I’m usually more than a little skeptical when I hear the words green, recyclable, sustainable and so on used to describe a product or its lifecycle. Earthbaked is a great idea by my buddy Steve Boynton, who actually introduced me to the field of Industrial Design.

Earthbaked is an environmentally responsible shoe that is made form 100% natural materials and is meant to be a temporary, and actually sustainable shoe. it’s made from natural wool and rubber products that can then be buried in the ground at the end of the lifecycle where it will naturally decompose into nutrients for plans and so on. Pretty cool, right?

If you like Steve’s idea, go ahead and pitch in on kickstarter. The project just launched and he’s still a bit away from his goal.

Jude Pullen, an accomplished design modeler by trade who works for Dyson, yes THAT Dyson, is throwing a workshop on January 26th called “Geeklates”. Jude will be covering a variety of modeling techniques, including foam modeling, modeling with plastic sheeting, and modeling using cardboard, and believe me, the man can put together a wicked cardboard model. Check out some of his videos and techniques at his website.

So if you’re in the UK, and nearby, be sure to check it out and sign up here at Jude’s event page.

Now available for the iPad in the iBookstore, and coming soon PDF for download for iPhone, Android, and whatever you’d like to use it on. Click on the image to download the free PDF sample.

These videos are a bit long but they cover a good chunk of the design process. They take you from ideation to full scale concept car.  The host is a bit stiff but its a good introduction to car design…and the” all black” outfits upper management has to wear. :\ Enjoy!

The IDSA at RIT is hosting what promises to be a great workshop. It’s called Thought @ Work and features the likes of Jeff Smith, whose work you can find in the sketchbook section, Don Lehman, creator of the More/Real capacitive touch stylus which you may recognize from Kickstarter.

Sign up and more information can be found at the workshop’s website and Facebook pages.

I wish I could be there, but my wife and I have baby number two on the way.

Out of over 340 entries, John Muhlenkamp, and Spencer Nugent’s designs were picked to be in the top 40 by a jury of designers. We both need your help to be placed in the top 5 by amassing as many votes as possible, so tell your friends, families and anyone to just vote. Take a few seconds and head over and click vote. It really only takes a few seconds of your time. I’ve included images of all the designs I submitted. Personally, I like the Juice concept the best, but they went with the cubit concept I submitted. You can vote daily, so be sure to pop in and vote every day. In addition, I’ll be hosting live sketch demos showcasing my process and of course reminding you to vote throughout the coming week. I’ll be posting the times at Facebook.com/sketchaday, so if you haven’t already, become a fan and be notified of the events.

Vote Here for Spencer in the HP Bag Design Competition

I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to using the iPad, or another capacitive screened tablet, I rarely use it for serious work. in fact, I probably won’t ever use it for serious design work until there’s a wacom digitizer integrated into my iPad. Yes, I’m strictly an apple guy.  That being said, I’ve tried many a stylus for sketching on my iPad for fun. I’ve even helped kickstart a few. Of all the ones I’ve used in the past, the Mobius stylus by V23 next ranks in my top two that I’ve used so far.

If you don’t care to watch the video, here’s the short and sweet review. The stylus is crafter from aircraft grade aluminum, and comes in a neat little tin case. Embedded in the foam protection, are two replacement tips for the stylus. When you use these capacitive styluses on a fairly regular pass, you’ll find that the tips can wear or tear, or if you’re like me and have a little kid running around, sometimes they can even bite the tips off. Yum. It’s nice that they included the replacement tips. The shaft is somewhat sculpted – not sure if this adds much value for me, but it helps with having a place for your fingers.

I’m not sure how much the stylus will cost at the time of retail, but it is nice. Highly highly recommended.

Check out the video below for some more thoughts -

Its been a busy couple of weeks for me. Mostly because i got some weird virus that lasted 8 days and now I’m playing catch up at work. (I haven’t been that sick in a long time. Blah!) That being said i had plenty of time to do some drawing on my fancy new tablet and watch a lot of TV. So here you go. A gallery of my sketches from the past month. Enjoy!

Continue reading

A few months back we did a small review on a book called “Masters of Chicken Scratch Vol.1” by Dwayne Vance. Dwayne is an amazing artist and he is releasing MOCS Vol. 2. Once we get the new book we’ll do a review, and true to his form I’m sure the content will be awesome and expansive. Until then here is some of his recent artwork from ComicCon, and if any of you are at the last day of SIGGRAPH drop by the Corel Painter or Wacom booths. Dwayne mentioned that he would be giving away free copies of Corel Painter 12…but you have to mention IDSketching.com and you have to Hurry.  ;)

Click past the break for more images and Enjoy!

Continue reading

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud also know by his more popular pseudonym of Moebius passed away in March. I didn’t really know much about him until i saw his artwork featured on the ConceptShip blog back in march. Since then, I have been enthralled with his life, artwork, and style. I have really enjoyed all the wonderful colors, unique line work and surreal topics. It hearkens back to the prime age of comic books, Tron, Syd Mead, and all the advancements in story telling that occurred during that time period. I hope you enjoy his artwork as much as i have and never forget the past. There is always much to learn from those who have come before us…especially this guy. Enjoy!

  Continue reading

If you don’t know about the CreatureBox then you should. Their content is always fresh, crazy unique, and they’re amazing artists. These guys are definitely in my top 10…especially since i have a thing for weird creatures and robots. They’re finally making a full fledged book and I’m way excited! Jump over to their site @ kickstarter and you can get the book, or if you need to be convinced then check out the blog. Enjoy!

This is pretty sweet and i wish this guy was my teacher in high school. Gregory Euclide created awesome murals during the 25 minutes he had for lunch. Apparently it started with him teaching his students what they could do in a short amount of time and then they got hooked. There are more images past the break along with links to a couple of articles.

Now i’m just waiting for the “How To” vid done in traditional Bob Ross fashion.

Continue reading