IF it was the 80s

for illustration friday, topic 80's

IF :: Buzz Me

For illustraion friday :: Buzz

on the true meaning of allen keys

Alvin discovers the secret "s" shaped shaped hexagonal length on silver metal intended to warn all blokes never to try to assemble the contents of this flat-pack yourself, but alas it is to late!

IF :: it might!

Alvin knows there are some questions that must never be answered

for illustration friday :: it might

On home repairs

Lila knows that the appearance of the phillips head screwdriver marks the imminent death of another electrical appliance

IF :: the invention the world didn't really need

For Illustration Friday : Invention

On scrobbling

Scrobbling is the name for the collection and uploading to last.fm of the music you listen to. If you are intreseted in music you can watch what Alvin is listen to over on the right handside.

On suitable gifts

On being clear

For Illustration Friday's topic of the week : Clear

On Carparks

alvin strikes it lucky

delta blue, a stallion from japan wins the meblourne cup

sorry for the hiatus

Sorry about the lack of cartoons, a lot has happened, including the death of my notebook. One of the consequences of that is I lost all my templates and sepcifically a font called gigi (well I think what it was called) which I used for the header line title for this strip. Does anyone know who produces it? Or where I could get a replacement? \--

On escaping your dreams

For Illustration Friday's topic of the week : Escape

On the importance of cabling

For Illustration Friday's topic of the week : Roots

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