I have developed a liking for vector art which seems to be very trendy and popular at the moment and I have dabbled with this artform before using Corel Draw but I am trying out Adobe Illustrator instead and want to learn more about this wonderful software for work as well. In this example I used a mixture of purchased and free vectors of a garden of fruit which I am really pleased with.  It’s such a clean artform and I love all the layers and depth of colours you can achieve plus the advantage of enlarging the vectors without losing quality.  I aim to design my own vectors from scratch or from photographs for my next art project.

I love realism in all art forms and nowadays digital artists seem to have the floor, in particular 3D digital artists who use software such as 3dsmax, Mudbox and Mental Ray which were used to produce this phenominal artwork by German artist Sven Geruschkat, currently living in Düsseldorf.

Today, I work as a digital artist. What is a digital artist? Well, he is a designer, a sculptor, a painter, an architect, an illustrator, a storyteller, a developer, and, and, and…

Creating new interesting characters and bringing them to life is my task. My tools are, first of all, the good old pencil and a piece of paper. Andsince art has gone digital, I work with the computer using the common programs to model, texture and render 3D characters for computer games, visual f/x or artworks.

Why am I doing this? Well, as a child I saw many Hollywood-movies on the silverscreen. Watching Indiana Jones searching for the lost ark or Luke Skywalker becoming the last Jedi fascinated me. From there on I knew, Ihad to do something visual and creative. So I simply began to draw and to interest me for visual f/x and film design.

Back then I discovered the powerful combination between traditional painting and computer technology. However, there was no specific school education about film, visual f/x or 3D animation, so I made a vocational training and became a “Design-Technical Assistant based on
Graphic-Design”. I went into the computer game business as a graphic artist.

The future is wide open and digital. The different techniques for creating art, movies, computer games or merchandise products are merging into one. I’m eagerly looking forward to this.

I got inspired by a little sketch done for Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. The scene depicts the evil queen disguised as a witch, ready to give the poisoned apple.

The attention to detail in this illustration is staggering and I love every part of it - very well done Sven!

Sven’s Website

I have submitted a photograph I took of a mother and baby monkey at Melbourne Zoo to JPG Magazine for the theme “Beloved”.  If you like this photo and feel inclined to help a battling photographer, I would love you to vote for me and this can be done below.

In early September I wrote in my blog that I set up a stall for the very first time with my photographic products at the Wildlife Festival 2008 in Beaudesert. I also submitted one of my photographs of a pair of rainbow lorikeets called “Lean on Me” to the photography competition which was also being held at this event.

“Lean on Me”, rainbow lorikeets getting cosy on a rainy afternoon in my garden

I didn’t know that Australian photographer Steve Parish was going to be at the Wildlife Festival and I ended up meeting and chatting with Steve who was very generous with his time and advice.  I also didn’t know that he was judging the photography competition!

I have just found out that my photograph won THIRD PRIZE in the Wildlife Photography Competition which was judged by Steve and I am thrilled.  I was given a certificate and a book as a prize “Essential Wildlife Photography” a field guide to photographing wildlife in southern Africa by Richard du Toit.

Thank you to Wildlife Tourism Australia and in particular Ronda Green, Vice-chair and of course to Steve Parish.  I am absolutely thrilled!

Again, I ventured out into my garden after a shower of rain and the atmosphere was uncomfortably sticky and humid but it’s worth it to see the garden guests who emerge in the freshly soaked foliage.

I have seen lots of these curled up leaves in the garden and was intrigued as to how they got there and I suspected that they had been constructed by some kind of clever critter.

The clever critter who constructed this is called a leaf-curling spider and what a ingenious use of natural resources for a camouflaged place of shelter!

The Leaf-curling spiders (genus Phonognatha) are orb-weaving spiders that add extra protection to their webs. They hoist a leaf from the ground and, using silk threads, curl it and seal it to form a protective cylinder. They then sit in this cylinder with only their legs showing, feeling for the vibrations of a captured insect. The curled leaf protects them from birds and parasitic wasps. Sometimes other objects, such as snail shells (which come ready-curled), are used. A male takes up residence in an immature female’s web, living at the upper end of the curled leaf. He mates with the female as soon as she matures. The female lays her eggs within another curled leaf, which is silked up and hung in the foliage away from the web.

from Wildlife of Sydney Fact File

Rain Drops on allamanda flowers

l to r: bristle fly and some kind of beetle (dung?)

Lots of tiny butterflies were also chasing each other and speeding around the garden and occasionally landing for a split second - this orange palmdart decided to stick around for a bit longer on a dandelion seed.

I peeked into my next door neighbour’s garden and saw the most beautiful flower all by itself in amongst ferns so I couldn’t resist taking a few photographs and I will need to find out what it is.

I adore Laura’s work and she has a lovely sense of colour and composition in the perfectly balanced layers and there seems to be a luminosity to some of her textured pieces like golden threads in a kimono.

Laura Williams lives in North Carolina. She is a freelance illustrator and designer. A lifelong love of fabric has instilled a passion for pattern and Laura composes lush textural backgrounds. A painter at heart and collagist by nature she uses Photoshop to create images which curtsy to the past and spar with the future.

Some of Laura’s Illustrations

Some of Laura’s Pattern and Texture work for wallpapers and packaging etc

Laura Williams Website here

We had a fierce storm the other afternoon causing one of my cats to bolt under the bed.  The rain teemed down and I actually jumped when I heard the first clap of thunder. It didn’t last long fortunately and afterwards the sun shone through the damp foliage with the smell of rain lingering in the steamy atmosphere.  This is my favourite time to take photographs and I love the dew drops and the renewed freshness of everything in the garden.  It also brings out many garden guests from their hidey-holes.

I saw a branch move and on closer inspection it was a stick mantid and it’s the first time I have seen one. When I saw my macro photographs of this creature I was in awe at the features of this insect.  The ability to camouflage is the first thing and then those powerful jaws for chewing.  The joints are also incredible as you can see in this shot - such a well designed insect.

Stick Mantid

I then disovered a few small spiders hiding under leaves and again, it was my first time seeing these particular ones as well.

l to r: young garden orb-weaver and a flower spider

A jumping spider

Agapanthus is flowering at the moment and the lilac blue petals are gorgeous.  The genus name means flower of love, from the Greek agape, meaning love, and anthos, meaning flower, although the significance of the name is unclear. Agapanthus has been used medicinally for cardiac complaints.

Agapanthus

I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing when I discovered my next garden guest who was crawling underneath the leaves, trying to get away from me.  She resembled a microscopic afgan hound and she was really tiny (about half the size of your pinky fingernail). She is a cotton cushion scale, also known as Australian mealybug or Fluted scale and it took a bit of research to discover what this weird bug is. The white cottony substance is her egg sac and they feed on leaves and twigs.

Cotton Cushion Scale

In the same hedge as the cotton cushion scale, there were a few lady beetles as well and I spotted about five wasps nests throughout my garden.

Lady Beetle and Paper Wasps at their nest

An enjoyable photo shoot in my garden after the storm and I have identified some new insects to add to my sightings.

I recently went to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary with some of my art students and I adore this place.  It was the perfect time of year to see all the new born animals and hatchlings and the students were given an educational talk and had the opportunity to draw some live Australian wildlife.  I was in my element as well, of course, taking lots of photographs throughout the day.

Carpet Python and Tawny Frogmouth

Opposum, Carpet Python & Barn Owl

This water dragon joined us for morning tea and the gorgeous sleepy koalas

When we arrived at the Kangaroo enclosure, we were approached by one of the wildlife volunteers who told us that a new joey (baby kangaroo) had come out of the mother’s pouch for the first time and that we had not to touch him.  He was the cutest little guy and was sniffing and exploring everything around him but not straying too far from mum and dad.

the cutest little joey

There were newly born youngsters everywhere which made this visit even more special including these black-winged stilt hatchlings.

Adult Black-Winged Stilt and Hatchlings

Just when you didn’t think things could get any cuter, we came across this family of marsupials having an afternoon nap.

A complete contrast to the cute babies was this huge crocodile getting cool in the hot afternoon sun.

and one of my all time favourites, the white-lipped green tree frog

I can’t speak highly enough of this Sanctuary and it is a very safe and natural environment for the native wildlife, not to mention educational and inspiring for artists and photographers.  If you get the opportunity to visit, go, you will love it.

ANZANG Nature is an organisation focused on the unique natural heritage of the bioregion of Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica and New Guinea – continents and islands cast from the great southern continent of Gondwana Land over fifty million years ago in which, due to long periods of isolation, remarkable flora and fauna have evolved.

ANZANG Nature highlights this extraordinary legacy by encouraging photography of the region’s nature and wilderness, raising public awareness of its natural heritage, and providing support for nature conservation in the region.

To achieve these aims ANZANG Nature conducts the annual photographic competition to bring to light the very best photographs of animals, plants and landscapes taken in the region. The competition is open to
all photographers, amateur or professional, of any age or nationality.

All winning and highly commended entries form a major travelling exhibition displayed at public museums and galleries, national and international. Sponsors include institutions, corporations, organisations and individuals, all of whom support ANZANG Nature’s aims. Supporting sponsors are recognised throughout the competition and associated exhibitions.

Funds from book or merchandise sales surplus to the cost of each year’s competition and travelling exhibition are donated to conservation organisations in Australia and New Zealand that provide
natural habitat for native flora and fauna sanctuary.

ANZANG Nature and Landscape Photographer of the Year - 2008  Winner

l t r: “Crested Tern Feeding” by Graham Morgan (Winner)
“Flying Humpback Whale” by Raymond Alley (Runner Up)

ANIMAL PORTRAIT CATEGORY

l t r: “Elephant Seal Scratching” by David Burren (Winner)
“You found Me!” Red-Eyed Tree Frog on Flower by Darran Leal (Runner Up)

BOTANICAL SUBJECT CATEGORY

l
l to r: “Helix- open pod of the Scarlet Bean” by Stanley & Kaisa Breeden (Winner)
“Dandelion caught in the Breeze” by Kate Miners

UNDERWATER SUBJECT CATEGORY

l to r: “Leafy Sea Dragon Portrait” by Shannon Conway (Winner)
“Port Jackson Sharks” by Mark Spencer (Runner Up)

WILDERNESS LANDSCAPE CATEGORY

l to r: “Last of the Evening Light” by Tony Hopkins (Winner)
“Driftwood on Beache” by Andrew Trowbridge (Runner Up)

THREATENED ANIMALS AND PLANTS CATEGORY

l to r: “Female New Zealand Falcon & Chick” by Andrew Trowbridge (Winner)
“Flight to an Uncertain Future” by Nick Edards (Runner Up)

BLACK AND WHITE CATEGORY

l to r: “Elephant Seals Breeding” by Graham Morgan (Winner)
“Community - Marine Borers” by Stanley & Kaisa Breeden (Runner Up)

INTERPRETIVE PHOTOGRAPHY CATEGORY

l to r: “Rock Pool Ripples” by Jan Glover (Winner)
“Secret Life of Gum Trees” by Jessica Drake (Runner Up)

OUR INTERVENTION CATEGORY

l to r: “Thong Print” by Olga Barrington (Winner)
“Little Penguin” by Michael Williams (Runner Up)

JUNIOR PHOTOGRAPHY CATEGORY

l to r: “Bug Eat Bug World” by Kireina Johnston (Winner)
“Common Blue Damselfly” by Georgie Ross (Runner Up)

Stay tuned for news on my blog about the 2009 competition and call for entries.

Azul De Corso is a freelance artist, graphic designer and illustrator. She works for clients as Pepsico, MTV, Nickelodeon,Vh1, Unilever, Creamfields, among others. She also worked as art director for editorials in Mexico and Argentina. She is correspondent of IdN magazine.

I loved this artist’s work as soon as I set eyes on it and  I just had to post some of this very talented illustrator’s work on my site.

“Fauna” back cover for new Fauna Powa CD

“Pavo real”

“Sea horse” giclee print

Illustration publication in Gooo magazine issue #5

“Iguana”

Visit Azul De Corso’s website