C.S. Jennings's Blog, page 4
October 17, 2012
Sheera
I was commissioned to do this piece of their dog for by a husband (a good friend) for his wife's (also a good friend) birthday. I wanted to include them in the illustration too.[image error]
October 1, 2012
On Cats and Dogs, Dogs and Cats
Cats & dogs, the perfect antithesis of one another. Two species we chose as keystone companions. Are they opposites because we think them so?
Or is it only that we project ourselves onto them? Out of all the creatures this world, we chose these two. Two sides of our nature.
A dog can kill out of cruelty, but a cat never will. Their prey instead just that, prey, or a toy. Death is a curiosity, taken without malice.
Five thousand years with us and dogs are hard wired to us. Be afraid of a dog, and it knows, curling back its lips and growling. It knows minutes before we arrive home. It hears and recognizes the pattern of the beating of our hearts.
Cats with us for three thousand and they are strangers still. Our world alien to them. Shadow companions, barely tethered.
Or is it only that we project ourselves onto them? Out of all the creatures this world, we chose these two. Two sides of our nature.
A dog can kill out of cruelty, but a cat never will. Their prey instead just that, prey, or a toy. Death is a curiosity, taken without malice.
Five thousand years with us and dogs are hard wired to us. Be afraid of a dog, and it knows, curling back its lips and growling. It knows minutes before we arrive home. It hears and recognizes the pattern of the beating of our hearts.
Cats with us for three thousand and they are strangers still. Our world alien to them. Shadow companions, barely tethered.
September 6, 2012
Higgs Bison shirt featured on Redbubble
My Higgs Bison shirt is featured today on Redbubble's "Blinded by Science" page. (And selling like hotcakes! Four! Woot! <>)
Get one! (or another shirt) (by me) CLICK HERE!
[image error]
Get one! (or another shirt) (by me) CLICK HERE!
[image error]
September 4, 2012
Opinion Polls and Character Designs
On Facebook I did an opinion poll for a character design. It was a landslide. However, the loser was my favorite of the two. (And still is.)
It poses an interesting question. As we're trying to sell books in end, do I go with the popular choice, or the one I like? That's the point, right, for the book and the characters to be popular?
In this poll, the popular guy is the expected one. "He looks like what he supposed to be." It's part of why I like the one I do. He's different, outside of the normal sort of actor cast for the role. Also, he fits the physical rigors of the book. The popular one is big and lumbering, whereas the other is--what someone else labeled, and it's one of my favorite words so I can't help but agree--spry.
Spry is good. Here we arrive at another consideration with a character's design--the rest of the cast. The other characters are spry too. So spry and lean and everyone is spry and lean and there's no juxtaposition. A potential bore. Perhaps I adjust one of the other characters to be slow or lumbering. As a chase is the central of the book, this doesn't quite work out either.
As with all characters I design, I will know him when I see him. At the end of a pencil stroke there he will be, smiling at me.
This process, however, is fun and if not fun, at least interesting. Lots of pieces in putting a book together. Minutiae and nuances lurk in every part of the story and its mechanics. Lots of stuff to be sorted out, some of it questions you didn't know needed to be asked.
"You just draw it, right? You draw it and it's simple like that."
Not remotely, my friend. Not even remotely.
It poses an interesting question. As we're trying to sell books in end, do I go with the popular choice, or the one I like? That's the point, right, for the book and the characters to be popular?
In this poll, the popular guy is the expected one. "He looks like what he supposed to be." It's part of why I like the one I do. He's different, outside of the normal sort of actor cast for the role. Also, he fits the physical rigors of the book. The popular one is big and lumbering, whereas the other is--what someone else labeled, and it's one of my favorite words so I can't help but agree--spry.
Spry is good. Here we arrive at another consideration with a character's design--the rest of the cast. The other characters are spry too. So spry and lean and everyone is spry and lean and there's no juxtaposition. A potential bore. Perhaps I adjust one of the other characters to be slow or lumbering. As a chase is the central of the book, this doesn't quite work out either.
As with all characters I design, I will know him when I see him. At the end of a pencil stroke there he will be, smiling at me.
This process, however, is fun and if not fun, at least interesting. Lots of pieces in putting a book together. Minutiae and nuances lurk in every part of the story and its mechanics. Lots of stuff to be sorted out, some of it questions you didn't know needed to be asked.
"You just draw it, right? You draw it and it's simple like that."
Not remotely, my friend. Not even remotely.
September 3, 2012
Redbubble Store Open
I've been a fan of Redbubble for a while now. It's been my go-to for tshirts. The shirts are American Apparel, which I totally dig. Also, the quality of the print is really good. All of those things considered, I decided it was time for me to put some work out there. (It's really easy to get started and add work. If it sounds like an advertisement, it sort of is. I want all of my favorite artists to post their work so I can have more sweet threads.)
I added three Halloweeny themed shirts this weekend, but there are several of my more popular prints on for order too.
I am having a blast. There is more to come.
Check out the shirts! CLICK HERE!
July 11, 2012
Man of Steel : The Particulars of the Curl
At the drawing table, warming up tonight. Probably it's because SDCC is happening, but I was thinking super heroes. Superman showed up on the paper. I took a picture with an old Polaroid camera I had laying around and snapped a shot.*
Then a friend, who really knows about this sort of thing, pointed out, via Twitter, "His curl of hair is supposed to make a little S shape. Cool, subtle design idea, huh?"
So when the actual work was done, it was back to the sandbox to give it another shot.
I did a version of this with my normal shading and lighting. But, it looked better this way to me. Kicking it ligne claire-ish.
... with the effects.
*JK. Instagram.
** As with all posts, click on images to make 'em bigger.[image error]
Then a friend, who really knows about this sort of thing, pointed out, via Twitter, "His curl of hair is supposed to make a little S shape. Cool, subtle design idea, huh?"
So when the actual work was done, it was back to the sandbox to give it another shot.
I did a version of this with my normal shading and lighting. But, it looked better this way to me. Kicking it ligne claire-ish.
... with the effects.
*JK. Instagram.
** As with all posts, click on images to make 'em bigger.[image error]
July 10, 2012
You say Boson, I say Bison
Pretty much every time there is an article on the Higgs Boson Particle, I read "Higgs BISON." As his name is "Higgs," he's putting on the Ritz with a bowler hat and a monocle.
July 9, 2012
July 2, 2012
Kewbey (or) No Bang for Buckaroo
Sometimes a deadline gives you trouble. Sometimes you draw a picture of a cowboy with an empty gun
as a sort of allegorical expression of the situation.
Kewbey
Sometimes a deadline gives you trouble. Sometimes you draw a picture of a cowboy with an empty gun
as a sort of allegorical expression of the situation.
