tablagraphic

I see you. Hey I've been pressed to give every picture some kind of title. After a while you resort to #5 sunny day. I have been pressed also to define just what is digital art. OK, now any art done on or with the aid of a computer can be digital art. The lines between disciplines can blur real easy. Like photography, dark rooms and chemicals are for the craftsman artist, the rest use Photoshop. Popular photography, the photography with webcams, iPhones, small digital cameras and other gadgets used by not so serious picture takers is very hot. We all got cams, but taking the artistic picture requires some effort or at least some awareness.

What I have discovered is that artistic pictures do not need top shelf equipment unless you want to. What am I bantering about? The little picture above was taken with my webcam on my tablet. This along with apps with artistic filters. The secret is that photographers usually have a fetish for realism. They may use the filters to enhance a picture but stay away from whole hog usage. This is great for me, I have no such fetish, filters are a cool way to make a nothing photo say something more. Like a picture in a book to assist the story being told, it doesn't take away the imagination, setting the mood or mooding the setting.

The tablet apps are quick and easy. The same effects on the computer via paint/photo programs are complicated with levers and switches. Be sure to write down your settings, you'll never remember what you did.

There was a prof at Cleveland Institute of Art, who said in their school bulletin the computer was the tool to bring together many media. This is true. Now add to this a printer output or a video display screen and you have digital art. We could go further but that's enough for now. The tablet in it's simple way does a lot to let digital art happen. Which brings up another point. Sometimes simple things force the creative juices to flow through trial/discovery, accidents, etc. Come on it's a mind game, this is why composition is so important. Composition will make you look to read the picture. Reading you will see the story. Old school no, the basics yes.

it works, I'll make it work.

Now having GIMP and Inkscape in an Android app might sound like a good thing. I know I was blown away. Well not blown away, maybe surprised a little. It does work, I keep saying that.

So what is missing besides speed? A mouse! A mouse is missing, you know that handy click and hold to select some objects. I never thought I'd miss a mouse. This is a quick blurb between doing other stuff.

So I think I need to investigate what that little switch on the side of the stylus can do. It is rather awkward to use and I hope it's function is programmable.

I realize I need to explain the need for speed. Speed it reaction time. When you click-n-wait for every action, it can make you impatient. I click on a object, wait for it to fully surround the selection, drag and wait for it to finish. So this app might not be for you if you have that knee-jerk Frisbee frustration reaction.

But still, it works.

yeah they do

Ok here's my deeper thought about running open source apps on Android tablets. PCs have chips and circuits to direct memory paths and allocate data in fast and efficient ways. These Android tablets do not share the same circuitry. Android apps are optimized for Android hardware. I am in fact amazed at what you can do on Android hardware. If you look at a tablet motherboard, there are only a few chips that do it all. Now cram software into it that is designed to run on a PC motherboard with groups of chips to handle specific functions, it runs so slow.

Some one used the word porting. When you port you recompile the source code so that the software will run on targeted hardware/software combination. To get a picture of that the source code of GIMP written to run in Linux is recompiled to run in Windows OS and have an (.exe) on the end. Compiling adds the necessary libraries, utilities and code instructions that the host operating system understands.

There are cheats like emulators and compatibility layers and virtual machines which allow for instance Windows programs to run within Linux OS without recompiling. This is very convenient, like fooling Linux to think it's running a Linux program when in fact it is a Windows program. A word to the wise, mileage may very. For some combinations of hardware/software it works well, for others a typewriter works better.

Of course another way of doing this is the "cloud" where GIMP would be on a server at some data house and you could subscribe to use it over the internet. Adobe is doing this with it's Creative Suite. This is stupid for GIMP because it's free anyway and brilliant for Adobe cause it is expensive, so you can rent time on Creative Suite and not have to buy it or install it, yet have at it.

Again I think the apps on Android tablet are great. Some have even done finished art on the tablet. Ultimately the tablet is cool for portability, taking notes, doing sketches in odd places. A regular PC can do the heavy work at home with full blown software. Ok it wasn't that deep.

aaah! they do exist......on Android

Well, on my tablet I just installed Gimp Inkscape Android. I am in shock........it works, slowly but it works. If you have great patients, it works. It opened with both Gimp and Inkscape on the desktop. A side bar with tabs for each program because they are separate. Then I made two squares, blured one into a shadow, oooh! I shut down Inkscape, then Gimp, what!!!, it's XFCE desktop! They put two powerful programs and Linux XFCE on Android!?!

Slow but it works. Patience Luke, use the open source.

I had to run, fight Vader, so now I'm back.

This is what came up. Gimp and Inkscape together. I figure if this is what is in store then the future is bright. Now most Android devices don't have the memory or the CPU power to run this thing at a descent speed (my opinion) but it does work. What's the point? I have Linux albeit a very thin Linux running Gimp and Inkscape my favorite open source apps, slowly but they run on Android OS. I also have a version of Open Office for Android, gee feels like I'm on my laptop. 

Now when you are using Inkscape you can't use Gimp. You can close one and full screen the other. I have used other vector apps but what's sweet about Inkscape is the alpha channels. You can blur things nicely, man I love shadows. Slow but it works. My Galaxy Note 10.1 came with 16 gig of RAM memory, I wonder if the 32 gig model runs this better and if a larger RAM model is in the works. Graphics apps use lots of RAM. AAH! they do exist on Android.

ghost in the machine debunked

Ok, so there's no phantoms in your machine besides the usual malware and occasional user error. Some mmmm....mis.....mishaps (mistakes) that occur in drawing are due to the machine itself. There a number of very good tablet apps for drawing. It is hard to choose between them especially if you like the interface. I am talking annoyances here.

I was using Infinite Design, which is no drawing slouch by the way, to pull in one of my line drawings as a base image to trace over. Layers are a thing of wonder. The pen touches the surface and does it's thing, so does the edge of my hand resting on the tablet, in particular my little finger. It's like another person doodling on my doodle while I'm doodling. At it's worst you have to stop the flow of genius to erase the madness. Several solutions to this problem are on the market, one of which I have yet to try because there are certain personality enhancements attached to it, powerful, ooh!.........LOL!

Here is the problem in scientific terms. You as an electrical conductor have the ability, I mean capability or better yet capacity of capacitance with the surface of your tablet. That is why your finger works, and special pens and not your ball point. So if you are drawing with your special pen you have to hold it so that your fingers or palm do not both make marks on the screen. Ask yourself why the British, traditionally big on etiquette, hold their tea cups with the pinky extended, hmmmmm? Balance my man, balance and control. You couldn't possibly appreciate the nuances of the tea if you're gripping the cup like a mug. Unless it's a hot toddy of course. So on the market is a glove with the fingers cut off to reveal the capacitance yet cover the resting palm and I would hope the pinky. Don't worry about M. Jackson copyrights, archers, hunters, safe crackers all have variations of fingerless gloves. Can be very stylish, you don't have to be symmetrical and you could make your own glove.

Now the other solution is for the software to only allow one point of screen contact and better yet only the input of the special pen or stylus. Personally I think that should be built in to Android OS since it is a touch screen and stylus input OS. It's not because of user confusion. The Autodesk app for Android called Sketchbook Pro has a setting in the app to limit screen touch to the pen. This is great because I hate stopping to erase, undo and redraw when I'm on a roll. No more second hand drawing so your creative life is longer and better.

The other apps I use are Vector Artist and ArtFlow, they have the same problem as Infinite Design, too much touch. A glove might be better, a software switch is better yet. The phantom drawer is uncovered.    

phantom of the opera

Listen to the sweet sound of birds chirping in the trees. If you listen to gulls sing, well they might call it song but squawk is more fitting. Still compared to penguins, and I am willing to bet they squawk also, there could be a harmony of sorts. The secret of this working together is sharing. VirtualBox allows sharing folders between the Linux host and the XP guest operating systems. So the work I do in Sketch Up in XP can be seen by the Linux system.

Speaking of birds of a feather, digital artist are the rare flock of dubious reputation in the field of art. Most of the blame is put on the device called a printer. It is the output of this device that has the art world in a tizzy. It messes up the engineering world also, why? Because once a digital file in a computer gets printed out there is no differentiation between the first print and the last. This is accounting for the usual glitches, hic-ups and imperfections of printing the same thing over and over. Then there is the thing about the quality of the printer and the quality of the paper and the quality of the ink. You could very well have a cheap print being the same or better than a higher quality print. I think that is more improbable but sometimes a gritty, grungy outcome fits the bill for the art at hand. A printer is a tool of the digital artist.

So what constitutes the artist's original in digital art. The original in digital art is the indecipherable file that the artist worked on, regardless of if it needs a video display or printer output to see. What art sellers can't accept is that digital art defies the value of rarity. You could print one piece and destroy the file that made it. That is like shooting your dog for the artist. Many recommend printing a limited number then destroying the original file. I really can't answer this dilemma for you. Disney will store them away and reissue them for the next generation. That is cool also.

Now digital displays are not immune. Various manufacturing materials and specs produce displays with grades of visibility. Trying to match a display with possible printer output is a science by it self. Quite a number of the digital artist do work that is typically viewed on the video screen.

What about......photography? Today many are doing digital photography which involves both digital cameras and picture processing. Even film photographers use digital processing of film negatives unless chem processing is the art.

Saying all the above, I want to explore the digital arts in the gallery setting. I want to give digital art a good consideration as we are so immersed in media. Still art as display art is different and more varied than TV and movie art. Perhaps this is what we need to see added to the display of traditional arts, the arts of our present age.

return of the birds

I had to slowly approach my dilemma with caution, stepping ever so quietly past the seagulls. They pecked at my feet as I crept by. I sneezed, they fluttered, I made a dash for the phone booth. Wait, I thought phone booths are extinct. It was cracked and spattered with bird gook, just my luck a used phone booth, I thought. I grabbed the creaky door, flung myself in and hit the emergency dial button and the booth sunk into the ground before the first bird thud. Let me explain......Maxwell Smart!!

Always always take time to approach a problem with a calm head. After a day of fussing I removed the offending XP VirtualBox installation and all of its supporting files. Then I slid in the XP disc again and started VirtualBox. This time I did not choose to help the process by adding my so-called tweaks until after the install. I let the program install itself, lots of deep breaths here. Then I followed the install stack exactly, first XP, then SP2, SP3, AVG anti-virus, then SketchUp. I had two SketchUp 8 programs a small one (just SketchUP 8) and a larger one that had some upgrades to version 8. I chose the smaller because it worked in the past.

Taking my time resulted in a working XP in VirtualBox and a working SketchUp 8 with bells but no whistles. My other installation of Sketch Up 8 in Wine boots but crashes. I hope the Wine community fixes that someday. Close but no bananas. Sketch Up is the most intuitive 3D drawing I ever used and as a formed AutoCad user I didn't have to learn a new language. Half the battle to learning any program is knowing where stuff is and what to expect when you click it. They say don't get it but try it and choose wisely because learning a workflow makes you ingrained. Other applications can be an annoyance if they are too different from your main tool of choice.

Done, I popped up with confidence, bopped out of the phone booth wearing a gull hat bobbing my head like gulls do. Penguins waddle, gulls bop. All is well among the birds, for now. 

penguins 99 seagulls 0

Seagulls are a strange lot especially in parking lots (sorry Johnathan). They sit on the pavement, lamp post and building rims all facing the same way. All someone has to think is "The Birds" and phone booths are extinct and............ So far we have got Mr. Poppers tux brood and "Happy Feet" concerning penguins although those birds in "Madagascar" could be seagulls in disguise.

The real deal is that I installed Android on my laptop's Virtualbox along side Microsoft XP which in turn installed Grub to be able to choose an OS at bootup. Taking Android off was not painless nor Grub editable and my installed Sketchup in XP was DOA. Then I reinstalled XP in Virtualbow which walked instead of ran and Sketchup which totally ignored I had a grahhics card that worked correctly. Uninstall X3. So....... I installed WINE which is not an emulator but a Windows compatibility layer application, then reinstalled SketchUp which didn't run last time I used it in Wine and runs perfectly this time, God be blessed to updates.

The moral of this story is both gulls and penguins will eat fish but penguins will balk at bread. They won't eat a fish sandwich either. Gulls will peck and gulp anything that has food on it, all while facing the same direction. Which brings me to another thing, science. After careful observation, recording and testing a procedure for repeatable results, computers are able to spit up garbage because they themselves are a tad bit different. Just because it worked to a tech wiz doesn't mean it will work for a nerd, let alone a dweeb. Buy the shoes of a pro but milage may vary.

I hope you all can receive deep insight to the mystery of computing by my words above, all confusion is because brains are different no matter what the physicians chart says. Always have a backup plan in place, that is why zoo birds are replaced and you never notice. Oh, there's one seagull facing the other way, must be a glitchee-dee.

deep tablet therapy

Ok folks, I think we have a favorite between Artflow, Inifinate Design and Autodesk Sketchbook. They each have logical interfaces but the slight edge went to Sketchbook for me. Seems it better accommodated my way of fussing and fidgeting. The clincher was that Sketchbook also had a pen setting to prevent the hand/fingers from marking the canvas while using the pen. If you don't know wonderful this is try drawing with your hand resting on the tablet surface. Erasing erroneous finger marks can be annoying.

Another drawing problem I have is my fingers passing over the lower right hand corner where the settings pop-up gets activated. I gets this when holding the tablet with the wide side horizontally. When I turn the wide side vertically I can draw higher in the screen avoiding the active area. There are some who wear a "drawing glove" to disrupt the capacitive connection between the screen and your hand. Ooh, that sounds cool, gotta get me a drawing glove.

So, what is missing in the tablet that would make my day, a big honking solid state hard drive of about 128 gigs, but it's OK.

Also on my wish list is Gaussian blur on the Vector Artist app and all the drawing apps having that pen setting that is in Sketchbook or put it in Android OS for tablets.

There is an app that looks very interesting and I want all you 3d tablet jockeys to check it out. Spacedraw is the only fully functional 3d modeling app on the Android platform. Some said it is like Blender only lightly so. The interface is made for tablets and quite agile but, not a easy learn for me. I will keep poking at until I can do something with it. I am grabbing Trimble's Sketch Up on my PC, that is fairly easy to use compared to Blender. Still, Spacedraw has potential, good potential. When you "get it" please do some tutorials, please.......

feeeeeeel the power

As you all know I've been totally taken by my new tablet. It's starting to get forensic evidence embedded in the cracks and crevices. If you have one of the various tablet devices, especially with a stylus, and can do drawing on it, you kind of know where I'm going. Getting the feel of drawing on the slick screen is awkward. My Wacom Graphire had a slick surface and a hard plastic pen point. There was not enough traction and I tried to tape paper on the tablet to work better. Better was not great, just OK. The new tablet has a protective film over the screen. This helps but the real thing is that the stylus has a hard rubber tip. The combination is perfect for a good control and feel, like a felt pen.

Now when you draw because it is a capacitive relation between the pen tip and the tablet surface, there still a connection when the pen is barely touching. The effect is like a nib that is fine on the line part but splotches at the start and when you stop. You learn the feel to put it down to draw and pick it up when you don't. Believe me, DustyGhosts' tutorial is good practice. Starting and stopping lines, circles, shapes. Here is a project. Get a pencil, a ball point pen, a felt tip pen, chalk, charcoal, crayon. Then do the same exercise. Each has a feel, the digital stylus is no different, depends on your feel of it.

I saw on line people using their Galaxy tablets as input devices for their PCs. I think it is a remote connection. I haven't tried this my self but to use my wireless tablet to control the graphics apps on my laptop PC would be sweet. I will investigate further, perhaps I might give it a shot.

I have talked about Xubuntu Linux in the past. It is Ubuntu Linux with the XFCE desktop suitable for older PCs and a light weight Linux for low resource PCs. I found another Linux called Lite, that's Linux Lite. It is also XFCE desktop but tweaked a little different. At least the looks are different. It is snappy and if you are new to Linux, there is nothing to scare you away. It works great, looks cool, gets the job done, with flair. I like it. Got a power machine, Linux Lite will not clog the circuits with extraneous business. This means even more power to run the applications, paint effects, 3d drawing and games. Did I mention it looks good? 

a few more tablet discoveries

I'm back, had to do an oil change to re-slick myself. I have the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet, so far it is wonderful. You iPad users are safe with me, though I reserve the right to differ. Android OS which is basically an smartphone OS enjoys expanded use of the larger screen and the pen. The pen centric apps are not as numerous as touch apps but I find that many people are more prone to give the finger rather than the mighter pen. BUT, digital dabblers, scribblers, doodlers, stick pokers, sand tracers and wall scrawlers will find the pen as handy as a light sabre.

So, I discovered on the Galaxy is Samsung Screen saver app. It can play endlessly displaying some tips on how to use the Note tools in multi-tasking mode. This is sweet because 'show you how to do it' videos are the best things in the world. Now having said that, there are not many if any in-depth Android app tutorials. I think because there are so many apps that do the same things and the changeableness of Android users. As platforms go long term usage of any application is fleeting. But with the advent of the larger Android tablets as a useful and dependable assistant, the need for a stable set of tools is evident. Will the artists' apps gain a following to the point that tutorials are developed? Probably not and this is because the interfaces are not difficult to figure out and the tools in them are basic. If you have tinkered with PC art applications then the tablet apps are simple. I will say that the people who use the PC art applications are finding the smartphone and tablet apps cool for graphic notes and sketching. In this vein there are YouTube videos that show and tell. I myself am totally amazed when higher quality artwork is done on a small device. For instance, in our gallery is a set of note cards for sale with some cute geeky art on them. Last night I saw the the app that produced the art. The print quality is very good. I am inspired, I can do that.

Well let me go, I've got to get moving and seeing where else I can take my tablet and doodle.

Oh wait and let me add. Go over to DustyGhost.com click on tutorials, then the graphics tablet tutorial. Read it, do it, thank the man profusely. 

a docu-mercial

 the promise of multi-purpose snake oil

There are many stories in the "Ole West" about the Mr. Hannie types who sold snake oil and medicinal spirits. LOL, you can do the same with olive oil if you are from the Middle East, coconut and kola nut oil probably have their equivalents from Africa and the Caribbean. Nothing in the world though is like cold pressed whale oil and we all have greased pans and palms with butter as Ms Dean will attest, is the best, lard knows.

The only real difference in snake oil is the kind of snake it comes from. It is guaranteed to work no matter what and be of fortuitous benefit even though the sacrifice of a snake to give up his life sustaining oil for your anointing is a small price to pay. What shall this oil exactly do for you beside the customary making you as slick as the guy who sold it to you? Depends.

You see, snake oil is a suspension. Meaning it will hold other ingredients in place until you get the benefit from them. I guess the word they use today is a topical. The really good oil will open your pores so that what ever is suspended will soak in. This explains why medicines are expensive and makeup is cheap. It goes way beyond the physical application of minerals to the human flesh. Snake oil in it's various forms is also used to administer cultural pathologies, kingly and priestly authority and prevent diaper rash, interchangeably and simultaneously. Human history is both taught and learned via this way.

We flaunt our ability to market and apply snake oil to every facet of our lives. We are pickled in our own juices to the point we can't tell what is oil and what was added. We dig up "original recipes", ancient sauce, primordial stew, and alien mash. We add new packaging, snappy commercials, instill need and limit access, availability and quantity. We offer the same oil, tell one group it's diluted for mild application, another group it's so concentrated the smell alone will grease you.

The oil is a distraction, used to slip something past your mind so that the real operation can happen. The main drive is always selling, pushing, dispensing, proselytizing and not the actual using. Have you noticed that to use a thing you have to get away from others. Don't know why we are so compelled to promote snake oil to others as soon as we see others, it's an automatic response. All snake oil users have to isolate themselves to have enough wherewithal to apprehend the delicate nuances of the oil and appreciate its subtle effects. If you get to actually use the snake oil it is reasonable to assume you have been duped and will not offer an opinion on the subject due to the embarrassment of being stupid enough to buy into it. But, like the kid who said the emperor has no clothes, you might be the only one aware enough to say it. And who would tell a bully, "your greasy granny too"? Thus greasy emperors and clergy all over the globe assisted by the Slick Willy Corporation, slide past our notice leaving a trail of rancid lard called history.

Having been trained to let it slide, we can not put two and two together even when forensics can tell you the difference between snake oil and lard. You have to cook pork and milk a snake. A little snake can fill a big container. Some folks have been milking the same little snake for generations. Everywhere you go folks are oiling everything, they're marinaded in the stuff and basting everything with it. Snake oil is the reason for everything, the source of everything, damn near the cause of everything. We will cease to exist in our present condition if snake oil is eliminated. But don't worry, untreated lard is a universal snake oil replacement. While it needs refrigeration to keep it you don't have to saddle up to a live creature to milk it.

This documentary is a comment on the world situation and can be applied with a liberal slathering of snake oil. Any use of this text with the aforementioned lard as the lubricating vehicle will result in unfavorable and unstable reactions for which I am not responsible. You'll just have to let it slide.  

the tablet report, yeah right

I have 3 drawing apps that are similar except their interfaces are different. So I'm cruising along trying to learn and the up dates come. Oh no, everything is better! Artflow is one, Autodesk's Sketchbook Pro is two and Infinite Design is three. So hard to let one of them go. They each make logical sense in their way and I have no favorite, darn! I'm not a big freehand drawer but the worst thing is resting hand on the screen to leave unintended marks. I gotta test to see which app handles that the best, I think it's Sketchbook Pro.

I'm watching HGTV and darn it they just ran a Samsung tablet ad. More power, multitasking, I just got this thing, it's not even warm yet. Anticipation is not going to make me wait. (boo-hoo hoo). The new tablets will have more power with the same size. I'm jealous of the future, lol.

The one thing I can say is that after a time you acquire a feel for drawing on the tablet and there is a vaccine for the "gotta have the latest" infection. Now mind you we are sporting an Android device. Evolution is inching toward laptop power in a thin low power device. I have heard that some programmers think Android is crap for code work, but for users, not bad at all. Me, I use it, like it and it's better than Java, to me. Don't tell anybody, I'm tried to run Android in Virtualbox on my Linux laptop. It ran but no touch screen or mouse.

Next project, elocution lessons so speech to text works. See ya.

tablet in the wild

Well if you must know, owning a tablet is like owing a truck. You are now a useful citizen. Buy a truck and everybody you know wants your help to move something. So the secret to peace and a truck or peace and a tablet is how its decked out. A polished floor on the bed, chrome wheels and really clean interior. "Dude, l was going to call you but I figured you didn't want to mess up your ride." Yes, your truck is a ride. That's like driving your living room sofa.

Your tablet requires some finesse. Have internet but don't develop the habit of using media access services with the sneaky cost extraction methods. Don't use tablet as a phone. If people know you can do all things on your tablet then it might as well be a junky truck. Yeah, they can use their smart phone.............a smart phone is a car, a tablet is a truck. The idea is this tablet is not a mobile access point for others. Families however will have to implement a sharing plan. Oh, what the heck, hook it up to the max and pass it around. Tablet it forward.

I have officially entered the tablet cult. Knowing passerbys always ask "Is that an iPad or Kindle?" "Why no, it's a ZX4j brainwave emulsifier and neutral net stabilizer." You see the smart phone is a "Tweet" machine compared to this.

I had a thought and question as I was going to bed. Instead of running into the dining-room, firing up the laptop (5 minutes), I grab the tablet (1 minute), jot and internet and shut down (10 minutes). The more time I spend with the tablet, the more handy it is. I think I am a teletubbie. I am also getting the hang of drawing, it's a feelie kind of thing. Spend time, doodle, let the tablet into your work flow, less is finally more.

tablet of the roving artist

Making progress here. I find my tablet useful when I get an idea and can jot it down in text and in picture and in drawing. I want to explain why computer science is a science. The concept is very simple for a user. Follow the exact instructions and get repeatable results. That's it!! Works the same way every time. It's a recipe, no guessing, measure, stir, put in pan and bake, eat it.

One thing I needed to do was transfer a drawing made on my laptop to my tablet and vice-versa. First the transfer, a cloud app called "Dropbox" is handy. I get 2 years of use free. I load the app on laptop and tablet and share the cloud storage, who knows where the server is, but it works great. I could also use a flash drive.

Then the file format. On the laptop Gimp can import, export, save as, etc. On the tablet there is Photoshop Touch and Autodesk Sketchbook and ArtFlow which can import, export in a number of formats. So far I've transfered pictures but not with layers intact. I can work around that but I will read the instructions (RTFM) to see if I can transfer pictures with layers intact.

I should know how to do this, you know how guys are. I put my flexible ego down, pick up the instructions and step by step do it as prescribed. It hurts like hell. I have flashbacks of my old supervisor who said to me "you don't know a darn thing about this job, I am here to train you." The job wasn't that hard or complicated, but instead of schooling him on not bruising my sensibilities, I let him train me (his work-flow), hurt like hell. I got good enough (of course) to invent my own ways of doing things (my work-flow). In the Linux community there is a phrase RTFM which means "read the &#@&* manual". Linux folks are used to reading stuff then doing stuff (after first trying blindly and screwing up everything), so RTFM is a word to the wise. It is also perceived as a forum curse word.

Hey there's a Google app called Voice Search, I just tried. It links to your microphone and to your Google browser. You speak what you want and Voice Search finds it. It works but don't slurrr-yrrr-werds or you'll get strange results.

Well let me go, lots of playing around to do. And I have some projects in mind for you digital artist in the Lorain Ohio area. I want to start an interest group of digital enhanced artists, mostly local. Then maybe an African consciousness book reading and discussion group also local. I'm pretty open but Lorain is lacking in black cultural exercise. This is weird for an area known as Station 100 of the Underground Railroad. (We haven't fully escaped yet and fading away.)

the crystal tablet predicts

Well it's unofficial, desktops are ancient technology, laptops are old school, and tablets are very hot. Not knocking smart phones, the 10 inch tablet is a tad bit smaller than a standard sheet of paper.

The 10 inch screen is just big enough, the virtual keyboard is fine but with a dock and wireless keyboard, ooh! Looked under the hood (via spec sheet), dual or quad cores for multi-tasking, solid-state memory, flat long life batteries, touch and stylus technology.

Beats the heck out of a slate and piece of chalk. I got ebooks I am actually reading, instructional video clips. I can jot notes like I do in my paper sketchbooks.

This thing is about 3/16" thick. This means they could add a lot of technology and it would be just a little thicker. Come on, its not as thick as a good book yet, can't imagine what else they could put in this thing. It does most of what most people do on a cellphone and computer, just not with big honking hardware.

I got a pic I've been working on, learning how to draw on the tablet. The app is called ArtFlow. It is free from the Google Play app store and only $4.99 to unlock extra features. Lookie!

This is a quonset hut studio with a two cargo container living quarters on the side.

You know you can read all the tutorials you want but the real training starts when you start adjusting and tweaking things while you work through your own ideas. Usually I don't plan to make a pretty picture, just capture the idea, after all it is a sketch and I'm not thinking about a career in architectural rendering. Ha ha I'm free of that kind of striving. Now my artistic stuff I usually use a vector app and there I do aim for a bit of polish.

So here I started with a light pen line adding heavier strokes then using the air brush for washes. Some folks make good use of layers, I have to practice that. You can block out shapes on one layer and more definite forms on the next using the first layer as a guide. When you erase stuff often you worry you can't make the new stuff you draw match the stuff already there. This is just a mind trick, you drew the first part, you are drawing the new part, the SAME PERSON. Just like on paper you blend it together and move on. It takes a little time to wrap your head around drawing on a tablet. I think Deviant Art still has a tablet boot camp tutorial on their site to get you use to digital drawing.

I used CAD tools in my working life, a kind of vector drawing. Very different from this freehand drawing. Exploring and learning is very interesting.

wearing technology, not

I stopped wearing a wrist watch because they rubbed me the wrong way. My cellphone is a phone, duh! My new tablet does everything the frizzbe does in the movie "Tron", except come back if you throw it or if it's stolen. Who's to say the tablet will be shrunk to a chip and grafted to your scalp? No need for checking in pay pass technology been here for years. If for chance you miss your daily romp pass predetermined checkpoints (hot spots), a hoverdrone will be tracking you trek. Is that seagull really a real bird?

Having a fully activated tablet is like owning a truck, you are now a useful person. No you can't call or txt me on my tablet, this is one of a few private spaces I have left. I would never get any art work done if I have to field calls all the time. So, for creative sanity my tablet is not well connected. The old school has served me well.

There are full body technofibers in the works. You can dress to be an antenna, a hotspot or a blackhole but I'd pay extra to be invisible. These fabrics do come with sweat or moisture warnings, you too could be a lightning rod.

What is the biggest blast in owning a tablet? Why the multiplicity of affordable attachments. Walk in any store, even gas stations, there are covers and plug ins galore. I drove a new rental car, ooh man the technology, but two brackets, some velcro and I have exceeded car tech and I can take it with me. No, it's not a purse, it's my tPC. Hey, I was in Sears and the sales people all had shoulder bags sporting iPads. I needed a ziggy-wiggy, they checked the stock room locally and state wide, on the spot.

Seems the glut of personal computing doesn't require a lot of power and internet connection bares the brunt. Still for heavy stuff like graphics and g, ga, gga, games, a desktop or laptop is cool.

digital appendages

911, what is your emergency? I need a doctor to remove a smart device from the hand of my husband. Calm down and give him a few days, the newness will wear off. No miss, you don't understand, the device has a strong pulse and my husband has fainted...... The medics rush in fast, whip out the paddles and apply them to the device. "Clear!" ZAPP!! The smoking device falls from the man's hand. Good thing we came, the device had a virus and your husband didn't have a backup. Oh, I forgot all about the clone in the closet! Lady it's always good to protect yourself and what about your kids? They're fine, they came into the world with wi-fi but my husband and I only had hi-fi. Tell your husband to stick with wired networks and cable till the ear buzzing stops. He can use the TV remote but not the garage door opener. If he has recurring symptoms he'll have to endure hunt-n-peck therapy on a manual typewriter to be reintegrated into the tech community. Mechanical levers, then tactile pushbuttons, then touch screens. Start him with gloves, then cut the finger tips off the gloves one by one. His capacitive discharge levels were unbalanced (that's a ph thing), watch the salt intake, stay away from tap and cheap bottle water. Hook a ground wire from his pants to the ground when he goes out but never bear footed, (bears can smell bear feet from miles away).

So, I just spent two intensive days at the Lorain Arts Council's 2ns Annual Black River Art Walk. It wasn't as packed as the first, but it was as fun. I used the camera on my Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet a lot, almost 100 pictures a day. I also discovered the video making tools and recorded several bands and two dance troops. It was weird holding the tablet, a big thick square of plastic with a little camera square on the back. Takes two hands and looks kookier than holding a cell phone cam. Gives assuming the position a whole new meaning. The tablet has a 5 mega-pixel camera and takes a 2592 x 1920 pixel picture. Good clear pictures just hold it steady but not zombie stiff. Snap it! 

Hey hey!! I just had to come back and add I just discovered that the same hand gestures that allow you to zoom in and out of a picture or web page also works the zoom in/out of the camera. The "Art Boss" asked me "You got zoom on that thing?", I looked in the manual and so it is. Two fingers on the screen and spread'em or pinch'em. It works, I'm too excited, let me stop.

back away from the tablet

Let's see, the benefits of a tablet over a laptop. I love the power my laptop has to do graphics via the fully appointed software. The one sore spot I have is the lack of battery life. The older laptop might get an hours worth of untethered work/play, less if graphic intensive. Then, I must use a mouse or the Wacom tablet. I always need the power brick to do real work. Yes, I could buy a new laptop but I chose a tablet instead. I saw them, frowned, but picking the tablet up changed my mind.

OK, my tablet has less power and less powerful software but, does well with what it has. Battery life is 7 or 8 hours and I can use fingers and or the stylus. It is small, fits lap or hand-held use. I can carry it all over the place and has a handy camera, keyboard. So, no matter, I'm loving this availability. I have a tiny mp3 player, well the tablet can do that also and better. No worries about software, there are tons of free apps, many of which have advanced functions locked. You can do a lot as is or pay a little cash to unlock the Full Monty. I'm talking $1 to $10. Not bad at all. This tablet fits snuggly between a laptop and a smart-phone, best of both.

To all you tablet jockeys who sport iPads, don't thump your chest, I have a slight aversion to Apple and Microsoft products. Linux guys do look at the world differently. Things that make you go hummmmmmmm! Mind you my iPad friends are mostly content, have considered the tablet I have and made their choices too.

My wife is a little concerned though, she asked my why I was taking my tablet to my dentist appointment. I plugged it into my car's stereo and listened to a lecture on Black history, way better than radio I can't content control. Let me repeat, the tablet is a very good education device. Yeah, entertainment also, I guess I do jam once in a while. And there are gah, gaa, gama, ggames, games (I don't play games).

I ran into my first limitation the other day, I was running an app called ScribMaster, drew a some lines, then a circle, went to use the paint bucket to fill the circle. It told me I didn't have enough memory to complete this operation. What was that! I'll have to investigate further. Also the word processor has hidden actions to get stuff done, you'll have to read the guide to get the drift. But my realization is that the tablet is not the laptop so learn to respect the tablet for what it has and can do.

For me, smart-phone is too small, laptops are good but not really handy. The tablet is the one for me. Now, tablets come in different strengths and capabilities from eReaders to enhanced graphics tablets. Choose well. And you know those tough looking guys with the chunky chain connected to their wallet? Do that, connect the chunky chain to your tablet, if you frequent crowed places. "This tablet will self destruct in 5 seconds" and a smoke pellet will help too. The lock out from the first Jurassic Park movie is the best one yet (ah-ah-ahh!), but I'd have to add the hissing and spitting lizard with pepper spray. You see why I don't do games.

Remote report, tablet in hand

Ok, this is the first post from my spanking brand new digital tablet. Did I jump ship? No no no!

It runs Android, which is open source and has lots of free software. The paid software is not expensive and there are plenty that pushes to the limits of what this tablet can do, which is a lot.

This tablet has three things I want, long battery life and a Wacom tablet and graphic apps for all kinds of drawing. Are the apps the same quality as desktop stuff? Some yes, some not. But then I can't carry my laptop plus support equipment very easily. I also get a reader, video player and sketch pad. Notice, l didn't mention games, they use up too much time.

My personal opinion, I compromised yet I didn't lose anything. I can see myself sitting by the river or here in the gallery doodlling without distraction. So excuse me while I figure this thing out. I'll send pictures, cheers!