Art and Graphics
David T. St. Albans
professionally for over 25 years. (Yes, it can be done!) My art work ranges
from Scrimshaw to fantasy/horror, science fiction, whacky, cartoons, comics,
graffix, tattoo flash, the odd, the surreal, the just plain weird. I have
been published thousands of times in magazines such as, The Gate, Strange
Magazine, World Explorer, Rarebit Fiends, Zippy Quarterly and elsewhere.
I am searching for: People who need art tips, people who love art, people
who need art done for them, and to get into general discussions with artists
and others about the field. Also I need a big favor. If anyone out there
could tell me how to get one damned graphic onto a web page I would be
forever grateful! I've tried several different methods but I can't seem to
transpose the work from my scanner, to a file to my web page. HELP!!!
Thanks!
St. Albans
Lar
Dear David,
I would love to discuss the art field and I am confident many others on this
group would enjoy topics that are more than "please check out my site" or
XXX-spam :P
I have been recently trying to promote myself and start getting regular work
as an illustrator. I've been out of the job market for quite a few years
though, and I realize it's going to be a slow process to build a client base.
You're interests and mine do sound like the coincide too :)
BTW - graphics for the web should be in gif or jpg format :) Try the Save As
option in your graphics package to convert the format :) Let me know if I can
be more explicit, if you need it :)
Later!
Lar
****
So I've got these web pages :)
Lar's Studio - http://www.sentex.net/~fresco/studio/direct.html
The Lair - http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/6667
****
Jane Harmon
> Dear David,
>
> I would love to discuss the art field and I am confident many others on this
> group would enjoy topics that are more than "please check out my site" or
> XXX-spam :P
Oh, my DEAR! This brings up an opportunity I've been waiting for... I've been *dying* to ask why there
is never any back-and-forth conversation on the alt.art newsgroups, just people posting their URLs. Do
you have any idea?
> BTW - graphics for the web should be in gif or jpg format :) Try the Save As
> option in your graphics package to convert the format :) Let me know if I can
> be more explicit, if you need it :)
It's not clear from what David said how his graphic was created (scanned or computer generated), but
I've been told that the recipe for getting good scans is: SCAN into a tiff format, at *lots* of dots
per inch (I use 240 or 300); this creates an enormous file, but doesn't degrade - takes forever on a
slow computer, too. Then open the tiff in a PhotoShop-like program, and resize and EXPORT into a jpg
format. I've tried it both ways, and scanning directly into jpg loses detail, while resizing and
exporting from a proper image program does not. Don't ask me why... (and if you know why, don't tell me
either. <g>)
Now if David is talking about a graphic that's completely computer-generated, then I don't know why he
can't web-post it, unless he's not using the proper web formats, like Lar suggested. - Jane, who draws
and paints (and no, I'm not going to post my URL, so there.)
brian
way we can figure out whats wrong with your graphics!
My kid put her page together using netscape communicator
4.0 - page composer, super easy. Course if ya want
to annoy surfers with frames, ani gifs and bells and
whistles use something else.
Theres some good graphic shareware out there to
help with your artwork, two that comes to mind
are Paintshop Pro 5.0 and PhotoStudio.
Also thumbnail your front page and let them
choose which of the artwork they want to see
in a large format. Rule of thumb, anything over
150k will never get seen.
Anyone else have suggestions?
David T. St. Albans
Nice to meet you and thanks for the tips! I use Adobe Photoshop and other
Adobe products. I was using an Aldus program, but the fact is it may
actually be too old to convert my graphics properly. When I loaded graphics
onto my Publisher 98 pages they failed to make the jump from my computer to
the web. Some folks privately e-mailed me though and it looks like one of
the problems will be fixed. I want to thank everyone for the great response!
I would ask people to please check out my site, I guess, but it's blank. So.
. . anyway I was sort of wondering why people didn't talk on this ng. I
would assume because most think it is a place for business professionals to
look at and find artists. However I find most pros never deal with
newsgroups. They are kind of like Amateur Press Associations. I.e., if you
haven't been working in the business or aren't working now, why would we
care about you? Is the attitude from the business pros. Really, the best way
to get work is to send out a little business card with like, one
illustration, cartoon, whatever, to every place you want to try out and put
your URL on that card. Then point them to this ng and say they can find the
URL there as well.
So, how. who, what, why, where and when? tell us alittle about your work and
yourself. maybe we can start a riot! :-)
Sincerely,
David St. Albans
Dear David,
>
>I would love to discuss the art field and I am confident many others on
this
>group would enjoy topics that are more than "please check out my site" or
>XXX-spam :P
>
>I have been recently trying to promote myself and start getting regular
work
>as an illustrator. I've been out of the job market for quite a few years
>though, and I realize it's going to be a slow process to build a client
base.
>You're interests and mine do sound like the coincide too :)
>
>BTW - graphics for the web should be in gif or jpg format :) Try the Save
As
>option in your graphics package to convert the format :) Let me know if I
can
>be more explicit, if you need it :)
>
David T. St. Albans
Thanks for responding. For my explanation about why URLs and no talk, see my
post to Lar for today.
Also, thanks for the tips! It seems there are a lot of things to do before
one just blasts out a webpage. I did several on Publisher 98. I didn't try
uploading any regular computer graphics. I can't figure out what sort of
format to put them into. I mean, will they simply appear as they do in the
file, or will they fill an entire page? I've heard some people say do the
dots really low. I tried that but you can't make out my highly detailed work
that way. So I will try your way.
As far as conversing goes, well, I guess no one ever asked. Now that you
did, why not tell us something about yourself, your work, goals,
aspirations, etc?
Sincerely,
David St. Albans
Jane Harmon wrote in message <36590881...@erols.com>...
>Lar wrote:
>
>> Dear David,
>>
>> I would love to discuss the art field and I am confident many others on
this
>> group would enjoy topics that are more than "please check out my site" or
>> XXX-spam :P
>
David T. St. Albans
The story of my life! "My kid could do this stuff standing on his head! :-)
All right, I admit anyone under the age of twenty is so much smarter than me
it's ridiculous. But warn your kid that as he hits his twenties his
smartness will lose ground to marriage, cars, office politics and selective
amnesia when it comes to what you taught him. School will become a blank and
insurance and mortgages take precedence over really cool graffix websites.
Ah, youth! it's wasted on the young!
I don't mind hitting cool websites. Everyone should post a website, but the
art of conversation could be a good thing here too.
Thanks for posting your tips and ideas. I will utilize them all!
Tell us about yourself!
Sincerely,
David T. St. Albans
brian
picked it up so quick, perhaps I'm a good teacher. I've posted my
web page url here earlier out of a compulsion to share my work,
and also business reasons.
I've been doing architectural renderings for the last 4 yrs as
a add-on job at a design firm I worked at. Out of that came clients
and a client base, you've all seen like work in real-estate mags
and such. Well I've gone free-lance for the last seven months
but still will have to take a temp job to rustle up christmas money.
I would prefer to do the work totally on computer (Autocad R14
and render package) but output is a big pain in the butt. Quick
and dirty is always ink with markers. The ones getting hung up
in boardrooms are tempera and soft pastel chalk for skies and
anything else needed - color pencil,markers and ink, always
on strathmore hot rolled. The only tip I can pass on is I finally
found a good masking tape that doesnt bleed wet wash - wait -
I threw away the container, but the roll says 3M. Sorry
But from the time I was knee high to a grasshopper I've wanted to
be a commercial artist, didn't have the fire in the belly or that
extra 2% genius to be a fine artist. The ones I admire run
from Parish,Hopper,Wyeth-realists.
RC
David T. St. Albans,
About your scanning, scan a good photo of art at 250 lpi and save as a
bitmap, then send to COrel photopaint or Adobe photoshop or other paint
program and crop off to art edges. Use tools to brighten colors or other
effects plus clean up any defects. Save (you can use this file to resize art
to different dimensions..Resample image to the final size you will need on
the web and save as a separate file . Keep art as an RGB for the web. Good
luck!
I did some fantasy paperback covers and lots of illustrations while living
in the NY area. Would like to get back in again. What's the key to get in?
Would like to see your work sometime.
RC
a...@netrox.net
Terry Miura
attempts!
About graphics and html. I hope this isn't redundunt information (well
if it is, flame me)
but here's a quick and dirty primer:
In order to make a webpage with graphics, you need a) an html file (which
defines the
composition of the page) and b) graphics files in jpg or gif formats.
Each graphic on
your webpage must be a separate file, and all the files (html, jpg,
gif) must be uploaded
to a server.
jpg or gif? general rule of thumb. if a graphic consists of flat shapes
(logos, cut paper-type illustration, etc) then use gif. It it has a lot
of tonal and color subtleties
paintings, photos, etc) use jpg. Most graphics software will
let you save a file in
either format.
resolution: no need to have your file larger than 72dpi. Your monitor
is 72 dpi.
so if you save a file at a higher resolution, it makes no difference
to the viewer.
except that it'll take longer to show up on the website.
There are lots of webpage authoring programs out there.You can also
use later versions
of netscape or IE to look at the html codes of other people's websites
to see how
they're done. After composing your html file, open it using Netscape
or IE to see if
your graphics show up properly.
If it works fine, then upload each and every
file to the designated server space (typically provided by your internet
service provider
or a web based account like geocities) using an FTP utility such
as Fetch ( you can
find these utility shareware programs at download.com, etc. for free,
or very little cost.
I think Netscape Communicator is capable of this, too.
If it doesn't show up properly, uploading the files aren't gonna
solve the problem,
so you need to look at the html file itself. One of the most common
errors is that
your graphics files' locations or names do not match those of the instructions
written in the codes. The html file says, " load picture A which should
be located
in them thar folder right there". But you've somehow changed
the location of the
picture file. so the html file finds nothing. If it gets confusing,
try leaving all the files
(html, jpgs, gifs) in one folder from start to finish, and make sure
it remains there from
start to finish. In which case they should be in the same folder AFTER
you upload them
too. Not the most organized method, but you can't lose any files this
way.
I think maybe my articulation is less than clear. sorry about that.
Earthlink's homepage
has links to good web tutorials. They do a lot better job than i just
did.
Anyway, good luck, and let's hear from other people too.
terry miura
terrymiura.com
Some stuff in Winter1999 issue of Windows Magazine (2001tips issue)
brian
One other thing, if your server is unix you must use
lower case, if its listed in your html code as art.JPG
you'll get the broken graphic sign, use art.jpg.
A good easy ftp'er is WS_FTP32, its free and all over the net.
Most ISPs offer free webpage space (mine gives 5 meg) plus theres
free ones out there check
http://www.freeyellow.com
this doesn't have the annoying pop-up banners of geo-cities.
Fred Wittman
>
> My name is David St. Albans. I have been a fine and graphic artist
> professionally for over 25 years. (Yes, it can be done!) My art work ranges
> from Scrimshaw to fantasy/horror, science fiction, whacky, cartoons, comics,
> graffix, tattoo flash, the odd, the surreal, the just plain weird. I have
> been published thousands of times in magazines such as, The Gate, Strange
> Magazine, World Explorer, Rarebit Fiends, Zippy Quarterly and elsewhere.
>
> I am searching for: People who need art tips, people who love art, people
> who need art done for them, and to get into general discussions with artists
> and others about the field. Also I need a big favor. If anyone out there
> could tell me how to get one damned graphic onto a web page I would be
> forever grateful! I've tried several different methods but I can't seem to
> transpose the work from my scanner, to a file to my web page. HELP!!!
>
> St. Albans
David,
I just HAD to get into this thread! At the risk of repeating what's
already been said, when I added images to my page, I first took 35mm
slides of the desired images, had them scanned into TIFF images at a
service bureau, and then converted them into JPG's with Paintshop Pro.
Does that help? Also, the IMG tag in HTML has a height and width
modifier which determines the size of the image.
I also freelance, I've been at it for about two years with mixed
results. I would appreciate your or anyone else's suggestions for
self-promotion. Not to spam, but my website is
http://www.wittgraphics.com. Drop by, I need the hits!
Thx again for starting this thread!
Frederick Wittman
Jane Harmon
> resolution: no need to have your file larger than 72dpi. Your monitor
> is 72 dpi.
> so if you save a file at a higher resolution, it makes no difference
> to the viewer.
> except that it'll take longer to show up on the website.
Yeah, but if you're scanning in artwork, you *must* scan at a much
higher resolution or it messes up. I thought I didn't need to scan at
higher than 75 dpi for the exact reasons you give, but discovered that
my pastel pencil drawings came out really alias-y if I didn't scan at
200 or better and resize. (It's like they tell you not to wear small
stripes in your shirt or tie if you're going to be on TV - it sort of
*strobes* because of the refresh rate of the tv-scan.) -- Jane
Jane Harmon
David T. St. Albans wrote:
> Dear Jane,
> Thanks for responding. For my explanation about why URLs and no talk, see my
> post to Lar for today.
> Also, thanks for the tips! It seems there are a lot of things to do before
> one just blasts out a webpage. I did several on Publisher 98. I didn't try
> uploading any regular computer graphics. I can't figure out what sort of
> format to put them into. I mean, will they simply appear as they do in the
> file, or will they fill an entire page? I've heard some people say do the
> dots really low. I tried that but you can't make out my highly detailed work
> that way. So I will try your way.
It depends on how you're setting them in the page. You have a LOT of latitude
in where/how you want the text to flow or not flow around your graphics. Your
best teacher would be the web itself; go find someone's website whose format
you like, and then go into the 'view' menu-pulldown in your browser and select
'view source'. This shows you the html-code that generated the page you're
looking at; cut and paste any code that creates a layout you like.
Most people use a web-authoring tool these days; I use the Composer function
that's built right into Netscape. It's pretty powerful for everyday use and
making one-sy, two-sy pages; probably would want something with more oomph if I
were maintaining a huge site and wanted help managing the links, but I'm not.
> As far as conversing goes, well, I guess no one ever asked. Now that you
> did, why not tell us something about yourself, your work, goals,
> aspirations, etc?
I'm a True Amateur - art is a hobby for me; I'm a computer geek by trade. I've
been drawing and painting (watercolor, pastels) for one-two years, mainly
because it's a hobby that has nothing to do with computers. (Of course, once I
bought the scanner, I could no longer say that, I guess.)
I display my art in simple off-setting table pages; I just like the staggered
look. I don't think it would work if I had vast and complex scenes or vistas,
but I'm not that 'advanced' yet. I made the pages in Composer. You can see what
I mean at http://www.kreative.net/janeh/artshow/. There, wasn't that sneaky?
But it's merely an example of a simple web-page layout, mind you - I don't
insist that you look at or comment on the art. <g> -- Jane
Terry Miura
Yeah, but if you're scanning in artwork, you *must* scan at a much
higher resolution or it messes up. I thought I didn't need to scan at
higher than 75 dpi for the exact reasons you give, but discovered that
my pastel pencil drawings came out really alias-y if I didn't scan at
200 or better and resize. (It's like they tell you not to wear small
stripes in your shirt or tie if you're going to be on TV - it sort of
*strobes* because of the refresh rate of the tv-scan.) -- Jane
that when you save a picture file in jpg format, you can choose the amount of compression. The more you compress, the smaller the file size & the greater the loss of information--which translates to loss of quality. Just how much you SHOULD compress depends on the picture and you need to experiment for each picture to find the best compromise. I usually save mine in 4 to 8 range, but
trial and error is a must. When you're actually in the process of finding the best compression, always
save from the original high rez file, and not from a previously jpeg'd file--each time you save
a file in jpeg, there's a little (or a lot) of loss.
Also, a 72dpi file is only 72dpi at 100% image size. If you save a jpg
file at 72dpi and then proceed
to resize it using html tags, you're file is no longer 72dpi. Which
means it's no longer optimal.
Something to keep in mind.
To determine the best way to save gif files, fiddle with the number
of colors when converting
to index colors from rgb. If you're dealing with an image (logo, for
instance) with very few colors,
there's no need to allow for hundreds of colors. Actually, I haven't
done this in many a months
so I hope I'm passing on the correct information on conversion, but
I'm not absolutely sure...
could someone please confirm this? Anyway, this also requires
trial and error for each image.
But it's worth the effort to optimize your webpage, for most people
won't have patience to
wait for a large file to download.
terry miura
terry miura.com
RC
Give us a clue as to how you're doing with the info we've given you?
For an easy way to write a web page take a look at HTML Writer
at http://www.public.asu.edu/~bottger/
RC
David T. St. Albans
Back from the "other world" I inhabit, which I would rather not focus on
right now...
Man I can't believe all the tips n' stuff that you guys have given me! I've
hard copied it all for reference and will soon be working towards getting my
web pages up and running.
I got the lowdown on how to write web pages. I first tried it in Geocities
where I maintain my Angels Links you can visit them at:
http://www.geocities.com/Eureka/Concourse/3658/pg1.html
I give you fair warning, the pages are generated by Geocities very basic
html editor, so it's font colors, background colors, basic lines and not
much else. Also it is all about my experiences with angels and New Thought.
So if you are not hepped up about such things, don't bother.
I then tried to do some web pages on my Publisher 98 program. They looked
great. But when I downloaded them to Globe.com they all went but the
graphics wouldn't download. So I will be trying other suggestions that you
folks have given me. I will give you a report with results. I think I wasn't
making the files right. Though Publisher says it converts everything to
html, making it ready for uploading. I could never upload anything to
Geocities. Somewhere among these tips is the definitive answer!
As an artist I have and do work in every media available. I have just
recently produced work almost fully computer generated. What I find great is
the ability to color my black and white drawings. Color was either a long,
difficult process, or too expensive to represent my work with. With color
Xerox and the computer I think I have found a way to put more life into my
work.
Here's a question. As you all know, color and even black and white graphics
files take up enormous space on the computer. I am thinking of getting
either back-up tape drive or a secondary hard or zip drive. What do any of
you think? what do you use? Do you have compare and contrast notes? Also,
what about Wacom pads? are they worth it, or are you all using "mice" to
produce your computer graphics? Also, how do you scan anything over the
limitations of your flatbed? I've got big paintings. Are slides the best? Or
will simple photos do?
Lot's to think about, I know. Right now i am doing pen and ink illos for The
Gate magazine. I get published in that all the time. Bigfoots, the face on
Mars, that kind of esoteric stuff. I'm a big fan of the strange and unusual.
I like doing mysterious things in art. By helping me set up some graphics
pages I will soon be able to show off a bit.
When I get done I believe my marketing ploy will be this, make postcards
that I can paste prints of my work on. Each card can have an example of the
work I want to do for a particular venue: i.e. horror, weird, surreal,
landscape, b&w illos, cartoons, etc. Then I will put my website address on
these cards and send them to art directors, publishers, etc. They can then
realize I am computer literate and can go to my site and see the diversity
of my work and read my resume' history and personal stuff, and see a list of
clients, etc. I think this is about as professional as any artist can get.
The cards will be easy to mail and nice to look at. Hopefully people will
keep them on file. One thing I see missing on most websites is a photo of
the artist and a personal profile/resume. I believe most pro directors, etc.
don't want to only see how well you execute art, but want to know if you can
be trusted to meet deadlines, work on budgets, have been in the industry and
worked well with others, etc. They want to know the person behind the work.
So that's where I'm headed.
More later!
Namaste'
David St. Albans 0:-)
RC wrote in message <73idv8$4fc$1...@news.icanect.net>...
Carol F. Mason
David T. St. Albans wrote in message ...
>> things to do before one ... blasts out a webpage <<
Hi, David and Jane and all.
I used Adobe PageMill to create my first web page and it was a lot easier
than doing all the HTML from scratch. But you do need to use HTML to clean
up after any WYSIWYG editor. A good book for beginners and for reference is
the Visual Quickstart Guide by Elizabeth Castro, HTML For the World Wide
Web, 2nd Edition (Peachpit Press).
I made tiny thumbnails of each painting, about one by one-and a quarter
inches at 72 dpi, and made these into links to the larger images. This keeps
the front page loading time down.
What image editing software do you have to manipulate your scanned pictures?
Photoshop, PhotoDeluxe, PhotoPaint, and that thing by JASC (Paint Shop Pro?)
are all good. Whatever you use, you will want to downsample to 72 or 96
pixels per inch and keep the file size down below 100 KB (30 to 50 is really
better) for the larger image. The thumbnails are about 4-8 KB each.
Let me know what you have to work with and I'd be happy to help.
Carol F. Mason
CFM Designs
http://home.earthlink.net/~pentimom
jrei...@earthlink.net
<whispe...@email.msn.com> wrote:
>Also, >what about Wacom pads? are they worth it, or are you all using "mice" to
>produce your computer graphics? Also, how do you scan anything over the
>limitations of your flatbed? I've got big paintings. Are slides the best? Or
>will simple photos do?
>
Graphics tablets (Wacom, Calcomp, etc) are much better for
certain kinds of computer art, especially if you're using a
program that supports the pressure sensitivity functions of a
tablet. Even using an older program, I find using it as a mouse
substitute for line drawing feels more natural - I find I can use
the fine motor control in my fingers (ie gripping a pen)
more effectively than my whole wrist (ie maneuvering a
mouse). See if you can have both a mouse and tablet plugged
in at the same time - if you've also got a scanner and zip drive
hooked up, you may fill up all your ports. I do find the
tablet pen awkward for doing file manager and regular Windows
"pointing" functions. So I use both the mouse and pen - they're
both active on my PC all the time.
My new favorite program for computer artwork is Painter from
Metacreations - see alt.fractal-design.painter or the company's
Web site at http://www.metacreations.com/
It gives a pretty good feeling of working with real art materials -
impasto paints with realistic texture and globbiness, endless
variants of paper textures, brushes, and so on. And no fumes!
A singularly un-fine artist,
-- Jenny
Pattie Schey
There a couple of online auction that have refurbished Wacom 4 x 5 pads
for 55.00 to start with. I'm contemplating getting one but still love
doing my art the traditional method and making a mess.
pattie
Carol F. Mason
David T. St. Albans wrote in message ...
> or zip drive. What do any of you think? what do you use?
> Do you have compare and contrast notes?
Hi, David.
I use a Zip drive and have backed up most of my digital art onto Zip disks.
I don't thinl this is ideal; as a mattor of fact I don't think any backup
system is ideal, but when I was using tape it was cumbersome and slow, and
hard to find the file you need on a tape. Many people I know have invested
in CD burners and archive their graphics files on CDs. What I like about
this is that almost everyone has a CD drive and that increases your
compatibility.
Wacom -- I am a True Believer <g> in the pen over the mouse for digital
artwork. There is no comparison. You will love the pressure-sensitive
features. I have a three-year-old ArtZII 12 x 12 and any time I need fine
control over a digital painting I use the pen, not the mouse. I have heard
that the new Intuits are very very nice, and prices are reasonable. Unless
you plan to trace very large art, a 6 x 8 or a 9 x 12 is comfortable for
most people.
Have fun!
Carol
David T. St. Albans
Please direct us to these on-line auctions. I'm looking for the pad that is
also a screen that you can load Adobe into. Came out several years ago. Is
that a 5x whatever? Also I get all my Adobe and other hugely expensive stuff
from a place called WAREZDEPOT. They are out of Russia. It was weird to deal
with them, but the products are great. Check the site out if you're a
partially starving artist like me.
Namaste'
David St. Albans 0:-)
Pattie Schey wrote in message <73s0gu$a...@newsops.execpc.com>...
David T. St. Albans
Me and the rest of the known world will be the judges of that!
>A singularly un-fine artist,
>
>-- Jenny
>
find a good, cheap Wacom. I tested them at Comdex a few years back. For a
pen & pencil man like myself it is a must have item. I can work with a
mouse, but Nu what a pain! it is so slow and so indirect!
Fred Wittman
>
> Pattie,
> Please direct us to these on-line auctions. I'm looking for the pad that is
> also a screen that you can load Adobe into. Came out several years ago. Is
> that a 5x whatever? Also I get all my Adobe and other hugely expensive stuff
> from a place called WAREZDEPOT. They are out of Russia. It was weird to deal
> with them, but the products are great. Check the site out if you're a
> partially starving artist like me.
>
> David St. Albans 0:-)
>
> >>
> >> -- Jenny
> >
> >
> >for 55.00 to start with. I'm contemplating getting one but still love
> >doing my art the traditional method and making a mess.
> >
> >pattie
Fred