Animation

We are learning a animation function with painter that is cool, but it is also pretty marginal. I find it very difficult to keep the strokes aligned and steady with the wacom tablet. The wacom tablet is a really nice piece of technology.......I am just still getting used to using it and coming up with practical applications for its use. Mostly I have been using it to make letters and calligraphy glyphs. There is a straight-line function to use with the lines.....but you can't do any kicks at the start or at the end of the line. Besides, you cant use the pressure sensitivity either. The limitations of the straight-line function make it a futile path for my use. I want to start doing more color application to line drawings and see if I can't do a completed piece. I think it would look good to do a pencil sketch, color it in with painter, and then ink it by hand after I print it out. When I do digital art at home I notice some differences in the photoshop programs. The one that I use won't let me choose the grid-warp transformation tool........which is very useful when I am applying images together and want them to fit and flow. I better just get some fresh software when it comes time to get new hardware.........and that time is soon approaching.

Wacom

We busted out the wacom pads and it made me want one above all other things currently..........I have a three year old computer that I use moderately. Now, I think that I am going to invest into a Mac desktop and a wacom pad to mess with. I really want to pursue digital art and feel that the right equipment is necessary. I could also use a nice external hard-drive. Plus I had better get corell painter for my computer. It would be best for me to buy all this while I can still get the student discount.

Short Class

Today we went over line drawings and other functions; plus some tricks/tips from John. It is cool to see how to separate a line drawing from the background. That will be a very useful process for me and all the drawing that I want o be able to color digitally. I am exploring further than we have cover end and I am being able to figure out some cool functions. I am experimenting with painter and I will be tooling around with illustrator soon. My goal is to go off and figure things out on my own and only ask questions if I get stuck. I want to learn to rely on myself for trouble shooting skills and solutions. I have been playing with the airbrush tools to color my scanned line drawings......it looks really good and I am stoked at how small I can get the spray up close and do really fine detail.

Review

Today we finished scanning our collages and we did mostly review. I felt that I was fairly up to date on what we had been covering so I went ahead and started working on a digital collage and some other experimenting. I am very excited to begin work on illustrator since there are some questions that I have that i haven't been able to figure out on my own. It will be cool to dink around with painter also but I am trying to keep my ducks in a row on this and take it as it comes. I am sure painter has many functions that will be useful to me. I should try to get painter for my pc it now occurs to me. McGyver/Bob Villa fixin stuff all over the digital realm in full effect.

Captain's Blog......Star Date 02/02/08

Today we did a little review and some collage work. My collage was said to cause nightmares. I take that as the highest of compliments. It depicts business-types, soldiers, guns, bullets, the president (anti-christ), and subversive imagery of the best kind. We learned about color selections and started to do digital collages also. Sweet!!! Soon I will start to scan and do ther progressive functions. I love this class-kick-ass!!!

Graff-ic Novel

I have been conceptualizing a graphic novel that I hope to put into action one day when my literary and artistic skills allow. It will be called "Demiurge." I am still developing ideas but so far it is set in the future after Armageddon and the final holy war between heaven and hell. At the end of the war god and Satan had fought hand to hand, and as a result killed each other off. This battle took place in heaven and the result of god and Satan clashing actually crumbles the heavens. So all that is left for settings in the graphic novel is the ruins of earth and the seven circles of hell. Satan is dead so rule of the seven circles of hell is left to the demon masters that oversaw their realms during the reign of Satan. I want to have each of the seven circles and their rulers based off one of each of the seven deadly sins. The gluttony circle will be for the damned gluttonous souls and the demon master of that realm will be all fat and nasty almost Jabba the Hut style and so on for the lust realm ect. There are a lot of comics that deal with battles between good and evil or heaven and hell so I needed to come up with a new angle to make it interesting and unique. I feel that having it set not during, but after the holy war is sufficient and creates a new vibe and sort of "now what" kind of hopeless futility that satisfies me and is perfect for the dark overall style of the book. I am happy with this premise since it holds this strange set of circumstances for the people who survived and still live on earth knowing that there is no chance for deliverance since heaven no longer exists. Basically it makes being good or believing in god pointless and impractical in the world that is left after the holy war. This leaves a futility that will fuel allegiances between Satan loyalists, converted Christians, and the powers that be on earth; the demons of hell will exchange seats of influence in hell once their souls descend for their loyalty to do their demonic bidding in what remains of earth. Earth will be a true breeding ground for sin, terror, mutilation, murder, mayhem, chaos, disease, and sadism ect. I still need to do some conceptualizing and development besides actually writing the dialogue, drawing the characters, frames and landscapes ect. Mainly I need to come up with the perfect protagonist, his power or influence, and his special relationship to earth and the seven circles. Stay tuned!

Second Class

Digital McGyver in full effect. Today we got deep into selection functions and also how to save our selections. The bread and butter of photoshop like whoa. Some of it is really complicated but I'm sure it will become routine after a while. Im pretty stoked to get to work and apply the functions to my projects. Also, I think I'm gonna have to toy around with photoshop on my Dell to see what differences there are in the systems and photoshop versions. Some things I will probably be able to figure out on my own in photoshop, but I am all new to painter and that seems like its gonna be rich and uncharted territory for me. I get frustrated trying to color things by hand with markers because the color tones are hard to keep consistent. When the marker lines double up they become darker which is cool if you want to use that to your advantage to have variance, but if you want a solid color it is mad challenging and there is no history function for markers. I am hoping that there is a water color or ink wash function in painter because I like the random and dirty effect it gives. I can't wait to mess with light functions and learn how to do comicbook-like power and charge effects. Boo-yaa!!!