Al's Secret Hideout

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Last Day

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 04:53:00 +0000

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Day 25

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 04:18:00 +0000

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Day 24

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 04:38:00 +0000

A crappy and unfinished watercolor was all I could manage thanks to one of those distracting "relaxing" days where you spend more time running around than you do on your normal days.

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Day 23

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:34:00 +0000

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Day 22

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 22:27:00 +0000

Name that Brit!

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Day 21

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 00:49:00 +0000

CREAM CITY ILLUSTRATORS ART MARATHON - Day 20

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 23:41:00 +0000

ANOTHER BIG DUMP

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 21:53:00 +0000

On June 14th I began participation in the Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon. Of course, I was already almost two weeks into my good friend Keith Ikeda-Barry's 'Thirty Days Project'. The first couple days I tried to do double duty and create something unique for both. Unfortunately, there not being enough hours in the day I had to face facts and compromise. Now that the Thirty Days Project is over I will try to keep these posting regularly until the Art Marathon is over. Phew!

Day 14 of Thirty Days Project

Day 01 of Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon

Day 15 of TDP

Day 02 of CCIAM

Day 16 of TDP

Day 03 of CCIAM

Day 04 of CCIAM/ Day 17 of TDP

Day 05 of CCIAM/ Day 18 of TDP

Day 06 of CCIAM/ Day 19 of TDP

Day 07 of CCIAM/ Day 20 of TDP

Day 08 of CCIAM/ Day 21 of TDP

Day 09 of CCIAM/ Day 22 of TDP

Day 10 of CCIAM/ Day 23 of TDP

Day 11 of CCIAM/ Day 24 of TDP

Day 12 of CCIAM/ Day 25 of TDP

Day 13 of CCIAM/ Day 26 of TDP

Day 14 of CCIAM/ Day 27 of TDP

Day 15 of CCIAM/ Day 28 of TDP

Day 16 of CCIAM/ Day 29 of TDP

Day 17 of CCIAM/ Day 30 of TDP

Day 18 of CCIAM

Day 19 of CCIAM

Thirty Days - Day 13

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 13:43:00 +0000

BIG DUMP

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 17:11:00 +0000

I've been neglecting my blog for a good while now due to the fact that I've been busy with other things. I've created a Flickr portfolio to showcase some of my stuff in a more orderly way for art directors and such. I'm about to begin participation in the Cream City Illustrators Art Marathon tomorrow, and am currently participating again in my good friend Keith Ikeda-Barry's 'Thirty Day Project'. Needless to say, this is going to be a VERY busy June. Here's stuff from the last 12 days on the Thirty Days Project (I missed day 9)

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 08

Day 07

Day 06

Days 04 & 05 (WIP)

Day 03

Day 02

Day 01

(I can't seem to find. LOL. It was just some sketches. I apparently used sketches from this day in a compilation of other sketches I posted on Day 06. This was completely unintentional. I swear!)

This is a series of prints I made for the INK!!! show in March.

And this is a self-portrait I did for a local Drink & Draw

Mecha sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 00:32:00 +0000

An idea for a painting.

A very short wishlist for Adobe Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 20:25:00 +0000

One of the techniques I use for working in photoshop is making liberal usage of the "New Window for..." feature located in the Window menu. The reason being is that it allows me to duplicate what I'm working on but have it at a different zoom level. So, essentially I could be working closeup in one window for details and far away in another for blocking or adding large gestures. You might say "Why not use the navigator?". The reason that the navigator is useless for working this way is that 1. you can't paint in it, and 2. if you change the zoom in it, you change the zoom for the main window. Now, my beef with PS CS5 is that you can only use the "new window" method if you stay in the discreet floating panels view, as soon as you pick one of the other two full screen modes the new window disappears leaving you with only the one "main" window, the duplicate is hidden. What I would like is for the duplicate window to be able to remain on top when in full screen (maybe though a "pinning" feature?). You might say "why not just drag it onto your second monitor?", and the answer to that is that I don't have a second monitor...yet. So, if Adobe did this I would be ecstatic.

My second wish is simply for Adobe to make brush presets, swatches, and other such things saveable to the cloud. I hate having to refind this stuff after a reinstall, or simply not having access to my standard tools when working on a strange computer.

Hazmat Zombie

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 21:51:00 +0000

This was done for an art test.

Green Fairy

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 19:41:00 +0000

This is from a poster I did for a competition. I like what I churned out on a very tight deadline.

Dragonbreaker WIP

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 03:54:00 +0000

I hate to post unfinished work, but due to other things on my plate, I'm not sure when I'm gonna be able to seriously sit down to finish this guy without the specter of other projects and responsibilities (that pay) leering over my shoulder. So, I thought I'd put something up so that it doesn't look like I've been totally idle since my last post.

The Surrealist, J Karl Bogartte

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:35:00 +0000

A portrait of a good friend of mine.

Twin Suns

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 06:32:00 +0000

It's been a while, but I have been busy. This is a landscape I did when i got a call from someone asking if I'd be interested in doing matte paintings. This isn't for anything in particular, just learning the ropes.

Gesture Drawing Practice Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 22:38:00 +0000

I should add that my last two posted studies were from photos in the Gesture Drawing Practice Tool, an excellent website that shows images from which you can get your doodle on. Definitely check it out!

Warrior study

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:05:00 +0000

Now I want to apply stuff that I've learned doing these studies to things that are more from my imagination, rather than photos. I hope to be creating some striking images in the months following the holidays.

Female nude study

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 23:49:00 +0000

I apologize for the time it's taken for me to post anything new. I have been keeping busy. I just haven't done anything that I cared to post because it was a lot of going down new avenues. I used the gridding process to get the proportions correct in this one. This is my first time using a grid. The reason I used it this time was because after doing painting from studies I would always tell myself "this would've turned out better if I spent more time in getting the initial sketch right.". So, with that said...

Political heads

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 01:45:00 +0000

Studies in grayscale utilizing the domes of various political figures.

UCAV

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:35:00 +0000

Trying out a new technique, for me anyway. I had no original idea when I started this. I ended up with a futuristic UCAV design.

Attack!

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 02:49:00 +0000

In the spirit of Chris Foss.

God of the forest

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:43:00 +0000

I've been thinking a lot about trees lately and, messing around in photoshop last night, this sprouted from my imagnation.

Graphgear 1000 VS. SKB-1000 "James Jean Pen"

noreply@blogger.com (Allison Alexander Westbrook IV) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 03:11:00 +0000

First let me say that comparing these two pens is like comparing a Mercedes to a...Volga. The only reason I'm comparing the two is because they are both .5 mm ballpoints, which aren't easy to come by and the fact that the SKB-1000 has been riding the coattails of James Jean's popularity.

The SKB-1000 is basically a cheap Chinese made stationary pen. When you order a box from their, rather innocuous, website, what you get is a nondescript box of plastic pens. For some odd reason the barrel on the SKB-1000 can be unscrewed. My only reasoning for this is simply ease of assembly, since they are not refillable, technically. The SKB-1000's body is flimsy, lightweight and the pocket clip breaks off easily.

But, the true test of a pen is in the writing. This is where everything breaks down. I don't know how James Jean does it, or perhaps I got a bad batch of pens, but pen after pen had follow through problems. If I was sketching in my moleskine, eventually the pen found some random point on the page to simply just stop working. I tried multiple pens from the pack and experienced the exact same quirk with all of them. The line is rather nice, when it works, but the unreliability forced me to stop using them entirely. I do not recommend the SKB-1000's unless you want to give them away...

The Pentel Graphgear 1000 is a completely different story. I love my stainless steel Parker Jotter pen, I've always thought it looked like a prop James Bond would have in his breast pocket, like it doubled as a laser maybe. The Graphgear is even better, it's like something out of 'Ghost In The Shell' or 'Gundam'.

The first thing that you notice when you get this pen in your hand is the weight. This pen is SOLID. It has a brushed metal body and an etched metal grip. There are little ovals on the grip made of translucent rubber which makes it very pleasurable to hold. This is truly a pen geek's pen. After engaging the "clicker" on the back end of the pen, in order to write, you must push the pocket clip in order to retract the tip. So wicked! It's a dummy safety so you can't put the pen in your pocket with the tip out! Basically, I LOVE this pen.

The line, which is the most important thing, is smooth. The ink is dark. I have so far had no chokes like the SKB-1000's. Sure, there are ink bombs, but this is kind of typical for ballpoints, in general, and I haven't experienced any really bad ones. This pen is a dream to draw with.

The SKB-1000's were $14 for a pack of 12. The Graphgear 1000 is $15 for one with $2 refills. The Graphgear is worth every penny, whereas I felt totally gouged by the SKB's.

If you like drawing with ballpoints or simply want a pen that will make other people go "Holy Shit!", do yourself a favor and get a Graphgear. Better yet, if you want to give someone a totally unexpected gift get them the Graphgear, it is just that cool. Period.

The Graphgear 1000 can be purchased at JetPens, an awesome site specializing in Japanese made writing/drawing tools.