FA+
Shop
No Subject
General | Posted 8 years agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnWl92EKTJE. Time lapse of Persimmon sketches
This is a character I’ve been working on for animation for some time. I find it a challenge to come up with an efficient design. I’d really like to simplify the hair a little more as it’s still too many strokes but I’m going to try working with this for now.
An interesting thing I learned is that I think I learned more about optimization by batch-processing these drawings. If you watch the video, I did the sketches for all of them first, then the inking followed by layers of color, much the same as they’d have been done if I were working with traditional ink and paint. I did this to avoid switching brushes constantly but it ended up being a lot more efficient. Turns out when you’re painting just the hair over and over again, you start thinking more about how to speed up painting just the hair and become quicker at drawing those shapes.
At the point which I had started this character refinement, I had of course been drawing the character for weeks. I had reduced detail in the hair, face, and eyes to create a design that’s more manageable. Working like this, I picked up a few new rules for ink and paint that I expect will save me time in the future. In no particular order:
Over-color: If coloring an area of the character that will have another layer of color on top of it, go way over the margin. It’s easy and will save time later.
If you notice a mistake or omission in a lower layer, fix it immediately.
Work large to small. Do the largest color areas first then successive layers with finer details.
Time lapse video is useful for identifying where I spent the most time.
In total, I spent about 12hrs on these drawings. If I aim to average shooting on 2s, this is equivalent to about 3 seconds of screen time. I am hoping this time will come down some more as I get more familiar with the character. From the video it appears I spend about half of my working time in sketching and the other half in ink and paint.
This is a character I’ve been working on for animation for some time. I find it a challenge to come up with an efficient design. I’d really like to simplify the hair a little more as it’s still too many strokes but I’m going to try working with this for now.
An interesting thing I learned is that I think I learned more about optimization by batch-processing these drawings. If you watch the video, I did the sketches for all of them first, then the inking followed by layers of color, much the same as they’d have been done if I were working with traditional ink and paint. I did this to avoid switching brushes constantly but it ended up being a lot more efficient. Turns out when you’re painting just the hair over and over again, you start thinking more about how to speed up painting just the hair and become quicker at drawing those shapes.
At the point which I had started this character refinement, I had of course been drawing the character for weeks. I had reduced detail in the hair, face, and eyes to create a design that’s more manageable. Working like this, I picked up a few new rules for ink and paint that I expect will save me time in the future. In no particular order:
Over-color: If coloring an area of the character that will have another layer of color on top of it, go way over the margin. It’s easy and will save time later.
If you notice a mistake or omission in a lower layer, fix it immediately.
Work large to small. Do the largest color areas first then successive layers with finer details.
Time lapse video is useful for identifying where I spent the most time.
In total, I spent about 12hrs on these drawings. If I aim to average shooting on 2s, this is equivalent to about 3 seconds of screen time. I am hoping this time will come down some more as I get more familiar with the character. From the video it appears I spend about half of my working time in sketching and the other half in ink and paint.
Quickdraws to Youtube
General | Posted 9 years agoI know I'm not an amazing artist, but new tools make it trivial to record quickdraws of pieces I've done so I uploaded the process of
Of Mice and Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FElA4yFDKs
Sick Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ0VY3jvoYI
It's at least useful to me in figuring out where I waste the most time and what things I might try doing in different ways.
Of Mice and Men: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FElA4yFDKs
Sick Day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ0VY3jvoYI
It's at least useful to me in figuring out where I waste the most time and what things I might try doing in different ways.
Why I post bad art
General | Posted 10 years agoI post bad art!
Hurray!
There's a part of me that is sometimes afraid of being bullied. I imagine the person who preys upon the insecurities of others in order to forget their own insecurities. That person who says, 'I've seen six year olds who do better work, you should kill yourself.' It's funny though. That person hasn't appeared in my life in a very long time and in truth if I met him, I'd probably feel more sorry for him than bad about my own lack of skill.
I'm not the world's greatest artist. In truth, there's no such person. I'm a student. I'm learning things and trying new things. Not all of them work. Right now I'm learning new tools and new techniques of creating so I'm using old drawings as my base. The reduced investment in creating the story lets me focus on embellishing that story. I add details with color and form. Correct places where the piece did not flow. Add details that enrich the scene.
Part of me wants to hide her face in embarrassment. Much of my older works were even less good than my work today. This post is probably in part an attempt to make an excuse for them and to reassure myself.
On the other hand, I need to do the work to get better. I also do not need to be negative. What I see and what someone else sees may be completely different. Perhaps the work speaks to them. Perhaps seeing someone else work through the process of learning to create gives someone else that little bit of encouragement they need to pursue their own dreams. Even if it is expressed as 'I could do better than that!', I'm okay with it. We all whisper that to ourselves sometimes. Or we see something and say, 'I love that!' or 'I wish I'd thought of that!' or 'I should do a take on that!' Frequently I find I even say it to myself about myself. "I could do a better drawing than the one I just finished." Them's fightin' words and future me will have to prove it to past me. In this way, posting art is great too. It becomes a record of that battle. The internal struggle to evolve.
So yeah. I post bad art! You should too. That person who might give you grief for it is telling you more about their own vulnerabilities and shortcomings than yours.
Hurray!
There's a part of me that is sometimes afraid of being bullied. I imagine the person who preys upon the insecurities of others in order to forget their own insecurities. That person who says, 'I've seen six year olds who do better work, you should kill yourself.' It's funny though. That person hasn't appeared in my life in a very long time and in truth if I met him, I'd probably feel more sorry for him than bad about my own lack of skill.
I'm not the world's greatest artist. In truth, there's no such person. I'm a student. I'm learning things and trying new things. Not all of them work. Right now I'm learning new tools and new techniques of creating so I'm using old drawings as my base. The reduced investment in creating the story lets me focus on embellishing that story. I add details with color and form. Correct places where the piece did not flow. Add details that enrich the scene.
Part of me wants to hide her face in embarrassment. Much of my older works were even less good than my work today. This post is probably in part an attempt to make an excuse for them and to reassure myself.
On the other hand, I need to do the work to get better. I also do not need to be negative. What I see and what someone else sees may be completely different. Perhaps the work speaks to them. Perhaps seeing someone else work through the process of learning to create gives someone else that little bit of encouragement they need to pursue their own dreams. Even if it is expressed as 'I could do better than that!', I'm okay with it. We all whisper that to ourselves sometimes. Or we see something and say, 'I love that!' or 'I wish I'd thought of that!' or 'I should do a take on that!' Frequently I find I even say it to myself about myself. "I could do a better drawing than the one I just finished." Them's fightin' words and future me will have to prove it to past me. In this way, posting art is great too. It becomes a record of that battle. The internal struggle to evolve.
So yeah. I post bad art! You should too. That person who might give you grief for it is telling you more about their own vulnerabilities and shortcomings than yours.
Why do you create?
General | Posted 10 years agoI know this is an art-101 type question but it interests me. What drives others to create?
For me it's a desire to change the world. I believe we do this when we create works of art. Each are a glimpse of another world, another way of being. That holds real power. As artists, we can strip away constructs like race, gender, and age or talk about them in abstracted ways. We can inspire others. Make them smile, laugh, feel aroused, experience the pain of another, see things in new ways.
Writing, music, mathematics, dance, even things like cooking can all express who we are inside and touch others in the world in ways that profoundly change their lives. For me, to create is to love the world and myself. I can't be a passive consumer in the world. I am driven to make and do.
Of course, I also get full of my own ego. Hung up on my personal ideals. I fail to see the reasons others might have. Imagine others have the same goals as me. So, rather than speculate, I ask.
For me it's a desire to change the world. I believe we do this when we create works of art. Each are a glimpse of another world, another way of being. That holds real power. As artists, we can strip away constructs like race, gender, and age or talk about them in abstracted ways. We can inspire others. Make them smile, laugh, feel aroused, experience the pain of another, see things in new ways.
Writing, music, mathematics, dance, even things like cooking can all express who we are inside and touch others in the world in ways that profoundly change their lives. For me, to create is to love the world and myself. I can't be a passive consumer in the world. I am driven to make and do.
Of course, I also get full of my own ego. Hung up on my personal ideals. I fail to see the reasons others might have. Imagine others have the same goals as me. So, rather than speculate, I ask.
Living in the future-uture-uture
General | Posted 10 years agoI've now spent the weekend drawing with the new iPad and Pencil using ArtRage for the iPad.
This has been the sex. It's so light. I can hold it in my lap and turn it every which way. Layers, simulated real media behavior. It's been pretty great. I haven't encountered any appreciable lag even when a good dozen layers using various methods of layer transparency. If I have any major quibbles it is with ArtRage. Not being able to lock layers is a bother (I get klutzy sometimes) and select/transform would be huge but considering the app costs like $5… Not really gonna whine. Also, I can export a .PTG to load in Artrage on my desktop machine but I cannot transfer similar files back to the iPad. Though I can import images to layers.
The pencil itself is a little clumsy. The balance is weird. Added a rubber grip and that's helped a lot.
All in all, it's a really enjoyable tool. I've been drawing for hours and don't want to stop.
This has been the sex. It's so light. I can hold it in my lap and turn it every which way. Layers, simulated real media behavior. It's been pretty great. I haven't encountered any appreciable lag even when a good dozen layers using various methods of layer transparency. If I have any major quibbles it is with ArtRage. Not being able to lock layers is a bother (I get klutzy sometimes) and select/transform would be huge but considering the app costs like $5… Not really gonna whine. Also, I can export a .PTG to load in Artrage on my desktop machine but I cannot transfer similar files back to the iPad. Though I can import images to layers.
The pencil itself is a little clumsy. The balance is weird. Added a rubber grip and that's helped a lot.
All in all, it's a really enjoyable tool. I've been drawing for hours and don't want to stop.
Sketchbook 19 June 17, 2015 - Present
General | Posted 10 years agoThe Sketchbook labeled 1 is the book starting in May of 2007.
There were many sketchbooks before 1.
My drawing before then was so uneven and clumsy that whenever the stack got too big I would cut out the 'good' pages and eliminate the rest.
Later, I took to clamping them and cutting the spine off with a circular saw then putting the pages into an auto-feed scanner.
Sketchbook 1 was different. It marked the beginning of my psychedelic adventures and with that came some pretty radical shifts in the quality and meaning of my art. Not to say my work prior to that was bad. Relative to my skill level, some of my early stuff was interesting, but 1 was a change in attitude and approach. I began doing much more careful and structured study and really trying to break down and understand what I did and didn't know and how I could get the kind of versatility and quality that I desired. ... I'm still a long way from there, but I'm making progress.
It's 8 years later. I'm moving more and more towards smaller sketchbooks and working on a tablet. Sketchbook 19 won't be the last of it's kind. It is nearly full and 20 already sits blank, ready to be worked in. 19 is neat though. In sketchbooks prior to 1, I would find maybe two or three drawings in the entire book that I felt were interesting or had elements that I felt were good. In 1 there were dozens. 19 has many hundreds.
I am scanning it in part because I wanted to show what I am doing lately (vs the coloring project I've been working on this summer, which is still back in Sketchbook 2) and in part because I've met so many people who say 'I wish I could draw but I haven't any talent'. Maybe some artists are born skill. Most of the ones I know have spent years studying and worked hard to hone their craft. No different from musicians practicing scales and progressions. If you want to learn to draw, just start trying to do it. Scribble, doodle, trace things, Set up some simple objects where they won't get knocked over and draw them. Draw things sitting on your desk, draw copies of art you like. Pick up a book and read what others have written Betty Edwards' 'Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain' and Kit LaBourne's 'The Animation Book' are personal favorites.
I know. I'm not the world's greatest artist. Who am I to give advice? HINT: There is no world's greatest artist. Look at XKCD or The Oatmeal. You don't really need to be Van Gogh to express yourself. Pick up your pen and believe in yourself. That and a few thousand hours of practice are all you need.
There were many sketchbooks before 1.
My drawing before then was so uneven and clumsy that whenever the stack got too big I would cut out the 'good' pages and eliminate the rest.
Later, I took to clamping them and cutting the spine off with a circular saw then putting the pages into an auto-feed scanner.
Sketchbook 1 was different. It marked the beginning of my psychedelic adventures and with that came some pretty radical shifts in the quality and meaning of my art. Not to say my work prior to that was bad. Relative to my skill level, some of my early stuff was interesting, but 1 was a change in attitude and approach. I began doing much more careful and structured study and really trying to break down and understand what I did and didn't know and how I could get the kind of versatility and quality that I desired. ... I'm still a long way from there, but I'm making progress.
It's 8 years later. I'm moving more and more towards smaller sketchbooks and working on a tablet. Sketchbook 19 won't be the last of it's kind. It is nearly full and 20 already sits blank, ready to be worked in. 19 is neat though. In sketchbooks prior to 1, I would find maybe two or three drawings in the entire book that I felt were interesting or had elements that I felt were good. In 1 there were dozens. 19 has many hundreds.
I am scanning it in part because I wanted to show what I am doing lately (vs the coloring project I've been working on this summer, which is still back in Sketchbook 2) and in part because I've met so many people who say 'I wish I could draw but I haven't any talent'. Maybe some artists are born skill. Most of the ones I know have spent years studying and worked hard to hone their craft. No different from musicians practicing scales and progressions. If you want to learn to draw, just start trying to do it. Scribble, doodle, trace things, Set up some simple objects where they won't get knocked over and draw them. Draw things sitting on your desk, draw copies of art you like. Pick up a book and read what others have written Betty Edwards' 'Drawing from the Right Side of the Brain' and Kit LaBourne's 'The Animation Book' are personal favorites.
I know. I'm not the world's greatest artist. Who am I to give advice? HINT: There is no world's greatest artist. Look at XKCD or The Oatmeal. You don't really need to be Van Gogh to express yourself. Pick up your pen and believe in yourself. That and a few thousand hours of practice are all you need.
FREE Animation Stand SANTA CRUZ, CA
General | Posted 10 years ago<img src="http://circle.twu.net/photos/animation_stand.jpg" alt="" title="">
The time has come for me to reluctantly free up some space, and I figured I'd post here before FreeCycle. If any of you guys happen to know someone who does on paper 2D animation, and they are perhaps in need of a animation stand, I have a 1960's Neilson Hordell that I no longer use. I've moved to working digitally.
The composite has 3 axis of movement, X, Y, and orbit plus the top and bottom peg bars can move in Y independent of the composite.
It's all manual. No electronics, just hand cranks (and the handles are broken off some of those, though easily replaced with a screw, a couple washers, and a bit of tubing) and a manual platten. When I got it, its camera head had also gone missing which is why it sits inside a Bessler copy stand. This isn't a perfect marriage. The lights on the Bessler (when attached) prevent more than about 10 degrees of rotation of the composite. However, they can be removed and attached to the ceiling to give a full range of motion.
In addition, only the top pegbar has ACME style pegs (ones that I somewhat crudely hand made) though both top and bottom bars have lots of screw down points for pegs and it uses the screw-type pegs. If I knew it was going to a good home, I'd be happy to make some more pegs for it to send it off well. I also have a thin gauge metal ACME and a similar round punch pegbar that I used to use taped to the deck for additional pegs.
The composite weighs about 80lbs, the rest of it is pretty light and it's pretty easy to disassemble and reassemble.
Here's a film a made on this stand:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BRqLFQq-ct8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So.. If you know anyone who might want it, let me know. Otherwise, I'll be listing it on FreeCycle next week.
The time has come for me to reluctantly free up some space, and I figured I'd post here before FreeCycle. If any of you guys happen to know someone who does on paper 2D animation, and they are perhaps in need of a animation stand, I have a 1960's Neilson Hordell that I no longer use. I've moved to working digitally.
The composite has 3 axis of movement, X, Y, and orbit plus the top and bottom peg bars can move in Y independent of the composite.
It's all manual. No electronics, just hand cranks (and the handles are broken off some of those, though easily replaced with a screw, a couple washers, and a bit of tubing) and a manual platten. When I got it, its camera head had also gone missing which is why it sits inside a Bessler copy stand. This isn't a perfect marriage. The lights on the Bessler (when attached) prevent more than about 10 degrees of rotation of the composite. However, they can be removed and attached to the ceiling to give a full range of motion.
In addition, only the top pegbar has ACME style pegs (ones that I somewhat crudely hand made) though both top and bottom bars have lots of screw down points for pegs and it uses the screw-type pegs. If I knew it was going to a good home, I'd be happy to make some more pegs for it to send it off well. I also have a thin gauge metal ACME and a similar round punch pegbar that I used to use taped to the deck for additional pegs.
The composite weighs about 80lbs, the rest of it is pretty light and it's pretty easy to disassemble and reassemble.
Here's a film a made on this stand:
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BRqLFQq-ct8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So.. If you know anyone who might want it, let me know. Otherwise, I'll be listing it on FreeCycle next week.
A Wrenching Sensation
General | Posted 10 years agoArt as a symbolic language is a fascinating subject to me. It's something I think about a lot as I'm drawing. The linked sketch provides a good example:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17223699/
It's the wrench I'll draw your attention to. I spent a good bit of time debating whether it was an open-ended wrench or a close-ended wrench. both read pretty easily and make for a strong graphic of 'this is a person working on something'. In the logical world, a wrench is not a major tool for fixing a computer. In graphical space, a wrench reads very cleanly as 'there I fixed it'
The open-ended wrench is probably a little clearer graphically. It is a repeated pattern mirrored. The close-ended is a variant on a pattern (one open hex, one closed) Graphically, either could be stronger depending on situation. Since the closed-end wrench is slightly more complex and creates an imperfect pattern replication, it reads as a slightly more sophisticated device.
Mechanically, the two types of wrenches also say some interesting things. Open-ended wrenches are more commonly one size at one end and another size at the other. Whereas a closed wrench is the same size at both ends. The closed end is used to work on things that need to go flush to a surface and it provides the best grip so you're least likely to wear the corners of the nut. Therefor in some sense, the open-ended wrench implies the user is less certain about what they'll need or in more of a hurry or that the environment they are working in contains a mix of bolt types. The closed end implies certainty, doing a job with care, or a carefully designed uniform bolt type environment.
Mr. Scott is the open wrench. Mr. LaForge is the closed wrench. This isn't rigid of course. I'm talking only about my personal interpretation of the two similar devices and the story they convey. This character got the closed wrench because she is competent, confident, and working on a space craft which I imagined to have a uniformity of parts to make repairs quicker.
In the abstract space of graphic story-telling, the wrench also serves another purpose. It is a closed-loop connected to an open loop. One story is complete, another is open. My initial intent in drawing this piece was that it is from the view of the ship's computer. This isn't entirely successful. I need to figure out a better way to convey this but the wrench was in part also meant as a device to show the connection in those stories. The closed loop, 'the computer is fixed'. The open loop, 'The computer is aware and looking at the one who brought it back to life.' All in all, the picture fails here. It's very hard to get the context . Probably something like a system log message printed backwards on the view port might help tell the story better, but it's always nice to have subconscious cues that re-enforce the conscious ones.
This isn't just me, of course. Most artists do this to varying degrees and it's always an interesting thing to look for in someone's work and see what are they telling you about themselves though the choices they've made in their work.
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17223699/
It's the wrench I'll draw your attention to. I spent a good bit of time debating whether it was an open-ended wrench or a close-ended wrench. both read pretty easily and make for a strong graphic of 'this is a person working on something'. In the logical world, a wrench is not a major tool for fixing a computer. In graphical space, a wrench reads very cleanly as 'there I fixed it'
The open-ended wrench is probably a little clearer graphically. It is a repeated pattern mirrored. The close-ended is a variant on a pattern (one open hex, one closed) Graphically, either could be stronger depending on situation. Since the closed-end wrench is slightly more complex and creates an imperfect pattern replication, it reads as a slightly more sophisticated device.
Mechanically, the two types of wrenches also say some interesting things. Open-ended wrenches are more commonly one size at one end and another size at the other. Whereas a closed wrench is the same size at both ends. The closed end is used to work on things that need to go flush to a surface and it provides the best grip so you're least likely to wear the corners of the nut. Therefor in some sense, the open-ended wrench implies the user is less certain about what they'll need or in more of a hurry or that the environment they are working in contains a mix of bolt types. The closed end implies certainty, doing a job with care, or a carefully designed uniform bolt type environment.
Mr. Scott is the open wrench. Mr. LaForge is the closed wrench. This isn't rigid of course. I'm talking only about my personal interpretation of the two similar devices and the story they convey. This character got the closed wrench because she is competent, confident, and working on a space craft which I imagined to have a uniformity of parts to make repairs quicker.
In the abstract space of graphic story-telling, the wrench also serves another purpose. It is a closed-loop connected to an open loop. One story is complete, another is open. My initial intent in drawing this piece was that it is from the view of the ship's computer. This isn't entirely successful. I need to figure out a better way to convey this but the wrench was in part also meant as a device to show the connection in those stories. The closed loop, 'the computer is fixed'. The open loop, 'The computer is aware and looking at the one who brought it back to life.' All in all, the picture fails here. It's very hard to get the context . Probably something like a system log message printed backwards on the view port might help tell the story better, but it's always nice to have subconscious cues that re-enforce the conscious ones.
This isn't just me, of course. Most artists do this to varying degrees and it's always an interesting thing to look for in someone's work and see what are they telling you about themselves though the choices they've made in their work.
Inceptionism and Psychedelic Art
General | Posted 10 years agoWell... I guess there's no point to making psychedelic art anymore.
Humans, you are obsolete.
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/.....to-neural.html
Humans, you are obsolete.
http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/.....to-neural.html
Illuminating the darkness
General | Posted 10 years agoI've been using the Blackwings exclusively for about a month now and okay, maybe they ARE making me a better artist.
Not due to any magical quality they possess beyond that they make a really nice dark line. I've been drawing with harder lighter pencils for quite a while. It's easy to fuss with things for a long while. My linework is often scratchy, like I've really more sculpted the drawing on the page than drawn it deliberately.
Nothing wrong with that method of working other than it's not as fast or as clean as I would like for animation. The blackwing goes on dark with even a fairly light touch. There's not a whole lot of room for fussing around. As a result I'm finding I'm doing work that feels a bit more bold and confident and there's a flow and liveliness that I feel gets lost when I'm more scratchy.
Of course, it also makes mistakes more obvious but then obvious mistakes make it easier to break them down and work on fixing them.
None of this should be surprising I guess. Changing tools for a while and focusing on the details of what makes one different from another seems to be a great way to reveal things about the artistic process to oneself in general.
Not due to any magical quality they possess beyond that they make a really nice dark line. I've been drawing with harder lighter pencils for quite a while. It's easy to fuss with things for a long while. My linework is often scratchy, like I've really more sculpted the drawing on the page than drawn it deliberately.
Nothing wrong with that method of working other than it's not as fast or as clean as I would like for animation. The blackwing goes on dark with even a fairly light touch. There's not a whole lot of room for fussing around. As a result I'm finding I'm doing work that feels a bit more bold and confident and there's a flow and liveliness that I feel gets lost when I'm more scratchy.
Of course, it also makes mistakes more obvious but then obvious mistakes make it easier to break them down and work on fixing them.
None of this should be surprising I guess. Changing tools for a while and focusing on the details of what makes one different from another seems to be a great way to reveal things about the artistic process to oneself in general.
Cintiq Sadness and Joy
General | Posted 10 years agoA few weeks ago I had to upgrade my computer to 10.10 because we switched over to using a new compiler at work.
The update introduced the usual host of problems. Illustrator would no longer launch.. I was able to find a work-around and cobble together an Applescript that launches java's console and simulates pressing a couple of buttons before launching Illustrator. Clumsy but it at least works.
The other, more irritating problem was the introduction of pauses when using the cintiq. The animation test I did a couple of weeks ago: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16626653/ Was actually a test of the lag in ToonBoom. I was having to wait up to a second before starting a line when going to a new cell. Doesn't sound like a big deal but it was really maddening.
Anyhow... I had an older laptop sitting around as a backup just in case. Pulled it out and found its battery had died but a new one only cost $30. Since we were going to open it up anyhow, we brought the RAM up to 16G and put in a SSD. My partner kindly put it together for me and, after booting it up with 10.8, it works great! The other computer has a slightly more powerful CPU but the old machine is clearly significantly faster when using the cintiq with ToonBoom or ArtRage. Hurray!
The update introduced the usual host of problems. Illustrator would no longer launch.. I was able to find a work-around and cobble together an Applescript that launches java's console and simulates pressing a couple of buttons before launching Illustrator. Clumsy but it at least works.
The other, more irritating problem was the introduction of pauses when using the cintiq. The animation test I did a couple of weeks ago: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16626653/ Was actually a test of the lag in ToonBoom. I was having to wait up to a second before starting a line when going to a new cell. Doesn't sound like a big deal but it was really maddening.
Anyhow... I had an older laptop sitting around as a backup just in case. Pulled it out and found its battery had died but a new one only cost $30. Since we were going to open it up anyhow, we brought the RAM up to 16G and put in a SSD. My partner kindly put it together for me and, after booting it up with 10.8, it works great! The other computer has a slightly more powerful CPU but the old machine is clearly significantly faster when using the cintiq with ToonBoom or ArtRage. Hurray!
The Brilliance of Ignorance
General | Posted 10 years agoI started working on coloring old drawings because I didn't have any emotional investment in them so I could work quickly and not sweat it if they were terrible.
I am realizing now just how brilliant a lot of those old pieces are. Don't get me wrong, they aren't high art that will some day hang in the Louvre or anything like that but there is a freedom to them that I find interesting.
The bookworm, for instance, I believe started as a self-portrait and collided with a drawing of an elfy boot and I just merged them together. Either by itself was kind of uninteresting but together they became something fascinating and weird. I let my pencil just explore curve and line.
In another drawing I intend to work up in a few days, there's a vixen with weirdly long proportions talking to a cowboy on a pony. Because I was inept, the pony was floating off the ground beside the vixen. Rather than redrawing it, I put platform shoes on the pony. Again not what I had intended to make but it many ways it ends up a better drawing for its weirdness. ^_^
As I've gotten a little more competent at rendering, I've lost some of that accidental weirdness or perhaps what Bob Ross would have called 'happy little accidents', but I have tried to keep pieces of them so I can use them deliberately and hopefully to better effect or as a positive way to remember what not to do in the future.
It actually seems like the moment I lose hope of a drawing being a 'good' drawing is the moment that drawing usually starts getting better. The fantasy that it will match the picture in my mind has died. The thing that is on the page now has its own reality and it has no constraints. It is free to become whatever it wants and I am free to explore. For that, I hope never to stop making bad drawings.
I am realizing now just how brilliant a lot of those old pieces are. Don't get me wrong, they aren't high art that will some day hang in the Louvre or anything like that but there is a freedom to them that I find interesting.
The bookworm, for instance, I believe started as a self-portrait and collided with a drawing of an elfy boot and I just merged them together. Either by itself was kind of uninteresting but together they became something fascinating and weird. I let my pencil just explore curve and line.
In another drawing I intend to work up in a few days, there's a vixen with weirdly long proportions talking to a cowboy on a pony. Because I was inept, the pony was floating off the ground beside the vixen. Rather than redrawing it, I put platform shoes on the pony. Again not what I had intended to make but it many ways it ends up a better drawing for its weirdness. ^_^
As I've gotten a little more competent at rendering, I've lost some of that accidental weirdness or perhaps what Bob Ross would have called 'happy little accidents', but I have tried to keep pieces of them so I can use them deliberately and hopefully to better effect or as a positive way to remember what not to do in the future.
It actually seems like the moment I lose hope of a drawing being a 'good' drawing is the moment that drawing usually starts getting better. The fantasy that it will match the picture in my mind has died. The thing that is on the page now has its own reality and it has no constraints. It is free to become whatever it wants and I am free to explore. For that, I hope never to stop making bad drawings.
Repetition
General | Posted 10 years agoLast year I started working on designing a character for animation. I set about finding key features that identified the character and traits and design elements that would make it easier to animate. What this really means is that I was drawing variants of the same character hundreds and hundreds of times. I tried different poses, costumes, hair, body types, eye types, etc but always kept in mind the personality of the character I was going for.
I think this ends up being a really useful exercise. I think many kids start off this way. They draw their favorite cartoon character over and over or a character of their own creation. By drawing that same form again and again, I at least, have really started getting a much greater sense of form and overlap that I hadn't found in years of study and life drawing. Once I'd gotten a design that was 'pretty close' to the character in my head, I just kept messing with it for hundreds of drawings. Can I make it read in this pose? With a pirate hat? In the style of the Simpsons? How does it look as cubism? If I drew an action, how can I push that action to a more extreme version of it? What would a wild take of this action look like? How can I draw their mother or their cousin? How would I identify them if they were turned into an ostrich? etc.
This myriad of little exercises has really been great. I'm thinking about form in much more concrete ways than I did before. I'm starting to really see the character in my mind in whatever way I chose to draw it. The character herself I can now draw reflexively without even thinking about it and that freedom gives me some good confidence that carries into my other works as well.
I really wish I'd thought of this exercise years ago.
I think this ends up being a really useful exercise. I think many kids start off this way. They draw their favorite cartoon character over and over or a character of their own creation. By drawing that same form again and again, I at least, have really started getting a much greater sense of form and overlap that I hadn't found in years of study and life drawing. Once I'd gotten a design that was 'pretty close' to the character in my head, I just kept messing with it for hundreds of drawings. Can I make it read in this pose? With a pirate hat? In the style of the Simpsons? How does it look as cubism? If I drew an action, how can I push that action to a more extreme version of it? What would a wild take of this action look like? How can I draw their mother or their cousin? How would I identify them if they were turned into an ostrich? etc.
This myriad of little exercises has really been great. I'm thinking about form in much more concrete ways than I did before. I'm starting to really see the character in my mind in whatever way I chose to draw it. The character herself I can now draw reflexively without even thinking about it and that freedom gives me some good confidence that carries into my other works as well.
I really wish I'd thought of this exercise years ago.
Revising the past
General | Posted 10 years agoFor a long time I've thought of myself as not being a very good artist and it's true, there are parts of my rendering skills that leave much to be desired. For years however, I was so paralyzed by this that I never 'finished' a great many work, choosing to instead spend my time on 'practicing'. Since 2007 I have filled dozens of sketchbooks and to my dismay, it isn't all terrible.
A few weeks ago, I started finishing pieces I'd abandoned almost a decade ago. The idea was to accomplish many goals. Get better and faster at doing digital color work. Mine ideas for new works. Create some finished works out of things I have a low emotional investment in. Gain a few watchers so that when I get to making works I care more about, they might have at least a small audience. Tell stories.
As I'm working through this backlog, I'm finding another thing that I hadn't really expected. A greater appreciation for myself as an artist. Even my current works have plenty of shortcomings but in looking at my old works as a journey rather than trying to reach a destination, I'm seeing them with much kinder eyes. There's some good stuff there. Some of the stuff that wasn't so good then or I struggled with, I can now see the little changes I needed to make to bring it to life. I'm not a great artist but I'm a better artist than I thought I was.
Shifting my view of myself in this way is probably a pretty good thing. There have been studies that suggest that being supportive and nurturing of one who is trying to learn a thing will help them advance much quicker than shaming and constant correction. I think it's a lot harder to apply this to oneself. No one wants complacency or to be a self-aggrandizing ego maniac, but there's a balance there. I can say 'Okay, that's a good strong pose and good composition and yes that ankle is off. Let's look at that and figure out what I'm not quite getting about ankles' rather than 'OMG, my work is garbage. Why do I waste my time with this crap?'
In a way it gives me an emotional detachment from my work that I didn't have before and that's helping me learn to break things down and figure out what's really wrong in a piece and then test theories about how to test it. Since I started this project, I've been drawing a lot more and I've been testing some new ideas that seem kinda useful to help me learn more faster.
A few weeks ago, I started finishing pieces I'd abandoned almost a decade ago. The idea was to accomplish many goals. Get better and faster at doing digital color work. Mine ideas for new works. Create some finished works out of things I have a low emotional investment in. Gain a few watchers so that when I get to making works I care more about, they might have at least a small audience. Tell stories.
As I'm working through this backlog, I'm finding another thing that I hadn't really expected. A greater appreciation for myself as an artist. Even my current works have plenty of shortcomings but in looking at my old works as a journey rather than trying to reach a destination, I'm seeing them with much kinder eyes. There's some good stuff there. Some of the stuff that wasn't so good then or I struggled with, I can now see the little changes I needed to make to bring it to life. I'm not a great artist but I'm a better artist than I thought I was.
Shifting my view of myself in this way is probably a pretty good thing. There have been studies that suggest that being supportive and nurturing of one who is trying to learn a thing will help them advance much quicker than shaming and constant correction. I think it's a lot harder to apply this to oneself. No one wants complacency or to be a self-aggrandizing ego maniac, but there's a balance there. I can say 'Okay, that's a good strong pose and good composition and yes that ankle is off. Let's look at that and figure out what I'm not quite getting about ankles' rather than 'OMG, my work is garbage. Why do I waste my time with this crap?'
In a way it gives me an emotional detachment from my work that I didn't have before and that's helping me learn to break things down and figure out what's really wrong in a piece and then test theories about how to test it. Since I started this project, I've been drawing a lot more and I've been testing some new ideas that seem kinda useful to help me learn more faster.
Pretentous Pencil Review Palamino Blackwing 602
General | Posted 10 years agoMy birthday was last week and I needed new drawing pencils. Back when I was taking animation classes, it was mentioned from time to time that there was a BEST PENCIL EVER, the legendary Blackwing! So smooth and dark and mighty that it would make the strongest coffee seem like plain tap water. They were of course no longer made. Only the chosen ones had any.
Call me crazy but I'd never been willing to spend $20+ on a SINGLE pencil on the off chance it might magically make up for my basic inability to render.
On a whim I typed it in on ebay just to see what the going rate was and discovered that since last I'd looked several years ago, someone had made a new version of the mystical pencil of power: The Palamino Blackwing 602. It was a mere $20 for a box of a dozen and free shipping. On par with a box of Derwents. clickyship!
I don't have an original to compare against of course. Several wonks say the first Palamino Blackwing was not a good comparison but the Palamino 602 is almost indistinguishable from the original. I'm taking their word for it.
So they arrived on Friday. No fanfare of angels. No cartoon monsters escaping the post box when I opened it. I spared myself the hipster awkwardness of an unboxing video and instead just sharpened one and went to work testing it against nubs of various other pencils I'd tried out.
It is dark, yes. Around the same darkness as a Derwent or Tombow 3B. It _might_ be just a tiny bit less smudgy and it might stay hard just a little longer than the other two but if so, the differences are so minor as to be functionally unimportant. OTOH, while I've only put 4 or 5 sharpenings on it so far, I will say the lead seems more consistent than the Tombow or the Derwent so far. On both the other brands I have hit hard bits in the lead now and then but that's in months/years of use rather than days so insufficient data to make a decision. All the 'seems like' so far are quite likely wishful thinking or confirmation bias.
All in all, it's a very nice and competent pencil but you aren't missing out by not having one and you're saved the embarrassment of looking like a hipster by not having one.
PS: Did not make me a better artist.
Call me crazy but I'd never been willing to spend $20+ on a SINGLE pencil on the off chance it might magically make up for my basic inability to render.
On a whim I typed it in on ebay just to see what the going rate was and discovered that since last I'd looked several years ago, someone had made a new version of the mystical pencil of power: The Palamino Blackwing 602. It was a mere $20 for a box of a dozen and free shipping. On par with a box of Derwents. clickyship!
I don't have an original to compare against of course. Several wonks say the first Palamino Blackwing was not a good comparison but the Palamino 602 is almost indistinguishable from the original. I'm taking their word for it.
So they arrived on Friday. No fanfare of angels. No cartoon monsters escaping the post box when I opened it. I spared myself the hipster awkwardness of an unboxing video and instead just sharpened one and went to work testing it against nubs of various other pencils I'd tried out.
It is dark, yes. Around the same darkness as a Derwent or Tombow 3B. It _might_ be just a tiny bit less smudgy and it might stay hard just a little longer than the other two but if so, the differences are so minor as to be functionally unimportant. OTOH, while I've only put 4 or 5 sharpenings on it so far, I will say the lead seems more consistent than the Tombow or the Derwent so far. On both the other brands I have hit hard bits in the lead now and then but that's in months/years of use rather than days so insufficient data to make a decision. All the 'seems like' so far are quite likely wishful thinking or confirmation bias.
All in all, it's a very nice and competent pencil but you aren't missing out by not having one and you're saved the embarrassment of looking like a hipster by not having one.
PS: Did not make me a better artist.
The Wanderer
General | Posted 10 years agoLately I've been feeling very disconnected from the world and I don't really know how to get back in touch with it.
Cross Application of Skills and the Martial Artist
General | Posted 10 years agoFor the past few years I've been studying tai-chi. If you're unfamiliar with tai-chi, it's basically kung-fu in slow-motion. The general idea is that by slowing down your motion, you have the time to explore every moment of a movement. Feel the balance of your weight, the roundness of your motion, the connection through your entire body.
For me, it was also about the exercise of just plain learning to slow down. I have a lot of interests. Software and electrical engineering, art, animation, guitar, flute, and martial arts, just to name a few. Learning to take that time to slow down and really be in the moment of what I am doing instead of rushing to the next shiny thing seemed like a very valuable lesson. In doing so, I learned more than I expected.
I've always liked to take ideas from one thing I'm studying and try to apply them to another thing I am studying. If nothing else, it helps give me a fresh perspective on both things and I imagine at least that this helps me learn more things faster.
Practicing music, it turns out, is very much like practicing tai-chi. It can be broken down the same way. Play through the piece at half or a quarter the tempo it should be played at for performance. Find the phrases in it and break it down into what you can easily memorize. In the opposite direction, using a metronome is sometimes an interesting exercise. I can use it to see just how smoothly I can move through a set; use it to try the set at various speeds and figure out where I start to lose the level of awareness I want.
There was more hiding in there though. After I'd been doing tai-chi for a while, I began applying the form to my method of playing itself. Taking a bow stance when playing guitar, I'm now using my hip or abdomen more to hold the guitar, relieving weight from the shoulder strap. This change lets me hold the instrument stable without using my hands as much so they are freed to just _play_ instead of play and hold the instrument. I've also started to think about form as I play. In a sense, I now play with my feet rather than my fingers. By keeping a strong connection through my body from the ground up through and out to my fingertips, I can the muscles of my legs, abdomen, sides, and upper arms to move around the fretboard far more quickly than I could before and for much longer periods of time. By keeping good form through my whole body I am no longer cramping and stressing joints needlessly. The same is true for flute. A good stance gives my better diaphragm control. A strong rounded form supporting the flute lets me move more freely and clasp it more lightly, freeing the body to resonate more fully. And as with tai-chi itself, by focusing on these things as I play slowly, then when I speed them up to perform them, they happen automatically. The improvements are really striking.
The same of course is true for drawing. I mentioned music first because it's a little easier to see the overlap. If, like me, you've read 'how to art' books, you'll recognize the statement "Draw with your arm not your wrist" echoed in some form or another in nearly every single book. They're right and what they are talking about is this same kind of use-your-whole-body motion. It takes some getting used to but it results in much greater fluidity and control.
If you've worked with 3D animation, here's an easy way to think of it: By default we tend to think in IK (Inverse kinematics) 'Move hand to table'. Tai-chi is basically learning to think in FK (forward kinematics). Shift weight on legs, rotate at waist, let reaching shoulder drop and opposing rise slightly. Extend through the arm, hand arrives at table. It _SOUNDS_ a lot more complex but the truth is, your brain is doing all of that internally anyhow because you have joint constraints and you don't want to topple over so your brain is computing a path based on feedback from sensory input and then making some quick calculations to keep everything going the way you want it. By retraining your body to move from the root to the end you are building greater trust with your body to get you where you want to go and that allows you more space to make the fine adjustments at the end of the chain to get the precise details you want.
For the past week I've been experimenting with drawing standing instead of sitting so that, like guitar and flute, I can use more of my body in my work. Regrettably my animation desk isn't quite tall enough for this to work. Work on a easel has been more successful. Going to have to see if I can make my desk taller.
I could go on about this quite a bit longer but I'll draw to a close with one last note about cross application. Taking breaks is good! In the past when I tried to learn or refine knowledge of something, the method I took was basically like cramming 'MUST LEARN ALL THING NOW!'. It isn't very effective. Taking the time to slow down and break things down and think about them in many different ways forms a much stronger set of neural paths. You are in effect, strengthening your root and that gives you much more power to draw from when you are applying what you are studying. Becoming more in tune with your body and using it more fully also seems to be a good way to reduce the odds of repetitive stress problems.
For me, it was also about the exercise of just plain learning to slow down. I have a lot of interests. Software and electrical engineering, art, animation, guitar, flute, and martial arts, just to name a few. Learning to take that time to slow down and really be in the moment of what I am doing instead of rushing to the next shiny thing seemed like a very valuable lesson. In doing so, I learned more than I expected.
I've always liked to take ideas from one thing I'm studying and try to apply them to another thing I am studying. If nothing else, it helps give me a fresh perspective on both things and I imagine at least that this helps me learn more things faster.
Practicing music, it turns out, is very much like practicing tai-chi. It can be broken down the same way. Play through the piece at half or a quarter the tempo it should be played at for performance. Find the phrases in it and break it down into what you can easily memorize. In the opposite direction, using a metronome is sometimes an interesting exercise. I can use it to see just how smoothly I can move through a set; use it to try the set at various speeds and figure out where I start to lose the level of awareness I want.
There was more hiding in there though. After I'd been doing tai-chi for a while, I began applying the form to my method of playing itself. Taking a bow stance when playing guitar, I'm now using my hip or abdomen more to hold the guitar, relieving weight from the shoulder strap. This change lets me hold the instrument stable without using my hands as much so they are freed to just _play_ instead of play and hold the instrument. I've also started to think about form as I play. In a sense, I now play with my feet rather than my fingers. By keeping a strong connection through my body from the ground up through and out to my fingertips, I can the muscles of my legs, abdomen, sides, and upper arms to move around the fretboard far more quickly than I could before and for much longer periods of time. By keeping good form through my whole body I am no longer cramping and stressing joints needlessly. The same is true for flute. A good stance gives my better diaphragm control. A strong rounded form supporting the flute lets me move more freely and clasp it more lightly, freeing the body to resonate more fully. And as with tai-chi itself, by focusing on these things as I play slowly, then when I speed them up to perform them, they happen automatically. The improvements are really striking.
The same of course is true for drawing. I mentioned music first because it's a little easier to see the overlap. If, like me, you've read 'how to art' books, you'll recognize the statement "Draw with your arm not your wrist" echoed in some form or another in nearly every single book. They're right and what they are talking about is this same kind of use-your-whole-body motion. It takes some getting used to but it results in much greater fluidity and control.
If you've worked with 3D animation, here's an easy way to think of it: By default we tend to think in IK (Inverse kinematics) 'Move hand to table'. Tai-chi is basically learning to think in FK (forward kinematics). Shift weight on legs, rotate at waist, let reaching shoulder drop and opposing rise slightly. Extend through the arm, hand arrives at table. It _SOUNDS_ a lot more complex but the truth is, your brain is doing all of that internally anyhow because you have joint constraints and you don't want to topple over so your brain is computing a path based on feedback from sensory input and then making some quick calculations to keep everything going the way you want it. By retraining your body to move from the root to the end you are building greater trust with your body to get you where you want to go and that allows you more space to make the fine adjustments at the end of the chain to get the precise details you want.
For the past week I've been experimenting with drawing standing instead of sitting so that, like guitar and flute, I can use more of my body in my work. Regrettably my animation desk isn't quite tall enough for this to work. Work on a easel has been more successful. Going to have to see if I can make my desk taller.
I could go on about this quite a bit longer but I'll draw to a close with one last note about cross application. Taking breaks is good! In the past when I tried to learn or refine knowledge of something, the method I took was basically like cramming 'MUST LEARN ALL THING NOW!'. It isn't very effective. Taking the time to slow down and break things down and think about them in many different ways forms a much stronger set of neural paths. You are in effect, strengthening your root and that gives you much more power to draw from when you are applying what you are studying. Becoming more in tune with your body and using it more fully also seems to be a good way to reduce the odds of repetitive stress problems.
Brightness Contrast Gamma
General | Posted 11 years agoSomeone showed me some art they liked and mentioned the color. I initially didn't find it that interesting but then remembered the person played a lot of video games.
I turned up my brightness, contrast, and gamma. The piece took on a whole new life.
It raises an interesting problem for digital display of artwork. I keep my monitor calibrated as though I imagine I might one-day print art. This is likely a lot different from the settings most people use to view art.
I'm guessing more talented artists have already considered this problem and have a solution for it.
I am interested in knowing what methods others employ.
I turned up my brightness, contrast, and gamma. The piece took on a whole new life.
It raises an interesting problem for digital display of artwork. I keep my monitor calibrated as though I imagine I might one-day print art. This is likely a lot different from the settings most people use to view art.
I'm guessing more talented artists have already considered this problem and have a solution for it.
I am interested in knowing what methods others employ.
Cintiq 13HD
General | Posted 11 years agoI decided I was past due for an upgrade from the antique Cintiq 15X I had to something a bit more modern. I probably could have lived with the 1024x768 resolution but the color calibration and lack of levels of pen sensitivity and tilt was killing me.
I'd been worried that 13" diagonal would be a bit small for the way I like to draw but Wacom only offers 13, 22, and 24. The later two are too large for my space and much heavier and clunkier than the 13 and I like the idea of being able to put it on my lap and draw like a sketchbook so the 13 seemed like the best of the options available though something more like 17 would really have been ideal.
At any rate, I've been using the 13HD for a few days now and I'm not disappointed exactly but it has made me sad in a few ways. First and foremost, the driver for the 13HD replaces the driver for the 15X _AND_ my Intous 2. While the 15X isn't a great loss, the Intuos is. I used it as both mouse and tablet for those times I didn't want to draw on the Cintiq. I can't even rush out and replace the Intuos as it appears Wacom no longer supports a mouse on the newer Intuos so I'm just kind of F***ed there.
I'm also not too happy with the proprietary cable. The way it juts off the side means that you are actually quite limited in the orientations you can hold the tablet in when drawing on your lap and you're likely to damage the expensive connector.
It also lacks any kind of alternative mount points on the back, meaning in my case that mounting it on my animation desk is a hassle and similarly if you wanted to make an interactive stationary piece of some sort with it, you might have difficulty keeping it from walking off.
And then there's the plastic screen which I feel that even the wacom pen nibs are likely to scratch eventually.
Finally... Let's not mention the price...
TL;DR:
Pros:
Much better color than 15X
Vastly better contrast than 15X
Better resolution than 15X
Pen is responsive and smooth and vastly better than 15X.
Lightweight and a good working area.
User Definable buttons are nice.
Cons:
Disables older Wacom products on system and provides no clean upgrade path to replace them.
Plastic screen feels likely to be damaged.
Cable connector awkward, poorly thought out.
HDMI. Why? Adapter is an added cost.
No anchor points on back.
Heinously overpriced.
I'd been worried that 13" diagonal would be a bit small for the way I like to draw but Wacom only offers 13, 22, and 24. The later two are too large for my space and much heavier and clunkier than the 13 and I like the idea of being able to put it on my lap and draw like a sketchbook so the 13 seemed like the best of the options available though something more like 17 would really have been ideal.
At any rate, I've been using the 13HD for a few days now and I'm not disappointed exactly but it has made me sad in a few ways. First and foremost, the driver for the 13HD replaces the driver for the 15X _AND_ my Intous 2. While the 15X isn't a great loss, the Intuos is. I used it as both mouse and tablet for those times I didn't want to draw on the Cintiq. I can't even rush out and replace the Intuos as it appears Wacom no longer supports a mouse on the newer Intuos so I'm just kind of F***ed there.
I'm also not too happy with the proprietary cable. The way it juts off the side means that you are actually quite limited in the orientations you can hold the tablet in when drawing on your lap and you're likely to damage the expensive connector.
It also lacks any kind of alternative mount points on the back, meaning in my case that mounting it on my animation desk is a hassle and similarly if you wanted to make an interactive stationary piece of some sort with it, you might have difficulty keeping it from walking off.
And then there's the plastic screen which I feel that even the wacom pen nibs are likely to scratch eventually.
Finally... Let's not mention the price...
TL;DR:
Pros:
Much better color than 15X
Vastly better contrast than 15X
Better resolution than 15X
Pen is responsive and smooth and vastly better than 15X.
Lightweight and a good working area.
User Definable buttons are nice.
Cons:
Disables older Wacom products on system and provides no clean upgrade path to replace them.
Plastic screen feels likely to be damaged.
Cable connector awkward, poorly thought out.
HDMI. Why? Adapter is an added cost.
No anchor points on back.
Heinously overpriced.
Raiders of the Lost Art
General | Posted 12 years agoI find myself oddly torn between two concepts regarding old art.
The first is that it's archival. It shows me where I was in the past and gives me a way to enjoy where I am in the present.
The second is that I could let it still be a living thing. I have dozens of books of sketches. I can draw over them and fix the things that were wrong in the original. Sometimes not completely of course but I can at least make them interesting and in that way I learn something. I can also use them for practicing ink and color work because they are things that I don't have a heavy emotional investment in and that lets me be more bold and try new things.
All in all, I think the second is more valuable. I won't 'upgrade' every drawing and certainly 5 years from now, I'll look back on where I am right now with the same sort of 'I could do it better'. Be interesting to see what iterative design does to these old works.
The first is that it's archival. It shows me where I was in the past and gives me a way to enjoy where I am in the present.
The second is that I could let it still be a living thing. I have dozens of books of sketches. I can draw over them and fix the things that were wrong in the original. Sometimes not completely of course but I can at least make them interesting and in that way I learn something. I can also use them for practicing ink and color work because they are things that I don't have a heavy emotional investment in and that lets me be more bold and try new things.
All in all, I think the second is more valuable. I won't 'upgrade' every drawing and certainly 5 years from now, I'll look back on where I am right now with the same sort of 'I could do it better'. Be interesting to see what iterative design does to these old works.
FurtherConfusion Review
General | Posted 12 years agoMostly fun but whoever gets blown to select the DJ lineup needs his weenus chopped off. There were a few decent DJs but there were several who I think were ADD-Js. They couldn't seem to hold a beat for more than about 30 seconds and sometimes made me feel like we were listening to a sample collection. Yeah.. You can dance to anything if you really wanna dance bad enough. I wanted to dance pretty bad and I did even dance to some of the bad DJs but I guess I just didn't want it quite bad enough.
My least favorite was definitely DJ Ego. I don't know his actual name but not only could he not beat match, he also felt the need to get on the mic every few minutes and do a shout-out to some of his friends and/or tell the audience they needed to do stuff for him (which they largely ignored)
To the good DJs, thank you, you rocked! Especially if you came on after a bad DJ. To the bad DJs... I didn't pay any attention to who you were and it's not a huge deal. One only need look at my artwork to know I haven't got too much room to be down on anyone but... seriously...
It's:
UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST
Not:
UNST UNST UNSTUNST UNST UUUUUUUUNST UNSTUNSTUNSTUNST UNST UNST UN..ST.
My least favorite was definitely DJ Ego. I don't know his actual name but not only could he not beat match, he also felt the need to get on the mic every few minutes and do a shout-out to some of his friends and/or tell the audience they needed to do stuff for him (which they largely ignored)
To the good DJs, thank you, you rocked! Especially if you came on after a bad DJ. To the bad DJs... I didn't pay any attention to who you were and it's not a huge deal. One only need look at my artwork to know I haven't got too much room to be down on anyone but... seriously...
It's:
UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST UNST
Not:
UNST UNST UNSTUNST UNST UUUUUUUUNST UNSTUNSTUNSTUNST UNST UNST UN..ST.
Period Pieces
General | Posted 12 years agoSaw this article and thought it was rather interesting.
http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.....d-improvement/
So remember, next time you're doing a period piece involving canids, be sure to draw the period-correct version of the dog breed.
http://dogbehaviorscience.wordpress.....d-improvement/
So remember, next time you're doing a period piece involving canids, be sure to draw the period-correct version of the dog breed.
Cintiq LIVES!
General | Posted 12 years agoFriday before last I was given an old Cintiq 15x (PL-550) The catch of course being that it had none of the cables, power supply, or stylus. I am however good at scrounging.
Power supply was easy. Match up voltages and pins. Done.
Funky USB-to-minidin cable. A little more tricky but eventually I found a webpage of the pin-outs and we have lots of old S-Video and USB cables.
Pen. This was the real challenge. Wacom discontinued production of all compatible pens years ago. Ebay sellers know this and are selling the pens they have for $100+ (Note: You can buy the tablet WITH pen for around $350 off ebay)
I eventually found a compatibility page at http://www.wacom-asia.com/aptky/607/pen.htm plus some web pages that said any UP model wacom pen (the pen that came with the early Wacom Digitizer and Digitizer II) would work. Also Axiotron Modbook pens and other pens aimed at that class of tablet PC. That brought the pen cost down to a much more manageable $25. The pen arrived yesterday and I did my first sketches.
The hardware: Everything about this device really feels dated. Calibrating the LCD was nearly pointless. The color is muddy and completely washes out if you adjust the brightness/contrast very far. The pen is only 512 levels of pressure (vs modern wacoms which are 2048) Resolution is 1024x768 which is alright. The 15" diagonal work area is actually pretty nice for the way I draw but the 2" in every direction border makes it a bit unwieldy. As does the weight (over 10lbs) ... and the cables (DVI, USB, and power) make a thick coil of snakes. There's apparently a 13" HD version coming out next week that solves most of these issues for a mere $1K. My birthday is like 3 weeks off if there happen to be any wealthy benefactors nearby... ;)
Anyhow: On to using it! OMG I really enjoy it! Despite the unwieldy weight and being jabbed with the stand and it being about 95F on the surface and the low brightness and muddy color. None of that can take away from being able to turn the thing at an off angle and draw a smooth curve. I only had time for some quick work last night but it was approximately 3-4x faster than drawing with a tablet for me and my line work felt much more smooth and natural.
I'm going to remove it from its stand and make some framing pieces so that I can mount it in my animation desk in place of a standard disk. That should solve the awkwardness and weight issues and let me maximize my drawing.
The Easter Egg HuntPower supply was easy. Match up voltages and pins. Done.
Funky USB-to-minidin cable. A little more tricky but eventually I found a webpage of the pin-outs and we have lots of old S-Video and USB cables.
Pen. This was the real challenge. Wacom discontinued production of all compatible pens years ago. Ebay sellers know this and are selling the pens they have for $100+ (Note: You can buy the tablet WITH pen for around $350 off ebay)
I eventually found a compatibility page at http://www.wacom-asia.com/aptky/607/pen.htm plus some web pages that said any UP model wacom pen (the pen that came with the early Wacom Digitizer and Digitizer II) would work. Also Axiotron Modbook pens and other pens aimed at that class of tablet PC. That brought the pen cost down to a much more manageable $25. The pen arrived yesterday and I did my first sketches.
First ImpressionsThe hardware: Everything about this device really feels dated. Calibrating the LCD was nearly pointless. The color is muddy and completely washes out if you adjust the brightness/contrast very far. The pen is only 512 levels of pressure (vs modern wacoms which are 2048) Resolution is 1024x768 which is alright. The 15" diagonal work area is actually pretty nice for the way I draw but the 2" in every direction border makes it a bit unwieldy. As does the weight (over 10lbs) ... and the cables (DVI, USB, and power) make a thick coil of snakes. There's apparently a 13" HD version coming out next week that solves most of these issues for a mere $1K. My birthday is like 3 weeks off if there happen to be any wealthy benefactors nearby... ;)
Anyhow: On to using it! OMG I really enjoy it! Despite the unwieldy weight and being jabbed with the stand and it being about 95F on the surface and the low brightness and muddy color. None of that can take away from being able to turn the thing at an off angle and draw a smooth curve. I only had time for some quick work last night but it was approximately 3-4x faster than drawing with a tablet for me and my line work felt much more smooth and natural.
Next StepsI'm going to remove it from its stand and make some framing pieces so that I can mount it in my animation desk in place of a standard disk. That should solve the awkwardness and weight issues and let me maximize my drawing.
Import
General | Posted 12 years agoI gave into my ego and imported a few things that I still like from my old digitalvg account. Only new stuff going forward!
Well okay. I need to get some more practice with color work so I'm going to go through some long-forgettens and color them up.
Sariman Saku being the first of these.
Well okay. I need to get some more practice with color work so I'm going to go through some long-forgettens and color them up.
Sariman Saku being the first of these.
Cintiq sadness
General | Posted 12 years agoI was given an old cintiq 15x.
No cables or pen. I found the voltages and pinouts and built cables.
The pen... The stupid stupid stupid pen is discontinued. None of my other wacom pens will work.
I want to tantrum like a small child. I can get a pen off ebay from australia for $130 dollars...
I could buy a used model of this entire cintiq for $350. How can the stupid pen be half the price.
Waaaah!
#firstworldproblems.
No cables or pen. I found the voltages and pinouts and built cables.
The pen... The stupid stupid stupid pen is discontinued. None of my other wacom pens will work.
I want to tantrum like a small child. I can get a pen off ebay from australia for $130 dollars...
I could buy a used model of this entire cintiq for $350. How can the stupid pen be half the price.
Waaaah!
#firstworldproblems.
