Tag: howto

It’s always fun to take a peek behind the curtain an see how things are done. Sometimes I forget to grab a shot of my setup, but I’m working on getting better about remembering. Last week I wrote a post that needed a combination of photos and screenshots. So I headed over to my in-house studio (actually the third bedroom that doesn’t have a renter right now) and set up under the window.

One of the neat things about Magna Studio EX (Clip Paint Studio EX if you buy the downloadable version) is it’s book making abilities. It shouldn’t be a surprise since the whole app revolves around making comics and comic books. The panel-based nature of comics also makes for a pretty neat layout tool for image heavy books or magazines. In my case, it’s also a substitute for Adobe InDesign. For the occasional layout jobs I have, it’s not worth another subscription on top of Lightroom+Photoshop.

A few weeks ago I bought this cable to connect my phone to my camera. So after a few uses it seems like a good time for a quick review. The bottom line is that it works, and other than a few camera related quirks it’s a good value at $30. As a bonus it can even be used to transfer photos from one iPhone to another. The cable Artisinal data transfer, every byte imported by hand.

A featured image in a WordPress post is especially handy if you like to use Read More… links to keep the front page uncluttered. If there’s not a featured image, the post is just a headline and excerpt and any images that could attract a reader are buried “beneath the fold” as newspaper people like to say. Usually you can get away with just using an image from the inside the post as the feature.

The one constant about indoor events is the poor lighting. It’s not usually bad lighting. The people that set up the stage want the event to look good. There’s usually plenty of light from the audience’s perspective. What the camera sees is a different story. When Hillary Clinton campaigned in Phoenix the event was held in a high school gym. I’ll wait while you finish shaking your head. So you can imagine the base lighting.

Lukas Aquarelle 1862 watercolors are a european brand that is sold in North America by Jerry’s Artarama. Being a low-priced paint, I wondered about the quality of the pigments. So I decided some testing was in order. I bought the following five paints: Alizarin Crimson (1064), Gamboge (1016), Ultramarine Light (1135), Burnt Sienna (1109), and Phthalo Green (1195), in half pans in a Jerry’s store. I have no idea how long they were sitting on the shelf or when they were made.

As much as I enjoy my Koi watercolors, the box is just too big for a small bag. I thought about going down to the 12-color version, but wanted something that would go almost anywhere. Even a pocket! I knew there was at least one Altoids tin around the house, and it would probably make a decent everyday carry kit. A few searches for “altoids watercolor” and I had a pretty good idea of what would fit.

One thing that’s oddly caught my attention is watercolor painting. In the past I’ve dismissed it as childish.1 But as I’ve been rediscovering my artistic side, I’ve been captivated by the simplicity and beauty2 of watercolors. The thing that really sold me on the idea of picking up a brush was the existence of small, portable watercolor kits. With just two items, the watercolors and a sketchbook, I can paint most anywhere.

One nice feature of Manga Studio 51 is being able to have your screen reflect actual real-world measurements. This is handy for checking margins and other things like output sizes. So let’s find out how. Note: If you like Manga Studio, you might also like my brushs and color palettes that bring Copic-style markers into your favorite drawing app. Find your screen specs For Apple laptops and displays, it’s on their support page.

There’s an old tech-support joke about important data. Tech: Does this drive have important data on it? Customer: Thanks for asking, it does indeed. Tech: Good. I’ll erase it now. Customer: Nooo! I’ll loose everything! Tech: If it’s that important, you’ll have a backup. Customer: What’s a backup? In short, if it’s on a computer and it’s important, there should always be a backup. We’ve gotten better about this. Dropbox was the first service to really break through the noise about backups.