11-01-2018, 05:21 AM
@Baldgate:
I'm not trying to be dogmatic. Like a lot of things in art, there can be a difference in opinion and approach here. In that post I was describing a new understanding that clicked for me about the relationship that shapes and edges have to each other.
@Shinkasuru:
I've found reading books and watching tutorials very valuable, but they can also become a time sink if I'm not careful. The amount of time to work on a piece is also tough. Doing both fast studies and some long pieces is probably best. Personally I have neglected the longer pieces and need to do more in that direction.
I don't know who makes most of these sculptures I draw. I mainly find them on pinterest and that site is terrible for finding out who made a sculpture, drawing, painting etc. but it sure is good to find a whole bunch of them. And Jet Jaguar is a guy who hangs out on the CD discord and yells at us to do better. He went to a proper art school and I think takes Harold Speed's books as his art bible.
Balancing soft and hard is the issue! Personally I think a lot of my own trouble comes from not looking hard at the image enough. You know, we have to really think about how each and every edge works, how every color should blend. I don't know how people say they can turn their brain off at any point while drawing or painting. To me it's a full brain workout. You don't need to use any particular brush either. Hard edged brushes can get soft edges by a light touch and color picking and blending. Soft brushes can get a hard edge by making them very small. So we are not trapped by using any particular brush into making any kind of painting. Brush just changes the way we have to go about it.
I have never understood the smudge brush. Every time I touch it, it lags out photoshop, it gives bad and unpredictable results. Doesn't matter if I'm using some great preset from a pro, or my own smudge brush, whatever. I would just stay away from it, but then again different tools work for different people. Maybe it will click for you.
As far as "painterly", I look at guys like Craig Mullins and I think their stuff is awesome, but I don't think that's the kind of thing that gets commissioned. I have somewhat gone in this direction with some studies and here and such, but I think it's probably a mistake to go too far with it. Other artists are impressed by how much can be accomplished with a few brush strokes in just the right place, but normal people just want stuff that looks clean and finished.
I'm not trying to be dogmatic. Like a lot of things in art, there can be a difference in opinion and approach here. In that post I was describing a new understanding that clicked for me about the relationship that shapes and edges have to each other.
@Shinkasuru:
I've found reading books and watching tutorials very valuable, but they can also become a time sink if I'm not careful. The amount of time to work on a piece is also tough. Doing both fast studies and some long pieces is probably best. Personally I have neglected the longer pieces and need to do more in that direction.
I don't know who makes most of these sculptures I draw. I mainly find them on pinterest and that site is terrible for finding out who made a sculpture, drawing, painting etc. but it sure is good to find a whole bunch of them. And Jet Jaguar is a guy who hangs out on the CD discord and yells at us to do better. He went to a proper art school and I think takes Harold Speed's books as his art bible.
Balancing soft and hard is the issue! Personally I think a lot of my own trouble comes from not looking hard at the image enough. You know, we have to really think about how each and every edge works, how every color should blend. I don't know how people say they can turn their brain off at any point while drawing or painting. To me it's a full brain workout. You don't need to use any particular brush either. Hard edged brushes can get soft edges by a light touch and color picking and blending. Soft brushes can get a hard edge by making them very small. So we are not trapped by using any particular brush into making any kind of painting. Brush just changes the way we have to go about it.
I have never understood the smudge brush. Every time I touch it, it lags out photoshop, it gives bad and unpredictable results. Doesn't matter if I'm using some great preset from a pro, or my own smudge brush, whatever. I would just stay away from it, but then again different tools work for different people. Maybe it will click for you.
As far as "painterly", I look at guys like Craig Mullins and I think their stuff is awesome, but I don't think that's the kind of thing that gets commissioned. I have somewhat gone in this direction with some studies and here and such, but I think it's probably a mistake to go too far with it. Other artists are impressed by how much can be accomplished with a few brush strokes in just the right place, but normal people just want stuff that looks clean and finished.