Tips and advice for starting out

[Morin]

Hi, I think this is the topic I should post this in ^^
I've always wanted to start creating my own concept art, and i've tried to start a few times before but given up after not getting great results in the first five minutes (I didn't have enough patience :) ). I've decided now that i'm gonna have a real good stab at it, but the thing is i have no idea where to start, what to get and how to do it. I've been using photoshop for about a year now, but only creating signatures and general photomanipulation...but I did dabble a few times in concept art before losing all hope :D There is a certain style I would love to do, but i'm not sure if it has a name...here's a few examples:
http://www.intothepixel.com/artwork-details/winner_details.asp?idArtwork=134
http://www.artofben.com/images/BIO_welcome.jpg
http://www.artofben.com/images/IM_1.jpg
http://www.artofben.com/images/RATATAT_SKINNER_treasure.jpg
It's a really nice, gritty style that I would really love to be able to make myself. Also they have a lot of the focus on architecture, which suits me as im pretty poor at drawing the human figure.
However the problem is I have little to no experience in painting in photoshop, drawing in photoshop and I have absoloutely no idea where to begin, as there's so much to do!
Also, another quick question is the wacom bamboo a nice tablet to begin with?
Thanks a lot
Morin

[Homeless Foxman]

Wacam bamboo seems to be a waste, because if you'll probably end up upgrading anyways. And it might help if you post some of your work so we know where you are right now.

[Morin]

Work as in sketches? I haven't done many sketches for a while...but I can show you a recent project I'm doing on Rapture. We're using acrylics for it which I don't particularly like but my 2 sketches are OK :) The first one was just a practice on getting the buildings right etc so i drew that one from a screenshot. The second one "Rapture 1" was the actual design I drew onto the canvas so it's a little neater, and takes certain elements from the first pic such as the main tower etc. Sorry about the quality of the scan, it's form a thick book so it was hard to keep the top shut even with my hand on it ^^ They were both down wth a HB pencil (Didn't have a decent pencil at hand) and the first one took 30-40 minutes and the second one an hour-ish as i'm pretty slow at sketching.
http://www.4starclicks.com/images/D8E10645.jpg
http://www.4starclicks.com/images/omq10571.jpg
I think I have 1 or 2 still life drawings some where, if you want I can dig them out.
Hope that's what you wanted :)

[Maidith]

and i've tried to start a few times before but given up after not getting great results in the first five minutes (I didn't have enough patience )

you know that every great artist has been a total beginner once, and I'd bet my grandma that at that very first stage they did not get great result in the first five months! xD It takes years to become good and a lifetime to become great.

wacom bamboo is ok, just paint a lot with it! you'll upgrade when you feel like it. or if you get along well with it, you won't. depends on you.
I've painted with my aiptek for a very long time but then switched to a wacom because it was smaller and more comfortable to paint with.

If you're looking for general tips on digital painting:

In the beginning, just experiment a lot. You won't need many Photoshop functions: only the brush tool, the eraser and perhaps layers.
By the way, the few functions you need are also available in other software like Painter, OpenCanvas or the new SAI: http://sai.detstwo.com/sai/ (SAI paint tool) Not all graphic software is suited for painting.

Here's how to set up the Photoshop brushes for digital painting:

Look for the Brush Palette, the one that comes up when you click the Brush Tab: http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/6098/brush1gq5.gif
Here you can change the diameter of your brush. You can also adjust the Hardness, which means at 100% a brush has crisp edges, and at 0% it is very fuzzy. Spacing means the lower the percentage is, the denser the brush stroke will be. The higher the percentage, and you'll eventaully just get a line of single dots.

Shape Dynamics: http://img230.imageshack.us/img230/1766/brush2jk9.gif
You can switch on a Size Jitter, which means the brush can change size as you paint. You have several options there (see for yourself). In the example it is set to "Pen Pressure", which means that if you press the pen lightly onto the tablet as you paint, it will be a thin brush stroke, and the harder you press, the thicker it will be.

Other Dynamics: http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/3140/brush3yf9.gif
This is basically an automated Opacity and Flow setting (manual setting explained below). As you can see, Opacity is set to Pen Pressure here, which means the lighter you press your pen on the tablet, the more transparent the brush stroke will be, and the harder you press, the more opaque it will be. The same goes for flow if you have it switched on.
The higher the percentage on Opacity, the more uneven it will get. The same goes for the Flow.
With these two you have to remember that they may look transparent when you make one brush stroke, but the more you paint over the same spot, the more opaque the colour will become.

Look at many tutorials to learn about many different methods. This will help you find one that is suited best for you.
Here are a few useful digital painting tutorials and walkthroughs:
http://itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
http://airage.deviantart.com/art/Inside-Environment-Painting-2-29149738
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC-4HTgFIO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih3djTbpXOw
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=164&t=222004
http://nykolai.deviantart.com/art/Painting-in-PS-The-Basics-9117297
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?p=3558243

[MarkWinters]

First off, you have to give it more than five minutes. Develop the patience. If you can't do that move on to something else. Start with the fundamentals. Learn to draw well before you worry about learning to paint well.

I think the Bamboo is a fine starter tablet. I've gone through a couple of Graphires (bamboo predecessors) until I finally got an Intuos.

[J Wilson]

Well to be honest if you don't have patience art isn't going to be for you. Art takes TONS of patience. Still, if you are serious about wanting to give it a try I'd say you've come to the right place as the collection of talent and people willing to help is unlike many other places.

My suggestions:
- Start with the basics. Basic 3d shapes, cubes, spheres, cones, cylinders etc. If you master those in various angles and perspectives you'll be much closer to being able to render just about anything.
- Learn to recognize those basic shapes in everyday objects.
- Draw lots. LOTS. I'd suggest you'll learn more faster at the beginning by not laboring a long time on any piece. If you can spend an hour drawing, it's better to do four 15 minute sketches than to draw one thing in an hour. This will reinforce the practice of getting down the basics without getting distracted by relatively unimportant details.

[Morin]

I didn't explain that "patience" bit too well, that was around the time I started photoshop where I expected everything to be good within the first month....I did learn though that it takes time but everything else took off and I never developed the concept art side, so I now know what i'm up against and how much work I've got to put in. The main reason I decided to start up now is because concept art has always lingered in the back of my mind, but I've never had the time and materials to really get into it. But now I've got a really good oppurtunity to take it up, so I don't see the reason why I can't start learning it now :)
Thanks for all the tips so far, I'm a bit stuck for time now so i'll have a look over them later.