Lobster-claw Brush-grip- Cutting-edge, or Classic?

Eggsamples: here's what I was able to do after watching Aaron's videos (see "Photoshop" section below). Best damned eggs I ever painted.  Eggcelent! Also viewed his hour long 'intro to digital' demo explaining how to work with layers in an organized way that is tailored to the creative processes of drawing and painting. 

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I brought the pressure washer to a service center, then got stuck in home-improvement mode through the middle of the week, clearing gutters, checking chimney flashing and photographing work done under the recent contract through the County program.  If you're poor, it pays to invest in a digital camera.  Pictures make the case. 

Along with that I had to figure out again how to transfer digital images, reduce them and send them as e-mail attachments, because, as noted last week, the computer operating system had been re-installed, so, it's like working with a new computer.  For that very reason I used the laptop, instead of the Beast, and ran into trouble using Thunderbird, which is replacing Outlook Express ( I'm running XP on that machine).  In addition, I found myself running back and forth to Best Buy because the Geek Squad had ruined the finish on the tower face plate.  On the Envy-Phoenix 810-460 Hp uses high luster black plastic that now bears evidence of wiping and buffing with something fibrous like a dry paper towel.  ("Sorry.  Next."  That's it?)  Those two categories (home improvement and computer tech) hogged all my time until mid-week, when I finally put my foot down and went into the Studio.  Sometime one has to be bluntly deliberate.

Inking: 
I got deep into inking, again.  This time helped it along with his new demo posts.  He posted part 1 in his gallery. (Part 2 and a third demo are at his Youtube channel, www.youtube.com/channel/UCPa-g… .) 

 

The first thing I noted is how Joseph held the brush.  I call it the Lobster Grip, because the way he deploys his fingers in two groups resembles a lobster claw.  Like many southpaws he hooks his wrist.  So, between this and the way he slants the brush and chokes up on the ferrule, you would scarcely realize that he is holding the brush in the traditional Oriental manner.  If he were to cock his wrist, instead of bend and hook it, and if he were to hold the brush closer to the butt, it would demonstrate the traditional Oriental method - the down strokes are effected by flexing the two top fingers; the up strokes, by extending the two bottom fingers.  Joe does it this way.

Of course, his strokes are tiny. He will do an entire composition using virtually one stroke, a tiny finger-arc stroke.  He may do this with variations to create textural and lighting effects, as when he scrolls with a lazyman's stroke (zig-zag, loop-de-loop) keeping the brush on the paper for both the down stroke and the return.  But, generally he is doing one kind of hand/finger motion - tic, tic, tic - which he does with mechanical precision and monotony. 

I don't mean anything bad calling it monotonous.  It's what it is, the same thing over and over.  He rarely does anything else. But some inkers do that.  They have their way and stick to it.  So while Joe "pushes" his brush into the paper, Walden Wong pulls his.  I've seen this division many times.  It seems to apply to professional inkers - to fellows who ink the work of others.  Gary Martin pulls his almost exclusively. By comparison, fellows who ink their own work tend to be less mechanical and use a wide variety of forehand (chopping-arcing) and backhand (pivoting and straight-pulling) strokes.  

I have to say that after a couple of hours of copying Joseph, I found myself drifting back to my usual way of holding the brush and executing strokes.  However, by that time I was making my marks with extreme delicacy and control.  Which told me that it is not the brush grip and the stroke that is all important, but rather concentration.  Doing a bunch of tiny finger strokes with the lobster grip focused me so that I could do clean work even when I switched to other means of execution. So, I think the important thing that transferred was the mind set, the deliberation, the patient attitude. 

Should also mention that studying Joseph's video prompted me to ink lefty.  I found it much easier to follow his example with my left hand than my right, which opened the door to using this technique lefty when I want to apply it.  Strange, eh? (Yeah.  While I tire of the lobster claw when I do it right handed, I seem to prefer it, now, for inking lefty!  Go figure.)

Photo-Shop:
The Awesome-Opossum the Big Ox and the Cool-umbian have been giving me instruction and reference material to broaden my understanding and ability with digital art.  Thanks to that I started answering my own questions about what is possible and how to do it.  For example, I was wondering if I could superimpose a foreground image from one file onto a background image from a separate file to create a single image combining that foreground with that background.  Well, yes, I can.  And I did.  Set the line work layers to multiply and they will show together on the same layer when combined.  

Among the references is the youtube channel for Aaron Blaise.  These videos are great.  The ones that I took particular interest in this week had to do with tone and temperature.  Almost every color crit I do points to problems I see with temperature, because many who work with color work only with values.  They don't understand color theory and light.  This video goes into that as well as the practical issue of how to blend cool and warm color, which has been bugging me since I started digital coloring.

  

As I told you last week, I lost PS CS5, so downloaded PS CS2 (again) from Adobe.  You can still get it free from them, though they no-longer support it.  They'll provide a generic serial number to activate it once you download it.  The point I would make is that being forced to use CS2 turned out to be a blessing in disguise, since unlike my CS5, CS2 came with onboard tutorials for learning basics of selection, layers, layer masks, etc.  I went through them and learned a ton - like how to add layer masks and use styles, how to turn a locked background layer into a regular layer, and much more.  These are the best tutorials, so far, and you can view them right in the PS work space while you follow the steps working on an exercise. 

Digital Survivalism:
Aside from going back to old-school tech support, which means fixing problems myself with the help of a tech on the phone (instead of having the techs fix things by remote control) and learning more about Photo Shop, I broke out notes on lessons from on becoming a self-reliant digital bad-ass. These concern topics I won't discuss in particular, because they tip-toe along, and, in some cases cross, the line between what is legal and what is necessary. All I'll say is in order to survive and compete in society when economically and socially disadvantaged one has to take matters into his own hands in terms of acquiring digital resources. I'm not going down without a fight - and I'll do what it takes to get what I need to get back in the race and win. ("Steal a little and they put you in jail; steal a lot and they make you King." --Bob Dylan. ) Camel or lion - first one path, then the other. A good life combines both ways and in my life the way of the lion is long overdue.

Sequentials:
The advances in Photoshop and getting back to inking have sparked a desire to do impromptu episodes for a strip.  With increasing frequency I'm seeing panel sequences and hearing dialogues.  So far I have not given in to actually setting it down on paper, but it would seem that's the next step.  Once you get the tools and ability, what else is there then to use them for something?  So, it looks as if that is what's coming down the pike for this SUNDOG Summer of ART!  You'll be the first to know. (It's not like there's anyone else to tell.  Heh-heh.)

Commissions:
I came upon 's tutorial explaining commissions. scribble-liberty.weebly.com/st… It got me thinking . . . again.

Adult Material:
That's one of the things the commissions tutorial got me thinking about. Heh-heh. is doing an adult coloring book, which is tastefully illustrated with big butts and robotized nudes. Pure genius. I have a slightly different warp that leans toward the Stantonesque. While I haven't felt inclined to exercise it, I likely could at the drop of a hat.

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NOTES

*  I've been a fan of the Croquis Café for some time and used it daily until recently.  I like drawing from live models.  However, I have no patience for posers when it comes to art  skill and instruction and Larry Withers is posing in both categories.  This week in a tutorial on proportion he reversed the length of the bones of the arms, drawing the bone of the upper arm relatively shorter than the bones of the forearm, instead of vice versa.  His response to correction was characteristically defensive. Some people fake it till they make it and some just put all their talent and effort into faking it. So be it.  I've had enough.  Moving on.  Actually, did it some weeks ago, but made the mistake of thinking twice about it.  Won't do that again.  I'm leaving up the link on the profile page because a live model class is a good resource, as far as it goes.  As for the instruction, take it with a grain of salt . . . a sack's worth.      

* Today my neighbor showed up with the other half of the contents of the crate I told you about previously.  That's a lot of effing photo reference - literally effing (because it's porn).

* Note that I originally left out one "t" in Aaron Blaise's website, which linked to a different website that listed titles for movies on which Aaron worked, so I assumed it was his site.  What are the odds?.  Eventually I caught the mistake, correcting it today (7/6/15).  Sorry if it confused you. The real website for Aaron Blaise is well worth checking out. His video on an intro to digital illustration is without doubt the best of its kind as far as my research goes.  I wish I had this one back in April . . . of 2014!  Lol.  Will repost it here in the near future. This weeks' journal's already overloaded.
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REFERENCES
Joseph L. Silver   Inking Demo.I'm trying out my Iphone camera to record me doing some inkwork over Keu Cha doing Hellboy. It's my first time uploading anything to YouTube.
Have a look, warts and all.

Joseph L. Silver , Youtube Channel www.youtube.com/channel/UCPa-g…

Aaron Blaise Art Tips on Youtube www.youtube.com/user/AaronBlai…

Aaron Blaise Website, creatureartteacher.com (corrected from original post - that's two "t"s for "art teacher", not one.)

Rattlesire 'Commissions Tutorial' scribble-liberty.weebly.com/st…