On priorities

For Illustration Friday's topic of the week : Reflection

The speaker phone feature

mophone beta

I've been doing a bit of beta testing on mophone, (well enough so I can fill out the questionnaire!) It's pretty neat. Imagine your phone was an ipod; well mophone is a bit like itunes for your phone. You can manage and store cameraphone photos. phone wallpapers, ringtones & even games. You can also share them with your friends, or the world. It’s also a lot like flickr with moblog’ing & ringtones built in. Once a decent community gets going in there I'm predicting it will be a winner. If you are already there why not add AlvinP as a friend and join the “meet the people” group. You’ll then be able to get my cartoons directly on your phone

Is it free?
Yes (well largely free, you must have internet access via your phone to use it and you will have to pay for that access at your normal rates)

…Norm (for Alvin)

On the petrol price

For Illustration Friday's topic of the week : Empty

On Home Theatre

After a 7 hour struggle, Alvin jubliantly gets his new remote controlled home theatre projector to work.
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How these cartoons are created

Alvin & lila came to life suddenly one day, during a creative cartooning workshop given by Kevin Burgemeestre. During the story boarding part of the afternoon kevin demonstrated a method of using "cut out" shapes of body parts to put together and adjust composition. The idea was also presented as a good method to help exaggerate movement and make the illustration more interesting. Alvin literally dropped out of nowhere and onto my page. Lila soon followed, her hair and eyes where a way to balance the simplicity of Alvin's component parts


Not only is then method fun, it is also quick. I just get the pieces I want, and assemble the cartoon. If I need something extra I drawn a new piece. I slide the assemble pieces into a photocopying carrier sleeve (it has a white backing and an acetate cover that folds back and holds the pieces in place). I scan this and if necessary do a bit of tidy up in coreltpainr. Then run it through coreltrace, in outline mode and take the shapes into coreldraw for colouring. This takes as little are 5 minutes, a lot less that a fully handrawn cartoon.

... Norm