Ninja March 19th, 2008
I’m on a bit of a portrait roll.
Stefan kindly volunteered to be a victim for one of my hair portraits. But he’s got pretty good bone structure, so I figured why not? I’ll just ink his face. The hair portrait will have to wait for now.
It was a lot of fun, but I went a little overboard with the shading in the face. I think I just aged him… @__@
But I’m not afraid to bare it all—good and bad—to you guys.
Photo by Tim Moraitis.
As you can see, Stefan’s a lot more cheery and youthful in person.
Happy inking,
Ninja
Related links
+ Daily Monster book launch party Flickr set
+ 36point’s short on Stefan’s monsters
Related posts
Tags: Blogs, Daily Monster, Daily Monster OS, Stefan G. Bucher
Ninja March 17th, 2008
On Friday, I got a happy package in the post—the AIGA’s Fresh Dialogue book. I keep pinching myself. This is incredible—one of my illustrations is in this book.
Haha, I can’t believe that Ze Frank asked if I was dating a Suicide Girl.
Much thanks to Mr. Stefan G. Bucher for including me in this lovely book! It’s an honor, really!
^___^,
Ninja
Related link
+ AIGA Fresh Dialogue 23 Event
Purchasing link
+ Order your copy of Fresh Dialogue 8: Designing Audiences ($11.53 USD)
Related posts
Tags: AIGA, Books, Daily Monster OS, Fresh Dialogue 23: Designing Audiences, Stefan G. Bucher, Ze Frank
Ninja January 28th, 2008
I’m going to head off to bed soon (yawn), but I thought I’d start off the week with a new open source blot! And you get not one, but two blot 23s in this image. One blot is in the girl’s dress & the other is hidden in the butterfly.
I started off with some blue pen & a few layers of gesso. I like to use gesso as a blending medium.
I scanned in my pen sketch & the panel of wood, shaded the girl using the paintbrush in Photoshop, & drew the silhouette for the butterfly with the pen tool. The transparency effects are achieved using the Multiply & Overlay layer blending modes with different opacity settings.
Happy drawing,
Ninja
PS. If you want to join in on the fun, download OPEN SOURCE INK BLOT 23, print it out, & do your thing! Afterwards, scan or photograph your piece & email it to Mr. Stefan Bucher at opensource@344design.com. Then he’ll kindly post it on his Daily Monster site!
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS
Ninja January 4th, 2008
I just bought a new brush, + I thought I’d give it a go.
This is the supplied OS blot number 22.
Here’s my take on it. Can you tell that I had Tchaikovsky stuck in my head? ~__^
The leg in the air is a little wonky, but eh, I kind of like it anyway. I guess it’s not bad considering this is my first time inking since after my physical therapy.
Happy inking,
Ninja
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS
Ninja November 5th, 2007
Ah, it’s been a while since my last OS blot. I apologize for not posting more drawings. My tendinitis has been acting up lately, and I’ve been trying to give my poor arms and wrists a rest. But no worries, I’m undergoing physical therapy for it.
I had planned using watercolor for blot no. 21, but I ended up really liking the pencil sketch. So I just scanned it in and colorized it in Photoshop.
And a random useless fact for you: giraffes have blue-black tongues. ~__^
Happy drawing,
Ninja
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS, Sketches
Ninja October 2nd, 2007
Sorry that I’ve sort of been a lil’ too post-happy lately. I’m slipping into my sleeping at 4am habit & that usually means reading a lot of junk to pass the time. Unfortunately, this lack of sleep has distorted my good judgment, & I’m finding more crap amusing & as a result, I’m posting on it. Yikes!
My apologies also for the delay with blot no. 20! I actually had 2 other ideas before him, but they came out so blah. I’m not sure that he’s all that much better. Perhaps, I’ll revisit this blot later. As you can see, I still have more watercolor blots left over from the wedding invites I’m working on, haha!
Sleepily,
Ninja
Link:
+ Download OS blot no. 20 & give it a try!
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS
Ninja September 21st, 2007
Here’s the rough initial sketch to get a feel for the position + scale. For my OS blots, I use cheap, laser printer paper, so I can discard it when I’m done. Also, it’s thin + easier to trace from. I don’t own a lightbox, + I’m not a fan of graphite transfers.
If I want the end result to be on thicker stock, I loosely sketch VERY lightly on the bristol or coldpress paper, + darken my final lines later.
She looked a lil’ stiff in the rough sketch, so I curved her back a bit in this one. I find hands + feet very difficult to draw, which is why I decided to draw them for this OS blot. I need the practice. ^__^
I changed the position slightly + made her hunch closer to her knees. I then loosely blocked in the shadows as a guide for later inking.
After inking, I scaled down the image + placed the figure in the lower left. Next, I scanned in the watercolor blots. I adjusted the levels (apple + L) to remove some of the shadows created from the tooth of the paper. Then, I pasted the watercolor blots onto individual layers, moved them til’ I liked the composition, + selected “multiply” as the layer blending mode. Here’s the final…
Happy drawing,
Ninja ^__^
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS
Ninja September 20th, 2007
I’m so tickled! My open source blot no. 7 will be in the upcoming AIGA Fresh Dialogue 8: Designing Audiences book! I’m so incredibly honored to be sharing a page such brilliant minds—Mr. Stefan G. Bucher (of the Daily Monster), Eric Rodenbeck (Flickr mapping whiz + Digg live data visualization guy), + Katie Salen (creator of Karaoke Ice).
I was super-excited when Mr. Bucher emailed me the request on Sunday. Thanks so much, Stefan! ^______^
Purchasing link
+ Pre-order your copy of Fresh Dialogue 8: Designing Audiences ($11.53 USD)
Related posts
Tags: AIGA, Books, Daily Monster, Daily Monster OS, Eric Rodenbeck, Fresh Dialogue 23: Designing Audiences, Katie Salen, Stefan G. Bucher
Ninja September 20th, 2007
Lately, I’ve been working on a friend’s wedding invites, + since she changed her color/theme (it’s OK—I still love you), I had some left over watercolor blots. Rather than chuck ‘em, I thought I’d incorporate them in this week’s OS blot!
Colorful smiles,
Ninja ^__^
Link:
+ play along—download OS blot no. 19 + create your own
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS
Ninja September 7th, 2007
I hope your weeks are going well! I’m just happy that it’s Friday! And look, I finally got around to doing blot no. 18. ^_____^
Here’s the original blot supplied by Stefan.
Here’s my lacy take on it.
And here’s the end result.
I didn’t have my brush + ink handy, so I used a plain, ole no. 2 pencil that I found on my desk. I scanned in the separate bits + then colorized them in Photoshop using layer blending modes.
On a side note, my arms are a tad sore from kickboxing last nite (because I rarely go), so that’s why the type has such a nervous edge to it. But I kind of like it. Oh, I still have Feist on the brain (”I’m sorry” is the opening to So Sorry).
Happy drawing,
Ninja
Related posts
Tags: Daily Monster OS
