The beginning of digital painting

[Dinamo]

Hello everyone, I'm pretty new here.
My name is Dean, I'm 16 years old and I'm from Israel, very intrested in digital concept art.
I've been painting for a long time now, but just on school notebooks, I want to get my painting to a higher level and start doing some digital art.
The question is how do I start?
I have a tablet, I have my photoshop installed, all ready to go.
I've seen lots of beautiful artwork here, but how do I acctually get it on?
What brushes do I use? What do I train on first; anatomy, colors, linearts etc...?
Where can I find good tutorials to start with?
Any recommended technique should I use?
I've been training lately on shadowing and 3Ding my works.
I mainly want to draw realistic art combined with fantasy and psychedelic like this guy, Patri -

http://www.artofpatri.com/

Couldn't manage how to contact him though.
I just love his work and he is an inspiration to me. (Yeah, thats the type of digital art I want to draw).

Thanks ahead for any sort of comments.
:yayca:

(BTW, Sorry for my bad english)

[nonameowns]

why is it every foreign have to say their apology for their english while it's perfect? It astonish me. o.O

anyway, to your questions.. you will never be perfect. you must and MUST, practice to achieve the master of art. Sounds harsh, but it's true. That's great you have some artwork and you're young. Plenty of time to enjoy art and practice eh?

for programs, if you are decent with traditional art and want to apply that digitally, try Painter Pro. It the same but digitally. Other than that, Photoshop is excellent. Stick with basic brushes. Round typically is used. Experiment with sizes and roundness. I'm sure you adjust your tablet to handle that yes? Also set the opacity of the brush to pen pressure so it would be the same concept as drawing with pencil, pen, brush, and such. Widen your studies, choose anything that you feels you need work on. Feet, nose, leaves, feathers, you name it! Or draw your favorite character, environment, or such. Whatever you feels like drawing. Do the outline of the subject again and again until you get it down, then experiment with values that reflect the true property of the subject, and then, paint with colors, and finally, adjust the lighting to bring the subject to life. You could tackle all of them at once or take one and practice repeatably until you get it down. Explore the tutorial section of this website, and I suggest you to join the daily sketch group to keep your practices going and community activities if you want an challenge.

[Dinamo]

Thanks for the comment!

Any more ideas or opinions?

[Black Spot]

Anatomy, perspective etc first. Play with the digital stuff until the basics are solid. You'll see it time and time again that a lot of the pros here are proficient in traditional work before venturing into digital.

[Amber Alexander]

THIS (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=107217) is one of the best beginner tutorials I've seen. Read it and do the fruit exercise.

[Dinamo]

Amazing stuff! Definitely helping!
Thanks alot guys for the comments, I'll use them wisely and start drawing objects that I see exactly as said there and buy a book on anatomy (Andrew Loomis, Bridgeman...) and learn perspective.

@Black Spot -

Do I really need to get traditional painting gear? I was using a pen and a pencil all the time until I started using the tablet (Wacom Graphire4).
Can't I get the principals of traditional art while doing digital art?

[Black Spot]

Pencil and paper is fine. Everyone is different and learns differently. There'll be a lot of trial and error on your part until you find what works best for you. Working on paper does mean that you have to concentrate more and not rely on undo for errors. Erasing pencil is not the same. The more you draw traditionally, the more confident your strokes will be going into digital. And don't forget to have fun learning as well.

[Amber Alexander]

There are benefits that you will learn from using traditional paints that you probably won't learn from using a tablet such as color theory and mixing paints. Of course if you just got a tablet, you're going to want to play with it but invest in some cheap, student grade traditional paints and spend some time playing with them too.

But anyway you can definately learn the principals of both at the same time. And remember you found what you wanted to do far earlier then most, 10-20 years earlier then alot of us so don't feel rushed like you have to learn everything. You have years and years to learn but stay focused on your goals and don't hide from your weakness. Such as, if you're bad at drawing hands, practice and learn how to draw hands, don't accept "oh i'm just not good at hands".

Anyway, good luck! :)

[raider]

i was wondering how to smooth the canvas/brush strokes

do you guys just add more nd more slightly different colour lines or u use i.e. blur tool?

do u also use the alt/sampling tool ?

thanks

[Dinamo]

@raider -
I don't see how it relates with my thread. :x

Thanks for the helpful comments.
Right now I'm reading Idiot Apathy's and Bumskee's guides.
I've recently bought an Andrew Loomis book ("Drawing the Head and Hands").

[raider]

@raider -
I don't see how it relates with my thread. :x


well as it is a beginning of digital painting topic i thought ill write in here instead of making another one :sungod:

[Anid Maro]

i was wondering how to smooth the canvas/brush strokes

do you guys just add more nd more slightly different colour lines or u use i.e. blur tool?

do u also use the alt/sampling tool ?

thanks

The typical method promoted in the posts by Bumskee (linked above) and Idiot Apathy (linked in the link above) is to use a hard edged brush and paint in strokes over and over with finer and finer gradations until the image looks sufficiently "smooth".

Colors, beyond the inital blocking in, are picked by lowering the brush opacity (80 and up, as suggested by Bumskee) and painting one color over the other and then selecting the new "blended" color. This can be done on a separate layer/image like a sort of palette, or it can be done on the apple itself (as it seems Bumskee did).

Also colors could just be picked directly (via sliders, like RGB or HSV) and then painted opaquely with no blending. You risk color disharmony with this method, but the worst that can happen is you'll get a lil' first hand experience with color theory. This is also how you should obtain the initial colors for blocking in the apple prior to blending, copying colors from the reference image could work but then you wouldn't learn anything.

Note that in Bumskee's example (http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1469823&postcount=3), which demonstrates the technique I just described, you can still pick out his brush strokes in the final image. Bumskee could've blended his strokes further but he chose not to, possibly because he didn't want to "over-blend" or he just got tired of working on the apple.

This isn't the only way to paint an apple, but I think it's a really excellent way to learn how to work with digital painting since you're only using one very simple tool (the hard edged brush). Furthermore, if you ever hop into painting with oils or acrylics you'll likely find yourself using the same technique there.

Of course you could work in transparent layers (like a pseudo-watercolor), with a very soft edged brush (like airbrushing), or a million different ways. But like I said, the above technique is a great way to learn so try that first and then branch out once you've got a handle on digital painting.

Finally, just for the heck of it, here's the apple I painted nearly three years ago for the original thread:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q96/Anid_Maro/sbApple.jpg

My reference was an apple I plopped on my desk. :)

[raider]

thanks Anid Maro :) very appreciate it

[Xeon_OND]

Just curious but I wonder if there's anyone here who went to digital painting without going through traditional painting.

I still have vivid memories of those hellish nightmares in high school, where all my paintings ended up totally like abstract art, and the floor, my clothes, the paper and everything got wet and messy.

[Maidith]

Digital Painting:
- Getting Started: The Basics of Painting in Photoshop: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/9117297/
(to download this tutorial, click on the "Download" button to the left)

- Dipping into Digital; a tutorial for beginners: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44799444/
(to download this tutorial, click on the "Download" button to the left)

- Figure Painting Demo by Linda Bergkvist: http://imaginefx.com/02287754331901200066/painting-a-believable-figure.html

- About Edges: http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=51913


- Look at pictures by artists you admire, and try to figure out things. How do they handle light and color? Why do they use that particular color there? What technique did they use? How did they work? The more you look at work of others, the more different kinds of styles and techniques you will see.

- Learn from the masters. Copy works you adore. Not for imitating the artist or showcasing your copy, but for the sake of learning. Don't be shy, ask your favorite artist everything you want to know, such as "What paper do you draw on?", or "How do you go about painting a picture, do you start with a sketch?", etc. But be specific, don't ask "how can I paint like that?". And check the artist's homepage, chances are they already have tutorials, a FAQ or step-by-step tutorials there.

- Challenge yourself. Never used a particular medium? Then buy it, no matter how poor you are, and try it out. Never drawn a still life? Do it. Never used that particular color scheme? Give it a try. At a certain point, when you are afraid of repeating yourself, you are on the right track to improve.
- Draw from life. It's probably the most valuable practice that there is. Sign up for a life drawing class so that you'll be actually "forced" to do it. Believe me, it works wonders.

- Look up tutorials. Browse through the tutorial section at deviantart.com and study the many different ways and media of the different artists. Also visit the websites of the great artists here - many have tutorials up there.

- Collect pictures. On my harddisk, I have different folders: 1) one for old master oil paintings, 2) Modern master oil paintings, 3) Different kinds of watercolor paintings, 4) Great digital art images 5) a folder of gorgeous anime art.
They are very inspiring to browse through and can give you new ideas in terms of technique. Whenever I feel uninspired, I look through my folders.
The images I've collected over time, mainly from Cgtalk.com, Deviantart, Epilogue, Artrenewal.org and many other websites.

Last but not least, go paint a lot, all day long :) Rinse, repeat.

[Dinamo]

Thanks alot Maidth!
You've helped me so much, though I didn't understand what is "particular medium"

I'll go paint now :-)

[Angel of fire]

I didn't want to post a whole other thread, so I think this is the best place. In my head, this (http://viviphyd.deviantart.com/art/Single-149268611) is the art style that I want to have. When I say that, I mean that this is what I see my characters as in my minds eye. What kind of brushes is this guy using? I will do all the stuff in the first few posts, as I am in the same boat as Dinamo, but is there anything else I should learn after that? Also, what would be a good inexpensive tablet for me, a beginner, to buy?

[Maidith]

Thanks alot Maidth!
You've helped me so much, though I didn't understand what is "particular medium"

It means any medium. No matter which :)
(apologies if that was incorrect english)

You're welcome!

[soul-core]

What kind of brushes is this guy using?
If I'm not mistaken, default hard-edged round brush.

[Dinamo]

If I'm not mistaken, default hard-edged round brush.

He didn't use a special brush, I think you are right.

@Angel of fire

That art was made with technique and not with a special custom made or a professional brush. The artist played a little with the sizes and used colors wisely, that's what I think.

[Nibras]

This thread is good example of how to ask for advice :)

Good going, and awesome advice everyone.

Btw, check out the imaginefx website then look at the free tutorials. Very helpful stuff :)

Also just really get to it and start painting, you learn a lot this way

[Nibras]

This thread is good example of how to ask for advice :)

Good going, and awesome advice everyone.

Btw, check out the imaginefx website then look at the free tutorials. Very helpful stuff :)

Also just really get to it and start painting, you learn a lot this way