from sketch to vector

http://www.shutterstock.com/blog/2011/06/converting-to-vector-art/
by  Karl Rosencrants

When creating new illustrations, brainstorming often happens by sketching using paper and pencil. Sometimes it can be hard to transfer those sketch ideas into vector art. Here I will outline two different ways to turn your sketches into vector art.

The first step is to sharpen those pencils, get out the paper and start sketching! Just get all your idea out and onto the page. Don’t worry if they don’t look perfect. We will give them better definition inside of Illustrator.

The next step is to scan the sketch pages. Scanning at a resolution of at least 400dpi gives the best definition to some of the smaller sketch lines.
Open the sketch pages inside of Photoshop. Select the favorite sketches out of the bunch and crop them into their own files.

At this point, adjust the Levels. Increase both the Shadows and the Highlights. The goal is to whiten the paper until it is completely white and darken the pencil lines for easier conversion later. Also be sure to erase any lines that aren’t part of the final artwork.

Hint: Hold down Alt or Option, then click on the Highlights slider and the preview in the Levels dialog box will change, turning black for every pixel that isn’t completely white. As you slide the Highlights slider toward the middle, the preview area will turn white for every pixel that turns completely white. The same thing works for the Shadows slider. This will help you ensure that the paper is 100% white, which is important later.

Select the entire canvas, then use CTRL+C or Cmd+C to copy the sketch to the Clipboard. Switch over to Illustrator and paste the sketch onto the canvas.
Here in Illustrator we will explore two different methods of creating vector artwork from these sketches. One is an automatic conversion process and the other is a manual process.
Select the pasted image, and in the properties bar along the top, a Live Trace button will appear.

Live Trace is a command that automatically converts a raster image into vectors. The Levels adjustments done in the previous step will help tremendously with the success of the conversion. The greater the contrast between white and black, the better the automatic conversion.
Click Live Trace and the raster image will be converted into a preview of converted vectors. If the conversion doesn’t look quite as you would like, simply click on the Tracing Options Dialog icon.

This dialog box will allow you to adjust the conversion settings, customizing the results. This step is very subjective, so just play with the sliders and settings until the image looks as desired.
Hint: The Mode chooses between Black and White, Color, or Grayscale conversion results. The Threshold setting will help darken and thicken lines when using the Black and White conversion method. The Path Fitting, Minimum Area and Corner Angle will help smooth out the resulting vector lines.

Click Trace inside the dialog box, and now you will see two options in the properties bar at the top: Expand or Live Trace.
Choosing Expand will convert the preview into vector shapes. The vectors are completely editable as any vector would be. You can change the fill or stroke color, adjust the anchor points, move edges, etc.
Be aware, the white background has also been converted into a shape, so if you don’t need it, delete it.
 
Choosing Live Trace in lieu of Expand will convert the raster image into a special type of vector group called a Live Trace group. All the vector shapes are still editable independently of each other as they were in the previous method. The biggest difference is now the artwork can be colored using the Live Paint Bucket, which is an easier, quicker way to add color to a design.

Activate the Live Paint Bucket, select a fill color, then simply click on an area of the artwork and it will be filled with the selected color. The Live Paint Bucket fills all closed vector areas with color. The active area to be painted will be outlined in Red Highlight to make it clear what area will be filled with color.




Closing all the gaps may destroy the artistic quality of the artwork, or some gaps might be so small, they become nearly impossible to find. So Illustrator has a built in Gap Detection. Simply activate the Selection Tool, click the Live Paint Group, and the Gap Detection icon appears in the Properties Bar at the top. In the dialog box that opens, you will be able to adjust the settings for Gap Detection. With Preview active, the gaps that will be closed with the current settings will be indicated with a red mark.

Click OK, and now the Live Paint should fill in the area as if it were completely closed off.

The manual method of conversion isn’t nearly as flashy as the previous automatic methods, but allows you to customize the artwork, because you are drawing it from scratch.
After pasting the raster image onto the canvas, set the opacity of the layer to around 30%, and then lock the layer. Create a new layer under the raster layer in the Layers Palette and name it Vectors.



Now simply use the sketch as a guide and draw the artwork using all of the vector tools; the Shape Tools, Lines Tools, Pen Tool, etc. Do all of the work in the Vectors layer and the sketch guide will always remain visible above your artwork, allowing you to draw underneath it. If you need a better look at the vector art while you are drawing, simply hide the layer that holds the raster image.

Murmurs

Video of a massive starling flock turning and twisting over a river in Ireland has gone viral, and with good reason. Flocking starlings are one of nature’s most extraordinary sights: Just a few hundred birds moving as one is enough to convey a sense of suspended reality, and the flock filmed above the River Shannon contained thousands. What makes possible the uncanny coordination of these murmurations, as starling flocks are so beautifully known?


.

re·mote·ly

riˈmōtlē/

adverb

adverb: remotely

1. 1.

   from a distance; without physical contact.

   "new electronic meters that can be read remotely"
2. 2.

   in the slightest degree.
   
   
   
   
   

   brain waves

   sonar imaging

   incense  smoke

   galaxy mergings

   screens savers

   breath.

5 Things: Playwriting Tips

as says  marsha norman
(from  5 Things: Playwriting Tips from Marsha Norman)

1.  Story: “The audience only cares about stories that ask questions they are wondering about right      now. You don’t ask directions to a place you don’t want to go. And the questions are always: How do we get through? What are our struggles as human beings on the earth?”
2. The cooked and the raw: “A great play has both something you understand deeply and something you find shocking and perverse.”
3. Home: “Home is where you are able to speak, where you have a voice.”
4. Dramatic conflict: “We can’t be without the battle. That’s the hard-wiring. Humans are heart-filled beings who want to go out and do battle to protect their families. That’s why video games are so popular — they let us relive the experience of being engaged in the battle on our own behalf.”
5. Why Romeo & Juliet should really be called just Juliet: “The main character is the one with the most to lose. Romeo & Juliet is really about Juliet. Face it—Romeo was going to die anyway. But Juliet could’ve married a nice man and been happy.”

Thanks ms. norman. this makes me think about my own "rules" ...i would like to think i have none. But that's not true. But they are a bit different.
1. the story:  i don't know what other people are asking deep questions about, just me. so 1. for me is about my own questions , concerns and inner toilings.  i suppose through creative expression (let's say a Play!) i invite the people into an outward illustration of my insides as i ponder them... at the end there may not be an answer... but at least some comfort found or ...some better questions.

2. The cooked and the Raw perhaps so. but again, it's about what hits me deeply. and how i'd like to make those who participate also feel deeply. I don't need the shocking or perverse. but i do need Awe. Great wonder. the Sensual. Beauty. i need the 3 year old with mouth agape  pointing at a napkin twirling high in the breeze in the middle of time square... yanking my hand to say with a gasp,  "LOOK!" and ask "...how's it doing that???" to me,  those things alone offer questions worth exposing.
3. & 4 Home and Dramatic Conflict.... are the same as 1. for me. as writer, i am the home. i am the conflict. the players  merely a multiple personality type of expression of me as i battle it out.   
   and,
5.  The main Character/Highest Stakes well... in my mind (This is all pretty self-centered, huh?) the audience is the main character. the play will end. but the audience will continue to live. it's there.  that is  where the stakes are highest for me. within a single framed window of time... a character transformation must take place. that is the goal. 
as says i.

New underwater work from declaires

work underway...

(excerpts and  inspirational materials)

..if it's not boiling yet, how can you tell its done...
i  can hear the molecules begin to speed up....

"i'll tell you " 

he said.

 "i'm either way before my time...

or way after."

..so when i was a  girl, i was  a tom-boy to the max..
I  could make the longest skid marks with my bicycle tire, pop the  highest wheelies, and could bare the sting of pine cones against my legs until I reached our fort of hay on the other side of the park. And i still have the scar on my upper  arm from when the boy pushed me down mid race onto a heap of metal 'cause i was already 2 laps ahead of him!

but then there were  the other moments too of course... like the day we  were jumpin the creek...
No problem. This was my fortay! i knew i could clear that creek in one jump without a running start!
Until somebody shouted  "LEECH!" and there in the middle of the creek was a leech this big...

and well, TOM? hmph. Left me! and all the boys were shoutin..."What's you  waitin' for?! Jump!!" My brother. He must have saw it comin. Cause he just looked at me like " ..... (don't. you. dare.)..." They still shoutin for me to come on,  brother still givin' me a solid glare,  but my feet wouldn't move. yep. ..I started to cry. (Oh, it was a shameful day for tom boys that day.)  My brother had to come back to the other side of  the creek to get me. And  worse? He had to HOLD MY HAND! ...as he dragged me to the other side. All the while, i'm still crying and aiming my tip toes like a ballerina at every rock i could find along the  way. ... Come to find out, the leech? Wasn't even a leech. Just a rock under the water, with its tip exposed. It was gonna take me a while to live that one down...