Cay Denise

In a recent Washington Post article, it's author challenges a recent U.S. Copyright Office decision.  The question asked was who owns the copyright to images generated using artificial intelligence.  In the case of a graphic novel by Kristina Kashtanova, the answer was:  No one does.   Here is a link to that article.  Please note you may need a subscription to access it. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/27/artificial-intelligence-copyright-decision-misguided/  

As a participant in Sketchbook Revival 2023, each guest instructor provided a free gift to the people who took their session.  Helen Wells was one of the instructors I studied with and she provided a short video workshop on 'Interesting Shapes'.  Helen is an artist from England whose work I love for its originality, bold colors, and her detailed use of patterning/mark-making. As a result, I've been working on a piece this week with Bristol Paper for the substrate and using Bic Intensity and Muji pen (both black) for outlining and detail work plus Sharpie and Posca pens for the color and non-black decorative elements. What I like in this are the patterned portions intended for those areas to recede into the background; the pink dots (over the yellow) that echo a few of the green lines in the bottom; and the overall color choices. What I get from this piece is the sense of giving oneself a warm self-hug.  How this comes through for me is from the green and purple/dark blue ...

Although the 5-minute sketch doesn't have eyes, I think the bones are there.  In the finished work, I love how scribbling can create marks that suggest big, curly hair!  For about 40 minutes work, this came out quite well.  I like the fact that her upward glance was captured and that I think you can tell she's wearing layers of leaf earrings.       

The 5-minute sketch below actually has the bones of the drawing.  You almost don't need the eyes or mouth to tell what the face is going to look like.  The headpiece, detail and shading gives the piece more form, but you probably had an idea of what it was going to look like by glancing at the 5-minute version.   That's what a 5-minute sketch is meant to do...capture the 'bones'!       

This 5-minute sketch you can probably guess is a female with big hair or a bit hat.  An additional 32 minutes helped flesh out the face, the look and the hair.  The sketch was done with a (Muji) pen, and the detail was added with that pen and mechanical pencil (2B). I like the hair, cheek and neck shading while I see the right ear is a bit too high.  I'm liking the image overall especially the depth that the hair shading gives the image.       

I don't think there is anyone who could wear an Egyyptian nemes better than Yul Brynner, the actor who played Ramsesses II in 'The Ten Commandments' movie.   As a 5-minute sketch, the bones of his character are there.  But without the eyes--it's not a dead giveaway that it is Mr. Brynner.  With the added detail and shading, there is a much stronger suggestion of who it is.  I think it comes across through the lips and the eyes.  Is there something else that clued you in aside from those two things?     

My fellow classmates and I are in the final project phase of the PSE3 class led by instructors Deb Cashatt and Kris Sazaki, The Pixeladies.  It has been a terrific course! For the final project, I've designed a repeating pattern (below) to print as a long scarf.  I'm not sure yet whether to make the scarf myself or have it printed and finished by a vendor.  I'm in the process of obtaining fabric samples, color charts, and size and cost information from vendors that will help me decide what company to order from. This will affect whether it will involve full-service or fabric printing only.      I'm very pleased with this design plus amazed with the capability of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2023.  I like the program so much better than the cloud version of Photoshop. I haven't mentioned picture editing, but we've done some of that in PSE3 though it isn't a focus of the course because most of the participants are quilters and visual artists.   If you w...

The hardest part of this one was deciding on the color of the background.  For contrast, it needed something dark on one side and a lighter color on the other.  What I was looking for was a light lavender.  But there are no Sharpies of that color in my collection.  So, I chose a darker purple for the right side.  I tried grey on the left and found it too dark.  So, I covered it up with the same purple and lightened it with a pearlescent white mixed with a tad of blue and violet (the dots).  The reason for doing that is to help the purple in the hair on that side to 'pop' a bit.  The pearlescent dot color was also used for the highlights in the eyes.   

What a great day to sit outside and make fun art!  I love working with Sharpie pens, and it is best to work with them in a well-ventilated area...the temperate outdoors being the perfect place!

It's so interesting to see the my choices of lines made in the 5-minute sketches below.  I get a feel for each image, though most don't have enough information to actually anticipate what the final drawing ends up looking like. I use a pen to sketch because it requires commitment to the line.  Not every line is right.  Sometimes a line results in a face being too narrow, too short, or too long; the nose being too low; the tilt of the head being off, etc. Anything can happen.  That said, it's the commitment to practice and not being shy about working on things that may not work out.  That also means mistakes are important.  They help us to see patterns of our mistake-making that we can learn from and work on correcting.   For example, I tend to underestimate the space needed for a face with hair to fit within my substrate size. You can see two of the efforts below have hair that goes off the top of the page.   In order to work on weak areas -- it i...

How were you raised to argue/debate for your points of view, your ideas, or were you one who learned to 'go along to get along'?  Were you someone who could see a better way of doing something and bring it up?  If so, was there a recognition that it might work and was implemented, and later the results measured to see if it had worked?  Did you not bring something up because the way it was being done was the way it has always been done? These are just some questions that I'm thinking about after reading an article about using 'creative abrasion' as a source of energy.  It is an interesting perspective from two men - principles of bringing 'The Incredibles' to the screen.  Their working relationship is based on a tension between them of creative abrasion.  It's where they both have differing strong ideas/opinions they weakly hold.  That means they can debate (and maybe argue for) their ideas/opinions that they willingly entertain changes to in order to ...

A second lovely day of working outdoors in the sun.  These, plus the other ones done recently, are like a Renaissance...a revival of the type of work I was doing last year.  Color and fun started bursting forth in delightful Sharpie pieces then and is making its reappearance now. Welcome Spring!      

Yesterday's practice effort was done with Muji pen and pencil.  I'm liking the head tilt and the similar tilt of the eyes.  I also like the hair where the line work shows the rise at the hairline and the the wavy area that is in light.  I also like the visible suggestion of some areas of curl.   Did you notice the eyes are a bit different in size or not until I mentioned it?  I didn't notice it until posting the photo.  It actually doesn't bother me because the look from each eye is so consistent.       

On such a beautiful day...it was perfect for making Sharpie pen art outside.  With the time that has passed since making these kinds of little lovelies, it took a bit longer to make these -- though the process is just as engaging as it ever was.  

The Smithsonian selected collections available through open access!

Yesterday's effort is a scene.  The sketch was done in pen.  To build on that, the completed work was finished with pencil and colored pencils.   My intention was to achieve a sense of perspective and depth. If the dress had been a light blue for example, the figure would have 'popped' better due to color contrast.  As it is, the wall in the background is quite prominent and somewhat diminishes her presence or her as the subject of the scene.   If I were to do this image again, I'd use watercolor instead of the colored pencils because there I think I would have been able to achieve a greater variety of lights and darks versus this one.  

Nearing the end of Class 3 on Photoshop Elements, we continue learning more about the program -- now we're into repeating patterns and masking.  I can see where a constant practice will be needed to maintain the program knowledge I've learned plus explore the many other options we haven't had time for. Love this one!

Aside from the work, I'm having such fun learning Photoshop Elements with the Pixeladies! With the program's tools, there is nothing like pushing one's imagination to see what can emerge.  So, I used two drawings as source images for project work yesterday.  One is an abstract, the other is a face.  Because I love symmetry and mandalas, I like creating 4-patch patterns that are symmetrical.  Through the course, I've now learned how to use the program to create a repeating design with 4-patches.   Here is the abstract source image that was color-edited followed by the resulting 4-patch: I know it's hard to believe, but the bottom image is four of the upper images arranged in a symmetrical pattern.   Next is a face I drew earlier in the year that has been color-edited plus multiple filters and a gradient applied.  The second photo is of the 4-patch created from it, and the third is the repeating pattern of the 4-patch.  In the last photo, through an...

It's Week #3 of class where my classmates and I are learning the 'Italic' style.  It is like learning cursive and takes practice, practice, practice.  Just look at the variation between the letters in the practice sheet below.  They may look the same, but they're not.  Those that have been circled are considered good. All the lettering is being done with a dip pen (and small calligraphy nib) plus ink.  So far with 15 practice pages under my belt, there is still so much more to learn and practice including the majiscules (aka the style's capital letters), numbers, and proper spacing when using the letters to create words.   The practice is a kind of meditation -- in that there is repetition with concentration/noticing, and I'm enjoying it (the class too).  I'm also awed by the skill and knowledge of our instructor and feel fortunate to be studying with Sara!    

I'm very pleased with this practice effort (in Muji pen and pencil).  The completed drawing has a lot of texture and dimension that really gives a sense of the woman's features (cheek, lips, ear, shadow under chin) and the direction in which she is looking.  The hair was a challenge to do as the cornrows were so tiny at their start nearest the hairline while growing larger as they move away from the face.  You get a sense of them though.   When striving to draw a new-to-you hairstyle that may be outside your comfort zone, what approach do you take to draw it?     

Karen Abend hosted this year's Sketchbook Revival.  In this free two-week event, participants are exposed to a range of art instruction (from a total of 28 guest instructors) to inspire, energize and revive creatives.  Daily emails were sent with two instructors' video links each day.  You could choose to review them or not based on the description of each offering. I found this year's event was exceptional for me!  Tamara LaPorte is always dynamite with her fantastical art.  She founded and has been a teacher of the Life Book program for many years.  As a participant in a few of those year-long programs, I speak from experience.    Within the last year, I connected with Helen Wells from England and love her bold, abstract and colorful work. For the Revival, she put together a quick lesson of combining different kinds of shapes/marks on a page and then coloring them in however you wanted.  My result is what you see below. Then there was Karen...

Using the image in from yesterday's post, I've cropped the edited version to make into scarf size.  Then I've played with colors and filters to transform the cropped portion into something with bright patterning and far from being as recognizable as in the mandala.   If you were shopping for a scarf, would this design delight your eye?  

Photoshop Elements can do sooo much, and I love it! I'm learning so many capabilities and shortcuts in the program from The Pixeladies!  In one of our assignments, I've digitally edited a photo of a mandala done earlier this year.  The digital alterations include: Changing the oval frame into a gradation between two colors Filling in the streamers with turquoise and yellow at a reduced opacity level Filling in the faces using a darken blending mode to keep the shading visible from the drawing beneath Filling in the hair, the collar, etc. with color - also using the darken blend mode to ensure lines from the drawing beneath are still visible Darkening the maroon center embellishment What a huge difference these changes make.  It has so much more energy with the enhanced color...especially the faces that have come alive as well.  Do you use a mobile app or program to alter your art work -- whether for fun or for business?  Do you normally know what you want to do ...