boom...boom...boom...

clink...clink...

pan pastels

I had a chance to do a little life drawing (painting?) this past week. These are PanPastels on a smooth card-stock from a stationary store. They are applied with rubbery, foam applicators. It's really fun to use and I highly recommend a small monochromatic set of some sort. I think I have a white, a black and 3 grays, which is plenty - tho I want a warm set now, too so I can play with temperature! 

It's a lot like painting with dry media. Quick to setup and cleanup. Of note, these survived being beat around in a sketchbook without noticeable degradation.

 

 

New Seattle Gallery: Ltd

There's a new pop-culture art gallery opening in Seattle. I have an oil piece in the show. Opening's tonight 7-10.

down time at work

busy

Which is why the previous posts have all been "mobile" related. I really did have plans to start posting more regularly.

More quick stuff

Sketchclub's smooth tool is amazing for drawing. I wish there was a real world equivalent that would be that controllably random. I can't paint with this app though.



Painted over in artstudio.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Self contained

Test posting from my iPad.

He's not a Vegetarian

Stumbled thru a bunch of apps on it til I finished in the most flexible and pleasant brush for my mark making style - ArtStudio. I really do have high hopes for ProCreate's next version as it's UI is just golden. I haven't tried LayersPro, but I think I've covered most of the other popular ones so far.

Oh, I forgot - I love drawing in SketchClub. It's got that crazy procedural "sketch" mode. I found it's painter only good for people who can use scatter brushes to their advantage. It's opacity dynamics aren't doing it for me.

Strange none use Painter's "sample stroke" or whatever it's called, that would sample, and later use your "more typical" stroke. You'd figure maybe it would be able to capture some dynamic info from that to help inform subsequent strokes.

Or perhaps better yet - like Toonboom's paradigm (dunno if they still do this) which never read pressure, but rather would procedurally redraw your last stroke, emulating a fading in and out over the length of the stroke. The dynamics of this was somehow editable to your liking. It was fast enough not to get in the way. I wonder if that would be irritating with a painting program.

I dun-gone went an did it

Got me an ipad. Pombero made me do it.

Very fun. So far, all the iphone apps have a better structured UI than their ipad/phone counterparts. I'll give them all more "dirt time" before reviewing them.

ProCreate over pencil (shot w camera)

 

 ProCreate

 Artstudio

 

 AD Sketchbook Mobile

more iPhone paints

I got a little rubber-tipped Targus stylus. It's 1000x better than my horrible 2 pogo foam tip. Those seemed to skip every 4th stroke or so.

I'm convinced. I really do enjoy painting on my phone. I can't see how the iPad wouldn't be that much more fun. I seem to loose a bit of perspective with my hand covering a good part of the screen (see different sized limbs below) but all in all I'm quite happy with the experience.

These 3 were all done with ArtStudio. That app is like a mini Photoshop.

I'm also excited to try ProCreate (Thank's for that, Tor). Looks like really nice piece of software that's really thinking about the user experience and is continuing to develop.

Edit: to be clear - the above is a comp of a 2 primed sheets of paper, a pencil sketch and a paint over those. The cool thing is I took them all with the phone's camera, and imported them directly into Art Studio.

iphone sketches

AD Sketchbook Mobile ...

Art Studio ...

For some time now, I've wrung my hands over whether or not to get an ipad for sketching. Like most of us, the central issue of pressure has been the showstopper. Do I wait and hope for apple to release ipad5? Or for apple to allow a 3rd party to do something about it?

I'll say that I even enjoy doodling on my stupid little phone! There is a fun, Zen simplicity of having to paint with no pressure. It keeps things loose for me and I count that as a win.

My picks thus far are Art Studio (love the main brush and smear) and Autodesk Sketchbook ( best. lines. ever. ). For me, these 2 have the best balance of brush feel (and falloff options) and UI. UI overall on sketch apps for iphone is terrible. I can only hope I can one day find an app where the tools and colors I want quick access too are onscreen all the time. I will sacrifice a wee bit of real estate! It's crazy-irritating to have to tap 4+ times to change a color, or a brush size. These devices are supposed to encourage MORE intuitive workflows than desktops, not less.

I plan to spend some time with Inspire next. I've tried Brushes and Colors but don't play well with them.

Anyone else doing this!? I find surprisingly little out there.

Vacation pics

Took a little watercolor pad, some ink and a few tubes of acrylics with me on vacation last week. Didn't have time for much but it was nice to play. Followed one up w a quickie zbrush exploration.

Art blocks

My piece for this auction:  http://artblocksghana.blogspot.com/ Check out all the art on there!!

 Acrylic on panel.

Animated gif of process.Click to view animation.

Spraypaint

Learning to use spraypaint on Friday nights.

Belton Molotow & MTN 94.

My apologies going missing like that.

quick

I'm positive it's a wig. Charcoal & pastel pencils. Need to find some gray paper.

Master copy

Study of a favorite Rockwell piece. I learn something new and remember something I forgot every time I do a quick study like this.

Drawing with my son tonight and wanted to try some charcoal & white pastel pencil. It's always been frustrating to me that fixative wrecks everything it touches. I bought a new one that worked, but it cost me $20 for the can! Latour Sennelier. If it makes charcoal/ chalk/ pastel a viable medium to keep in a sketchbook, it would be worth it.

Another zombie, this time in CS5

I was trying to find mixer brush setting combos that would work for me.

I didn't even know about the HUD palette back when I did this. Now it's hard to work without it.

At the same time, I'm really irritated that it feels designed by an engineer without regard for or input from the customer.

It's a horribly designed 2 part keyboard chord that terribly thought through - as is the earlier CS4 right mouse button brush size fail.

I've resorted to using autoHotkey, a free hotkey management app, to avoid future RSI issues with these tools. I can post my script if anyone wants it.

CS5 does have some amazing features and I am already crazy about it.

Photoshop CS5

I loves the new brushes and I'm getting used to the new HUD palette. Slooowwly. 

Still trying to find brush combos that work for me. 

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PS Night sketchy. My money isn't on the under-dressed girl.

Calgary Comic Expo 2010?

April 24th & 25th. Anybody going?
I needed new cards.
I'll be at the BrandStudio booth.

Been a long, long time

Help the Hodges Benefit Auction

For an old friend. It's been my honor to know and learn from this man.

If there are any industry artists out there that haven't heard or been able to contribute, the deadline for submissions is coming up very soon: http://www.helpthehodges.com/

It's the first acrylic on canvas I've done since ...possibly high school? I'm struck by how much easier the predictable texture of the surface makes things. I don't have to worry about any of my previous acrylic issues. I've been painting on smooth surfaces for too long. It begs more playtime.

This is such a bad idea

How does he always get talked into these kinds of things?

showdown

Just playing with some custom PS brushes.

Gogogo!

PS

Time to paint

been too long

roughly how tired I am.

Live demo Nov 5th in Bellevue WA

unused illo for a WOTC D&D project from last year.

If you are in the Seattle area, I'm going to be doing a demo next Thursday in Bellevue.
Even better - BROM is going to be there giving a talk. It's an opening for a new school called 3d Training Academy. I'll be teaching a couple of character design/digital painting evening classes there soon. See their site for the demo location http://www.3dta.com