Inklings

Category: illustration

  • Utility

    Pencils and pens are like tools to me, so I get pretty particular about which ones I use. Most artists utilize a range of specialized drawing pencils with varying grades of lead from hard (2H) to soft (B) and each is used to execute certain tasks in pencil illustration. But consider the common pencil. You know, the tall, hexagonal, yellow graphite stick with a pink eraser tip. They serve a common purpose: to write with.

    Teachers the world over have always prescribed the number two pencil – and with good reason. The number two pencil’s lead is softer making writing much less of a chore. Pencil manufacturers also make a number three pencil and if you’ve never used one, don’t be fooled, it is NOT the same. The lead is so hard, that you seldom can even see when you write with it. I’ve yet to see a yellow number one or four pencil, so it would seem that it’s just three and two out there. If you’re a fan of the number three pencil, I apologize, but if Faber Castell decided to discontinue making the number three I would not miss it one bit.

  • The Pen Was a Weapon

    The old saying ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’ had more literal meaning to the graphic designer 25 years ago. The Mac computer was new on the scene so analog tools like the technical pen (T-pen) were standard issue. Maintaining this integral piece of equipment was a high priority, so it didn’t take long before you had memorized its anatomy. Cleaning the T-pen was a ritual of sorts that varied little. Disassemble. Soak nib parts in alcohol. Reassemble.

    Loading the cartridge with ink was its own art form and coaxing the ink into the nib required gentle lateral wrist movements (if you heard the nib click in its housing you had good ink flow). If the ink ever stopped flowing, only the prescribed lateral wrist agitation was recommended. Any violent vertical pumping almost guaranteed that ink was sprayed everywhere. If you were lucky it wasn’t all over the illustration you’d slaved over for days. As if maintaining one of these ‘weapons’ wasn’t enough, we were armed with seven of them! To this day, every time I choose a stroke thickness in an Adobe application I can’t help but think of the wretched T-pen.

  • A “Mean” Santa?

    It’s surprising that not everyone’s childhood recollection of Santa Claus is that of a jovial plump elf. Apparently some remember the patron saint of Christmas to be an old curmudgeonly prig who teased the children with bags of stockpiled goodies. If a child reached for a bagful of the sweet temptations, Santa would sting the eager young hand with his switch. That impression of Santa Claus would likely leave children frightened to thoughts of poisoning the milk and cookies or keeping the fireplace roaring all night in an effort to “off” the chubby fellow during his visit on Christmas Eve.

    I remember the annual tradition of waiting for Santa to arrive by train (apparently it was safer than flying) into the pivotal Christmas hub of Mandan. Once the “Polar Express” braked to a halt, he jumped off the caboose, shook hands with hundreds of freezing children and then summoned his red-and-green-clad army of helpers to methodically dispense the traditional brown sandwich bag of goodies. My memory of Santa was far more favorable but I’m afraid his paper sack offering on Christmas Eve morning did nothing to improve my attitude toward unsalted, unshelled peanuts, candy canes, bruised, mealy apples or ribbon hard candy.

  • ‘Tis better to give…

    We’ve heard the saying a trillion times and we know what it means, but the emphasis today seems to be more about receiving – not giving. For the past several years we’ve really tried to stress the importance of giving at Christmas-time to our boys. There are so many that have far less than we do and it would take very little to improve their Christmas. Every year they help buy gifts for children they don’t know, and I know they try really hard to get the lesson but sometimes I think witnessing the actual transaction would make more of a difference for them. I like Mr. Kurt Warner’s (Cardinal’s QB) idea – whenever he dines out with his family, he chooses one family and anonymously pays their tab. I think being able to witness an act of abundant generosity and the feeling that accompanies it would be a powerful lesson in giving.

  • Shopping

    I’m not a huge fan of shopping (not even for myself), so needless to say Christmas shopping is a bit of a task for me. I don’t like the crowds, lines or nagging doubts that what you’re going out for will even be found or, if found, appreciated. At the same time, I’d rather make the effort to find something special than fulfill the requests of someone’s shopping list. Despite this fact, I usually end up asking my wife (a billion times) for a hint of what to get her, only to be reminded that I should just know. I hate it when she’s right.

  • Yep, it’s Monday

    It’s not like I don’t usually greet the morning alarm with pleasant thoughts, but for some reason today came a little too early. We don’t believe in the “snooze” button either. I never understood the reason for prolonging that torturous transition from “slumber” to “awake” in nine minute increments. Ready or not, day, here I come.

  • Sharing the Joy

    Advent is in full swing and many of us are going through the annual rituals to prepare for Christmas. I hope everyone has the opportunity to take the time this year to really focus on what Christmas is about and the joy it brings. Share that joy with others this year and you just might change someone else’s Christmas. Like the Grinch himself discovered, “Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!”

  • If only it were that easy…

    I have to agree with my wife, I too, wish our kids had a floating stats meter above their heads to give us immediate feedback as to when they’re feeling tired, sick, angry, happy, scared or hungry. It seems the older they are the better they think they are at convincing you what they’re feeling – even if their body language suggests otherwise. Just think of all the arguments that could be avoided with such a meter. Our oldest is going to a birthday party/sleepover today and I’m quite sure at some point tomorrow his meter will be completely empty. I know when we suggest he take a nap we will inevitably get “I’M NOT TIRED!” To which we could confidently, yet calmly reply with “but your meter says you are.” End of discussion.

  • Progress?

    I’m amazed at my kids’ generation and their fascination with cell phone technology. My oldest was begging for one as a fourth grader. What in the world would a fourth grader need a cell phone for?! Granted, there seems to be a fair number of “cell phone” kids (formerly known as “latch key” kids) out there that do, at the insistence of their parents, have a cell phone so that they can keep tabs on them during those idle hours between school and the 5 PM end to the workday but I say you’re getting the bad with the good. The investment for a device that will keep you connected with little Johnny or Jenny has been elevated by these children as a status accessory coveted by all their peers and will most likely not be limited in use by them to just two hours a day. It seems that many young cell users could get by without ever having to make or take a phone call on their little hand-held social taskmasters. Let’s face it, to them making a call using a cell phone is so 20th Century now. The mantra that this generation speaks is, “if you want to communicate with someone, don’t dial digits – text!”

  • Preparation

    Well, it’s December and it still doesn’t quite feel like the season yet (that could change today). My Midwestern upbringing has always assimilated snow with Christmas. I do remember a few “brown Christmases” but traditionally we’ve been pushing snow as early as Halloween. Admittedly the weather this year has been unusual all around and I’m grateful for the extended fall we’ve had. I’m certainly not wishing for the record snowfalls we had last year but I am dreaming of a white Christmas. The lights are strung, the tree is up, the halls are decked… and the shovels are ready!