an ATC show coming up... might be fun to enter!

Just in case any of my fellow Art & Tech class mates are still trolling around these old blogs... The Ankeny Art Center in Iowa is asking for submissions of Artist Trading Cards. Might be fun to enter a few- they keep them, so don't expect them back if you decide to enter. I found this at theartlist.com, which looks like a great resource for artist opportunities!

By the way... Happy Earth Day! Although, I really do believe that every day is Earth Day (I'm a dork, I know!)

art trading cards

I am really struggling and things aren't turning out as I want them to-... I should have started over, but now I don't have time! I do like this image, but it isn't quite there. It is serving double duty: art trading card and illustration friday entry for the topic "garden" (I only used the urn in that post; think I'll enter another with this one!)

painter movie

If this loads properly... this is a really cool conversion from imovie, where we recorded ourselves with the built in camera (! how cool:) then import the movie into Painter where it automatically converts the movie into frames. It is a little bit hard to control, I'm sure there is a way to beat it into submission. Much easier then Flash, but of course not as powerful (it is being taught as a "little known" feature in Painter). You can also record yourself (the brush strokes, shapes, etc, not yourself... although I guess you could record yourself in imovie, but how boring would that be?) as you draw or paint a picture. John suggested sending the movie with it ending up in a card to send to someone.

I know Flash (not good at action scripting, though) but I don't really think like an animator, and when I do I loose interest really fast. Thus the effects in my Painter movie. I do really like the grain which I acheived with Express Texture. I didn't figure out how to grab a new layer and rotate it, and not make a new layer on every frame (that was frustrating and why my blue hand just sits there).

It wouldn't load... I will try from home:) julie

painter rocks!

When I last took Painter, I was too wrapped up in all my other projects to really get much out of it... now I am really getting to concentrate on recreating traditional media with digital media. I have to admit I didn't really give much value to it when I was in school, but now I see Painter techniques everywhere; in illustration, in animation, in advertisements... so I guess there really is a value to it (I'm buying it, that's all there is to it!)

I also learned how to use a tablet today. I owned one for years, but it was before all my school's labs had them, so I just taught myself how to do everything with the mouse. Today I am had to teach my left hand to do all the things that my right hand has been doing all these years (and my left arm muscles actually hurt! What a work out:) I sold my tablet and used the money for new suitcases to move back to Juneau with... so another piece of equipment I need to replace. I need to start a running list and check them off as I get them.

I really like the way this picture turned out... (the pencil sketch is the original). I still want to go in and tighten it up, but I really feel like I got a good feel for how to make the brushes and blenders work for me.

belated thank you...!

I just wanted to finally write an official thank you to Annie Patterson (imagine and create illustration blog) for sending me her extra 3x3 Magazine, issue 8, cover pictured below. Annie is an illustrator living on the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. I really love her whimsical illustrations and the beautiful Arctic pictures... the light there is so different then anywhere I have ever seen.

So, THANK YOU, Annie!

I have, of course already thanked her personally... but I wanted to take pictures of the actual magazine for my blog. My camera just isn't good enough, so the picture below is from the 3x3 site... it is a really beautiful publication and they have great galleries featuring the illustrators from their issues. Their is some great eye-candy there. I love to see what these working artists are doing.

I was really impressed with the cover illustrator, Yuko Shimizo. She has some really brilliant, modern, youthful (emo comes to mind) illustrations that have a Japanese wood block feel. Love her work! She is not the same Yuko Shimizo who created Hello Kitty, it says so on her site!

cheesy pop-art

I know, everyone has done this... but not me:) Now I have and I have to say it is fun. I heart pop-art!

blue heron on orange background

Just playing again today... I like how you can make drawings look like silkscreens! I don't know why I don't/haven't played with my drawings in PhotoShop more... I guess I have always kept the two aspects separate... why, I don't know:) I scan my art, but only to post; I don't usually change it much.

I think too, design under fire (which describes my schooling and my career) you do the easiest and/or quickest thing to meet deadlines. I guess I also got "stuck" on doing my digital illustrations and they come out so clean already, that trying to clean up sketches seemed like too much work. I think, though that sometime a sketchy look is preferable, I just haven't done any projects that it would work for... these are all reasons why I am taking this class; to find that niche for my fine art in the digital world. I don't know if that means doing layout and comps on the computer and then interpreting them into traditional media, or if I would rather do things the other way around. Why can't I do both? Might as well! Stay tuned... julie

Playing in PhotoShop

I will be the first to admit that I am more comfortable in Illustrator then PhotoShop, but that is changing! I mean, knowing when to use which one is half the battle... I've known that for a while. But when you are more comfortable in something you are able to dig and figure out obscure things, which is where I am with Illustrator. Now the tables are tipping and I am learning all kinds of great PhotoShop tricks in this class. It is also really nice to be able to play and not worry about getting something done/figured out for a deadline.

This is my PhotoShop version of last weeks collage... not happy with the choppiness of the lines, but that is where you would have to choose to do certain elements in another program. But it is great for concepting... I can now take this to another level or in a different direction :) julie

Collage 2.2.8

I had to leave class early today... but I didn't want to miss the collage exercise! I wanted to play with a theme I have been kicking around. I love origami paper and have a couple of pieces that I am working on the incorporate the simple origami shape of birds. Until now the bird shapes were left white, because of all the other color going on. In this I used actual origami paper. I thought, it would be good to play with another media and try to get the bird shapes down, since I am thinking about making them 3-d on the canvas. I know it's cheesy, but it was good to work through it this way! (Hope I didn't miss the whole point of the collage assignment:) julie

Julie's Intro

This is my official written introduction for my class "The Digital Studio: Art and technology." We will be keeping a blog record of the projects that we are working on for this class. Here are my answers to the questions on the board:

Name: Julie Bates

Experience with computers: I have a lot of experience with computers from my previous jobs (data entry) as well as from art school and my current job for which I have web-master duties in addition to print. I graduated from the Art Institute of Colorado with my Bachelor's in Graphic Design; so we had classes in Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop, Premiere, Quark Express, Painter (just touched on it), Dreamweaver and Flash (also just touched on them). In my job I use Adobe Illustrator, PhotoShop, InDesign, Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Flash, etc... I have Macs at home and PC at work. My programs are out-dated, but still work fine (PhotoShop 7 and Illustrator 8) and at work we have CS2, soon to get CS3 (unless they cut that from our budget!)

Experience in digital arts: I taught myself to do digital illustrations in school; they didn't really cover that when I went and to have workable images (photos on a students budget, even on istock, is steep) I taught myself to make illustrations from the images. I used the same technique that I used for making clipping paths at first and have tried numerous other ways to simplify the process. I try to use my own images when I come up with an illustration... but I don't think I have been really diligent about keeping track of where I get other misc. images.

Why this class? I wanted to take both classes, but wasn't sure what kind of over-lap there would be. I also couldn't afford both, monetarily or time-wise. I am familiar with your work and was influenced by it when I became interested in art (I've lived here for 22 years patched together). I am really interested in learning from a "working" artist and one that has good business sense... etc. Really interested in seeing your process; being consistent with my process is one thing that I struggle with as an artist.

Describe your goals for this class: I have a list of goals that I want to accomplish in the next year: Website, promotional postcards, business cards, and an etsy.com site. I am hoping to at least have structured time in which I can work on fine-art ideas that I have. I am hoping to have a body of work (or the material to build a body of work) that I can use for my professional development. *After thinking about this all week I would sum it up as... I want to learn how to make a living by doing art and I want this block of time to work on it.*

Projects you want to work on: I have started a couple pieces and I would like to develop further and then I would like to come up with more ideas for future pieces. I could see being able to finish 4 pieces + the 2 I have started.

Mac or PC: Both ("homework" probably will be done with Mac at home).

Do you identify as an artist, and on what level? Talking about perceptions and dealing with baggage... My great-aunt always told me that artists can't make money and are "starving artists" for a reason, so I always thought I needed to make my living at something else. I always kept art on the side. I went from going to school for Psychology, to going for a double major in Art & Psychology, to going to school for graphic design. Now that I am working as a graphic designer I realize that I need the free-form of just creating for creation's sake. I thought my creative needs would be met by working creatively everyday, but I still have a million ideas swirling around and have this huge need to get them out of my head.

What would make this class go well for you? I would really love to have time to do hands-on... Maybe getting to use one of the art studios. I have been concepting in my sketchbook, tightening them up and doing the layout in Illustrator, and then taking the finished digital and putting it on canvas or paper.

Can you work on your own laptop: I don't have a laptop.