“Amigos” the wrong word. Taco hated Mojo, and Chico disdained Taco and Mojo. On the other side, Nacho loves Willy, but Willy hates Nacho. Mojo rose above it all and ignored Chico and Taco. He attained buddhahood.
And I love them all.
Todays chores: laundry and vacuuming.
I’ve been a fan of Rebelle 4…at least a fan of what I see other people doing with Rebelle. As for me, I feel baffled when I use it and I quickly go back to Clip Studio Paint and Krita.
Rebelle does a great job of mimicking traditional paint. I don’t know anything about painting, except what I’ve seen others do on Youtube. I know that it’s possible, but I’ve always felt humbled when I get out my watercolors and gouache.
Despite all that, I drift back to Rebelle every time there’s an upgrade announced, thinking, “Perhaps with this new version I’ll have a clue about how it works.”
In honor of the Al Fresco Art Club, which is on hiatus, I challenged myself to be patient with Rebelle 4 and try some digital “dry” tools. The tools look good to me. Now I have to practice using them…or not. If I can accomplish the same thing with Photoshop, I would not use Rebelle 4. Phtoshop has the best feel for me.
I’ve been studying from Steve Huston’s awesome and amazing Figure Drawing for Artists — Making Every Mark Count. When I first started drawing six years ago I bought a year of membership to New Masters Academy and Steve’s courses got me excited about figure drawing. Six years later I’m as challenged as I was when I began. I’ve drawn thousands of heads but it’s a rare, magical day when I get the eyes right. As for hands, I’m still a newbie. No matter, though. When I look over my old drawings, I can see that I’ve made good progress. An inch a day may be a slow way to go, but it’s still progress.
Drawn and painted with Rebelle 4
Today I’m feeling less overall pain in my upper back and left shoulder. I’ve been practicing a strict hang-loose treatment for my left arm, with no lifting of any kind, not even lifting my iPad Pro. Only when you have a bad shoulder do you realize how heavy “light” devices really are.
For the sketch above I used Rebelle 4’s fountain pen brush. For feel, it’s no match for my low-end Lamy fountain pen and some cheap drawing paper from a Big Box store. But, for speed and versatility, digital wins every time. On the other hand, for timelessness and original art, real ink wins every time. Fortunately, we live in an time when we can use both and love both digital and traditional tools. That abundance creates a problem for me: I get confused when I have too many chose. I need to be able to pick one tool and get really good at it.
My puppy kept me busy all day. I’ve walked him at least six times and my partner walked him as many. That’s life with a 10-week old puppy.
In all of the activity, I rejoiced that I found a couple of hours to work out on the treadmill and then do a sketch.the view our deck. The little houses are my favorite part of this picture. This picture may not look it, but it was done with a pencil brush and a heavy application of the smudge tool.
I want to have a consistent color palette for my books. When I colored my first two books, I started with a color palette (the Frankentoon Crayon color set). Unfortunately, I didn’t keep track of my character’s specific colors — I made the mistake of assuming that I would always remember that Betty Burro’s hair was bright orange, and that Jimmy Jay’s shirt was a specific shade of yellow green. When I completed my books, I realized that I had given Betty pink hair instead of orange hair, and that I had used several different shades of blue green for Jimmy’s shirts. It took many hours to go through all 48 images and correct the colors. That’s when I made a rule to my Future Self: Get the colors right the first time.
So, before I get into the painting part of book three, I’m making this simple color chart so that I’ll keep my character’s colors consistent. I think of these colors as the “right out of the tube” colors. I’m free to de-saturate them or change their brightness, but I won’t change their hue.
Frankentoon Crayon color palette from his Procreate Cartoon Brushes.
The silhouette of Rapa Nui from a distance. Drawn and painted with Clip Studio Paint EX. My reference was a photo from John Santic’s account of his 2004 voyage to Easter Island. It’s a fascinating read.
Today I fiddled with my blog, experimented with some digital brushes, and made a few concept drawings. The picture above is one of them — Rapa Nui as it would look as you approach it by sea.
The plot for my third book is evolving. I think there’s going to be a whale involved, and maybe a dolphin. The plot is a big stew bubbling in my brain. While the plot is cooking, I’m working on improving my painting of water, waves, and clouds.
Part of my frustration for the past few weeks is that I’m having a hard time finding my way with Rebelle 4. My intention was to develop a realistic oil painting style that would work for my books. I was thinking of realism in the style of John Singer Sargent — a kind of impressionistic realism. Rebelle 4 has the best digital representation of watercolor and oil painting, but for reasons unknown, I’m not adjusting to it. Perhaps it’s because I have no experience with oil painting. Perhap’s it’s because I’ve grown so comfortable with Clip Studio Paint that my mind resists and admonishes me: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Double down on CSP!
I painted today’s picture with Clip Studio Paint EX.
I used Victor Staris’ digital brushes. Clip Studio Paint can import Photoshop brushes. Yay!
I read John Santic’s blog account of his voyage to Easter Island.
Experimenting with Rebelle 4. I set the impasto depth and gloss to max. I think this look is a lot like what you see with Artrage.
Jimmy in big trouble as his boat is overwhelmed by a giant wave. Sketched and painted with Rebelle 4
Today I vacuumed the house and did the laundry. Afterwards I whipped up some spaghetti sauce for the week ahead. It was yummy over edamame linguini.
I’ve been battling with Rebelle 4 all week. I feel that really clumsy with it, as if I know nothing at all. When I get frustrated, I’m tempted to throw it aside and go back to Clip Studio Paint for painting. I’m tempted, but I resist temptation and keep plugging along. I used Rebelle 4 for today’s image.
If I decide to create my paintings with Rebelle 4, I’m still going to use Clip Studio Paint EX and InDesign for all of the other tasks that are necessary for creating a picture book, such as creating speech bubbles and page layout.
Golden clouds, following Victor Staris’ How to Paint Clouds Youtube tutorial.
Today I practiced painting clouds again. My inspiration is VIctor Staris’ How to Paint Clouds tutorial on Youtube. It’s designed for beginners like me. I’ll practice painting clouds again tomorrow.
I painted this picture with Clip Studio Paint rather than Photoshop or Painter. I’m just more comfortable with CSP than with the others. I used Victor’s Photoshop brushes again — they’ve got a good feel to them.
Rebelle 4 was released today and I dove in to test the new oil painting tools. I soon realized that painting with digital paint that reacts like physical paint is really weird — it’s oil painting. It’s going to take a lot of practice before I’m confident with Rebelle. My plan is to finish up my Adventures of Jimmy Jay picture book series with Clip Studio Paint so I can keep the same style for the next four books.
TMy copy of Rocky, Vol. 2, Strictly Business by Martin Kellerman arrived today. It’s going to be fun reading it before I go to sleep. Rocky is a foul-mouthed, down and out dog who draws a comic strip. It’s just my style.
