5 gadgets that make you seem artistic
"Everyone is an artist." Those are the words of the controversial
German artist Joseph
Beuys, and I happen to agree with him.
The statement is especially true in our modern age of techno toys. With off-the-shelf
hardware and software breaking the world down into so many ones and zeroes,
it's getting a lot easier to experiment with things that used to be expensive
or time-consuming (digital photography eliminates the money and time required
for film and processing, for instance), or to unleash brand-new creative ideas
(hello, Pikapika).
If you're itching to create sublime, meaningful works of art--or at least something
with a good beat you can dance to--consider the following five gadgets. Oh,
and one disclaimer: Remember that no tool automatically makes you a good artist.
Don't blame me if none of these items get you into MoMA.
1. Wanna See My Etchings?
It's been said that everyone has a few thousand bad drawings in them, and that
the key to becoming a good artist is to get those out of your system as fast
as possible.
I know from first-hand experience that working through all that awful art can
make your house a fire hazard--and while paper is cheap, buying a steady supply
of pens, pencils, paints, and other materials quickly adds up. Wacom's
graphic tablets handily eliminate both problems.
Wacom tablets range from the budget-friendly Bamboo
series (starting at US$79) to the more checkbook-breaking but drool-inducing
Cintiq line (which
tops out at $2499).
They all operate on the same basic principle: Drawing with a stylus on the
tablet translates directly to your pointer's movements on the screen, providing
the most natural way to draw on a computer. (How natural? There's a working
eraser on the end of the stylus that functions just the way you'd expect.) The
stylus is pressure-sensitive, which can lead to thicker or thinner lines as
you press down--or it can do whatever you customize it to do, depending on your
software.
2. Move It Like Wallace and Gromit
Stop-motion animation is the art of animating using real-world objects instead
of drawings. People often refer to it as claymation, but as fans of Robot
Chicken and Oedipus
the Movie know, anything and everything can be fair game for stop motion,
from your collection of Smurfs to fresh produce.
The principle is easy: Take a picture of something, move it a little, take
another picture, repeat. Play the still frames back, and your object comes to
life. (Just for fun, you can use people instead of objects--the technique is
called pixillation--as in the film
Build your tech library with our book giveaways.
Windows PowerShell 2.0 Unleashed
By Tyson Kopczynski, Pete Handley, Marco Shaw; Published by Sams
Windows PowerShell Unleashed will not only give you deep mastery over PowerShell but also a greater understanding of the features being introduced in PowerShell 2.0–and show you how to use it to solve your challenges in your production environment. Enter now!
Ubuntu Server Administration
By Michael Jang; Published by McGraw-Hill Osborne Media
Realize a dynamic, stable, and secure Ubuntu Server environment with expert guidance, tips, and techniques from a Linux professional. Ubuntu Server Administration covers every facet of system management -- from users and file systems to performance tuning and troubleshooting. Enter now!
