IPad stuff

My location at this Vegas gig a couple of weeks ago left a lot to be desired.
I was in the hallway, which sounds great, but turned out to be a real detriment. If I was drawing someone, they kind of blocked the screen and that made me almost invisible. So most people passed right by, into the convention hall without seeing me. In fact, it wasn't until the last day that I ever had much of a line for people waiting. And when I drew them, they said they hadn't seen me for the past two days. Ugh. Oh well.

What I did find out on the last day, with people waiting, is that I was actually drawing pretty quickly, learning curve and all. It turns out I was drawing these , under sketch, shading, and all, in less than five minutes. That was good to know.

Oh yeah, one other weird thing about drawing and projecting... The iPad VGA adapter doesn't fit really well on any VGA cord I could find. So a couple of times at the show, the cord separated from the adapter and I lost my signal on the monitor. Yikes. But I figured out how to work around it so it didn't happen anymore.

I learned a ton at this gig, and am looking forward to my next iPad gig adventure.

PS... I lost my cool new iFaraday stylus at this show! Yep, the lack of a pen clip caught up with me. I vaguely remember putting the stylus behind my ear between drawings, and NOT clipping it back to the cool magnet it has. After that, I have no idea what happened. I had to finish the show with the Griffin stylus, which turned out okay. I hope whomever finds my stylus enjoys it!
But I do miss it. :(


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iPad gig in Vegas

I keep promising to talk about things I learned on the Vegas gig, but finding the time to do so has been a challenge. Sorry! Well, for one thing, I found that Running through the VGA cord slooooows down my iPad a bit. Not sure why, but everything just seemed to move slower. Curved lines even turned out straight until I slowed way down while drawing them. So that hurt my speed. Add to that the fact that trying to email by 3G took forever, and my power on my iPad drained really quickly. I would've been better with two iPads! I'm considering doing that, buying a second one for gigs. For a few hours I would've been fine, but for an all day trade show, well, I was sweating it. Add to that the fact that I was trying to send the pix to people via 3G ( Wifi was nonexistent here), and my power just got SUCKED away. One day I had to stop projecting for a bit and just hooked up to a power outlet to recharge while I continued drawing. With only one port on the iPad, drawing, recharging, AND projecting wasn't an option.


To Be Continued.....




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iPad toons, Vegas gig pt2

Back for another look into my recent iPad gig in Las Vegas. I found that doing full figure toons of people, with the faces so small, was quite challenging on the iPad. The brushes in ArtStudio and Sketchbook only go so small. So I was left with trying to capture likenesses with just a few lines and dots. I would've been much better off avoiding the faces all together , going for a more fashion illustration look, with just light indications of the faces. Boy, I look forward to doing a "real" caricature gig on the iPad again sometime soon, where I can use the entire image area for the face. These faces were too small for comfort!

But I did kinda dig the retro, "Mad Men" style I got with them. In places, a bit reminiscent of Ketcham, too, one of my favorite cartoonists ( whom you may notice I try to mention as much as possible on here). More tomorrow....



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iPad toons, Vegas gig

I've been back from Vegas for a couple of days now, and am still trying to catch up on deadlines here. Plus, good buddy Tom Richmond and his family are visiting this week now, so it may take me awhile to post many of my pix from this gig.

All in all, the gig went well, and i learned a ton of new things. For the first pic to share, I'll show you another pic I did the night before the gig started. My wife and I hung out by the Venetian/Palazzo's big Poker room awhile, just watching the tables. It turned out to be a good drawing area, since the players are all in one spot for awhile. Here's one particularly unpleasant looking chap, waiting for his turn to play.
Drawn in about three minutes, btw.

... Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

ipad Toons...part 5

Another Mall sketch. See, I can draw guys still! LOL. This one was in Sketchbook Mobile, by the way, whereas some of them I've shown have been done in ArtStudio. I am schizophrenic with these apps.... I just can't decide which I like best.

Server at the Venetian

More iPad drawing, getting ready for the big show tomorrow. Drawn with the Griffin stylus in ArtStudio.


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iPad Stylus Reviews (Pt.4) : the OTHER iFaraday Stylus

Just in time for my big Vegas gig this week, Rustle Laidman, the inventor of the iFaraday iPad stylus, sent me his newest invention. It seems from his website that he now has three stylus types. I only have two, and I am not sure which one this is. But i can tell you that this version of his stylus has a firmer tip, and is my FAVORITE stylus now. It glides across the screen better than the Griffin, and seems more "pen or marker like" than the first iFaraday stylus. It's incredibly accurate in it's responsiveness, so much so that I almost forget I am drawing on an iPad. This model also has a cool black metal barrel that is less slick than the other model ( but still slicker than the Griffin ). I also kind of like the ring on the top of the pen, that is attached to a very strong little magnet. I have my pen attached to a lanyard string from an old convention I drew at, so it's great. The only things that would make this pen even better? I'd still like to see the barrel a bit longer, less slick, and a bit bigger around ( like a "real" pen ). Oh, and even though the magnet is cool, couldn't it also have a strong pen clip like the Griffin? If we had that, this would be as close to perfect as I've seen in iPad styluses. But it's already so good, I am just nitpicking.

I'll try to post some pix from the Vegas show this week as I draw more with this stylus. I am looking forward to it. Thanks for getting it here to me just in time, Rustle! I love it! You will too, gang, if you give it a try. ( www.ifaraday.com )

Long night...

How to know it's going to be a long night.....
Yep, our flight to Vegas is so late, Delta is now paying for my gluten free loaded baked potato from Outback Steakhouse.


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Location:Orlando,United States

iPad Stand

Yeah, yeah, I know, the iPad has kind of taken over this blog lately. I am still drawing on paper occasionally, and on the Wacom a lot.. I'll get back around to showing that kind of stuff soon. Promise. But for now, it's more iPad stuff:

I picked up this cool iPad stand from Best Buy while I was there this week. It's from Rocketfish, and securely holds the iPad in place, while allowing 360 degree swiveling. I like to hold my iPad while I draw, but if I get tired and WANT to place it up, kind of like a tabletop easel, this is going to be great for that.

VGA output from the iPad

Ah Ha! Finally got the VGA output attachment for the iPad to work. Well, to be honest, "Derek" at Best Buy did. I'm drawing for a great client next week out in Vegas, and now they've decided they want me to be able to have my iPad images show on the monitor in our booth. I'm cool with that - it'll be fun to see them that large, and will "draw" people over to the booth. Just one tiny thing... that "tech-y" stuff? That's on the other side of the brain for me. I knew the iPad would do what they wanted with the VGA attachment, and I knew the programs I draw in, ArtStudio and Sketchbook, had the ability to project on a screen, but exactly HOW do to get them to do it, I had no idea.

So, I made the first trip to Best Buy. On this trip I bought the VGA attachment and a VGA cord. You need both. The total for them was about $75 ( I got the 8 ft long VGA cord). I brought my new purchases home, and the first thing I did was to call my buddy Scott Sullivan, who with his lovely talented wife, Angie Jordan, are really pioneering the iPad caricatures. (Check out their website , www. digitalblacksmiths.com , and their videos on YouTube for lots of great info and art.) Scott told me what to do, how easy it all was. So, I plugged the VGA attachment to my ipad, the VGA cord to it, and then the other end of the cord I hooked up to my laptop, and... nothing. I called Scott AGAIN ( thanks for your patience with me, buddy! ). Oh... it seems that neither of the laptops I have actually have VGA OUT. Neither does my shiny big iMac 27". Neither do ANY televisions in my house. I knew in THEORY this was all supposed to work, but I didn't want my client to be disappointed when I am there in Vegas if I can't make it work.

So, I did the only logical thing. I went back to Best Buy. To Derek again, who'd sold me the stuff the day before. I told him my issue, and said ( nicely ), that if he couldn't make this work, I was going to return the merchandise for a refund. He wasn't at all flustered, being the tech-y, left brained kind of guy he is.

He took the VGA cord and plugged it into the back of a monitor they had on display in the store...
...right into what, for me, had been a very elusive VGA output port. For the right brained artsy types of you out there like I am, it seems most VGA ports are now color coded BLUE. As you can see from the first photo of this post, once we had it hooked up, my iPad did exactly what it was supposed to do. Success!

I hope this helps anyone else out there looking to do the same thing....

iPad Toons...part 4

I went to the Food Court in a local mall today, to just sit there and draw random people on the iPad. Was great practice, trying to capture them before they got up and left. Also, drawing "incognito" was an interesting challenge. But I never got caught!

Yeah, yeah, I could've taken more time on the chairs and stuff. I was more interested in drawing fast, and playing with the iPad rather than spending too long on making any one drawing "perfect".

More tomorrow....

iPad Toons...part 3

More iPad sketching... gotta practice. This one is in the Sketchbook Pro app.

Weighting...

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Back at the Y for physical therapy. Thought I'd bang out a quickie of this guy trying to psyching himself up to lift.

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I figured for my first abstract caricature on the iPad, I'd take a swing at a face I know all too well...
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ipad Toons...part 2

My daughter had leg surgery a few weeks ago, and is now in physical therapy a few times per week at the local YMCA. I took my iPad with me this morning and drew some of the morning crew of lifters. This girl caught my eye as a good one to sketch. Done in ArtStudio.

iPad Jesus

One of my favorite stories from the New Testament is when Jesus gets to his ailing friend Lazarus' home too late and he is dead and buried.

Wait... it's NEVER too late for the Son of God! "Lazarus come forth!", He says, and Boom! it's done.

The Passion of the Christ is by far my fave Jesus movie, but the Lazarus story is powerfully depicted in the much maligned (some deserved, some not ) "Last Temptation of Christ".

Oh yeah, this was done on the iPad except for the lettering and my signature.

iPad Stylus Reviews (Pt.3) : the Griffin Stylus

As I said in my last post, I REALLY liked the iFaraday stylus when I first got it. But it just proved to feel too "brush like" for my tasts. The newest iPad stylus I've bought, and my favorite so far, is the Griffin stylus. The tip here is soft rubber, but it moves easily across the surface of the iPad, and doesn't "drag" at all.

Why I like it:

1. The tip feels the most like drawing with a "real" pen or marker in my opinion.

2. The black metal barrel looks nice with the iPad, and it's also less slick than the iFaraday or Pogo Styluses, both of which I have tried. ( see the previous reviews ).

3. The pen clip is much sturdier than the Pogo , in particular. I've broken lots of those cheap Pogo clips. Ugh.

Is this stylus perfect? No, not at all. But until I find a better one, I will be drawing with the Griffin.

I know I'm brief with these reviews, but hopefully they help. If you have questions on any of the styluses, just post a comment, and I'll try to answer.

iPad Stylus Reviews (Pt.2) : the iFaraday Stylus

The next Stylus I bought is the iFaraday. When I first got it, I thought I'd struck gold. It draws at any angle ( unlike the disappointing Pogo), and is much more responsive. But if I thought the Pogo felt like drawing with a little pillow on the end of a stick, the iFaraday REALLY feels like that. It has kind of a brush feel to it when you are using it. I don't actually like this, as I like drawing with pens, not brushes. So, my search continued for the "perfect" stylus...

Stay tuned.....

(By the way, these are available online at : www.ifaraday.com )

iPad Stylus Reviews (Pt.1) : the Pogo Sketch

Like I said recently, I have been sketching a lot more on the iPad, getting ready for the upcoming gig on it. I'll share some more sketches soon, but before that, I thought I would talk about what I am sketching WITH.

The first stylus I bought for the iPad was the Pogo Sketch. Now, let's get this straight right from the beginning... I don't really like AND iPad Styluses ( Styli?) I have tried. What I wouldn't give for a Wacom stylus on this thing...

Having said that, the Pogo Stylus is my least favorite ( and I've tried three so far ).

Cons:

1. Too skinny.

2. Too short.

3. The barrel is kind of slippery I think? Maybe it's just that I have sweaty hands. LOL.

4. It's kind of like drawing with a thin stick with a little pillow on the end. Really, it doesn't seem like your line goes down where you want it to, if that makes sense.

Pros?

Well, you CAN draw with it, and it IS better than drawing with your finger, I think. At least a little bit.

iPad Toons...part 1

I posted a few of my iPad drawings up here awhile back, but haven't posted any lately. That's because I've had little "play time" on the iPad to just sketch. That's about to change. It has to!

I have a big gig in Vegas coming up in two weeks where I will be drawing on the iPad. Trying to log in some practice time between now and then. Right now, just playing around, sketching whatever I want. I have drawn for this client before, and I will be doing what I call "Live Draws" for them again rather than caricatures.

"Live Draws", for lack of a better explanation, are cartoon character designs of people. Lots of drawn in action stuff, no real posing. Kind of like life drawing, but more cartoony:

Anyway, because there is little posing, I have to not only get good on the iPad, but also very quick. Allright, enough of my blabbing. If you want to see more, keep checking here for the next week or so, and I'll try to post my sketches.