Render time doodles

Most jobs tend to have at least a couple of days, towards the end, that feel like you have just entered the 'Twilight zone'. The work gets more and more intense as the deadline gets closer and then... comes the rendering. The day or days where you are just rendering all of the separate elements to be comped. You go from a 100% to just staring at a progress bar that moves very slowly.

That is when the doodling starts, while you wait for the ping at the end of another render. The drawings always seem to have a particular quality that I can never seem to replicate on normal days. Exaustion mixed with a touch of boredom channeled through a directionless demented pencil.

Here are some examples from one of my last jobs.

Lisbon's doors, windows and ironwork

Everytime I visit Lisbon I tend to obsess over some or other architectural detail. This last time the ironwork won me over. It is easy to overlook it as you walk around and the city's many charms compete for your attention... but there are intricately crafted details everywhere.

Favourite shots of last year... mainly

Last year was a great year for travelling and I took hundreds of photographs. These are some of the best shots as well as some other, random shots, that are a bit older but that I still really like.

Loch Lomond

Playing with the Iphone crossing Loch Lomond, on a beautiful foggy day.

Hipster Monkeys

FilipeAlcada_HipsterTypog.png

Let's look at the twirly moustache. The sheer ratio of moustache length to body mass of the Emperor Tamarin leaves no doubt in anyone's mind that the proud tache,... the glorious lip-toupée,... the flavour-saver crumb-catcher, tea-strainer, lower-brow is no godly machination, Mr. Tickler is 100% monkey!

On creationist myths, believe what you want... you can Adam and Eve it, Brahma the hell out of it, or if you want to be more obscure, Unkulunkulu it but when it comes to the Hipster there is no doubt! The Hipster comes from the Monkey! And the proof?... The proof is in the hair.

Hipster Monkeys Emperor Tamarin
 

The Golden-Langur is another prime example. To this day, it proudly displays mutton-chops that would be the envy of any Victorian gentleman.

Dear hipster look and learn! Fine, golden and naturally coiffed.

 

If you need any more proof that sideburns are a simian masterpiece let's look at the Chimp. You can grow and groom your sideburns all you want but the casual grunge sideburn of the Chimp is a hard act to follow.

The monkey is born with it!

 

...If you still have any doubts that Hipsters are the proof that the 'link' is no longer missing, have a close look at the beard of a Mountain Gorilla.

No monkey is so naturally Hipster... You can put him in any expensive coffee house around the world or in a log cabin full of lumberjacks and the Gorilla fits right in.

 

Dear Hipster, our forefathers are follicly inspirational but they are now in serious trouble due to habitat destruction, poaching, exotic pet trade, etc...

Let's band together to save our ancestors.

Avoid products with palm oil, only buy wood that has Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, cycle,  buy organic stuff, recycle and re-use, plant trees and don't forget your ancestors when you twirl your face-carpet.

Hipster Golden Langur
Hipster Monkeys Chimpanzee
Hipster Monkeys Gorilla
Hipster Monkeys Lowland Gorilla

Brush Pen

For the past couple of months I have been drawing with a Pentel brush pen, I had to forget how I normally draw, the pen is so responsive that you have to consider every mark,... it is a very unforgiving tool. Nevertheless, it has been a fun process,... to re-learn how to draw,... the main image is a recent drawing and the other drawings are all early attempts. A slow progression to the main image.

I am also working on a new set of drawings with the pen (a bit more controlled), that I will use on the next posting (just painting them at the moment).

Filipe_Alcada_Girl