Sketch Pad

Tea study

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 01:24:00 +0000

Suit tie semi-aerial illo

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 02:51:00 +0000

Here's a first sketch for a small side job in progress... They need a full body illustration of a guy in suit and tie, but have limited space on the page, so this semi-aerial perspective helps condense it in more of a square format. I couldn't find many good reference photos from this viewpoint, so most of it's just from imagination, plus lots of refinement.

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:21:00 +0000

Here's a screen shot of a recent illustration for a Facebook application. Usually I start with a pencil illustration, then add the linework/coloring in PhotoShop, but this time I started with a whiteboard illustration. It worked out pretty well, as I was able to erase and refine the linework a lot easier. I think if you look closely, the black lines are a little wispy compared to inking them in PhotoShop, but it works for this app, and I produced this in about 1/10th of the time it usually takes for an illustration like this.

The actual app is here.

Spray Bottle

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:45:00 +0000

Spray bottle, created using traditional mech pencil + PhotoShop.

Hands

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 20:58:00 +0000

Over time I've had to study and draw many hands. Hands are notoriously difficult to draw, but when they come off well, it adds a lot to the illustration. I usually like to have a photo reference when drawing hands as I don't think I've ever seen two identical shots/positions of hands... they're almost as unique as faces. Anyway, here's a group of hand illustrations I've done - some of them are recycled from prior blog posts, some from other sources.

Security testing icon

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:21:00 +0000

Here's an image I created for a security-testing application. Obviously this image indicates a potential security flaw. I originally created it on some empty space on a whiteboard, then colorized/retouched it in PhotoShop to it's final form. The clean up in PhotoShop was the most time consuming part... next time I'll use a whiter whiteboard.

Facebook app images

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:22:00 +0000

Here's some images for a Facebook application I'm working on, and the modification history.

The final reduced image:

Here's the main Photoshopped image from the sketch. The noose and rope are completely redone... the rope in the original illustration was completely not working, so I shot some rope and edited it in. It would have been faster to just get it right in the drawing, but I think the photographic image mixed with the drawing works much better.

The original sketch - the rope's totally not working, I should have used a reference.

Quick hand study

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 18:13:00 +0000

A quick hand study using mainly mech pencils & touched up in PhotoShop.

Cowboy head image

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:52:00 +0000

This is an image I'll be using and integrating into an upcoming mobile phone app. I'll be tweaking it to work at relatively small screen sizes as well.

10 min sketch

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:55:00 +0000

A quick 10 min sketch.

Ron Wood, Bobby Womack from rough to color

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:15:00 +0000

Here's the progress from rough sketch to final colored illustration of Ron Wood and Bobby Womack during a fleeting moment during Bobby's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Final:

Pencil Drawing:

Rough Sketch:

Whiteboard scissors

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:40:00 +0000

This was originally drawn on whiteboard, then subtracted out the background and then colorized and made some other treatments in PhotoShop.

Sketchbook page

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Here's a page out of the sketch book - a quick Sharpie sketch of a goalie and a runner.

Quick sketch again

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:28:00 +0000

Here's a quick sketch of a polo player on horseback. I'm specifically trying to stop once I get the proportions down.

Quick Sketch of two women holding children

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:41:00 +0000

This took about 5 mins, just trying to get the rough proportions down.

Nicole Kidman background added

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 03:56:00 +0000

Nicole Kidman before background

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 05:05:00 +0000

Here is a drawing and PhotoShop treatment of Nicole Kidman. I am working on a separate background, which will be the next posting and then combine the two.

Laura Bush

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:01:00 +0000

Here's a take on Laura Bush. The background image contains a messed up picture I took a few years back that was all blurry, but it worked for a background.

Guy using laptop

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:16:00 +0000

Here's a quick sketch of a guy on a stool using a laptop.

Google Theme

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:45:00 +0000

The Google Theme I've been working on was finally approved and released.

The approval and release process is not very formal and kind of a pain. There's no confirmation or response when you submit a theme, and if there's a problem, it just never gets released. You can go to the Google Themes API Google Group and post a question as to what's up with your theme, and you will get a response as to the status of your Theme, or reasons why it wasn't approved.

Now that it's live, and I sort of know how the process works, I'm working on updating it with different image positioning based on the time of day.

Anyway if you want to add this theme It's available here.

Real world bad UI

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:06:00 +0000

In the last few weeks, I happened to notice some confusing signage in places I'm at on a regular basis and thought it might make for an amusing blog post. Just like bad UI in a software application, these bits of signage/labels made me stop for a second and scratch my head:

I have a spot on the top floor of a parking garage in downtown Columbus, and all ramps are one-way. Here's the sign showing my way out. I guess they thought an arrow pointing the way out wouldn't give me enough information, so this not-arrow gives me the much more informative message that this is the way to not go for people going the direction I'm not.

Sometimes after a long day, I still have to pause for a millisecond when I see this sign. And this sign is not meant for the other guy, as he would have to have already come up the ramp to see that he shouldn't have.

Here are the elevator buttons I was using daily at the office:

Naturally, to go down, you can see that I pushed the top button.

In their defense, we are on the top floor, so the only way is down. So it looks like they just tried to reuse the same button panel as was on the other floors, only they decided to only mark the exceptional up button as down without marking the down button appropriately. Hope noone forgets they're on the top floor.

Andy

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:00:00 +0000

I have always been a big fan of Andy Warhol. Even though he was best known for his pop culture work and observations, deep down he was a great illustrator. He has so many memorable quotes, but here's one I particularly remember:

What's great about this country is that America started the tradition where the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest. You can be watching TV and see Coca Cola, and you know that the President drinks Coca Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca Cola, and just think, you can drink Coca Cola, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good. Liz Taylor knows it, the President knows it, the bum knows it, and you know it.

Moon

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Here's an illustration of the moon for a Google Theme I'm working on... I'll post the full theme when I submit it.

Update 8/22:
Here's a link to a preview of the completed theme that has been submitted to Google. It should be available in a week or two as a selectable theme from your Google homepage.

One disappointing thing about the Google Themes API is that many areas of the page are not configurable - like the main content area, and the gadget content area, except for the gadget headers. Since you're stuck with white for those areas, I think my next theme might go with the white look.

Donald Trump

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:15:00 +0000

Finally finished the background

Illustration from ad

noreply@blogger.com (danshultz) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:55:00 +0000