Quick Landscapes

a whole bunch of landscapes - most of which took under twenty minutes to complete - save for the top two. just trying to ressurect any skills ive ever developed in that depeartment as ive a piece coming up where ill need to add a decent environment. had fun doing them though - particularly the top one.

see a slightly larger version on deviantart LINK

FRUSTRATION SOLUTIONS

I spent hours yesterday trying to get on with something - be it commercial or personal work. Nothing good was coming out of it and i realised I needed to loosen up. Theres a variety of excercies I have used over the years to manage this, from simply scribbling around until amongst the mass of shapes I see something more specific and begin to block it in and build it up - to simply trying out software that gives you a very different approach (like Al:Chemy - one of my favourites, and one you may be familiar with from much of my work).

Thats exactly what worked for me in this instance - well, at four in the bloody morning it did! I suddenly remembered the free program INKSCAPE. It's essentially a vector program - much like Adobe Illustrator - though the preset tools make it far easier to produce some wild designs and images quickly than the more corporate program. One particular tool I like is the one for calligraphy - by playing around with the settings, you can quickly gain a host of effects - from highly scrawled to thick and angular strokes.

The pieces below were initialised with inkscape - i then exported the basic design and layered over using similar effects from LIVEBRUSH and MY PAINT - both free programs also. Have a bash yourself if you're getting stuck and drop a comment with a link to your output - the worst that can happen is you return to your standard media with a sense of freshness.

If you want any of the free software I've mentioned, simply click the links at the bottom of the page.

INKSCAPE WEBSITE

MYPAINT WEBSITE

LIVEBRUSH WEBSITE

A Postcard from The ZONE

A SNIPPET AND IMAGE FROM OUR UPCOMING S.TA.L.K.E.R. GRAPHIC NOVEL SERIAL AT CRASHNEXUS WHERE WE ALSO CURRENTLY HAVE A FREE, ILLUSTRATED SHORT-FICTION DOWNLOAD
LINK

I can see the Zone’s perimeter fence approaching quickly – the old barbed wire stretches around a vast area that holds things I can’t even imagine from the safety of the civilized world I am about to leave behind me. The area around it doesn’t look as abnormal as the rumors about the constantly-changing landscape would suggest; fields of tall grass and rolling hills lead all the way to the perimeter, giving off a peaceful calm as they wave blissfully in the breeze. But there is a change in the air; an overwhelming sense of dread passes over me as I begin to make out small details beyond the barbed wire. Old, abandoned houses, a long, abandoned road whose faded lines and cracks remind me that no vehicles have traveled it on over two decades, and an overgrowth of plants that conceal the rest of the area in mystery.

I can already sense the voice in my head telling me to turn back now or be prepared to never return. The feeling of death and decay is strong around me; even though visually the landscape is lush and overgrown with new plant life since the removal of mankind. But my primal instincts are telling me that this place is death and that I’m walking willingly towards my doom.