Shawn's Sketch Blog

A Simple Web Image Scraper

Sun, 19 May 2013 20:42:47 -0400

I download pics I like from the internet and put them in a pix/ref directory for later. I have a bunch of these, and they are automatically backed up to my box.net account. Sometimes I really like artists and want all their images. For example, http://www.loish.net, or http://www.sergebirault.fr/portfolio.php, or in my latest case, http://www.du-artwork.de/.

I really love Daniela’s work, but I hate her site. (ok, I don’t hate it, It’s just kind of a hassle and I’d rather view the work in windows picture viewer or adobe bridge.) I was right-clicking/downloading a lot of the images, and thinking to myself, “this is really repetitive.” I don’t like repetitive things. Well anyways, since she has named the images in sequential order 1-40 and had 3 different galleries, I banged out a quick script that will grab all of the images, and save them to your hard drive in a specific location. The script was thrown together in < 30 mins, so there is no error catching and could be optimized more, but who cares. I have some ideas for a V2 to make it better, but for now here it is:

p.s. to the artists, don’t make it easy for me to download your images!

"""
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
"""

#tested on windows 7, running python 2.7
#grabs all images and saves them into a directory
import urllib

output_dir = "C:/Users/shawn/Desktop/Desktop-02-13-2013/art/art ref/daniela_uhlig/"
output_file = "daniela_uhlig_"
web_site = ["http://www.du-artwork.de/Gallery_1/bild/","http://www.du-artwork.de/Gallery_2/bild/","http://www.du-artwork.de/Gallery_3/bild/"]

for gallery in web_site:
    gallery_num = web_site.index(gallery) + 1
	for x in range(40):
		file_url = gallery + str(x + 1).zfill(2) + '.jpg'
		print file_url
		img = urllib.urlopen(file_url)
		output = open(output_dir + output_file + str(gallery_num) + "_" + file_url.split('/')[-1] + '.jpg', 'wb')
		output.write(img.read())
		img.close()
		output.close()

When a company's main business is...

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:09:48 -0400

buying other business and incorporating them into themselves and they used to be creative team but they haven’t really made anything new, they probably have run out of things to do with that product, and are just making it slower. (a runon sentence I know) This is a generalization I’ve come to. And maybe they are just, plain lazy, or the company is now run by the originators and they all make 200,000 dollars a year. Or maybe they are working hard. Maybe thats just how things are. Maybe companies are meant to just do one thing well, and die. But that’s not how I feel, and If I ran a company, I would make something great, and move on. These huge software companies that make one product. It just blows my mind. And every year they add in a few new features that no one cares about, or works half ass, hell most of it has been made by community that uses the software.

1)Make it great

2)don’t bog it down.

3)Let me have a good bit of control over it.

It’s not hard, at least it seems that way, but maybe it is. What the hell do I know.

Figure drawings from Sony’s lunch drawing. Loved this...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:56:57 -0400

really happy with this one due to the fact, the guy standing up was imaginary.

Figure drawings from Sony’s lunch drawing. Loved this model.

Sony showed a night of selected films from mountain film with the tour director and a few of the...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 17:17:43 -0400

Sony showed a night of selected films from mountain film with the tour director and a few of the films directors. It’s a really cool festival with a emphasis on outdoors films and eco friendly films. Mainly documentaries, which I don’t really watch, but some really great films. Here is a list of all the films accepted in the festival, I think we saw 15 of the films, but here are my favorite, some are only trailers, but some have the full version online.

1) Sketchy Andy - This was my favorite of the night. A really cool look into the free spirit of the original “slackliner.” The trailer doesn’t go into everything, but this other film about him is pretty good.

2) Among Giants - This was my 2nd favorite one. Found whole thing on vimeo!

3) Living Tiny - Found the entire one Here, as well as few more if you follow that link. Funny thing is I’ve always thought this was a great idea.

4) Racing to The End - Sweet for 2 reasons, I don’t generally like bike movies, and the black and white horror feel are pretty awesome! Full Video!

There were some other great ones, but these were my favorite! Enjoy.

This is my last image of daily draw, some figure drawing from...

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 00:44:32 -0500

This is my last image of daily draw, some figure drawing from work this week, and a few digital drawovers. I didn’t do as well this year as last, but I’ve pretty much finished one year of drawing. Last year I didn’t quit after january was over. I drew all year, not every day, but I tried my damnedest. It’s a slow race, but I’m in no rush. I’m enjoying the journey, and that is all I can really ask for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CafWHf4lwc Part of #ddf2k13,...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:36:17 -0500

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CafWHf4lwc

Part of #ddf2k13, trying to make myself actually finish something, this will be the carrot.

Daily Draw Febuary 2013!

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 01:32:03 -0500

Daily Draw Febuary 2013!:

It’s that time of year again! Daily draw. You can follow my thread here, probably woln’t post on the blog for a bit.

The Kid Who Asks To Many Questions...

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 23:23:29 -0500

It’s annoying, I’m trying to work, and he/she is asking me so many questions, I can’t even get MY work done.

I think we’ve all been there, whether we know it or not. I know that I’ve been there, so I thought I might share some thoughts and a story.

When you are at a new job there is a lot to learn. You want to be good at your job. So when you hit a stump, you ask a question, and sometimes,too many questions. At Sony, we have a 15 minute rule. This means you always spend 15 minutes looking for an answer before you ask a question. The goal is to limit the amount of questions you ask, as well as keeping you from sitting there silent at your desk not achieving anything. I think it’s a really good rule, and hopefully after a few months on the job you can slowly lower the max number of questions you ask a day. After a while, limit it to 2 or 3 questions a day, and make sure you use them carefully.

A long time ago I was this guy, and it took my lab partner saying, “don’t ask me a single question for a week.” I kinda took it personally, but I accepted the challenge, and by the next week, I had grown more as a programmer than the months before. I also told myself, I wouldn’t ask him a question the following week. For some it will take that, but hopefully I can save a few of you the trouble. It’s funny though, after a few weeks of not asking questions the guy took me for a walk, and explained that he was the same way years ago, and a senior team member gave him the same treatment, and how powerful it was to him.

As a tech guy, you have to learn how to solve problems, and sometimes google is your best friend. Mainly, he doesn’t whine when you ask him questions for a hour.

#VMAT 2012

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 03:02:00 -0500

I’m not sure if this marks the beginning of my artisthood, but I feel like participating in holiday themed drawing is a true sign of an artist. This year I was apart of, “The Very Merry Super Twitter Secret Santa Art Trade,” which is a random-Christmas-themed-drawing-swap. I have to say that it was awesome! I learned a lot, I finished a piece, met some really talented people, and I had fun doing it. I wanted to post a few pictures from process. Also wanted to mention Genevieve who organized it along with Cale Atkinson who did an amazing job coordinating the whole shebang! Anyways here are some images.

the setup

this was one of my first attempts, I still like this one.

a few more.

I really liked this one after I finished it, and I went to show a few sony friends (andre medina and aaron spurgeon) who were helping me through this piece and they both agreed I had lost the initial pose. After they pointed out the angle of the arm, the straightness of the gesture, and the shoulder overlapping the head I agreed, I had lost the pose a little bit, partly due to tightening up. It’s funny how little those things are, but really make all the difference. Anyway, here is the final piece. I like it, but I feel like the furry stuff on the coat got lost with such a thick line, and the carpet is just flat out wrong. Oh well.

last but not least, a tumblr with everyones creations!

The Year Of the Sketchbook

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:51:34 -0500

Coming to Sony was possibly one of the best choices for my tech and art career. Although I am still a “techie,” I was able to find a group of Sony artists who helped push me to grow and create. I think this year I produced more art work than I have in the past 4 years. I’ve seen growth and am getting more comfortable creating art, although 90% of the time I hate what I create. Although I felt stagnant at times, I had people to ask for guidance. I can’t stress how important this next sentence is. “You have to put the work in yourself. Don’t expect them to make you better at drawing, but they sure can help push you along the path when you get stuck.” I’ve been very fortunate this year, here is to another…

Now if only I started posting what’s inside these books…

In The Style of @manlymanton

Wed, 06 Jun 2012 02:11:50 -0400

Don’t let people tell you, “you have so much talent.” Tell them, “I worked damn hard for this. practice leads to ‘talent’.”

When demoing a tool to artists, don’t show them all the bells and whistles. Take the least amount of time to show them exactly what it does.

Keep backups of your backups of your backups.

Take that leap, don’t doubt yourself. Big rewards don’t come to those who play it safe.

If you have 10 minutes of free time, don’t waste it, use it wisely.

Take initiative. Learn new things, don’t stay in your comfort zone. Those who look, will find.

Never be unprepared for a meeting, your goal should be to be more prepared than the people you are meeting with.

Don’t expect others to push you along, if you aren’t the guy pushing others, then your behind.

Don’t think being able to draw the style of “blahigty blah” will hold up when you try to create your own drawings.

You can’t hide things in your work, it jumps out at other people instantly.

Manage your time, you can’t spend all your time working. Don’t take on projects that overfill your plate. You need some “you” time.

Your work will become your portfolio.

"Fear Of Blank Paper," or alternatively, thankyou @2dbean and @kendramelton

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:47:16 -0400

People always say, “it’s always the hardest to put down the first stroke.” or something like that. For me, it’s hard to put down every stroke, as I’m always second guessing myself, thinking I’m going to put down the wrong line, and generally not being confident about my drawing. Part of this is based on the fact that I draw in sketchbooks a lot and people look at them. They also judge them, and that scares me.

Fast forward…at sketchclub, there are many great artists, but there are some really exceptional ones too. It’s funny to see everyone’s sketchbook and tools of choice. When I first saw kendra and bretts, they were drawing on a clipboard with a pile of white printer paper. Inside I laughed, thinking, “who draw’s on a clipboard, and on copy paper?” But don’t kid yourself. These are amazing artists, so I dug deeper. Thinking why do they draw on white paper? Why not a sketchbook like everyone else? A few days later, I was looking at a box of printer paper at home, and was reminded of their choice to draw on simple printer paper. I grabbed 20 or so sheets and just stared at them. What draws these artists to draw on this shitty paper? So I grabbed the closest pencil, and just started drawing. At first it seemed the same, what’s the big deal? Seemed the same to me, then I made a mistake. I drew the wrong line, or shaded the wrong plane. Damn. I hate it when that happens, then I realized, I can throw this away. No one will ever see this mistake. It’s like it didn’t even happen. BAM, that’s why white paper is such a good choice for a sketchbook. It encourages growth. I began drawing like a mad man. I drew page after page, not even caring what the drawings looked like. I was experimenting with shapes, contours, and lighting that I had never before considered. I kept drawing, until I had filled up all the pages. ”Wow,” I thought, that’s the secret to drawing on copy paper. No fear. No insecurities, if I mess up, I don’t have to tear a page out of my sketchbook, or worry that everything I draw is supposed to be perfect. Anyways, I think it’s awesome that I’ve found a way to get over my fear of a blank page, and I wanted to thank the people who I initially misjudged. Copy paper rocks. Marcello says, “You have to love your sketchbook, make it your best friend.” I’m beginning to understand.

In other news, I’ve been drawing quite a bit. Here’s a photo to prove it. This stuff was drawn in the past week. Marcello, gave me an assignment, draw the silhouette in black, go over it in highlights. A simple lighting drawing. I was having trouble seeing the different values and assigning them accordingly, so he said, “sometimes you just need to limit the things your studying and focus.” This has helped dramatically, and I’m feeling more confident. Anyways. Have a gander. I’m going to try to pick a few of my favorite and re-work them.

also of note, I found this webpage. It’s pretty sweet and relates to the copy paper idea.

My 6 best from figure drawing at sony the other day during...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 17:15:14 -0400

My 6 best from figure drawing at sony the other day during lunch. it’s funny how much I would touch up, after a few days of not looking at it.

Over-Inspired

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 03:17:59 -0400

I’ve seen a few blog posts on this, but a month or so ago, I was suffering from what I’ve deemed “over-inspiration.” I’ve defined this as when an artist or individual is so focused on viewing other peoples work, they just can’t bring themselves to create. With the age of digital distribution, the internet, and countless number of resources, I find a lot of times I spend all my time consuming, and not actually doing. This is both a blessing and a curse. Lately I’ve come to believe the more great art I look at the worse off I am. I shouldn’t compare myself to great artists who have been doing this 50 years day in and day out. But it’s hard not to want to be like them, to steal their styles, and hurry up and get to the good stuff. I’m not 100 percent sure why I go thorough these periods of self-doubt, but I believe it’s because I’m so worried about screwing up, taking a wrong turn, failing. I also believe it’s because it’s always easier to view something someone else made, rather than your own. It’s easier to critique it, to see the errors, to judge. But that’s part of being an artist or programmer, or whatever. You make mistakes, but you learn. You don’t learn by watching someone code, or by watching someone draw. Sure it can be extreemly helpful, and you can learn great things from it, but you have to pick up the pencil, or peck on the keyboard. Don’t always judge yourself off of the greats, they were once in the same boat as you. They are no different from you. Keep up the good work, plow through the tough times, it’s not always going to be easy. And if it was, you would move on to the next thing. Keep your head up. Also, read this post.

I wanted to post a short link to my Daily Draw. It finished last month, and although I was going to keep going, I have some programming work to finish. I have been drawing quite a bit though, have no fear. Still only drawing heads. I’m starting to get it, but I still have quite a few bad drawings to make. I hope you enjoy.

Also a couple of lazy pics from the sketchbook.

It's Been a While...Again.

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 00:56:55 -0500

well I managed to not blog again for a while, but on the upside that means I’ve been busy! Busy with what? DRAWING! I took a challenge, draw a drawing for every day in Feb. I missed 2 days, but I managed to get a lot done drawing wise. I really was practicing, studying models, skulls, poses, techniques. The last month alone I progressed. Even though there were times when I couldn’t see it, one day something like 22nd, it hit home. Shapes were flowing, contours needed no erasing, volumes were protruding. It felt good. It made me happy. I’ve actually been drawing 1 hour a day since january, and so far only missed 4 days or so. I will be taking a little break for march to finish a website, but I need to keep up with my drawing. It’s hard work, but working every day seems to be the way to go. None of this bullshit, 8 hours a week in one setting, you can’t cram everything into your head in one night, it doesn’t work that way. slow and steady wins the race. anyways, here my february drawing thread. enjoy. http://satellitesoda.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=5359&sid=6132e89d7f327e31bc3cbdb367402d81

The Tipping Point

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:45:48 -0500

If you haven’t read Malcolm Gladwells, “The Tipping Point,” stop reading now and pick it up.

If you have, then I have to say, I believe I’m at that tipping point. To what? I Don’t know. The space where you break into another realm, open passages never before found, take mental strides you never imagined.

I’m also at the point where I’m feeling tired, trying to keep up with rigorous personal scheduling. I’m working hard at work, and it’s a great experience, but I’m having doubts about my future. The same doubts I’ve had since college. The doubts of whether or not to follow what I do well, or what I want to do. You see, the thing is, the things I do well, I loose interest in, and the things that I don’t excel in, I try to immerse myself in to become better. Sometimes I spread my self to thin to keep the journey alive, and I probably don’t ever invest as much time into a single thing as I should. Being at Sony has given me opportunities to meet some amazing people, artists who are hailed as some of the greatest artists still alive. To know them by name, drop by their offices, go sketching with them is a dream come true, but I guess I wonder if I’ll ever be one. Will I be a nobody? What will I be remembered as?

Its funny, I’ve been drawing a lot recently, hardly programming. Today was the first day I felt I needed a break from drawing, but it’s funny, a break meant drawing for an hour instead of 3, or 4, or 5. I think I know that I’ll never be a character designer for major films, but I also know that programming will never be a creative enough job for my life. Somewhere in the middle? Storytelling? Maybe. Who the hell knows, I don’t try to pretend any more. All I know is hard work pays off, and in the past 2 months, I’ve grown to new heights. It’s good for me to have a regimented schedule, something to work on. Something to own up to. Something to gauge my abilities. I think I’ve tired to fool myself for a long time thinking I could be happy programming. And although I do enjoy it, I know I will never be satisfied inside. I believe I may have taken the plunge into art. Call me a dreamer, but I’m just hoping those 10,000 hours pay off. I must keep growing, and practicing. I must not quit, not now.

Jae Emerling once said, “You’re not an artist, unless your sacrificing your life,” in class. I never understood it, but I believe I’m starting to now.

drawing a day #1

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:05:34 -0500

drawing a day #1

Drawing A Day

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:04:00 -0500

I’ve made a new years resolution this year. Draw for at least 15 mins a day. Here are some of my favorites from the first 2 weeks. I’m really enjoying this, and my drawing is getting better already. Not as scared of faces anymore. Still have a long way to go, but damn it feels good.

"Draw First, Ask Questions Later."

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:28:01 -0500

@manlymanton posted this the other day and it got me thinking. I’m really scared of drawing. I’m not afraid to admit it. I consume a lot of great art over the course of a single day, ~~and a lot of times~~, my stuff sucks compared to the stuff I look at. I compare my art to the great art I see, and It’s not right. It hinders me from developing better stuff. I get scared, I fear it, and I don’t draw because of it. I’m doing my best to get over it, but it’s hard. The past few days I feel I’ve done a good job combating it. I normally make a brush stroke and run to Clint, and ask him what he thinks. I’m too old for that shit. I don’t need instant gratification. I need to finish, and ask questions after I’m done. btw, this is a concept from Creature Box’s Sketchbook #3. Kinda a goofy set of teeth, but it’s all good.

It’s funny, when I used to finish drawings I didn’t...

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:49:00 -0500

Initial Lunch Sketch

A Friendly Paintover

Final

It’s funny, when I used to finish drawings I didn’t like, I would call them a WIP. Let me tell you, there is no such thing as a finished WIP. If you don’t like it and you can’t do any better it sucks to take credibility for creating it. This is something you have to get over. Art is never a WIP, it’s a WYSIWUG. What you see is what you get. Sure you may not have the skills to produce something great every time you attempt it, but those failures are party what makes you great.

Own up to your failures, be able to say, “That was the best I could do.” Don’t lie to yourself and own your failures, it will propel you forward.