sweetriot blog - cacao | culture | cool! : Calling all artists!

I came across this blog site recently from just browsing around. I wasn't even looking for art sites at the time! Heck, I don't even remember what I was looking for! But anyway, Very cool site where artists can potentially be showcased on retail products.. check it out for yourself: Calling all artists! Dear Rioters - our 3rd featured artist is now LIVE on our tins! Check out Tom Fedro's beautiful art on our site. The tins look so cool! Tom was even commissioned to do art for my all-time favorite Broadway show, Rent! Special thanks again to Jelene, our 2nd featured artist. She has fantastic pop art and we will miss her colorful and fun look on our tins. Do you know any emerging artists -- our next submission is just two weeks away - due June 15, so please forward this notice to all of your artistic friends. They can learn more about our featured artists deadline here.

I've made it to the Moji War on MOJIZU!

My Creature, "Mummy Dude" has succeeded in making it to the MojiWar on Mojizu where the top rated Mojis are voted in a competion beginning with 16 individuals. I need your votes, and Mojizu can always use new visitors! Come check it out, even if you don't vote for my moji. Vote for Mummy Dude in the MOJIWAR. Vote for Smunkytoo! (My friend, Gabriel Valles' moji also in the war.)

Illustration Friday Angels and Devils Revisited.

devilBoy Originally uploaded by s4ndm4n2006. Here's my final colorization of Devil Boy that I did for Illustration Friday a week or so ago..

Yokudo Logo - 1st Color Version

MascotColor1 Originally uploaded by s4ndm4n2006. This really is only a test of the mascot in color. Not sure about the yellow eyes yet. :-)

Yokudo Logo Full Logo Idea

YokudoLogo2 Originally uploaded by s4ndm4n2006. Here is the updated version of the Yokudo logo so far with the new character, and changed the lettering.

Yokudo Logo - revisions

Hoodie_n_Boots Originally uploaded by s4ndm4n2006. I added the boots with the spikes per request.. (the boot's will be black in the end).. and added pocketted pants..

Cap Dude

CapDude1 Originally uploaded by s4ndm4n2006. Another possible character for Yokudo. This was actually done previous to the post with the lettering. I like him, and I think I will colorize him in Illustrator even if not used for anything yet.

Yokudo Logo - first idea

YokudoLogo1 Originally uploaded by s4ndm4n2006. One thumbnail/idea for Yokudo's logo. I'll post Mic's input on this as soon as I know what that is. He wanted a more sinister look for the character and suggested the hood being on.

Yokudo - Your Portable Online Reputation

I have recently been hired by Mic, a web developer who is in the process of creating a brand new and very innovative application called Yokudo.  He found me on Mojizu and asked me to create a design for his application with a Logo and a character/mascot.  I am very excited both for the work I am doing and to see this application take off!  Instead of trying to reiterate what it is, here is a description in a nutshell..   New Beginnings ... Today see's the birth of a brand new web 2.0 app - Yokudo ! (Well not quite, just the birth of the idea, and start of the development) So what is Yokudo!? Well it's your online reputation. Think 'Ebay Comments' only portable and open. What does this mean!? Basically, the idea behind Yokudo is to create an online reputation that you can access from anywhere, and that anyone can access on your behalf. Whether you're an internet savvy Ebayer, an online merchant or any other sort of buzz-word internet user, you will be able to create an account, which, whenever you transact with anyone else, will record those details and allow each party to leave comments on that particular transaction... Read More   Powered By Qumana

Graf Boy Submission to Threadless

Because of my low avg. score (below) this design has been removed from the running. :-( Hey its always a risk to put your stuff out there right? Onto the next project..

Angry Penguin Rev1 Illustration

Powered by Qumana Here is my newest revision done in Illustrator that I submitted.  I think it puts across the likeness of the mascot, but we'll see what they think.

Angry Penguin

Here is a project I am working on potentially for a record company called Angry Penguin.  They already have a mascot but want a variation on that so here is my progress (the first one was too loosely styled after theirs so I brought it back in line..)   Here is a version of theirs that I was given for reference:   Wish me luck!  I am hoping I can knock their socks off with my design when completed!   Powered By Qumana

Qumana and Flock: I've got new toys!

Well This post isn't directly related to my illustrations, but to my second love, web design and/or blogging.  In reviewing the battle between Firefox and IE 7, (I'm partial to FF, by the way) I came across links to a new browser called Flock.  Its a new "social" browser that apparently tries to go in a different direction with web surfing.  I downloaded and am just starting to test to see what its all about.  Of course I always try new web technology at least once.  You can read more about on the previous link, or on this news article: A small team of developers in California on Friday launched a cutting-edge Firefox-based Web browser dubbed Flock, which integrates next-generation Web technologies such as RSS content feeds, blogs and bookmark and photo sharing.  More.. For starters, I know that Flock adding some new functionality like mentioned above, puts it in a class of its own, in my opinion.  But we'll see if it catches on!  While looking into Flock I came across another article where Qumana was mentioned as a Blog editor.  Although the writer was pushing Flock as a possible alternative blog editor, he sounded as though he thought highly of Qumana, so of course, I downloaded that too! :-D  You can do that too here.   Powered By Qumana

Graf Boy T Shirt

I have adapted my Graf Boy design for a tshirt and uploaded to both Split The Atom and Threadless Tshirt Comp sites. I will let you know when either/both are available for voting!

FireHead Colored

Okay here's the firehead sketch that I just colorized today. I hope you like it, because I really enjoyed creating him! I wonder if this would be good as a start as a tshirt design, with a background perhaps? Comments welcome as always!

FireHead (New flameboy version)

Ok I re-worked my flame-headed dude illustration. I think this is my next Moji to be put up. Soon.

Split the Atom - Tshirt Comp

I have entered my first T-shirt design to a competition site, Split the Atom. His name is Mr. Heat, and I hope you'll check him out and vote for him! Click Here to Vote!

Hottest!

My Mummy Dude made it to the Mojizu Hottest list yesterday and I am very happy about this. Although it makes it so it might qualify for the Mojiwar, I am just happy that I have something that is that popular.

New Characters for today

Some New characters I am working on: The latest characters I am working on. Again, still at the sketched stage. And I re-did an old character of mine, Spike, below. :-)

Illustration Friday: Angels and Devils

Here is my very first entry for the Illustration Friday site. I wanted to finish it a bit more but I have a lot on my work load so I figured I should put up something and come back to it!

No re-design right now

I'm going to postpone redesigning the blog for now and will only make some minor changes. Why? I know its in need of it, but I have to get some illustrating done and I've realized I have wasted a week trying to decide what do to to the blog and how to do it. I will post a new image hopefully tonight and will be working on an Illustration Friday pic (subject Angels & Devils) soon too.

Mojizu Links

I just added a couple new links to great artists I met at Mojizu.com. Check out their pages and don't forget to check out the link to mojizu directly too! Lots of great Mojis (characters) there! Speaking again about site redesign, I found this site on the internet looking for inspiration. You might find it interesting also. Top 10 Best Designed Blogs by Elliott Back

Blog Redesign is on the way

I am tired of this old basic template so I'm working on re-designing the whole thing from the bottom up. :-) Stay Tuned! It'll help me brush up on my CSS skills and learn more about how the blog tags work, so it should be fun!

Merchandise Available at Zazzle.com now!

I now have a zazzle.com page where you can purchase my artwork in various forms. Currently, its only a couple of designs and on a few items, but I will be adding to this in the near future with more designs and choices. Hope you like what I offer! The link to zazzle is on the right where the example merchandise is displayed.

Rab-Bots! A new Character Design Concept

I have a new concept for a comic idea. Here is a sketch of one of the characters that doesn't have a name or anything yet. :-)