Adobe #CreativeWeekUK.

Categories: artwork, general-stuff

Date: 11 July 2012 06:21:35

A couple of weeks ago I went to an Adobe training event in Maidenhead and it was, as we Brits are supposed to say on occasion, jolly good fun. As well as a catch up on some of the software tools that I will be playing with once I get myself Clouded/CS6'd up (only delay has been time at the moment, chasing some students, celebrating others. Now that I'm in standdown week I can start to think on new software etc) I also got to play with a Wacom Inkling and it was far better than the pre-production version I'd used way back when.

The problem is that stand down week (the week after students leave) has turned into holy cats hectic week :) Last Friday and Saturday was the British Tech bash (more on that and artwork to come), Monday was lots of paperwork day and work appraisal (I'm supposed to aim for 5% increase next year on 97% success. Achievable? Hmmm). At the Apple training event in Maidenhead I drew the notes to the meetings on my iPad, as I often do, which led to some lovely conversations and that led to an invite to be an artist in residence at the Adobe Creative Week day 2.

That led me to the artwork below, created (almost exclusively) using Adobe Ideas app which regular readers to the blog will know I have a certain affinity for and a fondness of. Everything was painted using a Stylus Sock (from Ivo Beckers on Etsy) and a Nomad short hair compose brush (which I prefer to the long hair but that's simply a style thing rather than a quality. The excellent Mia Robinson prefers long hair brushes and who am I to argue?) As occasionally mentioned (and will have to be blogged up again soon) I have 20 or so styli of varying flavours, and like many of them for particular jobs. If I only have time to use a couple of styli I always reach for the Nomad and Sock, after that I go for the Dagi and the More/Real. But it depends on the picture and the image I'm after.

The one pic that looks out of place (cue Sesame Street jingle) was created, tiredly, on the train coming home using Adobe Eazel. Unfortunately that app - excellent though it is - doesn't show battery life and you can probably guess what came next. It was clever enough to save the image though, I just had to sit for a while gnashing my teeth and wanting to finish the image. The iPad and I raced to 0% battery life and the iPad won, just.

I also took some panorama apps with Boinx You Gotta See This and Autostitch Panorama.

 

And, as is my wont, once I'm finished with anything in London I do like to try and spend a happy half hour in Camden Town at Chin Chin Labs, Europe's first liquid nitrogen ice cream parlour. Flavour of the week? Purple Grape soda with turbo choc sauce and gold popping candy. Yes, very plain I know but absolutely delicious, as ever as always.

And of course, while it was sitting there being photographed I couldn't resist a quick draw while I was eating it...

Walked home, via the college to pick something up, and then via a pub on the way which had some beers left over from the recently held (and very successful from what I've heard) Guildford Beer Festival. So it would have been rude not to pop in and ask what was good... (for the record I had three halves, an Ascot ale - Aureole, Havant Time and Ruddy Darter. The latter two I've had before, Aureole was full of flavour, very fruity. Time and Ruddy are excellent flavours so it was a lovely end to the day).

And then it was the small matter of teaching year 9 students how to draw and to use shrink plastic the following morning.

And now for a moment of shameless self-promotion which you're fully welcome to skip if you want.

If you're interested in styli, apps, iPad art, a gallery of, at times, award winning iPad artwork then you this might scratch that itch: Stylus t. Frog and the Weapons of Mass Construction. (link, ahem, fixed). 100 pages of iPad artwork and more. Hope you like.

As a brief word on the pictures. Yes, they're not anywhere up to the standard of the amazing mobile photographer Lumilyon but, hey, she's very cool indeed. Hoping to catch up with her on Friday and some EXCELLENT collab stuff coming up from her and I in the future I think.