mucking around with different media (again)

This is another lifeclass series of quick sketches of the same pose but each in different media, starting with soft charcoal and soft pencil, through compressed charcoal stick and onto watercolour wash.

Is there something deeply psychological in the fact that i was the only one to draw the shadows

We are (not) amused

In actual fact i did think the false motorcade, and osama costume was both funny and a sad reflection on the fultility of all the extra security hype that is cluttering our airways.

"The only thing they posed a risk to ultimately is our senses of humour,"

The boys have been naughty again.

I like the ABC Chaser's War on Everything so much I now subscribe to their vodcasts, if you have itunes, you can subscribe using this link... my ipod nano doesn't do video but my psp does.

Here is some of their work, also about APEC security, from earlier this week -

toktok pidgin

I'm trying to simplify my on-line life, go on a email/chat/IM/social network diet so to speak... and it sound easier than it is. I would not describe myself as an addict but as twitter has shown me it doesn't take long to get out of the loop these days, flickr/yahoo are conspiring to frustrate me, myspace and facebook are not my scene and second life just leaves me cold. So what does an old bloke do.... start speaking in new language of course...

NO it is not a new languauge at all Pidgin is the portable apps upgade of GAIM, that lets you converse across several IM systems, including GTalk, Yahoo and Msn... and while I'm here I should plug portable apps, you can install them on a USB memory stick and carry around your most useful applications, including even the great free graphics software GIMP... everything useful on one memmory stich now that is a diet!

flickr hiccup over...

September FlickrFunMat, originally uploaded by sigh clone.

We'll it looks like my earlier harsh judgment of flickr was a bit premature... now all i ill have to do is figure out why i am unsafe when I have always been a advocate of self filtering...

st

ok I deserved it...

ok I deserved it... I'm a crank pants... but my fellow life class student's made me buy a beyondblue wristband... so I looked up the beyondblue website and realized just how many people are suffering, anxiety and depression in silence, so if thats you don't... ...seek help ...and as for me ...the blue wristband will stay on till my splints come off.

What did i expect...

cyclone mad,
originally uploaded by sigh clone.

I have been mulling over where to shift my yahoo photo collection for some time.... you see Yahoo bought out flickr and they want to close their yahoo photo facility... and they offered to send your photos (in my case dominately art work) to several other sites, which included flickr... i procrastinated, what do you expect... but notice they now offered 3 months pro-account on flickr.... so I signed up.... i new i had a few images duplicated, bu i figured with the added power of a pro account I would be able to sort it out.... i'm also laid upo at the moment so it would be a good project or so I though.... ok i had to wait a few days till the transfer was done but then i got the message that every thing was transfered abd the public images from yahoo were now private... click here to make them public again.... Hmmm





I did follow instructions, seems its a little more than hiccups, now I am totally locked out of access to the organizer.... such is life, on the unsafe side of flickr iI suppose

on the mend

I'm working on the principle that...
a sketch a day will keep the doctor away

watercolour wash on paper (mainly wet on wet, limited palette exercise, burnt sienna, alizarin crimson, ultramarine)

I trust this one is not too cheeky!

Does NUDE always have to be considered LEWD

The australian public are being bombarded with a lot of governent funded ads, many about something-nothing (ie just to make the unthinking actually think that the government is doing stuff, co-incidentally just before an election)... anyway last night it was the netalert campaign blitz, and the govenrment are providing free anti-porn filters for anyone to download. Is this, along with the security fence in sydney good use of tax payers money? Am I becoming too cynical?

Don't get me wrong, I do encourage the use of net filters and parental invovlment on internet usage, it is just I feel strongly that a piece of software is not a substitute for parental care. Parents please take an interest, share your time and experience with your kids (including the net savvy adolescent ones, whom these filters are unlikely to stop anyway).

The net alert site even has some good advice here.

continuing the protest theme

Billy Warhol, a flickr mate, active over at the orange fridays, drew this to my attention, the imagery is wonderful and the song isn't so bad either.

The cost of freedom

Sydney woke to find it has become traversed by a big ulgy fence.. is it caging the inhabitants in? .... keeping the unwelcome out? ... or it is the cost of being allowed to protest? ... correction thinking we are allowed to protest? ....or truly just security for those visiting APEC that have a lot on death and destruction on their conscience? ... will it keep terrorists out, so they can kill the innocent, instead of the guilty?

NO maybe it just to scare us all a little

inspiration into art

Pastel sketch becomes a painting

When does ART stART?

Is it in the first few marks made, during the inspiration, extracted as the work is developed, or is it only fermented in the mind of an appreciative viewer?

This is my attempt a special "gift" to my regular readers, for bring this humble blog all the way to 20,000 visitors...

new toys

There are an ever increasing number of applications and "toys", turning up for twitter these days... well i call them toys, they are fun things to play with... Twitter blocks is an amazing 3D staircase world that tracks conversation threads across your friends and followers... but don't get yourself too deeply embedded, you may never return from this esheresque labyrinth.

IF through the looking glass... sort of stuff

for illustration friday's topic alphabets, loosely inspired by alice in wonderland meets vegetable soup, and the I ate this trend on mobile phone cameras and flickr

....it is also my first artwork, since i had my broken wrist strapped in a splint!

deja vu...

This cartoon, by hugh of gaping voids blog, really amused me.

congratulations carolyn

If you are a long timer reader of this blog you will know that one of my favourite on-line erotica artist is carloyn weltman of art for enginners,she has been asked me to donate two of her pieces to their permanent collection, which is huge, and is part of their Kinsey Confidential exhibition which is now showing and will continue through to December. AND if that is not enough she is also involved in crybaby's FOURPLAY exhibition

what is art? (again)

Photo from uncyclopedia

Came across the Uncyclopedia by accident, its no more (un)authoritative than most other web locations but it does appeal to me, especially the art section, if you are serious about art please scroll down a bit and be warned about the seven deadly arts.

IF - Visitors

for illustration friday's topic visitors

BTW its a twitter joke

still life - limited palette

Oil on canvas board

Exercise using a limited palette, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber

still life - new media

this is an acrylic underpainting on canvas board, with a some pastel overwork

it is meant to be something quintessential australian

more from the life class

rapid (5 minute) sketches in pastel on paper

the life class

pastel sketch on coloured paper

life classes are a traditional way to gain experience and just perform art... it is time i did it!

there is a time

self potrait with brush
Originally uploaded by sigh clone

just letting you know to expect a slight change in my art... everything will be from life... nothing from photos (for a while anyway)... i'm attempting to relearning some techniques... well i hope I'm learning them.... plus a lot of stuff might just be about the work (the progess of the work, or ideas, sketches etc) rather than finished works... it is a time for learning... a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven

i want my art to embrace life!

Even the cyber me has dyslexia

This is part of a conversation between my cybertwin & wing, who also sent me a postcard from secondlife

sighclone: i'm an adenrurer and occasional cartoonist

Wing : what is and adenrurer

sighclone: Depends if we are talking cyberspace or the real world. Assuming cyberspace, what do you think it is?

Wing: i think its a misspelling

sighclone: Why do you think that?

Wing: because not in dictionary

sighclone: I'm not a dictionary, I'm a CyberTwin. I'd much rather chat with you than regurgitate definitions all day.

Wing: are u an adventurer

sighclone: Am I? Guess.

Wing: so you say.

sighclone: Me? Yeah, what about me?

Wing: i am an explorer.. of two universes.

sighclone: Two what? I am not a calculator program, I don't like arithmetic.

Wing: i looked at your sketch site, keep it up

If you'd like your own animated avatar (such as mine above) try visiting Meez and get your own unique 3D ID

Hello Mister

The Bar Girls, drawn last week with chinesse ink, a felt pen & highlight markers... at the time I thought these where a little in the sophi (of art for engineers) style... but perhaps I'm wrong (I'm not worthy)

Size really does matter

In the tit for tat world of international prudity it seems the germans are getting censorship from the USA (a bizarroo world inverse of the Flickr german user Censr)



It would appear a grown up author of children's story is pulling the plug on her american publisher who wanted to remove an illustration of a nude sculpture in the background of a museum scene

On the page, the sculpture stands at a very unthreatening seven millimeters tall and the appendage could, at first glance, be dismissed as a wayward brushstroke. The "little willy" as Berner called it “was barely half a millimeter in length.” The sculpture is an aside in the overall museum scene and is in no way prominent to the storyline on that page, she added.

Found this story on Ms Naughty's Blog

search not working?

I'm trying out the new search this blog widgetty tool over on the right hand side BUT it doesn't seem to be working.... any one know what I'm doing wrong?

IF dogs were poets?

"Happiness is having a scratch for every itch." ... Ogden Nash

Although it late friday here, the new topic isn't posted on illustration friday yet... so I thought i should go for it... always wanted to be last on the list

As all cartoonist will tell you there is something deeply satisfying in just sliding in under that deadline.

Maria (the pirate) Blablablanik

Maria the Pirate
Originally uploaded by locarbhiflavor

I found Manola Blablablanik via twitter and probably dropped in at a bad time ...she is recovery from a medical scare... but such is life

If you have time, the archive of her "Sex and the Beach" blog are very well written, totally entertaining and a little bawdy ;)


PS: srcohiba deserves a mention for the pirate photoshop work

Am I a true Bohemian revolutionary?

The speed of broadband in singapore is amazing... and cheap...maybe the mythical pacific broadband bottleneck is real... anyway the extra bandwidth makes it easier to explore the video and vlog worlds and there are some creative folk already in there... maybe the true bohemian revolutions isn't a myth either... but what if you want to view the stuff when you are at lower bandwidth altitudes... well i found a nice little program called Vdownloader, which just needs the URL link details and can download video from several popular sites (including YouTube) into several popular format (including PSP and IPOD compatible format) ... so now their is no excuse not to have good art on your personal technology



For those that like a bit of surreal self reference, the first video I downloaded to my PSP was the John Bulter Trio's Good Excuse video... Its about turning off your gameboy and going outside and experiencing the real world.... now if that isn't revolutionary i don't know what is?

au revoir pour tandis que

Make your own "polaroids" here

IF [Disc-cover-Y]

for illustration friday topic discovery

This was done as a direct scan of the objects, placed flat on my scanner glass... is this a collage or more like photograph?

what is everyone doing...?

where is the confusion?

I'm guessing the confusion that lead to me becoming unsafe on flickr is the common confusion of NUDE and PORN, which has been a specific US problem for some time... but maybe one that is spreading around the self righteous net ...please don't be confused

W A R N I N G
this site only has nudes!

IF its cool to be geeky?

For Illustration Friday's topic geeky

I am still searching for a new computer generated style in my cartoons... hand drawing and computer colouring, does speed things up... but it is still not WEB 3.0 enough... or is there a better way?

amber necklace..

watercolour on paper .........pastel on paper

I'm still working on colours that bring the skin tone to life...especially the shadows

a goddess reclining

It seems the goddess venus was a favourite with the old masters because she was a subject that allowed to be painted nude... pity they all copied the same pose

Venus reclining (after giorgione) charcoal on paper

playing with light and colour

I've been experimenting with new, thicker, watercolour card, so i can paint wet-on-wet to try and get a more luminous light on skin tones... also experimenting with cadmium red over yellow ocher against blues


the blue bed


the blue dress (after Ken Howard)

new toys.... how can i resist

Blogger if offering its "new adaptors" a chance to to have a play with some new toys in blogger (well its being called blogger in draft)... but who am i to resist... the one thing that appealed to moi... was polls, being able to add polls as page elements... so look over on the stuff on the right hand side and give it a GO! Please....

I am getting a bit feed up with the good stuff on the net always being overrun with bullies, cowboys, trolls and childish behaviour... I really see the social networking side of the net being a great thing for the true creative spirit... somewhere where they are free to flourish, and collaborate, and do brilliant things, and some good things... maybe do a few things that aren't so good but without hurting anyone.. so where is that place... VOTE NOW (its over in the right handside remember)

Am I being too naive?

twisted torso

This is a sketch for illustration friday's twisted topic sorry its a bit late!

I had read about anamorphosis some time ago, but an email conversation got me doing some left hand writing and thinking about left handed painting, then painting in a different dimension, so I researched this art form a bit on the net and found this wonderful place Art of Anamorphosis, and their is a gem of a little program inside that can be downloaded for free, called anamorph me, created by Phillip Kent, it let me create a perfectly twisted torso that you can "unfold"...actually you must fold it... and see the "true" torso sketch.



To make the image I fist took a photo of my friend from flickr and trimmed it a bit and ran it through the anamorph me program using first the convert to a greyscale (I only have access to an old black and white laser printer today) and then used the inside a cone anamorph function... printed the result... then cut it out and folded it into a cone...(note have a small tab on one side of the segment makes it easier to stick the cone together)... nothing special yet? I them copied this flat image as a pastel sketch and that is what you see above, print it cut it out and fold it for yourself... it contains a lovely surprise



OK turn the cone over and look inside!

filtering out the world

It seems even second life is getting into the content filtering caper, but the way i picked this up through a tweet on twitter, not via second life... so chance are the source is a rumor not an official announcement

On the technical side I scanned this pencil sketch in with paint.net (a free download), as all HP scanner owners will know by now the controls over scanning are frustratingly inadequate not that paint.net has more controls it does the scanning as i would want!

in search of a new gallery

yahoo photos are shutting down... hmmmmm, i will have to look for a new home for some old favourites... what about flickr... well I dropped my pro account when I was made NIPSA, so i only get to display 200 photos

AND now HORRORS of HORRORS I'm rated UNSAFE... which means I can publicly display ZERO

This hurts a bit as I have been an advocate for Flickr self filter systems... and I was diligent in rating my nudes... so why am I unsafe?... why am I a loose cannon, maybe it because I stand up to bullies and self opinionated morons...perhaps it is just that other see the nudes and i get lumped in with the pornographers, the picture thieves, fakrs, spammers and other low light making flickr into something more like the wild west than the creative place it should be... AND I'm too tired of all the jibberish to participate in the current Flickr Censr(ship) debate.

but let's not cry over split milk... i will just need to find a different on-lime home for my sketckbook pages... c'est la vie

A short break

soft pencil on paper

There is a lot going on in my life at the moment so this may the last sketch posted in here... well for a little while