tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64817190210068035092024-02-06T19:37:00.115-08:00Alec Longstreth Illustration BlogAlec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.comBlogger319125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-58192791774320975252020-11-09T06:52:00.002-08:002020-11-09T06:52:45.028-08:00Animating My Way Through the Pandemic<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/alecanimation/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="@AlecAnimation" border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHVbeSyp0Kv1xH42Ax3hsq7shBbkEZQhsYp97E4yZd6vUTn6KU-CevNUOCUtlROOFQzP8G4-qIqOx7_QeLMNhOvNn6oyMJhaPRpjXsYVFZQcj1LgyZIJQP4OGzOPZbIoK1JLvdbblvgBo/w200-h200/AlecAnimation.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>One of the main ways I have been coping with the stress of the pandemic has been delving deeper into my interest in hand-drawn animation. I set up a new instagram account ( <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alecanimation/" target="_blank">@AlecAnimation</a> ) where I have been posting animation projects old and new, as well as posts about various animation resources. It feels like a new easy way to document my self-study of this art form. I currently have no desire to work as an animator, so it's all "just for fun" though many of the skills I am building up have also helped me level up as a cartoonist. This all kicked off back when I had the realization that two of my favorite cartoonists (Carl Barks and Jeff Smith) started their careers in animation and maybe it would help me to be a better cartoonist if I underwent some animation training too.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">My animation journey began at the ripe old age of 32. I had been fascinated by animation my entire life, but it was not until 2012 that I finally picked up a pencil to try my hand at it. You can actually see <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2012/11/animation-part-1.html" target="_blank">my very first attempt at animation</a> cataloged on this blog, as well as early experiments I drew using exercises I cobbled together from Richard Williams's excellent book <a href="http://www.theanimatorssurvivalkit.com" target="_blank">The Animator's Survival Kit.</a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB6SNSnb6UM3AxbcpgQ4wdap80qRwwx5yLDmQZfB1dHK-CJuND2N-zcBq9dgYnpcIw7B9ODsWY3lof4YMJGnRyH_OhfvVGsKHcyukbIIgfLcD3mz_KeKjmjveV2gveC0WP1aB0crodzsI/s1024/AnimationBooks.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1024" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB6SNSnb6UM3AxbcpgQ4wdap80qRwwx5yLDmQZfB1dHK-CJuND2N-zcBq9dgYnpcIw7B9ODsWY3lof4YMJGnRyH_OhfvVGsKHcyukbIIgfLcD3mz_KeKjmjveV2gveC0WP1aB0crodzsI/w640-h228/AnimationBooks.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>Over the next five years I read <a href="https://books.disney.com/book/the-illusion-of-life/" target="_blank">Disney Animation The Illusion of Life</a> by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (which I spent my whole childhood flipping through, but never actually <i>read)</i> and <a href="https://www.quartoknows.com/books/9781633228900/Cartoon-Animation-with-Preston-Blair-Revised-Edition.html" target="_blank">Cartoon Animation</a> by Preston Blair. As a <a href="https://www.phasesevencomics.com" target="_blank">cartoonist</a> I had always assumed animation simply meant more drawings for less storytelling output, but I quickly learned it is so much more than that. It's a whole different way of thinking and seeing. You make a leap into the fourth dimension - not just depicting static characters, or a sequence of images, but the actual <i>movement</i> of a character or scene. There is nothing quite like the magic of watching one of your drawings come to life for the first time!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihClnqQSnXWW8NwtJT2119ylln1gimtAC5gzodJJVbTg6-biCje6jPA7Rcd-HKM_tgoYOnaRkUeZKIIjZvgcOJQcEEFA3QbvBGQ5ufc3LquCYsxZ3WASvcknQk4WR_bG1MzYy6KdIvXK4/s1024/AlecLongstreth_ArgusMolly.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="365" data-original-width="1024" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihClnqQSnXWW8NwtJT2119ylln1gimtAC5gzodJJVbTg6-biCje6jPA7Rcd-HKM_tgoYOnaRkUeZKIIjZvgcOJQcEEFA3QbvBGQ5ufc3LquCYsxZ3WASvcknQk4WR_bG1MzYy6KdIvXK4/w640-h228/AlecLongstreth_ArgusMolly.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>In 2014 the Belgian comics publisher <a href="https://employe-du-moi.org" target="_blank">L'employé du Moi</a> asked all of its authors to animate a short walk cycle in the "shape" of its logo for an exhibit at the Angoulême International Comics Festival. I chose my character Argus (from my graphic novel <a href="https://www.phasesevencomics.com/books/basewood/" target="_blank">Basewood</a>). You can see my process posts on this blog: <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2014/10/lemploye-du-moi-animation-part-1.html" target="_blank">Part 1</a> - <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2014/10/lemploye-du-moi-animation-part-2.html" target="_blank">Part 2</a> - <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2014/11/lemploye-du-moi-animation-part-3.html" target="_blank">Part 3</a> - <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2014/11/lemploye-du-moi-animation-part-4.html" target="_blank">Part 4</a> - <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2014/11/lemploye-du-moi-animation-part-5.html" target="_blank">Part 5</a>. Then in 2015, I created an animated holiday e-Card for <a href="https://www.thehpalliance.org" target="_blank">The Harry Potter Alliance</a> (there's a <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2015/12/happy-holidays-from-molly-weasley.html" target="_blank">process post here</a>). With both of these projects I learned <i>so</i> much, and also had a ton of fun. It lead me further and further down the animation rabbit hole.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOgT_KKiJyYr0HedIShNS8NptFtEA5PsRnZRXLMt-rakBavQ4sO-hvJaKZF9Hh5t7o1m48llF_TbE8XprFO4D7vw90m-i0oBbayxTn2-D5xMVxeggRhju8n0qNSBz3gnubvO6jxFwMGyE/s720/ITHDA_Logo_Export.gif" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOgT_KKiJyYr0HedIShNS8NptFtEA5PsRnZRXLMt-rakBavQ4sO-hvJaKZF9Hh5t7o1m48llF_TbE8XprFO4D7vw90m-i0oBbayxTn2-D5xMVxeggRhju8n0qNSBz3gnubvO6jxFwMGyE/w640-h480/ITHDA_Logo_Export.gif" width="640" /></a></div><div>After a decade of teaching the same comics workshops every summer at <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org" target="_blank">The Center for Cartoon Studies,</a> I was burned out, so in 2017 I pitched the idea of teaching an animation workshop instead. <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/" target="_blank">I've taught it every summer since</a> and it has been so wonderful to have an "official" place to share my enthusiasm for this art form, and all the different ways it has influenced my cartooning practice. It also gave me an excuse to continue learning as much as I can about animation!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/introduction-to-hand-drawn-animation-winter/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1662" height="416" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpcY92sLC7qsG5QHkc2CQLxf1BMMaPgNYvhHd1lzL7qpuq72uGWZRArEyfFvbsQRhWb3t-5KevJoQYCuwgt68NtWbxLJkdWNaSdVPdw7DYpUyJw8lScIbpzAGvvdHruWRWpAi2WqseKbE/w640-h416/AnimationBanner_Winter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Because of the pandemic, last summer's workshop was held 100% online, with the students creating all of their work using <a href="http://roughanimator.com" target="_blank">RoughAnimator</a> (an amazingly powerful piece of animation software for Mac and PC which only costs $5) and the <a href="https://syncsketch.com/" target="_blank">SyncSketch</a> platform for sharing work. It all went very smoothly, so I'm pleased to say that I will again be conducting my <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/introduction-to-hand-drawn-animation-winter/" target="_blank">Introduction to Hand-Drawn Animation workshop</a> online, this time during the CCS winter break, January 11-15. Classes are synchronous from 11am-5pm ET Monday through Friday. It is a very intense week where we cover the principles of animation, a simple walk cycle and a looping final project. You can see samples of past students' work and find more information on <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/introduction-to-hand-drawn-animation-winter/" target="_blank">the workshop page!</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There are needs-based scholarships, which all workshops students can apply for, as well as our standard 50% discount offered to all CCS alumni, current students and staff. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/scholarships-for-bipoc-cartoonists/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="570" data-original-width="800" height="456" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjsCmUhj_mP4dLork04tbRXWo9C-0plntyY59LW_iQwIYtjBpvGUW7QzQI0TLy-hrb4OPuNvu9GKQmR9p9TdUPwHScZvl_LYsH2cd204mdS50joFnV2CYeml58KCmaZ_wPMCNErXFi6UQ/w640-h456/CCS_WW-banner_BipocScholarship.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This year we're also adding an exciting new <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/scholarships-for-bipoc-cartoonists/" target="_blank">merit-based scholarship to support professional development for BIPOC cartoonists.</a> The application process is super simple (basically, submit a piece of your best work by December 1st) and then a committee of faculty and staff will review the work and award one full scholarship for each of the three Winter Workshops (there's also <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/digital-coloring-for-comics-winter/" target="_blank">Digital Coloring for Comics</a> and <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/graphic-memoir-workshop-winter/" target="_blank">Graphic Memoir</a>). Please help us spread the word about this awesome opportunity! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPr8rVmL0rnUXQTK6cIfDqNZ66WSkvbtuo5Uk3xduv2_hsriXFGF53vhPdEfi2mSbxTUVKfaJZfy0ylcmByP8XmsCFB2kAQQ43MQqtu792KwiKDe2W6W1o3vvyvgoc8trW_RIV-S9NZJE/s1024/40-AnimationOverload.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="512" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPr8rVmL0rnUXQTK6cIfDqNZ66WSkvbtuo5Uk3xduv2_hsriXFGF53vhPdEfi2mSbxTUVKfaJZfy0ylcmByP8XmsCFB2kAQQ43MQqtu792KwiKDe2W6W1o3vvyvgoc8trW_RIV-S9NZJE/w640-h320/40-AnimationOverload.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When I turned 40 last year, I decided that <i>animation</i> was going to be my mid-life crisis. I bought more instructional animation books, as well as some new equipment (an "Acme" Hole Punch, a <a href="https://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/wacom-one" target="_blank">Wacom One Pen Tablet</a>, etc.), and signed up for a bunch of online animation classes. As I began working on homework assignments and little projects here and there I became more and more obsessed with animation. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When the pandemic hit, my day job became very stressful. I started animating every week on Friday nights after my kids went to sleep, for stress relief. Animation is so complicated that when I am working on it, I am unable to think about anything else. I put on some jazz music (I'm currently on an Oscar Peterson deep dive) and just get lost in the flow of animating. It is incredibly relaxing for me.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhOXMMCQ7HuaVFG6q9JkDtQcOvDl741vPn5dl-2NsckvWcEIyNc8nwStMEwbCfPCLV_0Lmwze5-xd0RkAGlDBprOWm534qwPgySBSKSElnNT2ldHPgWIO5xeYP1XdPG9IroEv4-hLAO8/s1024/AlecAnimation_InstagramSamples.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="516" data-original-width="1024" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuhOXMMCQ7HuaVFG6q9JkDtQcOvDl741vPn5dl-2NsckvWcEIyNc8nwStMEwbCfPCLV_0Lmwze5-xd0RkAGlDBprOWm534qwPgySBSKSElnNT2ldHPgWIO5xeYP1XdPG9IroEv4-hLAO8/w640-h322/AlecAnimation_InstagramSamples.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I set up my <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alecanimation/" target="_blank">@AlecAnimation</a> account on instagram, because it's a great platform for sharing small videos of my animations, as well as photos of the animation books I'm reading, websites I'm using to learn various skills, movies I'm watching, as well as other resources. I see it as a direct extension of my animation workshop, where people can follow along with my journey as I teach myself this amazing art form. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I thought that posting new work every Friday would help me scratch the animation itch, but somehow it only triggered a frustration that I couldn't spend <i>more</i> time animating! All day, every day, I was thinking about animation, but because I was only able to work on it on Fridays, it was driving me crazy. After a lot of soul searching, I finally decided in October to begin animating <b>every</b> day (similar to my <a href="https://www.alec-longstreth.com/comics/comics_love/5/" target="_blank">Draw Comics EVERY Day vow,</a> which I have stuck to for the last twenty years). I managed to keep this up all through October, and it has been amazing how much easier it is to learn and improve when I do something every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes or so. I hope I can continue this practice moving forward!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOLxqlrNUzlx8LkCK5v0AzjNg6Tbotjn_zZP1QxIgscBaFO2tv5SRg8XqARFEcSDea0AZka1u641W7QpXzYXCfz_cX3vsPdHsuiqXtNQBjk64GspZH0UJ559lJXZYBF3V_u6ow79zmyC0/s1024/DigitalAnimationWorkstation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="930" data-original-width="1024" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOLxqlrNUzlx8LkCK5v0AzjNg6Tbotjn_zZP1QxIgscBaFO2tv5SRg8XqARFEcSDea0AZka1u641W7QpXzYXCfz_cX3vsPdHsuiqXtNQBjk64GspZH0UJ559lJXZYBF3V_u6ow79zmyC0/w640-h582/DigitalAnimationWorkstation.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">One of the biggest challenges was shaking off my own stigma about working digitally. I prefer working on paper, but to make the best use of my limited time I decided it made more sense to work solely on the computer (mostly to cut down on time spent photographing/scanning drawings and having to compile them, though there are other advantages as well). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I realized that I mentally catagorize time spent at my computer as "work" and time spent at my drawing table as "art." My wife <a href="http://www.clairesanders.net" target="_blank">Claire</a> and I were already rearranging some furniture last month, and I was able to snag two small shelves which I used to build my own little digital animation work space. This tiny desk has made a huge difference for me. I can sit down and begin animating immediately without having to set anything up, and all my reference materials and text books are within easy reach. I'm starting to get the "art" feeling in front of the computer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So I guess that's it. This is where I'll be sitting a little bit each day from now on, delving deeper and deeper into the animation art form, learning as much as I can, and sharing my journey with as many folks as I can through <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/introduction-to-hand-drawn-animation-winter/" target="_blank">my workshop</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/alecanimation/" target="_blank">instagram account.</a> I hope some of you will join me!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div></div>Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-66335604015914131552019-12-24T13:24:00.000-08:002019-12-28T21:52:12.990-08:00Picture Book Workshop!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nrT78G_9zYqeXR4InPfDIF9pWAW6ENxIZ4gvgEFFaw2tqi8BsNwlF7qKBmsqraslcaCNg5DwXoX5Ue8LE8CwzwB7FIE8n2QNgwKhiEqKsjuUqFMHbYs1J9AZ-BOdXzEwObyiSjBXHR8/s1600/BH_PBW-Flyer-LowRes-Web-v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1036" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nrT78G_9zYqeXR4InPfDIF9pWAW6ENxIZ4gvgEFFaw2tqi8BsNwlF7qKBmsqraslcaCNg5DwXoX5Ue8LE8CwzwB7FIE8n2QNgwKhiEqKsjuUqFMHbYs1J9AZ-BOdXzEwObyiSjBXHR8/s640/BH_PBW-Flyer-LowRes-Web-v2.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
<br />
Early in the new year I will be teaching a Picture Book Workshop in Santa Fe at <a href="https://www.beehivekidsbooks.com/" target="_blank">Bee Hive Kids' Books.</a> The class will meet on four consecutive Tuesdays, from 6-8pm: January 15th, 22nd, 29th and February 5th. This will give participants a week between each session to complete the homework. Each assignment builds upon the previous session's work, with a goal of creating a complete picture book manuscript and sample illustration by the end of the course. <br />
<br />
I will be sharing my experiences working as a professional illustrator, creating picture books by myself and with authors, as well as tips for working in traditional publishing and how to self-publish your own picture books.<br />
<br />
I taught a Children's Book Summer Workshop in 2012 at <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops/" target="_blank">The Center for Cartoon Studies</a> which was so much fun! Ever since, I've wanted to try it again, and now I've finally got the chance. You can sign up for the course over on the <a href="https://www.beehivekidsbooks.com/?q=p.writing_worksho" target="_blank">Bee Hive Writing Workshops webpage.</a> Space is limited!Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-67152089581528340232019-05-12T13:33:00.002-07:002019-05-12T13:33:44.996-07:00"It's Been So Long" Weezer Fan Club Exclusive 7"!I recently had the honor of illustrating the jacket and label art for the 2019 <a href="https://www.weezerfanclub.app/" target="_blank">Weezer Fan Club</a> exclusive 7" record. The project was art directed by Karl Koch, the band's longtime archivist and "jack of all trades." Unlike some of <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/search/label/Weezer" target="_blank">my previous illustration projects with Weezer,</a> I had plenty of time to work on this one, so I had a lot of fun loading the illustrations up with tons of detail. Below you can see some behind the scenes photos from my process. <i>(You can click on any of these images to see them bigger!)</i><br />
<br />
This is the third Weezer Fan Club exclusive 7" record, and it features a great track,<a href="https://youtu.be/Y-RWv84QJcY" target="_blank"> It's Been So Long.</a> Karl described it to me as a 2014, <i>Everything Will Be Alright In The End</i>-era b-side, similar in spirit to the Beach Boys song<a href="https://youtu.be/8fUyRp0NEzo" target="_blank"> Do It Again.</a> He asked that I try out ideas that were more abstract than just literal interpretations of the lyrics, and suggested an idea of the members of Weezer driving in their first tour van, Betsy. Below, left, you can see my sketchbook page where I am trying to process all of this information, along with considering the previous fan club 7" record designs. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnBeq4YR5JJZHe379vTjycXYWPlXthE3D6yyw_QdXWXF16Qo_9Iuix0RyhKJ6FaJ0LTOhMoW_GxCy7_sU7TRHDxn8TWZnCx3-PlE6sn_J6R5NNGx_0ZqYQ9Sy1kvKuAWXgw2APazu8GE/s1600/ISBL_Sketches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="845" data-original-width="1479" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLnBeq4YR5JJZHe379vTjycXYWPlXthE3D6yyw_QdXWXF16Qo_9Iuix0RyhKJ6FaJ0LTOhMoW_GxCy7_sU7TRHDxn8TWZnCx3-PlE6sn_J6R5NNGx_0ZqYQ9Sy1kvKuAWXgw2APazu8GE/s640/ISBL_Sketches.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I thumbnailed about 30 ideas and the culled the best 15 to send to Karl. The one he liked best was a design from the point of view of Rivers driving Betsy through the desert at sunset (above, right). Once he had selected that front jacket design, I thumbnailed a back jacket design of the van broken down (which Betsy apparently did quite frequently). <br />
<br />
This seemed appropriate, but there was a problem - the designs depict the band in 1994, when Matt Sharp was the bassist of Weezer, but "It's Been So Long" obviously features Scott Shriner, Weezer's current bass player. It didn't seem right that Matt should be on there, but not Scott, but it also felt wrong to leave Matt out of the history of this image. I then had the idea to have Scott driving by on the freeway, blissfully unaware of the small touring band broken down on the side of the road, which he would someday be a member of. All the guys were living in California at the time, so this <i>could</i> have happened! As the cartoonist Don Rosa often says in the notes of his historical fiction stories: "Prove that it <i>didn't</i> happen!" :)<br />
<br />
<div>
Karl set me up with a dozen reference photos of Betsey, the band, and various ephemera from that era, and then we both did a deep dive on Google Image Search for dashboard and interior photos of 1985 Dodge Prospectors (the van) and 1980 Dodge Challengers (Scott's car). Overall, 60 reference photos were used to ensure maximum accuracy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIG4iTJ6MsTBeS_E7qqPn5Zl7qWfVTdqFx84HKTXiiqVPdiwnSAooHwH1jox4axXb73kLsjxf_deeeJzCx0O-__FpGP5Bn6CDLdKHwf1dh85lqGd92k4HEB2EboBBERjfmyreevNyhCFc/s1600/IBSL_CarReference.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1600" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIG4iTJ6MsTBeS_E7qqPn5Zl7qWfVTdqFx84HKTXiiqVPdiwnSAooHwH1jox4axXb73kLsjxf_deeeJzCx0O-__FpGP5Bn6CDLdKHwf1dh85lqGd92k4HEB2EboBBERjfmyreevNyhCFc/s640/IBSL_CarReference.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I started with the front jacket illustration. Below you can see the in-progress pencils next to the finished illustration. When I'm working on something really detailed like this it helps me to use multiple lead colors (black, blue, red) to visually keep track of different parts of the image.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Y0iJUF15LhS1dy6qq__qAJ-6QadPel0CjNGeAlK1wFeleCDVBiu7_uDIcBYZlNsA0Cl3e57cMrzVqGgpccVpjwtYCswqAeDVCzJyIaLWXqay04czF8AJlV2DWeqHEYXaBH1it7R5iWA/s1600/IBSL_FrontJacket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="909" data-original-width="1600" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Y0iJUF15LhS1dy6qq__qAJ-6QadPel0CjNGeAlK1wFeleCDVBiu7_uDIcBYZlNsA0Cl3e57cMrzVqGgpccVpjwtYCswqAeDVCzJyIaLWXqay04czF8AJlV2DWeqHEYXaBH1it7R5iWA/s640/IBSL_FrontJacket.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The image is loaded with "easter eggs": <b>1)</b> In Karl's reference photos, there was a Jabba the Hutt action figure velcroed to the dashboard, which sat in a custom-cut piece of white carpet that lined the entire dashboard. <b>2)</b> I set the odometer to 99,999 miles, so this illustration is taking place in that magic moment when you "turn over" the odometer back to 00,000. Also the trip odometer is set to 199.4 miles, to hint at the year of this tour. <b>3)</b> The only lyric I directly lifted from the song was "It's been so long / since we put the Smashing Pumpkins on" by including their album <i>Siamese Dream</i> (released in 1993) on CD, plus a tape-adapter. There are also Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin tapes hiding in the back there. <b>4)</b> Strapped to the visor are a collection of backstage pass laminates from this era of Weezer touring. The one seen in the front is from the band Lush, which Weezer opened for in the summer of 1994. <b>5)</b> This is the first, really poor quality Weezer sticker that their label initially printed. They were just cheap paper stickers - the very first Weezer promotional "merch." <b>6)</b> <a href="http://www.phasesevencomics.com/archive/018/#18" target="_blank">I remember vividly</a> Rivers having a band-aid on his right middle finger the first time I saw them perform live, and he said it was from playing guitar every night. So I included that here. <b>7)</b> I also drew Rivers's eyes a bit bigger than normal in the rearview mirror because it seems like in all the photographs from that era his glasses lenses were really thick, and his eyes always seem a bit enlarged.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwy_N8Hs8LFJZRMvQU_ZIM-2jOrYNE7HcC5xbR-pNddCu2MkNJooaG1dNP6nmPhAoZfjRDfUWOOrBGghMtlZBaeCKiE4pp_pfM9gsEx8QLrkLDpoXEnpNG2vpx06ipjm-8fVOeovQqSE/s1600/IBSL_Details.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="296" data-original-width="1600" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNwy_N8Hs8LFJZRMvQU_ZIM-2jOrYNE7HcC5xbR-pNddCu2MkNJooaG1dNP6nmPhAoZfjRDfUWOOrBGghMtlZBaeCKiE4pp_pfM9gsEx8QLrkLDpoXEnpNG2vpx06ipjm-8fVOeovQqSE/s640/IBSL_Details.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Instead of pencils for the back jacket art, I thought I'd include the digital sketch that I mocked up in Photoshop, which shows how I modify the reference photos to make sure their perspectives are both heading towards the same vanishing points. Then I print that out and use a lightbox to trace it onto a piece of bristol board. In this image Karl and Pat are trying to fix the engine, Rivers is noodling on his guitar, Brian and Matt are playing hacky sack (a nod to the <a href="https://youtu.be/ENXvZ9YRjbo" target="_blank">Say It Ain't So video</a>) and Scott is serenely cruising by. Every detail of this image is meticulously researched, from the outfits and shoes to haircuts, tattoos, etc. My only liberty was giving Scott the license plate "SGS 711" which I'm not sure if he had or not back then, but thought he would appreciate now.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5n_bVCsHpOzOmR5zSpaPS-DfdqEG9gocNumTWjXQcMbPAW5MfPROmTlZrJRBH-dxCTbhrOqa01R_-PwmOOcckn7E8eQ1C5Ru2qDE38c-C0V_3TMFrrwrC9V1fivzyNqfYBGKWgEZAgI/s1600/IBSL_BackJacket.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="842" data-original-width="1600" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf5n_bVCsHpOzOmR5zSpaPS-DfdqEG9gocNumTWjXQcMbPAW5MfPROmTlZrJRBH-dxCTbhrOqa01R_-PwmOOcckn7E8eQ1C5Ru2qDE38c-C0V_3TMFrrwrC9V1fivzyNqfYBGKWgEZAgI/s640/IBSL_BackJacket.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If it had all ended there, this would have been the coolest illustration gig of my life, but then I <i>also</i> got to design and illustrate the labels for the 7" vinyl record! In the first "thumbnail" image you can see some of the ideas I pitched Karl for the A and B sides of the label. In the end, we decided to pull circular elements directly from the car, but replace the lettering to give information about the song. It was interesting trying to evenly distribute lettering and other design elements radially. The A side label was one of Betsy's tires, with the lettering "Remington Wide Brute" replaced with the band's name and the song title, matching the style of type.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9a3SckEBcr7XdAjebru02S7kAKPIUaw41cvkbaIMrxxLh29wfBdYyASI8TtB5EMCYqHWxIVisVuGCFyGPGUklmavuqD6ElDHb8EddWj6YpKwqSRy6wDoGTyCc0RS1YzSDxOWbvyrYCA/s1600/IBSL_A_Label.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="816" data-original-width="1600" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx9a3SckEBcr7XdAjebru02S7kAKPIUaw41cvkbaIMrxxLh29wfBdYyASI8TtB5EMCYqHWxIVisVuGCFyGPGUklmavuqD6ElDHb8EddWj6YpKwqSRy6wDoGTyCc0RS1YzSDxOWbvyrYCA/s640/IBSL_A_Label.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For the B side label I redrew the speedometer and odometer from Betsy's dashboard. The "miles" were set to "WFC003" (to mark that this was the third Weezer Fan Club release) and the trip odometer was set to 201.8 miles because I drew this in 2018 and I thought it would be released that year, but it was delayed for various unknown reasons. Also, the little blue light that turns on when you activate your "brights" has a little Weezer logo in it, instead of the lightbulb icon. I sent these files off to the printer and a few months later, Karl sent me a copy in the mail. It was only then that I found out the track had been printed on "Weezer Blue" vinyl!! <3 p=""><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAGyvya7w5G4HIOjFSUJ6R5MltlXz2Obg5l5d_3eGpYXKxMfmz8m4gxaQWeiUKr_GITTixbtge5ionDBO4PaPWP3y9CFhfyG76IHRNFnqSj0MpIfW55SQOEYYkoTXrM63Q-lQLtUiR8Dw/s1600/IBSL_B_Label.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="1600" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAGyvya7w5G4HIOjFSUJ6R5MltlXz2Obg5l5d_3eGpYXKxMfmz8m4gxaQWeiUKr_GITTixbtge5ionDBO4PaPWP3y9CFhfyG76IHRNFnqSj0MpIfW55SQOEYYkoTXrM63Q-lQLtUiR8Dw/s640/IBSL_B_Label.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This is, without a doubt, the coolest illustration project I've ever worked on! Thanks so much to Karl Koch for hiring me to illustrate this, and I hope all the fan club members appreciate the time, energy, and love that I poured into these drawings. If you would like to get a copy of this record, there's only one way to do that - sign up for the <a href="https://www.weezerfanclub.app/" target="_blank">Weezer Fan Club</a> and purchase a 2019 fan club bundle, which includes the 7" record along with some other exclusive items. It's a really exciting time to be in the fan club, with the band releasing new music, touring a lot, etc. etc. etc. <b>=w= 4 eva!!!</b></div>
</3></div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-12661299534488750982019-04-03T12:25:00.000-07:002019-04-03T12:25:18.228-07:00Weezine Omnibus: Deluxe EditionAs I mentioned in <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2019/03/weezine-omnibus.html" target="_blank">my previous post about the Weezine Omnibus,</a> some of the photocopied images in my original printings of the zines were not great quality. When I asked for replacements, Karl Koch went deep into the weezer archives and scanned and sent me higher quality images, but they weren't just better scans from the zines, they were actually <b>full color scans of the original paste-up assets used to CREATE the zines (!!!?!??!?!?!).</b><br />
<br />
For example, here is the <i>actual</i> "weezine" logo, which was created with print outs, tape, collage, gluestick, and rubber cement, which was used for every issue of the weezine.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3RUtP74sY5pabmnAEocGgptbc84Sn5GB5DZVuVoitmnHJzlBvT-hfnTVCFoOk2nuXmSwSNwi-G9xoiKupzvi-I5u4eSGqN201ocZus35oR7O6Dq3C5LDhFjWcs2hN-3Nue9pKQWSYZM/s1600/WeezineLogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="248" data-original-width="1024" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg3RUtP74sY5pabmnAEocGgptbc84Sn5GB5DZVuVoitmnHJzlBvT-hfnTVCFoOk2nuXmSwSNwi-G9xoiKupzvi-I5u4eSGqN201ocZus35oR7O6Dq3C5LDhFjWcs2hN-3Nue9pKQWSYZM/s640/WeezineLogo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It never occurred to me that Karl had saved all of these assets for all of the zines (but <b>of course</b> he did, that's why he's Karl!). It was incredibly exciting, but I did my best to keep my head down and finish the original omnibus. In the back of my brain however, a plan started brewing...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Once the <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2019/03/weezine-omnibus.html" target="_blank">$15.00, 300-page, black and white edition</a> was done, I pitched the idea of doing an oversized, full color "Deluxe Edition" of the omnibus to Karl, which he agreed to work on with me. It started with the simple idea of reprinting those same 14 issues in full color, but grew into a much larger project...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For the cover, I tried to recreate a cutting mat workstation that Mykel and Carli might have used to create the original zines. Mixed in with various photos, flyers, stickers, fan club card assets and secret surprises were also some of the tools of the zine trade, pre-desktop publishing. I put in scissors, a glue stick, an exacto blade, and some white-out (all in Weezer Blue, naturally) and added a bit of a drop shadow, to try and make this stuff feel a bit 3D, in comparison to the other "flat" items.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeq-UuVpfawQOHtNvmlJB7h0TOy24GkDFOwa-8loZQiWLqvM75GACBzWrBHMiFVLuhRnaAOFkDTK9zLZ4jeET_8o3YTroC-HXESUa1CvsdsX2w-PTxYlD0SA_9aG79gr3XcIrBMMMHyM/s1600/WODE_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1024" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPeq-UuVpfawQOHtNvmlJB7h0TOy24GkDFOwa-8loZQiWLqvM75GACBzWrBHMiFVLuhRnaAOFkDTK9zLZ4jeET_8o3YTroC-HXESUa1CvsdsX2w-PTxYlD0SA_9aG79gr3XcIrBMMMHyM/s640/WODE_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I chose an 8.5" x 11" trim size for the book so that the 5.5" x 8.5" zine layouts could be presented at full size. This was nice, because (for most of the zines) it meant healthy margins on all sides. This was the first time I ever put page numbers in the top margin of the book, which also bought me some room to individually label each page with what was being displayed below.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In the "standard" omnibus, the goal was to clean up the art, so that it was as legible and clear as possible, which meant hundreds of hours going through every single page and cleaning things up in Photoshop. In the "deluxe" edition I did no photo editing whatsoever, because even the smallest tweak of curves or levels would wipe out the white-on-white-on-white of print outs, tape and white-out.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SxkSyLHgKuqvY6nHcvmE5TevFrzChWsGvD_6UBpDHMKDStA79GxIMJZjWxS5Cbs_YKpZJPflpgvGbrYYIjG2SAk9bFDutJnyVs8I-QqVdDREMkmHRKyK3-coOa_UdjnPn22odn6GMhU/s1600/WODE_TypicalSpread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="1024" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_SxkSyLHgKuqvY6nHcvmE5TevFrzChWsGvD_6UBpDHMKDStA79GxIMJZjWxS5Cbs_YKpZJPflpgvGbrYYIjG2SAk9bFDutJnyVs8I-QqVdDREMkmHRKyK3-coOa_UdjnPn22odn6GMhU/s640/WODE_TypicalSpread.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I went through and laid out pretty much the same 300 pages that are in the "standard" edition, and that's when Karl decided to really take things up to the next level. Since it was print-on-demand, we were freed from worrying about page count, and since we had already made every effort to make sure fanclubbers could get the original info from the zines in an affordable $15 edition, we decided to really make this book really special. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Karl dug deep into the weezer archives and pulled out a ton of assets that Mykel and Carli originally used to organize and run the fan club. Karl also wrote a long introduction, and anywhere something was referenced (for example a fan club T-shirt design contest) he actually went into the archives, found those items, photographed them, and then annotated the entry in the book.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZYsX_DBcT7Tyk4Si_aT1cy2HglPZkv1plbPXAVIxGXMMce43ZPpcjr7d2avWYYfw48cWn47_BTqutvGXywAKIOd9QRImEveyet7TJqGtdRH5TNlWFVmuBzcQhMciVTYKIdAHmOaGH5Y/s1600/WFC_cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1024" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjZYsX_DBcT7Tyk4Si_aT1cy2HglPZkv1plbPXAVIxGXMMce43ZPpcjr7d2avWYYfw48cWn47_BTqutvGXywAKIOd9QRImEveyet7TJqGtdRH5TNlWFVmuBzcQhMciVTYKIdAHmOaGH5Y/s640/WFC_cards.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Below, you can see Karl's annotations running underneath the zine layout. The book ended up being <b>400</b> pages, so there is an extra 100 pages of bonus content in here, all heavily annotated by Karl. One of my favorite additions were a couple of spreads in between each issue, which featured all of the fan club card photos for members (I'm pictured in the lower half below, second row down from the top, all the way on the right side - #2660!!!)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgmWvV6ThrZM07UbOFb90epVyxAQLvgLXVj7u1k2SjNndw8rxgjBBZvAJNMsz04J9DU90HtBhCCxSBV9TsaWxa_7t8o4wKgmA31D8GVAmtDAu9uW4qEQQDU2DvT8lmZJ8ssW7z1FfE-4/s1600/WFC_IDphotos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="1024" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpgmWvV6ThrZM07UbOFb90epVyxAQLvgLXVj7u1k2SjNndw8rxgjBBZvAJNMsz04J9DU90HtBhCCxSBV9TsaWxa_7t8o4wKgmA31D8GVAmtDAu9uW4qEQQDU2DvT8lmZJ8ssW7z1FfE-4/s640/WFC_IDphotos.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Karl even wrote a (heartbreaking) account of Mykel and Carli's death on tour with the band in 1997, and what it was like, trying to keep the fan club going in the aftermath of that tragedy. He included a bunch of assets from some of the other fan clubs that Mykel and Carli ran, and talked about what might have been, had we not lost them too soon.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBC0vf6ZWhSRZa1lc90oopuJG-zS76f3q3wGdDNEp-pkUoibWiHWHw0aCcyp98kEq2tOb3Wfr3aUdGufZFLlWApxry0cBFZzi0X3MF6jjrLfnxcccHRr57_7WpR1PXjlAxBsIjLPwgcdo/s1600/WFC_FanClubEmpire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="660" data-original-width="1024" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBC0vf6ZWhSRZa1lc90oopuJG-zS76f3q3wGdDNEp-pkUoibWiHWHw0aCcyp98kEq2tOb3Wfr3aUdGufZFLlWApxry0cBFZzi0X3MF6jjrLfnxcccHRr57_7WpR1PXjlAxBsIjLPwgcdo/s640/WFC_FanClubEmpire.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div>
As with the standard omnibus, this book is only available to current members of the Weezer Fan Club! <a href="https://www.weezerfanclub.app/" target="_blank">You can currently sign up to join the fan club,</a> which just launched a cool new app with lots of neat features. This is a big, full color, expensive book ($94.96... get it? ;) for only the most hardcore fans. It was a labor of love for Karl and I, and as with the standard omnibus, all proceeds go back into the costs of keeping the fan club going. I hope Mykel and Carli would be proud of it! </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Below you can see a video preview of this book, to give you an idea of its splendor!</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ziSlwiqVuaI" width="640"></iframe>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I've got one more weezer post planned, about the 7" fan club exclusive single that I recently illustrated for the band. I'm just waiting for the first copies to arrive at fanclubbers' houses first, so I don't ruin any surprises! The only way to get this 7" is to <a href="https://www.weezerfanclub.app/" target="_blank">sign up for the current fan club membership pack.</a> More about that in my next post!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-61240542937508559032019-03-27T09:11:00.005-07:002023-06-05T15:46:54.415-07:00Weezine OmnibusAs I thoroughly documented in my book <a href="http://www.phasesevencomics.com/books/weezer-fan/" target="_blank">Weezer Fan: Phase 7 #017-#019,</a> I have been a superfan of the band Weezer since their early days, and have even been lucky enough to <a href="https://www.alecillustration.com/#/weezer/" target="_blank">create some official merch for them,</a> including tour posters and T-shirt designs.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZnEcbaYsV29qcpVxLUc-pukuoLnzrde3iD5kUAAsf7YwnOIkmSCt-SbwiY1ErugkZlNOpcHF_aQblG3ZvK8N1rRbxUA1STAB1d57j_Xd5gG2U6sMhSY8Ex0ED477rj4AX5iU3dwrjh0/s1600/WeezerFan_2660.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="984" data-original-width="1576" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXZnEcbaYsV29qcpVxLUc-pukuoLnzrde3iD5kUAAsf7YwnOIkmSCt-SbwiY1ErugkZlNOpcHF_aQblG3ZvK8N1rRbxUA1STAB1d57j_Xd5gG2U6sMhSY8Ex0ED477rj4AX5iU3dwrjh0/s640/WeezerFan_2660.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I joined the weezer fan club in 1996, which was originally run by sisters Mykel and Carli Allan. One of the coolest things about the fan club was that a couple of times a year Mykel and Carli would mail out issues of the weezer fan club zine, <i>weezine. </i>Not only were these packed with tons of fun information about the band, upcoming releases, dispatches from the tour (the original Karl's Corner!), and drawings/photos from various fan club members, it was also my first exposure to self-published zine culture!<br />
<br />
Over the years, I managed to assemble a complete run of the zines by taking advantage of occasional offers to sell off remaining copies of back issues, offered by Karl Koch when he took over fan club operations after Mykel and Carli tragically died in a car crash while on tour with the band in the summer of 1997.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OhRYJe3EUtwFgQ7fg7TIRJY6aJJpVCAGFxoVWJoZukOR8AdmbkrYQ6zu6i_J-R77AzoPX4ufdJDa0T9Eqzpewc8IsY8EyKgjL4HdtPmdk6FwvEr04IcOILK7ekys8aZXtKlREq6C6Qw/s1600/Weezine_CompleteRun.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="1024" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OhRYJe3EUtwFgQ7fg7TIRJY6aJJpVCAGFxoVWJoZukOR8AdmbkrYQ6zu6i_J-R77AzoPX4ufdJDa0T9Eqzpewc8IsY8EyKgjL4HdtPmdk6FwvEr04IcOILK7ekys8aZXtKlREq6C6Qw/s640/Weezine_CompleteRun.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In 2014, the weezer fan club was relaunched, just before the release of the band's ninth studio album <i>Everything Will Be Alright In The End. </i>I (of course) joined the current iteration of the fan club, which mostly takes place in a private Facebook group. It was really fun to reconnect with the fan community of this band that I love! One day however, a strange thing happened... </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Someone had the idea to start a document trying to list all of our fan club numbers. "Old" members like myself got to keep our original numbers, with new 2014 members picking up with new numbers where the old numbers left off, somewhere in the 4000s. I jumped into the document and filled in "0001 - Mykel Allan" and "0002 - Carli Allan" because, as all old fan club members know, Mykel and Carli were the very first weezer fans, and had these most-holy of numbers on their cards. A new member made a comment to the effect of "Whoa, whoa! Who filled in #1 and #2? Is that a joke? Who are these people?" and it hit me that a lot of the new people had no idea about the <b>history</b> of the fan club that they were now a part of.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I pitched the idea of creating a print-on-demand, perfect bound book that would collect all of the original weezines to Karl, and he immediately okayed the project, and offered to help out anywhere he could. In the end, the book was over 300 pages, and it not only reprinted all of the zines, but also included scans of the original fan club application form, press packets, signed 8" x 10" photos of the band, lyric sheets, stickers, and photos of the various "secret surprises" sent out over the years.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrwlcRZ2_MrzbxCm71l7LB0sHsQO2vkR-iMRu4pyVFJ2OnYPxleNDVvdmnAlpy1mHxy0mA_IIiKdT1r7UUDY6kl_CnafPnpY9S-wRFT__iLSevFoRPXeuQPsCvrAfjRa7KlFucQAogLIA/s1600/WO_Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="924" data-original-width="1278" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrwlcRZ2_MrzbxCm71l7LB0sHsQO2vkR-iMRu4pyVFJ2OnYPxleNDVvdmnAlpy1mHxy0mA_IIiKdT1r7UUDY6kl_CnafPnpY9S-wRFT__iLSevFoRPXeuQPsCvrAfjRa7KlFucQAogLIA/s640/WO_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Above you can see the cover design, which utilizes classic "Weezer Blue" along with all of the cover images. Karl gave me the official weezer font, which I used throughout the design of the book. I had to reformat a few spreads from the zines to fit the 5.5" x 8.5" format (some of the later issues were printed on 11" x 17" paper that folded down to standard half-letter zine size) and I meticulously went through and tried to present the best possible image quality, where my copies of the zines had either not great printing, or had been damaged in the mail.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2r_tM72HVMgfOdhmLSLLKbOcIfzVyQSYf7Z4tJXDAQsRCAX8DS4v1QDRJPsHXKgApIDnCakWtfwpCF1OIGffC6xeUcd1iyYKog6zpTvnH2IC0AsFiTiIFilWFdflusCIVpRewP_IDFQ/s1600/WeezineOmnibus_ProductionNotes.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="455" data-original-width="1024" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2r_tM72HVMgfOdhmLSLLKbOcIfzVyQSYf7Z4tJXDAQsRCAX8DS4v1QDRJPsHXKgApIDnCakWtfwpCF1OIGffC6xeUcd1iyYKog6zpTvnH2IC0AsFiTiIFilWFdflusCIVpRewP_IDFQ/s640/WeezineOmnibus_ProductionNotes.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Below you can see a preview video that I created to give fan club members an idea of what the Weezine Omnibus looks/feels like. This book is <i>only</i> available to current members of the Weezer Fan Club! <a href="https://www.weezerfanclub.app/" target="_blank">You can currently sign up to join the fan club,</a> which just launched a cool new app with lots of neat features. The omnibus can be found in the fan club members-only shop in the app, and it costs $15.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="381" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yvCC4TBucD4" width="458" youtube-src-id="yvCC4TBucD4"></iframe></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If you can believe it, this is only the beginning of this rad project! In part two I'll give you a look at the <i>Weezine Omnibus: Deluxe Edition!</i></div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-21578672372016524202019-03-20T06:00:00.000-07:002019-03-20T06:00:02.403-07:00SFTBW Alumni Album CoversBack in 2014 I produced a rock opera reinterpretation of my graphic novel <a href="http://www.phasesevencomics.com/books/basewood/" target="_blank">Basewood,</a> called <a href="https://p7comics.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Songs From the Basewood.</a> My amazingly talented friend <a href="http://alonetone.com/arrsuarez/playlists" target="_blank">Andy Hentz</a> did 99% of the work, including singing the part of the main character, Ben. I co-wrote some of the songs and got to sing the part of the wolf-dragon, which was a ton of fun. For the other three parts, we contacted some of our very talented musician friends who we met in college. My friend <a href="https://www.ensohealingarts.com/" target="_blank">Lindsay Sharp</a> sang the parts of Violet and Caren, <a href="https://benmontgomery.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Ben Montgomery</a> sang the part of Argus and played all of the trumpet parts, and <a href="https://alonetone.com/sudara" target="_blank">Sudara Williams</a> sang the part of the dog, contributed some beautiful guitar parts and also mixed and mastered the entire album.<br />
<br />
Making Songs From the Basewood was one of the most incredible creative experiences of my life, and I'm so proud of what our team created. Sometimes I feel like I actually like the album more than the book! <i>Anyways,</i> this is all to say that I've stayed in touch with all these incredibly talented musicians and have recently had the opportunity to create some cover art for their recent albums!<br />
<br />
<h3>
<a href="https://alonetone.com/sudara/playlists/wurli-bird-special" target="_blank">Wurlibird Special</a> by Sudara Williams</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigDf2TyB-JJLUk7ba5NanGW4vwN5Mqzekdy8ls4zuQWCrjlXAZgULefM0bG_SHxVosi2vuZpbVPM-IzW5s_wVnSqXnzOVSc0_grwk08Ufx2eJYzAIJxs3pip0VOXQjrVjSXu-WpLVMbrc/s1600/Wurlibird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1099" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigDf2TyB-JJLUk7ba5NanGW4vwN5Mqzekdy8ls4zuQWCrjlXAZgULefM0bG_SHxVosi2vuZpbVPM-IzW5s_wVnSqXnzOVSc0_grwk08Ufx2eJYzAIJxs3pip0VOXQjrVjSXu-WpLVMbrc/s640/Wurlibird.jpg" width="596" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sudara performed this entire instrumental album on a Wurlitzer organ and he had a really clear vision of what he wanted for this cover image. It was just a matter of trying to deliver what he was envisioning in his mind. A couple of sketches, a few value tweaks and we let this cover take flight!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<a href="https://benmontgomery.bandcamp.com/album/free-as-a-hotel" target="_blank">Free As a Hotel</a> by Ben Montgomery</h3>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The story of this album is a long one, so without going into its whole history, I'll just say that I got very slightly involved with it in a motivational capacity in the 11th hour. I think because of my minuscule role in bringing about its completion, Ben and Sudara (who mixed and mastered the album) asked me to make the cover art. All of the songs were written in Ben's apartment, at his piano, and luckily for me, he lives just down the road here in Santa Fe. I swung by and took some photos and then worked up some sketches to send to Sudara who art directed this piece.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Originally he asked for a "messy" treatment (maybe with charcoal?) and even as the idea developed further, that sort of got stuck it my head. I took a first crack at the approved sketch using cold press watercolor paper, ink wash and a soft blackwing pencil. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWI5h6idrW39e6NltHeB8_dIjTeI1Qav8VCDdJammm8LetFncKJI735JP3PcpdOEYc2dPxRF2AI6UtU-Ua07uOuv7VfNC9BrzFmYMsd0IoCf48GktyP92UsAT03dIGaMDeKIgIqEuHoI/s1600/BenAlbum-Organic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1078" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtWI5h6idrW39e6NltHeB8_dIjTeI1Qav8VCDdJammm8LetFncKJI735JP3PcpdOEYc2dPxRF2AI6UtU-Ua07uOuv7VfNC9BrzFmYMsd0IoCf48GktyP92UsAT03dIGaMDeKIgIqEuHoI/s640/BenAlbum-Organic.jpg" width="606" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This image felt too dark for these tunes, so before abandoning it completely, I messed around with the grayscale image in Photoshop, using the "duotone" process, which essentially replaces the white and black ends of a grayscale spectrum with two other colors. It was really fun to experiment with different color combinations. This lightened up the image, but it still didn't feel quite right. I may come back to this technique again for some future project!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In the end, Sudara asked for a more "Alec" style of rendering, in full color, for the finished piece :)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUuH4kftRltLNo9Vkc6ejHK5satlg9IRQlHIafnDNwcJitmOeCiUgdGdI8p9OO1629Hbr6SRl6PqXQPZ7hSXZyZhE20u_ko3p4Jh3ITx7USaKKvUv9B-oHUELxkw9m84aVx512AYifEs/s1600/FreeAsAHotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1087" data-original-width="1024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSUuH4kftRltLNo9Vkc6ejHK5satlg9IRQlHIafnDNwcJitmOeCiUgdGdI8p9OO1629Hbr6SRl6PqXQPZ7hSXZyZhE20u_ko3p4Jh3ITx7USaKKvUv9B-oHUELxkw9m84aVx512AYifEs/s640/FreeAsAHotel.jpg" width="602" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
As you can see, I implemented some of the textured photoshop brushes that I learned how to use on <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2019/02/be-prepared-by-vera-brosgol.html" target="_blank">Be Prepared.</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Both of these albums are really great, so I hope you'll follow the links above to stream them for free, or consider buying them on the platform of your choice!</div>
<br />Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-34207429355307705742019-03-04T07:00:00.000-08:002019-03-04T07:00:13.767-08:00Introduction to Hand-Drawn Animation LogoThis summer I will be teaching the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops-2/animation/" target="_blank">Introduction to Hand-Drawn Animation workshop</a> at The Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, Vermont. The class runs July 8-12 and is open to students 16 years and older.<br />
<br />
I recently animated a new logo for the class, which seemed like a simple way to showcase some of the techniques and principles covered in the curriculum. My hope is that potential students will watch this animated logo and go "That's what I want to be able to do!" and then come study with me in Vermont! :)<br />
<br />
Here is the finished logo, which loops every 24 seconds, and below you can see some steps of my process for putting this together:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PF6UQ-u1nkLURMX2gi9MfHpL1x4ULvUsqKKdVEAIFuxaB85VD2KUcnxXbKjY4sDS_6uuxjsQIqdB0Fvo1a3CW8J0mKcd6y6bqIQKn8ui1crX0qpggWxAQ8CIvotS4TpVcMqYokgmXTQ/s1600/ITHDA_Logo_Export.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="720" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6PF6UQ-u1nkLURMX2gi9MfHpL1x4ULvUsqKKdVEAIFuxaB85VD2KUcnxXbKjY4sDS_6uuxjsQIqdB0Fvo1a3CW8J0mKcd6y6bqIQKn8ui1crX0qpggWxAQ8CIvotS4TpVcMqYokgmXTQ/s1600/ITHDA_Logo_Export.gif" /></a></div>
<br />
The very first step was hand lettering all of the typography:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6xEg7Oeo_POYh3b0CCnGWlK4Dpj65pa53FnYsmP9s8BT6rl0yMqKfTkM3HqMneGKIiRlTf7zLeC5EwZcZexF7uzb_vIHr1oa9tw5Gc_G0xBJL8ECBGUqql1VlyC2EVZKPL1NUavkex28/s1600/ITHDA_Lettering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="1024" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6xEg7Oeo_POYh3b0CCnGWlK4Dpj65pa53FnYsmP9s8BT6rl0yMqKfTkM3HqMneGKIiRlTf7zLeC5EwZcZexF7uzb_vIHr1oa9tw5Gc_G0xBJL8ECBGUqql1VlyC2EVZKPL1NUavkex28/s640/ITHDA_Lettering.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I then cleaned these up in the computer, and combined them with the CCS logo and the bouncing ball path, which I had on hand from a previous logo design. I printed this out and then three-hole punched it on the top and bottom edges, to keep all of my animations registered to this design.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWqBXYNPec6XvA_ERrWcV1Dms3e9r0WsunISlFWXMtEo2k7sI9WKd_14nL4gh62QmqXDqVqPhZEY39fUTnvW03AczYRkxXf1sX-m2b2HvGJCviSfbIBZIbCUrMvNp2S2uejZ2SclqP84/s1600/ITHDA_Template.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="614" data-original-width="800" height="491" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYWqBXYNPec6XvA_ERrWcV1Dms3e9r0WsunISlFWXMtEo2k7sI9WKd_14nL4gh62QmqXDqVqPhZEY39fUTnvW03AczYRkxXf1sX-m2b2HvGJCviSfbIBZIbCUrMvNp2S2uejZ2SclqP84/s640/ITHDA_Template.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I decided to animate each section as its own "scene," starting with the little CCS person walking in and getting bonked on the head by the ball, which turns into the iconic speech balloon shape and makes them spill some ink. I set up a 16-frame walk cycle that would loop three times to get the character across the screen. Here's my thumbnail document to figure all of that out:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAzjaqq0JIttgPwiwF2MFbbdBiIGavWbWhste4CYgLeTWERLIfJBmx4lAce_xfxGCuPKmS9xolei3Q9A6T8Rs0HL9gxgQ8QLrRVTC8G49-TyVUNe5E6trrj7N0xt0MQ2cixKNciOwHRI/s1600/ITHDA_Walk-In.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="800" height="496" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOAzjaqq0JIttgPwiwF2MFbbdBiIGavWbWhste4CYgLeTWERLIfJBmx4lAce_xfxGCuPKmS9xolei3Q9A6T8Rs0HL9gxgQ8QLrRVTC8G49-TyVUNe5E6trrj7N0xt0MQ2cixKNciOwHRI/s640/ITHDA_Walk-In.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I animated this all on paper. Last year my old pal <a href="https://natebeaty.com/" target="_blank">Nate Beaty</a> gave me the idea of using stop motion animation software to create quick and easy pencil tests. I downloaded <a href="https://www.cateater.com/" target="_blank">Stop Motion Studio</a> on my iPad and set it up on a tripod over a pegbar, like this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCXDogGdgv3zrxa4vQRRUb6kstpClfcSrBEhAFDrAf5q_2RTqet5IG2VQ6FyoyV_F0U43FaH21sGHACvUqAdL7oEjAQkmkmCUVEnohUjE1TY8QuBeFzeBsLZlMbT7gXevg2ZertgI9os/s1600/StopMotionStudio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="1024" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivCXDogGdgv3zrxa4vQRRUb6kstpClfcSrBEhAFDrAf5q_2RTqet5IG2VQ6FyoyV_F0U43FaH21sGHACvUqAdL7oEjAQkmkmCUVEnohUjE1TY8QuBeFzeBsLZlMbT7gXevg2ZertgI9os/s640/StopMotionStudio.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I shot a couple of tests, made some corrections and then scanned in all my pencils for the little CCS person. I then "inked" it in Photoshop, drawing on a wacom tablet, on a new layer directly over the pencils. This worked well, because it allowed me to easily tweak small things, like the swaying brush end. Here is an early pass (I later thickened up the ball path outlines):<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiONjPzaABBJ-4wT-9o66NoqUd2mQTz78Y4CH_ORB1Jygxy_HjAA2hU9X5FBNhFcLBprnIRQhkC_8RCXqS7VGpf5sdRo3V-qWWHZ5x57Z20UdmF2PUOLL8XeMe7h8Ww1fi1RwlieK3M_yU/s1600/WalkBounce-1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="841" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiONjPzaABBJ-4wT-9o66NoqUd2mQTz78Y4CH_ORB1Jygxy_HjAA2hU9X5FBNhFcLBprnIRQhkC_8RCXqS7VGpf5sdRo3V-qWWHZ5x57Z20UdmF2PUOLL8XeMe7h8Ww1fi1RwlieK3M_yU/s640/WalkBounce-1.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Next up I did the "Animation" lettering, following the same process. Here is a pencil test, before I inked it in Photoshop:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdSr8TG-gwBnX5Gh07IPrdNJXv7VQlst1wfoyW3lu_9bdxzNramEUzpLOXSeZDIrExt1kY_uyMqe0EsqKLhPql0gOWb2amPYt2ZIvapd2AEZPj-OTJ-kfQxyOblceIqRopvmUDV-vXTI/s1600/ITHDA_Animation_2s.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="800" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdSr8TG-gwBnX5Gh07IPrdNJXv7VQlst1wfoyW3lu_9bdxzNramEUzpLOXSeZDIrExt1kY_uyMqe0EsqKLhPql0gOWb2amPYt2ZIvapd2AEZPj-OTJ-kfQxyOblceIqRopvmUDV-vXTI/s640/ITHDA_Animation_2s.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
The last three "scenes" were all animated directly in the computer. For the cursive "Introduction to" I simply saved a selection of the text and then filled in a bit more of the selection for each frame. I decided to animate this on 1s (24 drawings per second) so that it would be really slow and smooth - it's how I write cursive, which takes a lot of concentration for me, and also kind of reflects the idea of an "introduction" to something - slow and steady. It ended up being 287 frames, or a little under 12 seconds:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlURzscZsoEktidxtKBQJ1JpTWJY_ay7BRYEWsavQWA0ehBiE6RdfJztMEGuhgd7Jw_Zq3b6Ct9PxgmfZwrjNm8v8PU3rx3gPljb5AkiAiXIQ-2b_wC1TrkvSkkHejWwt5DsvhBvm9m8/s1600/IntroductionTo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="107" data-original-width="800" height="84" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlURzscZsoEktidxtKBQJ1JpTWJY_ay7BRYEWsavQWA0ehBiE6RdfJztMEGuhgd7Jw_Zq3b6Ct9PxgmfZwrjNm8v8PU3rx3gPljb5AkiAiXIQ-2b_wC1TrkvSkkHejWwt5DsvhBvm9m8/s640/IntroductionTo.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
For "HAND-DRAWN" I wanted something really messy and organic to help emphasize that it was done by hand. I followed a similar process of selecting the finished letterforms, and then I just did a series of straight ahead passes, improvising each frame with a series of squiggly lines that build and overlap and eventually fill in. I wasn't 100% happy with how it turned out -- it would have been fun to also do this on 1s, where each squiggle actually moved along perfectly -- but by the end of 57 frames of this, I didn't have the energy left to take another crack at it!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLzrki4X4VbebtBZ_rQtwbyvNyGRq5UXKsZRnbD9W_-qivEjAMeR8LQ_V_l9akIrBZ20bDehUYkFiHLdxepkt81ql7Bq3dDRLVel3wnbNOIALezJYtRWbuqk06kUWwOQx5YKJLCUy9JI/s1600/Hand-Drawn.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="154" data-original-width="800" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLzrki4X4VbebtBZ_rQtwbyvNyGRq5UXKsZRnbD9W_-qivEjAMeR8LQ_V_l9akIrBZ20bDehUYkFiHLdxepkt81ql7Bq3dDRLVel3wnbNOIALezJYtRWbuqk06kUWwOQx5YKJLCUy9JI/s640/Hand-Drawn.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I went through a lot of different ideas about how to loop the animation back to the beginning, but finally decided on a "circle wipe" using the center dividing line. I did this all in Photoshop, just using <b>Edit > Free Transform</b> and then putting in a series of degree measurements that added up to 360 (making sure to ease in and out) for rotation. I then painted white pixels very carefully into the scene while preserving transparency, to reveal or cover up parts of the scene as needed. If you understand transparency in Photoshop, this will give you an idea of how that worked:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzUiaRnSzJjtig2QkHuhtkUZDqqotv9a7RtjmSzrZmQhyrs255J5cxEYqDPZh0tZYozDxQWM7eYLEFreugMm8UpxU7z1adYE8o4iE5E_-Wim1olC_Tbg9sMp40Bmodo2zBbmmL-JZKw4/s1600/CircleWipe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="921" data-original-width="1118" height="526" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWzUiaRnSzJjtig2QkHuhtkUZDqqotv9a7RtjmSzrZmQhyrs255J5cxEYqDPZh0tZYozDxQWM7eYLEFreugMm8UpxU7z1adYE8o4iE5E_-Wim1olC_Tbg9sMp40Bmodo2zBbmmL-JZKw4/s640/CircleWipe.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Once I had all these elements prepared as Photoshop documents with one frame on each layer, I brought them into <a href="https://my.smithmicro.com/anime-studio-pro.html" target="_blank">Moho Pro</a> and set everything up as its own individual switch layer. This allowed me to toggle on one layer at a time, which was essential because I was mixing animations that were both on 1s and 2s. It also made it easy to position everything on the screen and on the timeline, to make sure things began and ended when I wanted them to. Also with one click I could easily export .mov and .gif files. Here's what that looked like:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS0WAVGtphOwGaqiTa8Av7qIp0oxffLyYvQxEdg9dIz_uQnqdxE7mdOph7MkFjQRcPESQdL2Ulvyfvo0zNO6tHwV7EpjFL2PDrR5dji-a46-gPlDlmuri5sPwty9eDL4Glm2NYaI2UnMA/s1600/Moho.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1190" data-original-width="1600" height="474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS0WAVGtphOwGaqiTa8Av7qIp0oxffLyYvQxEdg9dIz_uQnqdxE7mdOph7MkFjQRcPESQdL2Ulvyfvo0zNO6tHwV7EpjFL2PDrR5dji-a46-gPlDlmuri5sPwty9eDL4Glm2NYaI2UnMA/s640/Moho.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Anyway, I was pleased with the end result. It didn't end up perfect (of course), but it was a lot of fun to put together, and I learned a couple of things along the way. If this process looks fun to you, consider signing up for my <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/summer-workshops-2/animation/" target="_blank">Introduction to Hand-Drawn Animation class</a> at CCS this summer! It is going to be a ton of fun, and you can see some past student work on the workshop page.Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-39007681956309972112019-02-13T07:06:00.000-08:002019-02-13T07:07:05.708-08:00Night is Nigh by Galen LongstrethIn my last post I talked about how I first learned to use textured photoshop brushes while coloring <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2019/02/be-prepared-by-vera-brosgol.html" target="_blank">Vera Brosgol's <i>Be Prepared.</i></a> After finishing that project, I was very excited to try out these new techniques on my next full color project, <a href="http://www.phasesevencomics.com/phase8/night-is-nigh/" target="_blank">Night is Nigh,</a> a picture book written by my sister Galen which I illustrated.<br />
<br />
The main thing I used the textured brushes for was highlights on various surfaces (for instance the face of the boy holding the flashlight shown below). To help highlight this technique, I also decided to use the same textured brush to create a rough edge around each illustration in the book:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFwcxZaxK0bNXpn4C7XA9ZcO7IqEWRLsgNGRyzp-0pzjJl-6h8IEzfmcgHa1GovsUyrGD6T35w94vm1x3nIW8suETqqH7xztT5p3nlz1pdZGkVVbrH9Km2X85ShwuMiDgFMc9ESjIQt5s/s1600/NIN_Campfire.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="694" data-original-width="1024" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFwcxZaxK0bNXpn4C7XA9ZcO7IqEWRLsgNGRyzp-0pzjJl-6h8IEzfmcgHa1GovsUyrGD6T35w94vm1x3nIW8suETqqH7xztT5p3nlz1pdZGkVVbrH9Km2X85ShwuMiDgFMc9ESjIQt5s/s640/NIN_Campfire.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Since the entire book takes place at night, I also experimented with putting a multiplied layer of blue over the entire image and then using different values in the layer mask to show or hide the blue to varying degrees. Wherever these "lighting" highlights/shadows appeared, I also used the textured brush which gave a nice soft edge to these effects. Here you can see an illustration next to its layer mask information (on the characters only - backgrounds were on their own layer). The darker the gray, the less blue is applied, the lighter the gray, the more blue is applied: </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU11ldnHQrvvNrI38lkU0URLH56U3hRZVxlXIeACoUCqaZSUUZqXyOtW_taHwEWb2e5U-aLSzKUXV-fo9MwHDzroY0Jx8_fwbmDEPikIslUM299p5BluYSjgRUlqB_72A0P2Bh5ubLK8/s1600/NIN_BlueMask.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="1024" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKU11ldnHQrvvNrI38lkU0URLH56U3hRZVxlXIeACoUCqaZSUUZqXyOtW_taHwEWb2e5U-aLSzKUXV-fo9MwHDzroY0Jx8_fwbmDEPikIslUM299p5BluYSjgRUlqB_72A0P2Bh5ubLK8/s640/NIN_BlueMask.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
One last area of experimentation for me on this book was setting up my print files using a higher resolution Black plate (in this case 600 dpi) with lower resolution Cyan, Magenta and Yellow plates (300 dpi), and then combining them in InDesign. The final printed book had really nice, crisp lineart! This was all a good test run for the first <a href="http://www.isleofelsi.com/" target="_blank">Isle of Elsi</a> book which I will be laying out soon.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggy9KZpoMm1rkZFNubau1NWq7gngsrC1pVrD6bFu2c_4ew2RradOQFXwJnPUINv_W-4ND2K1O4WP4wr7HqMCZVv2ZDogXsV_CmC3qQXm9LoD4IE1mmWN2Egf6rK19BYtKHjrivSVmnz7w/s1600/NIN_23_Process.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="1024" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggy9KZpoMm1rkZFNubau1NWq7gngsrC1pVrD6bFu2c_4ew2RradOQFXwJnPUINv_W-4ND2K1O4WP4wr7HqMCZVv2ZDogXsV_CmC3qQXm9LoD4IE1mmWN2Egf6rK19BYtKHjrivSVmnz7w/s640/NIN_23_Process.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
As you can tell, I learned a lot by coloring this book! Below are some of my favorite spreads:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqVF7lR0VPgsL6nYlr3YamFv0Y9Joeq8EVHmmmN8dcJFnMXLXKH6t3LQjNsncr_sC4JYrH3S7SJE6kBnUnsGtptxL3NKvW0hJw92xtyvphrEQ-ePVRIwDJl_MkTGv-YH7r5kL7qKk7Xhg/s1600/NIN_Washhouse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="1024" height="436" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqVF7lR0VPgsL6nYlr3YamFv0Y9Joeq8EVHmmmN8dcJFnMXLXKH6t3LQjNsncr_sC4JYrH3S7SJE6kBnUnsGtptxL3NKvW0hJw92xtyvphrEQ-ePVRIwDJl_MkTGv-YH7r5kL7qKk7Xhg/s640/NIN_Washhouse.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5w_WdLT6P5s7IdMV2lsEx-Y-IjaaD1OaHeC-21F7gLsuDMm_OtLzAbQXB7O4L8P5t0bnrynNetKBgFWrvBKG2iznmQKhFyB2I2rRZIYcsfPDWm_daH6_yUZIXx6knpL_zVEqWmGX0R0/s1600/NIN_PillowFight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="1024" height="434" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB5w_WdLT6P5s7IdMV2lsEx-Y-IjaaD1OaHeC-21F7gLsuDMm_OtLzAbQXB7O4L8P5t0bnrynNetKBgFWrvBKG2iznmQKhFyB2I2rRZIYcsfPDWm_daH6_yUZIXx6knpL_zVEqWmGX0R0/s640/NIN_PillowFight.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHWByt6hOq39cfCF4Y65d5A3tPq_FGE-hBA0Zor2fI2sgqnutXaYF1v_3olhiTFkrZwZYRMuAB-EMR5w3URzAPfyEjBqdvC-x9Bc4HiwnEYX9dlVqbjP7B6fn1YHSUcmfhSBMU2iZd5I/s1600/NIN_Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="1024" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfHWByt6hOq39cfCF4Y65d5A3tPq_FGE-hBA0Zor2fI2sgqnutXaYF1v_3olhiTFkrZwZYRMuAB-EMR5w3URzAPfyEjBqdvC-x9Bc4HiwnEYX9dlVqbjP7B6fn1YHSUcmfhSBMU2iZd5I/s640/NIN_Camp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
You can find ordering information for Night is Nigh on <a href="http://www.phasesevencomics.com/phase8/night-is-nigh/" target="_blank">this page</a>, including a link to a free eBook version! It's a fun bedtime story about camp.Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-44524056686578954502019-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:002019-02-06T11:26:37.045-08:00Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8A36e7WnGfrZApIsai-IqjnFL98hzgjW9J77P_zboA_xfCGvjqUxFArUlT_w8VryH0_vf8gbz9KeDiv8HTPBlc_5ddLCEu0DnnzkTwjoO-kuFyx4ZHTsC6zP8spaqIc2oTnWM4A3e2yU/s1600/BePreparedCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="353" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8A36e7WnGfrZApIsai-IqjnFL98hzgjW9J77P_zboA_xfCGvjqUxFArUlT_w8VryH0_vf8gbz9KeDiv8HTPBlc_5ddLCEu0DnnzkTwjoO-kuFyx4ZHTsC6zP8spaqIc2oTnWM4A3e2yU/s400/BePreparedCover.jpg" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vera colored the cover, not me!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Amazingly, <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2018/10/walker-bean-2.html" target="_blank">Walker Bean 2</a> was not the <i>only</i> graphic novel released in 2018 that I colored. The other was <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626724457" target="_blank">Be Prepared</a> by <a href="https://www.verabee.com/" target="_blank">Vera Brosgol!</a><br />
<br />
Now, I turn down a lot of coloring work. When you color someone's book you spend <b>hundreds</b> of hours looking at every line of their cartooning under a microscope. The only way I can enjoy that process is if the cartoonist in question is a lot better than me, and if it's a story I'm really excited about.<br />
<br />
Also digital coloring is work-for-hire (paid once, no royalties on translations/reprints), a type of work I do as little of as I can afford to these days. James Sturm had a great piece of advice for my professional practices students at <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/" target="_blank">CCS:</a> "Define 'reward' broadly" which definitely applies to my approach for coloring projects. I work a day job to provide a consistent income for my family, and also so that I have the freedom to take on freelance projects that I really believe in, instead of doing them just for the money.<br />
<br />
When Vera asked me to color her book I <i>leapt</i> at the chance, for three non-monetary reasons:<br />
<b>1)</b> I have long-admired Vera's cartooning, especially her first book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250040015" target="_blank">Anya's Ghost</a>. I read her pencil draft of <i>Be Prepared</i> and was floored by the story, the characters and the drawings. I instantly wanted to be a part of the project.<br />
<b>2)</b> The book was going to be colored with just three colors (black, a light green, and a dark green made by mixing the light green and black). I had never used such a limited palette before, and it seemed like an interesting challenge.<br />
<b>3)</b> In the samples Vera sent me she was using textured photoshop brushes to apply the color, which is something I had wanted to experiment with, but had never found an opportunity to do so.<br />
<br />
Getting to work with a cartoonist I admire, trying a new style of coloring and learning some new skills all made this a project that I was <b>very</b> excited to take on. It was a tight deadline - I colored 3-4 pages a day, seven days a week, for a little over three months, but we got it in on time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqjHC9E87nUkVIgEUU5cQlhKEqYLvYrQENYFTLcTEQ0qCmAy024h2IXc65MQniNXOjJW3sbooc9QZdH-7_hb2Chqo9tz7bTTEqtxwxsThRYoAxUn79zsddeCJdPAfWjtuH55ygT_1eT8/s1600/BP_BeforeAfter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="742" height="433" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikqjHC9E87nUkVIgEUU5cQlhKEqYLvYrQENYFTLcTEQ0qCmAy024h2IXc65MQniNXOjJW3sbooc9QZdH-7_hb2Chqo9tz7bTTEqtxwxsThRYoAxUn79zsddeCJdPAfWjtuH55ygT_1eT8/s640/BP_BeforeAfter.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
It was super fun working with Vera - she comes from a background in the highly-collaborative field of animation, so we often passed the files back and forth to try out different iterations, especially in the beginning when I was trying to lock in the style she was looking for. Even when I got the final printed book, there were many small tweaks where Vera had put some extra polish on certain panels, which all looked great.<br />
<br />
Anyway, below are some of my favorite spreads from this project (note that the files I colored never had any text in them!). If you haven't already, <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626724457" target="_blank">buy a copy,</a> or request it at your local library! It's such a great book and it was an honor to be involved with its creation!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBE2HAG6T1NpWxGco99mjVAsDiPjTgmilPzxns1gvi73bXyal1HOcW3XmrpZhDaJNvR0Pj_knLhEdtpQfCh54DG8yJsmfFdqxs6VoK9dln4GgoHkfDxYVJgTVRKvDtWhBDNBS7Kj-bN4g/s1600/BP_078-079.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1515" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBE2HAG6T1NpWxGco99mjVAsDiPjTgmilPzxns1gvi73bXyal1HOcW3XmrpZhDaJNvR0Pj_knLhEdtpQfCh54DG8yJsmfFdqxs6VoK9dln4GgoHkfDxYVJgTVRKvDtWhBDNBS7Kj-bN4g/s640/BP_078-079.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQMHEsZYHRH91M_Oe3PUZyIrMwYNasO-RxaJ8J1_P2V3s5xC6QfdMxZDoKY1TZNMbLPkF9YzfcvkK6y1fN-K4lz7MRzQTiV0RHibCpoFSfwrfHId0lV6dqzXuIvbqqQsFBmJpgGfGWp4/s1600/BP_140-141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1515" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTQMHEsZYHRH91M_Oe3PUZyIrMwYNasO-RxaJ8J1_P2V3s5xC6QfdMxZDoKY1TZNMbLPkF9YzfcvkK6y1fN-K4lz7MRzQTiV0RHibCpoFSfwrfHId0lV6dqzXuIvbqqQsFBmJpgGfGWp4/s640/BP_140-141.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjTWHfIsxzqTdaTbcl-J-tnhUGyh7ANNsE1rD9v3J2I3DLhKsdGMmI7AmHZ7W0GNAOUW5qwcFdg-NTkNu5XHPDnuSQAyjVvqJD7xERaNm7luSGAv6N7FqHJc_-vzt5FNUxdUirNXbxjKw/s1600/BP_228-229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="1515" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjTWHfIsxzqTdaTbcl-J-tnhUGyh7ANNsE1rD9v3J2I3DLhKsdGMmI7AmHZ7W0GNAOUW5qwcFdg-NTkNu5XHPDnuSQAyjVvqJD7xERaNm7luSGAv6N7FqHJc_-vzt5FNUxdUirNXbxjKw/s640/BP_228-229.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I'm happy to say that I'm currently signed up to color Vera's next book, <a href="https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/09/exclusive-first-second-announces-vera-brosgols-pla.html" target="_blank">Plain Jane,</a> which is going to be in full color!Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-71551815899349698582019-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:002019-01-30T07:00:11.207-08:00Blog Archive Posts 2013-2018Three years ago, just before my daughter Suzanne was born, I built a new <a href="https://www.alecillustration.com/" target="_blank">illustration portfolio website</a> because I wasn't sure when I would have a chance to update things again for a few years. Initially, I shuttered this illustration blog, because I knew I wouldn't have time to write new posts, but last year I brought it back so that I can talk about projects I have been working on that might not necessarily make it into my portfolio.<br />
<br />
I thought an appropriate series of illustrations to kick off this process of looking through old work would be the backlog of <a href="http://www.alec-longstreth.com/blog/archives/" target="_blank">blog archive images from my personal website</a> because these also show what has been going on in my life. I do one of these a year, and it looks like the <a href="https://alecillustration.blogspot.com/2012/11/2012-blog-archive-image.html" target="_blank">last one I posted in here was from 2012.</a> So now let's roll back through the sands of time to see what happened from 2013-2018.<br />
<br />
In 2013 my girlfriend Claire was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. This was (obviously) a really big deal, so it seemed like the right choice for this image. The good news is that Claire's treatment went very well, <b>and</b> it gave us an excuse to finally get married! <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV5HtPh16poj-NCrAbu0d4QlQP9x7KX-axL6haFlYqzsy1MAZsJqrq3sdeiEgYcFKi6s_7LEqWpUnpqqrX_wc8HrTkvAi5KTimS9dpbQl64M1VUaAEHbnwJEfyif2PLV4rsIegaSCWO8/s1600/2013archive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="559" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLV5HtPh16poj-NCrAbu0d4QlQP9x7KX-axL6haFlYqzsy1MAZsJqrq3sdeiEgYcFKi6s_7LEqWpUnpqqrX_wc8HrTkvAi5KTimS9dpbQl64M1VUaAEHbnwJEfyif2PLV4rsIegaSCWO8/s1600/2013archive.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
To pay for Claire's medical bills, I took on my biggest illustration project ever, <a href="https://www.alecillustration.com/books/#/middle-school-ultimate-showdown/" target="_blank">Middle School: Ultimate Showdown by James Patterson.</a> This meant putting all my personal comics projects on hold, however, including <a href="http://www.phasesevencomics.com/books/basewood/" target="_blank">Basewood</a> which I had just finished. When Claire's treatment was done and all the bills were paid, I finally set up a <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/longstreth/basewood" target="_blank">Kickstarter</a> which helped me self-publish my book. In the small press world, you only have one year while your book is "new" so I spent most of 2014 on the road, exhibiting at 14 comic shows all around the country and abroad, which was exhausting.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL50Ku0hn3EZgF4dxGCQWWk6b3M1iO6BJFBxPXiDP78RxkmnFW4xnPT_vFWE7LKBOJ7y5WASSeOlI75P5_9SGDm3bqp91l1B5Pn6VbQuNT3_SnVc8OFOFeafLM1ZiYADNl7ckp60MFXF8/s1600/2014archive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="524" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL50Ku0hn3EZgF4dxGCQWWk6b3M1iO6BJFBxPXiDP78RxkmnFW4xnPT_vFWE7LKBOJ7y5WASSeOlI75P5_9SGDm3bqp91l1B5Pn6VbQuNT3_SnVc8OFOFeafLM1ZiYADNl7ckp60MFXF8/s1600/2014archive.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I was so burned out by the end of 2014, I decided to take a year off from exhibiting at any comic conventions. We also found out in 2015 that Claire was pregnant, so it was a year of really buckling down and trying to work ahead on projects. One of my main goals was to build up a buffer of pages for my webcomic <a href="http://www.isleofelsi.com/" target="_blank">Isle of Elsi</a>, which launched at the end of that year. We also moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, so that is subtly reflected in the stucco walls and tile floors shown here.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_A5KSjVOQl7tSAhgZsYhyphenhyphent46lOfYWZEWNmKozLjae6QmD7Q5vSklgPuUyo13QNyJTVIspbv0braOxg6TEzEg6Xmr4bcS1Q1opXo6DFUHsKSZ8IVSTH4IdThS3n1AB_t4Gxg023tR7L0/s1600/2015archive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_A5KSjVOQl7tSAhgZsYhyphenhyphent46lOfYWZEWNmKozLjae6QmD7Q5vSklgPuUyo13QNyJTVIspbv0braOxg6TEzEg6Xmr4bcS1Q1opXo6DFUHsKSZ8IVSTH4IdThS3n1AB_t4Gxg023tR7L0/s1600/2015archive.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
My daughter Suzanne was born in January of 2016. The rest of the year was sort of a blur, so I just drew us on the night we brought her home and everything changed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5mDM2wb7Qr-7RV5GXRN9KRciHkrZjXNY6taO4OkrCUR-ifRTPdylRLtvR8p8xs42Kp_53YvhI4audV60EIuYwIznQuQQ3FlrN-2UJd9g5x2UCVy6tpz8zr31Ss6hJv6yNdyih0jtXQjM/s1600/2016archive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5mDM2wb7Qr-7RV5GXRN9KRciHkrZjXNY6taO4OkrCUR-ifRTPdylRLtvR8p8xs42Kp_53YvhI4audV60EIuYwIznQuQQ3FlrN-2UJd9g5x2UCVy6tpz8zr31Ss6hJv6yNdyih0jtXQjM/s1600/2016archive.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I remember having a lot of difficulty coming up with an image for 2017. Suzanne grew so much that year, it was hard to decide on just one image that communicated that whole experience. In the end, I decided to build the image around the chickens we got that year (which had been a dream of mine for many years). Suzanne and I spent a lot of time that year sitting on buckets and looking at them and talking about them, so it seemed like a fitting image.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUdGkAY_fl2KzvqCdizg5fTXy0PS0gdUonTAWoYVRpokC25Vwnc8mgncQhi-Bn6jqa5iE0ECAASrGLFOsxjXnqBcJcVz-K0G42JIEbqkH_vyBMio2yn1Sq2G_AQ63X89gquUNPrubqVto/s1600/2017archive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="598" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUdGkAY_fl2KzvqCdizg5fTXy0PS0gdUonTAWoYVRpokC25Vwnc8mgncQhi-Bn6jqa5iE0ECAASrGLFOsxjXnqBcJcVz-K0G42JIEbqkH_vyBMio2yn1Sq2G_AQ63X89gquUNPrubqVto/s1600/2017archive.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
And then in 2018 my second daughter, Wendy, was born. I decided to draw an image similar to the one from the year Suzanne was born. Here we are as a whole family -- Suzanne a little wary, and Claire and I both very, very tired -- which is how 2018 felt.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0uXEpbwUIXT4Py7VjklRd-O6skmUHkimtUHSNHh8GZK1Ime_ZfHBr2D-yS5OPSlDYLiNhoySFXnfzY72s-qzfNm4h0CxrnD9IavrstmRid7e7NepkmXWk4t5O4UZP31q_WrdJZggtAk/s1600/2018archive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE0uXEpbwUIXT4Py7VjklRd-O6skmUHkimtUHSNHh8GZK1Ime_ZfHBr2D-yS5OPSlDYLiNhoySFXnfzY72s-qzfNm4h0CxrnD9IavrstmRid7e7NepkmXWk4t5O4UZP31q_WrdJZggtAk/s1600/2018archive.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
It is worth noting that in the <a href="http://www.alec-longstreth.com/blog/archives/" target="_blank">blog archives</a> you can see that I was writing fewer and fewer blog posts as all these big life changes were happening. These were often drawn on December 30th or 31st, right at the buzzer for each year, when it's possible to look back over everything that happened. Maybe this year "the moment" will be clearer and I'll get this done before the very end of the year!Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-30134283234209204062019-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:002019-01-23T08:00:11.816-08:00CCS Illustrations - Part 3: One-Week Cartooning Workout GIFsIn last week's post, I talked about developing the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/ccs-one-week-cartooning-workout/" target="_blank">One-Week Cartooning Workout</a>, a free email course with tips, tricks, exercises, examples and resources, with James Sturm for <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/" target="_blank">The Center for Cartoon Studies</a>. In addition to those spot illustrations which branded the course, I also designed a series of animated GIFs which demonstrated exercises or helped illustrate some of the concepts.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Day One - Four Panel Comic</h3>
The idea here was that you could draw your four-panel comic one panel at a time in linear sequence, or you could start by drawing the first and fourth panels and then fill in the middle two panels afterwards.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8MCuiF1dkvR_zuHj13zYGPTqpCi2oJpBNLT3wkFtoUSr-RFH4nOJLsmWsjL7SGiLI5zAU59FH3QqTHd_KyWvJVB1mCxJvhCrTRsq6mniaHBoSE_TzV9UL5Hbb1y51gTdNuwWtkEAu_c/s1600/OWCW_GIF_1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="185" data-original-width="542" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit8MCuiF1dkvR_zuHj13zYGPTqpCi2oJpBNLT3wkFtoUSr-RFH4nOJLsmWsjL7SGiLI5zAU59FH3QqTHd_KyWvJVB1mCxJvhCrTRsq6mniaHBoSE_TzV9UL5Hbb1y51gTdNuwWtkEAu_c/s640/OWCW_GIF_1.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
Day Two - Character Design</h3>
The goal for this exercise is to create two characters who are visually unique, but also speak with their own unique voices. Starting with two different shapes is a great way to end up with two different character silhouettes.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvc6pvZ9NO7LLnnq8TJleXv_HGs81KdxCAOdmSQ9rkgDqlWFNqA_hvSsgzTap5qRaGIX-ziNQJdQsESMT8fJUaTtl-KrUPVC99IDhBrA6H6ii3t8yeCs5yvbec0DSjVCK_pRcCY9gL2j0/s1600/OWCW_GIF_2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="542" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvc6pvZ9NO7LLnnq8TJleXv_HGs81KdxCAOdmSQ9rkgDqlWFNqA_hvSsgzTap5qRaGIX-ziNQJdQsESMT8fJUaTtl-KrUPVC99IDhBrA6H6ii3t8yeCs5yvbec0DSjVCK_pRcCY9gL2j0/s640/OWCW_GIF_2.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
Day Three - Thrice-Told Tales</h3>
A rule of thumb that I use when I am hunting around for a story to draw as a comic, is if I've verbally told a story at least three times (to friends/family/coworkers, etc.) than it is probably pretty entertaining, and I've had a chance to revise it through each retelling. The goal here was to convey that idea and then use one such story as a writing prompt.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1LeLZcXkz1jwHoDkzhzAGszKW1E7GcB8zLAfBSHj5D2rL1sme9trwht9sq8a7UQ9qdmXkGrCzZPwK60epYqJUGb7m71Inj8R4EG-buUfPDbptZ2hdRUIK66FJ6XbWBG_GynAjZbAtwM/s1600/OWCW_GIF_3.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="199" data-original-width="542" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk1LeLZcXkz1jwHoDkzhzAGszKW1E7GcB8zLAfBSHj5D2rL1sme9trwht9sq8a7UQ9qdmXkGrCzZPwK60epYqJUGb7m71Inj8R4EG-buUfPDbptZ2hdRUIK66FJ6XbWBG_GynAjZbAtwM/s640/OWCW_GIF_3.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
Day Four - Notecard Comics</h3>
James Sturm often uses blank notecards as panel templates. It's a great technique because it is easy to rearrange the moments, or throw one out if you get a better idea, etc. The goal was to demonstrate this way of working.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8eFQcH64jNvXlAsV26GwaZRxzbMoVM4nhrhxaZKPKEFaF9L2K0z-YAVzFUuOAwpceFsHFsI9_L5LuK78IqdHrojQbpg7qaxDCDMoTAhe_d2gfVrXYH0LKTgauo7N9OlKz4OCaYkDDjY/s1600/OWCW_GIF_4.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="542" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO8eFQcH64jNvXlAsV26GwaZRxzbMoVM4nhrhxaZKPKEFaF9L2K0z-YAVzFUuOAwpceFsHFsI9_L5LuK78IqdHrojQbpg7qaxDCDMoTAhe_d2gfVrXYH0LKTgauo7N9OlKz4OCaYkDDjY/s640/OWCW_GIF_4.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
Day Five - Twenty-Four Panel Page Layouts</h3>
After the students script out comic story using 24 note cards, they are then prompted to turn that into a comic. This GIF shows how 24 panels can be split up into a variety of layouts, which will have different densities and page counts. It would work as a static graphic, but having each layout appear gives the viewer a moment to consider the layout.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-hY5LwpJP5X0ArOCUZohDBvyR-3tOzr0JKOfEYsSYUSC4eaV_XmokLi-CC_4KkgZiO09aVAPI3MI_85n5B9jYKe4UxJu83EbUs4RzsMUdJVpev22clXpsrpqZ1lVqm_F6WMP-x2s-pRo/s1600/OWCW_GIF_5.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="542" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-hY5LwpJP5X0ArOCUZohDBvyR-3tOzr0JKOfEYsSYUSC4eaV_XmokLi-CC_4KkgZiO09aVAPI3MI_85n5B9jYKe4UxJu83EbUs4RzsMUdJVpev22clXpsrpqZ1lVqm_F6WMP-x2s-pRo/s640/OWCW_GIF_5.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
Day Six - Draw Comics EVERY Day</h3>
Any success I've achieved as a cartoonist can be traced back to my practice of <a href="http://www.alec-longstreth.com/comics/comics_love/5/" target="_blank">Drawing Comics EVERY Day,</a> even if it's only for 15 minutes a day. Again, this would work as a static image, but having each check mark tick off gives a stronger sense of sequence and time moving forward.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg__GlnjSS2hpvBaY7x9T0rTcNNwYKZQqbP2bkDvvoFFFYLT2hmL6BaH8B5wZ2x7f0gl0TqEaHM1dUnu4g6eBXYu_Rgz6NY5Ovc6sZbdYkv9fV9IlakGpLUh1XRNVhW8aH045WzBYap_TQ/s1600/OWCW_GIF_6.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="147" data-original-width="542" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg__GlnjSS2hpvBaY7x9T0rTcNNwYKZQqbP2bkDvvoFFFYLT2hmL6BaH8B5wZ2x7f0gl0TqEaHM1dUnu4g6eBXYu_Rgz6NY5Ovc6sZbdYkv9fV9IlakGpLUh1XRNVhW8aH045WzBYap_TQ/s640/OWCW_GIF_6.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<h3>
Day Seven - Seeking Feedback</h3>
This GIF communicates the importance of sharing your work (whether in person or online) and seeking constructive feedback.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduVdMcimsvTlMMxi2PhfULCftyR0Ns-SQ_W_19h8CBIbu0QOSUdpvACLb0TJLXJ4WuCNVuDxF6M_WsRkyXmSzLahn5HYm6x79mvwxO7AwsG6HjQY4HeTshtCN_hey1Ni82UHnMvT6g6E/s1600/OWCW_GIF_7.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="228" data-original-width="542" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduVdMcimsvTlMMxi2PhfULCftyR0Ns-SQ_W_19h8CBIbu0QOSUdpvACLb0TJLXJ4WuCNVuDxF6M_WsRkyXmSzLahn5HYm6x79mvwxO7AwsG6HjQY4HeTshtCN_hey1Ni82UHnMvT6g6E/s640/OWCW_GIF_7.gif" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
If these exercises and concepts sound interesting, you can sign up for the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/ccs-one-week-cartooning-workout/" target="_blank">One-Week Cartooning Workout</a> at any time and it is absolutely free. It's full of tips and tricks and examples and resources to help you get the ball rolling with your cartooning - check it out!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-43259306459104396392019-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:002019-01-16T08:00:00.973-08:00CCS Illustrations - Part 2: One-Week Cartooning Workout SpotsAnother big project that I developed for <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/" target="_blank">The Center for Cartoon Studies</a> in my new job as <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/academic-outreach/" target="_blank">Director of Academic Outreach</a> was a free email course called the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/ccs-one-week-cartooning-workout/" target="_blank">One-Week Cartooning Workout.</a> The idea is that you enter your email address and then for the next week you get one email a day filled with tips, tricks, an exercise, and links to various examples and resources. I created the first draft and turned it over to CCS Director James Sturm, who tightened things up, and then I created some spot illustrations to bring it all together.<br />
<br />
Since the idea was a cartooning <i>workout,</i> where you are building skills with small exercises, I decided to build the imagery around the idea of those cheesy workout videos from the '80s and '90s. My wife is a big fan of the <a href="http://www.foundfootagefest.com/" target="_blank">Found Footage Festival</a> - we have DVDs and books that they've released and she and I have even attended some of their live screenings - so I was familiar with their amazing montages of various different workout videos.<br />
<br />
When it came time to design the logo however, I looked back to a vinyl workout record I had listened to a bunch as a kid, <a href="https://www.discogs.com/Unknown-Artist-Walt-Disney-Productions-Mousercise/release/2212960" target="_blank">Mousercise.</a> Using this style, I shifted all the colors to pure Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, and incorporated linescreen dots, to reinforce the traditional printing process that comics have used for generations.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ao8lecaBd7ZKlhe9iHOxmf8fnVjsQi3aplvfe943qNN7uM9Dmn8d6K8FD-nGlDNqwwyTQD5o3CQJL-SZvTPbvbX43ZjxIUP9uN25Z-lJK1jAWlbzeINB3QCq4OILjDX3b184GFNhyphenhyphenwE/s1600/OWCW_TitleCard_TypeOnly_v2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="775" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Ao8lecaBd7ZKlhe9iHOxmf8fnVjsQi3aplvfe943qNN7uM9Dmn8d6K8FD-nGlDNqwwyTQD5o3CQJL-SZvTPbvbX43ZjxIUP9uN25Z-lJK1jAWlbzeINB3QCq4OILjDX3b184GFNhyphenhyphenwE/s640/OWCW_TitleCard_TypeOnly_v2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
One I had the logo designed, I used a similar type treatment for each day's banner. I also reenlisted CCS's founder Inky Solomon and his faithful dog Panels and put them in a variety of situations that act as visual puns, combining the tools and language of cartooning and the various activities and gear used in an exercise workout.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLTXAioOkUQmlv95hAZsTDupkXs0hBGCtdl7d0gG-NHBoo3IxQNddQiWGLAjVBxlKOFjMN8L5s_R96_tRc3zM1KqM91H-FAgZfku7OO3XJrTw3rfPXORAM9HIvebWocVaIlx489qg8yx4/s1600/OWCW_Day1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="800" height="380" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLTXAioOkUQmlv95hAZsTDupkXs0hBGCtdl7d0gG-NHBoo3IxQNddQiWGLAjVBxlKOFjMN8L5s_R96_tRc3zM1KqM91H-FAgZfku7OO3XJrTw3rfPXORAM9HIvebWocVaIlx489qg8yx4/s640/OWCW_Day1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvlSKE99OFwOcJClHzYYZpji6VSuHICe2sV5PV5lectLpTi-r1ZnXLKPNbITfQdhCDp7r0OHFGcXptWiJYCZTaI4fSZ9TuwvudErimZYyPleCKGWADSW93wvXRmdt-LgGvXSgULqikF9Q/s1600/OWCW_Day2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="707" data-original-width="800" height="564" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvlSKE99OFwOcJClHzYYZpji6VSuHICe2sV5PV5lectLpTi-r1ZnXLKPNbITfQdhCDp7r0OHFGcXptWiJYCZTaI4fSZ9TuwvudErimZYyPleCKGWADSW93wvXRmdt-LgGvXSgULqikF9Q/s640/OWCW_Day2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyN6HHMl3RIi29sZH1geUSTOVPPqzGIwRftezMOSIfNK6BoJnqX01zX5Q5GpH8EOAoieLYQOWRmJXa8yPhO824lf-Yr_lrkmzKoe_QTBt0mNonXmXg5QCezp_woKFKlvwtUk8fOak0I3U/s1600/OWCW_Day3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="584" data-original-width="800" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyN6HHMl3RIi29sZH1geUSTOVPPqzGIwRftezMOSIfNK6BoJnqX01zX5Q5GpH8EOAoieLYQOWRmJXa8yPhO824lf-Yr_lrkmzKoe_QTBt0mNonXmXg5QCezp_woKFKlvwtUk8fOak0I3U/s640/OWCW_Day3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHaq0Gsx54SAGH_X8-qOJ0I1VwHMRxOE8rbgOJ-j9OxyEkuyMghzLsfzDpjz9puqP5BnQ4X_XZDL8HOs4rFWF57kajIi6RWKGwFoF1Y7RyTNl82T36fCWE3XOO6Z283tjNkkSp78A9R0/s1600/OWCW_Day4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="800" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxHaq0Gsx54SAGH_X8-qOJ0I1VwHMRxOE8rbgOJ-j9OxyEkuyMghzLsfzDpjz9puqP5BnQ4X_XZDL8HOs4rFWF57kajIi6RWKGwFoF1Y7RyTNl82T36fCWE3XOO6Z283tjNkkSp78A9R0/s640/OWCW_Day4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhphiShcmvNk_UgN_VD8SHxScDQDRZnkA9Nbiw-w-Yg7rXlCnEWrTXtBB_T9j1435IotqDRdJWIf-nYeoIPc3gOmcz-yCQVLq1aNWEZabRrCAfr1Adyxqn_RAKLIRC4cOiuR0Bm2ac3518/s1600/OWCW_Day5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="541" data-original-width="800" height="432" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhphiShcmvNk_UgN_VD8SHxScDQDRZnkA9Nbiw-w-Yg7rXlCnEWrTXtBB_T9j1435IotqDRdJWIf-nYeoIPc3gOmcz-yCQVLq1aNWEZabRrCAfr1Adyxqn_RAKLIRC4cOiuR0Bm2ac3518/s640/OWCW_Day5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixhvePYHXJlJQp_E_QCbIxpWFCzVjwSDdqScLUny4E9psFjDCFflSAmM9VI8FkvxGorUgx3CgEASjS_H4bW7Ud7w-dM3VLsgJ71WxagIpF9i0RoK_iVhY_fL3stERQpp9J3UQgU1X0c2o/s1600/OWCW_Day6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="800" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixhvePYHXJlJQp_E_QCbIxpWFCzVjwSDdqScLUny4E9psFjDCFflSAmM9VI8FkvxGorUgx3CgEASjS_H4bW7Ud7w-dM3VLsgJ71WxagIpF9i0RoK_iVhY_fL3stERQpp9J3UQgU1X0c2o/s640/OWCW_Day6.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1g3-4v8xkWQaiQVTNpL6rVulAiGdgDyZ97VvBm6eRRzPKL_qRf59mrQ5IX9B-Lbrp4x4fMRh1LH2FnH2JgKHDjaDDwqgZiWKaZX28w0nTGT9OlIrFDnAdxiBWn3aUINl-Ff-9XbT6KE/s1600/OWCW_Day7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="800" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1g3-4v8xkWQaiQVTNpL6rVulAiGdgDyZ97VvBm6eRRzPKL_qRf59mrQ5IX9B-Lbrp4x4fMRh1LH2FnH2JgKHDjaDDwqgZiWKaZX28w0nTGT9OlIrFDnAdxiBWn3aUINl-Ff-9XbT6KE/s640/OWCW_Day7.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
For the Day Eight email (spoiler alert: there is a Day Eight email!), I included at least one element from each of the other seven spot illustrations and then had a role reversal of Panels the dog being super buff after Inky has done all the training.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayl9bXXZ6qtv9kO0r-UtGaNvKUvFzUHYxleHVpOy0RXQdj6sXtMXKIV4LzAT4HahwaSG9-HFq2K1xzN-0qLNsNkt7AkWRqcQw7UgSl0GhT3F6oOhp760-l0k7XNq0j0Zs-nOJpQxR93A/s1600/OWCW_Day8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="800" height="518" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjayl9bXXZ6qtv9kO0r-UtGaNvKUvFzUHYxleHVpOy0RXQdj6sXtMXKIV4LzAT4HahwaSG9-HFq2K1xzN-0qLNsNkt7AkWRqcQw7UgSl0GhT3F6oOhp760-l0k7XNq0j0Zs-nOJpQxR93A/s640/OWCW_Day8.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
You can sign up for the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/ccs-one-week-cartooning-workout/" target="_blank">One-Week Cartooning Workout</a> at any time and it is absolutely free. If you're looking for some prompts to help you get the ball rolling on your cartooning, it's worth checking out!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-33966415486762934312019-01-09T11:34:00.001-08:002019-01-09T11:34:39.165-08:00CCS Illustrations - Part 1: Academic OutreachIn 2016, after eight years teaching on the faculty in a variety of courses, I started a new job at <a href="http://www.cartoonstudies.org/" target="_blank">The Center for Cartoon Studies</a>, as their Director of <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/academic-outreach/" target="_blank">Academic Outreach.</a> It is a fun, challenging job in which I try to help prospective students find out about the school in a variety of ways.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since it is a new position and I have been creating a lot of new programs (with the help of the rest of the CCS administrative team!) there have been a lot of opportunities to create illustrations to communicate these new ideas. I thought I would write a few posts to feature some of this work.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Academic Outreach Homepage</h3>
One of the main aspects of my job is skyping into college comics classrooms or student-run comics clubs as a visiting artist. It is free for the hosting school (CCS pays my fee) and as a trade, I start with a 10-minute slideshow about CCS, and then give a lecture about a variety of comics topics for the rest of an hour. <i> </i><br />
<br />
I created the spot illustrations below to get across this idea, which were used on the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/programs/academic-outreach/" target="_blank">Academic Outreach Homepage</a>, on the CCS homepage, and on CCS's social media (Instagram, Twitter).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63iLfePfggWV3NT0Qu-fmuxFNP6UbfE11mzUechtndeoJ9L0b2Lw2fWjF8wD6mCTxr6lJjErx5CggLNj5kXVAFbIiIi8dLr2tiVOn5CJRbi4PS8Xd8331f1S9OYAFq-0e6jZ-u-J0re8/s1600/AO_Banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="775" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi63iLfePfggWV3NT0Qu-fmuxFNP6UbfE11mzUechtndeoJ9L0b2Lw2fWjF8wD6mCTxr6lJjErx5CggLNj5kXVAFbIiIi8dLr2tiVOn5CJRbi4PS8Xd8331f1S9OYAFq-0e6jZ-u-J0re8/s640/AO_Banner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbIvARUj3sN1Yp_U2eNXdprbgocK63vsTdr_k5x0S7UkpFOQfnlxr42EHFayfFqaPVoGiOZ9jdHh1Lhr4jeDW9dyWXUU2WZoPdnphclUU5EvhqjS7ROXzpjPLDJIvW0zygRdAY4flx2E/s1600/AO_SocialMedia_WebBanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="736" data-original-width="1300" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNbIvARUj3sN1Yp_U2eNXdprbgocK63vsTdr_k5x0S7UkpFOQfnlxr42EHFayfFqaPVoGiOZ9jdHh1Lhr4jeDW9dyWXUU2WZoPdnphclUU5EvhqjS7ROXzpjPLDJIvW0zygRdAY4flx2E/s640/AO_SocialMedia_WebBanner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
For the vertical banner, I used CCS's "Telegraph Building" which is one of three buildings that comprise the CCS campus. <br />
<br />
The Colodony Surprise Department store has been featured in countless CCS promotional materials, because for the first few years the entire school was run out of that one building. The Post Office Building, which was purchased in 2010 is now home to the <a href="https://www.cartoonstudies.org/schulz-library/" target="_blank">Schulz Library</a> and is where most of the day-to-day instruction happens, so it has been featured in various promotional materials as well. <br />
<br />
But to my knowledge, CCS has never featured the Telegraph Building, which is home to senior studio space, the A/V room (where <a href="http://www.jonchad.com/" target="_blank">Jon Chad</a> and I used to house our pinball machines!), off-site library storage, and some original art storage. It actually used to be the communications hub where the Upper Valley communicated by telegraph and telephone. It is now connected to a giant internet building owned by the local tel-com company. I took some artistic license, adding satellite dishes on top, to boost its signal.<br />
<br />
<h3>
CCS Awareness Day</h3>
</div>
<div>
Each year CCS has an "awareness day" where we try to get alumni to all go on social media on the same day to talk about their positive experiences at CCS. There is no advertising budget for CCS, so it's a great way to increase our visibility. I created the spot illustration below for the 2017 campaign, which features CCS's founder, Inky Solomon, and his dog, Panels, who are the cartoon mascots for the school.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4f6gLvaFKpMlV2Bhzn_GbnMjac378MqF5x9Rg_x028CK5V8HbwEkEX3rxv9omGjG2XOJ6E5hGRGymS2WtrFAd78vIOvxkwi18e18PlhMa7o-2CgPmL7VLs66D8dST0P2J3gxIF-Dihj4/s1600/CCS_I_heart_CCS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="1024" height="452" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4f6gLvaFKpMlV2Bhzn_GbnMjac378MqF5x9Rg_x028CK5V8HbwEkEX3rxv9omGjG2XOJ6E5hGRGymS2WtrFAd78vIOvxkwi18e18PlhMa7o-2CgPmL7VLs66D8dST0P2J3gxIF-Dihj4/s640/CCS_I_heart_CCS.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
CCS Info Sessions</h3>
<div>
Another part of my job is setting up "Info Session" events at various cities around the USA where local folks interested in CCS can learn about the school and hear a free comics lecture. I create flyers for the events which can be shared online, or printed out as flyers to be handed out at the venue. Here are two (with some reused elements) for events I hosted in Los Angeles and Albuquerque.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBxJbvaFjKXCRIpcz43OasBVm12EbNPDA8TGjf6wvASoOrjzUWCBhpT753W-rIZYJr1SdZFXpqOaCsoeIYRKsm2u0qrc3djJLixxldTiENXMRK1IoxKhiqmGvC1ECKXsLsjTG9VqyALB8/s1600/CCS_Outreach_Flyers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="992" data-original-width="1600" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBxJbvaFjKXCRIpcz43OasBVm12EbNPDA8TGjf6wvASoOrjzUWCBhpT753W-rIZYJr1SdZFXpqOaCsoeIYRKsm2u0qrc3djJLixxldTiENXMRK1IoxKhiqmGvC1ECKXsLsjTG9VqyALB8/s640/CCS_Outreach_Flyers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Portfolio Reviews</h3>
<div>
Since beginning my new job as Director of Academic Outreach, I now often represent CCS when I am tabling at comics conventions. Here is an illustration I created to promote free portfolio reviews that I was giving at <a href="http://shortrun.org/" target="_blank">Short Run</a> in 2018. I designed this so that it is easy to reuse, simply by swapping out the show information in the lower right-hand corner.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvYqcPdXtj-D_C-EoEWcXnBQXE5P9pnYL3X7iCaLt7ySt-lcR0XyE8uVRtfdfE1Hpo1JSO9LGEVR1UsEosN1S-vnTVpvOWc4PF-Eze67N-eBn8YfLhnN7HQztG-WclJussayFhcX2G94/s1600/CCS_SR_Portfolio_Flyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="1024" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzvYqcPdXtj-D_C-EoEWcXnBQXE5P9pnYL3X7iCaLt7ySt-lcR0XyE8uVRtfdfE1Hpo1JSO9LGEVR1UsEosN1S-vnTVpvOWc4PF-Eze67N-eBn8YfLhnN7HQztG-WclJussayFhcX2G94/s640/CCS_SR_Portfolio_Flyer.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Coffee Shop Meetups</h3>
<div>
In the Fall of 2018 I headed up a new initiative called CCS Coffee Shop Meetups. I coordinated thirteen different meetups, hosted by CCS alumni and past-fellows, scattered around the country (and abroad!). Below is the branding image for the initiative, and then each of the thirteen events had its own flyer and social media posts, which followed the same format seen below for my event that was out here in Santa Fe, NM.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSSXw4hmm7aWXYkw1BlThIa3O_7FNLMvOWBrakv1Mu8zg8m_yFGgWO6sZk7Bmvs4x_mlzdSEl86ZfPVYqtXFBQkGnpM4vSFI6QQr9WxPIuui9UprLSRRrSCAwVFN6zTL1yw8n6QhgxGI/s1600/CCS_CoffeeShopMeetupBanner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="1024" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYSSXw4hmm7aWXYkw1BlThIa3O_7FNLMvOWBrakv1Mu8zg8m_yFGgWO6sZk7Bmvs4x_mlzdSEl86ZfPVYqtXFBQkGnpM4vSFI6QQr9WxPIuui9UprLSRRrSCAwVFN6zTL1yw8n6QhgxGI/s640/CCS_CoffeeShopMeetupBanner.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtQbOnk9XOD1YRnZ_5TCAN3VUAAC9Ck9rA7YTViVT-FYimrSffAqa3dasC-aIOuX0PkuUMgZz9PQLY0X9HKZJD6oDOD4Oc4lbtnw1KUIJw9MSiL4mtY-WD2s9_GG6iXvE00-8orOQW00/s1600/CCS_CoffeShopMeetupFlyerSM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="1024" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtQbOnk9XOD1YRnZ_5TCAN3VUAAC9Ck9rA7YTViVT-FYimrSffAqa3dasC-aIOuX0PkuUMgZz9PQLY0X9HKZJD6oDOD4Oc4lbtnw1KUIJw9MSiL4mtY-WD2s9_GG6iXvE00-8orOQW00/s640/CCS_CoffeShopMeetupFlyerSM.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div>
If any of these types of events sound like something you are interested in setting up, or participating in, feel free to drop me a line! :) <i> </i><b>outreach "AT" cartoonstudies "DOT" org</b></div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Believe it or not, I have <b>two</b> more posts planned with more illustration work that I have created for CCS since starting my new job there in 2016!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-53663206602068541872018-10-23T07:13:00.002-07:002019-02-04T14:58:38.961-08:00The Unsinkable Walker Bean and the Knights of the Waxing Moon by Aaron RenierI've decided to resurrect my illustration blog! I'm still happy with my new portfolio site, but I missed being able to post about smaller projects which may not necessitate an update to my portfolio. Case in point... <i>Walker Bean 2!!!</i><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPzFlGQVR2Ak-AsYbAuMMturYw6k1RQjgdFD68FZyypYoQbGvKxDIy6Yp2BVllY8V3EgRoPc33WAQb_mi3ifwJYNbNO4pKRJgD5yR_KNFq2ZPejVB_qZQcBQPQsINCazeB2hlifyyrCE/s1600/WalkerBean2-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="903" data-original-width="680" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDPzFlGQVR2Ak-AsYbAuMMturYw6k1RQjgdFD68FZyypYoQbGvKxDIy6Yp2BVllY8V3EgRoPc33WAQb_mi3ifwJYNbNO4pKRJgD5yR_KNFq2ZPejVB_qZQcBQPQsINCazeB2hlifyyrCE/s400/WalkerBean2-cover.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<b>Today</b> (October 23, 2018) is the release date of <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781596435056" target="_blank">The Unsinkable Walker Bean and the Knights of the Waxing Moon</a> by my old pal <a href="http://aaronrenier.com/" target="_blank">Aaron Renier</a>. I colored this book!<br />
<br />
Aaron and I have been working on this book together off and on ever since <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781596434530" target="_blank">the first Walker Bean book</a> came out in 2010. It's about a hundred pages longer than the first book, and it's jam packed with Aaron's heavily-detailed art, so it was quite an undertaking. <br />
<br />
I think fans of the first book are really going to love this latest installment. As with the first book, Aaron manages to pack more original ideas into any ten pages of Walker Bean than most cartoonists can get into an entire book. His imagination is one of a kind.<br />
<br />
When we started the first book, Aaron and I very carefully set up a limited color palette, so I used that again in this book, which kept things very consistent. There is a lot of continuity between the two books, so readers will be rewarded for going back and rereading the first book before diving into this new adventure. Here is a character sheet that Aaron and I created to keep the palette consistent:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCJS3nb-RjAXyVTz-Vz32mSlmbmIlQASmKBLJaJqkBchFDpXseF34DNfo5KsvrMQn2lWn9nJDX1y-YZmC0UKlp4dY4AwX-iUJnpvZTznu-ZkvLH7Pk7Ex1lHtfDQYPZltGL91GwzBBvk/s1600/WalkerBean_Characters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="663" data-original-width="1024" height="414" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCJS3nb-RjAXyVTz-Vz32mSlmbmIlQASmKBLJaJqkBchFDpXseF34DNfo5KsvrMQn2lWn9nJDX1y-YZmC0UKlp4dY4AwX-iUJnpvZTznu-ZkvLH7Pk7Ex1lHtfDQYPZltGL91GwzBBvk/s640/WalkerBean_Characters.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All characters from <i>The Unsinkable Walker Bean</i> © 2010 Aaron Renier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And here are a few of my favorite two-page spreads, to help whet your appetite:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLbkO_GWvptnqtJYQpgL4fksvh8tXWeHzPYxR7UhabQgL82KI-WvWYI-cGh5W4udo6oE6CSiMW4sbf_DGyoJnE9iBJXyFWcw2y6UaNtirymoCZu6nJImyPdGcDDeO4LV097C3T6w3hmXU/s1600/WB2_004-005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1054" data-original-width="1504" height="448" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLbkO_GWvptnqtJYQpgL4fksvh8tXWeHzPYxR7UhabQgL82KI-WvWYI-cGh5W4udo6oE6CSiMW4sbf_DGyoJnE9iBJXyFWcw2y6UaNtirymoCZu6nJImyPdGcDDeO4LV097C3T6w3hmXU/s640/WB2_004-005.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmdk7tN_wvjjIvSCfEEJfQDjEM1KQ0SylbaPTUMk5vgqeUfqmRTjKxjQY20277ZT73beLKTjERkpl0JgK0zno9nwdglJNMfv3i-Oq4uuS2XNWrRZ3x9aZmuo-UenLAgYVgCsHBtF2jpw/s1600/WB2_072-073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="977" data-original-width="1575" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwmdk7tN_wvjjIvSCfEEJfQDjEM1KQ0SylbaPTUMk5vgqeUfqmRTjKxjQY20277ZT73beLKTjERkpl0JgK0zno9nwdglJNMfv3i-Oq4uuS2XNWrRZ3x9aZmuo-UenLAgYVgCsHBtF2jpw/s640/WB2_072-073.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOjcTS1oh_8rgloz3X73plr6sSKPLLCc8iWQybffAQp2VA6ywlOy-u1bhmves3_tzjI2cxZmeDTwGSeoJDtA_vBTASqHX6vghusCoC0dSGInRCkAurpYffDuys6xnMv7P7KMDLZ1qlwY/s1600/WB2_124-125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1421" height="418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeOjcTS1oh_8rgloz3X73plr6sSKPLLCc8iWQybffAQp2VA6ywlOy-u1bhmves3_tzjI2cxZmeDTwGSeoJDtA_vBTASqHX6vghusCoC0dSGInRCkAurpYffDuys6xnMv7P7KMDLZ1qlwY/s640/WB2_124-125.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAo517WlKWoz0JB4IGLD7DteoStiQt9Xy_mOqUd3s52o54yHKt11Fb0CMNzet_iePUpI0nl9xP031G973al45-KCs-vJwgvYGTtirpmUmhP350cgtVBYZEj8gBvsJsF6kv96lAFFiA5c/s1600/WB2_132_133.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="968" data-original-width="1475" height="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsAo517WlKWoz0JB4IGLD7DteoStiQt9Xy_mOqUd3s52o54yHKt11Fb0CMNzet_iePUpI0nl9xP031G973al45-KCs-vJwgvYGTtirpmUmhP350cgtVBYZEj8gBvsJsF6kv96lAFFiA5c/s640/WB2_132_133.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
I'm very proud of the work I did coloring this book, and I hope that people will enjoy it. Okay, that's it! <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781596435056" target="_blank">Got get this book!!</a>Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-68981251225095217422016-04-15T10:46:00.001-07:002016-04-15T10:47:50.294-07:00New Illustration Portfolio Site!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUbZfrKEzSydgu5JgmIAhyETqf3qTouIP43X_4gGRakA4Nz-ZbzHV_r195lrxvui4eXxVIRJdCzJ-P_eTGUIsoe_fpDqWBY3tbdZB7ezs0QI5WO8nutOQvkW8_Um0SKCWuEFIwWskOo4/s1600/NewSite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Alec Illustration" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZUbZfrKEzSydgu5JgmIAhyETqf3qTouIP43X_4gGRakA4Nz-ZbzHV_r195lrxvui4eXxVIRJdCzJ-P_eTGUIsoe_fpDqWBY3tbdZB7ezs0QI5WO8nutOQvkW8_Um0SKCWuEFIwWskOo4/s1600/NewSite.jpg" title="" /></a></div>
<br />
I set up a new illustration portfolio site! You can go check it out over at: <a href="http://www.alecillustration.com/" target="_blank">www.alecillustration.com</a><br />
<br />
My plan is to revert this site to a "blogger.com" address and have www.aleclongstreth.com redirect to my personal site, <a href="http://www.alec-longstreth.com/" target="_blank">www.alec-longstreth.com</a> thus ending years of URL confusion!<br />
<br />
I'll probably keep this site up, in case people want to check out these old posts, but currently I have no plans to continue blogging here. Instead, I will post big projects over at the <a href="http://www.alecillustration.com/" target="_blank">new site</a> as they are completed.Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-62001812944634923292015-12-04T07:58:00.000-08:002015-12-04T08:00:10.625-08:00Happy Holidays From Molly Weasley!Okay, okay, I know I said I wasn't going to take on any more illustration work this year, but when my friends over at <a href="http://www.thehpalliance.org/" target="_blank">The Harry Potter Alliance</a> asked me to draw a holiday eCard for them this year, I couldn't say no! I ended up drawing one of the unused ideas that I had pitched them for <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/2014/12/seasons-bleatings.html" target="_blank">last year's holiday card.</a> This concept was originally pitched for a printed card that would open, so it has two parts. <br />
<br />
The first part is Molly Weasley, sitting comfortably in The Burrow, doing some knitting:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZmhNh4hTVGuCi8UguhmlSailVoDSHH6JE-tjoQ1n7neM1sHXGhLBCGgCWKpYAS-BvO4v4anPEcBBquQkoMyb1QuSkDquoBBPqZl1i-Et5EP1BEcDfvluLYneAsYzyABxGLUW-SzKfOs/s1600/HPA_Molly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZmhNh4hTVGuCi8UguhmlSailVoDSHH6JE-tjoQ1n7neM1sHXGhLBCGgCWKpYAS-BvO4v4anPEcBBquQkoMyb1QuSkDquoBBPqZl1i-Et5EP1BEcDfvluLYneAsYzyABxGLUW-SzKfOs/s1600/HPA_Molly.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The second part shows the fruits of her labor, as displayed on the members of her family, and some of their friends:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74VDRsIud720y7N8JredPdTq4zs39GDhh8hGhtfBjKUj2XZTp5ygiV4Mz5b2N75NTTL5Edzl_VJFOxcuPnEuHdLIJPunIe5qd-5J8ujDVg6Kb3bThGI21Ikj6vJ46tBPmj-YUAze2jyg/s1600/HPA_HappyHolidays_Sweaters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi74VDRsIud720y7N8JredPdTq4zs39GDhh8hGhtfBjKUj2XZTp5ygiV4Mz5b2N75NTTL5Edzl_VJFOxcuPnEuHdLIJPunIe5qd-5J8ujDVg6Kb3bThGI21Ikj6vJ46tBPmj-YUAze2jyg/s1600/HPA_HappyHolidays_Sweaters.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Since this was going to be an <b>e</b>Card, however, we had to figure out how these two images would work together online. Since this would all be digital, I thought it might be cool to post the first image as an animated .GIF file, instead of just a static image.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The first variant that I animated had a secret "Alohomora" message that appears in the bottom corner, allowing the user to "unlock" the image by clicking on it, thus revealing the second image. I animated this by drawing six frames on paper and then bringing them into Photoshop.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCM7Bg0NA9gbvgw0J8ssoFTCREzyqgcTunROVtCioBvnxaVLopelsvrFSKsAlm_aCn0MY6xB4XPX3fi-WaXaDJK7UyBOrZRho2j4F0LhyclqZXVpkJoNc0ctCVxks-7YQKuQ0DY_mYjUU/s1600/HPA_Molly_Alohomora_600.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCM7Bg0NA9gbvgw0J8ssoFTCREzyqgcTunROVtCioBvnxaVLopelsvrFSKsAlm_aCn0MY6xB4XPX3fi-WaXaDJK7UyBOrZRho2j4F0LhyclqZXVpkJoNc0ctCVxks-7YQKuQ0DY_mYjUU/s1600/HPA_Molly_Alohomora_600.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
This was the option that the HPA eventually chose. You can see how it all came together (with music!) on their <a href="https://hpalliance.nationbuilder.com/holiday_2015" target="_blank">holiday fundraising page.</a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
For the second variant that I animated, I got a bit carried away... I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if <i>everything </i>in the scene was animated?!" Really, it was an excuse to experiment with <a href="http://my.smithmicro.com/anime-studio-2D-animation-software.html" target="_blank">Anime Studio,</a> a 2D animation tool I recently bought to help me with another project. I tried out a bunch of different techniques and came up with the crazy scene below. <b>(WARNING! Big file: 2.7 MB)</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7nUyR1V6xd-f48F-gjYDaJ0ex8hsKJTbAbWado1gx49-F77Wn8FkbsMZYvEd8ysnXlHPlIKrsCARPv8-TFOED4XNjBtlnFaMnF5jDhznFBzfzC_gUuCDbxpTsbeXpHqNYHtdyqzX-lc/s1600/HPA_MollyWeasley_LOOP.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt7nUyR1V6xd-f48F-gjYDaJ0ex8hsKJTbAbWado1gx49-F77Wn8FkbsMZYvEd8ysnXlHPlIKrsCARPv8-TFOED4XNjBtlnFaMnF5jDhznFBzfzC_gUuCDbxpTsbeXpHqNYHtdyqzX-lc/s1600/HPA_MollyWeasley_LOOP.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
At the size the HPA was going to use this on their site, the file was actually <b>5 MB,</b> so it was a no-go. Still, I had a lot of fun building this, and I learned a bunch of new techniques which will serve me well in the future. Since it's kind of small here, I thought I'd do some "zoom-ins" on each of the elements.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Here is the garden gnome that Fred and George put a tutu on, painted gold and tied to the top of the Christmas tree:</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLhUZn2F3CzIpX6UVV_9639WNstD70J4x7Oo_tZDzuqc4Mw2YT2F7YwsJLkiPdWaIiGQoZc1JfBETMaTF1GlbdxTNWXgM5rYwc0BiLVpLD56r0VHA8xShKmlJBnYDQZbdRX-4bafYfxU/s1600/HPA_GardenGnome.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKLhUZn2F3CzIpX6UVV_9639WNstD70J4x7Oo_tZDzuqc4Mw2YT2F7YwsJLkiPdWaIiGQoZc1JfBETMaTF1GlbdxTNWXgM5rYwc0BiLVpLD56r0VHA8xShKmlJBnYDQZbdRX-4bafYfxU/s1600/HPA_GardenGnome.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The snow falling outside the window of The Burrow was probably the most complicated aspect of this animation. It was only a 4 second loop, so I couldn't get a whole double-window's worth of snow to fall through in that amount of time - too fast! Instead I took a tiny loop of snow falling past a single window and duplicated it. Because they are identical, it appears that the top window snow falls into the bottom window snow (if that makes sense).</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcQk8s9UvuLfbHHGNuKJsu9J7DJanmjAGqPz45ihSMjuHd8WGKS4ZxXio0ThbtgzBs9KoGhUuyHzyGQDlbvBdgDUwH8kkZH9vDi0v-FwdazMUIhRP0fiFxbhkbfe8xuATUR2UB1m6OqQ/s1600/HPA_snow.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCcQk8s9UvuLfbHHGNuKJsu9J7DJanmjAGqPz45ihSMjuHd8WGKS4ZxXio0ThbtgzBs9KoGhUuyHzyGQDlbvBdgDUwH8kkZH9vDi0v-FwdazMUIhRP0fiFxbhkbfe8xuATUR2UB1m6OqQ/s1600/HPA_snow.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I wish I had spent a bit more time on the knitting hand poses, but as it was, I had already spent too much time on this animation. Instead of drawing them on paper, I drew them directly into Photoshop to save time. It's a pretty clunky 6 frame loop. If nothing else, at least the needles cross over in different directions each cycle!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijEmIrbiXP0thm4lKBSWPci44OOoU8Lp_UiDSAWiX9qF0RAaBy9Ves84uQYE2OLFy9kwQwEdkKf22UvNmZdVzEmV1ZKs1VrxdrgO7-J-3cVdengqfzvKMyqZYzLBSAFq2SHz1P03QGMZ8/s1600/HPA_Knitting.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijEmIrbiXP0thm4lKBSWPci44OOoU8Lp_UiDSAWiX9qF0RAaBy9Ves84uQYE2OLFy9kwQwEdkKf22UvNmZdVzEmV1ZKs1VrxdrgO7-J-3cVdengqfzvKMyqZYzLBSAFq2SHz1P03QGMZ8/s1600/HPA_Knitting.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It wouldn't be the holidays at the Weasley's without some Celestina Warbeck on the wizarding wireless! For this one I utilized a visibility "fade in / fade out" preset that was built into Anime Studio.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTeSswkcHP0lwt32t78EBrxN8qjI0f8Zs68qCFMgnkZje8qbfHTOtnvPy00nEN33MZ2ZUnvP1I1V7-jPZyzYXy2vtMSu88Ngzgc0pe2GPkamTjmHffNiNSAFB97_LUwJg17NU72JxwJ2Y/s1600/HPA_Radio.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTeSswkcHP0lwt32t78EBrxN8qjI0f8Zs68qCFMgnkZje8qbfHTOtnvPy00nEN33MZ2ZUnvP1I1V7-jPZyzYXy2vtMSu88Ngzgc0pe2GPkamTjmHffNiNSAFB97_LUwJg17NU72JxwJ2Y/s1600/HPA_Radio.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was very excited to have an excuse to design and draw Mrs. Weasley's family clock! I used some "ease in / ease out" tweening on the pendulum and then had Arthur and Charlie Weasley's hands snapping back and forth between "traveling" and "work." Everyone else was either safely at home, or at Hogwarts!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNuvIfLgz2O3GBklY5jAF6iY1KKDE7se-HVuyGpmcWpBOGZJzX64PwOiaSip1wWYBFYN-cpvSvG-CnTGNBkLoyRrJMbo-mxpjadA4f3-k3bpPZGoeJqq0fwjzJaw6q65JGTnAIXXwkKVk/s1600/HPA_Clock.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNuvIfLgz2O3GBklY5jAF6iY1KKDE7se-HVuyGpmcWpBOGZJzX64PwOiaSip1wWYBFYN-cpvSvG-CnTGNBkLoyRrJMbo-mxpjadA4f3-k3bpPZGoeJqq0fwjzJaw6q65JGTnAIXXwkKVk/s1600/HPA_Clock.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The fire was super fun. It's just a quick 4-frame loop that I drew directly in Photoshop.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdt_PcJ1B4FuRA6inoKcZCg8RKQDjefB8iRjMC2xclCjoEyuFTahucSjJwIFJJIrGvYmfn5KL_R-AW3RB2UZRlMOo1QEJ9-bIiJVNJA-6LsJ3F14O6ELlEWgLFvvJBCxWXNretQGHMx9Y/s1600/HPA_Fire.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdt_PcJ1B4FuRA6inoKcZCg8RKQDjefB8iRjMC2xclCjoEyuFTahucSjJwIFJJIrGvYmfn5KL_R-AW3RB2UZRlMOo1QEJ9-bIiJVNJA-6LsJ3F14O6ELlEWgLFvvJBCxWXNretQGHMx9Y/s1600/HPA_Fire.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
For whatever reason, my favorite part of this whole piece is Errol, perched up on the mantelpiece. I think this drawing of the Weasley family owl is very funny, and it was fun having him breathe very, subtly and slowly. Every time I look at this it cracks me up!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2H_4RtuU3QbWdm3VeRues013GoyMAcZWGh-rftojN_pIZ0Lv7ltmOJ3sVZ49E7-KPum4Jm6h0C-sJDF-TR2shodnRaKL5e4bATsFN2o20uLPjAMUZ6h9b6_EKbDsTBp7hAISuEMIl2Q/s1600/HPA_Erroll.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH2H_4RtuU3QbWdm3VeRues013GoyMAcZWGh-rftojN_pIZ0Lv7ltmOJ3sVZ49E7-KPum4Jm6h0C-sJDF-TR2shodnRaKL5e4bATsFN2o20uLPjAMUZ6h9b6_EKbDsTBp7hAISuEMIl2Q/s1600/HPA_Erroll.gif" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Thanks again to the <a href="http://www.thehpalliance.org/" target="_blank">Harry Potter Alliance</a> for giving me a chance to work on this. <a href="https://hpalliance.nationbuilder.com/holiday_2015" target="_blank">Please donate to their great organization if you are able to!</a></div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-46140758057656439942015-10-27T06:00:00.000-07:002015-10-27T06:00:00.260-07:00Harry Potter at 1, 6, 11 & 16While digging through my illustration folder recently, I came across these Harry Potter drawings that I did for the <a href="http://thehpalliance.org/" target="_blank">Harry Potter Alliance</a> back in 2009, for a project that never really went anywhere. I never posted them on here, so I figure better late than never! They depict Harry Potter at ages 1, 6, 11 and 16.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdP9ODFWDsbdbHlTVL9KVfEXE0Mvj6LwV6E4WdPYxebe-6V9NVYkzAzr0lseZhyf_7eIzzfPL8quiQeAuEPX00ptlZ88TQ3QIWNUMy8QVwCGIXS33JqSVtVB3dUY5JYGc3s2Ye3x3n0kc/s1600/HarryPotter_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdP9ODFWDsbdbHlTVL9KVfEXE0Mvj6LwV6E4WdPYxebe-6V9NVYkzAzr0lseZhyf_7eIzzfPL8quiQeAuEPX00ptlZ88TQ3QIWNUMy8QVwCGIXS33JqSVtVB3dUY5JYGc3s2Ye3x3n0kc/s1600/HarryPotter_1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY03zU3G0O_rH79rCXk7HhY4PAGAycSItgiwiZbDbqzkWzBaWMznvK4MeM2B5oHYJf_MtT0jJ7O8jTlpADBLNpsw6P4tYwAdaATkm_E7Cuco2103Y6o1hd_twAptJstyxkhCY3uFs3-_4/s1600/HarryPotter_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY03zU3G0O_rH79rCXk7HhY4PAGAycSItgiwiZbDbqzkWzBaWMznvK4MeM2B5oHYJf_MtT0jJ7O8jTlpADBLNpsw6P4tYwAdaATkm_E7Cuco2103Y6o1hd_twAptJstyxkhCY3uFs3-_4/s1600/HarryPotter_6.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqj0gYcmsvtpJ8neOcz55UiJTUynCuDXl2KwYaHT3ayDeCwB756XFSbirDMWkpTAEgwOYt_6caJaadyNK4MHMhxqEw4j2l-epkoyUgitbvAKmrNsduERQ-sZqIIvsU86prGZlZZQZCCg/s1600/HarryPotter_11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqj0gYcmsvtpJ8neOcz55UiJTUynCuDXl2KwYaHT3ayDeCwB756XFSbirDMWkpTAEgwOYt_6caJaadyNK4MHMhxqEw4j2l-epkoyUgitbvAKmrNsduERQ-sZqIIvsU86prGZlZZQZCCg/s1600/HarryPotter_11.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnd8A6_w7AC3RwLcWH-HekCC7OzMhzcUb3iWfUCrfN4dpfrWWxgG7tBa3Kb8kxxt4X9PKTngYFYyXPzNve8pARIdy7g40wmYHsQii2mCT2IUPwNY7gx2jjKqNQnNu2ttJyKmxi61HUbao/s1600/HarryPotter_16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnd8A6_w7AC3RwLcWH-HekCC7OzMhzcUb3iWfUCrfN4dpfrWWxgG7tBa3Kb8kxxt4X9PKTngYFYyXPzNve8pARIdy7g40wmYHsQii2mCT2IUPwNY7gx2jjKqNQnNu2ttJyKmxi61HUbao/s1600/HarryPotter_16.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
With this post, I'm all caught up on posting old illustration work. I'm not currently taking on any new projects, so I'm going to take a break for a few months, while I focus on <a href="http://www.isleofelsi.com/" target="_blank">Isle of Elsi,</a> <a href="http://alec-longstreth.com/comics/" target="_blank">Phase 7</a> and my <a href="http://www.alec-longstreth.com/blog/766/" target="_blank">first born child,</a> who will be here soon!</div>
<br />Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-27089728481206221492015-10-22T08:01:00.000-07:002015-10-22T08:01:00.373-07:002015 Highlights GagsAt the end of last year, I did a few gags for a new <a href="https://www.highlights.com/" target="_blank">Highlights Magazine</a> called <a href="https://store.highlights.com/puzzle-book-clubs/puzzlemania" target="_blank">Pullzemania</a>. The idea was pretty cool - each gag's punchline had to be in a speech balloon and they would be printed separately, as stickers. So the reader has to look at a bunch of detached speech balloons and figure out which punchline goes with which gag. I was proud in the first one that I snuck in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis" target="_blank">Metamorphosis</a> reference...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkDmkhBsmaAwPOdNaAIedl6OMqMlPsOB0t9tMcqzUcXcaSw2XB9TMY5nW66WS37xYWHC5tTRdaAAaVDQodsBT-R_7PzRtigVtuWR-vubIc_zM5wvMoc7-n2N8gzNvLBIVVNJdOkfFCxU/s1600/Gag_CockroachChores.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkDmkhBsmaAwPOdNaAIedl6OMqMlPsOB0t9tMcqzUcXcaSw2XB9TMY5nW66WS37xYWHC5tTRdaAAaVDQodsBT-R_7PzRtigVtuWR-vubIc_zM5wvMoc7-n2N8gzNvLBIVVNJdOkfFCxU/s640/Gag_CockroachChores.jpg" width="510" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRw3r9lCWAl4yXWhCfXpXdFwlNfg1OWxA2ZeTyHOSR4D9x4H6b_rAv5RlKjyKvMfeCoi1dPGTev3mSgZZDWQzmMg7LoA2DL2RhSZh6JSPldkfa7JQWvyDMCmEB7Of6mdOE12Jf6hCUsOg/s1600/Gag_MountRushmore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRw3r9lCWAl4yXWhCfXpXdFwlNfg1OWxA2ZeTyHOSR4D9x4H6b_rAv5RlKjyKvMfeCoi1dPGTev3mSgZZDWQzmMg7LoA2DL2RhSZh6JSPldkfa7JQWvyDMCmEB7Of6mdOE12Jf6hCUsOg/s1600/Gag_MountRushmore.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFpmVRuQPxNYM4482NczK79iwbASE7WS7mVQgcs9RlKv72YuyS6owzOM137lQDyYewV_EqCM2VvmUHqZF9ISyZnMWNj4w_HlfvbuAlmntcjllKZvZYSMdtvbnMkL5Kko3HJ8rmWBpNjWE/s1600/Gag_OPQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFpmVRuQPxNYM4482NczK79iwbASE7WS7mVQgcs9RlKv72YuyS6owzOM137lQDyYewV_EqCM2VvmUHqZF9ISyZnMWNj4w_HlfvbuAlmntcjllKZvZYSMdtvbnMkL5Kko3HJ8rmWBpNjWE/s640/Gag_OPQ.jpg" width="536" /></a></div>
<br />
It felt good to draw some gags again - like the good old days at Nickelodeon Magazine! Too bad these were work for hire. At least this magazine did not switch over to a <a href="http://www.nospec.com/faq" target="_blank">spec work</a> model, like the <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/2015/10/2015-highlights-magazine.html" target="_blank">picture finds I was doing,</a> so I may consider doing this kind of work again in the future.Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-26433356137428784102015-10-20T09:00:00.000-07:002015-10-20T17:11:20.325-07:00Last Highlights Picture FindsHere are my last two picture-find assignments that I drew for <a href="https://www.highlights.com/">Highlights Magazine</a> last year, and which were printed in the <a href="https://store.highlights.com/puzzle-book-clubs/eagle-eye-hidden-pictures">Eagle-Eye Hidden Picture</a> series this year. First up is the <a href="http://www.thehenryford.org/museum/index.aspx" target="_blank">Henry Ford Museum,</a> which I drew for issue #38.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-azELzfG5FDM-_XMy_kS7gPIxdwaxIy_UOlXYJfN0Kc2hVLGnr2AYnP5U7RzAdpxc-RpEVrJr2RqgTZCdJBcUUMaiHZthizBOgtf9_PZ0LiRiz2-nbpaksLQrLpN6ze0WDNehBkPaucI/s1600/EEHP38_FordMuseum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-azELzfG5FDM-_XMy_kS7gPIxdwaxIy_UOlXYJfN0Kc2hVLGnr2AYnP5U7RzAdpxc-RpEVrJr2RqgTZCdJBcUUMaiHZthizBOgtf9_PZ0LiRiz2-nbpaksLQrLpN6ze0WDNehBkPaucI/s640/EEHP38_FordMuseum.jpg" width="488" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
And my very last picture-find was of a paddle boat on the Mississippi River. In the text on the adjoining page, the characters said they couldn't see into the water because it was brown, and then said "Now we know why the Mississippi is also called the Big Muddy." I looked up some reference and colored the illustration as you see it below, which was approved by my editor. When the magazine arrived in the mail, Highlights had recolored the water green (!?!)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPWDMPQowc1VHzOWxUb2PYuSdJmlTzh0brAddZGM2MPLOpQVrlq8x6UNlWHEG5IUTC6-6ZYSYHZwamnYexR1SyI2OYhu1MdKcdjkxctDuLQs7y-XcBKtfSgBcNMxHcIDxNUO-hIlc6W3U/s1600/EEHP40_Mississippi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPWDMPQowc1VHzOWxUb2PYuSdJmlTzh0brAddZGM2MPLOpQVrlq8x6UNlWHEG5IUTC6-6ZYSYHZwamnYexR1SyI2OYhu1MdKcdjkxctDuLQs7y-XcBKtfSgBcNMxHcIDxNUO-hIlc6W3U/s640/EEHP40_Mississippi.jpg" width="488" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Sadly, after this assignment, Highlights changed the way these illustrations are commissioned. Instead of hiring a talented illustrator and agreeing to pay them a fair fee through a contract, they are now requesting that illustrators send them fully formed ideas and then they may select them, or they may not. For me, that qualifies as <a href="http://www.nospec.com/faq" target="_blank">spec work, </a>so I will not be working for Highlights any more. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
It was already a work-for-hire assignment, which is a very low priority me these days, but it was fun being in this historic publication that I used to enjoy when I was a kid. Perhaps someday they'll revert to a more fair contract and I will do some work for them again.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<br />Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-61586891601672102832015-09-04T07:45:00.002-07:002019-03-16T21:44:40.025-07:00My Weezer Pinball T-Shirt is now PLAYABLE!Back when I designed my <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/2014/10/weezer-ewbaite-pinball-t-shirt.html" target="_blank">EWBAITE Pinball T-Shirt for Weezer</a> I got an email from a game designer named Frederic over at <a href="http://www.games-mill.com/" target="_blank">games-mill.com</a> who was also a big Weezer fan. He pitched the idea of turning my T-Shirt design into a playable virtual pinball machine. I said <i>YES PLEASE.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
For years now, Frederic and his team have been working on <a href="http://weezergame.com/" target="_blank">Weezle Jump,</a> which is a web-based, Weezer-themed video game, with one mini game per album. They decided to add my pinball design as the level for <a href="http://weezer.com/" target="_blank">Everything Will Be Alright in the End!</a> It's done and it's pretty amazing:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiebV_Xy2rSr-fukBF2JTz1k8yJUoEb4x7LGeWV_9gYI7co0X13jz362rXrIHzc3OnztM55qsuEy2e8tZ5VieP-hpUjJ0Q0qQ54cHrfqi1oKdvgnfHJ-88-k1g48NtlN9rweia12h83Gg/s1600/WeezerPinball.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="399" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiebV_Xy2rSr-fukBF2JTz1k8yJUoEb4x7LGeWV_9gYI7co0X13jz362rXrIHzc3OnztM55qsuEy2e8tZ5VieP-hpUjJ0Q0qQ54cHrfqi1oKdvgnfHJ-88-k1g48NtlN9rweia12h83Gg/s640/WeezerPinball.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
They made some of the elements 3-D like the flippers, the drop targets, the slingshots, the pop bumpers and the ramps, plus they added some lighting effects on the inlanes, outlanes and lanes at the top. They let me play an early version to give them feedback, so it's got a pretty solid ruleset at this point. The player is rewarded for completing tasks like hitting all the drop targets or completing all the lanes. There are multiballs and everything!</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
To play the game you need to install <a href="http://unity3d.com/" target="_blank">Unity 3-D</a>. Then head over to <a href="http://weezergame.com/" target="_blank">weezergame.com</a>, create a username and then select "Pinball" from the "Games" menu on the home screen. Have fun and I'll see you on the high score board!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-79670570326327898422015-08-27T08:00:00.000-07:002015-08-27T09:50:18.690-07:00Cartozia Tales #7 coverOkay! Claire and I are pretty well <a href="http://www.alec-longstreth.com/blog/764/" target="_blank">settled in Santa Fe,</a> so it's time to start posting some illustration work again. Thanks to everyone who <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/2015/07/original-watercolors-for-sale.html" target="_blank">bought an original watercolor</a> and for their patience while I got all my shipping stuff set up again. Those have all been sent out at this point, so everyone should have received them by now. If not, <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/p/contact.html" target="_blank">shoot me an email!</a><br />
<br />
Back when I was running the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/742484802/basewood" target="_blank">Basewood Kickstarter,</a> a bunch of my comics friends were also using Kickstarter to launch a cool, new, collaborative, fantasy, all-ages comic series called <a href="http://cartozia.com/" target="_blank">Cartozia Tales.</a> We each helped plug each other's projects during our campaigns and I agreed to contribute something to their project at some point in the future.<br />
<br />
That future point ended up being at the beginning of this year, when I drew the cover for <a href="http://cartozia.com/store/cartozia-tales-7" target="_blank">Cartozia Tales #7, which is now available for ordering.</a> It was fun to read through the issue and to pick out an exciting moment to turn into the cover image. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_wNAY8tCifRRRbJ3sQRnz_E7HWI8TNh3w5vOCZZxorAa_U6s9RL6Et8w4MX-LNZlYGtAQi_gYK3h7u1K_UO92lvwnONU_lovHNcCNC3oElQEaFyolyIen0YegPMJj5aTZ_agNfwv9cM/s1600/CT7_final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi_wNAY8tCifRRRbJ3sQRnz_E7HWI8TNh3w5vOCZZxorAa_U6s9RL6Et8w4MX-LNZlYGtAQi_gYK3h7u1K_UO92lvwnONU_lovHNcCNC3oElQEaFyolyIen0YegPMJj5aTZ_agNfwv9cM/s640/CT7_final.jpg" width="419" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
If you have not been reading Cartozia Tales, this is a great time to get into the series! They've got a <a href="http://cartozia.com/news/2015/7/10/big-sale-for-new-readers-lots-of-tumblr-updates" target="_blank">"New Reader" sale</a> going on now where you can get digital copies of the first three issues (over 125 pages of comics!) for only $2.50. This deal ends <b>tomorrow (8/28)</b>, so jump on it! There are so many wonderful, talented contributors in this project.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Okay, well, I'm going to keep digging through my file of 2015 illustration work and find a few other things to post in the coming weeks!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-52919299464120796462015-07-30T08:00:00.000-07:002015-07-30T08:00:06.316-07:00Original Watercolors for sale!Now that the <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/2015/07/100-watercolors-book-and-ebook.html" target="_blank">100 Watercolors book and eBook are available,</a> I am selling off 77 of the original paintings. This is only the second time I have ever sold any of my original art, so if you've ever wanted to own a piece by me, this is a great chance!<br />
<br />
To handle the sales, I set up <a href="http://p7comics.storenvy.com/" target="_blank">a custom StoreEnvy shop,</a> which lists each of the watercolors along with their price - all are between $50-$100, depending on their complexity. You can use the search bar on the left, if there is a certain one you are looking for, or click through the various pages to check them out. The paintings are all 4"x6" on heavy watercolor paper, inked with India ink and painted with watercolor paint. Suitable for framing!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJEP4gxpT7HlIbvcw-JUIxtLAmkQeg2XftNreffhHxdX4DUCbwoEXP-reJeJ75SbaNWPLhWKn2H1gdXkKdcnR4RAS07_dc2hbPem_sozY1gU7_VOSEseYur9LMQkHBsmmfU2E97tKy1kI/s1600/100WC_StoreEnvy.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJEP4gxpT7HlIbvcw-JUIxtLAmkQeg2XftNreffhHxdX4DUCbwoEXP-reJeJ75SbaNWPLhWKn2H1gdXkKdcnR4RAS07_dc2hbPem_sozY1gU7_VOSEseYur9LMQkHBsmmfU2E97tKy1kI/s640/100WC_StoreEnvy.png" width="620" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>PLEASE NOTE: </b>This blog entry is auto-posting! My computer is currently packed up in the back of a moving truck along with the rest of my worldly possessions. Tomorrow morning I am driving to Santa Fe, New Mexico. <i>All watercolor orders will be shipped by <b>mid-August,</b> after I get settled in Santa Fe!</i><br />
<br />
Since these are originals, there is only <b>one</b> of each painting and it is first come, first served! Also, I gave 23 of the paintings away to close friends and family members, so not <i>all</i> of the paintings are available. If you are not able to get the painting you want, I'll remind you that you can get all 100 Watercolors for the price of a single painting by <a href="http://www.aleclongstreth.com/2015/07/100-watercolors-book-and-ebook.html" target="_blank">buying the book.</a><br />
<br />
Thanks so much to everyone for your support of this project! After I get caught up on everything post-move, I'm going to get back to posting some regular illustration work on here!Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-67876616440740123942015-07-28T08:00:00.000-07:002015-07-28T08:00:02.420-07:00100 Watercolors Book and eBook!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwoDCqA_iOQOXcVvljspONPKJHuLh2Tyinm7VNqc8SsWenLPUqwygjusx0t7VLVN2hYAF_stg6xG3bDpCHFZjhPfhKfOERDSXewQteUgd9u_fMyaoT7foedEu5VQ-bLbX9GgiPXMEXq0/s1600/100Watercolors_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUwoDCqA_iOQOXcVvljspONPKJHuLh2Tyinm7VNqc8SsWenLPUqwygjusx0t7VLVN2hYAF_stg6xG3bDpCHFZjhPfhKfOERDSXewQteUgd9u_fMyaoT7foedEu5VQ-bLbX9GgiPXMEXq0/s400/100Watercolors_Cover.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Last week I finished my 100 Watercolors challenge, which is now available as an <a href="https://gumroad.com/l/100WC" target="_blank">eBook</a> and as a print-on-demand <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/alec-longstreth/100-watercolors/paperback/product-22290161.html" target="_blank">physical book!</a><br />
<br />
Both editions include an introduction that explains the origin of the "100 Themes" challenge and how that lead to me painting these 100 Watercolors from 2008-2015.<br />
<br />
In the back of the book there is also a 16-page appendix which shows all of the tools that I used to make these paintings as well as a step-by-step walkthrough of my entire process, from idea to finished painting, for watercolor #100. <br />
<br />
You can get the eBook version for only <a href="https://gum.co/100WC" target="_blank">99 cents over on Gumroad!</a> <br />
<br />
That's <i>less than a penny</i> per painting. If you have enjoyed checking out these paintings over the last seven years, please consider picking up the eBook! It's a nice easy way to check them out all in one place, and to learn about their creation.<br />
<br />
For those of you who would rather have this project as a physical book on your shelf, it is <a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/alec-longstreth/100-watercolors/paperback/product-22290161.html" target="_blank">now available from Lulu.com</a> as a 226-page, full color, 8.5" x 8.5", perfect-bound book. It's got a cover price of $75 (full color printing is <i>expensive!</i>) but it's 25% off if you order it from Lulu.com. <br />
<br />
Below you can see what it looks like - I'm really happy with how it turned out!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNLsMhATtT9NLDryim11qNHEzLRdgXQ92FtvjTcmI5vCdOe66US6KulG9PKOvZguiO2uRfZajCSCW3zmQ241k7vRumwZpvcc7zmM-jl4seAualTtemAuf5kWCha5YWSXuo4AI_GBUxXA/s1600/Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmNLsMhATtT9NLDryim11qNHEzLRdgXQ92FtvjTcmI5vCdOe66US6KulG9PKOvZguiO2uRfZajCSCW3zmQ241k7vRumwZpvcc7zmM-jl4seAualTtemAuf5kWCha5YWSXuo4AI_GBUxXA/s1600/Cover.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQHdJ4aK4ZQWFZKkv2X41myddKShHLM530zCEkeUZ5a14kohmsK4xP0tViY2SQyfxvnNLV0zGPZ0btdQIQGORWSPaOqPIY5S7WufoUJMBc-y7xODZhqugqp9W79IQcUPjTYjW9pZimvQ/s1600/Preface.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMQHdJ4aK4ZQWFZKkv2X41myddKShHLM530zCEkeUZ5a14kohmsK4xP0tViY2SQyfxvnNLV0zGPZ0btdQIQGORWSPaOqPIY5S7WufoUJMBc-y7xODZhqugqp9W79IQcUPjTYjW9pZimvQ/s1600/Preface.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkD2hEZqAfTZVFHx8qGahyphenhyphenBu9aabGdyc_zmyf08jwOGJutG-ZD4RbryAoqyxJzeG5HaZjpC7deJ1EpdSlocCN4i6xwdfDOiamvLmhNyavCGH4e6GZpXbyRbsflxYWy7th5h__Idh4EF90/s1600/56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkD2hEZqAfTZVFHx8qGahyphenhyphenBu9aabGdyc_zmyf08jwOGJutG-ZD4RbryAoqyxJzeG5HaZjpC7deJ1EpdSlocCN4i6xwdfDOiamvLmhNyavCGH4e6GZpXbyRbsflxYWy7th5h__Idh4EF90/s1600/56.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXWhEapGx3OZJw5lg0eNPmGgQRQdhQJZrOYqxNY_-MurYPF3cdR5MAF7c99RbYnLcUTKTl8-BV7C4dvinh0s_4sPJhAYlROTS5DmWsy6xWS-LJy63zbfliDANDX3FoQC5v3-IfjZMbWzs/s1600/66.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXWhEapGx3OZJw5lg0eNPmGgQRQdhQJZrOYqxNY_-MurYPF3cdR5MAF7c99RbYnLcUTKTl8-BV7C4dvinh0s_4sPJhAYlROTS5DmWsy6xWS-LJy63zbfliDANDX3FoQC5v3-IfjZMbWzs/s1600/66.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqp2XkE3dgEuf2GWCFoRZo9ZW7a6Hf-igUi4orpcdntKGORBnmoTX7Bhsu6XtS02500PB8h-kCSRGzjSEgR27ddR_lY4Hn3LawOytSIuauY3v5HisyBgzh7mK2fli1TTRXGLgbS6zeDho/s1600/Tools.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqp2XkE3dgEuf2GWCFoRZo9ZW7a6Hf-igUi4orpcdntKGORBnmoTX7Bhsu6XtS02500PB8h-kCSRGzjSEgR27ddR_lY4Hn3LawOytSIuauY3v5HisyBgzh7mK2fli1TTRXGLgbS6zeDho/s1600/Tools.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyoneJbqT8I5omSPcLi1YtiEE3QJ2bONC1PRJJOl5uFZpKl-y9ie3c_cTDW6JUcj2H6w610h1cFj8kQvMgA2XehnHc2Ua2VMdy4UsKXiXAJ_08-yL_tY7J_oygBRWYdX4w7qQkqpOipgc/s1600/Process1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyoneJbqT8I5omSPcLi1YtiEE3QJ2bONC1PRJJOl5uFZpKl-y9ie3c_cTDW6JUcj2H6w610h1cFj8kQvMgA2XehnHc2Ua2VMdy4UsKXiXAJ_08-yL_tY7J_oygBRWYdX4w7qQkqpOipgc/s1600/Process1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_xOlpz7AeXh_1Oa6IrILJK5_V2xAhjEHhR_nm55GR_YIupfk_uzM5_prIe0Y-bcv2bCELu-s9Z5w7oCjR9-bp7M8vpdkOEIxeAh_aRPrMnQ4S-g1SOwfQmLOYgzIzqjuMQ8eqrYNkC4/s1600/Process2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO_xOlpz7AeXh_1Oa6IrILJK5_V2xAhjEHhR_nm55GR_YIupfk_uzM5_prIe0Y-bcv2bCELu-s9Z5w7oCjR9-bp7M8vpdkOEIxeAh_aRPrMnQ4S-g1SOwfQmLOYgzIzqjuMQ8eqrYNkC4/s1600/Process2.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoszYbzYatN6kOzfIBv9bGTyjurSFasB4qTIfm3cEeeUdoaIrRSsSl0YQxv-EuQaNmS59kg4JAzSTE1yrKVaEZr05K2qxNymVbCBFCWux7ijN5A6XAD6Xq_7X29-dkoUGT6vxvU51n2U/s1600/Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicoszYbzYatN6kOzfIBv9bGTyjurSFasB4qTIfm3cEeeUdoaIrRSsSl0YQxv-EuQaNmS59kg4JAzSTE1yrKVaEZr05K2qxNymVbCBFCWux7ijN5A6XAD6Xq_7X29-dkoUGT6vxvU51n2U/s1600/Bcover.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
On Thursday <i>(7/30/15)</i> I will be putting up a link to an online store where I will be selling off many of these original paintings. They will ship out by mid-August from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I am moving at the end of this week!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-8206220318329971042015-07-23T09:00:00.000-07:002015-07-23T09:00:06.633-07:00100 Watercolors #100 - RelaxationWell, here it is... the <b>final</b> theme! As I hope you can tell here, it has been a lot of fun making all of these little paintings. It was very relaxing sitting in my kitchen, taking some time each week to paint for an hour or two. I definitely learned a lot along the way. Thanks to everyone who took some time to check out this series!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8ADUXelF3Z1m5caZjL4MBBHEZCJ2Lxn83GPLeof37Wuluy0V40Ue_bXV5BykGpGz-bc5BRonSmAQh5pFyYxKZsvjTJ6ju6nOVQixIFjL-VkwJ9GdICxdqSrnBomFA4E-orCbAuGvJHc/s1600/100_Relaxation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd8ADUXelF3Z1m5caZjL4MBBHEZCJ2Lxn83GPLeof37Wuluy0V40Ue_bXV5BykGpGz-bc5BRonSmAQh5pFyYxKZsvjTJ6ju6nOVQixIFjL-VkwJ9GdICxdqSrnBomFA4E-orCbAuGvJHc/s1600/100_Relaxation.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
In case you were curious, here's what the 100 Watercolors look like all together (click to see it bigger):</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyqDE2_Y9srBKV0rUsygE_5CEhrjpcMNmD-xTdg1qR9f0W9R4i3rnC7wKrhyphenhyphenrDAhloQ81A567XBCJfUI33zrH74v821b8u-wlaJUtng2Mmgyqns_b4rO-VtcCUX-fxip9f-dTf03wk8Y/s1600/100Watercolors_GRID.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxyqDE2_Y9srBKV0rUsygE_5CEhrjpcMNmD-xTdg1qR9f0W9R4i3rnC7wKrhyphenhyphenrDAhloQ81A567XBCJfUI33zrH74v821b8u-wlaJUtng2Mmgyqns_b4rO-VtcCUX-fxip9f-dTf03wk8Y/s640/100Watercolors_GRID.jpg" width="624" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Over the last few months I have gathered all of these paintings into a book, which will be available in print and digitally <b>next Tuesday</b> <i>(7/28/15),</i> and then I will be selling off the majority of the original paintings starting <b>next Thursday</b> <i>(7/30/15).</i> More information about all of that will be posted here next week!</div>
Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6481719021006803509.post-44612241556935823132015-07-21T09:00:00.000-07:002015-07-21T09:00:06.249-07:00100 Watercolors #99 - SolitudeThe theme of "solitude" made me think about the times in my life when I felt most alone. Ironically, these were usually when I was living in major cities, surrounded by millions of people. Painting this one was kind of a bummer. I would not go back to my twenties for a million bucks!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvD7WSbGDDJ_ElQ6xW6O1iOlJ99S9BTeLzbnfxQCXooinbAIDio1lQD5O423WDYu90gQ6WXvdytVBoeCnYMsk5yQS4QNEdBJUBLCR33-YjGLXdrIwiJS13d9mkKshDTAgTBMvreKzY88/s1600/099_Solitude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrvD7WSbGDDJ_ElQ6xW6O1iOlJ99S9BTeLzbnfxQCXooinbAIDio1lQD5O423WDYu90gQ6WXvdytVBoeCnYMsk5yQS4QNEdBJUBLCR33-YjGLXdrIwiJS13d9mkKshDTAgTBMvreKzY88/s1600/099_Solitude.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The <b><i>last</i></b> theme: Relaxation!!!</div>
<br />Alec Longstrethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14666833759420519261noreply@blogger.com0