So, I'm looking for good resources to learn Color Theory. I'm often disturbed with my inability to interpret colors I see, so I always wind up working grayscale or color-picking from reference. Part of the problem is that I'm slightly color blind, but I know some of it is just not understanding theory and sometimes it's probably poor observation.
I've been thinking of picking up James Gurney's book, but it seems aimed mostly at traditional painters, so I wasn't how much it would help when I work primarily digital. It also looked a bit high-level for me, rather than a basic intro.
Any tips/ideas/recommendations? Love to hear it.
Mastery is the result of ceaseless error, combined with ruthless self-appraisal.
Gurney is generally an excellent resource, and the colour principles behind digital and traditional are pretty much the same. Digital gives you a wider scope in a lot of ways, but if you start by applying techniques learnt via traditional methods and then branch out you'll probably be better off than the reverse in any case.
There are plenty of good books on color, but really getting good at takes practice. Taking a color theory class from an experienced painter or graphic designer will really help you learn how to at least mix colors well and manage them technically. But really getting into color also requires a serious interest in color. One reason I moved into type design is that I eventually realized I just don’t give two shits about color. Are you sure you don’t default to black and white and grey because that’s what you really enjoy?
So, I'm looking for good resources to learn Color Theory. I'm often disturbed with my inability to interpret colors I see, so I always wind up working grayscale or color-picking from reference. Part of the problem is that I'm slightly color blind, but I know some of it is just not understanding theory and sometimes it's probably poor observation.
I've been thinking of picking up James Gurney's book, but it seems aimed mostly at traditional painters, so I wasn't how much it would help when I work primarily digital. It also looked a bit high-level for me, rather than a basic intro.
Any tips/ideas/recommendations? Love to hear it.
Seconding everything Tynic said.
The basics of color theory are actually not that hard to grasp- the hard part is putting in the practice and figuring out how to apply them effectively in your work, which is why Gurney's book is so much better than books that try to keep the 'theory' part so abstract and divorced from actual work.
If you just want a kind of crash course on the theory part, I'd suggest getting familiar with these concepts, and then doing some studies to figure out how they function in practice.
Basically colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel (complimentary colors) like blue and orange will create the maximum amount of color contrast; so placing these colors next to each other will drive the eye there. Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel (analogous colors) like green and yellow, when place next to each other will 'go together', and will not drive the eye as readily to those areas. So a common thing you will see in a lot of pictures is giving the main subject a complimentary scheme, but let the background elements fade into a more analogous scheme.
This also applies with value and saturation:
-If you want to drive the eye somewhere, you can apply darker darks and lighter lights in an area to create more contrast; if you want to push an area back, values that are closer together will reduce the contrast and be less eye-catching.
-If you want to drive the eye somewhere, you can apply either an area of high saturation that contrasts against a surrounding low saturation area, or vice-versa.
Also, I don't know how color-blind you are, but you might be able to take some inspiration from Robert Fawcett, who was also color blind; as a result he kept to fairly simple color schemes generally, but was able to make a name for himself by focusing on developing some incredible draftsmanship skills and having an excellent grasp on value.
@Molybdenum: Yeah, I also have a very subtle temperature shift from one eye to another. I'd guess that's pretty common.
________________________
Now a question for all y'all:
How much mental visualization do you guys do when drawing? By which I mean, how many of you can see the next stroke in your head before you put it down- the curve, the weight you're going for, etc., and how many just go forward trying to figure it out on the page- putting down strokes that are close enough to give you some idea of what you want, and then trying to polish it from there?
I ask because I very much fall on the 'throw down rough shit, hack it out, brutally crush it into shape' side of drawing/painting, but I'm always jealous of artists that can gracefully pull off some simple lines and strokes and have them work beautifully, as if they'd managed to do all their gruntwork in their head and can just trace off their mental image on what they wanted. I wonder if that's actually true, or if they just have more confidence/dexterity, or if they just learned from teachers that taught differently than how I learned to draw, or what.
I guess the best description I could come up with is, how many of you draw more like Milt Kahl/Eric Larson, and how many draw more like Glen Keane?
(skip to 2:50-5:00 or so here so you actually know what I mean by that): http://animationpodcast.com/archives/2006/04/23/glen-keane-part-two/
How much mental visualization do you guys do when drawing? By which I mean, how many of you can see the next stroke in your head before you put it down- the curve, the weight you're going for, etc., and how many just go forward trying to figure it out on the page- putting down strokes that are close enough to give you some idea of what you want, and then trying to polish it from there?
I ask because I very much fall on the 'throw down rough shit, hack it out, brutally crush it into shape' side of drawing/painting, but I'm always jealous of artists that can gracefully pull off some simple lines and strokes and have them work beautifully, as if they'd managed to do all their gruntwork in their head and can just trace off their mental image on what they wanted. I wonder if that's actually true, or if they just have more confidence/dexterity, or if they just learned from teachers that taught differently than how I learned to draw, or what.
IMO, when I see artists that can do this pretty effortlessly, (I'm thinking mostly of animators that have those perfect curvatures/lineweights in their drawings the first time around), that's more a result of having done it thousands of times before, and just having the skill at that point to get what you're aiming for very early on.
Personally for me, I tend to have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going for, and I'll throw some quick lines down in an attempt to move in the direction I'm thinking...and then I try to perfect it. Sometimes that works, but oftentimes (and this is just one of my personal artistic faults), I end up trying to perfect it to the point where I lose the original gracefulness/"clarity" of the line/gesture.
Listening to that podcast, it's weird for me to imagine myself not knowing what I'm aiming for (i.e. "seeing it in my head") before drawing something out. I take breaks while drawing sometimes to figure things out in my head before moving on - sometimes these breaks are a bit long...(in other words, more than 3-ish seconds? More than the standard "take a break to look at the whole image, yep, looks good, move on"). I feel like a lot of the time, when I'm drawing something, I have a very clear idea where I want to go, and half the time when I put a stroke down, I'm very happy with it and continue with it with minor revisions, if any. Other times, of course, I'll struggle through and spend a long time redoing the same thing because it's not working out...but yeah, I'd say I generally have a "plan things out a lot" approach rather than an emotional "throw this down and react to it" approach, which was what it seemed like they were talking about in that section of the podcast.
Well, I used to think that it was purely about experience as well, but hearing about how Milt Kahl drew is so alien to my own experience that it makes me question whether it's just pure experience of drawing a ton, or experience in addition to a particular mental process.
Because when I draw out of my head, I may have some general ideas I may want to grasp, or a vague image- less like looking at a crisp photograph, and more like looking at an image through a pane of frosted glass. I may know what colors I want, some basic positioning, and what I'm kinda hoping to go for- but it's not focused or clear enough that I could mentally break down that image effectively into measurements or discrete lines I'll want to put down on the page.
I can't sit back and say, 'ok- I need a gently curved line here, and I'll need to push a straight line here...' when the page is still blank- until I put something on the page so I have something to relate to, I don't have a lot of ability to make judgments about how my mental image relates to the actual drawing. I need something tangible there- even if it's shit- before I can start making some real, nuts-and-bolts decisions that will take it from being this vague conception to being a solid image on the page. Which is how I figured most people drew for a long, long time, but I guess a lot of people are able to do a lot more of the work in their head- whether that's gleaned by explicit training or that's just how people happen to think, I don't know.
It makes me wonder if I should try to put more effort into concentrating on visualizing things beforehand, and seeing if it's possible to improve my drawing based on that.
This issue bugged me enough that one time in a class I tried to force myself to do a Frazetta copy I was assigned to do, doing all the measuring in my head and trying to make every line I put down as correct as possible, without guides or roughing anything in- just putting down the final lines the first time.
The result was ok, but I gave myself a headache because it was physically painful for me to try to work that way.
I don't know how people like Morgan Weistling do it. You look at his process and- yeah he's been painting for forever but still- trying to do a painting like this ( http://www.morganweistling.com/demos/bunnydemo/index.html ) with no underdrawing like he does would give me an aneurysm.
Well, other than headaches, theres no harm in doing some mental exercises and seeing if you can push for some more clarity in your head before you start putting pen to paper.
The The video I posted of yoji whatsisnuts in chat got me thinking about this, I wonder if how someone can learn to do something like that it if some people take to it naturally.
So, I've tried drawing on my bamboo, but I never end up sticking with it. The problem is, I can barely draw on it, like I can't do what I'm able to on paper and the lines aren't smooth, and everything ends up looking like an ms paint drawing. Recently I've been trying to draw on it more, and I'm using photoshop elements, which came with it.
Does anybody have any advice for me? Do I just have to get used to it?
So, I've tried drawing on my bamboo, but I never end up sticking with it. The problem is, I can barely draw on it, like I can't do what I'm able to on paper and the lines aren't smooth, and everything ends up looking like an ms paint drawing. Recently I've been trying to draw on it more, and I'm using photoshop elements, which came with it.
Does anybody have any advice for me? Do I just have to get used to it?
Don't draw on bamboo. Panda's eat that. Use paper, it isn't panda food.
/pun
It does take getting used to. I'm not sure where your drawing ability is at, so it would be hard to make an informed suggestion for you. Posting some of your stuff in the [doodle] thread, or starting a thread with some of your works in it would make it easier to help you.
edit: searched your name and found some of your drawings from back in July of last year. It's been a while so posting some more recent work would also be helpful. What I found most helpful in getting used to my Wacom was drawing from life on PAPER. This forces you to look away from the paper you are drawing on, allowing your hand to put on to paper what you see, rather than looking directly at the line you are placing. This is important because, when using a drawing tablet on your PC, you are looking at a screen rather than the surface you're drawing on. I also tried using my wacom as my mouse for a while, that seemed to help with the coordination a lot.
My own skills and any hang ups about them not withstanding, I can usually crank out simple stuff without much forethought or planing. I can do this while doodling but usually need to do some framework or sketching and planing if I am planing to do something big or intricate. I usually try not to frame out anything too much because I want the finished work to have some sense of spontaneity to it. Here is an example of a 30 min. doodle I did and crunched it down to a minute and a half. I love this kind of stuff and would like to see other artists do it, I think it gives some insight into work flow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f5rXajITL8
Well, I used to think that it was purely about experience as well, but hearing about how Milt Kahl drew is so alien to my own experience that it makes me question whether it's just pure experience of drawing a ton, or experience in addition to a particular mental process.
Because when I draw out of my head, I may have some general ideas I may want to grasp, or a vague image- less like looking at a crisp photograph, and more like looking at an image through a pane of frosted glass. I may know what colors I want, some basic positioning, and what I'm kinda hoping to go for- but it's not focused or clear enough that I could mentally break down that image effectively into measurements or discrete lines I'll want to put down on the page.
I can't sit back and say, 'ok- I need a gently curved line here, and I'll need to push a straight line here...' when the page is still blank- until I put something on the page so I have something to relate to, I don't have a lot of ability to make judgments about how my mental image relates to the actual drawing. I need something tangible there- even if it's shit- before I can start making some real, nuts-and-bolts decisions that will take it from being this vague conception to being a solid image on the page. Which is how I figured most people drew for a long, long time, but I guess a lot of people are able to do a lot more of the work in their head- whether that's gleaned by explicit training or that's just how people happen to think, I don't know.
It makes me wonder if I should try to put more effort into concentrating on visualizing things beforehand, and seeing if it's possible to improve my drawing based on that.
This issue bugged me enough that one time in a class I tried to force myself to do a Frazetta copy I was assigned to do, doing all the measuring in my head and trying to make every line I put down as correct as possible, without guides or roughing anything in- just putting down the final lines the first time.
The result was ok, but I gave myself a headache because it was physically painful for me to try to work that way.
I don't know how people like Morgan Weistling do it. You look at his process and- yeah he's been painting for forever but still- trying to do a painting like this ( http://www.morganweistling.com/demos/bunnydemo/index.html ) with no underdrawing like he does would give me an aneurysm.
I work much the same as you do I think
I've told other people this, and I think its still true to an extent - I don't know how to draw or paint... I know how to correct stuff until its right.
so I'm looking for photo's that can be used for gesture practice. Head to toe, clothed or not or something... Do you know of anywhere I could find those kinds of photo's? I tried googling it, I've drawn all the stuff i've seen on pixel lovely several times, surfing a few different photo websites. Any idea?
Most of the ones I find are overly sensual, and unnatural
Well, the only painting i've done recently has been on a very small scale, so take that into consideration with what I am about to say, but I hadn't painted in awhile and I found acrylics easy to work with, both for painting and color mixing. And it was an economical way to get started, I think I picked up a base set of colors and some brushes to work with all for less than 30 bucks at a hobby shop. I can't remember where, but someone had posted a selection of colors they reccomended starting with which you could mix to get most of the colors you needed. It consisted of a deep black, a bone white, some mid hue blue, red, green, yellow, and I want to say I got a brown too but I can't remember... Again this was all for working on a pretty small scale (I was doing altered art for MTG cards) but even with the small bottles I got I would think you could do a few small-medium sized paintings; and the nice thing about acrylic is it will paint on a variety of surfaces. This article talks about appropriate surfaces for acrylic. http://suite101.com/article/which-surfaces-are-suitable-for-acrylic-painting-a117610
Take painting classes. It’s really easy to go wrong when you’re learning to paint and waste a lot of time and money on bad technique and junk art supplies. Good instruction will be a big help.
Don’t buy cheap student grade paint and supplies unless that’s all you can afford it. Cheap paint doesn’t have much pigment so you have to use a lot and it doesn’t mix as well as better stuff. And cheap brushes are terrible to paint with. Imagine using a pencil with a lead that curved sideways! That said, don’t waste money with stretched canvas. They’re very expensive and take up a ton of space. Go to Jerrysartarama.com or Dick Blick and buy prepared canvas boards in bulk. You’ll save a lot of time and hundreds of dollars.
I'd also suggest acrylic. Utrecht and Liquitex brands are "okay" acrylics and are pretty cheap, Golden acrylics are a step up from those and are a bit more expensive (on a scale...some colors are more expensive than others).
I'm writing from my phone so I can't look up specific colors right now, but you'll have a larger selection of color possibilities if you get warm and cool primary colors. Also, if you want a vibrant secondary color, you may have to buy it separately. Honestly though, just start with a basic set of warm/cool primaries and buy more colors when you realize you can't mix it with what you have. I like to have secondaries too, and other colors I haven't been able to mix...but it's not required immediately. You can figure out what you need the more you paint.
Definitely get a larger amount of white though. White goes quickly, and you should use black very minimally, usually.
Also, you get paints that are rated as opaque/semi-opaque and 'transparent'. This weirdly took me a long time to figure out, and I would often try to use opaque paints as washes rather than paints that are designed to be transparent. That's not necessarily wrong and will all boil down to what you're looking to achieve, but washing with paint formulated to let the underpainting through would give me way richer and more saturated looking work. They're good to tint opaque colours with too.
So, I've tried drawing on my bamboo, but I never end up sticking with it. The problem is, I can barely draw on it, like I can't do what I'm able to on paper and the lines aren't smooth, and everything ends up looking like an ms paint drawing. Recently I've been trying to draw on it more, and I'm using photoshop elements, which came with it.
Does anybody have any advice for me? Do I just have to get used to it?
Don't draw on bamboo. Panda's eat that. Use paper, it isn't panda food.
/pun
It does take getting used to. I'm not sure where your drawing ability is at, so it would be hard to make an informed suggestion for you. Posting some of your stuff in the [doodle] thread, or starting a thread with some of your works in it would make it easier to help you.
edit: searched your name and found some of your drawings from back in July of last year. It's been a while so posting some more recent work would also be helpful. What I found most helpful in getting used to my Wacom was drawing from life on PAPER. This forces you to look away from the paper you are drawing on, allowing your hand to put on to paper what you see, rather than looking directly at the line you are placing. This is important because, when using a drawing tablet on your PC, you are looking at a screen rather than the surface you're drawing on. I also tried using my wacom as my mouse for a while, that seemed to help with the coordination a lot.
Thanks for the reply. I've drawn from life on paper a lot, and it's a totally different animal for me, primarily for the reason that when you draw from life, despite the fact that you look at the subject more than your paper, you still have a tactile and visual guide; your hand placement matches what you're looking at while you're actually drawing.
I've been drawing more and getting a little bit more used to it. I upped the size of my canvas and increased the pixels to 1000 per inch instead of 300. It's seemed to help a little bit. Does anybody know the standard pixel definition for
illustration? The lines still look not so smooth.
As for AOB's question, I feel the same. I need to put down a rough before I know what I'm doing, and things usually don't turn out how I envision/want them to. Sometimes I can visualize, but I don't know what it's really going to look like until I put something down. I really need to increase my visualization skills, because I feel like a loser when I see these beautiful landscapes and layouts people put down that look so deliberate. Environments man, hard stuff.
Drawing on a tablet takes time to acclimate. It took me at least a couple years of regular use to feel as comfortable with digital tools as I do with a pencil.
As far as standard pixel definition (I'm assuming you mean PPI/DPI), the general standard for printing is 300 DPI, so to print a 10 inch square image you want it to be at least 3000x3000 pixels. PPI is a meaningless number when you're talking only about showing work digitally.
What are the actual width x height pixel dimensions of your files?
It would help to post an example image of what you mean by "not so smooth" lines.
Also, people talking smack about vine charcoal! Nothing wrong with vine charcoal, you have to learn how to make it cooperate. I think this is the last thing I did with vine (at least 2/3 of it is vine, the darks are a charcoal pencil) [NSFW] http://scosglen.iseenothing.com/Sketches/avecharcoalfig.jpg [NSFW]
So, I'm looking for good resources to learn Color Theory. I'm often disturbed with my inability to interpret colors I see, so I always wind up working grayscale or color-picking from reference. Part of the problem is that I'm slightly color blind, but I know some of it is just not understanding theory and sometimes it's probably poor observation.
I've been thinking of picking up James Gurney's book, but it seems aimed mostly at traditional painters, so I wasn't how much it would help when I work primarily digital. It also looked a bit high-level for me, rather than a basic intro.
Any tips/ideas/recommendations? Love to hear it.
I had to check your username to make sure I didn't come here from the future and type this, because it says everything I am struggling with currently -- and I just got here.
Good video but I don't know why people use those tiny square blades to remove the wood. IMO it's way easier to use a retractable knife -- you have a bit more leverage so it's easier and you get the same result. I have a couple little retractable exacto knives and replacement blades are just as cheap.
I do use those small square blades to gently shave down the charcoal a bit before sanding, though... I find I go through a lot less sandpaper that way. But I do use those little rectangle flaps he shows in the video. I might have to go get one of those big sandpaper blocks instead.
NakedZerglingA more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered Userregular
Can anyone suggest a site (or have) a good comic script page? i want to draw something for practice, and was kind of hoping it would be NON established characters, though that is NOT a requirement. I googled "sample comic scripts" but didn't seem to find what i was looking for.
Can anyone suggest a site (or have) a good comic script page? i want to draw something for practice, and was kind of hoping it would be NON established characters, though that is NOT a requirement. I googled "sample comic scripts" but didn't seem to find what i was looking for.
So I mentioned earlier that I'm watching the vilppu videos. Watching him build up forms from a photo starting with the major muscle groups is dazzling.
My question is, how does one go about learning anatomy? I'm assuming, learn what connects to where and what shape it is, drawing it, but where do you go from there? And is this something I should even be concerned with right now?
So I mentioned earlier that I'm watching the vilppu videos. Watching him build up forms from a photo starting with the major muscle groups is dazzling.
My question is, how does one go about learning anatomy? I'm assuming, learn what connects to where and what shape it is, drawing it, but where do you go from there? And is this something I should even be concerned with right now?
I'd suggest choosing one thing you'd like to focus on, and then drawing it a lot. I'm doing an exercise at the moment to draw a hundred faces, which has taught me a lot, but you could try drawing a hundred arms or a hundred eyes, or anything else that you struggle with.
Brovid Hasselsmof[Growling historic on the fury road]Registered Userregular
So, dumb question.
In GIMP when making a selection with the magic wand there was an option to expand the selection by x number of pixels. Is there a way to do that in PS? I tried clicking an option called 'grow' but that didn't seem to do anything.
Posts
"Could you put that in a memo, and entitle it 'Shit, I already know'?!?!"
:P Yeah, I'd prefer compressed charcoal but can't use that in class
I've been thinking of picking up James Gurney's book, but it seems aimed mostly at traditional painters, so I wasn't how much it would help when I work primarily digital. It also looked a bit high-level for me, rather than a basic intro.
Any tips/ideas/recommendations? Love to hear it.
3DS: 0447-9966-6178
Seconding everything Tynic said.
The basics of color theory are actually not that hard to grasp- the hard part is putting in the practice and figuring out how to apply them effectively in your work, which is why Gurney's book is so much better than books that try to keep the 'theory' part so abstract and divorced from actual work.
If you just want a kind of crash course on the theory part, I'd suggest getting familiar with these concepts, and then doing some studies to figure out how they function in practice.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_colors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogous_colors
http://bacon.iseenothing.com/otherpeoplestuff/Severed_Colors2.jpg
Basically colors on the opposite sides of the color wheel (complimentary colors) like blue and orange will create the maximum amount of color contrast; so placing these colors next to each other will drive the eye there. Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel (analogous colors) like green and yellow, when place next to each other will 'go together', and will not drive the eye as readily to those areas. So a common thing you will see in a lot of pictures is giving the main subject a complimentary scheme, but let the background elements fade into a more analogous scheme.
This also applies with value and saturation:
-If you want to drive the eye somewhere, you can apply darker darks and lighter lights in an area to create more contrast; if you want to push an area back, values that are closer together will reduce the contrast and be less eye-catching.
-If you want to drive the eye somewhere, you can apply either an area of high saturation that contrasts against a surrounding low saturation area, or vice-versa.
Also, I don't know how color-blind you are, but you might be able to take some inspiration from Robert Fawcett, who was also color blind; as a result he kept to fairly simple color schemes generally, but was able to make a name for himself by focusing on developing some incredible draftsmanship skills and having an excellent grasp on value.
@Molybdenum: Yeah, I also have a very subtle temperature shift from one eye to another. I'd guess that's pretty common.
________________________
Now a question for all y'all:
How much mental visualization do you guys do when drawing? By which I mean, how many of you can see the next stroke in your head before you put it down- the curve, the weight you're going for, etc., and how many just go forward trying to figure it out on the page- putting down strokes that are close enough to give you some idea of what you want, and then trying to polish it from there?
I ask because I very much fall on the 'throw down rough shit, hack it out, brutally crush it into shape' side of drawing/painting, but I'm always jealous of artists that can gracefully pull off some simple lines and strokes and have them work beautifully, as if they'd managed to do all their gruntwork in their head and can just trace off their mental image on what they wanted. I wonder if that's actually true, or if they just have more confidence/dexterity, or if they just learned from teachers that taught differently than how I learned to draw, or what.
I guess the best description I could come up with is, how many of you draw more like Milt Kahl/Eric Larson, and how many draw more like Glen Keane?
(skip to 2:50-5:00 or so here so you actually know what I mean by that):
http://animationpodcast.com/archives/2006/04/23/glen-keane-part-two/
Twitter
What medium does yoji shinkawa use for the famous MGS illustrations?
IMO, when I see artists that can do this pretty effortlessly, (I'm thinking mostly of animators that have those perfect curvatures/lineweights in their drawings the first time around), that's more a result of having done it thousands of times before, and just having the skill at that point to get what you're aiming for very early on.
Personally for me, I tend to have a pretty clear idea of what I'm going for, and I'll throw some quick lines down in an attempt to move in the direction I'm thinking...and then I try to perfect it. Sometimes that works, but oftentimes (and this is just one of my personal artistic faults), I end up trying to perfect it to the point where I lose the original gracefulness/"clarity" of the line/gesture.
Listening to that podcast, it's weird for me to imagine myself not knowing what I'm aiming for (i.e. "seeing it in my head") before drawing something out. I take breaks while drawing sometimes to figure things out in my head before moving on - sometimes these breaks are a bit long...(in other words, more than 3-ish seconds? More than the standard "take a break to look at the whole image, yep, looks good, move on"). I feel like a lot of the time, when I'm drawing something, I have a very clear idea where I want to go, and half the time when I put a stroke down, I'm very happy with it and continue with it with minor revisions, if any. Other times, of course, I'll struggle through and spend a long time redoing the same thing because it's not working out...but yeah, I'd say I generally have a "plan things out a lot" approach rather than an emotional "throw this down and react to it" approach, which was what it seemed like they were talking about in that section of the podcast.
Because when I draw out of my head, I may have some general ideas I may want to grasp, or a vague image- less like looking at a crisp photograph, and more like looking at an image through a pane of frosted glass. I may know what colors I want, some basic positioning, and what I'm kinda hoping to go for- but it's not focused or clear enough that I could mentally break down that image effectively into measurements or discrete lines I'll want to put down on the page.
I can't sit back and say, 'ok- I need a gently curved line here, and I'll need to push a straight line here...' when the page is still blank- until I put something on the page so I have something to relate to, I don't have a lot of ability to make judgments about how my mental image relates to the actual drawing. I need something tangible there- even if it's shit- before I can start making some real, nuts-and-bolts decisions that will take it from being this vague conception to being a solid image on the page. Which is how I figured most people drew for a long, long time, but I guess a lot of people are able to do a lot more of the work in their head- whether that's gleaned by explicit training or that's just how people happen to think, I don't know.
It makes me wonder if I should try to put more effort into concentrating on visualizing things beforehand, and seeing if it's possible to improve my drawing based on that.
This issue bugged me enough that one time in a class I tried to force myself to do a Frazetta copy I was assigned to do, doing all the measuring in my head and trying to make every line I put down as correct as possible, without guides or roughing anything in- just putting down the final lines the first time.
The result was ok, but I gave myself a headache because it was physically painful for me to try to work that way.
I don't know how people like Morgan Weistling do it. You look at his process and- yeah he's been painting for forever but still- trying to do a painting like this ( http://www.morganweistling.com/demos/bunnydemo/index.html ) with no underdrawing like he does would give me an aneurysm.
Twitter
Does anybody have any advice for me? Do I just have to get used to it?
Don't draw on bamboo. Panda's eat that. Use paper, it isn't panda food.
It does take getting used to. I'm not sure where your drawing ability is at, so it would be hard to make an informed suggestion for you. Posting some of your stuff in the [doodle] thread, or starting a thread with some of your works in it would make it easier to help you.
edit: searched your name and found some of your drawings from back in July of last year. It's been a while so posting some more recent work would also be helpful. What I found most helpful in getting used to my Wacom was drawing from life on PAPER. This forces you to look away from the paper you are drawing on, allowing your hand to put on to paper what you see, rather than looking directly at the line you are placing. This is important because, when using a drawing tablet on your PC, you are looking at a screen rather than the surface you're drawing on. I also tried using my wacom as my mouse for a while, that seemed to help with the coordination a lot.
My own skills and any hang ups about them not withstanding, I can usually crank out simple stuff without much forethought or planing. I can do this while doodling but usually need to do some framework or sketching and planing if I am planing to do something big or intricate. I usually try not to frame out anything too much because I want the finished work to have some sense of spontaneity to it. Here is an example of a 30 min. doodle I did and crunched it down to a minute and a half. I love this kind of stuff and would like to see other artists do it, I think it gives some insight into work flow:
I work much the same as you do I think
I've told other people this, and I think its still true to an extent - I don't know how to draw or paint... I know how to correct stuff until its right.
Most of the ones I find are overly sensual, and unnatural
found a few here.
http://www.posemaniacs.com
http://www.lovecastle.org/draw/
http://www.thesartorialist.com
Don’t buy cheap student grade paint and supplies unless that’s all you can afford it. Cheap paint doesn’t have much pigment so you have to use a lot and it doesn’t mix as well as better stuff. And cheap brushes are terrible to paint with. Imagine using a pencil with a lead that curved sideways! That said, don’t waste money with stretched canvas. They’re very expensive and take up a ton of space. Go to Jerrysartarama.com or Dick Blick and buy prepared canvas boards in bulk. You’ll save a lot of time and hundreds of dollars.
I'm writing from my phone so I can't look up specific colors right now, but you'll have a larger selection of color possibilities if you get warm and cool primary colors. Also, if you want a vibrant secondary color, you may have to buy it separately. Honestly though, just start with a basic set of warm/cool primaries and buy more colors when you realize you can't mix it with what you have. I like to have secondaries too, and other colors I haven't been able to mix...but it's not required immediately. You can figure out what you need the more you paint.
Definitely get a larger amount of white though. White goes quickly, and you should use black very minimally, usually.
Thanks for the reply. I've drawn from life on paper a lot, and it's a totally different animal for me, primarily for the reason that when you draw from life, despite the fact that you look at the subject more than your paper, you still have a tactile and visual guide; your hand placement matches what you're looking at while you're actually drawing.
I've been drawing more and getting a little bit more used to it. I upped the size of my canvas and increased the pixels to 1000 per inch instead of 300. It's seemed to help a little bit. Does anybody know the standard pixel definition for
illustration? The lines still look not so smooth.
As for AOB's question, I feel the same. I need to put down a rough before I know what I'm doing, and things usually don't turn out how I envision/want them to. Sometimes I can visualize, but I don't know what it's really going to look like until I put something down. I really need to increase my visualization skills, because I feel like a loser when I see these beautiful landscapes and layouts people put down that look so deliberate. Environments man, hard stuff.
As far as standard pixel definition (I'm assuming you mean PPI/DPI), the general standard for printing is 300 DPI, so to print a 10 inch square image you want it to be at least 3000x3000 pixels. PPI is a meaningless number when you're talking only about showing work digitally.
What are the actual width x height pixel dimensions of your files?
It would help to post an example image of what you mean by "not so smooth" lines.
Also, people talking smack about vine charcoal! Nothing wrong with vine charcoal, you have to learn how to make it cooperate. I think this is the last thing I did with vine (at least 2/3 of it is vine, the darks are a charcoal pencil) [NSFW] http://scosglen.iseenothing.com/Sketches/avecharcoalfig.jpg [NSFW]
I had to check your username to make sure I didn't come here from the future and type this, because it says everything I am struggling with currently -- and I just got here.
proko vid to the rescue!
Good video but I don't know why people use those tiny square blades to remove the wood. IMO it's way easier to use a retractable knife -- you have a bit more leverage so it's easier and you get the same result. I have a couple little retractable exacto knives and replacement blades are just as cheap.
I do use those small square blades to gently shave down the charcoal a bit before sanding, though... I find I go through a lot less sandpaper that way. But I do use those little rectangle flaps he shows in the video. I might have to go get one of those big sandpaper blocks instead.
Loads and loads of sample scripts there.
edit: I would give you one of mine if not for the fact that I need to do them for my portfolio.
My question is, how does one go about learning anatomy? I'm assuming, learn what connects to where and what shape it is, drawing it, but where do you go from there? And is this something I should even be concerned with right now?
I'd suggest choosing one thing you'd like to focus on, and then drawing it a lot. I'm doing an exercise at the moment to draw a hundred faces, which has taught me a lot, but you could try drawing a hundred arms or a hundred eyes, or anything else that you struggle with.
EDIT: Check out this video
In GIMP when making a selection with the magic wand there was an option to expand the selection by x number of pixels. Is there a way to do that in PS? I tried clicking an option called 'grow' but that didn't seem to do anything.