IF:: a real winter

For Illustration Friday's Topic Winter

IF :: its in the mail

Lila remembers fondly being able to mail her first letter.

For Illustration Friday's topic mail

IF :: engulfed by a Time Warp

Alvin is innocently tricked by a Bizarre Time Warp Phenomenon into drawing last weeks theme and posting it this week

For Illustration Friday's topic Phenomenon

IF :: Positively Prehistoric

Wearing Leggings to a Zumba Class! now that is "Prehistoric".

For Illustration Friday's topic prehistoric, but opps Alvin is tricked by a bizare time warp phenomenon to drawing and posting last weeks theme

Dealing with leaks

Alvin learnt long ago to leave all leaks to the professionals

Julia's first task

RIP - TwitPic Quickies

I'm not sure what changes TwitPics have made, going over to Oauth authentification via twitter, but the net result is I can no longer display TwitPics in this blog. Rather than stress about it I figured it was easier to post the cartoons directly in here and put a link on twitter. Same result just a few more keystrokes.

So look for the quickie cartonns right here.

IF :: Immovavble

Even without the high power management theory Alvin knows better than come between a hungary lady and her cheese.

For illustration Friday 's topic immovable

The count continues

This is a new direction in my cartooning. A Wacom Bamboo Tablet (non scanned) drawing directly into the computer.

A close call

Julia may have underestimated the passion in Western Australia and Queensland, which stands to loose most under the Mining Super Profits Tax and the uneasiness with all the ongoing corruption and naivety in the state labour governments

Behind the "real" Julia

IF :: Art Official

Lila takes her responsibilities as a gallery guide very seriously

For illustration friday's topic artificial

Dissapointment

Alvin is dissapointed by his soufflé surprise invention ...he dreads it will not be enough to get him into the next season of masterchef.

IF :: Double Dipping

Lila decides it is time to start a twitter campaign against double dipping on masterchef ...and she is also a bit distressed by lack of table manners at government house

For IllustrationFriday 's topic double

Alvin is out

Alvin is distraught that his namesake was eliminated from masterchef, & he retires to his kingsize bed with his favourite tapas book.

Moving forward

Alvin instinctively moves forward to press the remote.

IF :: Alvin wants to close his diary

Alvin dreams of closing his diary, taking a few risks and really living his own life.

For Illustrations Friday's topic diary

IF :: Alvin was suddenly a Giant

Alvin knows he will use his height advantage wisely, to bring beauty to the world.

For Illustration Friday 's topic giant.

Big Step Forward

Julian Gillard’s big step forward …looking forward …way forward …(add lots more sound bites with the word forward)…didn’t strike me all that great (mining companies pay the same corporate tax rate as any other Australian company 30%), so the big reduction of the resource super profits tax from 40-% to 30% …yes the same rate it is now pays, does seem like a lot of spin, and a big back flip to me …but then again no one yet knows the fine details. Speaking of big changes to achieve exactly the same, this humble illustration is trying out new technology

Existing (interactive) Tablet

I like to sketch my cartoons by hand, usually on the back scrap paper on a neat drawing board of my own design. Its a bit of off-cut ply-wood,painted with a little undercoat and with a few of those big red rubber bands Australia Post use on your mail, holding the paper in place. I like to sketch while listening to music so I have added my MP3 player under one of the rubber bands. This is the most interactive bit. Its a wonderful design, not completely wireless, but I can use it anywhere.
I usually rough in something with a soft pencil and ink over it with a felt (or jell) pen, and then rub out the pencil (more interactive parts). Not very high tech but fast enough. I then scan the sketch and load it into Corel Auto-trace to convert it into a line drawing, sometimes after a little bit of fat-bit editing to clean up the scan and then colour it in Corel-draw.

New Interactive Tablet

Introducing my new Wacom Bamboo tablet, more wires on my desk and it is only as portable as far as the cable reached. The pen is wireless though. I’m still experimenting with how best to use it. But it is pretty natural and easy to use. My aim with these twitpic quickies is to be able to get the cartoon published on the internet with 5-10 minutes of scanning. To be honest I’m no where close to achieving that in corel painter essentials with the pen & tablet, little alone becoming proficient drawing directly on the tablet (see my first attempt). We are however moving forward riding the waves of technology, not necessarily moving as fast as our new prime minister.

IF :: serving a higher cause

Sputnik would never have volunteered if he had realized the true loneliness of a satellite's life.

For Illustration Friday's topic satellite