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+--- Thread: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer (/thread-9461.html)
RE: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer - Lege1 - 03-08-2023
Pubic Enemy: Likewise man, no worries at all. Yeah, just experiencing all the fun to do stuff from moving from one state to another, lol. I love the forums and always try to find time to get around to them for sure.
Leo Ki: Great work and your piece is coming along nicely. I would make the strong suggestion of maybe working in values first before going into color; this is the way I personally like to work and I feel I can work faster and more accurately this way. The process is fairly simple, just stay 5% between black and white and remain in the gray area and only use black or white for the most extreme absence, or addition of light.
The way I like to work is a rough linear sketch that I sometimes do, or do not, clean up (sometimes I will start with volumetric shapes) and then start blocking in my values with large to middle sized soft brush underneath the line work on a separate layer. From here you can push and pull the values without disturbing the line work. Once you get to a point where the forms read some under the line work, just drop the opacity about 20% on your sketch layer and add a new normal layer to start rendering out the forms a little more over your line work. The idea here is not to render this way to final but do just enough that you can get the forms to read well, if you over render the color will not merge naturally with the piece. From here you can add a new color layer on top of it; you can adjust the opacity of the color layer via the layer mode or by adjusting the opacity settings on your brush. You can also take advantage of other layer modes like overlay to add more or a punch with colors like red, etc, while keeping the layer mode transparent.
Always remember to take advantage of multiply layers to quickly, and easily add shadows as well. Once you have your color blocked in (mind you the sooner the better, then you can easily just start rendering everything out with the brushes of your choice and the color should merge with the black and gray under painting with ease. Experiment with your brush settings and always make sure to have a brush that can make hard edges and another to soften things. Honestly, you may of heard this before, but you can technically do everything with the hard round. Putting your brush settings in Photoshop to opacity pressure only or having both opacity and flow pressure on can yield different results, and painting with wet edges can be really wonderful despite it's transparent qualities. If you want the glide and ease of using wet edges but desire a more opaque effect, consider assigning your brush some texture to assist you best.
Working in black and gray first is so much easier to solve the situation with the values than it is working directly into color. I have spend tons of time in my life experimenting working in both ways and the black and gray method takes the win opposed to working directly in color for sure, even when traditional painting in real life. If the drawing and values are right, then it doesn't matter what color you put over the work, the image will read properly regardless. I hope this information helps you and I'm sure it will. It took me 15 years to fully understand and figure a lot of this stuff out. You see a lot of people give advice and info but will never break too much bread with the really technical stuff in fear you might get better than them,lol.
If you're into using masks to control your edges you can implement them at any time of the image. Most artists like to use the masking in the very beginning, while other paint freely and use the mask more towards the end. I like to paint freely and create my edge by hand so things look more homogenous and natural, but masking is a great way to really grab hold of edge control and push the image front and back. Adding a little blur effect to any background you might have in the image can do this as well. Just a little blur goes a long way,lol.
RE: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer - Leo Ki - 03-08-2023
@PE -
Thank you! Almost crashed into the wall but the wall kindly shifted :)
@Lege1 -
I do recognize the value of your advice because I went through these techniques when I was more intent on art. Started with hard round brushes with opacity variation in the GIMP - there wasn't much else in terms of brushes in it at the time. Then discovered the weird pseudo-oil brush of openCanvas and was like a kid in a sandbox doing direct painting, my most enjoyable and prolific time. Later on I explored more advanced techniques and time savers in Clip Studio. Now I'm on Krita, which I haven't figured out completely yet, and I feel like a beginner again.
When I started my final composition for this CHOW and saw how close the deadline was, I instinctively fell into my ancient comfort zone, direct painting, almost used a single layer but resisted it and made just a few for the different elements, not for color tweaking. This explains in part why it turned out so improvised.
Although I made a few polished pieces in the past, it was always by "sculpting" a direct painting, not by following a line drawing. These are two separate worlds in my mind. Drawing is an abstract representation for comics or inks, painting is more down to earth and tangible. I should probably revise my view.
The one thing that I very rarely used outside of comic paneling, is masks. Krita has them I think, so I'll have another look at the technique for paintings.
Thank you everyone for the fun ride and the adventure! I'm going back to my comic, which I neglected for a month, but would enjoy participating in a future challenge - spending less time in doodling and backstory and tackling my final piece earlier.
RE: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer - Lege1 - 03-08-2023
Leo Ki: I understand everything you are saying and you are working with a lot of different programs instead of just sticking with one which can get a little confusing. I strongly recommend finding an old version of Photoshop and using it, as there is no other program like it in my very strong and professional opinion; it is the mother of image editing software. I'll give a lead in the pms.
RE: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer - darktiste - 03-08-2023
(03-08-2023, 11:00 AM)Lege1 Wrote: Leo Ki: I understand everything you are saying and you are working with a lot of different programs instead of just sticking with one which can get a little confusing. I strongly recommend finding an old version of Photoshop and using it, as there is no other program like it in my very strong and professional opinion; it is the mother of image editing software. I'll give a lead in the pms.
I personally use photoshop cs6 the thing it mostly missing for me is a symmetry tool but that not necessarly hard to do manually and it not necessary for everyone.I think it probably the best brush making program out there.You can use filter and mask which some program might be missing.It also the tool to go if you are into photo bashing i would say.
RE: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer - Lege1 - 03-09-2023
@darktiste: I couldn't agree more with you. Cs6 is great especially for the screen rotation. Symmetry tool would be nice but honestly a good brush stabilizer would be best. I personally use Paint Tool Sai, which has a phenomenal brush stabilizer in it to do super clean line work on a traditional wacom tablet. Photoshop is definitely the best brush making program out there for sure; procreate is nice, but photoshop still takes the cake. I love photoshops filters and masks options and although I'm not into photo bashing here unless it's absolutely necessary for finished product or deadline, photoshop is definitely the program to do all that in.
RE: Crimson CHOW #42 - Elemental Whisperer - Leo Ki - 03-09-2023
Long ago I tried a demo of Photoshop but found it more suited for photo editing than creation, it lacked a color wheel-and-triangle for intuitive color selection and the brushes felt cramped compared to other programs I used at the time such as ArtRage. It looked like it was a ridiculously costly toy for a host of features that I didn't need, and lacking the features I needed most.
However, I'm willing to give it another try now. Does its brush engine compete with that of MyPaint? Actually, let me launch a thread about software in the general section of the forum; not many come to the Challenge corner and may miss it.