Tech Block

Today and late last night into early today (linearity be damned) I've been working on some new things. They require the use of Corel Draw and images I have created some time ago, the full body Saints and Infidels seen on the animation pages. Now, that's quite a process, editing nodes on the vector drawings, changing shapes and colors, etc. But I find it very rewarding. I can turn my drawings into clean, clear forms and then, because they are vectors, I'm not limited to a particular size (as long as I make sure I scale correctly, etc.).

Ok, that's really technical. It doesn't seem like the most fun I could have in an evening, until I'm finished and I get to print them out, at which time the results are always just too much fun. However, last night some tech frustrations got in the way. I hate when that happens; I could go full steam ahead if some problems were just instantly solvable. But part of the process in creating something inevitably involves trial and error. Were it a large painting, it would be the continuous process of reinventing brush strokes to suit whatever you are feeling at the moment. Since it's intuitive and immediate, I never notice the frustration as much.

But in the case of what I'm working on now, the roadblocks aren't intuitive, they are real. As in, which photo paper prints best, won't fade, creates crisp colors, will be waterproof and sturdy enough, and won't smudge when I hold things to cut them. So, I thought some higher priced stuff that claimed not to fade would work splendidly. Well, the colors were great, but the print outs smudge. I consulted the packing info and it says something about not framing printed items for 7 days or so. Yikes, like after I print something I am just dying to see take life outside of computer pixels, I have enough patience to wait 7 days. It's not going to happen. At least not while I'm still playing.

So I tried another paper that Ricë gave me, and it's sturdier, but because I printed it on the "other papers" setting, I think the little hp Photosmart printer I'm using got haughty and decided "other papers" meant "do not put the rich tones on this one." So it's a little grayer than I'd like. Directly (my Nene always said "directly") I'll print one with this heavier paper using the premium paper settings. In any event, the figure I cut out from that duller printing did fantastically, no smudges, so if I can get the jewel tones printed on that, it may be the answer.

I think for many people the process of getting to the end of an idea, the paths taken and not taken, to borrow from Frost (and I'm no huge fan, but hey), are not so frustrating. I say that almost rhetorically. The brush stroke comparison works for me there, as I already noted, again the immediacy. But the things (don't you love the nebulous use of "things," but I'm being secretive) I'm working on at the moment are "hand made" items I am trying to make look as mass produced as possible. I realize many artists are trying to avoid the mass produced look at all costs. But I'm having too much fun making things look like unique items that can be picked up at the 5 and dimes (which no longer exist, yeah, I know, but bear with me, I am old enough to have gone to Woolsworth when it was downtown here in Midland).

So, if I can just get the technical aspects worked out, I'm going to be happy with the results. How could I not, they're so cute!?