Profile for colorfool - Couch Potato

colorfool aka Axel Christ is a 35.62 year old boy, has been a member since January 4, 2009, has scored 259 submissions, giving an average score of 2.86, helping 11 designs get printed.

URL: http://www.threadless.com?streetteam=colorfool

Mar 14 '09 by colorfool
45 Comments
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Couch Potato

Have couch potatoes been done to death? Oh well, doesn't really matter. I just got a Wacom Bamboo and tried to doodle in Illustrator with it for the first time. Next I will try to use the same Bamboo to make it into vector shapes. Still in the process of getting used to it.

First vector shapes are taking shape and color and whatever...

Should I make that potato more fat, still? I am thinking about making the couch really flat under the weight of that bugger. Maybe...

Instead of man-tits I gave him fat cheeks... that way he could even be a she, for all I care : ) Equality for all couch potatoes!

Now with more unfinished ideas... there is the human-size remote control buried in the ground. Also I think I will finish the design off with some sky and leafs above the ground.

I now moved the fertilizer bottle away from this unholy place RIGHT BETWEEN THE LEGS! Also I wrapped the arm root around the remote, pressing one button. Should the wrapping pattern change?

Still thinking if I should make it into a whole underground family of 'tatoes. Everyone doing his/her stuff somewhere in the soil.

Going for the family idea, for now. Might still release singles, eh? The next doodle shows a potato taking a hot bath. The skin hangs on a hook on the wall.

Filling in the shapes. Sadly I have to call it a day, now. My free time is quite sparse.

Trying a little brightening on a charcoal shirt...

Retreating to the one shirt, one potato thing... also trying another color scheme.

Feel very free to leave comments : ) Also feel free to eat potato products and just change the channel. It's ok.

colorfool on Mar 14 '09 at 3:55pm

Taking shape : )

SuperRyan on Mar 14 '09 at 4:02pm

I love that he's underground! Great idea!

I'd say make him fat. Give him some big fat man-potato boobs.

colorfool on Mar 14 '09 at 4:10pm

Hey, thanks for the feedback! More fat is the way to g(r)o(w)!

I am by now thinking about making it into a bit of a network. He is in the middle, the fattest of them all... then around it might be other potatoes, all in the soil, doing different activities... I'll see where this takes me. It will take time, though, because I am a daddy of a 5 month old daughter... not much chance for doing anything for a longer stretch of time.

colorfool on Mar 15 '09 at 4:09am

potatoes are bumpy

colorfool on Mar 15 '09 at 5:28am

Updated with more cheekiness.

Ryan, can you survive the absence of man-tits? I thought... what if he's a girl? I am never sure about potatoes.

colorfool on Mar 15 '09 at 10:09am

Added green color for fertilizer bottle and leafs... fun to work on it : )

SuperRyan on Mar 15 '09 at 10:32am

I love the remote in the ground! Yes, I can live without man-titties : )

The fertilizer looks kind of weird with the root/straw going right into it from his mouth, though.

notnorm on Mar 15 '09 at 10:38am

I like the idea of the root being the straw as well. I would soften your color scheme. This seems like it should have a more playful and light color scheme.

I would appreciate your opinion

colorfool on Mar 15 '09 at 2:46pm

One pro and one con. That fertilizer... Me, I actually like the basic idea that the potato people would just drink and eat by sticking their root into the stuff. So to me it makes sense... I do have an alternative version in mind where there is a watering can standing besides the couch and then the fertilizer bottle besides that. Is that better?

About the color scheme: You might be right about that. Well, I created spot colors in Illustrator, so that's easy to change. I will still wait with that, until I really know, where I am going with this design.

I by now have an option in mind which includes more above ground scene. Imagine you see two feet and a spade, ready to be rammed into the soil. Then the dark colors might suit it just fine.

We'll see, how it develops. Ever comment is highly appreciated!

SuperRyan on Mar 15 '09 at 2:57pm

For me, the fertilizer looks a bit weird because it is between his "legs."

colorfool on Mar 15 '09 at 3:02pm

I see, you naughty boy! I never thought of that! Well, in that case it might help to have the watering can stand besides the couch, eh? Then he can still use his long, err, ROOT, to totally suck it up!

colorfool on Mar 15 '09 at 5:43pm

Fertilizer moved! Also grabbing the remote.

SuperRyan on Mar 15 '09 at 6:23pm

I like the way his "arm" is wrapped around the remote - like he's growing around it.

kashlen on Mar 15 '09 at 6:28pm

LOL It is coming along nicely.

colorfool on Mar 16 '09 at 2:32am

Thanks : ) I guess the progress will slow down a bit now... until the next weekend. But I will doodle around during free minutes, so any ideas and suggestions are still very welcome : )

colorfool on Mar 16 '09 at 6:02am

bump from down at the roots

kevinwells on Mar 16 '09 at 3:59pm

ironically, i just looked over and noticed that my friend Pat is actually sitting on the couch right now, holding a potato in his hand. i wonder why

colorfool on Mar 16 '09 at 4:26pm

Most of the time the potatoes consumed on a couch are either crisps or fries... what kind of potato has Pat been holding?

iluvtees on Mar 16 '09 at 4:28pm

wow, I got a wacom tablet 6 months ago and all i can do looks like ur first drawing.

colorfool on Mar 16 '09 at 4:40pm

I guess it depends on what software you use? If that's so then maybe you are more a photoshop kind of person? Me, I was always into the b�zier curves of illustrator and similar software... I spent years on the job masking and tracing using those tools. Back then. With a mouse.

Now I like how easy it is to doodle on one layer with the bamboo and then later draw the shapes on a second layer with the first one half transparent on top.

brentendo on Mar 16 '09 at 6:49pm

it looks nice, I like the use of negative space you've used to show the shape of the TV, I don't think the top blue area is needed, you could probably get away with not having that

one thing I noticed you could add is some of the rocky texture you've added near the potato's feet to the area where the remote is stuck in the ground. Other than that I can't really think of much to improve it lol

colorfool on Mar 17 '09 at 3:31am

Thanks for the feedback, brentendo! You are right, the remote should be buried in a more believable fashion. I shall certainly do that in the next iteration.

The above ground scenery right now is still a bit out of place. The scale doesn't suit the scale of the below ground stuff. That's mainly because I am just toying with the idea, for now. I will probably add more underground potatoes doing different things. If I go that route then I like the idea of showing the plant on top which keeps the family connected.

On the other hand, if I stay with just that one potato scene, then I would want to add more detail. Like some agricultural magazine on the floor, a bag of crispy soil on the arm rest, the house shoe pots besides the bare roots, stuff like that (as seen in the first doodle).

Which route is better? Growing a whole family or going for one big detailed version of just this scene?

colorfool on Mar 17 '09 at 10:28am

bump-wave

colorfool on Mar 17 '09 at 12:57pm

double-bump

colorfool on Mar 17 '09 at 5:38pm

A new doodle... good idea?

colorfool on Mar 18 '09 at 3:17am

Ay, the new pic is so small... darn, have to make a new preview so everyone knows what these lines might one day turn into. Basically it's a potato taking a bath in a cooking pot full of boiling water. The potato skin is hanging on a hook. Ah, nice steam bath to end the day! Potato luxury!

colorfool on Mar 18 '09 at 2:07pm

Ah, illustrator time, precious minutes.

colorfool on Mar 18 '09 at 5:16pm

I decided to mirror the pot so that the two potatoes I have up to now don't look in the same direction.

colorfool on Mar 18 '09 at 6:04pm

Filling in some shapes, most importantly a bathing potato : ) I suppose I might let it dangle one leg out of the pot. Every potato should be rooted somewhere.

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 3:33am

Steam-bump. So comfy.

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 1:20pm

Which colors are better?

SuperRyan on Mar 19 '09 at 1:22pm

I'm liking charcoal

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 1:39pm

Welcome back, Ryan! You like the bubble bath addition (plus potentially many more)? Or should it just be one main character? Take some crisps, while you are here : )

kashlen on Mar 19 '09 at 1:41pm

I like the black

kashlen on Mar 19 '09 at 1:42pm

and I kinda like the one couch potato vs. more, but that's just me, of course.

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 1:44pm

I am sure collecting all opinions, so "just me" is more then good enough : ) I'm just me, too! Thanks for your thoughts!

SuperRyan on Mar 19 '09 at 1:48pm

I'd also like just the coach potato

SuperRyan on Mar 19 '09 at 1:49pm

I think the baby and the bath make it unneccessarily busy.

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 2:54pm

Oh, kashlen, do you like the black version more because of the surrounding black, or because of the inside color scheme?

And Ryan and the general public: I am actually a huge fan of intricate prints with tons of things to see. So my personal take even if only using the couch potato would be to at least add in all the still missing detail from the first doodle. Also I would love to develop the whole big family. What do you think, if I would submit the whole family thing with 4-6 potatoes, would threadless allow me to later submit single potatoes from the big pic? Like having an album and then doing a single release? Or would they deny them?

kashlen on Mar 19 '09 at 2:55pm

Yeah, I think that's what it is...the main color scheme of the first one is bolder. I think that's why I like it. Also, I think sticking with the one, original idea you had and just enhancing it with lots of details (like you said above) is the best route to take.

SuperRyan on Mar 19 '09 at 2:58pm

I would think they would accept them. After all, they accept re-subs, don't they? And it would be your own work - so I don't see why they would deny them.

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 4:17pm

Right Ryan! Well, since nobody really seems to like the idea of a whole family I might just make them into single pics... once I have some, I could still re-sub them as a whole. So the way to go is to refine that original Couch Potato.

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 5:30pm

Updated!

colorfool on Mar 19 '09 at 6:22pm

And updated once more : )

colorfool on Mar 20 '09 at 1:22am

Early morning bump

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