IN ROD WE TRUST

Motor-Bicycle?

2011-04-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

1902 Steffey motorbike, like all early motorcycles, it is literally a motorized bicycle, what we might call today a moped. 250cc 2 stroke single-speed motor and pedals for human power. I came across this one at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Alabama, which is well worth a visit if you have any love for things that go vroom.

I love the look of these early motorcycles, they seem almost steampunk, but cooler because all those brass fittings and glass bulbs are there for a reason.

Perhaps this explains my continual ellipsis abuse…

2011-04-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Careful out there

2011-03-30T10:07:00.000-07:00

Watch out for deer. They have no love for motorcycles. Cars too, but mostly motorcycles.

Sketchy thing.

Cultivate

2011-03-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ah springtime! The season of planting. Of cultivation.

I wanted to do something a little more, conventional shall we say? Plants or something like that. But this image appeared to me and I could not get it out of my mind. Oh well, conventional is boring anyway.

Swarm

2011-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

Today's illo is based on true story!
Loosely. Very loosely.

A mysterious new site has appeared

2011-03-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

…what does it herald?

spacehelmet.ca

Organizational skills

2011-02-28T12:50:00.000-08:00

They keep telling me I need to get organized, but I just don't think it's working for me.

Layer

2011-02-21T19:39:00.000-08:00

A cross section reveals the hidden layers of this man.

Stampunk

2011-02-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

Stampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, Stampunk involves an era or world where John Stamos is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of Stampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne or real technologies like the computer but developed earlier in an alternate history, and John Stamos.

I was Stamosed

2011-02-14T10:25:00.000-08:00

NanaNanaNanaNa NanaNanaNanaNa

2011-02-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

I have this friend who rather likes Batman. And who doesn't, really? Bad people, that's who.

Surrender

2011-02-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

This weeks illofriday gets the crossover treatment with another project I'm working on. The topic just seemed like a natural fit.

Minimal Henderson

2011-01-31T09:58:00.000-08:00

Quick sketch of a Great War era Henderson motorcycle. Trying to keep it loose and kind of feel the shape.

Birthdays x3

2011-01-27T19:52:00.001-08:00

Rocketships and the Aliens that Love Them

2011-01-26T18:49:00.000-08:00

Couple more sketchy concepts for Die In Space Repeatedly.

Kills in Space Repeatedly

2011-01-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

The Vacaloca is a former commercial hauler turned raider. It is massive and slow, but size can have it's advantages too. Vacaloca can take a lot of abuse, a lot of munitions, and a lot of spoils.

Rocker Switch

2011-01-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

A friend said he was looking for rocker switches…

Double Take

2011-01-10T19:51:00.000-08:00

I saw these two shadowy figures playing gargoyle out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to look there were only satellite dishes.

Phenomenon

2010-12-16T17:32:00.000-08:00

DIe in Space, Repeatedly

2010-12-10T16:32:00.000-08:00

Teaser for a game project. This is what you call truth in advertising.

To Do List

2010-11-25T14:38:00.000-08:00

They say making lists us helpful, but I'm just not seeing it.

Greebles are space barnacles

2010-11-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

Spam in a can

2010-11-22T13:10:00.001-08:00

So I hear it's your birthday…

2010-11-17T17:38:00.000-08:00

Congratulations! Another year forward on your journey.

And also:

Updidn't: Triastroloboterra

2010-11-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Some things didn't get blogged for whatever reason in the past few months. This is one.

Dream Watch

2010-11-17T12:54:00.000-08:00

I had a dream about this watch, which is odd because I don't usually remember my dreams and I don't wear a watch.

Hospital Corner

2010-10-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

I spent several hours hanging around a hospital room yesterday (I wasn't the patient). Eventually I got tired of reading Moby Dick to pass the time, and made this sketch on my iPhone.
The clock on the wall really did read 99:59, that's not artistic license.

Getting Things Done

2010-08-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

Order from chaos!

Psycho KLR

2010-07-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

My friend's industrial motorcycle. Having spent a lot of time operating industrial machines, I personally wouldn't want my motorcycle to look like work, but to each their own. I spent a lot of time looking at this bike on my recent adventures. I almost miss the ugly thing.

Giant

2010-07-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

"I'll be a pharoah soon
Rule from some golden tomb
Things will be different then
The sun will rise from here
Then I'll be ten feet tall
And you'll be nothing at all"

Mobile test

2010-06-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

Trail

2010-06-07T15:47:00.000-07:00

Just a real quick one as I'm about to leave on vacation. I wouldn't have even bothered, but this weeks Illustration Friday topic of "Trail" was too perfect to ignore.

I'm about to go motorcycling across the United States, following the trail of one C.K. Shepherd, who rode across the country on his motorcycle after he came back from World War One, back in 1919. He documented his journey with the book Across America By Motor-Cycle, which you can find, free of charge, on Archive.org. And as we follow his trail, our crossing will be documented by my good friend Chris, at acrossamericabymotorcycle.blogspot.com

I'll probably do some sketching on the journey, and I may update from the road, but for now, no promises.

Until next,
Rod

Equipment

2010-05-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

The bottle opener is +1/+3 vs. Lagers.

Ahead Poster!

2010-05-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

By ~~popular~~ some demand, I am now selling prints of my last piece Ahead. It can be found under "Prints" on my website rodgillespie.ca

Ahead

2010-04-29T18:45:00.001-07:00

Maybe it's because I was just reading something about Eric Chahi and the classic Amiga game Out Of This World (originally known as Another World, presumably the name was changed for America to avoid a flood of death threats from disappointed soap opera fans) but I did this one in simple vector style with Illustrator instead of freehand (again, freehand, not Freehand, and if you get that joke, give yourself a cookie).

I worked out the basic idea freehand in Sketchbook Pro before taking it into Illustrator, and you can see the original rough outline, if you're into that kind of thing, after the jump.

Detective

2010-04-22T14:25:00.001-07:00

Going rough for this week's Illustration Friday, rough like the hard-boiled detectives of yesteryear's pulp ragazines.

Eff Zed Six

2010-04-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

After listening to Big Illustration Party Time podcast episode 36, with guest Jason Cruz, motorcycle and hotrod illustrator extraordinaire, I decided to try out something in the Cruz mode.

Rocket Surgery

2010-04-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

Expired

2010-03-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

So this Illustration Friday is Expired, which brings to mind all kinds of fun things. Took some inspiration from a novel I recently read. Bet you can't guess what it was!

Buell Ulysses XB12S RIPFTW

2010-03-14T21:14:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting, this is part of a t-shirt design I'm working on. It is, however, a motorcycle, on Monday.

Perspective

2010-03-04T13:32:00.000-08:00

I'm crushing your head!

Somewhere to the West

2010-03-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

The sun came out, and a man went for a ride.

Propagata

2010-02-23T16:53:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be honest, I had a hard time coming up with something work-safe for the Illustration Friday topic 'propagate'. Not that I'm in the habit of making dirty pictures or anything, it's just… propagate. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

Adrift

2010-02-17T14:43:00.001-08:00

Everyone always said I was a space cadet.

Monsters In Real Places

2010-02-12T09:53:00.000-08:00

I found this super-fun site, Monsters In Real Places, where you can see, well, monsters, in real places. Like this fella from Caleb Somers:

Or this one from Jane Davies:

…and maybe even something from Yours Truly!

Go check out Monsters In Real Places.

Muddy

2010-02-10T17:39:00.001-08:00

It's muddy, it's a mudskipper. It's not the Muddy Mudskipper of course. Though it secretly wishes it was, as mudskippers are wont to do.

Monday moto

2010-02-08T13:11:00.000-08:00

Focused

2010-02-04T14:19:00.001-08:00

An unblinking electronic eye for each citizen, focused on your every move.

Men With Hats

2010-02-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

The Adventurebilt Hat Company says this about their hats:

"Our hats are anachronisms, relics from a past age when every man wore a hat, and the hat he chose to wear would tell you much about the man beneath it. And of course, the most popular hat style of that era was the fedora."

If a man chooses to wear most popular hat, that is the same hat as almost everybody else, then what does that tell you about him? Did they really think this through?

Of course, I think the comic strip Achewood may have the final word on the Fedora, "You don't look like Bogart, you look like you ride a Honda Goldwing and collect swords"

McKing

2010-02-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

It's Monday, you know what that means…

Clumsy

2010-01-28T14:25:00.000-08:00

MotoMonday!

2010-01-25T20:51:00.001-08:00

Wilderness

2010-01-20T21:55:00.001-08:00

"Society is the place where people exist together. Yes sir. That is civilization. Yes sir.

The lone wolf belongs to the wilderness! Yes sir.

You must not grow up to be a lone wolf! No sir."

Motomonday!

2010-01-18T15:33:00.000-08:00

Starting last monday, I intend to commemorate everybody's favourite day of the week with my favourite thing, the motorcycle. Enjoy!

A Night Ride

2010-01-11T14:25:00.000-08:00

Had a dream I was racing in a strange yet familiar indoor city on my motorcycle.

Undone

2009-12-22T15:02:00.000-08:00

Windows, Linux users: Just pretend the thumb is on the Control key, okay?

Hatch

2009-12-13T14:32:00.001-08:00

Finally coming out of his shell.

Hallow Eve

2009-10-31T18:12:00.001-07:00

What are you doing with that wrench?

2009-10-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

I had this dream…

2009-08-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Instinct

2009-02-23T19:34:00.001-08:00

Time

2009-02-11T19:02:00.001-08:00

No such thing as tomorrow,

only 1-2-3 GO!

Time got the time tick tick tickin in my head

Flawed

2009-02-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

Never satisfied with my work so all my scratchings are flawed to me.

That being the case I suppose I could have just put up anything, but that seems to be against the spirit of the thing.

Oh, I'm back.

Rambunctious

2008-12-16T21:40:00.001-08:00

Uncontrollably exuberant, Boisterous, rowdy, obstreperous, wild, turbulent, unruly, disorderly…

Opinion

2008-11-23T18:05:00.001-08:00

This weeks Illustration Friday topic is opinion.

Here, we see someone has expressed an opinion of a political nature. They make quite a compelling argument, I might add.

Pretend

2008-11-16T18:36:00.001-08:00

You ever stick those playing cards in your spokes so they'd make that sound and pretend you were riding a big motorbike? Some things you should never outgrow…

Wise

2008-11-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

Not an owl :) Raven is wiser.

Ravens use tools, work with/manipulate other animals to hunt for food, and play around just for fun. And then there's the talking…

Vacant

2008-11-02T17:44:00.000-08:00

Behind the eyes, windows of the soul, was nothing. Vacant.

All Hallows Eve

2008-10-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

Halloween quickie

One night a year we get to take off our costumes.

Happy Halloween!

Repair

2008-10-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Impossible repairs become easy with the right tool…

Late

2008-10-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

This beer is all the companionship I need anyway…