Posts Tagged ‘ipad’

I’m An Appropriation Artist Now

Yes, it’s true. Not really though. I could never give up “my” art to be a full fledged appropriation artist. I just don’t have it in me. Sort of like how I don’t think I could ever be a full on abstract artist. At least not at this moment in time. With that said, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and play around with the idea of making appropriation art and Jiminy Cricket’s head was just too perfect for the faces I like to paint.

For a long time he lived on my iPad. Just him with a solid white background. It didn’t seem fitting to throw him over the top of one of my typical layered and textured abstract backgrounds. Eventually, I started looking through my photos and came across this one I took in the subway and it seemed to work.

After Jiminy I started making a list of cartoons that I watched as a kid and scoured the internet looking for images that I thought one of my faces would work well with. For some crazy reason I thought this image of Fred Flintstone would work well.

It turned out way uglier than I had anticipated, but that made me laugh and what’s better than cracking up at your own jokes. Nothing! Like Jiminy, I needed a background and found this photo I took one early morning in front of Sunshine Donuts. It seemed to work too.

I watched A LOT of cartoons as a kid, so the list I created is quite long. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get around to making all of them, but it’s been a fun escape from what I normally do.

Hope you enjoyed them.
– Jeff

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Oh yeah, boring BONUS stuff for those of you that want to read about the process. So, I found an image of the character I wanted to appropriate online and saved it on my iPad. Then I used the Procreate app to make the artwork. Procreate is now my go-to art app. I use it more than any of the others. I also use the Apple Pencil and if you draw a lot on an iPad I highly recommend it. It actually has made making digital are a lot more fun for me and I’ve had a big problem with making digital art in the past. Ok, see you next time.

New Video: Making a Timelapse With Procreate And Why I Hate Digital Art

I’m calling him “Truth Seeker”. Anyway, I’ve been using the Procreate app very sporadically since I first downloaded it a few months ago….until now! The past couple of weeks I’ve been using it a lot more and am starting to see that I finally “get” it. Let me explain. Obviously, I get how a drawing app works, but you know when you use something for the first time there is a bit of a learning curve and the only way to understand the thing is to spend time with it? Well, I finally reached a point where I’ve spent enough time with Procreate that I feel a lot more comfortable with it now. I’ve seen and used a lot of the features it offers and there is no doubt why it’s become the industry standard for drawing apps. Even my 6 year old loves it.

He sort of gets it too. Admittedly, the app has so many features and ways to customize brushes and whatnot that I will never be an expert with it, but if a 6 year old can have fun and be creative with it you know you have something awesome on your hands. I sat with him and showed him a few things like how to pick/change colors, brushes, and brush size. He didn’t quite get the idea of using layers, which makes perfect sense because when you’re 6 and used to working with markers and paper there are no layers. You just draw your thing and you color it in. Done.

If you have a minute please check out this video.

If you know me, you should know how uncomfortable I am talking to the camera, but I’d like to go a little deeper about my hang-up with digital art. When you’ve done something one way for 30 years it can be a bit of a challenge to change your ways. At a very young age I stopped drawing with pencils and only used ballpoint pens. It probably has something to do with commitment issues because using a pencil means you can erase what you don’t like. In other words, there is no commitment with a pencil. With a pen I forced myself to deal with whatever I put down on paper. If I drew a face and one eye was bigger than the other eye I had to deal with that imperfection. If I accidentally smeared the ink I would have to turn that smudge into something and work it into the drawing somehow. I’ve always loved this type of inventing and letting chance play a role in the creative process. Digital drawing throws all of that out the window because it’s so easy to erase or undo your last step. Just in the past week I’ve started to get over this hang up of mine and am trying really hard to think of erasing as a tool instead of a hindrance. Using the “undo” option as a benefit as opposed to seeing it as a handicap.

This probably seems obvious, but painting with a brush on a wood panel is different than using an apple pencil on the glass surface of an iPad. Even though I know they are different my problem is that I’ve been thinking of drawing apps this whole time as synonymous with painting. Sort of like how driving one car is practically the same exact experience as driving a different car. You might have to adjust the seat and mirrors, but the steering wheel works the same. The reality is that making digital art on an iPad is wildly different than painting on a wood panel or a canvas. Instead of throwing the two in the same category and thinking of them as being synonymous I should have been thinking that the two are synonymous with creating, not painting. Now that I’ve come to this realization it’s getting easier for me to embrace and enjoy making digital art. It’s a totally different beast and needs to be treated as such. Why am I talking about this? Because making art, whether digital or physical should always be fun. It can and should be challenging at times because that means you’re making progress, but it’s not supposed to make you frustrated or mad and that’s what drawing on the iPad was doing to me. It was making me mad, which is crazy because I love creating and making things. What it comes down to is this. I was using a hacksaw to do the job of a hammer. I was putting a band aid on my elbow when I had a skinned knee. I was boiling an egg when…oh, I don’t know, but you get the picture.

I’m not sure if you’ve had this or a similar hang-up, but the lesson here is something I got from watching Big Hero 6 last night. “Look for a new angle.” If it worked for Hiro it can work for me. Thanks, Tadashi.

Thanks for reading!
– Jeff

P.S. – Spoiler alert, but Tadashi should totally not have been killed. Freaking Disney!

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iPad Doodle: Two Suits And A Little Birdy

Just doodling on the iPad. “Digital finger painting”, we call it.

Short and sweet tonight. I’ve got a movie commentary I want to watch.

Sweet dreams!
– Jeff

Because Random Stuff Is Fun

Scrolling through my phone’s camera roll I came across this stuff from the past week and thought if it’s worthy enough to be on the phone then it is worthy enough to put online for all of you fine people.


I drew this last week when Coral and I were killing time at Bru in Atascadero. I had a delicious smoothie there. Every time I get a smoothie that’s not Jamba Juice it feels weird. It’s sad that I forget other places can also make tasty blended fruit drinks. Oh yeah, that was an iPad drawing done with the Sketchbook Pro app.


A sneak peek at the new studio. Monday was my first day working in there and it felt so great to get out of my garage. I’m really looking forward to setting it up all pretty like and hanging out (I mean working) with Neal and Bret.


Dude! Marriott is really stepping up the game in the “Free Continental Breakfast” battle. Totally stuffed a handful of these in my pocket before checking out.


Awesome cartoon from The Rut.

That’s it for this round of “What the hell should a I blog about tonight?”

Enjoy!
– Jeff

New iPad Doodle

Off My Meds
“Off My Meds”
5″ x 7″ limited edition print on wood, signed and numbered on the back
$50, plus shipping

I drew this using Adobe Ideas for iPad.

I’d get more in depth about this, but I currently have a weak wifi connection and am trying to post something before midnight (which is 10 minutes away) to meet my “blog a day” goal.

Thanks for looking!
– Jeff

Evy Gets Sassy

This is the kind of thing I find after letting Evy use my iPad.

20120331-200631.jpg

Doodle On iPad With Sketchbook Pro

sketchy head doodle - sketchbook pro, ipad

I forget if I posted this on here, so I apologize if this is a repeat. Anyway…
I made this while talking on the phone with my mom. Phone calls are the best doodle times.

Enjoy!
– Jeff

Posing As A Maker Of Beats

korg ielectribe for ipad

I finally read the manual for this thing. At first I thought I could figure it out by pressing buttons here and there. That worked for a little while, but I knew there was a lot more to it that I wasn’t getting. All the knobs and lit up buttons are just so exciting to look at I skipped the whole reading the instructions thing. Because of that I end up opening the app once every couple of months, get frustrated and turn it off. My musical background goes no further than “Hey, I like music”, so that’s been a problem in the trying to make music department. Maybe people with some musical background have the know how to start pushing buttons to figure it out, but not me. Today I watched some You Tube tutorials and reviews and that helped a little bit. Tonight I read the manual and I feel like I’m getting a much better understanding of this complicated machine. Yes, I’ve made a couple of awful beats, but they are for my ears only. If I make anything worth sharing I will get a Sound Cloud account and upload it there for all to hear.

For a person like me who likes music and has always wanted to dabble a little in it the Korg iElectribe seems like a great place to start. The actual Electribe can set you back about $500. Keep in mind, that’s just the machine. You still need speakers and whatnot to hook it up. The app, on the other hand is only $20. That’s the kind of dabbling I can get behind. It would suck to spend $500 just to see if it’s something you’re into only to find out that you hate it. $20…not so bad.

Read all about it in greater detail at http://korg.com/ielectribe.

If any of you are already using the iElectribe I’d love to hear stuff you’ve made with it. Feel free to send me links or post them on my Facebook Wall.

See ya!
– Jeff

Hand Painted Custom iPad Case By Jeff Claassen

hand painted ipad cover

Like I’ve said before, lettering is not my thing. Evy suggested I paint my sister’s name on this since it was a present for her. It never would have occurred to me to put her name on it. So, I went for it.

I’ve painted a few cell phone cases, but this is my first iPad case/cover.

If you are interested in getting a custom case painted for your iPad let me know.
The cost is $100 and you will need to provide the case.

Thanks for looking!
– Jeff

A Waiting In The Car Doodle

I really don’t like grocery shopping. Coral, on the other hand, loves it. At least it seems like she does. I developed this particular shopping behavior in which I only buy what I can carry in my two arms. Because of this I rarely spend more than $20 at the grocery store at once and my perishables stand a much better chance at not perishing. To me, it’s a win-win. Grocery shopping with Coral is a totally different experience that ends in handing over a $100 bill and involves a cart overflowing with everything from cereal and tortillas to string cheese and arugula. In typical man fashion I try to avoid these grocery shopping excursions as much as possible. Today I was lucky enough to dodge shopping by sitting in the car patiently, which gave me some doodle time on the ipad.

sketchbook pro

Fat Tag, Adobe Ideas and Sketchbook Pro

I’ll be honest, the Ipad is a fun toy. I find myself killing a lot of time with that thing in my hands. When I get frustrated with my inability to get three stars in every level of Angry Birds that exists I try to make some of my Ipad time productive. Lucky for me, making art is my job, so I can call doodle time “working”. There are a lot of drawing apps available in the Apple App Store. I’ve tried out a bunch of them and have whittled down the list to comprise only my favorites.


For this doodle session I used the following apps, in this order:
Fat Tag
Adobe Ideas
Sketchbook Pro

By no means is this post intended to be a tutorial, so I won’t be getting in depth on any of the steps. I just love “behind the scenes” stuff and assume everybody else does too. Don’t lie. You know you do.


Quick doodle using Fat Tag


I took a screenshot of my Fat Tag doodle and opened the image in Adobe Ideas to trace over the pixelated sketchy lines. Adobe Ideas is awesome because it automatically turns every line you draw into a vector image. Yeah, it’s totally sweet. Oh yeah, to take a screenshot on your Ipad just hold down the power button then hit the home button. The screen will do a little blink like it’s taking a photo and your screenshot will be saved in your photo app.


It certainly helps to zoom in a lot when you’re tracing over a sketchy line. Just look at those yummy vectors in comparison.


And the tracing is done.


Here you can see the drawing layer and the photo layer.


I might have done more work than I had to here, but I was just winging it so this is the best I could come up with. I opened Sketchbook Pro and put my traced version of the doodle on one layer and the screenshot on another layer. I could have added the drips anywhere I wanted, but at the time I thought it would be best to keep the drips similar to the original doodle.


I tossed some yellow in there and…


Voila!

Floating Head With Fangs

sketchbook pro

Ok, I’m finally up to date with my “Sketchbook Pro” posts*. This is the most recent doodle I’ve come up with using the best drawing app ever created. You’d think with such an awesome app with so many capabilities I’d come up with something a little more snazzy, but no. This is what you get!

Have a fantastic weekend!
– Jeff

* Ok, that’s not entirely the whole truth…I have one more Sketchbook Pro doodle to post, but I’m saving it for a later date because…well, you don’t really want to hear my excuse.