Funny thing happened today. I was just browsing through deviantART after posting my last post about Marta Dahlig. Then I stumbled upon a model I recognized from one of my favorite photos I found online.
I’ve always thought it was a great photo and model, but didn’t know where it was from. I was very happy to finally find the photographer and the model. Anyway while looking through the model’s gallery I find that she is quite popular among the deviantART community, and that she had worked with many other artists. After more browsing I find a recognizable image from non-other than MichaelO. From my second post. Funny how these random connections work.
Wow, so many great artists, so many ideas, and so many valuable information. There is a free lite version you can download to find out exactly what you can find in the full version.
Here is a link to the latest issue. There is an interview with Marta Dahlig, which made me fall in love with her work.
I came across Xia Taptara’s site while looking for tutorials online. Great resource for anyone who wants to draw portraits. Many tutorials, and screen capture videos. I love his digital paintings. If you watch his videos he makes it look so easy. Check out this video.
So I’ve tried Colors! an iPhone and NDS drawing app I’ve mentioned a few posts ago. Still missing a few things that I would love to have as features like layers. But from what I’ve seen and tried, this one is my favorite so far. This app has been around for a while as a Nintendo DS application. So it already has a healthy community.
One feature I feel in love with is the gallery. You can browse through other artists work and replay every single stroke. I found it to be a great learning tool. Its very entertaining to see other people drawing. And the best part is that you can download the examples and keep it and re-play it whenever you want.
Same goes with your saved work, you can re-play your work and stop it at any moment and save it as a different file, so you can work on different versions if you want. Because it doesn’t support layers the process is more like oil painting. Took me a while to get used to, but if your already a painter then you’ll pick it up naturally.
Features I like
tilt control for brush size, or paint opacity - quickly change brush size/opacity just by tilting
export to bigger image size
replay every stroke
download uploaded examples from gallery - a great learning tool
brush offset - so you can see what your drawing when using your finger
flip x,y to flip the canvas to a more comfortable orientation - good way to check your proportions
Few things that could make this app better…
layers, even just one more layer please!!!
more smooth zooming
more zoom levels
faster eye dropper color picker
But most of this I think I can get used to. I’m trying to practice and I’ll put up some work when I get better at drawing on my iPhone. I’m very happy that I have all the painting tools I need right in my pocket all the time. All I need now is some motivation and time
Great solution for a common space problem, I think it could be folded even smaller if the top folds in half length wise, and the leg can unfold to support the now wider top. that way you can have a small side table turn into a large dining table for a bigger dinner party.
If you have any interest in photography, or videography, you will agree this is beautiful (+tears). RED had just announced their DSMC (Digital Stills and Motion Camera) System. Check out more photos via Engadget.
I’ve been following the development of augmented reality for a while now. It has so much incredible potential I think it will shape our future computing experience. But until we all walk around with head mounted displays, or optical implants that shoot HD laser images into our eyeballs we still have a long ways to go. I’ll have to find more on augmented reality to show what I mean.
Japan is always quick to adapt new technology in novel, and profit making ways. This one is a great example of Japan’s technology meets obsession for manga meets their all so wonderful openness to sexuality. Oh what a different world it would be with out them.
I want to draw on my iPhone. I’m not expecting to paint any master pieces on the little screen. I’d say it would mostly be for idea sketches, story boards, concepts, color studies and what not. I see it as my digital Moleskine with almost unlimited number of pages. It’s one less thing to carry around. Guarantee’s that I will have it with me at all times. I don’t have to kill any more trees. And I feel much more comfortable knowing that I can make as many mistakes as I want - duplicate, save in different stages, and undos, try that on a Moleskine!
Here is my ideal set of features for drawing on the iPhone.
aliased strokes, with good brush options - thickness, shape
HSB color picker with quick and easy interface
easy zoom
pressure - at least some way of controlling the brush stroke, maybe by speed of stroke?
need a stylus - fat finger gets in the way
layers - need at least 2 layers to keep the sketch and paint under it
fast, easy interface - picking colors, changing brush size, and other most often used options
So I’ve been searching long and hard in the App Store since the day it was launched to find my perfect drawing app. But sadly it doesn’t exist yet. there are so many bad drawing apps its very disappointing. Most are not made for artists in mind at all. However there are a couple of promissing apps that can be used for cirtain types of drawing techniques for now.
I’ve already started using Brushes, but I want to try Colors for it’s unique features as well - especially the opacity, brush size control using tilt. Maybe I can post some feedback on each app when I get a feel of both apps. I’ll try to practice more and post the progress as well as upload some images here when I get good enough.
