The Festive Tragedy of Snowpeople

Did this a couple of years back as a Christmas ecard/microsite theme for Sun Microsystems (R.I.P). Sadly, it was felt to be not... ah... formal enough. I can't tell why. *stifles mad giggles*

The style was intentionally done like Bill Watterson's stuff (Calvin and Hobbes, to those few who don't recognise the name). It seemed appropriate for Tragic Snowpeople.

This year, I've brought it back to life here (ooh a rhyme!) in the hopes that it will make people spare a moment of silence for all the snowpeople of the world, destined to go down the draaaaaaaaaaaaaaains.

Ze Weekly Nuggetsketch

My first attempt with a new program - Livebrush.

Livebrush is interesting for a couple of reasons, not least among them that it seems to present a more intuitive and fluid way to work with vector brushwork than Illustrator.

Takes a bit of getting used to, though, because what dictates the width/strength of the lines isn't pressure, but speed. The faster I move my brush, the fatter the lines I get.

That being said, I am a total nub at this, so it's entirely possible that there's a way to adjust so that the lines respond to pressure, and not speed.

The program itself seems pretty nice in terms of responsiveness, and the kinds of lines that are generated. Especially nice is that for just US$10, I'll have the option to export the entire thing as vector shapes.

I'll probably play with this some more on my upcoming holiday.

I also find it interesting how adapting to / learning this new tool has resulted in something quite far (I think) from my usual linework... Omm!

ART BACKWASH: Switching from FreeHand to Illustrator

I've noticed a few nick-names former FreeHand users have given Illustrator since switching and all prove to be accurate ironically enough. Here are some I've heard. (Feel free to share more in your comments below)

- Frustrator
- Castrator
- ill-luckstrator
- #$@!strator

See a trend developing?

Yes, the nugget is one of those who still mourns her beloved Freehand. :(

And yes, I use Illustrator these days. Because I'm forced to.

Ze Weekly Nuggetsketch

Having been horribly, horribly lazy about sketching for the last month, I am attempting to get back into the habit.

Back when I was a wee, crispy nugget, I used to read a whole lot of comics. One of the graphic novels I really liked was Elektra: The Lost Years, by Frank Miller and Bill Sienkiewicz. Sienkiewicz is still one of my favourite artists.

And so to get back on the sketching wagon, as it were, here's Elektra.