untitled work in progress

Thanks Steve

2011-09-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

So.

Steve Jobs has retired as CEO of Apple. Now Chairman of the Board.

Every pundit on the planet has analyzed and guessed as to the timing of his retirement. Health concerns? Corporate stability? To retain Tim Cook? Its a fun game. And harmless.

Now I'll open mouth, insert foot and offer my thoughts, weak as they may be.

First. Its the end of the Macintosh Era. Apple with the release of OS X Lion, officially dropped the Mac prefix. This is not accidental. Apple doesn't do accidental.

Rumors are swirling that Apple has a new slew of radical hardware to unleash on the consuming public. Rumors are its not iPad related nor truly Macintosh. Perhaps a new hardware platform?

Me? I would have dropped the Mac brand 10 years ago. Not the hardware or OS or platform. Just the brand. It has so much baggage in the PC industry from the long running Mac v. PC wars.

Second. The iPhone 5.

Steve gets all the spotlight for past iPhones, but i think the iPhone 5 will be a worldwide blockbuster to humble all previous iPhone launches. And Tim Cook will be solely at the head of the company getting all the credit. As he should.

Third. The iPad. Steve Wozniak said 10 years ago that Apple should only produce the Macintosh until Apple develops "the next big thing." Well it doesn't get any bigger than the success of the iPad. It is beating its predecessors, the iPhone, iPod, iMac and Mac handsomely.

That's the long and short of it for me. I'm sure Apple has the next 5 to 10 years rather well mapped out. They do think long term. People may fail to remember but when Steve Jobs introduced OS X he proclaimed it to be Apple's OS for the next 20 years. 20 YEARS!? Seriously!? Well, we are 10 years into that 20 years and OS X is only up to version 10.7. So clearly Steve knew what he was talking about.

helena horizon

2011-06-28T20:00:00.001-07:00

first painting with Procreate on my ipad. the view from my back porch

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Highland St,Helena,United States

Untitled #117

2011-04-12T20:34:00.001-07:00

Untitled #117
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

just doodling.

Mobile web apps

2011-02-16T12:43:00.001-08:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Mobile web apps

View more presentations from Patrick Crowley.

Untitled #73

2011-01-27T11:06:00.005-08:00

Untitled #73
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

more Layers doodles from the ipad.

Untitled #72

2011-01-27T11:06:00.003-08:00

Untitled #72
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

more Layers doodles from the ipad.

Untitled #69

2011-01-27T11:06:00.001-08:00

Untitled #69
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

more Layers doodles from the ipad.

Untitled #68

2011-01-09T08:33:00.003-08:00

Untitled #68
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

yesterday was the king's bday.

Untitled #59

2011-01-09T08:33:00.001-08:00

Untitled #59
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

long neck

Untitled #51

2011-01-09T08:32:00.001-08:00

Untitled #51
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodles continue

Untitled #67

2011-01-09T08:31:00.001-08:00

Untitled #67
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

finally getting back to doodling, post-holidays. Wishing everyone a happy new year!

Untitled #45

2011-01-01T22:43:00.001-08:00

Untitled #45
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

bored.doodling

Oryctodromeus-Nov-22-2010

2010-12-01T21:22:00.001-08:00

Oryctodromeus-Nov-22-2010
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

The final version of the oryctodromeus adult and juveniles. I'm fairly happy with how this turned out. i went from a small pencil sketch in my 4" x 6" Moleskine to doing color studies using ArtRage on my ipad. I was happy enough with the results of the color studies that i pushed the illustration as far as i could on the ipad and then brought it over to my Mac to finish it in ArtRage Studio.

You damn right I remember - Roger Ebert's Journal

2010-11-01T12:58:00.000-07:00

You damn right I remember - Roger Ebert's Journal

I'm not voting Republican this year.

Oryctodromeus Small Color Study

2010-10-28T22:10:00.001-07:00

Oryctodromeus Small Color Study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Color study for new dino illo. Oryctodromeus.

farting snail

2010-10-26T14:52:00.001-07:00

Untitled #34
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

how does a snail fart?

very slowly... *groan*

Oryctodromeus tone study

2010-10-24T15:12:00.001-07:00

Oryctodromeus tone study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Pencil tone study done in artrage

Komodo dragon study

2010-10-24T15:11:00.001-07:00

Komodo dragon study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Pencil tone study done in artrage

Dino color study

2010-10-24T15:10:00.001-07:00

Dino color study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Oryctodromeus adult and juvenile in a burrow

bai ling

2010-10-15T22:55:00.001-07:00

bai ling
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

sketch of bai ling based on a snapshot self portraitfrom her blog

ned

2010-10-13T20:23:00.001-07:00

ned
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

more play with artrage on the ipad

sundance

2010-10-13T20:21:00.001-07:00

sundance
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Playing with artrage on the ipad

ArtRage for iPad

2010-10-11T10:15:00.001-07:00

ArtRage for iPad
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Artist, doodler? Got iPad? Get ArtRage!

stella

2010-10-07T06:48:00.001-07:00

stella
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

Oryctodromeus Color Study

2010-10-03T12:23:00.001-07:00

Untitled #15
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Oryctodromeus color study done over b&w sketch by Lee Hall provided by MotR at Montana State University. Given that the oryctodromeus is a burrowing dinosaur the color palette of the preceding eye study might be far more appropriate. I'll have to tweak that in Photoshop

Eye study

2010-09-28T21:12:00.001-07:00

Untitled #18
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

further eye studies for the dinosaur commission.

Untitled #17

2010-09-28T09:54:00.001-07:00

Untitled #17
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

Untitled #13

2010-09-27T08:40:00.003-07:00

Untitled #13
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

Untitled #12

2010-09-27T08:40:00.001-07:00

Untitled #12
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

Untitled #10

2010-09-27T08:39:00.001-07:00

Untitled #10
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle.

Tony Grows Up

2010-09-26T16:25:00.001-07:00

Tony Grows Up
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

this guy is seriously old.

Untitled #7

2010-09-26T11:46:00.001-07:00

Untitled #7
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Coffee shop sketch

Juvenile study

2010-09-20T20:45:00.001-07:00

Juvenile study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

a little too "Disney"

Eye study

2010-09-20T20:44:00.001-07:00

Eye study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Juvenile

2010-09-20T20:43:00.001-07:00

Juvenile
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

imagining the 3d quad mesh of the topology of a juvenile head before modeling it.

Dino Study

2010-09-19T21:23:00.001-07:00

Untitled #1
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

ilustration study based upon head illustration by Lee Hall, Museum of the Rockies.

William

2010-09-19T19:58:00.001-07:00

William
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Adams

2010-09-18T22:17:00.001-07:00

Adams
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Maddy

2010-09-18T13:09:00.001-07:00

Untitled #12
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

maggie

2010-09-17T20:59:00.001-07:00

maggie
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

corrie

2010-09-17T11:38:00.001-07:00

corrie
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Libby #6

2010-09-17T11:13:00.001-07:00

Libby #6
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Untitled #4

2010-09-16T22:27:00.001-07:00

Untitled #4
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

lizard eye study

2010-09-16T22:22:00.001-07:00

lizard eye study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

study

dino update

2010-09-16T22:17:00.001-07:00

dino update
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

progress slow but continuing

Milton

2010-09-16T22:14:00.001-07:00

Milton
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

A quick little character doodle

Initial Color Study

2010-09-06T15:00:00.001-07:00

Initial Color Study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Quick color study done with Sketchbook Mobile

New Dinosaur Commission

2010-09-06T14:58:00.001-07:00

New Dinosaur Commission
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

an illustration of the recently discovered fossil.wikia.com/wiki/Oryctodromeus

Good morning sunshine

2010-09-03T23:55:00.001-07:00

Untitled #3
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

Stella

2010-08-31T23:02:00.001-07:00

Stella
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

FF

2010-08-31T23:01:00.001-07:00

FF
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

the bluebird of like whatever

2010-08-31T18:24:00.001-07:00

the bluebird of like whatever
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodle

peg

2010-08-30T20:54:00.001-07:00

peg
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

doodlin'

Jenna

2010-08-29T22:34:00.001-07:00

Jenna
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

just doodlin

angridebil

2010-08-12T06:22:00.001-07:00

angridebil
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

'nother ipad doodle

wierdhaid

2010-08-12T06:21:00.001-07:00

wierdhaid
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Another doodle from the ipad

Sharpie Liquid Pencil!?!?!? wtf?

2010-08-09T20:13:00.000-07:00

This sounds too cool to be true. I can't wait for September.

http://blog.sharpie.com/2010/08/introducing-the-new-sharpie-liquid-pencil/

car

2010-07-29T14:24:00.001-07:00

car
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

car study. a very flat car. ipad

rasta robot

2010-07-29T14:23:00.001-07:00

rasta robot
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

a quick ipad doodle

figure

2010-07-29T14:22:00.001-07:00

figure
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

action figure study on ipad

lisa

2010-07-29T14:21:00.001-07:00

lisa
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

ipad sketch from photo on the bottom... tracing of the photo on top. just to compare the distortion the eye and hand creates.

matron

2010-07-29T14:20:00.001-07:00

matron
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

... very scary matron. ipad doodle.

eye study

2010-07-29T14:19:00.001-07:00

eye study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

more eye studies on ipad

face

2010-07-29T11:51:00.001-07:00

face
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

more ipad sketching.

Scarecrow

2010-07-29T08:29:00.001-07:00

Scarecrow
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

iPad doodle

Monoliths

2010-07-29T08:27:00.001-07:00

Monoliths
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

iPad doodle

Red coat

2010-07-29T08:26:00.005-07:00

Red coat
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

iPad doodle

Red cloak

2010-07-29T08:26:00.003-07:00

Red cloak
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Yet more iPad doodles

Mug

2010-07-29T08:26:00.001-07:00

Mug
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

More iPad doodles

One leg Libby

2010-07-29T08:25:00.001-07:00

One leg Libby
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

More scratching trying to get used to the iPad

Girl doodle

2010-07-27T19:30:00.001-07:00

Girl doodle
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Figure study doodle

Old man in hat

2010-07-27T19:28:00.003-07:00

Old man in hat
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

iPad doodle

Sleek red metal object

2010-07-27T19:28:00.001-07:00

Sleek red metal object
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

A quick doodle of some sleek red object

Carmen

2010-07-27T19:26:00.001-07:00

Carmen
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Sketch of a coworker from an office meeting

Eye Mouth study

2010-07-27T19:25:00.001-07:00

Eye Mouth study
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Eye and mouth study from photo

Robot

2010-07-27T19:24:00.001-07:00

Robot
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

A quick doodle of a robot. My 3 year old son Max later came in and added the broad bold strokes

Robot head

2010-07-27T19:22:00.001-07:00

Robot head
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

A very sloppy doodle done on my ipad

Mr. Imagination

2010-01-21T22:35:00.003-08:00

Mr. Imagination
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Trying to work with more color

Mina Harker

2010-01-21T22:35:00.001-08:00

Mina Harker
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Reading Dracula for the umpteenth time.

Stranger

2010-01-21T22:34:00.001-08:00

Stranger
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Playing with the symmetrical mirroring tool in Sketchbook mobile

evian baby skaters

2010-01-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

yeah. i know. viral video ad. what can i say. i'm a sucker for good CG babies on roller skates

Dracula

2009-12-16T14:16:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian and enjoyed it immensely. It inspired this Dracula sketch.

Her book focused on the historical Vlad Tepes, my sketch is a work of pure imagination. I've always found the existing images of Vlad Tepes to show a dorky looking guy rather than scary or awe inspiring figure.

Roy E. Disney, 1930-2009

2009-12-16T13:58:00.000-08:00

Obit on Fast Company

Cuppa.

2009-12-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

Amazing pen & ink drawings on styrofoam coffee cups. wow.

Oh, deer.

2009-10-29T00:28:00.001-07:00

IMG_0871
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

This morning we had one of our first snows of the season. I hurried out to the street to warm up my car and brush off the snow. When I was done brushing off the car I started back to the house, as I rounded the bushes in our front yard I was greeted by these two deer calmly laying under the tree in our front yard. I don't know who was more startled, them or me.

Chris Ware New Yorker Cover

2009-10-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

http://www.newyorker.com/images/2009/11/02/091102_warer18964.gif

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2009/11/02/091102fi_fiction_ware

well.

Chris is perhaps 'the' genius graphic artist of our generation. His comic book work is legendary. His graphic design work singular. His paintings stunning. His sculptures amazing.

But while he always is noted for his craft and attention to detail, its his concepts that propel it all. The work of a true genius.

iPod/iphone paint programs

2009-10-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

At the moment I have 13 drawing, painting sketching apps on my iPod Touch.

- Alias SketchBook Mobile - The best for my needs. A nice simple interface that gets out of the way. Not perfect but a good starting point. It tries to emulate a few natural media tools; pencil, marker, brush, airbrush.

- Brushes - a simple painting program. Feels like a vector based Flash painting program.

- Inspire - The closest thing to Ambient Design's Artrage on the iPhone, but be warned it has the most god awful 'start-up' screen i have ever scene on an iphone app.

- Eastern Drawing - very blobby dynamically varied line weights. Kind of like an overly loaded chinese caligraphy brush, but not really. :-)

- SketchPad - very useful simple straight up doodle pad. Not for painting or rendering

- Inkiness - similar to SketchPad, nicer superficial treatment. The Moleskine look is cute, but functionally its lacking. I don't see a way to zoom in or out, pretty much a required for a drawing/painting app on such a small screen. But still fun and interesting... i'm undecided about the visual/virtual fountain pen you draw with... i'm not liking it. Someone makes a drawing app that offers a virtual pencil as well, but that looks even more awkward.

- Renoir - Similar to Brushes it attempts to mimic a paint brush and other 'natural media' tools. Very image.

- Colors - very much like a Flash based painting app. Apparently vector based.

- Layers - a 'natural media' paint programs. Visible hairy brush strokes. Probably the best user interface, along with Alias Sketchbook Mobile.

- Petit Peinture - the interface is VERY OLD SCHOOL CGI. Seriously. If you used graphics systems in the late 1980s this might have a very nostalgic feel for you. One thing it has that i do like is a blurring tool, similar to Photoshop's, called Cloud, that you can use to selectively give parts (or all) your drawing a softer, almost water color feel.

- Doodle Swakker - this apps big selling point is that it has an online social component, "draw with friends." a great idea. Otherwise it, like Colors, very much like a Flash based painting app. Apparently vector based.

- VanGo Photo - like Colors, very much like a Flash based painting app. Apparently vector based.

- Photoshop mobile - super duper limited version of Photoshop. Not a drawing or painting app, just a photo cropping rotating tool, really. Useless for my needs... one day it might prove itself useful, but for now i have no idea what to do with it.

- Animations - isn't a drawing or painting program per se, but an animation program. I have yet to give it a shot. It sits there collecting pixel dust begging for me to use it.

- Musophobia - not a drawing program, more of a digital Spirograph or Spin Art app. Nice for zoning out.

Cloudy Mountain Lake

2009-10-24T06:49:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Sketch using Eastern Drawing App on iPod Touch.

Mecha Rebecha

2009-10-24T06:48:00.001-07:00

Mecha Rebecha
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Mecha girl inspired by Donie Odulio. Alias Sketchbook pro mobile on iPod touch

Cattails

2009-10-23T14:55:00.001-07:00

Cattails
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Sketch using Alias Sketchbook Pro on an iPod touch using the pogo stylus.
I just got the iPod Touch about 2 weeks ago and have been going nuts buying and trying every painting and drawing app out there. So far i've settled on 3.
Alias Sketchbook Mobile for general purpose concepting and color work.
Inkiness for simple pen and Moleskine style sketches.
Eastern Drawing for that liberating lack of control and degree of serendipity.
The apps that strive for natural media look and feel just don't cut it on the iPod Touch since the Touch doesn't support pen pressure.

There are a few more simple examples at my Flickr account if you click through.

Microsoft Opens it's first Apple Store Today

2009-10-22T12:38:00.001-07:00

sad.

Apple Tablet to Offer Comic Books

2009-10-20T15:18:00.001-07:00

According to long time tech pundit Andy Ihnatko.

When I first read that Disney was purchasing Marvel Comics I saw it as a stroke of genius and I saw it as a move driven by Disney's board member Steve Jobs (and largest shareholder). It just had his finger prints all over. I haven't posted about it before because anyone who knows me knows I'm an Apple fan-boy totally in the thrall of Steve Jobs fabled reality-distortion-field™ and would write off my idea as the fever dreams of an Apple addled brain.

Disney has spent decades trying to capture the male tween and teen market with no success. If you are a boy in America, when you hit 10 years old, Disney is just not 'cool' anymore. It's the brand. Not the properties. Trying things like Atlantis were doomed to failure because the Disney brand was attached. This is why Mr. Jobs wisely insisted that Pixar would remain a separate and equally billed brand as Disney on all Pixar movies even after Disney acquired Pixar – and why Disney clearly bills Miyazaki san's movies separately as Studio Ghibli films as well. What Disney needed was a separate brand, just as they created Touchstone when they ventured into more adult film fare in the 1990s.

For whatever reason, they have chose not to, probably because creating a new brand is notoriously expensive and is a long term effort. So, solution? Buy an existing brand that says adolescent male more than perhaps any other brand in the world, Marvel Comics.

At the time, i suspected that Mr. Jobs had an ulterior motive that had nothing directly to do with Disney... I suspected that he wanted the Marvel content for the long rumored Apple tablet computer. Its a grossly simplistic assumption that once Marvel is under Disney's control that its a slam dunk to get that content onto an Apple branded tablet computer, but it certainly brings it closer under Mr. Jobs influence. Now with Mr. Ihnatko's column spreading the rumor of Marvel comics coming to Apple's mythical itablet computer, it all begins to come together... at least in my paranoid, feverish fanboy brain.

Mr.Red

2009-10-11T14:51:00.001-07:00

Mr.Red
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

Second Alias Sketchbook Pro on my iPhone. Not as confident as my first, but then... that's nothing new...

Sailor man

2009-10-11T14:50:00.001-07:00

Sailo man
Originally uploaded by normdwy3.

First sketch using Alias Sketchbook Pro Mobile (ASBP) on my new iPod touch. I tried about half a dozen painting and sketching apps before settling on this (but a new dark horse candidate has come to my attention, Petite Pienture - I just bought it, so i'm still evaluating it. ). My number one concern was that the interface become as invisible as possible. To stay out of my way when I sketch, but intuitively and quickly there when i need it. Alias Sketchbook Pro really trumped all the others for this. Secondary concerns was being able to get the sketches off the iphone as simply as possible. ASBP lets you email the image from within the app, or save it to your iPhone/iPod photo gallery.

The other apps I bought, but discarded were; Colors, Brushes, Inspire, SketchPad and Scribble. If you've tried others that you like and can recommend, i'd appreciate hearing about them.

As for the actual drawing I use the Pogo Sketch stylus instead of my fingers. My fingers just block the view too much. The Pogo Sketch Stylus takes a bit of getting used to, but it trumps my stubby fingers.

UPDATE: Petite Peinture, this looks very promising. The UI is decidedly not iPhone, but the drawing tool is very nimble and responsive. Accessing brush settings etc were a bit counterintuitive but i found them. But one feature that is very sweet is a blur tool that allows you to soften the hard color edges giving an almost watercolor feel to a drawing or parts of the drawing. I haven't investigated secondary considerations like exporting or emailing the image but just for drawing this is nice.

One sadly missing piece of software on the iPhone is Ambient Designs, Artrage. One of my very favorite sketching apps on the computer. Available for Windows, OS X and UMPC, my understanding is it was originally developed for Microsoft's Tablet PC effort and shipped bundled with Tablet PCs. This history may explain why it's not available on the iPhone, which is unfortunate. One of my favorite features of Artrage is that it allows you to use simulated real world tools to guide your drawing – french curves, rulers and friskets. While this might sound trite and even counter-productive in an age of digital art, I found it affords me a level of control and convenience that other computer graphics drawing apps do not.
Here's hoping that Artrage is destined for the iPhone.

Pogo Sketch Stylus

Flu Season

2009-09-24T11:19:00.000-07:00

Larry Gelbart

2009-09-14T13:02:00.000-07:00

"Larry Gelbart, the award-winning writer whose sly, sardonic wit helped create such hits as Broadway's "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum," the films "Tootsie" and "Oh, God!" and television's "M-A-S-H," is dead."

AP for complete obit.

Sorry, if this blog is becoming an obituary column this summer, but some of the most influential and most loved celebrities in my life have passed this year. This happens every few years. When it does I can't wait for the year to end. Really. C'mon Dec. 31!!!

Oh, Yeah. I Did Finish the Deinonychus.

2009-09-11T13:31:00.001-07:00

Just a few less teeth than the previous post.

AW, HELL YEAH!

2009-09-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

Butte, America.

I'm not sure what that says about the rest of Montana, but Butte is, well quintessentially Butte. It is what it is. I love how the city has chosen to memorialize their native son, Evel Knievel.

Kids Today

2009-08-26T07:27:00.000-07:00

A lot has been said of how today's computer technology has lowered the cost barriers of movie production, but check out what a group of 15 year old (and younger) kids in New Zealand did in 8 weeks. Video.

TED KENNEDY DEAD AT 77

2009-08-26T05:17:00.000-07:00

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), a giant of liberalism in the latter half of 20th century who was often overshadowed by the memory of his slain brothers, died of brain cancer late Tuesday night in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts. He was 77.