The January 2012 Tutorial Discussion

[jvila]

Well, I can do a script in English, and one in Brooklynese if this helps.

Seriously, Barbara and I were considering the idea last night, and it's do-able IF we get volunteers to do translations here on tg.

1. Necessarily, the translations could not be posted at the same time as the video. But I think it's acceptable to post them (I think we can park the scripts in the Tutorials section of the Xone, in a soon-to-be created archive) a day or two after the video.

2. If we do this, and I discover that, for example, the German translation contains passages about Lindsay Lohan and Swedish massage therapy, I will stop offering the service right after I read and re-read the passages several times (for accuracy).

Javier has a point: are translations actually necessary if people who speak English as a second language can handle the scripts in an okay fashion?

This is worth discussing.

—Gary

It's possible I don't read the German version, please let me know if something about Lindsay Sweddish massage appears
Best regards

[Soquili]

My take on Gare's January 2012 tutorial.

[Gare]

Holy dodeca-cow!

I AM so very pleased with your submission and the turnout in general, Bill, and do you know why?

Because everyone is submitting stuff that out-performs my own example!

Which means a transition is taking place from student to teacher; I WANT you people to outgrow me!

It's not my job to be "King of The Hill"; I want to grow Great Artists, and you guys are a bumper crop!

Three thumbs up, as we Zeta Arcturians do in gestures of approval!

—Gary

[Gare]

Okay, it's rock and roll time for the bilingual edition of January's tutorial!

If you go to the Tutorials page at Xara Xone, you'll see a new link. This will download a PDF I created from Javier's hard work.



Thanks to all, and let's see how this is appreciated in the international community of Xara.

—g

[jvila]

here my attempt using your xar file.
Best regards

[angelize]

I used the diffuse shadow trick today to create some artwork for an advertisement. This technique will be a great help to me as blurred shadows don't always work for our paper. Good Morning Sunshine is printed on an offset press and blurred shadows usually either fade out badly or fill in, I'll know better after this week's issue is printed but I think the diffuse will come across quite well as when the plates are made for the press the camera will be able to "see" the diffuse edges much better. I don't know why I never thought of this before!

Javier, that is awesome!

[Soquili]

Thank you very much Gary.

Javier that is excellent.

[Gare]

I did a series of icosahedrons (20 sided polyhedrons, like the dice in some role playing games) and I'm posting them to help members experiment a little more with the tutorial this month.

First, don't do anything with the JPEGs except look at them. Where is the lighting coming from? Are the polyhedrons shiny or dull? Do they reflect, or in the case of the glass ones, do they pass light and add color to the area where the light finally stops?

I wanted to create a tutorial in January that's a study in shading and geometry, and I made the surfaces flat instead of round like a sphere to make shading and calculating a little simpler.

To if you're up to an "After School Special, here it is! Don't pick up your pencils until you're sure of the qualities you want to reproduce. These renders are photometrically accurate; I used a physically-based modeling program to create them, so if you glean what going on with the textures, shadows, reflections, perspective, you should be able to create quite life-like compositions of your own.

Don't try to copy the polyhedrons exactly pixel for pixel; that's not the point. The point is to improve your drawing skills through observation first, and then interpretation, an invaluable artistic quality. Similarly, don't walk away from the assignment as given here and do anything you please with your illustrations.



Balance "learning" with "skill". And I believe both will grow!

My Best,

Gary

[Gare]

I used the diffuse shadow trick today to create some artwork for an advertisement. This technique will be a great help to me as blurred shadows don't always work for our paper.

I'm happy you could immediately put one of the techniques in the tutorial to personal/professional use!

There's a reason why diffusion can help tricky printing situations. Photos are continuous tone, while prints are halftoned. One of the nasty side effects of trying to print smooth tone and color transitions is banding, especially evident where the lightest shade of black hits paper white.

Diffusion visually interrupts banding.

Diffusion along edges also looks cool.

—g

[jvila]

WOW, this is getting interesting and challenging.
As soon as I'm free I'm going on them.
Best regards