The Lightpad

I found something those who still have to decide which lightpad to buy might find very interesting:
The Lightpad!

It comes with a 360° rotating workspace which is imo very cool if you tend to shove, flip, turn and rotate your sketch like I do.

The full information sheet can be found here:
Click Click!

The only downside I see -without having it- is the 1 year warranty. In my eyes a bit weak to give only 1 year. It feels a bit like "don't expect it to last longer" which is -given at the high price for the big version- a downer. Nevertheless it's neat!

I still use my Dörr lightpad (more of a lighthulk since it weighs... a lot) and am happy I purchased that monster.

Before you buy a pad make sure it 100%ly fits your needs and is really big enough for all sizes you might work with. No use in buying a small compromise you end up using only randomly and with the gnawing knowledge that a bit more saving up might have made your life a lot easier.

I think everything under A3 is ergonomically-wise a catastrophy. If you only work on ACEO size.... A4 might be good after all but for A4 illustrations A3 is the most compfy solution.
Keep in mind that you have to rest your lower arm on the surface to relax your shoulders (and avoid possible tendo...). If you can't rest your arm properly and relax your shoulders while working with a pad it's simply put crap.

I got myself for Christmas....

 ... obviously not Hantje. As always she's in her floaty boat watching lazily as I work... on comic pages. Actually the one you see is a reworked version of "anger a kitteh"... a page hopefully finished tomorrow. I so want to work on a snow page right now.

I got myself a Spyder4 Pro.
This tiny little stinker is essential for calibrating my screens. I have no idea if you ever had the chance to calibrate *your* screens but having a good screen also means you might want to invest in a buddy who helps you to see the actually correct colors. Nobody wants to be shocked in the final print version. Though I have to admit: If the printer messes up you'll end up shocked anyway. But it's a good start and for me essential.
IF you think "Oh shiny... me wants" check the Datacolor hardware. There are different versions of the Spyder. I had a OneEye before which was fine as well.

Tretel normally hogs the heater place. I am amazed he still fits in.

Pillows, Cats and appreciation wall

 Pillow cases from my artofwhere store and Hantje. She's 2 1/2 years old.... oddly she looks a lot like the comic Patches O.o

 Tidied my workspace...

 ... and the other one as well. The canvas is something I wanted to finish for ages for my parents. I hope I can make it till christmas.

The white gap inbetween is where my KitKat clock normally creeps out guests. I had to take it down since the battery needs to be recharged. Otherwise I added some more of the gifts I got by Lew, Saskia, Dheny, YueYuki, Irene, Eick, Christina and IreneShpak. 2 still need to be framed but I always forgot to buy big frames. Did I mention I love those? :3 Did I ever mention I wouldn't mind getting more? >_<

I'm still sneezing and the flue wasn't something I totally longed for but I hope next week I'm back at the drawing table. Tons to finish before the cons in Essen and Berlin start.

The bed shrank... really!

 Now.... 2 Cats squeezing in 1 bed... quite a challenge. And Tretel doesn't like to share. Hantje either. It's quite rare they cuddle together. Sadly a bigger bed doesn't really fit on my table.

Than... so much bed and so tiny (slim) teen kittehs.Tretel looks like a troll planning world domination but I couldn't find any better pics. He made gruesome whacko face on the others.

Grass... again

... and I never get tired of it.
I'm still cleaning up my brush presets- throwing out a lot of things I got from other people or found on the net. Probably 95% of those brushes aren't really useful.
Normally I use the one I already >blogged about< and it's still the most useful although it looks so plain. With nature it gets a bit more tricky. Of course it looks awesome to paint every single blade of grass but mostly you'll end up needing ages to do that.
Since I colorate my comic panels 100%ly and the backgrounds NEED a lot of work I redo my preset-list and try to create grass, flowers (those above are self-made as well) and mostly leaves for bushes or trees.

Since some people seem to be eager but have no clue how to do it... (and you SHOULD do it):
This video explains it pretty well

Keep watching it till the video end. The last part is the most important part of the whole process. Defining the brush presets will take a while and you have to test a lot but it's worth the work! :)

And because it's pretty interesting and I just got it: If you happen to have the awesome artbook of "Open Season" check the background paintings again. There's one page showing some custom brushes they actually used and it's interesting to see how those simple brushes work together and how amazing the final result looks.

Nerd-Entry ... for nerds

Cintiq 21UX... I has it! I know it's like men with cars or girl with shoes... showing off. But yesh, I finally got it (DHL-Shipping was a horror trip). It's very nerdy to post pics but like Lew said: mutual orgasm to look at it.

And sheesh, that thing is HUGE. The white paper is A4. I hope I'll see my screen when that thing is in front.

Eeep... The Intuos has to move. I guess at least Lew will be happy (maybe) about getting that one for work.

I just hope I won't melt off in summer again. o_o

Before I forget: I saved up for it, I worked for it and I know I spend every bloody Cent I paid with sweating over illustrations. So yeah... no whining or weirdo mails why I can afford it, plz.
The world needs more greatly payed jobs. We all know that.

finally done

 now...

 

and than.... :) 

I like that my workplace is finished now... I think. There's still a black chalkboard missing but alas... details. The new lamps are finally up and it's so much better for the eyes. Lew, I hope you like it since you gonna spent there a lot of time as well.

Working on Chubs

Lew doin flats. Surprisingly we didn't try to poison, depress or kill each other after the first comics.

My regular place is either at the light table or the drawing board (hiding to get around complaints like "This is wrong... a fly doesn't look like a blob!" ).

2nd sketch... one comics undergoes 5 stages which is kinda odd (presketch, sketch, flats, final coloration, final touch up...).

and random nose pics of Hantje. The cats sleep all day next to our screens. I wish I was a cat... =_=

and it gets bigger

 I totally forgot to write something about the light table i bought some months ago. >_<
A few months ago I had the wonderful situation of getting payed for a game coloration job. And since I needed a new light table (Ikea table didn't work that good if you need to clean up a lot of sketches...) I bought one.

Hurray!
My light table is from the "Dörr Professional Line", measures around 30 x 46 centimeters and is awesome.
It's one of those flat versions and I like the whole thing a lot.
If you need to work with bigger paper sizes a light table with 46 cm length is quite nice, not to mention that it doesn't weigh tons.




Price: around 200 bucks (yeah, a lot)
I got mine from ebay which didn't hurt that much.

What I like as well is that the cable is quite long. If you happen to have a lack of outlets this is very practical (I happen to have a very big lack of outlets).

 Best friend for lightboxes and two sheets of paper: Uhu Glue Roller (non permanent!). I roll some centimeters on the copy paper and stick it to the final sheet... copy... and rub it off.

Works good although i should mention that you shouldn't keep it too long on a sheet or else it gets yucky when you rub it off and smears.


Price: around 4.50 Euro (I bought mine 6 months ago and it's still not empty so the price is *okay*)

And because Lew was so nice and offered help for flattig comics (yes, .. comics!) Ty and me spend the last evening to set up her working space next to mine.

I hope it works... I decided that I rather ask for help than banging my arm again (or worse) and if it works that way and I can finish some things faster.... I have no problem with it. :)

Best place to nap...

My table seems to be the perfect place to nap on and under. Hantje prefers sleeping on the table furring everything. :/ I can't say that I'm not used to it since Kiki did the same but it's weird to see that she choses exactly *that* place.
I try to convince myself that she likes the sound of the keyboard and being close...

 I shall call you my napping place and fuzzle you and you shall be my napping place...

Good thing is that I can take macroshots while she sleeps. The only problem is that the mouse cursor is still a very intersting thing to play with. On my Eizo screen... I guess I have to find a solution for that problem.

priceless

(oh my god, i hate the new formatting tools. it's odd! why blogger? whyyyy?)

transparent foil: 1.75 Euro (Crea Pop matte or something alike)

templates you can make out of it: tons

time you save for other things: priceless!

um.. a bit complicated to take pics of a white template on white background with zero sunlight. :/ *hmph*

okay, so mainly the biggest problem with sketches is that i really need those for everything and mostly i do a thumb-sketch before doing the final clean sketch that will be scanned and my base for the digital work.

problem: Call me stupid but i really stick to the height x width proportion and if it's not correct in my thumb i mess it up in my final sketch as well. So I came up with the idea of doing a template and thanks to my awesome bf who has everything in the depts of our monster-pax (for all ikea nerds: 3,5 meters, 70 cm deep and I hate-love it) I got a thick matte foil we seemed to have for ages. I printed out my original template in the correct size and since the foil is transparent the rest is easy. Mark the edges, cut with scissors, done.

If anybody starts making annoying sounds: guys, this one is really priceless. I know everybody tends to measure or take print outs for storyboards, daily comics or do it freehand, but a template is GOLD.

It takes some time to do one and I would suggest a thin, strong matte foil (mine measures.. .uh... 0.3 mm if I measured correctly) because you can still cut it with scissors and it's flexible enough to have a long life option.

As I said, some people might find this entry annoying. I didn't invent the wheel but I save a lot of time for the rest of my work. :D

And working with a ruler when you're in the metro is a bit complicated. The template fits easily into the back-pouch of the Moleskine (thanks for inventing that pouch... it's so useful).

Seven days after the whole sickness thing started: I can SMELL again. Wow! But coffee still tastes weird :( Crap!

Happy Saturday

I´m still waiting for my new coloured pencils to arrive :( I hope those will be here next week. I have some requested illustrations I won´t be able to do with Photoshop. arggg! >_<


Pong in his fridge. He got a sun-burn...


working on commissions... (weeee!)
(pencil is a TK9400 - 2H, Faber Castell)


my new classic pen. I love this one. It´s slimmer than the normal Intuos pen and made of plastic without rubber wrap but I like it more like that. The rubber tended to crack up.... I guess it won´t happen with this one and it´s easier for me to clean. But again... 80 bucks!


weee!² I still need some wooden boxes for my monitors. "Harry Potter" and a book of Jimmy Carter won´t do it forever... o_o

Before & After

Some things change..

My desk for the last six months. I cleaned everything today, packed the acrylics back into a box, ripped off the paper, scrubbed hours to get rid of the tape-glue and threw away old jars with old color. It was kinda sad.

That´s how my table looks now. What a huge difference. I haven´t seen the glas-inlay for ages and I have no idea if I ever gonna use it before I move. Guess not. Next additional table will be one without glas-inlay since it´s odd to have one without any possibilty to use it (PC equipment will move here next week... wee!).

So... I´m still thinking about a new book project. I guess I won´t do anything for the next weeks since I´m busy with agency work (christmas... now... well... >_>; )

My fingercups tickle. Every day I don´t work I get impatient. It´s like my muses are punching me every minute forcing me to move on. "Don´t wait, do it, do it."
Normally the months after a finished book are the most productive ones for me. It´s like all ideas are finally creeping back into my head where Kulla was for six month. So much space to fill.
And still.. I´m kinda sad. Five years with Kulla left a lot of traces.
I´m curious what comes next.

DO NOT PANIC

don´t panic... 5 illustrations in two days... and book-signing... and two illustration corrections. I can do this.. I can... ok, I HAVE to, but it´s still possible that I actually *can* do it.

This gonna be a looonngg night. And next night: as well. I think I´m gonna be sleepy all day in office but well, just a huge illustration and a huge meeting to do. Well... I still have the option of drugging me with ten double shot coffees >_>;

omg, omg, omg

ps... my workspace at daytime. Looks a lot better with daylight. Not that I see it liek that too often ^^;

Office Buddy

he lost his whiskers two years ago :(...
photo kindly donated by office-paparazzo Heiko

strange... just strange

color charts ... after mixing.


bought that one today. Isn´t it ridiculous that somebody invented a lot of brush with so little head? I mean... the thing measures 30 centimeters... the head of it only 4 millimeters(!). It´s even more ridiculous that I bought two of those >_____> (and why do my fingers have the same baby pig color as the canvas????!)

it´s getting more and more crowded. Well... as long as the canvas fits on... and my coffee mug.