Cartoon Clubhouse

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I have always wanted to do a style like this. I see things like e-surance commercials or illustrations by Bob Staake and I'm always intrigued. A few days ago I decided to try it myself. Andy had been wanting me to do an illustration of him for a little while so I decided to go with him. I then went on to Riann, myself, and the rest. I did them all free hand and by memory. I made some changes here and there after seeing everyone again at the Clubhouse. Everyone I drew works at the Clubhouse, except Yoshi, but he is there so much it's like he works there. Technically, Riann just quit today so she doesn't really work there either. That sucks.

Chuck and Shelley

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The last three days I've been passing some of my spare time looking at a number of different Illustrator tutorials. I learned a number of different things that I have already found very useful. I also saw some really cool work. I decided to try a new picture and use the brush tool a lot more. I had tried to do this picture of Chuck and Shelley earlier, but I just didn't like how it was turning out so I stopped. I decided to start fresh with this style. I think it turned out pretty good. I'm guessing Shelley's eyes probably aren't blue (I can never tell eye color from a photo), so I'll have to fix that later, but all in all I don't think I'd change it.

Gradient Katie Redo

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After redoing the illustration of Riann I felt like redoing an earlier one that I had previously done in color. I decided on the one of Katie. I used the same style as the last one of Riann, but I used brush strokes for the eyebrows. It's a technique I'll probably stick with.

Early Riann Color

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I wanted to try adding individual hairs, but I didn't have any pictures I was willing to work with. I decided to use the black and white picture I already did of Riann. I did do color versions of that one before, but nothing like this. I really like how it turned out.

Erica

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I did the Sally picture and posted it on my MySpace page. So when I went into the Clubhouse that same night Erica said she wanted one too. So the next day, when I woke up, I did this. I tried something new with the hair kind of. I have over-lapping layers of hair. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I like the effect. I'm surprised I did all this in like five hours. I'm getting better at this.

Me and Cake

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I did this one a number of months ago. I forgot I even made it. I was playing with freehand illustrations. I kinda like it. That cake does look tasty.

Michelle

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I felt like making something. I felt like trying something new. I felt like doing it pretty quick. I decided to try a Will Scobie style of one continuous line. It didn't take too long to do and I enjoyed it a lot.

Karaoke Backgrounds

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I was a little bored when I started making these a few months ago. The background at the Clubhouse needed to be changed for a few weeks and we only had 5 different ones at the time, two of which were holiday themed and one that was an outdated sports background. I was having fun with the instruction manual guy from my Heart Maze instruction manual. I was kind of inspired by the game Portal. These are 4 of 5 of the backgrounds I've made so far. One person asked if we had T-shirts with those on them.

I have noticed one design flaw with them. Every now and again the blue input cord with wiggle loose making the karaoke songs look weird and sometimes making duets (i.e. color coded) difficult. When this happens we wait until the song is over to adjust the cord so that the entire screen doesn't go out. Unfortunately, with these default screens there isn't any difference between them if it's missing the blue or not. In retrospect, this is more of a equipment flaw than a design flaw.

Katie and Bubbles

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Katie sent me and e-mail a few weeks ago and she asked if I could do a newer version of her. She liked what I had done recently and was starting to feel left out and outdated. I gladly agreed to do another one. I found a fun picture of her on her page and got to work. I didn't put any gradients in her hair, but I did use a lot of different colored layers. I think it works pretty well and keeps it from looking cluttered.

During the entire project, I kept thinking about the background. I couldn't think of anything good. I really wanted to do something abstract as I tend to avoid that a lot. I eventually decided on a pattern wallpaper with a some type of thing on the side. Hell, bubbles are cute.

Early Riann

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I'm not sure what inspired me to make this one. I was bored and was browsing some photos on the computer. I came across this one and I thought I would try mixing a black and white rendering with some abstract junk growing off of it. I liked what I had too much to try and experiment with abstract junk. I did make 3 other versions with color, but both Riann and I loved this one so much. One thing I like about pictures of Riann is that you can tell how old it is by the number of rings she has. HAHAHA!

Uncle Taxman

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This was an experiment for me in a number of ways. I was thinking about things I could do with the silhouettes that I make every now and then. I thought it would be really cool if I could papier-mâché a silhouette, like my face with pages from a Number Theory textbook or Tobey Maguire's face with pages from a Spider-Man comic. I wanted to get a feel for how something like that might turn out so I did a digital version with Uncle Sam and a 1040 tax form. I learned how to use masks and paths in a more productive fashion. It way easier to learn from my brother when I go in with the mindset of learning, rather than accomplishing a goal.

Present Doodle

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This is a doodle I did by HAND! It was some ideas I had for Tara's Xmas present that I didn't go with. The first one seemed too mechanical. I was also basing it off a more musical theme, that I realized I hated. The second one was just so depressing it was hard to give it any glimmer of hope.

Sketchbook Jenny

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I wanted to do something with this picture. I didn't want to do the usual. I wanted to try something new. I like the sketchbook look for it.

Thinking Tara

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I started out with just Tara's face. I didn't know what else to put there for a few weeks. I eventually had this idea for a thought bubble. I had Tara make me a list of things she thinks about. Everything she listed is in there. I wanted a typeface that had ball terminals. I'm not sure what one I used in the end. Tara still think she looks more angry than pensive. I just don't see the anger.

Heather and Katherine

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I made this one to see if I could do it. I used Photoshop to transform the image into the different levels. I used Illustrator to separate the levels and to make the guides. I used the guides to cut the construction paper with and X-acto knife. It came out pretty good for a quick experiment. It replaced the Infectious picture in my bathroom.

Me in a Red Shirt

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I wanted to try working with stubble. I ended up making a number of different hair brushes. I was originally going to add some gradients, but my laziness paid off I think. It looks good without them. I look good.

Ben + Alex = B. Arthur

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I did this one for two reasons. I wanted to try my older style without gradients and I wanted to do something with my brothers face. I originally wanted to do something like the bongo ball treatment. Something in the realm of a label on a bottle of miracle cure. But I knew it would require a keen intellect for typeface and anything I would try would have been ripped to shreds by my brother. I try to avoid words if I can. I decided symbols were safe and I do like math. I added B. Arthur because I need it to equal something and she seem pop-culture and randomly perfect to make it funny. I may have subconsciously pick her for the first letter basis.

Ruth

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I wanted to try to see if I could get some highlights into the pictures. The only way I could seem to do it was using gradient meshes. This is the first time I've used gradient meshes seriously.

Red Riann

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I wanted to see what else I could do with contouring so I grabbed a decent picture of Riann from her MySpace and made a go at it. I love it, but her hand is a bit flat. Details in the original got lost over there. Riann loves this one.

Tara in Portland

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Loved this picture I took of Tara. I wanted to see if I could get the gradients to do more contouring rather than just defining borders. The background is from a different picture taken the same day. I think this also might be the first picture where I made each individual tooth. It's also one of the only pictures where I tried to separate the hair highlights. I usually just clump them together. I'd also like to point out that this is the second picture I have made with Tara that has a reflection in the background.