iiPhone 5

So the latest iPhone has arrived and Apple has maintained their tradition of making things a little better but no great earth shakers. Of course Apple will argue that the all new iPhone 5 is the most important phone they have ever made which of course is nonsense. This honour goes to the original iPhone which was earthshaking and literally changed the whole phone market.

Would I buy one? Well not at the moment because there doesn't really appear to be a good enough reason to do that and surprise surprise my iPhone 4 works perfectly, in fact my iPhone 3 is still working perfectly and being used by a friend who isn't renown for treating equipment with kid gloves.

So what have we learnt? Well I suspect that we are reaching a bit of a plateau in phone development when all the 'easy' things have been done and we will face an incremental world. An interesting thing did come out of the launch of the iPhone though, that the iOS/iTunes environment is the real driver and so perhaps this is where the great innovations will be found that can make best use of all that computing power in your pocket. Only time will tell.

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Boris Johnson is no laughing matter

A pretty standard Guardian piece bitchy with faint praise and admiration.  But only the Guardian would think that Luton is ' the North '

Boris Johnson is no laughing matter
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/12/boris-johnson-no-laughing-matter?mobile-redirect=false

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Boredom has set in

There comes a time when I am using Brushes that boredom sets in. I know the work isn't anywhere nears as I would really want it but the sterile, inanimate nature of using the iPad finally gets too much and I can't take anymore. Well I have just reached that point and so this is the final result.

When I view other artists work who use an iPad I marvel at what they can produce. They certain have great skills and must have a greater dollop of patients than I have but given all that I quite like this image.

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Hard work

Last night I started to rematch one of my favourite movies, Girl with a Pearl Earring, and this has inspired me to try and make a Brushes painting. After just over an hour this morning has got me this far. I think it is time for lunch and think about the way ahead.

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Sketching Antious

After watching the very watchable series by Alistair Sook on the art of ancient Rome I became aware of the cult of Antinous. Now I was aware of Antious but not of his significance in the gay community nor as a cult figure throughout the Roman empire. He was a young man when he died so was captured at his most perfect - not for him the cares of age written large across his features.

Now the challenge for me is to try and convert the sketch into a water colour drawing - let the fun begin!

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Elephant

For some strange reason Posterous didn't post this the other day. I must say since they were taken over by Twitter or Facebook or whomever the service has started to become a much shakier - lets see if this one posts correctly.

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Wandering Nipple

Well its the morning after the night before and time to reflect on the work I created last night at the life drawing session. The first thing to say in future I must remember to take an eraser. The first drawing shows the wandering of the models nipple across the page as I try and place it correctly in relation to the rest of the drawing. You can also see the way that the collar bone slowly moved up the page, like some inverse tide line, as I realised my errors and tried to correct them.

In the past I would simply erase these marks, but of course without an eraser I couldn't do that. I couldn't shade them out either because the skin tone just wouldn't allow that. So they are left and I am quite happy about that actually.

By the time I had finished the first drawing I just felt like creating some looser work hence the second drawing. It was also fun watching model fall asleep and still hold her position, mostly. Overall a great way to spend a wet Monday evening even if the plain song music kept making me think of a medieval setting rather than somewhere in the second decade of the 21st century above a florists in Oadby. But again that is my problem. Next week I might attempt a quick portrait painting - now that will be fun! Sent from my iPad

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Drawing a naked woman

Started something new this evening - life drawing where I decide what to do - really enjoyable. Only one problem - the plain song music is making me see the model as a nun - very bizarre!

I'm on line at:

www.flickr.com/photos/guthlac
http://simonmarchini.posterous.com

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

I hope you enjoy

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Coming over all neo classical

Feeling a bit under the weather today so what better excuse does one need to sit down and draw. This is the result - just a bit neo-classical me thinks. Oh if you are bothered/interested it is inspired by the wonderful Rebecca Hall from the equally spell binding Parade's End - I hear BAFTA's calling.

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Elephant - Playing around with an idea

A good friend of mine has asked me to make a drawing of an elephant as a birthday gift - well actually it was her children - so I have been thinking through some ideas as to how this can be achieved. Here is one of the experiments.

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Leicester Museum

I had a very enjoyable couple of hours at Leicester Museum this morning and knocked up a couple of sketches which I really enjoyed.

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Making Real Progress

Well after two weekly sessions this is the result and I have to saw I am really quite proud of myself. During the process I have come to understand a whole lot better what I have to do to produce something really interesting in a group painting session - be myself. This should be self evident but it has taken the best part of a year to realise this.

This year I have now attended three art course where the last two sessions have been just the model sitting in the same pose. The first one was a bit of a disaster - I didn't really know what I was doing and I had no idea as to how to control the process. The end of the second course was a lot better and was able to show glimpse of what could be - even though in the second session I ruined the good work I did in the first. By the third session the penny had dropped and I decided to be my own boss and just work at my own pace. The result was a painting that isn't anywhere near completed but one where what I have done is of a much more satisfactory standard.

So should I try and finish the paint on my own? No as I feel that is a recipe for disaster - I need the model in front of me to able to get the skin tones I want. I had planned to do this but I just don't have the mental skills available to do this. In truth when painting skin it is so much better to have the real thing in front of you!

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Armless Painter Paints With His mouth and feet

This is a great example of the triumph of the human spirit.  Incredible.

Armless Painter Paints With His Mouth & Feet
http://www.boredpanda.com/armless-painter-paints-with-mouth-feet-huang-guofu/

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Achieving Greatness

Oh in my dreams! What I mean here is that the photo of the drawing really doesn't do the drawing justice and somehow doesn't have any of the subtleties of the original. So in this very limited sense I have achieved something. Greatness? Well maybe not but I really enjoyed spending time with a face and getting to know it and then converting that knowledge into a 2 dimensional object . This was a warm up exercise for the art class this afternoon and my reunion with the blue lady. Lets hope I don't screw this one up like I did the last long painting session.

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Clever Illustrations

After all the super realistic artworks floating around for the past week or so this makes a refreshing change.

Clever Illustrations with Double Interpretations
http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/fabio-daltilia-point-of-view-illustrations

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Empire State Of Pen (vimeo.com)

Great time lapse and great illustration...enjoy

Empire State Of Pen

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Apple steps closer toward integrated mobile market payment

One step closer to a fully Apple controlled world...well not quite but it is interesting that the mobile phone is the central hub for many micro banking systems in less developed countries.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Apple steps closer toward integrated mobile payment market
http://macdailynews.com/2012/08/29/apple-steps-closer-toward-integrated-mobile-payment-market/

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Beautiful Art Drawn on Disposable cups

Incredible utterly incredible, if just a little bonkers,  something to do next time you order a Starbucks to go.

Beautiful Art Drawn on Disposable Cups
http://www.visualnews.com/2012/08/29/cup-art/

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No, Samsung did not try to pay Apple it's $1bn fine in nickels

Oh but don't you wish they had done!

No, Samsung did not try to pay Apple its $1bn fine in nickels
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2012/aug/29/apple-samsung-trucks-nickels-fake

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Perhaps Colour Isn't Everything

Whilst thinking about the use of colour, especially watercolour, within my work I knocked this little sketch up. I deliberately resisted the temptation to apply any colour, although I did put a very slight blue tint on during the processing so perhaps I have added colour after all? Well that can be debated - what can't is that at the moment this is a simple sketch just using a pencil and the colour of the paper.

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Addition of Colour

Over the past few days I have really started to enjoy using watercolour. Every drawing I make now has to have a watercolour wash applied. Now I am sure when I look back at this in a few months time it will seem a little over the top but one has to work through these things before one can get a bit of balance. Experience dear boy Experience.

One of the other things I have started to do is to revisit older drawings - such as this quick sketch I made of the the Queen of Hearts from the rather disappointing film Alice in Wonderland. Here I have just coloured in the eyebrows, as I recall they were in the film and added just a touch of shading here and there. Does it improve the sketch or not? Well at the moment I think it does but what I will think in the future I just don't know.

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The Green Man Again

 Just been playing around with the Green Man sketch in Photoshop and came up with the this.

Simon Marchini 

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The Green Man

The Green Man is an ancient icon from prehistory. The exact meaning is somewhat obscure but it is believed to represent spring, fertility or rebirth. It can be seen in numerous old churches in Britain and across western europe. As to whether it represents some common belief system or culture is hard to say.

It is an image that has been floating around in the back of my head for a while and so this morning I though I would knock up a quick sketch to try and work out the idea that was floating in my head.

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Article: Ex-MI5 chief urges Cameron to defy party on European Union crime policies

So let's guess what Cameron will do...listen to people who know what they are talking about or not....you fill in which one is which. 

Ex-MI5 chief urges Cameron to defy party on European Union crime policies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/26/european-crime-cameron-mi5-policing?CMP=twt_gu

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Bi Polar man

Before I start let me make one thing clear, this is not meant as a reflection on the people who suffer from Bi Polar disorder but rather a title that came into my head when I saw how this drawing has turned out. So why Bi Polar? Well, to answer that I have to accept that this drawing went wrong. To start off the drawing was meant to stretch across the two pages as one drawing. However, things went wrong but rather than rubbing the left hand side out and starting again I noticed that each side had a distinct character of their own. Once this idea had stuck in my head then the whole drawing took a life of its own and the title seemed to fit.

To me the man on the right of the drawing is some form of driven, maniacal person whereas the one on the left seems to be a more open, kinder person who suffers because of his other half. Or perhaps it is none of those things instead it is just example of poor draughtsmanship or perhaps it is a mixture of all these things.

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Big Canvas Project - End of Day 1

Day one is now complete and the whole thing went better than expected.  I think the main reason for this is that I stuck to my plans, such as they were, and actually painted for myself in the session in the studio.   I set myself the goal of getting the head painted by the end of the two hour session which I managed.  Looking at the image now I can see things that I could improve on, for example I think I would like to make the head a much better likeness  but given the time restraints I don't think I'll have time to do this, but I don't think this effects the painting as whole.

Apart from painting for myself the other lesson that I learnt was that I like big.  Big suits me, and those of you who know me won't find that too much of a surprise! However, it has come as something of a shock to me.  But if we knew everything going into something what is the point of the doing the thing in the first place?

So one more day of the Big Canvas Project and if that goes the way that today did then I might have an interesting painting on my hands.   But before I get too carried away with the excitement I have been here before and it all ended in tears.  Lets hope I have learnt from that - only time will tell.

Simon Marchini 

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The Great Canvas Project - Part 2

So the next thing in the plan is to just warm drawing a nude woman. I have no idea what pose the tutor will select so the only thing I can do is warm drawing a generic nude woman pose. This is the warm and so should be treated as nothing more than that.

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Otto Magus

I came across this artist on Flickr and I found his work really quite bizarre and at the same time interesting.

 http://ottomagus.tumblr.com/

I found him at the Art in the UK group page - well worth checking out.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/uk_art_and_artists/pool/

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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The Big Canvas - Part 1 - oh an iTunes stinks

Well I have just completed part 1 of the Big Canvas project - paint the canvas background.   I was initially going to roller the whole canvas a very light blue but when I saw how this was working out I thought that was actually better.  By the way it isn't anything like this blue in real life and there are hints of brown/red as well which were not picked up by the iPhone camera.

Now for today's Apple related moan. As you may be aware I have moved from Windows to Apple - however the circumstances of this move meant that I wasn't able to do it in an orderly fashion and of course somethings got lost - one of those was some of the music I had bought off of iTunes.  No problem as you can download all your previous purchase off of iTunes - so I thought.  Well it seems that iTunes hasn't got one particular album which I bought from them listed and so I can't do that.  I haven't got time this morning to sort this out so I am a bit screwed apart from the fact I have most of my songs on my trusty old iPod.  So this is a way around things but why hasn't iTunes recorded all the albums I have bought from them??

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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The Thick Of It (bbc.co.uk)

Oh I just can't wait.

The Thick Of It
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/37/The-Thick-of-It.html

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Measuring Progress

Over the past few months I have posted on this subject a number of times a and I don't know if a I have still got any answers as to whether I have made progress because I am not sure I know where I am going with my art at the moment.  However, setting this existential problem aside, I have been reexamining some of the paintings that I have made at the art class and I have been pleasantly surprised with what I found.  

None of them are masterpieces but I suspect I have now finally worked out why that might be.  First, this collection of paintings are literally the first I have ever made starting in the top left hand corner; second, and this is probably the most important, I have finally put the works into their rightful context, that is they are, at best, painted sketches.  up until quite recently I have thought that I should be producing completed works in the time provided - for me an impossibility.

So given these qualifications I am quite pleased with me work.  Unfortunately I won't be able to go to the class this autumn so I have decided to go out with a bit of a bang, I have bought a canvas which is 40inches by 32 inches which will be the largest painting I have ever made.   I suspect I will need to take a deep breath and jump.  I just hope I am not a blubbering wreck by the end of the class tomorrow.

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Watercolour

I've been messing about with watercolour and I think I'm starting to get some interesting results. The two images are a before and after and give me ideas on what could be achieved. It also gives me an idea as to what I need to do to improve.

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The things we do on flights

I suppose this is one way to pass the time away on a flight.

Simon Marchini 

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Realistic Ballpoint Pen Drawings - Going viral and what about the copyright?

This morning I had two more post from different blog sites mentioning the incredible work of Samuel Silva - here is one of them.   Again, one can only marvel at the skill level required, for me it is the skin tones - how on earth did he managed to do that?   However, there is another aspect of all this that seems to have been brushed aside - copyright violation.   Now Mr Silva may have taken the photos that most of these drawings were based on but at least one, Scarlet Johansson from the film Girl with a Pearl earring, is copyright and so did Mr Silva get permission to reproduce it?

Of course this is a trivial matter in this circumstance because I am sure the film company wouldn't  be too bothered about the publicity.  But what if Mr Silva then sells the work for a considerable amount of money then what?   How much royalty/fees would he pay to the film company?  I am sure that he has thought about this, as he appears to be a lawyer.  

I guess this wouldn't really be a problem in most circumstances as photographs tend to be the starting point for any art work or the final art work doesn't have a sufficient likeness to be considered a copy of the original.   But in this case this is the USP  of the work and so Mr Silva could land himself in a whole lot bother - should copyright lawyers come sniffing around.

Or maybe not - however, it is a point worth considering.

Realistic Ballpoint Pen Drawings by Samuel Silva
http://machoarts.com/ballpoint-pen-drawing-by-samuel-silva

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Nikon announces Android-powered Coolpix S800c smart Wi-Fi superzoom: Digital Photography Review

The other day I posted a spoof about the iPhone 5 being an SLR - well perhaps it wasn't that much of a spoof after all.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/08/22/Nikon-announces-gingerbread-Android-p...

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Science doesn't count in North Carolina

I'm not sure how accurate this story might be but if it is true then it is a poor indictment of the state of local politics in the USA. Thank good we have much more enlightened local politics (ha ha) in the UK!

http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/north-carolina-enshrine-climat...

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How many condoms will be used ... (blogs.channel4.com)

Well I wish them well, I wonder which country will top the condom use table?

How many condoms will be used in the Athlete’s Village at the Paralympics?
http://blogs.channel4.com/paralympics/2012/08/22/how-many-condoms-will-be-used-in-the-athletes-village-at-the-paralympics/

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Amazing Portrait Drawn with ballpoint pens

This is an amazing drawing, simply phenomenal but it does raise the age old question about the artistic worth of reproducing photo realistic art works.  I have no answer to this question other than to say beyond the mind blowing skill you have to ask why?

Amazing Portrait Drawn with Ballpoint Pens by Samuel Silva
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2012/08/amazing-portrait-drawn-with-ballpoint-pens-by-samuel-silva/

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Why I love my iMac - sort of

Well it has been almost 1 month since I moved from Windows to Mac OS X and I have learnt a lot.  The overriding lesson is that the OS X and Windows 7 work in almost identical ways.  This shouldn't come as a surprise when you consider they are doing the same sort of things employing the same metaphors to  achieve the same goals.  There are slight differences but nothing to worry yourself about.   I am still learning new things about OS X some of them good others not so.  Overall though there isn't much to choose between the two on a functional basis.

However, when you move from function to look and feel then it is a whole new ball game.  Here there is no comparison, OS X simply is a better environment to work in.   The style of the OS X is a sleek and well bolted together.  It is the same as driving a German marque car compared to a Japanese or Korean marque.  They both do the same thing but the German's usually do it with a style I appreciate.  Notice I don't even mention American cars which, I do believe, are at least 10 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to automotive style and elegance - but that is a whole other story.

You will notice I have not mentioned the Apple hardware in all this and that is for a very good reason.  Apple's model of vertical integration is almost unique in the modern consumer world.  In the Apple world only Apple kit runs Apple software and as a result the variations and opportunities for conflicts are almost all removed.  So it is no wonder that when you buy an accessory it just works because there is such a small  selection to choose from.  Image if OS X had to deal with the complexity involved in getting Windows 7 to work with an almost infinite variation of drivers and part conflicts and I would suspect the cool smugness might be knocked from the face of the Apple adverts.

This being said I wanted to move to the closed vertical world of Apple for all the advantages that it provides.  I am happy to live with the costs of this move as I believe that it is in my own long term interests and when my wife's laptop needs replacing I am pretty sure it will be with an Apple product, whatever that might be called by then, iPad Air perhaps?.  I love the attention to design details that comes with iMac and really do think that it is a nicer place to work that the rather plainer Windows' interface/Machine.  This being said the one piece of Apple technology I love above any other is the Magic Mouse.   This is just so elegant and the functionality is to die for, well may that is over the top but you get the idea.  The bluetooth keyboard is less effective and I suspect a triumph of style over substance

So this is one happy iMac user, however I am a PC and I am a Mac.  What I am not is an Apple fan boy who accepts anything that Apple produces/says at face value - they are, after all, a huge multinational company with all the same faults that come with such size and power.   This, however, doesn't stop me loving my iMac. 

Simon Marchini 

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LEAKED Official Apple iPhone 5 Promo Video - Keynote 2012

I am sure this has been seen already by many people, over a million according to YouTube, but it made me smile. I just hope not one of those people!

Check out this video on YouTube:

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Reaching my boredom/frustration threshold

This evening it took me just over an hour to reach my boredom/frustration threshold whilst using Brushes. Perhaps I am tired, it is almost midnight but more likely I have reached the limits of my skill envelope and can't take this drawing/painting any further. I could, of course, come back and work on it tomorrow but the painting would loose its spontaneity so this there doesn't seem much point in that.

So here it is - perhaps I should call it Limit of my endurance!

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Deep Time - Fractal Creatures

When you start looking at a subject in any depth all sorts of strange things start to pop out that you never really associated but actually are strangely connected.  I've mentioned once or twice before that I am interested in how to capture Deep Time as a two dimensional image.  So over the past few days I have been looking for ideas on how to do this on one of these strange associations appeared.   The connection between deep time and fractals, specifically fractal creatures.

I live very near to some of the most famous rock formations in the world in Charnwood Forest.   The reason for this fame is that in 1958 a fossil was identified as the first example of pre cambrian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Cambrian) life.  Since then many more forms of the fossil have been identified but Charnia masoni ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charnia) was the first and Charni is the name of the genus.

All very well but where is the connection.  Well Pre Cambian rocks are some of the oldest rocks to be found in the British Isle and from a geological perspective they certainly represent "Deep Time'.   Charnia is a very simple animal and is considered to be Fractal Creature/animal.  Very little is known about how Charnia Masonia other than it was an animal, this is due to the depth of water it was believed to have lived in which meant that there was too little light to allow photosynthesis, and that it was probably only a very few cells in depth.  In short it was almost a two dimensional creature. me'.  In short,  Charnia is a very simple animal and is considered to be Fractal Creature/animal because of the way that it is thought that the cells came together and formed their shape.

I then looked at how such a creature might be a fractal and came across Koch's Snowflake (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koch_snowflake) and suddenly realised the beauty and simplicity of 

 what a fractal creature could be.  This inspired me to draw this very simply snowflake following Koch's instructions and all of a sudden a new way of describing/representing Deep Time came to me.  Another connection is that Charni followed 'the Snowball Earth'  Cryogenian (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryogenian) 

I have no idea where this  might take me but it is an interesting connection that I had not made before.   

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20 Extraordinary digital illustrations

I'm sure I've circulated these things before but the skill, expertise and artistic talent is just breath taking.  Enjoy.

20 Extraordinary Digital Illustrations
http://designsuperstars.net/20-extraordinary-digital-illustrations/

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A bit rough but getting there...

One of he things that I have never been able to get my head around in the past is water colour. Whenever I tried it I just couldn't make it work. Well today I've given it another go and things seemed to go a little better than normal. The generic portrait on the left was one of my first attempts and Donkey, from the movie Shrek, was a later attempt, and whilst it is still a bit rough it does appear to be getting better. Clearly the lesson here is to stick at it. Actually the real lesson is to believe in the drawing you're trying at add water colour to because there are several intermediate drawings between these that had no conviction to them and are now in the waste bin.

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Slow Worker

I think I am a very slow worker when it comes to producing works of art. Yes I can rattle off quick drawings but when I try and really capture a likeness I find myself slowing right down and agonising over every detail. This realisation came to me at my last art class. I have already mentioned that I am really not enjoying painting at the moment and so I decided when the rest of the class was painting I would draw. This is the result of almost 90 minutes of work. The rest of the class produced passable, and in some cases very passable works, I was able to produce something that was really only the bare bones of a drawing. Now is this a problem? Well no of course it is not but it is important that when you are working you must know how best to approach things - for me it is not to rush things, just take my time and what will be will be.

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Finally found the # key

After extensive research, well about five minutes drawing blank on the Apple help system - not the best but there we are - I found the answer in a forum to where the # key can be found.   (For the information of anyone interested it is alt + 3)   Now whilst undergoing this extensive research I also discovered a "...you say tomato I say tomato..." situation.  In the UK the has # symbol is known as the, well, hash symbol.  However, in the States it is known as the pound sign.  I must admit I had found this out in the past but is just another part of the tonnage of things I have forgotten.

So why is this important?   Well in one sense it is because anyone who has tried to write code for a web site will know the has/pound sign is used extensively and not having a dedicated key for this does seem to dent the claim that Apple produce the machine for creatives.  Perhaps the creatives who produce all the cool websites, Apple's for instance, use Windows machines with there much more clunky but more functional keyboards.  Who knows but it does seem to be a bit of an oversight.

As I wrote this I started to examine the keys quite closely and I have noticed that the 2 key has the @ (shift + 2) and the € (alt + 2) written above it.  Perhaps it might have helped find the # key if Apple had done the same with the 3 key.   Or am I just getting awfully anal retentive and just rejoice in the coolness, which they certainly are, of the Apple bluetooth keyboard. Like that is going to happen anytime soon!

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Well I have put it off for far too long - the web site needs to be sorted out

So I have to try and relearn, if I ever did know too much about CSS and HTML etc,brush up or generally panic about what I am getting myself into. The catalyst for all this is the imminent closure of my original website which has been running more or less the same on a free web space for almost 15 years. It will be sad to see it go but we all must move on.

So it is , wait a minute I can't see the hash(pound) symbol on the Mac bluetooth keyboard which is somewhat strange, back to design concepts, hash tags, classes and the like and see what comes out of all this confusion. Oh and by the way some content might help!

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Didn't we have a lovely time...the day we went to Hardwick

I really didn't know what to expect when we visited Hardwick Hall yesterday. I'd learnt about Bess of Hardwick, I think when I was a kid, but other than that I knew very little of the place. It turns out that the hall(s) is set in 100's of acres of parkland which in itself is reason to visit. The two houses; the first is like the carapace discarded for the new house but still sitting there slowly moulding away; the second the Elizabethan masterpiece commanding the surrounding parkland both have their own distinctive charms. Of the two I actually liked the old hall slightly more but that was because I could use my building style detective skills to try to piece together which part was built when. Looking at the sketches I made I can see that I have really been influenced by John Piper. Now I am not claiming they are in Piper's league, far far form it, but it is strange how concepts, ideas, styles and approaches can seep through the permeable layers of one's sub conscious to bubble out in the most unexpected way. Strange how life works out.

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Painting

Over the past few months I have been trying my hand out at painting with varying degrees of success. As this process has developed I have become more and more aware of the fact that I don't find painting in any way rewarding. This doesn't mean that I don't appreciate paintings, far from it, it just means that I don't have the same passion for painting as I thought I might when I started out this road of artistic discovery.

So what do I want to do with my art? Well the one constant that I always come back to is the human face and the joys and frustration of trying to capture a likeness on paper. However, beyond that I am not too sure at the moment - I guess I'm at a fork in the this metaphorical road. So where does this sketch of el Capitan a la Ansel Adams fit in all this? Well at the moment I am not sure apart from an idea keeps coming into my head about trying to do something about Deep Time. Deep Time is a geological term for, well, very old rocks and this idea has been an itch that just wouldn't completely go away. I have thought of this as a photographic project but perhaps I should start to think outside the box a little and maybe include other art that I might create - indeed as I write this a recent exhibition of John Piper's work called 'The Mountains of Wales' came to mind. Perhaps this is the path I might like to take and see where it takes me?

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A doodling day

Yesterday was just a day for drawing and sketching - as well as making the odd photo. One really positive thing I achieved yesterday was that I took the strapping off my ankle - boy was that starting to irritate my skin. The ankle is really a lot better - all thanks to the work that John did on Sunday.

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Making Photos and Copyright

Well I have started to make photos again, slowly but it is all coming back to me.   I think my style has changed but this may also have something to do with the camera gear I have, or rather I don't have.  Which is really refreshing - its almost a move back to the old days of photography apart from the camera is a Sony NEX-5D so hardly some large plate camera, with a brass lens and wooden tripod but still a lot simpler than the kit I used to cart around with me.

I have debated long and hard with myself about the intrusive copyright but since a number of my photos have been used without my permission I have decided that this action is necessary.  It is a shame but there we are.

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Lwaxana Troi

Over the past few weeks I have somewhat lost my artistic spark, such as it is. After a while an idea struck me...why not go back to what you like doing best? And this is the result - a quick portrait sketch of the indomitable Lwaxana Troi.

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Copy Merged AGAGRGAH!!!! - A Photoshop OS X moan.

Well I have now worked out the action I had lost in the move to OS X and after much giggling about I have got it to work with my iMac.   All things ok until I try and run the action with the f key I allocated to it during the action record process.  Every time I press the combination of keys, in my case cmd & f8 iTunes starts to play!  This is of course is the default function f8 button does on the bluetooth keyboard.  This in itself is not too annoying, I could after all just run the action from within the action drop down.  However, when I come to map the actions for the buttons on Wacom tablet this may cause problems.   If this is so then this is a real bad mark against Adobe or Apple or both.  The mac is supposed to be creative friendly, remember all those patronising "...I'm a Mac and I'm a PC..." ads, and now I find some of the core tools of  creativity on a Mac ie Photoshop and a Wacom tablet may not work as well as on a PC then you do wonder...however, there could be a much more plausible answer - user error!   Only time will well.

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Frustration using Photoshop - Kedleston Hall

One of the joys of moving from operating system to another is that it gives you a chance to relearn skills from the previous OS all over again.   This morning I have been getting to know Photoshop CS6 all over again in OS X and as usual there have been ups and downs.  Overall the effect was identical to using Photoshop in Windows apart from remembering which key is the equivalent of the windows key on the keyboard.  However, there is one action that I overlooked (Forgot) to back up and therefore wasn't able to important into OS X.  Of course you don't realise how much you use these commands until you have lost them.  Equally, because it was a action I can't remember what the keystrokes were so that I can recreate the action!   I have found a way around this, but it's long winded and not as elegant as the previous solution.  No doubt over time it will come back to me but at the moment it is very frustrating.

So here is the first image I have created with Photoshop CS6 using OS X instead of windows.

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Who said exercise is good for you?

Actually it is even if from time to time you injure yourself, as I have done today by spraining my ankle. The great thing is my good friend John is top sports physio so was able to treat it for me. Also he is my walking buddy so was on hand when I sprained it this morning. Oh the pain, the pain! Actually it does hurt that much but why let the truth get in the way of a good story!

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Using a Face Detector to Gener... (petapixel.com)

Of course it is not he software at all that does this but we do...we just can't help it.

Using a Face Detector to Generate Creepy Mugs from Random Polygons
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/08/10/using-a-face-detector-to-generate-creepy-mugs-from-random-polygons/

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Innovate or stagnate: Why your... (digitaltrends.com)

A thoughtful analysis of the mobile device market and what needs to be done...innovate or die

Innovate or stagnate: Why your next phone will suck if Samsung beats Apple
http://www.digitaltrends.com/apple/innovate-or-stagnate-why-your-next-phone-will-suck-if-samsung-beats-apple/

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Olympic Basketball

So the NBA wants to set up its own world cup for Basketball playing nations and then withdraw permission for NBA players to take part in the Olympics.   I am sure there may be some merit in this but really would anyone care?   Well of course one nation will care and that is the USA and especially the NBA who I suspect see this as a way of promoting NBA basketball over international basketball - I'm told there is a difference but not being a huge basketball fan so I wouldn't really know.   This does also seem to drive a coach and horse through the international governing body, FIBA... ' We are Basketball' (Their website slogan) and it does make one wonder if this is the final power-play by the American organisation to, once and for all, take control of all things basketball for their own benefit.

I guess it would be the same as the Premiership, the richest football league in the world, deciding to set up its own competition outside the control of FIFA or UEFA with the intention of only benefiting their own clubs.  Of course world football is not dominated by the Premiership with at least two other leagues hard on the Premiership's heels, in money terms at least.  I guess the closes thing to this suggestion is the Indian Premier League in cricket and look how the world cricket game has benefited from that!  

So perhaps the best thing for the NBA to do is shut up and play with the rest of the world on the world's terms or take all their players home and then see how the US does in basketball at the Olympics with all those one and dones in college basketball in the US.   However, it is far to say - what the hell do I know about this!

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Practice makes perfect

Over the past few weeks I have noticed that my drawings of people have been slipping into old habits of not being anatomically correct. In one sense this is may not be important but having seen the wonderful draughtsmanship of Jenny Saville I have taken the decision that it is important and so I am going back to the drawing board, quite literally, and practices my drawing bodies. To help me with this I am using the irreplaceable Drawing the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm. I believe I have written about this before but if ever you want a technical book on drawing the body you can do a lot worse than give this book a look.

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Inside the Sketchbook of Artis... (hifructose.com)

Incredible, just incredible

Inside the Sketchbook of Artist Marco Mazzoni
http://hifructose.com/2012/08/07/inside-the-sketchbook-of-artist-marco-mazzoni/

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Trott and Hoy tell PM: Hands off sports funding

Ho ho ho...I believe I predicted this battle last week and I suspect I know who will win and it won't be the PM - well not if he wants any chance of being re elected that is.  However this is probably just a shot across the governments bow at the moment - a shot they would be really really foolish to ignore.  Pasty tax anyone?

Trott and Hoy tell PM: Hands off sport funding
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/trott-and-hoy-tell-pm-hands-off-sport-funding-8022844.html

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An end to vegging out

So I have over done things. Last Saturday and Sunday I just watched the olympics far too much and by Sunday, even with Bolt running his miraculous race, I had had enough. Of course I will be watching just not to the extent I did over the weekend.

As the great Saturday seeped into Sunday and all the newspapers were full of the success I started to wonder what next. Those seasoned Olympic watchers will know that Britain doesn't do this well - even Beijing wasn't this good - we were a nation of one or two outstanding performances but over all good losers coming seventh or eighth, if we qualifies at all. Now we are an olympic powerhouse and we have come to expect victory and then more victory. An example of this would be the rowing on Saturday. After winning two gold medals in a row the third race only produced a silver, ONLY A SILVER! The rowers were totally distraught and kept apologising for only coming second. Is this what the olympics are going to be in future? We must win otherwise it is consider an utter failure? I hope not but I suspect it will be. You can guarantee now that there will be no cuts in funding for elite sports - if you think that Lord Coe is a formidable political operator then imagine what would happen if Jess Ennis started to protest about cuts. In fact the money will be increased. I wouldn't be surprised if the stadium is now saved for the nation to slowly rot in east London as no football club would touch it without basically pulling it down. So whilst it has been a great time to be British it must be remembered that this comes with a great cost and one of the prices we will pay is the end of the romantic image we have of the plucky under dog winning against mighty foes. Now we are the mighty foes and we had better get used to paying the price for such victories. Of course it could all be a dream and reality will come back and bite our collective back sides. Twelve years ago Australia was under going a similar metamorphoses and now look at where they are with only 1 gold medal to show for all their much vaunted 'sports' culture. Sent from my iPad

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A correction

The last post I bemoaned the BBC talking heads - this doesn't include Michael Johnson - a man who takes sense whoever he opens his mouth! A world class person in every sense.

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Deep joy

What could be better. Athletics on Eurosports, far far better coverage than the BBC's because they just cover the sports rather than endless talking heads when there is no British interest. At my side I have my iPad with updates from the BBC sports web site. Delux vegging I think!

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The red man

Over the past few days I have felt my creative juices dry up. I lost the urge to paint and even draw. In short I was in need of a break from it all. Well I have had a bit of a break and spent much of that time watching the olympics and it seems to have recharged my energies a bit. Here is the first fruit of this. The red man painted using Brushes on the iPad.

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One that got away

I thought I posted this but perhaps I didn't. The was taken at kedleston hall - an amazing example of over the top conspicuous consumption.

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Weightlifting

One of the joys of watching a lot of the Olympics is that you get to see sports that don't normally get too much coverage. My favourite at the moment is weightlifting and one of the joys of having sky is that you get to see all the coverage as the BBC has 24 Olympic channels. Long may this continue.

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Learning to live with my 'big' iMac

Well it is almost a week now since I took the plunge and moved to the iMac.  Overall it has not been as problematic as it could have been.  I am still coming to terms with the problem of scale with the large screen.  I have spent some time working out how to make the apps that I use zoom - usually up to 200% for the text to be become easily read.  It has been a bit of a pain at times but it has meant that I have learnt a thing or two about how the mac works - which is no bad thing.

This morning I took the plunge and installed FileMaker Pro.  After the best part of 20 years working and developing in access/VB this was something of a shock to the system.  Fortunately I no longer need to worry about SQL and making the dBase do things with VB so after a bit of head scratching I was able to get my head around the system and have started to convert my historical database to work in FileMaker.

So what are my initial impressions?  Well first of all just dont believe the hype about Apple OS being better.  It isn't.  What it is more stylish and attractive to look at.  One the best features I have found so far is the method used to install software.  This is simple but very effective.  I love the beautiful screen infront of me and there is no doubt about it the whole experience is pleasing to the eye.  However, I have just been using my old laptop, windows vista, and really it worked almost identically to OS X, if it looks a lot uglier.

So am I glad to have moved over to Apple?   On the whole yes as the main reason was for life style reasons than anything else.   It has cost quite a bit of money, but this was because I took the view that I needed to run everything in OS X rather than split with Windows which have been cheaper in the short term but not in the long.   Lets hope these long term goals are met and the iMac continues to be as rewarding to use as it is at the moment. 

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Another image from the Archieve

This one is just from last year - Dunstanburgh Castle.  I really miss using Photoshop which should be arriving next week.  I originally thought that Lightroom would be enough but having used Lightroom for photograph development it really is limited which is not surprising as it isnt meant for anything other than main stream correction. 

Simon Marchini 

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Soundtrack

Day two of the olympics and so much for vegging in front of the TV. This morning I am reliving the wonders of the opening ceremony by listening to the sound track again. And then I'm off for a walk in the country which combines exercise (Olympics) and historical research. And to recover from all this what better than vegging in front of the TV? Sent from my iPad

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Digital Guitar

Im really not sure what to say about this one - but I was just getting into digital photography at the time and the effects avaialble and I guess I went a little overboard.

On second thoughts I quite like this.

Simon Marchini

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Messing about with geo tagging

One of the joys of moving to a new OS is that I can buy the latest software for the new machine.  One of the new pieces is Adobe Lightroom 4 and its very addictive, well at least to me, Geo Tagging ability.   Again this is an image from the past which I have added the geo tag - thanks to Lightroom.   Lets see if it works.

Oh and I have now sorted out how to add a signature to the email!   Another small step for an even smaller steep for mankind I think!

Simon Marchini

www.simonmarchini.co.uk

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Gloucester Catherdral

Another blast from the past - this one I think is around 10 years old - a captured it with one of my all time favourite cameras the Sony DSC F717.  A really ground braking camera.

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Another one from the archives

Im really not sure whether I have published this before - it comes from when I was trying make 'stock' photographs.  

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