CGPAD TABLET SHOP

We just launched our tablet shop here at CGPAD.ORG. We concentrate on the most known tablet brands out like WACOM, TRUST and GENIUS. If you need a new tablet for a fair price, check our tablet shop. We also have some additional accessories in there.

We are still alive and the forums grow daily

Sorry for not beeing active lately but I am stumped with terrible much work. I am also doing some self-learn stuff in relation with my job as webdesigner and affiliate marketer. We have recently upgraded our forum software and there are now some nifty new features in your profile page. Go and check it out…You’re now able to spend your own profile page a custom layout. There is also some social networking possible through your own profile page. Those are really nice add-ons and will help you out growing your own skills in painting. So far, go outside and enjoy the nice weather and paint as much as you can.

R.I.P John Berkey

As most of you already know John Berkey passed away after a long illness last week. He was and still will be a big inspiration to any artist interested in sci-fi art. His images can now be reviewed at Gallery of John Berkey. Rest in peace John.

New Inkscape version launched

About Inkscape
An Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.

Inkscape supports many advanced SVG features (markers, clones, alpha blending, etc.) and great care is taken in designing a streamlined interface. It is very easy to edit nodes, perform complex path operations, trace bitmaps and much more. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development.

New Features
The Inkscape community today is announcing the release of the newest version of its open source vector graphics editor. Inkscape 0.46 is a major update that introduces native PDF support. The implementation of PDF support in Inkscape provides an easy, open source solution to editing PDF documents.

Tons of new features and performance improvements are included in this release. Dialogs now have the ability to be docked to the editing window. Gradients can be edited completely on-canvas. The new Paint Bucket Tool fills bounded areas with color. A new 3D Box tool helps create perspective-correct drawings. A new Tweak tool provides an intuitive method for editing paths and painting objects. The new Live Path Effects feature can create "brushes" and various organic effects on paths. Improvements to color management include support for color spaces other than sRGB. Most SVG filters are now implemented, and a new powerful UI is provided for editing filter stacks.

Read more on the official website of inkscape 

Shaun Mullen’s new website

My good friend and CGPAD admin Shaun Mullen opens his new website. Go check it out and spend some love to him. I was pleased to design and code his new site into wordpress. Also check out his awesome online gallery or look at his sketchbook thread on our forums.

Visit the website of Shaun Mullen

Interview with Christian Kesler aka Chrike

We have just released a new interview with Christian Kesler aka Chrike. Here is a small excerpt.

What’s a typical day in the life of Christian Kesler

Well, recently it became actually damn busy as I´ve always a hell lot of stuff to take care of each day. Usually I go to the university around 9, attend lectures and work on my projects until around 8 to 10 in the evening; then I come back home and work on personal projects and commissions. However there´s always some time for my girlfriend

Read the full interview here: Interview with Christian Kesler 

FREE sample chapter of Hoang Nguyen

The Digital Art Masters: Volume 2 is the second of the series of books created by 3DTotal, which features 58 talented artist that are working in the CG industry today. Over the course of the next few months, we are giving away a FREE sample chapter from the book, for you to download and read. This week you can take a look at how, 2d character artist Hoang Nguyen created his piece of artwork: Memories Lost, in this six page give away.

Readers Reviews:
Below are some reviews that we have had come in for the Digital Art Masters: Volume 2 book:

3D World magazine - Nov 06
"A fascinating glimpse into the working practices of the pros."

Rafal Wojtunik - ‘Fallen Art’ BAFTA winning movie & Platige Image concept artist - www.platige.com
"For those who are not satisfied with only a ‘final picture’ book and also want to know the techniques behind the images. A nice start for a new book series…"

Frederic St-Arnaud - www.starno.net
"Definitely one of my favourite art books of the year. It contains an incredible source of inspiration from amazing digital artists all around the world. The high quality of this book is outstanding to say the least; it will become a part of my personal collection for sure."

Natascha Roeoesli - www.tascha.ch "3D Total’s second instalment of "Digital Art Masters" gives you once again the opportunity to take a look over today’s most popular digital artists’ shoulders. You are not only getting a beautifully treated and presented art book but also interesting insights on how the artists create their stunning visions. You wouldn’t want to miss that opportunity!"

Imagine FX – October 2007
An annual record of the best digital art around, this is the second edition of the acclaimed Digital Art Masters. The featured images are stunning, and often so photorealistic it takes a few moments to appreciate the talent involved. Accompanying the images are shots that show the steps taken to create the image, alongside brief descriptions. With 58 artists including a number of IFX regulars, this book will have you gripped for hours.

Click to download the free chapter of Hoang Ngyuen

Dylan Cole with new website

Already some weeks ago, Dylan Cole published his brand new redesigned website. Dylan works as a professional matte painter for different studios. He worked on movies like Superman Returns, Lord of the rings, Kite runner, The Aviator and much more. He also works as concept artist and lead matte painter.

Dylan also provides a three very, very useful training DVD’s about matte painting which you can find over at The gnomon workshop. I can admire every single DVD from Dylan if you want to get a bit more into matte painting.

Image is copyrighted by Dylan Cole

CGPAD is back online

First of all I want to appologise for this long breakdown but our server was victim of several hacking attacks again. They used a leak in our flashchat module and gained root access over my server so I had to take it offline after backing up all my other projects.

We are still uploading the 1000MB of attachments so this prooves a good activity on our forums so why not head in? The CGPAD mainpage ist still working to but we have some troubles with the gallery script which you can see above. Only a few images are working right now.

And now, go and get your pen and start drawing Best regards Manuel edit: please post all found bugs in this thread and mark them as red - this will help me fixing up the forums faster

Pixelbrush had birthday

Some days ago the art community Pixelbrush from Henning Ludvigsen and Natascha Röösli celebrated their first birthday. Its kinda a similar project to CGPAD where you can download brushes, read articles and useful other stuff for artists.

Henning wrote in his deviantArt Journal:
It’s a couple of weeks over due, but I though I should post it here as well. Tascha and I started our little art forums 1 year ago. Our intentions wasn’t to create a community, but merely to have a place where both of us could post art-related questions that we both got asked repeatedly. It grew fast into a really nice and cozy community with members from all genres and skill levels, and we keep growing.

On our 1-year anniversary, we launched a brand new artist resource site, which contains interviews, reviews, articles, downloadable brush sets, tutorials, etc, etc. We just started up and will start building helpful things for artists. Any tips on links or tutorials for the site are of course most welcome.

Besides this, I’m working my arse off as usual. I have about 25 pieces of art laying around which I can’t show until misc release dates of the products. So don’t let my absence fool you. I’m busier than ever, just not with my own personal pieces.

Go and register your account there: http://www.pixelbrush.net