#i looked through some vector art today and saw some REALLY cool stuff so i have to experiment a bit

[relto]

i think the silky design has to go back to the concept table, the sketch is nice but it turns out i have NO idea what coloring style the end result should even be in...

[siriannatan]

Prep & Punk - Treebark

AU by @vyeoh, it’s really cool and stuff and all their art is really good

AO3

Not too bad for never really writing much about either Ren or Martyn...

[FlowerHusbands thingy from this AU]

______________

Martyn did not want to go where he going, he wasn't sure why had to be there. Since when was wearing a skirt - long way under his knees - breaking the dress code? Since when do they even have a dress code in this place? But apparently, they did - even if only in that one teacher's head - and Martyn was on his way to the detention.

Why couldn't the school just call his parents? They saw his skirt (pale pink, pleated) and had nothing against him going out in it. His mother even said she was proud her son inherited her good looks with his father nodding in agreement from behind his business newspaper. They'd just ask where they can see this 'dress code' and the topic would be done.

Not today. And skipping detention would actually get Martyn in trouble back at home. At least Scott didn't laugh before he himself was free to go to the mall and live his life as Martyn wasted the whole two hours (why so many? he lamented internally) doing his homework. His physics homework was about vectors with no internet to go to with his questions. Magnificent. Hopefully, he'd be the only one there.

He was not. In the time it took Martyn to drag himself from the English classroom to the detention room - just a basic classroom that was not used for anything else at the time - one other student made it there. A rough-looking upperclassman Martyn only heard of, Ren if memory served him correctly. He's heard a multitude of stories about him one crazier than the five before it together. But maybe some of them were true. He was reading some papers as Martyn walked in and the hand he was holding them in was bandaged. There was some talk in the corridors about some seniors getting into a fight. Was Ren one of them?

"No teacher?" Martyn asked before he could stop himself as he was about to put his phone on the desk.

"She's got classes. Someone's supposed to check up on us," Ren said. He did not sound as gruff as the stories would suggest.

Or he was just not in the mood to get himself into any more trouble. Not feeling like testing if the stories were true Martyn just nodded and took a seat as far from Ren as he could. To not disturb his reading, he'd say if asked and started working on his vectors homework. Or more like slugging through. Martyn was smart but this stuff was making no sense to him. Ren was silent other than shifting of pages.

About half an hour into the detention a teacher (the teacher) came in. "What are you two sitting so far for? To the front," she said and left after barely glancing at them.

Martyn sighed to himself. He got comfy in his corner of the classroom and had his books out. And... suddenly Ren was right next to him, picking up a pen that rolled off the desk. "I hope I'm not being rude here but would it be rude if I offered some assistance?" he offered and it only confused Martyn further. Scary Ren the Dog was offering to help him move his books?

And while Ren might have been pulling his leg there to just laugh at him Martyn could not just flat out say no. That would only spell more trouble. "I would hate to interrupt whatever you were reading..." he said instead, smiling at Ren.

"Oh, don't worry about that, I practically have the whole play memorised," Ren grinned and glanced at Martyn's books. "Oh, vectors, I remember Doc being utterly bamboozled by these and he's the one who dragged me to take advanced physics with him," he chuckled while already gathering Martyn's books into a neat stack.

"You understand this nonsense?" Martyn asked, regaining control of his own body just in time to carry his own bag. Play? Advanced physics? It was a fact that things like the drama club and its members didn't get recognised too easily. But Ren? In a costume, on stage, reciting lines of some king? That sounded just weird.

"Yes. Doc says it's because my brain's more used to abstracts than his or something like that. I can try to explain it but I'll probably be terrible at that."

Martyn of course accepted the help. Ren turned out to be great at explaining the vectors and soon Martyn didn't need much more help. Which was unfortunate because Ren's voice was very pleasant to listen to. And he was a darn adorable theatre nerd and in a suspicious amount of advanced classes because of Doc. And that meant he was darn smart to stay in them until his senior year.

"What's the play going to be about?" Martyn asked after five minutes of silence, and another 'teacher check'.

"King Arthur. For whatever reason I got cast as the villain, again," Ren said, visibly bummed out at his newest role.

"Villains are usually good-looking," Martyn said before he could stop himself. And instantly started to think about how to explain himself. No matter how nice Ren was they didn't know each other that well just yet.

"Why isn't the drama club chasing you to play them then?"  Ren chuckled, completely stunning Martyn. "Though a princess would probably suit you better with how cute you are," he added with a charming grin.

Martyn had no idea what to say. Under his gruff look of a bad boy (he looked much more like it than Grian, Joel and Jimmy combined) and rumours was damn handsome. And that grin? If Martyn were standing he'd be on the floor. And was now possibly flirting with him? Well. Who was Martyn to tell him to stop?

"If I were a princess I'd let you kidnap me whenever you'd like to," Martyn retorted with a flirty (at least in his hopes) smile. This was harder when you might actually like the person and not just messing with them.

"Then how about I 'kidnap' you for milkshakes after this lovely detention we're stuck in, princess?" Ren asked with what was no doubt his best villain smile. It certainly looked the part and was very attractive.

"I told you to just call me Martyn," he protested, blushing at the image of Ren carrying him out of the school that came to his mind. He was pretty sure it'd be nothing hard for Ren. "And I'd be delighted to go for milkshakes for you," he added with a clearly fake pout.

"Great, it's a date then," Ren grinned and Martyn blushed even more. Who would have thought the 'Mad Dog' was such a big softie and a nerd on top of that? And an absolute gentleman who refused to let Martyn carry his own bag or open any doors.

[techbravo]

Introduction to Laser Engraving

Introduction

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Engraving-1.mp3

  Laser Engraving. What is it exactly. According to Wikipedia, https://ift.tt/2ocxBeL

“Laser engraving, which is a subset of laser marking,[1] is the practice of using lasers to engrave an object. Laser marking, on the other hand, is a broader category of methods to leave marks on an object, which also includes color change due to chemical/molecular alteration, charring, foaming, melting, ablation, and more. The technique does not involve the use of inks, nor does it involve tool bits which contact the engraving surface and wear out, giving it an advantage over alternative engraving or marking technologies where inks or bit heads have to be replaced regularly.”

Well that’s about the most boring definition I have ever heard. To me, laser engraving is 21st century expressionism. It’s an artists tool. Just like a pencil, paintbrush, charcoal, what have you, it’s a really neat way of getting your artistic expression on a blank canvas. Where a common painters canvas is, well, canvas, a laser engraving canvas can be just about anything. Instead of building up on that canvas with paint, we use light and heat to burn away the canvas. By using different speed and power and even focus, we manipulate a canvas to burn hotter or lighter creating varied effects. The possibilities are endless. How cool is that? There is one down side though. Variables. Where variables are sometimes a good thing, too many of them can sometimes be daunting and overwhelming. And with a laser, there are almost infinite. For example, lets take speed and power alone. If your laser is adjustable in mm/sec and you can go from 100 to 600 in 1mm increments. And you take power, from 1% to 100% in 1% increments. Well, without going into probability theory and computations and here’s how you figure it. You take 500 (increments in speed) and 100 (percent in power) and that gives you 50,000 different speed and power combinations alone! (I think. It could be more but its 6:20 am and I haven’t slept much) If there are any math whizzes out there that can clarify, please do so. The point is not the number itself, but the vast size of the number. And that’s just two variables!  Now take into account substrate, color, shade, hue, saturation, just to name a few, and it’s a wonder why anyone would want to do this.

For me, it’s one simple phrase. Its when someone looks at my artwork and looks at me and goes, how the hell did you do this, and I see the pure wonderment in their faces. That’s what does it for me. I guess its how a magician feels after pulling off a spectacular trick.

So how do you get there? Where do you start? Knowledge my friends……….knowledge. I’ve scoured the internet for tips, tricks, techniques you name it. And don’t even get me started on scrap. You see, for the most part, with a laser it’s one and done. You can’t “unburn” something. Once it’s there, it’s there. Oh sure, sometimes you can go over it again, but how do you do it without ruining it. It isn’t easy.

I once took a 1.5 inch piece of pine that a client wanted me to burn a picture on using a cell phone picture, of a landscape scene. Now let me tell you, 1 Pine, 2 Cell Phone Picture and 3, Landscape are hands down THE WORST scenario you can come up against. So what did I do?  I bought a planar, and every time I engraved it and it came out like crapola, id plane it down and start over. This was a big piece of pine, with natural edges. When it was all said and done, I wound up with a ¾ thick piece, and a lot of kindling from shavings. Scrap happens. The key is try to minimize it.

By learning some basics about how a laser works, what substrates work, and HOW they work, and artwork techniques, (such as photo manipulation), by taking these courses, you will be well on your way to developing your own processes, and your own techniques. So let’s get started.

Laser Engraving In A Nutshell

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Engraving-2.mp3

  How a laser works:

I’ll be taking a lot of the clinical definitions from Wikipedia and then simplifying them:

“A laser engraving machine can be thought of as three main parts: a laser, a controller, and a surface. The laser is like a pencil – the beam emitted from it allows the controller to trace patterns onto the surface. The controller direction, intensity, speed of movement, and spread of the laser beam aimed at the surface. The surface is picked to match what the laser can act on.”

Think of it as being a kid with a magnifying glass, burning things using sunlight, only this is really precise

Here are some general terms you will need to become familiar with:

Raster Engrave: Raster engraving traces the laser across the surface in a back-and-forth slowly advancing linear pattern that will remind one of the printhead on an inkjet or similar printer.

Vector Engraving: Vector engraving follows the line and curve of the pattern to be engraved, much like a pen-based plotter draws by constructing line segments from a description of the outlines of a pattern.

Vector Engraving Cuts, Raster Fills, its that simple

Power: The amount of power that is send to the lens

Speed: The speed at which the laser head moves, therefore limiting the amount of time a laser is in the work at once

A vector setting is like using a really precise scroll saw. You just set your lineweight to something small, and the laser will cut along that line.

Types Of Lasers

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Engraving-3.mp3

  Lets talk about the two main types of Lasers: CO2 and Fiber Optic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_laser

The carbon dioxide laser (CO2 laser) was one of the earliest gas lasers to be developed. It was invented by Kumar Patel of Bell Labs in 1964,[1] and is still one of the most useful. Carbon dioxide lasers are the highest-power continuous wave lasers that are currently available. They are also quite efficient: the ratio of output power to pump power can be as large as 20%. The CO2 laser produces a beam of infrared light with the principal wavelength bands centering on 9.4 and 10.6 micrometers (μm).

What does this mean? Basically it’s the most popular laser on the market today, and readily available for a smaller price tag. It can engrave and cut a variety of substrates including but not limited to wood, plastic, paper, glass, granite, and leather. It cannot, however, engrave most bare metals, because the frequency of the laser is such that the beam bounces off the metal like bullets off Superman’s Chest. There are coatings and such that we will get into in a different course

A fiber laser or fiber laser is a laser in which the active gain medium is an optical fiber doped with rare-earth elements such as erbium, ytterbium, neodymium, dysprosium, praseodymium, thulium and holmium. They are related to doped fiber amplifiers, which provide light amplification without lasing. Fiber nonlinearities, such as stimulated Raman scattering or four-wave mixing can also provide gain and thus serve as gain media for a fiber laser.

Fiber Lasers are used more for marking. Barcodes, Lot numbers, etc, they are used mainly in commercial applications. It does extremely well on metal marking. The one thing about Fiber Lasers. Don’t ever look directly at the beam unless you are looking through Protective Lenses or special glass. It will burn your retinas out.

So I Bought This Laser Engraver…

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Engraving-4.mp3

  I bought my laser after I saw it being demonstrated at a Trade Show. I saw all the cool things it could do, and it blew my mind. I originally wanted to sell glasses online through etsy. So what did I do? I bought this huge top of the line laser engraver from epilog. Its an M2 Fusion and its wicked cool. So what was my business plan? (Um, what’s a business plan) I just wanted to engrave glasses and sell them. Guess what, there’s a lot more to it. A LOT MORE. For the moment let’s focus on CO2 Lasers and what they can do.

Different Mediums

Here we will look at some common substrates:

Wood

https://laserengravinginstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Engraving-5.mp3

  Wood is by far my favorite substrate to work with because there are so many kinds. I especially like, you guessed it, photographs. By photographs, I don’t mean an interpretation, I mean a photograph. So I spent years and tons of money on materials and documenting things like a mad scientist. You see, wood is a funny thing. First of all stick with the hardwoods. Stuff like Maple, Birch, Cherry, Alder,  and Walnut. Walnut is the best for text and vector art. It doesn’t overburn and gives a nice rich deep crisp engrave. Birch is the best for photographs. Solid birch. You can do plywood but that is usually the bottom of the barrel birch.  If you get a solid piece with a nice smooth grain, it will come out beautiful.

Here are some tips when engraving with wood:

Always sand it first. Your engrave will come out much nicer

When done, wipe it down with water or sand it with 600 grit paper. “Overburn” or edge scorching leaves charred marks around your image. If you sand it lightly, you will get rid of that but still keep the crispness of your image

“Sneak up on it” It’s a term I use when you burn something multiple times fast with low power. It brings out the image a little bit at a time. You can always burn it again, you can’t unburn it. Also if you can sand it in between burning, that will help you as well, as long as your laser repeats

Stay away from Pine. What does pine have more than anything? SAP. When you engrave pine with even a little power, it boils the sap, and boy, is that stuff sticky. Plus one other caution about Pine. It catches fire really easy

Inlay: A Laser is really good for doing inlay work. You can cut and inlay mother of pearl, abalone, wood veneer and even paper! That’s a course for a different time.

Plastic

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Export-6.mp3

  Plastic melts. That’s is all a laser is doing to plastic. Melting it very precisely. So Tip#1: Don’t use too much heat in one place for a very long period of time. It will essentially turn to goo.

The best plastic to engrave on is acrylic. NOT POLYCARBONATE. They are NOT the same.  Oh and if you are trying to get a nice frosty look on acrylic, use CAST acrylic, not extruded. You will know if you are using extruded because it will engrave clear.  And if you REALLY want it to look cool, buy NOVUS polish 1, 2 and 3 and polish it first. It will look like glass. Engraving acrylic, especially photos on acrylic, it tricky at first. But once you get used to what to look for, it comes out great. Then, on clear acrylic, you can light it up using flexible light strips. Again, that’s another class for another time.

Another thing about acrylic. It can’t hold a really high resolution. In acrylic you want to go fast with low power, and around 300 dpi in your image. With acrylic, you can get really cool effects also when you cut it using a vector setting. It almost polishes the edge.

Glass

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Export-7.mp3

  Glass, actually, doesn’t engrave. It microshatters. That’s right. It explodes, at a molecular level. Nonetheless, it is violent. What is glass made out of? Sand…….mostly. However, there are air and water molecules trapped within the glass. When the laser hits the air and water molecules, the molecules rapidly expand, causing them to break apart the bonds that hold the silicate together. Do this a couple of million times and you get a rough surface.

Engraving anything on glass takes patience. Engraving PHOTOGRAPHS on glass takes the patience of Mother Teresa, Gandhi, and Buddha put together. Its cool when it works, however it takes LOTS of practice.

Marble & Granite

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Export-8.mp3

  Granite and Marble don’t really engrave either. What the laser is doing is removing the polish of the crystals therefore creating a matte finish. Pictures do well on granite and marble. I will do a course on these two substrates as well in the future. The photo prep is not bad, you just have to get some experience at it.

Coated Metals

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Export-9.mp3

  Coated metals such as anodized aluminum can be tricky as well because there isn’t really any shading. Its either exposed the underlying material, or it hasn’t. What gives it the illusion of shading is how much of the coating you have removed, and how much of the underlying material you have removed. It’s an interesting medium to work with, and with the addition of other colors, you can get pretty creative.

  Conclusion

https://lasergods.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Export-10.mp3

  This course was created to give you just a taste of what you can do with a laser engraver. In classes yet to come, I will have not only lectures, but hands on assignments of what to do and how to do it. I am going to have guest lecturers, live feeds, seminars, you name it. Thank you for enrolling in this class, and I look forward to teaching you.

 The post Introduction to Laser Engraving appeared first on LaserGods.com.

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[dawnajaynes32]

If You Really Like What You Create, It Will Sell

Sponsored by Adobe

Becoming a Freelance Stock Contributor

With every other creative career option at her fingertips, versatile Milwaukee-based graphic designer and illustrator Diane Murphy ultimately chose becoming a freelance stock contributor.

With a B.A. in fine arts from Carroll University, a private liberal arts institution in Waukesha, WI, Murphy has been an art teacher, a portrait photographer, a children’s clothing and giftware designer, a muralist, and an all-around freelancer doing logos, print collateral and apparel. She spent thirteen years designing large-scale graphics and signage for a Milwaukee interior design-build company that serves restaurant, educational and retail clients. After breaking out on her own in 2008, she became a self-styled “vector dynamo” who as “TeddyandMia” now makes two-thirds of her income from stock licensing and one-third from freelance design directly for clients, many of whom first saw and bought her work on stock sites. Murphy is one of Adobe Stock’s best-selling vector illustrators, and I was delighted to have this Q&A with her on behalf of HOWdesign.com.

Q: Diane, you’ve done many prestigious projects, including wall graphics for schools and fast-food restaurants, and logos and packaging for clients all around the country. What got you interested in becoming an Adobe Stock contributor?

A: When I worked at the interior design firm, although I love kids and schools, I sometimes got frustrated with the limitations in subject matter, so in the evenings I started illustrating other subjects that interested me. When I felt confident enough, I tried 99designs and had great success with logo design competitions. I then branched out more and applied to stock sites. I only draw what interests me now. Lots of retro themes, logo designs, holidays, font sets, and midcentury style patterns are some of my favs. I quit my full-time job when I felt confident enough I could make a living as a stock artist and freelancer.

Your screen name is TeddyandMia. Some artists want to be off the radar as a stock contributors because it’s a side gig to their full-time employment. I know that’s not your case. But is there a real Teddy and Mia? Do you have a partner?

It’s really just sentimental. And just me. No partner. Teddy and Mia were my Pomeranians’ names. And those names just seemed to fit. My work is lighthearted and all over the place, just like the dogs.

How did you learn what kind of images would be most saleable?

If you follow themes and styles of other contributions that are selling well, it won’t be satisfying. I don’t pay attention to the tab that sorts by “popularity.” I’m not interested in drawing icon sets or landing pages, one after another. And I don’t like flashy, techie gradients. I prefer flat colors, simple textures, and simple compositions. Less is more. If I really like what I create, it will sell.

What percentage of your income comes from stock?

I started in 2008, and now about two-thirds of my income comes from stock. The other income comes from several good, reliable clients. I also have a contract position with another stock company as a vector reviewer; I inspect files for technical and esthetic quality, and send them back if they don’t meet the qualifications so the artists can make corrections and resubmit.

That shows how really good you are. We love your fruit and vegetable backgrounds reminiscent of Herman Miller picnic posters from the ’70s. And your USA state travel posters. And the license plates and psychedelic backgrounds and all your midcentury modern stuff. You are incredibly versatile. Do you recommend that contributors offer a whole range of styles?

Versatility has always been part of my plan, and I definitely recommend it for others. I love trying new styles, and it always keeps it interesting. For example, the travel posters. Growing up, my family took many road trips around the county. I’m very nostalgic and started the poster series as a personal challenge. I’ve sold many extended licenses of those.

Do you also upload to other stock sources, like iStock or Shutterstock? If so, is working with Adobe in any way different or superior?

I upload to the all the major sites and a couple of smaller ones as well. My sales have noticeably increased since the Adobe took over Fotolia. That gives me incentive to keep up on new submissions and continuously offer different and new vectors. With some of the other sites, my sales go up more slowly.

What’s your favorite stock success story? For example, one illustrator made a series of simple borders that have been downloaded more than 10,000 times. Others have gotten large freelance commissions because a buyer loved their style and approach. What have you experienced that’s especially noteworthy?

I recently started working with a Vermont candle company, Aunt Sadies, Inc., that uses my state poster images on their candle canisters. I’m negotiating to create original designs for them in the future. A nonprofit organization liked my ’60s psychedelic-style images, like my Earth Day posters, and I’ve been creating posters and other print materials for them ever since.

Our readers are especially interested in “tips and tricks,” especially for people who’ve never thought about making their work available through stock sites. What do those illustrators need to know? For example, how often do you upload? How many images at a time?

I try to upload 20 to 30 images every month. I work on several ideas at a time. That way, when I’m stuck spinning my wheels on one image, I can put it aside and work on another. After a break, I go back to the first one with a fresh perspective and can move forward. It’s important to avoid frustration—and you have to to have faith in yourself that the answer is within you. Be patient until it comes to you.

How many vectors or illustrations need to be in your library for the effort and the income to pay off?

I started by uploading maybe 20 images, and on the third day online I made $11. I was ecstatic. As time went by I added more and more, and when I got to around 400 I consistently made a few hundred dollars every month. Certainly not enough to live on, but I was still working at the interior design firm and my freelance time was limited (but those few hundred extra bucks bought me a lot of shoes). After I left the firm, I worked hard to double my portfolio, and was making $1,500 to $2,000 every month. Adding more stock sites helped. One thing I know for sure, the more you create and upload, the more money you make.

What makes your illustrations stand out among others with similar subject matter?

I think of my images as tools for designers to use. The license plate set not only contains the complete character set, but several examples that show designers how the set looks in different color combinations. One way to stand out is to create a series of coordinating images that create a unified set, like the fruits and veggies. Often buyers will download the whole set. In the card series with the lightbulb numbers, I include the complete set of numbers along with the card design so buyers can easily use any combination of numbers.

How do you prepare the files so they will be the most user-friendly?

I don’t use a lot of fancy gradients, meshes, and complicated tools and patterns. I try to keep layers simple and organized. Buyers most likely have many different skill levels. I make my images are user-friendly for all levels.

What is your biggest piece of advice for a new contributor?

Set aside regular time to draw and develop images. Don’t try to churn out images for quantity. And don’t follow the herd. The world has enough icon sets. Take time to draw what you’re interested in and you will never be bored. You may not make a million dollars, but developing your artistic talents will eventually bring in enough money, and it’s a fantastic journey. Make sure you list your contact info on your portfolio page so future clients can find you.

We hope to once and for all remove the “stigma” from creating and buying/using stock. We’ve found several interesting advertising and marketing campaigns that use stock backgrounds, infographics and logo elements, but the agencies wouldn’t agree to publicizing them. What are your thoughts on this?

The agencies are not going to say they use stock, even if they do. Imagine what the clients would think! The good thing is that they’re using stock, and let’s hope that in time the stigma will recede. I don’t worry about it. Because of online agencies like Adobe, my images are sold the world over. I think that’s pretty cool. They don’t lead to big national accounts, but they do bring me many reliable clients like the candle company, a big carpet cleaning operation, and my favorite, the International Tea Sippers Society.

Thank you for your candid answers, Diane, and Happy New Year!

If you are interested in bringing your illustrations and vectors to a worldwide audience of buyers, sign up to become an Adobe Stock contributor today – it’s free to sign up! A sweet side gig—or possibly an almost-full-time career like Diane Murphy’s—awaits. Sign up now!

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