Saturday, April 14, 2012

Italy Part I

From 2000 years ago to 100 years ago. From Italy to US and back to Italy.
Here are some sculptures were made more than two thousands years and they remain remarkable and it leads to some of greatest American artists in the end of 19th century we all admire today.
Here are some very Hi-Res images to share and hope anyone doing art could benefit from it.
Both John Singer Sargent and William Merritt Chase were teaching in Florence for a short period of time and they did self-portrait for commission from The Uffizi Gallery in 1906 and 1905.





The Sculptures were just unbelievable and made more than two thousands years ago. Even today with all the advanced knowledge and tools, there are so few artists could reach this level. The paintings were done by Chase and Sargent are just way over the top! 

Friday, March 16, 2012

The End of Art Book Printing!? 印刷術的最後一天


03/16/2012 the highest quality LCD ever will get into many people's hand, and it is affordable.
News paper is fading away and we all know the reasons and the next is all the pictures based paints/books!
Technology is here, and it is the first time we can see such high quality replica painting on our hand and everyone seeing the same! Books/Printing will serves one purpose which is for collectors.


This may not happen in next year, but after 5 years we will see significant change, and next 15 we may not see the retail bookstores.


What does this mean to be an commercial artist? Is making more digital painting grantees for the future or people will appreciate traditional media more so Pencil Drawings/ Oil Paintings will be more valuable in next 10 years? 



Left is a book published from Freer Gallery. The painting is painted by Katsushika Hokusai in 1848, and On the right side is a 10 inchs LCD display with 264dpi solution showing a 1875 San Francisco map .


印刷術的最後一天?!


印刷終究是原作的取代,如今他將被另一個方式取代
電腦的發明改進了很多印刷流程,如今印刷術將不是被改進,而是被取代.傳統報紙的消失我們都知道原因.
03/16/2012如今伴隨的有史以來最精緻的螢幕產生,所有的美術印刷品終將被取代,剩餘的價值就是收藏,當然這些都不會在明年發生,但五年內會有明顯的改變,未來的十五年,可能見不到傳統的書店.


一個巨大的連鎖反應,並不只是在印刷的消失,而是產生內容的形式與創作都會受到影響.

這對於一個致力於商業藝術的人而言代表了些甚麼? 多專研數位創作可以保證未來?或是多使用傳統媒材? 因為在未來將不會有太多的傳統媒材創作所以會被收藏? 



圖左是Freer Gallery出版的一本書,圖右是264DPI的10英吋LCD.

Tablet PC/ Toshiba Portege M205


Windows started Tablet PC in 2002


2005
TabletPC like Toshiba Portege M200,M205,M100 gets more sophisticated and I bought M205 after few years later.


Wacom is the only brand gets supported first by software developers and it became the only choice but they never put their latest technology on portable devices. Even in 2012 most portable devices are still equipped same old 2005 Wacom pens. The new Intous 4 has way better control for line quality and much better sensitivity. People like me find out the way to improve the pen, such as make the pen heavier but they are still not as good as Intous.


Here is couple things I feel about Tablet PC.
Windows OS such as Windows XP; Windows Vista; Windows 7 are not user friendly for Tablet PC so I never get good experience while I operating it without keyboard and mouse which make everything difficult to use.


All the current portable devices still equipped with old Wacom technology which is simply not as good as Intous 3/4/5. Even the Intous 4 is hard to achieve good line quality like real pencil/ Carbon pencil do.


Battery Life is short. Minimum 4-5 hours are kind of basic and most of them claims having more than under light usage which does not help since Painting software always need full power CPU to run it smoothly which reduce the battery to 90 minutes. Clearly the hardware and software are not designed for it.


Software like Photoshop or Painter are not designed for Tablet PC, there are many way to custom the key or custom it for Tablet PC and will be okay to use but it is still not there. Artrage 3 is one of the few software is great for Tablet PC users. Photoshop is simply not designed for this type of use.


Booting time is long and for things we carry with us should be instant on and ready to use but they take way too long to turn on and open Photoshop take another 30 seconds which simply not acceptable.


Weight of these products are still heavy.

With all the problems, the next generation of Tablet PC may solve some of the issues. Currently ASUS Eee Slate EP121 and Samsung Series 7 Slate are good products but there are other combination of new devices may offer the better solutions such as Tablet/Android or Tablet/iOS.




Wei-Che, Jason, Juan



The Blog about Technology and Art





Technology and Art


There are things technology helps and there are things do not get any benefit from it.
I have been dreaming about portable electronic devices which I can carry around and be able to paint/draw on it.


There are old ways I still do. Small blank notebooks is great.
But as my career develops more design oriented these few years, I realized being able to change dramatically on the same existing drawings/paintings is critical. Traditional media is missing that which make some these devices have chance to survive.


In 2011 Samsung release a 5 inch phone which equipped with Wacom pen.
Kodak stop making 120/220 or 35mm slides in 2012. They invented Digital Cameras and now they lost their market because of it. Nikon released 36Megapixel DSLR which reached Medium Format quality in the first time with affordable price in 2012.


Nicolai Fechin is one of my favorite artists and he talked about subjects changes by the time and the meaning of it fades but techniques remained there. We could put a question mark on it but we all know his paintings are hanging every where and people are still stunned in front of his paintings.




科技幫助了某些事情,但有些科技卻無法取代的
總夢想著可以帶著一個行動裝置可以讓我畫畫/紀錄


一本空白筆記本是個很好的選擇,但這幾年來,做了很多設計的工作,希望能即時的做改變,傳統筆紙很難應付這些狀況,這也是為甚麼那麼多的數位行動裝置仍有他的生存空間,即使是這麼的不成熟


柯達發明了數位相機,在2012停止生產120/220 與135正片, 因為流失了他們主要的市場. Nikon在2012第一次推出了一般人可以負擔的中型底片品質的數位相機. 這些都改變著世界, 改變著創造藝術的形式.


Nicolai Fechin 費欽是我敬佩的一位畫家,他說過畫的主題內容會因時間而淡去,但技法不會. 這句話值得思考與懷疑, 但可以確信的, 當今他的畫在很多博物館都收藏著, 而且他的畫仍十分震撼!



上面這幅畫是在西雅圖EAC教書的時候使用Wacom與Laptop畫的作品.