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JimTheSarcastic posted:Would this be the thread for soliciting software recommendations? For my job, I occasionally need to draw out map-like things, like this. Usually very basic stuff: nothing that I would need intensive CAD for. Inkscape is an open source vector illustration program. However, despite how much I hate paying for things /love the open source ideal, it is not even close to Illustrator in terms of ease of use and robustness. But if you aren't doing anything that complicated it should work fine.
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Jun 21, 2010 17:00
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bisonbison posted:My friend's niece drew a line-drawing portrait of him on her iPad, producing a 748x748 .jpg that I'd like to print out and frame for him. 748x748 is pretty small. Commonly accepted print-size for images is something like 300 dpi, so the image is going to end up about 2.5x2.5. However, it can probably be scaled up to a small degree, especially since it's more of a gift for a doting father rather than a proof for a picky client. Going over 5x5 might be problematic, you'll probably start seeing individual pixels. As far as stock goes, any acid-free archival paper will work. I would suggest going to Kinko's or another print shop and asking about what they offer. You'll be able to get a feel for the paper and so forth. One word of advice: glossy paper is going to show color more intensely than a matte paper. Personally I prefer matte for art, but I always have to take into account that it will dull the colors slightly. It shouldn't cost too much (you can probably get several copies for ~$20), so maybe have some prints made on a couple different papers, or at a couple different sizes so you can personally decide if the print quality is high enough. Pricing is going to be determined by the size of the image, paper stock, and type of printing. I would opt for inkjet over color laser, it's easier to match colors truly on inkjet.
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Jun 23, 2010 19:44
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First email the dude and ask that it be taken down IMMEDIATELY and make a reference to your lawyer. However to litigate properly you need to have proof of copyright: something proving which work came first. File copyright at the Library of Congress as soon as possible. It's $35 to file online, and you can file multiple pieces as "collected works of so and so". If the work has been published anywhere, that's proof enough to litigate without copyright, but having a copyright on file in your name is pretty much a homerun.
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Jul 1, 2010 22:25
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paradigmblue posted:
It's hard to say how quickly any given artist works without knowing them, but if he's on your staff you should be able to talk to him and get a rough estimate. I hate to say it but if he's not able to keep his own deadlines then it sounds like he sucks: part of being a professional is talent, but reliability is also a huge part. However, if he has a huge backlog (say, more than 2 projects from scratch per week, or 4 or 5 from stock images), he might just be overloaded. As a client of a graphic designer or artist, you need to be upfront about the timeline you want for the work you're commissioning, and as the artist, it's his job to tell you if that's possible or not so you can approach someone else if need be. You might also try working with him to pare down projects to their essential elements: I don't know if you work with him directly, but some of his perfectionism might be his own nature, or it might be some art director who is sending him back to the drawing board with minute changes.
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Jul 20, 2010 04:05
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paradigmblue posted:
I don't really see why he should need a lot of very similar banners in his portfolio. Honestly, it kind of sounds like this guy just sucks. You might review the terms of his contract to figure out if there's anything in there about timeframes. A good staff artist should be able to work under deadline and at the very least give a reliable idea of how long a given project would take. I've had to turn down offers because I've known that under the deadline given my work would be subpar, but these are jobs where I'm expected to produce three or four original pieces of artwork in a weekend. Wanting a simple sign or banner in a week or so is not ridiculous, and if he's re-using elements of previous signs, should merely take him a day or two at tops. [edit] Also, if he's working for you (as in, salaried position with equipment and resources paid for), that's considered work-for-hire and technically, you own all the work. You should be able to reprint from the original work files, since you own them. If he's freelance/contracted out, copyright usually stays with the artist, but he should be able to sell/license you the exact same banner again with no changes. It sounds like he isn't meeting your needs and is instead using you to pad his portfolio. As a designer, meeting the client's needs is your first and foremost responsibility. Obviously some client requests are impractical (I need the Sistine Chapel, by Monday!) but it's also his job to communicate to you his reservations and come to a workable compromise for both of you. You should never be surprised by the work of a designer: they should make absolutely clear that they know what you want, and you should feel free to bring back work that is clearly not what you were asking for. vonnegutt fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Jul 20, 2010 |
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Jul 20, 2010 04:32
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somnambulist posted:Does anyone know how to properly distort a label so it matches up to a rounded surface in photoshop? Check your Transform tool options. You should be able to get a 3x3 grid over it and be able to manipulate the individual grid points to warp the image any way you like. You have to sort of eyeball it, but that's the best way to get a good result.
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Jul 31, 2010 19:32
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Scan or download a piece of construction paper at high rez, then use it on the shapes on either a multiply layer or use a hue/saturation adjustment layer to change the color of the paper to whatever you want.
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Aug 5, 2010 12:30
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MiketheGreat posted:As usual, apologies if this has already been asked. This is such a can of worms that I don't even want to start offering advice, other than the following: -Find a local printshop. Kinko's is fine in a pinch but they don't have very many options and they do have a lot of color shift issues. A local shop should be able to really walk you through the whole process. Giclee (pron. zhe-CLAY) is considered the highest quality art print from digital work, but there are a lot of disagreements on what the standards should be for a giclee print. -Physically touch the papers. Which ones do you like? Pick two or three and have some small prints done. Compare color, crispness and cost. Does the color match your original image? Are the blacks deep enough? Are the lines crisp or do they bleed? Remember: glossy shows color better than matte, but I think some glossys look cheap. -Make sure it's archival. How? Ask the dudes: "Is this archival? For how long?" They might have special instructions regarding coatings to prevent fade, or not. Again, this really all is up to your own preferences. Sure, it might be archival to 150+ years, but if it costs $50/print that's not really worth it to me. But it might be to you. -Moneywise, you can probably find anything from ridiculously cheap to ridiculously expensive. And usually, there's a correlation between price and quality. However, as the price approaches ridiculous, the difference in quality becomes negligible. You're going to have to decide for yourself what level of quality is acceptable.
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Aug 17, 2010 20:29
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For the easy of carrying, a limited palette would be perfect. You need a few different values (darks to lights), a few cool colors (blue, violet undertones) and a few warms (yellow, red undertones). So: -Black -Warm grey, ~ 50% -Cool grey, ~ 50% -Warm grey, ~<20% -Cool grey, ~<20% (Black is 100%, the white of the paper is 0%, so if they aren't labelled that way just eyeball it. You want a medium and a light grey in each warmth). As for technique, start with pencil if you want, but you'll get less stiff results if you train yourself to just jump straight in with markers. A good way to ease into it is just to use the pencil to dot out proportions, literally put only a dot at the chin, top of the head, corner of each eye, etc. Drawing an entire pencil drawing and then tracing it with markers takes forever and looks stiff.  So here are dots...  And here is the drawing (I used Sketchbook Pro, but you get the idea)
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Sep 1, 2010 01:40
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MiketheGreat posted:Jesus, I never even considered this. For someone who frequently loses track of the big picture and meticulously draws little details during the initial sketch, this is going to help me a lot. get a piece of wood that is 1/4 inch thick, long as your drafting table, and just a bit wider than your table. Glue it so you have a "lip". Or stick rubber thingys on the back of your sketchbook. A rubber cutting mat on the table can also work.
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Sep 1, 2010 01:53
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^What he said. Also, it's best not to invest all your hopes into one piece or song or painting. If there's one thing my fancy schmancy art school education taught me, it's that it's easier to move on than it is to make something perfect. I honestly don't know what lamination is going to do to foil: you know how you figure that out? You do it, and then you say "Oh, that's not working for this collage, but now I have another technique in my pocket for if I ever want something to look that way". Create, then edit. Create as much as you can without thinking about how it's going to look to others. Just let it follow your inspiration or its own internal logic. Once you have enough of a backlog of work that you don't feel so personally attached to each and every piece, then you can show somebody. But asking for criticism right at the start is a great way to sabotage yourself and make it impossible to work.
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Oct 11, 2010 13:24
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GonzoRonin posted:How is the backwards compatibility of Illustrator CS5 to CS3? I know opening InDesign CS5 documents in CS3 is impossible without CS4, and I'm really hoping this isn't the case with Illustrator. I don't want to buy a new round of software! I don't know about the backwards compatibility of native Illustrator CS5 files to CS3, but I do know that under the Save As menu you have the option of saving to multiple legacy (older) versions. If you have to work across a bunch of platforms, getting in the habit of saving as an older version is a pretty good habit to have. So basically your workflow would go like this: Create document in CS5 > save as CS3 or earlier > Open in CS3 and do whatever > Save >back to CS5, etc etc
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Oct 18, 2010 23:45
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That's part of why I do almost everything with Ubuntu and open-source software, because I don't like Adobe all that much to begin with, and it's not worth the price to me right now.
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Ars Manga posted:I have a stupid little question: is stenciling (out of acetate sheets), for a novice, accurate enough to cut good-looking text (at most 1'' height)? Will curves be preserved well? The easiest way I know to make good stencils of text is by typing up what you want to say, printing it out, and using that as your cutting guide. Duralar is great for stencils, it is similar to acetate but not terribly expensive. (Still kind of pricy I guess? Depends on how big you want it). Find an art supply store and buy it in books rather than sheets if you're doing a ton of stencils. Amazon has rolls (40"x12') for $20. For good accuracy with your stencils, I recommend spray adhesive. Get the light-hold kind and use it sparingly, it'll help hold the wiggly little edges down.
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Nov 2, 2010 21:20
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Ars Manga posted:Thanks! Do you know what a good thickness is? No, sorry to be unclear: you adhere the Duralar to whatever you're stenciling on. I used it when I bleach-stenciled t-shirts and by using adhesive to stick the Duralar to the tshirt I was able to keep the serifs on the letters from getting blurry. Any thickness of Duralar is fine, you'll go through less Xactos if it's thinner but I bought the cheapest and it worked fine. It's clear so you should be able to either cut right over your paper guide and/or use a pencil to trace it, if you need to, no adhesive necessary. Also you only spray the slightest amount of adhesive, you just don't want the air from the spray paint to blow up the edges of your stencil when you paint. I used the "light hold" and was able to pull the stencil right off.
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Nov 5, 2010 00:13
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Locus posted:Anyone have ergonomic tips for drawing, specifically on an Intuos/Cintiq? I'm trying to avoid getting into RSI problems, and am trying to figure out any tricks to reduce strain. So far I've wrapped my stylus with some foam to make it a bit thicker, and am trying not to press down so hard. Play with your desk arrangement, I found that moving my Wacom to the center and having my keyboard on the left and mouse on my right (right handed person, so take this with a grain of salt, lefties) let me have the most natural position for drawing, since that's what I do most of the day. I also have it at about a 45 degree angle (flat on the desk) so that my arm motion is most natural, I know some other people prop it up so that there's a 10-20 degree angle vertically.
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Nov 5, 2010 00:45
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That is really weird, because I had some trading cards printed at Kinko's and they were a nonstandard size: not 63x88mm, but nothing that was carried in stock. I just asked to have a bunch printed and then laser cut. It cost more for the cuts but they all turned out perfect, and were the size I needed. How I did it: I built the card layout in Adobe Illustrator and then brought it into Photoshop for the images. The document was exactly the size I needed, so I guess their printers/cutters could deal with it because of that? I got 50 cards made for like, $25 on regular 8.5x11" cardstock, and they trimmed them down for me. Maybe printing on sheets and then finding a laser cutter who will cut them for you will work better?
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Nov 7, 2010 15:35
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Haggins posted:What's a good drawing app for the mac? I need something that's simple to get into so I can do some practice doodling. I'm not looking for MS paint simple, I just don't want something that doesn't requires me to read a a book to use. Sketchbook Pro http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=6848332
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Nov 9, 2010 13:17
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CloseFriend posted:So what do you guys do for warm-up exercises when you start drawing? I don't. (I don't know any professional illustrators who do). However I do tend to just doodle a lot. I keep a piece of paper next to my Wacom at work and just draw whatever while I'm waiting on things to save/render/whatever.
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Nov 16, 2010 14:57
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Beat. posted:serious question: has anyone who posts in this thread ever met anyone who learned how to draw by reading a book? I cannot think of anyone I know who has, outside of copying plates as homework from a teacher I read a lot of books as a beginner and after. There's no substitute for having a teacher correct your mistakes, but you can get a lot out of instructional books if you really want to. And I don't mean those "How to Draw MANGA!" or "How to Draw Sweet-rear end Cars" but something like Anatomy for the Artist, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, or even Drawing for Children (which is my favorite because it really breaks down the drawing process and points out where a lot of people have trouble, and talks about dealing with frustration, fixing mistakes, etc). Books are also really helpful if you're trying to learn a new technique, like oil painting. The basics are the same (careful observation and correction), but there are certain chemical problems that are easier to deal with if you have a sort of basic text to refer to ("Why is my paint sliding off the canvas?"). Walter Foster "books" are great for this.
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Nov 18, 2010 13:35
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The Bananana posted:"The introduction of Bruno, a key change and deviation from the film’s source material, Luigi Bartolini’s novel by the same name, served not only to provide a more pleasurable, and navigable story, but to facilitate the transmission and further convey the film’s deeper meaning, speaking in great volumes of both the contemporary time and society in which the film was shot, and providing a contrasting element with which to view and compare Antonio." I think your meaning is clear but I admit it took me a second to parse out all the clauses and really dig out the meat of this sentence. I think it's somewhat bloated, but just FYI I spent grad school in the hard sciences reducing my papers down to the simplest language just so I could fit all the scientific names in and still be marginally readable. Here's what I would say instead: The introduction of Bruno, a clear deviation from the film's source material (Luigi Bartolini's titular novel), serves not only to make the film more accessible, but to provide both a commentary on contemporary society and to provide a contrast to the more traditional Antonio. Reasoning: -You could replace "by the same name" with "titular", just to reduce unnecessary clauses -Also, in general if you have 2 things connected by a conjunction, check and see if you need both. "a key change and deviation" is somewhat redundant, "deviation" implies change. -"more pleasurable and navigable": Pleasurable is not a very concrete signifier, what do you really mean? Is it more accessible? If you have two adjectives, there is probably one will work. In a thesis statement, you want to avoid unnecessary conjunctions. -"facilitate the transmission and further convey": means the same thing, both make it easy to go from point A >> point B -"the film's deeper meaning": you don't need to say this, we are assuming that by writing about it, you will not be addressing the most shallow, obvious points -"in great volumes": i don't really see what this adds to your point -"contemporary time and society": it would be hard to separate these, I would just say "society" -"a contrasting element with which to view and compare": a contrast implies a comparison, or at least hints strongly. "view" is weak in comparison. Also, I think it would be stronger if you indicated what was the main point Bruno and Antonio could be compared on. It would flow better once you started addressing that.
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Nov 19, 2010 15:24
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Side Effects posted:What do you do when you catch a senior art student tracing from other peoples paintings? Some of my friends and myself have caught this girl tracing straight from the computer screen on multiple separate occasions and we don't know what to do. Should we alert the teachers or should we just let her wallow in her absolute crap artwork? It's a really touchy subject. First, you do recognize that tracing, gridding, and other forms of mechanical reproduction are all legitimate ways of speeding up process, I'm sure, but tracing other people's work still might technically be appropriation as opposed to stealing: think Andy Warhol's screenprints of other people's photographs. If she is tracing famous/semi-famous pieces/styles of work, your teacher probably already knows. We had a lot of students at my school basically just trace anime. It went ignored for a long time because the profs didn't really know how to deal with it (they were just incredulous: "Really? They're tracing manga again? Badly?") but eventually they put their foot down and started failing people. If it's a semi famous piece of work, you could just bring it up in critique: "Were you intentionally referencing Vermeer's Girl With A Pearl Earring?" If she says no, and it's obvious, you've just made her look like an idiot. If she says yes, and starts talking about the appropriation of high art for commercialization or something, bow out, she's obviously outclassed you. However, if she's just tracing people's DeviantArt pages, ugh, that is the worst. The teacher might have noticed the inconsistency in her style/ability between classes and the homework, but might not have put 2+2 together yet. You might approach the teacher and ask what her stance on stealing is. What you don't want to do is look like a tattletale, as it will reflect badly on you. Mention it to the teacher, but don't demand that the teacher do anything or bring it up over and over. This girl obviously doesn't have the ability or motivation to create her own work. Even if she graduates, she will go nowhere with her art: the art world is already packed with people who do create interesting, original work and still have trouble selling work.
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Dec 18, 2010 17:05
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