Alright guys, good afternoon! Welcome back! I've been working on some prints to go
out for this month's patreon reward which I think I mentioned at the end of
last month's vlog but I thought that this would be a good time to talk a
little bit about one of my most asked questions and that is how I make my
prints or what equipment I use. I will be honest, I've never been that keen to talk
about this just because I'm not an expert, I don't have all the answers. I
really think it's important to do your own research, to find things out for
yourself to know what's gonna be best for you specifically. I can't like hand
it to you on a plate; the things that are gonna be the right things for you.
You know what I mean. But I thought I could at least tell you what I'm doing and what
works for me. So this is the Epson XP 960, I use it to
print and also at the moment I'm using it to scan. I used to use my little Canon
scanner that you might have seen in some of my previous videos but- I've had that
for a good few years, I've really loved it, it's been a great scanner but it just
stopped turning on recently. So I've been using the built-in scanner on this and
it's been working out just fine. Basically what you want to be looking
for in a scanner is the dpi which is the amount of little pixel-like dots it
scans per inch of an image. So typically you want something that scans at at
least 600 dpi plus. Again, it depends what you what you want, what you're looking
for and the quality you're looking for and how you're gonna use the artwork
that you scan but generally I look for something that will do 600 dpi or above.
And the best thing you can do for yourself it's find good reviews.
Amazon is quite good- you can't trust all the reviews- but basically you want to be
looking for people that are using the scanner in the same way that you might
want to use it. So you might be looking for reviews from
photographers, from artists and see if it's doing the job for them.
Same thing with printers; so if you're looking for a printer that's going to be
good for sharp images, for good accurate colours, you want to be looking online to
see if there any reviews saying those kinds of things. Reviews from artists
again, from photographers. What I was looking for- my sort of criteria that I
was looking for was something that would print an a3 size and also deliver photo
quality prints. So the reason I was going for a photo printer is because I just
feel like you're gonna get a closer accuracy, richer colours because that's
essentially what they're made for. So I was just looking for something with
reviews from photographers from artists again who have used this and have said
that it was sharp and accurate and good colours. I also like this because it has
its own line of inks with a good range of colours; so like the basic CMYK and a
few more to go on top of that which just means that it has a better chance of
printing the colours that you want it to, a better range of colours they can get to.
Typically it is recommended to get the inks by the manufacturer off the printer.
So I use an Epson printer, I use Epson inks as well. I don't know if that's just
a marketing ploy by the companies but it makes sense that the inks that they make
are more compatible with their printers. Same thing with paper- paper I think
you can get away with using a different brand of paper but for me, I choose paper
that is archival quality so what I get from that is that not only do I get the
best quality prints I could possibly get in terms of the color payoff and just
you know the way that the paper is designed to show off and absorb the ink
They also claim to last up to three hundred years- the
prints on that particular paper- which is something that I was definitely looking
for. I wanted really accurate representation of the artwork and I
wanted it to be able to last long enough. If you're looking into like giclee prints or
like a proper fine art print, if you want to use watercolour paper, obviously
that is something that you're gonna have to look into because I don't know
anything about that. I'm just talking from my own experience. Just bear in mind the
cost of buying the printing materials; so this printer itself was relatively
affordable, I've had it for about a year now, it's probably even cheaper now, but
because I do buy the best inks and and the best paper that I can- I mean, I
had to stock up a couple of days ago, I needed new inks and just one fresh set
of paper and that set me back over a hundred pounds, so if you are looking to
start printing from home, you need to weigh up the options of whether it's
gonna earn you enough money to pay for the upkeep as well as give you a profit.
Anyway, the details off like scanning editing and setting up work for print,
I'm not gonna get into right now. I might do a video on it one day but I feel like
if I keep talking about this I would be here all day. But I will leave links
below to videos from other artists that have also talked about this stuff. But
like I said, it's all about doing your own research, all the information that
you want is already out there you just have to find it. Right before I forget,
someone emailed me quite a while ago but I'm realizing that while this video is
going out it will be April which means that it is testicular cancer awareness
month and as this person mentioned in this email, it's not something that's
talked about a lot because I had no idea. So I thought I might as well take
the time to mention it to you guys. I know that according to my analytics at
least one in five of you has balls so do me a favour, please just take a
minute to check yourself. If you don't know what you're doing, I will leave a
couple of links below to info on how to do that but *just do it!*. But yeah I'm gonna package
up some orders now, I might go to the post office if it stops snowing, I have a
call possibly later on with like- a client?- oh yeah, and also I mentioned in
an earlier video, I try to do about eight hours of work a day and quite a few
people commented that it was like unrealistic to be forcing myself to paint so much and you
know I can't force that kind of creativity but I just want to clear up
that what I mean by work is this kind of stuff. So yeah I'm gonna stop talking
about doing this kind of stuff and get on with it. I almost forgot I've got some
letters to open. I finally held off from opening them as soon as I got them so I
could do it on camera. Really excited for these ones because I've seen this which
means it's from bybun. So exciting! And got another one so two things to open at
once! I'm so pumped. I'll start with this one...
Right wow, so this is from Ian and he has been subscribed for a few years. He
started watching when he was doing his a-levels and now he's doing his degree
in illustration- that's insane!- and he sent some amazing artwork, I will show
close-ups of everything and I will also as always have a link below to his
Instagram. But really, really amazing stuff. What an incredible
surprise. Oh my god. This one's even got like gold detailing
on it. Thank You Ian, it's so lovely to hear
from you. It's so amazing to have these. Yeah I'm like overwhelmed right now,
these are gorgeous.
And then... God I can't cope! I think I know what this is from Roxanne who is
also known as by bun she has a YouTube channel, I watch all her videos, I love
her. She- I haven't opened it yet but I'm so excited- she came out with a new book
recently and I saw it on her channel and if this is it I will go I'll go crazy. Oh
my god, yeah, I just got goosebumps! She just she puts so much work into her art,
into the lessons that she teaches and her videos, into everything!
Everything you can tell is just packaged with care and attention.
That's amazing Roxanne, that is so special. Thank you so much for sending me
this. I feel so lucky yeah I will as always have links below to anyone that I
feature in these videos. You do not have to send me stuff guys but obviously it
just makes my day when you do. So thank you so much Ian, Thank You Roxanne.
So it's Friday today, it's Good Friday, and by the time you're watching this it
will probably be Easter Sunday- if I can have it edited on time (I did! yay!) so if you do
celebrate; Happy Easter! and if you don't celebrate, I hope having a lovely weekend,
hope you're spending time with your nearest and dearest. If I'm honest, this
month's vlog got a bit off-track. If you remember at the end of my last vlog, I
said that I was trying to build up a more solid body of work this month and
that's what I'd be documenting for this vlog but it just didn't work out like
that. I've ended up working on a couple of new
projects that I just can't talk about or show at the moment and honestly I just
hadn't really been in a filming or sharing mood. I've been doing a lot of
soul-searching recently and I'm getting there I think- even just in the last
couple of days- and I think what's helped is just kind of relieving the pressure-
the pressure that maybe put on myself- to share ALL the work I'm doing, ALL the art
I'm doing as I do it, and- you know- how I'm feeling too. Yeah this is gonna be
such a hodgepodge of a video but I thought I would finish off again with
some cool things that I have received throughout the month and things I've
bought and things that come in the mail as well. So we'll start out with- and I've
got quite a few goodies here- start out with some letters. I got letters from
Colleen and Colleen also sent this handmade sketchbook that she made
herself which is gorgeous; I love this kind of stitching of sketchbooks, I think
it's so cool. And she also sent this really cool calendar journal which is
like a monthly calendar that she's Illustrated herself that you can fill in
so you can do your monthly planning and also get really creative with it as well.
So that is awesome, I'll leave her info below.
I love Colleen we talked a lot on patreon and just across platforms and
she's a lovely lovely woman so please go and show her some love. Also
heard from Whitney again which was lovely. Thanks for this Whitney, such a
cute letter! And she also sent some tea bags which is awesome and some more of
her own artwork which I can't wait to add to my collection and some really
cute washi tape as well, so another great treat from Whitney, thank you!
I've got a letter here from Randi as well
who sent this gorgeous watercolour- original watercolour- painting and it's
great to hear from someone that can really relate to the artists struggles
that I always talk about here on this channel. And like I said, I will
leave info for all the people below just in case you want to check out their artwork or
say hi. They are lovely, talented people so please do check them out.
I've got way more stuff than I remember!
Well this is a cool one! I love any letters that have been sealed with one
of these like old fashioned wax things and this is from Pippa. Pippa sent a
really beautiful letter and some really special prints as well which have this
gorgeous silver detailing on them. You'll love Pippa's work so definitely go and
check out her Instagram, I'll have it linked below.
Loads of stuff! I've got a letter here from Joey who is an artist from San
Francisco! It's lovely to hear from you Joey :)
Thank you for this! And a really lovely card and photo and letter from Fan- Fanchon.
I'm sorry- really sorry- if I'm pronouncing that wrong.
Fanchon mentioned that, with me trying to minimise my use of social media it
might be a good idea to check out sites like deviantART where it's purely art
related which I think I might actually look into so thanks for that Fanchon.
And I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing your name wrong. And then last one- I've been
very popular this month!- this is from Danielle who runs her own business and
has the cutest artwork, you guys will love this! I will leave a link to her- I
think she has an Etsy shop- below, but thank you so much for this Danielle! I
love this style! I really really need to set up a gallery wall somewhere in this
room now I'm getting so much cool art. I just want to have it around me to see all
the time. So thank you guys so much it is lovely to hear from you as always. I
got an email the other day from someone saying that they can't- you know- they
don't have the skills to write these beautiful letters and send gorgeous
things and NO PRESSURE - don't even think about it that way - I'm the
same, I can't make a letter look as nice as people. I always appreciate
people reaching out either even if it's just a one line email so
thank you for everything, it's always really lovely lovely to hear from you
guys and you know have a two-sided relationship rather than me just talking
to a camera. It's lovely to hear about from you guys and know your stories so
thank you for all the things that you sent this month, it's just been
great to hear from you. Moving on to a couple of other things; so I had a bit of
a splurge- don't judge me- I bought a set of pens. These are the molotov
acrylic markers- these are so cool- I bought the full set because I'm quite an
all-or-nothing kind of person. Don't ask me how much they were, I don't want to
think about it. But so far I've only used them for a day but they've been really
really coo.l I said on patreon it's like having a gouache in a in a pen that you
can just use anywhere. It's really opaque, really nice like flat and even colouring.
So very, very cool. I can't wait to see what I can do with those. And then also-
which you may have seen on my Instagram- my Loish book arrived. I was really, really
pleased to be able to have taken part in the Kickstarter this time. Last time for
her first book I bought it way too late to be involved in the Kickstarter but with
this one it's nice to know that I've kind of been part of having it made if
that makes sense. So I pledged like months ago and I've been waiting so patiently
for the book to be put together and finalized and it arrived a couple of
days ago and it's just unreal. It's so aspirational, so inspirational, even
the box it came delivered in was gorgeous like how excited was I to
see the postman arrive with this. So I think as part of the Kickstarter you
also get this colouring book, there's also a bookmark, there are some stickers,
there's a deck of cards which is so, so cool- I really need like a good weekend
away or something where I can use these cards- and the book itself; like with the
last one it comes in one of these cardboard sleeves- I just love that touch-
and then- look at that! It's amazing! The quality is unbelievable and
just being able to get an insight into her mind, into her process...
she's such an inspirational artist, she seems so hard working and just
incredibly talented and someone that's really mastered her skills so to have
this in my hands to be able to look through this and get a little insight
into her mind what she does and how she does it it's just amazing. So I'm happy!
I'm really looking forward to having a proper look through this, a proper read
and seeing what I can take from it. That's pretty much it for now. I don't
really know what the plan is for April... Film more for sure! Hopefully by then I'll
also be able to share at least a little bit of what I've been working on. Kind of
exciting stuff, it's pretty cool, I can't wait to talk to you guys about it! Yeah I
will be seeing you soon for an art video. Until then I will see you in the
next one. Thanks for watching guys. Bye!
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