Post your arts and crafts!

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:

I am realizing that my own crafts exploits don't go further than papercraft animals made using Canon's blueprints.

I haven't even graduated to animals. The most crafty thing I've done is papercraft buildings for my battletech campaign.

dumb_kid wrote:

So apparently I'm a closet scrapbooker or at least that what my wife calls me. Early this year I started working on our vacation photos over the years and have been making digital photo albums that look like old travel diaries. Damn you Henry Jones and your Grail diary inspiring me at a young age.

Yucatan 2009

France 2007

They remind me of the diaries in the Uncharted series. Minus the whole bloodthirsty pirate/mercenary thing. There weren't any bloodthirsty pirates/mercenaries were there?

AmazingZoidberg wrote:
dumb_kid wrote:

So apparently I'm a closet scrapbooker or at least that what my wife calls me. Early this year I started working on our vacation photos over the years and have been making digital photo albums that look like old travel diaries. Damn you Henry Jones and your Grail diary inspiring me at a young age.

Yucatan 2009

France 2007

They remind me of the diaries in the Uncharted series. Minus the whole bloodthirsty pirate/mercenary thing. There weren't any bloodthirsty pirates/mercenaries were there?

I have vague recollections of the first Uncharted game... Part 2 is still waiting in my gamefly queue. When I get it I'll have to see if I can steal any new ideas off them. The only thing close to pirates/mercenaries were the damn gas station attendants in Mexico. 3 out of 4 tried to scam us... 1 was successful.

dumb_kid wrote:

I have vague recollections of the first Uncharted game... Part 2 is still waiting in my gamefly queue. When I get it I'll have to see if I can steal any new ideas off them. The only thing close to pirates/mercenaries were the damn gas station attendants in Mexico. 3 out of 4 tried to scam us... 1 was successful.

Hey! My brother and I were in Mexico this past April, staying in a resort south of Cancun and north of Playa Del Carmen. We *ALSO* got scammed by a f*cking gas station attendant at the "Petromex" or whatever it was called. The first time, it worked... we gave them a 500 peso note, and they turn around and claim we only gave them 50. We fell for it that first time, and I was beating myself up over it for the next few hours. The ridiculous thing was, they tried it AGAIN on us right before we were going to drop the car off at the rental agency. This time, we were ready and cried bullsh*t. Just can't believe how blatant the whole thing was.

We ended up going to Chichenitza, which was fairly underwhelming to me-- too hot, can't climb on anything, etc. Looks like we should have gone to Coba instead.

SommerMatt wrote:
dumb_kid wrote:

I have vague recollections of the first Uncharted game... Part 2 is still waiting in my gamefly queue. When I get it I'll have to see if I can steal any new ideas off them. The only thing close to pirates/mercenaries were the damn gas station attendants in Mexico. 3 out of 4 tried to scam us... 1 was successful.

Hey! My brother and I were in Mexico this past April, staying in a resort south of Cancun and north of Playa Del Carmen. We *ALSO* got scammed by a f*cking gas station attendant at the "Petromex" or whatever it was called. The first time, it worked... we gave them a 500 peso note, and they turn around and claim we only gave them 50. We fell for it that first time, and I was beating myself up over it for the next few hours. The ridiculous thing was, they tried it AGAIN on us right before we were going to drop the car off at the rental agency. This time, we were ready and cried bullsh*t. Just can't believe how blatant the whole thing was.

We ended up going to Chichenitza, which was fairly underwhelming to me-- too hot, can't climb on anything, etc. Looks like we should have gone to Coba instead.

That's the one that go me too. The first fill-up we got someone honest. The second time we got scammed. Third and fourth time they tried the "not resetting the gas pump" bit. My way of getting around the 50/500 scam was to count out each bill.

Mystic Violet wrote:

IMAGE(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FMb9yyJy16E/SkcVBZmNKyI/AAAAAAAAAGY/YA-Ipbw2suE/s1600/Experimental%2BRed%2B25prct.png)

That is absolutely beautiful. I hope you framed it and put it somewhere in your house.

Painting

With the help of some books, I started painting with colored pencils. I decided to use something called the vertical line technique but I don't think my methods are working very well. It should look smooth from a distance, almost like a photograph. It's only when someone gets closer that they can see the strokes. Does anyone have experience with this?

I finished this one in the beginning of the year (Full view).
IMAGE(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_FMb9yyJy16E/SkcVBZmNKyI/AAAAAAAAAGY/YA-Ipbw2suE/s1600/Experimental%2BRed%2B25prct.png)


This is one that I started recently.

Also, is there something I can use to prevent my dominate hand from smudging the colored pencil while I'm painting? I placed a sheet of school paper under my hand and would adjust it as I worked. But the constant up and down motion on the surface is still smudging the colors underneath. This is why I started working exclusively from left to right. What could I use to prevent this?

Sewing / Stitching

Another successful trip to the bookstore. I found two very awesome books on both subjects.

The Complete Illustrated Stitch Encyclopedia is huge tutorial book with every stitch imaginable. I'm seriously shocked at the many different ways one can manipulate thread.

The Sewing Book
provides step by step instructions for each part of the body, common clothing styles and simple crafts. Describes the many types of fabric out there too. Excellent for a dummy like myself.

--

Yellek wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

Can you make Cog tag charms? :D

Umm... I just had Quintin explain to me (kindof) what it is. I don't think it's really what I do. :)

It was more a joke than anything else. But cog tags would still be pretty cool.

pneuman wrote:

Does music count? I finished a new track the other day -- you can stream it here or grab a direct MP3 download. I set up a Bandcamp site for downloads/streaming, too; I'm not much of an artist, but I'm pretty happy with the banner and cover art I've managed so far.

I wish I understood music a bit more. It sounds good to me and I really dig the cover art. Did you ever considering doing remixes?

Mystic Violet wrote:

*awesome rose pic*

That looks great to me I definitely understand how easy it can be to be more critical of your own work, though -- I'm the same with my music, and my wife's the same with her cakes. We just get to see the finished product, whereas you get to see all of the work that went in to it, and all of the places where you might've been able to do something a little better or whatever.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be so critical of your own work -- I think it's great, really, since you wouldn't get anywhere if you didn't know where you could do better. I still think the end result looks great though!

Mystic Violet wrote:
pneuman wrote:

Does music count? I finished a new track the other day -- you can stream it here or grab a direct MP3 download. I set up a Bandcamp site for downloads/streaming, too; I'm not much of an artist, but I'm pretty happy with the banner and cover art I've managed so far.

I wish I understood music a bit more. It sounds good to me and I really dig the cover art. Did you ever considering doing remixes? ;)

Thanks! I've never thought about doing remixes, but I probably should -- all my tracks seem to come out like game soundtracks anyway, so I'm sure I could have some fun with some old game 'tunes! I think I'll go in a different direction for my next track, though; either something a bit more ambient, or something with lyrics (assuming I can write, and then manage to sufficiently sing, said lyrics).

I'm glad you like the cover art, too!

Mystic Violet wrote:

Also, is there something I can use to prevent my dominate hand from smudging the colored pencil while I'm painting? I placed a sheet of school paper under my hand and would adjust it as I worked. But the constant up and down motion on the surface is still smudging the colors underneath. This is why I started working exclusively from left to right. What could I use to prevent this?

Mystic, it sounds to me like you're doing everything you can to avoid smudging your work (which is fantastic by the way!) In the past I've known people who use two pieces of tracing paper to cover the areas that are already worked. The theory being that any accidental movement or friction from your hand is dispersed between the two blank pieces of paper, not to the drawing itself. I can't say I've tried the technique myself but it may be worth a go. Another technique maybe to try using a Mahl Stick (as used by sign writers.) I have a friend who's pretty skilled with one when he paints or uses charcoal. I personally find them a nightmare, but he swears by it.

OK. I may as well post a pic while I'm here. I've been trying to learn digital painting recently, so decided to save the picture at random points of the process and see what happened. Here's the result:

IMAGE(http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/5717/lou4.gif)

Mystic Violet wrote:

::rose picture::

Looks great to me. There is a tremendous amount of detail. What size is the picture?

Katy wrote:

A scarf I'm making for my daughter (in progress) (image)

And that one is done, and I've started on one for my son. Also in-progress:
IMAGE(http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/22/img0068r.jpg)

I'll also have a blue lightsaber going the other direction, once the red one gets long enough. The race is now on to finish this before Christmas.

Would photography count for this thread? I also would like to ask for advice on photography but wonder if that should be in another thread and leave this one for just sharing pics.

Edwin wrote:

Would photography count for this thread? I also would like to ask for advice on photography but wonder if that should be in another thread and leave this one for just sharing pics.

You could make a Photo Critique thread if you feel there will be too many posts.

Katy wrote:

::Lightsaber Scarf::

That's the coolest scarf ever. Your son is one lucky guy.

St.Hillary wrote:

That is absolutely beautiful. I hope you framed it and put it somewhere in your house.

Thank you. It's not framed yet. I finished it and tossed it in a portfolio. That's a bad habit of mine.

pneuman wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

*awesome rose pic*

That looks great to me I definitely understand how easy it can be to be more critical of your own work, though -- I'm the same with my music, and my wife's the same with her cakes. We just get to see the finished product, whereas you get to see all of the work that went in to it, and all of the places where you might've been able to do something a little better or whatever.

It's so true. Hubby said something to me recently that really put this in perspective. "What's worse than a person who doesn't know they're great is a person who knows they're great." I'd rather be a person who believes all my work is crap than the one who believes their work is a gift from the Lord Almighty to the people of Earth.

pneuman wrote:

Thanks! I've never thought about doing remixes, but I probably should -- all my tracks seem to come out like game soundtracks anyway, so I'm sure I could have some fun with some old game 'tunes! I think I'll go in a different direction for my next track, though; either something a bit more ambient, or something with lyrics (assuming I can write, and then manage to sufficiently sing, said lyrics).

If you've never been to ocremix.org, you should definitely check it out. You'll get tons of info and resources from that community. A huge portion of the music I listen to come from that site alone.

ToeKnee79 wrote:

Mystic, it sounds to me like you're doing everything you can to avoid smudging your work (which is fantastic by the way!) In the past I've known people who use two pieces of tracing paper to cover the areas that are already worked. The theory being that any accidental movement or friction from your hand is dispersed between the two blank pieces of paper, not to the drawing itself. I can't say I've tried the technique myself but it may be worth a go. Another technique maybe to try using a Mahl Stick (as used by sign writers.) I have a friend who's pretty skilled with one when he paints or uses charcoal. I personally find them a nightmare, but he swears by it.

OK. I may as well post a pic while I'm here. I've been trying to learn digital painting recently, so decided to save the picture at random points of the process and see what happened. Here's the result:

IMAGE(http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/5717/lou4.gif)

That drawing is great! I really like the color palette and the marks on her face were a nice touch. What type of tablet do you have and what program did you use to draw it? I've tried digital painting a few times but can't seem to get the hang of it. I rely too much on layers and Ctrl-Z. And thanks so much for the advice. I'll have to try the double tracing paper technique asap.

PandaEskimo wrote:
Mystic Violet wrote:

::rose picture::

Looks great to me. There is a tremendous amount of detail. What size is the picture?

It was painted on 8x8 Stonehenge paper.

Katy wrote:
Katy wrote:

A scarf I'm making for my daughter (in progress) (image)

And that one is done, and I've started on one for my son. Also in-progress:
IMAGE(http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/22/img0068r.jpg)

I'll also have a blue lightsaber going the other direction, once the red one gets long enough. The race is now on to finish this before Christmas.

Another vote for the "Awesome Mom" award. Very cool!

Edwin wrote:

Would photography count for this thread? I also would like to ask for advice on photography but wonder if that should be in another thread and leave this one for just sharing pics.

Photography is an art so it isn't a problem at all. On the other hand, a photography thread will be specific enough to grab the attention of any GWJ photographers who would otherwise avoid this thread or miss a post. It worked pretty well for Tamren. Wherever you'd like to post is up to you.

Also, critiques are welcome here. If anyone would like a piece of work analyzed further, feel free to ask for one. I'll update the main post to reflect this.

WTF?! I made a search for "art" before I started my own thread, and it missed this? Well, it didn't elicit very much attention, so I can just as well over here.
I recently started a blog showcasing my latest comics and illustrations. For those afraid of links, this is the latest piece I posted:
IMAGE(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_wQtCpOCARr0/Swa3LXhesxI/AAAAAAAAAHA/dR593UaDhuY/s400/comic_cat%26dog_2000.jpg)
Bigger version.

My computer got stolen so I never got to finish it, but here is a troll.

IMAGE(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e20/Ravenbro/blogshot3.png)

Mystic Violet wrote:

That drawing is great! I really like the color palette and the marks on her face were a nice touch. What type of tablet do you have and what program did you use to draw it? I've tried digital painting a few times but can't seem to get the hang of it. I rely too much on layers and Ctrl-Z. And thanks so much for the advice. I'll have to try the double tracing paper technique asap.

Thanks for the kind comments All the digital stuff I've been playing around with has be done in Photoshop on a Intuos 3 tablet. I'm very new to it all (I had to look up what the Ctrl-Z command did. It'll come in very handy! Thank you!) but I specifically got a tablet that had pressure sensitivity on the pen nib. Setting the opacity of the brush stroke to pen pressure seems to mimic traditional drawing or painting well enough for me to get to grips with it, well, kind of.

il dottore: You've got a very distinctive style of illustrating (in a positive way.) I particularly like the perspective and depth on the final frame. It's the kind of thing I'd try to draw but never get looking quite right!

ToeKnee79 wrote:

il dottore: You've got a very distinctive style of illustrating (in a positive way.) I particularly like the perspective and depth on the final frame. It's the kind of thing I'd try to draw but never get looking quite right!

Thanks!
It sure was a bit of pain getting the perspective kinda right in that frame! I guess that's where being an architect comes into play It was worth it apparently: you're not the first one commenting positively on it, which surprises me a bit.
Regarding your digital painting, I really like the way you drew the head, just beautiful. I'm not very much into purple, but that's just me. I seriously don't understand how you can paint so well on a tablet. I tried, but all I do looks like ass! It's got something to do with the disconnect between the hand drawing down there and stuff coming up on the screen. Wasn't gaming supposed to teach me just that kind of hand/eye coordination?! God, the wasted years.

This is not my project, but I'm thinking about buying some of the parts and coming up with my own project. (I'm wondering if I could somehow work some LEDs into my lightsaber scarf, for example...)

From Instructables, by way of theappleblog.com, the sewable iPod remote:
IMAGE(http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FWA/2RFT/G1LD7UWC/FWA2RFTG1LD7UWC.MEDIUM.jpg)

A kit, or just plain parts are available from aniomagic.com

holy crap, that's an awesome rose Mystic. Ditto for everyone elses whatsits.

Here's a couple of my efforts...

Couple of old sketches (try to ignore the wonky eyes in the first one :D) ...

IMAGE(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i183/stevenmack/misc02.jpg)

IMAGE(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i183/stevenmack/buffy5.jpg)

an attempt at digital painting in photoshop (before getting bored and never finishing it...that happens a lot :S )

IMAGE(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i183/stevenmack/painting1.jpg)

another attempt, once again, never got around to finishing it.

IMAGE(http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i183/stevenmack/portrait-painting-1.jpg)

Here's a pic I did in 2001:

IMAGE(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3319/3271305636_ed72ac0d72_o.jpg)

I'll have to find some more of my art and put it up.

Mystic, that's a fantastic drawing. I've been experimenting with colored pencils and know just how much time and effort goes into a drawing. Especially one as high quality as the one you're showing us.

Mystic Violet wrote:

Also, is there something I can use to prevent my dominate hand from smudging the colored pencil while I'm painting? I placed a sheet of school paper under my hand and would adjust it as I worked. But the constant up and down motion on the surface is still smudging the colors underneath. This is why I started working exclusively from left to right. What could I use to prevent this?

As you're not blending, look into spray fixative. It's available the same place you get your colored pencils, or any arts and crafts store like Micheals or Uhtrects. Get the workable fixtative, as you'll be able to go back and touch up, though not erase! It does have a tendency to darken the pencil though, so test first. You still want to use a sheet of paper under your hand to prevent skin oils from being transferred to the drawing.

You people are ridiculously talented.

my cross-stitch work in progress:

IMAGE(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2725/4162572364_c50211b777_b.jpg)

(click for full size)

Amigurumi Pigeon Finger Puppet I made today,
IMAGE(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2577/4174705485_0f504b1f1e.jpg)

IMAGE(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2643/4175465892_23cf1fb32f.jpg)

Amigurumi Penguin Figer Puppet I made a few days ago,
IMAGE(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2661/4174744307_568991f6d9.jpg)

Katy, that looks pretty advanced. I think I'm going to stick to finger puppets etc for now. I need to buy some beads for eyes and probably some more colors. All I have now is gray, dark gray (almost black, and called denim so I suppose its dark blue), and white.

It actually wasn't too difficult. It's all double crochet, and if you've been working on amigurimi, you already know how to work in the round. The spots are all sewn on, not worked in to the design.

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4180054048_4fcee70f05.jpg)

I feel like I could... like I could... 'Take on the world!

From the pattern here, http://amysodyssey.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/day-of-the-tentacle/

Me in a Mario Mushroom hat I made yesterday and today.

IMAGE(http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4007/mariohat.jpg)

(Pattern). I modified the pattern a bit -- made one extra row of increases. When I made the stem part, I crocheted back loop only to change the texture a bit.

I might not use a D hook again, or at least that particular one. That thing makes my hand/wrist hurt.