more on jedi training

Speaking of baselines, If you just got your used or new graphics tablet, jump over to http://blog.dustyghost.com/?page_id=9/  and link, copy, read the graphics tablet tutorial. Do you remember when you first took interest in drawing with a pen or pencil? Sketching with a digital pen is the same but different. The more you use it the more it is useful. The cool thing with todays digital drawing tools is that you can sketch on one layer and draw on another. You can put a base image on one layer and draw over it on another layer. What you draw can be edited, erased and altered. It is actually better than paper if you can get used to it, but drawing on paper is cool also.

If you are like me you need to have all your art stuff in one place. A studio arrangement that is dedicated to the creation task. If you like a more movable situation still the idea is to have what you need in a portable way. I always see the scene painter with folding easel, paintbox, bottles of spirits, brushes, rags and whatever else is needed. Trying to duplicate this with my laptop PC is harder than it looks. If you only have one PC it is hard to dedicate it to just drawing. Those other functions are so intoxicatedly present to distract you from your focus. Seems a shame to bridle so powerful and flexible a tool to one occupation. But the computer in your car is dedicated to running the car, so it's a matter of concept. Besides the traditional painter really likes to comeback to his/her work and continue on where they left off. When you share your PC with other functions it is mind numbing to find your way back. Your paintbox is your paintbox.

I think I am brainwashed to be connected, so hard to turn off my internet. I unplug the ethernet and the wireless kicks in. It's like saying "wait, you need me!" If I was doing paint on a canvas in my room, it is not connected and I would want no distractions as I work out the process. Is it any less with digital art processes? All you trained commercial artist can ignore me, I am talking to the dabblers mostly.

So, my stuff is evolving, I have a main PC, a desktop I can do anything on and a laptop that is becoming my artbox. You know the PC is meant for keyboard input and I have to attach my drawing tablet. I wouldn't mind it the other way around. Put my drawing tablet into the laptop and I attach a keyboard when I need it. I wouldn't try to make it multifunctioned for games, and lots of text input or playing movies. To me those things are counter-productive to my art work. This is what my desktop PC is for. The end result is that my laptop becomes my dedicated art machine. When I look at it I see my creative energies going in and my art coming out.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in the work of others our own focus is diluted. Looking at others stuff is so intoxicating, we get drunk to the point our own work is neglected. Our competing spirit beats us, "oh they are so much better than I!" Use others for a reference, limit yourself to a recalibrating peak once in a while. In other words you are like the main PC, you can do anything, everything, now you need to become a person dedicated to a process to get your art done. All athletes do full body workouts, only runners say "legs go faster!" Basically it is about building body memory and experience, then exceeding. Same with art. I am giving you the play by play as I teach myself.

So, now you got the place, the space, the tools and time, put yourself in there.

the force is with you but requires control

Either we are natural artist or we have developed skills to that end. In any case artists need instruments to channel the force. In digital art the tool of choice could be as clumsy as a mouse or as sensitive as a pen. With my drafting background I got used to drawing with a mouse. Mice are adequate for drafting which is more akin to vector drawing. Vectors are all about lines with end points, connected lines to make shapes and shapes filled with color. Of course it all depends on the type of drawing and vectors do tend to be rather precise.

Drawing with a mouse is like drawing with a bar of soap. Being the average input tool, many of us are used to using a mouse. Drawing with a pen is so awkward at first, it requires a lot of tweaking to match the working end to your way of drawing. The genius of todays pens is that they can simulate pressure and mimic most any drawing tool, brush, ink pen and airbrush. So, the software does one part and you control the other part, as to the line quality. Digital pens require a tablet to transfer the magic to the screen. Pen and tablet is by far the best combo for digital art. My advice, buy Wacom stuff new or used, especially if you are using Linux. Linux has a Wacom driver project and the drivers work well. If you are using MS Windows or Mac, your choices are a little wider. The whole point of a digital pen and tablet is simulating natural drawing instruments. Trying to tweak the pen and tablet and software for the right feel is the trick.

I have a vision of one day using my laptop in remote locations sporting a built-in pen tablet and focusing all my energies into my artwork. Believe it or not this is hard. One reason is the PC can do so much, seems a shame to dedicate one PC to art work alone. As soon as it is connected to the net or internet or you click a non-art application icon your PC transforms into other uses. I lose that artist focus and artist mystique and who wants to have a PC that only does one thing?
Yes we always have to recalibrate ourselves to make things fit us or us things.

Then lets get to the part they don't show you in the movies, actual training. It's hard to believe the force is with anyone when you first hold a digital pen. The best approach is set it and draw and ask stupid what if questions, and don't forget to read stuff. Online searches will yield how-to info, tutorials, but if you don't play with it, you'll never harness the force. The force is different with each of us and to make it flow effortlessly we must practice till the software and the hardware are transparent or second nature to us. Think of a jazz musician who has a tune in his head. If he doesn't know his instrument well, he simply can't make it play what's in his head. That is the whole point, tools are a channel a shaping instrument. I like your humming and air guitar but can you play that on a real guitar in real time? Your fingers need to feel the strings, you must apply that english to bend and stretch notes and use silence with sound to create drama. So, you must do equal amounts of serious study with serious play. Fooling around is skill building and discovery. Don't get lost, study and play.

I am also looking for kindred souls, because when you have a group you can challenge each other by encouraging help. You can inflame egos and put them out too. When you leave the group to do your thing, you are not alone. That is called community. It's good to venture out, good to come home to friends. You can calibrate yourself and break the rules, because you got a baseline.