self-absorbed sheep

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 | squid and sheep | No Comments

Trav wrote: “We are the most elite of the hypocritical, self-absorbed sheep!”

autumn tree II (trying out brushes and typedrawing on the iphone)

Monday, November 16th, 2009 | iPhone doodles | No Comments

Today I tried out the much-lauded Brushes made famous by the April 2009 New Yorker cover. I have to admit that after starting with Sketchbook, I was completely underwhelmed by Brushes. First of all it’s a $5 ap (compared with Sketchbook’s $3). Second of all, for an ap called “Brushes” it has only 3 plus an eraser. And they’re essentially the same brush. The interface is simple and the feel of the program is very fluid. But it’s a lot more sensitive to mistakes than Sketchbook. It uses the double-tap zoom. So if you try to tap the paint on rather than brush it on you end up zooming in and out a lot. That got very annoying. You can’t save out in layers to another ap or Photoshop like Sketchbook can either. Your only options are to export a flattened jpg to the photo library or an iphone “screenshot” (which lowers the output resolution). Again, I’m working on the low-rent iphone so perhaps the resolution is better on other models?

Two things Brushes does better than Sketchbook: The resolution is 533 x 800. And you can control the brush transparency. I just felt like I was fighting with this ap much more than I should have had to. I won’t be joining the Brushes cult.

So after upping my iPhone drawing ap purchase debit from the cost of a soda to that of a margarita, my friend Sasha showed me TypeDrawing. My debit then increased to the price of two beers ($10 total. This ap cost $2). It’s a funky little doodle of an application which appears to have been spun off a flash based web experiment that started in 2005. It allows you to paint with text that you input. For now, It only seems to be a black and white ap (you can chose from several shades in between as well as increments of transparency). But what really made it for me is that you can draw over any image in your photo library.

So I improved my “brushes” doodle a little.

autumn tree (trying out autodesk sketchbook on the iphone)

Sunday, November 15th, 2009 | iPhone doodles | 1 Comment

Giving “finger painting” a new name…

I’ve only used the full-blown ap one time on a friend’s computer. I’m more familiar with Artrage. But the iphone ap is definitely in the same category of low-rent painting programs. It absolutely does what I want it to do. The only limitations I’ve hit so far: not pressure sensitive (though I think they’re using speed to simulate that) and you can’t see through your finger to do any fine “brushwork.” I’m probably going to buy an iPhone “stylus” and see how well that works.
The first time I used it, the ap crashed after an hour (gee I knew I shoulda saved!). It’s supposed to have 6-layer capacity but I get only 3 on my device. There are some predictable size limits. Default resolution is 5×8@72dpi/1.333×2@300dpi or 400x 600 so kind of low. The above image is actual size (I hesitate to call that high-res) though the ap says it does 1024 x 682 on 3GS iPhones (mine is not).
Layers copied over fine. Added sig and &copy notice plus did the jpg export in PSD (the ap exports PSD layers or PNG format). The interface is just as easy to use as the larger computer programs. I think I got more than my $3 worth with this little one.

a valkyrie for craig

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | General, valkyries | No Comments

(Artrage2/Photoshop)
This is for Craig whom I didn’t really know and will now never get to know. I think the Valkyries are becoming a series of their own.

the zip code show: hotel california (north kenter ave., los angeles 90049)

Friday, August 21st, 2009 | General, The Score is a Work of Art | 1 Comment

I created this piece for the Zip Code Show. It’s a group show and I’m happy to be showing with a bunch of lovely and talented artists, many of whom I met through Artomatic. Details are below. Opening night is next Saturday the 29th. I discovered I don’t really have a good photo of the piece from the front. Unlike the other pieces in the Score series, this one is vertical and the staff lines are not parallel (for those who can read music, it’s bottom to top, and, I believe, in the key of Bflat).

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http://artoutlet.org/news/events/zip-code-show
The ZIP Code Show is about artists and their relationships with their surroundings.

August 29th – September 5th
Halstead Gallery: 1028 South Walter Reed Drive in Arlington, VA 22204

Opening reception, Sat Aug 29, 5-midnight;
Gallery hours: Tue – Fri, 5:00 pm – 7:30 pm; Sat Sept 5, 5-10 pm

In the early 1990′s, kids drove their cars up to the top of Kenter at night to drink beer, smoke cigarettes, and make out to the music on their car sterios. The view from the top of Kenter is pretty stellar; the lights of the long boulevards sparkle and glitter, stretching miles to the ocean in the distance, and often you could hear the calling of the coyotes. I spent many nights up there with friends in my early 20′s.

A new addition to my continuing series, “The Score is a Work of Art”
Visual interpretations, conveying the spirit of music—inspired by its moods, emotions, genres and instrumentations.

Title “Hotel California (North Kenter Ave, Los Angeles 90049)”
22″ x 40″
texture paint, acrylic, sand, wire, cigarettes, glass

another illustration for k12

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 | General, work | 1 Comment

I think it may be time to recalibrate my monitor. Hmm. Anyway here is another illustration of the adventurous prince for the Remedial Reading program. I had 4 hours to do it – it took 5.5. I had to figure out how to draw what was requested! The rights belong to k12 but I am permitted to post it to my site for portfolio display only: