Before & After

Some things change..

My desk for the last six months. I cleaned everything today, packed the acrylics back into a box, ripped off the paper, scrubbed hours to get rid of the tape-glue and threw away old jars with old color. It was kinda sad.

That´s how my table looks now. What a huge difference. I haven´t seen the glas-inlay for ages and I have no idea if I ever gonna use it before I move. Guess not. Next additional table will be one without glas-inlay since it´s odd to have one without any possibilty to use it (PC equipment will move here next week... wee!).

So... I´m still thinking about a new book project. I guess I won´t do anything for the next weeks since I´m busy with agency work (christmas... now... well... >_>; )

My fingercups tickle. Every day I don´t work I get impatient. It´s like my muses are punching me every minute forcing me to move on. "Don´t wait, do it, do it."
Normally the months after a finished book are the most productive ones for me. It´s like all ideas are finally creeping back into my head where Kulla was for six month. So much space to fill.
And still.. I´m kinda sad. Five years with Kulla left a lot of traces.
I´m curious what comes next.

back to childhood

I visited my family over the week-end and it was cool to be there again for some days. Went to cinema with Nata watching "Slumdog Millionaire" (which was great but I shouldn´t think about the actors and real life), went to the park with my granny and watched my nephew walking around (he´s ten months old... unbelievable).
Sometimes I think: Ah, you painted the rasberry bush exactly like this and the tomatos look like this and there are the flowers I paint so often... so many things I keep putting into my book because I´ve been knowing those things for ages. I like my parent´s house and the land they have because normally gardens are small... but this garden is HUGE.
first thing I see when I step outside...

and second.. "Hello, Mr Gino. Good morning! :D "

the old vine (unbelievable sweet berries in late summer and attacked by many generations of cats... and still alive)

Kiki... still snorring *hugglesherawake*

a part of the garden... before you ask, this is NOT a farm, my parents just love the garden and try to grow everything there.. *really* everything (last fail were blueberries ^^; ... but the strawberries
*__* just LOVE those *yummy* )

house, walnut-tree, vine, Mr. Gino, potatoes and a lot of SUN O_O

my epic sun-fail is a sun-burn after sitting outside for 15 minutes after lunch. 15 minutes! Rahhh! I look hilarious... all red with a white shirt "on". CRAP! >_>;

Intuos... a matter of principles

weeee! My Intuous 3 arrived some days ago. It´s the same I have at work and I really love it. I just hope my second monitor arrives next week. I´m so used to work with two that it doesn´t make sense not to buy one (and since I´m going to work a lot more digital this year it´s useful).

(I should have cleaned up before taking the pic.. um...)

As you can see scrollbars are on both sides. I deactivated the left ones since I´m a left-handed person and scrolling with your amr while painting is really uncool. I use the right ones and honestly... I could go without those. Normally I work with pen +keyboard. And that´s enough.

Since my old graphire at home is okay but not that... let´s call it "perfect" as the Intuos which I have been using for 4 years now, I decided to buy a bigger one. The options where: Intuos A4 Number 3 OR 4.
When I saw the Intuos 4 I thought: "WTF?!"
Call me picky but have a look at this:

left side: The logo is on the bottom... When I said:
"I can´t use it, i´m left-handed o_o" the only answer was:
"But you can flip it, it works this way as well."

I´m not a graphic diva but for me it´s not acceptable that a left-handed person has to accept an upside down logo just because somebody decided that I´m part of a minority.
Yes, I CAN put it upside down. Of course it will work. Yes, it´s just a matter of principle.
Is it just me who thinks it´s odd?

I hope the design will be change when my new GT is broken... in some years. If the other GTs weren´t that bad I would decide to use another company´s product. I bought a classic pen as additional tool and the price was just ridiculous. 80 bucks for a pen made in China. Production price.. um.. maybe 20 Cent. The GT costs around 200 atm. See the point? It´s a bloody PEN, for 80 BUCKS! Rahh...

Only good thing I can tell you: My graphire pen plastic wrap started to crumble and harden last year. I wrote an email, attached a photo, explained the problem and got a new one. For free. Well, the service rocks. I never thought they would do it but wonders happen.

Crap! ;_;

small illustrations on 20x20 canvas (mixed quality.. bad decision to mix) done for my book. And just after being happy about having done everything ... one illustration is missing. I totally forgot to do one and this is so... just odd. I didn´t get my head ripped off but it´s not the best start to plan some *free* days. I guess I will spend my saturday evening @ home instead of being with my family and PAINT. Arg... Anne, how could you do it >_< *punching myself*

So.. this might be a happy message for all those upcoming illustrators: Even pros do epic FAILS. arg.. yes, you are allowed to laugh =_=;


Anyway, mah little bunny turned 5 today. Born in Vienna, growing up in Berlin, hopefully infecting the whole world with cheerfulness and red capes.
Happy birthday, Kulla!

Sunday Office Riot

**flying office chicken** (the one with the sign.. the other chick is engelszorn XD )

It´s Sunday and I´m in the office. Unkind me dragged engelszorn along since we need to get stuff done for work and as always -if you´re the first part of a very long chain- ... if you don´t get things done the others have to wait as well.
It´s annoying. I´ve been reading the same texts again and again while cutting material and sometimes the dialoges are so crappy you just want to throw everything at the author and cry: "Why´d you do that?!"
Some passages get better... some worse. But again: I love my work. ... most of the times.

Read:

Loved the book to pieces.... best choice if you like history, love and a lot of utterly disgusting medical descriptions.

I started "The Graveyard Book" (Neil Gaiman). I know you can´t trust "Best book ever" stickers but this book bugged me. I still think "Neverwhere" was one of the best. This is my personal opinion. I so much which they would make a movie out of "Neverwhere". Would be higly intersting. Combine Alice in Wonderland and Re-Cylce, shake and mix well ... man, that would be awesome.

Kulla 3 pre-orderable

Kulla 3
"Kulla und der Mondhase" (Kulla and the Moonbunny") can be pre-orderd now. *weeee!*
Amazon
12,95 €
the book includes stationary (10 envelopes, 10 sheets)

maison.. meet the boogie

just some shots.. I am far aways from finishing. Uh...

Paper Dreams

Paper Dreams... one of the books I waited for. Yesterday it arrived and again, since I ordered it in the UK, it had to go through the customs and was delivered in a shed paperboard package and a totally beautiful blue customs duty sack. >_>;
Ok, back to the book. It´s huge (bigger than A4, can´t squeeze it in any of my bags) and heavy (realized that yesterday while carrying it home). And it´s totally awesome and worth every Cent.


it´s 09:14 in the morning here and I just ran over the pages stopping here and there. Even if you´re not into Disney all the storyboards and concepts and color settings and interviews might be enough to love the book. It´s so interesting and as most people who suggested the book told me: "You won´t be able to learn nothing."


Alice. Totally different from everything you´ve seen on the screen and I guess that´s the most interesting part (and always the best part of the "The Art Of..." books btw): How did the characters look in the concept phase.
If I had time I would rummage through the book all day. But I have an appointment with a photographer (new author portrait... and geee, I am not the "the cam loves me-type" XD) and I still have to finish some illustrations. Crap.

Final thought: If you are into animation, Disney, concepts or just interested in spending a lot of money for a huge book: Buy it.
I just googled and saw that it´s much more cheaper on Amazon.com (listed price: 60.00, now 37.80) than Amazon.de atm. Not that I hate spending too much money on books, just a good point for those who order via .com ... here it´s already listed for 60-120 euro, so grab it while it is cheap.

Babuscka

boogie cat is sitting on the top... the postman might come by...

cold evening

Another color test...

"The forest -starting behind your walls- can be calm but make sure you won´t jump when you hear it cracking and rustling."

Goggle Hippo

WRRROOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM.... XD

How I (let) scan...

Something new to learn.
I went scanning this week (on Thuesday). The bag was heavy. 12 canvases.. I even had to take an extra bag although mine is huge and the extra-bag was still missing (because my editor forgot to give it back :/ ) so I strolled around with something that looked like smuggling weapons or a little rocket... or both.
For those who always wanted to have a big bag where you can transport canvases and like ten million things along:


that´s mine... 72 x 55 x 7 cm for around 35 bucks. You won´t get a better for THAT price and I love the bag. I had a MH Way years ago but the problem is that you can´t put that many canvases in. Horray for a bag! (and you know, this is the only bag Ty carries around for me... because it´s sooo impressivly huge- sure a cool thing ).

Back to scanning. I´ve been scanning on a Cruse cam for over two years now. And I could cry every time I see the results. Not because those are bad but because I had to scan the images for my first book on a roll scanner. Which means you have to cut the canvas from the frame. And if the roll scanner doesn´t grip the canvas right the colors suck. The colors suck anyway so whatever you do: Never scan on a roll scanner. Never.

The Cruse scanner looks like this:


The top is the actual scan head. On both sides (45°) are fluorecent tubes (the REAL.. expensive-I-will-never-be-able-to-afford-those daylight lamps since they have to "warm up" (just like my Lilliput) for 20 minutes). The canvas (or object) is put onto the flat screen at the bottom. There are different measurement scales on so that the scanner can position the object accurately.

As you might see there is no real "touching" which is the reason why highly damagable things are scanned with the Cruse. Mr. König, my favourite scanner (who is now owner of the Kulla book he scanned... ) told me that the German Museum scanned some of the sensitive papers (like original music sheets, letters..) on it. Which is understandable. Try to do that on a roll scanner *haha >_>*

When the canvas is on the Cruse, the head moves slightly and scans the surface (in that case all two centimeters down... which means the edges of the canvas is really sharp). For artists who work with medium or structure paste this is heaven, because the camera catches all uneven parts without extreme shadows. If you wanna learn more google Cruse camera.
I just want to add that scanning is pricy. If you don´t do a mass-scanning the setup might be listed extra and ... well, let me mention that I payed over 350 Euro. For my Thuesday visit. And this was one of three appointments. I think the price is totally okay for me and for book illustrations but if you just want to digitalize a little canvas/illustration "for fun" you might consider your home scanner or a photo repro (as a cheaper solution).