Not Again - #2

CCGB #107

21 Points, and a third place - WOOT!

CCGB #106

A respectible 13 points, and a fourth place...

Digital Cartooning - Update...

Anyone who reads this blog regularly (I know some of you do) will remember me whining on about not being able to draw on my Tablet PC. During the last couple of weeks, I've managed to overcome my problems with it, and I thought I'd share my experiences with you...

Firstly, make sure you have the right software that suits YOU. Cartoonists love to compare software with other cartoonists - it's a form of penile waggling (which we all admit too), but it can sometimes cloud the issues. There are lots of art packages out there for the PC, and they all have something to offer, but how you get on with them depends upon several factors...

• How computer-literate you are
• How powerful your PC is
• What sort of finished artwork you want to create

I will not recommend one package over another - that's for the individual to decide, but I will give you a run-down of what I use...

• PortalGraphics OpenCanvas 5 (for pencilling, inking & colouring)
  
• Xara Xtreme / Photo Graphic Designer (for layouts / HTML pages)
• GIMP (image manipulation)

I chose these programs because:

• They are all cheap / free
• They work well on older hardware, so they don't interrupt the creative flow...
  
• They produce great results.

Secondly, try to make your computer work flow as similar as possible to your traditional. Choose software that helps you work the way you want, rather than force you work in a way that is uncomfortable.

Thirdly, choose an input method you can work with. I used to use wacom desk-based tablets on a standard computer, but I always felt "disconnected" when drawing. I now use a Tablet PC (a pc version of an IPad, with a pen), so now, I'm drawing on the screen, which eliminates this problem.

CCGB #103

Lan Party Night...

Years ago, I spent WAY too much time playing the best (IMHO) multiplayer game for the PC ever - Unreal Tournament. Myself and young Chrissy Boy would spend out lunch hours regailing to the sound of sniper rifles, redeamer explosions and "Multi kill...Ultra Kill... MOOONSTER KIIILLLL!". As we used the Unreal4Ever mods too, I was always the little red teddy character - MR. Ted.

Anyway, last week, my lovely wife announced that she was going out on Thursday night. The plan was formulated in my mind - why not have a lan party? My boys are around 18-20, so I had players that would be interested. I planned on 4 players, which meant I had to have 4 computers. Luckily, my middle son has a working laptop, I have a netbook, which meant I had to find 2 more. I just happen to have 2 laptops, but both are quite old, and I have no windows licenses for them. But I do have PCLinuxOS, and Unreal has a linux binary available, so 2 quick installs later, and I had 4 machines (in the end, I could have had 6 players, but I was limited by the number of mice I had).

Come Thursday night, and it was matter of 15 minutes to plug in the laptops, connect them to the wireless network, and setup the players (including one of the boy's mates). We began at 7.30 p.m.....

... and finished sometime after 10.00! MR. Ted was once again on fire, showing the young whipper-snappers a thing or two (although they did start getting their own back towards the end). I haven't had so much fun in years, and it seems that everyone enjoyed it. In fact, there's even talk of a rematch...

My thanks to Thomas, Daniel & Sam for a great evening - love you guys! Also a big thanks to PCLinuxOS, because it wouldn't have been possible without it!

ccgb #102

ccgb #100

ccgb #99

ccgb #98

CCGB #97

This is a re-worked version of my entry for this weeks cartoon, as I didn't like my original colouring. This is done with Promarkers...

CCGB #96

CCGB #95 - "FLIGHT"

A hard theme to do this week, but I'm happy with the result, as it raised a few chuckles. This is also the first real piece where I used my latest purchase - McNiven & Cameron Waverly nibs. These are vintage nibs with a lovely upturned nib, making them very smooth to draw with. anyway they can't be that bad - Quentin Blake uses them!

CCGB #94

ccgb #93

Dip Pens...

It's funny how things change. When I first started this blog over 3 years ago, I was cartooning with a dip pen - to be precise, a leonardt dp250 nib in a Manuscript holder. I loved the lines I got, but hated the mess, and the inconvenience. Since then, I've tried technical pens, fine liners, brush markers - you name it, I've probably tried it, and during that time, I've never been really happy with my work.


Recently, I've been using Letraset Promarkers for some of my colouring, and they can be fussy about what inks can be used with them. As an experiment, I tried japanese sumi-e ink and my dip pen... and I was astounded at the result! Since then, I've been using dip pens more and more in my work, to the point where I've started to order new equipment. My favourite combination at present is a Leonardt DPGEN nib (sort of like a Deleter Manga "G" nib), speedball holder and tesco premium printer paper (it's very smooth), with FW acrylic or Sumi-e ink.

The MOST frustrating thing...

I cannot draw on a computer.

I've tried using wacom tablets, tablet PCs, IPads....

It's so frustrating. This week I bought some extra memory for my HP Tablet PC, hoping that I could use it to create a good cartoon - I gave up after 3 failed attempts, because I couldn't get it. It didn't feel right, and I couldn't get my co-ordination. Not sure if it's the computer failing to keep up, or just me.

What's even more annoying is that it doesn't mean I can't create art using my computer - I can. I can take a cartoon I've created, scan it, convert it to vector if required and color it. A lot of the cartoons on this blog have been created the same way. I just can't draw - it feels wrong.

If I get the chance, I'm going to try and create the cartoon the old fashioned way tonight, and see if I feel better...

ccgb #91

ccgb #90

CCGB #87