Eureka!

For some time now I've been trying to find a way of successfully transferring digital ink-jet images for mixed-media artwork.  There's lots of information out there on how to do it, and I'd been diligently experimenting with every different method and medium I came across, with at best patchy results. I suspect you need to get the combination of the printing paper, printing ink, receiving paper and medium, right in order to get success.

I read one source which recommended alcohol sanitising gel, which if nothing else has the advantage of being cheap.  So I duly went and bought some.  Used with Epson matt photo paper, and ordinary cartridge paper, the result was reliable and pretty good, with a contrasty, grainy image that I quite liked.  I also tried it with Inkjet OHP film, and that was in some ways even better, giving a softer, almost pastel like image.  These are good enough for me, and while I won't stop experimenting, it at least allows me to achieve some of the ideas I had.

The images below show you the results - they don't really do them justice - a lot of the subtleties are lost, but  I think you can still just about see the difference.

Original Photograph

Inkjet transfer from photograph, using alcohol sanitising gel and Epson matt photo paper. A grainy, contrasty effect is achieved.

Inkjet transfer using OHP inkjet transparency film with alcohol sanitising gel. A softer, more romantic feel is achieved here.

Learning to Sketch Again

My 6 year old's first drawing on the iPad.  My drawings on there aren't a great deal better at the moment!

One of the reasons I was keen to get an iPad was to use it for drawing and sketching. I've read that quite a few artists are using them to create artwork on, perhaps most famously David Hockney, and the idea of using it to create artwork on the go was something I wanted to be able to do.  I thought it would be great to be able to paint and draw without having to cart about large quantities of art materials when you travel.

So, having downloaded a free drawing and painting app, I have been experimenting with what I can do.  However I've found that using my finger to draw with is actually quite restrictive.  While in theory I know that you can select any brush size you want, and scale up or down so that you can get more control, I find that I really want a tool with a point on it, so that I can see what I'm doing, without having to constantly scale up and down.  It seems that I am not alone in this, as I discovered when I went looking for what was available in terms of a stylus.  Apparently the way that the capacitive screen of the iPad is constructed, means that it is designed to react to something fairly broad, like a finger, so all the stylus' that are available have a fairly broad tip.  So far so bad, the technology needs to improve on that score, but I did find a Styluswith good reviews that has a broad, see-through nib with a dot on it to show you where you are drawing, and this seemed to offer a way round the problem, at least in the short term. Once it arrived it seemed to do the job reasonably well, but I didn't find it that easy to use - you had to keep it at a certain angle which was a little restrictive, so at the moment I've gone back to using my finger.

Drawing and sketching on the iPad, is a very different experience even to using a drawing tablet with a computer.  I like the fact it is so direct (and so do my kids). I find it difficult to create drawings which are at all precise on there, though in some ways this might actually be a good thing, encouraging me to sketch with more spontaneity and giving my drawing more life.

Aside from drawing, I love the way web browsing is so much easier on the iPad, but though I like to take it to bed with me, I'm going to have to stop doing so, as browsing through creative blogs and inspirational sites, I have found is a sure route to insomnia - it just stimulates the creative part of my brain which is really the last thing you need when you want to get to sleep, so I'm going to have to stop doing it!