Huuugggee WTF

A fellow deviantartist linked me the information and image this morning. The anti stress ball is sold in the 123Mart in New Zealand. Seriously?! It looks like a chinese production and is a rip-off. IF you happen to see it: do NOT buy it- it's illegal and I already contact the laywer. Cross your finger for me the thing gets solved.
I am kinda tired of this stuff happening. It's not so complicated to send me a mail with a license request. Gah!
I am thanksful for everybody who keeps me informed and sends me those information... even if they happen to not make my day more shiny and happy. Networking will someday- me being optimistic- show those fuckers that artists actually care pretty much about being respected for what they do. In these moments I feel just like a doormat. Duh.

Color and Fails...

I actually didn't really have any time to blog and dang, I thought I'd still have more of the fails on my computer but no... deleted in shame ;)

Anyways, this was one of the comic color schemes I got mad over. I wanted to achieve a warm summer evening scheme with a darker setting but everything I tried just looked muddy or too dark.
The problem with sunsets is that of course gras doesn't really look green anymore and all colors fade over to the yellowish-brown-muddy-something range.
But the real problem is: It just looks shitty.
I have no idea how Kazuo Oga manages to get those moods done but I decided to go the unrealistic but more appealing way. Sometimes you have to tweak it and god knows I wouldn't have liked a mud page. :/
The whole problem took 3 months to solve. Sometimes it's really the best to put the page away and start mulling over the problem again if you feel you finally have the nerves to work on it again.
But so much for realistic nature... no idea if it would have done any good to test out another scheme.

I wanted to write something about another more delicate topic but still after some weeks I can't figure out how to wrap it up, so just enjoy the weather (hopefully awesome) and have a wonderful week.

Chantalismus

Mehr unter Chantalismus.

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so much for creative sparks...

.. while browsing for books on ebay i found this:

... listed as modern art (for 150-2800 bucks)....

wouldn't bug me so much if I didn't knew the art of Shunya Yamashita who happened to be the original creator of:

I'm really really ashamed that the "artist" who turned Yamashita's art into something -very personal and subjective opinion of mine- totally butt-ugly is actually German. Copy-pasta for 150 bucks?... cheapo.

If you ever consider doing art for living and don't want to be creative try to steal something NOT THAT POPULAR. Arg....

the day I got very unhappy

Irene said today something that does make a lot of sense: "Seems you got a defect one." Yeah o_o.... my Cintiq. Is gone.

I struggled two days. Really. But the problems kept piling up. For some people like Lew it might be minor, for me it was a horror. Minor horror but enough to drive me crazy.

The offset effect: happens when the arrow on the image wobbles something like 0.5 mm to 2 mm behind your actual stroke. In my case it rather felt like 2 mm and it sucked so much. I wasn't even sure if my curves were correct because I had to wait to see the result. Arg.... argggggg!!!! Arg!
If I want to paint slower I install everything on my old pc. Slow computer is slow. Expensive Cintiq is slow as well. Argggggg!

The other problem was the zoom. It looked like everything over and under 100% looked a bit blurred. Minor problem but since I have to make sure I see exactly what I paint it was a bit odd. And I normally zoom in and out a lot because I regulary paint at least double the size needed and sharpen in final size to tickle out some more details. I guess it's a syn problem of Photoshop and Cintiq but hell, the thing is meant to be made for Photoshop.
Uncool. and again: I'm so used to my beloved eizo screen who's not making funny blur-whatever-where's-mah-line-problems.

The other problems are things I created on my own and obviously because I wasn't used to it (like tendo, neck cramps and "the color gradients do not look like on my Eizo.. of course not, the Eizo grabs 92% of Adobe colours... unbreakable record so far). The upper two major problems where enough to send it back already. I have to admit the Cintiq IS really nice. But I'm not able to work as fast as I want. And the Intuos is my little darling making the fast work happen a lot.
And I'm in the middle of two bigger and some smaller jobs and I can't afford the whole "Argggg, slow arrow keeps being slow!".

We tested everything, I calibrated like an idiot again and again, the adapter worked fine so I think I got a major problem with a real lemon. Again: ARFFF!

*cuddling my trustworthy Intuos 3*
and now you can make some headdesks, call me an idiot and laugh about technical fails.

Black n White... and mostly grey

My life has been more or less black n white for the last couple of weeks. I yearn for color. The problem is: color doesn't do any good if you have to concentrate rather on structures than on "oh, pretty blue highlight here and there". I've thought those million rocks would kill my patience but to be honest the character themselves do. I can't stand to look at them a single second though I have to in order to finish the painting. Rahhh.... This job pushes me far over my general border. I don't want to paint something that detailed again for a lot of weeks.
I wouldn't go this far if I didn't knew who else is in the project and if my graphics don't look good they will look very stupid next to his. It's like "omg... I so gonna fail".
The customer is more than patient. I have no idea how often I called and said " I need more time.. the rocks". And he said: "Still rocks?"... and I thought "this whole thing makes me scream and cry inside and want to kick something big and huge and not made of... rocks".
Jobs can suck a lot but I guess -still close to getting 28- you can grow on those.

somehow epic

First of all I should say that the illustrator does normally know how to work and that his "normal" illustrations look good (his CATAN illustrations are just GREAT!... btw). The problem is - like always- that a company hires *somebody* who had never in his whole life drawn in japanese comic style (I wouldn't call it manga, since that's still and very obviously a BOOK).

Fail.. just fail... the next problem is that people actually buy it because they think it looks nice. People from "our dark side" know this is so very wrong, but Auntie M. wouldn't realize. Ouch.

Had to share. If the illustrator reads this: Sorry .I love the rest... really...

Hurray masking tape- to hell with mounting tape

If you ever consider doing watercolour illustrations everybody keeps telling you: "Use gummed mounting tape. It's the best, it's awesome..."

Awesome nightmares: yes
Awesome results: um... not really






This is my very personal opinion with many nightmarish experiences. Atm I am still sad about an illustration I have to redo (third time) because the mounting tape literally exploded. The paper worked a lot and the tape wasn't able to keep a constant grip.

BANG!
I fixed the illustration as best as possible with Tesa but of course the friction is not the same.
There comes a wave... and another... and another. ARG!








When I studied we used Tesa masking tape. I remembered but couldn't remember why and when. With a test (above... no fancy artistical brilliance) the memory came back.
All smooth like a baby booty. And no waves. and all awesome. And me so happy.


How to:
-Wet the paper some minutes (I do it WITH sketch) as usual
- Let it drain a bit
- put it on your board
- I use some kitchen tissues and dry it a bit more, no need for a lake
- happily apply the masking tape
- (blow-dry... I admit, I'm impatient and want to use the paper 2 minutes later)

Some people might say: Oh my, Anne.. that's no news. Well, no... wasn't even for me but I hope it will keep some people from buying gummed mounting tape.

@Lew Throw yours away o.o .. I'm sorry I gave you the brown tape >_<

Into A Fairytale- Der Blog... oder so?!

... ich habe keine Ahnung, wieviel die Agenturen für "Leibniz- der Keks" und "Volkswagen- das Auto" bekommen haben.
Wer "neununddreizigneunzig" (Originaltitel "99 Francs")) kennt, dem dürfte der Slogan/Claim verdächtig bekannt vorkommen. Das Buch erschien 2000 und fällt für mich in die Kategorie Autounfall-Lektüre - furchtbar, aber aufhören kann man doch nicht, weil man hofft, es könnte auf der nächsten Seite besser werden.
Ich gratuliere also allen, die bis Seite 216 (Softcover, rororo) gekommen sind und den alten Slogan für sich (und Leibniz... und Volkswagen) entdeckt haben. Das Buch kostet 9,90... ich hoffe doch, der Slogan war nicht teurer.

Anstatt immer wieder alte, durchaus bekannte Slogans mit heißem Wasser aufzugießen, sollte doch noch genug Kreativität im Kopf sein, um uns als arme Kosumenten nicht immer mit den gleichen Sachen zu langweilen.
Immer wenn jemand auf die Idee kommt, "XY- Das XY" zu benutzen, denke ich mir: "Hm.. also vor 7 Jahren fand ich den auch noch ganz phänomenal!"

Oder vielleicht ist es schon wieder "retro" oder gibt es auch "vintage slogans"? Wer weiß...

oh really... come on....

Ladies... Gents.. please stop posting commercial comments. I will delete those anyway- spare me and yourself those 10 seconds.
If you want to have more pageviews or whatever write something interesting people want to read. Spamming blogs you don't even read doesn't help at all. I have no idea who invented this but it's not cool at all. :/

Black n White n a Fail

study for something I didn't finish because it was canceled. I might say "thanks god" or "darn" or "unhappy me" but I guess it's okay since I suck in painting humans a lot lately.
Drawing animals all the time for projects doesn't help at all solving the problem. I guess it's always like that if you have decide for your "style" and oh my if mine shall be cute chubby animals for the rest of my life I won't start complaining.

but damn, my general concept was so nice. The only thing I'm unhappy about.

Dieses Ding kann einfach alles!

Eine Lieblingsbeschäftigung -und definitv amüsanter als die beste Komödie, wenn auch sehr sinnlos- von mir ist das Lesen von bizarr-witzigen Rezensionen bei Amazon. Es hat den Anschein, dass daraus teilweise ein regelrechter Wettkampf wird. Sehr zu meiner Freude, da die meisten nicht nur erheiternde Beiträge darstellen, sondern auch -meistens- sehr... nennen wir es einfallsreich sind.
Falls jemand noch nicht über diese Juwelen der Herstellerveralberung gestoßen ist, möge den Links folgen und sich freuen über geteilte Schadenfreude:
Birtrone
(man muss dazu wissen, dass bis vor eine paar Tagen noch eine BIRNE als Produktbild angezeigt wurde... )
Offiziersmesser

Cheers!

Gouache- my new best friendenemy

... after spending ridiculous amounts of money on little nasty tubes you can decide if you want to see pictures of fails and progress or not.
Since the medium is like an alien with four heads for me I guess I rather create fails.

I tried to find good tutorials on the net but nada. Maybe a good point for posting those... o_o

BUSTED!

... a deadline... f***@*#
I normally have a close look on time but this time... epic fail. Gods... and it's a cover.
Teeth ache, mobile literally dead, no mail saved with the mobile number of the customer, not in the office anyway, arg... I hate those days when everything is just an epic fail.

in graphics...

How I feel .... it's actually a side note I send out today with some documents. The person who got this whill hopefully be as amused as Ty was when he stuck all the papers into the envelope.


People found another one in São Paulo, Brazil... oh my... epic fail...

Copy Fail....

I am still searching for "the thing out of hell". If you feel like joining the "USO"-hunt (Unidentified Selling Object): the USO hunting

And what we learn while searching? We see other fails:
Copy Clone Fail

Original
Copy Fail

Original
Copy Fail

Anne

Happy Sunday - why we don't trust interviews

Whoa.... blogger fail. I still have to find out how to use the new options without screaming... First of all: I like interviews... sometimes. More or less I think it is odd if you have a problem with printed images you personally do absolutely NOT favour, old or not really showing what you can do. Mostly because who might show can't be displayed online -and if you try an armada of company XY lawyers will send you funny bills.
Anyways... Advanced Photoshop was interested in an interview and I thought... k... let's do it. Can't hurt.

Do I have to mention that most of the information are messed up ten minutes before printing? I was 25,24, made my books with water-colours (no, it's ACRYLICS!... Arg!) and hell what else. Since those interviews tend to be messed up I generally don't trust ANY information giving in any interview since you have no idea what was twisted and changed and I bet I can't be the only one getting a new vita every 3 months. So... I am in a Studio now which I rule with my buddy Maike. Cool, I didn't know myself....







We use a collective mail-address since some customers work together with both of us and if we get a job for ---peeepp- we agreed that forwarding can become pretty disturbing. The mail address lead to the assumption: "Hey, these girls have a Studio." I have no idea why people don't ask if it's correct but start writing without getting a check if it's true. o_o
So.. I like the idea of a Studio but again... I didn't want to read about it in a mag... and getting "Cogratulation!" mails from my folks... ew.

The other thing is... I really thought after Ikea and American "call your boss by his first name, we're cool" habit it was oldschool to write: "Pätzke says..." .. Doh! I don't dislike my name but it sounds odd and impersonal.

After being frustrated like hell because of those fails I might mention that I spend 400 bucks on cat's stuff which leads me to the memo that I should start working again to cover those 400-oh-my-gawd-but-the-banana-leaf-thing-will-last-forever-shopping trip. =.=

(B)utterly Blue

annnnd another one. In German I would call those "Pummelfee".
Life isn't friendly at the moment. I normally am in my regular happy-mode but yesterday just SUCKED.
I lost my EC card which is one day before a fair in another town an epic catastrophy and I still have to wait five hours before I can run to the bank and see if anything's missing. IF: somebody's gonna die. I saved up money for the next months and if this happens to be evaporated... gods.

Next drama:
calibrating the new Eizo. Gods... I should have known that you need a special training to get along with your shiny new screen. Ty and I spend two hours testing, calibrating, swearing, compare and whatever.
- The sRGB mode looks plainly weird because the colors are too blueish and yellow is missing.
- Custom.... skip it... it's shitty.
- EMU.... that one looked okay (but only in Photoshop... normal screen display looks too bright). I decided for EMU.
Ty: "What is EMU?"
Me: "Eww... i have no idea. Emotikitty United???" *confuzzled*
I think we'll spend another week of testing.

I have to admit: The screen IS great. But without perfect colors as bad as any other screen.
In the end I hold a printed postcard and fine-tuned via "Looks like this".
I know this is not so professional but at midnight we gave up.

So tomorrow will start my book fair week-end with test-pages in maybe wrong colors and without an EC card. It can get only better.

fail.....

.... and that happens if you can't merge... I have to shuffle those into folders soon or else it's gonna get disastrous.
Somehow i'm totally unsatisfied with my work right now. This is so NOT what I wanted and I guess I have to keep an eye on everything at once. After an unpleasant wake-up terror by Lilo, the 2-years-old Godzilla in the flat above mine I doubt the rings under my eyes will vanish until she's old enough to be kicked out by her parents.

the disappearance of tissues

my normal computer crashed two weeks ago and now it´s *finally for the first* time at a maintance and repair service. And of course those guys won´t call back or tell me a final "you will get your baby back"-day. This sucks so much...
I still have my netbook *thanks god* and it´s okay to work in but I guess trying to work with photoshop on a netbook won´t be such a good idea. :(
But it´s cute, ne?

Anyway, I called in sick today and I really wish I can be back in the office tomorrow. After being @ home for 11 days I feel like I have cabin fever. I want to work, I want my normal working-mode back. Think I´m not made for staying home :/

In the mean-time and while humming nervoursly over 5 illustrations I realized that my last portfolio update was in 2005. :( And since I got an agency-request (weeee!!!) I guess I have to do a new one. Which is annoying. In four years I made so many things I don´t really know where to start.
Put everything in? -> The "I impress you by mere mass" way
Selection? -> The "I have sooo many more but I won´t show" way

I even start failing at the cover and headline. o_o
Showcase? Portfolio (now, this is lame... of COURSE it´s a portfolio), Works of.. (lame as well), ... I think I have to call Sarah and tell her that she won´t get the new portfolio before Christmas. >_<

So... when you have a flue the tissues disappear just like socks in the washing-machine. I can´t have used a whole package o_o ... have I?