Not really sure where this goes.
I decided to splurge a little and bought myself a tablet PC. I had seen the designers on Project Runway using them to do their sketches and the concept looked great, but reading some other artists’ experiences with tablet PCs made me a little hesitant to drop $14 hundred on a tool that I may not even like. Instead, I bought the older model for a fraction of the price, knowing that if I liked it then I could always upgrade at a later date.
Since you are drawing directly on the screen instead of on a pad to your side, you would think you could just jump right into it but I found there was a bit of a learning curve, not just with the physical surface itself, but with the program’s interface. Logistics make Photoshop a pain in the ass, so until I build something that lets me have my short cuts while the tablet is in slate mode (when the keyboard is covered, screen and pen only), I’m forced to use a new program called Sketchbook Pro which has been optimized to work on tablet PCs. The program is a little weak, but for basic sketching it is pretty decent. Anyway, I’ve probably bored you enough with the details, the images below show the progression of the learning curve over the past couple of weeks.
Sketch 1: Not a great sketch, it doesn’t look much like my friend. I’m struggling right at the start, but only after an hour or so I know I must endure and can’t admit defeat.
Sketch 2: While at face value it’s probably even worse than the first sketch, it’s only a 20 minute sketch, and I find that my control is getting better.
Sketch 3: This is where things start to pick up. Sketching was quick, and it is much more representative of the figures.
Sketch 4: This one is a bit weird, not really my style either. This is one of those pieces that has no direction, you just start doodling and go with the flow. It’s not finished, but I’d like to finish it eventually.
Sketch 5: Similar to the weird face above, I just wanted to do a portrait and it evolved from there. Two weeks ago on Project Runway they had to make their pieces from stuff found in a hardware store, and naturally I started to think about what I would do if I had the same challenge and I thought something with red and black duct tape would be interesting. This isn’t exactly supposed to represent a duct tape dress, but rather the general design of the dress I visioned in my head but if sewn with traditional materials. Skills are improving, and I’m finding it harder to work on the standard Wacom, a tool I’ve used nearly every day for over 5 years.
To step away from the tablet stuff, the following sketches were done before I purchased the tablet, but I plan to finish it on the tablet as soon as I get all my reference material in order. The purpose of the illustration is to go on a postcard to promote myself to potential clients, and when it comes to something like this you want to put your time into it and make sure you’re doing the best image you can so it will catch as many eyes as possible, and one of the best ways to achieve that goal is to try to explore as many options as possible. Once the idea is conceived I sketch out different poses, angles, etc, until one speaks to me. There are a few revisions, different monsters are substituted in until you get something you like. Once I get all my reference material gathered I will start finishing it up on the tablet.
