Twitter & video?

Last week I came across a new feature to Twitter that allows you to stream live video and sound from your iPhone or iPod Touch, via the internet by a website associated with Twitter.

Click here to see my twitcasting web page

I am still getting to know how it all works but it is great fun and you can save the video streams you broadcast, here is one I made last night, showing myself draw on my iPad:

Dinosaur cartoon

I am still having fun with Zen Brush!

iPad Rodent

A little rodent sketch drawn in Zen Brush on my iPad

Drawing on the iPad

Well I am drawing like a frenzied mad man, full of energy, using my iPad! I love it!

A lot of sketching is just that, messing around playing to see what I can do and just having fun while I practice but every now and then I create a sketch that I hope is not too bad to look at.

So here are a few from the past couple of days for you to enjoy and please do let me know what you think, all C & C is welcome!

Above is a cartoon bird as I love to draw these type of sketches!

Above is a simple sketch of a face, no one in particular, just playing with shapes!

Above is a self portrait caricature...

All these were drawn in Zen Brush on my iPad with the Artist Touch Pen and took around five minutes each to complete.

The more I draw on my iPad, the more it gives me in terms of getting better working this way, digitally sketching with this new technology. I think back to the early 1970's when I was a boy and such technology was simply the suff of Sci Fi movies and tv shows like Star Trek! It is amazing how far we have come!

I am excited about where it will develop further in the coming ten years! Who knows what we will be using to draw with in 2021!

Inside the Shed

This weeks show....

Wedding Fair

I shall be at the Olde Plough Wedding Fair in March, 

click on the image below to see the details and hope to see you there!

iPhone4 sketch

Created in Zen Brush on my iPhone, using the artist touch pen, a little sketch as I really enjoy messing about like this and it's good practice!

How to draw resources

Here are a few resources to help you draw that I can highly recommend to you:

Let's Toon by Keelan Parham - Great book on everything you need to know about drawing caricatures!

Click here to visit Amazon and order your copy today!

A FREE online resource is from Tom Richmond and available on his blog and this is a MUST see tutorial for anyone who is drawing caricatures!

Click here to visit the tutorial section on Tom's blog

You must also visit my mate Ed Steckly's website and take time to look through his work, it will inspire you!

Click here to stop by Ed's site

So I hope these will be of help to you and remember, keep a passion for drawing inside your belly and soon you will be where you want to be!

Head Shapes

The other day I spoke about head shapes when looking at a creating a caricature.

You look at the face you want to draw and 'look' to see the overall shape that the head makes.

The more you do this and you can practice this anytime you want to, make a game of it when your next around groups of people and look to see the shapes their heads make!

Here to help you is another illustration of head shapes of 4 actors:

Click on the image to view full size

I hope this helps you 'see' the shapes and do try playing the 'spot the head shape' game next time your out!

In fact you can do this with anything you want to draw, from landscapes to still life, look for the outline shapes in front of you, ignore the detail at first to help you 'see' the bigger shapes!

Have fun when you play the game!

Saturday scribbles

Do you wish you could draw better?

Well you are not alone and you may be surprised to know that even established artists retain the desire to improve!

So the desire to improve your art is a health sign and means you are going in the right direction.

I try a technique when I am sketching that helps me to do better. How does it work I hear you ask?

It is simple, as I draw and put the lines down on the paper, should one not feel right or look wrong, I simply look at it to undstnd why it looks wrong. What I don't do is beat myself up over making what is clearly a mistake. A mistake will always happen from time to time but I do not think of it as a mistake, just as a line that does nt fit the whole picture.

So I take a moment to ask myself why it looks wrong and understand the reason for this and then move on to draw the correct line.

I see it as an opportunity to learn through my own work.

Maybe you could try this yourself? I would hope it may help you to draw with a new attitude that will build greater confidence for you.

People who draw in a shy manner and what I mean by that is someone who expects to make a mistake every time, have little confidence and do not experience the real pleasure and joy of drawing.

So having confidence and a new ppraoch to perceived mistakes will give you greater pleasure in drawing and soon you will want to be sketching almost every minuteo of every day!

Have fun and remember to keep sketching!

Caricature: making it work

Here are some of my thoughts and techniques on drawing caricatures.....

It all starts with the very first glance of the person whom I am about to draw.

In a split second, in a mere moment I take in so much but the first 'thing' that I see is the overall head shape. Do I see a triangle, a circle, a pear or a squashed tomato?

Click on the image above to view full size

Details are next, eyes, nose, mouth and then shapes. Shapes that these details make, that they create are interesting and vary from person to person.

So the triangle of the eyes and nose, take a look now at your own face in the mirror, can you see the triangle that is your eyes and nose? This is a wonderful shape that helps me know what to draw.

The weight of the head is another factor that is very important. Is the head I see in fronton me, large on top, the forehead or is there a large chin? This is another element that makes up a total view of what I see as a caricature right before I put pen to paper.

Zen Brush review

Bowel Cancer

A nasty condition that is bigger than breast cancer!

Here in the UK we have a charity trying help highlight this terrible disease:

Beating Bowel Cancer

Today the charity is in Parliament to promote their cause and gain wider support from MP's and the Health department!

Please click here to read a very important document on preventing and detecting bowel cancer

A very good friend of mine has beaten bowel cancer and many people do with early detection. Today he is supporting the charity by attending the event in Parliament to meet MP's as a survivor of this cancer. It has been 10 years since he was diagnosed and he is still well and fighting fit to this day!

He also works in behalf of the charity by giving presentations on his story and how he managed to survive.

It is a subject we should all be aware of!

Your help!

I would really appreciate your help by taking my survey please! This will help me understand how I can improve pencildreams this year! Thank You in advance for your help!

Survey now closed - MANY THANKS to everyone who took part!

Results out next week!

Tattoo

From time to time I have requests come in for designs to be used as tattoo's. Normally I am too busy to do these by some very good friends of ours had been given a voucher to get a tattoo, as a birthday present!

So they asked me if I would create a design and of course I said yes.

Dave is a very keen amateur Magician and he wanted something to represent magic. His idea was a rabbit coming out of the hat. Not tat original but its what he wanted. Based on bugs bunny and holding playing cards I put together a design which he liked and below is the result, showing his arm with his tattoo!

iPhone drawing on?

The iPhone has some pretty cool apps that allow you to draw directly onto the screen. With a finger it is difficult as the size of the iPhone makes it awkward.

But if you have a pen that is for drawing on the iPad, then you can also use it on the iPhone!

Here is a quick play around sketch that I did on my iPhone with the Zen Brush app:

With a pen you have more flexibility to draw better lines and use the small screen space on an iPhone.

Do you have an iPhone? Have you tried to draw on it?

My face as a caricature?

I have been draw many times and I always enjoy seeing the results of other artists and what they do to me!

A friend in Northern Ireland draw me the other week and I was very happy with the caricature, so please enjoy what Colm Campbell did to me here...

Colm drew this when I posted on Facebook that I was off to Paris! The likeness is fantastic!

You can see more of Colms work on his cool website here www.nuffinc.com

So do pop along and enjoy his site!

This is a great way to start the weekend!

Tonight I am entertaining at a 50th Birthday party and that should be lots of fun! I have already drawn at another of the family members events last year and they wanted me back for this one, so it should prove be a great night for us all!

Apple Paris

Hello everyone! Well I am back after a great trip to Paris to draw and entertain for Apple!

Here are just a few of the caricatures I drew of them on my iPad in Paris:

You can see more by clicking here for my online gallery

Paris was an interesting city and this was my first time visiting the city. The weather was not particularly kind, it was very grey and overcast with drizzle of rain from time to time.

But it was a chance to see just a few of the sights that make Paris so famous and wonderful and I was not going to let some bad weather stop me, so I walked to the Eiffel Tower as it was only a few minutes form the hotel I was staying  at:

Above is the bridge crossing over to the Eiffel tower from the north side of the river and below is the Hotel I stayed at, the Hotel Baltimore, a very nice hotel:

After the Eiffel tower I jumped into a taxi and made my way over to Montmartre to see the church and the area where many artists draw, pestering the tourists to draw them for money!

Above is Montmartre, you can walk around these beautiful cobbled streets and I would think that in the summer time, it must be very pleasant!

In front of the church which is positioned on a hill, you have a fantastic view of the city, even when the weather is not very kind! It was great to take in the view!

So it was fun and very interesting to see some of the city of Paris, I really want to return with my wife for a few days to see more!

Below is the Eiffel Tower at night, as I was walking back to my hotel after the event for Apple:

And below is breakfast at the Baltimore hotel, served in my room..

It was a fantastic trip with everyone at the Apple event telling me they really enjoyed the caricatures!

As soon as I returned on Thursday, I was off again to another company event down in Eastbourne on the south coast of England! It was a great night there too and they really loved the caricatures that were draw back on paper! They want me back again soon they told me!

I am very lucky to have this job and all that it gives me! I enjoy working hard and providing a service that is enjoyed so much by so many people!

Steve is where?

Well today I arrive back from Paris: you can see some of the caricatures online at http://gallery.me.com/sjh62 Once I arrive back at Ebbsfleet International station, I am off to my next gig which is at Eastbourne on the south coast of England!

Tonight I am drawing at a corporate event at the hotel pictured above, The Cavendish Hotel. I was there this time last year, for another client, but tonights client informed me when they booked, that the hotel recommended my services to them! Thats always great to know!

Tomorrow I will post a report on the Paris trip and working for Apple again!

Where is Steve?

Today I am in Paris, France!

Drawing and entertaining for Apple again and I am very excited about the gig and with my very first visit to Paris!

My hotel is close to the Eiffel Tower and while I am there, I shall have some free time to go and see the Eiffel Tower for myself and get some photo's with my iPhone.

With a bit of luck, I will be able to give you a full report this Friday on the trip and the gig!

...au revior!

Removal & storage in Essex

If you are looking for a company to help with your removal and or storage needs in and around the Essex area, in fact anywhere in the UK, then I can highly recommend:

www.ajstephensonremovals.co.uk

I have used these guys in the past and they have been fantastic, totally professional and with real customer focus for their clients!

Visit their website and tell them I sent you!

iPad sketches

I am having so much fun sketching on my iPad, using the Zen Brush app!

It is easy to use and Zen Brush is ideal for this type of quick sketching. I am going to set up a new Gallery section on my Mobile Me gallery to post them to and build a collection of my iPad sketches, everyone will be able to view it once I have it ready!

Here are two sketched from the weekend:

iPod and iPad

As I now have my iPad, the iPod I had before had become redundant and was sitting on my desk doing nothing.

Well, we have some friends with a young family who have not yet been able to get an iPod and I decided to give them my redundant one, as I no longer use it.

Today we went round to their house and gave the kids the iPod, setting up iTunes on their PC, so that we could sync up the iPod.

I had restored the iPod back to factory settings so in iTunes today we reset it to a 'new user' name for the kids. They also now have an account with Apple, so they can use the App store and we downloaded Angry Birds for them. They love playing the game!

I am really pleased I was able to pass on my iPod to a good family!

Sent from my iPad
Steve Hearn - Professional Caricaturist
www.drawn4u.com
-
www.pencildreams.com
Steve's daily blog!

Hiking caricature

A real rush last minute caricature commission! The subject is a keen hiker:

Caricature entertainment

Here is an example of how I draw at events. It is my style that flows when people are standing or sitting for me. I enjoy the fun and excitement of drawing people live.

I also get a real kick of drawing those wonderful black lines and producing a drawing that people enjoy and often love!

To have people say thank you and show real appreciate for the work I have done, well it is so special and I really appreciate their sentiments. It means a lot to me as I have put a lot into my drawing skills to constantly improve my abilities, it never stops.

Wanting to improve how I draw is, I feel, a healthy sign. In no way to do I wish to sit back and rest on what I am drawing today. I want to do better. And then do better again!

I am inspired by many of my peers in this respect. It is great being an artist!

My Garden

At this time of year my garden looks a bit sorry for itself. Along with the winter rain and freezing temperatures there is not much I can do. I enjoy my garden and my wife is always keen to keep it maintained. But right now the grass is too long and the shrubs could do with cutting back for them to grow fresh for the summer.

My shed sits in the garden of course and going out there means I keep thinking to myself that I need to get on top of the chores as soon as better weather arrives.

Until then, the garden shall remain as it is but I look forward to the spring!

Caricature in 2011

Well we are under way in 2011 and this year as President of the organisation, ISCA, I shall be working with the other members of the board to put on our convention this year.

Our 2011 convention is being held from November 13th through until November 18th in Florida.

Tradewinds Island Grand Resort
St.Pete Beach, Florida

It is a great opportunity to learn, make new friends and have the time of your life within the art of caricature!

I do hope many of you will be able to join us as the location is just beautiful and right on the beach:

Click here to visit the hotels website

You can also follow us on our website by clicking here- Updates added as they appear

So if you are interested we would love to see you there to join in all the fun!

iPad sketch

Drawn in Zen Brush on my iPad, a caricature sketch for some fun!

I used the normal White paper setting in Zen Brush and a pen size of 3.2 with the dark ink to draw the lines and then switched to the grey shades to finish it off.

Although Zen Brush does not have layers, the grey shades can be used over black lines as it seems to wash over without changing either the black line or it's own wash as you lay it down on the iPad.

I like Zen Brush for fast sketching, it gives a sense of freedom and makes sketching fun!

Website banner creation

I have added a banner to my website to wish everyone a very happy new year!

How I did that was to make the banner in photoshop with a canvas sized 748 pixels x 75 pixels.

After saving as a jpg file, I uploaded the jpg to my photobucket account, a FREE website that hosts your picture files and then copied the direct link html code. I then went into my websites server and pasted the
code into the correct html on the homepage.

Relatively simple once you know how!

Here is the html code if your interested:

I am no expert but if you have a question I would be very happy to try to answer it for you?

Printing

My Epson printer hard at work!

I have an Epson R2880 A3 printer that handles my printing for me.

It is a great printer and uses the special inks that will last and last, the Epson Ultra Chrome K3 ink.

But I have to say that for just printing black and white, the inks are really much too good a quality and work out to be expensive. I guess I could have gone for the printer model below the one I have and saved myself some money, but never mind!

It is greta though for when I want to print off any holiday snaps as it reproduces some fantastic results!

Happy New Year 2011!

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

My aims this year are as follows:

Produce more inside the shed shows

Keep blogging

Ride my bicycle more to help keep fit

Be a good President for ISCA

I look forward to an exciting 2011... I hope you do too!