kid on his tummy.

Thanasimos

10-26-2009, 03:55 PM

Thanks! :D It's sadly not the day job. Sometimes I think of pursuing it further, but for the time being, it's mostly just a hobby and a bit of freelancing.

Well, maybe one day you'll turn that into full-time freelance, yes? I know people who are following that route and I understand it to be a very "claw your way up from the bottom" kind of thing, so good luck!

Generation ABXY

10-26-2009, 04:21 PM

I think you succeeded, too. That couch reminds me a bit of my parents.

I thought the same thing. O_o

If this stuff keeps rolling in, hell, I may have to shop around CoG for my children's book illustrator. :p

Spectre-7

11-04-2009, 01:11 AM

Here are some more random bits and pieces...

A rejected title graphic for a comic book that never happened.
http://home.pacbell.net/ven_rand/signed_in_blood.png

A logo for a comic I wrote which I still think might some day happen.
http://www.spectre7.com/gallery/logos/bys_starburst_02_grey_border_scaled.png

This was for a challenge at BlenderArtists, where participants had to compose an image from no more than 10 scaled cubes.
http://home.pacbell.net/ven_rand/hardboiled.png

Here's an oooooooold piece. It was a map for a fantasy novel that (like the comic above) I intend to finish some day.
http://www.spectre7.com/gallery/misc/anya-geopolitical.jpg

This was a set of icons I put together for a friend's collectible card game. Rejected.
http://home.pacbell.net/ven_rand/misc_icons.png

The following two were drawn by other folks, and have my colors on them. They're both pretty old. Ahhh hell... everything I'm posting tonight is old.
http://www.comicspace.com/spectre7/uploaded/5335/1173386972_S2jv6daG4M.jpg?1185110420

http://www.spectre7.com/gallery/comics/it_is_done-colored-touchup.jpg

And last, a few wallpapers.
http://www.spectre7.com/gallery/wallpapers/mostlyharmless.jpg

http://www.spectre7.com/gallery/wallpapers/tardis-blue.jpg

http://www.spectre7.com/gallery/wallpapers/willowwisp.jpg

yeti

11-04-2009, 01:59 AM

Spectre-7

11-04-2009, 01:38 PM

The expression on his face is killing me. Good show! :D

And I'm ashamed (ashamed) to admit that I had to look at the filename to figure out who he was. I didn't think anyone could stump me with obscure Marvel characters, but ya got me. Blast it... I only ever read part of the Death's Head II limited series, and didn't recognize the original at all. Argh.

Thanasimos

11-11-2009, 10:17 PM

The archery club (of which I am a proud member!) tapped me to do a shirt design. Here's what I came up with:

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac127/justwaterandsunshine/ArcheryShirtsmallrender.png

I had a fair amount of fun with it. I will admit that I had to go to a friend to pick out the font. He's actually in school for graphic design, and I must say he picked a winner.

Edit: Looking at this, I noticed that for whatever reason the placement got off. Things like the arrow are supposed to be centered properly; the words are all left justified (they're a touch off right now); and the bubbles are all on the same line (which they only kind of are at present). It's very easy to fix, but I'll admit I have no idea when it got messed up.

Laughing Penguin

11-11-2009, 10:51 PM

Some nice stuff there Spectre. You should definitely take it further. Here's my most recent bit I did (last Sunday afternoon, it was a lazy one :) )

What can I say? I love Lego and obscure Marvel properties :)

http://fc09.deviantart.com/fs50/i/2009/298/8/2/LEGO_DEATH__S_HEAD_by_yetixx.jpg

I used to really love Death's Head, it was too bad what they did to him when they tried to revive and "update" the character...

yeti

01-01-2010, 03:48 AM

boratika

01-01-2010, 04:01 AM

http://www.comicspace.com/spectre7/uploaded/5335/1173386972_S2jv6daG4M.jpg?1185110420

This is golden. It's all in there right down to the absent feet.

Spectre-7

01-01-2010, 04:41 AM

This is golden. It's all in there right down to the absent feet.

I'm so glad someone enjoyed the over Robness of the piece. I don't know if John Salwen is still working, but you should check his work out if he is. :)

Laughing Penguin

01-01-2010, 03:39 PM

You should check out the new Marvel comic called S.W.O.R.D. It has the return of the original Death's Head in it and what's sweet is it's chronologically speaking his first appearance (since his previous firrst appearance was actually from the future) and h'e still as big as a Transformer!

EDIT:: here he is!

http://i.livescience.com/images/SWORD001_int-24.jpg

Eww... that doesn't look much like the character at all. That looks kind of awful really. And why is he so huge? Was there some story where he was rebuilt as a giant? I mean, he was tall, but still basically man-sized. Was there a big storyline after the Death's Head II stuff that I missed?

I found a picture on this page:

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/d/dethhead.htm

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/d/dethhed1.jpg

yeti

01-02-2010, 03:55 AM

Death's Head first appeared in Marvel UK's Transformers where he was, indeed the size of a transformer. I like his new look. Not the same as his cool original green look but close. He was shrunk down to human size after meeting up with the Doctor (yes, Doctor Who!) who tricked DH and then banished him to the year 8162 where eventually he acquired a time travel device and started hopping around and, after fighting a fair few of Marvels top tier properties, ended up in 2020 where he continued his "freelance Peacekeeping agent" ways till killed by Minion (AKA Death's Head II). Eventually the original DH was rescued by the Doctor (see the last issue of "The Incomplete Death's Head"). Alas his adventures were never continued by marvel, until now :)

The design isn't perfect (the artist isn't that great to be fair, look at his Beast!), But it ticks the right boxes for me but more importantly they have his old personality back, including the "yes", yes? :)

Ink Asylum

01-02-2010, 06:37 AM

That's Beast? It looks more like Booga from Tank Girl.

Hotcod

01-04-2010, 11:09 PM

well you all put me to shame :P I've been messing around with starting up a t-shirt type company 'cus i'm out of a job at the moment and my mother is willing to help me get started if only to see me doing something productive. I think I'm going to make it a bit more than just "another ex grathic arts student trying to make money with t-shirts" thing and use it as a well to do a few silly books and other bits i've wanted to do with 2 related styles.

This is the first t-shirt design. It has had a few tweeks since this and needs a good few more and the placement/size is still being debated but the feedback from people about it has been posative so far. Want to get the second of the 2 that i'll start with done by the end of this week and start working on crazy fun half game half website thing... which I may just code in to myspace to start off with.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs025.snc3/11267_335355505229_721985229_10125624_270395_n.jpg
http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs025.snc3/11267_335355515229_721985229_10125626_6143497_n.jp g

Thank god for threadlesses sub packs... not that i'll ever be stupid enough to submit anything to that site let alone something with my character designs on it, there T&C where awful the last time i checked.

Hotcod

01-13-2010, 03:45 PM

I got bored and wanted to play around in after effects, ended up doing a strange little video to a demo of an interlude that i'm working on for the EP that i'm writing :D

xlht6g4iYVs

Much better viewed on the youtube page in HD

Thanasimos

01-14-2010, 10:25 AM

I finished the shirt for my archery club; here's how it came out. It was intended to be on charcoal, but the printer we're going through, while cheap, does not offer that. Only a too-light grey, and black -- we went with black.
http://i.imgur.com/TAdCe.png
Now I need to design us a logo. We went collegiate a few weeks ago, and have just been using the school seal, which won't cut it.

Ink Asylum

01-14-2010, 10:57 AM

Nice design, but I think you could better simplify the four element logos to make them read better on a t-shirt. You could eliminate the layered effect of Air and extend the swirl to reach the edge of the circle, simplify the Fire as right now it's kind of confusing, enlarge the mountains in Earth, and make the Water droplet more solid.

Thanasimos

01-14-2010, 11:07 AM

Thanks for the tips! They do make sense -- enough that I'm sort of hitting myself when I read 'em. ;) I'll keep that stuff in mind for next time; it's a bit too late for this project. The printers have the files and we're just waiting on the shirts.

Hotcod

02-09-2010, 08:56 AM

just pulled the trigger on the t-shirt order

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs213.snc3/22060_459252675229_721985229_11163871_7911451_n.jp g
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs213.snc3/22060_459252685229_721985229_11163872_1919975_n.jp g

maybe being the brand name. I'll be setting up the myspace and such this week so I'll start a thread of it's own then. Likely be using ebay as a store front for the moment. I found a printers that let me print across different sizes and colours in the same shirts. Which is to say that the batch size (25 on each design) can be made up of any mix of shirts that I like. I'm going for 10S 10M and 5L across 4 colours each, which means there's mostly just 2 of each colour in each size which makes setting up a storefront a nightmare since I'd have to be on the ball about out of stock orders. I'm thinking ebay makes life easier for the moment as I can put up each shirt as it's own lot or something. Will just see how things go from there, if I can start ordering larger batches then I can set up a real store front.

Spectre-7

04-22-2010, 06:33 PM

The Blender Foundation is running a contest to design a 2d logo for their next open movie project (Sintel, about a girl and a dragon). The prize is a trip to Amsterdam for the Blender Conference, so I figured what the hey.

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/Sintel_Logo_20100422-02-sm.png

Awkwardly, my concept is nearly identical to another entrant (although the end result is fairly different). I guess having a loopy tailed dragon stand in for an S, and a flame over the i wasn't as creative as I hoped. :(

You can check out the contest main page here. (http://durian.blender.org/news/logo-identity-design/)

Libuke

04-22-2010, 08:23 PM

Awkwardly, my concept is nearly identical to another entrant (although the end result is fairly different). I guess having a loopy tailed dragon stand in for an S, and a flame over the i wasn't as creative as I hoped. :(

I like yours it looks a lot better then the others submitted, unfortunely does not seem very original since a lot of other people came up with very similar looking ideas.

Spectre-7

04-24-2010, 02:44 AM

I like yours it looks a lot better then the others submitted, unfortunely does not seem very original since a lot of other people came up with very similar looking ideas.

Thanks.

Yeah, I'll be submitting a few other designs, and hopefully they'll be a little more original. :)

Nice to see some more competition showing up, though. There are some really nice entries up now.

Spectre-7

04-24-2010, 06:08 AM

Just posted my second entry.

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/Sintel_Howl_20100424.png

Ink Asylum

04-24-2010, 08:08 AM

Nice entries, Spectre. But....well...the energy outline around the dragon kiiiinda looks like a penis. Just saying...

Spectre-7

04-24-2010, 08:31 AM

Seth: When I was a little kid, I kinda had this problem. And it's not even that big of a deal, something like 8 percent of kids do it. For some reason, I don't know why. I would just kinda... sit around all day... and draw pictures of dicks.
Evan: What?
Seth: Draw pictures of dicks.
Evan: Dicks? Like a man dick?
Seth: Yes. Like a man dick.
Seth: I'd just sit there hours on end drawing dicks. I didn't know what it was. I couldn't touch the pen to the paper without drawing the shape of a penis.
Evan: That's fucked.
Seth: No shit. It's really fucked up. Here I am. A little kid. And I can't stop drawing dicks to save my own life.
Evan: Alright, I mean... I just don't see what this has to do with Becca.
Seth: Just listen. Okay?
Seth: Your precious little Becca sat next to me for all of fourth grade. And in the classroom was where I did the majority of my illustrations. I was very secretive about this whole dick operation. Even I thought I was fucking crazy. Imagine what everyone else would think? So I would stash all my dick drawings in this Ghostbusters lunchbox that I had. So one day, I'm finishing up this real big, veiny, triumphant bastard, all of a sudden...
Evan: You hit Becca's foot with your dick?
Seth: Yeah. I know.
Seth: She starts crying, she flips out. Then she rats me out to the principal. He finds this Ghostbusters lunchbox dick treasure chest and he fucking flips out.
Seth: He calls in my parents. Turns out this principal is a religious fanatic, and he thinks I'm possessed by some sort of dick devil. My parents go make me see some therapist, and he's asking me all these dick questions. They literally stopped me from eating foods that were shaped like dicks. No hot dogs, no popsicles... You know how many foods are shaped like dicks? The best kinds.
Evan: Well, I don't... That's really messed up. Supergay.

Thanasimos

05-10-2010, 07:59 PM

Earlier in this thread, I commented that I should draw more often. I took myself up on that; I took a "Basic Drawing" class this semester. Except for the part where charcoal is definitely the devil, I definitely enjoyed the class, and I feel that I learned a lot. Here are the two works which I have on me which I am most proud of. A third I quite like is in the hands of my professor right now. I'll get it back eventually, I think. Probably. The top left in the first and the bottom left in the second (actually the same spot on the lens of the camera) are a touch blurry. I don't know if that's the focus, or if I smudged up the lens. . . But they're much crisper in real life, promise.

The first, two months old or so:
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac127/justwaterandsunshine/MonetCopypng.png
It's a copy of an old work by Manet for an illustration of The Raven.

This one I did today.
http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac127/justwaterandsunshine/ParthenopeDrawingPNG.png
It's also my final for the course. The model is something which I first built and then drew:

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac127/justwaterandsunshine/ParthenopeDiorama.jpg

And there it is. Much different lighting, and a bit of a different angle. I think the diorama is fairly sexy to begin with.

That's it for now!

Thanasimos

05-11-2010, 02:33 PM

Got one back from the professor today. Of all of mine, it is his favorite; so I conclude it is also my best. The photograph of it is still craptastic, though. Why is the left so blurry? What's up with my camera? Anyhow:

http://i892.photobucket.com/albums/ac127/justwaterandsunshine/AlbanySkylinePNG.png

Spectre-7

05-11-2010, 02:45 PM

Heh... if it's any consolation, it's hard to tell it's blurry when one hasn't seen the source material. I assumed those were just places where you'd gone softer with your charcoal. :)

Quite nice work. The last has a desolate feel... very well done. Feels like I'm looking out the window on an overcast autumn day. I also like the second very much. The shadow seems a bit contrasty compared to the original, but it works. Definitely draws the eye to it.

Here's something I was messing around with yesterday. I took an old photo of mine and started sketching over it with MyPaint (http://mypaint.intilinux.com/) just to get a feel for the program and have a little fun with my new tablet. After I was done, I thought it looked kind of interesting, so I messed with the colors in Photoshop, and ended up with this.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3315/4595678262_78020c5795_o.jpg

Thanasimos

05-11-2010, 03:03 PM

Heh... if it's any consolation, it's hard to tell it's blurry when one hasn't seen the source material. I assumed those were just places where you'd gone softer with your charcoal. :)

Fair enough! The giveaway is the name, I guess. Without seeing it in person, I suppose you can't know I used masking tape to make sure the borders were hard edges, so the softness isn't tell-tale at all. Thankfully, there's approximately zero detail to preserve there anyhow.

Quite nice, work. The last has a desolate feel... very well done. Feels like I'm looking out the window on an overcast autumn day. I also like the second very much. The shadow seems a bit contrasty compared to the original, but it works. Definitely draws the eye to it.

Oh, that's not the original. Just a photo of the diorama. I drew it from a slightly different angle (I was more to the right), but the big difference is the lighting: that photo has camera flash on it. As for the second, thanks much! I'm glad to know it still looks good even with my shit photography. Desolate is definitely a word I was looking for. Autumn. . . well, the gray border on that image is actually bright white (though the blacks are still black). It's actually depicting the brightest day of recent months! :D

Here's something I was messing around with yesterday. I took an old photo of mine and started sketching over it with MyPaint (http://mypaint.intilinux.com/) just to get a feel for the program and have a little fun with my new tablet. After I was done, I thought it looked kind of interesting, so I messed with the colors in Photoshop, and ended up with this.

I really like the linework you've added. It gives the whole thing a very cartoonish, loosely constructed feel, sort of like making the real world sketchy. Still, I'm quite curious; what does the original look like?

Spectre-7

05-11-2010, 03:16 PM

Oh, that's not the original. Just a photo of the diorama. I drew it from a slightly different angle (I was more to the right), but the big difference is the lighting: that photo has camera flash on it.

Ahhh... that would also explain why the perspective seemed different. :)

I really like the linework you've added. It gives the whole thing a very cartoonish, loosely constructed feel, sort of like making the real world sketchy. Still, I'm quite curious; what does the original look like?

Thanks. :) I was pulling an all-nighter, and I think some of the sleep deprivation added to that effect. The original (to totally give away the illusion) looks like this:

http://sites.google.com/site/spectre7/Home/bridge_original.jpg