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  Some assembly required but ink is hereOct 11, 2011 6:34 AM PDT | url
 
Added 1 new A* page:The final version of my "Girls in Space" guest art is now up on the "Girls in Space" webcomic site. "Girls in Space" is a lighthearted webcomic romp--with girls, in space--by James Spence, and you might just enjoy it.
 
Today's page is the first one done in ink wash rather than the ol' Photoshop "Lasso Tool." I feared it would be a disaster but I at least didn't spill ink everywhere, so that's a plus. I had it done hours ago but then I had to reprogram the comic display scripts to display .jpg files (heretofore all the comic images were all .png files), and--as usual with me and scripting--it took a while because I always overlook something. :P So I did break the front page one or two times there, but it's all sorted out now (or at least it will be if this news article posts correctly >_>), so huzzah!
 
Rather fortuitously, the little drawing table my very kind parents had gotten for me and this crazy painting venture (last time I painted was like 15 years ago with oil paints in college) arrived late last week, and I got it put together today just in time to start real painting work--although the assembly was a bit trickier than I had figured it would be, as the top came separate from the legs, and there were no screw holes or anything in the top to attach it to the legs--AND the manufacturer's measurements on where to make the holes were off by about a quarter inch. I mean why don't I just go and saw down some trees and do it all myself, manufacturer? Oh yeah AND some of their screws were defective; fortunately they included some extra ones, I suppose because they have a high defect rate. :P
 
Anyway I eventually got it set up and only gored myself with my pocket knife's awl punch about twice in the process--didn't even draw blood! Sweet. It's a "Berkeley" folding drawing table by Martin Universal Design (it came from here, although the legs ended up being white rather than black, hmm), and I chose it because it was the only one that went high enough for a standing drawing table--up to 53", whereas the others I could find only went up to like 46" or so max. The other rather handy thing about it for my work space is that it's relatively tiny for a drawing/drafting table (3"x2"), and fairly light, and can be folded up and moved for um like when I need to do something else in my little studio apartment. Here it was with the page drying on it--you'll notice other details of my apartment around it which you will not of course be at all interested in:
 
Image
 
(That "Pink Pearl" eraser is just there to hold my ink bottle in place on the slightly sloped table top--I wouldn't actually try to erase something with one of those, bleh!)
 
(Oh yeah and I'm now using Strathmore's "Vellum"-surface Bristol board for the painting; the painting I showed Friday was on their "Smooth"-surfaced Bristol, but the ink kinda washed around it too much and couldn't pile up into the blackest of blacks like I really wanted; "Vellum" on the other hand is a bit rougher and gets the blackness down nicely! The packaging says it's for "dry media," but the ink seems to like it all the same, and the brush can bite into the surface better, giving some dry brush effects and so forth that I couldn't get on the other surface. It's very slightly less blindingly white than the "Smooth" is, lending everything a slightly darker tone, which I suppose is appropriate; it also means I can use my white ink for highlights, but not as easily for corrections, so hm well this will be interesting.)
 
The table seemed a bit rickety when I set it up but for the first page at least it has performed like a champ. Hopefully it and my puny apartment last for many more pages!
 
The next thing I gotta work on is getting some store stuff going so whoever is crazy enough to want to have one of these lovely paintings for themselves can buy one right through the site. Hopefully I can get that done in the next eh two or three days, so then I can get on to other things like maybe even eventually doing more than just one darn page a day. =P
 
 
 
 
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