Test Tube Spice Racks

Sometimes the things I do actually have a function. This is one of those times. After seeing many of the test tube spice rack images floating around the internet, my roommate and I decided we needed some too. These are made out of beech plywood and oak.

The bigger test tubes in the back are from Ikea, the ones in the front are screw-top ones from Amazon.

Mine is the darker one on the left, the one for the roommate is on the right.

The greenish tint around the edges of mine is watercolor paint, brushed on the wood before applying the finish.

All Tied Up Drawing

All Tied Up, 2015, Pencil and Felt Tipped Pen

Eventually, this will get a background. It was supposed to be a quick and fun exercise in anatomy, but it's been sitting around for a while now...

Sea Serpent - Stamping with Charcoal

Sea Serpent, 2015, Charcoal

The main textures of this image were created by stamping different shapes of craft foam. Craft foam is porous enough that it can hold charcoal almost like ink. I made the scales on the body by stamping two teardrop shaped pieces of foam, the tongue is the tip of a triangle, and the webbing blended with various sized strips. It's basically stippling, only much faster. And messy.

Onwards!

Well, that about rounds it up for November. All key past projects have been uploaded and categorized, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of Blogger's layout. Any posts from here on out should be of current projects.

Halloween, 2015

2015, Model Magic, Craft Foam, and an abundance of Wood Glue

This year I deviated from the cyborg theme to bring you...whatever this thing is. It was imagined as a cat, then morphed to maybe an angler fish, and I think I ended up at dinosaur.

Like last year I couldn't see where the heck I was going, so I had to improvise.

I think poking holes in the hood underneath really took away from the overall effect, but I wanted to actually see both the Halloween parade and where I was going.

It was made with a base of craft foam, sculpted over with Model Magic, and sealed/strengthened with layers and layers of wood glue. I would not recommend this method to anyone (I knew there was a reason I stopped using Model Magic in grade school). The jaw was articulated, and made a satisfying snapping sound when I closed my mouth quickly. 

There are some less than thrilling pictures of the hands under the cut too, for those who are interested.

Texturing Fake Leather

Altered Vinyl Samples

Fake leather, vinyl, vegan leather, pleather - call it what you like, you probably know the stuff I'm talking about. It's almost a staple for any sci-fi movie costume department. But straight off the shelves the stuff is sort of boring - one monotone mass of fakey texture, in either high gloss or matte. I could find plenty of references for aging genuine leather, but there wasn't much out there for vinyl. So, I experimented.

All of the above came from only two pieces of fake leather, and the only difference between the two was the thickness. I made a tutorial, which you can view here. Hopefully someone out there can make good use of this information.

Cow Skull Study

Cow Skull Study, 2B Pencil, 2015

I also took my first drawing class last semester. It was the first time I've ever worked formally with pencils, and was educationally frustrating and a great exercise. This was the final project,.

Diver's Helmet Lamp

Diver's Helmet Lamp, Craft Foam, Recycled Plastic, a Lamp Globe, and Wiring Kit, 2015

I recently took a sculpture class and made this as my final piece. The basic sphere is a lamp globe, with details made out of craft foam and my eternal favorite split loom tubing. I had been looking for an excuse to use copper reactive paint (Modern Master's Metal Effects), which contains actual copper pigment and thus weathers like the real deal. I am a huge fan, but fun fact: it never stops weathering. This was only a semester ago, and it's already mostly turquoise with only a hint of the coppery color underneath. That may seem like an obvious statement, but I was surprised how fast it developed patina.

Helmet painting

Helmet Painting, Watercolor and India Ink, 2015

I wanted to experiment with textures and techniques, so I painted a subject matter that was familiar. Hopefully nobody is too bored of this design yet.

Halloween, 2014

On Halloween, 2014, I wore the most recent version of the "Cyber Demon" masks out and about. People seemed to like it, but I had difficulty seeing out of the lenses even with the LED's off due to condensation. More airflow is needed if I want to wear it for longer than 5 minute stretches, though it did work as a weird headdress for the rest of the night.

The arm was made out of craft foam, coated in a few layers of white glue and painted to match the mask. It worked for a one time costume, but suffered quite a bit of damage around the joints. I'm sure an upgraded version will be made eventually.

Cyber Demon, Part 2 (Late 2014)

For the previous post in this series, click here.

I supposed I should try to explain the concept behind what I've dubbed the "Cyber Demon" project. I've wrestled with a name for a while now, and though I'm not totally satisfied with this it will work for now.

The basic concept was to blend two structurally contradictory things together into a wearable head-to-toe character. Specifically, the human skeleton with something with no skeleton to speak of; cephalopods. Or, more along the lines of what I was actually thinking: I like skulls, I like octopuses. I had fun merging them.

2014

The second finished version (the fourth overall) of the Cyber Demon masks. This one is made from paper clay, a drastically lighter material than Magic Sculpt that's a bit harder to work with. It has this base gritty texture that won't go away even with extensive sanding, and the details carved into it aren't as sharp.

Detail of transition from paper clay to tubing

The rough, pitted texture makes a good corroded metal, but I'd prefer it a bit smoother on the raised areas. Well see where the next version takes me...

Around the mouth area is where this medium really fell short.

Not nearly as sharp as the magic sculpt. However, the pitted texture does make for a good "sitting on the bottom of the ocean somewhere for years" kind of look.

One major addition to this version is lights! The plasma disk in the mouth is sound activated, so it flashes lightning a bit more frantically as I'm talking. The LED's in the eye were triggered internally by a button by my mouth that I could push on and off with my tongue. Yes, that's kind of gross, but it kept my hands free.

Sleepy Dragon (2014)

Sleepy Dragon, Watercolor and Felt Tipped Pen, 2014

A not-quite-so-quick painting, playing around with textures.

Finals... (2014)

2014, Watercolor and Felt Tipped Pens

Another quick painting while waiting for finals to be over.

Cyber Demon, Part 1 (Early 2014)

2014

This design has been haunting me for a few years now. I'm not sure what to call it, or even what it is. A little bit Lovecraft, a little bit Geiger, with some cyberpunk influence and maybe even a touch of Mad Max (though, I was doing it before the new movie!). This is actually the third incarnation of this mask, so the post title is misleading. I find myself remaking it every year or so, and it keeps becoming more evolved and refined.

This particular version is made of Magic Sculpt, which is a satisfying material to work with, but also an impractically heavy and expensive one. The thing weighs nearly five pounds, which puts too much strain on the neck for any duration of wear. So sadly, it was retired. Detailing was done by carving the Magic Sculpt with a dremel. The goggle eyes are held in place with magnets, and can bend out of the way. 

The goggles were held on with tubing and magnets, and could bend out of the way for unobstructed vision.

It's a shame this had to be retired, as the texture and paint job was quite nice (even if I do say so myself).

Magic Sculpt allows you to create some fun, sharp details.

Black "split loom" plastic tubing has become one of my favorite materials.

And if you want to see some bonus pictures of the first and second incarnation, and an extra super bonus of the original concept art...

Halloween 2013

Halloween 2013. Being a college student, I wanted to do something quick and inexpensive that also still looked good. This is what I came up with, for under $10. The eyepiece is made of craft foam, EL wire, recycled plastic, and metallic paint. I made a tutorial for it here. The rest was just grease paint. More pictures under the break.

Cartoony Faun, 2013

Ballpoint Pen, 2013

Quick doodle.

Mask Concept, 2013

Mask Concept, Colored Pencil and Ballpoint Pen, 2013

Sometimes I draw concepts for masks. Sometimes I actually make the masks I draw. This is not one of those times.

Articulated Fiberglass Cat(?) Mask, 2012

Articulated Cat(?) Mask, Fiberglass, Thermal Plastic, and Faux Fur, 2012

The second, more successful version of the cat(?) projects. See the full tutorial here. Click "read more" for details.

Masked Monster, 2012

Masked Monster, Colored Pencil and Ballpoint Pen, 2012

Quick drawing with some digital retouching.

The Wall Crawler, 2012

The Wall Crawler, Ballpoint Pen and Pencil, 2012

Alternatively entitled "How I Feel About Calc 2," at the time it was supposed to depict a frog creature climbing up a wall, but some math induced feelings of desperation creeped in...

Skeleton, 2012

Secluded Skeleton, Felt Tipped Pen and Digital Coloration, 2012

Another early digitally altered image. I was experimenting with coloring black and white images.

Secluded Skeleton, Felt Tipped Pen (original), 2012

Angler Fish, 2012

Angler Fish, Watercolor and Felt Tipped Pen, 2012

Watercolor painting I did for a friend. based off a doodle at work.

Altered Self Portrait, 2010

Altered Self Portrait, Watercolor, 2010

The single most painful assignment in any art class I've ever taken, we were supposed to do a self portrait with some sort of fantasy or fictional component. Being incredibly self conscious both of my face and my (in)ability to paint people, I think I turned this in weeks late. The background was supposed to be a mirror, but due to time and ability restraints that didn't happen.

Anna Log, 2012

Anna Log, Felt Tipped Pen and Digital Coloring, 2012

A drawing I did on the back of a poster freshmen year of college. The image quality is probably too low for it to be seen here, but the label on the record reads "Anna Log."

Baba Yaga/Mortal Engines Inspired Piece, 2010

Original Piece is Ballpoint Pen, 2010, Digitally Edited 2012

The beginning of both Photoshop and blogging, this is the single most reblogged thing on my Tumblr page (I can't imagine why). It was an older piece that I touched up a bit before uploading it in 2012. It was inspired by one of my favorite book series to date, Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve, with a touch of the Baba Yaga legend.

Skeleton, 2010

Skeleton, Charcoal, 2010

Another high school piece. We were given 4 colors of charcoal, tinted paper, and a model skeleton.

Stop, 2010

Stop, Watercolor and Felt Tipped Pen, 2010

Another high school piece, our assignment was to create a piece that protested some social or environmental issue. Having a love of gas masks and a poor grasp of how to draw them, I chose air pollution.

Nautilus Block Print, 2010

At some point in AP art in high school, we also made several prints of linoleum stamps that we hand carved. We tinted the background paper with a few different color schemes (I believe 5 was required if I remember correctly) using colored pencils, and printed over it with the ink. This was my favorite color scheme, so it's the only surviving image I have. I still have the linoleum block, which is in surprisingly good shape years later.

Typewriter Drawing, 2009

Typewriter, Felt Tipped Pen, 2009

Quick drawing for the AP Studio Art class I took in high school of an old typewriter I acquired off of the side of the road. Despite spending hours on many of the other pieces, this oddly enough seemed to be everyone favorite piece. At least, it was the one I got the most comments on. It was also uploaded before I really knew how to edit the images, so please pardon the white noise in the background.

Hello, and Welcome

Moochy,  Ballpoint Pen, 2009

Hello, and welcome to the madness. I've come to the point where I feel the need to create a somewhat professional blog for my artistic endeavors. So, like the previous blog, let's start this out with an old drawing of my cat.