Pookie Art

I’m psyched.  I got some sketching done this weekend and I’m really happy about it.  Just happy that I found the time and picked up the pencil.  I’ll post some of it when I get back from (a late) dinner, I’m on my way out the door.  I have camera-phone pictures of them but I want to scan them in properly.  In the meantime you can peek at them here- flickr.com/photos/laserone/tags/sketchbook
Oh, and I got two new sketchbooks today to try; a Moleskine Watercolor book to sketch in and a Lama Li sketchbook.  Yay!

Whaa!

EDITED TO ADD: It must be a problem w/ my ISP because I can get to Yahoo Groups fine through a proxy server.  Darnit c0mcast! 

OFF TOPIC:

Have you turned off your land line and now use cell phone only? If so, have you been satisfied since doing this? I’ve considered doing this but worry that turning off the land line will result in all the telemarketing calls coming to my cell phone, which I don’t want. If you’ve done this, leave a comment here or email me to let me know what you think. Thanks!

(emai1 addy is on the sidebar) —>

Photoshop, wacom grahire tabet, and a lot of tears. 

kw: moleskine, sketchbook 

I hate to write a post w/ no artwork, but I wanted to say I have some stuff in the works and I’m psyched.  I drew an illustration today that I am proud of, and just have to finish coloring it on the computer.  I don’t know why but I’m really pleased with it.  I also have to finish my watch sketch that I am doing in Art Rage.  Then today I took my dog to the vet to get sedated and have his ears cleaned.  Not only do I have fantastic scope photographs of his inner ear to use on a journal page, but I also got a flat tire on the way to pick him up.  While waiting for AAA to come and assist me, I drew my flat tire and just want to finish the coloring before posting it online.

So I’m drawing!  Images coming soon.   

The Moleskine is my favorite sketchbook.  But  because I wanted to try out some different types of paper, I picked up a few other sketchooks from Barnes and Noble, ones w/ dark and/or textured paper.  On this blog, each post has a category.  To keep things organized, and mainly for my own reference, I’ll create a new category for each sketchbook.  (If I end up w/ a million different sketchbooks in progress then I will have to change the system.)

The Pink leaf sketchbook has really rough paper.  The "B&W patterned" sketchbook has tan, rough paper, and the "Leafy Bamboo" sketchbook has rough paper.  So I guess I’ll create these categories for when I draw in these sketchbooks. 

Don’t blink.

M. and I were walking the dogs tonight and noticed a lot of people milling around two streets over, and cop cars. We talked to a neighbor and it turns out a man who was in his early 40’s died, and they think he took his own life.  It’s sad. The truth is we may never know how he really died.

Don’t get so caught up in work that one day you realize you have no memories. One day you may be hit by a bus, or one day your better half may be hit by a bus and then you’ll be alone, wondering why you didn’t say “I love you” more or spend more time taking walks together. Sad. And just tonight I was at dinner and found myself w/ tears running down my face because a song that was playing in the restaurant was one that “the band” used to play when my brother and I would drive down to the beach to watch them play. Now he’s dead, in his 40’s, of cancer. Life is short. Don’t blink.

This is just a quick-sketch I did while the image was still in my head.  It’s quick and childish-looking.  But I just wanted to sketch it out while it was fresh in my head. 

When I am trying to get a scan of my artwork just right, I notice that the richness of the color, the contrast/brightness, etc. depends on what angle I have my laptop screen at.  I’ve been working with photos in photoshop for YEARS and have not pondered this question much.  I HAVE thought about it, but there just seemed to be a natural place for the screen to be.  But for some reason w/ the drawings it’s bothering me a lot more.  I suppose this is also an issue with regular flat-panel monitors.  And also crt monitors that are set to real bright or real dark.  Heh, back around 2000, while looking at my online photos from a computer that was not at home, I noticed that all my photos online were over-brightened.  Turns out I forgot that my CRT monitor at home was turned way down, the brightness, so I had been overbrightening my photos to compensate for that and not realizing it. 

So anyway, I don’t know why, but now that I’m dealing w/ scanned artwork, it seems that the image changes more when you move the angle of the screen just a little, whereas it’s not that drastic w/ photos.

Here’s an experiment I did- I took photos of the screen as I changed the angle of the screen and nothing else:

(that’s my trying my hand at coloring a sketch in photoshop w/ my new Wacom tablet, LOL, terrible) 

Small:   http://myotherstuff.net/pookieart/comparisonsm.jpg 

Large:   http://myotherstuff.net/pookieart/comparison.jpg 

I know you can get monitor calibration spiders and such, but I am have spent too much money on stuff lately and am just not going to go there right now. 

Idunno.  It just seems that with scanned artwork, there is more of a visible change with a small angle change in the screen.  One of my drawings will need just a little tweak of brightness and I don’t know whether to adjust it in photoshop or move my screen.

I know, everyone sees different things because of monitor types, monitor settings, monitor calibration, system (macs see color differently than PCs!) **, and more.  I need to just go to bed, LOL. 

** = "found the link!" 

Here’s Me:

You Are a Black and White Cookie

You’re often conflicted in life, and you feel pulled in two opposite directions. When you’re good, you’re sweet as sugar. And when you’re bad, you’re wicked!

I had commented in a few places that I thought there was a difference between the two cases of colored pencils that Barnes and Noble sells that comes in CD cases.  I was wrong.  I did a test tonight in both my Moleskine and my Meade Sketchblog and I’m sure now that they’re the same.  Now, off to bed.

I just wanted to say THANK YOU!!!!!! to all the people who have left comments on my blog.  It really gives me a smile and a pick-me-up to come to my computer and see the nice comments.  You all have no idea how you really make my day brighter.  : )

Taking "The Creative License" with me everywhere I go and reading when I can, and drawing when I can, even while waiting for food in restaurants.    I love this book.

I’m not real happy w/ pix that I do in colored pencil.  I wonder is it my pencils?  What is a "good" brand of colored pencils to use?  (I did another drawing today, but I want to finish it before I post it, it’s almost done.)  I use a moleskine which has the off-white paper.  When I use white colored pencil, it does not show up.  But there are white colored pencils in my colored pencil boxes, so it must be either that the paper is inferior or my pencil brand is inferior… I guess… or both.  I like using the moleskine because it’s convenient, and that is precisely why I am drawing again.  If it weren’t for the moleskine, I might not be drawing at all.  So I’m not ready to chuck the moleskine.  What I’m doing now is using white gel pen when I really need white.  I also bought some other white mediums (pastels, a waxy pencil and a paint pen) to try.

I’d like to get a drawing tablet for my pc.  I don’t need to top of the line.  Any recommendations?  I’m looking at tablets on amazon.com right now.  You can leave a comment here or e me at the addy on the sidebar.