Pretty sure the Giants have cornered the market on middle infielders with fabulous hair, no?

I’ve also posted these photos and a bunch more over in my Zenfolio gallery. I’m going to at least two more games this week, so if the Giants would like to consider winning those, too, that would be fantastic. Maybe some time I’ll even get to work on posting photos from some of the other games that the Giants didn’t win. Baseball photos are still fun, right? Right.

On a related, but not really note, I’ve been editing photos recently with a trial of Totally Rad!’s RadLab. I’d been planning to spend some money to upgrade to Lightroom 4, but after using RadLab for a bit, I think I might spend that money on RadLab instead. I know I already own about a zillion different Photoshop actions, but RadLab does everything I can do with actions, in a much, much easier way. I have a couple more weeks left in my trial to decide, but it certainly is tempting.

I know it’s mere hours away from Friday and a new Illustration Friday theme, but I’ve had this sketch sitting in my sketch book all week, so I thought I’d squeeze in an entry for last Friday’s Illustration Friday theme “hitched” while I still could.

Of course I took a ton of pictures throughout the day.

Want more photos? I’ve posted more photos from the game over at my Zenfolio account.

The Giants were still pretty terrible even after Matt Cain’s arrival, but his starts gave me something to look forward to, even when they inevitably ended in pain as the bullpen blew the lead or he received absolutely no run support. Through it all though, Cain never complained, even though he would have been fully justified in doing so. He was just steady, dependable Matt Cain, and he was awesome. He easily became my favorite Giant. And so it was extra satisfying watching him dominate in the postseason in 2010, finally getting the kind of attention he so deserved.

As the Giants talked about “Rainy Day Funds” this offseason, I tried to get myself accustomed to the idea that Matt Cain might leave after this season. I know that’s how baseball works.  It’s a business. Players leave. But the talk of Cain potentially wearing a Yankee or Dodger uniform made me feel sick. And so it thrilled me this morning when I heard the news that Matt Cain had agreed on a contract extension with the Giants. He’ll be donning the orange and black through at least 2017. Is it a lot of money? Sure.  But Matt Cain is Matt Cain. (And hey, it’s not my money. Heh.) Yeah, I know I’m talking from emotion here, but if there’s anyone who deserves that money, it’s Matt Cain.

I look forward to cheering Matt Cain when he’s announced as the starting pitcher on the 13th, and I definitely look forward to many more years of Matt Cain starts here in San Francisco.

Now, if you’ll indulge me, here are way too many photos that I’ve taken of Cain over the years.

It’s been awhile since I’ve drawn something for Illustration Friday, but once I saw this week’s theme, “Swamp,” I knew I had to jump back in.  I started out with every intention of drawing, well, a swamp, but as I sketched out ideas in my sketchbook, this swamp girl sort of came to life. It’s a relatively quick vector illustration that I may go back and clean up a bit later, but I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

The title of this blog post, and in turn the illustration, I suppose, comes from the Grant-Lee Phillips song, “Josephine of the Swamps.” I admit I don’t really put a lot of thought into blog post titles and have a tendency to lean on song titles and song lyrics when I can’t think of titles, but in this case, I think using the song as the title kind of works.

Just in time for prom season. Now available over at iStockphoto.

If you’re in the market to purchase some illustrations of retro flight attendants for use on your blog or website or what have you, you’re in luck!  These three illustrations (as well as a few others) are available now for download on iStockphoto. They all have the original and oh so creative title “Retro Flight Attendant,” and you can find them at the following links (from left to right): Image 1, Image 2, Image 3.

So, hey, long time no, uh, blog post! I’d make up some excuses for not posting any recent work or scribbles or drawings or photos, but the truth is, I just haven’t really posted any recent work or scribbles or drawings or photos.  Not that I haven’t been working on new things.  I have!  I just haven’t been a very good blogger.  I apologize.  I also took way too long (as in I opened up WordPress, opened up a new post, and let it sit there for 40 minutes) as I attempted to come up with a title for this one. It’s not a very good title. Again, I apologize.

I am a great blogger.

But hey, how about some new illustrations? Yes?  YES.

Perfect for those of you who love nail polish and want to express your love of nail polish through an illustration or decorate your blog with a nail polish-related illustration or want to have an avatar/icon relating to nail polish.  These three illustrations are currently available for purchase over at iStockphoto. From left to right: Pink Polish, Pistachio Polish (a very “in” color this spring, apparently), and Tangerine Polish (another very “in” color, or so the magazines tell me).

As always, all illustrations purchased at iStockphoto are editable, so you can alter the colors to suit your project, and if you can’t find something that suits your needs, I’m currently available for custom work.

In honor of pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training today (FINALLY!), I thought I’d post something I drew for fun a couple of months ago. I’m pretty sure I’ve never posted it anywhere except for a small version on Instagram (I’m gidget over there by the way, if you’re into the Instagram thing). Not sure why I never posted it, but today seems like as appropriate time as any to share it with the world.

I’d done a vector illustration of Willie Mays a few months ago, mainly for fun and because I was experiencing severe baseball withdrawal. Once I finished the drawing, I decided it would be fun to draw another Giant. Tim Lincecum was obviously the first Giant who came to mind, because of his awesome hair. After I finished the Lincecum illustration, I decided to keep going and draw two of my other favorite Giants, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, as well. I debated about drawing Bumgarner with his FFFFFF face, but maybe another time.

I’m super happy to have a Twitter timeline full of baseball news and photos again. Now I anxiously await the first spring training game and the return of Jon Miller and Dave Flemming (and of course Kruk and Kuip) to the radio. Soon. SOON.