Illustration Friday – ‘Kernel’

I was told recently that my style was very ‘cute’ and, though I don’t have a problem with that as such, I wanted to try something different for this weeks IF something that was far from cute! Besides, when I saw the topic of ‘Kernel’ for Illustration Friday this week nothing immediately leapt to mind so I decided it would be a good time to let my imagination show me the way…

The design of the creature actually came to me as I was staring at the irregular, blotchy pattern on a piece of linoleum – some people see faces, I see hideous mutant plant monsters from outer space, I guess thems the breaks! When I started creating the beasty, first as a pencil sketch and then in Photoshop, I actually had no idea about the story surrounding it or if it would tie in to the theme. However, as the little critter took shape he started to tell me his story and I discovered that this extra terrestrial piece of sentient flora was no pot plant!!

Now the art is done and posted I’m going to pen a story to go with him and perhaps see about posting that here too.

Until then my friends, look to the skies and think twice before mowing your lawn this summer… because one day your lawn may want revenge… mwa-ha-ha!!

Illustration Friday – Jump

“Captain, the core is at capacity, we are ready to make the jump to hyperspace now.”

You may conclude that I’ve been watching too much sci-fi at the moment, but the first place my brain went when I saw the word ‘Jump’, the topic of this weeks Illustration Friday, was space travel. This space-ship, which is about to make the jump to hyper-space, was inspired by a tutorial from Practical Photoshop magazine. I say inspired because I once i got the general gist of the thing I quickly abandoned the tut and went my own way!

"Ready to jump to hyperspace" by A.R. Vincent, copyright 2012

I’ve become over recent years and many Illustration Friay’s an increasing fan of Photoshop which, so far anyway, has become the stand out member of the Creative Suite family and yet I have never really done much with photo manipulation, montage and compositing. So this, as I seem to say so often in these posts, was a learning curve and an eye opener to one more facet of Photoshop.

Illustration Friday – ‘Return’

Okay, okay, so maybe I’ve listening to one too many of Escape Pods sci-fi podcasts because alien life seems to be becoming a theme for me!

This week, for Illustration Friday, I wanted to do something different, both in terms of style and, with any luck, content. Since this year is full of all things Mayan due to the end of the Mayan calendar this December and the prophecies of the end of the world, or civilisation or such I thought that I would use one of the more sci-fi theories of what will happen as inspiration.

What’s the theory…

Mayan society reached its peak somewhere between 2000BC and 250AD. Mayan civilisation was pretty advanced with a system of writing with which they documented astronomical events and several huge cities supported by complex water and agricultural systems. This early advancement in their civilisation, along with some of their writing and art, has made some people suggest that they were visited by Ancient Astronauts… aka aliens! These benevolent space travellers evidently popped in to give them some pointers and, unless you subscribe to the theories of David Icke, headed back in to the stars. Now, with the Mayan calendar coming to a close, could the 2012 prophecies point to the date when these extra-terrestrial benefactors are due to return?!

‘2012 – They Return’ by A.R Vincent, copyright 2012

I always loved the aesthetic used in the PSP game ‘Patapon’ and, having recently done some research on the subject for another project, I’ve also become very interested in shadow plays. So for these image I wanted to see if I could create something using that style. Additionally, I wanted to produce an illustration that was completely unlike the work I normally do, which is very based in colour, texture and details and usually predominantly about characters. Much as I would have loved to sit and create and photograph and actual shadow theatre and puppets this is all done, once again, in Photoshop.

Illustration Friday – Swamp

I guess I should accept it, characters are what I do or perhaps I will do other things… I just shouldn’t go cold turkey on the character design!

As I mentioned at the end of my last IF post I wanted to try to do something that was less focused on character design and this weeks topic, ‘swamp’ seemed just perfect. So I started thinking about it and doing some doodles and suddenly there they were, looking up at me from my sketch pad, three gooey characters that had literally grown up out of the swamp! Not only did they stare up at me with the distinct expression of “this is our swamp and we’re not leaving” but they came complete with an entire short story for me to pen about them!

Well, after a little initial outrage at having my best efforts at creating a landscape scene hijacked by sentient gloop, I decided that I should just roll with it. So I have, with a fully Photoshopped illustration and a scribbled outline for a short story which, once I’ve eventually finished it, I will see about posting up as a podcast! 

And here they are, the Swampies…

'Swamp' by A.R Vincent, copyright 2012