Tag Archives: ds106

Cartoon Jim

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Just a quick post today to introduce Cartoon Jim.

Found an image of Jim on the internets (wow are there a lot of Jim Groom images out there!) and then used the little tablet to draw him as a cartoon.

voila!

For those of you who are family member who are looking for photos of the kids, I’m sorry. I’ve got nothin’. I’m currently immersed in this crazy online class called DS106 and I’m not even getting credit for it.  However, I’ve convinced some important people that this could possibly be used as Professional Development.

I will attempt to put pictures of the kids here again very soon. Until then, you can look at Jim, the guy who leads us on this wacky adventure in digital storytelling.

Everybody Had Matching Towels!

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This is one of my favorite crazy songs from the 80s.  This DS106 assignment called for the creation of a simple image for a song title. This one is fairly obvious, but still a little fun.

I imported the lobster and guitar to fireworks.  I used the magic tool to select the guitar and inserted it to the lobster image.  I then selected small portions of the guitar and cut them out to make it appear to be held by the lobster. TA DA! simple.

Lobster image courtesy of this website, guitar here.

Cartoon Ben

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For Valentine’s Day, Ben bought me a Bamboo tablet.  I’ve been having such fun with it.  I went ahead and cartooned Ben using Adobe Illustrator and my new tablet.

This isn’t a DS106 assignment, but it totally should be. Cartoon You!

I’ve been drawing Ben as a cartoon for a few years now, but it’s so much better with the tablet.  He looks all professional and digital now.  If he’s really cool, he’ll use it as one of his avatars somewhere online.  That would totally make my day.

Spring Break Vacation

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Ben and I were thinking about our Spring Break options and we were thinking about the Catskills of New York.  Not only is it beautiful, but it’s the home of a very famous resort.  In our research, we discovered this old postcard.

Dancing sounds like fun!

If we don’t end up going, we’ll probably still be working on DS106 assignments.

Photo credits: Firefly Cove, 1963 stamp
Inspiration page: chaiPhoto
All work completed in Fireworks.

Happy Valentine’s Day

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On this Valentine’s Day, I have decided to do something that will thrill my husband more than just about any other gift.  I give him the gift of a Nerd Valentine.

(If you aren’t sure who this is, just look up “Apple” on the google machine. He’s pretty famous.)

This one was pretty easy.  Picked out a picture, opened it up in Fireworks, thought and thought about something clever, used the text tool and voila! done!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chicken Farming

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Inspired by Ben’s Video Game Remix show, I found a Zelda Replay Value/MacGuffin visual assignment. (Ben says it’s totally worth double points)

What if Link never made it to the end of the game because he became so enamored of the chickens? I know I like those crazy chickens.

Played with Fireworks for this one.  Found the image somewhere online and added a Zelda font with a little glow.

Tea, Toast, and Kitty

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“The latest bizarre trend blowing up Facebook mini-feeds everywhere? Cat Breading. (Think LOLcats, but with a trippy twist—each adorable kitten has been adorned with a slice of bread, which encases their little feline face.)”

This cute Kitty is the victim of yet another Cat Breading.

Want to create your own breaded cat?  There are two options.

Option 1: Get a cat, get a piece of bread (the higher quality artisan breads are nice, but not necessary-Wonder Bread will do) and get your camera ready.  Cut a small hole into the slice of bread, not too big, you want it to be snug.  Now catch the cat and stick the bread on the cat. This step may take awhile, but don’t give up! You will want to have your camera in your hand and snap that picture before your subject stalks away indignantly. You should be prepared to be ignored by your cat for some time after this incident occurs. But don’t worry, you made some great art!

Option 2: Find a kitty on the internet.  Find a slice of bread on the internet.  Using your favorite art software (I used Photoshop) carefully cut out the slice of bread and kitty’s face.  I used the magnetic lasso tool for simplicity.  After cutting and pasting into a new layer, place the bread over the top of kitty’s face. Adjust the size as necessary to ensure a good fit.  Carefully cut and paste kitty’s head over the bread on a third layer.  Fuss with the placement until your kitty’s head is placed in the middle of the bread where his head used to be.  I used a blur tool around the edges of Mr. Kitty’s face in order to help him blend in with the bread.  I recommend this method if you really like your cat and don’t wish to be snubbed by him (or her) for at least a week.

No cats were harmed in the creation of this post.

My New Band

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I just started a new band (don’t worry, I’m totally not the lead singer….I get to play the drums*) and we needed a new album cover.

Of course, we also needed a band name, but that’s another story. No, you really don’t want to hear about this.  Ok, if you insist. What we did was a random search on wikipedia and came up with the brilliant, if a little dated, name of “Horn Rimmed Glasses.” The guy who plays the cowbell liked it because it was a little bit 50s with a little bit of hipster.  Perfect.

Next, we needed a good title.  After much deliberation and a few oreo milkshakes, we decided to go for something a little bit more cerebral.  We picked a quote from Da Vinci, and the last few words were “powerless to vex your mind.” It felt a little ska, but a swing band named Horn Rimmed Glasses could rock that too, right?

Then, our PR guy suggested that we actually put this whole thing together with some cover art.  Well, the keyboardist’s daughter drew some really nice rainbows and puppies with her Crayolas, but that just didn’t jive with our new sound, so we went to flickr where we chose a photo at random that was listed as creative commons (because, you know, that’s not cool to steal other people’s art). After a few hours (ok, minutes) of manipulating those three items in the ol’ Photoshop, we got our album cover.

Pretty nifty, huh?

So that’s the story of our band.  Please don’t ask for any samples of our music, because we shouldn’t let anyone hear that.  It ain’t pretty.

*I don’t have any formal training with actually playing the drums, but knitting uses two sticks, so how hard can it be?

The Long Forgotten Fat Cat Tapestries

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Around the turn of the 16th century, the Unicorn Tapestries* were woven in the Southern Netherlands.  These tapestries depict the Hunt of the Unicorn in 7 panels.  It has been reproduced in many forms over the years in many different art styles.

Several days ago, the 8th Unicorn Tapestry was discovered.  This one is believed to have been burned in a fire not long after the artist completed it.  No one is sure whether the fire was intentional or accidental.

This 8th tapestry has been dubbed “The Fat Cat Tapestry**.”  There has been much speculation about the origins of the design, but after much research, the cat is believed to be the beloved pet of Anne of Brittany who commissioned the tapestries as a wedding present to her husband.

It is little wonder why the artist would have wished this particular tapestry to remain out of the public.

*For more on the Unicorn Tapestries check out the Musée National du Moyen Age in France.

**This assignment from DS106 was just too good to pass up.