Artists' Discovery Thread [Share ideas and techniques here]

[Morag D]

Hey,

me again. A few people noted that they'd like to see stages of development in a picture, and I just so happened to keep track of my latest major piece 'Epilogue' (for the Mortbane contest) - you can find them here

lineart - colour scheme - light source - background - foreground - finishing touches

[BlueXIV]

Looks fun morag.
I kinda really hate Mucha tho, so I'll refrain from commenting too much XD.

In other news, you can do _ANYTHING_ with a sharpie, some white out, and maybe some gouache. Oh and an infinite supply of bored/frustration.

[Woodelf Archer]

Ive been an artist myself for many years but i've never ventured out of pencil and paint... I have been known to spend many weeks, sometimes venturing into months on a painting (very slow worker)

So anyway yesterday I stumbled across this forum....

oh...my...lord

The quality of art i've viewed on every thread is of such a high and inspiring standard I actually sat, jaw on my keyboard for 15 minutes just looking at one particular picture. I'm completely dumbstuck how you could make such fantastic artwork.

As I mentioned above however I've hardly used any media at all other than pencil and painting (unless you count a hour here an there for perhaps the oldelst version of coreldraw ever for GCSE). I just wondered if any kind and knowledgeable person would post what programs they would recommend or use themselves to create artwork, as I feel this is something I'd really like to get into. Also the process you go through would be awesome too, but I hope im not asking too much here (i get the feeling I am)

If this is not the correct place for this question I apologise infinately and demand it be locked and deleted in a heartbeat.

P.S if i get a chance I could probably load some of my artwork up later on, but we'll see how things go.

Thanks alot, Woody

P.P.S: Thank you Tzu for directing me to the correct place! =)

[Tzu]

you're very welcome, newcomer! ^^

I don't know if you're interested in my methods, but...
I personally use Photoshop CS3, but I use so little of it's potential I could use PS7 and not feel a difference... XD
How I paint my paintings vary, but BlueXIV's methods have greatly rubbed off on me (he's been teaching me a few things during the last month) so most of what he will explain will count for me too - but he'll be better at explaining - so I'll just wait until he's posted, then maybe add a few things... ^^'

Stuff that I might not share with Blue; I work in lots of layers, every time I add something new to the picture, I make a new layer. For example, for my latest digital painting I used seperated layers for the sky, the sea, the waves, the glitter on the waves, the character's sketch, the details on his clothes, the shadows, the highlights... the list goes on. That' the way I'm comfortable working, since I always experiment a LOT when I work. I delete layers, fade them, erase bits of it, highlight them... It's more of a tool of comfort than a technique, though. You work in whatever way suits you.

[Woodelf Archer]

"For example, for my latest digital painting"

that is amazing... =O

[UraLoo]

Hey Woodelf Archer! Welcome!

For my digital pieces I only work in Photoshop CS3 and use a Wacom Intuos 2. There are a lot of other programs out there but I personally find that Photoshop is the most user friendly and versatile.

I work in a very uncontrolled environment. I try to keep most of my work to a single layer, constantly merging those on top to the canvas. I rarely exceed more than five layers unless I'm doing design work. I work dark to light, just as I do with paints. It's hard to describe but you can get a bit of an idea by viewing this: http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...ooJinsteps.gif

Also if you want some fantastic tutorials to get a greater impression of heaps of different digital working methods I highly recommend ImagineFX. They have some previous workshops on their site too.

There are as many painting styles as there are artists. Never lock yourself in to anything. Experimentation is the key.

Hope something in there helps you.

[Verene]

Personally, I mostly use Photoshop CS4 (I prefer the older versions, though...the lack of ImageReady and inability to open animated GIFs in particular -really- annoys me) and an old Wacom Graphire3. My tablet is ancient...I also have recently started playing around with OpenCanvas. It's not nearly so fancy as Photoshop, obviously, but pretty much all it is for is drawing, painting, and coloring.

Also, like Tzu, I use lots and lots and lots of layers. This is probably a holdover from how I normally do photomanipulations where everything has to be on a separate layer else you're setting yourself up to screw up. Using lots of layers makes it easier to adjust things and move things around, I think, as well as easier to create certain effects. And if you mess up, you don't have to painstakingly redraw/repaint something. Just might want to get in a habit of naming/labeling your layers because trust me, going through 20 layers trying to figure out what is what is a pain in the ass

[Duranin]

I'm 100% positive the picture you spent 15 minutes oogling at was not one of mine. x)

There's no one best art program. That's all I can say. I've tried various versions of Photoshop, Paint Shop, oC, and other programs as well. You just have to find the "right" program that clicks with you, at the moment mine is Paint Tool SAI.

I agree with Verene <3 I'm a layer addict. Depending on how careful I want to be I either make one layer for every single part in a picture, or just one layer per colour.

[BlueXIV]

Lol layers. I use SO MANY layers, but not really in the way most people do. My last painting was up to layer 102 XD.

The thing is, I'm lazy, and I hate being organized. So what I do is make a new layer for every single thing I work on. Normal -> Normal -> Overlay -> Normal -> Normal -> Multiply -> Normal -> Colorburn -> Normal Normal -> Overlay -> NormalNormalNormal -> Overlay -> Overlay etcetcetcetc.

The layers are totally at random. One layer could have a glaze on someone's face and the highlights on some mountains. Whenever I feel like I have too many layers, I just flatten the image and keep working :P.

None of this OCD keeping track of my layers haha (don't take that as advice tho D

I just use Photoshop (currently CS3, but anything after like 5-6 is fine) because it's simple, intuitive, and powerful. Oh and I use a Intuous 3 tablet.

And my process is usually something like this:
1. Scribble wildly
2. Find cool shapes and turn it into a composition
3. If said composition works, go on to step 4, else, go back to 1
4. Make a greyscale composition sketch
5. Overlay it with a color layer
6. If said color scheme works, go on to step 7, else go back to 5
7. Work on everything at once
8. ????
9. Profit!

[KiyaKoreena]

I just started drawing again (my husband got me a Manhattan 6"x8" tablet the other week) after a near 10 year break. I never really developed a style in HS so its a lot of putzing around right now. I'm using Photoshop CS2 and use tons of layers too. Pretty much any time I would move forward or behind the previous part and then layers on those for shading and highlights, merging when I find something I really like. I'm horrible at grouping things most of the time. Some projects have folders with everything labeled nicely, others end up with 30+ layers of bits here and there. But I'm having fun and thats what matters!

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by BlueXIV

Lol layers. I use SO MANY layers, but not really in the way most people do. My last painting was up to layer 102 XD.

The thing is, I'm lazy, and I hate being organized. So what I do is make a new layer for every single thing I work on. Normal -> Normal -> Overlay -> Normal -> Normal -> Multiply -> Normal -> Colorburn -> Normal Normal -> Overlay -> NormalNormalNormal -> Overlay -> Overlay etcetcetcetc.

The layers are totally at random. One layer could have a glaze on someone's face and the highlights on some mountains. Whenever I feel like I have too many layers, I just flatten the image and keep working :P.

None of this OCD keeping track of my layers haha (don't take that as advice tho D

I just use Photoshop (currently CS3, but anything after like 5-6 is fine) because it's simple, intuitive, and powerful. Oh and I use a Intuous 3 tablet.

And my process is usually something like this:
1. Scribble wildly
2. Find cool shapes and turn it into a composition
3. If said composition works, go on to step 4, else, go back to 1
4. Make a greyscale composition sketch
5. Overlay it with a color layer
6. If said color scheme works, go on to step 7, else go back to 5
7. Work on everything at once
8. ????
9. Profit!

lol! wow, we're even more similar than I already expected! XD We even use the same tablet, though I think -from what I recall- that I use a bigger version.

I'm a little less wild on the scibbling, but as I said; you've rubbed off on me lately :P
I usually browse through ideas for poses in comics or stock artists' galleries if I don't already have a good idea of what I want to do. Then I spend a lot of time drawing an outline for a character, much less on the background. I also base my background on the character, so that everything springs from whatever pose I decide to use :P

but, things change. I don't stick to any rules, really.

[Woodelf Archer]

Wow guys, Thanks for going into so much detail... I actually cant wait to start! =)

On the adobe website the only photoshop i could find was CS4, just wondered if that was a decent version for this kind of stuff

Thanks again guys, made my day =p

[BlueXIV]

CS4 is just the newest version

[BlueXIV]

I linked Tzu this [to stop her blooms x 1930281093821], but thought it might be useful for other people as well. It's a gud tut I think.

http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by BlueXIV

I linked Tzu this [to stop her blooms x 1930281093821]

DX !!!

*opens a can of newspaper-roll whoop-ass* meanie!

... though he is right of course ^^

[Seline Nerlim]

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s...007/seline.jpg
Finally had time to change my avatar, lol, cropped it a little when I used it so it would look better. Also, I used layer masking for when I shaded and used gradient shading. Had a lot of fun making it

Quick question, I have a Intuos 3 PTZ -930 tablet, sometimes when I'm working I discover that the tablet has stopped working and then I have to restart my PC to get it working again, has anyone else experienced this?

[Espadon]

Actually yeah, but I figured out that this only happens to me when I switch windows while CS3 is loading. Once I switch back the pressure sensitivity is gone. Closing PS and restarting it while staring at the loading splash solves the issue.

I've never had the driver die though while in the middle of work.

[Verene]

That's cute, Seline! Though I think it might look better with an off-center crop for your avatar - center crops tend to look weird, especially when it's just a straight-on portrait.

Here, I cropped it slightly differently to show you what I mean (also used the unsharp mask filter to sharpen it up a bit).

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ar/seline1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...ar/seline2.jpg

Also, I've had my tablet randomly die on me before, but usually restarting PS did the trick.

Incidentally, I am amused. I'm going back to studying graphic design, and yesterday got stuff in the mail about the classes required for that program at the school I'll be going to. Two of which are Image Manipulation and Advanced Image Manipulation. I've been doing that sort of thing for years...

[Seline Nerlim]

Hey thanks for the tips, I think you're right about the off center crop. Ill change it now!

[Seline Nerlim]

Hi
Here's a site that Ive been using for years for fonts, for example they've got nice fonts for comics! Plus its all free!

http://www.1001fonts.com/