Wednesday, July 19, 2006

CAMTASIA VIDEO--"Look at me, Ma! I'm drawin!"

Here is a Camtasia recording I made of me using Adobe Illustrator. Camtasia records just the image of my monitor so you don't have to look at my ugly mug while I'm drawing. Plus I don't have to get dressed. see! it's a win/win situation for us all.

If this sucker posts ok I'll go ahead and buy Camtasia and do more of these. Now If I can use my new mic to record my voice and Camtasia to record what I'm doing this site will be a lot better. It's so much easier to draw and tell you what I did than to write words. Stupid words! :)







11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw the drawing, but I didn't hear anything... there was no voice, right?

Anonymous said...

I wasn't able to tell, but did you have any under drawing there? Or were you just making it up on the fly? I'm really intrigued by the idea of drawing in Illustrator though. I have it and almost never open it. I use Painter for everything, but I hate the pixilation from when I'm zoomed in. If I could get a handle on AI, I think I'd like it MUCH better.

Unknown said...

There was no voice. You are correct.

I'll start making more of these soon, Gary!

There was no under drawing. I just went in and drew the picture. Nothing too impressive. Just trying out the Camtasia features.

Gary Seaward said...

Wow, Your stuff is amazing. I recently bought a Wacom Tablet, and am now trying to get the hang of 'inking'. your style looks great. Unfortunately, I don't have Illustrator, only Photoshop 7.... can I still achieve these effects?

Unknown said...

I'm sure Photoshop can handle the stuff I do in Illustrator. Photoshop is such a powerhouse I don't think there is much it can't do in the right hands.

However, there are some things I do that Illustrator handles perfectly and Photoshop can't compete.

One example is the ability to grab any line I put down and move it. Even if one black line crosses over another black line. In Photoshop i would have to go in and cut it out. Illustrator lets me just click on the line and I can move it easily.

There are some other features with the Layer system I love in Illustrator. It's a lot easier for me to lock layer in Illustrator than Photoshop even though PS has a locking system. The icon is bigger in Illy and I can click it faster.

I can draw a lot faster in Illy as well. I never have seen Photoshop keep up with my sketching speed. It may be the computer I use but that's all I have so it makes sense for me to use the best tool for the job.

If you want to try Illustrator there is a 30 day free tril at Adobe. You might give it a shot.

Gary Seaward said...

Thanks Brian, I'll check out the Illustrator trial asap. I've allready now tried to adapt your inking style by using the Lasso tool in Photoshop, and have had some success
p.s. Your Iron Man looks great, I can't wait to read it

Anonymous said...

Brian, but even that short tutorial was enough to stimulate my brain! I've been the one asking technical questions and about there being no sound, but dang, even without sound man it was eye opening. I just used Illi in ways I had never considered, I was stuck thinking vector and you expanded my horizons on that!!! I did the whole picture in Illi --

http://www.deviantart.com/view/37477228/

the underdrawing I did on paper and scanned in -- it was a very rough sketch just the balance of the figures on the page. I designed the lettering (cake in illustrator right?) and "inked" the whole drawing in Illi, then colored it in Illi (poorly, but I learned how not to color in Illi). A couple more pieces and I will feel totally comfortable drawing in Illi -- man I can't thank you enough!

Unknown said...

I checked out your Deviantart site and I love the page you did. Some of your lines will get better as you go. I saw some of the stuff I used to do in your work. It's just a matter of getting used to drawing in Illi. (I hate calling it Illi but I hate typing I L L U S T R A T O R more.)LOL

After looking through your gallery I was even more excited by the comic work you are doing in Illi. I really like your art style, first of all, and art in Illustrator is just great!

My ex-wife has some of my Japanese manga that ahsn't shown up in the states yet and there is this one guy who resembles your work. he's one of my top fav manga artists. I sure can't remember his name though!

His work had these fantastic background scenes like yours with a lot of detail but very elegant in it's simplicity.

You keep up the good work on that book. I'm going to watch you on my devart site.

I hope you stick around here too. I should be posting more soon. Plus witin a month I'll get the camtasia program and start making more of these videos.

Please, everyone tell any artists out there about this site. The more folks we have learning this way of doing art then the faster we'll all be able to improve!

Anonymous said...

Very cool!! I can't wait to see one where you're explainin' what you're doin'!

Do you find it easier to draw from scratch in Illustrator or to draw by hand first and use that for reference? I'm still practicing with making a vector graphic without drawing it by hand first... but it never comes out _exactly_ how I thought it would. Sometimes it is better, sometimes worse. (Granted lately I'm drawing more in Flash than in Illustrator in preparation for animations I will one day be doing...)

That last guy does have a VERY cool cartoon style, too! And some kick-ass zombies!

~M

Unknown said...

I draw straight into Illustrator. I bought a sketchbook a few months ago because I missed drawing on paper so much. But I only draw in that when my kids are at McDonalds playground and I'm just sitting there with nothing to do.

I have noticed it's getting harder for me to draw on paper. My hand can't hold the pencil or bic pen (my preferred tool of choice) without a great deal of pain. Meanwhile I can draw all day with my wacom tablet and never feel any pain at all.

Back when I was drawing on paper my hands would cramp bad. I'd crack them and stretch them out and use a stress ball but they still hurt. Not so much anymore drawing on the computer like I am.

when I first started draiwng in Illustrator and wasn't sure if I could draw a comic or anything with the program I just sat there for a few days drawing every line and shape I could imagine. There are freguesnt lines you make while drawing the body so i would redraw those over and over until I taught my hand how to draw on the computer. It's harder than paper in a way because you can't rotate your art area as quick and easy as you can on real paper.

I'm still learning how to make some lines. I'm on the 4th issue of Iron Man and I am now making lines cleaner and better than when i started this series. And when I did the first issue I was so excited that I was doing better art and cleaner lines than on Illustrator. So I am doubling my abilities as I go!

It'll get easier! Believe me.

Gary Seaward said...

Hi Brian,
after trying to adapt your inking method to work in Photoshop, I have just finished my first pic! I'd love it if you could check it out at http://hero-chronicles.blogspot.com/

It's the top pic with the caption "Eidolon Flying High.... but will it last?"

Thanks for your time.