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I enjoy magic, hmm, let me be more specific, I enjoy sleight of hand, I don’t enjoy the new kind of magic where David Blaine starves himself for 31 days and calls it an illusion, or Criss Angel swallows radioactive waste and calls it a ‘mind-freak’, I like the kind of magic where a skilled and practice individual produces deck after deck of cards from thin air 3 inches from your face, while you stare yourself cross-eyed trying to figure it out - truth be told I never want to know how it’s done.

When I saw that this weeks Illustration Friday word was Poof!, I couldn’t help myself - I illustrated the first trick I ever learned, a store bought illusion where you produce a card from thin air and then you vanish it by having it engulf itself in flames, it was a neat trick and I hurt myself EVERY TIME I DID IT, but the trick impressed the girl I was interested in at the time, so I look at it as $45 well spent.

I’ve been fooling with some styles that are a bit quicker start to finish than my normal rendered approach, I really like this segmented approach, it’s fun to do, and I like the results, but I absolutely want to explore it further.

Tagged: illustration friday

This week’s Illustration Friday’s theme is ‘choose’. So I went with the classic ‘coffee OR tea’ scenario - tossed in a robot butler (because I don’t draw ENOUGH robots) and had some fun with a really limited palette, and some low contrast - I think it has an interesting feel.

Tagged: illustration friday, Robots, Spot Art

Had a bit of fun with this week’s IF theme ‘plain’, answered the question where does the easter bunny actually get those fancy eggs. - this one is right from my sketchbook, pretty pleased overall, one of the few recent pieces started and completed entirely in vector.

Finally wrapped my head around illustrator envelope functions to the point where I can anticipate the outcome. Also fought my blendy shadowy urges and let the color sing.

Tagged: illustration friday, Spot Art

IMHO Illustration Friday is the perfect way to start 2008, this weeks theme was ‘soar’ - so I put together a moody little image that showed what a little lateral thinking can do for you, even if you’re a bird.

I’m liking the limited palette, I need to do more of that.

Tagged: illustration friday, spot illustration

A simple piece I did for Illustration Friday, illustrating the word “trouble”, playing with a batik effect, and minimal detail.

Tagged: illustration friday, spot illustration

The more I fiddle with this style, the more I like it, this little spot of an odd little droid was just a blast to do. Of course, last week I did something that really was very robotesque, so this week I had to come up with a robot a little less common. Considering my client driven work is usually rendered like this, these graphic pieces are nice little breaks in my week.

Tagged: illustration friday, Robots, spot illustration

Really just me fiddling with my wacom tablet for 40 minutes or so (when I should have actually been working)… the original idea came from my sketchbook under the category - What did the ‘Wizard of Oz’ characters do after Dorothy went back to Kansas. overall I’m pleased with this, I like ‘the whole caught at work concept’, I also like how even though he now has a heart the Tinman is stuck with a job that puts him in a dark(ish) room, apparently mixing dangerous chemicals.

Tagged: illustration friday, Robots, spot illustration

Growing up it wasn’t ‘traditional’ monsters I was afraid of, I was the only 8 year old, running away from lightning bugs, Bugs where ‘my’ monsters — even today I’m a bit squemish of certain bugs.

Tagged: illustration friday, spot illustration