Show Your Work in Style

A magazine style flipping gallery for me is the coolest way to view artwork, especially when its my own. I have been meaning to update my personal website with exactly this in mind. So I searched high and low for a free app to do the job and I found an open source app that converts a library of jpeg images into a lovely online page flipper. I just love the ease of use. Soon people will be flipping through my online magazines of my artwork. All free and available here http://www.megazine3.de/

Art Of Illusion Instead of Anime Studio Pro

Ok, you may have read earlier that I was about to trial AOS as a substitute for ASP. I forgot to give you links so I will give them here. http://www.artofillusion.org/ This is basically a free multi platform 3D editing app that I thought would be worth investigating for TFI. My aim is to test the possibilities of using AOI as an Anime Studio Pro substitute. The first thing to do is get the software and download all the plugins and scripts available online so that AOI has its full potential released. You can do this by going to Tools - Scripts and plugins manager - Install. Select the "Select all" button and wait a moment then choose the "Install all selected files" button. You will get some warnings along the way. I just kept clicking "yes" until the install was complete. Once it has finished close AOI and then Reopen it. It will have changed from the old interface --->

To this newer interface ---->

I wanted to only have one window showing you may like the quad screens but if you want to do as I did you need to click and drag the boundary line running down the right side of the three smaller view screens and drag it all the way to the left. You will end up with a screen the same as mine. unfortunately you will need to do this every time you open AOI----->

Pixel to DPI Calculator

Not every app out there has the facility to convert pixels to dpi. Years ago I knocked one together and posted it on Geocities for people to download. But since Geocities demise it vanished without a trace. I have it somewhere on a floppy but it isn't recoverable. So as I recently needed to calculate some odd shaped images for a client, I went looking on the web for an alternative freebie. I did discover a few but these two seemed easiest to use and of course they where free and accessible to most OS's, that is so long as you are using wine on Linux. Mihov DPI to Pixel Calculator is virtually a clone of my app. Maybe there is only one way to make one of these. It is straight forward and does the trick in a jiffy. Put in your desired size, pick the dpi, then calculate. I highly recommend it.
You can find it here. http://www.mihov.com/sw/en/dc.php


The second is an online tool found at Tiporama here. http://tiporama.com/tools/pixels_inches.html Its just as simple and quick.

Creating Image Source PDFs in a Couple of Clicks

I have often been asked to provide a "Tag' sheet for potential clients so they can have copies of my work as a catalog for archiving. This helps when clients/agents are looking for an illustrator for a certain project but want to flip through a whole bunch of work quickly. They don't have to remember who had what style when. They just flip through the pages of a PDF and if something stirs them they take down the details and call you if its your style or image that gets the job. PDF's can be a real pain to create and no busy artist wants to be doing something uninspiring for hours.
In those times its good to know there are tools that do the work for you. Image-to-PDF-Converter-Free is great for these kinds of projects. Just point it at the folder with the images you need converted and push a couple of buttons and your done. Yes its free too

Art of Illusion V's Anime Studio Pro

I am currently looking at Art of Illusion as a tool for creating animations similar to Anime Studio Pro (ASP). It dawned on me that although this program doesn't do every thing that ASP or Moho as it used to be called, can do. It does offer some parallel tool sets that can be made to create animations for TV or Youtube. I think the bones system can deform images as well as ASP. As it is fairly simple to use I think that most animators wanting a bones based 2D animation tool should find Art of Illusion quite a good alternative. I will attempt to post some tutorials along the way.

Get Gantt - Great Management Tools I Love 'em

Invented by Henry Gantt in the 1990's , the Gantt chart is in my opinion the best way to keep track of projects and their costs in relationship to the time you have to create said projects. Often I have two or three things on the boil and I really like to know where I should be with regard to deadlines, costs and times blowing out. That's when I turn to my trusty Gantt chart. I have searched around for some time, looking at different versions to recommend fo the freeware animator and I have settled on this excellent little tool - offered for free and multi-OS. Yay!!
The GanttProject can output pdf and xml file formats. This is great for those who want to share their project information with others.

I really like the simplicity of the GanttProject there is a very useful tutorial video for the program here - http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=10418&title=GanttProject
You can get the app here - http://www.ganttproject.biz/

For Those Into Inkscape

The Latest in Online Book & Mag's

This morning I discovered purely by accident the online magazine site called issuu.com .It has stacks of magazines that I can use for reference in my art. But best of all it had Illustration Magazines. I think my weekends and lunch hours are now predictably going to be filled with searching this site and all it has to offer.

Production Management with Celtx

I love production management tools. Mind-mapping, Gantt-charts they really help when you need to know where you are at any one stage and how far it is till the finished project. So here is another tool that will help anyone trying to get an animation studio organized. Its free and its cross platform ..yay!. Celtx at http://www.celtx.com/ creates storyboards, schedules and is a great all round tool for film and animation studios. Its really well thought out and is pretty easy to use.

Getting to Know Pencil

In an earlier blog I encouraged you to download Pencil. For animators this app is an obvious benefit to freeware illustrators, it offers so much for nothing. I can remember when software like this such as "Animation Stand" would cost around 8K and was always stuffing up. Frames would drop colours change and everyone got frustrated. The world of software seems to have a much brighter and enjoyable future now that we have free software of this caliber. Here is a Youtube demo of Pencil being used by someone who knows animation. Note the timings and the ruff tween estimations the animator makes.

The Global Animation Studio

It has always been a dream of mine to set up a global telecommuting studio one that allows artists from around the world to work together in different time zones on animation projects. This has been successfully done by the Blender 3D open projects like Big Buck Bunny but I am not sure about a 2d animation. What I really want to achieve is a studio that produces TV commercials, short animations and features that have real world credibility. These projects will employ a team of contributers that are in different parts of the world. The idea is to get a bunch of artists together using the same sorts of freeware tools I am championing in this blog . These artists then act as a real studio logging in hours on scenes and returning the finished files to be composite into a movie that then sells either online or via public release.

The next set of tools I will blog about will be helping me realize this dream.

Pencil is Great for Animation and Illustration

You really should add Pencil as a tool to create great animations in swf format. The user aproach is really the same as old school animation. That is you draw roughs, flip the pages for timings and line corrections, clean up with a sharp line, then colour and overlay onto the background. I was taught in the traditional animation manner and reckon that this app is a real comfort to work with. You can also import any work you do in Xara or Inkscape . I do wish there was a bones system similar to Anime Studio though. But there is one very cool aspect to Pencil. The cleanup layer snaps to the bitmap layer. This makes for really easy cleaning up of scanned roughs. But as its freeware I'm not complaining. Its available for Windows, Mac and Ubuntu here http://www.pencil-animation.org/

Using Free Software Fluidly.

I am off and running now with my free computer and free software. I had an old scanner that had seen better days. I kept it under the bed in case it would come in handy for parts. I plugged it into the USB port, ran Ubuntu's Xane scanning software and hey presto I was scanning in my sketches ready to be traced back in Xara in seconds.

That's real plugnplay in my book. No faffing around looking for drivers or waiting for Windows to find the right driver. Ubuntu just made it work right away. So I am now using this box ( The Freeware Illustrator Box ) to do some client illustrations. I have posted the screen shots of my Xara brush clean up of scanned images. The beauty here is that Xara is a vector program, I can keep these files small eg 800 x 800 and output a high res 300 dpi image without any loss of crispness to the line.

Work Smarter Not Harder

More gems of wisdom from the YouTube world. Maria Brophy reiterates
that it is best to start with a collection of similar styled pieces. Its especially helpful for an artist to focus on one market. Niche markets mean you become more recognizable and recognition breeds popularity.

Daria Jabenko - Words Of Wisdom

I stumbled across this Illustrators YouTube videos the other day and I thought I should share her links with you all. Daria has been very kind to tell us about her techniques for getting illustration work. Its all very simple and truly worthy of viewing. Daria hits on the most basic of principles for illustrators and that's do what you love and have plenty of examples. This should be the easiest of things to do while you have time on your hands. She suggests You should have a port folio of work with loads of different examples in your main style. Not only is this good for showing off your talent but it will hone your skills. Good stuff Daria I hope you post more.

Apps Online

Not only is it possible to find free software for most operating systems. It is also the case that there are apps that are exclusively online. You can create objects and images for your projects without the need to buy or download software. A great example of this is Sumo Paint. Sumo Paint is a Photo Shop look alike that allows you to create images straight from the browser. The great thing about this is you can rock up to a clients office get them to load the URL, start working on the job and then save it to your eyeOs account to then work on it back in your studio. You should check it out http://www.sumopaint.com/app/, if you know of others please let me know because I really love these tools.

Mind Maps

Since I learned how to mind map things, I have been really finding this process of thinking awesome. I easily sort through ideas and processes in a few minutes. I can realize a project and convey my views to clients and co workers allowing for input and new connections. The organic nature of thought is well represented and the structure of a job I am doing becomes apparent in a matter of minutes. I generally like to Gantt chart everything later to be sure of timings and resources.

The best online and free software for this is Mind Meister. I have been using this to work through the Freeware Illustrator process for you all to follow. Check out the mind map for freeware illustrator here http://www.mindmeister.com/56145848/freeware-illustrator .

eyeOS Is My Cloud

Well I have looked at several free cloud operating systems online. But I have decided to go with eyeOS. It seems very simple to set up and use. Remembering that I want my clients to be able to pick up finished work from this cloud and I also want to be able to upload files easily etc. So far eyeOS has shown me that it is flexible, I can share my work with groups and I can store 50 meg of data up there. All good attributes for someone looking to only use his illustration box to create clients jobs on

The Compaq Failed !

Well, given that it was a very old computer it was difficult getting the BIOS to accept a larger hard drive and therefore be able to load Ubuntu. I have given up on this and am now settling on a box I scored for free from a work mate. Its still an older model but at least it can handle a 40 gig hard drive. Thats plenty for my freeware studio box.

Figuring It All Out

As this is the first time I have attempted running a cloud studio using old hardware, I have decided to document processes, successes and failures. To start I have begun developing some diagrams outlining the general idea in order to help me formulate the initial setup. What I want to do is have an old computer capable of basic graphics etc, using Ubuntu and associated software for graphic and illustration purposes. This box will be where I do the artwork. possibly scanning stuff in and cleaning it up. I will then use the cloud to store the clients work, saving an occasional hard copy on DVD as required. I then hope to contact the clients, convince them to use accounts I set up for them and get them to brief me via chat software available on the cloud or email. While I work they can update me on their feelings about the works progress. When its all finished I will upload the finished piece to the cloud invoicing and directing them to a pay-pal account for payment. It all sounds good and looks ok on paper but....I am running into some glitches early on. My first problem is getting Ubuntu to run on such a small hard drive. I have only got a couple of Gigs at the moment. I will be trying to source a cheap or free larger drive in order to get Ubuntu and company to run.



In an attempt to get a smaller OS but still maintain a Ubuntu distribution I have searched the Net hi and low. I have found a couple of options but none more exciting that Ubuntulite 0.8. It is a cut down version of Ubuntu with the capability of being expanded. I am hoping I can get the usual graphics software to run on it so I can go forth and illustrate. I found the iso at ( http://u-lite.org/content/get-u-lite) for those who are'nt technical enough to get it running. I will look around for others. But for the time being Ulite will suit my purposes.

The Ubuntu Experiment

I have just aquired an old Compaq Deskpro, circa 1998 It cost me a dollar and some leg work. It still works ok but it has minimal power. In an attempt to prove a concept I am going to set this box up with Ubuntu and attempt to finish a client job using only the free software I like to use. I will also investigate some new possibilities being developed in cloud computing. The plan is to use this to store or cache the work for delivery to my client. I will be posting about the process regularly.

Strutting Your Stuff

I like a simple web site. By that I mean easy to navigate and straight to the point. I always told my students at Uni that good online and interactive design follows very simple principles and they can be summed up in two statements. " Don't make me work!" and "don't make me think!" As soon as you complicated the use of any aspect of a website by trying to be too smart and gimmicky. You loose the initial purpose of the site and for the most part you frustrate your audience. Demographic and style considerations take a back seat until the simplicity of use and navigation is formalized.

You can find loads of free web hosting services on the web and loads of free templates and apps to help get you started. This site - http://www.free-webhosts.com/no-forced-ads.php has a list and you can browse the different sites at your leisure. Pick what you feel comfortable with and sign up. Be careful to read all licensing agreements.

I am currently setting up a demonstration site and I will report on how its going. I will update you on the free processes that I think are suitable. You should eventually be able to set up a free website the has all the bells and whistles while still being usable and entertaining.

Xara Xtreme Free on Linux

Possibly one of the best free vector software out there and a great companion to Inkscape, is Xara Xtreme. I have only just recently started to play with this software and I am learning really quickly that it is a versatile and flexable addition to my design tools. I really love the mosaic tool, for years I have wanted just such a tool to work on a new look in my illustration portfolio. Xara is available at a very cheap price to every other OS but Linux ( Ubuntu users ) score it free. Do check this out and add it to your arsenal.

Some of The Best Software Is Free

Cha ching, cha ching, I love to save money and open source software is by far, for the freeware illustrator, the best way to save and make money. In comparison to market driven " Industry Standard Software", free open source software can have as many features, give similar or better results and cost you nothing to boot. When I was a lecturer at university it was my duty to insure students used 'industry standard" packages, in order to help them slot in to the working world. But since leaving my position and re entering the art and design industry again. I have wondered exactly what is "industry standard" and why do universities insist on adhering to it. In the case of the university I lectured at, "industry standard" was the concept that the most current and used software available is the only software that should be taught to fledgling designers/artists. This in my opinion, is an odd notion and only serves the software companies not the art and design industries. It insures the sales of a select few programs and forces lecturers to promote programs when they should be teaching practical theory. This results in these companies products becoming falsly popular in the arts industry and in turn the "industry standard". That seems like a paradoxical cycle to me. It also means these software companies, don't have to spend money and effort developing better products. They have an established nurtured market that was created in the education system instead of in a cometitive marketplace. I think students need to challenge the software companies. They should be allowed to make the choice what software they use to do assignments. They should also be prepared to find out how to use all sorts of software. University lecturers can then be free to teach correct theory and arts practice as universities once did.

Better Free Software:

By now you will have read about Ubuntu and you now have your operating system. You have had play with the apps it loads and are keen to install some decent design software. The apps I favor for design might differ from yours as you start experimenting and attempt different effects etc. But for now I should point you toward some helpful open source design programs I think should be on your freeware illustrators computer. The first program is already loaded with the standard Ubuntu install. Its name is "Gimp". Although this is an unfortunate name, Gimp is a versatile photo editing and design tool, available in flavors for most operating systems. Likened to Photoshop an "industry standard" program , Gimp is also popular with designers who buy their software. There is a load of good tutorials around the web for Gimp. Youtube will be a good place to start.

The next software is Krita. Krita has some excellent painting style tools and I liken it to software like Painter or Fractal design Painter these are no longer available but in their day considered great programs. Krita is a painting software that emulates real brush strokes and paint effects. I love using it with a graphics tablet that I picked up on eBay for $25. To install Krita in Ubuntu start Ubuntu select Applications and select Ubuntu Software Center. In the search field type Krita, select the Krita icon at the top and choose install and put in your password. Once Krita has installed you can find it under Applications - Graphics. Help for Krita can be found on the Krita forum, click the image below. Oh, Windows and Mac users this software is also available for you. I am trying hard to find cross platform versions of all my software. So for those who want Krita for another OS click here

Finally I have to highly recommend Inkscape. Inkscape is by far the most versatile of drawing packages I use. Its features include an ability to trace line drawings and create vector graphics quickly and effectively. This is excellent for clean lines. I would be lost without the trace feature as it is really good for cleaning up hand drawn images I scan in for coloring and effects. There are a few more drawing packages I use but I will go into detail about these later. To install Inkscape use the same method as above. For those who want Inkscape for another OS click here

The Operating System

Windows and Mac Os' are not the only operating systems out there. For years now Linux has been the favorite O's for Nerds and Programmers. In fact these days most web servers use Redhat Linux as the Os for their client servers and Redhat Linux is a great free operating system. Though to a large degree you need to be comfortable with Linux scripts and other overly complicated processes to get things to work for you. But not any more, more recent developments in community based open source operating systems. Has lead to the development of Ubuntu.




Ubuntu is an operating system that works well on laptops, desktops and servers. Ubuntu contains all the applications you'll ever need, from word processing and email applications, to free illustration and 3D software, games and lots of other tools.

Ubuntu is free of charge. You don't pay any licensing fees. You can download, use and share Ubuntu with your friends, family, school or business for absolutely nothing. I highly recommend it for the freeware illustrator. There is often small hurdles to overcome getting software to work correctly but as free Operating Systems go Ubuntu will provide the start up skin flint illustrator all the tools to do business in the graphics world. For my money ( which is none ) it stands out the winner. I have used it for 3 years now running it on 80% of my computers at home either in a virtual machine or a dedicated desktop system.

So Where Are These Free Computers?

Originally I had thought of asking friends, relatives and workmates. Or even going down to the local opportunity/thrift shop, offer my services fixing old computers and try to bag one as payment. But then a friend told me about Freecycle. A community of people vested in recycling. They offer used goods including computers for free to whoever wants them. You just arrange pick up. Click on the link and search for one in your area.



There are also lots of other places. For anyone looking in the U.S you should try craigslist. I Just did a search today and found tonnes of free computers and screens.



And I am sure that a Google search for free computers will find some thing appropriate for any one else. There are also initiatives all over the world that supply free computers to low income earners and third world countries. The Alameda County Computer Resource Center is a great group that supply computers free of charge and help third word countries by supplying computers to schools.

The Free Computer Is It Something To Shun?

These days its unheard of for a designer to seek out an old computer to create graphics on. Nearly all the people I work with want the latest and the best. Every week someone buys a new thing, a gadget or a game or an application. I am forever being asked to give my opinion on how cool something is or check out what this can do, I'm a bit over it. In fact I was over it at least 10 years ago when I realized that I was getting by on a system that was more than a couple of years old and software I hadn't updated for quite a bit. Its not that I can't afford "new stuff". Its just that I am comfortable with what I know and how its working for me. A bit like the old jumper my wife keeps asking me to stop wearing in public. I don't care how it looks it just feels great. Besides computers should last you as long as your mower. I mean when was the last time you needed to buy a new mower?. When was the last time you even got it serviced and if you did service it, were you tempted just to trash it and buy a new one?. It seems we think of our computer as a really important object, a status symbol and we can't be left for dead in the avant garde of the nerdy computer power stakes . It has to be the latest in order to give us some sort of superiority gap between those who don't even use computers and the rest of computing society. Its a bit of a snobbery really.

I have started using a new word in my vocabulary these days also. I am now referring to the computer gadget up daters as Stuffists. people enamored by stuff. Stuffists in my opinion are generally unhappy with everything the way it is. They are a bit like young children and their latest gimmicky toy collection. Its all about the one piece of stuff that no one else has been able to get their hands on. Stuffists also like to snicker about nonstuffists and that's a bit like children too.

Anyway this is not what this blog is about. At least not the stuffists part, I just had to get that off my chest. This blog is about how someone can become a computer illustrator without much money at all. In fact I would like to say its an attempt to help artists old and young, set up a computer for creating artworks on, for absolutely no money at all. According to an article I read in 2007 by Anita Hamilton / Endicott of Time Magazine, 500 million PC were junked in the US alone. It worried me to think at the time, that a percentage of these were still working but only trashed for upgrade reasons. So I began a personal research project to look into the possibility of creating a computer graphics/animation studio that only used free software and was entirely created from free sourced computers and monitors. I originally did want to achieve this in 2008 but as fate would have it the GFC and a new job in New Zealand bought things to an abrupt halt. But my research has left me itching to tell others how it can be done.

But let me answer the question in the title, is a free computer something to shun? . Well not if it still works. Even though older computers are less energy efficient than newer ones, the toxic waste they contribute to landfill is extreme. Not to mention the fact that as old gets trashed new gets made and even more waste gets created for the future. Did you know the lead in a single CCD monitor can be around 2.25 kilograms. To keep this out of landfill is a good thing, especially when the monitor is still in working order. If you give it new life you are helping keeping the planet clean. So what about when its a complete wreck and you do need another?. Well I intend on finding someone who will reprocess the parts and then get another old computer to replace that one.