You may remember back in May I was asked by Nvidia to create a few illustrations using a new tablet they were bringing out called The Tegra entitled 'Make Your Mark'. Well, it seems they were pretty pleased with me; not only did they ask me to come back and work on their new, more powerful device, The Nvidia Shield, but they also offered to fly me out to Vancouver Canada to man a booth with them at the tech fair SIGGRAPH … As you can imagine I didn’t hang around to give them my response! I am actually on my way there now, I thought I would schedule this post for whilst I was in the air. You can follow my little adventure on Instagram, but in the meantime here’s a first look at some of the images I created using their highly anticipated Shield 8 and the Dabbler app.
The Dabbler app has 2 techniques available for you to play with, oil painting and watercolour. I did originally struggle with the watercolour applications as it was a little too organic for my liking, but after some time playing around with it I came to really enjoy what it had to offer. Its incredibly intelligent system allows you to do much the same things you would using traditional watercolours, with the added bonus of being able to undo any mistakes, and most importantly, you don’t get your hands dirty! A fascinating part of the Dabbler is the 'gravity effect', by holding the tablet on its side the paint literally runs down the page giving you the ability to create some really unique artwork.
Here I have 2 examples of artwork created using the watercolour technique. The image above is my first attempt, it’s a much closer fit to the line drawing I use in my normal work. However the one below, my second attempt is where I worked back into the artwork making it much freer and giving a better idea of how authentic the artwork can look using the app.
The last 2 pieces of artwork were created using the oil paint feature which again has an abundance of tools that make your images feel very authentic. I really like how you can see so many of the brush strokes that build up the image.
Now on to SIGGRAPH; I was asked a few weeks after handing in the illustrations I created using the Nvidia Shield, if I wanted to fly out to Vancouver and talk about my experiences using the tablet. Since saying ‘YES!’ the schedule changed a few times, originally I was going to get a 15 minute slot on stage to give a little talk to the attendees. The prospect of this was exciting, but also quite nerve wracking, so I was secretly pleased when the plans changed - I will now be giving one on one demonstrations to people in the crowds - no need to memorise a speech! Being shown along side me, will be well, me! We filmed some tutorials with a small production team in my studio before I flew out, and these will be on show throughout Siggraph’s duration, at Nvidia's booth. Once the event is over I will pop up the full video, but for now you will have to make do with just a screenshot.
Another bonus from the change of plans meant I will now have two more days at the event, meaning a longer stay in Canada. I’ll be sure to make the most of the extra time, exploring and seeing what Vancouver has to offer!
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