Starting 2013

A lot has been going on. One example: starting my new job at Rdio. There's a lot that will be going on. One example : this Friday & Saturday is the Edwardian Ball.

Tonight I went to Dr. Sketchy's. The model was lovely and her outfit crazy. The theme was the artist Basquiat which was... confusing.

Also there has been some gaming going on. While waiting anxiously for the next 4th Terminus game I've picked up FTL. Haven't beaten it yet, but I find the distraction it provides to be pleasing.

...sketches made during last session's game...

The joy of a fine looking gentleman

Dr. Sketchy's was last night*! Again I must state that it makes me stupidly happy to attend the event and that ever lasting mad props needs to go out to Alice Stribling and Diane Olivier for all the hard work they put into organizing it.

Last night's theme was Dapper Tweed Gentlemen and our models were the delightful Colin Fahrion and heavenly Randal Alan, both of whom I'm sure I've seen about the city at some point†. Colin runs SF Tweed Ride, something I'm going to keep an eye on going forward. They were ambitious models who struck great poses and held them like pros. Costume changes abound and a hearty soundtrack (of course featuring Fighting Trousers) made it one of the best Dr. Sketchy's in a long time- and there have been some mighty fun ones this year so that's no trivial feat!

Brought my Inkling pen out in full force (also intentionally forgetting my pen purse at home so that I couldn't back out). The sketches definitely were weaker no doubt in part due to lack of practice but also because the ballpoint ink in the pen isn't that fancy and the sketch looked a little weak. Oogled some lovely brush pens people were doing and had to struggle to not convert. Wonder if I can get different/heavier/darker ink...

I cheated and used pencil for the rough base sketching, but I think it helped more then hurt. The No Maps picture was my entry into the 60 Days Around The World contest and I placed first! Booyah. I pieced together the bits to resemble the original sketch, but a lot is missing. Digital coloring is so not my thing... The gentlemen are in their shorts because the 2 20 minute poses were somewhat "Strip Poker" themed. There was a brawl poise pair for the 10 minutes as well as a billards shoot and a penny farthing mounting. Shirts were ripped, umbrellas used, and the line "Lay back and think of England" put to good use.

Finally found the photography of Mr. Johnny Crash, our session photographer. He takes great photos, people. Seriously, check him out. His Dr. Sketchys SF gallery is a great representation of how awesome it is to attend the event.

One of the things he has started to do this year is photographing the contest entries as well as the winners. Very kind of him- nothing makes you feel more like a winner then getting your photo taken. And let me say, I know this, for I shall be a smug bitch and now proceed to list/link to the (small) set of photos of me winning. (for the record, there used to be two sessions a month)

• April 2012 : The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence : Oversized easter bonnets
• May 2012 : Mistress Marla Spankx : At the rodeo [entry]
• June 2012 : Penny and Tali aka The Pregnant Ladies : Fertility goddess
• July 2012: Derby Girls : Vampires and/or zombies from True Blood [entry]
• September 2012 : Wonder Woman : Using her lasso of truth [entry]
• December 2012 : Dapper Tweed Gentlemen : Around the World in 60 Days [entry]

Thus concludes my gloating.

Now, seriously, if you enjoy sketching or dapper gentlemen, you should go check out Johnny Crash's gallery for this session

_{* Written Wed 12/5/12, delayed in posting so that Johnny Crash might update his photo gallery for further images for me to link to.
† Saw Randle at the Dicken's Fair on 12/09/12. He was well dressed and "acting" in the home of Charles Dickens- a set from which I'd been shooed away from in previous years by being called a street urchin while I looked through the window. :)}

New Powers

So I have finally bought an Inkling.

What is an Inkling? It's a product by Wacom- makers of fantastical tablets for digital drawing- that is an actual real life pen and sensor combo that digitally records sketches. This is different from the AMAZING Livescribe pen which is great for text and audio (for, say, lectures or meetings!) but only works on special paper (the science behind it is really neat). Wacom works on any paper and is basically magic.

The Inkling came out around this time last year and it was for about 5 seconds a big hit. And then it imploded. If you see side-by-side comparisons between the original sketches and the results it's wince worthy horrible (especially by people who don't respect the requirements-- like line of sight between sense and pen for one thing). If your style of sketch is a single pure line, this is not the product for you. Luckily I am more forgiving. When using a pen, I do the scribbly sketch style (not as well as some) but enough scribbles that the occasional drift looks just fine.

The Inkling product is lovely, compact, and just what I need given my apathy these days for scanning in artwork. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all my digital doodles though. I feel that my posting of many sketches in college helped me maintain artistic momentum, which I desire, but I lack the copious quantity of angsty posts to go with them. Am contemplating a tumblr account for just images... (although the odds of me posting an image without going "blah blah blah" are rather slim.)

The images are recorded at stupid high resolution- click on the above image of the Hugz Monster and then download the image to see the full scale of what maybe a 3"x3" sketch on paper. At least you can see that the lines are pressure sensitive as advertised. I've found that routinely reducing down to 12% brings the image down to near (enough) the original size and looks best.

I've consciously decided not to post side-by-side comparisons. The originals look better then the digitizations, but dwelling on that is not productive. I need to just focus on working with what I got.

I enjoyed using it at last night's gaming session- I always doodle during them and it's cute to be able to access the results so easily. Game sketches are often low on quality but highly pleasing to me for the memories they trigger.

I've taken to carrying it with me all the time now so anything is possible.





Along with the Inkling, I am always and even more so carrying my Kindle around. Have I ranted here yet about how much I love that damn thing? (joking- I know I have) Made super good use of it during my recent trips, travels, and not-working-ness. I hope that the sketching and reading can be tied together... For example, a doodle covering my "Ugly Boys" reading (as opposed to my "Red Women" selection)

• Immortal Lycanthropes - I absolutely love the style of writing in this- grab the Kindle sample and you'll see what I mean. Ugly characters make me smile. The world and story were interesting, the action fast paced, and the conclusion cute and neatly tied up. (avoid being spoiled at all costs) This is a stand alone novel about a young boy and shape shifters. No romance, just action and fun writing. Recommended!
• Warm Bodies - around the time I saw the horrible World War Z trailer, I also saw a trailer for the movie adaptation of this book. It looked cute and I had the time (12 hours on a plane back to be exact) so I grabbed it. It's amusing and fun like cotton candy. The ending is rather sloppy and doesn't make that much sense, but that's not the point you're reading it for. Zombie/Human RomCom story. Recommended for die hard zombie or cute YA romance book fans.