Cecily Steele

Vector art is something I love to look at, but have not yet mastered in rendering. I’ll leave that up to some other folks. People like Andrew Bawaidmann does much to good a job, with great design principles, line work, color choices, that I must bow to his superiority.

“Look at that amazing rendering of a machine gun!”

“She has a gun?”

*points*

“Oh. I … um … missed that.”

I’m particularly fond of US Navy Corpsmen, “Secret Weapons” (I love the vector art and rounded lines in contrast to the weapons schematics….), and the Cosmonaut, myself. The Colors, ohhhhh the colors. As much as I cannot or rather have intense difficulties seeing colors properly, these just make my eyes dance. Earlier I was looking at some art by D’Holbachie. The colors are brilliant and exciting and add to the psychedelic trip that the paintings describe and inspire. However, because of the super-saturated color they make me dizzy and sick to my stomach. Not because of the quality of the work or the subject content, but because my eyes are All Screwed Up. Bawidmann has an amazing eye for “classic” colors that indeed refer back to to WWII pinups, but they are also “easy on the eye”, muted color schemes that keep just the right amount of excitement and contrast necessary to make the image interesting, whole, and properly referential. It makes me immediately think of other pin-ups I’ve seen over at DRAWN!, Today’s Inspiration, and I Fail At Life….. More immediately, I’m reminded of the History of American Animation class I took five years ago when we watched All the Cats Join In near to the very end of the semester. Here’s the video if you’ve never seen it:

Granted, Disney was using a slightly bolder color scheme, but the muted, pin-up style drawing and color remains. The style seems to be making a big comeback these days, and I’ve seen a number of artists picking up old pinups and using them for inspiration. There’s a new trend here, along with the Kawaii-Pop art that is mimicking and mocking advertising, cartooning, and other media images we’ve been blown over backwards with since this generation was two years old.

On a related note, I recently read that Toyota (with the 10th anniversary of the Prius and its success)the characters of Osamu Tezuka to promote the
successful car. Interesting. I’d like Tetsuwan Atomu on the side of *my* car. And a bit of trivia regarding Osamu Tezuka … I also read that Stanley Kubrick wanted Osamu-san to be on the team of designers for 2001: A Space Oddessy, but Osamu Tezuka had to decline due to his comic workload. … Interesting.

---

On the animated thread …And The Jetsons are 45 years old tonight. Do you feel elderly now?

I apparently hurt myself during the Figure Drawing Class last night. It is very painful and excruciatingly difficult to grip or pinch anything with my thumb, hold a coffee mug, or turn a doorknob. Whatever adductor I pulled, I pulled it very well.

How unbelievable is this?

“Hi, I can’t come into work today, I’ve hurt my hand.”

“What did you do to it?”

“Um … I’m not sure, but it hurts to grip anything.”

“What were you doing?”

“Uh…. Drawing.”

---

I’ve been starting an interesting conversation about the lack of anatomical knowledge in the spritely, pompus young things that are coming into college these days, what that says for many art schools who have a non-traditional drawing tract, and the possibility of it pointing to a symptom of a larger anti-body knowledge epidemic. I’m hoping to start an essay, hopefully coherent, about this this weekend. stay tuned.

Final Fantasy Moogle done for the Genius team at the Apple Store.

Study stolen from someone’s beautiful website. I am loath to say I cannot remember who I swiped this image from.

I wish I could post the ribcage-to-pelvis ratio and rotational studies done last night during class but right now they are too big to scan. I will have to set up the camera later on this weekend and take a few snaps of the better studies. Anatomically, they’re interesting studies of how the pelvis and ribcage move in relation to each other. Artistically, they’re interesting line drawings and repetitive studies that form an interesting page.

Studies done over the week and weekend. images borrowed from a figure study photographic reference book and a large file of images I’ve pulled from the internet.

I am now an art teacher – or at least will be in a few weeks. That is, I will be with the understanding that I will obtain my teaching certificate as soon as possible.

For now, I have to wait to post artwork until my scanner is back up and running again. Until then, I found this video online that is a beautiful rotoscoping job. Not to mention a little metaphysical.

I’m taking a short break from stealing other people’s photos of nudes to use as practice models in preparation for my classes this week. Meanwhile, this little gem flew into my peripheral vision while taking a break from drawing nudes. Courtesy of DRAWN! The Illustration and Cartooning Blog

Haven’t you ever wondered what it would have been like if Edward Gorey had illustrated “The Trouble with Tribbles” from the original Star Trek series? Wonder no longer!

Indeed. Through a link and around an upload time, Shaenon Garrity’s blog popped up with the most lively and delightful tribute to Edward Gorey and Star Trek I’ve ever seen. Especially so, in light of the article Garrity posts as an introduction to the little drawings.

Edward Gorey watched television for the first time this summer, or so he claims, and in the process the 52-year old artist became a “Start Trek” fan. He watched the science fiction program re-runs twice a day, five das a week and once on the sixth day, and despite this faithful viewing he was yet to see the TV show’s most famous episode, “The Trouble With Tribbles,” which is about these furry little creatures in outer space, or so he says.

Go take a look, the drawings are absolutely great.

From the general absurdity network, the station I was listening to (all acapella) just turned over to kiddie music and this song, “What Kind of Cat are You?” has me giggling. I do not do giggling. Cackling manically, yes. Giggling? Not really. I have to admit it is one long geeky and delightfully funny wordplay. The lyrics aren’t available online, so you’ll just have to buy the album. Besides, hearing a six year-old say “Cat–alytic converter” is just priceless.