Check out the wiki I set up at http://zipboingwow.pbwiki.com/. This is my first attempt at setting up a wiki. It was extremely easy and the editing while not exactly WYSIWYG was fairly simple and straightforward. I've been using it keep notes of resources I've explored on the weekends.
Here's a sample of a scrolling slideshow I just made at slide.com. I uploaded the full res versions of each image so you can zoom in quite a bit. You can add tags to the slideshow and each image in it so people can search by keywords.
| Check out ThinkFree. It's a free Office Suite offering Word, Excel, and Powerpoint over the web using a Java applet. |
Here's a sample video blog entry. I'm trying the free storage services of archive.org and ourmedia.org. You can store media files of up to 10 Mb each and publish them on your own blog.
This is my first serious attempt at drawing a sketch on my Zodiac handheld computer. I'm using the Mobi-Systems Paint program which supports up to 16-bit color. This drawing is 1000 x 750 pixels. One problem I encountered is that at that size I can only see and work on less than a quarter of the whole image at a time. I have to scroll over to complete objects or lines. That's why the lines on the floor are not in perspective. Also, the range of colors is limited. I created a small color palette in the lower righthand corner so I could use the eyedropper tool to pick a color. I used the pencil tool to sketch the outlines and the spray can tool to fill in the colors. Sometimes I used the pencil to create solid areas of color. The lines on the floor and wall were done with the spray can. I started with a digital photo and increased the brightness and contrast until it looked like tracing paper. I then drew on top of the washed out image and erased out left over tones. I eliminated a second pair of shoes which were to the left.
Today I bought a small Polaroid 3070 digital camera for $75 at Walgreens. I wasn't expecting much, but it has turned out to be just what I needed. I was looking for a small camera with a SD card. I wanted to take a picture, pop the SD card out and slip it into my Zodiac PDA and use the picture as a starting point for a sketch. The camera doesn't have a macro setting so I used a magnifying glass to take a closeup picture of a bird on a piece of mail that arrived today. I used Mobi-paint to turn the photo into a sketch.
Today was the first day of Spring Break without a lot of wind and rain. I ventured out into the backyard to take some pictures of blossems and flowers.
This one reminds me a bit of the work of M.C. Escher. It has some of the same hyperbolic spaces that he liked to experiment with. Again I used the polygon tool in Mobi-Paint on my Zodiac PDA.
Today is the first day of Spring Break and I'm experimenting with the Paint program on my Zodiac handheld. It has a polygon feature. Here the number of sides is set to 30 and the conncetion steps is 14. I created six or seven shapes varying the colors of red, blue, and white.
In this experiment I imported a digital photo into the paint program on my Zodiac PDA. I increased the brightness and contast so I could just see the outlines of the shapes of the picture. Then I painted in color and lines with the airbrush and pencil tools. I then increased the contrast slightly to give it more punch. This is one way I could sketch on location and not worry about the accuracy of my drawing. I can just capture the shape and colors.
I'm sitting in my livingroom using my Zodiac PDA to see if I can make a quick sketch and post it on my blog. I first made a drawing using a Paint program and then "Sent" it to my email program and now I'm typing a message and sending it to my iUpload blog as an email attachment. This may turn out to be a good way to keep a mobile sketchbook.
