Posebook by Silver, you should get it

A few months ago Stephen Silver released an app called Posebook. I wanted it badly, but it was only available for iDevices. That changed this past week. You can now pick up Posebook for your Android device through the Amazon App Store. If you’re interested in improving your art, I highly recommend it.

Posebook is exactly what it sounds like, an electronic book full of poses. You get several costumed characters in a crazy amount of poses, plus silhouettes, hands and faces. Each pose has multiple angles and you can zoom in and flip every image. The app also comes with some short tutorial videos from Stephen and a gallery of images created by talented artists who used Posebook for their drawings. The videos are excellent and I wish there were more of them. They’re really just there to drive you to Stephen’s Schoolism class, which I’m sure is fantastic (side note: if you’re interested in taking a Schoolism class--and you should be because they're awesome--use the link on my website for a discount).

The only downside to the app is that it can be a bit too sensitive when navigating the menus. The UI and overall design feels just like an iPhone app, meaning it was quickly converted and thrown on the Android market. Other than that tiny nuisance, it’s a wonderful app. It looks great on my Droid Razr’s big screen, and until the BlueStacks beta starts, I can use the HDMI out on my phone to see the pictures bigger on my computer monitor.

Here are a couple sketches I did other night.

There are so many poses to choose from. I’m seeking out the ones that I don’t normally draw, stuff at weird angles. Posebook is split into two apps, one has males the other has females. Each app is $10. I’m going to get the female version after my $10 Amazon credit comes in from pre-ordering Mass Effect 3. Even at $20 it’s a great value. The absurd number of poses, the tutorials, and the ability to flip and zoom images elevates Posebook above its traditional paper-bound counterparts. If you have a compatible device and you want to improve your figure drawing skills, get this app.

My Influence map

This is a meme that's been around for a while, but one well worth participating in. We all have different creative influences in our lives. These are mine. They aren't in any order--some influenced me more than others depending on where I was in my life at the time. Some of them continue to influence me, even inspire me at times. What does your influence map look like?

Numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, and 11 are my art influences. You may notice some stylistic similarities between them. They all have a cartoonish, heavily stylized look to them, and they all emphasize smooth flowing lines and detail through simplicity. Number 1, Bobby Chiu, is the most practical influence because I took a class at Schoolism.com taught by him. He gave me personal instruction and tips that helped improve my art a great deal. The art of Penny Arcade influences and inspires, mainly because I’ve been reading the web comic for years and I’ve watched it improve, which is cool. The artist at Penny Arcade, Mike Krahulik, has mentioned Stephen Silver (9) and Ben Caldwell (3) as influences for his art as well. As for Disney’s Aladdin, that was just a watershed moment for me when I was a kid. The animation, the story, the computer animated magic carpet ride (which hasn’t really aged well); it was all amazing to me. I was the only eight year old raving about the quality of animation and design in a movie.

Number 5, video games, influenced me in a number of ways. From the music I listen to, to the stories I’m interested in. I’ve been playing them since I was old enough to grip a controller, so I’m deeply ingrained in game culture. Video game magazines like EGM and Next Generation got me interested in writing and journalism. Watching the technology, storytelling opportunity and industry grow over the years has been a lot of fun. Video games inspire and excite me and it’s great to be a part of the culture as it grows and matures with me. 

That leaves my writing influences.

Number 2 is Stephen King and particularly his book, “On Writing”, which I consider a must for would-be writers. I’ve also always admired King’s characterization skills. He can craft some amazingly deep characters, especially villains.

Number 7 is Christopher Moore. He writes humorous novels, and I’ve read most of them. I like Moore because he writes comedy with heart. He can pull off crass and heartfelt on the same page. His book “Lamb, the Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” is hilarious, well-researched, sad, heartwarming and, like many of his books, a tad bit insane.

Number 8 is mythology in general. I took a course on mythology in grad school and it shifted my entire worldview. There’s a weird connectivity in mythology that spans cultures, classes, religions and continents. It’s fascinating. Joseph Campbell, the author of “The Power of Myth” and other influential books on mythology, spent his life drawing meaning from and interpreting mythology. His work has influenced numerous storytellers, most famously George Lucas and the original (as in, not the crappy one) Star Wars trilogy.

Finally there’s number 10, “Life of Pi”. It’s one of the few books I’ve read multiple times, and the only book I have more than two copies of. I think I read it at an important time in my life, because Pi’s journey struck a chord that continues to resonate. I enjoy his quest for spirituality—with his earnest and honest mixing of religions—in the early part of the book as much as I like the harrowing journey at sea with the tiger.

There are other influences I could have included, but I tried to narrow it down to the biggest influencers. I also had to really think about which things influenced me and which inspire me. My inspiration map would be much larger and feature some of the artists and writers above. 

Happy Holidays from the Lights

Love, Austin, Brooke, Parker and Berkeley (in spirit)

I illustrated our Christmas card last year, and Brooke thought it would be fun if we made it a tradition. Having a baby and a sick dog slowed down my card production this year, so if you didn't get one in the mail, feel free to print this one off and stick it on your mantel. Have a great holiday weekend!

Berkeley Light, July 2008 - Dec 2011

Today we said goodbye to a good dog and a great friend. 

When he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer in September, the same week our son was born, they told us he’d have around six months to live. Unfortunately, because he was so young, the cancer was more aggressive than expected. When the bad days started to outweigh the good, we took him in to the vet. We hoped he would have made it to Christmas (he’s on our cards), but he couldn't even make it through the weekend. We were supposed to take him in to our primary vet on Monday, but he was in so much pain he couldn't even sleep. I took him in to the 24 hour place at 11:30 on Saturday. We’re keeping his stocking on the mantel this year.

It’s not fair of course. He didn’t have any of the health problems that normally plague bulldogs. He was an unusually healthy bulldog, except for the rare, never-before-seen-by-our-vets cancer. Still, he had a great life, and he was loved. His last couple of months were good ones. He got to meet our son, Parker, and I’m pretty sure he liked him, or at least the taste of his feet. Brooke’s maternity leave meant he had a never ending string of visitors that spoiled him and fed him treats. Thank you to those that came during that time. You took all of our minds off of his pain.

I said it before, and it remains true; the feeling I have when I think about Berkeley is overwhelming gratitude. He was our first dog, and the first member of our little family. He accompanied us on an adventure from Arkansas to Charlotte, to two apartments and a house, through several jobs, our first child and all the emotional highs and lows that come with those major life changes. He was our constant. Our plucky, goofy, and always loving bulldog. He taught us things about ourselves—important lessons on how to care for something—and reminded us through the ups and downs what was really important: family.

Above all, he loved us with that magical, unconditional love of a loyal dog. He died knowing that we loved him in return, but I still feel like he didn’t know about our gratitude. Dogs don’t really need it, I think. They’re content to love you, as you love them, that’s all they want. But I am thankful, more than he knew, more than I can ever express. When we were down, he carried the burden of our heavy emotions on his broad, squatty shoulders. He shared in our triumphs too--usually in the form of new toys (he had way too many of those) and tasty treats. In short, he was our best friend. Family.

So, for one last time, thank you Berkeley. Thank you for everything you were and everything you always will be to us. We miss you. 

Digital Painting Lesson 7: Vector Art

The Lesson
This lesson was a fun one because I’ve always had an interest in vector art. What’s kept me from acting on that interest has been the pen tool. I hate the pen tool. Correction, I hated the pen tool. Now I love it, and it’s all thanks to Bobby.

See the pen tool is crucial when creating vectors, it allows for crisp, clean edges, scalable shapes, and multiple paths. I’ve tried many times to master the pen tool, I even followed Adobe’s own tutorials in one of their Classroom In a Book lessons and I still couldn’t grasp it. In just minutes, Bobby had me using the tool like a pro. The way he explained it while providing examples totally demystified it for me.

So for this lesson we had to take the sketch below and using just the pen tool (we did bring in some brushes and textures at the end to finish it off), we had to make this cactus come to life. The colored dots on Bobby’s sketch acted as the palette for coloring the scene.



The Critique
I really enjoyed this lesson; it was fun to see it go from a flat shape to something that pops. The balloon  wasn’t part of the lesson, but after finishing it, and looking at the cactus’ expression, I felt like that would be funny to have in there. Every time I look at it I can just here him screaming, “Ahhhh!” and then blowing as hard as he can to keep it away. I gave myself four stars on this one because I wasn’t sure what to do after adding the balloon. I thought it clashed with the sun and I wasn’t sure if I should keep it in the picture, make it smaller, or just get rid of it.
Bobby gave me five stars (!), a perfect score. His only critique was that it probably would have been a good idea to remove the sun. He quickly took it out with some local colors and the picture as a whole worked much better without it.

This was a relatively easy lesson and it came together quickly, but the things I learned were extremely valuable going forward. I’m working on a children’s book right now for very young children and the simple vector art style is perfect for that age group.