Look at this guy Dante’s AMAZING costume! And while you’re at it, check out this thing called steampunk. Who knew?

If the pen tool is Illustrator 101, then the Gradient Mesh tool is the advanced, 400-level course. Gradient Mesh is the preferred method for photorealistic illustration today- it’s the airbrush for the new millenium. If you haven’t seen any of the many mind-boggling examples of what the mesh tool can acheive, you really need to check them out.
But the tool shouldn’t be intimidating to those with bezier curve experience. For one thing, it doesn’t have a steep learning curve like the pen tool. It’s like Othello: a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master. The basics really are basic, and it demands more patience than skill to produce solid mesh work. But that’s not to say there aren’t tricks out there.
There aren’t too many tutorials out there, but I have found one worth sharing. It comes with a completed .ai file and a helpful step-by-step that includes some great pointers. Among them:

• Cmd+Y to toggle outline/preview modes. If you didn’t already use it, you will now.
• Use a template layer. Then you can mesh in outline mode- while viewing the template in preview mode!
• Now that you’ve got the outline-over-template groove going, use the eyedropper to add color. Eyedropper from a photo? In Illustrator? Yes, double click on the eyedropper in the toolbar & uncheck “Appearance.” Piece of cake.
• Work with layers. This is the author’s preference, but I trust her! It keeps things organized, and you can easily blend the edges together later on.
• Keep it simple! As with the pen tool, conserve points.
• If you forgot the last tip, Opt+Del deletes a mesh point.
• Add points for lights & darks, not midtones. The mesh takes care of those.
That’s it! Read the tutorial and start meshing around!

Elm City Scooter Club’s 2nd annual rally was way beyond my expectations. Great people, music, food, prizes, rides, and (of course) scooters. For once, Stella looked to me like a boxy, modern beast among the dozens of classic Vespas & Lammies. Not a problem though- it’s motivated me to invest in scoot #2. Anyway, what a great time. I’ll be there for the whole thing next year, for sure.

Hundreds of pictures at Scoot.net

If you’re like me, color schemes give you trouble. Despite years of training in color theory, I find it difficult to break away from monochromatic or analogous designs- it’s just too scary to jump to the other side of the color wheel. So I’m always on the lookout for tools that generate color palettes. I’m going to share a few of my favorite with you here.

Generate a Palette from a Photo

First off the lot, we have the Palette Generator from Big Huge Labs. Easiest to use, the Palette Generator asks you to upload a jpg, then quickly spits out hex codes and even (for some reason) a style sheet. Quick and accurate, this tool is always a help. Need an autumn scheme? Input a foliage picture. How about a layout built around a photo you took? No problem.

Generate a Palette from a Vector Illo

Now, supposing we have an illustrator doc, we can extract some swatches from that bad boy. We just need to employ this technique from BittBox. Unfortunately, color groups are limited to CS3, but you can always create swatches manually in earlier versions.

Generate a Palette from Scratch

OK, all these crazy output techniques, but what if we just want to move some sliders around and see what harmonizes with what? You’re in luck, thanks to the Color Wizard from Colors on the Web. It’s a great way to learn about color theory while confidently choosing harmonious colors. And it’ll teach you words like “tetradic.”

Generate a Palette from the Color Picker

For the really lazy busy designer.
This is a great custom color picker for photoshop (betcha didn’t know you could do that!) It’s the Painter’s Picker from Old Jewel Software. Surprisingly, this is the most feature-packed tool I’ve listed. It gives you over 30 (!) different schemes for any color you select. Installing such a thing is tricky, so follow these directions from Planet Photoshop.

Well, there you have it! Hope you enjoy these tools.

The Samrat Yantra in Jaipur, India is the largest sundial ever built. Its gnomon is 73 ft. The sundial is part of the Jantar Mantar complex in Jaipur, India, one of five large astronomical observatories constructed out of stone by Jai Sing II between 1727 and 1734.

A French artist/scientist named Laurent Maget has done one better, by using the 150 ft. spire of the Mont Saint-Michel abbey as the gnomon of a giant sundial.
Mont Saint-Michel is a small rocky tidal island in Normandy, roughly one kilometre from the north coast of France. Rising from a hazy expanse of sand and waves, Mont Saint Michel appears like Man’s defiance of the elements and of time. Suspended high on the rock, the abbey calls you to discover the wild ambition of its builders and of those who, since 708, had wanted to make this isolated spot a meeting place for all people.

Manet used 600 one-meter reflective plates to create huge Roman numerals, placed in the surrounding tidal flats by the French army. The spire cast a shadow as long as three-quarters of a mile. At that size you can actually see the sun’s shadow moving as the minutes tick by. The panels stayed up for several weeks and then were then removed, but you can see a video of the incredible sundial in action.

For more sundial fun, check out the North American Sundial Society website- it’s full of cool info!

Thanks to the always-fascinating Spurgeonblog and Moonriver!

Pretty cool! Thanks to Dan Goodsell for this visual chronology of the beloved ursine Bing Crosby. (Fantastic as the list is, I’ll just add the origin, a VERY 80’s S.B., and the current bastardization.)

Special thanks to bittbox for posting this one. The “eezy” trifecta of websites includes three phenomenal databases that are free, screened and stocked. They are Vecteezy (vectors), Brusheezy (PS brushes) and Fresheezy (themes).

As a hack signmaker/illustrator, Vecteezy made me drool. Yes, it’s that good, and Brusheezy is phenomenal too. I just glanced at Fresheezy, but it looks great for pre-fab blog themes.

I share because I care.

The wonderful blog Bittox has yielded another great vector tip. The tutorial is ostensibly about creating “3D vector vintage stars”, but the method is insanely valuable in a variety of scenarios- anyone who’s created this effect from scratch knows what I’m talking about here.

The design above shows the extrusion effect in question. Most 3D software can easily handle such a feat, but the effect was conspicuously absent (or so we thought) from Illustrator, where it is sorely needed. I won’t re-invent the wheel here (visit BittBox, it’s a great site), but I will say that the key lies in “expand appearance.”

Custom brushes, 3D effects, warps and distortions can all be changed from proprietary nonsense to kosher strokes and fills. All you need to do is select “expand appearance.” That’s right- a wide world of wild illustrator pizzazz awaits
you!

I will likely dedicate a whole post to bushes soon. People often wonder how to create variation in stroke weight, and this is exactly how. In conjunction with a Wacom tablet, Illustrator can come frighteningly close to a Windsor & Newton #7. And remember, after your digital inking, expand appearance!

I’ve been fooling around with my airbrush lately, and I recently borrowed an awesome book of American pin-up art from Ericka. Coincidentally, I stumbled upon a great airbrushed pin-up tutorial. It’s from 3 years ago, but that hardly matters. John P. Thompson, in his wonderful example, transports Bettie Page to the WWII era. He goes through the painting step-by-step, and provides detailed explanations of his equipment, techniques and reasoning.
The process images and explanations should be fascinating to anyone starting out with the airbrush. The advanced state of his underpainting was a relief- I subconsciously felt that such involved prep work is somehow “cheating”. It’s not, of course, and it’s great to discover enlightening tutorials such as this.

Keepon is a little yellow robot designed to interact with humans, especially developmentally disabled children. It is something of an experiment in facial recognition and social interaction. Keepon’s features are pared down to the bare minimum- just two eyes and a nose on a bulbous frame.Keepon is the most adorable thing imaginable. Its countenance and its purpose just warms the cockles of your heart. Watch him dance here.