Digital Coffee Anyone

Posted on January 31, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

Procreate, Apple Pencil, and finger…lots of finger.
I’m still getting the hang of the Apple Pencil, especially in the iPad (Pro) drawing app, Procreate. At this point my biggest complaint is that the Apple Pencil is very reluctant, were I to anthropomorphize it, to “pick colors,” that process of touching down on existing colors to select a given color. There are other wrinkles that I’m hoping I can iron out as well. So it’s hit and miss here and there…practice, learning, identity change.

Incidentally, the Jura Impressa C65? Yes, that’s the way to go. Nuff said.

Special thanks to Seth Watkins at Pinhook Farms in Clarinda, IA for the coffee mug.

A Beer, the Apple Pencil, and of course, the iPad Pro

Posted on January 30, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

When you move a lot, you get used all the same and some new things being rearranged here and there, as I’ve tried to report on elsewhere. Light switches, pots and pans, basket for car keys, etc.. Used to be here somewhere, now they’re over there somewhere. Well that’s what’s going on with the introduction of the Apple Pencil. Some things work just the same way, some things work differently, some things work better, some things don’t seem to work, some things take 3 or 4 clicks before they start working. Sometimes you have to jiggle the handle to stop the toilet from filling. But let’s face it, $99.00 helps to coax out the motivation.

I went downtown for a beer and some digital drawing time. I drew and sipped, sipped and drew, learned a little, and cranked this out using a photo reference in a side by side manner:

Cowboy in Ann”s Office at night

iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate

Sketches’ Paintbrush & Watercolor Brush Lesson

Posted on January 30, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

Here’s a snapshot of yesterday’s digital art class focusing on 2 new brushes, new since we upgraded from the free version to the pro version of Sketches. We spent quite a bit of time on the mechanics of increasing and decreasing both the size and opacity of these two new brushes.

As an illustration, I had prepared this painting the night before using only Sketches’ paintbrush and watercolor brush:

This was a lot to take on, but the folks in the class hung in there and ultimately produced some promising works.

See image for the reference photo credit.
Stay tuned for a closer look at what the Enrichment Centers create.

Coin Operation

Posted on January 27, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

Quarters…lots of ‘me.

Sketch Club, Sty-HD (till Apple Pencil gets here)

brows’n stache

Posted on January 27, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

I love the procedural stipply brush/effect in Sketch Club. Like I’ve said, it’s like painting in the air with a sparkler. Sketchy’s cool too.

Sketch Club, Procreate, iColorama, Sty-HD
(STILL waiting for Apple Pencil to arrive!)

Google Analytics for WordPress.com Business sites

Posted on January 25, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

Fellow bloggers, especially those with Premium plan, do you have any suggestions for alternative analytics options for those of us who can’t understand why wordpress.com doesn’t “support” Google Analytics within the Premium package. My traffic is low, my numbers are low, but I learn so much from this sort of information; and, it’s disappointing that the built in WP statistics are so superficial AND the free statcounter option is often misaligned or at variance with WP statistics. Any suggestions?

WordPress.com News

The Stats on WordPress.com are a special favorite of many site owners — it’s our second-most visited screen. At a glance, you can see when you get the most traffic, which posts are making the biggest impact, who your most frequent commenters are, and more. It’s a great way to gain insights into your visitors and your site.

To complement our built-in stats and to give you even more information about your traffic, you can now use Google Analytics with WordPress.com, as part of the WordPress.com Business plan.

Add the Business plan to your site and get everything you need to build a great website, including support for Google Analytics. If you already added the Business plan to your site, start using Google Analytics today, from the Settings → Analytics screen. Read on for more information about Google Analytics and using it with your site.

Getting started with Google Analytics on WordPress.com

Google Analytics is a…

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Richard’s 63 Chevy

Posted on January 24, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

There it was. Right in the Save Mart parking lot in broad daylight.

Procreate, iPad Pro, cheap stylus, still waiting for my Apple Pencil

Lesson Pre-Plan

Posted on January 22, 2016 by portfoliolongo.com

These drawing apps are complicated; sometimes in their potential simplicity, sometimes in their actual complexity. I’m working on a lesson for my next class focusing on ONLY two of the many Sketches tools, the mechanical pencil and the airbrush. This is currently the only app we’re working with.

We’ll do some warm-ups and then practice settings in size and opacity for each, then play around with some simple figures, e.g., cube, sphere, cone, etc. along with some strokes, movements, and feels. Then we’ll attempt the eye again using only these two tools.