Professor Babcock's Blog

Thanks for a great class

2011-06-17T12:11:00.002-05:00

I hope to be able to continue to see great work on your blogs. I will move your blog links to the archive list. You can keep checking this blog as a way to link to other students past and present.

Snow Thing

2011-06-13T18:04:00.003-05:00

Tried the snow thing that Cassie was looking at. I am not sure that I am impressed by it. You need to do multiple layers of dots at different sizes and blur them separately to produce depth. The figure is simply desaturated. Some blurred color layers help add lightening through screen blending mode and color behind the masked figure for color gradation.

Grainy Vectors, Pattern Skin, Blurry Road

2011-06-13T16:00:00.002-05:00

Here are a few images that go with the recordings that I am posting today on Blackboard.
The Grainy Vector Monkey is a great technique that turns ordinary vectors into cool retro lithographic texture looking things. The Pattern skin is pretty easy, you just have to figure out multiple masks. The blurry road angel guy is several techniques together.
Be sure to check out the recordings.

Vectors from Photos

2011-06-10T12:37:00.003-05:00

New recording on blackboard that shows making vector images from photos.
See Kim's Coke Blog posts.

Digital Skin

2011-06-08T15:39:00.002-05:00

See Cassie's Blog for a project she is working on with this disintegrated skin technique.
See Blackboard for technique recording.

Several for Shelby

2011-06-07T13:34:00.003-05:00

Trying to cram projects is hard on me too.
See Blackboard for recordings on these techniques.

Michael's Whitehouse

2011-06-07T13:32:00.004-05:00

Post Apocalyptic WhiteHouse. Same kind of Photo Collage techniques as before, some new. See Blackboard for access to recording.

Alex's vector image

2011-06-07T13:31:00.001-05:00

See Blackboard for process recording. Project is on Alex's Blog.

Cast Shadows Rough

2011-06-06T09:19:00.003-05:00

This image shows some slight adjustments that I made for Cassie's image. Please see her blog. I added cast shadows on the figue and the tree. See Blackboard for a recording where I show the process. I also, post recording, did a blur of a copy of the image and then put a gradient mask on the blur so that it blended gradually with a sharp original layer. Adding the figure to that mask keeps the upper part of the figure in the clear foreground.

Cut Limb Trick

2011-06-04T12:13:00.003-05:00

This poor woman is certainly getting a lot of abuse.
See Cassie's blog for what she is working on.
I have posted a recording on Blackboard for how to get this image done.

Photo Mixing Surreal

2011-06-03T13:34:00.001-05:00

Check Blackboard for a recording on simple image compositing.

Clear Splash Type

2011-06-03T12:11:00.001-05:00

See Kim's blog and Blackboard for information and a recording on how to do this clear dimensional type thing.

Textured Robot Vector Plus Gradients

2011-06-01T17:53:00.003-05:00

Trying out some of the techniques used in an image that Alex found; see his blog.

Start in Illustrator and then take to Photoshop.
Bring over separate layers. Most come over as pixels, a few pasted as paths for stroking in Photoshop.

Pattern Design

2011-05-30T15:57:00.001-05:00

I have been working on designing some patterns.

Vector Drawing Plus Textures

2011-05-24T13:40:00.003-05:00

Several of you have expressed interest in vector art posters. Please consider the following technique where you add a paper texture to the vectors through Photoshop. A recording in blackboard shows this and some strategies for vector drawing at the same time.

Coke Can Rendering

2011-05-24T12:46:00.002-05:00

Here is my version of a metallic can rendering. See Marie's Blog for the original.
3 process recordings are on Blackboard.

Motorcross 2

2011-05-24T11:48:00.002-05:00

Here is another motorcross experiment. See Michael's blog for what he is working on. I have a recording for this on Blackboard.

Linear Photoshop Rays

2011-05-24T11:32:00.003-05:00

I have a recording posted in Blackboard that shows how to make these kinds of "sunbursts" and lines in Photoshop

Photo Collage Experiment

2011-05-23T15:02:00.003-05:00

I did this image as a test. You can see all of the photos I used below. See Cassie's blog for things that she is working on.

Alternate for Cassie

2011-05-20T10:33:00.002-05:00

This image is a slight adjustment for Cassie, see her blog. I did another layer of the girl on top with overlay blending mode and adjusted the background lighter and less saturated.

Illustrator Bevel Line Technique

2011-05-19T15:19:00.002-05:00

I have a recording for this process on BB. This will work for Marie's Dino copy.

Fixed Recordings plus Smoke & Light Recordings

2011-05-19T14:31:00.002-05:00

Be sure to go to Blackboard Announcements for recordings on these image processes.

Alex Light & Smoke Tests

2011-05-18T15:49:00.002-05:00

I was trying some tests today on Smoke and Light trails. See Alex's blog.

Kim Tempt Fate

2011-05-18T12:53:00.003-05:00

Here is my version of the copy that Kim is working on. See the Tempt Fate Lectures for Kim on Blackboard. Please be sure that you are watching recordings that I do for other people that is how you will learn tons in this course. See Kim's blog for the original image.

Completed Mule

2011-05-17T16:34:00.001-05:00

Here is the completed mule. It is all vectors so it can be easily scaled.

Lecture for Michael

2011-05-16T14:48:00.002-05:00

Be sure to check out recordings in Blackboard that I did to show Micheal how this is done:

Photo techniques for Britney and Cassie

2011-05-16T12:58:00.002-05:00

Check Blackboard announcements for two recordings for Cassie on this Photoshop Technique.

And a process for getting textures and photos together for Britney.

Script Drawing Progress

2011-05-14T18:27:00.003-05:00

Here you can see the first steps in my process to do a "scripty" drawing. I had the original unicorn decorative drawing in Photoshop. I researched some mule images and had them open as well. I drew a new mule head that would fit the pose I am working with. I redrew it again over the top of the unicorn in another layer and color. Then exported the whole thing to Illustrator. In Illustrator I am just doing a default 1pt line and the vector pen tool. Once I have all of the new paths mapped out I will cut them up and apply the different art brushes. Watch the recordings that are posted in Blackboard for more details.

Illustrator Script Brush

2011-05-11T13:51:00.000-05:00

Here is a screenshot of the shapes I ended up creating to make a series of brushes used in the spiral and my copy of the script ornament.

Calligraphic Designs

2011-05-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Hello,

During the course I will be working on stuff of my own as an example. My wife has shown a great interest in calligraphic designs and I am interested in how to make them digitally. Here is a link to a good example of what I am thinking about:
Dover Books
and here are some images from the site:

Image Research

2011-05-10T13:21:00.006-05:00

Time to research!

Find some images that you want to work with and link to them in a post on your blog. Please visit the Behance Network site for contemporary professional work:

Click this link for Behance

Here you will find high resolution images of illustrations, free account required.

Click this link for Heritage Auctions

Make sure you are checking Blackboard announcements as well.

Welcome Digital Studio Summer 2011

2011-05-09T10:51:00.002-05:00

Hello Class,

This will be my blog for communicating with the class.

Please post your URL to your blog in a comment attached to this post. I will post your links in my sidebar.

Be sure to still check Blackboard announcements for official class stuff and links to the tutorial recordings that I will be posting.

--David

Sodium

2010-07-20T16:01:00.001-05:00

Trans Fat

2010-07-15T19:05:00.001-05:00

Corn Syrup

2010-07-12T12:29:00.000-05:00

Test of Shadowbox Script

2010-06-22T15:19:00.000-05:00

This is a test of the shadowbox script for displaying larger images from thumbnails.
Great for portfolios!

Here is a video showing how it is done

Picasa and Flickr Portfolios

2010-06-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

Both Google's Picasa and Flickr offer good options for posting personal portfolios. With Picasa you can easily create an album that will run as a slideshow with high resolution images. To showcase this portfolio to a potential client you simply send them a link to the album. You can post this link in an email or your blog or on a simple personal web page. Albums can be made private or public. Captions and sections for comment are also easy to use. If you have a Blogger/Blogspot blog then you already have a Picasa account where it keeps every image you post to your blog in an album.
Link to Picasa
Link to Flickr

Here is an example of a link to a Picasa Album:
Sample Album

Portfolio Communities

2010-06-16T09:53:00.000-05:00

There are many websites that offer the ability to create a portfolio on their hosted website. Most of these offer free space so that a large enough number of quality users populate the site and permit the parent site to sell advertising. Choose carefully what sites you choose to use to showcase your work. The reputation of the site and the quality of the portfolios there reflect on you. AIGA has cooperated with Behance to offer this service. I recommend their site as a good professional option. Link to Behance I believe that you have to sign up and get an invitation to post. Make sure you indicate that you are a BFA Illustration or Graphic Design Student.
As an Illustrator you may also want to try Deviant Art or CG Hub as places to put a portfolio. But beware of the fact that there is a lot of sub-par, work on the Deviant Site and it carries that reputation with it.

Using a Lightwindow Script for Portfolios

2010-06-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

One of my biggest frustrations with student portfolios sites is when they have a tight little site with thumbnails and a very small area in which to view larger sized work. You really need to be able to show of your work at the largest size possible online. This is fairly easy to do if you use a lightwindow type javascript library. Go to this page I created for examples of the scripts in action.
Lightwindow Scripts Example Page
If you like what you see here you can view the source of the page you like and copy out the scripts that appear in the head of the document and then apply the class names that you see in the body.

Click on this thumbnail image below to see an example of how these scripts work. And in a blog!

Portfolio Blog Site

2010-06-16T09:39:00.000-05:00

There are a lot of ways to present your work and yourself through an online presence. One of the easiest is the blog, just like this. It is free! There are tons of tools already set up to work with the blog format. And perhaps most importantly it is easy for other people to find you. The trick becomes how to arrange and customize the blog to be just what you want it to be without all of the other distractions. Consider a simple portfolio blog where you load thumbnail images into a single post. When those images are clicked it opens up a larger image for people to look at. The sidebar can contain your basic contact information. You can also have links in the sidebar to other posts, which in turn can contain other information or sections of your portfolio. Blogger lets you create up to 6 active blogs per login.

texture and vignette lighting

2010-06-15T17:04:00.000-05:00

texture and vignette lighting video example

Texture Test

2010-06-15T16:46:00.001-05:00

Illustrator and some brushes

2010-06-11T13:57:00.000-05:00

Here is a video on using the Illustrator Art Brush:
Art Brush Video

Here is a video on using the Illustrator Symbol Tools:
Symbol Tools Video

Final Week

2010-06-11T11:52:00.001-05:00

Hello All,

This next week is our final week of class. I have copied this from our schedule for your benefit here:

Week 6

For the final week of class you will make a proposal and plan for personal integration. Putting it all into perspective. Getting all of your digital tools and online resources to work for you. You may use this time to research additional tools or further develop a technique or process from previous weeks. Will you develop a webpage for self promotion? What online tools would you use to get freelance jobs? What communities will you join and participate in? What connections will you make with your peers? What will you use to continue to learn?

Final Day

Present final findings and conclusions for personal application on blog.

So, what to do.
During the previous weeks of the course you have had the opportunity to try out a lot of processes. What will you take away from this class? Has there been some great discovery/discoveries that will change the way that you work? This doesn't mean just a singular technique or brush. How will you approach your future artworks and what role will the computer play in those projects? This is your opportunity to teach.

Make sure that you create a blog post that includes a reflection on the class and what you have learned.

Option 1: Create a detailed tutorial that another student could follow. Walk them through a process of digital techniques taking time to describe not only the technicals but the "whys" behind what you do.

Option 2: Present and discuss your professional digital arsenal. Do you intend to continue to use a blog as a professional illustrator/designer? How will your blog help you get jobs? Would you post technical tutorials on your blog? Would you showcase sketches and works in progress? Would you have downloadable portfolios? Accessible Picassa Slideshows? Can you show and evaluate other professional illustrator/designer blogs and how they use them effectively to get work. What role can social bookmarking, links to other sites, and followers play? Do you have a companion portfolio website? How can you go about setting that up? Are there free options?

Option 3: What is the big perspective view of your process? How do you research an idea? Do sketches happen manually or digitally? How do you gather reference images and how do you use them? How do you create the elements of your piece? How do you present a work in progress? How do you get critiques and feedback on a work in progress? What communities and forums do you participate in? How do you get help with a problem or a question? How do you present a finished piece? How do you promote your work and yourself as an artist? How do you find and get freelance work or commissions? How do you communicate with clients? How do you deliver your work? How do you get paid? Of all of the previous points how many of them are digital, what tools and techniques are involved?

Here are some finals from last year:

Jessica Pine
Final and Reflection
Website
Dustin Williams
Proposal
Part 1
Part 2
Karman Thompson
Reflection
Examples
Joe Trotter
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Reflection
Mike Freeman
Proposal
Research
Reflection
Progress
Jeff Porter
Website Progress
Website
Ryan Valle
Proposal
Progress
Portfolio
Jacob Gorman
Post
Tutorial

Spatter Bunny

2010-06-10T16:54:00.001-05:00

Using the Spatter Filter to help break up photoshop painting marks.

Adjustments Ferris

2010-06-02T14:35:00.001-05:00

Texture and Light!

I believe I used this brush for clouds, angle jitter 100% and opacity pressure:

I also copied the red channel, adjusted its levels and used a blending mode. Did similar thing with the blue channel.
Very little additional strokes besides the cloud with the orange for the fire.
Also did a blurred copy of the image with a radial mask letting a crisper fist show through.

Adjustments Gorman

2010-06-02T12:46:00.000-05:00

Jake,

Things were looking a little distorted so I selectively copied small sections from the original and used Edit/Transform/Warp to adjust them and then mix them with a mask. I also did a little smoothing. Sorry if I did too much, it was a fun image to work with.

Texture Test for Blake

2010-06-01T15:18:00.001-05:00

I did this texture test to see if I could get some of those crazy grainy watercolor textures. Seems like it works. The secret is to have a very open brush that you can mess with.

These are two of the images I made into brushes:

If you save these images you can open them in Photoshop and "define brush presets" from them.
Click here for a short video on how to load and use these brushes
I also did a little bit of reticulation/spatter/blur for texture in flat all-over areas.
Click here for a short video on how to do the over-all grainy reticulation based texture.

face for Bennett

2010-06-01T13:24:00.000-05:00

Don't be afraid of texture in your brushes!
Watch a quick video on textured brushes

Here is the brush image:

Sample for Blake

2010-05-31T23:29:00.001-05:00

Week 3, Day 3

2010-05-26T18:34:00.000-05:00

Hello,
A few new recordings on brushes and stroking vector paths with brushes in Photoshop:

more natural brushes for Photoshop

paths from Illustrator to Photoshop and stroked with a brush

Photoshop based vector path stroked

Week 3 Day 2

2010-05-25T13:19:00.000-05:00

Hello,

Here is something for Tifani:
This is a link, please watch: Engraving like lines like Hundley piece

Here is a video teaser for the perspective thing people are talking about. There are books in our library here on perspective. A pretty good one called "Perspective for comic artists" I think that is what it's called.

Carl Dobsky perspective video 1

Week 3, Day 1

2010-05-24T10:28:00.000-05:00

My post titles probably don't make sense.
Anyway, this is the third week of class. Which means that at the end of this week you should have completed through your second original work. I have posted some grades in Blackboard to help you keep track of where you are in that process. It is great that some of you are ahead of schedule. Those who are behind schedule should put in some extra hours. Or maybe just post on your blog your progress so that I don't worry about you so much.
Please make sure that you take time to watch the recorded lectures that I post on this blog.
This is a link, please watch:
halftones relaxed

This is my interpretation of my comments for M.Ferris. The front hand of course would need real line-work to look good again.

This is a link, please watch:applying colors to line drawings with mask

Week 2, Day 7

2010-05-20T17:24:00.001-05:00

Hello,

It took some time to work up this example, but I think it is important to see.
I wanted to show that Photoshop paintings don't have to be slick. They can have rich textures that look a lot like they were done with a real brush.

This is a link, please watch:
texture through brushes in photoshop painting

This is a link, please watch:
texturizer in photoshop painting

Week 2, Day 5

2010-05-17T12:08:00.001-05:00

Video Lectures:
Using Fetch FTP to upload files to an online server
and
explanation of layers in robo demo shown below

Plus, here is my quick example of the suggestions I was talking about on Mike Blake's blog:

Day 4

2010-05-13T16:08:00.000-05:00

Hello,

A couple of new recordings:

gradients Illustrator CS4
Illustrator gradients applied
added texture photoshop
reflections and displacement maps

keep up the good work.

Day 3

2010-05-12T18:26:00.000-05:00

Hello All,
Some great work from many of you.
Here are some new recordings in response to Mike Blake's questions:

saturation adjustment layer and mask

texture grain

using masks for woodcuts etc...

I intend to do one for Mike Ferris on random texture as well.
I will look into giving you all access to all of last year's recordings to help locate things like Jake Gorman mentioned with blending. Please let me know how you like the newer style recordings as opposed to the older Adobe Connect method.

As always watch for new comments on each other's blogs.

--David

Dig Studio Day 2

2010-05-11T12:29:00.000-05:00

Hello All,

I am trying out a new recording tool.
You can view a recorded lecture on using the blob brush in Illustrator CS4 here:
blob brush
You will need to use the password: digstudio

I have commented on several blogs today. Be sure to read eachother's blogs
Tifani
Gail
Ferris
Gorman
the singing ninja?

Digital Studio Techniques Day 1

2010-05-10T15:54:00.000-05:00

Hello,

If you have made it here you probably know what is going on. There is a blog list on the right here that shows the blogs that I know of for our class members in Digital Studio Techniques. I am still missing four of our members. Please get me your blog. You are required to participate as a community. Read each other's blogs and post comments, suggestions, critiques. Other than Blackboard and the official announcements this is where I class happens.

Please notice the Delicious Tag roll on the side bar as well. I will post a link to a video recording on how to get that done. If you think you know how to do stuff just go to http://delicious.com/ and sign up. Once you have a delicious account you will log in and go to Settings/Blogging - Tagroll/(copy the script from the window) go to your blog click on Settings/Layout/Edit Layout/Add a gadget/HTML-Javascript/Now paste the code you copied from delicious into the field. And voila! you should now have a tagroll on your blog. Delicious is totally cool and really helps other people follow your web research. You can use it as a tool to find highly recommended art and design pages too from other people that are interested in the same things that you are.

Intro to Graphic Design and Illustration - Day 1

2009-08-18T16:28:00.000-05:00

I have made a new blog for my Introduction to Graphic Design and Illustration
classes this fall at the University of Central Missouri. You can follow our course progress and view student blogs through the blog here:

http://ucmintrof09.blogspot.com

The first day's post is a detailed process on setting up their own blogs and online tools for class.

These include setting up a Gmail email account and thereby a Google account, a Picasa web album, and Delicious social bookmarking.

Studio Art Online Course

2009-08-03T12:08:00.000-05:00

I have just completed teaching a 6 week online studio art course.
I think that it worked very well. This blog was created for that course. I had all of my students create their own blogs, you will find links to their sites in the sidebar. The course was titled: Digital Studio Techniques. Because all of our work had a digital end product to it we were able to easily share our work. A blog is a very easy way to post images. Another advantage of the blog format is that a student is forced to write/talk about their work at the same time. I love the way that a blog also provides a forum where peers and professor can comment on the work. It is a great way to create a real community among the students, similar to the way a group studio works. Many students either are not used to commenting and critiquing in class or are too shy to do so. The online format also allowed students to work whenever they could. I believe that I got far more working hours out of my students than I ever do in a face-to-face class. Lectures and demonstrations were recorded using Adobe Connect software and posted online. These lectures allowed me to record my screen and voice while I worked in applications to demonstrate techniques. We also used FTP programs to upload final, high resolution images, to a server. I hope that this course has jump started my students into an independent art and writing production process.

Pencil Technique From Photo

2009-07-28T17:10:00.000-05:00

Here I have tried the new technique working from a photo by redrob2.co.uk. Seems to work. As always it will probably look better done from life.

Pencil Figure Drawing Technique

2009-07-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

See the Blackboard Announcements for July 28th to view the 16 minute recording demo. I worked on finding some better techniques that would work in a life drawing situation. I found some hi-res images of Gil Elvgren's figure drawings on the Heritage Auctions site. I used the paper background to make a new paper that I could use as a background for any drawing. I sampled an even area of shading and defined it as a pattern. I then used the pattern stamp tool with my custom brush settings to paint back in the pencil texture. I use a fairly consistent diameter brush with opacity set to pen pressure for the shading and a size pressure brush with no opacity change for the line work. I was able to copy most kinds of drawing textures that he has fairly well.

Figure Drawing

2009-07-25T20:05:00.001-05:00

I did the figure drawing thing with Jeff, Ryan, Dustin, & Tony on Friday. It was hard to get into it after not having done it for so long. I brought in a laptop and wacom tablet. It is a lot of fun to be able to work in layers and change things if they don't work. I like how the line work is going but shading tools still are hard to figure out.

Interpretation of DeCarlo Style

2009-07-23T17:34:00.001-05:00

This is based on the Process Test Model image and pose from an earlier post. I think that a more cartoony style works far better than something that is so loyal to the photograph.

Old Cartoon Techniques DeCarlo

2009-07-21T16:17:00.000-05:00

I like these old DeCarlo cartoons for several reasons. These ink and inkwash drawings are clean and simple with a great graphic quality.

Textured Halftones and Illustrator Lines

2009-07-20T14:37:00.000-05:00

I really love the rich work of Illustrator Gary Taxali you can see his website here:
http://www.garytaxali.com/
I recorded this technique in the July 20th Lectures in Blackboard.

Process Test Model

2009-07-16T15:55:00.000-05:00

I did a trial process based on a few of the techniques that I have developed recently. I started with some photos of models from clothing retailers. I stitched together several different models in Photoshop to get the pose and clothes I wanted. Then I redrew the figure with the blob brush in Illustrator. Then into Photoshop for coloring and brush strokes etc... works pretty good. A little lifeless because the source was a photo.

Matt Smith Illustration

2009-07-13T16:53:00.000-05:00

Here is a study from an illustrator named Matt Smith. See his website here: http://www.matt-illustrations.com/index-kids.html
Original is on top, copy on bottom. I did the linework in Illustrator with the blob brush then imported to Photoshop for everythign else. I still need to figure out a better way of doing the lighter version of the line drawing. His has a lot of great texture that burns into the image.

Randall Whiteis Study

2009-07-11T18:11:00.000-05:00

I saw in Jacob's blog a study that he had done from an artist named Randall Whiteis see his site here: http://www.randallwhiteis.com/
He uses crisp vector lines with smooth airbrushy shading. I did a study of one of his pieces here. The original is on bottom. It starts with lines in Illustrator. I kept all of the shading separate from a local color layer. I left more of the original dark vectors in the head than he did. I also changed head and other areas a little.

Clay models as a starting point

2009-07-08T16:46:00.000-05:00

After looking at Ryan's post with the clay model that he made to work out some perspective issues in his rendering I got an idea. Why not just work from or on top of the photo of the clay model. Here you can see my partial results. I think it could be a pretty good process.

Test of Lightwindow

2009-07-08T14:03:00.000-05:00

This is a test of the lightwindow script.

Application of Watercolor Technique 1

2009-07-03T15:28:00.000-05:00

Here is my test of my two brushes for watercolor and ink. Again this is entirely Photoshop about 2hrs. Too bad I worked from kind of a goofy picture.

New Watercolor

2009-07-03T13:42:00.000-05:00

Here I have another study the top portion is my copy of the bottom. I created two new brushes to do this. The first is the fuzzy brush for the wet on wet look, and the second is a lumpy spot for the line work. I used the photocopy filter to get the edge reticulation (darkening). This was done entirely in Photoshop with a wacom tablet.

Watercolor Tests

2009-07-02T16:43:00.000-05:00

Here are 3 versions of the same image. The first one with the paper texture I did using entirely Photoshop. The second one is done entirely in Painter. The last one with two garlics is the original.

I got more of what I wanted out of Photoshop with the watercolor than I did from Painter. I took a big speckley brush and opened up the spacing and jittered the angle. I masked those marks with a bristley brush set to wet edges and used that same wet edges in overlay to get the way that watercolor marks look darker at their edges. I think Painter does a much better job at the loose ink brushwork. I wasn't doing a good job of matching the saturation in the photoshop version.

Fantasy Painting in Photoshop Test

2009-07-01T00:27:00.000-05:00

I wanted to try and do some fantasy type painting just to try it out. This is all working directly in Photoshop. It is funny how changing a few layers can change the whole image.

Illustrator multiples and Photoshop Masks

2009-06-30T15:49:00.000-05:00

I did a little demo today on using Illustrator to create 3D block text and multiple step and repeat lines. Next I copied those paths into Photoshop and used them to get selections for fills and for masks. This is in response to a project that Dustin is doing check out his blog. Also see the recorded demo on June 30th announcements in Blackboard.

Hard Edged or Photo Rendering

2009-06-30T15:10:00.000-05:00

I did a demo today, 46 minutes long, too long. I took the same area of the master study that Ryan had on his blog and used a technique where you create paths in Illustrator, import the paths in the paths area of Photoshop and then use them to make selections and to stroke with brushes. This way you can have precise control over your brushes and brush work. Check out the link to the recorded lecture in Blackboard.

Marker Tests 1

2009-06-29T16:42:00.001-05:00

Here in the following 2 images I did some tests in Photoshop trying to replicate the look of hand-done marker rendering. Karman is looking at using this piece as a study. You can see the demo I recorded to make these in the announcements. Look in blackboard announcements: Mon, Jun 29, 2009 -- Permanent -- Day 5 Lectures - summary: karman_marker_1 (26min).

Illustrator Line Work

2009-06-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

I did lectures today on using Illustrator brushes to do line work. I am using as a masterwork a Poison Ivy sketch by Bruce Timm that I got off of Heritage Auctions. I went over the different brush tools including the vector pen, calligraphic brush, art brush, and the blob brush. The blob brush is by far the easiest to use if you have a wacom tablet and pen. If you don't have those I would recommend working with custom art brushes.

Here is the original image:

Here is the copy that I made in Illustrator:

First Post

2009-06-22T13:47:00.000-05:00

This is my first post on this blog.