2004 Weekly Sketches

The links to my "Weekly Sketch" posts are no longer active so I'm re-posting them here for archival's sake, some of these might make it into the next sketchbook.




Abrazos,
-A

Bitmaps vs. Vectors

In response to Eric's question regarding "vectors" and for all those of you out there who always wanted to know but were too shy to ask :).

The following are excerpts from a web article written by the lovely, talented and extremely knowledgeable Sue Chastain published by about.com



Bitmaps
Bitmap images are resolution dependent. Resolution refers to the number of pixels in an image and is usually stated as dpi (dots per inch) or ppi (pixels per inch). Bitmap images are displayed on your computer screen at screen resolution: 72 or 96 ppi. However, when printing bitmaps, your printer needs much more image data than a monitor. In order to render a bitmap image accurately, the typical desktop printer needs 150-300 ppi. If you've ever wondered why your 300 dpi scanned image appears so much larger on your monitor, this is why.


Vectors
Vector images are made up of many individual, scalable objects. These objects are defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels, so they always render at the highest quality. Objects may consist of lines, curves, and shapes with editable attributes such as color, fill, and outline. Changing the attributes of a vector object does not effect the object itself. You can freely change any number of object attributes without destroying the basic object. An object can be modified not only by changing its attributes, but also by shaping and transforming it using nodes and control handles.

Because they're scalable, vector-based images are resolution independent. You can increase and decrease the size of vector images to any degree and your lines will remain crisp and sharp, both on screen and in print. Fonts are a type of vector object.



For the entire Sue Chastain's article please click Here.

© copyright 2005 Sue Chastain/about.com, excerpts of the original article are reproduced here with permission, for review and educational purposes to the benefit of the copyright holder.

Corn Dog

A caricature/portrait of my good friend, the immensely talented Shane Corn, done a quazillion years ago.

Swiss Army Knife

For my friend Randy Martin, I'll post the inked version later this week.





Abrazos,
-A

More Recycled Junk

I'm simultaneously working on the cover for Zowie Deux! and the next DRAW! Magazine article so I have nothing new to share at this point.

This here is one of my favorite drawings, it was done as a last minute back cover for Howard Shum's most excellent "Gun Fu-The Lost City" book, it occurred to me one night while staring at my own crooked legs and deformed soccer toes.

Rafael Freyre

Another great Mexican political cartoonist who thrived in the 50's and 60's, excellent painter as well but his amazing pen & ink and luscious brush work was by far the best of his era.

Ernesto García Cabral

My good friend Barry reminded me to include García Cabral in this "Mexican Masters group" and later Fanooch mentioned his name as well in a comment he posted regarding Carreño, I agree of course and here he is: Ernesto painted tons of Mexican movie posters, he had a gift for caricature and for voluptuous yet cute cartoony girls, he is more popular now than ever before.

You can find (and buy) a lot of his posters at the Impact Graphics Posters website.

Abrazos,
-A

My Filthy Basement

Great News!
I just started working on a new sketchbook in partnership with The Suicide Girls
This book will feature my versions of these gorgeous & deadly creatures, scheduled for release this coming June.

Also, for those interested, I reprinted the sold out "Train Doodles" book, It will arrive two weeks from today.

As per Dave G's request, Here's some pics of my home "studio" as it stands now before painting, I'm really fond of this "unfinished" look, it makes it feel more like a "Taller" or "Atelier" if you must, kinda artsy-fartsy.

Edit: If you want to see the "before" pics click Here and Here.
These two (below) are the updated pictures. This is the way the basement looks now.

I caught "Mars the Dog" wrapping his tongue around his nose this afternoon, he's just ugly as all hell but I love him.

I'm still pretty ill :( Pray for me my brothers and sisters.


Sketchbook Shipping
For those of you who ordered sketchbooks from me in the past few weeks, all orders have been shipped, except for the ones placed last week, they will go out Monday, I had to print a few extras to keep up with the demand, thank you for being so patient, your support is appreciated and it will not be ignored, when the new books come out this year everyone who has bought books from me (past or present) will get a huge discount and extra goodies for allowing me to continue the work of evil.

For those of you who were promised sketches, look inside the pages of the book (or one of the books) you ordered. If you were promised a sketch and you don't see one, email me imediately after receiving your goodies.


Spring is here and the time is right for fighting!
I got into a heavy discussion with some comic book friends 2 days ago or so, I managed to offend and insult pretty much the whole group (inadvertedly of course but nevertheless I think I'm done there), somehow I felt as if I was back in school, thing is, this is the nicest group of people. it all ended amicably after I apologized for my rude behavior, but the whole thing reminded me of why I never like belonging to any group or clan or gang or whatever.

Life has taught me nothing, I keep making the same mistakes, it's very hard for me to not react like a cornered rat when I feel I'm in the right, at the end I admitted my ignorance regarding comics, which is an aberration I can't fucking figure out for the life of me, but still felt like an outsider trashing their club house, not my intention, but it happened. I still think I'm right of course but that episode will teach me not to poke my nose where it doesn't belong.

I think from now on I'll stay right here, minding my own business in the safety of my blog, no more groups for me, I can't handle it, I'm too bitter.

Thank you all for the "get better soon" notes.

Abrazos,
-A

Sick Days

I've been sick as a dog for the past week, some kinda virus or something. Be back tomorrow.