The Pencil Kings Shading Drawing Challenge is starting this March, and I’m going to try to get better at shading my artwork.
Art
Figure Drawing Challenge
I use art and photography to feed off of each other. So that one helps the other. Art helps me be creative with photography, and photography helps with art. Pencil Kings rebooted their Figure Drawing Challenge this January, and I had a blast. It was just enough work to learn some useful stuff and make … Continue reading
The Best $50 Lens Ever.
I found a great gently-used manual focus 70-210 zoom + macro for a steal at a local camera shop. Now my A7 lens setup is pretty much complete. Don’t overlook old lenses!
Sony A7 Mark II
I got the new Sony A7 Mark II recently, and here are some of my initial thoughts about it. I’m not going to go too much into specs, more into “Do I like using this as a camera?” Short Answer: Oh, hell yeah.
Mac Pro Video
Thanks to a $15/month deal, I signed up for MacProVideo’s monthly service. It’s been good so far. I like the mix of audio and video oriented tutorials. Very useful for someone like me, who works in both areas!
Pencil Kings
I’m working on my visual sense in order to improve my photography and design. So I’m giving Pencil Kings a shot to see what it’s like.
Mid-Summer Scribbling (Pencil Pondering?)
I decided to cut down on the number of pencils I carry around, so I went obsessive over lead holders and mechanical pencils for a few weeks. Here are some of the results from my madness (and spending spree.)
The Cintiq 13HD
I finally bit the bullet and got a Cintiq 13HD. So far, it’s a delight to use for creating graphics. I saved a few hundred bucks by getting a refurbished model.
Snowmageddon Round Two? (Random Stuff Post)
As I’m waiting for a ton of snow to fall, I figured I might as well summarize what’s going on these days. I’m taking more music classes at Coursera; Bitwig Studio is coming out in a couple of months; I found an easy way to ReWire the Yamaha Vocaloid Editor into Live and Cubase; Piapro Studio now accepts non-Crypton voicebanks; the monitor stand works; and finally, my slide duplicating project is taking off as soon as some parts show up.
All-in Ableton, Reaktor, New Graphics Tablet
I went ahead and upgraded to Ableton Live Suite while it was still on sale. I did a bunch of Reaktor tutorials on building synthesizers in Reaktor while I downloaded Live. Also, my Intuos 2 finally died, so I had to get a new graphics tablet. I went with an Intuos Pro. It’s a nice tablet.
Progress Report
I bring up a lot of ideas for personal projects… so what’s going on with them? Well, some are moving forward, and some are on the shelf for now. GTD helps me figure out what I have the energy and time to work on, and what I don’t.
3D and 2D Resources for Blender, Metasequoia, Inkscape, and Sketchbook
I picked up some Japanese books on using Blender and Metasequoia to help me get a better handle on those two programs. I also started working on improving my 2D drawing skills, because the 3D stuff was looking somewhat “bleh.” I tried Autodesk’s Sketchbook, and it’s okay. I fell in love with the open-source vector graphics program Inkscape.
Support Your Local Hackerspace (Blender and Metasequoia)
I traveled to my local hackerspace, Splat Space, to learn about Blender. Then I spent the next couple of days messing around with it and Metasequoia. It’s interesting stuff.
Not Rembrandt, But in America.
I went out with my girlfriend to see the “Rembrandt in America” exhibit at the N.C. Museum of Art today. We were both excited, because we both like Rembrandt’s work. We plunked down $36 to get in, and as we started checking out the pieces on display, we noticed something that was somewhat irritating. It … Continue reading