A whole lot of notes

CLIP PAINT STUDIO: Erase Along Edge Eraser Brush

Figured it would be fun to share, if yall want to know my gold painting secrets (spoiler, im very lazy and just want the fastest and dirtiest way to get something done. and for me, this is it)

Here is my no-fail, 10 step (it sounds like a lot, i swear its not) method:

1) Draw thing

2) Ink thing. When inking I draw big “I” shaped black chunks on metal stuff. Usually I’ll put one thick and one thin next to each other. If I’m being especially lazy, I will literally just draw a black scribble in a vauge I-ish shape.

3) Flat color block. I usually go for a mid-tone yellow-ish color. Not super saturated.

4) Shading. Use a more saturated color several shades darker. I focus the shading around where I inked those black “I” shapes. I wrote to be mindful of a light source, and this is what you should do. But I’ll be honest, I usually just shade around the edges.

5) LIGHT. Use a bright saturated yellow color. I usually pick one and then color adjust as necessary once it’s blocked in. Catch the rims/edges of objects. I usually use more of those double “I” shapes in the middle.

6) SPECIAL EFFECTS BAYBEEE. Douplicate highlight layer. Set it to “Add.” Use gaussian blue until it glows to your liking. Adjust opacity as you like.

7) ONE MO ‘GAIN. Repeat step 6. Set to “Color Dodge.” Adjust hue/opacity as you like.

8) Futz around till you like it. I like to add more color dodge above the ink layer to brighten some spots. This is optional.

9) Corrections. Assuming you’re working on a non-white background, those Add and Dodge layers will show over the edges of your lineart. This is where I take a soft airbrush eraser and remove what I dont like.

10) Final futzing. Sometimes I’ll add a dark blue Overlay layer to reduce saturation and increase contrast. Added some “shinies.” To do this draw some thin cross-shaped lines that taper at the ends. Duplicate layer. Change layer mode to “Add.” Use Motion Blur in the same direction as the cross long-ways.

Heres an example of this exact technique used for both gold and silver aide by side!

Hey! So I use a program called ToonBoom Harmony. It can be used for hand drawn animation as well as rigged animation. All of the taz animations I did were rigged animation. It’s basically best described as a version of animation where the character is built as a puppet and the animator moved their body parts around pivot points. It’s similar to 3D in that the character is built and animated through manipulation of the separate pieces. But each piece is a drawing, so there are a lot of hand drawn elements in the rigs (ie. hands, mouths, feet, drawings for perspective). So when I do hand drawn on a rig, I animate the rig first and then draw on top of it.

Here’s an example of a rig. In this animation, I’ve turned off the skirt on the rig, and drew one by hand. But you can see the nodes in the node view, and how it’s a series of drawings connected to each other.

Sony Pictures Imageworks has made the color management tool OpenColorIO—which was used to create the recent hit animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse—available to the open source community. The tool has now become the second software project of the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF), a Linux Foundation-owned open source association.

I often get questions from Anons asking me what is appropriate to use in a novel, from song quotes to character names of wildly popular characters from other books (names that are obviously more unique than just Sarah or Alice or Amelia). So I’m going to lay the groundwork of what writers can and can’t use in their novels—or for their novels.

Quotes from song lyrics. You can’t do this. Period. If you want to use quoted song lyrics, you would have to get permission from the artists themselves—and you would likely have to pay a heady sum of money to obtain that permission. A big part of the reason why you can’t do this is because song lyrics are often so short in the first place, and if you misquote even one word, you run the risk of being sued. In fact, you run the risk of being sued period if your book is somehow published with quoted song lyrics from an actual band. 

Names of fictional characters. One Anon asked me if he or she could use a fictional character’s name as a nickname for one of his/her characters. As far as I know, this is not copyright infringement, especially if the character whose nicknamed Harry Potter does not in anyway resemble the actual Harry Potter. It is also not copyright infringement to use a fictional character’s name in passing. For example, in Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick, Leonard frequently mentions Holden Caulfield as a comparison to himself. Holden Caulfield, however, is not an actual character in the book. There’s also the question of cameos, and whether or not a writer can use an actual character as a cameo in the book. This is on shaky ground, because using a published fictional character as a cameo technically is not copyright infringement, until that character actually starts talking. However, from the article I linked to you, you still run the risk of being sued. Fan fiction is an entirely different matter, as most writers don’t profit from this work, and authors want to please enthusiastic readers. (I would both cry and feel EXTREMELY flattered if someone were to ever write a fanfiction of my book, When Stars Die.)

Public domain. Any book before 1923 is fair use. Granted this does not mean you can re-write the entire book. Basically this means you can quote these works, while attributing their authors to them, in your novels. Frenchie,from Death, Dickinson, and the Demented Life of Frenchie Garcia by Jenny Torres Sanchez, frequently talks about Emily Dickinson and quotes her as well. Libba Bray puts a part of Tennyson’s poem, The Lady of Shallot, in A Great and Terrible Beauty. And when I do revisions for my novels, I’d like for my protagonist to quote parts of Edgar Allen Poe. 

Titles. You don’t need permission to use song titles, movie titles, book titles, television titles, and so on and so forth. You can also include the names of things, place, and events and people in your work without permission. I mention Paula Dean in brief passing in the current work I’m writing, because she owns a restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, the place my character lives. 

Pictures. I’m primarily talking about if you’re self-publishing or are allowed to work with your publisher (usually small press) on designing the cover. ANY stock photos listed on any stock photo website is fair game and can be photoshopped as much as you want to. However, you often have to buy these photos, but once you pay for them, they are yours to do with what you want. Unfortunately, you run the risk of having a similar book cover as another book, especially if you don’t do too much to that image beyond slapping your name and title of the book on it. The cover for When Stars Die received a heavy makeover, so it is not likely that I will find another book using my exact cover. I may find a book using the girl on the cover, but the plum blossoms, the colors, how the girl was edited, and my title and name are probably going to be next to impossible to find on another book. 

Quoting famous people. If the quote from, let’s say, a famous speech in the past, is over 100 years old, that work is likely in the public domain, so it’s fair to use quotes from  Georgie Washington or another popular figure. 

Referencing facts. If you’re referencing facts, like how the universe was made, this is not copyright infringement—they are unadorned facts. For the current novel I’m working on, I did use a website to help Gene’s teacher explain black holes, because Gene uses black holes as a motif to describe how people can have an effect on one another. However, because this is knowledge that you can pick up from any text book or even an astronomy class you took, I don’t need to quote the source I took it from because I did not repeat word-for-word what that website said. The website simply listed facts that you can find anywhere from a legitimate source. 

Using quotes from TV, films, or advertising. These are copyrighted, so don’t use them, unless you want to get sued. 

For now, these are the only points I can think of on what writers are allowed to use and not use in their novels. If someone can think of anything more, feel free to re-blog and add to this list!

DreamWorks Storyboarding Tips by Rob Koo. 

The most important aspect of this question is who is travelling, because that changes things a lot. For example, do we have a large army, are we talking about a pilgrimage or a royal family travelling across the country. Here are some of the things I managed to find.

According to Alexander Neckam, a wandering clerk of the 12th century, would buy his food in the town he was bedding down in. The inn chef would cook it (a chicken, some bread, etc). He would have some for dinner and the next day would set off down the road again, the leftovers in his pocket(check out Daily Living in the 12th Century by Urban Tigner Holmes, Jr.). Lunch was taken by the side of the road.

We also have pictures of peasants taking simple meals in the fields,  a bowl of something (soup? beer?), bread, cheese. 

It’s interesting to note that medieval folks had their own convenience foods.  There’s a recipe in Granado for “hordiate” (barley gruel, often served to invalids) that one can take on the road. You can find a recipe here.

   You can also find something in this book. Food on the move

Henry Marks in ‘Byzantine Cuisine’ mentions the Krivani (“domed metal or pottery top […] cooks bread faster and more evenly).

Voukellon is a thin, double baked bread used by the armies of Byzantium; the bread is soaked in liquid prior to consumption to soften it (and probably to add some flavor, depending on the liquid used).

Organized armies did travel with large groups of camp-followers; presumably they would have included butchers/bakers and people to cook for a bunch of hungry soldiers.

And they are getting even more strict when it comes to not using invoices for charging for Digital Goods.

Whatever Invoices make you uncomfortable or not, you gotta start using them if you want to keep your PayPal and your money. Changes starting this October 19th.

Honestly I don’t get why so many artists are so overwhelmed by invoices, takes just a few clicks to set up. 

And is not only “oh you have to use invoices because PayPal says so” if you don’t use invoices you’re putting yourself at risk of being scammed by an user abusing the buyer’s protection. 

Since PayPal ain’t got no idea of what those $50 you received were for, but the buyer is saying they didn’t got anything for the money, PayPal will just side with the buyer.

I’m seriously begging ppl, start using invoices. I’m tired of seeing ppl complain their paypal was banned, or is under investigation, or worse, the $100 they got for a very complicated commission, 3 months later get a refund issue. 

just

start

using

invoices

for your own sake. 

Here is how you use invoices because I can’t keep playing devil’d advocate, yes I would love to help you get your PayPal restored but just this last month I had to help three persons, and they were MORE than aware of this issues. 

Just protect yourself. 

Step 1. You login and click here

Step 2. You click create new Invoice. YOU NEVER CLICK REQUEST MONEY, unless you want to risk yourself to get scamer by buyer’s protection exploit and not only lose your money but your paypal account, and any future paypal linked to your irl name. 

Step 3 You follow this steps

1. Invoice for amount only

2. Ask your client for their PayPal email and put in that field

3. Add a vague description of what you’re doing, something like “Character Coloured with Background” is good enough, and if you need more than 1 character you can type in “2″ where it says amount, or just say “2 characters”.

Warning: don’t type in “Naruto rawing Sasuke”. That will get you banned. 

4. Click send. 

Optional steps. Create a template, doesn’t take more than 10 minutes and it will save you a lot of time for future invoices, you can even click on “items” right next to “create invoice” and add a list of services you offer such as “character sketch” “character flats” along with a price, so next time you invoice you just add to the invoice from your list of items and you saved yourself some more time. 

More importantly, you protect yourself from buyer’s protection exploit because if PayPal knows you’re doing digital goods, then you will be allowed that you did in fact created a digital good. 

Keep PayPal happy, as for right now there are no alternatives to this service, and this is the only source of income for many freelancers. 

One of the reasons that I love comics so much is that there are many valid ways to approach the medium. When I make comics, the parts I’m most concerned with are character and story. Everything I draw on the comic page is in service to character and story. Because of my focus on those two elements over, say, experimenting with my art and page structure, I will sometimes get criticism that my work is safe or boring. This is probably fair criticism! I don’t do a lot of experimenting with paneling or challenging storytelling or explicitly challenging artwork in my comics, because right now that’s what I’m not interested in. Maybe I will be more experimental someday, but not right now, with the kind of stories I want to tell. :)

When I make a comic, my goal is for my readers to be engaged with the story I’m telling, and the characters in that story. That’s also what I look for when I want to read a good comic. I want characters to love, I want a story to be engaged with.

For the most part, I struggle with drawing comics (most artists do, if we’re honest ;)), but there are some parts of comics I think I have a good handle on. I feel like I’m strongest when portraying emotion on the page, and I’m good at drawing those scenes out and making the reader feel what my characters are going through. Some of the techniques I use to convey emotion came from being obsessed with movies when I was a teenager, and some techniques are stolen from my holy trinity of influences: Jeff Smith (Bone), Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist) and Naoki Urasawa (Monster, Pluto, 20th Century Boys). 

Of the three artists I’ve mentioned, I consider Urasawa especially to be a master of emotion and pacing. When I first started reading his comics, it was like light struck my brain; finally I saw what I’d been trying to do for years right there on the comic page in front of me! I like the way he lays out his emotional scenes a lot. Here’s an example (read right to left): 

Urasawa uses repeating panels and decompression to draw out the emotions of a scene. In this single page there isn’t a lot of movement. It’s literally just two characters staring at each other, but the tension rises going from panel 1 to panel five. Gesicht (the man)’s expression doesn’t change between panels two and five, but we literally feel his anger rising off-panel, concluding in the close up in panel 5.

There’s an excellent You Tube channel called Every Frame a Painting (I’m sure you’ve heard of it, but if you haven’t, please go watch all the videos! There aren’t many, and they’re all really informative). My favourite video is this one, about editing:

This video hit on something that I strive for in my comics: emotion takes time. When I draw a scene that is emotional, when characters are struggling with something, or celebrating something, or being challenged, I want my readers to feel what the character is feeling, and one of the best ways to do that, for me, is to take my time. To give that emotion time to breathe on the page. 

I’m going to use some scenes in The Nameless City to illustrate how I use decompression and pacing to underscore the emotion in my comics. To avoid spoilers and because this is getting a little long, I’m going to put it under a cut. Please read on! :)  

DreamWorks Storyboarding Tips by Rob Koo. 

In defense of “Clean Up”-

Story Tweets by Matthew Luhn.

10 reasons to follow Matthew Luhn on twitter.

In this tutorial we’ll teach you how to make a copy of your Tumblr blog onto WordPress.com to act as a backup.

The first two steps don’t need to be followed if you already use WordPress.com.

1. Sign up for a WordPress.com account

You need a WordPress.com blog, simply follow the steps to select your username and confirm your account via email.

2. Open WordPress Admin

Click on My Site

Select the WP Admin you wish to import into

3. Visit the import tools page

In the sidebar menu select ‘tools’ and then ‘import’.

4. Select import from Tumblr

5. Allow Tumblr access

Click the ‘Connect to Tumblr to begin’ button. You may need to log into Tumblr if you haven’t already. Be sure to allow access to WordPress.com

6. Start the import!

Once authenticated you can select your Tumblr blog from the list of your blogs and click on ‘Import this blog’.

This is kind of a hard question to answer, because I don’t draw “final” boards right away. My very first pass is usually really scribbly thumbnails, that take seconds each and are just so I can try out different shots.

 After that are roughs, which still only take a minute or too, but are also still relatively sketchy. Just to get the idea of the scene!

And then after the episode is more figured out, we take the time to clean up. Clean doesn’t really mean “super beautiful”, but it just means that its clear what the layout and poses of the characters will be for the shot!

(and even here, I’m sure this was adjusted by a revisionist because with the perspective I drew, Jeff is tOO BIG)

How to Organise your Commissions