Creepy crawlies I have no problem getting rid of, things that are large enough that I recognize them as real animals I'm sure have no kill trap options- gotta go get rid of some pests in a day care, you just tell the showrunners, "Hey idiots unless you want your kids coming home with a bunch of bedbugs and/or getting hella poisoned, get those kids outta here 'cause I'm gonna tent this sucker."
I keep going back and forth on buying an iMac or fixing my monitor. I might as well sell it for parts and try to put that money towards the 5k models, but I can't justify spending that much money on a computer right now.
I keep going back and forth on buying an iMac or fixing my monitor. I might as well sell it for parts and try to put that money towards the 5k models, but I can't justify spending that much money on a computer right now.
Are you married to the idea of a Mac? I don't want to get in to the endless PC. VS. MACS debate, but I will say that you can get some reeeeeally beautiful IPS monitors and a really solid custom-built PC for the price of an iMac.
I keep going back and forth on buying an iMac or fixing my monitor. I might as well sell it for parts and try to put that money towards the 5k models, but I can't justify spending that much money on a computer right now.
Are you married to the idea of a Mac? I don't want to get in to the endless PC. VS. MACS debate, but I will say that you can get some reeeeeally beautiful IPS monitors and a really solid custom-built PC for the price of an iMac.
geth agrees, and i do too. u can do so much more with so much less. u can even run iOS
I keep going back and forth on buying an iMac or fixing my monitor. I might as well sell it for parts and try to put that money towards the 5k models, but I can't justify spending that much money on a computer right now.
Are you saying those models are $5,000??? because goddamn.
You could get a 22" Cintiq, two ~23" IPS monitors, AND an insanely good PC for that price. And you could probably put a down payment on a house with the leftovers.
@NightDragon
Any specific recommendations? I know I need to replace one of my monitors at some point (burn-in issues), but when I've tried to figure out "BEST MONITARRRR" I wound up getting choice paralysis. No idea what I should be getting or how much I should be paying for a good-for-art monitor.
@NightDragon
Any specific recommendations? I know I need to replace one of my monitors at some point (burn-in issues), but when I've tried to figure out "BEST MONITARRRR" I wound up getting choice paralysis. No idea what I should be getting or how much I should be paying for a good-for-art monitor.
These might be considered obsolete in terms of "extra features" at this point (I bought two of these guys back in early 2013) but they're still fantastic monitors: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00906GBBC
I used the rebates, too, so I got them cheaper (it looks like they have new rebates on these now, I'd assume that it's a year-round thing at this point).
The color is great, the bases are really sturdy, and you can set the height and angles really easily. They're BEAUTS! I love 'em. They've got USB ports in them as well, though they're only USB 2.0 and not 3.0, if that's something that matters to you. They also come with built-in speakers (which are not great), but I bought them for the visuals and not the speaker quality.
The viewing angles on them are fantastic, too. No color shift or value shift. Overall I've been incredibly happy with them and they're still running strong. They're a wide aspect ratio (took me awhile to get used to after using a standard iMac screen).
It actually looks like the price on Amazon hasn't dropped from when I bought them. If you have Prime you get the $52 shipping for freeeeeeeeeee
Are you saying those models are $5,000??? because goddamn.
5k being the resolution of the monitor, 5120×2880. I imagine the computer is closer to 2000.
I have the same Asus monitor as ND, it's excellent! Probably still the best ~$200 monitor out there.
If you spend ~$550 you can buy a "jesus fucking christ" monitor, the ASUS MG279Q which is one of the very few IPS monitors that are also 144hz. I know I want one, but that's way too expensive... you could just buy 2 cheaper ones instead.
Macs are charming machines and I'm glad I used to have one, but it is super neat to be able to upgrade a Processor or GPU without buying a whole new computer.
Vanilla does a little trick where it'll append your post to the discussion when you hit "post reply" without actually refreshing the page. That means if someone else submitted a reply while you were typing, it won't show up until you refresh. Is that what you mean?
I really love the iMac in my office though... I dont want to go back to Windows.
u can still run iOS, no need to run windows just cause you didn't buy an apple machine
I've heard that iOS on windows doesn't have the same stability, it crashes and has compatibility issues with certain hardware configurations. Though, I'm considering buying a PC and running iOS. Though I've yet to find a monitor with the same image quality as the Macs I've had, this is where I feel apple beats everyone.
I think if I go see that Warcraft movie (it could be alright?), I need to make sure I go see it with people that don't know anything about, or only have a middling enthusiasm for the games. Nothing against them, but if someone tries to strike up a conversation with me that in any way references established Warcraft lore, I may just contract terminal apathy right there on the spot.
I really love the iMac in my office though... I dont want to go back to Windows.
u can still run iOS, no need to run windows just cause you didn't buy an apple machine
I've heard that iOS on windows doesn't have the same stability, it crashes and has compatibility issues with certain hardware configurations. Though, I'm considering buying a PC and running iOS. Though I've yet to find a monitor with the same image quality as the Macs I've had, this is where I feel apple beats everyone.
yeah, I've got an allegedly high-end monitor but it's just terrible compared to my mac display. OTOH i'd definitely pay attention to @NightDragon 's monitor opinions, she's fussy as fuck :P
I used to have an $800 HP monitor that was iiiiincredible. Or so I though until I saw the Thunderbolt display that I'm currently running. The new iMacs are supposed to display a wider gamut in addition to the 5K resolution. There is also an additional feature that I haven't seen on PC (though I bet it exist) where the screen uses the camera as a photometer and it adjusts the brightness to match the ambient lighting.
Apple has good panels, but they're also properly calibrated. Most of the monitors I've used benefited hugely from a little color profiling 'cause the default settings were poop.
The first time I borrowed a spyder thingie from the school to calibrate, I was impressed that I had ever put up with how off it was before
I think if I go see that Warcraft movie (it could be alright?), I need to make sure I go see it with people that don't know anything about, or only have a middling enthusiasm for the games. Nothing against them, but if someone tries to strike up a conversation with me that in any way references established Warcraft lore, I may just contract terminal apathy right there on the spot.
The preview is a poor depiction of Storwmwind as the keep doesn't directly face the harbor. ~pushes up glasses~ and furthermore, the depiction of alliance forces as using face paint goes directly against the accord of 976 between the King of Lodaeron and Stromgard and therefore...
If you ever have to illustrate the concept of "Foot in the mouth", I feel that "what part of the foot goes in" is very important... otherwise you end up with this and it makes you look like a cannibal.
Apple has good panels, but they're also properly calibrated. Most of the monitors I've used benefited hugely from a little color profiling 'cause the default settings were poop.
The first time I borrowed a spyder thingie from the school to calibrate, I was impressed that I had ever put up with how off it was before
bacon go with me, I played warcraft 2 a couple times I think ten years ago
Then you played it when it was already 10 years old? (Man do I feel old now, having played it when it first came out).
Also now having seen the full trailer, I don't think lore stuff is going to be a problem. It looks like a super-high budget over the top adaptation of an 80's Saturday morning cartoon that never existed- everything seems really broad and simple in terms of plot, dialogue, etc.
And you know what, I'm on board with that direction. If I want to watch Lord of the Rings I can watch Lord of the Rings- I'm ok with a movie just being like, "Hey kids, do you want to see some knights fight some goofy green monster men?" and just going with that premise, without glomming on too much self-importance to the whole affair.
Then you played it when it was already 10 years old? (Man do I feel old now, having played it when it first came out).
Yeah whatever dude I think you are like 2 or 3 years older than me!! (??) I bet young people worry more about being old than old people!!
OK, full disclosure: I played it maybe three times in high school around 2003 because of peer pressure?? I am not sure. I did, however, watch a friend play it in the late 90s a bunch, only vaguely aware of how it worked. I must have been too busy losing to strangers on THE ZONE at age of empires.
I was always behind the game on the cool violent video games and movies. I mean, I didn't watch my first R rated movie until I was ACTUALLY 17. Who does that?
Oh I wasn't calling you a youngin' or nothing, I was just like, "wow, that was 20 goddamned years ago, holy crud".
On another topic, what does everyone else do for art practice? Not making portfolio work which is its own thing, but just keeping up on practicing skills? I'm particularly interested to hear from anyone who works professionally, since anyone that shares the 'I need to do outside work, and get effective results' vs 'I just drew for the last 8 hours at work I just want to go home and not do anything" issue I have, might just have the coolguy pro-tips that I need to make me a superstar.
Lately, to push myself to do something everyday (even if it sucks), I got a 'don't break the chain' app (https://chains.cc/) for my phone, and set myself with the following goals:
-10 minutes of ballpoint figure gesture drawing from reference everyday.
-20 minutes of drawing/art from a chosen topic Monday-Friday (To help avoid decision paralysis, I made a simple Javascript to choose a random art topic upon load: http://bacon.iseenothing.com/info/ArtTopicChooser_001.html *. I suppose a piece of paper and a d20 would work just as well, if I wanted to be old-school about it.)
-1 hour of any kind of drawing/art on Saturday and Sunday. Might be working on a longer term thing, or I might just pull a topic from my script and do a longer study that day.
Obviously these goals are pretty modest in the grand scheme of things (they are in addition to the 40+ hours of drawing/painting I already do for my day job- if I was a student/unemployed I'd want to set more aggressive goals here), but something is better than nothing, yeah? (Also read: this isn't enough time that the output is really worth posting- which is why I haven't, if anyone was wondering.)
Does anyone else have a set schedule or working habit like this they find works for them? Lunch drawing or morning coffee drawing or the like?
*If anyone else wants to use this script, I'd suggest saving the .html to their computer, opening it up in a text editor and modifying it to suit their own goals/needs. Just scroll down to where it says 'var TopicArray' and edit that big list however you like.
This topic list is just what I made for my own purposes- other people might want to go with more specific exercises, or have fewer design things and more fundamental practice, or whatever. (Also I'm sure there have to be a million apps and sites that already exist that do this same thing with a much nicer interface, but ehhhh whatever this works for me.)
Pushing your art outside of work is bad ass IMO... any little bit is icing on the "cake" right? I hope to do that one day when I land a job. Also, I've heard that you generally get better a lot faster when you are working full time in-house, is that because you are constantly being critiqued and forced to produce more work?
I guess ideally you would do something like you are now, but add in some longer studies/pieces? Have you ever thought about starting any personal projects? Like world creation to facilitate lots of different art.
. Also, I've heard that you generally get better a lot faster when you are working full time in-house, is that because you are constantly being critiqued and forced to produce more work?
Maybe it's that way at some ideal workplaces, but generally that has not been my experience. The reality of production is that you may become faster and more efficient at applying what you already know, but taking the time to study towards fundamental improvements is not really a scheduled priority. If you're hired somewhere, it is with the expectation that you already have the fundamental skill level you need to execute the work, so you just get on with doing that work.
You might improve over time, but a lot of the time it's the same kind of improvement that daily webcomics go through over the process of years- a reader might say, "oh man this guy's art is so bad, his progress is glacial, why doesn't he just take an art class or something". But progress is slow because doing those comics are a lot of work no matter how skilled you may be, and can leave little time for putting effort explicitly towards study and improvement.
Which is why I asked specifically about what people do for outside practice and not portfolio/production work, trying to make "good pieces"- to make an analogy, I'm asking about a football player's workout routine, rather than what they do in a game.
I look at people that have made a ton of progress and it's people like @ikage , who seem to have an infinite supply of energy to do fundamental study in addition to their day job- a lot of people get a job and stagnate at their current skill level.
For me, I basically have an internal list of "things I need to get better in". This mental list gets added to over time. The more specific, the easier it is to figure out relevant exercises.
Example: I need to learn how to draw more varied, accurate faces!
To do:
-Find lots of pictures of different faces with unique features....different ages, sexes, races, etc. Do studies of these photos, focusing on/considering what the underlying facial structures are...and focus on main shapes. Try to simplify. Imagine shapes in 3D. Maybe after doing a handful, try to draw one or more faces without reference to help solidify-in-my-brain what I've learned.
Example: Need to get better at composition!
To do:
-Read Edgar Payne's book on outdoor composition. Potentially take notes or copy images in book to help remember what I'm learning.
-Find thumbnails that I think look really great with good composition. Analyze what makes them look rad. Make mental (or real) notes. Use notes to try to make own set of rad thumbnails.
-Focus on graphic compositions. Large shapes are the most important, not the details. Graphic compositions simplify the forms and don't deal with the small things as much (something I have found has been distracting to me in the past - I focus too much on "copying the image" and not "focus on mimicking the composition and the main forms".
-Create thumbs in greyscale - only using a few values. Try not to create fuzzy or soft compositions. Again, focus on the graphic quality.
-As an exercise, try to take photos and do a study of them, but CHANGE things so your piece has a strong sense of composition. Do not copy 1-to-1.
I know that my boyfriend has been struggling with this sort of thing now that he has a concept art job, finding the time and the motivation after work is difficult.
I know that @Sublimus has been doing pretty well getting some lunch time/morning sketching done, and also doing online classes. I feel like courses are a good way to get some actual feedback and an monetary pressure to commit to the time, but it wouldn't be cost effective in the long run to be in a class all the time.
Personally @Angel_of_Bacon, I think that there is some value to getting eyes on even your minuscule studies. Of course I want to see more activity on the forum, so I'm always encouraging people to post, but when you look at Ikage's thread she was very unafraid to post studies and doodles of all sorts. In a space like forums, that does not really interfere with your portfolio or semi-professional blog, but still gives people the opportunity to point out things about your work that you may not be aware of.
Giving people a good opportunity to push you forward can really help. I find it funny that as the forums get more mature people seem more afraid of commentary on their unfinished/rough work than ever.
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
There's also the fearful position of posting things and not getting any critique! It doesn't happen a lot, but when It does I imagine that's scarier than getting constructive criticism.
Posts
Creepy crawlies I have no problem getting rid of, things that are large enough that I recognize them as real animals I'm sure have no kill trap options- gotta go get rid of some pests in a day care, you just tell the showrunners, "Hey idiots unless you want your kids coming home with a bunch of bedbugs and/or getting hella poisoned, get those kids outta here 'cause I'm gonna tent this sucker."
Easy question, come on.
Twitter
You guys are so smart.
(Wait, am I talking about the exterminator or the childcare...?)
http://kotaku.com/artist-completely-redraws-final-fantasy-ivs-world-map-1739144575
I have so far yet to go. I'm pretty psyched up!
Re the exterminator v child care question: exterminator all the way.
I would probably get in trouble for leaving sticky traps all over a day care center.
My Portfolio Site
I've just been using them as a little "brain break" during my lectures so that people don't fall asleep when I get up and talk for 2+ hours.
Are you married to the idea of a Mac? I don't want to get in to the endless PC. VS. MACS debate, but I will say that you can get some reeeeeally beautiful IPS monitors and a really solid custom-built PC for the price of an iMac.
geth agrees, and i do too. u can do so much more with so much less. u can even run iOS
Are you saying those models are $5,000??? because goddamn.
You could get a 22" Cintiq, two ~23" IPS monitors, AND an insanely good PC for that price. And you could probably put a down payment on a house with the leftovers.
@NightDragon
Any specific recommendations? I know I need to replace one of my monitors at some point (burn-in issues), but when I've tried to figure out "BEST MONITARRRR" I wound up getting choice paralysis. No idea what I should be getting or how much I should be paying for a good-for-art monitor.
Twitter
These might be considered obsolete in terms of "extra features" at this point (I bought two of these guys back in early 2013) but they're still fantastic monitors:
http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00906GBBC
I used the rebates, too, so I got them cheaper (it looks like they have new rebates on these now, I'd assume that it's a year-round thing at this point).
The color is great, the bases are really sturdy, and you can set the height and angles really easily. They're BEAUTS!
The viewing angles on them are fantastic, too. No color shift or value shift. Overall I've been incredibly happy with them and they're still running strong. They're a wide aspect ratio (took me awhile to get used to after using a standard iMac screen).
It actually looks like the price on Amazon hasn't dropped from when I bought them. If you have Prime you get the $52 shipping for freeeeeeeeeee
5k being the resolution of the monitor, 5120×2880. I imagine the computer is closer to 2000.
I have the same Asus monitor as ND, it's excellent! Probably still the best ~$200 monitor out there.
If you spend ~$550 you can buy a "jesus fucking christ" monitor, the ASUS MG279Q which is one of the very few IPS monitors that are also 144hz. I know I want one, but that's way too expensive... you could just buy 2 cheaper ones instead.
Macs are charming machines and I'm glad I used to have one, but it is super neat to be able to upgrade a Processor or GPU without buying a whole new computer.
Either that or time machines
u can still run iOS, no need to run windows just cause you didn't buy an apple machine
I've heard that iOS on windows doesn't have the same stability, it crashes and has compatibility issues with certain hardware configurations. Though, I'm considering buying a PC and running iOS. Though I've yet to find a monitor with the same image quality as the Macs I've had, this is where I feel apple beats everyone.
Twitter
yeah, I've got an allegedly high-end monitor but it's just terrible compared to my mac display. OTOH i'd definitely pay attention to @NightDragon 's monitor opinions, she's fussy as fuck :P
Ugh, Apple. Why are you so expensive?
The first time I borrowed a spyder thingie from the school to calibrate, I was impressed that I had ever put up with how off it was before
bacon go with me, I played warcraft 2 a couple times I think ten years ago
oh, it's the director of Moon? I guess I actually care about the movie now
The preview is a poor depiction of Storwmwind as the keep doesn't directly face the harbor. ~pushes up glasses~ and furthermore, the depiction of alliance forces as using face paint goes directly against the accord of 976 between the King of Lodaeron and Stromgard and therefore...
~oh god kill me now, while the lucidity holds~
Then you played it when it was already 10 years old? (Man do I feel old now, having played it when it first came out).
Also now having seen the full trailer, I don't think lore stuff is going to be a problem. It looks like a super-high budget over the top adaptation of an 80's Saturday morning cartoon that never existed- everything seems really broad and simple in terms of plot, dialogue, etc.
And you know what, I'm on board with that direction. If I want to watch Lord of the Rings I can watch Lord of the Rings- I'm ok with a movie just being like, "Hey kids, do you want to see some knights fight some goofy green monster men?" and just going with that premise, without glomming on too much self-importance to the whole affair.
Twitter
Yeah whatever dude I think you are like 2 or 3 years older than me!! (??) I bet young people worry more about being old than old people!!
OK, full disclosure: I played it maybe three times in high school around 2003 because of peer pressure?? I am not sure. I did, however, watch a friend play it in the late 90s a bunch, only vaguely aware of how it worked. I must have been too busy losing to strangers on THE ZONE at age of empires.
I was always behind the game on the cool violent video games and movies. I mean, I didn't watch my first R rated movie until I was ACTUALLY 17. Who does that?
On another topic, what does everyone else do for art practice? Not making portfolio work which is its own thing, but just keeping up on practicing skills? I'm particularly interested to hear from anyone who works professionally, since anyone that shares the 'I need to do outside work, and get effective results' vs 'I just drew for the last 8 hours at work I just want to go home and not do anything" issue I have, might just have the coolguy pro-tips that I need to make me a superstar.
Lately, to push myself to do something everyday (even if it sucks), I got a 'don't break the chain' app (https://chains.cc/) for my phone, and set myself with the following goals:
-10 minutes of ballpoint figure gesture drawing from reference everyday.
-20 minutes of drawing/art from a chosen topic Monday-Friday (To help avoid decision paralysis, I made a simple Javascript to choose a random art topic upon load: http://bacon.iseenothing.com/info/ArtTopicChooser_001.html *. I suppose a piece of paper and a d20 would work just as well, if I wanted to be old-school about it.)
-1 hour of any kind of drawing/art on Saturday and Sunday. Might be working on a longer term thing, or I might just pull a topic from my script and do a longer study that day.
Obviously these goals are pretty modest in the grand scheme of things (they are in addition to the 40+ hours of drawing/painting I already do for my day job- if I was a student/unemployed I'd want to set more aggressive goals here), but something is better than nothing, yeah? (Also read: this isn't enough time that the output is really worth posting- which is why I haven't, if anyone was wondering.)
Does anyone else have a set schedule or working habit like this they find works for them? Lunch drawing or morning coffee drawing or the like?
*If anyone else wants to use this script, I'd suggest saving the .html to their computer, opening it up in a text editor and modifying it to suit their own goals/needs. Just scroll down to where it says 'var TopicArray' and edit that big list however you like.
This topic list is just what I made for my own purposes- other people might want to go with more specific exercises, or have fewer design things and more fundamental practice, or whatever. (Also I'm sure there have to be a million apps and sites that already exist that do this same thing with a much nicer interface, but ehhhh whatever this works for me.)
Twitter
I guess ideally you would do something like you are now, but add in some longer studies/pieces? Have you ever thought about starting any personal projects? Like world creation to facilitate lots of different art.
Also, that's a really cool little script!
Maybe it's that way at some ideal workplaces, but generally that has not been my experience. The reality of production is that you may become faster and more efficient at applying what you already know, but taking the time to study towards fundamental improvements is not really a scheduled priority. If you're hired somewhere, it is with the expectation that you already have the fundamental skill level you need to execute the work, so you just get on with doing that work.
You might improve over time, but a lot of the time it's the same kind of improvement that daily webcomics go through over the process of years- a reader might say, "oh man this guy's art is so bad, his progress is glacial, why doesn't he just take an art class or something". But progress is slow because doing those comics are a lot of work no matter how skilled you may be, and can leave little time for putting effort explicitly towards study and improvement.
Which is why I asked specifically about what people do for outside practice and not portfolio/production work, trying to make "good pieces"- to make an analogy, I'm asking about a football player's workout routine, rather than what they do in a game.
I look at people that have made a ton of progress and it's people like @ikage , who seem to have an infinite supply of energy to do fundamental study in addition to their day job- a lot of people get a job and stagnate at their current skill level.
Twitter
Example: I need to learn how to draw more varied, accurate faces!
To do:
-Find lots of pictures of different faces with unique features....different ages, sexes, races, etc. Do studies of these photos, focusing on/considering what the underlying facial structures are...and focus on main shapes. Try to simplify. Imagine shapes in 3D. Maybe after doing a handful, try to draw one or more faces without reference to help solidify-in-my-brain what I've learned.
Example: Need to get better at composition!
To do:
-Read Edgar Payne's book on outdoor composition. Potentially take notes or copy images in book to help remember what I'm learning.
-Find thumbnails that I think look really great with good composition. Analyze what makes them look rad. Make mental (or real) notes. Use notes to try to make own set of rad thumbnails.
-Focus on graphic compositions. Large shapes are the most important, not the details. Graphic compositions simplify the forms and don't deal with the small things as much (something I have found has been distracting to me in the past - I focus too much on "copying the image" and not "focus on mimicking the composition and the main forms".
-Create thumbs in greyscale - only using a few values. Try not to create fuzzy or soft compositions. Again, focus on the graphic quality.
-As an exercise, try to take photos and do a study of them, but CHANGE things so your piece has a strong sense of composition. Do not copy 1-to-1.
Graphic thumbs like this!:
Etc.
I know that @Sublimus has been doing pretty well getting some lunch time/morning sketching done, and also doing online classes. I feel like courses are a good way to get some actual feedback and an monetary pressure to commit to the time, but it wouldn't be cost effective in the long run to be in a class all the time.
Personally @Angel_of_Bacon, I think that there is some value to getting eyes on even your minuscule studies. Of course I want to see more activity on the forum, so I'm always encouraging people to post, but when you look at Ikage's thread she was very unafraid to post studies and doodles of all sorts. In a space like forums, that does not really interfere with your portfolio or semi-professional blog, but still gives people the opportunity to point out things about your work that you may not be aware of.
Giving people a good opportunity to push you forward can really help. I find it funny that as the forums get more mature people seem more afraid of commentary on their unfinished/rough work than ever.
https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/200546/art-news-and-inspiration#latest