Squid Party: A Sketchblog

Squid Party has MOVED!

2009-11-07T19:04:00.003-05:00

I've had this blog for a while (four years!), but I felt it was time for a change. From now on I'll be updating at caitlinbridges.blogspot.com! Add it to your blogroll kids!

It's been fun, McSquiddersons!

Love,
Caitlin

Xena, Warrior Princess

2009-03-24T14:23:00.006-04:00

The composition I started out with wasn't working, so I had to go back to the thumbnail stage once or twice.

I feel so rusty at digital painting. I guess I haven't been practicing enough, most of what I've been doing is just drawing.

and here is what it looks like right now:

We Are All Businessmen

2009-02-25T21:58:00.005-05:00

Posting some of the process for my illustration for "We Are All Businessmen" by Mark Fabiano.

I went through a bunch of different background colors before I found something I liked.

final product:

Squid Party Regular

2009-02-25T13:20:00.003-05:00

With the discovery of the magical site yourfonts.com, I have been messing around with making sweet bangin' little novelty fonts. Anyone with access to a printer and scanner can do this, but I got best results from my wacom tablet.

This one is based on my own handwriting and is my first successful font. I call it Squid Party Regular. I'm also working on some fonts I can use for all my comics... it'll give each comic that unique and personal look without being a pain in the ass to letter! Oh man, I am SO GEEKING OUT for this site!

On a different note, I realize I haven't updated with much in some time, though it's not due to lack of material to update with. I've been so busy lately because not only am I a full time student, but I have two retail jobs, and I've also been moonlighting as a photographer. In fact, the very latest issue of RVA magazine has one of my pictures on the back cover in an ad for Rumors Boutique. You can check it out here.

Lastly, I've been trying to convert my blogger template to xml but have so far been unsuccessful. Any of you readers know how to help me out?

squidpartyreg, originally uploaded by Caitlin Bridges / Squid Party.

Marat/Sade

2009-02-04T13:40:00.008-05:00

Here is something I've been working on for my Projects in Illustration class. It's a theater poster for Peter Weiss' play, The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, or as is most commonly referred to as Marat/Sade. I very much enjoyed researching the play, reading it and watching all of it on YouTube. However, I think I probably got a little too into it and overthought the piece. Even though it's no longer due, I'm going to try to make it a much stronger piece for my portfolio.

The jpg compression does it no justice, it looks much better in print.

It made me rediscover how much I enjoy oil painting. I started out with some acrylics and quickly realized that the paints I bought were completely shitty, so I ended up slapping some oils on it and made it ten times better in less than fifteen minutes. Oils are amazing. I tightened the rest up digitally, and added the lettering (which I know needs a lot of work) but overall it wasn't the complete calamity I thought it would be.

Random sketch dump

2009-01-26T00:22:00.003-05:00

My sketchbook is still in an awkward stage. But whatever, here is some stuff for the sake of an update.

I was gonna upload to blogger, but that takes too long so screw it.

My first 3D model

2008-12-20T17:07:00.003-05:00

Exploring new territory in the land of Maya. This character is a space chick. Low poly count, but that was mostly intentional, because I wanted the feel of a video game character. I never got around to hair or her space helmet buuuuut I'll figure out how to do it someday.

my crappy animation

2008-12-10T20:14:00.002-05:00

i did this in like a day... i think i could have done better but hopefully it gets a chuckle

Bluebeard

2008-12-03T12:39:00.004-05:00

Here is a spread illustration I did for a retelling of Bluebeard. I'm pleased with how most of the color turned out. I don't normally work in so many layers but it seemed to happen for this one. I did a spot illustration as well, I'll probably post that if it gets a good review in Graphic Essay, but it's not as cool.

this is my shirt that i wear sometimes

2008-11-11T03:31:00.003-05:00

doing more self portraits these days. call it auto discovery!

this is my shirt i wear, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

MASSIVE SKETCH DUMP

2008-11-03T22:55:00.004-05:00

tiny sketchbook = bad proportions

2008-05-02T16:42:00.002-04:00

some additional miscellaneous

2008-04-15T22:24:00.005-04:00

the writing says 'stuart w/ left hand'

this may or may not be a napping pablo... the likeness is questionable

this was a random collab I did with jenna... it was on big paper so excuse the shitty scan stitching

breakdancing

Giant dump guys! please comment.

2008-04-15T20:48:00.004-04:00

ohh shiiiit almost time to buy a new moleskine!!!

panoramic

2008-04-09T08:22:00.002-04:00

Did this in class...

panoramic, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Big dump

2008-04-06T22:31:00.002-04:00

Unloading some of the stuff from my sketchbook, finally. Also, no longer interested in blogging with the nifty flickr button (even though it is faster), so I'll stick them all in one post now.

So dead lately

2008-04-03T12:07:00.002-04:00

I've moved recently, and haven't gotten around to hooking my scanner up yet. Also I'm experiencing a bit of a block and I'm getting frustrated with drawing and art. But I'll post something soon I promise...

Not my art but...

2008-04-01T17:58:00.003-04:00

I created a blog to catalog the art that Jenna put on my head. I'm hoping I can get some other people to contribute!

THINGS DRAWN ON CAITY'S HEAD

model sheet

2008-03-27T05:25:00.001-04:00

for Dominance War.

The anchor ties you up with magic seaweed.

model sheet, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

quigley

2008-03-20T11:35:00.001-04:00

did this like five minutes ago

quigley, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

188

2008-03-18T00:04:00.003-04:00

i herd u liek mudkipz

188, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

187

2008-03-18T00:04:00.001-04:00

fish ladies

187, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

186

2008-03-18T00:03:00.003-04:00

another thing from my Shakespeare marathon night... Hamlet and the apparition of his pops

186, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

185

2008-03-18T00:03:00.001-04:00

I am kind of totally into Shakespeare, did you know that?

185, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

184

2008-03-18T00:02:00.001-04:00

blargarf

184, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

183

2008-03-18T00:01:00.003-04:00

Some people outside the library

183, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

182

2008-03-18T00:01:00.001-04:00

sketching bike guys outside Shafer

182, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

181

2008-03-18T00:00:00.005-04:00

another sea woman

181, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

180

2008-03-18T00:00:00.003-04:00

some sickeningly cute couple in History of Motion Picture

180, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

179

2008-03-18T00:00:00.001-04:00

legs are wierd

179, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

178

2008-03-17T23:59:00.001-04:00

some kind of bjork, and me trying to make an ambigram of my name

178, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

176

2008-03-17T23:57:00.005-04:00

a very poor likeness of Albert but come on it was dark in there okay

176, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

175

2008-03-17T23:57:00.003-04:00

buh

175, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

174

2008-03-17T23:57:00.001-04:00

omg moody okay

174, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

173

2008-03-17T23:56:00.005-04:00

This woman is half fish

how did that happen

173, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

172

2008-03-17T23:56:00.003-04:00

yay new sketchbook i am drawinz

172, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

171

2008-03-17T23:56:00.001-04:00

harrison st. coffee

171, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

i dig drawing

2008-03-07T15:18:00.001-05:00

I kind of have to pee but I don't want to leave my stuff out (I am in a coffee shop because my internet at home broke).

piercings, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Queen Of Spades

2008-03-07T13:53:00.001-05:00

An awkward foray into Illustrator (ps i hate it).

Queen Of Spades 2, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

coca-cola

2008-03-07T13:50:00.001-05:00

A fake coca-cola ad for class... like a magazine spread (I used lorem ipsum lol)

coca-cola C, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

whoopsie

2008-03-07T13:37:00.002-05:00

I have been having a couple of minor problems with my flickr account so I've been unable to update lately. As soon as I figure out why nothing I upload is showing to the public, I'll post a few things I did for class and hopefully whatever cool things I find in my sketchbook.

How I do things

2008-02-25T20:48:00.002-05:00

Since I had a bunch of different saved versions of a painting I am working on for class, I thought I'd put some of it together to show how I work (in case some people were actually wondering). The painting still isn't quite done but this is basically my whole process, mistakes and all. Enjoy!

(click for enlarged)

Stark

2008-02-20T13:13:00.001-05:00

A close-up from a picture I am working on for Sci-Fi/Fantasy... a book cover for Game Of Thrones. This is Eddard Stark lookin' all icy and stuff.

stark, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

new layout and a button

2008-02-17T17:12:00.001-05:00

You might read this through RSS feed, but just in case you actually look at the site, I changed the blogger template some. Now there is actually a squid!

button, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

digital drawing

2008-02-12T06:11:00.004-05:00

Bored scribbles in photoshop.

169, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

edit: don't look too much into this! i didn't draw nipples!

edit 2: removed the second image (sometimes I get embarassed :x )

sketch 169

2008-02-07T03:10:00.001-05:00

Sketched this one using my wacom tablet. Despite having used one for many years I think I still prefer just sketching on paper... there is not enough friction with the pen and that is fine for photoshop painting, but linework is a bitch to do digitally. I guess the act of putting a plain old pencil to paper is so perfect it can't ever be replaced by fancy pants technology.

sketch 169, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 168

2008-02-07T03:03:00.001-05:00

Another artist... gosh why are there so many artists! Must be something in the water

168, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 167

2008-02-07T03:02:00.001-05:00

Drawing people outside Shafer.

167, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 166

2008-02-07T03:00:00.001-05:00

A fun drawing of the majority of my class sitting outside Shafer. Not much for likenesses but I'm glad I managed to fit so many people in one picture!

166, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 165

2008-02-07T02:58:00.001-05:00

I was drawing Kathleen as she was drawing me.

165, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 164

2008-02-07T02:57:00.001-05:00

Some sketching outdoors... everybody was drawin'. I need a new sketchbook badly! Had to borrow paper from a classmate.

164, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Feb 14th is International Batman Day!!!

2008-02-07T00:35:00.001-05:00

This upcoming February 14th will be the first annual

International Batman Day!!

I know it used to be called valentines day but what the fuck guys this is the 21st century.

I have made a bunch of e-cards you can send to people on February 14th.

To see the rest (most are raunchy!), click here or go to my flickr page. There's ten now but I am hoping that by February 14th I will have thousands. Send in your favorite batman pictures!

Until then, cheers! Be sure to get the word out! (repost this okay!)

batman day 9, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

note: pictures can be emailed to squidparty (at) gmail (dot) com!

Seven Samurai poster revised

2008-01-29T21:59:00.001-05:00

Added some color and texture... my computers been running slow lately so it is a pain in the ass to work at this resolution (I rarely ever go over 200 dpi). I just don't do much stuff for print, and if I do it is most often vector.

In my History of Motion Picture class we watched Rashomon, another Akira Kurosawa / Toshiro Mifune picture. Interesting coincidence how three of my classes this week involve samurai in some way! (I am drawing a samurai dolphin for my sci-fi fantasy class).

7 samurai poster revised, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Seven Samurai movie posters

2008-01-24T17:48:00.001-05:00

Some rough sketches for a movie poster for Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. For the title, I made special brush so I could give it a rougher calligraphic look, rather than what was used in the title in the movie.

Dono yet which I like more, but I think I'm going to go with the simpler inky sketch of Toshiro Mifune's face (he totally has his tongue stickin out and everything!)

seven samurai A, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

seven samurai B, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

shape study

2008-01-24T17:45:00.001-05:00

A black and white sketch from a capture of Kikuchiyo from Seven Samurai.

shape study, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

value study

2008-01-24T17:42:00.001-05:00

Hard edge photoshop brush at 50% or lower... usually I've been using that pressure brush more but once in a while I switch back to my alt-click blending methods... Photo reference of course

value study, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

snake plissken

2008-01-24T17:39:00.001-05:00

A photoshop quickie (from photo ref of course). Snake Plissken is the motherfuckin' best!

(Tin you must have known he's like my hero or something!)

snake, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

underwater bubble

2008-01-20T15:36:00.003-05:00

underwater bubble, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

underwater bubble 2, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

different colors

tell me your thoughts

B & W

2008-01-19T02:08:00.001-05:00

b/w, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

before the color

color study

2008-01-19T02:07:00.003-05:00

color study, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

it's Gloomy

'conceptual' self drawing

2008-01-19T02:07:00.001-05:00

, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

I was really really cold

self portrait painty

2008-01-19T02:05:00.001-05:00

selfp1, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

a pretty bad attempt at a self portrait... I think I spent too much time on it really

163

2008-01-13T19:44:00.007-05:00

163, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

162

2008-01-13T19:44:00.005-05:00

162, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

161

2008-01-13T19:44:00.003-05:00

161, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

i was on the airplane and bored

160

2008-01-13T19:44:00.001-05:00

160, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Riot is sleeping (soooo cute)

159

2008-01-13T19:43:00.003-05:00

159, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Riot, the most adorable pitbull in the world

158

2008-01-13T19:43:00.001-05:00

158, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

rediscovering the wonderful line quality of ballpoint pens

157

2008-01-13T19:42:00.005-05:00

157, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

156

2008-01-13T19:42:00.003-05:00

156, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

from a totally awesome photo i saw

155

2008-01-13T19:42:00.001-05:00

155, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

ughhh i don't know

154

2008-01-13T19:41:00.003-05:00

154, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

starting to get the hang of inks

153

2008-01-13T19:41:00.001-05:00

153, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

old but cool

Sunset oil paintings

2007-12-21T20:51:00.000-05:00

A very special dump: Cave of Spleen debut!

2007-12-16T16:05:00.000-05:00

To see the full sizes just click (it will take you to its Flickr page)!

ahhhhh It is complete! Now to get to painting the very last of my finals...

A few words about this comic. I'll admit that I kind of rushed the last three pages of it, but for some reason I am happier with how those turned out and I like them more than the first three pages (which I did a long time ago). This makes me think I work better with, oddly enough, less planning and time. I'm not sure why I work better in less time.

The colors were the most difficult part. I really wanted something simple and also kind of weird. The first few pages have shading and highlights, also a warm but kind of dim background-- I was going for kind of an urban evening look but I don't think it worked out. As I got to the later pages, I decided against the shading and I am more pleased with the flatter colors. I was surprised that a couple people liked the backgrounds, because I don't think I ever spend enough time on backgrounds or environment. Definitely something I've gotta work on if I plan to turn comics into part of my career.

But overall... I like this. I'm very happy I managed to make something that is semi-complete. There is more that could be told, but I think this also stands okay on its own.

spaceman

2007-12-11T21:22:00.001-05:00

spaceman, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

another exercise from comics class. might be my favorite!

art is work

2007-11-29T14:08:00.001-05:00

art is work, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

gouache... i had to stitch the scans on this one... i want a bigger scanner

sketch 151

2007-11-29T14:06:00.001-05:00

sketch 151, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

random comic from a class exercise

sketch 150

2007-11-29T14:05:00.003-05:00

sketch 150, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

doodles from class

sketch 149

2007-11-29T14:05:00.001-05:00

sketch 149, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

tattoo'd lady

sketch 148

2007-11-29T14:04:00.003-05:00

sketch 148, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 147

2007-11-29T14:04:00.001-05:00

sketch 147, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

possible tattoo design for shoulder/upper arm

I heard you were dead

2007-11-13T21:53:00.001-05:00

Plissken, Snake, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Guess what I found at Wal-Mart for five dollars!!!

Bob Hauk: You go in, find the President, bring him out in less than 24 hours, and you're a free man.
Snake Plissken: Bullshit!
Bob Hauk: I'm making you an offer.
Snake Plissken: Get a new president.
Bob Hauk: Is that your answer?
Snake Plissken: I'm thinking about it.
Bob Hauk: Think hard. We're still at war. We need him alive.
Snake Plissken: I don't give a fuck about your war... or your president.

sketch 146

2007-11-13T21:47:00.001-05:00

sketch 146, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Just me being drunk on Paul Pope's awesome work! He has such a knack for drawing pretty ladies, and his crazy style is so instantly recognizable. Wish I could draw like him, but right now I'm still not very comfortable with things like brushes or ink.

sketch 145

2007-11-13T21:43:00.001-05:00

sketch 145, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Another attempt at drawing in pen... ugghhh I am so bad at it

sketch 144

2007-11-13T21:42:00.005-05:00

sketch 144, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 143

2007-11-13T21:42:00.003-05:00

sketch 143, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

pinup girl!

sketch 142

2007-11-13T21:42:00.001-05:00

sketch 142, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

sketch 141

2007-11-13T21:40:00.003-05:00

sketch 141, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Sometimes, I actually think about doing comics, surprisingly!

sketch 140

2007-11-13T21:40:00.001-05:00

sketch 140, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Commons Underground

sketch 139

2007-11-13T21:39:00.001-05:00

sketch 139, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Commons Underground

sketch 138

2007-11-13T21:38:00.001-05:00

sketch 138, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

yep.

oh, by the way, I hate sketching in pen :(

sketch 137

2007-11-13T21:35:00.001-05:00

sketch 137, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

drawings of feet for the homework that danny never checks... sigh

sketch 136

2007-11-13T21:34:00.001-05:00

sketch 136, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

also from august, this was a thumbnail for one of the panels in the mural I did (singlehandedly!) for Stories Comics. Clearly the theme was sci-fi/fantasy.

tee shirt study

2007-11-13T21:33:00.001-05:00

tee shirt study, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

my first oil painting, from august... study of a tee shirt taped to a wall. 8 x 10, b&w

sketch 134

2007-10-21T22:27:00.001-04:00

sketch 134, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

mwahahaha

mine is an evil laugh

wow comic

2007-10-21T21:38:00.001-04:00

wow comic, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

This is something I did maybe a year ago when I still played WoW and was still on the Spinebreaker server. I forget specifically what the dialogue was but perhaps it's funnier without the cheesy punchlines.

edit: Okay if you really want to read it then I added some speech bubbles here.

fruit painting

2007-10-21T21:31:00.001-04:00

fruit painting, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

One of the few paintings that Danny didn't make us destroy.

monkey painting

2007-10-21T21:30:00.001-04:00

monkey painting, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

Oils are kicking my ass I will admit.

moleskine 135

2007-10-21T21:29:00.001-04:00

moleskine 135, originally uploaded by C'est Sabotage.

more hands