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January 21, 2006

Layers Dissected

I did this little test image based on a sketch of NYT reporter James Risen when he appeared on Meet The Press recently (side note, make sure you catch MTP every week, and if you miss it, you can nab the audio from the whole show in their handy podcast here). Anyway, I've been trying to refine my 'formula' for coloring drawings in Photoshop, by keeping my dozens of unnamed layers down to a minimum, and all of my 'Mulitply", 'Normal" and 'Screen' layers all neatly labeled and grouped in folders. It;s amazing how quickly I can forget a step, so I'm taking care to document it in my sketchbook. So I guess that's my nugget: Be sure to always document all of your processes and tricks. It can come in handy later.

Posted by keegan at 12:11 AM

Pixar at MoMa

Whoa. PA and I walked out of the Pixar exhibit at MoMa today (Thanks Susannah!) fully humbled, delighted and inspired. There was so much to take in...I'm a bit of a loss. All I can say is MAKE SURE YOU SEE THIS SHOW! It goes untill Feb. 6, so you still have some time to catch it.

Some of the highlights: The gorgeous, glowing pastels by Dominique Louis; Lou Romano's unbelievably luminous / slick / tight gouache paintings; the flawless grey resin macquettes of all your favorite Pixar charcters (especially Violet and Mr. Incredible's different expressions)....and then there's the zoetrope.

There aren't many words that I could use to convey to you the sheer delightful joy you will experience when you lay your eyes on the spectacular Pixar zoetrope. Once it starts to spin, and the strobes turn on, you will giggle with joy and you won't believe your eyes. It is a miracle of illusion, motion and animation. Possibly the highlight of the show. Go now. And by all means get there early. This show gets mobbed and you should really see this with as small a crowd as possible.

Pix by : mnemo, fudj and hseikaly .

Posted by keegan at 12:09 AM

January 04, 2006

Octopus Shirts

I just finished these silkscreened octopus shirts for my adorable nieces for our post-Christmas get-together. I did a few silkscreens in college, and have always been meaning to do more, and beef up on my silkscreening skills. These came out alright, but I have much work to do...I went through three sets of screens before getting the exposure just right for the photo-emulsion / transparency transfer process.

If you have any interest in doing any silkscreening, be sure to nab the very helpful "Re" guide to reproduction. More silkscreens to come in the new year!

Posted by keegan at 03:02 PM