TinEye’s image search works by uploading an image or giving TinEye a URL for a webpage or image link. From there, TinEye uses proprietary search magic to compare the uploaded image to it’s ever-increasing database of images. Some sort of digital fingerprint is generated for images it collects as it scours the web, and these digital fingerprints are used for the comparison. The results are quite impressive.

Because TinEye compares these digital fingerprints, partial image matches can be made. The example given on the intro video shows how even parodies and Photoshopped versions of the Mona Lisa can be detected. Somehow the behind-the-scenes voodoo captures the likeness of the overall image — even partial matches can be made.

TinEye is developed by the ideé company, whose biz model seems to be the protection of online content for copyright holders. The TineEye search engine seems to be a spin-off designed to increase the awareness of the power of their search engine.

TineEye warns that at present, their image fingerprint database is still in it’s infancy — still, it’s quite impressive even at this stage.

TinEye seems like a great way for visual artists to check on the usage of their work across the web, as well as a great resource when looking for reference images.

TinEye — Amazing ‘Similar Image’ Search Engine is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghill Cartooning

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Originally designed for artist lefties who were always smudging their work when drawing their palms across their artwork, it’s also useful for any artist working in pencil, charcoal or related media where a hand-drag can smudge the artwork. And, interestingly enough, it’s also quite useful for Wacom graphics tablet users.

I know what you’re thinking – there’s nothing to smudge on a Wacom tablet. In the case of the Wacom however, what the creative person using a graphics tablet usually experiences instead is a bit of a tacky grab from the palm as your hand glides over the Wacom surface.

I actually purchased a SmudgeGuard in early summer when the humidity levels were unbearable – just before getting an A/C unit from my kind landlord. However, I have continued to use the SmudgeGuard and actually now have a hard time using one without it; I have come to enjoy using it that much.

Made from a very lightweight Spandex material, it fits snug – but isn’t constricting in any way. Jeannie Lit, the inventor, has a handy sizing chart and instructions on her site that worked perfect for me. there’s standard sizes – small, medium, large – so there will be a bit of variation for different users.

It works great, and glides across the surface of the Wacom perfectly. I can also see how this tool would be immensely useful for any graphic artist using the aforementioned pencil & charcoal – especially lefties.

It’s inexpensive as well – only $15 plus a couple of bucks for shipping. I would highly recommend picking one up. There’s a 30-day return as long as you return in new condition, and you should be able to tell in the first few minutes of using this if it’s for you or not.

And yes, your friends will tease you if they see you wearing it, but it’s worth the price for such a handy artist accessory. I like to pull just the pinky finger covering off and tuck it in the wrist band area when not in use, to keep it out of the way without removing it – or when friends stop over!

SmudgeGuard – Handy Accessory For Wacom Users & Graphic Artists is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghill Cartooning

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If you are finding that activating certain plugins on your self-hosted WordPress installation is breaking the Visual Editor, this may be the fix you are looking for.

While I am not sure where I found the original solution, this fix has saved me countless hours of headaches in the past, and also fixed a recent issue where activating certain plugins would cause the “Write Post” page to only show the HTML editor.

Seems that somehow an extra carriage return at the end of a .php file can cause all sorts of issues with plugins. The cause, I am not sure – could be an unzip artifact. Open the .php pages of the troublesome plugins using a text editor (I am using TextWrangler, which also can show line numbers – a helpful way to see that extra return at the end) and manually delete the extra returns at the end – usually after a closing “?>” (without the quotes).

TextWrangler allows you to actually open the files directly from the server and save to the server, but you may have to download the entire plugin folder, open all the .php pages in your text editor, remove those extra returns, and re-upload the plugin folder/files.

Hope that helps out some of you semi-techie people like me trying to do things yourself. This error is so obscure I doubt you’d ever discover it on your own. I had a programmer looking at this issue and he was amazed when I told him of the fix.

Fix For WordPress Visual Editor Conflict With Certain Plugins is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghill Cartooning

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These have to be a huge productivity booster to any artist working with coloring line art in Photoshop, not just comic book artists and the like.

I can already envision many applications for these in my workflow, even though I am primarily a vector artist.

From the plugin’s web site:

In the production of comics a special trapping method, called “Flatting” is used. The colored area’s are butted against each other under the line art. The MultiFill and Flatten Plug-In’s assist in “Flatting” and can save a lot of time.

Pretty awesome, and did I mention free? The comic artist flatting Photoshop plugins are available for both Mac and Windows users, and supports Photoshop 6 all the way up the CS3. Head over to Boudewijn Pelt’s website and grab a set for yourself. Should be perfect for all you graphic novel and  out there.

And once you’ve given them a try (or if you’re already using them), please drop a note in the comments area below.

Free ‘Flatting’ Photoshop Plugin For Comic Artists is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghill Cartooning

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The comparison covers four applications: DrawBerry, EazyDraw, Lineform, and VectorDesigner. I have demoed all of these at one point or another, and found each to have their stregths and weaknesses.

One of the comments on the post brought up a good point — do these apps create vector art files that are suitable/compatible with high-quality printing? That I do not have an answer for as of yet. One commenter stated that they were using one or two of these apps for design work, but didn’t specify if it was for print or just web.

For me, sticking with the CS3 suite ensures that all the files I create are compatible with each other and I know that they are ready fro print. However, for those starting out or learning vector art, a cheaper alternative may be the way to go to determine of vector art is for you, and to get a feel for the tools. In general all the vector tools (in particulat the path tools) are similar in all the apps.

Mac Vector App Showdown is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghill Cartooning

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