Sunday, July 21, 2013

drawing knitting

o.m.g. 

This is what I've been doing. I'm not even going to tell you how much time I've spent trying to get this idea into a workable thing. In my head, it is just the most genius idea. In reality, on paper ... well that's another story. Let's just say, its getting there. But has a ways to go. 


I started with digital drawings of knitting, done with Photoshop and a stylus and Wacom tablet.  Hand drawn knitting, one stitch at a time. 

                                            

Experimented with scale, brush texture, how much "hand drawn-ness" there should be, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. until my brain exploded a little bit. (There are many more examples than what you see here. Many, many, many more.)


Then settled on one look, and figured out a repeat, and did some designs. (Again, this is one, of about 12 zillion examples.)



But something wasn't gelling for me, so I threw it all out the window and got loose. (At this stage I spent one whole day fantasizing about making really big abstract paintings of knitting, selling them in galleries for thousands of dollars.)



But I'm not really a "do big abstract paintings" kind of gal, not really. So after a little break (and some ice cream, and a decent night's sleep), the real, 'quieter' me came back, and I went back to my colored pencils and drawing table, and did some pieces the old fashioned way.









I like the look of the 'hand drawn' pieces so much better. That technique is not as versatile for what I want to do, and takes longer, but in the end, might be the way to go after all. I've done these with all colored pencils, but think I will have to do some with a combination of paint and pencil to get the 'look' I'm going for.


I do like this simple line drawing though. Wouldn't this be fun fabric? Hello Christmas!



OK, so you can see what I'm going through. My brain is fried. This is why artists go nuts.

Thursday, July 04, 2013

How do I look?

OK, that's a little misleading. I'm talking about how my shops look, actually.

Zazzle has done a HUGE re-design of their whole site. Now, everyone looks kind of the same. I used to love how some people really got in there with the html and jazzed up their shops to make them look just like their websites, with graphics and bells and whistles. Learning how to add some pizzazz to mine has always been on my 'to-do' list (the one that never actually gets anything crossed off).

And now I am so glad I never got around to that, because all the custom stuff people did has been erased! Everyone's shop looks the same, except for the title graphic (no, excuse me, "mantle", to be technically correct - I'm learning all the techie web lingo for this stuff - "skin" is another one - evidently all the custom "skins" are gone - ew).

And of course, like with any re-design of something this big, there are bugs. The home page of all the shops doesn't display everything you want it to; the labels for sections don't all work; clicking on a page of some design, or doing a search, doesn't display all the products available; etc. etc. Hopefully all that will be fixed soon. At least there's some comfort in knowing everyone's shop is screwed up.





And then there's Cafe Press. This 'oops' is all on me. I was fiddling around, and decided to click on a template design, just for fun, and neglected to read the bit that said "warning - if you change to a template design you cannot go back". How did I miss that?

So of course I clicked, and now (say it with me) - "I cannot go back". And of course the "upload your own logo" thing doesn't work, so until I remember, or google, the html  code for how to insert a graphic from somewhere else, it will look blah and generic. 




At least etsy is OK! 




We're having a little thing here called The Fourth of July. Its a day where we're supposed to be feeling thankful that a bunch of guys in breeches and buckled shoes and wigs all signed that big piece of parchment declaring our Independence, all those years ago. 

What actually happens is that people eat a lot of bbq-ed meat and potato salad, drink beer, and then, depending on how high the 'yahoo factor' is, set off extra super loud (and may I add, illegal) fireworks for hours and hours and hours (the louder, the more "canon-like", the more obnoxious, the better), scaring animals and people alike, sparking fires, and blowing off the occasional finger. 

But hey, at least we're FREE to do all of that, so I guess that's something, right?

Sorry to be cranky. Its hot. Very, very hot. I'll be better next time. 

Happy Fourth!!