Objects And Lessons

L= Lower, U= Upper, <,>= Left & Right, Respectively.

L <
Scribble
Something that had been rolling around in my mind all day that I finally decided to put into a card while Skyping with =deidaraart5. This one was made with a Sharpie micro, all while sitting in my recliner with the laptop in my lap. This led to a small problem: I didn't have a good working surface to make this on, instead just holding the card against one of my Moleskines, the whole ensemble clumsily suspended in the air while I tried to make smooth, clean lines. It didn't really work, as you might be able to see. The thing about Sharpies, more the case with their markers (even of the fine variety) than their pens is that you have to make smooth, flowing movements or you get this "beading" effect in your lines. Every little bulge in those lines (especially the last one) is a hesitation of a subtle drop in speed.

L >
Scribble, IInd Attempt
This was the next day, on a table, and with a more reliable implement. I used a Sharpie pen, which I'm quite fond of, despite their "no bleed" design resulting in some very subdued hues. Blacks tend to have a bit of that pencil-like gray to them, and the red really doesn't pop like it should. Still, the beading effect is much less noticeable and does make for some cleaner lines.

U <
Where Did You Come From?
Wouldn't you like to know. As much as I don't like previewing stuff, I was still happy with how this scraggly little guy turned out. Plus, between how his design might change between now and the final product as well as how long before said final product comes out, it's less a preview or work in progress and more like a seedling (irony of that word choice will be apparent in time). In wanting to do more pencil work, I hit on the idea of doing a still life of some household objects, simple things that would give a good range of shades and textures, give me a real challenge and put my Christmas present from my Dad to good use. Anyway, since I can't really do a normal still life, I wanted to put this little guy into the mix of it, just as a kind of "WTF" among an ordinary setting. That's why this as well as the other mini-card have shaded backgrounds. That's my only real complaint about ATCs; some are off-white, but I wish Strathmore would release Artagain-style cards, possibly even some scratchboard.

U >
Flayers
When I started working on the scraggly guy, I knew I wanted to cut the card in half, but as suddenly as I thought of it, I'd totally forgotten what I wanted the other half to be. After a few feeble attempts at trying to remember the idea, I gave up and drew some viney-looking flowers, taking a cue from one of the eeriest moments of Hellraiser II, a stop motion sequence involving a beckoning flower, and the plant-like flaying tendrils The Lady of Pain is often depicted as having.

Background is a box a router came in. Tried something like that once before, not quite as cool as I thought it would turn out, but it's better than worrying about everything shifting around when I lay down a black bit of card.

Update: Ugh, didn't realize how bad the compression artifacts would show up in the lower cards. Ah, well, we'll call it a slightly less obtrusive watermark.