Sunday, May 24, 2015

SKETCHBOOK PRO

As mentioned in a previous post, I am looking to explore a program called Sketchbook Pro by Autodesk. The version I have is not the latest. Mine is 6, and they have just come out with 7. At first I was not real convinced to upgrade. The first tutorial I saw on it was their flip book feature. And I wondered ... who needs a watered down animation program? But then I saw the perspective drawing tools. Wow! It's all I can say. Anybody that has tried to draw backgrounds can tell you getting buildings in perspective is very demanding. 




This system seems to be a real improvement over trying to do it manually. 

So ... surprise!!! I guess somewhere down the line, I will upgrade. 

If you are interested in doing cartoons or illustrative art in a digital format, either 6 or 7, I can highly recommend this program. I know ... I know ... I hear you now. John! How can you say this ... how do you know this? As to this point, you have not posted a single image. 

Well I promise, that will soon be rectified. I have done a little doodling in this program before this blog. It is quick to work with and the tools are intuitive. You might ask ... "What about Photoshop?" Don't get me wrong. Photoshop is the Mt Olympus of art programs. There is a God, Goddess or Demigod for any need and I have used this program for cartooning. Sometimes it's nice to have something streamlined, and designed to do one thing. You know ... like that favorite screwdriver that you keep in the kitchen cabinet drawer. Plus it is a mere fraction of the cost of Photoshop.

The other reason that I am so pro Sketchbook Pro, is the YouTube channel toonboxstudios. This is the work of artist/youtuber Paris Christou. He does a lot of speed drawings of his pin up character, Cherry. I can watch his videos over and over. I am mesmerized. It just seems so simple and just. flows. Yes I know it's sped up and anyone can make it seem easy if you know what you are doing. But trust me ... the learning curve has a much easier grade.




He also has done several Sketchbook tutorials. These are the really clear and will be my go to source to learning this program. Check them out if you use this program.




Is YouTube the source of all knowledge? Quick ... someone look up defusing a bomb.

BOOOM!

Monday, May 11, 2015

I'M ON A MISSION FROM GOD ...



This is the Wacom Cintq 27 QHD. It is the Holy Grail of drawing tablets for digital artists. It is used in all forms and fields ... from animation to technical drawings. I have lusted after this device ever since Ernie Ramerez built my first computer. That was just about 20 years ago. My Love, Yoko was indulgent enough to let me buy some years back, the then newly released ... much ... smaller version.

It was a definite improvement over the entry level tablet that had you still glued to the monitor, struggling to learn to draw in a totally new eye/hand coordination,  sketching without actually looking at your hands. This new version was ... do able and gave me a taste of the possibilities of drawing electronically. Even with the 13" screen ... the need to constantly zoom in and out, I was not working totally digital. I still scanned images into the computer and colored them in with the tablet. It's limitations ... especially in some animation programs ... have led me to believe a larger format is needed ... something bigger ... like the size of Montana. To me it's the giant monolith before the apes in the film "2001". 



While I find this an important, pivotal, tool,  I recognize it is also an indulgence. Does my work warrant such an expense? Do I deserve professional equipment? We certainly don't have room on the credit card for me to just whip it out and say, "Give me two." While Yoko has given the nod to move forward, I still feel the guilt. So I still have to justify ... if only to myself ... that I am worthy.

I am still in the process of research and if any of you out there have any experience with these marvels and have any thoughts ... please share. It looks as if they have a new model out ... Well actually two. One is a pen only and the other is a touch screen. The tablet should run me some where between $2,000 and $3,000. It also seems to be the general consensus that one needs also an Ergotron Arm for the best working conditions. Some assembly required.



On top of that, the connector for the Ergotron Arm needs another plate to align with the Cintq. Thank God, this is only $20! I will have to raise the money from extra funds ... and let's be honest ... who has extra funds these days? I figure this should ... with a bit of frugality ... if I'm lucky ... take me 2 years.

2 years to raise the money.
2 years to prove my worth. 

Friday, May 8, 2015

PENNIES FROM HEAVEN ... POST #5

Sometimes ... such little things come into our lives, almost going unnoticed. Glimmers along the path. They hold such meaning ... value ... little miracles and we almost pass them by on a daily basis, never stooping down to pick them up.

Pennies from Heaven. 

Three days ago Michelle, Frank's ex wife posted this video for their kids, Nate, Maggie and John on Facebook. A recital of the Lewis Carroll poem, "Jabberwocky."I almost missed it.  It took me back to the first time I had heard Frank doing that piece when he was 13. A performance on a picnic bench at Azalea Youth Center. 



Frank wrote in the description:

100 years ago a friend and mentor wrapped me up in aluminum foil and let me do this for a talent show. He recently asked for me to reprise this performance. For you, John Morgan! Sorry no milk jug!

Over the years ... and our time together, with little urging, I would craft a helm from aluminum foil and a gallon milk jug and bedecked with the finery of a sword and reused cape, he would give his all. Every time.

Today was ... is ... his Birthday. Frank passed last Fall and his loss has left a gaping hole in the lives he touched He was a big man filled with talent, with and a flair for the theater. But most of all he was a man of love whose friends and family were interchangeable. To me he was friend, brother, student, teacher ... but best of all ...

co-conspirator. 

If there is WIFI in Heaven ... and you are raeding this post Frank ... Happy Birthday.

I look at the penny in my hand. It is not perfect. It is rushed slightly ... there's background noise. It's a bent penny ... but it's still from Heaven. Frank's words touch me and I feel loved. I clutch the penny tight in my hand. Saving this vast treasure that is just enough to buy one more dream between friends. 

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

LIKE THE SANDS OF TIME ...

... So are the days of our lives.

I swear I only sat down on the couch for a minute. A half our tops! Really!

OMG! Here we are. It's May. It's a third of a year gone and I am so behind ... on my drawings ... on my posts ... on ...just everything!

The most valuable assets we have to barter with are time, health and liberties. I have not included because I am still that much of a romantic. Love is a gift given freely and no commerce will coerce the true form. Liberties or freedoms are in constant flux. Health is lost with every sweet bite and every puff of tobacco. But with diligence and effort situations, to some degree can be rectified. Time, the one most freely spent is unable to be recovered. We already loose our conscious life to sleep. Another is exchanged for something as crass as money. So valuable ... but yet  ... so wasted.

"So what ya doin'?"
"Nothin?"

No excuses, but forbear me a few moments of introspection. I have listed and compiled all the elements that leech my life moments ... and at the end of the day ... I have a minute and fifteen minutes to work on my art. That's 8 hours a week. Now I can hear you say that's not too bad. That's the equivalent to a work day. Only ... now split that 8 hours between my interests in puppetry, the dulcimer and drawing.

I've always said that I need to retire so I can go to work.

I was going to say I just need to focus. Become more dedicated. I've started keeping a drawing journal to work on a project. I'm going to scan those drawings into the computer to be further manipulated and then post on this site.

The question now, however, is all this ciphering, is how much time I have left. You see   last week I went to a new optometrist ... a very thorough doctor. She discovered I am suffering from macula degeneration. A week from today I go in for surgery. Dr. Buck Rogers is going to shoot a ray gun into my eye to stop the bleeding. If this is not scary enough ... this is the same operation that left my Dad with vision that was obscured by a bloody cheese cloth like mass, constantly, teasing with an occasional glimpse of the world around him. 

I promise to keep you all updated ... but until then, it's business as usual.

Well maybe not. Maybe I'll actually post something.