Thanks Beavo. While simple, this definitely made me aware of where I am going wrong when attempting to do this myself, and now I can make the changes necessary to hopefully produce much better results.
no problem guys!
I always struggled with getting values right till i discovered this trick
it's simple and never fails me
getting proper values with just color can be tricky at times, as you have to think about so many things at once. It doesn't help that photoshop has endless color choices, it ends up being more intuitive at times than say oil painting where you physically mix your colors and values. thinking of values first then applying color separates it into easier to manage steps.
There's another thing you can do if you don't like working with greys.
Start your painting in color and work on it. in that adjustment layer button that's in the layers panel, select "black and white" and move that layer to the top of all the other layers. Turning this off and on as you work will show you how it all looks in greyscale.
You have to keep flicking the layer off and on though, so I prefer just doing the whole thing in grisaille first.
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BuckwolfeStarts With Them, Ends With UsRegistered Userregular
edited January 2010
Beavo, you seriously need to make a few more tutorials.:P
I'll have to give that a shot. I usually just jump in with the colours, picking/correcting as I go.
Likewise, I've been having just bucketloads of problems getting my colour and values sorted at the same time. I'm constantly correcting what i've already done and it ends up being a big mess of indicision.
I keep thinking that Darwin in your sig is a Santa : V
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Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
I was asked for an explanation on my painting process by a forumer so I made a li'l (it's huge actually so i'll link it, not post it) tutorial for all to see.
I dumbed it down quite a bit, I know said forumer understands pretty much all of this junk, but I'm gonna post it on my deviantart account as well.
Awesome tutorial, but i think I lost you when i got to the coloring phase. If i were to brush color on top, wouldnt i lose all the gray tones underneath? (I know this is way too advanced for me to attempt now, but its just curiosity, and i might attempt this with simpler shapes like an orange.)
I was asked for an explanation on my painting process by a forumer so I made a li'l (it's huge actually so i'll link it, not post it) tutorial for all to see.
I dumbed it down quite a bit, I know said forumer understands pretty much all of this junk, but I'm gonna post it on my deviantart account as well.
Awesome tutorial, but i think I lost you when i got to the coloring phase. If i were to brush color on top, wouldnt i lose all the gray tones underneath? (I know this is way too advanced for me to attempt now, but its just curiosity, and i might attempt this with simpler shapes like an orange.)
ooh ooh i can help with this one
edit: wait, is shades the right term? eh, hopefully it still makes sense
This is actually the simplest method of colorization you can do. It helps to think it like you are applying a transparent colored wash to a drawing-which is why the value information beneath it shows through.
Photoshop takes the color you want to apply, looks at what you're putting it on top of, and tries to mix an optically similar value of that particular hue. It isn't perfect but it works well enough as a blunt tool.
and scos is right too
It's not perfect
light colors for example produce really muddy colors when put on top of greys
yellow looks terrible
which is why you need to make informed decisions when doing this
you can use it to a point, and then on a layer on top of all of it, add another layer to "fine tune" with colors that didn't quite work out with this method.
been doing lots of studies of birds lately
they've got really subtle characteristics I find, and they're super fun to draw.
anyways, I need to loosen up a bit, all of my traditional drawings tend to be way way too stiff.
so I took some india ink, giant brushes and a couple nibs and went to town
this happened.
definitely more loose than other things I do, I'd love crits on it
Since you want a crit- The line that defines the top/back of his head is a little heavy . You also couldve defined that shape by framing it with a light wash..
But really Im digging pretty hard to find something to pick at. I like this.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
edited January 2010
The combination of grass and feathers sticking out at every angle weakens the silhouette near the legs, which is something you'd really want to play up with pen and ink.
NappuccinoSurveyor of Things and StuffRegistered Userregular
edited January 2010
The way the feathers are laid out makes the right leg look closer than the left leg purely because it is larger but they way the body is positioned suggests the other way is correct.
Also, it reminds me of some of Ralph Steadman's stuff with the exagurated line weights and such. I really don't have anything else to say but "awesome."
thanks guys!
I was trying hard to think big and general, ignoring the little details, just let it "happen"
i think for the first little while as i do these, i'm just going to do it that way, and then as i get a feel for the more expressive way of working, i'll start to pick up on ironing out little details
i literally just slapped ink onto some watercolor paper
it was honestly sort of liberating
i usually pour over every little detail, nitpick the shit out of drawings
to just let loose and draw whatever without worrying about curves matching up and line width variation was really nice.
i recommend it to anyone
Same here.
I'm not sure whether you meant to go all Pollock on the background there, but it serves the concept of a carrion feeder well. You can just smell the nastiness coming from that bird, as effectively as stink lines.
Beavo - I love it! I like artists who pursue this style of free-form ink work. You might guess from my avatar, but I am a huge fan of Patrick McDonnell and he does free-form inking and then watercoloring. He's dreamy! I'm a huge fan of your work in general, and really hope to see more in this vein.
It's really interesting to see it from you too, because like, I love your stuff but it is very much controlled-clean-composed-well thought out(which is a good thing for what you're doing), whereas this is more BAM ITS A FAHKIN VULTURE
but it also shows that because you've been labouring over getting your shit right for so long, you're so good at it now you're just able to go BAM ITS A DOG DAWG
I imagine you saying bam when drawing. This all seems like a very good release. Where is my india ink, brb
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It's probably just my imagination, but I think that fish would make the most original bow tie
I always struggled with getting values right till i discovered this trick
it's simple and never fails me
getting proper values with just color can be tricky at times, as you have to think about so many things at once. It doesn't help that photoshop has endless color choices, it ends up being more intuitive at times than say oil painting where you physically mix your colors and values. thinking of values first then applying color separates it into easier to manage steps.
There's another thing you can do if you don't like working with greys.
Start your painting in color and work on it. in that adjustment layer button that's in the layers panel, select "black and white" and move that layer to the top of all the other layers. Turning this off and on as you work will show you how it all looks in greyscale.
You have to keep flicking the layer off and on though, so I prefer just doing the whole thing in grisaille first.
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8wOuC0PiMI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWpxo9dBIQU&feature=related
Likewise, I've been having just bucketloads of problems getting my colour and values sorted at the same time. I'm constantly correcting what i've already done and it ends up being a big mess of indicision.
I used those to help learn the pen tool for your SS drawing!
i always get vector questions, they are tricky little buggers
Just once I wish someone would say that to me!
Sigh....
EDIT - Oh, shit! Your thread made it to 96 pages? Fucking congrats!
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
Beavo is always so upbeat and happy. You just know she's harboring some dark secret.
we had a lot of laughs, me and this thread
i'll probably need a moment with it alone.
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
and berate me thusly
"Who are you more afraid of??"
Think about it.
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
wait... i might be more afraid of kakos
it's a toss up really.
If somebody would give me actual forum power, my terror would be far more justifiable. I'm basically just looking for an opportunity really.
EDIT - I'm gonna stop derailing your thread, and being an asshole now. Its just not fair to your adoring fans:P
Steam handle: Buckwolfe
Ha.
"Probably."
Awesome tutorial, but i think I lost you when i got to the coloring phase. If i were to brush color on top, wouldnt i lose all the gray tones underneath? (I know this is way too advanced for me to attempt now, but its just curiosity, and i might attempt this with simpler shapes like an orange.)
ooh ooh i can help with this one edit: wait, is shades the right term? eh, hopefully it still makes sense
Webcomic Twitter Steam Wishlist SATAN
Photoshop takes the color you want to apply, looks at what you're putting it on top of, and tries to mix an optically similar value of that particular hue. It isn't perfect but it works well enough as a blunt tool.
and scos is right too
It's not perfect
light colors for example produce really muddy colors when put on top of greys
yellow looks terrible
which is why you need to make informed decisions when doing this
you can use it to a point, and then on a layer on top of all of it, add another layer to "fine tune" with colors that didn't quite work out with this method.
they've got really subtle characteristics I find, and they're super fun to draw.
anyways, I need to loosen up a bit, all of my traditional drawings tend to be way way too stiff.
so I took some india ink, giant brushes and a couple nibs and went to town
this happened.
definitely more loose than other things I do, I'd love crits on it
Since you want a crit- The line that defines the top/back of his head is a little heavy . You also couldve defined that shape by framing it with a light wash..
But really Im digging pretty hard to find something to pick at. I like this.
Also, it reminds me of some of Ralph Steadman's stuff with the exagurated line weights and such. I really don't have anything else to say but "awesome."
So... awesome.
I was trying hard to think big and general, ignoring the little details, just let it "happen"
i think for the first little while as i do these, i'm just going to do it that way, and then as i get a feel for the more expressive way of working, i'll start to pick up on ironing out little details
i literally just slapped ink onto some watercolor paper
it was honestly sort of liberating
i usually pour over every little detail, nitpick the shit out of drawings
to just let loose and draw whatever without worrying about curves matching up and line width variation was really nice.
i recommend it to anyone
Same here.
I'm not sure whether you meant to go all Pollock on the background there, but it serves the concept of a carrion feeder well. You can just smell the nastiness coming from that bird, as effectively as stink lines.
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
sort of similar but this time i just did a contour drawing with micron and markers
being expressive and loose is fun and so much less stressful
it's like art yoga
breathe and just go for it.
but it also shows that because you've been labouring over getting your shit right for so long, you're so good at it now you're just able to go BAM ITS A DOG DAWG
I imagine you saying bam when drawing. This all seems like a very good release. Where is my india ink, brb