Behind the Page

Graduation Ceremony/Dinner Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 08:53:00 +0000

Come on, you know you want some ;)

Me and my fans!

My aunt and my mom

Me having a drink

After the ceremony

More photos can be found at my Flickr page.

6 Reasons to Hire a Physically Disabled Person

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:37:00 +0000

As an employer, you might find yourself faced with the reality of thinking about hiring a physically disabled person. You think, if I could hire someone with the same skills, but without handicap, why should I pick the disabled person? I will give you six good reasons to do so, in no particular order.

Financially beneficial. In most countries, the government offers a substantial amount of discounts and bonuses to employers who take on a disabled person. The government will also pay the disabled person's wages, should the person fall ill, or should they be unable to perform their tasks due to their disability.
Motivation. It is very often the case that disabled people are highly motivated. They have worked hard to get where they are and have a tendency to want to preform well.
Skill. People with disabilities are often very good at what they do. Because of the physical limitations they have had in their lives, they very often focus on something they are really good at.
Practicality. Disabled people often find very practical ways of doing their job, making them very structured.
Efficiency. One of the biggest issues is that disabled people are believed to work slower than your average employee. True is some cases, false in others. Either way, most people with disabilities are aware of this and will find ways to be as efficient as possible.
Image. Hiring a disabled person makes your company look really good. There's no getting around it and it's not sad.

Convinced? Good. Now please hire me.

Harry Potter Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Blood Red Shoes Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:56:00 +0000

Finally, after months and months, It's done. Portrait of a band called Blood Red Shoes. Done as a commission.

Friends of Glass Update

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 07:45:00 +0000

I know it's been a while since I updated you guys on my progress in the Friends of Glass project. For those of you that are new to my blog or have simply forgotten:

Friends of Glass is a project that hopes to raise awareness towards the environmental profits of recycling, you guessed it, glass. In this project, several people have been chosen to broadcast ther ideas on the subject, and I happen to be one of them.

Now, in the past, I've not been very actively involved. This mainly comes down to me having to graduate, and not finding time to devote myself to the cause. Now that I've graduated, least I can do is promote the project's latest venture:

Friends of glass is trying to recycle enough bottles to (hypothetically) light up London for five minutes. Every country involves in this project (there are quite a lot), is reporting their progress via Twitter. To read more on how to partcipate, read the official blogpost.

Why should I help, I hear you thinking. You might feel rather indifferent toward nature. You might not be an environmentalist. God knows I'm not. The reason I still promote the cause is because there are very clear result and because recycling glass, lets face it, is easy!

All you have to do, is instead of throwing your bottles into your trash, deposit them. Depositing is easy, most of the time you can find a glass deposit right next to your local supermarket. You don't even have to make an extra trip for it. Not to mentioned the things you can do with bottles to brighten up your home. Bottles make great vases. Jars are very good for storage, you can paint them up all nicely. In other words, with a little creativity (I know you have it), recycling glass is fun!

Oh, Hank is also sending an S.O.S. to the world (Sorry to steal your line, Mr. Sting, Sir):

I am graduated!

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 09:05:00 +0000

It took me a while to realise that there are people who read my blog that I don't talk to on a regular basis, if at all. A bit unfair of me then maybe, to ommit something good from my blog.

On Monday the 22nd of June, I got the happy message that I am entitled to my diploma. Four years of Communication and Multimedia Design have gone by in a flash. It was alltogether a nice time of learning, having fun and exploring the bounderies of my vivid imagination. I've not got my precious piece of paper yet, but I promise you photographs when I do get it.

That said, ending one chapter of my life leaves room for starting the next. I have big dreams, but I'm taking it one step at the time. At the moment, this means finishing on outstanding commissions and tying up loose ends. Like my personal website. As a soon to be young professional, I need some form of establishment on the WWW other than blogs and art galleries. I'm designing, something simple for the time being, because I want to be able to properly build it myself.

Other exciting things, like finding a job, are high on the agenda. I've updated my resume, and well soon provide my website with an international version. If you think you want to offer me a job, let me know.

So, on my wish/to-do list:

Build my website
Finish outstanding commisssions
Write my book
Go job hunting
Start my own business

I'm sure there is more, but I can't think of it right now. Future, here I come.

Disney Ariel Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Self Portrait quickie

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:35:00 +0000

Book of Dreams portrait: Noah (coloured)

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:31:00 +0000

Book of Dreams portrait: Noah

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:04:00 +0000

Keira Knightley Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:36:00 +0000

A quick digital painting of British actress Keira Knightley. Done as an inbetween of commissions and my internship. Took me about five hours to paint in Adobe Photoshop CS3, using my precious Wacom Cintiq.

Artician: Exciting New Art Community

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:09:00 +0000

I very recently received an e-mail invitation to join a new community called Artician. Well, it just so happens that I am interested in art and in communities, so there you go.

Artician seems to implement everything we already know, allowing you to load feeds for your blog, and also allowing you to import your portfolio from an already successful community, DeviantArt. You can comment, fave, follow, tag, all the stuff we love.

Artician brings it all together is a really really clear design, very appealing to the eye. So obviously, I'm excited.

Watch and befriend me at http://fayestardust.artician.com/.

Sketch Dump

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Mon, 04 May 2009 09:08:00 +0000

Just a couple of sketches for your entertainment.

Wacom Bring Your Vision To Life

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:43:00 +0000

This is my entry to the Wacom Bring Your Vision To Life contest. The theme for this contest is Good vs. Evil.

I chose to work roughly, feeling that the concept which I will further explain a little bit down, is more strongly executed that way.

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My take on it is that creation is good and destruction is evil, but it often goes together. What better good is there than creating something?

Creation through means of a paintbrush is the ultimate 'good' for me. Creativity is my world. I look at everything in life differently ever since I started painting. I see more colours, more light, more sunshine. More hues, more shades.

Evil is when someone tries to take it away from me. Cuts it into pieces. Stops me from being creative. Literally destroys my world.

Without art, without creativity, I would be nowhere. Good is something you have to create by your own hand, whatever you do... It has to be you.

This painting depicts who I am in a way. It's a little ironic, since I have hardly any function in my left hand. It's the only thing that blocks my creativity, it's my scissors.

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If you like this picture I would ask you to support it and leave a comment. This piece is very close to my heart. It depicts who I am. Please don't flame me on it.... If you have a DeviantArt account, please support it here.

Lots of love...

Omegle: Anonymity, Good or Bad?

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:02:00 +0000

With today's countless instant messenger applications, conversation with friends is no longer limited to meeting face to face. Ok, it hasn't been for a long time. Location based services, status applications and communities, we all connect and share information on the WWW. Information that would, years ago, have been considered private information. But yes, to meet someone we might like, we want to know certain information about them, so we can find people with similar interests.

But whatever happened to that random meeting on the street, or in a bar, where we just happen to find a topic to share with someone? Not much of a going-out-and-meeting-someone person? Well, we no longer have to be. Omegle seems to have brought the charm of random encounters to the net. It's like a chatbox, but without having to sign up, pick a nickname, or find a conversational partner. Omegle is a service that lets you be completely anonymous, and sets you up with a random another anonymous person, then letting you decide what to talk about and what information to withhold or give out.

The least demanding chat service so far? Or is its anonymity a curse rather than a blessing?

Blood Red Shoes painting and other

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 07:13:00 +0000

The first is a work in progress of a commission you've seen floating around before and the bottom picture is random rough colour practice.

Realistic vs. Vector?

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 08:14:00 +0000

So, I'm working on a digital painting and started out with vector art and then went on doing realistic art, so now I'm thinking about turning this version into a completely realistic one and doing the same one as a complete vector. I've never done vector art realistically though, so some tips and tricks are welcome if you have any. I'm using the Pen-tool in Photoshop. Obviously this painting is not done yet. It's Alexis Bledel, by the way.

Belle Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 08:35:00 +0000

Forgot to post this, too.

Blood Red Shoes painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 07:39:00 +0000

I'll eventually finish this! It's a commission and it's been taking forever!

Disney Aurora Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:53:00 +0000

Hee. I already edited this painting once because I can't get that Disney fringe to translate well onto the realistic style. Will probably update again soon. Disney's Aurora.

Webdesign concept 1

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 07:32:00 +0000

So I've been coming up with designs for my website and here's my result from last night. the Fratellis vinyl cover was design by Sam Hadley and I don't own it or anything. The rest was all made by me, I basically scanned a lot of things in my room and put them all together rather craftily in Photoshop. Even scanned M&M's. This is just a concept set up, so some will change or be redone, like the menu and the wacom pen, as well as the M&M's cause they are a bit messy. I'll probably exclude the Fratellis vinyl even though I love it, as it's not my own original design. This took me about two hours to make.

Enjoy!

Disney Ariel Painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 07:46:00 +0000

I like doing realistic portraits of characters that don't really exist. This is my interpretation of Disney's The Little Mermaid's Ariel.

Blood Red Shoes painting

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Still working on this. Sorry I'm taking so long but you cant order inspiration to come.

Reflection in color

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:01:00 +0000

A bit smaller but colored. I like it, the colors seem vibrant. Also, behind the page has a new lay out, thanks to Kirsty, who made me my lovely new header of my Book of Dreams novel, of the main character Aine, being dreamy.

Thanks Kirsty.

Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Maartje van Hoorn) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:53:00 +0000

Only better