iPod Touch to Manga Studio

• Supernova playtime

After trying for months, I've concluded that I can't finish outdoor iPod touch illustrations on location (glossy screen + scale). But the portability of the iPT is hard to shelve. So I've been experimenting with using the Brushes app on an iPT to take "field notes" which I then finish in Manga Studio. Here's 2 Brushes to Manga Studio comparisons.

• update:  another pair, this one is a splash pad. I forgot to mention in the original post that I used Manga Studio oils for the first time (they're great).

Digital apuntes

Here's some location studies on my iPod touch using the Brushes app. The lock transparency feature (used on the awnings) and desatureate (when the skies turned gray) make the first 2 uniquely digital.    

• Last one: these are stack dryers in a laundromat (if too abstract)

Brushes app + iPod touch

The portability of devices like the iPod touch for field work was intriguing but I'd resisted because many lack default pressure-sensitivity and drawing on 3"+ screens seemed awkward. But, a few months ago a hand-me-down kind of forced my (drawing) hand...
     Although I hate the glossy screen, which makes viewing challenging, it at least also allows for some anonymity from passersbys, as does just handling a mobile device these days (often a speedbump using sketchbooks or easels). I'd still prefer a matte option though, so that the brightness doesn't have to be cranked up to counter reflections and thereby prolonging battery life too.
     After dismissing SketchbookX for feature bloat, I found the streamlined Brushes app. I prefer direct. Some of these studies are finger-paintings, others are done with a DIY stylus and the rest with a $1 stylus. They're from waiting rooms, farmers markets, laundromats, libraries and netcasts.

A Rudolph selfie during a systems check

Reflecting on the "word-of-the-year", I did this to see how Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer might look like if he took one. Without an iPod touch version of Manga Studio, I initially was going to sketch and finish this with the Brushes app (new to mobile so just discovered), but I realized that the 4" screen was just too confining to complete a finish--lack of palm rest and input rejection, for example. So I painted this with Manga Studio EX5. (his nose was the one carry-over from Brushes--although also easily replicated in MS) Merry Christmas!

Manga Studio EX 5 alla prima

Continuing the momentum from my last post, here's more location paintings of cafe patrons (indoors this time) using the latest Manga Studio EX5. Painting digitally makes these candid "water/oil-media" portraits more possible--minimal setup and no wet canvases or paper, for example.
     For me, the main difference between the previous EX4 and this updated version is the fluidity.

Manga Studio EX 5 plein air

This is my first painting using the latest version of Manga Studio. Based on the exceptional but underrated painting capabilities of the previous versions plus the new fluid brushes, I expected MS5 to be the best painting app I've ever used. It is.
     This man was enjoying a cup of coffee at an outdoor cafe.

Summoned to killing time in Court

Last week I was summoned for jury service to the Los Angeles Superior Court. After orientation, here's some fellow prospective jurors in the Assembly Room waiting to be assigned to a case. These were sketched with a Bic Atlantis ballpoint pen.

• update:  using Manga Studio EX5, I added some digital watercolor washes (after converting the blue ink to gray)