09-28-2014, 10:08 AM
So i've been working diligently, but haven't been able to scan my sketchbook in yet. At present I am working on hands and feet (the most often forgotten parts of the body when it comes to learning..for me anyway). However, I discovered Matt Kohr's ctrl+paint tutorials a month or so ago and was waiting for my yiynova tablet monitor (which i got at the end of august) to try them out. I'm so thankful for the exercises he puts with them XD His tutorial library really is a great resource! :O
As i'm planning on working on my digital painting skills, I'm going through his digital painting exercises. Here are the first three. By the way, the ones on the left are his, and the objective was to copy his with as much accuracy in edges and gradients as possible.
![[Image: 15373577072_8d89dd8a7e_b.jpg]](https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2943/15373577072_8d89dd8a7e_b.jpg)
This was the first one, and it was pretty hard...I use photoshop alot with digital painting but it's all very basic..meaning im not used to blending outside of the smudge tool (which isn't as horrible as it sounds. It's modified to be more like the water brush from paint tool SAI). I'd never really been a fan of soft brushes, but after that exercise i'm convinced it's because I never knew their blending merits (which, might I add, are AWESOME.) I'd also never really given thought to having the pen pressure control things other than the size. For the first time, as per Kohr's vids, I used what is referred to as an "opacity brush" and it works WONDERS. ESPECIALLY when combined with large soft brushes.
![[Image: 15370727401_f282588d9b_b.jpg]](https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3883/15370727401_f282588d9b_b.jpg)
The second one was alot easier. I'm not sure whether it was more because I'd had experience with the first one and knew how to work my brushes or more because it's color and different colors are easier to decipher for me than values (though i'm sure it's a combination of both)
![[Image: 15350882076_48bf5f68c7_b.jpg]](https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2945/15350882076_48bf5f68c7_b.jpg)
The last exercise was to work on straight lines, and so he provided a worksheet with a dome and it was basically "color in the lines" to work on brush control. After the previous two exercises this one was REALLY easy...until I got to the left side with the lighter values. And then it got a bit harder.
Overall a positive experience if I had to rate it. I learned alot about brushes and functions that aren't basic and how to change them to get my desired results (because some edges in the first two needed to be hard, some needed to be soft, some gradients needed to be well blended, some didn't), aswell as how I needed to apply pressure for each thing.
As i'm planning on working on my digital painting skills, I'm going through his digital painting exercises. Here are the first three. By the way, the ones on the left are his, and the objective was to copy his with as much accuracy in edges and gradients as possible.
This was the first one, and it was pretty hard...I use photoshop alot with digital painting but it's all very basic..meaning im not used to blending outside of the smudge tool (which isn't as horrible as it sounds. It's modified to be more like the water brush from paint tool SAI). I'd never really been a fan of soft brushes, but after that exercise i'm convinced it's because I never knew their blending merits (which, might I add, are AWESOME.) I'd also never really given thought to having the pen pressure control things other than the size. For the first time, as per Kohr's vids, I used what is referred to as an "opacity brush" and it works WONDERS. ESPECIALLY when combined with large soft brushes.
The second one was alot easier. I'm not sure whether it was more because I'd had experience with the first one and knew how to work my brushes or more because it's color and different colors are easier to decipher for me than values (though i'm sure it's a combination of both)
The last exercise was to work on straight lines, and so he provided a worksheet with a dome and it was basically "color in the lines" to work on brush control. After the previous two exercises this one was REALLY easy...until I got to the left side with the lighter values. And then it got a bit harder.
Overall a positive experience if I had to rate it. I learned alot about brushes and functions that aren't basic and how to change them to get my desired results (because some edges in the first two needed to be hard, some needed to be soft, some gradients needed to be well blended, some didn't), aswell as how I needed to apply pressure for each thing.