I’ve been experimenting a lot with wallpapers lately. They’ve let me break out of the web design mold and try something new. This new set is an exploration of color, geometry, style and composition. I’ve posted them all up on Flickr for you get to a better look. I recommend checking out the full resolution to see the details. Alternatively you could just download the zip. Let me know which one you like best. I’m currently using Deep Sea.

Sam and I have a thing for underwater creatures. First it was the Enterprise Octopus. Then it was Norman Naysayer. Now we unveil Mr. ROI himself, Ricky Revenue. Sam had this idea for a new character. Someone who’s eye is always on the numbers. He won’t approve something unless the ROI can be proven. To him it’s all about metrics and analytics. He loves Excel.

With that in mind and the undersea theme as my guide it wasn’t long before the good old angler fish came to mind. At first we we were thinking of someone with a sort of glazed, zombie like stare. All he can see is this glowing orb of money in front of his eyes. After some consideration it dawned on us that this person isn’t just a corporate zombie. He’s someone who legitimately has financial concerns about the business. You just have to get him on your side.

Drawing Ricky took about 2 hours in Photoshop once the initial sketch and direction had been decided on. This was my first time drawing at 300 dpi. The brushes are nowhere near as forgiving. You can see that it took me a while to get warmed up. Overall I’m pretty happy with how he turned out. I’m working on my line weights and smoothness. I like a bit of wave to my line but I’d like to be a lot smoother. I need to start forcing myself to use my whole arm for the movement rather than just my wrist.

Be sure to check the Vimeo page so you can see it in higher res, “HD”. Also be sure to check out Sam’s more in-depth explanation.