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Recently I began seeing these amazing, dimensional animated drawings on social media. I came to find out about a fairly new app called Mental Canvas and after a bit of research and tutorial viewing, I knew I had to give it a try. This piece was not drawn with this in mind, but I used it as an experimental first go at the software. It adapted fairly well as I got to know the tools within the software, and I love seeing a simple drawing jump off of the page. I am excited to work in Mental Canvas and explore the space. You'll see the Mental Canvas logo in the corner of the video as I am using the free version of the software.
If you are an artist of some kind, I would suggest giving it a look and seeing if it is something that might light a little inspiration in you. Enjoy, NR I haven't done that much pixel style art, but I love it. People are doing some incredible pixel art out there. I aim to carve out a little time to explore this style more, but it's just not that high on my priority list at this very moment. These are my favorite few that I have personally done. Enjoy. NR I got the chance to live in the woods of Washington state for a little while. It was a dream come true for me, and I spent as much time while there studying the flora and fauna as I could. One of my favorite observations were the silver haired bats. They used to fly across the porch, and I could stand in the dark as they hunted insects right next to my head. I went to take the recycling out one night and collided with one once. We were both startled, but politely apologized and went about our activities. On other nights I would stand out in the open under the moonlight and play guitar. I began to notice that the bats would tend to hunt in circles more consistently around where I was emitting guitar sound, especially acoustic bass guitar. I ran many experiments over the course of a year’s time and I don’t think they would flock to the sound, but would concentrate around it if they were already out and catching bugs. I would move around and found that they would move to where I was and circle overhead. I theorized that they were perhaps using the sound waves emitted from my guitar as extra “light” to find their prey. I know that the sound waves are in a very different frequency than their sonar systems, but their sensitivity to sound likely incorporates any sound within their field of perception. It felt a little like I was emitting a soft general light that brightened the overall vicinity, while they still emitted their own headlamps for direct tracking. I worried that I was perhaps interfering with them so I kept my experiments brief, but the results were consistent. They were generally drawn closer to the externally emitted sound, despite having a fully open sky to continue hunting in. I did not get recordings of any kind, so I made this artistic depiction of the experience. I hope to try again some time. Bats are important creatures as both insect regulators as well as pollinators. Bats are responsible for some very specific plant pollination, yet still get a bad reputation from media and ignorance. They face some serious dangers of their own like white nose fungus, and human habits of habitat destruction. Do some research if you are averse to bats. They are adorable, helpful, and fascinating creatures. Enjoy. Thanks. NR  I have an originality complex. Commonly I draw without any reference imagery other than what is in my mind. It has it's benefits, and it's limitations. Working from reference is SO important as an artist. Everything I draw is technically pulling from the visual library within, which is just an archive of experiences stored in memory. I think drawing from the mind is the best way to develop a "personal style" as it is a direct draw from your personal perception. However, using reference images for drawing/painting from life teaches us so many valuable lessons. I am no anti-reference artist or originality elitist by any means. In fact making a habit of drawing directly from reference is one of my current goals as I return to my work and develop a new flow. I simply always encourage artists to focus on generating something original, to leave a legacy all their own. Here are some of my sketchbook pages from reference. Enjoy, NR |
Nicholas RodriguezArtist, designer, musician, writer, craftsman, nature geek... Archives
April 2022
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