EMF Reduction Day

I spent most of the day reducing the EMF level in my home. I decided to hook up everything with Ethernet cables. This means my iPads will be consigned to storage until I can figure out whether they’re going to be of any use. Besides reducing EMF, I’m moving away from digital art. My focus will be on traditional media — pen and ink, watercolor, and markers. I’ll still have my desktop computer with Photoshop and Affinity Photo & Designer for the digital parts of my work flow. And I still have my laptop computer and scanner.

What I won’t have are the iPad Pros and their best feature: Airdrop. Airdrop is Apple’s way of passing files between devices. I naively thought that Airdrop used Bluetooth to transfer files, but it doesn’t. It uses Bluetooth and wi-fi. Since I’m a wi-fi atellier now, Airdrop is useless in my work flow. When Airdrop is useless, the iPad Pro is useless. When the iPad Pro is useless, Procreate is useless.

As I tried to cut back on the EMF in my life, I got a clear view of Apple’s strategy for creating a dependency on wireless devices and services like iTunes and iCloud. Apple strategically removed any other way for their devices to connect outside of the Apple domain. There are no Micro SD readers, no Ethernet connections, no USB-3 ports. Just for a moment I thought that the iPad Pro’s USB-C port could be used for transferring files from my existing USB-3 drives. That turned out to be wishful thinking. I got an error message that my SSD drives are not readable.

I remind myself; traditional art is where it’s at. Long live pen and ink!

Pictures #27, 29, 30 Revisited

Today was chore day. We pulled weeds under our four 90-foot deodora cedars, pruned some branches that were dropping over the gate to the driveway. I wielded the weed whacker and cleared the walkway. I love to whack weeds. The artist in me left a few dandelions on the pathway to achieve a wabi-sabi effect. Then it was off to do the laundry. Between loading the washer and dryer and folding clothes, I had time to tweak some pictures that needed attention. I even played with a little color while I was at it. Now, I’m ready for Saturday family time.

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Picture #30, Buddy Takes the Blame

This drawing is 100% digital. I had to recreate the “Buddy Takes the Blame” picture because I used the original version for the “Buddy Asks to Join the Jay Family” picture. I got lazy, and today was payback time. This picture took about one hour to draw. Momma Jay looks a little upset!

Picture #29, Momma Jay is Scolding Jimmy

Momma Jay is scolding Jimmy because she thinks he broke here commandment against playing around the chimney. She’s warned the kids that the chimney swallowed her brother the previous year and he was never seen again and she doesn’t want that to happen to them. The problem is that she doesn’t realize the Jimmy didn’t intentionally break her rule. He was only trying to rescue his friend who had just fallen down the chimney.

I haven’t seen many modern children’s books where the hero is scolded by his parents, but I do recall that in the tale Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack was called an idiot for trading a cow for some magic beans. In that case it turned out that the adults were the idiots, not Jack. We’ll have to wait to see how Jimmy Jay’s story turns out.

This is image #29, and I still have about 5 more pictures to re-ink. My new dilemma is that I want to keep the book to the standard for children’s books, 32 pages, and I’m going to have about 38. Some of the images will not make it into the book.

Picture #28, Momma Jay Knocks on Bernie's Door

I have only a few more pictures to re-ink and then I’ll move on to painting. My publication date is May 15, but I won’t be ready. I’ll push back the deadline a couple of weeks. Fortunately, in late May and early June I’ll time off my day job to work on the book, complete it, and then start working on the next book. I’ve got a plot in mind that involves Jimmy Jay, Buddy Butterfly, and a trip to Mexico!

After doing quite a few iPad drawings over the last 5 months, I’ve learned that I really don’t sync with digital drawing. It’s not me. I fiddle with everything endlessly and my drawings end up looking “digital.” I’m doing all of the drawings for the next book using traditional media, pen and ink all the way. I’ll still do the coloring digitally, but once I’m more comfortable with watercolor, I’ll do all of the painting using watercolor. All of these decisions mean I’d better write “practice painting with watercolor” on my to-do list.

In this picture Momma Jay is asking Bernie the Buddhist Dachshund, the owner of the house, if he’s seen her son. She’s in for several big surprises!

Picture #27, A Helping Hand Rescues Jimmy and Buddy

The helping hand belongs to Bernie the Buddhist Dachshund. What a kind soul he is!

I’ve stopped putting Amazon affiliate links into the posts. I personally don’t mind seeing affiliate links in posts, and sometimes I actually follow the link to make sure one of my favorite bloggers gets a few dollars for his efforts. My reason for leaving out affiliate links is that I’m really pushed for time these days and I’d rather spend my extra few minutes tweaking my posts. I especially need to spend more time proofreading them.

My problem with proofreading is that I hate to reread my writing. Rereading is painful drudgery. Most of the time, when I type the last word of a post, instead of rereading what I’ve just typed, I say to hell with it and push “Save & Publish” button. The consequence is that every post has typos and missing words. Fortunately, my partner reads my posts and gives me a post-it with a list of my careless errors and oversights. If there are no errors in this post, it’s because she took the time to make sure I don’t embarrass myself excessively.

Picture #26 again, with Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund

The point of redrawing Bernie’s ears was to make him look like a dog, and to make him look startled. I think he does look like a dog, but I don’t see any surprise. I see concern.

I’m thinking that I’m not able to draw a startled cartoon dachshund at this point in my career. My plan “b” is to change the writing to match the vibe of the picture. I won’t write “Bernie was so startled his ears flew up.” I’ll say, “When Bernie heard the racket coming from inside the stove, he thought, “Oh no. Not again!”

Picture #26, Introducing Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund

Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund owns the house with the deadly chimney. In this picture, he’s startled when Jimmy and Buddy start yelling for help inside the old stove. I spent lots of time on Bernie’s ears, but I’m not happy with them. He looks like a rabbit. Tomorrow I’ll make it obvious he’s a dog. I’ll redo the ears, work on the mouth, and shift his head to a 3/4 view. I’ll give him some canine teeth, too. I think I’ll decorate Bernie’s house a little, perhaps with a nice Persian carpet and some bookshelves to hold his many books.

Bernie the Buddhist Dachsund is my favorite Deadbeat Club character. I thought it would be fun to bring him into the world of the Steller’s Jays, perhaps as a regular character in future stories.

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Bernie is getting a makeover tomorrow!

Picture #25, Jimmy and Buddy Are in the Belly of the Beast

The “beast” is the bird-eating chimney, of course. This is another 100% digital picture done with Procreate and my iPad Pro. I’m impressed that Procreate can handle a 285MB image without any sign of sluggishness. I can’t say the same for Photoshop on my iMac. I think I’m falling hard for Procreate!

“Are you okay?” asked Buddy. “Yes, except for my mussed up hair,” replied Jimmy.

Picture #24, Which I'm Not Sure I Like

This is one of the few 100% digital images in this series. My original pen and ink sketch didn’t cut the mustard. I decided to wing it and get a picture in the hour I have to work. I decided to do it all in Procreate, and this is what I came up with. In this picture Jimmy has just landed at the bottom of the chimney and he’s wondering what kind of a mess he’s got himself into.

I’m going to sleep on this one and see how I feel about it tomorrow.

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