Manikin Mashup...

I've had a cheap wooden manikin sitting (posing?) on my bookshelf for about four years now. Never used it for any kind of artistic endeavor. I recently spent about an hour doing some quick sketches and... well, I think that's about it for possibly another four years.

Sorry, Naoki, back on the shelf you go. :(

Swashbuckler Scratches

Pulp Scribbles

DS Dump: Final Batches I

Oh, it's 2015 already. Hmm... Hopefully this will be the year I finally get back into regular pencil sketching. I do miss it.

For now, here's the first batch of odd DS sketches & speedpaints from the last two or three years that I never got around to posting initially, or finishing a series off, in some cases. It's time to wind down my aged DS and give it a decent retirement, rather than continue to hammer the poor thing until it finally gives out on me mid-paint.

For the last few months I've been trawling my SD card in an attempt to gather all the remnants of scribbles I considered interesting enough to cull, or render up a little more. Little batches, such as this one, will be posted throughout January.

Didlr Review

During the past five or six months I've been having fun messing around with a cute little painting app. called Didlr (see links below). I've never been one for social media sites such as Myspace, Facebook, Twitter etc... but when I stumbled upon a simple paint program, grounded on the idea of social communication via pictures, I figured it was worth having a dabble (or Didl?) with. So far it's been a lot of fun, so here's a little review...

Within the app. you'll find lots of modern trappings that lend themselves well to the communal, social side of things that the program is certainly aiming for: You have the ability to comment on other users 'Didls', reply directly with your own Didl (some users are having whole conversations with little illustrations, text, and doodles), check out current trends, view the latest 'best' Didls, give out stars to the Didls you like, and 'follow' your favourite Didler's. There's also a bunch of medals (appropriately called 'Medls') for you to earn - just like modern gaming trends.

So what about the painting/Diddling side of things?

The first thing that became apparent when I initially booted the app. was how limited the tools were. But with that limitation comes it's own unique charm, and after a brief few sessions I began to fall in love with the feel of the UI (recently updated on Windows 8) and the general fun vibe of the community.

To begin with, you have a very limited palette (21 hues to be exact) which you can either use opaquely, or tick a box called 'see-thru ink' to paint in something that seems like 50% opacity, and no pressure sensitivity. So not much room for exploration you may think.

Well, again, I will say that it's the limitations of the program that can be viewed as something of a boon: I've had a lot of fun experimenting with a limited two point opacity palette, and finding ways to use the minimal colours in layers to achieve a wider range (the all important black, mid-gray, and white come in useful here, to some degree). In some ways it has even helped me understand certain aspects of colour theory in a clearer way. Sometimes it becomes frustrating but, inevitably, the challenge of finding a solution is very satisfying. It's like a game where you are essentially betting your odds on whether or not you can achieve a specific result, and there's everything to play for. Sometimes I have lost the gambit, but when an initial idea for colour layering actually works, it's such a great feeling; and in some cases it has changed the way I view certain primary colours.

Limited palette aside, you also have a limited amount of brush sizes - six in total - and the leap between the two smallest brushes can be a bit of a grind at times, but it's another excuse to mix up the way you work, and challenge yourself. You also have the ability to 'zoom & pan' on Windows 8 (phones will get it soon), and can work on three different layers.

The layer aspect isn't quite what would be expected of someone used to working with Photoshop, or numerous other programs. The bottom layer actually works in a strange way where you are literally painting underneath each respective stroke. It was a little odd to begin with, but I have found uses for it with experimentation - particularly for initial underpainting - where it really is 'underpainting'. The middle and upper layer work as expected.

So what else? Well, there's an 'undo' button, which you can use to literally delete every stroke from end to beginning, which makes sense as Didlr acts much like Colors! (which is my oldschool friend, and one which I will be tackling next) because it records brush strokes, so you have a playback option as standard. There's also the nice option of having all the painting tools (including palette) in a box you can drag around the screen, or 'dock' to the side. The dock feature only really works in landscape mode, but maybe a future update will allow you to dock the tools at the top or bottom of the screen when in portrait mode.

And, err... generally speaking, that's it as far as Didlr is concerned. It's a cute little social painting/communicating app. at it's heart, but it has the potential to be a lot of fun, or pointless frustration, for some of you Photoshop/Painter diehards. Either way, I don't care. I'm having a bit of fun on the side!

P.S. I managed to get a few of my 'Didls' blown up (see below), along with others, and slapped on the walls of Nokia HQ (mine are the one on the left, and the seagull and a spaghetti Clint Eastwood up top), which was, erm... interesting. They promised to send a gift. Never received squat. But hey-ho, that's corporations for you, and not a sleight on the warm and friendly Didlr crew.

http://didlr.com/

http://blog.didlr.com/

SB 0205

Great Escarpment

Okay, yet another change of plan. No St. Peter's post as I had hoped, thanks to my USB stick suddenly getting lost to the wind. I usually brush most things off, but I find myself actually rather annoyed about this. I've lost a slightly larger slice of work in the past, but for some reason this one actually hurts. It would seem you can never have too many backup folders on the go. :(

Portrait

Film Studies

A few studies from Master and Commander. I really like the look of this film. It is full of great faces and wonderful cinematography.

DS Film Studies I

Pirate Quickie

I think this has some potential so I might take it further, but for now it can lounge in my sketch folder while I head down to the pub for some bank holiday brews. It seems people have a habit of coming back from the dead today, so a stiff drink is in order!

Edit: I just noticed that the "quote of the day" is by Daniel Defoe, which seems rather fitting for the pirate theme. :)

Dateline Damascus

I've got a bunch of DS speedpaints of Damascus (my new favourite city) to sort through and, in some cases, work up a little further. Here's the first offering. More to follow...

Bridgeman II

Some quick Bridgeman studies...

Bridgeman

A few quick Bridgeman studies during lunch...

Sketch Week 1:2

Tuesdays sketch is a real disgrace.

Comfort Zones Excluded

Another double page of environment doodles (see previous post). I really need to work on my quick figurative drawing as this post clearly shows. To be honest, I don't think I am actually as bad at quick figurative sketches as this sketchbook page would have you believe. Yes, I am rather horrible at it in general (something I have been working on by using the 30 second timer feature over at Pose Maniacs) but this new ink medium is unforgiving when it comes to human poses done on the fly and certainly hilights my shortcomings in this department. There's nothing like the panic factor to bring you down to earth and point out your weaknesses.

I like this new medium. :)

Tomb Render

I'm not the biggest Tomb Raider fan but having received the latest game, Underworld, for Christmas, I booted it up and found myself once again enjoying the exploration aspects of the game - as I did with the first few games many years ago. So, as with most things I find an interest in, I decided to channel my emotions into something a little more creative.

This painting started out as any other speedpaint, but while I was perusing a Tomb Raider forum, I stumbled upon a thread filled with photos of real hardcore fans in Tomb raider costumes. I thought some of them made great reference poses so I asked one member if I could use her photo for the above painting. It's probably as close to a finished piece (without actually being final) as I get so I guess it falls under the category of a speed-plus-paint.

Winter Spirits

While tradition seems to indicate I should be looking to the future and what this new year may bring, I can't seem to shake the nostalgic feeling I have today. And while I am indeed looking forward to the warmer months ahead, I'm also trying to squeeze in a little ghost story session before I go back to work. I missed out on the traditional Christmas Eve slot so I decided to dig out an old anthology of victorian ghost stories to curl up in bed with later on.

Sorting through my christmas cards ready for recycling, I noticed a distinct lack of those beautiful old winter scenes that look rather bleak and brooding when compared to the current trend of chirpy little robins, cuddly bearded men and bright sparkly things - usually with some kind of humorous undertone. There's nothing wrong with these things, and I can see why people would rather send more overtly 'happy' cards, but I didn't even receive one of those quaint victorian scenes of figures skating on a frozen lake while a horse drawn coach passes by. At least meet me half way, guys. You're supposed to be my friends! :-D

I know that in many art circles these picture postcard paintings are frowned upon in much the same way as the work of Constable is undermined by sticking The Hay Wain on every other biscuit tin. But I rather like the bleaker ones - particularly when I received a card a few years ago that had the same painting on the cover as a book of M.R. James ghost stories I have. Classy.

So while I was thinking about the amalgamation of christmas cards and the tradition of ghost stories I decided to knock up an example of the sort of christmas card I would like to receive in future (take note relatives & friends). I might do a few more of these before I snuggle up in bed with my book.

Scribble +3 (with added folds)

There's something wonderful about the shapes different clothing materials make when thrown over a body. With all those creases and folds catching the light in interesting ways, I can see why fashion designers agonise over material, layers and texture. I found a selection of old WWII photos online, and the stark, high contrast black & white photography really gives the uniforms and stiff heavy overcoats some punch. I still prefer the look of my pillow after a good nights sleep though. 'Tis personally more satisfying to see the product of a sainty slumber than that of practical 20th century warfare.

Scribble +1