Caricatures on the Samsung Galaxy Note!
posted 2.28.12 at 12:00 am
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a promotions company on behalf of Samsung. They were looking for caricature artists to demo a drawing program on their new, upcoming tablet at various Samsung events around NYC.
Hmm. Could be fun, I thought. I was told it was a short term gig, and I'd be getting paid pretty well, to boot. So I agreed.
A few weeks later, I went to a training session to learn this new device, and it's then that I find out it's not a tablet at all I'll be drawing on...
It's the Samsung Galaxy... Note. All of a sudden this job just got 150% harder. (That's roughly the percentage of the screen size difference from what I thought I'd be using). If you watched the Super Bowl, it was featured in a big loud anti-Apple commercial, that was pretty funny.
This is an example of what this screen, and it's accompanying stylus (the S-Pen!) is made for:
Oooh, shiny pen!
For taking notes, anyway.
I've had a couple days doing this now, off and on over the last two weeks, and thought I'd share some of what I've been doing.
This is all on the 5.5" screen, using the note taking app that comes with the phone, S-Notes. The first two here were off of photos, the last 3 were of live people, and took roughly 8 minutes apiece.
You see those little rectangles of concentrated color, like just above his right shoulder? That's a little blob that is created by the marker setting, apparently to make it look more 'marker-like'. Whenever you start and end a line, it always leaves that little booger of color. That presents one of many interesting challenges to drawing on this small device....
These are then printed out on tshirts with the Samsung logo and product branding.
It's turning out to be a fun gig. The first day was absolutly brutal. Getting the hang of this rudimentary softward (1st generation!) was excruciating. Plus, I'm still recovering from Lasik surgery, and focusing on such a small device for a long period of time is not easy. Also, I'm not an Android guy, so in addition to learning the the drawing software, I also had to learn the OS.But, I will say, the drawing sortware is growing on me. It's really no-frills- it barely utilizes the 256 levels of pressure sensitivity that the device claims to have. It's not ideal for the purpose, but I think with upgrades and product enhancements I'll become something that artists could actually use in a real world setting, specifically advertising and storyboards, which I spend lots of time doing.
I'll post more drawings in the upcoming weeks, as I (hopefully) get better at the device. Whoo hoo!
draw time , just for fun, out about
11 comments so far...
Did you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement? Samsung was pretty specific about us keeping our lips zipped on (especially non-flattering) aspects of the device when it demoed at CES in Vegas.
Posted by Celestia on February 28 at 5:31 PM
Awesome results, btw. Your handling of the marker function makes it more elegant watercolorish effect than I was ever able to pull out of it.
Posted by Celestia on February 28 at 5:33 PM
Hey Celestia! No NDA, but that's probably because at CES this device wasn't out yet.
Thanks for the kudos- notice I'm not posting my first few drawings! They weren't pretty!
Posted by Ed on February 28 at 10:19 PM
Wow how cool that you're the first to play with it! They look great!
Posted by mira on February 28 at 10:30 PM
You didn't get paid for those drawings, did you?
Posted by Tom on March 1 at 12:32 AM
Nice placement on your sketches. I'm doing the same thing for the promotion, but having a killer of a time keeping them in frame, especially when they print larger than the drawing, and have to be cut down to fit into 'Galaxy Note' frame lookalikes.
Good to see Samsung got some talent working for them! Beautiful work as always!
Posted by Seth on March 1 at 7:21 AM
Thanks Seth. Yeah, that little screen isn't made for anything like this, but whatkinyado.
Posted by ed on March 2 at 10:24 AM
awesome stuff ed.. post more please. :)
Posted by Brian on March 9 at 5:16 PM
When I was called for this gig, I was already used to drawing on an Nintendo DSi so for me the learning curve wasn't too extreme. The biggest issue was that they made us use that note program instead of using something that actually had decent options and usability. However, I think in time something like this could prove to be really good given one more hardware revision and a better drawing app.
Posted by Ralph on April 9 at 8:16 PM
That's a fun little niche that someone could get into if they became proficient enough with it. I have been trying it with my iPhone4 using Sketchbook Pro, and it is a pain with the stylus options they have available. But when one comes out nicely, it make for some great conversation. "You did THAT, with THAT!" Love your work Ed!
Posted by Michael (VoogDesigns.com) on April 26 at 1:53 PM
At last, smeoone who comes to the heart of it all
Posted by Sandra on January 19 at 2:48 AM
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