Posts Tagged ‘ wacom ’

I’ve nearly cracked the writer’s block part 2

As I said in my last post, I’m trying to re-learn my skills and started using corel painter. I’ve come into a few problems because of the cross over between Photoshop and Corel, thing is that the Photoshop I have kind of mollycoddles you, so I found that I’ve been a it lazy in the past.

This by no means is a problem, it’s a pain but it’s better to do something properly or you might as well not do it at all. I’ve had to completely start all over again with my Poison Ivy painting because it looked flat and a bit crap, I didn’t save the crap one so I can’t show you (I was in a mood and deleted it XD)

So I’ve been on youtube today, again, because I have to learn how to create a greyscale painting, do the details and then colour it. Doing a greyscale painting first seems to be everyone’s preferred option so I think most people have been taught to do this, schoolism teach this method also.

It’s a bit boring painting a grey everywhere though :/.

On my travels I found this really good 3 part tutorial type series just to watch the whole way through, it’s from concept to polished painting. It’s been uploaded by JSolorzanoArts1.

I’ve nearly cracked the writer’s block…

Well, it’s been nearly 3 weeks that I haven’t done anything new, it’s so annoying, my traffic has slowed down and that means my sales for this month will do too! Argh! I’ve been doing everything, I’ve even googled “insparation”- this time google doesn’t know everything lol.

Zatanna Speedpaint I haven’t been to the gym recently because of my HMS symptoms playing up, so I’ve had to recharge the batteries as sit down, not move and take a load of wonderful painkillers. A couple of weeks ago some one asked me to do a request on youtube for Zatanna speed paint, which my heart wasn’t really in it to be honest. And the after that they asked me to do Poison Ivy, which I’ve started, twice. I think part of my problem is that I’ve become bored of photoshop. I do like learning new things all the time, I don’t like repetition and I’m one of those people who has 10 projects on the go because I can’t concentrate on one thing.

Anyway my lovely boyfriend bought me Corel Painter and I’ve only messed about with it, nothing solid, and I’ve seemed to have got my mojo back again :D , I’ve thrown myself in at the deep end and using different brushes that I don’t normally use different techniques that I’ve seen on youtube. I think having a fresh approach has really helped me.

I haven’t got any of my own ideas yet but at least I’m painting again and the poison Ivy one is completely different to what I normally do, so hopefully I’ll get some feedback on it.

I also found this really cool video using shape type brushes, like speakers, mobile phones and so on, the guy who’s giving the tutorial is a concept android artist, just gives a new light on using those weird brushes that no one uses.


Colour Palette Sites

Because I’m finding it hard at the moment to paint anything, I’ve been trawling the palette websites for about an hour (nothing yet lol).

But there are loads of rubbish ones out there, lots are just like the colour selector on any paint/draw software. So there’s two that I’ve grown quite fond of, there’s Kuler.com or there’s Design-seeds.com (which is more of a blog).

Kuler is actually run by Adobe. It’s very easy to use all you do it look at the most popular, top rated, new or search. You can search by typing in for example “green grey” and you then have loads of different variations of green & grey. You can also go a bit more abstract and search “Asia” or “Fluffy”, this is a bit more annoying because you have to search through a lot, but normally I’ve found what I wanted on the front page.

You are also allowed to tweak the palette if you need to on the website, so you can even remove a colour completely. Kuler also gives you the co ordinates in HSV, RGB, CMYK, LAB & HEX but I’m LazyHaze, so I just copy and paste the image. On Kuler people can take part as well, I haven’t tried this end of it as I don’t really have the time and it seems a bit boring to me, but if you like playing with colour Kuler’s the place for you.

Design-seeds.com is laid out like a blog. I like the way that the palettes are aranged with a nice photograph and the the palette for that photo on the bottom. It gives it a very good edge compared to the others.

Image below is from Design-seeds.com

macro bloom

I also like the way you can search the colours, you can click on one colour on the palette and search for similar colours. You cannot unfortunately send a photo in and they make a palette and they don’t take requests which is disappointing, but seriously, it’s free and there’s hundreds on there, I don’t think you’d need it!

The longer you leave it the worse it gets.

At the moment I’m suffering a big block on what to draw next, nothing I doodle I want to commit to for a full on painting. It’s driving me up the wall. Thing is, the longer you leave it the worse it get’s it’s been a good few weeks now, not even pandas can bump me out of it, grrrr! It’s like when you can’t sleep, worrying about not sleeping keeps you awake, it’s a huge circle or irritation. I’ve been trying everything I normally do youtube, deviantart, shadowness everything that normally inspires something, doesn’t. My boyfriend even bought me some books not even they have helped

It’s ever since I’ve been going to the bloody gym, nothings happened, I think it might be where I’m tired or something, I don’t know I just can’t be bothered. And it’s annoying me because I really need to keep the momentum on my zazzle store, because when you stop updating something on the internet all of the search engines think that it’s out of date and it gets listed lower and lower until no one finds it.

Free Garfield Colour Page

Shadowness.com

I found Shadowness through Google, because I was bored of deviantart.com. This is mainly because a lot of the daily deviations were from the same elite force of artists, it’s also so hard to find anything on there, I can’t find my own stuff on there, so how are others meant to find my stuff? There’s a lot of trolls too, grumpy twisted people (probs because they’ve been on there for 2 years and not got anything from it). Enough about that anyway…

Shadowness is very sleek looking, very modern and shiney, you can choose your own background, how you present your gallery to people makes a huge difference. It’s a nice friendly place, you can make a funny comment on your profile under “what your working on” and it lasts for 24 hours hen you have to change it.

Shadowness work on a points system, so the more you participate in the website, the more likely you are to be seen. You get more points for comments than for collecting some ones artwork, so you’re bound to get a nice comment or two. Also (like most websites now) you can follow people and be notified of their new work. You also have the option to buy membership which they will help you with exposure and there’s other features, but I’m poor and haven’t looked at that yet.

When you get a follow message, it also sends a little bit of info on the artist who’s followed you, which is good for promoting your websites.

My personal experience of Shadowness is brilliant, I don’t know how or why, but my little pandas seem to be rather popular with the other artists. I’ve been featured twice now, I’m only on day 3 and haven’t uploaded everything yet, which is a great boost to, frankly, a crappy week. Because of shadowness, my views have gone up here too! I think it’s well worth a look if your trying to find the right social art group for you. Shadowness’s quality of the website and all of the artwork that I’ve seen so far.

Click on the pandas below and you’ll see a showcase of some of the fabulous work there, my pandas are near the bottom. For me they look a bit out of place with the amazing stuff that’s on there, but I can hardly complain.

If your on there already, follow me :) and I’ll follow you.

Charlotte Faber- Marais

Charlotte was born in 1958 in Zimbabwe. Through her childhood she attended many schools in as many countries from South Africa to Jamaica. She then returned to the U.K to finish her schooling. Charlotte continued to travel through out her life, she’s also known for her cooking as well as her talent for art. She made her home in the The Mill in the Catalan Pyrenees which she and her husband, John, have been gradually restoring.

She has been in the following exhibitions;

Grasshopper Gallery. Norwich 1980
Gallery 24 .London 1981
Victoria Fuller Gallery. Cambridge 1982
Summer exhibition Royal Academy.London 1983
Gallery 24 .London 1983
Foyles Gallery. London 1983
Libertys.. London 1984-5
Sculpture shown at British Institute. Barcelona 1994
´Not So Simple` Furniture Show. With Niall O´Flynn .Barcelona .Bany Nous Shop 1995. Cologne Fair.1996. London V&A 1997.
New York 1998
Show of Left handed prints, drawings and paintings at Hospital de L’Esperança. Barcelona. 2008
El Dolor exhibition, Palacio de Santa Barbara, Madrid for pharmaceutical company Grünethal. 2008

In 2008, January, Charlotte suffered from a stroke (ICTUS), which paralysed her right side (she was a right-hand painter). To a lesser person, this would have become a hindrance on herlife and career, but Charlotte decided to fight it. In her hospital bed, she picked up a pencil and drew everything with her left hand. Hospital de lÉsperança offered to have an exhibition in the rehabilitation floor, which she received many visitors, and was featured in a medical journal and Spanish documentary on people who have had strokes.

During Charlotte’s rehabilitation she produced a number of drawings, below was her first left handed drawing.

“3 weeks after”

Below- “Dolor de la Cabeza” – Charlotte’s first major painting using her left hand.

Charlotte’s story touched me so much because I also have a disabling condition (Hypermobility Syndrome/ EDS III), and one of my main fears is eventually using the use of my hands. But looking at her determination and courage, I find myself not worrying about it any more. Since I’ve seen her story, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’ve had to push myself through the pain, exhaustion, the frustration and unfairness, I mean I didn’t take it well, I dyed my hair red and cut most of it off. But some one like Charlotte is an inspiration to every one.

Even though she lost her identity as an artist, she pulled a new one back.

An Identity that oozes courage, strength and honour, one that you can see in all of her new work.

All information and pictures are from the website below. You can also find a contact e-mail for her.

http://www.thewebspace.co.uk/charfaber/index.html

“The Way Things Go” by Fischli and Weiss

This installation was created by Fischli and Weiss it was theirs biggest project measure a whooping 100 feet. They used a range chemical reactions and physical interactions and managed to carve fire to their own needs.

There has always been something about chain reactions that will always fascinate us, I think that it’s really down to the philosophical question, does fate control us, or do we control our own lives? Does fate exist? Because a chain reaction is what we would describe  as fate, a bit like a pile up on the motorway, one cars crashes, then other and so on… but what if some one makes the chain reaction in the first place? What if some one wanted the pile up? Made the first car crash to create ciaos.

Who knows, but they’re fun to watch!

Contest for Cute Monsters on Deviant Art is Nearly Finished

Well all the entries are in and a lot are amazing, much better than mine *cries* oh well, I might as well give credit where credit’s due! If you like then click on the “I’d wear this button” next to the top of the picture.

First one is by Lazstscionz.deviantart.com titled “Do they?”, so cute a beautifully drawn.

This one is by Hiddenrainbow.deviantart.com,  titled “Fuzzy and Blue”, I love this ickle ball of fluff!

Artoon.deviantart.com, has made this wonderful, creepy lil’ dude “Look Yummy”

 Dragonflamebg.devaintart.com, has made an usual, yet simply beautiful contribution called “Sweet Monster”

Elastic-Pancakes.deviantart.com, submitted an “Evil Kitty”, we all know one…

“Unleash your creative beast” is really stunning from pavart.deviantart, I love the shading used, very clever!

“Ok…..We’re here???!!!” by Inkone, is a nice, individual and colourful submission, very nice!

And last and least! Here be mine (I know, no chance compared to these.

So there you go, if you like these, the click on the “I’d wear this button”, you’d help us poor artists out with winning a new t-shirt and some cash!

5 Things You Need to Know About Free Stock Images

It’s really hard to find a good variety of stock images that you can use on anything.

1, First and foremost, you need to be thankful for the person who has gone to the trouble of uploading these nice pictures for you, imagine how you’d feel if some one abused your hard work. Make sure you read the T&C of all stock pictures. Most people require you to credit them on your work, some people ask for links to show what their work has gone towards, every one’s conditions are different, so make sure you read them!

2, In peoples T&Cs it’s always stated that you must change the picture before you upload it onto a website to sell. This is to stop people downloading a free stock photo and then selling it on another. Which is very fair. If you don’t, people can sue you for the money you made on that picture.

3, If you search “free stock images” hundred of sites come up, the crap images are free and then the good ones that you actually want to use are a pretty penny. You can find the odd good website that has great photo’s but I have yet to find one that I would want to put on here.

4, Using stock photos that you have to credit people is a pain in the butt, I’ve seen people complain about how there picture has been used and it had been taken down.

5, All in all, if you need a texture or a flower for your art, get a cheap camera and take them yourself, the people who share their free stock images won’t be any better that what you take, and you build up a missive “stock” yourself that you can also sell if they’re good enough or let them be free, you soon realise why people want credit for their work because of the amount of effort it takes.

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