FRENDEN

styluscollective: When Alex Von Tolmacsy’s free-handed ship...

Mon, 11 Apr 2016 14:39:46 -0500

When Alex Von Tolmacsy’s free-handed ship art hit the Stylus Discord chat, I knew I had to feature them. That topmost image is straight fire.

Check out more of his pulpy sci-fi work here.

Alex’s pulpy, sci-fi starship art is hot fire.

styluscollective: Sven Ruthner, aka Ptoing, dropped another of...

Fri, 08 Apr 2016 11:15:14 -0500

styluscollective:

Sven Ruthner, aka Ptoing, dropped another of his amazing, limited color pixel pieces. We’re goading him into putting it on a tee. I want to wear those things. Often. On my body.

Ptoing was an original member of the old Stylus art collective almost ten years ago now. This new iteration has a Discord chat for members.

Join it, join us, share, critique, promote, and make some work!

More Stylus work. Lots of folks showing up. Over a hundred new members to the forum/chat in a day.

styluscollective: Collective compatriot Dom2D made this...

Thu, 07 Apr 2016 23:15:47 -0500

styluscollective:

Collective compatriot Dom2D made this amazing Spelunky print. So you should buy it. Now.

No, seriously.

I made a Discord chat server and a site to promote artists and art!

Discord: https://discord.gg/0uN4j1WpYjh308wf

Stylus Art Collective: http://styl.us

So, yeah, Stylus is a new art collective and that chat is how you can participate. I used to run a private art forum ages ago, but keeping the forum software up to date was awful. Discord makes sharing easy.

After a day spent drawing character art for clients, I decided...

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:49:48 -0600

After a day spent drawing character art for clients, I decided to unwind by… drawing some character art.

Over 90 new Manga Studio brushes! Reblog for a chance at a free...

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 17:00:50 -0600

Over 90 new Manga Studio brushes! Reblog for a chance at a free set! Download them here.

This latest update contains new paints, pencils, and inkers with a focus on adding textured, gritty painters and expanding the core set of tools.

For the core tools, inking brushes, nibs, brush pens, pencils, pastels, charcoals, oils, and acrylics have been added.

For the advanced tools, painterly brushes with impasto canvas, wash, sponge, leather, and other textures were mashed together to create the most realistic tools for concept art and coloring I’ve offered yet.

The Grimy Gus brush family offers realistic textures and mixing with an emphasis on creating paintings that feel like chunky, old acrylic paintings the likes of which adorned ‘80s action figure box art.

Bristle Bob takes that formula and emulates wispy bristles for an even more varied and textured surface.

Sloppy Sam, Sponge Bub, and Filthy Frank push the impasto textures even further and provide extreme texture variance for some of the most analog looking strokes I’ve ever been able to create digitally.

A partial list of the updates can be found below:

Paints & Wet Media

Grimy Gus
Grimy Gus (Outliner)
Grimy Gus Bristle (Chunky)
Grimy Gus (Dry)
Grimy Gus (Chunky & Dry)
Bristle Bob
Bristle Bob (Outliner)
Bristle Bob (Sparse)
Bristle Bob (Dry)
Bristle Bob (Sparse & Dry)
Bristle Bob (Wet)
Sloppy Sam
Sloppy Sam (Impasto)
Sloppy Sam (Sparse & Dry)
Sloppy Sam (Dry)
Filthy Frank
Filthy Frank (Wet Impasto)
Filthy Frank (Impasto)
Filthy Frank (Dry)
Filthy Frank (Wet)
Sponge Bub
Sponge Bub (Dry)
Sponge Bub (Extra Dry)
Wash (Simple)
Watercolor
Watercolor (Simple)
Watercolor (More Opaque)
Watercolor (Gouache-like)
Watercolor (Random)
Watercolor (Wet Wash)
Oil
Oil Round
Oil Flat
Oil Filbert
Oil (Dry)
Oil (Wet)
Oil (Blender)
Acrylic
Acrylic (Dry)
Acrylic (Wet)
Acrylic (Blender)

Pencils & Dry Media

Pencil (6H)
Pencil (4H)
Pencil (2H)
Pencil (HB)
Pencil (2B)
Pencil (4B)
Pencil (6B)
Pencil (Flat)
Pencil (Digital)
Layout Pencil (Blue)
Layout Pencil (Red)

Pastels & Charcoal

Oil Pastel (Hard)
Oil Pastel (Med)
Oil Pastel (Soft)
Charcoal Square (Hard)
Charcoal Square (Med)
Charcoal Square (Soft)
Charcoal (Hard)
Charcoal (Med)
Charcoal (Soft)

Inkers

Nib
Nib (Soft)
Nib (Stiff)
Nib (Very Soft)
Nib (Sketch)
Brush
Brush (Soft)
Brush (Stiff)
Brush Pen
Brush Pen (Opaque)
Brush Pen (Dry)
Brush Pen (Extra Dry)
Lando Calbrusshian (w/Speed)
Lando Calbrusshian (Nib)

Download them here.

Updates are free for existing users. Redownload using your existing purchase links.

Some of my MST3K concept art has hit the wild over on the...

Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:18:20 -0600

Some of my MST3K concept art has hit the wild over on the Kickstarter page. Here’s my first stab at Bobo as a puppet.

Plans called for an Aliens-style loader to hide an actor when Bobo needs to move around the set. That was my task. Bobo as a puppet, a loader to cart him around in.

The Kickstarter is perilously close to it’s 12 episode goal. Please support us if you like MST3K and have the means!

No app inks like Manga Studio 4 or 5. Not even close.

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 13:28:28 -0600

No app inks like Manga Studio 4 or 5. Not even close.

Here’s a free wash brush for Manga Studio. It’s not...

Thu, 03 Dec 2015 20:12:19 -0600

Here’s a free wash brush for Manga Studio.

It’s not available anywhere else. I have about fifty brushes ready to add to my big brush set as a free update for existing users soon. This will be one of them.

Make something!

My figures begin as a center line and three triangles. If they...

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 21:19:59 -0600

My figures begin as a center line and three triangles. If they work, so will the rest. I don’t see others use triangles.

Boxes and cylinders never worked for me, sketch mannequin wise. The triangles are less obtrusive and more open. Or something.

I think I’d like Superman a lot more if he, like, actually...

Wed, 02 Dec 2015 02:49:59 -0600

I think I’d like Superman a lot more if he, like, actually looked like an alien.

30% off all my Manga Studio and Photoshop brushes this weekend...

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 16:20:11 -0600

30% off all my Manga Studio and Photoshop brushes this weekend only!

Use the code BOKFRIDAY at checkout or reblog for a chance at a free set.

Joel Hodgson reached out to me a couple of years ago. The gist?...

Tue, 10 Nov 2015 12:56:38 -0600

Joel Hodgson reached out to me a couple of years ago. The gist? He was getting ready to relaunch MST3K and needed someone to work on the visual development of the series. Specifically, he needed someone to art direct, creating character concepts to define the look and feel of the new cast.

He said I was that guy. Hearing Joel, MST3K’s Joel, say you’re the guy–that was a special moment for me. I grew up, like many of you I’m sure, with a bit of a subversive streak and an outre sense of humor thanks in no small part to MST3K.

Every conversation I had with Joel retained that same specialness. The work was as close to a perfect pairing of my sensibilities and a client’s needs as I’ve ever experienced. Off and on for the last couple of years, I’ve churned out concepts for costumes, characters, vehicles, and more. All of it was fun. All of it matched my Barbarella meets Conan pulp-aesthetic leanings. All of it was secret.

The work remains spoiler-laden, but the Kickstarter is live. I can’t share it yet. But you can share your support.

I’ve been humbled to witness, and partake in, this passion project of Joel’s. He’s one of the kindest, most unassuming people I’ve ever worked with. There is nothing I’d like to see more than his Kickstarter succeed.

As an MST3K fan first and person who’s seen the inside machinery second, I’m excited. I want to watch new MST3K as much as I want to work on new MST3K. I hope you all get to see my work soon–but on screen, not on my blog.

You can support MST3K’s Kickstarter here.

Cyberpuuuuuuunk.

Sat, 07 Nov 2015 13:00:17 -0600

Cyberpuuuuuuunk.

Self portrait-y thing I sketched while testing an art app. I...

Sat, 07 Nov 2015 00:35:20 -0600

Self portrait-y thing I sketched while testing an art app. I seldom draw myself un-monster-ified. Feels weird.

I was tempted to use it for my avatar, but even I can’t stand to look at me that long.

Some Voorhees for Inktober. - I met my wife on the 9th of...

Sun, 04 Oct 2015 00:48:09 -0500

Some Voorhees for Inktober.

- I met my wife on the 9th of October sixteen years ago.
- My birthday is the 11th of October.
- I was married on the 31st of October.

October is a pretty good month.

Bosto 22U Mini Review Not Small Where it Counts Bosto...

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 13:16:42 -0500

The 22U Mini in its native habitat. A desk.

Note the slightly off center nib.

Bosto 22U Mini Review

Not Small Where it Counts

Bosto describes the 22U Mini as a budget conscious Cintiq alternative, but the price and feature set place it closer to the growing mid-tier of Wacom alternatives.

Hardware

The 22U has a 5080 lpi, 2048 pressure-level digitizer and a wireless, rechargeable stylus. The screen is 1920x1080, IPS, and LED backlit with a 72% Adobe RGB color gamut. These features used to be rare in Wacom alternatives, but over the last few years have become more common. I consider these specifications the minimum for Cintiq alternatives and am glad to see the Bosto meeting them.

The 22U’s housing is clean, functional, and surprisingly light. There are no built-in hotkeys. The requisite video and USB connections are present and should accommodate most people’s PCs. The provided stand allows for the unit to sit nearly flat or perfectly vertical and is akin to those found in Yiynova, Huion, and Monoprice’s tablet monitors. A VESA compatible mounting pattern allows for use with third party monitor arms.

The stylus feels good in hand. Some hardware with replaceable batteries feels heavy with long use. Bosto eschewed AAA batteries for an internal, rechargeable solution. The lack of a swappable battery gives the stylus a lighter weight on par with Wacom’s battery free styli.

The replaceable nib sat a bit off center in the stylus. The part of me that wants all things to sit dead center and at ninety degree angles was perturbed, but this was more a problem with aesthetics than functionality.

As a self proclaimed budget product, I was impressed with the build quality of the 22U. It’s not uncommon to run across problems with any digital art hardware—Wacom or otherwise. Dead pixels, light leakage, styli which won’t hold a charge, and dust trapped under the glass are all common issues. The Bosto was solid. I experienced no hardware failures during my testing and the unit was problem free if short on bells and whistles.

Software and Drivers

There’s not much to say about the 22U’s software and drivers. The tablet driver is Windows compatible, not Mac, and offers a very spare feature set. I’ve heard tell of community made drivers for Mac and Windows both, but was not able to test them yet.

The tablet installed easily in Windows 7 and Windows 8 and was compatible with Photoshop and Manga Studio in my testing. Most of my drawing time is spent on Macs and in Linux. The 22U being ostensibly Windows only limited my use a bit, but I can’t hold that against it. It is advertised as such and should only be considered for purchase by Windows users.

I have a mixed studio with near equal numbers of Mac, Windows, and Linux machines and hope the community driven effort to expand compatibility bears fruit. However, don’t count on fan made hacks if you’re not on Windows. It’s always best to assume that support for such third party workarounds is apt to be spotty.

Performance and Place in the Pantheon of Art Hardware

The Bosto 22U Mini’s performance is best summed up as adequate. That’s not a knock against the hardware. Most faux-Wacom tech is terrible.

As all the non-Wacom manufacturers have risen in popularity, the quality of the underlying technology has bettered and, in some ways, converged. Little differentiates Huion from UC-Logic from UGEE from Bosto.

Two areas of continued variance between manufacturers have been the pressure curve and jitter during slow strokes. Some hardware requires strokes that are too hard to achieve full pressure. Some require strokes that are too light. None are just right. Goldilocks wouldn’t find a comfortable bed among the lot of them. Slow strokes task the report rate of the hardware and the interpolation of the driver—its ability to convert slow, jaggy input into smooth, even lines.

Most Wacom styli have terrible beginnings to their pressure curves. When new out of the box they perform better, but, shortly after breaking a stylus in, the first twenty five percent or so of the pressure curve blows by far too quickly. You can mitigate this by using custom pressure input settings and making the first fifty percent of your pressure curve firmer. That’s a bummer. Having spent tens of thousands of dollars on pricey Wacom tech over the last fifteen years, I expect more. Wacom’s app compatibility is top notch and they have the best slow-stroke jitter interpolation. They’re still the best option, but innovation has remained largely stagnant since their Graphire days.

Huion’s latest stylus tech tends to be too soft and quick to achieve full pressure. A light press maxes out their output robbing you of some middle-to-hard end of the pressure curve expression. They suffer from middling jitter problems with slow strokes. Their industrial design is top notch and their drivers have matured greatly over the last two years.

UC-Logic, the digitizer supplier for Yiynova and UGEE, has a stiffer pressure curve that requires more force to achieve full output. It’s stiff, but the UC-Logic tech has maybe the highest fidelity pressure curve in all digital art hardware I’ve tested. Wacom and Huion blow out their pressure curves too quickly and the UC-Logic tech tends to allow for a fuller range of expression. Jitter mitigation is slightly better here than in Huion tech, but is still worse than Wacom’s. Their industrial design tends to leave one wanting. They look and feel slapped together. The exception to this aesthetic black hole is UGEE who seems to be pushing the UC-Logic tech further than Yiynova. They’re relatively unknown and it’s a shame. They’ve made some of my favorite tech to date.

The Bosto 22U Mini uses a different digitizer than their other units according to discussions with their reps. Pressure input was a bit jagged with many tiny peaks and valleys during a single stroke, but that can be solved for in most software that offers a modicum of line correction. Here’s the interesting thing about Bosto’s new 22U. Overall stroke pressure sat somewhere between Wacom and UC-Logic. It was near the middle ground of pressure curves. That’s notable. That’s borderline exciting. Jitter was no worse than on UC-Logic tech but still lagged behind Wacom a bit. But Bosto has my interest. The 22U held its own.

Value

The 22U costs $50 to $100 cheaper than its mid-tier counterparts. If you’re running Windows, don’t mind a spartan set of driver features, and budget is your foremost concern, you could do worse.

I had issues with the digitizer technology in Bosto products prior and was not shy in heaping criticism their way. To their credit, they saw fit to send me this new monitor with a new, different digitizer inside knowing I wouldn’t pull punches. Performance and price are a decent value. I like where their product line is headed and hope they keep building on this momentum.

As is the case with nearly all my Cintiq alternative reviews, the addendum of “not bad for the money” applies in hefty amounts. If you’re simply unable to purchase Wacom hardware, this Bosto, Yiynova’s MVP22U (v3), and Huion’s GT-220 offer compelling options that each have benefits and drawbacks.

The Bosto 22U Mini left me pleasantly surprised. For many, I suspect their purchasing decision will depend on price and compatibility.

Details

Manufacturer

Bosto http://www.bosto.co/

Price at Time of Review

$649

You can help my reviewing efforts by using my Amazon affiliate link.

Frenden!

Fri, 25 Sep 2015 12:03:53 -0500

theracknyc:

With an impressive list of clientele that includes Nike, Nickelodeon and Van Halen just to name a few, illustrator Ray Frenden continues his march as a pioneer in the realm of digital illustration.

Keep reading

Thanks for the kind words!

I’ve been using a Flemish dead color technique for digital...

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 17:35:17 -0500

I’ve been using a Flemish dead color technique for digital painting and it’s super efficient.

I start out with a value layer.

I add in a dead color layer for highlights. This is usually a complimentary, largely desaturated hue.

I paint flat hues lightly, transparently, and build them up gradually on a semi-opaque layer set to Color above the dead color layer. Some of the underpainting showing through allows for broken color and subtle hue variations. A heavy hand while flatting these hues obliterates the dead and value layers, which I don’t like.

One final, opaque layer has the brightest highlights to model form and push values.

Get the Most out of your Manga Studio Brushes

Sun, 28 Jun 2015 16:57:12 -0500

frenden:

To get the most out of Manga Studio and my brushes, I highly, highly recommend using the app’s pen pressure dialog which is found under the file menu in Windows and under the app-name menu on Macs.

Make strokes with that panel open and Manga Studio will tailor itself to the pressure curve of your tablet for a linear, natural feel.

Make sure to have the option that uses multiple strokes selected and then draw on the canvas a bit using your natural pressure and cadence. Make a good five to ten strokes and it will normalize all the stroke data and turn it into an ideal pressure curve for you.

All of my brushes work just a liiiiiittle bit better if you’re getting the most linear possible output at the start from your tablet.

Just a quick reminder. I find most folks still don’t know about this.

Huion GT-185 HD Unboxing World’s first look at Huion’s new...

Mon, 25 May 2015 14:47:42 -0500

Huion GT-185 HD Unboxing

World’s first look at Huion’s new Cintiq alternative.

Hotkeys!