Dillerkind's Image Pool - Next Chapter

[Moini]

Don't let them read this (or are you doubting your own abilities? - Already offering something like you do in a school goes way beyond what most would do, so: Hooray )

[brynn]

Off-Topic: show

I have strong doubts if one of my kids is going to be that one light (in terms of creating artworks, digital or otherwise) or that I'll be able to make them shine but it's a nice thought nonetheless. We'll see

Oh, you never know!  You really don't.  Kids aren't going to stop and tell you that you made a difference.  It may be many years, before they realize what an impact one of their teachers had.  Maybe you haven't had such a realization yourself yet?  But honestly, as I look back, just the smallest of gestures sometimes can make an impact.  Maybe it isn't even about the subject being taught?  But teachers, well schoolteachers anyway, are in a position to make a hundred impacts (if they make a career out of teaching), although they may never know what about or which kids.  It's that blind faith that makes great teachers!

[Dillerkind]

You're both right, of course. You never know what the future might hold in store. Neither optimism nor faith in my own capabilities or "impact on the world in general" are among my strengths. Therefore I really appreciate your encouraging words. But enough of this. Let's move on to new vector material.

[Dillerkind]

This is a color remake of an old piece.

[Dillerkind]

I made this for my father's birthday...

[Moini]

Cool What did he say?

[brynn]

   Today is Fathers Day in the US, too.

[Dillerkind]

Cool :D What did he say?

He seemed to like it. It was just a little addition I made for the actual gift though. I didn't want to make a plain card and thus thought of a fun little pic :)

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And here's another old sketch that was originally meant for a pencil drawing but eventually turned into a vector piece.

[Moini]

It was storming like that here, too, until yesterday... My banana plant lost one of its first leaves
What is your wolf looking out for?

[Dillerkind]

Aww, sorry to hear about your plant. I'm not exactly blessed with a "green thumb" but we have some green on our balcony too and I really like it. As for your question, I don't know. I suppose he isn't looking for anything in particular, just daydreaming ;)

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Here are my latest two pics.

Sort of a follow-up to this piece from last year.

Small and simple, a smoking skeleton girl.

[Moini]

There's another leaf now ;-) (and it's just an experiment anyway - who would expect a banana to grow in S-H?...).
Is the death/cigarette meaning intended (i.e. would this be a very rare 'message' in your images)? Or is it all in the eyes of the beholder?

[brynn]

That last one looks like a good anti-smoking ad!

[Dillerkind]

Moini
What, aren't bananas a common export article in northern Germany? ;D

That's a valid question indeed. Skulls are a favorite drawing subject of mine. I've never been a smoker myself but years ago, in my more hip-hop-y days I often drew characters smoking joints, cigars and such. It's unhealthy but there's still something "cool" about it, graphic-wise. Nonetheless I often make funny/silly remarks about smoking in general. For a long time my favorite was "Rauchen macht klein und hässlich". A few years ago though, it was replaced by "Rauchen ist gesund und macht erwachsen", which I got from a friend's friend, who's a smoker. He just dropped this line in a very dry and serious way - it was just too funny. Instant classic

To sum it up, I guess you could say it's a mix: a thing I like(d) to draw and my anti-smoking attitude.

brynn
In a way, yes.

Btw. as you can see, I'm now able to log into the forum again. I was also trying to mail and let you know but guess what - now my mails don't get through to you. I'm getting some mailer daemon error O_o

[brynn]

I'll look into the mail errors.  Thanks for letting me know

[Moini]

Thanks, Sven, that was very interesting (having witnessed many people actually die or suffer badly from the consequences of smoking, I concur that it's a good thing to try and teach kids this with some humour)
Btw. I like the way you drew the hands, with no 'holes' between the bones in the palm area.

[brynn]

Off-Topic: show

The email is fixed now, if you still need to message me.  Sorry for the problems, but I think our move is complete now.

You could even try the gmx.de address if you want.  I'm guessing it won't be blocked on this server.

[Dillerkind]

Moini
For some odd reason I like to draw skeleton hands this way. I can't say why... It's just another thing, like the way I draw their eye sockets, with the swirly lines and such :)

brynn
Cool, thanks for the update. I think I won't switch back to the other mail address. Gmail works fine and I'll probably drop the GMX address entirely at some point.

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Here's a piece I finished yesterday. Maybe I'll get back to drawing cute furry characters more often. Some variants and stuff can be seen in the linked blog post.

[Dillerkind]

And next...

[Moini]

The mirror (visible in the full version) with its scratches and slightly worn mirror-surface is impressive - just like the bokeh and the flash and the blur... (and while I don't exactly like the subject, the composition is cool, too).

[Dillerkind]

Thank you! Yeah, I totally understand that the subject isn't for everybody. I wasn't sure about the flash. I was hoping to find a good source describing how exactly this works physically but wasn't entirely successful. I found some examples showing results in Blender or other 3d software. In the end I just used the lens flare filter in PS and then recreated this as I could in Inkscape. So, basically, I ended up with a bunch of circular shapes that could be rearranged and used in other images as well... that is, as soon as I find an explanation how exactly the different shapes are aligned along that "axis". Anyway, I'm happy enough with the result - for now :D

[Moini]

Now I'm even more impressed - trying to base this not just upon what things look like in real life, but on science, is something that I don't expect many artists would even consider. Cool!

[Dillerkind]

Hahaha... I usually try to be NOT too scientific in what I do. For me it's often style over substance. There are things however, that should have a certain degree of realism in order to not stick out in a negative way. Like for instance having a light source clearly visible in the upper left corner while the character casts a shadow towards the lower left corner. I try to avoid blatant errors like this but on the other hand I don't try to make everything super exact and realistic either. As for lens flares, it can look weird if you're just randomly scattering colored circles all over the image. As for as I've seen they are all aligned on one axis. Just how to position the axis and the different shapes along that axis, that's something I still have to figure out. Though I have to admit that this is more out of curiosity and not something I plan to use a lot. Anyway, I've gone into babbling mode again. Too many words :D

[Moini]

Sven, I don't mind any babbling - I find it interesting to read a bit about how people make art and what they think when they do (I visit your blog everytime you post something, to find out more). And curiosity is important!

[Dillerkind]

Yeah, I totally agree about the curiosity - which is funny because I'm terribly indifferent about a lot of things. Btw Inkscape/vector isn't the only thing I do so it might be worth stopping by every once in a while even when I don't post anything here... but then again, I guess you've noticed that already.

[Dillerkind]

I haven't been very productive lately. Here's just a little something I felt like doing. Small, simple, not very involved...