52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 21

Week 21: Boxes

Coinciding with the 2014 National Simultaneous Storytime, this box of elephants from the picture book, "Too many elephants in this house" (by Ursula Dubosarsky and Andrew Joyner) was created with masking tape, red acrylic paint with sponged shading, blue corrugated cardboard, black ink permanent marker and pink and silver waterbomb balloons. Trunks were cut from matching pink and silver plastic partyware bowls. This prop will be part of my school's celebrations of this annual ALIA event.

Back of Elephant house

This back panel was left unpainted deliberately. Note the yellow plastic ladder emerging from the chimney hole.

One more elephant squeezes in!

Udates:
Inspiration struck tonight whist walking home in the dark from the train station. Here's the Minotaur in his labyrinth on Crete, created in just ten minutes with a cardboard box and a kitchen knife to make some slots.

Week 21: Boxes II.

Black Unipin fine line pigment ink cartoon on cartridge paper. Seemed like a good week for a soapbox.

Week 21: Boxes III.

An idea flashed into my head during breakfast and I simply had to do it immediately. Before this Challenge, ideas like this probably would be fleeting - and never made permanent. Corrugated craft board, with colour highlight from an ancient Faber-Castell Metallic Silky Pastel.

Week 21: Boxes IV.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 20

Week 20: Colour

A huge challenge for a red/green colour blind man, but I thought I might take you into my secret world of 1958-1975. When the rest of Australia was watching b/w transmissions, I was able to see black, white, grey and *green*, especially in cartoons! (I added some red, too, because I've come to realise that red and green are the same wavelength to my eyes.) It was a family discussion during an episode of "Happy Days" (1974, just before Australian colour test transmissions started here ) that led to this amazing revelation... that I was colour blind! Bok the Frog was drawn on cartridge paper, photocopied on various red, green and grey sheets of paper, elements cut and pasted as a collage, and the plastic overlay of grey ripples was printed by b/w photocopying the green ripples on the backing sheet onto an overhead projector plastic cel.

Bok the Frog (and his garden of croakuses) as only I would have seen him:

Week 20: Colour II

Bok the Frog (and his garden of croakuses) as *most people* would have seen him, had he been on b/w TV:

Udates:
I had a new colourful idea: Here's a miniature gesso canvas painted in acrylics by me, on behalf of a bendy, smiley man, with detail in black Unipin fine marker, and silver and gold Signo pigment ink.

Week 20: Colour III.

Dyed chicks at the Royal Easter Show, before the RSPCA complained. Fingerprint art with acrylics and a black Sharpie:

Week 20: Colour IV.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 19

Week 19: Fish

Oil pastel goldfish, with watercolour wash on gesso primed canvas sheet, and photographed inside an actual fishbowl.

Update:

Ahhh, what a quandary! I made a set of prints (monoprints, but I got two good ones off the positive) attempting to do a "Fish II" entry for the 52-Week Illustration Challenge - and it's soooo colourful, I wondered if it was better to save as a "Week 20: Colour" entry. It needed some work when it was dry, so I was mindful of the possible changed theme as I went. Being red/green colour blind, next week's theme was always going to have its challenges. Of course, my other quandary: at first, the original "positive" I created probably looked better than the "negative" prints. Choices! Decisions!

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, especially when mounted in one of my bargain bin $3 mounts! It's a monoprint negative, with acrylic paints brushed onto the cardboard positive. Moistioned cartridge paper applied and peeled off then, when dry, a few details were added with waterproof black UniPin marker and Faber-Castell watercolour pencils.

Week 19: Fish II

Week 19: Three negative prints and the positive for "Fish II"

Top left: Failed negative monoprint (I forgot to wet the paper). Top right: Positive in cardboard layers for "Week 19: Fish II". Lower pics are two more monoprint negatives, one of which became the final artwork.

The unmounted monoprint negative for "Week 19: Fish II".

New Andorian additions!

New eBay win! Original full-page art for a Marvel "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" comic that never happened. This was for a storyline called "Operation Seastrike", with art by Rod Whigham & Philip Moy, and signed by Rod Whigham. That's an Andorian about to ambush Dr Bashir, of course. This art caused great excitement amongst my Andorian toys today!

Daddy Borg Skele-Trek and more than Set 1 of the miniature Skele-Treks. Note that the Data Skele-Trek figure now has yellow eyes (I figured a zombified android's eyes wouldn't go black and inert). Plus they've been joined by a new Andorian, which I customised! Featured are Kirk, customised Andorian, Kor, Gorn, Mini-Me Borg, large Borg, Data and Picard.

At long last... the conclusion is online! Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

Starship Exeter: The Tressaurian Intersection

And the first episode, with a cameo by moi...

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 18

Week 18: Celestial body

This is an iPhone photograph of a white styrofoam ball, painted with a few slaps of acrylic paint and mounted on a wire skewer in a glass.

I actually used some black cloth draping (ie. a pair of black boxer shorts and the top and bottom of my long thermal underwear), two sizes of star-shaped glitter tossed randomly, and an orange ping pong ball with a lick of paint. The shaft of light is from a battery-operated torch. Curious how I created the shot? Here's my secret booth for most of my indoor iPhone photography. The torch is wedged into the toilet roll holder, offscreen at right.

Update:
Had to have another crack at this theme. Same elements as the first version, but I created some rings for the big planet by hot-laminating circles of yellow paper and gluing on some glitter. Light sources via a torch (wedged into the toilet roll holder), and the light-up model of the USS Enterprise ("Star Trek"). Smaller moons are represented by a bouncy ball, a ping pong ball and a foam clown nose. This image again took me about 15 minutes to assemble and photograph with my iPhone.

Week 18: Celestial body II

Nero vs Khan

Meet Kermit!

With Kermit the hand-raised tawny frogmouth proving that he really cannot fly.

I, Enterprise

I picked up Part 2 of IDW's Star Trek "I, Enterprise" two-parter comic (Issues #31-32), about Science Officer 0718, on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The character was seen on the bridge of the Enterprise in JJ Abrams' "Star Trek Into Darkness" movie, and he was a mysterious, cool-looking, android/cyborg background character about whom we knew very little.

Fans have certainly seen this kind of story before in Star Trek: the Ilia Probe in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"; the Enterprise-D's computer achieving sentience in "Emergence" (TNG); the Borg Drone they called One, who came from the EMH's mobile emitter, Seven's nanoprobes and Mulcahey's DNA (VOY's "Drone"); Morgan Primus's most recent guise in the "New Frontier" novels and comics; and the holographic avatar of a ship's computer in the novel "Titan: Synthesis", fashioned after Minuet (originally from episodes of TNG).

But this story works well. I'm thrilled we got to know more about 0718. I hadn't really expected a backstory to unfold already, and thought Bad Robot may have done a little more with him in the next movie first. He's featured on the alternate photo cover of Part 1 (actor Joseph Gatt, pictured above) and drawn on the regular cover of Part 2.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 17

Week 17: Horse I and II

Horses and Seahorse in double-ended black Sharpie on acrylic backgrounds over primed canvas miniatures. Detail in metallic gold Signo pigment ink. Horses are based on a sculpture displayed in the foyer of the Manning Building, Pitt Steet, near Central Station, Sydney CBD. Seahorse is from a photograph I took at Darling Harbour Aquarium.

Updates:
I saw a giant permanent marker in a discount store and had an idea to try sketching a zebra with minimal pencilled guidelines. I'm quite happy with the result. It's huge in comparison to the miniatures!

Week 17: Horse III - Zebra

Zebra sketch inked with 7mm "extra broad" black permanent marker, with watercolour muzzle and background on A3 art paper.
I also had a burning idea for a cartoon:

Week 17: Horse IV - Washing day at the pantomime

Double-ended black Sharpie (no pencil lines!), plus watercolour on white primed gesso canvas sheet.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 16

Week 16: Book cover.

For this week's theme, "Book Cover", I finally put a design on paper that has been in my head for decades. I have tried (and also not-yet tried) to commission same from several professional artists I know. You know, "One day, when you're not too busy..." I was willing to pay $$$$ to get someone to create a cover for me, to my exacting specifications, that would be a homage to several genres - and Bob Peak's poster art for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" - and/or might have been great for a website front page, or even a "Best of..." collection of my writing over several decades. "Have Phaser, Will Travel" was the name of a regular column I wrote bimonthly for a science fiction media newsletter (1982-1992), and then the name of my first blog. This Challenge has inspired me to say, instead, in the words of the Little Red Hen, "I'll do it all by myself!" (Who knows, maybe it's an eBook cover for an actual digital collection?)

Watercolours on white acrylic gesso primed canvas sheet, with double-ended, waterproof, black Sharpie outlining, plus titles in Pages. Stars are opaque white Signo pigment ink.

Exciting update:
This future cover art arrived from a Meetup and Facebook Friend whom I have never met in person. Yet. Thank you so much Benjamin Angus. I am thrilled and impressed by your talent and generosity! Now I have to compile that eBook of decades of articles and columns.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 15

Week 15: Detail

Meerkat in black Sharpie, coloured with oil pastels, on brown paper satchel.

Week 14: Simplicity II and Week 15: Detail.

Update:
I decided to have another go at "detail", revisiting the saurian aliens of Sirius, from the television phenomenon, "V": the 80s version, not the recent remake. Handpainted lizard scales show through my phony human mask in this "V" selfie:

This was the trickiest "selfie" ever taken. No prescription lenses, but get everything important in focus: and highlight the cheek, the hand, the hat and chest insignias, and hide the Apple logo on the iPhone!

Update II:
Fish design created on black "scratch paper", which comes in a pack of five sheets (plus tool) for $4.00 from a toy shop.

Week 15: Detail III - Fish

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 14

Week 14: Simplicity

How different is this? Framed very simply, and photographed with my iPhone instead of scanning it. (The scanner seemed to separate out the black shading that I'd so carefully blended into the red!)

Update:
I decided to have another go at simplicity!

Week 14 Simplicity: Meerkat in black Sharpie on brown paper satchel

Earth Hour 2014

Earth Hour

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 13

Week 13: Water

It seemed appropriate to do a watercolour for Water Week. This is Duart Castle, on the Isle of Mull, Scotland, traditional home of Clan Maclean, as seen from an approaching ferry from Oban. Painted on white acrylic gesso primed canvas sheet. Castle and boat detail in waterproof black Sharpie.

Update:
I decided to have another go at water, making use of some pet rocks from 1981!

Week 13 Water: Owl and Pussycat pet rocks

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 12

Week 12: Numbers

Collage in light card. Numerals cut freehand. I was mulling this over in my head, among other ideas, but I didn't get around to actually creating it until about 9.30pm, just before the start of Week 12. Perhaps I should have played a little more with the negative shapes before gluing down, but I wasn't sure if I was going to do any overlapping. It ended up fairly random.

Update:
I decided to have another go at numbers, using the previous week's architecture pic.

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 11

Week 11: Architecture

Watercolours on white acrylic gesso primed canvas sheet, with fine-point, waterproof, black Sharpie outlining, and miniature signage in Word (and further reduced on photocopier). As I was inking in the pencil lines, I decided to do an "architectural caricature" of the building, such as seen in those artistic interpretations in pamphlets, hand-drawn maps and prospectuses.

My third ever serious attempt at watercolour: the Number 96 building, Paddington locale of the hit Australian TV soap opera of the 70s. The actual building, Moncur Flats, is at 83 Moncur Street, Woollahra. I sketched and painted this on Saturday evening, after hearing of the passing of Australian actress Wendy Hughes. First thing I saw her in was Number 96, when she played Lucy Sutcliffe's niece, Vanessa Harrison. She shared a very funny bathtub scene with Arnold Feather. After many wonderful stage and screen adventures, she became one of only a handful of Aussie actors to appear in Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Picard's girlfriend, Nella Daren (below) in Lessons.

R.I.P. Wendy Hughes

52-Week Illustration Challenge, Week 10

Week 10: Pattern

Paper weaving, created in 2014, using two old and damaged/unfinished oil pastel artworks from 1981. They had languished in the garage since 2000 (and the previous garage since 1984) and were under a thick layer of dust. I wasn't particularly attached to either of them - they were very early attempts at using oil pastels - but I love the newly-created weaving. Below: The original artworks from 1981.

Above left: Old unfinished giraffe, oil pastel on Ingres paper, 1981.
Above right: Age-damaged bottlebrush artwork, oil pastels and acrylic wash on white art paper, 1981.

Tania McCartney added an article to her blog in which I describe the creative process involved in this technique.