Setting up Clip Studio Paint on my Mac

Testing Clip Studio Paint on my Mac.

I want to do more work on my iPad and iMac. Although I’m happy when working with Windows, just moving an image from the iPad to the Windows machine is a pain. Understand, I have a 2017 iMac with an awesome 27-inch screen to work with. It may be slightly slower than my PC, but I can airdrop images to it, which saves me the time that I would spend uploading an image to iCloud, then downloading it to my PC. In other words, the simpler workflow saves me time and lowers the aggravation level, which makes me a happier, though struggline, novice writer.

Chore day, March 12, and my new gadget -- the Sketchboard Pro for iPad

The Sketchboard Pro makes the iPad easier to use. One of the design flaws for the iPad, where drawing and painting are concerned, is the lack of a wide bezel like what you see with Wacom Cintiqs. The Sketchboard Pro supplies the wide bezel I need for drawing to edges and corners of the screen. Now the the iPad has the feel of using a Cintiq, I’m thinking of doing my next children’s picture book using the iPad and Artrage Vitae or Procreate.

Oh! There were chores today: doing laundry, vacuuming the house, and doing some yard work. Tomorrow I’ll be cooking a ragu with lentil sauce, some millet meatballs (let’s hope they’re good!), some whole wheat biscotti, and apricot/fig cookies. Sound yummy to me.

Attempted Al Fresco Art Club Day, and page 49 is finished

The Al Fresco Art club attempted to meet today, but I was the only one who showed up. My first impulse was to pack up and go home, but then I thought, What the hell. I’m here. I’ll do it by myself.

After 10 minutes I was kicking myself for trying to work outside on a bright day with the iPad. The screen is so reflective that it’s impossible to judge colors and values. In the end I took a nap and went home happy. Sleeping outside under the sheltering sky is most satisfying.

August 1, 2021 -- What Used to Be Al Fresco Art Club Day & Procreate

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Today, Sunday, would normally be an Al Fresco Art Club Challenge day, but our puppy is still dominating everyone’s mind space. We’re working on giving him what he needs to become a polite, happy member of the household. His biggest challenge is not to nip at everything, including hands, shoelaces, dish towels hanging on their hooks, and everything else that catches his eye. He’s in constant motion from the moment he wakes up to the last hour of the day. I’m looking forward to the time when he realizes that he should always do his business outside, and when he feels relaxed enough to curl up at my feet and take a nap.

My challenge these days is to find time to draw. Sitting at my desk with my Cintiq is what I do when I have a sizeable block of time, but these days, my blocks of time are measured in milliseconds. I have time to draw and sketch with a pen or pencil and paper, or I can quickly open my iPad and do something quick. Today’s sketch was one of those quickies.

The major advisory for using the iPad is that it’s critically important to find a healthy and ergonomic posture. Hunching over an iPad is an invitation to tech neck.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge -- How to Draw a "Pretty Girl"

Today’s Al Fresco Art Club challenge was to draw without self-judgement and without planning. On the way to the studio, which is the kitchen, I pulled Cartooning the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm off the shelf and randomly opened it to page 46, where he shows how to draw a pretty girl. His style is definitely corny, which is perfect okay with me because I love corny. I drew this on my iPade.

I spent the rest of the day installing software on my newly upgraded pc. And tonight I’m going to watch the a movie of Persuasion, which was Jane Austen’s final novel.

Al Fresco Art Club Challenge: Woodcut Style

My inspiration: Frans Masereel, "The City", 1925

Today’s Al Fresco Art Club challengewas to mimic the black and white style of woodcut prints. My reference and inspiration was Frans Masereel’s wordless novel, The City, published in 1925. In one hour I was able to capture only the central character, an exhausted manual laborer who represents the men and women who have toiled to build the city. The City doesn’t have a plot, but it captures the feel of big city life in hard times.

Chore & Al Fresco Art Club Day, Mar 27 -- Chopping Down Trees and Redoing Old Paintings

I couldn’t complete this assignment in one hour…I’ll continue next week.

Today was Chore Day and Alfresco Art Club Day. For chores, I did the laundry and vacuuming, and I pruned our giant shrub growing out of control into the neighbor’s yard. What a pain in the ass, literally. The bush is on a slope and the footing was loose decorative rocks. As I was pruning a tough limb, I lost my footing and fell on my ass. Fortunately, no damage was done.

For art club, the task was to simplify an old painting. The idea was to find a way to convey the same meaning as the original, but with a simpler, more efficient technique. In other words, remove all unnecessary details such as excessive rendering and goodies that do not convey meaning.

(edited Mar 28)

Al Fresco Art Club, March 6, 2021 -- Common Objects

Today’s Al Fresco Art Club challenge was to draw a common object. I chose a bottle of nutritional yeast, which is common around my house. I used my iPad with the default Derwent Color pencil brush. The picture above is my second attempt to draw the yeast container— the first was uptight and static. I ditched it and sketched this quickly, casting aside all ideas of being an “artist.”

Chore Day Oct 5, 2019 -- Cooking for the Week, Going to the Art Store, and Brainstorming

Every Saturday I cook up food for the week, usually making some bean and sweet potato burgers for my canine amigos (with all the nutrients required by canines), and some delicious goodies for myself, such as rice and beans flavored with lots of powerful spices.

The big event of the day was a trip to B&N in Medford, where I bought the latest issue of Ad Busters which asks, Can artists save the world with a Brutalist new aesthetic? That’s a question well worth investigating, I say. To prepare myself for the future, I went to Art Central I bought a big Fabriano notebook for my gouache paintings, a Kunst und Papier watercolor tablet, and four small Princeton brushes for my gouache painting. They have with eye-pleasing cerulean-colored handles.

And I did some uncritical brainstorming on the iPad — I’m trying to figure out how to do the cover image of Jimmy Jay jumping down a chimney. This is my third effort. I think I’m loosening up a little with each attempt.

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Choosing a page size for a picturebook

One detail I didn’t consider for my picturebook was the size of the pages and shape of the pages. I initially hadn’t planned on doing a print version — I assumed that customers would be buy e-books for their iPads.

iPads have a 4:3 aspect ratio, rather square compared to Kindle Fire’s 16:10, and much more square than standard HD 16:9 screens you see on laptops. What looks good on an iPad is going to look dopey on a Kindle Fire, and vice versa. eBookPartnership suggests creating two versions: one for iPads and another for 16:10 and 16:9 devices. Each version would require images designed to fit the resolution of the screen, its own ISBN, and time and effort to make both versions look good on their respective devices.

So, I’m going to be practical I’m going to use the square print version for the e-book. As you can see in the illustration below, the square format will look okay on the iPad, but it will suck on the long/wide screen of the Kindle Fire. Two out of three is good enough for me.

The square page format as it will appear on your iPad or your Kindle Fire