Workspace Decor

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"Workspace" Austin, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Workspace” Austin, 2017

こんばんは。

It’s interesting to me how people decorate their workspaces at the office. Not so much in how they do it, but the fact that some people don’t decorate at all. Most of my coworkers put up small framed photos of their family and/or pets, maybe a nice landscape or motivational meme, a houseplant, or even flowers (real or fake). But other people have absolutely nothing. And by nothing, I mean the desk is completely bare of any personal items, even pens or notebooks. It basically looks like no one works at that desk. It’s odd but fascinating!

As for my workspace, I have things that help me in my job: color palette, stickies with image size specs that we often use, pens, pencils, notepads, and Pantone book. And then I have my personal items: Instax photos, funny sticky notes people have left over the years, memes, and Tech Deck skateboard toy. It’s not a whole lot, but I guess having these things connects me to the company a bit more if that makes any sense.

Anyways, that’s all.　😌

I hope you had a nice Friday!

おやすみ

Having Work Done

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"Fence Work" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4.5, 1/125 sec, ISO2000
 “Fence Work” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

At our house yesterday, we had two groups of service people working. The first is the fence repair crew, who are installing a replacement fence because our old one got blown down by tropical storm Harvey, which devastated Houston. Even though we are quite far from there, the storm reached up to Austin with heavy rains and high winds.

We’re looking forward to the new fence, which will be a lot stronger and nicer than the original one that came with the house. Those fences are of notoriously poor quality, and we’ve already replaced it on the other side of the house. I am surprised that this side’s fence has lasted 12 years!

Another bit of work I had done was on my car. There is a hose in the engine compartment that has been leaking for a while now and I finally decided to get it fixed. Luckily, I have a contact with some mechanics who make house calls. I can order all the parts online, and then the mechanics will install for me, so I just pay them for labor. It works out nicely because they come in the evenings to work. Super convenient!

Anyways, just some basic life-stuff happening. 😀

Hope you had a nice Thursday!

おやすみ

Work at Home Refreshments

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"Refreshments" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
 “Refreshments” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going?

Tonight’s photo is of part of my desk in our home office. It’s of the three refreshments I usually have, depending on the time of day. The coffee mug is first thing in the morning, then water bottle throughout the day, and finally the wine glass for when the work day is over. 🍷

I hope you had a nice Wednesday!

おやすみ

A Fun Sketch

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こんばんは。How’s it going?

Here’s the digital paint version of the pencil sketch I did a couple days ago. In the previous digital painting, I used the pen tool in Photoshop to create smooth lines for filling and erasing, which I found super-convenient (and fun). So for this latest sketch, I decided to use Illustrator to create the line art, then copied and pasted as Smart Objects into Photoshop.

I also found out about the Width Tool (Shift+W) to vary the width of a stroke. This blew my mind! I loved creating the line-art in this way. Check out the Smart Objects that I created using Illustrator and the Width Tool:

I think this version looks really cool. Maybe even better than the finished drawing. I guess that just means I need to practice more. 😀

Anyways, for the final version, I had a little fun by putting a Nyan cat on the shirt and giving the character a more goth look. Both my kids said she looks like one of the Splatoon girls, which I don’t really see, but I’ll take as a compliment. 😅

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a nice Monday!

おやすみなさい！

Chicken Dinner

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"Chicken Dinner" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO4000
 “Chicken Dinner” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。How’s it going? Today we were looking forward to this evening’s dinner because Mariko said we’d be having karaage, or Japanese-style fried chicken. It’s definitely a family favorite. Koa likes to eat his with fresh lemon, Bay likes to have it with Japanese mayo, and I’ll eat it any way it is presented! 😛

Other than the wonderful dinner, my Sunday was spent doing regular things: a trip to the market, some yard work, laundry, and vacuuming. Plus, I got to do some artwork on the computer! But I’ll save that for another time.

By the way, if you want to see all the drawings (and bad attempts as well) you can check out my Flickr album or my Instagram account I created just for posting the sketches. The account name is barron.sketches. Original, huh?

I hope you had a great weekend!

おやすみ

Pencil to Digital

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"Digital Paint" Cedar Park, 2017
“Digital Paint” Cedar Park, 2017

こんばんは。Tonight’s post if of a digital painting I did, which started out from a pencil sketch. I wanted to practice drawing portraits from a 3/4 view angle, so I watched a few video tutorials and then gave it a go. The first sketch (see bottom photo) was okay, but had my typical “mannequin” style. And I was not thrilled about the hairstyle either, even though my favorite is short hair “bob” cuts.

My second attempt at a 3/4 pose turned out better. I’m still trying to figure out how my process was different, but I guess when I drew the second one, I was a little freer drawing the underlining structure, I drew the features larger and gave the face a little more shape. And I really like the long hairstyle with bangs.

After I did the pencil sketch, I scanned it and did some coloring in Photoshop. I wanted to do it quickly, but got into it and took a few hours. I guess I could work on it more, but I’ll leave it at this.

I’m not so great at drawing smooth curves in Photoshop, but I love using the pen tool and create vector paths to fill and erase. It’s really fun, and I kind of get the look I want. I’m excited to do more of this. In fact, I am going to go even more vector and work in Illustrator to create the shapes for the next one.

"Pencil Sketch" Cedar Park, 2017
“Pencil Sketch” Cedar Park, 2017
"3/4" Cedar Park, 2017
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
 “3/4” Cedar Park, 2017

To see all the sketches I’ve been working on, you can check out the Flickr album “My Sketching Journey”, or my Instagram account barron.sketches which I created just for posting sketches, watercolors, and stationery items.

I hope you had a great day!

おやすみ