Sketch a Day, Day 115

| xeyeti

This actually sorta happened. Except for the hugging bit, really.

Being a teacher – especially one who works with students with exceptional needs – often feels like a thankless uphill struggle. It’s often difficult to see what little progress is being made, if any. Many days, it feels like you’ve slipped backwards.

But then there are the days…then, there are the days when a student says something, or does something, or reveals that they’ve actually been learning from you, that you’ve managed to get through to them, that you’ve had an impact.

Those are the good days.

My wife had one of those days today. I don’t think she actually hugged the student who said this, but I think she really wanted to.

Sometimes, you have one of the good days, and you remember why you do this job with the low pay and the long hours and the politicians using you as a talking point in a battle over spending cuts. Sometimes, it’s worth it to be a teacher.

Sketch a Day, Day 114

| xeyeti

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Felt confident enough tonight to do an actual comic rather than just a sketch. Not sure if my process is faster or slower using the iPad yet. I do know my handwriting is pretty horrible on this thing, though. That’s my biggest complaint about the sketch program I’m using: haven’t been able to figure out if I can add text to it, or if I’d be able to find a text for it that doesn’t look like crap.

Sketch a Day, Day 112

| xeyeti

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I’m still playing around with the sketching program on the iPad. Drawing larger is definitely making it easier, and I think I’m starting to get the hang of it. I even tried my hand at some shading to it, which I’m pretty pleased with. It’ll probably be awhile before I’m ready to do actual comics this way, but it’s definitely coming along.

I just hope my wife isn’t mad I drew her while she was on the phone.

Digital Sketching

| xeyeti

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I’ve been experimenting this morning with my stylus and the Sketchbook Pro iPad app. It’s a pretty neat app, once you get the hang of it. I just have to remember not to rest my hand on the iPad while drawing (I always rest my hand on my drawing surface, so this might pose a challenge).

Anyway, you can see some of my sketching efforts above. I was working with a blue rough sketch layer and a finished black “inked” layer for a couple of images. Using different colors for each layer is definitely a necessity; I tried doing last night’s sketch just with black for both layers, and it was tremendously difficult to tell what was what.

Sketch a Day, Day 111

| xeyeti

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Today, I used some birthday money and some tutoring money and bought myself the new iPad. It’s a pretty amazing piece of technology, I must admit. I went ahead and downloaded a sketchbook program so I could try drawing stuff without pen and paper. I like it, though I don’t think it’ll be replacing my usual artistic methods anytime soon.