More fun with effects

Played with the effects options again in Photofiltre. This one's called "twirl" but it could be called "acid feakout." Makes solving just a little bit more challenging.

More junk food inspired art

This started while I was eating a rare (I swear!) meal at KFC last Monday. Drew the shape of the plate freehand (a bit carelessly, I admit), then started designing a pattern around and behind it. I don't know if "Life Tastes Better" with KFC, but I kinda like this result.

No rulers allowed

I drew this freehand, so it went faster and with less smudging than previous ones. I am now certain that I've exceeded my drawing ability from those college days of long ago, and that feels good.

For the next one, I'll try to incorporate a design or pattern. Hmm, any ideas?

Another work in progress...

Taking another shot at a 3D-in-space maze, but this time without graph paper or rulers. Good result so far! Getting better at "turning corners," which is maybe harder to draw than it looks. One would think the year of mechanical drafting at community college would've left me better at this visualization thing. Maybe that's why I'm "drawn" to this, because it's so challenging.

Anybody remember Q-bert?

I started sketching cubes one morning, and suddenly I flashed back to a fun video game from the 80s (the old-fashioned kind where you stood up while you played).



This took a couple of hours to finish. Had to be careful to keep the lines at the correct width and in the right direction. Goes in the category of "moderately challenging."

Made it a little trickier

Added a few more paths to make the solution a little less obvious. Still have a ways to go to make it truly tricky, and still plan to add some visual features to make it more interesting looking.

If at first it doesn't work, look at it sideways

I started with an idea from Devo’s album Shout but it wasn’t working out, maze-wise:


Then I noticed that if I turned the “sound waves” sideways it had potential as a marble drop puzzle. This might develop into something cool.

Ready to solve

Darkened up the lines. Print it, cut carefully along the lines, fold, glue/tape, and solve, from Eye to Door.



Here I give it a spin. Bonus points for guessing the album.

A little pyramidic help

A new idea (for me)…a foldout pyramid maze. This is my first draft. I’ll cut it out and make sure the paths line up, then fill in the lines with darker pencil or ink (tomorrow). I think it might work!

Fainting in Coils

Finished "coil maze" and added shading. Can definitely build on this concept.

Experiment with shadows

Added shadows to a recent pipe maze. While adding to the 3d effect, I think it actually flattened the image overall (not good). Something to work on.

Workin’ in a coal mine, goin’ down down

This took a couple of days, a bit at a time. It’s hard to focus on something rather abstract for long periods. I hope to come back to this soon and add some features to add visual interest.

Cubes in space

Not sure if this concept is worth pursuing. There's a point where I can tell whether I should invest more time to finish, or expand, on an idea, or whether it's not really working and move on. Hmmm...

Plumber's nightmare

More adventures with over and under pipes. When you drop down, you can go on either side below it.



I'm thinking that a good balance is to alternate sketching "real" objects, with "mind-only" geometrical mazes. Some of each should eventually yield some cool integrated designs.

Getting red-y

Colored over the lines with a red marker…certainly more Valentine’s Day ready.

Experimented with the “mouse trail” in the four walls. Not sure whether different colors are better to orient which wall it’s in, or dots/dashes/etc.

To the heart of the matter

Start at the top left and work your way through the pipes. Where there’s a gap, you must stay in the same direction (no 90 degree turns) across it. See if you can identify a shape in the design.

Progress, and a see-through house

Did a little more work on the "pipes" maze. Felt a little easier to link them together, which is exciting in its own way.

Glancing through an architectural magazine this evening I saw a "see-through" house (only good for warm & dry climates, obviously). I sketched it from memory, then thought "what if I have a mouse digging around in the walls?" Could turn into something interesting.

"No one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

I set up a matrix of larger and smaller circles in between plays of NFL games today, and started to design a maze into it. Might try designing this straight to computer, too. Should work pretty well.

Adding to an idea

Against my urge to come up with something new every day, I built on yesterday's "hedge" concept, but this time making them true rectangular tunnels and adding pipes to create alternate types of paths. Solid black was a nice choice, as I just drew the rectangular paths first, then filled in the black pipes over them - no erasing necessary (except for the part that I messed up badly). I might even try adding one more dimension to this concept tomorrow.

Landscaping 101

I started my own attempt at a hedge maze today while waiting in a long freeway ramp line. Not sure what I was thinking because with a hedge maze you travel between the hedges, not in them. It's also ridiculously easy-to-solve, but was a nice compromise between "easy" 2D drawing and hard (so far) 3D perspective drawing. Kind of relaxing. A little more pre-planning might help next time.