I’m Taking a Cartooning Class with Dennis Preston (Lansing Artist)

by on March 24, 2015 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News

[dc]I[/dc] always want to get better when it comes to drawing and making comics. This time around, I signed up for a cartooning workshop class at Lansing Community College with renowned Lansing artist Dennis Preston.

preston cartooning

Some of Preston‘s head shape hand outs. Via my Instagram.

Preston is known around town for his exaggerated caricatures and cartoons, and I couldn’t wait to take his class. I’m not taking the class for a grade, or as part of a degree. This is a no credit/continuing education thing for me (but not the rest of the class, I believe). Preston also teaches the Humorous Illustration class at LCC (which I didn’t know about until last night), and I might consider taking in the future.¹

Back to School

The class met for the first time last Thursday, and it felt great to go somewhere and only focus on drawing for almost a couple of hours. I didn’t take my Surface Pro 3, but rather a new sketchbook along with some trusty pencils and pens.

I’m sure I’ll pick up some new techniques, but I’m happy for the excuse to get out of the house and focus on drawing once a week.²

Heads Up

Like most introductions to cartooning, the first class focused on drawing cartoon heads—specifically head shapes. Preston gave us several examples (square, diamond, triangle, ‘peanut,’ and so on) and went to work drawing his own.

We spent the first class drawing different head shapes and filling them in with features. It is fun to focus on simple things, and not worry about a bigger picture. I played around with a bunch of shapes and filled up a couple of pages in my sketchbook.

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I’m on Instagram Now

by on March 20, 2015 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News

[dc]I[/dc] decided to join Instagram. For those unfamiliar, Instagram is a social media photo sharing app and website. Instgram’s big claim to fame is allowing users to quickly snap and upload photos from their phone, and apply various filters for added effects.

I decided to sign up and give Instagram a try because some of my artist chums are using it to promote their work, like comic pal Jason Strutz.

Sadly, my usual social media handle danieljhogan was already taken (shakes fist), but @clattertron was available.¹

I’m still deciding how I want to use Instagram, but for now it will be for photos of my art and sketches–probably a cat here and there. I will do my best avoid food photos. There was a brief internal debate about cross-posting Instagram updates to Twitter and Facebook or not. I decided my Instagram posts will go to the Clattertron Facebook page and my Twitter, because WHY NOT.

Here’s an embed of an Instagram update, showing the thumbnails I sketched out for this week’s comic.

Thumbnails for this week's comic. https://clattertron.com/comic/the-big-melt/ #comics #sketch #webcomics

A photo posted by Daniel J. Hogan (@clattertron) on

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¹ Trivia: Daniel Hogan is a very common name, hence the J. Even Daniel J. Hogan is pretty common too. This is part of the reason I made up the word Clattertron for this site: it isn’t a common word. SEO BABY

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I Like Sleep, So I Tried f.lux and Twilight

by on March 17, 2015 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News, Reviews

[dc]I[/dc] read an article on Boing Boing about f.lux, and decided to give it a try. f.lux, as I learned in the article and on its website, changes the color temperature of your computer/tablet screen as it gets later in the day.

Why?

Because the screens I stare at all day use a daylight color temperature (also called full spectrum color). In a way, the screen’s light mimics daylight. Which is great during the day, but at night, well, it can keep you awake.¹

Via f.lux’s website:

Ever notice how people texting at night have that eerie blue glow?

Or wake up ready to write down the Next Great Idea, and get blinded by your computer screen?

During the day, computer screens look good—they’re designed to look like the sun. But, at 9PM, 10PM, or 3AM, you probably shouldn’t be looking at the sun.

f.lux fixes this: it makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.

It’s even possible that you’re staying up too late because of your computer. You could use f.lux because it makes you sleep better, or you could just use it just because it makes your computer look better.

f.lux

Screen capture of the f.lux window on my Surface.

The Glow

I spend a lot of time in front of glowing screen, be it my Surface, my MacBook Pro, or my Galaxy smart phone. Most days, I’m on all three devices throughout the day and into the evening (for various amounts of time).

As the quote from f.lux’s website above says, by adjusting your screen’s color temperature, mainly making it more ‘red’ in the evening, your sleep could improve because you aren’t bathed in ‘daylight’ before going to bed.

Mobile Solution

f.lux does not have a version for Android based smartphones. After a bit of research, I found Twilight, which is very similar (it tints your screen after sunset). Twilight is a battery drain when left running all day, so now I manually turn it on after sunset (which is really the only time I need it on).

Catching More Z’s?

I can honestly say, after using f.lux and Twilight for the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a change in my sleep habits. I’m falling asleep much easier at night and waking up easier too—I’ve even been waking up on my own a few minutes before my alarm goes off the last few days.

Not everyone will have the same experience, but f.lux and Twilight worked for me.

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Fan Photo: Clattertron Cartoons and Stickers in a School Locker

by on March 10, 2015 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Blog, News

[dc]I[/dc] got a pleasant surprise a few weeks ago. No, not a shoebox full of twenty-dollar bills (but by all means send me such a surprise). A photo! A photo of some of my watercolor cartoons and stickers inside a fan’s locker at school.

I’ve said before how often kids (under 18) buy my cartoons, comics, and stickers at shows. This is part of the reason I try to keep things all ages around here. ¹

Here’s the photo.

clattertron fan photo

You can buy your own via my Etsy shop.

Top to bottom, that’s a sticker of Guilt Trip Ghost in Space and Anachronism Khan Rides Again.² The purple mini-watercolor cartoon is one of Guilt Trip Ghost, with a silly Batman underneath—amusingly, both have ‘call your mother’ jokes.³ The brown and green cartoon is a cluster of little dinosaurs (I inked the dinos on top of splashes of green).

Fun!

Always nice seeing my stuff out in the wild. I rarely find out what people do with the art they buy from me at my appearances. This photo gives me a fun anecdote to share with guests at my table too. “Dress up your locker!”

I’m very happy to see my art displayed in such an important place. I remember decorating my locker in school with fun items, although I am at a loss to come up with any specific examples on the spot (I had a Joel and the ‘bots of MST3K photo up at one point for sure. Probably several Detroit Red Wings photos too).

I’m guilty of buying art at shows and never displaying it anywhere (I own a pair of Jeremy Bastian prints from last year’s MSU Comics Forum I have yet to hang up). So, good on this fan to decorate her locker with my funny drawings. Whenever I’m feeling down, I can just look at this photo and feel better knowing someone liked my cartoons enough to look at them everyday.

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¹ Younger readers probably don’t always get my jokes, but if they like the art on my table enough to buy it at shows, that’s fine by me.

² Maybe I should do a new Anachronism Khan strip. Maybe.

³ I could keep a therapist busy for years.

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