I saw this photo on Flickr which I used to make this drawing. The original was done in pencil on paper, and the coloring was done with Pixelmator.

That is all.

Este tutorial esta echo por mi.

Canal de YouTube | nilcaste69

Bob Weiner as a gunslinging sheriff.

This drawing is made to support the sale of the collected trade comic book of PC Weenies, a webcomic by Krishna Sadasivam for Geeks and people who can tolerate them.

Krishna grows a beard in response to a challenge from his fellow comics creators, while he doesn’t like a beard. Read more about it, and how you can support the artist in this post on his blog. For each copy of the trade comic book “Rebootus Maximus” sold through the website Krishna won’t shave for a day. Let him look like a hobo and freak out his wife, who is on family visit for a few months in India.

That is all.

I saw Krishna Sadasivam draw a Punisher type pinup and asked myself how it would have looked if he had used Bob Weiner.

This drawing is made to support the sale of the collected trade comic book of PC Weenies, a webcomic by Krishna Sadasivam for Geeks and people who can tolerate them.

Krishna grows a beard in response to a challenge from his fellow comics creators, while he doesn’t like a beard. Read more about it, and how you can support the artist in this post on his blog. For each copy of the trade comic book “Rebootus Maximus” sold through the website Krishna won’t shave for a day. Let him look like a hobo and freak out his wife, who is on family visit for a few months in India.

That is all.

On a Mac, if you have Photoshop, removing the underdrawing in blue lead pencil is easy. Just convert into CMYK and clear the C, M and Y channels, so you’re left with a black channel. However, in a program like Pixelmator there is no such option (yet). Apart from “copping out” and using GIMP, how do you remove that blue pencil without CMYK separation?

Well, I found a solution (workaround) using Sheashore. Seashore is a freeware Cocoa-based application that uses the GIMP engine. You can read and write XCF files with it (the native GIMP file format). It has a handy feature Pixelmator lacks, namely a layer mode called “Divide”.

Step 1. Scan the drawing

Here is the original blue-line and ink drawing I scanned.

Step 2. Remove the blue color

Opened in Seashore, I picked the color of the blue lead pencil. Next, I added a layer on top of the scanned image layer, and filled it with the picked color. The layer mode was changed into “Divide”, which gave the result you see below.

If it doesn’t remove the blue pencil markings, you probably picked the wrong color. While in the layer containing the scanned image, look for instances on the screen where the original blue is still visible, select that color, use it to fill the layer on top, and see if it removes (most of) the blues. If it does, then go on to the next step. You can remove any remainders of the blue color during retouch.

Step 3. Clean up and finishing touches

I exported the file from within Seashore as a TIFF file, which I imported into Pixelmator for clean up. The colors were desaturated, the image optimized and small retouches were made. Next the blacks were filled, which gave this result.

Why, Mr. Anderson, why, why, why?

You might ask, why not use GIMP if you can’t afford Photoshop (Pixelmator is a paid application, but much more affordable)? Well, because I want to use an application that adds auto-save capabilities to my applications. Such a program is ForeverSave Lite. If you have ever lost an image file due to a crash, you appreciate such little gems.

However, it only seems to work on Cocoa-based applications, and GIMP isn’t that (it is a X11-based application). Even Art Rage 2 (which I love) isn’t a Cocoa-based application (it can’t be, because it is written in C++, as far as I know, to enable simultaneous development of a Windows and Mac version, so it has to be Carbon-based). ForeverSave Lite seems to need the Cocoa framework to access the save function of an application.

For efficiency reasons, your original scan, the color-separated version and the final version should be separate files anyway. So, if your workflow enforces that, you’ll never be tempted to take shortcuts and overwrite your originals. I’ve done that, and regretted it when I couldn’t go back when I needed to.

That is all.

The Poet

A gasp

An unacknowledged plea for help

How can I help you?

A clean, competent midwife

All pale and starched

‘The voices,’ the poet cried

‘The voices are pursuing me

“The Voices of the emerald lake’

‘It’s all a myth,’ the midwife said

‘It’s all inside your head.’

She touches her.  Her hand is cold.

And the baby

As soon as it is born

It is torn from the arms of its mother

They sedate her and she surrenders

To black waters, void

The rusted mouth of the plug hole

Sucks her in, drags her down

And the fingers of darkness

Reach out to her

Pulling her towards the edge

There is lightness down here, they said.

The mother watches the midwife turn away

She had spotted some another irresistible

Sumptuous feast.  A mouthful to savour

And the mother of all poetry

Is momentarily obscured

I wanted to check out the program ForeverSave Lite for the Mac. So I added Pixelmator to its list of programs. ForeverSave Lite add an auto-save function to your program, so you’ll never lose a file again (at least, that is what they claim).

After I had drawn the wolf and duplicated a leaf in the background, I saved it as a PNG file, which I uploaded to Flickr.

The utility (which is free) seems to do what it is supposed to do. I had set it to an update every minute and/or when I switch to another application. Because I had saved the file to my desktop, I could see the image changing every minute while I was drawing.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work with the X11 framework, so no auto-save for Mac programs that use X11 (GIMP, Inkscape, etc.).

That is all.

I approached the subject of Lifecraft with Nobby.  I wanted to know of he thought I should start attending Lifecraft again – Tom’s creative writing group.  Nobby got really angry and told me that the Pseudo Messiah is running the whole show.  Huh?  The last I’d heard he’d been banned.  Still three years is a long time on the mental health circuit in this city.  An epoch in fact.  Its members are a fickle lot.  But if I’m honest with myself I’ve always known that.  It is strange that his name isn’t mentioned on the Lifecraft website though. Maybe Nobby got his wires crossed. Chinese whispers are nearly always inaccurate. In this case I fervently hope they are.

Addendum: Rang Tom (my mentor) who says that the pseudo messiah has not darkened the doors of the Creative Writing Group for at least a year. One less worry although I’m sure there will be many more.

It’s been a while since I last blogged. Like many other students who have recently returned to school, I’ve been caught up in a bunch of work. Anyway, today I bring you the ultimate Photoshop replacement: Pixelmator. What makes Pixelmator so special?

Well, first of all Pixelmator’s only $60. That’s compared to Photoshop CS4, which is a whopping $700. Greedy pigs, Adobe is, right? Pixelmator is OS X only, letting it take full advantage of all the native Core Image APIs in Leopard and Snow Leopard. Pixelmator has almost all the functionality of Photoshop, including full read and write of PSD files. A free trial is available, so go check it out!

Fantastisk! Lille meg greide å lage en egen header ut i fra deg gamle bildet helt på egen hånd! Helt uten guide eller forum eller noe! Det er ganske bra for å være meg altså! Pleier som regel å funke etter et par forsøk, men nå gikk det så fint så! Skal ærlig innrømme at det kunne vært finere, men jeg ble i grunn ganske fornøyd!

Brukte ikke Photoshop, men et program for Mac som heter Pixelmator og som jeg så helt tilfeldig i en eller annen reklame-mail jeg fikk i dag. Tenkte at jeg da liksågodt kunne prøve det ut (var litt småkriminell og lastet ned fra piratbukta -hysj! Ikke si det til noen!-, men det får våge seg). Og fant ut at det var omtrent akkurat det samme som PS, men bare mye mer skreddersydd for Mac! Det var skikkelig stilig, og jeg brukte en tre kvarter på å leke litt med bildet. Og resultatet er som dere kan se. Men du, som tiden flyr når man bare “leker seg med bilder”! Plutselig var ikke klokka kvart på ett, men kvart på 2?! Hvor ble den timen av da?

Jaja, sove kan man gjøre når man ligger i graven. Jeg har heller planer om å kose meg med fine nye programmet! Kanskje akkompagnert av litt musikk? Hmm, ingen dårlig idé!

From baby steps
To the ballerina’s
Flawless pirouettes
I am a marionette
And all those years
That pass between
Are rich and green
Unleashing

Boundless possibilities
I step through the door
Fears unrealized
I do not disintegrate
I do not fall
To the parquet floor
And I am triumphant

I stand tall
Like a verdant tree
In summer time
And I turn
I return, I respond
To the Audience’s call
For an encore

This week we mention a Google real-time search utility from Steve Rubel and Google Fast Flip. In media, we chat about this week’s editions of The Office and Community. Mike and Reece also dive into Heroes and Lost. In apps we talk about Mac image editor Pixelmator.  We had some minor audio issues but they should be taken care of next time.

Listen Now – 1:02:33

Subscribe Via iTunes

Relevant Links

Steve Rubel’s real-time search bookmarklet.

Google Fast Flip

Pixelmator for Mac

Pixelmator Tutorials

Ya hablamos de Pixelmator en Apple’s Blog, pero recientemente ha aparecido una actualización que trae bastantes características que cabe destacar y que lo convierte en un potencial programa de diseño de imágenes. Las novedades son las siguientes:

• Guardar para Web: crea un archivo que sea fácilmente usable en la Web.
• Enviar a: esta característica permite enviar tu fotografía por eMail o directamente a iPhoto.
• Soporte para Snow Leopard: como usuario de Pixelmator me quede francamente impresionado por lo mal que funcionaba en Snow Leopard, esto a sido solucionado. Aunque no funciona a 64 bits.
• Solucionados barios bugs

Recuerda que Pixelmator es un programa Shareware, aunque puedes descargar una copia de evaluación.

Enlace | Pixelmator

Since this blog is meant for reporting new updates and cool programs that take my fancy, I thought I’d start with my very favourite application first. It was just yesterday that the company Pixelmator updated their awesome piece of software to become Snow Leopard compatible, but that wasn’t all, some amazing new features make this update a worthy one.

I have to be honest here, I am a bit of an Apple fanboy and as any Apple fanboy would do when an update to their operating system comes out, I got Snow Leopard the day it came out. I was extremely pleased with it and fooled around with it for a long while until I noticed something… updating had come at a price. A few of my day-to-day applications no longer functioned correctly, one of them being Pixelmator. It was a little frustrating but I could deal with it (unlike some applications that crashed on launch). Basically some icons disappeared and there were a few glitches here and there but at least I could still use it when necessary. But then finally yesterday the company released their latest version of the software which had Snow Leopard compatibility

One of the super, amazing, awesome new features is the Slice tool which allowed ‘Save for Web’. At first I wasn’t really sure what it was but after watching an explanatory video which showed off the new tool, I couldn’t wait to use it myself, and now that I have I have to say, it’s phenomenal! It is so easy to use and it’s just such a great, powerful addition to the image editing software. It simplifies the task of exporting images that are meant for the web.

I believe the company likes to be seen as the Photoshop alternative. Pixelmator is very user friendly and is therefore also very intuitive to use. I’d personally never used image editing software in my life until I stumbled across this very decently priced application. At just $59, the company has put themselves way up there and I can’t get enough of it. Reading the forums on their website, a lot of web designers that have used Photoshop from the dawn of time, are making the switch, maybe not completely but at least for the tasks that don’t need all the bulk that Photoshop has to offer. It’s quick and efficient and simply put; perfect

There are more new features that are incredibly useful like the Web Colors plug-in which makes finding the exact colour you need much easier. There are more (in my opinion) minor features but I’m not going to go into too much detail.

Well that’s it for my first real software update post. If you are interested in the program or want to know more about it, their website is extremely useful and you get a 30-day trial if you download the demo. If you have any questions or problems with Pixelmator, please be sure to leave a comment.

RaberBoy

Core Image Technology を使用し GPU による高速な画像処理が特徴の Pixelmator (ピクセルメーター) の最新バージョン 1.5 がリリースされました。

バージョンアップ毎に劇的な進化を遂げている Pixelmator ですが、今回の新機能は以下のとおりです:

< Pixelmator 1.5 新機能>

[Snow Leopard Support]
世界で最も先進的なオペレーティングシステム – Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard – をサポート。

[スライスツールと Web 用に書き出し]
イメージを最適化しイメージ全体またはスライスツールでスライスして、簡単に Web 用に書き出せます。

[メールと iPhoto に送信]
Pixelmator イメージを簡単にメール添付したり、iPhoto ライブラリに送信できます。

[トリミング]
イメージの四方を囲む透過ピクセルのトリミングを行い、イメージを切り取ることができます。

[情報ラベル]
ペイントツールや選択ツール使用時に、許容値、角度、サイズ、座標値などの情報を表示します。

[Web カラープラグイン]
カラーピッカーに HEX カラーコードプラグインを追加しました。HEX カラーコードをHTML, CSS アプリケーションにペーストできます。

[イタリア語のサポート]
英語、ドイツ語、フランス語、日本語、スペイン語に続いて、イタリア語をサポートしました。

[その他の改良点とバグ修正]
「ファイル書き出し」、「イメージサイズ」、「キャンバスサイズ」シートのデザイン変更や、さまざまなバグ修正を行っています。

まずはダウンロードして、本格的な画像処理とそのスピード、圧倒的な互換性、先進のユーザインタフェイスを体験してみてください。

This app is really cool…

Distorted Me

Taken by Sony Ericcson W995.

Distorted by Pixelmator

Maybe I will look like that, face down on concrete just after I hit the floor.

They said I was talented.  Why did they lie?  Or maybe they just wanted to make me feel better about myself.  That is the cruelest thing you can do to someone.

The world is inhospitable.  For me it is uninhabitable.

I know I will probably die by my own hand.  It is not a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’.

I am taking 100 zopiclone every other day…gotta love United Pharmacies.  I must be invincible.  Like Bruce Wills’s character in Unbreakable.

…what’s going on inside your Marshmallow Head…

Marshmallow Head

2009年8月6日、ビックカメラ新宿西口店にて、アクト・ツースタッフによるピクセルメーターの実演販売が行われます。
画像編集をしたその瞬間から修正箇所が反映されていくなど、今までの画像ソフトにはないこのスピード感をライブでお楽しみいただけると思います。

お近くの方、ぜひお立ちよりください！

開催日：2009年8月6日（木曜日）

時間　：17:00 – 20:00

場所　：ビックカメラ 新宿西口店（東京都新宿区西新宿1-5-1ハルク内）

ピクセルメーター詳細：http://www.act2.com/products/pixelmator.html

Tutoriais de Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Pixelmator, Gimp e CSS.

tutorial | Abduzeedo | Graphic Design Inspiration and Photoshop Tutorials

Core Image Technology をベースに、画像処理に GPU を使用して高速処理を可能にした Pixelmator (ピクセルメーター) が好評で、先日パッケージ版が発売されました。

ロンドンの Dailide 兄弟の設立した会社 Pixelmator Team が開発した製品で、Photoshop への対応はもちろんのこと、100を超えるファイル形式に対応、130を超えるエフェクト、GPU による高速プレビュー、HUD (Heads-up Display) パレットを採用した Mac らしいユーザインタフェイスが特徴です。

僕自身も渾身の製品です。体験版もありますので、ぜひこのクールな製品を体験してみてください。ご購入は右のバナーからお願いしますｗ。

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