An "Oddjob" candidate for central casting

(-bonus skill: leaving cafe..he turned out to drive a limo too..)

Testing the barrel rotation feature of my Wacom 6D stylus in Photoshop CS4 to do this color version of the on-site Bic sketch. I was unable to get the 6D to behave as advertised until recently and can now simulate analog chisel tips, without the compromise of angled presets. It's disappointing though that the 'painting cursor' doesn't rotate in sync with the stylus.

And here a more painterly interpretation using the Oil Brush and Palette Knife in ArtRage 2.5. Without support for barrel rotation input (which I first thought AR had), I'm glad the default brush behavior is 'direction'. AR's great opaque results raises my curiousity about the watercolors feature in the new version.

Sketching with ArtRage on location

The last time I was at this cafe, I experimented with Manga Studio for some location sketching. This time, after a year plus hiatus, I wanted to re-explore ArtRage 2 for the same use..here what looked like a teaching moment between mother and son. The top sketch is as much as I was able to capture before they left. The bottom one is my attempt to "refine" the sketch from memory. AR is great for textures (a more nimble version of Corel Painter—much easier on my old Powerbook). I had forgotten a lot about the interface and tools, which is why I ended up with a mixed (up)-media study of oil and chalk..so now its time to re-read the manual...