Meeting location

As the Green Muse burned down (not our fault, honest) we are seeking a new permanent meeting place. Stay tuned.

The Green Muse

The Green Muse has been a very successful place for meetings. So until another announcement supersedes this one, we'll be meeting at the Green Muse, the second Sunday of each month from 10 a.m. until around Noon.

The Green Muse Cafe is located at
519 W Oltorf St
Austin, TX 78704

The Green Muse Cafe

Hola Inklings,

I'm sure my list of addresses for the group is woefully out of date so if you noticed that I've missed someone please pass on this message.

As promised, on the next Sunday morning following our last meeting Louise, Robyn and I went to check out the Green Muse cafe as a viable spot to move our Inklings meetups. In most ways the area in the back checked out as a quiet closed in space able to comfortably accommodate all of us- with free wi-fi, of course. We spoke to the manager who said Sunday mornings would probably be the best time for what we want to do as that's when it's the fewest number of people there. Sure enough, I went back again last Sunday and this Sunday morning around 11am and there were very few people. Arriving at 10am, I suspect we'd have no problem securing the room with the table that'd work for us.

My only concern is sound. Without a group of us actually in there holding conversations it's impossible to know what the acoustics will be like. Also, the first week we were there the music was turned up a bit too loud, but not so much the other times I've been (the place has become my regular getaway writing roost). Plus, if we were a group of paying customers it wouldn't be awkward to ask that the music be turned down a smidge.

Even if everything else failed there's a huge screened in patio that's lined in stone (hard to describe but imagine a rustic room with screen where the roof and top half of the back wall were supposed to be) that we could try as an alternative.

http://media1.px.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/ZrT1tSqJvTknhOaSGOuXmA/l

The Green Muse Cafe is located at

519 W Oltorf St

Austin, TX 78704

The Mother of All Reschedulings

The Inklings will meet on May 16, 2010, to avoid conflicting with Mother's Day. Same time (10:00-12:15), same place (Central Market on North Lamar). But without the excuse of "can't make it, it's Mother's Day." See you there.

Sizing Images for the Web

I've created a tutorial for those of you who work traditionally but want to properly prepare your images for the Web. No Photoshop, no problem. This tutorial requires Picasa, which is free, and for you to have images you've scanned in from your art. I'll be following up with a guide to getting the best results from Photoshop, but for now, I think some of you might find this useful.

The 2 Bad Mice Design guide to resizing your images for the Web.

Beyond Photoshop: Manga Studio

At yesterday's meeting, we talked about the tools we use. Photoshop Photoshop Photoshop.

While a great tool, I've wandered away from it as the be-all-and-end-all graphics tool. I wanted to sing the praises of another program I use to cartoon: Manga Studio. Ignore the name, it's a marketing thing. It's a great comics creation tool, but also a great tool for imitating pen and ink drawing (and pencil, as well, though I've had to come up with a technique that combines Manga Studio with some final quick adjustments in Photoshop to get the effect I want). It comes in a basic version called Debut and a pro version called EX. Go with EX, it has great tools for perspective and other such useful things.

It's not a great tool for painters, but if you do comics, or pen and ink, or even under-drawings that require a lot of perspective, it's wonderful. But don't just ask me, ask the legendary Dave Gibbons, the artist behind The Watchmen.

Book Recomendation

I wanted to point out this book (that I just discovered via my daughter) as an example of effective illustration. It has an alluring story with a pertinent message, that is fun to read. But every time we go through the book we find something else in the illustrations. There are many little illustration side stories and characterization going on. So I recommend taking a look at this one if you can. Princesses are not Quitters by Kate Lum and illustrated by Susan Hellard.