missimoinsane digital painting improvements :3

[missimoinsane]

Hello,

I'm possibly doing this all wrong (sorry)... But basically a friend on deviantART said that this site really helped her to improve and I should come here, create a sketchbook and go from there... well here I am... possibly doing it work... but if anyone feels they can shed any light (oh the irony as light seems to be my biggest flaw) then that'd be appreciated <3 <3

http://www.missimoinsane.deviantart.com

Anyways hoping to improve my art [Photoshop CS5 & Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch] and make friends along the way

[darktiste]

when you start a new piece of work and you want to make not to big not to small image go for 1000x600 pixel for study or landscape and go for 600x1000 pixel to get a vertical image

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to resize a image allready create ctrl+t then you will see the upper bar change then you will see x and y enter a value for x and a value for y seem like math but take the time to look at the work space after you did ctrl+t you fill find it

[missimoinsane]

Thank you, I do know how to resize but I often find when I work on "smaller" canvases the resolution comes out all grainy (I don't know why) I am pretty sure it's my laptop ~ but I'll give it a whirl. :) Thank you for your comment!!

mii

[darktiste]

it because the smaller the image is made. If you resize it the pixel will start to look grainy so you better start with a bigger canvases and work with zoom.That how i understand it.

it a screen low resolution problem or it the image size being wrong

here is also some futher explaination i think:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_dis...esolutions

[missimoinsane]

I can't think how to explain it properly.

But. If I work in a stupidly huge canvas. And draw say a curved line... the line (despite being freehand) is smoother than if I work on a small canvas which looks like I've just drawn in MS Paint. The quality just looks BAD.

I have googled this many-a-time and seems that if working on a bigger canvas resolves the problem, then work on a bigger canvas. But of course then you have constant crashing, not responding and often saving a .psd can take quite some time, especially (if like me) you love layers.

*sigh*

It's just one of them things... sadly. However hoping to obtain the bf's laptop which is better than mind soon as he's getting a new PC. So here's to hoping that will resolve the issue... < Hoping it's a laptop issue and not the tablet or software [CS5 and Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch] ~ I really want a cintiqu though but looks like it'll be not this christmas but the next (just bought a house and so we don't really have spare cash atm...!!)

...anyways...

I'm sure it's something or nothing.
But yes I am aware. *sigh*

[darktiste]

my opinion is to step out of your confort zone and start to do less layer 3-4 layer max.Why you lose time to make folder to organize layers you lose time looking for the right layer to work on.And i can't think of anything else at the moment but i am sure anyone who is ''pro'' will mostly agree with me and can point out other bad aspect.

[Fedodika]

Just do studies and check out other people's sketchbooks to get an idea of the community here, it's a bit different than deviantart; Welcome to Daggers!

[JonHop]

Welcome to the daggers, I've taken a quick look at your work here and some on your deviantart and these are my thoughts on a few issues you seem to be having. This is not a personal attack on you or your work I'm just trying to give some insight the best I can to help you improve so please don't take it the wrong way and leave the forums ;) -

Values, Describing form, edges and perspective seem to be the main issues. One of the problems you're having is your work is looking overly flat, this is due mainly to the use of a very close value range in your images where your darks and lights are mostly to close on the value scale and the that is coupled with a lack of atmospheric perspective in your images with backgrounds where the things further away aren't light enough on the value scale. And due to the limited value range your paintings tend to look flat. One thing to remember when painting is think of it as if you were painting an actual 3D model and let your brush strokes form over it as if it was 3D.

As for edges your work seems to be done a lot with the soft round brush, which is fine, but there tends to be a lack of hard or firm edges in your work (this can also be helped by addressing your use of values, dark next to a light can create a sort of harder edge with the contrast of the 2 values). This is a resource someone linked me to when i first came here concerning the use of edges - http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913 it's a very good written resource to refer to and apply what you learn.

Other than that what I would suggest is doing some studies using only value and no colour, this will help you to improve your use of values and see some of the issues and learn how to resolve them for yourself. There are a great many resources here to help you lean and youtube is also full of great videos should you ish to check some out (FZD school being one of my personal favourites , though feng zhu does not go into a lot of fundamentals, but i believe he does have a video series where he is using just value and you can see there how using a wider range of values can help to improve an image).

Well I hope that was of some help and I look forward to seeing your progress here :)

[missimoinsane]

To darktiste
Thank you, well I'll be sure to give that a go!! ...though I am kinda trying...

I have recently acquired "art academy" and "new art academy" for my 3DS XL and I'm finding it an interesting learning tool. I'm finding the most difficult part that if you use the "paint" tool (or anything other than pencil) you can't undo what you've done you can start over or go over the top of mistakes. So I'm trying to work on the principle of painting over as appose to 'undo'.

Thank you for the advice :)

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To Fedodika
The people seem much nicer and I've not been here long :)
Thank you for the heads up :) and lovely welcome...!!
I look forward to learning and sharing here!

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To JonHop

Hello :) and thank you for the lovely welcome!!

Thank you for taking a look at my work, and for what you said - I really apprechiate it!!

That said, I completly agree with your points of view... as I did prior to joining this site today. However my problem is not so much what's wrong but how to make it right... Thank you for the link. Toxicpanda linked me too it earlier (as she gave me this link too) but I pretty much signed up here, posted a few things and then had to go as I had an evening class of which I haven't been back too long. I digress. Thank you for the link and it would be lovely to improve on those key points and really turn my work around. I am currently working on a piece however once done I will take up what you said.

Thank you again for the links and also the YouTube refferences I will be sure to check them out.

I do hope to improve, though feel it's going to take a very long time to break my habbits. So please be patient with me but I am going to try harder :)

Thank you again, mii

[missimoinsane]

dA link >> http://missimoinsane.deviantart.com/art/...-393409434 <<

So I joined Crimson Dagger and a few lovely people on there including deviantART's *T00xicpanda informed me of a few links which might help me improver... So from that I started a doodle... I was working on the concept of creating a random background and then building on top of that. Trying to work in as few layers as possible. I'm not sure as it's an improvement but I sure did have fun, plus the background really influenced and under the sea and so I altered my doodle to accommodate a mermaid... well... :meow: anyways... crits... comments... etc... :)

:( Yes I am struggling to make this work in smaller scale as she looks very dirty - not sure how to fix this... I just kept making it worse.

Imogen
CS5
7 Hours
Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch
© =missimoinsane 2013

[Bjulvar]

Heya and welcome!
Ah the problem of it looking dirty! It's a curse for every traditional painter that has ever lived. It usually stems from overworking the colors and mixing them together a bit too much than necessary. In a way it can carry over to digital. I think that it's in a sense the issue of not knowing when to stop and be content with what you've done on the canvas. Not sure if that is the case here, but it could be.

The best thing you could do to combat this is just studying and observing the diffrent colors that the skin has, or anything else for that matter. Because right now there is a lot of grey and cold colors, with a hint of warmness here and there. The lightning can be a bit confusing so setting a source for it could make it clearer.
Also the spectrum of light underwater leans mostly towards blue and green, because they travel further. Looking it up I saw that red was actually the color that traveled the least!

I do find the backlightning interesting and the character itself has a nice dynamic flow with her hair. It's just about tying it together! Since that lightning would shadow her face!

I got a bit carried away, since it's a doodle I hope you don't find it too much :P
Draw or die my friend!

[missimoinsane]

Bjulvar

Thank you for the welcome :) and don't worry you haven't gone too far that's what I am here for to learn and improve :D so thank you for what you said.

Dirty; people keep telling me because the colours I use are limited that things look very 'flat' which I am trying to improve on. Yes lighting is a problem for me. But I am trying!! Honest. I guess what you said about traditional artist "muddy" colours by mixing them too much... Didn't realise you could do the same with digital paintings... so that's new!! Perhaps something I should keep an eye on.

I'm glad you like the back lighting, I thought it was a little different. I tried to work from this...

Perhaps tackling an under water scene wasn't the best idea... hmmm... live and learn. Well I'll keep on practicing... Thank you for what you said though, I honestly do appreciate it. So thank you.

mii

[darktiste]

It the little marmaid ariel for sure.That why i think you did go for that kind of cartoon look and semi realistic look.the edge need a bit of work also you can add a bit of texture to the skin it a little bit to soft for my taste but it up to you.

here is also a tutorial you may like
http://yumix.deviantart.com/art/Realism-...l-51879250

[Bjulvar]

Yeah that might be true about the limited colors. The skin usually catches a bunch of atmospherical colors and such. One thing James Gurney pointed out is that the forehead is usually more yellow, the cheeks, nose and eyes more red, and then the mouth and chin area can be more greenish. But it's juuust hints of color though and in the right lightning scenario. So don't go all out on the primaries haha!

And I have to say don't be discourage from trying things that you find hard. It's really the best way to move forward. So I'd consider that it's a brave move to tackle an underrwater scene! Don't give that up, seriously :D

No worries, hope it helped!

[missimoinsane]

To darktiste

Thank you :) I believe the tutorial is shared here: http://www.floobynooby.com/ICG/artvalues.html which I've been 'trying' to learn from :) I'm sorry to didn't like the skin texture on this... I was trying to use a different brush from my usual. But apparently it didn't work out all round. But I'll keep trying - thank you.

mii

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To Bjulvar

Thank you again, I am trying not to be discouraged. About a year or so ago I got quite upset with digital painting and just walked away from it. Over time I discovered that I did miss it and that I should come back, put my learning head on and try to better myself. I can see improvement from more recent stuff to a year ago and before... That said though I good enough to know I'm not good enough but I'm going to keep at it until I'm happy and then keep going there after. Thank you for your encouragement and words.

mii

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To JonHop (or anyone looking)

JonHop, thought I'd take on what you said about working in monochrom as appose to colour... I'm revisiting something I started in May (WIP 1) and here's an update:


{Quick edit, Thank you JonHop for this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKvPiV-41...e=youtu.be video on values}

mii

[missimoinsane]

Monochrome is hurting my head, and not working out so well so I decided to leave it for a bit and go look at colour study instead. I am so pleased with myself. I don't even care if it's wrong tbh I'm so pleased with myself. 3-4hours :D Comments more than appreciated!!

[missimoinsane]

Well I'd call if finished.

I was advised to look at skin. Best way to do this would be a realism piece (despite I wish to lean more towards semi realism such as video game / film graphic art and such but I digress). So picked a piece and started looking at colours (real colours) and shape and form. Hoping to also work with lighting and values. I am so proud of myself with how this turned out, despite it not touching all bases such as lighting, form, values etc etc but I'm trying and this is an improvement even if I say so myself - so proud of myself I could cry!

View this on deviantART link

Imogen
15th August 2013
CS5 & Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch
4-5 hours

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Close up.

[Tygerson]

The closeup of the study is especially well composed.

I think one thing to notice is cast shadows, or contact shadows (that extra dark area where something touches a surface). If it feels like things aren't grounded or separated it helps to add these in. For example, shadow from her hair onto her skin, shadows from her clothing on her skin. Place things on a table, or hold a piece of cloth over your skin.

Also, make sure you give the cloth some thickness to keep it from looking painted on. I just googles "how to draw clothes" and came up with this, which shows a bit of what to look for: http://www.howtodrawmanga.com/pages/tutorial_clothes

[missimoinsane]

Hello Tygerson

Thank you for what you said, I will add it to my list of "need to improve on's"! Also thank you for the link... The point of the last piece was more about skin than clothes or hair. She just looked weired with out clothes or hair. But I will also take on what you said about shadow. So thank you for that :)

~ Hope you have a lovely weekend
mii

[missimoinsane]

Ok, so after the advice from fellow Dagger JonHop on how to paint values I decided to attempt it. But I figured I'd go totally outside of my comfort zone and attempt not only monochrome and values but also mark making and a non humanoid subject (aka a sparrow... let's call him Fremsley!! - "Fremsley.. That's a nice name, for a sparrow")

Anyways. Its an attempt it's 2-3 hours of playing in Photoshop CS5 with Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch using regular CS5 brushes. While listening to Neurotic Fish (EBM).

Let me discuss the images at the top...
1A. We have the sketchy line art.
2B. Attempt at values with sketchy line art.
3B. Values with out the line art.
4C. Mark making while thinking about values with the line art.
5C. Mark making while thinking about values with out line art.
6D. Finished rendered up piece (with no feet).

The bottom left image is that of the line art and using a ray brush that *T00xicpanda gave me (her personal brush set) I tried to work following a light source and shapes (as JonHop demonstarated for me earlier).

Finally the main image, which now includes feet. Feet... not so great, but I think that's more down to my dodgy drawing skills as appose colouring. Also added a shadow on the "ground" just to ground it a bit and make it feel less like a bird randomly floating lol... :)

As for my personal thoughts... I am happy with this piece. It's an improvement on my previous works and I personally feel that while it's not perfect it's a step in the right direction. Again very pleased with myself.... more so for also stepping out of my comfort of humanoids lol and trying something different. Although this piece slightly makes me want to reattempt 'red eyed tree frogs' as that was done with laptop touch pad before I got my tablet. I digress. Over all enjoyed myself.. which I think more than anything else is the point of creating... soooo yey me!! lol.