Illustration - Orange fruit

Hello,
I have done illustrations before, but I dunno why this feels like my first one! It was really quick and simple. Started with a simple circle for the orange and some tracing for the leaves. Lots of burn and dodge, and glass + ocean ripple effect for the orange texture. Its really easy.
I couldn't have thought of the distort>glass effect if I hadn't read this sweet tutorial.

My wine bottle has a background now!

Heya,
After a long long time, I am suddenly back to my all-time favourite tp, Photoshop.
Updating my skills, with some amazing tuts on the net, will mention them in another article.
Well, there was some work that I had left kinda incomplete (http://beautifulcopper.blogspot.com/2010/01/photoshop-illustration-wine-bottle.html)

Just finished it yesterday, and added a background for fun :) Hmm, i would love some red wine right now..

French comics - AYA

Note : Please click on images, to view them in big.


Hi,
This post is about a new comic that I discovered at the Alliance francaise library.
I am so much in awe of people who create comics. The illustrations, the story and the
humour in a good comic is a total DELIGHT. AYA, written by Marguerite Abouet and drawn by
Clément Oubrerie, is one such pleasing discovery. Ok and its in french.

AYA, is based on a teenager's life on the Ivory coast, in 1970s Africa. All the characters
are black, and that was a first for me. Its a window into a culture, that was, quite
unknown to me. I found myself as much interested in the the colourful illustrations of
African houses, streets, landscape, clothes, as the story itself.
Theres just so much to look at and admire. For ex: In a lot of places, the sky is greenish
or reddish. All in all, the visuals, made me wanna be there, in hot, beautiful Africa.

Add to this, all the comedy that you find on every page. Its entertaining ; you find people
doing things like sneaking to parties at night, stealing boyfriends, making a pass at a
close friend's daughter and having sex under the open sky. The protagonist is a
level-headed pretty teenage girl, called Aya. She is the narrator, who observes all the
silly antics of the people around her, young and old.

Why am I blogging about this? Because, i loved AYA. I have grown up reading Tinkle,
Archies, and the usual American fare, and this is a big change for me. I am thrilled to get free access to all these exotic comics at the Alliance library :) One thing is for sure, if i ever have a story to tell, I will tell it through pictures.




You can read more abt AYA, and other comics here :
http://www.guttergeek.com/2007/May2007/aya/aya.html

Another great movie brings me back to my blog.

Heya,
Last week I saw a gem of a movie. Yes, the story was a .. deja vu. Bad-ass students finally meet their match and begin to show their good side. I was reminded of movies like Dangerous minds,
Sister Act, School of Rock. etc And yet, this movie is worthy of my blog :) I loved it. To me, its way way way better than the movies I just mentioned. Its entertaining, amusing and very touching.
And, its french..so i might be a biased there..lol. Well, so the winning points are----
1) The actors are all so natural. No over-acting here.
2) Story is told in flash-back, so we are in the year 1949 in france, so everything is old-worldly European, which i adore.
3) The story is not exactly new, but the way its presented is so sweet.! Feels like new :)
4) The kids are endearing, esp. little Peppinot.
5) Humour, thankfully, is present.
6) Its a tear-jerker, but only mildly so. It will move you, but you wont cry. And if you do,
they will be "khushi ke aansooon", coz its always nice to see sad abused children blossom when treated with love :) sniff sniff.........go watch it.


Psst..heres the synopsis, taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372824/ :

Fond de l'Etang is a boarding school for troubled boys located in the French countryside. In the mid-twentieth century, it is run by the principal M. Rachin, an egotistical disciplinarian whose official unofficial mantra for the school is "action - reaction", meaning that there will be severe consequences for any boy out of line. This approach does not seem to be working as the boys as a collective are an unruly bunch. In turn, the teachers don't teach, but are always watching out for the next subversive act from the boys. January 15, 1949 marks the arrival to the school of the new supervisor, M. Clément Mathieu, a middle-aged man who is grasping at finding his place in life after a series of failed endeavors. Although he does find the boys an unruly lot, Mathieu does not believe in the "action - reaction" policy, and as such, butts heads with Rachin while secretly undermining the policy...

Kontroll - I loved this movie

Wow, I was lucky when I clicked on "Kontroll" and downloaded the torrent for the same.
I dint even know what the movie was about, and what an awesome surprise. This is just the kind
of the movie that I like - dark, funny, entertaining and..nocturnal.. Add to that some loose ends and symbolism. It was so much fun to watch. ..all the weirdness and the action.

Well, I just had to rave about this, so the post. U know, and I was also struck by how one person can swing between looking so sexy and unsexy, I am talking about the leading man of Kontroll. Hmm...Interesting movie.

Erasing cinderella

Hi
Jus found this piece of work while looking for some image on google. I think its amazingly done,
that erasing technique suits the story perfectly. Take a look.

Ramadan card from Aby