South East beers - Tuesdays @ The Roebuck, SE1 4YG

Paper.

I have a wacom tablet, I just don't have the software (IE illustrator) to make it useful.

What an awful idea to draw on a computer!

(Sorry, just my usual Luddite outburst when it comes to digitisation of art. :) )

I've made a career out of it.

There are some really good courses out there to teach you how to make use of a wacom tablet when sketching etc, and how to use different tools effectively to create structure, form and shape more effectively and so on.
I know it sounds really boring compared to drawing on paper etc, but I think your money would be better spent on a decent illustrator course, as that will give you the commercial skills necessary to help you make more cash from doing what you love.

But I sketch everything out in hindsight. sigh

There are some really good courses out there to teach you how to make use of a wacom tablet when sketching etc, and how to use different tools effectively to create structure, form and shape more effectively and so on.
I know it sounds really boring compared to drawing on paper etc, but I think your money would be better spent on a decent illustrator course, as that will give you the commercial skills necessary to help you make more cash from doing what you love.

I TOTALLY agree, but I'm so far behind in technology that I wanted a chance to play with some stuff on my own first, and to get my computer set up to tip top shape.

And I've taken courses from this school before, they are really good.

Do you know of any good illustrator courses?

Also, not sure what size tablet you are using Nhatt, but in my opinion (and the route most photographers seem to go, not sure about graphics folk), but it feels most natural to go for a big tablet with a big monitor that is close to or a similar size to the tablet, so that movements on the tablet more accurately correlate with the movement on the screen.
For example I use the intuos 3 a4 wide and a 24 inch monitor.
Wayne i'd be interested to know what you use mate?

Nhatt, you might want to ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to take a course to address specific weaknesses you might have? It seems that you hint at this when you say that you're not very good at drawing people. If so, it is quite likely that such a specific 'off the peg' course might not address your specific weaknesses. In that case, it might be useful to understand slightly better what it is that you might need help with, and then ask someone who knows the world of art courses well whether there is any course that would be good for you. (I'd always ask a person to find out about this sort of thing, not search on-line.)

Or are you actually interested in the theme of the course irrespective of your potential weaknesses? In that case, go for it.

It sounds a little bit as if you're really interested in the 'drawing a story' course but would perceive the 'faces' course as addressing your specific weaknesses more. Am I guessing correctly?

The way the course description of the 'faces' course is written, it sounds to me as if quite a few other things are involved in it, too, such as capturing a London environment, which can be complex, and placing the figures in it.

I'd generally tend to recommend first to take simple life-drawing classes like the ones Neil took. Life drawing of the human form is pretty much the best school you can get. You get to concentrate on the figure without distractions, and that is very hard, but potentially the most effective and rewarding.

I TOTALLY agree, but I'm so far behind in technology that I wanted a chance to play with some stuff on my own first, and to get my computer set up to tip top shape.

And I've taken courses from this school before, they are really good.

Do you know of any good illustrator courses?

Not really to be honest, although photoshop is well worth looking at to, if not essential, I mean ideally someone big into the illustration side of things would have a good working knowledge of both, as they work well in unison, obviously vector art is incredible useful due to its scalability without loss of resolution, but there are some things that PS just "does better", plus I think PS is much faster and more intuitive to use for a lot of things.
I would start with some good books, i've got a couple you can borrow, one or two relating specifically to illustration, will try and get them down from my parents and bring them next week if you want?

If you ask nicely, I also have the really cool wacom air brush tool that I could loan you if and when you want to use it :)

I don't use a wacom tablet. I tend to sketch my stuff, scan it in and trace over the top in either Illustrator or Photoshop. Its just my style really. I like clean lines.

And at Gnnnttatattattakcck!!! I like to think that Illustrator is the pen/ink stage and Photoshop is the colour/effects. IMHO Illustrator is more useful to get prolific at.

Nhatt, you might want to ask yourself these questions:

Do you want to take a course to address specific weaknesses you might have? It seems that you hint at this when you say that you're not very good at drawing people. If so, it is quite likely that such a specific 'off the peg' course might not address your specific weaknesses. In that case, it might be useful to understand slightly better what it is that you might need help with, and then ask someone who knows the world of art courses well whether there is any course that would be good for you. (I'd always ask a person to find out about this sort of thing, not search on-line.)

Or are you actually interested in the theme of the course irrespective of your potential weaknesses? In that case, go for it.

It sounds a little bit as if you're really interested in the 'drawing a story' course but would perceive the 'faces' course as addressing your specific weaknesses more. Am I guessing correctly?

The way the course description of the 'faces' course is written, it sounds to me as if quite a few other things are involved in it, too, such as capturing a London environment, which can be complex, and placing the figures in it.

I'd generally tend to recommend first to take simple life-drawing classes like the ones Neil took. Life drawing of the human form is pretty much the best school you can get. You get to concentrate on the figure without distractions, and that is very hard, but potentially the most effective and rewarding.

I think this also depends on whether she wants to be drawing for the purposes of creating artistic hand drawn pieces, or commercial artwork/art for ads/comics/etc etc.
If Nhatt is looking to move into the commercial side of things, then its essential she starts working in the most common medium which is digital, which means using a tablet and a monitor, if thats the direction she wants to head in, then the sooner she starts adapting to the digital side of things the easier it'll be?

I think this also depends on whether she wants to be drawing for the purposes of creating artistic hand drawn pieces, or commercial artwork/art for ads/comics/etc etc.
If Nhatt is looking to move into the commercial side of things, then its essential she starts working in the most common medium which is digital, which means using a tablet and a monitor, if thats the direction she wants to head in, then the sooner she starts adapting to the digital side of things the easier it'll be?

Nah, Nhatt's not a sellout.

I've made a career out of it.

Oops, sorry, Wayne. ;P

I don't use a wacom tablet. I tend to sketch my stuff, scan it in and trace over the top in either Illustrator or Photoshop. Its just my style really. I like clean lines.

And at Gnnnttatattattakcck!!! I like to think that Illustrator is the pen/ink stage and Photoshop is the colour/effects. IMHO Illustrator is more useful to get prolific at.

Do you trace over it with a tablet or a mouse?
I find mouses just to slow and cumbersome for all the stuff I do, but then again what I do is totally different I guess, and the majority of my time is spent in lightroom and PS, or rigging up elaborate lighting set-ups for said work :)
You're definitely right about the illustrator thing I think, I can use illustrator but i'm not very good with it, well I know how it works etc, but i'm not very good at drawing haha!

Nah, Nhatt's not a sellout.

Oops, sorry, Wayne. ;P

We all have to sell our creative souls to one degree or another, well if you want to make money out of what you do anyways ;)

My wacom tablet is the same size as my monitor (or close enough), it's an a4 and my monitor is a 20".

My free day from work doesn't have life drawing on it, I am trying to build up some basic skills, I really want to do drawing faces, but I think that the drawing a story looks more like it is designed to help people like me. (that said, I don't have any problems with the creative side of my work, just the technical).

As far as all the stuff you mentioned, James, I am so far behind that I don't even know what your talking about. I know about photoshop and Illustrator, but I've never used either.

I would like to spend more time working on my comics, you don't have to sell out to be able to support yourself with your work when you draw comics...

www.yehudamoon.com

www.girlswithslingshots.com (I love this one, when I grow up I want to be Daneille Corsetto)

And there's the tee shirt design... RIGHT BEFORE YOUR FCUKING EYES!

with a photo of reeeeen?

"i love cacti"

Given that it looks like it's gonna be another sunny evening, I cordially invite you all over to Easts tonight.

Due to selling my creative soul, i'm going to be spending most of the evening with an art director and a stylist going over the finer details of a shoot this weekend, shortly after having to pick up my cruiser, which basically desolves any free time at all that I have tonight, I do really want to get down to easts again sometime soon though, next week mate, next week.

"i love cacti"

http://www.londonfgss.com/post924514.html

Given that it looks like it's gonna be another sunny evening, I cordially invite you all over to Easts tonight.

i'd be there in swimwear but i got some work to do..:(

Given that it looks like it's gonna be another sunny evening, I cordially invite you all over to Easts tonight.

Niall, given that they're all a load of fairweather riders and drinkers, you're doing this half right, but I think you want to mention BARMAIDS, as well. ;)

i'd be there in swimwear but i got some work to do..:(

You do mean 'in there like swimwear', don't you?

shudder

Adam, I feel your pain dude, was just getting used to having a social life after a long month of working loads. Still.... all the new bikes I have suddenly accumulated are putting a smile on my face!