Sprinkler

I remember when this photo was taken.
A very hot summer Sunday. Hair freshly combed.
As Mom took this photo she said, "Don't get wet."
We were going to my cousins shortly.
I stood there silently, not doing anything wrong.
Mom said a little louder, "You better not get wet."
I was just standing and thinking, geez.
"Go put your shirt on and don't get wet!"
What? huh, all this talk and standing in the sun makes me feel warmer.
Walking in through the back door Mom yells, "I'm warning you!"

The Rabbit Star Shining Bright

This one is for the kids.
On the way to the rabbit star.
Statistics:
• Name: T Leporis
• Type: Vitamin B class star – visibility good.

Abbreviation	Lep
Genitive	Leporis
Pronunciation	/ˈliːpəs/, or colloquially/ˈlɛpəs/; genitive /ˈlɛpərɨs/
Symbolism	the Hare
Right ascension	6 h
Declination	−20°
Quadrant	NQ2
Area	290 sq. deg. (51st)
Main stars	8
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	20
Stars with planets	3
Stars brighter than 3.00m	2
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)	3
Brightest star	α Lep (Arneb) (2.58m)
Nearest star	Gliese 229 (18.83 ly, 5.77 pc)
Messier objects	1
Meteor showers	None
Bordering constellations	Orion Monoceros Canis Major Columba Caelum Eridanus

A3 Show 2012 - Illustrators Australia

Top, Shaman Mask - Angry Red
Below, Shaman Mask - Antler


Illustrators Australia will be holding it's annual A3 Print Show in June this year and I'll be one of the exhibitors. (see image below for dates and times)


I'll be showing and selling the two images above as Glicee prints. They are professionally printed on Acid Free Canson Edition Etching paper, 310gsm and printed using the Epson 9900 series. 
(Limited to an edition of 40 signed prints). 
Image size 297 mm X 420 mm. Paper size 330 mm X 455 mm.
Prints signed, titled and editioned in pencil at bottom. The electronic signature seen on the above images will not be on these prints.
Contact me by email  if you are interested in obtaining one or more. 
The email address is at the top of this blog.


These artworks are based on my Shaman series skateboard designs (See them in the beestycard zazzle store). I was interested seeing if I could apply the rich ornate vertical design of the boards into a more standard print format proportion for this show. It took awhile to work out but I have finished the digital artwork this morning (with a break to sit outside to observe the transit of Venus). When the sun became obscured by clouds in the afternoon I had the first prints from the edition professionally printed by Angus Benham at his printery called Gusha Visual Media over in Brookvale NSW. Thanks to him for such great quality work.

Riding Around on my Rooney

What a great old day this Sunday. Sun's out, .......not in much of a hurry really, as it is the weekend. Just enjoying the day and having a ride around on my Rooney. 

A little drawing from the Brownsnake2 Sketchbook.


This has become an intriguing drawing for me because of a odd little coincidence. I drew this fellow on his chopper tricycle while in my bed before drifting off. The following day I spotted an article in the online Sydney Morning Herald newspaper announcing that the designer of the first chopper bicycle the 'Raleigh chopper', Alan Oakley, had passed away from cancer at the age of 85.
Here's a DailyMail article link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2147366/Alan-Oakley-designer-Raleigh-Chopper-bike-dies-aged-85-cancer.html

Popularity

The trouble with wanting to be popular and attracting attention to yourself is that you have no control of who succumbs to your attractions. You have no control over their thoughts and actions. It is a double edged sword.

This image is also from The Encyclopedia of Grim. This image was actually one that was highly dependant on the random paint marks of the background. I pulled the figures out of the shapes of the colour blocks. A skull shaped yellow area was the catalyst for the leering figure on the left. The white facial area block sitting on the pink body was the catalyst for the figure on the right. The concept developed gently from the ongoing theme of the The Encyclopedia of Grim sketchbook which was the grimacing mouth shape.


Apologies for messing up and submitting two links to the Illustration Friday site.

Caterpillar Prep

– Sensing it was now time, Onno began the preparation. –

The story before this moment.............,
and after................

Caterpillar Prep is from the Snakeskin Sketchbook series of artworks.

Preparation Lepidoptera larvae

Merry Christmas - 2011

Merry Christmas to all friends, clients and casual visitors to kenrinkel.blogspot.com. This is my christmas card that I am sending to clients, friends and family this year. it features Santa Claus as a happy man revelling in his time spent underneath the mistletoe. Internet surfers around the world may be familiar with Christmas and Santa Claus but maybe not so much mistletoe. 
Mistletoe is commonly used as a Christmas decoration, and according to custom, the mistletoe must not touch the ground between its cutting and its removal as the last of Christmas greens at the winter equinox; it may remain hanging through the year, often to preserve the house from lightning or fire, until it was replaced the following Christmas Eve. In cultures across pre-Christian Europe, mistletoe was seen as a representation of divine male essence. Whoohoo!
It was described in 1820 by American author Washington Irving in his "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon": "The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of kissing the girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When the berries are all plucked the privilege ceases."
I think these days it would be prudent to ask first.
Joyeux Noël 
Ken Rinkel

A Shadow of My Former Self - Stars & Stripes

From the Snakeskin Sketchbook series a metaphorical comment on the current economic state of the USA and returning veterans of conflict zones.

Print available at my shop at Artflakes who are now newly printing in America so there are now reduced shipping prices.

Broom Brigade

The twins of the broom brigade share the work, share the effort and share the rewards of hard work, a clear place to breathe. 'Broom Brigade' is from the Snakeskin Sketchbook series.

Shower Me With Kisses

A whole load of round shapes that together remind me of this great song that was written in 1935. I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter. Music by Fred E Ahlert and lyrics by Joe Young.
A lotta kisses on the bottom, I'll be glad I got em'. Too good!
From the Snakeskin Sketchbook.

Here's a Youtube link to the Fats Waller version
and here's the lyrics:

I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
And make believe it came from you

I'm gonna write words oh so sweet
They're gonna knock me off my feet
A lotta kisses on the bottom
I'll be glad I got 'em

I'm gonna smile and say
I hope you're feeling better
I'll close with love the way you do
I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
And I'm gonna make believe it came from you

Oh yeah

I'm gonna write words oh so sweet
They're gonna knock me off my feet
A lotta kisses on the bottom
I'll be glad I got 'em

Oh yeah

I'm gonna sit right down and write myself a letter
And I'm make believe it came from you
Oh yeah
I'm gonna make believe it came from you

Oh yeah

Vanity, On Display

Purely a character study of attitude. 'Vanity, on Display' is another from the Snakeskin Sketchbook series of drawing. Vanity was inspired by a bull I had seen recently at the 'Mudgee Small Field Farm Days'. The bull had a sign on it's pen which said, 'keep back, bull hates small children'.

Violence-Silence

Often the natural response to violence or the threat of violence is to stay silent. Silence in the hope of not attracting further violence. This character is hollowed out by the experience and the silence.

FB Update, WTF? - Illustration Friday

Facebook update, WTF?.
It's a mystery how that got there, Who ? What? .....ugh.
Could just as much be an ipod ad as FB.
I thought that Illustration Friday's topic 'Mysterious' was a good opportunity to post this character who's in the grips of a major sinking feeling.
From the Snakeskin Sketchbook series and available at Redbubble and Artflakes.

Waterwatch manuals - NSW Department of Environment & Climate Change (DECC)

These images are a few of many for the NSW government's Department of Environment & Climate Change 'Waterwatch' manuals and guides. Waterwatch is a program where community groups and stakeholders monitor and test water quality in their local waterways. They then can record their results on a central database that the NSW government uses to get a greater understanding of the states water resources. Above here are two images from the 'Landholder' guide and three from the 'junior' (school) guide.  

'Waterbug' images. These little fellows were used in information breakouts as well as on a water quality visual chart.

'How to' There were a great many instructional images showing how to use the various bits of equipment  and how to follow a process. It's important to get these accurate as these are for the collection of scientific data and the margin for error must be reduced for accurate interpretation of the data collected.

All images were finished created using adobe illustrator. Most started life as pencil sketches though some were created fully digitally.

Mount Annan Gardens - Mascot

This is a fun job that I got to do. I have always wanted to design a character that would be eventually transferred into a 3-dimensional walking talking living doll. This character is called 'Buttercup'. She's a character designed as a mascot for the Royal Botanic Gardens and their Mount Annan Gardens. The buttercup is a flower endemic to the garden area and the character was created to appear at the various events that the gardens put on at their south-western Sydney site at Mount Annan. The digital art was designed for brochure, promotion & newspaper.

TACHYON Gardens - character & Starflower

Detail from another spread. This one has one of the little characters examining the energy containing Starflower.

I have entered the full spread in the Wacom 5th anime contest.
http://www.wacom-asia.com/

TACHYON Gardens - characters in space flight - detail

TACHYON Gardens - characters in space flight - detail of the previous image with my signature overlayed for © protection

Tachyon Gardens - characters in space flight

Tachyon Gardens is a concept I am developing which I will post a few images from. Here I am having my fun with texture and digital filters. The colour palette and some elements of the background is similar to the one found on 'Ophelia'

This little fellow is a fox character created for the covers of Oxford University Press' Math Plus primary school workbooks. The original brief was for groovy aliens but changed to a clever inquiring fox detective as the authors were not keen to associate learning maths with being an alien.

I've posted an alien illustration using the characters I had in mind at the time and used in this little tickle the piggy illustration. It has the aliens bringing 'self-awareness' to the little porker with just a touch.