Sketch of the Week

I've still got to fix the flatness. The lines in the face stand out too much. I suspect that good lines don't draw attention to themselves; they simply create form.

By they way...this is Tony Shalhoub, if you didn't guess :)

Can You See What's Cool?

I'm afflicted, and the affliction is baffling to me.

I just don't have an eye for what looks cool. Hopefully this is something I can learn.

Let me give you an example. I've been working on a video game...trying to make sprites and backgrounds that are stylistically compelling. I've been calibrating myself by looking at other games with compelling art styles; older games, mostly, because I'm making a 2D side-scroller.

So I peek at Sonic the Hedgehog, Ninja Gaiden, Mario Bros., Double Dragon, Kirby, old arcade games etc...and I keep noticing that the individual sprites are often underwhelming or ugly. Look at those trees in Sonic. Look at those backgrounds in Ninja Gaiden.

Look at the weird animations in Strider:

The animation is so strange. The art is weird. But it has style. It's interesting. The overall effect is wonderful. It's the mystery of the Gestalt.

"Gestalt" is a German word we Americans have cribbed. It refers to "wholeness."

I'm thinking that perhaps I'm not able to see the Gestalt by looking at the pieces, and I feel let down because that would be a wonderful ability! To have that kind of vision...

Some lucky few are born with that ability. Others of us have to learn it through practice and experience.

It's not about technical ability. It's about knowing what works.

Sketch of the Week

Again.

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke-

Some Advice from a Screen Printer

Oh, the horror!

I am a Graphic Designer at a screen printing company. Every day I get artwork from people that is hard to use and hard to print. In an effort to help my screen printing brothers and sisters...some advice for those who make t-shirt graphics and those who order t-shirts:

1) Vector artwork is good. Everything else is bad 98% of the time.


Here is an extremely brief and important introduction to screen printing graphics. If you don't understand vector art please read.

Vector artwork can be made bigger or smaller and the quality will never change. If you have a vector image it will end with .EPS, .AI or .PDF.

.JPG's, .PNG's and .GIF's are not vector. If I make them bigger they will look worse. They are jagged. I can't print them. Don't send them to me.

Why does this matter? Because I can't print the individual colors of a .JPG, .PNG, or .GIF.


I print 3 types of files...Vector, Bitmaps and Grayscale.

Bitmaps and Grayscale images aren't vector. That means I can only use them if you want to print in ONE COLOR.

If a student drew a nice picture and you want to put it on a shirt, feel free to send me a high quality .JPEG if you want it printed in ONE COLOR. That is the only time I want a .JPEG.

The difference between Bitmaps and Grayscale images? Bitmaps are 1 color only. Grayscale can use tints and  shades of the same color. I can print a Norman Rockwell painting on a shirt in Grayscale in one color.

2) Expand all text when sending vector art.


When I say "font" I'm talking about text. Times New Roman is a font. Comic Sans is a font. If you send me a vector file and you used a font that I don't have installed on my computer, my computer will substitute a different font. The result is a messed up graphic.

If you select your text and go to "Object" at the top of the screen and "Expand" the text is changed into shapes. That means I don't need your font anymore.

Expand your text when sending work to a screen printer.

3) Don't Use Clipping Masks.


I hate them. It's hard to change the artwork when someone has used a clipping mask. Use Pathfinder options to get rid of everything you don't need instead of using a clipping mask.

4) Don't send me .JPG, PNG., or .GIF logos.


We've already talked about vector art, but logos are special.

I often make shirts with big lists of sponsors on the back. Probably half of the logos I'm sent are .JPEGS.

Don't send me .JPG's. I can't print those. You need to call the companies who are sponsoring your event and talk to a marketer or a graphic designer. Ask them to send vector artwork.

If you don't send me vector artwork I'm going to have to remake the logo myself and I'm going to charge you more money.

Do not send logos to me unless they are .AI, .EPS or .PDF files.


5) Black and white are not interchangeable.


Changing text color is usually no big. Changing the color of a graphic can be a very big deal.

Let's say you work at a farm and you're having a shirt printed with a man riding a tractor. It looks great. You decide you want to order some black shirts, so you'll just use black ink on white shirts and white ink on black shirts.

Bad idea.

If an image was made with dark inks then print it with dark inks. Changing a black image to white makes it look strange.

Until I think of more items, we'll call this a day. Happy screen printing!

Sketch of the Week

Here's Junior Gong - AKA Damian Marley.

I'm currently working on getting rid of the leftover flatness in my work. It's screaming at me in this drawing.

Universal Truth - We are all Dorks

This post isn't about art.

I was in Atlanta a couple weeks ago during Dragon Con. For those that don't know, "Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the universe!" I got that straight from the website.

All of this sci-fi, pop culture convening translates into lots of people in costumes walking around the streets of Atlanta.

You probably feel comfortable calling someone who dresses up as Captain Kirk a dork. I understand and so does the person who's dressing up.

Fast forward a week...I'm flipping stations while driving to the store and stumble across a country song. The chorus goes something like, "She cain't even bayeeet a hoook!" It was dorky. But to country music fans it's great.

We're all dorks about something. We accept our own brand of dorkiness and make fun of every one else's.

Let's return to our Country Fried Good-Ole boys. It's Friday night and they decide to go to a bar, so they put on their country western costume...boots, big belt buckle with an eagle or a Rebel Flag and a cowboy hat. This is perfectly acceptable to Good Ole' Boys and it's dorky.

I was at Arby's the other day. I saw a guy in his rapper uniform wearing a hat with the tag still attached. Rap fans think rap swag looks great. It's dorky.

Punks wear safety pins, mohawks and combat boots.
Football fans paint themselves and go crazy at games.
Gamers play for hours a day.

Etc., etc., etc.

Everyone has their own ideas about what kinds of Dorkiness are acceptable and cool.

Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't knock other people because they're dorks for something we aren't?

Just For Fun

This is just a fun little drawing. It's related to a project that I'm not ready to reveal just yet.

Salt-n-Pepa Were Right - Just Push It

I talked about impatience last week.

I'm going to talk about impatience this week, too.

When you're working on a drawing, there comes a moment when the inner self says, "That's good enough. Just move on." And you know that voice is wrong.

You can listen to the voice, or you can soldier on.

You know that you should redraw that hand. The folds of the pants need to be a little more defined. That shading is sloppy...

For years I've listened to that inner voice of impatience when it told me to move on when it was too soon.

Don't listen to that voice. Listen to Salt-N-Pepa and Push It.

When you want to stop but you know it's not time...Push It.

When you know you need to redraw something but don't feel like it...Push It.

When the drawing doesn't feel right and you're tempted to settle for "okay"...Push It.

For now just push a little bit. One extra detail...5 more minutes shading...

You just might be amazed with the results.