Coconut and Cricket

More rarer images of Neil, my beloved:

20 years.

I find it so beautiful that this little rat's life has been remembered with love for 20 years and will be hopefully for decades to come. Truly a marvel of the internet.

idk that’s how i remember it

I was looking at the frutiger aero piece and I thought the depth you managed to create with the fish way at the front and the farther smaller fish + background in the distance was really cool.

I'm working on figuring out how to create implied depth in my work (traditional art, painting particularly) and have found difficulty with it. Do you have any tips?

Hello!! :3 YIPPEE!! Im always happy to answer artwork questions, i can give some pointers but ofc these are all like very case-by-case, what works for me might not work for everyone so pick and choose what youd like! I've done painting (traditional) as well and i find this does carry over to some extent so hopefully its applicable to you as well

I'll try to keep it to what i think is most relevant/digestable so its most accessible but do let me know if you want clarification or me to go in depth on anything here! First of all its important to identify what you want your subject to be and how many planes of depth youre using. I like using 3 because its easy to make it very cinematic. Identify what purpose you want each one to serve: here's what I used mine for and some basic choices to make that happen!

Before even getting into colour lets talk contrast. It helps to group certain value ranges to each one so they feel like they're united. I usually try to do darkest in front and lightest in back -- this is how I see a lot of things, like staring out a window or taking photos. Contrast can also be accomplished in level of detail, sharpness, colour (both in hue and value) and form, which is how you define shapes and block them out. Blurriness is a shortcut for a camera-lens look but not the only way to make contrast.

Once you got that sorted, play around with composition and colour. Your brain uses a lot of shortcuts, so play that up. If you want depth, give the brain 2 or 3 points of reference. I specifically used size to indicate depth, as well as grouping all the foreground elements into one space. It also helps to put your objects within the environment using atmospheric lighting (light reflecting off the subjects or like when you see mountains in the distance, theres like a haze). Important trick from my studies: DONT RENDER EVERYTHING!!

PUMPKIN PUDDING PIE w/ ORANGE ZEST & CARDAMOM WHIPPED CREAM

(makes ~3 pies)

2½ cups sugar

15oz can pumpkin puree

2 eggs

½ tsp baking soda

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

2½ cups milk

4 TBSP butter (melted)

1 orange

1 tsp powdered sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 TBSP powdered sugar

1 tsp cardamom

pinch nutmeg

pumpkin pudding pie w/ orange zest

preheat the oven to 325°F

prepare the pie crust (that's another recipe's job—either find a scratch recipe or buy a pre-made dough or graham cracker crust)

blend 2 ½ cups sugar, pumpkin puree, eggs, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl (if using a mixer, blend with a paddle attachment)

add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt; blend until well mixed

add the milk and melted butter, whisk until well mixed (if using a mixer, blend with the whisk attachment)

pour your batter into the crust, filling right up to the edge (the mix will be more liquid than solid, but it will rise/solidify in the oven)

bake at 325°F for 55 minutes

remove from the oven and let it cool

top with sifted powdered sugar

zest an orange over the top of the pie (microplane if possible but regular zester is fine; have found that the most aesthetically pleasing version is to peel the orange and then finely dice the peel but that's a hassle!)

whipped cream

put your metal mixing bowl and whisk in the freezer for at least 15 minutes

whisk powdered sugar, cardamom, and nutmeg together in bowl

add heavy cream; whisk until stiff peaks start forming

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