Gibberings
Dad told me never to use XTREE when he wasn’t in the room.
July 18, 2008 ~ 10:04:05 PM * -07:00ST
----------------------------------
Log # 311
Icons
Some icons for the SA Boards.
by
Eliza Gauger on February 9th, 2008 ~ 05:54:46 AM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 310
Icons
Some icons for the SA Boards.
by
Eliza Gauger on February 9th, 2008 ~ 05:54:40 AM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 308
The Friday Fez: I Was Meant for the Stage
by
Eliza Gauger on February 8th, 2008 ~ 11:55:35 PM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital, Ectoplasmosis, Pinups |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 300
Head Cold Kabuki
by
Eliza Gauger on January 31st, 2008 ~ 02:26:58 AM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 292
“that vomiting bat would be a much better mascot”
I have been interviewed for io9.com, a new Gawker sci-fi blog for which I designed the mascot. In this interview–which was conducted entirely on a cellular phone, typing on an IM program, while I stood in a laundromat–I bitch and piss and moan about the state of modern science fiction, I throw some props to my “influences”, and then a bunch of Gawker commentors ruin everything because “boobs. check. likes sci fi. check. plays games. check. where do i apply for marriage?”
Yeah well. I have news for you. I got my breasts replaced with gigantic, fat, wiry-haired testicles. This is why I can draw. Girls can’t draw. They can only take self-portraits, and make little cartoons of cupcakes and smiling kittens and pretty goth ladies, using a dip pen and menstrual blood.
Not me, though. I paint manly. I paint like James Earl Jones with a handlebar moustache.
For posterity, I would like to record the journey that wee Miss Io9 took before finally being slapped up on the site. It all started in a coffee shop on Telegraph avenue…
This is the original sketch page I whipped up after getting the initial commission:
Here’s what we want: a stark, photorealistic face of a mutant child who can see the future, probably with the aid of cybernetic implants in his/her brain. Think of Alia from Dune
(http://data-allocine.blogomaniac.fr/mdata/2/4/2/Z20040203205313330324242/img/dune_film_alia.jpg), sort of smiling in a creepy, I-know-the-future way, but crossed with the cute/icky aesthetic of a Mark Ryden
(http://markryden.com/paintings/index.html) or Trevor Brown (http://www.pileup.com/babyart/_top.htm). The child would be sort of sexless and robotic, with a swollen head — the result of cybernetic enhancements or surgical upgrades, some of which might be sticking out of its head.
Here’s what I sent in after first cleanup. It was specified in the first description that the kid be smiling, and I cleaned up the details of the implants and backpacks. I sure do like backpacks. The one on the far left–now known as Xartreuse–is the strongest design. Right off the bat, this disqualifies him from being chosen for the final. Why? Because that’s the golden rule of commercial illustration. Clients will always, absolutely and with no exception (except when there’s an exception), pick the weakest design in a group of thumbnails. The corollary to the golden rule of commercial illustration is that you never ever submit any design that you can’t handle taking to its final state. Even the worse of the bunch has to be at least okay, or you’re going to hate yourself throughout the entire project.
Predictably, the io9 crew eliminated Kid 1 on the first pass. This is no fault of theirs. They are intelligent people with style and taste. It is simply The Law.
Following a request to make the kids “spookier”, these were turned in. The righthand design (now known as “Xerulean”) is the weakest in the group, and true to form, it’s the one that the io9 folks like best. At this point I made a heartfelt, very polite recommendation that the lefthand design be favored. Since Annalee is as smart as she is kind, she managed to convince her overlords at Gawker that this was the right choice, and I was saved.
Here’s the first color test. I usually lay down a green or blue or purple as a base when I’m going to be creating a flesh tone. I like my characters to have a hint of the undead about them. This design is still a lot goofier, meaner, and uglier than the final splat.
Closing in on the final design, here. Major changes were made following a request for increased “prettiness”. Gawker was iffy on these antenna, earphones, and the shape of the squinted eye. They also didn’t dig the blood on the implants.
And here’s the final design, as it appears on io9.com. One headphone removed, all trace of antenna gone, and the airbrushing effects, never my strong point, have been gone over several times for extra shine and surreality. The forehead jewel has been turned into a HAL-style camera lens. And so, it was done. And I sawed my face loose from the Wacom, severing the leathery ropes of sputum that had formed over my long days of Photoshop. And then I shot myself.
by
Eliza Gauger on January 14th, 2008 ~ 06:05:15 PM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital, Future, The Internet |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 282
New on Etsy: Dance of the Orbital Chain
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8735694
Try to shackle the moon.
Printed on heavyweight, archival, matte paper. Signed by the artist.
8.5 x 11″
EDIT: Link fixed. We’ll miss you, frog.
by
Eliza Gauger on January 4th, 2008 ~ 12:10:11 PM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital, Etsy |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 264
New on Etsy: the Pallid Man
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8259756
There are those in the Metropolis that defy categorization. Aristocrats gone dotty with rejuvenation treatments; eccentric artists maddened by paint and absinthe; vampires and revenants suffering extra-mortal afflictions of the bones and skin.
Some of these ambiguous folk make high style of it.
Printed on heavyweight, archival, matte paper. Signed and numbered by the artist.
8.5 x 11″
by
Eliza Gauger on December 4th, 2007 ~ 06:15:49 PM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital, Etsy, Photography, Unhallowed Metropolis |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 261
New on Etsy: Xerulean ACEO
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8112062
A mirthful moppet trimmed in tentacles.
2.5 x 3.5″ digitally-printed ACEO on fine art paper.
$5 plus shipping.
by
Eliza Gauger on November 28th, 2007 ~ 01:25:24 PM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital, Etsy, Sketches |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 255
New on Etsy: Wait
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=7869864
I lived with this cat. It was way worse than it looks.
4×6″ art in a beautiful hand-stained wood frame.
by
Eliza Gauger on November 13th, 2007 ~ 11:21:04 PM
Slotted into Artwork, Digital, Etsy, Hate, Mutants, Photography |
No Comments »
----------------------------------
Log # 210
This “Etsy” Allows You to Buy Things. From Me.
I am in the process of adding prints and originals for sale to a new Etsy store, even though every $0.20 they rip from my adorable little claws is like a fork in the kidney. I may live in the Oort Cloud, but I can still feel the pain of e-commerce.
So after I ride my bike down to the Inner Solar System today to mail Noah his goddamned prints finally, I will be adding more STUFF. Here are the pieces that are currently uploaded:
Prints are 8.5×11 unless otherwise noted, and are printed on heavy matte archival paper. They’re cheap right now too, so have at it. I will raise the prices eventually. EVENTUALLY!
