Boomstein

Hi everybody, I'm back from the dead, so to speak. I have been busy the last couple of days working on this huge composition themed Absinthe. Check it out - and perhaps even the other work - at my website (which I also redesigned last week) http://boomstein.teijssen.be/illustrations
Thanks for taking a look!

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Against Boredom Even Gods Struggle In Vain -- F. Nietzsche

Aarlev

Nice work Boomstein. I love Absinthe! I thought the volume was more than 55% alc. though? Or are there different kinds of Absinthe? Damn that stuff gets you hammered anyways

I like your new website. I know you probably don't want feedback as you posted this in Showcase so just tell me to p*ss off . The borders are a bit too much in my opinion. I think it would be even nicer if you removed the pattern and bevel from them and made them flatter and thinner. Still looks nice though

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//PORTFOLIO\\

Boomstein

Thanks Aarlev! I always appreciate constructive criticism. I was pondering about the frames of the website myself as well, last night before I went to bed. I will take your idea into consideration, maybe even try it out in a test environment.

There are indeed many brands with varying alcohol levels. I will post information on Absinthe regularly as I try to at least taste some of them. The bottle in the photograph used for this illustration is made of a bottle, glass and fountain of 'Libertine', a mild and simple Absinthe of indeed 55%. The highest percentage of alcohol in real Absinthe I know of is 74%, which is the 'Blanche de Fougerolles' from France.

I just ordered a bottle of Duplais Balance and Helfrich, and if you check out my website now and then, you'll be able to read about them too. Oh and in my flickr stuff there's picture of the Libertine Absinthe too

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Against Boredom Even Gods Struggle In Vain -- F. Nietzsche

Boomstein

As you can see I took a test ride of the theme with thinner borders, and changed the thick ivy plants into art nouveau like swirls and stuff. I like this much better. Thank you again Aarlev for pointing this out!

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Against Boredom Even Gods Struggle In Vain -- F. Nietzsche

Aarlev

You're welcome . Yeah it looks much better now! I like what you did with the swirls as well.

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//PORTFOLIO\\

alyCe

I liked the "enjoy absinthe"-poster more than the absinthe-illustration. In the poster you get the feeling of the delirious, strange halliciougenic world of absinthe, the green fairy etc.

I don't get that feeling in the illustration, it's a very nice and skillfull illustration, and I see you got your grip around Illustrator, but it's not how you draw but what you draw :P I like the perspective, and you don't have to start over, but I think the drawing would speak more if you add something, to give it the delirium associated with absinthe

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everyone runs, nobody hides

seanHodge

@Boomstein,
I like it alot. I like the perspective of looking up. I like the cartoony combined with a classic feel. I like the varying line thicknesses. I think that some of the white highlights could be bleneded better.

I like the illustration. Good job

Could you give a little info about your process and any programs you used to make it?

Thanks.

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Sean Hodge
AiBURN - Illustrator On Fire
Connection Cube - Graphic and Web Design Services

Saywells

looks good, although a bit too cartoony for my taste...

surely you've seen the vintage absinthe posters? hopefully that's not a stupid question.



http://www.oxygenee.com/absinthePOSTERS1.html

Boomstein

Thank you so much for all these kind words. It was a drawing I made after a picture I took of my Absinthe tools I have at home. It was completely done in Photoshop, and I wanted to see what kind of technique felt best, so I tried a few different ones (compare the lighting in the bottle to that of the fountain bowl)

@AlyCe: yes, the Enjoy Absinthe poster is cool I might do something similar with composition #1 (or another one) in the near future as I'm working on a great project concerning this spirit.

@seanHodge: well like I said it was done in Photoshop. I took a set of pictures before we had an Absinthe 'soirrée' with some friends, and used one of them as a sort of blueprint for this. I drew the contours of the photo, and changed a few things to my liking (for instance, in the picture the right tap was missing, and the labels were originally 'Libertine', a brand of Absinthe) Then I started coloring, sometimes by simply filling areas with gradients, other times by actually painting colors on the layers. It's great fun, if you want you can always contact me on MSN (boomstein[at]telenet.be) and we can talk about techniques and other cool stuff

@stereopattern: those are two of my favorite vintage plaques, too bad I don't have them (yet!) I do have a plaque of the Jules Pernot Absinthe. I will definitely try to do some vintage work related to Absinthe in the near future, once I get all the techniques right

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Against Boredom Even Gods Struggle In Vain -- F. Nietzsche