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Arts & Farts

30 day challenge? YES! Thanks to the dude who posted that a few pages ago. Needed something to do.

ranime_scene_by_sethard-d5aro8w.png





 

Jhoan

Member
Aww man, you guys are beasts here! There's seriously some amazing stuff in here! But that motivates me even more.

To whoever recommended ctrlpaint.com, thank you so much. That site is a god send. I've learned a good deal about how to effectively and efficiently use Photoshop to paint thanks to it. Now I feel like I can paint digitally but I'm still going to look at the other lessons and continue learning about how it works.

That said, while I haven't gone back to my drawings yet, I've been doing the homework lessons from the site. I will get back to my ambitious pieces at some point when I feel ready (I'm almost there) and show them. So here's an exercise doodle of sorts that I did experimenting with a limited color palette (it doesn't feel the same as painting with real brushes and paint). Two of the hands are from the Loomis book on drawing faces and hands (another fantastic book that I highly recommend to any budding artists). The figure to the right is supposed to be a cartoon version of me:
oJOKN.png
 

Raging Spaniard

If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
This may be useful to some of you. I recorded myself inking this piece:

yui_inks.jpg


It took about an hour, but the video is sped up like 225%, no audio. You get from start to finish, brush picking brush setting, etc

http://youtu.be/Ab80FN00wC4

If anybody finds this useful, or would like to see something specific, let me know!
 

Jhoan

Member
This may be useful to some of you. I recorded myself inking this piece:

yui_inks.jpg


It took about an hour, but the video is sped up like 225%, no audio. You get from start to finish, brush picking brush setting, etc

http://youtu.be/Ab80FN00wC4

If anybody finds this useful, or would like to see something specific, let me know!
Yes, it's very educational. I've only seen about 4 minutes of it, but it's fascinating to see a pro at work (as well as your task bar programs ;) ). You add a line but then erase it until you're satisfied with it. I realized how important it is to zoom in to work on a drawing. So I would say keep it up.

I have a question for you: I want to do a self-portrait of myself but it has a background in it. Do you think I should draw in the background first on one layer, make a copy of it, then add the figure in? The reason I ask is because I tried the opposite (figure first, background second), but I scrapped it after I realized the background stuff looked compressed/didn't fit in. Also, would you recommend upgrading to CS6? I'm still using CS5.
 
Great stuff everyone! Thanks to those that have commented on my stuff (and sorry if I've forgotten to thank you in the past).

Here is another creature of the week that I didn't have a chance to submit (finding a new place to live sucks!)
This is suppose to be an undead version of a displacer from the D & D universe.

displacer1.jpg
 

Ken

Member
This may be useful to some of you. I recorded myself inking this piece:


It took about an hour, but the video is sped up like 225%, no audio. You get from start to finish, brush picking brush setting, etc

http://youtu.be/Ab80FN00wC4

If anybody finds this useful, or would like to see something specific, let me know!

Haven't watched it yet but I will tomorrow. Sounds like something that would greatly help me.
 

Prax

Member
More character design stuff I did yesterdayish.
They both took me about.. 3 hours each to do? I am not sure. I usually screw a lot a lot with surfing inbetween. XD

I like making my characters sit in the air because I can't be bothered with drawing furniture or boxes, apparently..

myriad_saga__rowan_by_meibatsu-d5bilif.png


myriad_saga__orleien_by_meibatsu-d5bm199.png


Another one as of Aug 19!
myriad_saga__asfir_by_meibatsu-d5bva9o.png
 

Tomasooie

Member
I've never really pursued drawing beyond sketching over all of my school papers, but it's quickly becoming something I want to do.
I know I have a lot to learn.
It's a good thing everyone in here is damn inspiring.

These are from earlier in the year..
(Yeah, they're unfinished; I don't like going back once the feeling has passed.)

iQd5yadPmpldD.jpg
ibiGE6HWWI7d3z.jpg
ibs6vZbG4nVlKD.png
 

Samara

Member
Haven't been drawing much but here it goes.couple of sketches

Anna Wintour in a Bunny suit
bunny_suit_by_golddiggerbaby-d4xqobv.jpg

Ashley from Mass Effect
ashley_williams_by_golddiggerbaby-d4r4i1s.jpg

Liara from Mass Effect
liara_scrap_by_golddiggerbaby-d4rqjyt.jpg


my figures just arent standing right, and I have no fucking clue how to fix that
 

Galang

Banned
Recently trying to learn photoshop by learning and watching tons of tutorials. It's my first month really using a tablet. One thing that nobody never really touches on in depth is clean lines. I've tried to search, but I can't seem to find a very clear tutorial.

Does anyone know of any good tips or tutorials that explain how to outline properly in Photoshop? The best tutorial I found was using the pen tool on CTRL + PAINT, but I'm not sure if that's the standard :S. I have very very shaky hands and it seems quite hard doing it manually.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)
 
Recently trying to learn photoshop by learning and watching tons of tutorials. It's my first month really using a tablet. One thing that nobody never really touches on in depth is clean lines. I've tried to search, but I can't seem to find a very clear tutorial.

Does anyone know of any good tips or tutorials that explain how to outline properly in Photoshop? The best tutorial I found was using the pen tool on CTRL + PAINT, but I'm not sure if that's the standard :S. I have very very shaky hands and it seems quite hard doing it manually.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

This probably isn't much help but most drawings with "clean" lines were probably drawn in illustrator because it naturally smooths the gradients of the lines you draw. Photoshop's kinda more of a rough and ready sketchy deal
 

MrBig

Member
Recently trying to learn photoshop by learning and watching tons of tutorials. It's my first month really using a tablet. One thing that nobody never really touches on in depth is clean lines. I've tried to search, but I can't seem to find a very clear tutorial.

Does anyone know of any good tips or tutorials that explain how to outline properly in Photoshop? The best tutorial I found was using the pen tool on CTRL + PAINT, but I'm not sure if that's the standard :S. I have very very shaky hands and it seems quite hard doing it manually.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

There's no replacement to practicing your strokes, but this can help http://people.happycoders.org/kamih/lazynezumi
 

Samara

Member
I find that drawing with a calligraphy-like brush gives smoother lines. I think this is what Spaniard is doing as well. also making sweeping motions instead of scratchy ones.
 

Raging Spaniard

If they are Dutch, upright and breathing they are more racist than your favorite player
This probably isn't much help but most drawings with "clean" lines were probably drawn in illustrator because it naturally smooths the gradients of the lines you draw. Photoshop's kinda more of a rough and ready sketchy deal

Nah, thats not the right idea. Illustrator you get vector based art instead of rasterized art. Vector art can be resized to any print size and it will retain its quality without deteriorating and also uses less memory.

Photoshop you usually get files that can be compressed and have reduced quality, HOWEVER, if you make your art 300,dpi, 600 dpi or higher it will retain its quality no matter how big you make it. The art you make doesnt need to make rough or sketchy in the least, thats just up to the artist. Learn how to use good selection methods, use layers properly, layer styles, good brush settings and youll have clean, crisp art. It all depends on how much polish you want to give.

The key element in using which software depends on what kind of look you want to achieve. Illustrator is more technical and less art friendly, its better suited for UI development, cell shading and other misc things. Photoshop gets much closer to letting you make art the way you would with real media. On illustrator its something closer to cutting pieces of paper and putting them n top of each other.
 
Nah, thats not the right idea. Illustrator you get vector based art instead of rasterized art. Vector art can be resized to any print size and it will retain its quality without deteriorating and also uses less memory.

Photoshop you usually get files that can be compressed and have reduced quality, HOWEVER, if you make your art 300,dpi, 600 dpi or higher it will retain its quality no matter how big you make it. The art you make doesnt need to make rough or sketchy in the least, thats just up to the artist. Learn how to use good selection methods, use layers properly, layer styles, good brush settings and youll have clean, crisp art. It all depends on how much polish you want to give.

The key element in using which software depends on what kind of look you want to achieve. Illustrator is more technical and less art friendly, its better suited for UI development, cell shading and other misc things. Photoshop gets much closer to letting you make art the way you would with real media. On illustrator its something closer to cutting pieces of paper and putting them n top of each other.

My point stands. For crisp borders illustrator is the industry standard because its flexible and less time-consuming. You can use photoshop if you want, but i prefer to block a drawing out then flip.

Anyway just a lil thing i've been working on:

1005681_9867588_lz.jpg
 

Prax

Member
Recently trying to learn photoshop by learning and watching tons of tutorials. It's my first month really using a tablet. One thing that nobody never really touches on in depth is clean lines. I've tried to search, but I can't seem to find a very clear tutorial.

Does anyone know of any good tips or tutorials that explain how to outline properly in Photoshop? The best tutorial I found was using the pen tool on CTRL + PAINT, but I'm not sure if that's the standard :S. I have very very shaky hands and it seems quite hard doing it manually.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

I would say to just keep practicing and be more confident in your lines. Try making large sweeping arcs, quick doodles and gestures. Once you get used to sketching in Photoshop (or any other program with your tablet), you will get better with outlining with crisp lines. Then you can get used to erasing/chipping away at your lines after laying them down so you get nice sharp ends or smoother edges or varying thicknesses.

You can otherwise try using vector/pen tools, but I never find that the same as doing ti by hand (I find it much more frustrating than doing it manually).

Photoshop is kind of "bleh" for me when it comes to outlining/inking, but mostly because of its auto-correction of my lines (or my computer was really slow and crappy so it couldn't rend it quickly enough and made guesses). If you are overly worried about shakiness, then photoshop has line smoothing features on some brushes, I think.
 

cwmartin

Member
Great stuff everyone! Thanks to those that have commented on my stuff (and sorry if I've forgotten to thank you in the past).

Here is another creature of the week that I didn't have a chance to submit (finding a new place to live sucks!)
This is suppose to be an undead version of a displacer from the D & D universe.

displacer1.jpg

Hey DM, would you mind if I used this piece as inspiration for a tattoo in the future? Want to make sure your okay with it, and a tattoo artist using it as a foundation first.
 

Galang

Banned
I would say to just keep practicing and be more confident in your lines. Try making large sweeping arcs, quick doodles and gestures. Once you get used to sketching in Photoshop (or any other program with your tablet), you will get better with outlining with crisp lines. Then you can get used to erasing/chipping away at your lines after laying them down so you get nice sharp ends or smoother edges or varying thicknesses.

You can otherwise try using vector/pen tools, but I never find that the same as doing ti by hand (I find it much more frustrating than doing it manually).

Photoshop is kind of "bleh" for me when it comes to outlining/inking, but mostly because of its auto-correction of my lines (or my computer was really slow and crappy so it couldn't rend it quickly enough and made guesses). If you are overly worried about shakiness, then photoshop has line smoothing features on some brushes, I think.

Thanks, great insight! :) I'll just keep practicing.This does makes sense as my line quality on traditional media has gotten a whole lot better with practice as well. It feels like I am starting over again, so I guess I just feel impatient at the lines not doing what I want.

There's no replacement to practicing your strokes, but this can help http://people.happycoders.org/kamih/lazynezumi

Thanks, that's really neat. As you say I'll just start off with practicing more though.

I find that drawing with a calligraphy-like brush gives smoother lines. I think this is what Spaniard is doing as well. also making sweeping motions instead of scratchy ones.

Oh okay thanks! I am currently using the default brush before trying the other ones. I'll keep this in mind after I get more comfortable with the program.

This probably isn't much help but most drawings with "clean" lines were probably drawn in illustrator because it naturally smooths the gradients of the lines you draw. Photoshop's kinda more of a rough and ready sketchy deal

Thanks! I'll get around to trying Illustrator eventually, but I only got photoshop with my tuition fee so I want to learn it before moving onto other programs.

Nah, thats not the right idea. Illustrator you get vector based art instead of rasterized art. Vector art can be resized to any print size and it will retain its quality without deteriorating and also uses less memory.

Photoshop you usually get files that can be compressed and have reduced quality, HOWEVER, if you make your art 300,dpi, 600 dpi or higher it will retain its quality no matter how big you make it. The art you make doesnt need to make rough or sketchy in the least, thats just up to the artist. Learn how to use good selection methods, use layers properly, layer styles, good brush settings and youll have clean, crisp art. It all depends on how much polish you want to give.

The key element in using which software depends on what kind of look you want to achieve. Illustrator is more technical and less art friendly, its better suited for UI development, cell shading and other misc things. Photoshop gets much closer to letting you make art the way you would with real media. On illustrator its something closer to cutting pieces of paper and putting them n top of each other.

Thanks, this was very informative!
 

daedalius

Member
Hey guys,
gencon went great; looks like I'll be doing work for several of the large RPG/card game/board game studios ;)

Most importantly, Fantasy Flight Games and their 40k line.
 

Jhoan

Member
^^Professor X, you're a beast.

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I haven't really been messing around with the digital stuff yet other than a banner that I made for this month's NYC GAF Meet up thread with a few more drawing banners to come. That's something I'm aiming to do over this three day weekend.

That said, I do have a train drawing (well there's another one, but I feel lazy to disconnect my phone and take a picture of it) and two drawings that I did from my imagination. I realized that I need to stop doing fuzzy, zig-zaggy lines and make confident lines:

I've been gradually adding more details/stuff to this one over the days.
IFZZWl.jpg


Subway sketch of a person that I did yesterday super quickly.
ubtr3l.jpg


And lastly, a work-in-progress of a figure from my imagination. It got motivated by an attractive woman that sitting across from me on the subway that I kept making eye contact with every now and then. :D
K9dB0l.jpg
 

Timo

Member
4eeUO.jpg


Advance Wars fanart. I haven't done fanart in years. I figure pop culture might be a good way to spread my work around, works for Mr. Hipp.
 
This probably isn't much help but most drawings with "clean" lines were probably drawn in illustrator because it naturally smooths the gradients of the lines you draw. Photoshop's kinda more of a rough and ready sketchy deal

I know raging covered this but: Illustrator is a mathematical/vector program. Every point you "draw" is calculated and accounted for. So it can be changed/resized without any loss of information. Anyway, these were made entirely in Photoshop.

To the guy wondering about line quality in PS. The pen tool is your friend. A wacom is your friend when using the brush tool, and your elbow is your friend. Zoom in if you have to, rotate the canvas (so you can easily make a comfortable stroke), or whatever else to make a smooth line. Try to get your target line in one smooth stroke. There aint no shame in CTRL-Z'ing 7 times before you get the smoothest of lines.
 

jokkir

Member
I finished sketching this about 10 minutes ago (took me about 10-15 minutes to draw)


Can anyone guess who it is? >__> I kinda screwed up while drawing it and yeah...

Also, I need advice on how to draw better. Or I guess practice makes perfect?
 
I finished sketching this about 10 minutes ago (took me about 10-15 minutes to draw)



Can anyone guess who it is? >__> I kinda screwed up while drawing it and yeah...

Also, I need advice on how to draw better. Or I guess practice makes perfect?

Young Bruce Willis!
 

Prax

Member
More character artwork stuff.
Because this is what I do when I procrastinate on getting art I'm "supposed" to be doing done.. Ahem..

myriad_saga__orionhod_by_meibatsu-d5ctn4y.png


myriad_saga__wil_by_meibatsu-d5dxy5o.png


These should be the last of them in this "series" if you guys are tired of seeing 'em. XD
 

Dali

Member
I finished sketching this about 10 minutes ago (took me about 10-15 minutes to draw)



Can anyone guess who it is? >__> I kinda screwed up while drawing it and yeah...

Also, I need advice on how to draw better. Or I guess practice makes perfect?

Will Wheaton? Young, Crusher, version of course.
 
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