Herk Deco - 29th Weapons School Edition

A Weapons School Herk Deco print is now available at mabrooks.com

Everyone Gets the Blues

Spread Open Media

Well, it looks like I'm one of the winners for the Spread Open Media logo design contest. It was held on www.openclipart.org 's website. Of course, the day I found out that I one was also the day the website went down. It has not yet come up. I'm not sure who the other winners are or even which specific entry they picked (you could submit more than one) but all my designs were based upon the symbol of the phoenix. Open media formats, like the phoenix, will often go through phases of reinvention. Not always from its own ashes, but that happens too. I don't see any other mascot suiting the open media format more than the phoenix. The goal of SOM is to spread the word. The more people know about open media formats, the more likely consumers and eventually content providers will embrace this format. No more liscensed windows format or JPEGs. That's the goal.

Illustration Friday: Super Dude

When I saw the Illustration Friday topic this week, I figured...great! I've got something. Now this is only a quick sketch I did, but I had fun doing it. I like the lines you can get using the scratchboard tool in Painter IX.

In Progress: D,NTP! 1

I sketched an idea for this painting well over a year ago. I was deployed to the desert at the time. After my first deployment, I always brought my laptop and Wacom drawing tablet. While I worked hard, I was in the Air Force. I wasn't suffering field conditions like the most of the Army and Marines do. Still this wasn't home. It was a long walk from the latrine back to my hooch, especially in the middle of the night. On my way back to my bed, from the latrine one night, something funny hit me. No, David Letterman didn't give me a quick jab to the face, although he has travelled often to entertain the troops. It was just an idea, and I knew that I needed to capture that thought before I lost it. So I sketched this idea out.

Now, you're not seeing the whole idea here. Or even the sketch. This is the underpainting for my project: D,NTP! I'm leary to even mention the title beyond the abbreviation D,NTP! But I feel I need your help. After all, I'm just a hobbyist. I plan to add much detail and even some more elements, but what should I do about the color? I want that hazy feel at the bottom, but I think it's too blue. If you have any suggestions for color, please add your comment.
I hope you'll join in the D,NTP! Project with me.

-MB