Courtesy of a probably not very mysterious bear, I now have a large format scanner, a piece of hardware I haven’t had in my arsenal since I had to consign my ancient Mustek to the landfill in the 1990s. As you can imagine, technology has marched on, and this new scanner will do 12x16 at an optical resolution of 1600 dpi, which is about a million times better than that old, beloved scanner. Plus, it is cool looking, and makes hollow sounds like a boat, so I have christened it the USS Scanner (as it is roughly the size of an aircraft carrier).
One of the things touted repeatedly in the product literature for this scanner is that it has more than one light source, which “reduces noise.” I wasn’t sure what that meant until I started experimenting and discovered that it was removing the paper grain on my sketches. I spent a week trying to figure out how to "fix" that when I stopped and asked myself, “Um… why are you doing this? You spend hours trying to figure out how to get rid of paper grain in these grayscale sketches.”
So I’ve spent the past few sessions just… scanning things and trying to see them differently, and the more I do that, the happier I am. The paper grain is, to some extent, an important part of the picture. From an artistic perspective, and a “let’s document every single thing about this piece of paper” perspective, the dimples and shadows are significant. But they’re also… not reproducible, not really. Even when I scan something so that the grain is visible, you’re seeing a snapshot of it. If you held it in your hands, merely turning it would change the location of those shadows. If you brightened your source light enough, your eyes wouldn’t see the grain at all! And not even evenly, but in patches! How do you possibly scan something that makes all that data available?
The answer is: you can't.
This brings me back to the concept of a reproduction never being perfect… and that this is a good thing. Physical reality isn’t duplicable, and your experience of it is unique and irreplaceable. That's the wisdom that physical media has for us, and it's increasingly important, I think, in a world that's trying to convince us that virtual things are more real than real things.
Given that I shouldn’t be aiming for some perfect ideal of ‘you can’t tell the difference between the scan and a print of the scan’, I come back to ‘what am I aiming for.’ And the answer to that is: “I want these very light grayscale scans to be legible without me spending an hour fiddling with various eraser/select tools.” And this scanner is spectacular at that task. So much so that I re-scanned all the artwork I put in the back of the retail edition of In Good Company because the results are so much cleaner!
Figuring out color will take a while, mostly because I don’t have an ICC profile for this scanner. But given that my big project is ‘scan 150+ sketchbooks, most of which are pencil drawings on white-ish paper’, I feel like I’m set. Thank you, Fairy Godbear. This is going to be great!
Which brings me to… you! I want to start scanning via livestream again, because it’s more fun with company! Do you have a preference as to time/day? Weekend vs weekday? Evening vs daytime? Let me know.
Or at least, I intend it to be relaxing. Hopefully it delivers.
4:22 minutes
Materials:
- Pen: Moonman Starry Glass dip pen, Mars: https://www.jetpens.com/Moonman-Starry-Sky-Glass-Dip-Pen-Mars/pd/31536
- Paper: Strathmore Writing Series 500, lined: https://www.jetpens.com/Strathmore-500-Series-Writing-Pad-8.5-x-11-Lined-50-Sheets/pd/15322
- Ink: Robert Oster, Rose Gilt Tynte: https://www.jetpens.com/Robert-Oster-Rose-Gilt-Tynte-Fountain-Pen-Ink-Shake-N-Shimmy-50-ml-Bottle/pd/25170
In which I talk about the paper, the paint, and the experience of oils versus gouache. Fun stuff, will do more.
Thank you Locals supporters! Your contribution to my art war chest here is what's powering these experiments and videos. For now I'm keeping them public but I may start doing some subscriber-only videos if you all are interested.💖
Thanks for your comments yesterday on the business post... all very provocative, in a good way. I'll try to respond to all of them today.
Some Alysha misc now, since I'm gearing up for the results of the Kickstarter!
Petrov is giving away coupon codes for every book in the Alysha series (and has some leftover coupons for Marda and the business book). You can pick those up here (and please do! The books are bought already, someone should use them!) https://twitter.com/PetrovNeutrino/status/1457344535843987461
Our own @JudasComplex sent along a sample of the Faith in the Service audiobook, which I've attached for your delight! I... haven't had a chance to listen to it. Don't ask me about my past week and a half or so. Putting it here will guarantee I get to it.
After hearing the amused comments during the livestream, I went ahead and added all the ship type illustrations I have inked from the 90s to the wiki. Glory in the rampant adorableness of their anthropomorphic stylings! See those ...
A little comedy today, at least in the link. Transcript follows.
Hi, all. Welcome to this episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
A while back I was introduced to a comedy sketch about Cuban coffee by a Mexican comedian, Gabriel Iglesias. ( The sketch begins with him greeting all his fellow Latinos and then backing up to say ‘but we’re all different, aren’t we’ which is a segue into a demonstration of how different Hispanics speak Spanish.
It is hilarious. First, because I am a Spanish speaker and a linguistics hobbyist, and his portrayal of various accents resonated with my experiences in trying to make sense of them myself… Not always easy, since from culture to culture, slang and accent are often totally different (and sometimes grammar! Spaniards use a grammatical construct that has died out in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the plural “you.”)
I also loved it because the Cuban coffee part is real. I grew up with Cubans. I know how we are....
One of the most common things I hear (and say) right now is "the asymmetry is the story." Here's one about how none of us are innocent of the sins we hate in others.
Hi, all. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
It’s been weeks since the Baen’s Bar incident and I’m still thinking about it... because the longer I do, the more I feel, overwhelmingly, that it’s obvious that the problem is deeper than “this forum was saying stuff that offended us.” We have to back up to the glaring fact that people on opposite sides no longer consider each other human. Nothing I say will matter because the people disagreeing with me don’t think I’m human. They have denied my humanity; they have not bothered to listen to my beliefs, or have fake-listened to them in that way that people do when they’re so ready to prove you wrong that they’re only using your speech to provide talking points for their own ideas.
We have forgotten how to listen.
Increasingly, we have also ...
This is just a random post! First to say:THANK YOU!
Since my Jaguar Calls for Aid post, I’ve had 8 new members subscribe and 9 people upgrade their memberships. I am so grateful! I can’t wait to send out all the stickers… we’ve still got another week or so before that offer expires. I hope more people jump on it, I love sending mail!
Anyway, I’m re-reading and making notes for Surela 3 because apparently, having finished off Red Honey in draft, I want to get something else moving before the end of the year and I’m excited about getting Surela to the end of her redemption story. Thank you to everyone who’s contributed to the Pelted wiki! I’m using it a lot. (Haven’t seen it? Want to help? Check it out: https://peltedverse.org/wiki/Main_Page)
I kind of want to make a Surela essential oil blend. I wonder what it would consist of? What smells would remind you of her?
I’m also continuing on the game work. I code until I run out of Claude tokens, flip to Grok until I get ...
There are a lot of things on my mind lately, and this year particularly because this month I hit a milestone birthday (what I call the decade birthdays!), and it’s been 25 years since my first professional fiction sale. To date, in that 25-year-span, I’ve published 71 books for adults, 3 for children, and 7 coloring books. I feel like this is a great start to a career, particularly given that some people don’t start publishing their first books until they’re closer to my current age!
So I’m satisfied that I’ve created a significant body of work. I’ve got the Peltedverse arc to wrap up, and some other projects I’d like to get back to, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and there are enough finished series in that I don’t feel like I’m sitting on a giant mass of unfinished projects.
Which brings me to my birthday and my reflection on the industry and social trends. Every year since the indie revolution hit has brought some version of doom about discovery and organic reach and ...
Complete with homemade challah french toast (the challah is homemade). (Also the french toast.)
I guess if you weren't sure about buying a thing or leaving a review or telling a friend about a thing or taking the book quiz, there is no time like the present. Because it would be that, literally, a present. XD
Okay I'm loopy, I'm off to nap, I am so full. XD
