This is a great opportunity for me to really focus on creating better images and not spend so much time running a business!
Showing posts with label Drawing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drawing. Show all posts
Collaboration with Napa Agency
This is a great opportunity for me to really focus on creating better images and not spend so much time running a business!
Life Drawing Class
Kuluttaja Magazine illustration process
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| Final image: runaway stork feather vest, Clip Studio Paint inks with Photoshop colour |
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| First round of thumbnail sketches based on a preliminary idea |
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| Second round of thumbnails after refining idea |
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| Line sketch (left), Finished inks (right) |
Life drawing class (NSFW)
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| This week's drawing – 4 h |
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| My starting level in September – 2 h |
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| 6 h |
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| 2 h black paper erasing excercise |
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| 6 h |
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| 5 h – First one for this year |
Digital ink vs. the real thing
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| Kuluttaja magazine 1/2015 – Manga Studio 4 EX and Photoshop CC |
Is it possible to ink in digital like you would on a dip pen or a brush and actual ink?
Cutting out the scanning and printing phases does save a lot of time, but is the quality there? Which computer hardware and software equals or even surpasses traditional media?
On the input side, there is little choice: Wacom is beginning to have some competition, but the competitors I know of, have problems with software integration. Wacom's Companion tablet has production quality issues and the various tablets (iPad, Surface pro 3) have inferior digitizers, which seriously affects line quality and accuracy. Basically, you still have two to choose from Wacom: an Intuos tablet or a Cintiq screen.
The Cintiq is much more intuitive and does not require much practise to master, but suffers from accuracy problems due to the interference the screen's own magnetic field causes on the pen digitizer. You can test this by drawing straight lines with a physical ruler. The lines will undulate quite a bit.
On this front, the Intuos tablet seems like the better choice, and it is much more accurate. But then you have to take into account the disconnection of hand from line: you are drawing on a tablet and looking at a screen. This takes a long time to get used to. I never did despite trying for four years and I still can't produce an acceptable drawing on an intuos. Some people even prefer this working method and it might be a good alternative if you suffer from back or neck problems.
Of the several pieces of Mac software I have tried, three show promise.
1. Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is the industry standard for a good reason. The versatility of Photoshop is unmatched: from vaguely oilpaint-like painting to extreme image manipulations and elementary 3D graphics. Photoshop has amassed an impressive feature list in its decades of history. But there are drawbacks to this breadth – parts of PS have remained unchanged for a very long time.
The brush engine in Photoshop has not changed significally since Photoshop 6 in the previous millennium. Some bells and whistles have been added but the core is still the same. This is a problem because the engine does a very poor job of smoothing out the wobbly line the Wacoms produce. It also handles pen pressure comparatively badly, especially if you have a light touch. For painting, it's not bad, although slower than it should be, but trying to get a silky smooth line quality out of it is like trying to wash a cat with lemon juice.
Pros:
+ Very versatile
+ You already have it
+ Mostly bug-free.
Cons:
- Very old and bad brush engine
- Super expensive to get if you don't already have it
- Doesn't have ruler guides (guides that allow freehand drawing but locked to a perfect curve or a straight line)
2. Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 6 / 7
Sketchbook Pro is a lightweight, cheap drawing app that just happens to have a very good brush engine specifically for smooth lines. It doesn't have a lot of features but the ones it comes with are all business (except for those product placement copic markers, what's up with that?): on top of the brush engine, SBP comes with extremely useful ruler guides for straight lines, ovals (
Where it falls down is handling bigger files. If you're working at 1200 ppi on an A3 size canvas, you are going to have problems. Otherwise, version 6 is very stable and 7 is getting there.
As the name suggests, SBP is aimed at sketching rather than finishing drawings, and is unparalleled for this, but inking on it is pretty good too.
* Sketchbook Pro does have perfect circle guides after all! The manual is incredibly vague on this but I stumbled on it today by accident. Double-click the width-modifier of the oval guide to snap it to a perfect circle. I haven't seen this in any tutorial yet but that just goes to show that I haven't watched enough of them.
Pros:
+ Cheap!
+ Quick to use
+ Pretty good brush engine
+ Best ruler guides in the business
+ Stable
+ Opens and saves basic Photoshop files
Cons:
- Not a lot of features
- Can't handle big files, so no super res B&W line-art prints
- Also doesn't do colour profiles
3. Corel Painter (any version)
Is a buggy mess. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
Pros:
+ Incredibly detailed oil and pastel simulations
Cons:
- Will crash at the drop of a hat and destroy all your work
- Has generations of unfixed show-stopper bugs that are unlikely to ever receive attention
4. Manga Studio /
This puppy with two equally unfortunate names, has been designed by listening to artists and what is important to them. The brush engine is gorgeous. I have MS 4 EX, which is the previous version and the current one should be even better. It has controls to taper the line at the beginning and end, or not if you prefer to use pen pressure to taper them yourself, easily adjustable line smoothing, which is very effective, and handles big sizes like a charm.
For comic artists, there is the added bonus of being able to do the complete work within MS / CAS. You can do layouts for a full book, and title them as well. The balloon generation system is pretty good, comparing to all competitors which don't have anything like it.
On the other hand, the UI can be a bit overwhelming, the ruler guides, which it does have, are very hard to use quickly and effectively and you need to export your image if you want to use it in another app. I wouldn't recommend importing back from another app if you are not very experienced with computers.
Update 9.5.2015: I have since upgraded to Manga Studio 5 EX / Clip Studio Paint EX which corrected most of these problems, specifically the ease of importing and exporting. Guides are slightly less cumbersome to work with and the UI is generally much easier to grasp. It is still easily the most cryptic of these apps, but getting better. The brush engine is droolworthy. Custom brushes elevate this app into its own category. Seriously, if you do line work on a computer, this is the app.
Pros:
+ Best brush engine in the business
+ Useful and easy controls to adjust the brush
+ Additional features for comic artists
+ Mostly stable (and saves your work if it crashes)
Cons:
- Convoluted UI (slightly better in MS5 / CSP)
- Ruler guides are cumbersome (slightly better in MS5 / CSP)
- Need to export to continue work in another app
- Import is flawed (fixed in MS5 / CSP)
Summary
So, there are a couple of good options for inking on the computer. How do they compare to an actual pen or brush and paper?
Well, a brush does exactly what your hand tells it to do and if you have good paper, that's about it. It depends completely on your skill with a brush if that's better or worse than a stylus and Manga Studio. You can get perfectly smooth lines in MS without really trying, but you can't get the slight nuances of traditional brushwork on any computer app – the Wacoms just aren't accurate enough. So you inevitably lose some of the signature quality of your work. But whether it's enough to offset having undo, layers and freedom from scanning (and cleanup), and potential ink stains, is up to you.
On the speed difference: I have seen comments by professional comic artists like Sean Phillips, who are extremely fast with traditional inks, but also from new school artists who are equally fast on the computer. It takes about as long on each for me, but I save drying and scanning time by working digitally. Speed seems to be far more dependent on the artist than their equipment.
Brush and India Ink
Pros:
+ Does exactly what you tell it to do
+ Incredibly versatile and quick medium
+ Surprisingly forgiving on paper
+ A lot of fun in a scary way
Cons:
- Does exactly what you tell it to do
- aaaAAA! Ink blot!
- No undo
- Surprisingly unforgiving on brushes
- Very dependent on brush quality
- That scanning
The following four images show the same head inked in the four methods discussed here. You can click on them to open a larger version.
The original is the real ink version, which is a crop of an A4 full shot. The crop measures about 5 cm high.
I reproduced the inking on a Cintiq 21" in the three apps discussed above. You can get a good idea of the accuracy difference if I tell you that my working size on those is to fill the monitor with whatever I'm doing.
As you can see, the differences are not very noticeable at this size, but the feel of drawing with these apps is completely different. My hand relaxes when I use Manga Studio compared to Photoshop, because I can trust the line to look good. The lines are cleaner than my traditional inks, but I do feel like I lose some "character" from the line.
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| Photoshop CC |
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| Sketchbook Pro 6 |
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| Manga Studio 4 EX |
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| Real Ink |
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| Akava Camp 2011 – Ink & Photoshop Colour |
Finished watercolour sketchbook
It's always a grand moment when you finish a sketchbook, but especially a watercolour book. I tend to put a little more effort into the watercolours because the paper allows it. These sketches were made between 2011 and 2014 into a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. It doesn't have the best paper but the book is extremely well designed and portable. It has about 70 pages – not all are here, but quite a few. Some sketches were adapted from photos or tv, some from life.
Making these small paintings was a good way to take my mind off the series of flus I've had recently. While painting with a runny nose might be challenging – you need to make sure your nose is never directly above the painting – it is a good excercise and does not require two things that are missing when you're ill: a. brain activity , b. strength.
LakiWoman comic strip 2009 – 2013
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| 1: "This comic is exactly like my life!" 2: "Do you really still read magazines? That's so 2000's..." "Their webpages are much ahead of the print version. I'll prove it." 3: "It's not about speed." "What?" "How do you know what I'm about to say?" 4: "Stop it!" "Stop it right now!" "That does it…" 5: "'…no Playstation for a week and dish washin–' But mom!" "You said it." 6: "Well, you were right, this is better." |
Right before it ended last year I was presented with a very fun opportunity. The magazine made a transformation from print to web and somehow this had to be reflected in the comic. So, I made two strips that communicate with each other. This was the first time I broke the fourth wall in the strip.
The top strip is the first webcomic, which actually came out slightly before the bottom strip, which is the last print version.
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| 1: "Have you noticed?! You are online!" "What? Let me see…" 2: "But that doesn't look at all like me! Just look at the hair." "That's just a digital representation. In reality, your hair is much more three-dimensional." "And look at that. What's that supposed to be?" 3: "That's your son… He is just not fully loaded." "Oh, I guess that's his normal state." 4: "But wait, if I am online, does everyone see everything I do? The whole world?!" "Um… have you actually never looked that way?" 5: "That w-" |
10 years, a look back
It has been 10 years since I did my first commissioned magazine illustration. I thought it would be fitting to compare progress… to my work as a ten-year-old. I had some time on vacation, so I revisited some early subjects.
I was quite a fanboy when I was little. Definitely not a fan of Wolverine, though.
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| That's the way it was actually spelled in the eighties. For some reason I don't remember getting into trouble for swearing. HB pencil vs. Procreate on the iPad |
But the Hoff had a huge impact back then. I used to draw complete comic books with Knight Rider stories in them. Then I sold them to my parents for a premium, so that I could buy more actual comic books. Afterwards, I took the comics back because my parents didn't read them enough and I liked them.
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| That's his nose, all right? Nose. Cheap markers vs. Watercolour with white and yellow gouache |
So, what's changed?
At least some of the delightful punk attitude has gone and turned into gentle fun-poking. I still describe hair the same way. I'm more squeamish about swearing in print and less while working.
Compared to the speed I worked with in 1987, I'm like a sleep-deprived snail who forgot the handbrake on. It took an hour and a half to draw / paint a single picture of Knight Rider while back then, I would have had a complete story done. Cost-effectiveness has taken a steep down-turn.
I now have way better equipment, which is a big relief.
I still love it, but a whole lot more than as a ten-year-old.
Illustrating disputes
Kuluttaja magazine commissioned me to illustrate a continuing section of the magazine called "Ratkaisuja riitoihin" (Resolutions to disputes). The section lists the most interesting and funny consumer disputes lately and their resolutions by the Consumer Disputes Board (Kuluttajariitalautakunta). It's very popular among the readers. I draw two illustrations for every spread and it has been a blast! I loved the section even before I was asked to take over the illustration.
Here are some of the illustrations so far:
The riders image was the first one and I actually got a nice email from a reader who had really liked it. It's not very often that happens and it definitely made my day.
This one hit particularly close to home – we've had an upstairs
neighbour who has had two cases of water damage within half a year.
Buckets of water came down on both occasions and the illustration is
fairly descriptive of the aftermath.
This is from the latest issue, which is hitting the stores as I'm writing this.
Here are some of the illustrations so far:
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| "AGONY" – There is an annual heavy metal festival in Helsinki called Tuska ("Agony"). The main performer of one festival day was arrested, could not perform and was replaced with a Finnish band. A fan was so disappointed that he demanded a partial refund for his ticket. |
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| An adult bought a season card to a riding school with the intention of joining an adult beginner class. Since there was none, she was put in an advanced children's class. Not a great solution. |
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| A bathroom renovation took over a month and the tenant asked for a reduction in rent for the duration. The landlord did not think there was cause. |
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| Enterprising mechanics took it upon themselves to make extensive repairs to a car well into its twenties without consulting the customer (the word on the piece of paper is "Invoice"). |
Modesty Blomqvist
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| Personal – Modesty Blomqvist |
Modesty Blaise was a smash hit from the beginning. Why it was so popular is a very good question and a useful lesson even now. Most of the Modesty Blaise stories fall into the general "secret agent" genre. Either they help their good friend Tarrant of the British intelligence services or stumble upon criminal gangs or organisations terrorizing innocent people. Almost invariably Blaise and Garwin deal with the situations by themselves.
Modesty Blaise was one of the first if not the first female protagonist, who was an undisputed leader, physically equal or more capable than the men but also had a stern but agreeable personality. She was the "tough guy" but had plenty of room for human emotions. At her late twenties, she had been a refugee, risen to head an international crime organisation with her right hand man Willie Garwin and retired as independently wealthy.
Despite there being an extremely close relationship between Modesty and Willie, it was never sexual, not even in a throwaway mind control episode like we see in so many tv series today. They exhibit the utmost respect and trust towards each other but their relationship also supercedes any dalliances they might have, which are always temporary. Even Modesty's original nationality is kept a mystery. The British nationality she holds, is illegally bought. They are portrayed as the epitome of freedom, they only have the ties they choose to forge and are always free to make independent decisions. Despite being a truly 1960's concept, it's very appealing in our time.
Peter O' Donnell (1920 – 2010) wrote nearly a hundred Modesty Blaise stories in comic strip form between 1963 and 2001. These were long stories, most of them span well over a hundred strips. In addition, O'Donnell wrote 10 Modesty Blaise novels and two short story collections.
There have been three feature film adaptations, all of which O'Donnell hated (with good reason).
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| The first appearance of Modesty Blaise in La Machine, art by Jim Holdaway |
Jim Holdaway (1927 – 1970) was an absolute master of linework. His lines look like they were drawn at a breakneck speed with a careless disdain for neatness. And yet, they convey information clearly and with amazing depth. And they are so tight when they need to be. In my opinion, it is this alternation of constriction and release, which made him one of the greatest line artists ever to get involved in comics. He approached Modesty Blaise with a passion that the artists who took up Modesty after him could not match.
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| Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set-Up, art by Jim Holdaway |
Holdaway illustrated the 19 first Modesty Blaise stories (plus a short primer story"In the Beginning" for the American audience). He died of a heart attack in his early forties, midway through drawing the 20th story arc "Warlords of Phoenix". The death was so sudden it took everyone by surprise. After a furious search, he was replaced by Enrique Badia Romero, who penned the majority of Modesty Blaise stories and is the artist most people associate with the series. Holdaway's two last strips in the middle of Warlords of Phoenix were drawn by both of them. You can find a comparison of the strips in one of the reprint albums by Titan Books.
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| Modesty Blaise pinup by Romero |
Sadly, the reprint books by Titan of the early Modesty Blaise strips are mostly out of print having been published nearly ten years ago, and the used copies are starting to fetch quite a price. But hopefully your local library might have some of them in decent shape because the print quality is excellent. Unlike the earlier reprints by Star Books, the Titan versions are made from original films.
These three albums are still available at the moment of writing (links lead to The Book Depository online bookstore):
Modesty Blaise: Black Pearl
Modesty Blaise: Bad Suki
Modesty Blaise: The Hell-Makers (partly illustrated by Romero)
Modesty Blaise on wikipedia
Towards Freedom
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| Maailman Kuvalehti – Vapaaksi |
Because the article was very narrative, I approached it as I were illustrating a short story. The three images were a "cover" and two key moments in the story. The images were painted entirely in Photoshop.
You can find the original article on Maailman Kuvalehti's webpage (in Finnish).
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| Maailman Kuvalehti – Vapaaksi |
Human Rights and Election Promises
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| Sarjis 2007 comics competition award winner – Troll on the Rooftop |
The story is about a young girl whose single parent mother is a travelling salesperson. She's not in school yet and because they are constantly moving from place to place, she has no friends. One night she hears music from the rooftop and climbs up to find a troll living there. The troll leads her off the roof and straight into a forest. She takes part in a fairy wedding but finds out that fairies aren't going to fill the void left by her lack of friends.
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