Tag Archive: “art”
Drawn Wrong Handed
I’ve started a Flickr group called Drawn Wrong Handed. Here are some of my initial contributions:
I’ve spent this evening searching Flickr for people to invite, and I’ve already got a new member. Ever done any wrong handed mark making? Upload the evidence!
Posted on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008.
Candid Sketches
Drawing people in public is a fun challenge because you’ve only got a few seconds to nail their form before they walk past or shift position. I think the figures that result are more convincing than many I’ve drawn from photographs because they’re based on natural poses rather than those affected for the camera or the studio.
It’s refreshing to leave faces blank for a change.
I colored this picture on the computer. Give it a click to look at a few other recent sketches.
Posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008.
ArtRage System Color Picker
Here is a script that helps you use a conventional color picker with ArtRage. Install it in ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/ArtRage 2. When you run the script, the system color picker will appear. Once you choose a color, it is automatically entered in ArtRage’s color picker.
Download System Color Picker for ArtRage 2 3.6 KB
This script requires access as an assistive device.
Posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008.
The Trammel Method
A trammel is an impediment to freedom or motion. By placing some geometric restrictions on the motion of a pen or pencil, specific types of figures can be drawn. The trammel method is one of many ways to apply this principle to the construction of ellipses (circles and ovals). It’s particularly handy if you need to draw a large curve without a compass.
Draw a pair of perpendicular lines where you’d like to place an ellipse. I’ve labeled them as major (long) and minor (short) axes.
On a piece of scrap paper, mark the length of a minor radius. (Place the corner of the scrap paper at one end of the minor axis and mark where the axes cross.)
Then mark the length of half the major axis from the same corner.
Now slide the minor mark along the major axis and the major mark along the minor axis. (The marks on the scrap paper ride the opposite rails.) Make a dot at the corner of the scrap paper at any position that satisfies these conditions.
Since the marks on the scrap paper can’t leave their rails, you’ll draw a dot right at the tip of an axis whenever the corresponding mark passes through the intersection of axes.
Mark dots in each quadrant of the ellipse.
See where this is leading? The major mark is still sliding along the minor axis and the minor mark is still sliding along the major axis.
Eventually, you’ll have a series of dots describing the perimeter of the ellipse you planned. The more dots you plot, the smoother the outline.
All that’s left to do is connect the dots.
A circle is a special sort of ellipse in which the major and minor axes are simply the same length. In this example, I’ve just drawn one diameter since only one mark is really needed. (Both marks would fall at the same point, technically, anchoring the card to the center of the circle.)
This technique is often attributed to Archimedes, mover of worlds. (With a long enough lever, and a place to stand…)
Posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008.
Ewnay Awingsdray
Here are a few recently scanned drawings:
Also, don’t miss my contributions to the inexplicable Bears in Ill-fitting Hats group:
Posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007.
Get In on the Ground Floor
I’ve posted a few drawings recently. Here are the new ones, and here are a few of my favorites:
Originals available for $1000 each. An additional $100 materials fee applies to limited edition grocery bag sketches. Free shipping if you order by December 1. Cash and PayPal accepted; sorry, no personal checks.
Posted on Monday, October 29th, 2007.
Vector Image Stylization
I’ve stylized a few drawings with a vectorization program called autotrace. Here is a brief summary of the process:
The vectorization command looks like this:
autotrace -corner-threshold 20 -filter-iterations 15 threshold.pbm > vectorized.eps
Posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007.
Posterizer
Last month I introduced Posterizer, a simple little program that reduces images to a handful of key colors you select. Rather than postpone it indefinitely until I’m completely satisfied with it, I’ve decided to release what I’ve got so far.
Download Posterizer Test Release (Mac OS X Universal Binary, 2.9MB)
The documentation on packaging a Tcl/Tk script as this kind of stand-alone application bundle is sparse, so the remaining rough edges stem from this experimental integration.
Posted on Sunday, June 3rd, 2007.
Posterizer Sneak Preview
Posterizer is a little program that helps you make reduced-color versions of your images. You select a palette of colors and the program renders the picture using just those colors. This is nothing that can’t be done already with a capable image editor, but Posterizer makes it more straightforward.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle. Posterizer is based on a simplified version of an image classification demo I wrote in college, repackaged for the desktop instead of the web.
Coming soon for Mac OS X. It’s written in Tcl/Tk and standard C, so Linux and Windows versions are not inconceivable (but they won’t taste nearly as good).
Posted on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007.