neolateral

Cleanup Scanned Pencil Drawing Using Krita

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 10:15:00 +0530

How to cleanup a scanned image of pencils drawn on paper using Krita's tools.

Facial Expression of Rage - A Caricature of Jim Carrey

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 10:53:00 +0530

This post was also published on my substack at Facial Expression of Rage - A Caricature

In a comic sketch facial expressions are one of the toughest things to get right. But the expression is key to story telling. Today I was sketching a few facial expressions from references as part of regular practice. I ended up with a nice little caricature of one of Jim Carrey’s exaggerated expressions. I liked it so much I though I’d share it with you.

Here’s the reference expression first… I found it on Pinterest. Jim Carrey's Expressions. Notice the eyebrows, the …

Squished Potato

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 12 Jul 2025 12:00:00 +0530

This post was also published on my substack at Squished Potato

My son and I were walking to the school bus pick-up point a few days ago. And my son noticed a funny shaped thing on the path. It looked really strange and he asked me what it was. It was a flattened, squished potato and we wondered how it got there. I made up a plausible but totally imaginary scenario and drew a one-page comic about this. Check it out…

Squished Potato (One-page Comic)

Hope you liked it. Have a great weekend!

A Trip to Calicut(Kozhikode), Kerala - Part II

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 01 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0530

This post was also published on my substack at The Art Noob: A Trip to Calicut(Kozhikode), Kerala - Part II

Before the details are lost from memory I want to jot down the thoughts on the rest of the trip to Calicut.

A lone boat in Kadalundi

We took an afternoon trip to Kappad Beach close to Calicut.It is a nicely maintained quiet beach, but you have to pay a fee to get in. However the clean beach is worth it. And the fee keeps the crowd to a minimum. We spent most of the time in the water …

First beta release of litpd

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 19 May 2025 22:18:00 +0530

litpd is a simple literate programming tool built on markdown. It uses pandoc and some lua code to build both a readable and runnable version of the same program from one markdown document. The litpd program is itself written as a literate program.

The first beta version of litpd is out. This release contains several bug-fixes, and a significant change to support linux and macos using litpd.sh (bash script).

Also new is a new github pages website which is the entire litpd program as its own standalone website. See it here https://abhishekmishra.github.io/litpd/.

This is the …

Gothic Art of Vikram-Baitaal using Sora

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 12:07:00 +0530

Gothic art style photo of Vikram and Baitaal using Sora

Wealth Simulator

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 07:41:00 +0530

A Wealth Simulator using random multiplicative dynamics to study ergodicity or lack thereof.

Ergodicity and Polya's Game

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:30:00 +0530

A article exploring ergodicity with Polya's Game (aka Polya's Urn).

A Trip to Calicut(Kozhikode), Kerala - Part I

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 05 Apr 2025 10:53:00 +0530

This post contains several photos, you can click on them to view them in a larger size

A few weeks ago in mid-March we travelled to Calicut (Kozhikode) for a short vacation. The vacation was really nice and we all had lots of fun. I took quite a few photos in and around the city. In this series of perhaps two (mayb more) posts, I will jot down my impressions and experiences of this beautiful place. Note that there is something unique about Kozhikode which cannot simply be summarized by listing adjectives or assigning it classifications. And this is perhaps …

PicoTurtle release - v0.2.0-alpha.8

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 11:22:00 +0530

A new binary release PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.8 of PicoTurtle is out. This release has minor bug fixes and some changes to how vcpkg and the build is setup. The release page contains detailed release notes.

The installer, documentation and user guides are available as always at PicoTurtle.

Painting Study of a Peach

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:21:00 +0530

Digital Painting Study of a Peach, made in Krita with Bristle Brush

A Happy Tree (Watercolour)

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 17:26:00 +0530

Watercolour sketch of a happy tree

Recursive Subdivision Of Curves

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0530

A program to create a complex fractal curve using recursive subdivision.

Terrain Generation with Simplex Noise

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 17 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0530

A program to generate a terrain using simplex noise.

A Neighbourhood Spider

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 22:52:00 +0530

Photo of a spider found while taking a walk.

Sunday Night Pizza

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0530

Where I ask ChatGPT to help me cook pizza at home for the first time and it does not disappoint.

Matrix Rain Simulation

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 21 May 2024 00:00:00 +0530

A program to recreate the classic Matrix Rain graphic.

Translating Product Instructions In Chinese Using Copilot

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 +0530

Using copilot to translate chinese instructions written on product packaging.

Polar Perlin Noise Loops Simulation

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 05 May 2024 00:00:00 +0530

Exploration of perlin noise in polar coordinates to distort circles

Snowflakes Simulation in LÖVE 2D

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 12:35:00 +0530

A Snowflakes Simulation in LÖVE 2D

Using luafilesystem native library in love2d

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 06 Apr 2024 14:16:00 +0530

How to load and use a lua native shared library in a love2d program. Specifically the "luafilesystem" library to provide missing file system support.

Flocking Simulation of Boids in LÖVE 2D

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 11:21:00 +0530

A flocking simulation of Boids in LÖVE 2D based on a youtube video from the Coding Train channel.

Vim: Force Text-Width at Fixnum Columns

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 23 Mar 2024 10:54:00 +0530

Forcing a text file to a fixed column width in Vim during editing.

litpd - Literate Programming for Pandoc Markdown

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 11:59:00 +0530

litpd is a literate programming tool using pandoc markdown format.

Circle Packing Simulation in LÖVE 2D

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 16 Mar 2024 11:25:00 +0530

A Circle Packing simulation in LÖVE 2D based on a youtube video from the Coding Train channel

Maurer Rose Simulation in LÖVE 2D

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 08 Mar 2024 17:33:00 +0530

A Maurer Rose simulation in LÖVE 2D based on a youtube video from the Coding Train channel

Metaballs Simulation in LÖVE 2D

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 13:12:00 +0530

A Metaballs Simulation in LÖVE 2D based on a youtube video from the Coding Train channel

Falling Sand Simulation in LÖVE 2D

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 20:40:00 +0530

A falling sand simulation in LÖVE 2D based on a youtube video from the Coding Train channel

Notes from Andrej Karpathy's building micrograd video.

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 24 Feb 2024 11:31:00 +0530

These are my notes from Karpathy's micrograd video. I build a simple neural network implementation in lua called 'nanograd' as I follow along the video.

Installing oobabooga/text-generation-webui on Windows 11

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 13:17:00 +0530

Step-by-step instructions to get oobagooba/text-generation-gui installed and working on a Windows 11 machine. You get to work with your own private Chatgpt like LLM chatbot.

Initial Thoughts on Generative AI

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 05 Feb 2024 08:17:00 +0530

A Revelation

Generative AI has been a game-changer for my work as a programmer in recent days. I have been using Bing AI to help me with coding problems and get useful snippets and explanations. It has boosted my speed and efficiency like never before. I have been coding since the early 90s, and this is the biggest leap I have ever experienced in my productivity.

Note that I haven't used any AI integration into my code editor or IDE yet. I talk to Bing AI using the Copilot extension in the browser or on the Bing AI webpage. I …

Learning Deep Learning (Again)

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 18:38:00 +0530

Earlier this month, I've started learning from a couple of Deep Learning tutorials/courses/books. I had been thinking of picking up Deep Learning again for some time, but could not push it into my schedule. I do have a background in Machine Learning and Data Science, but I have never used Deep Learning methods in production applications yet. I have studied them in the past. Now that the space has moved quite fast, and Deep Learning now dominates over rest of the methods in ML, I feel the need to bring myself up to speed with the whole field …

PicoTurtle release - v0.2.0-alpha.7

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 13:04:00 +0530

A new binary release PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.7 of PicoTurtle is out. This release has minor bug fixes. The release page contains detailed release notes.

The installer, documentation and user guides are available as always at PicoTurtle.

Artworks referenced in "Pictorial Composition by Poore"

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 12:13:00 +0530

This article lists all the artworks referenced in the book "Pictorial Composition by Henri Rankin Poore"

Bitmap font for Devanagari/Hindi v0.1b

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 10 Apr 2023 09:50:00 +0530

This article presents an early preview of a Pixel Bitmap font for Devanagari that I've designed. It's still work in progress.

Dragon Curves

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 13:34:00 +0530

An in-depth article discussing Dragon Curves, their mathematical interpretation, and drawing techniques using Turtle Graphics.

Linux Namespaces - Create a UTS Namespace and Change Hostname

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:05:00 +0530

Introduction

I'm starting a new series of posts about container and VM specific API's and tools in the Linux operating system. These posts reflect some of the work I'm doing systematically exploring the containerization and virtualization options natively available in the Linux kernel. I will also explore some APIs and tools built on top of these functionalities.

In the first post here we look at creating a simple namespace and then using that namespace to modify some resource in that namespace.

Namespaces

Namespaces are one of the fundamental concepts available in new Linux kernels which support isolation of resources. A …

PicoTurtle release - v0.2.0-alpha.4

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 16 Jan 2023 08:55:00 +0530

The tenth weekly release PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.4 of PicoTurtle is out.

This release features a couple of important editor features:

Indent/De-indent code lines and blocks. Editor shortcuts are Ctrl+] and Ctr+[ respectively. One can also indent and de-indent using Tab and Shift-Tab.
Toggle comment code lines and blocks using Ctrl+/.

Here's a screenshot of the application on my macbook air...

The windows installer can be downloaded here -> PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.4 for Win/64-bit. Linux and Macos installers are still work in progress. Macos is turning out to especially difficult with my current CMake/vcpkg based …

Clibdocker release - v0.1.0-alpha.0

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 11:06:00 +0530

The first source-only release Clibdocker v0.1.0-alpha.0 of Clibdocker is out.

CLibdocker is a C library implementation of the Docker Engine API.

The documentation is available online at Clibdocker docs. For further details check the project page Clibdocker.

ZClk release - v0.1.0-alpha.0

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 11:00:00 +0530

The first source-only release Zclk v0.1.0-alpha.0 of Zclk is out. It is a C library which can be used to create CLI programs written in both C and Lua. It supports commands, sub-commands, arguments, options and typed values.

Commands and sub-commands can be implemented both in Lua and C. Allowing a mix of implementations.

The documentation is available online at ZClk docs. For further details check the project page Zclk.

Coll release - v0.1.0-alpha.1

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 10:51:00 +0530

The second alpha release coll v0.1.0-alpha.1 of coll is out. This release contains build and documentation related changes. The docs are now hosted online at Coll Docs.

For further details check the project page at coll.

Kovalam and Varkala Trip - Part V

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 03:43:07 +0000

I was carrying my sketchbook everywhere during this vacation. One day at the breakfast buffet, in between courses 😀 - I drew a couple of interesting sketches.

The Croissant Is Alive!

I got a yummy croissant from the bakery section and when I sat down to eat it the croissant seemed really dejected that its short life was coming to an end. So I drew it. Aaaand then I still ate it 😜.

Its a sad croissant

The Fruit Bowl

Arranging a fruit bowl is an art! I drew this neat and majestic looking fruit bowl. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to …

PicoTurtle release - v0.2.0-alpha.3

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 07:57:00 +0530

A new release PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.3 of PicoTurtle is out. This is the ninth weekly release.

The releases features updated documentation for two new commands circle and arc. It also fixes a major bug in the editor tabs. For details of all changes please check the release notes.

The windows installer can be downloaded here -> PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.3 for Win/64-bit

Kovalam and Varkala Trip - Part IV

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 05:54:25 +0000

Hello Again!

I’m back with another post on my vacation trip, this one about boats. Boats are ubiquitous in Kerala - something we rarely see when living in the city. Perhaps there are a few in the lakes around Bangalore. But boats really do come to life in coastal Kerala.

Resting in the Backwaters

Here is a sketch of a boat tied up in a backwater which I drew while resting under a tree on the other bank of the backwater. Even at rest this boat conveyed a sense of movement. It was bobbing up and down gently on the …

Kovalam and Varkala Trip - Part III

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 13:45:39 +0000

The hotel we stayed at in Kovalam had a “Crow Problem”. There were lots of crows and would steal your food if you were not looking. I was having a snack outdoors in the afternoon - and this pair were watching me intently - ready to pounce.

Pair of crows eyeing my snacks

The crow problem was bad enough that they had to post a security guard during evening tea to keep the crows away.

Security guard on duty

I had fun drawing the alert crows and the security guard. And we had some nice snacks at tea. Win win!

Abhishek Mishra …

Kovalam and Varkala Trip - Part II

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 13:38:47 +0000

Hi!! and A Very Happy New Year 2023 to You!

A few days ago, I wrote a post about our trip to South Kerala. This is the second in the series.

I was sitting near one of the backwaters in Kovalam and this stork sat down in front of me on a piece of wood sticking out of the water - and started grooming its feathers. I had just enough time to draw this quick sketch before it flew away.

The Grooming Stork in the Backwaters

I will post more sketches in the coming days. Stay tuned!

-Abhishek (art noob)

Kovalam and Varkala Trip - Part I

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 08:32:35 +0000

The Vacation

In August this year we went on a week’s vacation to Kovalam, Varkala and Thiruvananthapuram, in the South of Kerala. All three places are located close to each other. This time we travelled by train from Bangalore to Trivandrum. This was a fun experience to be travelling in Indian Railways after a long time.

Instead of my camera I decided to take along my sketching supplies. I took a sketchbook with thick watercolour paper, some pens, pencils and brush pens.

I’m going to write a few posts with one or more sketches chosen from the trip …

Coll release - v0.1.0-alpha.0

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 10:49:00 +0530

The first source-only release coll v0.1.0-alpha.0 of coll is out. It is an ANSI C collections library with only two datastructures implemented at the moment:

An ArrayList - A list datastructure which manages allocation/deallocation internally.
A Map backed by the ArrayList (i.e. no hashing) - suitable only for tiny maps.

For further details check the project page coll.

PicoTurtle release - v0.2.0-alpha.0

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 25 Dec 2022 10:36:00 +0530

A new release PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.0 of PicoTurtle is out. This is the seventh in the recent series of weekly releases. It is also the first release with a windows 64-bit installer. There are several minor changes and bug-fixes in this release. You can read all about it on the release page.

The windows installer can be downloaded here -> PicoTurtle v0.2.0-alpha.0 for Win/64-bit

PicoTurtle release - v0.1.0-alpha.5

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 11:21:00 +0530

A new source-only release PicoTurtle v0.1.0-alpha.5 of PicoTurtle is out. This release has minor bug fixes, better documentation and an improved docs viewer, and a new about dialog. The release page contains detailed release notes.

Few changes in the CMake build to support a windows installer are added to the release. These will be used to publish a binary installer for Windows starting next release.

c-color-names release - v0.1.0-alpha.0

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 18 Dec 2022 11:10:00 +0530

The first source-only release c-color-names v0.1.0-alpha.0 of c-color-names is out. It is an ANSI C API for the excellent collection of colors in the color-names NodeJS package. I use this for some my experiments and projects.

For further details check the project page c-color-names.

Rudra-palash flowers

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 14 Dec 2022 04:56:39 +0000

We recently moved to a new place in Bangalore. And I’ve been busy with one thing or another for the past 3 months. However, we’ve settled down now.

My son and I were taking a walk a few weeks ago on a beautiful late Sunday morning. I had taken a camera along to take photos if we spotted something interesting. And we did…

This is a trio rudra-palash flowers - and I really liked the symmetry of these three. I like the way the photo turned out - hope you like it as well.

That’s it for now… Hope …

PicoTurtle release - v0.1.0-alpha.4

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 11 Dec 2022 13:14:00 +0530

A new source-only release PicoTurtle v0.1.0-alpha.4 of PicoTurtle is out. The release page contains detailed release notes. However here are a few highlights:

Turtle Lua Console - allowing turtle run in an interactive lua console widget. This is similar to the browser developer console functionality - although with fewer features.
Find/replace - is enabled in the Turtle Lua editor.
LUA_PATH - The path of the currently run lua file is added to the LUA_PATH.

PicoTurtle in Lua (alpha release)

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 11:22:00 +0530

I've been working on a C++/Lua version of PicoTurtle for the last year on and off. This last week I've stretched myself to work on it and make a release. This is a full rewrite of the turtle application that I had earlier built in nodejs and electron. The previous version was slow and it was harder to add features given the tech choices I'd made.

The new version is written in C++. The turtle drawing is done on a skia surface, and the GUI is built using Qt6. Developing with Qt6 was a positive experience - espescially because of …

Quick Update

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 06:03:54 +0000

I got irregular in Apr-May, and then did not post at all in June when I got a mild case of covid. I’m fully recovered now, and thought I would post an update on what I’ve been reading and what I’ve been drawing.

Learning art is a continuous process - but improvements in your own skill are discrete in nature. If you are consistent in practice then all of a sudden one fine day you will notice that you are much better in a particular way.

I practice figure drawing every day for a few minutes - and last …

Sketching Practice with 3D Models

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 05:59:07 +0000

A lot of my sketching practice is based on reference pictures. Let’s say I’m practicing drawing figures. Then I go onto pinterest look for pictures with interesting poses - and then simplify them and try to draw the pose. I try to do this in a few minutes so that I can practice many of them. However there are challenges - looking for unique poses to draw, finding the tougher angles which are harder to draw, and also finding poses in clothing where the anatomy is clear, and more…

And so I recently tried drawing not from picture reference but …

Palettes for Pixel Art

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 06 May 2022 01:14:13 +0000

Hello Dear Reader,

Today I’m going to briefly talk about palettes and share a nice resource where we can go for well-designed palettes.

What is a Palette?

A palette is the range or set of colours used in a particular composition.

No traditional artwork can use an infinite variety of colours. The artist is limited to certain pigments and uses various mixtures of these pigments to create the colours used in a particular painting. One can possibly mix uncountable number of colours using variation of colour, brightness, and whiteness. However artists end up using only a small subset of …

Sunset in Wayanad

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 04:53:01 +0000

We took a little family vacation to Wayanad, Kerala and Bandipur forest in Karnataka the last few days. I will write a detailed travel diary someday but here’s a photo of a sunset I took from a viewpoint in Wayanad.

Happy Arting,

Abhishek (art noob)

Hindi Bitmap Font

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 04:40:23 +0000

I’ve been working on creating a 10-bit bitmap font for Devanagari script - it is still work in progress, but here are the alphabets I’ve made so far. I plan to use these in my pixel art artwork - and games eventually.

It’s slow going because…

a) I’m doing it for the first time, and

b) One has to be careful with the use of every pixel.

But, I’m having fun doing it. Any feedback would be welcome!

Bye for now,

Abhishek (art noob)

1Bit Pixel Art Drawings

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 28 Mar 2022 04:04:21 +0000

The last few days I’ve been doing these 1bit pixel art drawings - and have been really having fun. Based on a recommendation from an artist on youtube I started with 1-bit palette because it is simplest, and therefore good for practice.

What is 1-Bit Pixel Art?

Someone asked me this question and here’s my response… Every dot in the picture is one pixel in pixel art.

The number of colours available depends on how much storage we use for each pixel. If we use 8-bits - then we can use 256 colours (that is 2 to the power 8 …

Pixel Art Practice - Trees from Blobs

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 04:57:07 +0000

Hi All,

Today I wanted to share with you my practice drawing of a tree, based on this tutorial by artist slynrd.

Slynyrd(@rayslynyrd) - Tutorial - 2 - Modular Tree technique. More tips and tutorials in my latest blog feature about texture==http://bit.ly/2BDY3DP

Have a great day!

Abhishek (art noob)

Happy Holi!!!

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 19 Mar 2022 03:29:05 +0000

Happy Holi to all of you!!!

Photo by Debashis RC Biswas on Unsplash

Figure Drawing Practice Sketches

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 10 Mar 2022 03:17:51 +0000

Hello Dear Reader,

Today I want to share a couple of sketches - that show my figure drawing practice. Here are the key steps:

Use good reference - I prefer to find good quality photos on Pinterest
Draw the skeletal structure/gesture first - with a thin, light coloured pen or pencil.
Detailed Line Drawing (mostly outline) next - with a darker and thicker pen or pencil.
Add values if needed - using some mid and dark tones, drawn with a brush pen.
Don’t worry about finish/quality - these are for practice and should not take more than a few minutes.

Here are a …

Square Spirals Drawn using New PicoTurtle Lua API

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 05 Mar 2022 09:35:00 +0530

In the last few weeks, I've rewritten the PicoTurtle programming API in a C++ program. Here are the major features/changes of the new implementation:- * The turtle API has Lua bindings. Lua is sufficiently lightweight that the interpreter can be distributed with the new picoturtle program. * The new implementation does not have a client-server design greatly reducing its complexity from the older nodejs/electron based implementation. * The program uses Skia Canvas for the drawing implementation. Skia (developed by google) is also the canvas for google chrome. * Although bindings for other programming languages can be developed, the current version is only …

The Design of Mazes

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 03 Mar 2022 04:11:09 +0000

Dear Reader,

This post is about generative art using computer programs. I’ve always been fascinated by mazes and how to create new ones and solve them. I have developed my own library to do turtle graphics (which I might release soon). While testing this library I decided to write a program to draw a maze.

In the footnotes on the wikipedia article on mazes - I found this article in “Compute! Magazine Issue 019, pg 54”. It describes a succinct program to generate mazes - in MS BASIC and in a flowchart. And so I rewrote that program using my own …

Beware of Social Media

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 04:03:13 +0000

Hi Reader,

Today I want to talk about how social media affects an artist. And why it is important to maintain distance from social media.

Some people take this as a way of staying away from people. That’s not what I’m saying - I’m talking only about the intermediary - social media, not the people on it. The intermediary has its own incentives, and a business to run.

The platform has a mind of its own

On most social media there are awards for interaction and awards for creating content. Both are structured in such a way as to …

James Gurney

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 03:08:15 +0000

Hello Reader,

Today I wanted to introduce you to one of my favourite artist teachers, James Gurney. I discovered him from his many videos on youtube, where he generously shares his skills and knowledge - James Gurney - YouTube. I like doing watercolour and James is a master of this medium, and that is how I discovered his channel and then later his blog at Gurney Journey

In this video he paints an aircraft from the lounge in the airport - the video shows his extraordinary skill. It’s less than 7 mins long, you should definitely watch it…

James Gurney has also …

House in the Woods

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 03:31:32 +0000

Today I want to share one of my pen and ink drawings, done some time ago. It’s a village house at the edge of the woods. Sometimes we city folks who come from small towns and villages dream of returning to live in a tiny, isolated place.

Hope you like it. Have a great day, Bye!

-Abhishek (art noob)

Frida Kahlo

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 07 Feb 2022 04:54:51 +0000

Hello Reader,

Today I wanted to write a few words about a Mexican artist you might have heard of - Frida Kahlo. Frida was famous for her paintings with autobiographical elements. She used folk art techniques in painting.

Unfortunately I could not find any of her paintings in the public domain which can be shared without copyright issues.

Frida and her artwork are considered icons for the feminism and LGBTQ+ movements.

Frida had an Indian connection too - here she is in a saree (center) with Nayantara Sahgal (left) and Rita Dar at Casa Azul in 1947.

This online gallery has loads …

Black Drongo

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 04:43:41 +0000

Hello Dear Reader,

A few years ago, we had visited Tanakpur in Uttarakhand for a family vacation. On one of the many long walks - I took this photo of a black drongo (a bird native to our region, with a distinctive long split black tail). It made a nice contrast to the warm greens and browns all around it in the tall trees. Almost looks like it is meditating.

Have a great day,

Abhishek (art noob)

Impression, Sunrise

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 04:40:27 +0000

Today I wanted to share with you the painting which inspired the name of the Impressionist movement. The painting is Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet.

The painting depicts sunrise in the port of Monet’s hometown of La Havre.

You can read more about painting at its wiki page - Impression, Sunrise - Wikipedia.

May the force be with you,

Abhishek (art noob)

Hiroshige

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 30 Jan 2022 04:17:19 +0000

Hi Guys,

Utawaga Hiroshige, the Japanese Artist from the early 19th century, is one of my favourite artists of all time. His work has a serenity and unity which is hard to describe but easy to feel. His paintings were my desktop wallpaper for a long time. Even today I go looking for his paintings from time to time. Oh by the way, that is a measure of goodness of a visual artist - how many times the artist’s work compels you to look.

Hiroshige’s Wikipedia page has a decent collection of his woodcut works. I’m sharing one …

Raja Ravi Varma

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 27 Jan 2022 05:09:05 +0000

Hi Everyone,

In a trip to Trivandrum a few years ago, we had the good luck to visit the art museum called the Sri Chitra Art Gallery. The gallery was setup to house the works of Raja Ravi Varma and his Kilimanoor Royal family. The gallery is right next to the Zoo in Trivandrum and is well maintained. It houses some of Raja Ravi Varma’s best paintings. You can read more about the art gallery here - Sri Chitra Art Gallery, Thiruvananthapuram (keralaculture.org).

As soon as you enter the gallery you will see a larger than life painting named …

Cityscape - 2

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 03:51:17 +0000

Hi Guys,

I just wanted to share a cityscape that I drew a few days ago in the excellent art program aseprite.

That’s it for now,

Bye!

Abhishek (art noob)

Clouds in a Clear Sky

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 22 Jan 2022 04:10:04 +0000

“who paints the sky will walk on clouds”
― Stefano Bosis

Today I just wanted to share a quick sketch of a few fluffy clouds in an otherwise clear sky.

-Abhishek (art noob)

Thinking about Composition

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 04:26:43 +0000

Hi All,

In all aspects of art, bringing many elements of a piece together into one creation is called composition. And so composition is a skill which each artist needs to acquire. Composition for me is about the narrative - what is it this piece of music, or drawing, or film is trying to say. What is the beginning, the middle, the end? Who are the actors? What is happening?

Once the narrative is set in the mind of the artist, their skills at composition help them get to the final creation.

I started my journey with photography and watching lots …

Drawing with Code

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 16 Jan 2022 04:51:22 +0000

Hi Guys,

Sometimes you know how to trace a line or a box, but you want a tool to do it for you with precision. Of course in any paint program there are tools to do this with line segments and arcs and so on. But it gets tedious if there are too many lines and they have to follow a strict pattern.

This is where computer programs can come to the rescue. Almost everyone who learnt to program as a kid, is familiar with a variant of Turtle programming or Turtle graphics. A long time ago someone invented this …

Lenardo Da Vinci's Notebook

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 04:09:43 +0000

If you have ever wondered about Leonardo da Vinci, and whether he was really an accomplished artist an inventor. Or you might have wondered what he was like or what was his process. A few years ago, da Vinci’s notebook was made available online by the British library. You can browse the document here - The British Library MS Viewer (bl.uk). I doubt you will be able to understand the text - as it is in Italian and his left-handed mirror writing😀. Yes, you got that right!

But what you can do is look at the illustrations, which are numerous …

Bfxr - Tiny Sound Effects

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 05:25:34 +0000

Hi All,

This is another post about art for games.

Today I want to write to you about making sound effects for games. A couple of years or more ago, I did the cs50 game development course available for free on edx - CS50's Introduction to Game Development | edX. In the course you create several old 2d games from scratch. Colton Ogden the instructor showed a program called Bfxr. Make sound effects for your games.

This was the first time I was able to create some sounds without having any idea about how to work with audio. It’s almost like …

Writing a 2D Game in LÖVE

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 04:09:19 +0000

My son and I were playing a game called barrage on my old linux laptop day before yesterday. It’s a very old laptop so only old low graphics games run on this machine. We liked barrage. It’s a simple tank shooter. There is a gun positioned at the north-west of the screen, and the screen itself is a battle field and tanks come from the north or south and cross the field. You have to position a mouse crosshair and shoot as many as you can.

Simple game, I thought I can recreate it in a few days …

The Seinfeld Method

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 04:39:09 +0000

Hello!

This is a method or strategy attributed to Jerry Sienfeld the famous standup comic. Now it’s possible that he wasn’t the first to use it, but this is how it is known in popular culture. The idea is in some sense a result of the adage “You are what you do.” Therefore if you want to be something, let’s say a singer or rally car driver - then you should sing or drive a rally car as often as possible.

This “as often as possible” translates to “everyday” in the Seinfeld method. He is a comic so …

Learning Pixel Art

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 04:27:09 +0000

I’ve had to build another logo in Aseprite for a tiny personal software project. And I really liked making pixel art. Something about the sharp angles, jagged edges, limited palette, limited canvas and limited drawing tools - helps you get creative.

Therefore I wanted to compile a list of resources about where and how to start with pixel art.

What is Pixel Art?

Let’s take first things first though. There is no canonical definition, but if you are working with a small canvas, editing it at the pixel-level, and working with a limited palette - then you’re probably making …

Friendly Birdie

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 04:59:16 +0000

Hi Guys,

For a few years I’ve been watching this bird come and rest in the trees next to my balcony. It rests for some time in the mornings and evenings. It is used to me now, and does not fly away when I’m near.

So yesterday we were having a cup of chai on the terrace, and this guy came around and sat down on our neighbour’s terrace.

Just minding my business here

And then when I started clicking, this fellow stared right back at me!

You lookin at me bro?

I don’t have a …

Cityscape in MSPaint

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 02 Jan 2022 03:37:04 +0000

A CityScape drawn in MSPaint

Creating Pixel Art

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 05:36:39 +0000

Happy New Year!!

The best way to keep an ongoing art practice is to incorporate it in things you already do. So if you write a lot of programs or make a lot of presentations, why not learn to make cool graphics to use them in your documents. Instead of searching for existing graphics online, you could create some of your own.

When it comes to digital art, pixel art is perhaps the oldest discipline - because early computers were limited in image processing and display. It is a wonderful art form which still survives today. And there are modern tools …

Artist Block! Gaaah!!

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 30 Dec 2021 04:47:07 +0000

Ah! The dreaded artist block! When we keep staring at the blank page or canvas and nothing is happening. We are frozen, or we keep getting distracted, there is no inspiration. And internal voice screams “Why is this not working!!!! Gaaah!”

Well what if we could develop a strategy to deal with this mindfully. Instead of just worrying about this state, what if we could fix it. It’s better to fix it - I think we all agree. But HOW!?!

Easy 1st Step - Recognize

I think the first step is to recognize that you are blocked. And this condition could …

Import Substack Newsletter/Blog Posts into Pelican Posts Folder

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 29 Dec 2021 12:40:00 +0530

A few weeks ago I started writing a newsletter at substack.com (which is an excellent platform btw, and I'm loving it). My newsletter is called ArtNoob. Now, substack allows you to export of all the posts on a newsletter, which is a very handy way to grab all the posts and host it on another site. And that's exactly what I wanted to do.

This is a static website https://abhishekmishra.in generated using Pelican. So all I wanted to do was to grab the exported posts and convert them into …

Protect the Zone

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 28 Dec 2021 12:30:42 +0000

People call it being in the zone or being in the flow state. Some special conditions are required to get into the zone of creativity, where the mind is working smoothly and creative energy is flowing uninterrupted. Any interruption when you’re in this special place has a huge cost. You might not get back into the zone again that day, and even if you do, you would lose a lot of time.

Thus - protect the zone. Build a quiet workplace, let your partner, family, flat-mates know that you are not to be disturbed when you are in there. Such …

Looking forward to the New Year

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 12:30:38 +0000

Dear Reader,

Wish you happy holidays. Have a wonderful time, and do spend some time to enjoy the beauty of nature. And if you have time draw, photograph, make music.

And last but not the least, don’t forget to set some goals for the new year.

I leave you with this painting of contemplation.

Painting by hyperrealist painter Claudio Bravo

Abhishek (art noob)

Creating a powershell user profile file.

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 26 Dec 2021 10:04:00 +0530

I didn't know creating a powershell profile was so easy. I'm just going to document this in case I need it again.

The $profile environment variable holds the value of the powershell profile file. This file is sourced when a new powershell session is started - whether normal or elevated.

Here's the command to create a new profile file. In windows this will usually create a folder named <HOME>\Documents\WindowsPowerShell, where <HOME> is your home folder. A file named Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1 will be created in this folder.

New-Item $profile -Type File -Force

One of the few useful things one …

We Must Apply

Abhishek Mishra — Fri, 24 Dec 2021 04:27:06 +0000

Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Dear Reader,

As a novice, I do not produce great art. At most times I produce works which are difficult to look at 😉. So what keeps me going. Well I have a goal in mind - it is vague and it shifts from time to time. But I would like to make professional quality illustrations and paintings, good enough to be able to make a decent comic book.

Now this goal pulls me towards itself. For this magnetic force to not frustrate and …

Discussing Famous Artists and Art Works

Abhishek Mishra — Wed, 22 Dec 2021 11:30:30 +0000

Dear Reader,

I would like to add a new type of post to this blog going forward. Looking at the great or famous pieces of art, or at famous artists from a noob’s perspective. This is also one form of master study. I’ve read that this greatly helps the development of one’s own skills.

I will start with artists in the comic book or illustration world, as this is what interests me most and then move on to other areas. I might start with Burne Hogarth or Frank Frazetta or Loomis.

Hogarth did a lot of drawing …

Timed Themes Release v0.3.0

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 19:39:00 +0530

Today a new version of timed-themes vscode extension was released and published to the vscode marketplace. Timed themes switches between a dark and light theme based on a schedule. The schedule can be set using time ranges in the settings. The dark and light themes are also configurable. Version 0.3.0 includes two minor bug fixes as well as package updates to the dependencies.

Here's the link to the extension at the vscode marketplace - Timed Themes

Embarrassment is a Hurdle

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 11:41:38 +0000

Hi friends,

Today I want to talk about the learning of art, or in fact any other skill. I believe that in the early days of learning, we will not be so good. The embarrassment, discomfort or shame that we may feel about our own drawings or paintings - is a serious impediment to moving further and faster. The very thing we are concerned about - fussing about it makes overcoming it more difficult.

We must maintain an innocence about our sketches and paintings, a neutral stance, neither proud nor ashamed. The faster we can get through the early stages of learning …

Homepage New Edition

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 12:59:00 +0530

A new version of the homepage site is now live. It's a static website generated with Pelican. The website is still work in progress, I'll add back all the old content alongwith a new structure over the coming days. However, I want to keep the site simple and uncluttered.

Drawing Skills Progress - I

Abhishek Mishra — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 03:58:21 +0000

Hi Guys,

In this post I want to discuss my personal journey over the last few years learning to draw and paint. I’m learning from books and online resources, but I have not enrolled in a course. There are areas where I have made steady progress, and then there are areas where I’m almost at a standstill and have made not much improvement. Along the way I’ve also learnt to do a few things differently. I want to record this and share it with you and a future me.

Fundamentals

When I started learning, I had no …

Shape Language Of Heads - II

Abhishek Mishra — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 04:00:45 +0000

Hello amigo,

Once we’ve identified the words of the language - shape of hair, shape of head, the neck and upper torso (specifically shoulders), we should think about what these words can convey. What language is created from these words.

Movement versus Stability

Diagonals signify movement.

If the hair is flowing in the wind, or as if the person is moving fast and hair follows, the
The head is usually inclined during movement. Especially during fast movement like running. And when describing movement when have to show it going across the scene, otherwise it becomes hard to describe a sense …

Shape Language of Heads - I

Abhishek Mishra — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 03:37:03 +0000

Heads and faces are the most recognizable objects for humans. We have developed an acute sense of the silhouette of the head and features of the face to recognize fellow humans.

Today I’m just going to talk about the silhouette of the head. At a distance the head aids the most in recognition, and when developing an illustration or drawing of the head, the silhouette should be kept in mind. If the silhouette is not “right”, the viewer will have the feeling of something being wrong, although they might not be able to articulate.

At a distance the head …

Why Everyone Should Draw Still Life - II

Abhishek Mishra — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 03:57:16 +0000

Hi there,

I want to continue of this theme of still life in this post and why one should draw and practice with still life.

Drawing What You See

Over time as we look at the same thing over and over again, we build a simplified version of an object in our head. And since most of the seeing is done in the brain - we start looking at the world as caricatures. For those not used to seeing the face in all its complexities, the mental model of a face is similar to a caricature (like a smiley) than the …

Why Everyone Should Draw Still Life - I

Abhishek Mishra — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 04:10:02 +0000

Dear Reader,

In this rather longish discussion, I want to talk about why everyone should draw still life - and what we stand to gain from this practice.

Train your eyes to look

Our brain uses a lot of shortcuts while looking. We make very quick judgements about what we see based on things we have seen before. And most of the time we spend as little time as possible on a single object. The brain might build a simple caricature of what we see in our head and move on. This might be enough interacting with the world in our …