April is a month of change. Filing taxes finally puts 2013 to rest; trees are beginning to bud; and it’s a time to start taking those resolutions you’ve been kicking around seriously. For the longest time I’ve been trying to sever my relationship with Photoshop. Of all the Adobe products, it’s the most essential piece […]
Goodbye Photoshop, hello Gimp Read More »
This month I gave to The Gooseberry Project which is an initiative coordinated through the Blender community to bring the world’s best talent together to create a full-length animated film. I stumbled onto the project this month when I decided for the umpteenth time to try to learn 3D. Will the next Walt please stand? There
Adobe Offsetting: March 2014 Read More »
I’m right at the wire, but I got my donation in for January. I ultimately decided to give money to Inkscape™. It’s one of the best vector drafting tools and it’s saved me numerous times while at work. Why not give back and donate some money. Inkscape vs. Illustrator There are definitely benefits for using either
Adobe Offsetting: January 2014 Read More »
There are many art apps in the iPad store. Lots of them are great beginnings, but they’re either gimmicky or you can’t figure out how to incorporate them into your daily work. Sorting through all the apps available can be daunting and the store itself feels like a hoarders paradise of crap. There have been
Inkpad is a free Illustrator on-the-go Read More »
Waking up this Christmas morning, I have one task—a monthly donation as part of my monthly anti-Adobe commitment. With the emergence of the Creative Cloud, it’s more important than ever for artists to support alternatives to subscription-based software. So for this month, my software of choice is Tupi. Open source is free, right? The biggest
Adobe Offsetting: December 2013 Read More »
Did you ever do something stupid like drive your car for two weeks with the emergency brake on without realizing it, resulting in a damaged car and emotional psyche? A similar thing happened to me with Synfig this week but the only problem was that the emergency brake was not in clear sight and it
A significant Synfig setback Read More »
The best incentive for giving is getting something in return. In the past year there has been a real surge around open-source software development. Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have made it easier than ever for individuals to contribute and promote the open-source community. What does this mean for the average professional artist? Contributing regularly
Donating to open source is donating to your future Read More »
While I was working on all of Misty’s different poses in Synfig, I got sidetracked and started playing in a sweet open source painting program called MyPaint. Painting tool for an artist That pretty much sums up MyPaint—it’s a wonderful tool designed for artists. The simple interface and ease of use make MyPaint a breeze.
After spending the past week working on how to make libraries in Synfig, I finally was able to start working on all the different body positions for Misty. I’m hoping to get everything drawn in the next week. I may rethink how I originally constructed Misty once everything is drawn. I think I may be
Misty Turns the Other Cheek Read More »
Chocolate in My Peanut Butter! Okay, for the past few years I’ve been trying to learn Synfig in fits and spurts—working on my wonderful Ubuntu laptop. Teaching classes, clients and contracts all have been taking a front seat to learning and using Synfig. I want to attempt to post something weekly that I’ve accomplished or
