Another Crazy Linking Anim

Just figured I'd post a little looping tiling anim I messed around with this morning.

Linking Illo Part Two

This is my second submission this week for Illustration Friday's weekly challenge. I posted a linking snake motif on my other blog. I still could not resist trying out an animated "Linking" motif.

Frolicking Dolphins

Welcome to "Once Upon a Dolphin" the home of my pixelated digital musings. Most of the content in this blog is inspired by "Illustration Friday's" weekly challenges. There are a few other odds and ends throughout the pages. I hope you enjoy your visit.

Flying Hawk and Infinite Loop

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is "Flying". I thought I'd do an image from a photo I snapped earlier this year of a Harris Hawk ascending to the top of a tall Saguaro Cactus. A few weeks back, Illustration Friday's topics were "infinite" and "pattern", so I designed this infinitely looping pattern of an infinite symbol below.




As always, thank you for stopping in to visit my blog.

Wrapped up in Summer

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is “Wrapped”. Seems rather appropriate considering that I ‘ve been all wrapped up in various projects all summer long. Earlier this year I downloaded “Blender” and started experimenting with 3D modeling. I wound up deeply absorbed in many of the tutorials available on line. It been one of the most exciting and challenging new concepts I have ever “wrapped” my head around. One of the terms used to describe adhering an image to a 3D object is “wrapping”. When I discovered that this weeks challenge is “Wrapped”, my little animated spheres came to mind. I used “TV Paint” to design the animated images. Next I wrapped the video on to the spheres in “Blender”. I created a video clip from a handful of experiments with animated spheres. The up side is that I mixed them all together in a HD clip and the movie quality is pretty good. The downside however is the same, so it can take a minute to load (about 30 sec. on my semi sluggish set up). Like last weeks Illustration Friday “Impatience”, I find myself often times a tad too impatient to wait a long time for things to load. If you want to check out the spheres they are right over here. I’ll bet you can’t watch it just once.

Just a short while back, I took a day off to work on a Roadrunner illustration. I’ve wanted to do a Roadrunner for some time now, and I’m glad I finally did, as it turned out to be a great image for the new banner on my pond blog.



The Daylily’s out on the patio provided the inspiration for this design.

That pretty much “wraps” up a few things that I’ve been wrapped up in of late. Oh yeah, a couple of months ago I posted a web page with the songs I wrote up in Alaska. I must issue a stern warning for all the hard core rockers out there that it’s a bit on the country folk side, with a hint of blues. The songs were recorded up in Anchorage at “Wildfire Recording”. I glad to have finally gotten around to putting up a page where they can be listened to. The song “Hey Waitress” gets a lot of folks smiling (especially servers). You can find the songs over here.
As always, thanks for stopping in. I have not been overly punctual in posting for Illustration Friday, yet I do pop in as often as possible to view other artist’s works.
See ya all!

Purple Porpoise Mandala

Its been a long time coming for me to slap a post up here. I've been working on a new illustration portfolio, and a few websites. While getting my new portfolio together I, took a little break from the left brained efforts, and decided to recolor an old image from my coloring book.
Nothing like a purple Porpoise with a purpose.
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Dolphins and Bubbles

Dolphin Play Bubble Rings - video powered by Metacafe

I couldn't resist embedding this video on my blog. It pretty much falls under the "Once upon a Dolphin" category.

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Feathered Friends Part Two and Three

Here is a couple of new clips I put together while trying out Sony Vegas . I've grown so addicted to filming all of the visitors to my pond. This weeks Illustration Friday topic is "baby". Now that's appropriate, as the second video below has a clutch of very adorable quail chicks. Hope you love birds and bunnies! Since completing these videos, I've managed to film even more species. So I guess a new video will be forthcoming soon. I posted a few pics a while back when I started construction on the pond, so if ya want to check those out, they are over here.
My Feathered Friends part 3




My Feathered Friends part 2

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My Feathered Friends

This is another Artrage project. This weeks illustration friday topic is seed. That is why this post really is for the birds.



This little Video Clip I put together using some footage of the hoopla that goes on in my backyard everyday. I built a little pond and waterfall for the local color to enjoy. My sweet parrot rarely eats all of her food, as she is quite picky. So all of the leftover seeds make their way out to the yard for my feathered friends to enjoy. This weeks Illustration Friday theme is seed. I guess this clip demonstrates what can happen if you offer up a little bit of water and seeds to the Bird Gods. My apologies about the lousy thumbnail on the video. I'm going to look into fixing this issue soon. Also I got off a great shot of a Mother dove and her chick nestled in the beams above my porch. If ya wanna see the little darlings, they are over at this post over here. Again, as always, thank you for visiting my blog!

Baby Dove

I usually leave home and arrive through my garage. So I was pleasantly surprised when I spotted an inhabited Doves nest in the beams above my front porch this morning.

Primitive meets Modern

Click To Play

This little video clip is a collection of serene animated kaleidoscopes. This weeks Illo Friday topic is "primitive". This clip is animated to a piece of music I wrote to capture the feel of primitive music. You need to have quicktime installed to view it here. If you do not and you'd like to see the flash version its over here.
Its kind of a big file so it might take a minute to load. None the less I hope you enjoy it!

Save

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is "Save". I thought of this young Dove I tried a few times to rescue. He fell out of his nest up over my patio, and could not fly well enough to get safely home.
I borrowed a friends ladder to get him back home, yet just a few hours later he was on the ground again. I have a feeling he was tossed out of the nest. Today I painted a picture of him in Art Rage, and since I missed last weeks topic "Homage", I guess you can say I did this illo in homage to the little Dove I tried to save.

Shoot from the Hip!

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is "Pet Peeve". I figured I'd vent about one of my biggest pet peeve's. I cannot stand it when people play games and speak in vague or abstract innuendo's. They may be upset or wish to get a point across without stepping up to the plate and saying exactly what they mean. I have a huge blind spot when it comes to that language. So if you don't say what you mean, and mean what you say, don't expect me to play along. I've chosen a long time ago to take a persons word at face value. I will not waste any time attempting to decipher the true meaning behind perplexing messages. Ahhh, there, now I feel so much better.

Greetings to all! Here is a submission for this weeks Illustration Friday topic "Garden". I didn't have much time to spend so I recycled a dragonfly graphic I designed years ago. Thanks for visiting. As with most of the posts, click on the image to get a better view.

Multiple

For this weeks Illustration Friday theme..."Multiple". A simple Kaleidescope created from multiple lines.

Theory

Theory has it that there is no such thing as a free lunch. There is however a bunch of free software on line out there, that can make your lunch hour a lot more fun. I do not use ArtRage all that often, yet I love to mess around in it from time to time. Last night I got the urge to rage and fiddled about with this image. The original photo was taken on a little walking tour I took with my mom around Santa Fe. Thank you for looking on in!

Tales and Legends

Boy oh boy! Its been a while since I've posted anything for Illustration Friday. Life's been hectic lately, (as usual). This weeks topic is "Tales and Legends". I did take a little time out to create these two images. The one above is the face of one of the most powerful Mayan Gods "Quetzalcoatl". I did a little bit of surfing on the net and found this really cool short (around 2 min.) film that tells the story of Quetzalcoatle. If you want to check it out, its over here. I'm so curious about other cultures and their beliefs, and I've always thought these Mayan Gods were quite fascinating.

This is the symbol for the Mayan God "Hunab Ku" who is said to have been the most powerful of all of the Mayan Gods. There are many mysteries surrounding Hunab Ku. There are also several parallels between Hunab Ku's message, and a few of the far eastern philosophies like Taoism. I found a nice article about Hunab Ku over here. Thanks for visiting and peeking at my graphics!

Froggie Mandala

This design is for this weeks Illustration Friday topic "excess". I chose to use an old frog design, and edited the layout and color. Frogs are one of the most delicate and sensitive creatures on the planet. Their survival depends so much upon mankind curbing its never ending thirst for "excess". Do you really need to commute down the 405 in that Hummer? Their survival also depends on our ability to recycle, reuse, and explore alternative energy resources.
You can click the image for a larger view. Thanks for hoppin in!

Angel

An Angelic vision.

Superstition

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is "Superstition". I suppose if you were superstitious and living in the land and time of the Pharos , you might be very tempted to have a Scarab as a keepsake for good luck. My luck is not so hot however today. I've edited and uploaded this image about nine times, but I cannot figure out where the heck the white line running up and down the right side of the image is coming from. I have too much to do today to try and fix it right now. I'll try again later. Has anyone else had this happen to you?