The word this week on Illustration Friday was music, and of course I wanted to do a quick sketch with music, but also with my usual sci fi elements. This time I included a robot playing the trumpet in the sketch.
The sketch was done with my new “Bamboo Pen” graphic tablet, and it makes some nice lines in Photoshop, but not great lines. Even after I played with the settings for a while the lines still look a little computerish. I want a line that would be more responsive to the movements of my hand however, and I think I might have found just the thing with Inkscape. Inkscape looks like it might take some time to learn, so I’ve done my usual trick of downloading a free pdf manual (Inkscape) to put on my phone with Mobipocket.
And..
As an illustrator of science fiction and role-playing game related stuff, I love sci-fi, and I love spaceships. I love the Space 1999 Eagle etc, etc… you all know the list – and in pride of place is Star Wars.
But it’s been ages since some really good sci-fi came along. The last sf thing I really liked was Primeval and Wikipedia says that dates from way back to 2007.
So since it’s been a while. I recently typed the word sc-fi into Google, because I’ve been having withdrawal symptoms.
So I was looking on the internet for free science fiction, but it wasn’t that easy. There are new shows, like Sanctuary, but they aren’t available online in my neck of the woods. There are lots of eBooks, but I think I’ve just about exhausted all the good sources of free sf eBooks I’ve found.
Perhaps were some good sci-fi comic books out there I thought. And it seems I wasn’t the only one. Seven Addictive Scifi Comic Books Free Online – Dc – io9.
Of the comic books on the list here, Doom Patrol seemed the most interesting, if not all that SF. It’s more a reprint of a classic superhero tale, even the art looks old-fashioned, with four-colour line drawings throughout, with the exception of the beautiful painted illustration on the cover.
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11 Comments
This is awesome! love the robot and his trumpet!!!!! your choice of colors and style fantastic!
I love the cat musician image at your site too!
A loud lively piece! Nice atmosphere!
I really like this “stumpy pencil” brush for sketching stuff that looks less computery –
http://stumpypencil.blogspot.com/2006/03/stumpy…
Oh, and it's not free, but GUD Magazine is having a “pay what you want” sale ~ http://tr.im/gudpwyw (you can pay as little as a penny; practically free?) It's not strictly sci-fi–literary + genre fiction, poetry, art, “and more”. But you might enjoy it. :)
Thanks, I checked out your site and I love your children's book.
Thanks! Wow cool looking tool, I downloaded already, now I just gotta try it out.
The cover art is amazing, better than some newsstand magazines I see here in Austria.
Thanks =)
Pretty sick piece!
Thanks.
I checked out your Blog and I really like the Pet Shop Boys illustration. http://danielhertzberg.blogspot.com/2009/08/new…