I like the Answer Man posts— it isn’t that I have, or even think I have all the answers, but from my College Teaching Days I always enjoyed the variety of questions I would get at the end of a lecture— keeps you on your toes.
Here are a few that have come in;
Q- You’ve talked a lot about Macs can you give us some insight into PC and Android products too? Is there a big difference say between how a drawing tablet works on one vs the other?
A- No, I’m very sorry I can’t. My entire suite of machines (3 iMacs, 2 MacBook Pros, 2 iPad Pros and even my phone are all Apple products. I’ve not had an android or PC in many many many years. I’d refer you to my good friend YouTube.
Q- What is your feeling towards Manga?
A- I appreciate it as an art form and respect the creators very much. I was able to spend a few days hanging with a group of Manga Artists on one of my trips to Tokyo and we had a lot of fun drawing back and forth. They were encouraged to see the respect I offered and that most of the West embraces what they do. Do I love everything Manga? Nope. Do I love everything American Artists produce? Hardly. But once you get used to the somewhat jarring storytelling methods they often use Manga is good stuff. I’m often annoyed by Librarians who will often confide in me that they “don’t like Manga” because its like saying I don’t like music, or I don’t like wine, or I don’t like coffee— there are so many varieties out there it betrays a lack of expanding your own tastes. I can completely understand not liking Green Olives— there is only one and if you tried it and didn’t like it that’s far— but saying you don’t like Pickles is crazy because there are literally dozens of different kinds of pickles out there (just go to Sarge’s Deli in NYC to try a good 2 dozen different kinds).
Q- What are your favorite art supplies?
A- Wow. Like my love of Persian Food I couldn’t possibly say— it depends on what I’m in the mood for— from oil paints to watercolors from gel pens to india ink quills, there is just too much to pick from. In my sketchbook I often draw with a light colored gel pen and then go over it with a black gel pen, so at the end of the day that would be the essentials— it’s what I carry on my kit for air travel so I guess if you force me to pick I’d go with that.
Q- “Scamdemic”? I know you think you have everything figured out but…
A- I’m going to stop you right there— you can read the full comment on the day I wrote that post. I didn’t coin the term Scamdemic, but let me set the record straight on what I mean by that. I think Covid was real— it was an infectious virus, likely born out of a lab as the honest media is reporting and tried reporting then, and it was very bad FOR SOME PEOPLE to get. If you were young or healthy you were likely going to get a pretty bad head cold. If you were morbidly obese, elderly, sufferred from other serious health conditions like Diabetes thaen you were in for a very bad ride.
The scam came from the dolling out of BILLIONS of dollars that were often either wasted or misappropriated or outright stolen. The scam came from junk science that ignored the concept of partical elimination and arbitrarily decided that we needed to stand six feet apart and wear masks— both of which were later admitted by Covid Chief Combat General Dr Fauci to be made up AND literally had zero impact on the transmission. To think that a scrap of cloth somehow protected you or protected someone else is akin to clutching a Teddy Bear and thinking he’s warding off evil spirits. Partical elimination is the reason we can swim in deadly cholorine and come out and towell off— because it’s 1 part chlorine to 4 million parts water— same with air— so unless you’re loking yourself in an air sealed phonebooth with someone you’re okay.
My biggest resentment is the attitude of people who treated the rules like a religion, and for any of us to question such thinking to be banished from the village. This is America, land of free thought. I didn’t wear a mask during the height of the scamdemic and I can tell you I got DOZENS of people high fiving me when I would walk through the market. Yeah some people were horrified, but DOZENS of high fives.
The people who came up with the rules for the scamdemic told us get a vaccine and you don’t have to wear a mask anymore— then they changed that and decided you should wear two masks. Nonsense. People died because they were put into nursing homes with the weak and the frail, people lost their jobs, businesses had to shutter and many never recovered, kids mental health was stunted because they were no longer in social environments— all in the same of a science that followed MADE UP RULES. All because someone was making bank on those government checks.
The people who acted criminally, who mislead us, ywho made up these damaging rules need to be held accountable and answer for their actions.
And if they pull another scamdemic as they’ve tried two times in the past four years, a LOT of us are not going to go along with it.
Lastly, let me remind anyone reading this— you are an invited guest to my blog. Pull up a comfy chair. If you don’t want to hear my opinions, if you’ve come here to debate, if you want to get angry and pick a fight— move along— go hang out on Facebook where people can cancel each other because they don’t like the same Christmas Song. This is MY blog— plain and simple.
Behave yourself or hit the exit.
Q- Do you prefer hot or cold press bristol when you draw?
A- That’s an age old argument— so for anyone that doesn’t know— Hot Press Bristol is very smooth, and Cold Press Bristol is toothy. Personally I’m a cold press guy but I use both. There are some hot press versions that are so smooth you could skate on them and it’s like drawing on Satin— don’t love that. There is some cold press that is so rough you need hiking shoes to get through it— don’t love that either.
But generally speaking, I like a little bit of a grab when my pen hits the paper, but at the end of the day, I don’t have much preference.
There are actually MORE questions to answer— but I’ll break this up.