Really, I have been so busy with web design stuff, that I haven’t taken the time to draw, and that’s just sad.  So I’ve had this robotic rooster in my head (he’s eventually going to be a big piece) and here’s my first attempt at a sketch of him.  Doesn’t it look like he’s just launched a football into the air?

I really like this sketch so much I don’t want to mess it up by adding more…  but alas I need to keep working on it!  Does that ever happen to anyone else?

Oh! Foodwhirl giveaway ends today! Go enter quick!

Here is the ballooning robot in the early morning light.  I imagine he got up early, and just headed out on an adventure.  Not quite sure where the winds will take him, as his craft has very little ability to steer. (Maybe he’ll see the Ship of Gnomes!)

Cute huh?  Well, I think so at least :)

I just posted a recap of last week’s recipes on Foodwhirl: Poured Sugar Icing, Lentil Soup, Bunny Treats, Summer Salads, Rhubarb & more! And enter to win a $80 prize, yay! http://ht.ly/1P7NQ

And I’m trying to be more social ;)—  You can go Like Dabbled on Facebook and/or Foodwhirl on Facebook!  And Twitter, of course–if you friend me on Twitter be sure to send me an @ message so I know you’re from Dabbled, not a spammer!

Ciao!

About the project at Super Punch:

So, about this project. I wanted to do something special for the third anniversary of Super Punch, and three weeks or so ago, the idea popped into my head of inviting my favorite artists to create tarot cards.

See all the fabulous cards thus far at Super Punch.  There are some incredibly cool ones, from some very cool artists, and I’m honored to be part of the group!

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Like Food?  Go check out Foodwhirl.com!  It’s our awesome new team food blog.

This seemed to be begging for a caption, this was the one I came up with… any better ideas?

If you missed it..Earlier today: Clothes Tutorials – recycle your wardrobe!

And the latest from Foodwhirl.com!

• How to Steam Asparagus
• Spotlight: Mehndi Cookies
• Dinner in 15 minutes: Broccoli and Cheese Frittata
• Shrimp & Fish Fajita Tacos
• Lemon, thyme and Sea Salt Shortbreads

I’ve always loved The Beautiful South (and the Housemartins before), but when we hear I’ll Sail this Ship Alone, my sweetie and I like to say “Sail this Ship of Gnomes”.. not quite sure how it started, but that’s why we have a lovely little sketch of a ship of gnomes for your perusal today.

I’ll Sail This Ship Alone (BBC Session – Mark Goodier 10/6/89) by The Beautiful South

Play song from Lala.com The BBC Sessions – 2007 – 3:47

Oh, and go check out my latest food post at Foodwhirl.com: White Chocolate Granola Bars!

For Illustration Friday today (yeah, I know it’s actually Sunday), I decided to work on a logo design for a friend’s organic food business. She’s a very focused person, and I thought this illo had a very focused look to it!  Here’s the design, and also, the steps I did to come up with it!  (They are similar to the process I used for the black & whites recently.)

Finished prototype:

So, wanna follow along with the process?  You should never watch how they make the sausage, ya know… This isn’t a real tutorial or how-to, but maybe my steps will give you some tips you can use!

To get to this, here’s what I did:

I started with a concept sketch…  I had this idea in my head that seemed to match what we’d discussed as far as her logo.  We have Gaia with flowing plant hair!

Next, I did a quick ink tracing, with heavy black lines.  Not thrilled with her face, but I can work with it.

Then, I colored it in an photoshop, just black and white.  It didn’t have to be perfect, just close.

I did some additional cleanup, and then I took it into Illustrator.  A trace smoothed everything out and gave it the look I was going for.

I did this a few times, playing around with the image in photoshop, then in Illustrator.  I’m not very good with Illustrator, so I tend to rely on Photoshop more than I should.  The final black and white version was a little different than the above.

Although I like the black and white version, I figured she might like a color version as well, so I colored it in Illustrator, and added a couple of different logo fonts for her to look at.

Hope this was interesting for you!

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Links: Black and White Illustration Series

To Download as PDF: Gifttags-2009-Dabbledorg
To get from Flickr: Go to Flickr, then choose All Sizes

Like these?

You can download all the images to make your own little Game Box, a cute homemade stocking stuffer!

Happy Holidays everyone!

First is a little monster/alien I’ve been doodling lately, hatching from his egg!    Second is the little monster, in holiday mode! Which do you like better?

Free Download of the Santa Monster, if you’d like to use it for holiday cards or crafting!  Just click through to flickr and download it there.