Monday 24 September 2007

Banner for Retrospectacle

The artwork is done, the neuroscientist is happy, and the banner is up! This was a great opportunity for me, and the first piece to come to fruition and publication since I took my artwork online last March. Thanks to Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle: A Neuroscience Blog for contacting me and making the process so enjoyable.

If you are not familiar, Retrospectacle is part of the ScienceBlogs network run by Seed Magazine, an editor of which did a profile of my art on their Page 3.14 back in May this year.

Here is the finished piece for Retrospectacle:
This looks cooler on the site...follow the link!

As I mentioned in my last post, Ms. Batts wanted to have a rotating series of blog banners running through her site. She already had her cheeky "50's advert"-style banner, and now she had enlisted the likes of your trilobite-truly, and also the esteemed Carl Buell! Mr. Buell is a prolific scientific illustrator, and you can see some of his stellar artwork at Olduvai George. I had actually linked to one of his pictures in an earlier post, my review of Paul Quarrington's boy on the back of the turtle. The link was to one of his drawings of Carl Buell's drawings of a probable ancestor to whales, pakicetus. Mr. Buell's banner is the one featuring the shell and African Grey; a tough act to follow, but I'm happy to be in such great company.

Shelley Batts also suggested posting an "Evolution of a Blog Banner", and has posted it on Retrospectacle. I won't repeat the whole thing here, but I will post the drawing I did partway through my art process. Please follow the link and take a look. As usual, comments on my work are encouraged.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glendon! This is just spectacular! I just took the tour over at Retrospectacle, and it is SO cool!
It is a perfect meld of the elements asked for, with lots of style.
I want you to design the next Bluetooth...

Anonymous said...

That's really nice! I love the whole wing-ear thing. Although I'm very sceptical of the Photoshop lens flare, having seen it abused by so many Elfwood people. ;) I actually think that drawing is cooler than the end-product, but that's probably because the wing comes out in much more detail. I really like wings and feathers in general.

Anonymous said...

Hey Glendon,

I saw the early sketches at Chris's. They looked really good, but I really love all that color and lighting effects. I had too look at it for a while before the face jumped out at me. Way cool. Way pollished.

Glendon Mellow said...

Thanks, Leslie! I think a Bluetooth is a little out of my oeuvre,
hahaha....mine would have algae growing on it.

Retrospectacle is a great site.

Glendon Mellow said...

Hi Felicia! I know what you mean about the Photoshop lense flare....design people seem to be unhappy with it, but I like it for creating the glow on the face, and a "light of knowledge" that the face is turning toward.

I often get more compliments on my pencil work than my colour stuff...I'm always working on refining my painting technique to bring the detail out.

Thanks for checking it out!

Glendon Mellow said...

Hey Rudi,

You always get the best sneak peeks. Like a certain fossil winged trilobite. Thanks for commenting on here directly!

Means a lot, that's why I showed you guys. You'll stop me from embarrassing myself.

Post a Comment

Posts over 14 days old have their comments held in moderation - I've been getting an unusual amount of spam for a guy who paints trilobites. I'll release it lickety-split though.

Copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Glendon Mellow. All rights reserved. See Creative Commons Licence above in the sidebar for details.
Share |