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4 years ago
Hey, folks,
I haven't been on FA for a while (a year, maybe?), though I have been posting on SoFurry somewhat regularly and sporadically on Deviant Art. I have a lot more artwork that I haven't posted here yet, so I'll be working on adding those. I was concentrating on writing my books, though took a break to catch up on some art projects. I'm going to have to see what I've had on here so I'll know where to start with the new stuff.
My previous laptop died on my last summer and I had to end up buying a new one...which then I had to get new software because the new laptop's newer build of Windows 10 Pro no longer allowed me to use my old Adobe Photoshop v. 6.0 (from back in 1999-2000). I now use Corel Paintshop Pro 2021 Ultimate, though will be upgrading to the 2022 version (just have to download it and install). I also got a new digitizer, a XP-PEN Pro 22E Graphics Tablet/Remote Monitor, which is larger than my Acer Aspire 5 laptop. The XP-PEN Pro 22E works as both a digitizer and as a remote monitor -- what is displayed on my laptop's screen is also displayed on the XP-PEN Pro and I draw/paint directly on the image and see it happen on the laptop. Pretty neat. On top of that, I now have a Fusion5 Windows Pro tablet that is on the same level as my old laptop (a Lenovo N22) as far as processor, memory, etc. I have a bunch of other hardware, so basically, the laptop and the tablet are setup more or less the same and I can work about anywhere on either setup. Gives me more flexibility. If it wasn't for the stimulus money from the gov't during this pandemic, I would've been hosed as far as my art and book writing is concerned (and keeping up with people I know).
I've been taking some of my older character portraits and recoloring them digitally, along with making new character portraits. For those who have seen my work, I think you'll notice the improvements.
One other thing I've been doing is setting up high quality photo prints of my art. Mostly, I have 8"x10" and 20"x30" prints available on Fujifilm Chrystal Archive photo paper. I have template files created for both print sizes (I can make other sizes easily enough) that have a black background and a 0.5" margin all around. The portrait fits within the margin and I add a gray "glow" around it -- works out pretty good and is great for the frames I've been using for my own copies now hanging on my walls.
One of my big art projects is the Squadron VP-307 Calendar Project, which goes along with my "Daggers of Darkness" sci-fi novel series. The calendar is dated for the year 2514 (every date is on the appropriate day for that year), so when I get it finished, it'll be just like it would be in the story. I have 5 more portraits to make for the calendar -- currently (as of 2021-09-13) I have January, February, April, May, June, September, and October done (working on March now). This calendar will eventually be printed and will be able to hang up on a wall. I'm going to try to get it finished by December of this year. It features the portraits of some of the ladies in the squadron from different ships,
Well, that's mainly it for now. Again, I'll be posting some new character portraits on here soon that those who are not on SoFurry will finally get to see something new. :)
Later,
GSOTA
I haven't been on FA for a while (a year, maybe?), though I have been posting on SoFurry somewhat regularly and sporadically on Deviant Art. I have a lot more artwork that I haven't posted here yet, so I'll be working on adding those. I was concentrating on writing my books, though took a break to catch up on some art projects. I'm going to have to see what I've had on here so I'll know where to start with the new stuff.
My previous laptop died on my last summer and I had to end up buying a new one...which then I had to get new software because the new laptop's newer build of Windows 10 Pro no longer allowed me to use my old Adobe Photoshop v. 6.0 (from back in 1999-2000). I now use Corel Paintshop Pro 2021 Ultimate, though will be upgrading to the 2022 version (just have to download it and install). I also got a new digitizer, a XP-PEN Pro 22E Graphics Tablet/Remote Monitor, which is larger than my Acer Aspire 5 laptop. The XP-PEN Pro 22E works as both a digitizer and as a remote monitor -- what is displayed on my laptop's screen is also displayed on the XP-PEN Pro and I draw/paint directly on the image and see it happen on the laptop. Pretty neat. On top of that, I now have a Fusion5 Windows Pro tablet that is on the same level as my old laptop (a Lenovo N22) as far as processor, memory, etc. I have a bunch of other hardware, so basically, the laptop and the tablet are setup more or less the same and I can work about anywhere on either setup. Gives me more flexibility. If it wasn't for the stimulus money from the gov't during this pandemic, I would've been hosed as far as my art and book writing is concerned (and keeping up with people I know).
I've been taking some of my older character portraits and recoloring them digitally, along with making new character portraits. For those who have seen my work, I think you'll notice the improvements.
One other thing I've been doing is setting up high quality photo prints of my art. Mostly, I have 8"x10" and 20"x30" prints available on Fujifilm Chrystal Archive photo paper. I have template files created for both print sizes (I can make other sizes easily enough) that have a black background and a 0.5" margin all around. The portrait fits within the margin and I add a gray "glow" around it -- works out pretty good and is great for the frames I've been using for my own copies now hanging on my walls.
One of my big art projects is the Squadron VP-307 Calendar Project, which goes along with my "Daggers of Darkness" sci-fi novel series. The calendar is dated for the year 2514 (every date is on the appropriate day for that year), so when I get it finished, it'll be just like it would be in the story. I have 5 more portraits to make for the calendar -- currently (as of 2021-09-13) I have January, February, April, May, June, September, and October done (working on March now). This calendar will eventually be printed and will be able to hang up on a wall. I'm going to try to get it finished by December of this year. It features the portraits of some of the ladies in the squadron from different ships,
Well, that's mainly it for now. Again, I'll be posting some new character portraits on here soon that those who are not on SoFurry will finally get to see something new. :)
Later,
GSOTA
