Drawing on the move

Sketchbook Pro – download this useful drawing app for your Smartphone

Drawing Physics Games

Numpty Physics 2D Drawing Game – interesting drawing physics game for download
Crayon Physics Drawing Game – this is an excellent example of a drawing physics game

Drawing with Brushes

Watercolour Brushes for Photoshop – something for your digital experiments

Drawing with Fractals

Canvas Drawing – great for creating backgrounds [use screendump]

Drawing with Light

Drawing by Tracing [Rotoscope]

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Below is a quote from Julio Lopez Tornel

There is a tendency in the wider contemporary art context to regard abstraction as an out-dated mode of practice; as formalistic and largely decorative, despite the movement’s initially being born of a radical idealism.

Where does the common ground lie between scientific and automatic drawings? Within their mutual disregard for aesthetics. They try to break the membrane of the visible to show the precise structure of things (whether objects, or the mind). To embrace this core function, and catch it “in fraganti”.

My work constantly refers to the invisible, striving to evidence through physical realities that which can only be sensed. Invisibility and idealism are two parallel ideas within the visual field: the visible being the material, the surface, and the periphery – the excretion into existence. And yet I believe there is sensation in all, right down to the nucleus (chaotic and absurd, perhaps) that which we see being a result of this materialisation.

I want to violate the surfaces with my graphite appendages, to wield them as scalpels, to rip off the curtain of nature to openly show their true charm and beauty. To draw between visionary and voyeur; visible only to those who scrutinise. The vertigo resulting from the dizzying need to see deeper – faster.
- Julio Lopez Tornel

Centre for Recent Drawing is open for this exhibition 4 – 27 August 2011; from 1 – 6pm Thursdays to Saturdays at 2 – 4 Highbury Station Road, Highbury Islington, London. C4RD is a Registered UK Charity 1123530, and would particularly like to acknowledge the support for this exhibition of www.artupdate.com.

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The DRN web team have recently updated the site to increase access and flexibility, allowing individual users to upload their own images and therefore completely prepare the articles for review. However, it is worth noting that the smooth running of the site for the DRN community relies on individual contributors preparing their text and images according to the guidelines provided. One important example of this is the production of a 200px by 200px JPEG image for your article with 80% quality settings. If you are unsure of how to provide the required image we suggest you talk to a colleague or friend who uses Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro on a regular basis to get advice. Alternatively, if you add a comment at the top of your article such as “(PLEASE INSERT IMAGE INTO ARTICLE FOR ME)” then DRN staff will find the most appropriate image for your text. Another example would be the addition of quality POST TAGS to an individual article you are writing – this enables people using the search box at the top of the DRN site to find your information easily [so make the tags as intuitive as possible and re-use previously established tags where appropriate].

The DRN have also provided a set of guidelines and links to assist you in learning how the WordPress system works. Once you have used the system 2-3 times it is usually quite straight forward to contribute – but we do recommend you thoroughly read the guidelines if you are a new user. Don’t forget that WordPress TV has some great video demonstrations of general basic and advanced features of WordPress as a system [though only article writing features are enabled for the DRN website users].

TIP – Uploading a photograph with your profile and using your full name as your profile name helps others to identify you through searches and browsing the members list and also allows the DRN team to more easily identify and remove spammers. Adding an accurate professional biography also assists in searches and identifying drawing collaboration opportunities. Please go to YOUR PROFILE in the admin section and change your public name and add to the BIOGRAPHY as appropriate.

That’s all for the moment – you can see the original DRN introduction article for additional information. We hope you have enjoyed using the site and its new features so far and look forward to hearing from DRN contributors soon!

TIP – There is a useful site at www.pixlr.com Here’s some guidelines at to how you can create an image for your article:

OPEN IMAGE > CHOOSE IMAGE > IMAGE SIZE > Reduce smallest image size to 200px eg 300px high x 200px wide for typical portrait images. No side should be smaller than 200px. Keep constrain proportions ON. FILE > NEW > 200px by 200px

CTRL A [SELECT ALL] on the original image > CTRL C [COPY] > CTRL V [PASTE] in new document window. Use TOOLS palette [TOP RIGHT ICON] to move image around to ideal cropping. FILE > SAVE.

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This first video shows a brief history of the Google Doodle – the various designs for Googles logo on the home page. The video explores the origins of the Doodle and how creating these designs has created a worldwide community of contributors.

The Human Face

This video demonstrates the basics of sketching the human face. The outline of a face, drawn by creating an oval shape, is divided into equal proportions then features added. You might want to turn the sound down – the music gets really annoying after a while!

Adobe Illustrator 1.0

This Illustrator 1.0 demonstration is taken from the original VHS cassette released way back in 1987. Makes interesting viewing for those who have been using Illustrator over the years!

Take On Me – A-Ha

These two videos probably mean the most to those who grew up in the 1980′s. Take On Me was a landmark music video created for MTV whether you appreciate the finer points of A-Ha or not. The rotoscoping style and interesting story made it one of the most original music videos ever made. Here is the original video and also, a second video showing interviews with the animators and band.

The original MTV music video

The interviews

Tron

Following on from the previous 80′s theme is a video showing the making of the first mainstream computer animated film “Tron”, which was released in 1982 but overshadowed by the release of ET. This innovative and groundbreaking piece of work is often overlooked and underated.

Making a drawing video

If you can get past the awful introduction sequence, this video covers some of the basics [such as white balance, focus, exposure] of creating a live drawing video. One solution for digital drawing would be to download some screen capture software and record the screen whilst you draw with an input device – free software like http://camstudio.org/ would do the trick nicely [I used that to create the DRN demo video on the top right]. Download directly.

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Imagination Cubed

An interesting collaboration tool for drawing and trying out ideas. Once you have invited some people to share a meeting with you a realistic pen is added to the browser window where you can collaborate and add your marks to the browser window with other participants. Invite a couple of friends and try it out. This is a Flash application – you will need Adobe Flash to see this.

Fractal4D

This neat program is great for generating background artwork for projects. Data from your Fractal4D productions can be imported into Adobe Illustrator where the AI will plot resolution independent vector graphics for enlargement to the size you require. This is an Adobe AIR application so you will need Adobe AIR on your PC or Mac to run this.

String Spin

This is an interesting vector line-spinning tool that will take a simple line and spin it in any axis you set. Parameters can be changed during the drawing process which can generate some interesting / inventive results. It would be really good if the creator could allow the drawing data to be output from String Spin and imported to Adobe Illustrator or CAD software as with Fractal 4D.

Line Rider

How simple line art can be turned into hours of fun. Create some simple lines and watch a character slide down them on a sledge until you can’t take any more laughter or the boss tells you that you need to meet the deadline or else. Fortunately, I work for myself so I am the boss. This program requires Adobe Flash and alot of trial and error.

E2vector

A simple vector drawing program that will get you used to the idea of using vectors rather than bitmaps. If you want to know the difference between vectors and bitmaps see iStockphoto’s guide to Vectors for a concise and easy-to-understand explanation.

Wordle

Creating word clouds with your text input is easy with this online experiment. Link Wordle to your RSS feed or paste some text into the input box to create some quick and dirty text based layouts. Useful for inspiration and filling the office wall with themed text for brainstorming, mind-map, pondering, thinking, sitting around drinking coffee and chatting….or whatever thinking is called these days

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The Drawing Research Network has been online since 2003 and its popularity is growing. Now, in January 2010 we are able to take the functionality of the site to the next level by handing back much of the control of the site to you, the user. We have built in several very useful features that we hope you are able to take advantage of – these can be found in our 2-page website help guide in PDF form to get you started.

• Improved gallery functionality. The user can view up to 42 thumbnails at a time and the images are opened in an elegant lightbox.
• News items are now arranged in a more readily accessible form including the ability to view group news items, exhibitions and DRN network news via the different categories displayed beneath the heading image.
• Members List: you can access the full list of members by becoming a member of the Drawing Research Network. To do this go to REGISTER under the ADMINISTRATION panel on the right below the demo video. Benefits to membership also include the ability to add articles to the news page, find other members and view recent site activities.
• Improved archiving and article browsing using the WordPress blogging system.
• Improved search engine optimisation for news articles and pages and cleaner design code for future proof site development compliant with current web standards.

Help – I don’t understand this new system

First of all, we have thought of the variety of users who may wish to browse this site – some may simply wish to browse the websites articles which are open to everyone who accesses the site. There are those who will want to find contacts in the members list or to ask a quick question from the group using the Question page and to do this you will need to login. Finally, there are those who will want to write articles for the site and we have our own guidance in the 2-page website help guide. You can also look at the following links on WordPress.tv to get you started:

• How to write a post

• Using the Dashboard

• Creating an image gallery in your post

To find out how easy it is to use the site, have a browse around the entire collection of news items on the homepage or select a category from the Group’s dropdown menu to see what news specific groups have been posting on the site. In addition, you may wish to view some of these videos to get an overview of how to write an article.

RSS Feed

You can also add an RSS feed to keep up to date with the latest news on the site. If you are not sure what an RSS feed is or how using one can benefit you then see the article What Is An RSS Feed?

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