can someone please tell me how to do this

[LRomel]

how do people get such nice sharp clean edges on their buildings?
like this:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_6pF0-vRqJ4c/ScBxeuT8DGI/AAAAAAAAASs/YBBs7lwiJ2g/s1600-h/Picture+1.png
(credit to cliff childs)

and the smooth blending for backgrounds, everytime I try to do an environment it comes out all mushy or the values look too blocky.
I'm pretty good at extremely detailed illustrations but when it comes to speedpainting..not so much

If there's some sort of walkthrough on here for those things, point me to it!
(don't mention the tutorial already posted on speedpainting here- already looked at it)
for an example: brushes!
should you start out with a hard round brush?
when should you use a soft brush?
do you change the opacity on your brushes as you go?

I know this is probably different for everyone but tell me what works best for you because I need some pointers.

[Icecold]

Ok this is very simple, just pick up a hard brush lower down its spacing (which can be found in brush tip shape tab). Brushes most of them are custom ones , there are few nice packs for buildings in the brush sharing thread for photoshop.
If u want to stick to standard brushes, u can make the one you are using an oval brush. Hope that helped! :]

[LRomel]

thanks i'll check it out

[LRomel]

233 views and one reply not including myself, what is going on here???

[Jason Rainville]

233 views and one reply not including myself, what is going on here???

Uh, your question was answered, that's what happened.

[LRomel]

i guess, I was kind of hoping for something more in depth.

[EightArms]

Like what? Hard brushes make hard lines.

Perhaps you need to ask a different question.... ? ;)

[Tonic]

You can use selection tools. For example, make a oval selection, the remove the inner part with selection (when tool is enabled, you have at top left different options for selections), so you have a ring, in which inside you paint.

[Elwell]

233 views and one reply not including myself, what is going on here???
Wrong section. (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=134235)

[IanLlanas]

The answer to your question is the lasso tool if you are using photoshop. In general it's about making selections as Tonic said. Specifically in the painting you linked to, he used the polygonal lasso, you can tell by the slightly angled sections on the curved sections. He also used the elliptical selection tool in a few parts mostly in the upper left corner. Basically make a selection that corresponds to a wall, floor, arch, etc and paint within that selection, don't forget to paint cast shadows, reflections, etc. Architecture generally has only two values, one that's in the main light source and the other in shadow, of course this changes if there are multiple materials and/or light sources, or if the building is made of something reflective. But keep it simple to start. As far as the brush goes, use a hard edge. Hope that helps.

[BlindMan]

Another trick I occasionally use is the path tools. They're fairly limited in Photoshop, not being a draw program, but you can create a path and then stroke with the selected brush.

[XanaChama]

In addition to what's being said here, it also looks like palette knife in painter? Or something in Painter specifically?

[George Abraham]

Put "objects" on their own layers and erase the blurry away.

[anjy]

It's essentially one of the great "secrets" of speed painting- or clichés nowadays- which seems to have been learnt from Craig Mullins (first person I saw using it, anyway), but basically, the form is kept separate from the values and color (and by further separating the values and color, one can depict extremely realistic lighting by "merely" rendering value changes with gradients and such).

So basically, it's just drawing the form of the building in a layer mask and painting color into the layer. Or to get less immediate, a layer mask can be applied to a folder and subsequent value/color additions can be placed inside the folder.

This technique prevents any muddying of edges, because painting-in colors of the building doesn't effect the form of it.

(If you need help with layer masks, there are probably thousands of tutorials.)

[fersteger]

Hey anjy any chance you could expand on what you're talking about here, or a link or anything. I think I understand and am trying techniques like that, one layer for form, another layer with screen or overlay or whatever works for ambient lighting, another for the light source, another for the color of objects, all with different blending options. But you got anything else to help me learn more?

[anjy]

Well... Just to repeat: Form in the layer mask (or a mask on a folder), colors in the layer itself. You can use selections to make a layer mask or just add a layer mask and paint into it with black and white. White=show, black=invisible. So the mask would have the form in white, painted on black. Then on the left side- the layer side (the right side is the mask), paint in the colors. That's pretty much it.

There are thousands of layer mask tutorials online, if you need more help with it.

[jfrancis]

You can also make hard-edged forms in your favorite way (hard brush, strike pen paths, whatever...) in a separate layer above the background. Then lock transparency on the floating layer and go to town with shading and lighting without fear of hurting the hard edges.

The effect is somewhat similar to the layer mask approach.

[MrSmith]

running an unsharp mask filter over a finished painting (usually on a cloned layer) can better define some edges. looks like there may be some sharpen in that pic. a lot of artists use that one.

[AdventDawn]

another thing you can do is create a new layer, paintbucket it white, grab a hard round brush with 100 percent opacity, jitter off, and use any color to define the form with, carving it to speak alt'ing out with the white you poured down over. Polygon selection tool is a godsend during this process. Once your done with the form, use select all selected color 'white' delete and viola.

Works better in painter using the scratchboard pen.

edit: did someone already mention this? then consider this post a pretty echo.

[donjoaoresort]

i guess, I was kind of hoping for something more in depth.

May be it was difficult to answer



John
www.donjoaoresortgoa.com (www.donjoaoresortgoa.com)

[George Abraham]

jaggyness around some of those edges tells the tale of the lasso tool.