MONTHLY HEADER #59: Nicolas Bouvier

A cool header for a hot month. Sparth is most def one of the best sci-fi artists out there. Looks like he's working for Microsoft's 343 industries.

































Keywords: digital tablet concept spaceship art by nicolas bouvier sparth working in seattle washington 343 industries microsoft game studios

Star Wars Papercraft: Mini Republic Gunship

The Light Armored Assault Transport (LAAT), also known as a "Republic Gunship", first appeared in Star Wars Episode 1. StarWars.com describes these gunships as "rugged, combat-equipped repulsorcraft... covered in weapons, offering air-to-ground and air-to-air support as well as serving as an infantry transport." This papercraft LAAT was created by "Starfreak" and at 1:430 scale, is only 4 cm (1.5") long. This model is only for those who own a pair of tweezers and a load of patience. ;) The PDF template may be downloaded here.

Weekly Web Wrap Up

Bird Art

© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

Found some great posts this week:

The Ping By Todd Henry: "We need to learn to pay attention to what’s in front of us."

Marketing to your Niche the Donnie Brasco Way: Well written advice by Kathy McComb Swift

Is Fear Holding You Back: by Brian Clark

An Artist's Thoughts on The Surtex: by Sarah Jane Staffier

I'm taking Mosaic Monday off for Memorial day. If you need a mosaic fix stroll on over to Eve Lynch's new blog, she always offers great eye candy. For those seeking tips she has a good post on tweaking your blog design.

Have a Great Weekend everyone!

Finding Artist Resources 101

Going to try very hard to get back to posting artist tips, links and resources on the weekends. I was in the habit of doing that a year or so back and I want to try to return to it.


This article is for other artists that may be new to sourcing. What is "sourcing" and who is good at it? Sourcing is that unique ability that some artists have to find new materials to paint on or with, new service providers and new partners that will create unique products with their artwork on it.  Wikipedia states that: "In business, the term sourcing refers to a number of procurement practices, aimed at finding, evaluating and engaging suppliers of goods and services."

Maybe you are an Etsy seller and you have noticed that some people package their handmade jewelry in pretty silver metal tins, you think "wow what a great idea".  You could message one of these sellers and ask them, "hey where do you get your tins, I want to package my work that competes with yours in the exact same packaging you are using, but hey don't worry, my label will be green and look totally different".  Or you could do what that seller did and spend an hour or more looking on-line for "metal tins", "commercial packaging", "gift boxes" and who knows you may even find a cooler tin than they are using or even better pricing. Sourcing takes a lot of time and it takes patience, and in my opinion it is a much better route to take than sending random e-mails to other artists that have never even met you.  The people that are good at sourcing are those folks that are always coming up with new products to add to their gift lines, new packaging ideas and new ways to do things.  I feel like I am pretty good at finding what I need at good prices and I very rarely ask other artists for help in this area.   When I do hit a brick wall in my search efforts I know I just need to try and think in a new way.

Here is my list of tips for sourcing:
#1 Try a wide variety of search terms for the product or service you are looking for. Then try an even wider variety of search terms.
#2 Be specific about materials and sizes. In the example above in searching for "metal tins", try using the deminsions that you know these tins to be available at.
#3 Use the word "wholesale".
#4 Think about what other type of industries may use the item you need. If you are searching for metal tins, you might try food service, food storage, candy packaging, candle companies and so on.
#5 Spend time on google, but don't forget about the other search engines, and don't forget about offline resources. Offline resources include trade publications and trade shows, and the yellow pages if you can find one.
#6 If you use Twitter you can always send a random shout out to the people that you are connected to and ask if anyone has any good ideas about where you can find what you are looking for ...  this is far better than putting one individual on the spot that may not be comfortable sharing their vendor list.  Some people are very protective of their sources and rightfully so, still others are more than eager to share. Twitter is a great place to ask for help without stepping on toes.

The Follow Through:
Ok so let's say you have bookmarked half a dozen places that all have pretty similar pricing on metal tins. Now what? Well look for a 1-800 number and see which of these companies offers phone support.   I will spend a few cents more on an item if the website is well designed or if it offers me a toll-free number where I can connect with a real human. When placing your first order for a new supply with a new company be sure and order at the minimum or even ask if you can purchase a sample, many wholesale resources will sell samples.

Ok so those are my tips for finding what you need. I would love to hear from other artists on any sourcing research tips they may have to share so please feel free to leave a comment.

Mr. T Cereal Box Papercraft

Although the actor Mr. T has been reduced these days to doing television commercials for World of Warcraft, back in 1984 he was popular enough to have his own brand of breakfast cereal. As if that wasn't an odd enough twist of pop culture in and of itself, the cereal also went on to be immortalized on film by none other than Pee Wee Herman in the 1985 movie Pee Wee's Big Adventure...

When I came across a scan of a Mr. T cereal box in Jason Liebig's wonderful collection of retro product packaging photos on Flickr (check it out here), I couldn't resist creating a miniature papercraft version of it. So I asked, and Mr. Liebig graciously granted me permission to use his scan for my project. The template for the cereal box papercraft includes two sizes, one at 1:3 scale and the other at 1:6 scale (just the size for Barbie dolls). The one page template may be downloaded here. And just in case you were wondering, the cereal is rumored to have tasted a lot like Cap'n Crunch. ;)

New Wacom Tablet Arrived!

"Newt Sketch"

© rebecca collins /artpaw.com

I got a new Wacom tablet today and it rocks! I should be working on client updates, but I am trying to get the feel for this new tablet. It came with a gazillion different pen nibs. I figured the only way to get a real feel for it is to try them all with a little line work. So I took Newt's artwork and started sketching on top of it, then turned down the opacity on the bottom layers and added paint to the top layers. The result is a very sketchy loose drawing of Newt.

 Wacom Intuos 4/  A Review:

I bought the smallest tablet because I like having it take up less desk space. I saved $70 by ordering on-line at Macmall. 
Have you been thinking about ordering a tablet or upgrading an existing tablet? Well at $157 there has never been a better time to buy. The changes on this new tablet are great. The round button to the left is a zoom control and it is great. My old tablet still works pretty good although the cord that is attached to the tablet is starting to become a bit thread bare at the corner where it is attached. They have solved that design flaw by making the new cord a removable usb cable.  The new tablet is thinner and lighter making it a great travel companion. The case that holds extra pen nibs doubles as a pen holder. I had no trouble getting the feel for this new tablet, it is a tad smaller than my last tablet and I like that.

Concept spaceship environments by Stefan Morrell

Extremely lush architectural renders by Stefan Morrell. Let's help him break a million views.











Keywords: concept spaceship environments architecture modeling 3ds max vray by stefan morrell residing in lyttelton new zealand cg portfolio cgsociety.org

Animated concept ship from AZUREUS RISING

Check this quality short on youtube... Watch in 720p if possible. From this CGSociety thread.








Keywords: spaceship scene from short animated concept film movie cinematic trailer from azureus rising 3d three dimensional concept animatic independent film from David Weinstein

Newt The Bulldog

"Newt" ( see all proofs )

©2010 rebecca collins /artpaw.com

Detail below

 I love this fellow. Bulldogs always just melt my heart. This is one of the bolder options I am showing Newt's Mom. I have a few with tame coat coloring, but you know me ... I love color.

"Travel light" for Team Up Thursday

"travel light" Out Of Focus for Team Up Thursday
Originally uploaded by artpaw [rebecca collins]

Our theme for team up Thursday is "Out Of Focus". My image is above, Kris Hundt's shot is below. Above is my husband standing in front of large wing sculpture at the Modern in Ft. worth.

Jack / New Dog Art Portrait

"Jack" ( see all proofs)
© rebecca collins / artpaw.com

This is Jack. He shipped earlier this month. My client requested a leafy background and also wanted me to open up his eyes a wee bit.  They ended up ordering a 2nd proof for the son's room. When clients order additional prints from the same proofing set those 2nd prints are deeply discounted. This is because your design time is done with your first proofing round and the design costs are embedded into your first print purchase.

Concept ships by Edmund Keefe

Cool ship and future concept cars posts by Edmund Keefe.









Keywords: 3d three dimensional concept spaceship and future vehicle cars transportation renders drafting by edmund keefe uk united kingdom artist

We cannot go back

Maybe art, maybe some art, maybe this art, maybe some of this art, serves turning the absence opaque, that is, making it at once palpable and impenetrable, so we cannot go back, so we are stuck in the appreciation of this strange, utopic now, and any attempt to overcome it, to look for the actual empty space, meets the opacity of an object, an image, a substitute, substitute not of a reality, but of what ceased to be, of the void that hence remains beyond us, happily or unhappily, hard to say, replaced by the fundamentally meager and helplessly sublime moment of a hesitant, aesthetic, experience, too private to be credible, too credible to be intimate, and yet ours, because we want it to be, because we claim it as such, because we know we inherited it from the silence that came before.

The picture - entitled (...) - is by Marek Wykowski. (Found by Gocha)

Concept helicopter ship by Robert Engelmann

Robert's concept design blog.








Keywords: 3d three dimensional helicopter design mixed media automotive car design blog by robert engelmann cologne germany technical illustration design software rendering

48 Today!

My Scottie Dog Is A Party Animal
Originally uploaded by artpaw [rebecca collins]

I am 48 today! Wow, the years are going by so darn fast. Taking the afternoon off to visit the Kimbell Art Museum. Lola and I will be pushing hard tomorrow to stay ahead on the portrait commissions. I'll post some new art later this week.

Earlier today, it was the heat

bearing down on us . . . the heat like a thousand rattlesnakes hissing in the continuous burn of the sun. I slept well past noon, I shouldn't have, but when I awoke and went outside, it didn't seem to matter that I was unconscious, possessed by dreams I don't remember.

Much of my life is fixated on the missing things, what I don't have. As if projected on a screen in front of me, everywhere I go, I see what I am not, I see what I do not have.

I believe that if life is ironic in any way, it is ironic in how the things we deeply want, the things we pine for, are withheld from us at about an arm's length. What I mean by this is, in any moment your life can change, and that which you desire could easily stand before you. Not many times, but sometimes this happens, when our wishes come true and the world seems like a dream.

But for the remainder, we are nomads in the desert, experiencing mirages daily.

The heat effects the senses by a wrinkle, creasing the air until it feels like a blanket were wrapped over my head.

I have searched for objects far and near to hold my attention. Could this be related to the irony of life? That nothing ultimately holds our attention?

There is, however, a singular devotion that each of us can call our own. We become it over a lifetime, and this must be how a human soul can take on a definite form, and that form can be embedded in history.

The heat crawls, it moves across stunned windowpanes, and thick asphalt. And nothing is like the silence in summer, where the heat settles on parks and baseball diamonds, in suburban backyards, and fields of crops extending to the highway.

The heat waits, it lingers, and as it lingers, it grows, layer upon layer . . .

I'm easily distracted by the sun. It makes me want to go inside after a short while. I take refuge in the air conditioning of the hopeless cafe. Maybe I will see some more beautiful women who will avert their eyes when I look at them . . .

We remember our lives in a certain kind of narrative. That narrative proceeds from a point and moves forward. And then it drops off at the present and seems to hold that note forever, and we hear the monotonous note again and again, and that is the present.

The irony is that, as humans, we are condemned to living this incomplete dream. One part of the dream is real and the other part, unfinished. For the unfinished part, we busy ourselves with imagining new endings in countless ways. Summer abides in these moods of sweltering languor, when desire is shunned by the heat and souls are forced to move inside--

It is there I find my singular devotion. Where hours are abundant and empty, and every room reminds me of the bedroom I grew up in.

True splendor lies in recognizing the thing you've always had. All the longings, cravings, and wishes fall off like scales . . .

And while the heat is stirring outside the window, and the fields shimmering in the sun, I'm liberated inside my house, the dullest place in the land, a container of restless boredom on most days . . .

Ecstatic--because for the first time I am in possession of the part of the dream that is real.

Mosaic Monday / A Play Day

I was naughty today, well actually I just took a much needed long lunch break with a girlfriend.  Last week one of my mosaic classmates, (patron and friend) noticed on Facebook that my Birthday was tomorrow so she asked me out to lunch. She took me to a fab Mediterranean restaurant that is in the same shopping area as Kittrell Riffkin where I like to shop for glass so we made a nice long lunch of it. My girlfriend is from India and she gifted me with the most stunning blue ceramic tray from India. It is called Jaipur Blue Pottery.  The name comes from the eye-catching Persian blue dye used to color the clay. The Jaipur blue pottery, made out of Egyptian paste, is glazed and low-fired. At first I thought I might use it as an earring catch-all on my dresser, but the more I look at it the more I think I need to find a way to hang it right on the wall, the blue glaze is so amazing and rich and yummy.

After lunch we went into the glass shop and fawned over sheets of glass the way most woman drool over shoes.

I treated myself to $45 worth of glass, came home and unwrapped my stash to discover I only bought 2 sheets of color .... lol, how the heck did that happen? The good news is I got lots of patterned clear glass that is going to work on my current mosaic project and some future projects. 

The wavy pattern on the very bottom of the photo above might be used on my current project in the water area of my map. I have a bird diptych I have started that needs some texture I think.

Anyway ... that was my Mosaic Monday!  I got out of the studio, met with an off-line mosaic pal and had a very lovely afternoon. I am sipping on an iced coffee right now and feeling very spoiled.