The Light Side of the Smudge

[Datameister]

Hey, guys. I know that the Smudge tool is reviled in digital painting circles, and for good reason. However, I'm just realizing that it can be used for good instead of evil. You just have to handle it right.

The problem with the Smudge tool is that it pushes the colors around in recognizable ways. But if you use the right brushes with the Smudge tool, it becomes a way to texture and/or blend your paintings, particularly in the early stages. The trick is to use scattering. If you use about 40% scatter and a fairly low count value, the tool with do just that--scatter. Instead of creating recognizable streaks of smudged color, the tool produces interesting textures and blending. You can produce convincing watercolor-like effects with certain brushes, for instance. You just have to be careful not to overdo it. Everything in moderation.

[Vincent Hammet]

I want you to introduce a deviantart guy who, except for colors, he draws his pieces almos ENTIRELY with smudge tool. Let me hear what you think ;)

http://floydier.deviantart.com/gallery/

And i dont use smudge soooooo many times, but i must admit is a very useful tool, at times, helps a lot. :)

And thanks for the tip, i´ll try it.

[Datameister]

His mastery of colors is good, for the most part. A couple of pieces definitely have a little of that smudged appearance, but overall, they're pretty good. The smudging I'm talking about, however, doesn't produce much "net effect" on the pixels. What I mean is, there's no visible stroke along which the pixels are displaced. The scattering option causes the pixels on the stroke to be scrambled, but not in the direction of the stroke.

Here's an example of what I was talking about. This was done all in Photoshop, but parts of it look like watercolor. See the parts where the colors bleed? I don't see any recognizable uses of the Smudge tool, but that's because I used the right brushes with it.

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1790/irishblessing54zz.jpg

(I know this WIP has its problems, and I do appreciate any and all crits.)

[Vincent Hammet]

And why no do it only with brushes? Saves time, and I pretty much sure can reach same result with no smudge at all. :/ For texturing have... well textures and brushes with textures.... :p

[Orcatraz]

here is a pretty good tutorial on the smudge tool ~ http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=260976 ~

[Datameister]

That's exactly what I'm talking about. That thread (along with a few others) actually is what inspired me to start using the Smudge tool.

In response to your question, Vincent--some of the same effects are possible with the Brush tool, but they typically take longer and/or look worse. The problem with only using the Brush tool is that you're actually working with flat blocks of color. You can alter the shape and settings of those blocks, but you have to work harder to get the same subtle complexity that's present by default in traditional media.

I'm not saying the Smudge tool is required for quality work--far from it, since so many accomplished artists have done incredible work with nothing more than the default hard round brush. I'm just saying that it has its uses.

[naav]

Adonihs uses the smudge tool a lot. Check out some of his tutorials: http://adonihs.deviantart.com/

[LucidSaint]

The smudge tool is invaluable for hair/fur as is evidenced by Adonihs tutorial about fur.

[Jonoy]

I like using the smudge tool along with the alt button, not so much to smudge but to paint on colour or tone so it acts like a paintbrush in a way...

[Datameister]

Ah, I never realized that alt allowed the foreground color to bleed into the smudge a little. That could be useful...

[jrr]

you can paint with the smudge tool. i did these with mostly smudge. it gets a organic look to it. again with the fingerpaint box checked. now the cat is out of the bag!
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a372/photoshopmonkey4/twocharacters.jpg