Groovy Cumbia – CD Art

Happy New Year to you all! The end of 2011 is approaching very quickly, and just yesterday I managed to finish all the inks for chapter 1 and 2 of Small Shen! Up for January 2012 will be the tones for those 2 chapters, and then onto chapters 3 and 4.

Today I’ll be showing you some art I did a while ago, for a Latin-American music CD. The font was already chosen before I started, so I decided to go with something bright and colourful. Using a brush pen was definitely the right choice for this, since I don’t think a G-pen (with its fine lines) would have stood out amongst the bright colours.

 
Cd and cover
 
Front and back
 
Inside and CD
 

Here’s the original computer files, click for a better look:

 
Original front and back
 
Original inside
 
Original CD
 

Happy 2012!!

 

Fruit Custard Tart

It’s nearing Christmas, so I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I’ll be working all through the holidays until I finish the inks for chapter 2 of Small Shen, which will probably be next week.

So this week, I leave you with the last of my felt cakes – the last one I had in the line of kits I bought. It’s the Fruit Custard Tart!

 

Fruit Custard Tart 1

Step 1: Here's the last kit I had in the series for felt cakes. I think this was meant to be a mobile phone charm.

 

Fruit Custard Tart 2

Step 2: Take everything out, check that it's all there. Usually I have no complaints with Japanese kits.

 

Fruit Custard Tart 3

Step 3: Sew the base and the strawberry on top. Make all the little berries.

 

Fruit Custard Tart 4

Step 4: Add the berries onto the top of the base, then start sewing the custard bits together to surround the base.

 

This is the end result. Pretty complex compared to some of the other felt cakes:

 

Fruit Custard Tart

Yunyu: The Christmas Chain Saw Massacre

Hi all! Christmas is coming up, and I just finished inking chapter 1 of Small Shen. There’s still chapter 2 to go, so hopefully I’ll be able to finish that by the end of this month. No Christmas holidays for me, but that’s the way it’s always been when I’m working on a book. So I’m used to it.

This week I’m showing something I did for my musician friend Yunyu. She’s been re-writing Christmas songs to suit her darkly subversive world views, and along with Zombie Christmas, this year it’s Were-Santa. The song takes the hot-button issues of this year, specifically werewolves and misbehaving Wall Street CEOs, and mixes the two together to create… something you can troll people with at the upcoming Christmas parties. Hey, I consider this song a happy song. And ofcourse, I created some appropriate album art for it.

To get your FREE copy of the song Were-Santa, join Yunyu’s Mailing List and it will be sent to you!

You can also listen to the song and download it at SoundCloud.

 

Crapmas by Yunyu
 

Lyrics

It’s the crap-crappiest time of the year
My head’s jingle belling,
And hippies are telling me
“Be of good cheer”
It’s my most sorrowful time of the year

It’s the crap-crappiest season of all
When I become Santa,
and no I’m not mental
I just want a cure
from this crap-crappiest sickness of all

I was making a killing
In stock market trading
Cashing in on all the loopholes
I’m worse than Charles Ponzi
I took more than Madoff
But hey you’re not perfect yourself

It’s my most sorrowful time of the year
A were-santa he got me
he bit me that bastard
and now once a year
I’m transformed into this ponce with the bells

I’ll pay anything for a cure
for this sickness
and swap this for lycanthropy
And anything’s better than riding with sleigh bells
and giving my fortunes away.

It’s my most sorrowful time of the year
my pockets are echoing
my world is ending and
Don’t you dare cheer
It’s the most sorrowful time
It’s the most sorrowful time

It’s the most sorrowful time of the year

White Angry Bird – Free Crochet Pattern

A whole bunch of stuff is happening this December, and I find myself quite busy this festive season. I’m working on the inks for Chapters 1-2 for Small Shen, so that’s the bulk of my main work. I’m also working on a music-art collaboration project with a musician friend, the first release of which is due Jan 31st 2012, so that has been penned in on my timetable. On top of that, I have a bunch of crochet stuff to do, and the kind of odds and ends that crop up at the end of the year. Will I accomplish anything by December 31st?!

I finally deleted my old Livejournal account. Managing it is a bit too much, since it’s no longer active.

This week, I get to post up my free crochet pattern of the White Angry Bird. For those who are living underneath a rock, Angry Birds is a highly popular casual game that involves throwing a bunch of cute-but-furious cartoon birds at a bunch of greedy pigs, who have stolen the birds’ eggs. The “mascot” of the series is the Angry Red Bird, and this week he’s joined by his friend, the Angry White Bird.

 

Get the free Angry Red Bird crochet pattern here.

 
Important: People have asked me for more Angry Bird patterns, but I’m afraid I can’t promise anything, since these characters are copyrighted. I provide these patterns for free because it’s all in good fun, but the original copyright owners must be respected – and I don’t have any other Angry Bird patterns either. If you’re looking for the green bird, the black bomb bird, or the green pig, you can register on the site Ravelry.com and find them there. No word on the yellow or blue Angry Bird.

That said, if you like this pattern, please support Angry Birds and buy the game, or the game-related merchandise.

 

Angry White Bird
Here’s the Angry White Bird with the Angry Red Bird. Friends!

 

Angry White Bird Pattern

Here’s a list of what I used to make this crochet. It’s not a definite list, so feel free to use whatever you have, as long as it’s appropriate. It’s crocheted in the round, like most amigurumi, so only basic crochet skills are required.

NB. This pattern is created by me, so please give a link back to me if you want to use it or if you want to sell your crochet. Please give credit where it’s due.

  • White, dark yellow, light yellow, and black 8 ply yarn
  • 4mm crochet hook
  • 8mm black safety eyes – 6060 from Etsy is a good place to buy these
  • Large sewing needle, to sew the bits and pieces together

 

Crochet Abbreviations

Here are a list of the abbreviations I use, and what they mean. These are pretty standard, so if you know how to crochet, this won’t be hard to decipher:

  • ch – chain
  • sc – single chain
  • dec – decrease
  • * – beginning/end of a repeating part of the pattern

 

White Bird 1
The round, egg like appearance of the White Bird

 

Body (Make 1, white)

Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 6 single chain (sc) in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – 2 sc in each chain (12 stitches)
Rnd 3 – *2 sc in next single chain, 1 sc*, repeat 6 times (18 stitches)
Rnd 4-5 – sc
Rnd 6 – *2 sc in next single chain, 2 sc*, repeat 6 times (24 stitches)
Rnd 7-9 – sc
Rnd 10 – *2 sc in next single chain, 3 sc*, repeat 6 times (30 stitches)
Rnd 11-16 – sc
Rnd 17 – *decrease (dec) 1, 3 sc*, repeat 6 times (24 stitches)
Rnd 18 – sc

Start stuffing the body, and sew the eyes onto the face.
Rnd 19 – *dec 1 through back loops ONLY*, repeat 6 times (12 stitches)
Rnd 20 – *dec 1* repeat 6 times (6 stitches)

Fasten off, then use a needle to weave in loose ends.

 

White Bird 2
The eyes and the eyebrows… so different yet similar to the Red Bird’s.

 

Eyes and Eyebrows (Make 2 of each, black and white)

Make the two eyes with white yarn
Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – 3 sc

Fasten off, then use an 8mm safety eye to pin it on the body, making sure the longer part is on the outside of the eyes.
Then use a sewing needle to sew the white eyes properly onto the body.

 

Make the two eyebrows with black yarn
Rnd 1 – Ch 6, turn
Rnd 2 – 4 sc

Fasten off, sew onto the body on top of the eyes.

 

White Bird 3
It has a significantly bigger beak than the Red Angry Bird.

 

Top Beak (Make 1, dark yellow)

Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 4 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – *2 sc in next single chain*, repeat 4 times (8 stitches)
Rnd 3 – sc
Rnd 4 – *2 sc in next single chain, 3 sc*, repeat twice (10 stitches)
Rnd 5-7 – sc
Rnd 8 – *dec 1 through back loops ONLY*, repeat 5 times (5 stitches)

Fasten off, stuff and sew onto the body between the eyes, leaving space for the bottom half of the beak

 

Bottom Beak (Make 1, dark yellow)
Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 4 sc in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – *2 sc in next single chain*, repeat 4 times (8 stitches)
Rnd 3 – *2 sc in next single chain, 3 sc*, repeat twice (10 stitches)
Rnd 4 – *dec 1 through back loops ONLY*, repeat 5 times (5 stitches)

Fasten off, stuff and sew onto the body under the top beak.
Don’t sew the bottom and top beaks together since it’ll turn into a big yellow blob, so just sew the corners of the beaks together to get that slack-jawed look.

 

Whtie Bird 4
Where you add the rest of it on

 

Yellow Cheeks (Make 2, light yellow)
Rnd 1 – Ch 2, 6 single chain (sc) in 2nd chain away from hook (Magic Ring method)
Rnd 2 – 2 sc in each chain (12 stitches)

Fasten off, stuff and sew onto the cheeks, under the eyes

 

Black Hair (Make 3, black)

Rnd 1 – Ch 4, turn
Rnd 2 – 3 sc, turn
Rnd 3 – 3 sc

Fasten off, then sew into a small tube. Sew onto the top of the head.