June / July '17 Lite Challenge: Inspired by Malacandra

[Mouse]

LOL! I was thinking of you with a smile on my face as I uploaded it - "I wonder how long it will be before Chashio notices?" I thought

It takes some getting used to. The mouse buttons do strange things, but I guess once I get used to it I won't be able to steer any of my other software any more, so I'll just have to keep using it

[HadrianVI]

This picture is looking really good so far. Can't wait to see your next steps.

[Chashio]

LOL! I was thinking of you with a smile on my face as I uploaded it - "I wonder how long it will be before Chashio notices?" I thought

It takes some getting used to. The mouse buttons do strange things, but I guess once I get used to it I won't be able to steer any of my other software any more, so I'll just have to keep using it

Hahaha Not too long.

Yep, different software, different buttons. Not so bad after a while. It helped me a lot when I finally decided to adjust the keyboard shortcuts for my favorite tools.

[Mouse]

Thanks Hadrian

This is just the first half hour experimenting, and most of that time I was trying to unlearn my GIMP and CC3 mouse techniques. Right button is grab and pan. Middle button just snaps it back to 'fit image on screen', unless you press CTRL at the same time. Then it zooms as you roll the wheel!

I got in a bit of a tangle with the text, but its oddly intuitive

I won't be able to do anything fancy with the text (unless I have time to label it up in either GIMP or CC3) but I feel quite a lot more at home in a proper painting environment with Artrage than I have ever done with GIMP.

What's more, the size of the exported image is absolutely TINY compared to one of similar proportions done in GIMP. The one I've posted above is 3000 x 2122, but its only about 2 MB. I have no idea how they do it, but the guys at Artrage certainly know what they're doing when it comes to efficiency with image sizes. I had the original exported at 6500 on the long side originally, but even that was only about 4 MB. Outstanding!

[Mouse]

Hahaha Not too long.

Yep, different software, different buttons. Not so bad after a while. It helped me a lot when I finally decided to adjust the keyboard shortcuts for my favorite tools.

Ninja'd by Chasio!

I don't tend to use a lot of keyboard shortcuts these days. My laptop function keys are awkward to access because its one of those economised setups where you have to press two keys to get each function key.

I'll get the hang of the mouse, don't worry

One thing I have noticed - this is the first piece of graphic software that ACUTALLY does what I'm telling it to do using just my Wacom tablet and pen. GIMP was a B for not recognising the eraser button, or the grab and move button. Artrage does both without any fuss or hesitation.

[Mouse]

I am having just so much fun...

[kacey]

I'm glad to see you experimenting with ArtRage, it really is fun to play around with. I like the perspective view you have going here, can't wait to see how this pans out.

[Mouse]

Thanks Kacey

I have a feeling I need to keep the lid on my excitement just a bit. I look at it again this morning, and I see more of a painting than a map!

Maybe I'll block the colours in using ArtRage, and export it to GIMP for the linework, then CC3 for the labels... Put each tool to its best use

[Chashio]

Glad you're having fun, Mouse That's a good idea, using different tools. I've been using PS for labeling, mostly, though ArtRage has an interesting stencil ability I've been meaning to play around with for some additional continuity with labels and titles, but I haven't yet.

I look at it again this morning, and I see more of a painting than a map!

haha, welcome to my problem. It is beautiful, though.

[Mouse]

Hey Chashio

I remember now that I have good and bad painting days - days when everything just flows like a colour symphony, and days when everything just comes out like an out of tune brass band!!!

Unfortunately, I'm having a bad day with it today, so I may just give it a rest and hope I'm more in tune with the colour universe tomorrow.

I don't know what I've done to it, but the Wacom no longer controls it quite so perfectly. I may have dropped the pen. I'm not sure. Had to bomb over to mum's this morning in a bit of a rush (I forgot that I was cat-sitting this weekend!), and things got a bit chaotic...

I don't know. It might look all right later when there's not so much light glaring off the screen at me