rock painting assistance

[MEMPER]

Dont know if this belongs here but...I've been getting into environments lately and Im having trouble rendering rock formations. I've found that using a palette knife brush is helpful but I find myself working it too much.
Are there any recommended brushes for painting rocks?
Or should I just use whatever and go nuts while keeping the values and lighting in check?
My attempts are just kinda dull feeling and lacking in hard edges found in some rock formations.

Thanks.
M

[Gadbury]

Hi,

I don't know if its what you're after, but I make rock brushes. Just paint a rock, and save as a brush, then just put opacity and size to pen pressure, add some angle jitter and paint them in. And add some spacing... Heres a pic of my big rock! :P It looks a bit dodgy on the pic but it looks good when you layer it up. Paint white rocks over the top and it looks like snow. Hope this helps

[MEMPER]

Hmm. Maybe I should have been more specific.
I didn't mean individual rocks per say. I mean more of rock faces of mountains in the foreground and background.

[joeparis]

I didn't mean individual rocks per say. I mean more of rock faces of mountains in the foreground and background.
I tried the technique Mr. Gadbury speaks of. (It may have been his tutorial I saw?). Anyway, he isn't talking about individual rocks, the rock shapes are the brushes. Use scatter, rotate, size jitter, etc, to paint a mass of them. Erase the edges of the mass of rocks to make your rock-face/cliff, change the opacity and then paint another mass on another layer, and another. Then use a hard edged brush to paint fissures and highlights. Works a treat and at no point are you left with the individual rocks.

[MEMPER]

Ahh, I see. Thanks.