The "stupid little questions that don't deserve their own thread" thread.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The "stupid little questions that don't deserve their own thread" thread.

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dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Any relief printers out there? I've been messing around with linocuts and woodcuts with the standard speedball water-based inks and I'm wondering if oil-based (or better quality water-based, if they exist) provide any extra benefits.

redcheval posted:

Ah yikes Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

Unfortunately I think I AM in the budget for a consumer grade scanner... which is not really ideal, but really all I'd like to be able to do is take decent scans of black and white lineart and have that translate nicely into the computer for digital coloring and stuff like that. Unfortunate about the cost of professional-quality scanners, but ahh, I guess I have something new to save up for! Thank you

I have an epson all-in-one that's done me well. While it's annoying to have a smaller bed than what you want to scan, if the bezel is flat enough (and are scanning something flexible) you can scan in segments and let photoshop stick them all together.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2013 18:03

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 05:07

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Brown Moses posted:

This question is probably a bit unusual, and relates to CAD, so I don't know if this is exactly the right place, but anyway...

Some of you might know I run a very well known blog about the conflict in Syria, and for the past couple of weeks I've been writing about the munition linked to the alleged chemical attacks in Damascus on August 21st. I now have a bunch of activists in Damascus who have been taking photographs and measurements of the munition, which I've been posting on my blog, but since it's partly destroyed piecing it together and figuring out how it functions has been a bit tricky.

I've now had the idea to use CAD to recreate the munition as a 3D model, then piece it together. I can get as many measurements and reference images as needed, but does that sound like a reasonable thing to be done? I've collected various images of it here, to give you an idea about what I'm talking about.

I can't speak to CAD specifically -- just 3d programs in general -- but it's not a crazy idea. It looks like you've got enough good views of the finned vehicle for a good recreation (may just need more reference measurements, depending on how to-scale you want to be). The other piece (the first one with the soda bottle) may be trickier since they're so deformed, unless it's just the top part of the vehicle in the first few pictures. If you go through with it you might want to try to get some more technical views of it (front, side, back, etc) to get a sense of the contours; short of that, just get your hands on everything you can.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2013 14:18

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

You might be able to spray each page liberally with fixative to prevent the graphite from rubbing off. You'd definitely want to test it on something similar that you don't care about, though.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2013 00:55

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Adobe also has Photoshop CS2 (a old but perfectly good version) -- a full version, no less -- up on its web site for free download.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2013 04:12

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Base Emitter posted:

That's one possibility, I was worried about continued deterioration of the paper, though. If there's special acid free paper for "archival" use I would assume normal paper isn't normally good for that...

Yeah, there's archival paper, there's normal paper, and then there's newsprint. At the very least you'll need to keep from moving it, give it some UV protection, and maybe mount it on something (that IS archival). But if you really want to preserve it you'll probably want to find a pro to check it out.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2014 02:49

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

When using acrylics with a thin (but supposedly opaque) pigment, is there a trick to getting solid and smooth layer down? Or is it just layer upon layer of thin wash until it builds up, and you're ready to denounce humanity and become a hermit in Alaska?

# ¿ Mar 2, 2014 01:11

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Lincoln posted:

Are you painting minis/small models, or are we talking about something else? Generally, "thin" and "solid and smooth" don't go together when you're painting w/acrylic (in my experience), but if you tell us what paint you're using and what you're painting that will help.

If these are minis/models, there are some gel paints out there that may give you what you're looking for.

Canvas and Liquitex heavy body. Figured it out though: patience and better canvas. And I've yet to flee to Alaska.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2014 19:17

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

CloseFriend posted:

I'm thinking about buying a tablet in a few months so I can do some digital art outside of my house. Do you guys have any recommendations? Mainly, I'm looking for something on which I can use a pressure-sensitive pen/stylus and where I can just install the ArtRage app and go to town. I might also use it as a second computer, but my first priority is digital painting and whatnot. Also, money is a bit of a factor.

Wacom's probably the gold standard, and you can get a tiny one for around $100. But I've heard that the Monoprice ones are legit, and are crazy less expensive.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2014 23:16

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

CloseFriend posted:

Oh, sorry, I meant a tablet as in a tablet computer (like an iPad). I have a Wacom tablet and I love it, but I'd really love to draw directly on the screen.

Whoops, my bad. I should have context clued that. iPad has some pressure-sensitive pens for it (I've been looking at the Jot Touch 4), and I bet you can get used/refurbished ones at a good price. Gabe of Penny Arcade has been raving about his Surface, but I don't know about them (or Androids) at all.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2014 00:06

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

That two entirely different sites are using the same image might imply that it's being shopped out by some sort of agency.

# ¿ May 19, 2014 22:52

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Captain Mog posted:

I am asking this on behalf of my boyfriend. He's been working for a small graphic design/silk-screen shop for going on two years now and is looking to try something new since his boss is turning into a loving psycho. He also works occasional paid website design/graphic design jobs on the side, such as designing fliers, local bands' album covers, ect. He has a big portfolio of graphic design work but he has never received anything other than a high school diploma. He's also never had any other formal graphic design job aside from his current job. Will he be hurt by his lack of degree if he applies to "big time" graphic design agencies? He got his current job because he'd friends with his boss for years prior to being hired so he's never really had to present a portfolio before or anything like that.

Portfolio is key, but it might be good for him to get familiar with some formal concepts; I became a programmer after going through art school, and while people keep telling me CS degrees are overrated, I sure am getting lots of CS questions in interviews. There's a decent chance he's probably picked up on a lot of the sort of things an interviewer might ask, but may not know the formalized terms and such for them. Don't have to become an expert, but be able to know enough to talk and riff.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2014 20:48

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Detective Thompson posted:

Something I'm unsure about when writing is handling ranks. Like, say, in this sentence:

"I'm here," Captain Jones said.

'Captain' is capitalized with the last name. But what about when using the rank to refer to a specific person without mentioning the name? Which of these would be right?

"I'm here," the Captain said.

or

"I'm here," the captain said.

I've always done it the second way when I use a rank (or a title, for that matter) to refer to someone without their name, but I'm not sure if that's correct.

I'm pretty sure that since you're using captain to refer to a specific person, it's capitalized. If you were talking about the generic rank ("he was a captain"), then it'd be lower.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2014 02:42

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Megaspel posted:

What actually annoys you? Because I'm definitely not going to remove all my portfolio assets for you. All the behaviours and appearances are still a work in process with plenty of temporary crappiness.

The concern would be hiding or delaying the stuff people have come to actually see behind some webdev wizardry because "it looks cool" (assuming that webdev isn't what you're portfolio is for). Hard to tell if that's a worry yet with those two screenshots, but it's something to keep in mind.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2014 16:57

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Forget web printers, check out local printers/sign-makers. May not be cheaper, but they might be willing to work with you. Or at least point you to what paper you could buy to do it yourself.

# ¿ Oct 7, 2014 19:49

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Reset_Smith posted:

Any suggestions on a good, thick paint type?

Let me explain:
I've been having fun carving pumpkins this year, doing those shallow-surface kind of carvings

But now everyone's either sold out of pumpkins, or they only have lovely ones. So in trying to find a substitute carving medium (watermelons were too messy) I had an idea: What if you took a canvass and covered it with a thick layer of paint, one color, let that dry, then covered it again with another thick layer, slightly darker color, let it dry, and repeated that process over and over until you had like a half-inch thick slab of color layers - then carved a picture into it?

So... any suggestions on a paint type would set thick, dry relatively fast, and hopefully not be too expensive since I'd need to buy a shitload of different shades?

Or has anyone tried something like that and can report that it's a stupid idea?

I know they sell extra-heavy-body acrylics, but I don't know how amenable it would be to carving but I think it'd be interesting to try. How about encaustics? I've never used them before, but being wax they should be thick and carving-friendly.

# ¿ Nov 12, 2014 18:31

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I don't know how the gel media works chemically, but there might be a difference between being dry and actually being set, that 30 minutes and a hair dryer won't make. Maybe leave a day or two on its own? If you've got enough laying around, it may be worth trying a few blobs of the acrylic paint straight and seeing how that works... like straight-out-of-the-tube thick.

# ¿ Nov 18, 2014 16:15

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

kedo posted:

What's a great, pocket-sized, extremely durable sketchbook that will lie flat when open? I've traditionally done a lot of my sketching in Moleskines, but I wish I could just open the thing up on a table and the pages wouldn't keep trying to close on me.

Spiral bound is about all that comes to mind, but spirals always get mangled after a few weeks of being shoved into pockets or tossed into a messy bag. Any ideas?

I haven't used them personally, but you might want something like Field Notes. The bindings look pretty flexible, so you may be able to repeatedly bend and unbend them as needed without much worry. I'm sure someone out there makes similar bindings for cheaper if you need it.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2014 23:03

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

kedo posted:

I was thinking about those actually. Have you used them before? I'm wondering how solid the cover stock is.

No, but I heard of them from the tested.com guys. They kinda look like what you get from the sketchbook project

# ¿ Dec 16, 2014 04:32

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

You can get bristol in heavier weights; I think low-weight illustration board is essentially heavy bristol. But there are tricks to counter warping: the one I learned is to paint or score an X from corner-to-corner on the opposite side. But I've once long ago used ink washes and bristol and don't recall much issue.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2015 03:09

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Is there a mechanical pencil that works like the Fisher space pen where it's short when closed, but the cap makes it full-length when put on the back side?

# ¿ Feb 3, 2015 04:37

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

PerrineClostermann posted:

My friend and I are looking at recording some "show"-type footage for various reviews. Any ideas on camcorders we should be looking at? Any reason why we shouldn't just get a gopro and leave it stationary?

GoPros have a wide viewing angle that might be weird for shooting two guys in a room talking, or really many things that aren't POV.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 14:03

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Cakefool posted:

You can set a gopro to narrow field of view.

It's digital zoom so you lose quality. And, even then, not all that narrow.

# ¿ Mar 16, 2015 14:16

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

raging bullwinkle posted:

I went to buy a quite average looking photo off getty the other day and it was priced at $2,500. Who is buying that stuff?

You're not just buying the photo, you're buying the rights to use the photo in your commercial applications, which may involve making money for yourself.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2015 15:42

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

DXH posted:

I want to buy a chair for my starving artist wife for Christmas and I'm starting to shop around to see what my options are. She hurt her shoulder over the summer and since then her posture in the chair she has now has been exacerbating the pain and delaying the healing process. Her dad is also an artist and his back is wrecked from decades of hunching over so I woant to nip that in the bud ASAP.

She primarily works with a bigass Wacom tablet (I think the Intuos 3?) resting on her lap and propped up on the keyboard drawer of a computer desk so it lies at a 45 degree angle or thereabouts in relation to the ground. This causes her to slouch her shoulders forward a bit. It doesn't seem too bad but when she works 10-12 hour days on a commission it adds up.

Any recommendations? I live in Europe so something on Amazon or likewise should do.

That sounds less like a chair problem and more like a tool-positioning problem. You could try to find something that would put the tablet at a more comfortable position (rich person option: buy a Cintiq), but that could take some getting used to on her part. Art isn't a terribly posture-friendly activity, unless you're standing or sitting up to an easel; all of my non-computer art school work was done on stools.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 15:46

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

kedo posted:

What about getting her a drafting table? I'm not sure a chair is going to solve this problem.

Yeah.

If she needs easy computer access, I have one of these which could do the job. I could even see it being used on the lap.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2015 15:54

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Custom frames are $$$ at that size. A cheaper option would be to get the smallest standard frame that fits and make a mat for it.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2015 15:21

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

punk rebel ecks posted:

Ugh I am such a novice at this stuff it is painful. Please excuse my ignorance. What do you mean "make a mat for it"?

A piece of board or paper the size of the frame with a window cut in it for the thing you're framing. If you've seen a photo in a frame bigger than it, all of the blank area around it is the mat. It can be as simple as a piece of white paper, or for some more money a thicker board with a bevel.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2015 16:28

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

It's pretty sexy, though.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2016 13:14

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Might also look into something like Rustoleum's clear coat spray

# ¿ Aug 17, 2016 18:12

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

If something is "after" someone then it's someone making their own version of the original. Which is pretty common for sculpture. Doesn't mean it's not worth something, though.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2016 00:07

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Procreate was the goat when I last looked, but that was a couple of years ago.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 15:36

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

There's perhaps some data that creative capacity peaks in the thirties (see: all the world-changing creative acts that happen when the artist was 20-30s). Neuroplasticity is a thing, and some people are just naturally gifted, but it's not like you stop being able to learn anything past some point. GW Bush didn't start painting until he left the White House, and he's since turned into a seriously legit painter.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2017 20:45

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Nessa posted:

Hey, so I'm in my final semester of my web design program and one of my classes involves real work group projects. Our client isn't going to have a blog for her site anymore and doesn't really want to touch it at all once it's complete, so we're thinking we wouldn't need to use Wordpress that is already installed on her hosting. Neither me nor my partner took the Content Management Systems class and have never used Wordpress before.

The client has just approved one of our compositions, so now we're ready to start coding.

However, my partner now wants us to do the site in Wordpress because we'll need to make an email form and she's not sure if she can do proper authentication on it, so wants to use Wordpress's system for it. It's just a simple email form with a few checkboxes and maybe a calendar to select some dates. My partner has taken PHP class and I have not.

So my question is, is it reasonable to learn Wordpress and create a custom theme that matches our composition in 2 months, just for an email form?

In my opinion, it is not and I think we could just as easily use other online resources to help with making an email form.

We only have 2 months to make the whole site and I don't know if I can become competent enough with Wordpress within the 6 hours a week we have to work on it.

The issue re: doing something straight depends on what "proper authentication" entails. Authentication is one of those holes that can get real deep real fast, but it's also a well-trodden hole so you can probably find a library for your back-end of choice that you can attach to your system, without having to go down the Wordpress hole.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2017 20:02

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Anyone with experience with tattoo design? A friend asked me to make a design for him, and while the image part is easy, I don't know to handle the text he wants. Do I need to consider freehand-ability with the font, or do I let the tattoo guy chose his font, and just supply size and position guides?

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 09:59

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

JuniperCake posted:

I think what would work best, is to create a design that shows the essence of what your friend wants, but have them ask the tattoo artist to create their own design based on what you've done. Just ask the tattoo artist for a sketch of a design they think will work, then your friend can use that to see if they'd want to go forward with it or not.

I'll take that advise and let him know. The concept is simple and non-fiddly so it's probably not a problem, but it sounds like a good way to handle the text.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2017 16:14

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Futaba Anzu posted:

would anyone have any recommendations for decent nib or fountain pens for inking over pencil drawings? So far I have a set of beginner nibs that seem to be kinda generically made that scratch up the paper real bad and gives me a real bad feeling when using them. Or is that how nibs are supposed to feel like and they just smooth out over a lot more use?

also, are there any good cheap choices for scanners or would I have to shell out a lot of money to get one that doesn't absolutely mangle the physical to digital transition?

I'd say make sure you're not pressing down too hard and you're not straying too far from the direction the nib wants to go. Might be the paper, the smoother the better.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2017 00:33

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Yeah, I'd call that blocking

# ¿ Jun 19, 2017 22:18

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Anyone have advice for what to look for for a starting wood carving tool set? Looking to go beyond my knives for block printing, which I don't have much confidence is being any use beyond lino and maybe basswood (or maybe I need to find better basswood). If it makes a difference, I'm thinking about relief carving rather than whittling or in-the-round sculpting.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2017 15:26

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

FutureRooster posted:

I'm new here and a bit lost...is there a thread or place for discussing video game creation? I'm not sure if it would be here or in the coding section?

There are a few:

Making Games Megathread
Game Development Megathread

The gamedev megathread is generally coding talk, Making Games is everything and showing off

# ¿ Sep 28, 2017 18:45

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 05:07

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Don't discount physical classes, just because you're not going for a degree doesn't mean you can't do them. Community colleges might offer standalone studio classes, and if you have an arts council or county/city rec programs you can find classes there. Working in person with an instructor and classmates will likely be way more helpful for a while.

# ¿ Oct 8, 2017 14:35

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The "stupid little questions that don't deserve their own thread" thread.

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