Idea pool

**steve.ledger** · 03 March 2009, 06:07 PM

Hi Frances,

I think Xara Web Designer has stolen some of the light this month with lot's of excited and activity there.

Yes please, post your March scribble .xar and screenshot in the Challenges forum by all means.
I'm sure Paul (Geminiguy) would not mind at all.

Thanks

**morphonius_821** · 30 March 2009, 02:43 PM

i have an idea for a challenge...
I call it a "Freehand Frenzy"
And the idea is to use a vector program in much the same way you would sketch something with a pencil on paper!

(i know i already posted you (remi) but i thought perhaps maybe it was a bit premature and perhaps i could invite broader scrutiny... and discussion on it...(let me know what you think remi or if there are any changes you would recommend)...

Anyway the basic idea was that i think it would be cool if people could submit a piece based on one of their own personal photos done totally with the freehand tool (or sketch tool of any application provided they follow the rules)...and without importing any art...ie totally by eye....

The idea here is that the aim of the exercise is to help develop peoples use of vector as an art medium...instead of the more common methods we all know of using raster art as a background and doing tracings manually....

I would call it a "Freehand Frenzy" LOL....

The rules would be:
1)must be from own photography or photo....(to personalize it)
2)art must not be inserted into the program (all reference to art to be by eye only...this is the whole point of this exercise)
3)the only input tool allowed would be the freehand tool (or your program's sketch tool)
4) no node editing, angle constriction or snapping allowed, (this is a freehand exercise)
5) no moving of objects allowed (the idea is to get "sketchy" and build the picture up...like you would with a pencil on paper)
6) as little deleting as possible (preferably no deleting objects...90% of all objects created must be at least partially visible in the finished design...
i.e the idea here is to encourage people to let loose and not worry about weather or not they are being EXACT...this is about free wild sketching and building the image up...

it is expected that perhaps people might sketch initially in a pale colour to feel out the image and get the proportions sorted and then start building the image up from there.....

Of course people would be allowed to use gradiated blends, transparency, feathering and blurring ETC...but any object that is created must be done manually with the freehand tool....

Thanks for your patience let me know what you think of...
Freehand Frenzy

**handrawn** · 30 March 2009, 03:23 PM

so you are saying the reference material must not be in the program you are sketching in? - I tend to work that way anyhow - could be fun

**morphonius_821** · 30 March 2009, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by handrawn

so you are saying the reference material must not be in the program you are sketching in? - I tend to work that way anyhow - could be fun

Exactly...
P.S I'm in the same boat as you handrawn... i nearly always work off raster art...its scarry as im drawing a picture of my daughter now with this method and im not even sure i will get a likeness (thats scarry)
But l thought why give it a try using these strict rules...
i started by sketching roughly with a pale outline...
i probably put 200 little sketchy strokes down before it started to look like a cotton wool face and then started adding in stuff and changing colour...
its hard but i think it will eventually look ok....

But one way or the other i will post it up (even if it looks shabby LOL)

**remi** · 31 March 2009, 12:03 AM

Sounds good. Would you like to post a new thread as the challenge (with your Challenge rules) or should we use this thread?

Remi

**morphonius_821** · 31 March 2009, 12:41 AM

Hi remi...(thanks)
I think we can use the rules post that i just put up here... i think that covers it well enough....If you could please re-issue this as a challenge post that would be good..
(if you dont mind...just ommit the few bracketed lines close to the top.)

Thanks...looking forward to seeing all the scratchy stuff we all come up with LOL...

Should be ok though once the sketchy part is done and you have a rough likeness (im doing a face) then its just a matter of fleshing it out.... but i guess this technique will produce a finished design that has allot of objects.
Anyway i think this will be a great exercise to encourage people out of their comfort zone...(thats what its designed to do...for me anyway...)
Thanks looking forward to everyone's contributions.

P.S sorry handrawn i miss understood you....(you should be right in your element LOL)

**remi** · 31 March 2009, 01:38 AM

Ok, the Freehand frenzy Challenge is located in his new thread.

Remi

**Burpee** · 16 June 2009, 07:19 PM

I love feathers (probably because I like birds so much) and like using them in my fantasy images. I have a small one that I found while golfing and got to thinking that I would like to try making feathers in XX. I have not started yet because I'm busy redoing my website (oh, how much code I have forgotten, lol) but I think it would make an interesting challenge.

The feather I will eventually do is about 2-1/2 inches long (about 6-1/4 cm?). It is white with light taupe stripes. It has fuzz around the base and is fat in width. I thought it might be an owl feather...or a hawk. We are seeing more hawks in the last few years. I think they feed on roaming ...aw, never mind

**Soquili** · 16 June 2009, 07:34 PM

Hi Nancy,

The feather could be an owl feather. Does it look like any of the images in this google search? http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...&gbv=2&aq=f&oq=

Of course there are similar hawk feathers http://images.google.com/images?gbv=...eather&aq=f&oq=

The attached image is a feather I drew in Xtreme about 5 years ago.