03-14-2023, 12:58 AM
@darktiste Thanks for the advice, but changing paper isn't throwing the baby out with the bathwater? I have zero attachment to charcoal, and all attachment in the world to my sketchbooks, plus an intense dislike of coarser paper textures.
I've been thinking of trying conté next, or finding some good quality soft black color pencil. It just sucks buying material I've never used blindly in hops it does what I need it to.
@Leo Ki But creepy sculptures are so fun! Hah, usually I don't sculpt from skulls, this was to see if I could. I just grab a neutral face (ahem, actually the nearest file, usually my latest work) and change it into the new subject.
Yes, I'm self taught. I'm not that good of an anatomist, I'm an okay bullshitter who spent an unreasonable amount of time mostly on heads. My limbs knowledge is puny! I really have to find the time to fix that because it's so far behind getting embarrassing.
In any case, internet makes resources easily accessible. It'd be better to have a teacher guiding your studies and correcting your mistakes, but in case of no access books, prerecorded courses, 3d scans, they all can plug that knowledge gap with a little extra effort. About employing that knowledge, it's not very different from colors, edge work or something else. It's a matter of understanding how that bit of real world works, getting good enough at representing it, to then exaggerate, add it where it doesn't belong or omit where it ought be, all with the goal of manipulating the viewer senses, thus emotions.
About the tendon pain, it seems most of mine comes from death grip. XD
- My pencil grip greatly improved with daily practice without really trying. I can tell that because leads rarely snap now, only when I accidentally let half cm out of the mechanical pencil.
- It's very hard to get pain from 3d work. There's a lot of movement variety, mouse and tablet back and forth. Ensuring I have enough desk space is usually enough.
- However, I still get pain from digital painting. I suspecut it's due Wacom pen shape. It's too heavy, thick and conical, the way the nib works forces me to hold it vertically because I get shit control when gripping loosely at an angle. I'm not sure how to counter this.
---
So, updates. I think I forgot to post this? It's not very exciting or pretty, nor a breakthrough because I didn't have the time to further explore it yet, but...
I'll be painting a lot of natural landscapes for that prospective comic, so I need efficiency. It's been a while since I painted forests thus I did a diagnostic painting. Something without much planning or refs, just to identify where I go wrong and what sort of aids I need to make them good but less time-consuming because it's just background.
I won't list everything that went wrong or I'll be here until tomorrow, but major points: 1) I have a weak vegetation visual library, 2) Colors and values all over the place when I should simplify them to make it readable, 3) I really dislike foliage brushes. Tried and discarded the results a couple of times. The lack of control, wrong perspective and lighting makes using them for foreground details more time consuming than helpful. You just fall into a stroke-ctrl-z loop trying to get the correct results that sucks.
After giving it some thought, I did a quick experiment. An alternative way to get sharp leaves, but with correct perspective and superior baked in lighting:
It's promising. Super quick to use, great artistic control! I'm looking forward to trying that in a full forest after tackling the other issues.
Hmmm, here's my sketchbook output from last week. I'm feeling confident enough in values to start allowing myself to stylize some shapes now.
Lastly, some grunt work I've been doing to be able to invest more on the art side of 3d sculpture art:
It's a faux chainmail / alternated patterns generator. It doesn't stand close scrutiny but is okay enough for dressing bust sculptures in armor with ease. I'm still setting up controls, organic rotation randomization is missing from this preview.
I've been thinking of trying conté next, or finding some good quality soft black color pencil. It just sucks buying material I've never used blindly in hops it does what I need it to.
@Leo Ki But creepy sculptures are so fun! Hah, usually I don't sculpt from skulls, this was to see if I could. I just grab a neutral face (ahem, actually the nearest file, usually my latest work) and change it into the new subject.
Yes, I'm self taught. I'm not that good of an anatomist, I'm an okay bullshitter who spent an unreasonable amount of time mostly on heads. My limbs knowledge is puny! I really have to find the time to fix that because it's so far behind getting embarrassing.
In any case, internet makes resources easily accessible. It'd be better to have a teacher guiding your studies and correcting your mistakes, but in case of no access books, prerecorded courses, 3d scans, they all can plug that knowledge gap with a little extra effort. About employing that knowledge, it's not very different from colors, edge work or something else. It's a matter of understanding how that bit of real world works, getting good enough at representing it, to then exaggerate, add it where it doesn't belong or omit where it ought be, all with the goal of manipulating the viewer senses, thus emotions.
About the tendon pain, it seems most of mine comes from death grip. XD
- My pencil grip greatly improved with daily practice without really trying. I can tell that because leads rarely snap now, only when I accidentally let half cm out of the mechanical pencil.
- It's very hard to get pain from 3d work. There's a lot of movement variety, mouse and tablet back and forth. Ensuring I have enough desk space is usually enough.
- However, I still get pain from digital painting. I suspecut it's due Wacom pen shape. It's too heavy, thick and conical, the way the nib works forces me to hold it vertically because I get shit control when gripping loosely at an angle. I'm not sure how to counter this.
---
So, updates. I think I forgot to post this? It's not very exciting or pretty, nor a breakthrough because I didn't have the time to further explore it yet, but...
I'll be painting a lot of natural landscapes for that prospective comic, so I need efficiency. It's been a while since I painted forests thus I did a diagnostic painting. Something without much planning or refs, just to identify where I go wrong and what sort of aids I need to make them good but less time-consuming because it's just background.
I won't list everything that went wrong or I'll be here until tomorrow, but major points: 1) I have a weak vegetation visual library, 2) Colors and values all over the place when I should simplify them to make it readable, 3) I really dislike foliage brushes. Tried and discarded the results a couple of times. The lack of control, wrong perspective and lighting makes using them for foreground details more time consuming than helpful. You just fall into a stroke-ctrl-z loop trying to get the correct results that sucks.
After giving it some thought, I did a quick experiment. An alternative way to get sharp leaves, but with correct perspective and superior baked in lighting:
It's promising. Super quick to use, great artistic control! I'm looking forward to trying that in a full forest after tackling the other issues.
Hmmm, here's my sketchbook output from last week. I'm feeling confident enough in values to start allowing myself to stylize some shapes now.
Lastly, some grunt work I've been doing to be able to invest more on the art side of 3d sculpture art:
It's a faux chainmail / alternated patterns generator. It doesn't stand close scrutiny but is okay enough for dressing bust sculptures in armor with ease. I'm still setting up controls, organic rotation randomization is missing from this preview.