Illustration Friday : "Moon"

Back around October of 2003, I agreed to try to make a video of a song by Mark Maynard's band Monkey Power Trio. Lacking enough knowledge in animation programs it was doomed to failure. I had access to Flash; I just didn't know how to use it. I still don't, however I'm in the process of learning. No promises, but I may be able to finish the video sometime this year.

I bring this up because the theme for Illustration Friday, this week, coincides with the name of the song: "Someday we'll reach the moon."


Click for larger view.

This is a composite of the Flash interface and a few of the elements that I illustrated before realizing I had no idea what to do next. The concept behind the video was, it would look like one of those toys that you push a button on and the music plays while the shapes move behind a textured screen. Even though this isn't a brand-new illustration, it IS the first time I've shown it to anyone who wasn't involved in the creation process, or close to me.

If you would like to listen to the song, head here: The Monkey Power Trio's 1999 album 'Chasing Monsters With Our Love'.

Someday I'll finish that animation. Someday. Someday.

I really think the idea behind the Monkey Power Trio is awesome. They are a group of friends who get together once a year, play music for a few hours and then turn it into an actual vinyl LP. They don't practice together at any other point during the year, and yes, it shows. Yet they still manage turn turn out some interesting songs. They plan to do this every year until they die. All of their music is also available at their site as free MP3s.

---

About the Shirt.Woot Derby... Maybe next time, and then only if they revamp how voting is done. As it is now voting is shown in real-time; the more votes an image has, the larger its icon is; "New Hotness" pretty much reflects the top five images because that's all anyone seems to be voting on; the lead image is already up to 422 votes; it's pointless to enter after the first day. Unless they change the rules, the only strategy I can think of to have a chance of winning is to do up a bunch of random designs ahead of time and then hope I can make one fit the topic on Friday at noon. The currently winning design wasn't the first design submitted, but I know it was there within 4 hours of start time. And in the forum, the creator said it was a design he made years ago in high school.

I'll keep you informed.

Ah, heck, I made a design anyway. Voting be damned. Still, I do hope they fix it so it's less discouraging.



If you are a customer of Woot (meaning you've bought anything from them) and would like to see this design made into a shirt, click on the picture to be taken to where you can vote. You'll need to be logged in, however.