“Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee” in Retropolis

Filed under Works in Progress

Late nights at the Astro Cafe, in the retro future world of Retropolis: ah, the memories! This diner offers anything a spaceman, spacewoman, or robot might want after a night’s revelry, or after a night of dodging space pirates, which is not the same thing. Park your rocket, cadet, and have yourself a steaming hot cup of joe.

As usual, this was done with a combination of 3DS Max and Photoshop. It’s the second of what may be three pictures set in my diner of the Future That Never Was.

This one, like the first, has a title from Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee”. Because my future is just like that.

Still: no women in tubes. Part of me feels wistful about how that might have improved things.

Available as a poster, an archival print, and a postcard.

“Just Around the Corner” – the diner of the Retro Future

Filed under Computer Graphics, Works in Progress

Here’s the first of what I think will be three pictures set in my retro-futuristic Astro cafe. That’s a scene I started working on in 2004 and plugged away at for quite awhile (in the shadow of the then Day Job). I dusted it off and found to my surprise that it only took about a week to finish it up.

Oddly (or not) I once lived just around the corner from a coffee shop called Astro in LA’s Silverlake neighborhood; and there was a hostess there who was not unlike Mabel, in some ways. But although I did once see a rocket go by, I never saw anyone wearing goggles in there.

This one’s available as an archival print, a poster, on blank books, and a postcard – the sort of impulse buy you’re likely to make at the counter, no?

In progress: Diner scene from the Retro Future

Filed under Computer Graphics, Works in Progress

Okay, I’ve explained before that I hate posting work that’s not finished, and I speculated about what deep seated psychological warpage that implies – but I’m just having too much fun with this and I’m going to risk the damage that my rampaging Id may cause to me and to you and to anyone who gets in its way.

This is a rough layout. It really is. The figures are just blocked in (mainly), the lighting needs tons of work, and there are all sorts of things wrong with it.

But I like it already. So there.

This is the first of what I think will be three high resolution pictures for prints, all set in the Astro Diner. That’s a 3D “set” I worked on for quite awhile back in 2004 but then set aside till about a week ago, when I dug back into it. (I posted some small shots of the diner here, when I’d finished the robot waitress we see in this picture.)

I have the same problems a camera crew has in a tight space – for many of my shots in the diner I’m going to have to cut out parts of the set that are in the way. But this one hasn’t required any major surgery yet.

Okay. You’ve seen it. That will be all.

“Prairie Moon” Retrofuturist Poster & Print

Filed under Works in Progress

One thing’s certain on any frontier – whether it’s in Wyoming, or on an unnamed moon somewhere near Cygnus – and that certainty is that it’s best to be polite when dropping by.

Just imagine the mortification of these spacemen who – and really, this was probably innocent – have set down their retro rocket on the surface of what seemed to be an uninhabited moon. Oops!

“Prairie Moon” is an 18 by 24″ archival print (a poster and a postcard are also available) and is also the name of a song from the 1930’s that was pivotal in Dennis Potter’s wonderful “Pennies From Heaven”. The picture itself is a purely digital image which I created with 3DS Max and Photoshop.

Space Pirates & Space Patrol Vie for your Enlistment

Filed under Works in Progress

Dueling recruiting posters from the Retro Future promote a couple of career opportunities available through school career guidance centers.

“Space Piracy”

Space Piracy! A wide-open field in which the sky is, in fact, not the limit. Where any able space man or woman can rise through the ranks not merely because of experience or merit, but due to his or her devious and ruthless exploitation of social interactions.

In this, space piracy is like most of the day jobs I’ve had.

..and the “Space Patrol”!

If it were a thankless job it would still need doing – but happily, the Space Patrol is almost universally admired, and there are benefits – edible food! Spartan accommodations! Your own ray gun! Affable second lieutenants!

By signing on, you will enter into a new career of interplanetary adventure: you may meet, and blast into small quivering bits, the Awful Green Things From Space! Pursue Space Pirates! Endure a station rotation in corners of the galaxy where nothing has ever happened and where, almost certainly, nothing ever will!

Each is available (even if you don’t enlist) on t-shirts at the Retropolis Transit Authority, and on coffee mugs, greeting cards and other gear at the Retropolis Travel Bureau – two agencies, each committed to finding career paths for the enterprising youth of the Future That Never Was.

Also available on posters, blank books and whatnot at Celtic Art & Retro-Futuristic Design.

The Retropolis Travel Bureau – inviting you to visit the retro future

Filed under Works in Progress

The second of my new Zazzle stores is called the Retropolis Travel Bureau – yet another agency (like the Retropolis Transit Authority) of the retro future. Give me enough time, and I could probably put together an entire New Deal for the Future That Never Was. 🙂

Like Ars Celtica, which I mentioned yesterday, I’ve taken advantage of a new product range to make some customizable items like business cards (check out the Airship Captain!), postcards, and greeting cards.

Something unique to the Travel Bureau, though, is a selection of retro-futuristic name tags. They’re also customizable, so their default label (“You can call me…”) can easily be changed to the name of an event – like a party or convention, for example – and even the names can be added, though you probably wouldn’t want that since all six tags on a sheet get the same text. I really enjoyed making these.

And also like Ars Celtica, there are some uber cool coffee mug styles and other items to choose from.

I had a great time customizing this store, including a “Tourist Info” page that’s basically the Travel Bureau’s newspaper. It’s got tourist advisories and the sort of news items you’d be likely to find in a community newsletter of this type. With mad scientists and space pirates thrown into the mix, of course.

Ars Celtica: Celtic Art & Business Cards. No, really.

Filed under Works in Progress

So for the past few weeks I’ve been working on a couple of storefronts at Zazzle, and right about now the shop designs have settled in and the first lines of products are ready for prime time. Ars Celtica is a Celtic Art themed store; some of my favorite new products there are the customizable business cards (what a great idea!) and I had a great time working up the first designs for those.

They let me offer some really nice coffee mugs. Another thing I worked up is a series of Celtic border magnets – they’re square sections of knotwork patterns that you can put together into borders. Neat!

The postcards are also pretty spiffy. I treated them like the kind of fine art postcards you might pick up at a museum. For the moment – unfortunately! – I haven’t made available high resolution posters and prints. I’d sure like to, but the system that handles large prints over there just doesn’t offer the control over print sizes that I need.

Otherwise, though, I’m really happy with what I’ve got going over there and I’ve enjoyed customizing the shops. Fun times!

T-Shirt Sale!

Filed under Works in Progress

In other news, three of my T-shirt sites are having a really exciting sale this week – the sites are the Retropolis Transit Authority, Saga Shirts, and Hot Wax Tees.

Through Friday, April 17, you can get some great discounts on orders: $5 off a $25 order, $15 off a $50 order, and $35 off a $100 order (before shipping charges or any applicable tax).

So even though math makes my brain hurt, I can see that a $25 order gets 20% off and a $100 order gets 35% off. Nice! That last one is more-or-less a free shirt if you pay for three. The sites use the same checkout, too, so you can mix and match.

Site Redesign at Celtic Art & Retro-Futuristic Design

Filed under Web Development, Works in Progress

It’s been about four years since I did a redesign at my flagship site, Celtic Art & Retro-Futuristic Design. Till now, anyway. Last night I updated the site with a new look and a wider format layout that will better acommodate the continuously growing content that’s been trying to bust out of the pages.

Over the years, that site’s been laid out to work in a browser window that’s 640 pixels wide (2002), 800 pixels wide (2005), and now 1024 pixels wide (2009). It’s always looked good, but each time it’s looked good, well, better.

I can’t let the width grow until I’m inconveniencing a very small percentage of the site’s visitors. Which is, well, now. I watch the stats on my visitors and I can see that very, very few of them are now running their displays at less than 1024 x 768.

Truth to tell, I’m still tinkering with the new version a bit. But that’s normal.

See what you think!