Chris Howard's Writing & Art

"Going to Get My Magic Back"

Painted in Brushes on my iPhone, about four hours. I had the start of an idea a while ago, castle towers looming over a cliff, just didn't know what to do with the rest of it--until yesterday. Read this post by Kyle (I was going to quote something, but just go read it) and it sparked some cool stuff like towers full of magic-stealing sorcerers, walls of fire, angry seas, jagged rocks and ship eating cliffs--and one lone lost ex-sorcerer going to get her stolen magic back.

Definitely a story in there somewhere.

Want to see how I painted this one? Here's the video:

.

iPhone art...back at it

Spent half of lunch working on a short story--pretty weird one, and the other half starting a new painting, new gallery, new everything with the Brushes app.  This one's similar to the last piece I was working on--actually that was three pieces, all with the same sky.  (Week ago or so, I lost everything I've painted and not backed up in a fatal iPhone sync mishap). I'm starting over with a less ambitious one, see where it takes me--I'm thinking somewhere with lightning and maybe dragons.  We'll just have to see.

.

Future Wallpaper

Okay, I took the latest version of my offworld construction painting ("RTFS") and cropped it for desktop wallpaper use, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, and for the iPhone and other devices: 320x480.  (RTFS = Read The F***ing Sign).  Because someone's already asked: the red light thing coming from her left hand is some sort of advanced tether system.

I'd love to hear if you like this, or if you want me to post more wallpaper. Comment or email me!

Download:

RTFS Wallpaper 1280 x 1024

RTFS Wallpaper 1600 x 1200

RTFS Wallpaper 320 x 480  (iPhone and other mobile devices)

Here are the same three wallpaper images. Click to open the full view--you may have to click the image again to expand it to full size:

 

 

Apple, you really disappoint me...

I wish Apple would get their heads out of Steve Jobs’ ass for a moment and fix iTunes’ destructively brainless device sync problems.  I just lost my whole collection, hundreds of paintings, thousands of hours of work I’ve done with the Brushes app because Apple decides to sync my iPhone and delete most of my apps and data.  I have a MacBook, I love the iPhone, but this shows what a total goat fuck Apple is when it comes to making things work behind the bouncy icons and rounded corners. 

Yes, I’m a bit…upset.

.

iPhone Art at World Fantasy

Spent a little time painting with the Brushes app on my iPhone while sitting in on some panels at World Fantasy 2009.  I started this in the Steampunk panel yesterday, spent a couple hours.

In-progress video:

.

Ice Athena

I painted this for Illustration Friday topic: Frozen, about an hour in the Brushes app on my iPhone. 

Video:

Girl and Her Shark - South Pacific!

Another Shark Girl painting on the iPhone with the Brushes app.  Painted this one today at lunch, really got into the underwater lighting.

Here's the in-progress video:

Girl and Her Shark - take 2

Painted with the Brushes app on my iPhone.

Here's the video:

A Girl and her Shark

Sketched this on my iPhone using the Brushes app, going for something a bit fun...although the shark is looking right at you!

.In-progress video:

Mermaids on the iPhone

Finished up painting another mermaid this morning--in the Brushes app on my iPhone.  This one's a little manga-ish, and have I mentioned how much I love the layering features in Brushes? I don't think I'd be able to do shading anywhere near as subtle without layers. 

Are you a Brushes user?  I'm wondering how many use a stylus?  I bought one, used it for a couple paintings, about twenty minutes and have never picked it up again.  I'm doing all of these drawings, sketches, paintings with my fingers.  Took me a bit to get it down, but I use the tools--brushes sizes, textures, undo, layers so much that I just couldn't work with the stylus--holding it and constantly shifting to change brushes, transparency, paint colors--all of this is so much easier with your fingers than with the stylus.

Here's the video: