Tasty, Hot and Fresh
Hey, friends! So, today’s sketch is a flashback for me to just after I got my BFA from University of the Arts in 1998. I was lucky enough to land two jobs: Rider University’s Instructional Technology Specialist position, and also Bucks County Community College’s Sculpture Lab Assistant. I loved both jobs dearly, and learned a lot from both positions. They were both very service oriented positions, and they both came with new friends. In the Sculpture gig, I worked with another guy doing the same thing and he convinced me that my artistic contribution was going to be interpretations of the ubiquitous Approving Pizza Chef Guy, the one who graces what must be 50% of all pizza boxes. I started drawing him on warning signs around the shop, and he even got etched into a large metal sand pit using an Arc Welder. I’m sure he’s still there, forever scribed in molten metal, but he’s otherwise stopped showing up directly in my work until now. At any rate, with that experience I learned to keep a certain sense of fun and irony in my work, and so in that way the Approving Pizza Chef Guy (and the other Lab Tech) have been a part of my work ever since.
Approving Pizza Chef Guy
So I started with the Pizza guy image and I did lot of little tweaks to make him mine. I flipped him, and then bitmap traced him. I duplicated and reversed his hand so that he’d be giving a “2 thumbs up”. Using the calligraphy tool, I gave him bangs and a beard, extended (and made him stroke) his thin Daliesque mustache, and puffed up his hat. I made him stop winking. I then used the watercolor technique of a wide stroke of color with the calligraphy tool under the lines to color the piece. I created the pizza and placed it, moonlike, behind him. Finally, I added the text. I missed him, and I’m glad I had this opportunity to revive him.
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Nice work =) ~I saw you are listed in “Gimp” tags, but cant find your stuff done with Gimp. Do you edit your inkscape pics in it?
Thanks, Jay.me! I do a lot of work in the GIMP, but for this project, I’m focusing solely on burnishing my Inkscape chops. As a result, most of my spontaneous work these days is more graphic than photographic, but I’m thinking about continuing on the project next year but using the GIMP. Cheers! John.
Ok, yea I know a-lot of people use GIMP for photos but it is great for painting also. I have links at my site to a couple of add-ons for GIMP that make it even better for painting. Stop by sometime =)
~I think your Inkscape chops are great. Looking forward to your work with the GIMP. =)
Agreed totally — I’ve done most of my digital painting in GIMP, though I’ve enjoyed the washy calligraphy tool in Inkscape for super tight and editable marks. I have to say, I miss GIMP a lot though. Looking forward to getting back in there, if only for the brushes. Mmmmmm ABR brushes. Thanks for the link, the invite, and for the kind words, Jay.me.
I’d like to do more vector based drawings. Inkscape is on my list of programs to learn. =)
hey, Jay.me. If you’re interested in learning Inkscape, I’d highly recommend the fantastic resources over at http://screencasters.heathenx.org/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi — perhaps you’re already familiar, but if not, run don’t walk. 😉
Thank you! I’ll check it out =)