nic squirrell

Tropical

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:51:00 +0000

A hot tropical illustration so I can pretend it's not raining yet again.

iDraw for iPad.

Walking in Pittswood

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:28:00 +0000

Lovely weather for Monday's bank holiday so went for a walk in the woods.

Of course, it's raining again today...

Cat nose

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:26:00 +0000

Sketchbook pages

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:24:00 +0000

I'd like to be good at gardening, but sadly I even killed a cactus last week. Luckily sketchbook gardens can cope with my severe neglect.

Tunbridge Wells illustration

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:08:00 +0000

Illustration loosely based on Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Made using iDraw on the iPad.

This took me AGES due to going over the top on detail, roof tiles, bricks etc, although you can't really see that in this small thumbnail.

Favourite art apps for iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 10:19:00 +0000

A lot of the images I have been producing lately have been made on my iPad.

I mostly use vector apps because they can be turned into large sized JPGs suitable for big prints, but some of the raster apps have a fairly big output too. Normally I like to produce images around 7000 x 7000 pixels.

Here are my faves:

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Inkpad is a vector app for iPad. It is fairly simple to use but has lots of features and exports via email as PNG, PDF and SVG.

Inkpad

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Adobe Ideas is a really simple to use vector app for the iPad and iPhone, although it doesn't have the more complicated features of most vector software. There is a choice of brush types, line widths, colours and transparency, and 10 layers. Images can be synced to Adobe Creative Cloud, and edited in Illustrator CS5 or 6 (which I don't have...) and can be exported as a PDF via email.

Adobe Ideas

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iDraw is a fully featured vector app for the iPad. It is good for tightly aligned technical drawings and also for freehand more organic images. It can export to Dropbox, iTunes, or via email as a PDF, SVG, PNG or JPG.

iDraw

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Sketchbook Ink is a relatively simple vector based for the iPad. I would use it more, but the maximum output is PNG at 4096 x 3072 pixels, and for that size output I would rather use a raster app. It has Dropbox, iTunes and email export. I haven't used it for any finished pieces yet so no pic with this one. On the plus side, the brushes are lovely and fluid and it is easy to use.

Sketchbook Ink

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Procreate is a raster app for the iPad, and is my current favourite. The canvas is a maximum of 4096x4096 which is about as big as you can get with a raster iPad app. At this size it only has 2 available layers, so you have to work around that. If you use a smaller canvas, you get more layers. The brushes are lovely and you can customise them and make your own, or download more via in-app purchases and from the community forums. Export is via Dropbox, iTunes or email as a PSD, JPG or PNG.

Procreate

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ArtStudio is another excellent raster app for the iPad and iPhone, and only it's smaller output size of 2448 x 3264 (iPad) pushes it down my favourites list. It has a huge range of brushes which can be customised, and you can make your own. If you like Corel Painter or Photoshop, you will find ArtStudio's wide range of features familiar. It has too many fab features for me to include here, so if you are OK with the output size, this could be the one for you. Output is via iTunes or email as a JPG, PNG or PSD.

ArtStudio

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ArtRage is a very 'painty' raster app for iPad, iPhone and also for Windows or Mac (at a fraction of the price of the usual painting software). If you have the Windows or Mac version, you can record your iPad painting as a script and magically make it bigger on your computer.

The iPad app has a range of very realistic textured art materials, paper and canvas textures and layers. There are no selection or text tools in the iPad & iPhone versions, which is a shame. Max size just using the iPad app is 2048x2048 but using the script feature you can resize to much larger (this one is 6667 x 5000) although not all the brush strokes work well resized so it needs a bit of experimentation to find out what looks good.

Export via Dropbox, iTunes or email as a JPG or PNG.

ArtRage

Gem

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:12:00 +0000

A bright jewel for a grey and rainy day (again).

Light and Shadows

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:49:00 +0000

The sun shone briefly yesterday and it felt like spring might be just around the corner.

How to patinate silver using an egg

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 10:20:00 +0000

I make jewellery, and sometimes silver jewellery looks just too bright and new. I like to give it a patina to soften and age it. Normally this is done with Liver of Sulphur (potassium sulphide) which gives off nasty fumes. I'm not a big fan of nasty fumes, and always like to go for the simple solution, so I prefer to use an egg.

Start by hard boiling your egg. I put it in a pan of cold water, bring to the boil and boil for 7 minutes.
Don't bother peeling it, just cut roughly in half through the yolk while still warm. If it breaks up, it doesn't matter.
Put the egg and the silver into a sealed container (I use a jar with a lid, or else an old plastic food container) and leave somewhere warmish for 24 hours. Give it a shake after a few hours so that all parts of the jewellery are in contact with the eggy gasses.

Hold your nose, resist the temptation to eat the egg and throw it away. The jewellery will be black. Use some fine steel wool, a pan scourer, a rough cloth or the back of an old spoon (depending on the finish you want) to rub the patina off the raised areas of your jewellery, leaving the the recesses darker.

This is a piece made from silver clay paper which was cut, hole punched and layered. I fired it with a blow torch on the grate of our fireplace, and egg oxidised it. The oxidising works well on both matte and shiny finishes.

X Y Dead - Zombie Apocalypse

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:37:00 +0000

E, J and A's most excellent film trailer for their A Level Media project. Watch, enjoy, and like.

Morocco Sketch

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 14:33:00 +0000

Moroccan sketches because it's cold and grey in England today and my boiler is misbehaving again.

Ipad Mini covers

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:13:00 +0000

Ipad Mini covers are now available at Zazzle. Working hard to get them all up today if poss.

Furry cat chin

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 07:45:00 +0000

The Queen having her royal snooze. Again.

Green Owl

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:27:00 +0000

The owl is now available in teal, for Marie...

any other colour requests, let me know.

Bespo

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:18:00 +0000

Bespo has art prints, canvases, cushions, coasters, mugs, placemats, rollerblinds, tea towels, wall stickers and wallpaper. Phew. Squirrell stuff is gradually finding it's way there. If you want something extra quick that hasn't got there yet, let me know.

The cat sat on the mat

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 17:06:00 +0000

The Queen enjoying her brand new paper bag.

A trip to the vet

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:17:00 +0000

Not My Dog seemed a little reluctant this morning.

I used Paper53 on the iPad for this quick scribble. It's a lovely app but I really wish it had a zoom, and to get it onto the blog I had to screen shot it and email the pic to my PC, which is a bit long-winded.

Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 07:50:00 +0000

My studio is in reality a small corner of the spare room, which I share with the clothes dryer and ironing board. When the sun shines in and I'm listening to BBC Radio 6 Music with my two cat studio assistants, all is well with the world.

In the Shadow of the Banyan

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 22:29:00 +0000

Just finished reading In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner. It is based in Cambodia at the time of the Khmer Rouge and is a fictional telling of a true story from the point of view of a seven year old girl caught up in the events of the time. It is beautifully written and left me wanting to find out more about Cambodia.

Easy Macro iPod lens

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 00:13:00 +0000

My brother G got me an Easy Macro lens to fit my iPod touch for Christmas. It is a teeny little lens on an elastic band that gives 4x magnification for nice sharp macro pics without even having to take the case off. I have been playing with it...

...and I like it a lot.

Thank you very much, G.

Halki art print using Adobe Ideas on the iPad

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:16:00 +0000

Halki is a beautiful Greek island and is high on my list of places to go asap.

I originally made this as a stitched and painted collage, but this one is digital, using Adobe Ideas on the iPad.

Ideas has some great new brushes and remains my go to app for creating new images.

I added some texture using a scan of some roughly painted paper.

Happy New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:32:00 +0000

Hoar frost

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 21:24:00 +0000

The cold and frosty weather earlier this week has become warmer and wetter.

I don't mind any kind of weather except grey nothingness.

But the hoar frost made everything beautiful so I'd like some more of that, please.

The Squirrel and the Tree

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Sun, 09 Dec 2012 14:58:00 +0000

A squirrel, a bird and a tree - prints and all the usual goodies available now.

Owl

noreply@blogger.com (Nic Squirrell) — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 20:12:00 +0000

Woo!

A red patterned owl.