Your favorite brushes and your work!

[Paul A. Willemse]

Hey folks!

In the short period since I joined I've seen some really amazing work on this forum and have often been wondering what kind of brushes were used to made it (especially things as lightning and texture). I can guess I'm not the only one who is curious about this and thus it seemed a great idea to make a new thread of it.

The idea is to show one of your favorite works and explain at the hand of it which brushes you used to make it. You might want to tell why you that brush (or brushes) so much... That's maybe even more interesting :tihi:


http://interval1.rendered.startpda.net/13600001-13650000/13639099_700_700_x2U4.jpeg


I have made this painting (the first I ever made with a digital painting program) with 'artists oils' and I enjoy these brushes immensely. The fact that you're able to mix colors while painting is a realy big plus for me. What I also realy like is that it keeps that great texture as if it was made with real paint. However there are also some side effects that I don't like that much. It is for example not really a great brush if you want to work fast (at least not in my case...:bashful:).

[Visceral 619]

Hey Paul,

I like what's happening with the skin tone on the legs but their are little things that bother me about this piece -

The shadow could be more refined, not to be harsh but it looks as if she's stepped in cow dung.

I don't understand why she would need to carry a knife as well as a bow especially at the same time, there is no effiency in doing something like that in combat. I would also replace the hand holding the knife with the bow, which would add more elements of occlusion as well as make the image more visually stimulating.

Its good that your enthusiastic about digital painting and so forth so keep working at it.

Peace.

[Crushenator 500]

I don't understand why she would need to carry a knife as well as a bow especially at the same time, there is no effiency in doing something like that in combat.
Hunting and skinning, you can't skin with a bow ;)

Of course that knife is hardly an efficient skinner and having 2 is uneccesary, especially holding one at the same time as the bow, but still, having a knife and bow does make sense, just not in this instance :teeth:

[Visceral 619]

Hey Crushenator 500,

your right, maybe she's just killed a dear or a goat and is preparing to skin it like you said... but if that is the intention of the image then maybe the dead animal should be visible just to clarify why she's holding a knife and a bow, I guess Paul should contribute his thoughts.

Peace.

[derelic7]

Either what crushie said (hey dude!) or if she's a warrior, she'd need something for close combat incase she doesnt have time to prepare the bow. it's like asking why a sniper would carry an additional pistol.

[Visceral 619]

Hey CrazyHarij,

"it's like asking why a sniper would carry an additional pistol" - but dude how many times have you seen a guy/gal hold a pistol and a sniper rifle at the same time? Doing something like that just wouldn't work, that's kinda like my main point about the image.

Bourne Identity is a perfect example of what my point is - Clive Owen is the sniper and is trying to kill Matt Damon - Matt Damon mangages to close the distance between them - the sniper realises that his rifle is pretty useless at close range and ditches it for the pistol - The sniper ends up getting shot anyway and so forth the movie continues.

Just replace the rifle with the bow and the pistol with the knife, the bow would be pretty useless if your holding a secondary weapon unless the bow is also designed for melee combat.

Peace.

[derelic7]

Warground, ever heard the word pinup?

besides, this is a pretty silly issue to be arguing about..

[walnut]

What has not not come up yet is the fact that the balance line from head to feet is slanting, which is making her keel over. And the shoulder area looks flat. Otherwise not too bad a character. I'd show you what brushes i use, but none of my work is up to snuff, i only work with PS and i tend to just go along with the existing brushes and fiddle around in the brush palette.

[Visceral 619]

I wasn't arguing, disputing or in varience... I was just letting my thoughts be known. I didn't mean it to come across like that so my bad.

[Snarfevs]

Ideally if she's going to be wearing a single vambrace it should be on her other arm to protect her arm from being struck by the bowstring. However I can see the benefits of having your melee arm protected as well. You could consider putting a vambrace on each arm. Sorry, functionality fascist here :D

[Paul A. Willemse]

:xpld: You guys, this thread was meant to tell about your own artwork and the brushes YOU used to make it, not analyse my drawing... :rolleyes:

But... admitted, I did enjoy your little discussion so I will go along (for now :devil: ). First... Yes, I am aware of the fact that there are some flaws in my work. Like I said before, it was my first try with digital painting and it was an older drawing I used.

For as the reason why she holds both dagger and bow, well... it is because of the fact that it was a illustration for a story I made. She is indeed kinda sniper (but then a elven version) with incredible speed. In the story she has two magical shortswords, dagger and a enchanted bow. Normally she would keep the dagger in the inside of her left boot till she needed it, but I wanted to show her with all her weapons.

Lets say that for the sake of argument you can pressume she just killed a patrol of orcs (her archenemies) and was about to put her weapons away (remember she is blazing fast and has a very unorthodox fighting style; cutting tendons in knees and stuff, jumping over enemies and choking them with the string of her bow etc.) ... :bashful:

So... when do I get to see your paintings... :P