Vin Rowe Newz

I'm outta here (again)

2010-08-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

I set up a new site, the eponymous vinrowe.com, and now my blog is up and running there:
http://www.vinrowe.com/blog/

Hooray! Join me, won't you?

Urg....

2010-06-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

I completely messed up my WordPress blog and followed that up by completely ruining my site admin stuff... Urg and double urg...

Illustration Friday: Renewal

2010-01-04T08:52:00.000-08:00

.........................................................
By way of an explanation, nothing says renewal to me like a phoenix being reborn in the raging inferno of the biggest cup of coffee you've ever seen.

As an aside, I've been hitting the decaf for a while now, and that fills me with great joie de vivre even in the absence of the typical psychoactive stimulant.

As a further aside, the city seal of my town (Portland, Maine) sports a phoenix and the motto "Resurgam," Latin for "I will rise again." That on account of being burned down four times, I kid you not.

Stodgy Dude

2010-01-03T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ramona

2010-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

Boatman

2010-01-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Man

2010-01-01T17:40:00.000-08:00

Starwarsish Guy

2010-01-01T12:46:00.001-08:00

I drew this guy a long time ago and may have even posted him, but this is a new inking and coloring. Some new tools I'm trying out...

Mushy Mummy

2010-01-01T12:40:00.001-08:00

I made this one a while ago and meant to post it sooner. It's a little guy sculpted in ZBrush (and showing the composite of the color and shading).

Happity New Year!

2010-01-01T12:34:00.000-08:00

Yeah, Happy New Year! I'd like to send a special message to the horrible virus that has been keeping me down for the last two weeks:
Why would you do that, you jerk? What are you, some kind of a jerk?

But I'm finally getting better. I'll be very happy when I can hear again out of both my ears and that ringing goes away, which is my final burden to bear.

Turtle Hoist

2009-12-09T18:58:00.000-08:00

Bird

2009-12-07T18:28:00.001-08:00

Jumpa

2009-12-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Skinny Elephant Guy

2009-12-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

Illustration Friday: Unbalanced

2009-11-16T20:03:00.000-08:00

This one's confusing if you don't know who Bill O'Reilly is. It's also confusing if you do know who Bill O'Reilly is but can't tell who this is (I don't think I'd be able to, now that I'm looking at it). And if you don't see that this is for the topic of "unbalanced" you might think I'm some right-wing guy glorifying Bill O'Reilly. And if you do see that the topic is "unbalanced" you might think I'm some left-wing guy accusing him (and perhaps by extension Fox News) of being not entirely "fair and balanced."

That last one is closest to the truth, but in fact, I don't actually spend much time thinking about Bill O'Reilly. Really, I was thinking of people who are psychologically unbalanced, and his was the first face that popped into my mind--go figure!

MI-5 2

2009-11-14T17:27:00.001-08:00

I was watching more of MI-5/Spooks and right off the bat I saw another shot I wanted to draw. I made this a little more high key than the actual frame.
Drawing from TV/movies is a quick way to find interesting lighting, poses, etc. This is pretty fun, and I'll probably do more of these little sketches.

Light Study

2009-11-13T15:03:00.000-08:00

This little shot caught my eye while I was watching Spooks/MI-5, so I did a quick study from it. Not a great likeness really, but I'm pretty happy with the lighting, which I was more interested in anyway.

Illustration Friday: Blur

2009-11-11T17:57:00.001-08:00

Something new I'm trying! My best air time is 14.3 seconds. Seriously killer on the delts, I kid you not.

Outta Yer Chair!

2009-11-10T14:58:00.000-08:00

I sit in my chair a lot, to be honest. Too much working, and it's been wrecking my poor defenseless body. I tried a few ergonomics programs, but most really aren't that great, so I made Outta Yer Chair!. It's a very simple application (PC only, sorry) that will remind you when you should stop working and stretch your horribly stressed back, legs, and whatever else.

Professor Hootsy's Guitar Explorer

2009-11-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Professor Hootsy Collins would love to take you on a tour of the jangling six-string in this application called Professor Hootsy's Guitar Explorer. As a guitarist myself, I hope finds favor with my guitar-slinging brethren and sistren. With P.H.G.E. one can explore the whole fretboard (righty and lefty), finding scales and chords, and actually playing the notes as well.

Mr. Toneface Man

2009-11-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

Let Mr. Toneface Man serenade you! This is a simple little gadget that lets you listen to tones on command. Good for tuning instruments.

Some Guy

2009-11-09T19:27:00.000-08:00

Face study

2009-11-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

Going for kind of a Sebastian Krüger thing. Partially successful, I think! That guy can seriously paint though, you know what I'm saying?

And speaking of Halloween 2009...

2009-11-07T09:14:00.000-08:00

Here are the mask and pumpkin I painted this year (incidentally, wearing a paper bag on your head when it's really windy is ill-advised):

Spooky Skull

2009-11-07T08:51:00.001-08:00

Halloween has come and gone, but here's a spooky skull anyway.

Some Lady

2009-11-06T16:59:00.000-08:00

Looks a bit El Greco-esque... Not intentionally, but things just got a little warped around.

Halloween Gang

2009-10-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Illustration Friday: Fast

2009-10-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

And in keeping with the theme, I spent about 5 seconds on this Illustration Friday picture. Also in keeping with the theme I ate nothing while drawing it! Actually, do mints counts?

Illustration Friday: Frozen

2009-10-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

I haven't done the Illustration Friday thing in a while, but, er, here's a sloppy and rushed one! I guess that's incentive for me to do a better job next time.

Wow, that must have been a speedy glacier, right?

Supafrog

2009-10-21T19:19:00.001-07:00

Gadzooks

2009-10-21T17:30:00.002-07:00

Stern Individual

2009-10-21T17:30:00.001-07:00

Happy Creep

2009-10-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

Snake Nest

2009-10-17T18:21:00.002-07:00

Halloween Spook

2009-10-17T18:21:00.001-07:00

Roguish Hat Man

2009-10-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

The Hidden Maître D’

2009-10-17T17:17:00.000-07:00

This guy has made several vector appearances, but I wanted to make a watercolor version too for some reason.

After something by Dürer

2009-10-07T10:59:00.001-07:00

Watery Face

2009-10-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

Town Hat

2009-10-07T10:57:00.000-07:00

Penguin Ghost With Goggles

2009-10-07T10:56:00.000-07:00

I've gotten out the old watercolors recently...

Tall Man

2009-09-27T11:42:00.001-07:00

Salesman

2009-09-27T11:41:00.001-07:00

Octopods Again

2009-09-16T18:09:00.000-07:00

Working on my lighting in Modo.

Mayan-ish

2009-09-14T07:31:00.002-07:00

Rain

2009-09-14T07:31:00.001-07:00

Landscape

2009-09-11T19:42:00.001-07:00

Chubby Dude

2009-09-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

Dancing Guy

2009-09-06T11:34:00.001-07:00

Garuda

2009-09-01T20:33:00.002-07:00

Meteorsaur

2009-09-01T20:33:00.001-07:00

Creepy guy

2009-09-01T20:32:00.002-07:00

Stompa

2009-09-01T20:32:00.001-07:00

Clouds

2009-09-01T20:31:00.001-07:00

Blossom

2009-09-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Kind of Yoda...

2009-08-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

..but actually it's a picture of a puppet of Yoda (see the distinction there?) that I was recently reunited with. When I was five I broke my leg, and someone gave this to me while I was in the hospital. I would put it on and say to the nurses "I am Yoda, the Jedi master."

16 Guys

2009-08-12T18:25:00.001-07:00

Oh, and 200 illustrations - that's not too bad!

Three Guys

2009-08-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

Two-Headed Guy

2009-08-10T17:06:00.000-07:00

Funny Tubes

2009-08-02T13:25:00.000-07:00

It's easy to make funny shapes like this in Modo, and the renders come out pretty well too.

Metropolesque

2009-07-30T08:41:00.000-07:00

Skeleboid

2009-07-20T16:01:00.001-07:00

Matryoshkas

2009-07-20T15:53:00.000-07:00

Lots of 3D recently! This is me attempting some simple texturing and rendering of things, mostly for practice. The top render uses illustrations I drew, and the second uses illustrations from Utagawa Kuniyoshi (a guy from 19th century Japan). I wanted to do a bunch of matryoshkas that were all different characters - maybe I still will.

Alarm Clock

2009-07-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

For a little thing I'm working on...

Octo Mouf

2009-07-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

A couple more Modo renders.

Octo Grid

2009-07-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

First render with the really great Modo 401.

Bouquet

2009-06-24T12:15:00.001-07:00

Underground

2009-06-16T18:01:00.001-07:00

Creeping Bear

2009-06-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Skull Mask

2009-05-28T12:27:00.001-07:00

Hair Mask

2009-05-28T12:26:00.001-07:00

Hood Mask

2009-05-28T12:25:00.002-07:00

Nervous

2009-05-28T12:25:00.001-07:00

Trunk

2009-05-28T12:24:00.001-07:00

Bow Tie

2009-05-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

Maybe a ninja turtle or something, I don't know.

2009-05-19T18:19:00.001-07:00

Li'l Angry Guy

2009-05-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

USB Spiral Maybe

2009-05-16T09:10:00.001-07:00

Tiger Bird Fight

2009-05-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

Can Tree

2009-05-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Fish Motif

2009-05-12T12:40:00.000-07:00

Can-Nose Man

2009-05-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

And now, for post #200, the Can-Nose Man:

Sleepy

2009-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Flower

2009-05-03T17:59:00.000-07:00

Mouf

2009-05-03T13:16:00.001-07:00

Explorer

2009-05-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

I wanna get back to drawing and posting more dumb pictures like this soon:

Not Dead

2009-04-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

I can confirm that at the time of this writing I am not dead, just working a lot (work work and freelance work). I'm really looking forward to all that stuff slowing down so that I can work on my own stuff and do more playing with the wifey and now-walking baby.

Scrumbumble

2009-02-26T15:12:00.001-08:00

Lumbering

2009-01-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

Teefies

2009-01-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

Scribble Drawing 1

2009-01-03T07:05:00.001-08:00

I really slowed down on this blogging stuff with the holidays, but I think I'll try to get moving again. Here's one of those "do a scribble and make it into something" drawings.

Oldy but Newy

2008-12-28T16:57:00.001-08:00

This is a redo of an old picture of mine. I liked the picture before, but this is better I think. Anyway, I hope it is. Otherwise I ruined it.

Happy Belated Christmas!

2008-12-28T16:53:00.001-08:00

Caveman

2008-12-18T18:50:00.001-08:00

Whoops! I forgot to do the Illustration Friday thing for the week, but dat's okey.
Here is a caveman.

Blue Guy

2008-12-14T18:18:00.001-08:00

Weird Baby

2008-12-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

Not Ramona, incidentally. It's a baby that was in Life in 1935. If all went well this is now an old person.

Salamander

2008-12-12T17:16:00.000-08:00

Some Guy

2008-12-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

When I draw a person without looking at a reference, the proportions always come out a little weird. Actually, that happens when I look at references too, but this guy I just made up.

Abstract Seascape

2008-12-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

Birdos

2008-12-11T11:48:00.001-08:00