vicious fishes?

This is a family of fish I have had printed on photo paper and cut out as part of an 'under the sea' relief illustration for my two young neices. See the previous blog! Anyway, I am in the process of populating an ocean with many two dimensional computer generated sea creatures which will become hard copy, taking the idea of 3d computer art off the screen (where it's only virtually 3D) and into the real world...

Illofri - under the Sea

Deep in the sea where the Vicious Fishes swim...

For once I will present illustration Friday with an illustration I haven't done yet, instead of one I've had sitting around for ages!
Okay, well it's work in progress... As you see a gentleman has pulled his boat up on a small island and is indulging in a spot of fishing. Unfortunately his luck is out, and all he seems to be catching are old tyres and boots. Down below, 'Under the Sea', which is teeming with un-caught fish, mermaids are taking the opportunity to clean the ocean by putting old tyres and boots on his hook.
Sharp eyed viewers will eventaully also note that the 'island' is actually a very large fish who is wearing a potted palm as a disguise. 'oh er...' as they used to say in the old english comics!
The coloured mermaid is my neice Maddy who I have turned fishy. The actual artwork I am working on is in relief. I have carved the large fish background out of 6mm MDF using an NC routing machine, and painted in sea colours, eye and teeth carved into the substrate. The part I am working on now is creating lots of sea creatures on my computer, having them printed at a 1 hour photo place (matt finish), cutting them out (leaving a black outline), curving and shaping them, and mounting them on little bits of wire to float out from the back ground. Both my two neices are to be mermaids (it's a picture I am making for them), and maybe their daddy will be the fishing man. This is a technique I am experimenting a bit with at the moment. I don't know how well the finished item will photograph, but it should look good live!

random words that go together...

these wont make much sense, but it's possibly work in progress.
Just a few words I think sound good in juxtaposition (dontch love that word?)

We live our lives in wild surmise,
where hope exists, but often lies...

The clever never think the foolish wise
the who's the what's the when's
knowing all, the questing dies,
the means unto our ends...

and where it ends, it all depends
upon the way we take
paradox and purpose, whichever God sends
discerning facts from the fake...

Where silent truth and strident lies
compete for favour before our eyes..

The way of the wise, the why's of the way...

Awaken hope from where it lies,
lift my eyes beyond the skies...

the Lie of the land is carved in the sand,
lie it all down to gain a crown....

Just a bunch of words I've been playing with. Why's wise is something I think has potentialities, not to mention two meanings for lie - and a heap of availlable rhymes too! Well, you learn more from all your mistakes than from all the takes you miss... If you never go, you''l never know.

illofri - another Robot: Rainbot

I nearly forgot I did this - and it fits the topic pretty well I think! I mean, it IS a robot! Rainbot's job is to water the last flower in the desert, and is delighted one day to discover a butterfly.
I think this is the very first illo I did on computer. A scanned pencil sketch coloured in Corel painter 5. That might date it!

Illustration Friday - Robots!

Today's illo (subject - robots) comes with a poem...

He looked across the crowded room,
Her radiance struck his eye,
Love's arrow struck within his heart...
But he wasn't supposed to DIE!

The power surged, the sparks: they arced.
One glance, and he was dead.
The Doctor came and saw the scene
"ELECTROCUPID", he said.

To see this idea modelled in relief in brass and aluminium, check out my Angels in the Architecture site.

slapstick - how to get a pie in the face...

It IS hard being an elephant at the circus! The things you have to do! It's not just the pies in the face, there's knives being thrown at you by blindfolded mice, who also shoot you out of canons. And as for the trapeze act, leaping from one trapeze to the welcoming arms of Michaelangelo Mouse on another, with OUT a net, can be a tad nerve-racking.

No wonder the elephant ran away from the circus to join an orphanage!

Illustration Friday - Spotted 2

I have spotted another elephant in my archives that might fit this week's theme! Although perhaps 'splatted' would be title for it...

I want the rest of my 16,000,000 colours back!!!!

Illustration Friday - Spotted!

Came across this website that encourages you to create an illustration based on that week's theme. This week the theme is 'spotted'. Unfortunately just after I received the notification email on Friday, my computer decided it was only going to handle 16 colours. This is a tad limiting, I think, the 16 colours aren't the ones I would choose for an inspiring palette. Anyway, digging into the archives, I found this cut-out elephant in a Joan Kirner spotted dress. JK was a local politician - in fact state Premier a few years back, but this isn't in any way an illustration of her!
Maybe not as lateral an interpretation as I would have prefered, but at least I get to put something on the board...

Poetica Schmoetica

In lieu of anything new to say, here's something I found scribbled in an old note pad...

My Pencil's sharp, my brain is too,
but the words? they will not come.
They're hiding somewhere down the road,
and keeping me struck dumb.

They're scared of what I'll do to them,
When I string them all together,
That I if use them wrongfully
They'll be condemned forever.

Well, I can't sit and wait for them,
I'll have to go and look,
and find, and catch, and pin them down,
and stick them in my book.


Maybe I should re-write this to make it more appropriate for this medium, but that means finding something that rhymes with 'blog' instead of book. It's all too hard.