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erosarts In reply to trivialtales [2016-01-13 23:26:41 +0000 UTC]

Okay, I'm going to let you in on the software trick I use to wipe out half-assed black.  You need something that allows the editing of color "levels."  I know on the version of Photoshop I used to use it was called levels and on GIMP it's called levels.  You simply compress the output levels.  On Crystal, I move the black level up to 40 (so anything at level 0 to 40 - grayscale - will appear as solid black) and the white level down to 200 (so anything at level 200 - 255 will appear solid white) .  Additionally, I adjust the gamma/threshhold thingie in the middle and try to minimize or eliminate any remaining noise or pencil smudges.    Occasionally, this will produce some noisy, pixelated lines, but I remove those with a tiny bit of median or gaussian blur.  My inkwork on my guest Luna is getting the same treatment.  If there's a cooler way to do this, I haven't stumbled on it yet.  And I usually try some stupid experiment I've never tried before at least three or four times a week.  The potential in software is really infinite.

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trivialtales In reply to erosarts [2016-01-14 05:37:12 +0000 UTC]

Okay, makes sense. Levels actually is what I use.

I think the difference in effectiveness is probably because I do graywashes before scanning, so there's less straight black and white to maneuver around.

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erosarts In reply to trivialtales [2016-01-14 14:49:35 +0000 UTC]

You're probably needing to tweak the output curves then.  Find that "cliff" where you can separate the grays from black.

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erosarts In reply to vanilla-vanilla [2016-01-10 15:38:53 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Mr. V.  I feel really good about this drawing.

What truly befuzzles me is how I can lose 3 - 5 watchers every time I post a nice non-fetish piece of artwork.  Because it happens every time.  It's like nobody has time for anything except something they can masturbate to.

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vanilla-vanilla In reply to erosarts [2016-01-10 19:03:00 +0000 UTC]

LOL, that's funny... Well, I mean, it's not funny-funny, but it's curiously odd... You currently have nearly 2000 watchers, so it's not too strange that there is some fluctuation. Five watchers is only about 0.2 percent... It's a good thing we don't get notified when someone un-watches us...

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erosarts In reply to vanilla-vanilla [2016-01-11 14:03:27 +0000 UTC]

I've been sort of trapped in this neighborhood of 2000 for about a year now.  Every time I post something which could be construed as having nothing to do with fetish, I lose watchers, and as I post commissions and Gnosis-related pieces, the number climbs back to what it was before.  And since the great migration away from DA began, I'm pretty  sure it means I have about 20 active watchers left.  I would leave too, but the other options don't even pretend to be "social," it's just posting stuff.

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vanilla-vanilla In reply to erosarts [2016-01-11 23:36:22 +0000 UTC]

Mmm, yeah, I know what you mean about the migration away, especially during that one period. Mainly it was to Tumblr I think. But Tumblr, is a vast wasteland. And the interface sucks. Some artists post things, but there's simply no decent way to interact with them or see their collections. So if all you want to do is look once at what they post it's barely OK to visit. I only go to Tumblr so I can add certain people's RSS feeds that I auto-monitor. Mainly artists who have left DA for some reason, and the occasional shy misfit who only wants to post art but stays away from any human interaction... Some artists post on Facebook and have fan pages, but I don't want to muddy up Artistic interaction/socializing with the rest of the FB wasteland... (I rarely visit FB.)

And then there's "ello.co". Haha. I use ello as a clean substitute for Twitter when I want to just blast a microscopic rant or link into the ether. LOL, here's me: ello.co/therodent

And some person I don't know sent SROP an invitation to this place, but I don't know what the heck it is: www.paigeeworld.com/ Looks like Tumblr a bit, I guess...

OK, rant off.

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erosarts In reply to vanilla-vanilla [2016-01-12 15:01:34 +0000 UTC]

So you moved your mini-rants over to ello?  I was looking at them.  I clicked a few links.  It's interesting stuff, but I feel like I want my time back now (just kidding -- damn you internet!!).  I got a recommendation to paigeeworld too, but it looks like a digital anime Pinterest collage to me.  I certainly wouldn't go anywhere where it looks like there's even LESS time, respect and effort shown towards traditional art.

I've been learning some more tricks in digital art myself lately, and every new hurdle I clear makes me less impressed when I see a new neat piece of digital art.  I just can't help but think "So what?" with almost every piece I see these days.  I'd be more impressed to see a cool napkin doodle, I think.  But the young folks really are in a hurry to embrace a cheap, disposable world full of worthless eye candy, so I fear anyone who stands in the way will only seem like a reactionary old kook.

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vanilla-vanilla In reply to erosarts [2016-01-13 06:19:50 +0000 UTC]

Yeah... Ello. Well, honestly, I've had less time to rant, and I feel less hopeful about anything, so my perception of the usefulness of my own ranting has ebbed.

Napkin doodles are cool. Yeah... If you want to flex your napkin doodling skills, you might consider illustrating one of the Cheesefield collections... Heh heh...

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erosarts In reply to vanilla-vanilla [2016-01-13 15:07:37 +0000 UTC]

I came across a book at the library last night.  I think you might be interested.  "Social Media Is Bullshit," by B.J. Mendelson.  Not just truthful and insightful, funny as well.

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vanilla-vanilla In reply to erosarts [2016-01-14 23:40:37 +0000 UTC]

Hmmm, interesting... I need to increase my reach and my business...

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erosarts In reply to vanilla-vanilla [2016-01-15 15:00:18 +0000 UTC]

That book sort of crushes the "dream of the internet," but I can't say that my experience has been any different than his... and he was in marketing and following all the rules and appears to have collected a following of millions, and... well, the section where he describes failures and his epiphany that led to writing the book in the first place is pretty cool.  In the end, his advice is to conduct business the old-fashioned way: on the phone and in person, because no one on the internet is really engaged with social media.  Oddly enough, I think of myself as someone who HATES social media, yet is engaged with the social aspects on this site.  As it sinks under the weight of its own uninspired customer-base.

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vanilla-vanilla In reply to erosarts [2016-01-18 17:46:50 +0000 UTC]

Hmmm, thanks for the further info. Yeah, I'm not sure about social media myself. It keeps people in contact and I occasionally enjoy seeing what old acquaintances are up to... But I guess a major conclusion to be drawn from social media overall is that most people aren't very original or deep but they do have a certain degree of narcissism. People like kittens and snappy popular quotes with funny pictures. And the combined weight of the world's advertising will eventually bring down what few molecules of "civilization" are left on our planet. That's my theory.

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erosarts In reply to will2262 [2016-01-10 15:34:59 +0000 UTC]

That was not in mind when I was doing it, but I can totally see it, now that you mention it.  It does have that woodcut feel.

Thanks for the comment!

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erosarts In reply to jerrie46 [2016-01-09 16:51:16 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, Jerry.  I felt like this was a pretty ambitious bit of inking.

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erosarts In reply to Chickfighter [2016-01-09 16:50:48 +0000 UTC]

No playing with "creatures of the night!"  You'll put your eye out!

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Chickfighter In reply to erosarts [2016-01-09 16:59:41 +0000 UTC]

Don't dream it, be it!

Oh, Rocky!

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