Hey guys, not really a skill based art question today but a material one.
A long time ago i somehow messed up my sketchbook by "squishing" the iron ring spine of it (It's a Strathmore Sketch pad if that helps you figure it out).
I thought I could fix the problem but cutting out a few of the bent out rings with some pliers, but I'm running into the pages becoming harder to turn the deeper I go. Anyone encounter something like this before and know a way around it?
Yeah just reshape the wire. Or take the paper out of the sketchbook if you can't fix it but don't want to waste it. Sketchbooks are easier to carry/store but in my opinion loose paper can be psychologically advantageous because it feels more disposable.
Anyone remember that cool chart that Bacon made showing hexagons of various colors, and the resulting colors when they are hit by lights of different colors? He posted it a couple of months ago in the Doodle thread, as part of a critique where he was correcting the lighting of someone's head drawing, I think. Anyone know where to find it?
Anyone remember that cool chart that Bacon made showing hexagons of various colors, and the resulting colors when they are hit by lights of different colors? He posted it a couple of months ago in the Doodle thread, as part of a critique where he was correcting the lighting of someone's head drawing, I think. Anyone know where to find it?
To be clear, "local color" is the color of the shape in plain white light?
@Ollie: Correct- local color is generally, on an elementary level, what is thought of as the 'actual' color of an object.
If you see a red fire hydrant, and say, "that's a red fire hydrant", the red you refer to is the local color.
But what color is actually hitting your eyeballs at that moment might not- and in fact, probably isn't- the pure red you think of when you think of that color. If it's a sunny clear day, it will have a little yellowish tinge from the sun, and a little blue kicked into the shadows. If it's a brilliant sunset, it'll be more deep orange with more reddish/purple shadows- if it's late at night, it may be a dark grey/purple color.
This all probably seems so super-obvious that why even mention it, why invent a specific term for it.
The reason is that a lot of people starting out, when they go color something, think, "red fire hydrant", and leave it at that- they don't take the time to observe or think about the color that will result from the particular lighting circumstance they've placed that fire hydrant in. They just brighten up the light bits and darken the dark bits, and are baffled that it doesn't look very realistic- and why no other object in their picture seems to fit with any other. When you throw a light with any little bit of color in it (and most lights, even those thought of as white, have at least a bit of color to them), having that little bit of color applied across the other objects in the scene makes their colors harmonize in a natural fashion.
Hence why I made that chart, to show how important it is to be able to distinguish light color from local color, and to know how they interact with one another.
Beyond that, there really aren't too many books that of much worth on drawing that don't either contain nudity (life drawing is essential to learning that it's hard to get away from-if their parents want to support her they're going to have to deal with the fact, maybe not right now, but certainly in her teenage years) or would be overwhelming at her age. I mean, Scott Robertson's "How to Draw" book is a fantastic and thorough book for someone wanting to know perspective and industrial design- but would a 9 year old appreciate it, I don't know. Maybe if you think of it less as 'buying it for her now' and more 'making sure she has access to it when she's ready for it', that would be a good buy.
I've been taking a serious go at sketching and digital drawing/painting over the last couple of months and picked up this book for myself. Thought the thirty bucks was a bit steep for something to take a chance on, but I bought it last week and I can confirm that is a phenomenal book for gaining an understanding of perspective fundamentals. Not only is the material quality of the book very, very good, the techniques and explanations it gives are amazingly straightforward and useful. I had no idea that shapes as simple as circles and squares could be such enormously valuable tools for establishing perspective, and I've learned to recognize a huge number of mistakes I've been making and improvements I could implement to anything I could try to do.
Didn't even have the book for a week before I bought How to Render, by Robertson as well. I'm going to be chewing on all this perspective work quite a bit for the foreseeable future, but I know I'm going to want the second book eventually anyway. I feel like How to Draw is almost absurdly cheap for the info it contains for somebody needing to learn what it offers.
Yesterday my new-ish intuos pro 5's mini-usb port was loose, and I had to tape it in place to stop it from constantly disconnecting and reconnecting. Today it won't work at all. I don't have a warranty or a receipt because I bought it second-hand off ebay.
Am I completely screwed, or is there anything that I can do?
You can open it up and see what's been disconnected/loosened inside - I know people who have successfully home-repairs intuos before.
If you're not keen on doing it yourself, you could take it to a computer repair shop and ask them to take a look, yes you'll have to pay out of pocket, but it's likely to be cheaper than a new one.
You can open it up and see what's been disconnected/loosened inside - I know people who have successfully home-repairs intuos before.
If you're not keen on doing it yourself, you could take it to a computer repair shop and ask them to take a look, yes you'll have to pay out of pocket, but it's likely to be cheaper than a new one.
I'm not even sure how to disassemble this thing, and I don't have a soldering iron (or know how to use one) anyway, so repair store it'll have to be.
@Enc, if its something we can crit, I don't mind you posting it. I was thinking of making a craft thread similar to the woodworking/photothreads, actually, for a catchall for that kind of stuff.
@Enc, if its something we can crit, I don't mind you posting it. I was thinking of making a craft thread similar to the woodworking/photothreads, actually, for a catchall for that kind of stuff.
That would be awesome. I keep thinking about making a thread for my art but the past year has been mostly "oh I made a thing, with some stuff" which is probably not super crittable. (I guess I could make a sculpture/mold making thread but that seems... I dunno.)
I'm partial to the Micron pens, and haven't seen my work fade yet, but it hasn't been long enough to really know. What I hear a lot is just try a few and see what you like best. Micron works for me because it doesn't bleed or run, and is a nice dark black.
I've used both kinds of pens, and while I can't remember if Micron faded more than the Faber-Castells, I remember them drying up a lot faster. If you're using an eraser over them (to bring up a pencil drawing underneath) a little fading might happen anyway, where the pen goes over the graphite.
I remember after a few years I preferred the Faber-Castells, though. Just know that for the smallest sizes the pens sometimes don't write very well at angles, you have to hold them a bit more vertically due to how the nib functions.
Yeah, I used to dislike the Pitt pens but I have come to prefer them for drawing as they seem to do better on stroke width/lineweight applications. They'll definitely do better with stippling, I've trashed more than one Micron tip with overzealous stippling before.
(I still prefer the Micron pens for writing in notebooks and so on but I think the ink is more susceptible to rubbing off of graphite line work as others have mentioned )
I always liked the microns, but as a leftie I'd smear like a beast all the time. I've since started drawing from right to left in sketchbooks to avoid it, but haven't really used any pens lately. I'll focus on sketching and inking in spring, and can't see myself using anything other than a pilot g-tech and a brush pen. Or several brush pens.
Hey guys, ignore the last post about the Huion 610, I found a solution for it.
I would, however, love any advice on straightening formerly wet and now dry sketchpad paper? The cover of my sketchpad got wet when I was going through the rain one day and it ended up curling my cover page. So my idea to fix it was to get it wet again with a damp washcloth (y'know, like how you gotta break your nose if you want to set it correctly?) and then put a heavy object on it to press it out.
It hasn't worked and adjusted the distance between the bottom of my sketchpad to whatever surface I'm drawing on (if that makes any sense to you guys, I might need to draw a diagram).
Should I try ironing it out with a clothing iron? Or should I tear it out and try looking for a cover somewhere? Thanks as always guys!
buy a new one if you want, or get rid of the cover. You don't need a cover, it's just a sketchpad. I've thrown out dozens of the things over the years.
NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
In Photoshop...can anyone tell me what are the ideal setting for doing digital painting?
lets say im doing
width 14 inches
height 10 inches
resolution 300 pixels/inch
the color mode???
i have RGB 8bit. Is this preventing me from getting smoother blends?
should i be doing anything in the advanced settings?
16 bits will help your blending. 32 bits is generally excessive and you'll get massive files (and some functions aren't available in 32bit either). In general I haven't found 8 bit to be too inhibiting, but if you're seeing jumpy gradients or artifacts in blended areas then yeah, try going to 16 bit.
If you're not intending to print, then the 'ideal settings' are whatever works for you (and the resolution/print size is largely irrelevant, only pixel dimensions matter). If you want to print your image there are further considerations - so if you tell us what you're aiming to do we might be able to give more feedback.
NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
Thanks Tynic.
Generally im just looking to practice stuff for me. But ideally i will be making stuff to print soon. I always understood 72dpi to be what you save for internet viewing and 300dpi for print. Am i mistaken?
no, that's correct - that's why I asked if you were intending to print your work. But anyway in general it's a good idea to work large, but it sounds like you're good there, though.
Another thing to consider if you're going to be printing anything is working in CMYK colour space instead of RGB, because you'll get a much truer reproduction of the digital file. But if you're just practicing, RGB is fine.
Why is it that they say that the shadow color is a darker complementary to the light color? Is this even true? Isn't it usually just the atmospheric color that informs the colors of the shadow, and not the light color itself? To me it has always just seemed, that we perceive the shadow color to be complementary to the light color, because our eyes are compensating.
yeah, physically speaking you're correct -- "shadow color" is basically whatever color you get from ambient light bouncing around. Outdoors, in daylight, that's usually a cool color in contrast to the warmer direct light.
Aesthetically speaking the darker complement thing is sort of a shorthand for how to get appealing light/dark combinations for the way our brains are wired. A change in hue in addition to change in value makes the lighting easier for the brain to parse, although in some cases it'd be physically inaccurate.
Yeah i've always thought of that kind of complementary shadowing as enhancing a perceived difference (or forcing the contrast on the viewer), rather than reflecting the actual light spectrum.
Fucking knew it, but my teacher keeps insisting it's because "all that's left when the light is reflected is the complementary" as if he knows shit about the science behind it. I mean, the whole point is that the complementary colors are absorbed by the object isn't it?
what does he mean 'left'
like
does the light that doesn't bounce back from the object ... what, scuttle into a corner and hide or something?
anyway yeah, materials will reflect a certain band of wavelengths depending on their molecular structure (and other factors, in some cases but anyway), and anything that isn't reflected is absorbed.
Right, yeah. The ambient bounce light reflected off a surface will always (excluding the rare viewing-angle-dependent material) be the same color as we perceive the surface itself, not the *opposite* color. You can look up some examples of "global illumination" in 3D rendering to have samples to show, like this:
If what your teacher was saying was correct, the left sphere would be green-tinted on its left side, which would look all kinds of wrong.
The real reason for complementary shadows in art is because by nature we find complementary direct and indirect lighting colors appealing, almost solely because sunlight and firelight are warm-toned while skylight is cool-toned.
NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
Working in photoshop.....
I have a BG colored layer. I make a new layer that im sketching on with a dark grey. I then switch to a lighter color to paint over the sketch (on the same layer) and the color wont go over the dark grey. Anyone know what could cause this?
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NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
nm..i had mode set to "behind"
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NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
Hey guys! I want to set up a simple portfolio page with a legitimate web address, and not say a .wix one. (Or does that even matter?) i had a few questions.
1) does the address matter much? Shout i cater this more to what i want or more "professional" say with just my name? I LIKE something like Killerpinkart.com but something like jjogdenart.com might look more...professional? Or am i over thinking this?
2) i know NOTHING about making websites. I was able to make a drag and drop site with WIX, and thats here.... http://nakedzergling.wix.com/killerpink
The address is just too long, but basically the content i want is there, with the ability to add and drop images easily.
3) A former coworker of mine said that "godaddy" was a total rip off, its basically $80.00 yearly through them, with the same drag and drop set up, but a direct address. Is this a good price? any of you guys that have sites, can you make any recommendations?
I use squarespace, mostly because their mobile sites look pretty great. Its 8 dollars a month, but I dont think they do domains (Could be wrong, I already had mine)
Portfolio sited are pretty stripped down these days, they aren't full interface experiences unless you are a UI/Design person. You should grab a URL, I would not make it killerpink, in my opinion.
I've been working on a story for a month or so now. Even have some characters drawn. The thing is, I really like it and I want to make this project as solid as possible.
My new found dream is that I could produce something at least half as good as Next Town Over or Cloud Factory. I realize this will take a lot of work and dedication, but I really have a lot of fun working on it.
Posts
A long time ago i somehow messed up my sketchbook by "squishing" the iron ring spine of it (It's a Strathmore Sketch pad if that helps you figure it out).
I thought I could fix the problem but cutting out a few of the bent out rings with some pliers, but I'm running into the pages becoming harder to turn the deeper I go. Anyone encounter something like this before and know a way around it?
If it's that bad, just get a new sketchbook.
Google-fu = this!
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/208/6/d/color_light_chart_by_angelofbacon-d7sgco7.jpg
@Ollie: Correct- local color is generally, on an elementary level, what is thought of as the 'actual' color of an object.
If you see a red fire hydrant, and say, "that's a red fire hydrant", the red you refer to is the local color.
But what color is actually hitting your eyeballs at that moment might not- and in fact, probably isn't- the pure red you think of when you think of that color. If it's a sunny clear day, it will have a little yellowish tinge from the sun, and a little blue kicked into the shadows. If it's a brilliant sunset, it'll be more deep orange with more reddish/purple shadows- if it's late at night, it may be a dark grey/purple color.
This all probably seems so super-obvious that why even mention it, why invent a specific term for it.
The reason is that a lot of people starting out, when they go color something, think, "red fire hydrant", and leave it at that- they don't take the time to observe or think about the color that will result from the particular lighting circumstance they've placed that fire hydrant in. They just brighten up the light bits and darken the dark bits, and are baffled that it doesn't look very realistic- and why no other object in their picture seems to fit with any other. When you throw a light with any little bit of color in it (and most lights, even those thought of as white, have at least a bit of color to them), having that little bit of color applied across the other objects in the scene makes their colors harmonize in a natural fashion.
Hence why I made that chart, to show how important it is to be able to distinguish light color from local color, and to know how they interact with one another.
Twitter
I've been taking a serious go at sketching and digital drawing/painting over the last couple of months and picked up this book for myself. Thought the thirty bucks was a bit steep for something to take a chance on, but I bought it last week and I can confirm that is a phenomenal book for gaining an understanding of perspective fundamentals. Not only is the material quality of the book very, very good, the techniques and explanations it gives are amazingly straightforward and useful. I had no idea that shapes as simple as circles and squares could be such enormously valuable tools for establishing perspective, and I've learned to recognize a huge number of mistakes I've been making and improvements I could implement to anything I could try to do.
Didn't even have the book for a week before I bought How to Render, by Robertson as well. I'm going to be chewing on all this perspective work quite a bit for the foreseeable future, but I know I'm going to want the second book eventually anyway. I feel like How to Draw is almost absurdly cheap for the info it contains for somebody needing to learn what it offers.
Am I completely screwed, or is there anything that I can do?
If you're not keen on doing it yourself, you could take it to a computer repair shop and ask them to take a look, yes you'll have to pay out of pocket, but it's likely to be cheaper than a new one.
I'm not even sure how to disassemble this thing, and I don't have a soldering iron (or know how to use one) anyway, so repair store it'll have to be.
That would be awesome. I keep thinking about making a thread for my art but the past year has been mostly "oh I made a thing, with some stuff" which is probably not super crittable. (I guess I could make a sculpture/mold making thread but that seems... I dunno.)
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
I'm looking at this
http://www.michaels.com/faber-castell-pitt-artist-pen/M10185299.html#q=pitt+pen&start=5
I hear that the PITT brand ones have good dark ink that doesn't fade and won't come up with an eraser.
I hear the MICRON ones fade.
But I'm new(ish) to this!
I remember after a few years I preferred the Faber-Castells, though. Just know that for the smallest sizes the pens sometimes don't write very well at angles, you have to hold them a bit more vertically due to how the nib functions.
Think I'll go with the faber castells as they seem to have better reviews overall!
(I still prefer the Micron pens for writing in notebooks and so on but I think the ink is more susceptible to rubbing off of graphite line work as others have mentioned )
Uncanny Magazine!
The Mad Writers Union
They are in the manga section .... because there is a manga section in Micheal's
I would, however, love any advice on straightening formerly wet and now dry sketchpad paper? The cover of my sketchpad got wet when I was going through the rain one day and it ended up curling my cover page. So my idea to fix it was to get it wet again with a damp washcloth (y'know, like how you gotta break your nose if you want to set it correctly?) and then put a heavy object on it to press it out.
It hasn't worked and adjusted the distance between the bottom of my sketchpad to whatever surface I'm drawing on (if that makes any sense to you guys, I might need to draw a diagram).
Should I try ironing it out with a clothing iron? Or should I tear it out and try looking for a cover somewhere? Thanks as always guys!
who cares
buy a new one if you want, or get rid of the cover. You don't need a cover, it's just a sketchpad. I've thrown out dozens of the things over the years.
lets say im doing
width 14 inches
height 10 inches
resolution 300 pixels/inch
the color mode???
i have RGB 8bit. Is this preventing me from getting smoother blends?
should i be doing anything in the advanced settings?
Thanks!
If you're not intending to print, then the 'ideal settings' are whatever works for you (and the resolution/print size is largely irrelevant, only pixel dimensions matter). If you want to print your image there are further considerations - so if you tell us what you're aiming to do we might be able to give more feedback.
Generally im just looking to practice stuff for me. But ideally i will be making stuff to print soon. I always understood 72dpi to be what you save for internet viewing and 300dpi for print. Am i mistaken?
Another thing to consider if you're going to be printing anything is working in CMYK colour space instead of RGB, because you'll get a much truer reproduction of the digital file. But if you're just practicing, RGB is fine.
Aesthetically speaking the darker complement thing is sort of a shorthand for how to get appealing light/dark combinations for the way our brains are wired. A change in hue in addition to change in value makes the lighting easier for the brain to parse, although in some cases it'd be physically inaccurate.
like
does the light that doesn't bounce back from the object ... what, scuttle into a corner and hide or something?
anyway yeah, materials will reflect a certain band of wavelengths depending on their molecular structure (and other factors, in some cases but anyway), and anything that isn't reflected is absorbed.
If what your teacher was saying was correct, the left sphere would be green-tinted on its left side, which would look all kinds of wrong.
The real reason for complementary shadows in art is because by nature we find complementary direct and indirect lighting colors appealing, almost solely because sunlight and firelight are warm-toned while skylight is cool-toned.
I have a BG colored layer. I make a new layer that im sketching on with a dark grey. I then switch to a lighter color to paint over the sketch (on the same layer) and the color wont go over the dark grey. Anyone know what could cause this?
1) does the address matter much? Shout i cater this more to what i want or more "professional" say with just my name? I LIKE something like Killerpinkart.com but something like jjogdenart.com might look more...professional? Or am i over thinking this?
2) i know NOTHING about making websites. I was able to make a drag and drop site with WIX, and thats here.... http://nakedzergling.wix.com/killerpink
The address is just too long, but basically the content i want is there, with the ability to add and drop images easily.
3) A former coworker of mine said that "godaddy" was a total rip off, its basically $80.00 yearly through them, with the same drag and drop set up, but a direct address. Is this a good price? any of you guys that have sites, can you make any recommendations?
Thanks!
Portfolio sited are pretty stripped down these days, they aren't full interface experiences unless you are a UI/Design person. You should grab a URL, I would not make it killerpink, in my opinion.
I've been working on a story for a month or so now. Even have some characters drawn. The thing is, I really like it and I want to make this project as solid as possible.
My new found dream is that I could produce something at least half as good as Next Town Over or Cloud Factory. I realize this will take a lot of work and dedication, but I really have a lot of fun working on it.
Any general advice?