Photoshop CS3

While the basic functions seem to be the same, the latest version of Photoshop has a different UI. I like that the bars are taller and thinner now (and docked on the right side), with more of the menus hidden. While this may occasionally add additional mouse clicks to certain tasks, having a leaner UI is really nice for those of us who do not have huge monitors. Here’s a screenshot (I didn’t draw that image) as an example of what I mean.

I recently learned that ALT + PrtScn will take a screenshot of just the active window.

Pen Tool Rocks

Time for more pen tool babble. Ok first off, the pen tool is just uber-amazing. It does take a little while to get used to, but once you get the hang of it, it suddenly becomes pretty much the best way to ink drawings. I still like to sketch with the tablet, but I now love the pen tool as well.

Ender, since you don’t have a tablet, you may want to try this out! You could just scan in a picture, and then clean it up by inking with the pen tool.
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The Pen is Mightier Than the Sword

Although I’ve tried various programs before, the one I feel most comfortable in is Photoshop (by far). I’ve been seeing some truly amazing vector traces lately, and I’ve decided that the next skill I want to work on is mastering the pen tool.
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Trying Poser

I was looking online last night for programs that could simulate a wooden mannequin. I don’t have room on my desk to be placing a light source and mannequin, and I don’t have enough (or any) art training to picture it in my head. What I really wanted was a way to see how light shines on a model in certain poses, since i think my coloring skills need a lot of work.

I could only find two programs for this purpose:

• Poser: Really expensive to purchase. However, Poser 7 seems quite powerful, and some of the stuff you can create is pretty amazing.
• DAZ|Studio: DAZ|Studio and some of the figures are free. For other pre-created stuff, you have to pay. It doesn’t seem as powerful as Poser, but if I didn’t know about Poser, I’d probably be satisfied with DAZ|Studio.

Both programs seem to have fairly steep learning curves. This is not too surprising considering that most of the programs I try to use for art are not really newbie-friendly (still stuck on how to use Painter). However, I liked the controls and capabilities for Poser a lot more, so I think I’ll stick with trying to learn that one. The light controls are better, and it was easier to pose the figure exactly how I wanted it.

Poser does not run all that fast on my new computer, so I am assuming it is a bit of a resource hog. I was completely unable to figure out how to create hair, so I was stuck posing a bald model for most of the night. However, I did figure out how to work the light controls and various display modes (mostly using either textured or sketch) within a reasonable amount of time. I want to eventually figure out how to make simple hair and clothes so I can reference how folds and hair are affected by light changes, but for now the program seems to suit my purposes. I’m definitely not into creating 3D art, but I think this may help my drawings.