Art Class

I'm still busy creating new designs for my cafepress.com shop. I was poking though old stuff I did when I was first learning Photoshop and I came across an entire folder of Celtic Knot designs. I had completely forgotten I even had them until I stumbled across the files. This precipitated quite a bit of semi-obsessive behavior trying to remember how I constructed them. It came back quickly and soon I was knotting away again. I did modify my design procedure for Illustrator, however. I figured since the knot was basically constructed of lines and arcs it would be easier to make with Illustrator. I wouldn't particularly say it was much easier - this little knot took me about 3 hours to make - but at least it allowed me to do things mathematically. To draw the arcs in Photoshop, I would make a circle then erase all but one quadrant of it. In Illustrator, I could at least specify that I wanted an open arc 0.75" along the x and y-axes. All I had to do was place it. It worked out quite well. And although the "weaving" bit of the knotwork is quicker using Photoshop, it's much cleaner using Illustrator.

So my obsessive behavior continued, adding Celtic Knot Tiles, Tilebox, and a Throw Pillow to my shop. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the tilebox designs, I may end up adding a colored background. I also wish the pillow was a full-bleed print area so the image butts up against the black fabric, but it's not completely horrible.

It sucks, though, because honestly I have no artistic ability whatsoever. Sure, I can imagine exactly what I want, but making it a reality is completely different. That's why the knots are so cool - they're just lines and arcs. I tried drawing a cartoon-style interpretation of Cragar - good god, it didn't even resemble anything canine. Heck, it didn't really resemble anything animal. I ordered a drawing book for Illustrator, I think it's called "Illustrator Wow!" or something like that. Hopefully I can get some tips and inspiraton from that.

The only drawback of drawing all the knots is the wear and tear on my eyes. Right now they're horribly buggy from looking at a 11x11" image with a 0.5" grid. If I close my eyes I can see diagonal lines and circles.

I think it's time for bed - let the obsessive behavior continue tomorrow.