Post-Poned

Hi friends! Glad to see you again. Todays post, and possibly Thursday's post also, will be held for another date. As a result of schedule complications and heavy workload, the time allotment I had set aside to write about image focus was made non-existent. Incoming posts will hopefully be made by Thursday, but next Tuesday at the latest. Thanks for stopping by, and hope to see you again soon!

Intro to Sharpness - With Blur

Today's post talks about sharpness, which I talked about a little bit in my last post. If you want to reference the last post while you read this one, you can open it by clicking here. If you read Tuesday's post about sharpness, you might not really understand how sharpness works because I used simple gradients and swatches to demonstrate it's effect. Today we'll take a quick look into how sharpness affects a photograph as opposed to simple shapes.

Here's the picture I took on my phone for Tuesday's post. If you click on it, it will enlarge and you can get a pretty good idea of some of the detail that's in there. It's really easy to tell that the image is fairly sharp, meaning that it has a decently high intensity of sharpness. Now that you've seen it in its normal state, check out this image below, and notice how it changes when there is a very

Intro to Contrast Part 3 - With Sharpness

Hi friends, and welcome to the marvelous month of March! I hope everyone has been enjoying 2016 so far.

So, in last weeks post about contrast I mentioned sharpness and how it relates to contrast. Today I'm going to go a little bit deeper and explain some more about both.


Contrast sort of has what you could call "levels of intensity." These levels could be described as an area where contrast exists, but may be more or less exaggerated depending on how rapidly a shift in value occurs.

Sharpness is the word artists and designers use to express how rapidly a shift in value occurs. Take these examples below and then let me explain how they work.

In the very top section, there's a 100% black swatch, and a 0% black swatch (the white is represented as 0% black because, in the field of printing, ink is applied to paper at anywhere from

Intro to Contrast Part 2

There are two steps you can take when thinking about contrast that will really help you understand what you're seeing. The first step is to judge the distance in values, or how far apart your lightest value is from your darkest value. The second step is to judge the rate at which the values shift from lightest value to darkest value.

Step 1
Pure black to pure white is a very large shift, and so would create a higher level of contrast. On the other end of the scale, a dark gray to a light gray would be a very low level of contrast. This is the example I showed in my  Intro to Contrast Part 1  post, where the first image had a very small value shift from it's darkest dark to it's lightest light. More contrast requires deeper blacks and brighter whites.
Step 2
The more sudden the shift happens between a lighter value and a darker value, the more contrast the eye will notice and be attracted to. If you put a deep black right up against a bright white, there is a huge contrast between the two, because of their opposite levels of value and their proximity to each other. If instead you put a smooth gradient that passes from your deep black to your bright white you will still have contrast from the deep black and the bright white, however it will be less jarring as there is very little shift between each individual value. The more shift between each value level, the more contrast will be apparent. It will also create a level of sharpness, which I will talk about in a future post.

Intro to Contrast Part 1

Let me show you two images I took this morning and think to yourself which one you think looks better as an image. Remember, if you want to take a closer look you can click to enlarge them.

I'm guessing you would prefer staring for 80 hours at the bottom picture instead of the top picture. On their own, each of these images might have unique characteristics with their own appeal to any given viewer, but as a general rule, the image on the bottom will draw attention quicker. Why, you ask? Contrast is the answer!

Contrast is a feature our eyes have been able to perceive since our very early stages of development. Starting even as far back as micro-organisms, the single-cell creatures that could better determine the contrasts between light and dark values had a better chance of survival. Knowing when there's a threat, and avoiding predators was something that must have been critically difficult for creatures that couldn't make those distinctions, so it makes sense that the better ability would be passed down through the generations as a result of natural selection.

An easy way to think about contrast is the shift in value levels, and how quickly the shift happens. The more separation between the darkest dark value level and the lightest light value level in an image will determine how much contrast is in the image. The space between the light and dark areas will also change how we see contrast, the closer together the lights and darks are, the more contrast there will be. If there is a lot of space between the light and dark areas, usually in the form of a gradient, the contrast will remain at the same level, but will be a much smoother shift. I will explain more about this in Thursday's post, so check back then!

Intro to Value Part 3

Essentially, all of the value levels we see are within a certain range. Our eyes can adjust to make this range have more or less light coming into our eyes, but all the values still fit into their original scale.

The value shift in the far right square that goes from it's white background to light gray lines, is the same amount of shift happening between the gray background and the black lines in the far

Intro to Value Part 2

Hi friends! In last week's post I started to talk a little bit about the value scale and one way you can think about it to understand it a little bit better. Today I'm going to get a little bit deeper into how our eyes perceive the value scale, and how you can use that to your advantage as a visual element.

Our eyes have been trained to understand saturation in almost everything we see. A good way to think about saturation is in terms of a scale, or how much of something is in a specific area. In the image I created above for this demo, the darkest area in the bottom is the most saturated with lines, and the lightest areas in the top corners are the least saturated.

Intro to Value Part 1

Let me start today's post with some imagination. Have you ever been in a very dark corridor or room, and opened a door to the outside on a bright sunny day causing you to be temporarily blinded by the light? Our eyes work as an aperture which dilates and narrows to gauge how much or how little light, respectively, we perceive. Understanding how that works is a great first step into understanding value, and how to represent it, which is useful especially in art with the purpose of rendering.

Let's start with cross-hatching because it's a common, and simple, tool often used in sketching to represent values. I will represent the value by adjusting the density, and not adjusting the thickness, of the strokes.

Notice that the far left example is much lighter than the far right example. This is because the density of the lines changes from spread to dense. They don't grow thicker to make the shape darker, they become dense, and the appearance becomes darker. When the space between the lines increases, more of the white paper beneath is visible, and our eyes associate the white (or blankness) as light.

Check out part 2 by clicking here!

January Review

Hi friends, glad to see you back again! January brought this blog lots of great sketches. Today I've got just a short review and a fun little image to wrap it all up.

Sketching is definitely a good pastime. If you haven't yet, be sure to read some of January's posts, there's some really neat information in a few of them! The general idea is to keep sketching, and allow your mind to have something nice to do. Freedom of the mind is a great exercise for understanding as well as relaxing. Need a break from the business of day-to-day life? Try makin' a sketch! It doesn't have to matter to anyone but you, so long as you're having fun.

Portland's First Thursday

February has arrived! We are now a full month into this new year, 2016. One way to entertain yourself for a night is to take part in the First Thursday event in Portland, Oregon. If you happen to be in the area and you don't know what First Thursday is, it's a once-a-month event where galleries open their doors with new shows of a variety of local artists work. If you would like to find more information, you can read about it at PADA's website, or by looking up "First Thursday Portland" in a Google search.

I'll be around checking out some of the galleries myself tonight, and I definitely recommend it to anyone close enough to visit. Just be sure to bring a coat and possibly an umbrella, this winter weather can get cold and wet!

More Sketching

Hey, and welcome back! For today's post I have a few more sketches to bring to you. First off, a work-in-progress sketch of a portrait taken a while back.

Portraits are really a nice thing. The best part is, they have been used throughout history to such

Post-Poned

Check back Tuesday for a full post. Have a good weekend everybody, see you next week!

Desk Mouse Sketch

Last week's drapery post was fun. An interesting discussion led to a short little chat about sketching. If you haven't read it yet be sure to check it out! If you've read last weeks post and you liked the sketch you might also like today's post. Here's another sketch I did earlier as I was at my desk

I've seen these goofy little mice on desks all over the place. Ever seen one like this? Thursday's post may or may not come with another sketch. Posting may slow for the next week as a deadline for one of my course assignments approaches. Don't forget, you can always go back and read older posts again. There's a button at the bottom of the page when you scroll down that will take you back to some older posts which might not show up on the front page.

Drapery

Did I mention in my last post that drapery makes great studies for drawing? In case you didn't know, drapery makes great studies for drawing. Because setting up a drapery still life isn't really a common thing outside of the purposeful artists, it may not be the first thought to the casual sketcher or the hobby artist. Here's a study I did recently

This drawing was not so quick as the sketches from my last post. The overall time elapsed from start to finish couldn't have been more than a few hours though, not something that would take more than a day if I had planned the time to complete it in one sitting. As a reminder, sketching and drawing is always a fun activity, and a good conceptual exercise. It can allow you to get a

Sketches of 2016

I'm sure somewhere in the lives of most of us we have all made a drawing or two. It's a fun activity, and can be used for many purposes. Here are just two sketches I've done since the start of this new year, have a look

Kinda strange, isn't it? It's a bit abstract, and a bit surreal.

This one's a little more simple. Just a quick small life drawing.

It's easy to forget how relieving it can be to sketch. The freedom to leave a drawing unfinished and to return to it later is an ultimate pleasure. Knowing you can always have something to do without restriction is a nice eustress often passed up. I'd always encourage you to sketch, even for

Post-Poned

Check back Tuesday for a full post. Have a good weekend everybody, see you next week!

Bad News Good News

Hi friends. As the quarter continues, more and more work will accumulate from the courses I'm taking. It's unfortunate that posting may suffer from the increased workload. In congruence with last Wednesdays post, increased production will, in fact, streamline content for upcoming posts. During this time, be aware that posting may be late or all-together postponed, and saved for a more apt time.

The experimental Academy Page has now been launched, and will be up for public viewing and updates! You can find this page linked on the list of pages to the right. Unlike the blog, the Academy Page will have no regular updates, and may or may not come in batches of updates. Supposing there is a list of added features worthy of note, I may provide some direction on places of the page that you might not find otherwise. Stay on the lookout though, I might leave some things for you to find on your own!

Swing of Things and The Academy

Hi friends, I hope your week is going well. As we move through this winter season I have a few plans which may be showing up within the next few months. The most noticeable of which may be the addition of a project for a new page to the site called the Academy Page. This will be, for some time, an experimental page meant to open a door to a new possible direction for me. While I may fully recognize myself to be an artist, an art instructor is not a title I can claim... not yet. If and when this trial page becomes available, all are welcome to explore and discover it's contents. Please keep in mind though, these will be early stages, and functionality and content may not be fully structured during that time.

In other news, Winter quarter has now begun. With the onset of new courses and material, posts may lighten as my personal workload grows. Alternatively, the new workload may provide a flow of new content to fill the weekly posts. Regardless, posts will still be kept up-to-date per the scheduled post dates. Because it is still so early on in the quarter it is hard to judge the weekly outcome, but keep watch and I will provide a more detailed schedule soon.

Holidays End

Hi friends! T'was the season, now closing with the initiation of the forthcoming year. Laughs were had, gifts were shared, and company made. A gas fire to warm the hearth, and a close friend to warm the heart. How was your December? Did anything happen worth your memory, or was there nothing to remember?

Winter has begun, and now too will posting resume. Remember, Posts will be published every Tuesday and Thursday at three p.m. Pacific Time. Occasional bonus posts will be made on Sunday. Social media posts are unscheduled, but feel free to watch for extra material. I can't wait to discover what this year has to deliver, and I am certain it will bring better things to come than the previous year.

One can only look backward, and can only expect what is forward. Keep your eyes wide and your mind wider, for without understanding there is no existence.