Charon

Story:

The rise and fall of the waters parallel the rise of life and its subsequent decent into death.  It's a river that can be rapids or eerily calm amidst the endless hordes of lost souls who wait on its shores for the ferryman to guide them across it's murky depths . . . so long as they have their fare.

Inspiration:

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the name of the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the river Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.  

When coming up with this illustration I decided that instead of the ferryman maneuvering a boat, what if he was the boat.  Why not have the boat as an extension of his lower half and the lantern an extension of his lower jaw.  I also thought that maybe I should make the boat bigger so that more than one person can traverse the waters at one time.  But then I realized that this is a voyage on the way to Hades, and what could be more torturous than standing and waiting in line for an eternity!

www.laminmartin.com

Eleven

Story:

If there’s a cord powerful enough to shake the gates of heaven & hell, believe me, I’m gonna’ find it. 

XOXO, Julie

Inspiration:

The idea for “Eleven” came from my love of bands like Veruca Salt, the Lunachicks and L7.  When forming my love for illustration their music was the soundtrack and source of inspiration for the worlds that I would escape into and I’ll always be eternally grateful.  And of course the title “Eleven” is an homage to the greatest mock band and the greatest rock mockumentary, “This is Spinal Tap”.

A Quarter Past

Story: 

There was a time when I thought I couldn’t do the things that I’m paid to do now.  To look down the barrel of a rifle and decide life or death was once a difficult decision that’s become all too easy.  A decision that shouldn’t be left up to any man, especially a man like me.

Inspiration:

The look and feel of the character Is inspired by Sean Connery's character, "Jim Malone", in the 1987 movie "The Untouchables" and "Allan Quartermain" in "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen".

The overall image is an exploration of the idea of a gentleman assassin who uses a steam powered sniper rifle to take out his targets.  But in his down time he enjoys his pipe and a good scotch as he contemplates his position in life while he ensures that his tool of trade is always in working order.

GelaSkins

We at Lamin Illustration & Design are pleased to announce that we are working with Gelaskins!  Now you'll be able to express your individual style and customize your digital devices with interchangeable, protective art prints that go anywhere for your iPhone, iPad, Samsung Phone, Laptop, iPod and Kindle.

Shop today! 


www.gelaskins.com/lamin-martin



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CG Wallpapers

I'm very pleased to announce that my images "Ursa Major" and "Discarded" have been added to the prestigious roster of artists found on the pages of CG Wallpapers.  I was contacted by them and asked if I would like to submit my artwork to their great website and I jumped at the chance.  You can download the wallpapers using the link below!

CG Wallpapers Link


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Resonance

Resonance is a pencil illustration that’s been in my sketchbook and on my wish list to paint for a very long time.  Her name is Carmen an accomplished harpsichord player whose enjoying an afternoon performing one of favourite Bach pieces.
I finally got to work on this concept and the resulting image is another in a very long list of images that I felt I took an empowering step forward in my painting technique.  I really felt that the use of lighting was more of challenge considering I usually hide behind the use of shadows found in some of my darker imagery.  However this time there was no place to hide.  I focused on the stoic elegance of the figure with the use of a lot of bright soft sunlight flooding in and relied on the warmth of the colour palette to tell of the story rather than dramatic shadow.  I can't wait to use what I've learned from this experience and applying to my work in the future. 

New Website

When it came time to redesign my website I finally had to say goodbye to the simplicity and ease of iWeb.  The deceased software while not the best tool for web design served a great purpose for me at the time when I knew nothing and still know nothing about coding a site.  I'd heard of an iWeb alternative for a while called Adobe Muse and finally decided to give it a try.  To my delight it has all of the ease of iWeb but with more features and the full support of the Adobe Creative Cloud family.  I hope you enjoy the new Lamin Illustration & Design and if you decide to design your own website, give Adobe Muse a try.  It's designed for designers.
Below are are a few of the many very helpful resources that helped me along the way.  I hope you'll find them as useful as I did.

How To Get Started With Adobe Muse - The 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do

Click HERE!

How To Create Buttons and Links in you Adobe Muse Website

Click HERE!

Creating A Hyperlink Using Adobe Muse - lynda.com

Click HERE!

Adobe Muse CC Trick 100% Page Width Slideshow

Click HERE!

How To Create A Hero Slideshow for your Homepage 

Click HERE!

Adobe Muse CC Scroll Effects Tutorial, Fade Away Banner

Click HERE!

Muse Tutorial:  Creating a Lightbox Photo Gallery, Lynda .com

Click HERE!

How To Create A Favicon in Muse

Click HERE!

Create Anchor Links

Click HERE!

Adobe Muse FAQ  - Embed YouTube Crashes Muse

Click HERE!

Adobe Muse - Lightbox Effect for YouTube Video

Click HERE!

Adobe Muse CC 7.0 Tutorial - Smooth Fading Rollovers

Click HERE!

Muse Tutorial: Best Practices for Search Engine Optimization

Click HERE!



Take care!