Artists' Discovery Thread [Share ideas and techniques here]

[BlueXIV]

CONTINUING ON FROM TZU'S THREAD (Post here to not spam her commission thread :\)

Originally Posted by BlueXIV

Certainly that has been the case on these forums at least.
TBH, I think doing line art and coloring them is a bit easier. It takes out some of the problems during the sketching phase where you don't know where to go, and makes the coloring phase go by a bit faster, because you can just select and insert color. There's no real problem with line art; it makes drawings look cleaner, with being stylized being the trade-off.

I don't use line art for two reasons:
1. Line art makes adding a background kind of hard, because it's really hard to blend characters into the BG and make them not look like paper cutouts. People have done it pretty well, but I don't really like the effect
2. I am too lazy to meticulously draw out lineart, scan it in, and painstakingly ink it :P. I like to do a sketch on my tablet in photoshop, and color it in NOW. Thus my "line art" is just a scratch sketch. If I just color that, it would look horrible.

So I just end up doing things like this: drawing a sketch in photoshop, adding a normal layer under it, color with a BRUSH, then erasing the stuff outside the lines, selecting the stuff left, and shading with a BRUSH. After I am done, I just color right over the lines with another color, depending on where the lines are. So in the end, I do use "line art", but I just color over it in the finished piece.
If you don't want to bother with that, you can always select (control click) your line art, and use a huge fuzzy brush to add some value to the lines. It helps a lot I think :P

Anyways, I should really stop spamming your thread... How about we make a new thread for "art discovery?" Mmm I like that. Going to make now

[Morag D]

nice idea to get a thread going!

well, I agree- it's usually easier to draw outlines and then colour them in. Plus many people [as in (hobby) artists] seem to come from the manga side of things. I really admire people who can paint on a rough sketch and make it look amazing in the end - something I admit I haven't quite bothered to learn yet. Personally I've always been more for drawing/sketching than painting, perhaps because I (used to) do lots of technical drawing. I could say that colouring/painting takes ages, and to me it feels like that too , but then I can easily spend 10h on a lineart, which rather qualifys that statement. So, yeah, suum cuique - each to their own. And happily so, because variety is awesome

[BlueXIV]

haha yeah. Oh, and if you guys want to, we can share techniques and tutorials in this thread. Might be fun no?

[Massive Impulsa]

Whenever i draw i just click the Bucket thing in the panel and click on the field i want painted! Works everytime ^^

[Widowmaker]

Hmm, I tend to simply block colour in to rough out an image and then paint straight over that from there. When I do sketches they tend to be very loose and a rough guideline at absolute best. More often I'll do a quick sketch when I'm out to jog my memory later but I'll rarely start from the sketch if and when I get round to doing it.

But I was more referring to the idea that the general preference of people wanting the art has been line art, rather than necessarily the artists themselves.

[BlueXIV]

Mmm... I guess so :\ I hate doing lineart, so I don't offer it in my thread, and I haven't been here long enough to see exactly what people want

Starting on a new commission today. Going to try a different approach. I've always wanted to try doing an under painting and glazing over it like in oils... Hopefully this will turn out well . I'll share some in progresses if it works in digital >_>

[Duranin]

lol woo, a discussion thread.

I'm basically opposite of you Blue. What I can say though is that lineless/painted art does have its niche in the GW art community, albeit at what I personally believe to be a price range out of my reach. I really wish I could do digital art without lineart, but quite honestly all my attempts are just terrible. I can't get the spontaneous look, probably no thanks to years of sticking to a extremely precise style. -.-''

I use a tablet, so I don't go through the trouble of scanning in a sketch (although I do have a scanner.) Depending on whether I draw on paper or straight into an art program I do end up with different proportional problems with my people, lol.

Sometimes after I finish a commission or any other piece done in my normal style I'll hide all the lineart layers to look at just the colouring. Aside from sloppiness on the edges (lines hide that very well... eheheh) it usually looks pretty decent even sans lines. It's just kind of sad that I can't start a picture with the intent to do it without lines and be able to carry it through correctly.

<-- most recent attempt at lineless. Like this one I end up getting way too "smooth" and entirely losing the painty aspect of it.

[Widowmaker]

Originally Posted by Araiia of the Songs

<-- most recent attempt at lineless. Like this one I end up getting way too "smooth" and entirely losing the painty aspect of it.

Funnily enough, though I'd want a larger version to stare at, I think that looks rather good indeed. Different tastes I suppose.

I like most styles, some line art is a little too heavy for my tastes, but I do like the rather clear, clean style of line art, even if I don't do it myself.

[BlueXIV]

I kinda like it araiia
I think lines aren't bad at all, but you can show a lot more depth if you color the lines as well. You can try just selecting the line art (control click line art layer, ctrl+h to hide selection), and dropping some colors in with a huge fuzzy brush. Something like dark brown for the lines in the shadow next to skin, or light blue for the lines on the hair facing the light source. Try it, you might like it

[Duranin]

Originally Posted by BlueXIV

I think lines aren't bad at all, but you can show a lot more depth if you color the lines as well. You can try just selecting the line art (control click line art layer, ctrl+h to hide selection), and dropping some colors in with a huge fuzzy brush. Something like dark brown for the lines in the shadow next to skin, or light blue for the lines on the hair facing the light source. Try it, you might like it

I have tried it in the past, several times in face. I do agree it shows more depth, but due to the way I do my lineart (an entire folder and many separate layers, just for the lineart) it gets to be a pretty large pain to do. I also have a weird issue with nitpicking whether the colours cut off correctly between different pieces of the picture, and then I have to try to use the same colour. I find that the eyedropper tool isn't very accurate when it comes to taking colours off of 0.8 pixel lines though.

[x] <-- My favourite picture to date, in which I did use the coloured lines.
[x] [x] [x] [x] <-- other older pictures with coloured lines

[Verene]

If I'm drawing something that's kind of cartoony in style, I have to have line art.

If it's more realistic, I generally start out with a sketch, but it ultimately ends up lineless.

I don't know why XP That's just how my drawings turn out. Probably because the more realistic stuff I do, digitally at least, is painted which is a bit different.

[x] - lineart example (it's a silly piece I did for a friend, Matrix RP fanart)
vs
[x] - more realistic portrait (my character from said RP that the silly drawing above is from)

I tend to find simpler drawings with lineart quicker and easier to do, though. Which is probably also why it's so preferred here - quicker, easier drawings are cheaper for commissions :P

[Smilin' Assassin]

here's a WiP of a piece I'm commishing from a hidden gem of an artist, working in Corel Painter .. part two will be even more awsum:}

[obsidian ectoplasm]

Originally Posted by Smilin' Assassin

here's a WiP of a piece I'm commishing from a hidden gem of an artist, working in Corel Painter .. part two will be even more awsum:}

wow that vid is amazing

[Invertation]

A question to all artists of any level:
How long have you been practicing the arts? How intensively? What is your motivator?

I always have found it curious while looking upon a piece that dazzles and amazes, just what went on behind it? We aren't simply blessed with the sudden ability to masterfully create, it takes time and devotion to learning and practice. I aspire (albeit lack motivation) to the greatness that I see in so many artist's talent, yet I can only wonder to what lengths they went to achieve such stature.

For lack of more words, I open this question to everyone.

[BlueXIV]

Ehehe...

I guess I've been drawing for a while now. I think I started doodling back in middle school, and took some art classes in high school. I hung out with a lot of art kids in high school, and I think that rubbed off on them. The thing that really started me on art was probably actually guild wars concept art. I loved the look and feel of it, and i just wanted to try and do something like that. I'm freshman in college right now, getting a BSE in computer science, but I still draw a lot (instead of studying for exams x_x).

I was pretty much self taught on digital painting, with the help of some friends, and some good internet resources. I had a decent foundation in traditional drawing and painting though, and I think that helps a LOT. I am no where near where I want to be in art though, so I draw a lot to achieve that.

If I can give any advice to starting artist, it would be the following:
1. Draw. A LOT. No matter what it is, draw a looooot. My notebooks for school is 80% doodles, 20% notes :P.
2. Get some resources/feedback that can help you. DeviantArt is... not a good place for this. I'm sure it's a great place to share art, but a bunch of people telling you "SUGOI KAWAII DESU" doesn't help you get any better.
3. Start off by getting a good foundation. I hate drawing still lives. I. really. really. do. I, however can't deny how they helped me see light and darkness, color and saturation. There is a lot of things that are pretty basic, like color theory, but it will make all the difference between a dull painting and a awesome one (I... still haven't learned color theory very well. I BS it :P)

[Widowmaker]

Originally Posted by Invertation

What is your motivator?

Angry otters with whips. It helps that they refuse to let me eat until I've done something.

[BlueXIV]

Originally Posted by Widowmaker

Angry otters with whips. It helps that they refuse to let me eat until I've done something.

ABUUSE. I think you should have otter soup tonight. Methinks they might be quite tasty

[Espadon]

Annnnnd... nowadays you don't even need art foundation, just spam custom brush abuse and get perfect results gogogo

*stamp stamp stamp stamp* 100k

[BlueXIV]

Hey, I love custom brushes :P. I use them all the time when I don't feel like drawing every freaking leaf on a tree or w/e. They are great for adding texture and creating an illusion of detail without spending 40+ hours on a painting.
I think it's very much not true that you don't require art fundamentals to use them. You can add as much details as you want, but when it comes down to it, the composition and color choice is what makes a picture work, not the details. I could show you some really sh*tty stuff I did a year or two back with brush abuse, but I'd be a bit too embarrassed :P
The vast majority of industry artists spam custom brushes because it's fast. Example would be Guild Wars concept art. SO MUCH custom brushes. Still can't deny they have talent tho.
Besides, you can't really use much custom brush spam on characters ._.

[Verene]

Oh for...

Photoshop does not automatically make one a good artist. There is no "make perfect art" button. It's a bloody tool for creating art.