created completely in Photoshop

I did the illustration in color, which I think turned out pretty cool, but then I started to play around with it. And when I got to the one above I just stopped and thought “This is it!” It makes me think of the Wizard of Oz, when the tornado was coming to get Dorothy’s house.

I’ve always been intensely fascinated by tornadoes. So much that they have been popping into my dreams quite often for as long as I can remember. The most recent one was 2 nights ago. In that particular dream I it was approaching me on my walk to the subway, and the sky was a bright pink and purple. And I remember running around trying to gather up everyone I loved. I don’t quite remember what happens after, though. Anyway, that’s why I decided to do this illo.

I’ve never seen one in real life. I’m from New Jersey and we don’t have them there. It happens, but very rarely. And here, in Sweden, even less so. I am grateful for that, they are very frightening! But I really would love to see one… from a safe distance of course In the meantime, I can watch extremely cool videos of them, like this one. I realize they cause terrible destruction and ruin lives, of course. But you can’t deny that nature is sometimes most captivating to watch (from afar) when it’s at its most destructive.

This weekend I was more bored than I think I’ve ever been. The result of trying to repair a damaged savings account (due to unexpected expenses the past few months), and terrible weather. I spent the entire weekend climbing the walls. Other than my illo friday submission, I was completely unproductive. Ecen my hubby got out of the house both days to do things and be with people, while I stayed in like some sort of hermit. Oh yeah, I cleaned out some drawers. Yay. But as a last resort to not feel completely and utterly worthless, I created the above illo. But, apparently, not even swirls and stars can get me out of this funk.

I just wanted to put the whole series in one post. What’s the point of having a series if you can’t see them together? Actually, it wasn’t supposed to be a series. But it turned out to be that way. I think I’m going to have them printed out on postcard size paper and frame them and put them up in my hallway…

Swirls and curves are so in right now. Actually, they might be so in, that they’re overdone and on their way out. But I don’t care because they are so pretty!

And here’s the kicker. I just learned how to make perfect swirls using the spiral tool in illustrator. OK see… I always knew the tool was there, and I’ve used it before. But to use it to make the type swirls I so desperately? Never crossed my mind it could be so simple. Really, considering the number of years I’ve used Illustrator, it’s shocking how little I know about it. I use it to draw stuff with my nifty Wacom, but then I move everything over into photoshop to fancy it up and finish it off. One day I will sit and take the time to learn more… really…

But anyway, now I know how to make all types of proper swirls. This is a dangerous tool in my hands. I’m sure of it.

So, after years since the last time I made them, I FINALLY opened up my that dusty old PSD file and created my “Smiley Blobs” in an additional 4 colors. If you don’t know what smiley blobs are then I’ll give you a little preview…

They are my own smileys that I created a few years back. And I wanted to do something a little different so you can see that they are more “blobs” than spherical. I originally created them in 4 colors. I always meant to make more colors, and green was next on my list. But I never got around to it. So what was it that lit the fire under my butt? Cindy wanted to use them, but she wanted them in green. She had actually already recolored them herself. But once she found out where they were from, she immediately emailed me and asked if it was OK. Normally I would not allow this, but she did everything as right as she could, and she is crediting me as I wish. So for her (and ONLY for her!) it was OK.

But it got me to thinking maybe I should get to providing a few more colors. So now they are available in:

If you want to use them on your site, you can find them on my freebies page.

On a completey different note…

Last night was Valborg. And as is tradition. It rained. It’s been sunny and warm and dry for weeks! And today it is sunny and warm and dry. But, as it has been every year since I moved here, it has rained on Valborg. So we went down across the water from city hall to see the same bonfire we always do, but we didn’t stay longer than 5 minutes. it was just TOO rainy. And everyone had umbrellas and made it difficult to see. So after shooting a quick faraway pic, we headed off to a nearby pub and stayed warm and dry drinking beer and eating nachos. Perfect way to spend the evening I think!

Of Song Contests…
So! Tonight is Melodifestivalen! For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, which is most of you, I’ll try to explain it as simply as possible.

For over 50 years the countries of Europe (started with some. now it’s most countries) have taken part in a song contest called the Eurovision Song Contest. Each country sends an artist or group of theirs to sing a song. It’s a big show that happens every year in May. People watch and vote for who they want to win (can’t vote for own country). The winning country gets to host the following year’s events. Lather Rinse Repeat.

Some countries see it all as a big joke. Some countries take it very seriously. Sweden is one of these countries. In order to choose who is going to represtn Sweden, we have Melodifestivalen, the contest to choose who will win. Melodifestivalen goes on for 6 Saturdays in Feb and March. Four weeks are spent choosing who will go to the final, and who will go to a “second chance” semi-final. The 5th week is the semi final. The sixth week is the final. And that final is TONIGHT. And it’s a huge thing!

Now, I enjoy Melodifestival and Eurovision because they are fun to watch. The music is mostly based on a style called “schlager.” It’s not really anything anyone living outside of Europe could imagine. But it’s just exciting to watch and I’m a HUGE Melodifestivalen/Eurovision fanatic.

Tonight I will be voting for who I want to represent Sweden. I’m voting for two out of the 10 finalists. BWO, who’ve I’ve drawn in the illustration above. From left to right, Marina Schiptjenko, Martin Rolinski, and Alexander Bard who’s holding a laptop (electro pop stuff). I’m also voting for Charlotte Perrelli. I really like both songs and wouldn’t mind if either won. But I’m leaning more towards BWO (video here) even though I think Perrelli (video here) will win. And then maybe, for once, I could be proud of what Sweden sends to Eurovision!

The only thing that sucks is that when tonight is over, it’s still 2 months until Eurovision. GAH!

UPDATE – This is a spoiler, Leslie: Charlotte Perrelli won!!! SHE WON!!!!! HURRAH! I really wanted BWO to win, but she was my 2nd choice! I REALLY hope Sweden will qualify for Eurovision now! We must! The song is GOOD!

Of Web Habits…

I’ve been reworking my web habits lately. When I started my comic, which is going really well I might add, I decided I needed to rethink my web-related hobbies and get my priorities straight. A lot of the things I was doing weren’t making me happy any more. And my web stuff is my hobby, and hobbies should make people happy. So I shut down a lot of my websites and basically only have this one left. I also stepped back from the web design. It’s a big part of me and it’s something I’ve worked for so many years on, but working with it at the school just burned me out. I need to shake all that off and start fresh, but not without taking a break.

So, the comic is going great and it makes me really happy. Really happy. Because of this, I’ve really decided to put as much energy as possible into it. Closing all my websites helped. Now I’m reanalyzing how I “waste my time” on the web. I use Facebook and am pretty into it. But I’m now allowing it to be my only time waster online. I’ve left some community sites and forums that do me absolutely no good. Today I left a big one which has been a bit of a crutch for me since moving to Sweden. It’s a bit sad to leave it but freeing at the same time.

So illoluv has become my main focus. And I’m excited about it. My comic is taking up a lot of my creativity, and I end up drawing only for that. I need to draw other things. But that’s the purpose of this blog. To illustrate every post in some way. Whether it be for Illustration Friday, or just to illustrate what I write.

It’s a new “me” on the web and I feel really good about it. Because if I don’t make myself be productive in some way often, I start to feel like a big ‘ole NOTHING.